Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: Effective Networking is one of the Top Sales Skill...

Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: Effective Networking is one of the Top Sales Skill...: One of the most important skills you need to develop as sales professionals is your ability to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relat...

Effective Networking is one of the Top Sales Skills Required to Succeed Today

One of the most important skills you need to develop as sales professionals is your ability to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships and real connection with people who matter. Dare to take inventory of your current relationships right now. Are the relationships you have, supporting or retarding your sales efforts? The higher the calibre of people you are connected with, the greater will be your level of sales achievement in the future.

Connect with the right People

The number one selling skill, which has always been the prime factor, which predicted how successful any sales person will be, is measured by their ability to network effectively, connect with the right people, build mutually beneficial partnerships and then get them to know, like and trust them. No matter how great your product or service may be, it is your ability to network, build mutually beneficial relationships and connect with the right people, which will support and drive your sales success. Connecting with the right people, looking for ways to support them, and eliminate challenges from their lives or businesses, is your gateway to unlock sales success and become a sales superstar.

Becoming an Effective Networker

If you truly want to become a sales super star, it is time to lose your fear about networking and to immerse yourself in the crucial process of connecting with the right people.  As you hone and master your skills as a successful networker, and relationship builder, you are setting the foundation for creating meaningful mutually beneficial relationships with people who matter and who can help you to make a real difference in your life.

Be Authentic

The secret to becoming an effective networker is to be authentic and to allow your real self to show. Pretending to be something you are not is a sure fire way to fail at networking. People will see right through your façade and they will never get to know, like or trust you. The only way to build connection with people is to never pretend or try to be someone or something you are not. Commit to be completely authentic and always be on the lookout for ways in which you can assist fellow networkers. The easiest way to build connection with people is to have an abundant mentality and to help them to connect with someone else who can support them. As Zig Ziglar so eloquently said, “The more people you can help to get what they want, the more people will help you to get what you want”.

Identify the Right People

Learning the art of effective networking to help you drive your sales success, is about connecting with the right people, who can make a real difference in your life. Always have an open mind and never allow anyone to intimidate you. Yes, it is true that the very people, who you need to connect with, often seem larger than life. They even seem scary, imposing and too powerful to even approach. The truths is that behind the façade of fancy press releases and elaborate packaging, lies a normal, sensitive, frail, hopeful and generous human being, who is flawed just like you.

They are Real Just Like you

The challenge we face when we want to approach people, who we believe are of high stature, is that all we see is the façade, which is created around them, not the real person underneath. I have had the honour of meeting a number of so-called celebrities or super achievers. After the first few seconds of meeting them, they appear as just normal people. Yes, these people may have achieved great things and they most certainly have amazing personal philosophies, which they can share about the wisdom they have gained along the path to their success, but they are still just people wrestling with the same frailties we do.

Remember that people are just flesh and blood, ignore the packaging that has been bestowed on them by their press agents or how society has built them up as heroes and see them for what they are. Human beings that have fears, hopes and unfulfilled desires and needs, just like everyone else. Each of the so-called super achievers is merely a normal person, who has pulled the trigger, taken action and become successful. They are you in a few years’ time, after you have connected with them, built mutually beneficial relationships, which support your sales success and become a super achiever yourself. Allow your fear to evaporate and remove your tendency to hesitate when you want to reach out to network with any one and I mean anyone and you will gradually build the sales success you deserve and desire.

Author: Andrew Horton Sales Training South Africa

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Leaders need to Define, Clarify and Communicate

I believe it is because we have a need to always complicate everything in our lives and businesses that we cause ourselves a whole lot of unnecessary stress and discomfort. It is more often than not the simple solution or option, which delivers the best results in the end.

Action Idea:

• Clearly define and communicate the outcomes every staff member is required to achieve? Ensure that every staff member has the specific skills, knowledge and attributes, required to successful support the leader to achieve the outcomes they desire?
• Develop measurement criteria, which will allow the leader to consistently measure each team member’s performance. Each team member must have a crystal clear understanding of their role in delivering on the vision and what is required of them every day. They must be also able to easily measure their performance as often as necessary to see if the actions they are taking is aligned with the outcomes they need to achieve with and for the team.
• Develop a culture within their team and organisation, which will support the overall vision and each individual. When the culture supports the vision and each team member has the right attitude and attributes to support the vision success is inevitable.

Fill your Organisation with the right Calibre of People

The most important role of any leader is to find and keep the best possible staff, who can support their vision, which they have set for their team or organisation. It then becomes obvious that becoming a powerful recruiter and retainer of good quality staff is one of the most important roles any great leader must possess. The success or failure of any leader or organisation is dependent on the people within the organisation, thus filling your teams with the right people must be approached with finesse and deep thought.

Finding the right people

Most leaders I speak to say that they inherited the people in their team and as such there is very little they can do to change things. In the short term they are correct, but they should not allow the fact that they have inherited the wrong people, to keep them trapped in a cycle of poor team performance. The best way to start is to first create a very clear picture of what the perfect person for any position would look like. Carefully define their characteristics, skills, knowledge and most importantly what attitude they must have. You can never know if someone is suitable to fill any position unless you have created this crystal clear picture of what you are actually looking for. Look at any recruiting drive as an opportunity to discover people that are an ideal match for any position within your organisation.

You must clearly define the following areas:

• What outcomes is this new staff member responsible to achieve? What skills, knowledge or specific attributes will they need to achieve these outcomes?
• What measurement criterion will you apply to consistently measure their performance? They must have a clear vision of what is required of them and they must be able to measure their performance as often as possible to see if they are on track.
• What is the current culture within the organisation and what attitude and attributes must the new person possess to fit in with the current people.

