Saturday, March 19, 2011

Secrets of Success!


 by: Edward V Ellis, Sr.



I often wonder how a person can be so successful in life! Is it because they inherited the success or is it because of their unique character? There are certain traits that YOU can adopt in order to be successful in life. So for now am going to share with you.

They are:

1.Sincerity: Being sincere and following your values and beliefs would guarantee you success. So don
t try to be something that you arent. Just be yourself and impress others.

2. Be genuine: Your actions are greater than your words. So don
t exaggerate or deceive others. Just be genuine.

3. Being wholehearted: You should be enthusiastic regarding things you do. So you should whole heartedly devote yourself to do good for others and your community.

4. Honest: Being honest is quite difficult but when you let honesty guide you, you
ll achieve greater success. So never deceive or do fraud to get ahead in life.

5. Heartfelt: Be honest and appreciate others. Thank people who do good to you and reach out to those in need.

6. Heartiness: Be warm and genuine with others. This would radiate your character and affection towards others.

7. Humility: No matter how rich or successful you are, always be humble with others. This would have a longer impact on others.

8. Personal integrity: It is important that no matter how successful you become, you should always keep your values intact. Never trade your moral values for material benefits.

9. Incorruptibility: Be affirmative and hold your ground to stick towards your beliefs. Don
t let others corrupt you.

10. Good judgment: Show good and fair judgment in life. Treat everybody with equality and respect.

11. Focused: Always maintain your focus and give your total attention to the people you interact.

12. Courtesy: Be good to others and show courtesy even to those who are strangers.

13. Civic sense: Exhibit civility and respect. Don
t dominate people and speak with kindness and respect.

14. Wisdom: Wisdom is gained by experience. Be in touch with your inner self in order to gain higher understanding and wisdom.

15. Charity: Be generous and charitable to others. Extend help even to those who have not helped you.

16. Empathy: Know that everybody is different and has different needs. Understand others feelings and thoughts.

17. Sympathy: Always be sympathetic to people under emotional stress. Try to understand things from their view point.

18. Compassionate: Reach out and help those who are in distress. You wouldn't believe the good wishes they'll send out to you.

19. Altruism: Think for others without being selfish. Do good and don
t expect things in return. Moreover, don't express to others the favors you do to them.

20. GIVE MORE: Give your money, time and knowledge to others so that they can learn from your experience. Don't stop short thinking that they'll get ahead of you. It takes a high mind and a generous heart to do that! You can get more from www.successtricks.com

The QUALITIES given above are some of the qualities that a successful person should possess. Try to adopt them in daily life and make them a part of your character. I guarantee that you will definitely become more successful than you ever imagine.

Have a great day and an even better tomorrow!

Friday, March 11, 2011

I think I can. I think I can. Can I?

Edward V Ellis, Sr.  February – 2009 

Your mental train ticket to self-empowerment.

We all find ourselves at certain points in our lives holding first class tickets to negative mental trains of thought this might help get you on the right track to self-empowerment via a plan called the 5 C Process. The journey challenges individuals to:

One

Clarify Current View – Where are you now- honestly?

Conscious awareness of your current view is the first step in becoming the best you can be. Getting clear about how your life aligns with your values, talents and unique gifts is vital to your happiness. You need to know where you are in order to learn where you want to go.

You can clarify your current view by completing a review of eight life areas. Be honest with yourself about how happy are you with your profession, finances, health and overall well-being, primary relationships, personal development, spirituality, environment, hobbies, etc.

Two

Connect with Your Highest Vision – Where do you want to be?


Example: An individual I met some time ago, a yoga instructor, decided she was happy teaching but wanted to contribute to the world on a larger level. She wasn’t happy with the quality of the yoga clothing that was accessible to her and her fellow yogis. Her vision was to design and create fun, hip and timeless yoga clothes using eco-conscious fabrics.

You have to get really clear about what you want. It is crucial that you connect to your highest vision of yourself because you can’t create it unless you are clear about what it looks like. If you don’t have a vision of where you want to go or what you want to be, you will most likely NOT get there. To quote Henrietta Klauser, “If you have a connection to what you want, take the next step and write it down.” If you don’t have any idea about what you want, or how you want to be in life to bring about greater happiness, begin looking through magazines and create a Vision Board/Collage of what attracts you. You may also want to consider getting an outside perspective from a friend or a professional coach. I suggest you go through a guided imagery that gives you a glimpse of what your future could look like. There are also books that can help guide you. Just get help assessing your talents, divine gifts and abilities and then determine how you want to use them more fully in the world. We can’t help others as fully, if we are not aware of how we can best serve. So instead of thinking of it as selfish to engage in knowing yourself better, I would suggest you consider it selfish to hold back and not be the best you can be. Only in this way, can we help the world and others.

