Please find a range of blogs below:
25 August 2024
Imagine we didn't know how to cook. Totally clueless. All we could do was burn water. Ugh!
Now, we decide to learn to cook.
Would we spend weeks cutting out pictures of food for our vision board?
Or maybe we would chant affirmations, “I am one with food!”
Bad strategy. Instead, here is what we would do:
“Learn one new tip or technique about cooking food every day.”
At the end of one year, we would be pretty good. At the end of two years, we would have some serious cooking skills. At the end of three years, we might insist...
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18 August 2024
Do we need a safe, non-invasive question that moves our conversation forward? A question that can tell us our prospect’s motivation?
Ask this question.
“So, what do you like to do in your free time?”
Prospects get to choose what they do in their free time. Their free time activity might be the most important reason to use our business to get more free time.
“I’m just curious …”
I was afraid to talk to strangers. Pretty normal for us introverts. But it all changed with these three words, “I am just...
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11 August 2024
Need the toilet? We see every toilet sign.
Don’t need the toilet? We walk past every toilet sign, never noticing its existence.
When we set goals, we notice resources and opportunities that could help us move forward to achieve those goals.
Goals help us see opportunities where others walk by.
The purpose of business
The purpose of business is to solve our prospects' problems.
When prospects tell us their problems, then all we have to do is ask, "Would it be okay if you could fix that problem?"
Our prospects make a quick...
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04 August 2024
Of course, we don’t know how to do this business when we start. Nobody learns the skills of every profession in the universe while we are in school.
But we are human. We can make the decision to learn new skills.
The only thing between us, and where we want to be, is some stuff we don’t know how to do yet.
Let’s learn more skills now.
"I don’t believe you!”
Advisor straight out of the Academy: “People need facts and information to make a decision.”
Me: “No.”
Advisor straight out of the...
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28 July 2024
So … we should get good at mini-stories to build faster.
Prospects love listening to stories.
Stories don’t sound like a sales pitch.
Prospects love “mini” as attention spans are short.
We only get one chance, so we better be good with our opening sentences.
In less than 15 seconds we can change our careers. One good story can replace a lifetime of prospecting.
Here are some story prompts. Once we say these opening words, it is easy for us to create a story.
Once upon a time …
When I was young …
Here is what...
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21 July 2024
Who is going to make the sale?
The Professional Advisor?
Or, the prospect?
One quick way to get the advantage is to let the prospect do most of the talking. If the prospect talks more, and we talk less, our chances of success are greater.
Unfortunately, if we do most of the talking, and the prospect doesn’t, our chances are slim. Ouch.
Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t talk. But it does mean that when we talk, we should use proven words and concentrate our message in a few short sentences. Then, our prospect will talk, feel great, and...
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14 July 2024
Here is the biggest obstacle to our business … us.
We get programmed by teachers, parents, friends, the news, TikTok, astrology, and yes, even fortune cookies.
Unfortunately, most of this programming tells us to stay small, don’t take chances, fit in with the crowd, don’t think too much, and stay where we are.
Breaking free is hard. We have to associate with different voices … oh.
We must see opportunity while others see only risks. This is easier with a support team of people moving forward.
Where can we associate with more...
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07 July 2024
When in doubt, tell a story. Stories are easier for prospects to process in their minds. It is a natural way for them to learn new things.
Humans like short stories and presentations. They hate long stories and presentations. Short is always better than long. If prospects want more, they will ask.
Prospects love hearing about our failures. They find it so interesting.
Give prospects a chance to opt out of the conversation early. This reduces their stress and guarantees that we have prospects who will listen to us.
Facts push people into the analysis side of the...
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30 June 2024
The three questions
Instead of doing an information dump on prospects, we focus on the three basic questions our prospects want to know about our business.
Don’t know these three questions? Here they are:
Question 1: “What kind of business are you in?”
Question 2: “How can you help me with my problem?”
Question 3: “Exactly what outcome can I expect if I work with you?”
The long, old-school sales presentations of the past are history. In the TikTok generation, we need to get to the point now.
And why...
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23 June 2024
I got rid of my presentation book and learned to simply ask:
“What would you like to know first?”
Then I listened and answered only the questions my prospects wanted to know.
This turns off the salesperson alarm in our prospects. Now they can hear all of the good things about our business without prejudice.
I Wish They Would Have Told Me This 26 Years Ago.
We are in a commercial business, not a social chit-chat club.
That is why when we talk to people using social language, we talk, we show videos, we read flip charts, we look at web...
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