Three

Create Inspiring Goals – How will you get there?


Example: This individual created a tiered plan of what needed to happen step by step – outer goal. All of this was influenced by her inner goal of keeping a measured pace and a balanced life. Her goal was to enjoy the process.

You have to create a plan and take specific actions to get you from where you are now to where you want to be. When most people write goals, they just write a list of action steps, usually external actions. I believe it is more powerful to have inner and outer goals. An outer goal is what you want. For instance, you might think, “I want a new house”. An inner goal is more focused on the how. How will a new home benefit me and my family? Will it offer more common gathering areas, a larger kitchen so that we can cook together, etc.? How can I appreciate what I have now until I get this home? How can I make this a joyful experience rather than a stressful one? If you cannot be grateful for what you have now, then when you get a new home, it will only create very short-term happiness for you. Then, you will be focused on the next external illusion of happiness. For 2009, I suggest taking at least three of the life areas I mentioned earlier and jot down how you could benefit from living your highest vision in each area. Next, add action steps toward your desired achievements along with completion dates.

Four

Clear Obstacles – How will you remove obstacles in your way?


We all have dreams and visions for our life, but frankly, there are many things that can get in the way. The two most common obstacles I have come across in life are:

The inability to say NO— In order to bridge the gap from your current view to your highest vision, you have to make room for what “Could Be”. If your life is full and you want to add more of the things that are truly important in your life, you should start the change process by making room first. You must say no to some things in your life, so you can say yes to what is most important. You have to give up the destructive habits, behaviors and activities to make room for new ones.

A metaphor would be a water hose watering a flowering plant. The water in the hose is your life force and the flowering plant is what you are trying to grow in your life. If the water hose has leaks, it will not have enough water or life force/energy to reach its desired outcome or vision (to grow the plant into full bloom). Examples of leaks might include toxic friendships, unrealistic expectations, watching too much television, eating sugar, overspending, negative relational patterns with your spouse or working on an outdated job.

Example: An individual’s obstacle here was that her 8- year-old daughter needed caring for and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to be a good mother plus jumpstart a successful, new business. This issue was remedied by getting clear on the proper definition of a good mother. Also, practically speaking, she needed help picking up her daughter from school. So she got her husband to assist her in this area so she would have time to create this new business.

Negative self-talk—Research shows we have approximately 50,000 internal messages we say to ourselves daily. We are constantly walking around having conversations with ourselves. And it is what we say that makes all the difference in the overall quality of our lives.

Example: I was once in Starbucks, and I watched this woman spill her coffee while reaching for a sugar packet and I heard her say out loud, “I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I did that.”

Now, I just happen to hear her, but this is an example of something you might say internally as well. You might think, “No big deal. I say things like this to myself all the time.” Well, IT IS A BIG DEAL as our subconscious hears these messages and acts on them as if they were real. Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t want someone else saying to you.

Think of self-talk like mental fuel. Now, imagine filling your car with dirty water. We all know you wouldn’t get very far. Now, take that same car and fill it with high quality gasoline. You’ll most likely reach your destination. It is the same with people and the words we use. If the words are negative and toxic, we will sputter along with low energy and our performance suffers. If our words are positive and tender, we will feel confident, energized, encouraged and will most likely meet our goals faster and easier. Here are some key things to remember if you ever find yourself preparing to board the train of BAD self-talk:

B– stands for belittling self-talk. Stop telling yourself, “I am not good enough.” If your dream is to have a healthy self-confidence, which of the following examples is more likely to get your there:

A. “I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I did that.”

B. “Whoops, mistakes happen.”

Can you see how the Answer B is much kinder?

A – Stands for awful zing. Stop predicting a future filled with gloom and doom, and dwelling on scary thoughts. If you dream of obtaining a career you love, which of the following will move you closer to your vision:

A. “I did terribly on my interview; I’ll never find a job I like.”

B. “I will answer that question on past employment differently next time and I will ace it! I know I will one day have the job I love.”

Can you see how Answer B places you in the mindset of a successful job search?

D – Stands for deceiving. This is when you deceive yourself into thinking you are a victim, and that other people are to blame for your circumstances. If we want a happy relationship which will of the below responses will aid in achieving this goal:

A. “If my spouse would only do more around the house, then I would be happy.”

B. “I can and will choose happiness today, no matter what my spouse does.”

Answer B is the right choice, wouldn’t you agree?

S – Stands for shoulding – This is when you give yourself a lot of shoulds, musts, and ought tos, then beat yourself up for not living up to unrealistic standards. Say your dream is to be in top physical condition, which will further that:

A. “I should have eaten a salad for lunch instead of that big old’ hamburger. I’m such a pig!”

B. “I could have eaten a salad, but I chose not to. Tomorrow I will make healthier choices.”

The second choice is so much more inspiring, don’t you think?

Five

Commit to Action – Are you willing to do what it takes?

The final step of the 5 C Process is to commit to action. How many times have we all made plans and never carried them out, or started off excited and lost motivation? No one ever does anything great alone. We all need encouragement and support from others including an accountability partner who is willing to help hold the vision of the person you want to be. In the previous example of my client, her biggest negative self-talk was how to be a good mom and a good business woman. Her thoughts were, “If I don’t pick up my child every day from school, I am a bad mother.” Instead, we replaced it with, “Picking up my child from school daily is not what makes me a good mother. I am, indeed, a fabulous mother.”

Here are the four action steps that have been proven to help you eliminate your negative self talk:

• Become aware of your negative messages –listen to voice in head

• Stop! You have to stop immediately if you find yourself dwelling on any negative thoughts

• Replace negative thoughts with a kinder alternatives

• Practice. It takes a commitment of time in order to turn a pattern of negative thinking into a more positive train of thought.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Why do so many sales opportunities stall?


By Ed Ellis – April 2005
For now, let's define a stalled opportunity as an opportunity that hasn't seen a change in status for a specific period of time . (You get to define the length of this time period.) If you want to apply a more demanding definition, you will find some useful suggestions in the article,
There are many reasons why opportunities stall. Let's look at two of the most important reasons:
Reason #1 – Poor Sales Opportunity Qualification
A sad fact of life is that many salespeople do a poor job of sales opportunity qualification. Why is this such a common problem? Basically it comes down to three factors: lack of training, lack of accountability, and lack of inspection . Let's look at each factor separately.
1a. Lack of Training
What is your company's definition for a fully qualified opportunity? Does the definition exist in writing? Are your salespeople trained to qualify opportunities in a specific way?
In my opinion, a sales opportunity has not been properly qualified unless the salesperson knows (at minimum) the answers to the following questions:
  • What business problems does the prospect have that can be solved by one or more of your company's products and services?
  • How significant are these business problems? In other words, what impact do they have on the prospect, both professionally and personally?
  • Can the prospect quantify the impact of the business problems? In other words, can they associate dollar amounts with the business problems?
  • Is the prospect worthy of the investment required for your company to manage a sales cycle? In other words:
    • Are they credit worthy ?
    • Do they have a budget to invest in solving their business problems?
    • Are all key decision makers engaged in the decision process?
    • Does the company take proposed investments out to bid ? If they do, are they willing to give your company some advantage in the bid process as a reward for designing the solution to their problems?
    • What is their time frame for implementing a proposed solution?
1b. Lack of Accountability
Accountability pertains to creating and communicating clear expectations for sales performance. If your company does not have clearly defined performance expectations for salespeople, or if those expectations have not been communicated to (and ingrained in) your salespeople, you are likely to be disappointed with the results they produce.
To determine whether your company is truly holding salespeople accountable, do your best to answer the following questions:
  • What percentage of each salesperson's sales leads will be generated by your company's marketing and advertising efforts?
  • What percentage of each salesperson's sales leads are they expected to source for themselves?
  • What are the primary prospecting methods that your salespeople are encouraged to use?
  • How many "discovery conversations" (first meetings, whether in person or on the telephone) should a salesperson book with new prospects each week or month?
  • What percentage of a salesperson's sales should come from new business?
  • What percentage of a salesperson's sales should come from repeat business?
  • How long should the average sales cycle be for each of your company's products and services?
  • What percentage of their opportunities are your salespeople expected to close?
  • At what point is an opportunity considered to be "in trouble" (which means it should immediately be brought to the attention of management)?
  • Who decides whether an opportunity is "lost" ?
  • How are lost opportunities (and the reasons why they were lost) tracked?
1c. Lack of Inspection
Sales opportunity inspection involves sitting down with salespeople on a regular basis (I recommend weekly) to discuss the status of every opportunity in their pipelines. These discussions should have two goals:
1.     To determine whether each opportunity has been properly qualified
2.     To determine whether each opportunity reflects an accurate status
NOTE: Don't worry – this is not as time-consuming as it might appear. Once you slog through the initial pipeline discussion and help the salesperson clear the "deadwood" from their pipeline, future discussions are much more streamlined.
How do you determine whether an opportunity has been properly qualified and reflects an accurate status? By asking questions! The sales manager should ask the salesperson the same questions that the salesperson should ask their prospects . If the salesperson does not know the answers to key questions, or if their answers lack key details, the salesperson should be assigned specific opportunity qualification tasks to complete prior to the next pipeline review meeting.
Sales opportunity inspection is truly a critical sales management activity. Why? Because companies waste incredible amounts of time, money and resources on opportunities that can't or won't close! The sooner these (poor quality) opportunities are identified and removed from the sales opportunity pipeline, the sooner your salespeople will have more time to invest in finding truly qualified opportunities!

Sales Process - We're Only As Good As Our Next Step

by Ed Ellis


No sale can be counted upon unless the prospect is actively engaged in the sales cycle. What does it mean to be "actively engaged"? This is defined by the prospect's willingness to commit to a next step.


What is a valid next step?

A valid next step is a specific, scheduled appointment with an agenda designed to move the sale closer to "closed". The appointment may be in person or via the telephone, but it must be on the prospect's calendar. Plus, the salesperson must have an agenda to advance the sale, not merely check the status of the prospect's decision process. Finally, the purpose of the call cannot be to schedule a future substantive discussion.
While there is no guarantee that an opportunity that meets these conditions will close, the chances of securing revenue from an actively engaged prospect are far greater than the chances of securing revenue from a prospect that refuses to commit to a next step.
It is human nature for salespeople to maintain unrealistically hopeful feelings regarding contacts who are willing to talk with them on a regular basis. Often they concentrate their efforts on these contacts under the guise of "relationship building." Unfortunately, most relationship building is nothing more than the passage of time.
If discussions and meetings are not specifically designed to advance sales opportunities, they usually are not very productive. So, while salespeople should maintain positive attitudes, to be successful they also need to be very realistic.

Salespeople can use this simple rule to validate whether or not a prospect is truly "hot"

 
At the end of every prospect meeting, the salesperson should determine if there is a reason to meet again.
If there seems to be a reason to continue, the salesperson should attempt to schedule the next appointment BEFORE leaving the meeting.


This approach has two advantages:
  1. If a prospect is truly interested in moving forward, he or she will readily grant the salesperson more time and schedule it in his or her own calendar. If the prospect does NOT want to continue the sa or she will hesitate to schedule more time.
Too often a prospect will say, "Call me next week to schedule our next appointment." This is often used as a way to get the salesperson out of their office. Every salesperson has experienced prospects saying these very words, then not returning telephone calls the following week.
Some salespeople are reluctant to ask for a next step for fear that the answer is going to be "no". These salespeople are only creating false hopes, which do NOT generate sales.
  1. Putting a next appointment on the calendar before the current meeting ends ensures it can take place in a timely manner. Why is this important? Schedules can fill up, even if the follow-up scheduling call takes place just a few days later. By scheduling the next appointment before leaving the current appointment, a salesperson can come back to the prospect in the shortest possible time. The benefit of this is shorter sales cycles.
It is important to emphasize that next steps need to be structured to productively advance a sale. A scheduled visit to "check the status of things" or to "see if they are willing to consider our company" is NOT a valid next step!
Additionally, any scheduled next step must be within the normal sales cycle. A prospect that agrees to receive a call on a date outside the normal sales cycle cannot be seen to be actively working toward a purchase (though of course these calls DO deserve follow-up).
When these "Next Step" rules are followed exactly, it is not unusual to see that just a small percentage of the opportunities currently being worked by a sales team meet the criteria. This is entirely intentional!
The simple truth is that prospects for which valid next steps have been scheduled have a much greater likelihood of purchasing. These are the "real" opportunities. Tracking the number of "real" opportunities in each phase of the sales cycle will tell managers whether salespeople have enough potential business in their current pipelines to ensure future success.


By categorizing opportunities in this manner:

  • Salespeople and managers will be able to separate reality from fiction and opinions from fact
  • Managers will be able to assist salespeople with the prospects that truly matter
  • Managers will be able to set salesperson prospecting activity expectations at a level that will ensure sufficient concurrent "live" prospects to produce consistent success
  • Salespeople and managers will be able to provide more accurate forecasts


Remember, time is your only inventory!

Don't waste your time chasing prospects that are not serious about buying your products or services. Use the "next step" test to validate whether or not an opportunity you are pursuing is a REAL opportunity.
If the prospect is willing to schedule a next meeting on a specific date at a specific time with a specific agenda for advancing the sales cycle, you have a real prospect. If your prospect is not willing to make this kind of commitment, you need to question how serious they really are...and spend more time finding real prospects!