Know Exactly what you want

It is impossible to make any positive changes in your team, if you do not know exactly what you want and precisely who the perfect people are to fill each position in your team or organisation. The best way to start this process is to first write a very detailed description of the outcomes you want each person to achieve. The more detailed the description of the job requirements, the easier it will be to identify the right person to fill that position. This allows you to get clarity on exactly what you need from any new person and allows you to define how you will measure the performance of the person that will fill that new position.

Create a Roadmap for your Teams Success

This detailed description is in effect a clear outline or road map for every member of your team; they will have a clearly defined framework, clearly defining your expectations and they will also understand their individual job requirements too. Once you are clear about exactly what each person in your team or organisation will need to do, it is wise to then define the type of attributes, knowledge and skill this person must possesses to carry out these tasks every day. The more each team member is able to contribute to the overall culture, which supports the overall vision. The easier it will be to succeed as a team.

This definition must first carefully consider the current people within the organisation. Those people who possess the skills, knowledge and ability to move the team toward achieving their vision. Any new person, who you want to bring into the team, must have the right attitude and mind-set, to fit in culturally with all the existing people, who are suited to help the team achieve the overall vision.

Find the Right Person

It is rather obvious that unless you know exactly what you are looking for in the new person, it will be impossible to find the right person. It is always far easier to invest time into clearly defining what you want from the new person and getting the perfect person, than it is trying to retrain and mould the wrong person, after you have hired them. When you fill your teams with the right people, who possess all the right attributes to meet the needs of the organisation, everything just works and everyone does what they need to do to promote success within the team or organisation. It is far wiser to recruit the right people in the first place than it is to try to change the wrong person after you have hired them.

When you have a clearly defined picture in your mind about exactly what you are looking for in any new employee you are equipped to start searching for them and when they show up, you will be better equipped to know that they are the right person for the job.

Author: Andrew Horton Motivational Speakers South Africa

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: Learn the Art of Positive Influence and Become a S...

Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: Learn the Art of Positive Influence and Become a S...: One of the greatest success skills super achievers develop is the ability to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with thei...

Learn the Art of Positive Influence and Become a Sales Superstar

One of the greatest success skills super achievers develop is the ability to build meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships with their clients and to add real and meaningful value to them, when they sell them either their products or services. When I talk about sales I am not referring to the traditional definition of selling. Where someone with salesman on his business card arrives at your door and tries to convince someone to buy something. I am referring to the crucial skill of influencing people to do something that will be mutually beneficial to both parties.

Everyone is involved in Sales

Everybody on this planet is in the business of selling or put a little differently, influencing the people around them to do something differently. We constantly try to influence people all the time, we sell our partner on the idea of going to see a movie we want to see, we sell our children on the benefits of only hanging out with the right type of kids, or you sell our boss on all the reasons why we need a raise or a day off. As you can see the better you are at selling or influencing the people around you, the better the quality of your life and business will be.

Selling is a Life Skill

As you can see, selling is not just a crucial business skill, where you influence someone to buy you product or service. It is an essential life skill. It is time to make a small, yet crucial shift to the way you view traditional selling in your business and to remove your preconceived ideas about how much you hate selling. Forget about the traditional picture a salesman conjures up in your mind.  Selling is not mysterious or complicated; it is simply the ability to positively influence people to act in a certain way, which will be result in a mutually beneficial outcome for both parties.

It is time to make the shift away from the notion that you are not a good salesperson and that you hate the idea of selling. Shift your perspective toward identifying that sales or influence is not difficult or mysterious. Stop thinking of yourself as a sales person, who sells a product or service and rather focus on the value you add, in the form of improving your client’s lives or businesses.

When you focus on consistently adding value to your clients and prospects, you are truly committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with them, and you have a genuine desire to help people improve their circumstances, selling or influencing them becomes really simple, as there is a level of fair exchange and everyone wins.

Add Value and Offer Fair Exchange

Strive to always discover innovative ways of adding meaningful value to your prospects and clients and consistently have their best interests at heart. Be authentic and always have a sincere and genuine interest in helping them to remove pain from their lives or businesses and always work to ensure that there is a flow of value to them, where they feel that there is always a level of fair exchange. This shift will make the selling or influencing process far easier and more enjoyable for all concerned. This new perspective or philosophy will help you to change your approach to every conversation or interaction you will have with any clients.

Listen for Ways to Add Real Value

You will no longer be pitching to clients, you will be enquiring about how you can best serve and help them. You will be listening and focusing your energy on uncovering ways to add value to their lives and businesses. Learn the art of listening and search until you uncover their real needs and desires. When you do this effectively, you are better able to offer solutions, which will help them improve their lives and businesses. Understanding your clients’ needs and adding meaningful value to them in the context of fair exchange will help you to become a valued and trusted partner in their business. Someone they know is there to help them, someone that they can confidently refer to someone else, who they believe will also receive great value from you too.

Help People get what they want

When you are genuinely committed to helping as many people as possible get what they want. The law of reciprocity comes into play and almost magically, people around you will begin to help you get what you want in return. Embrace the philosophy of authentically helping as many people as possible solve challenges or get what they want and you will see the magic begin. You will no longer be a sales person desperately wanting to make a sale, you will be a partner, who adds real and meaningful value to people.  

Become a Keen Observer

Look at every relationship, every opportunity where you interact with other people as an opportunity to discover their goals, hopes, pains and challenges. Then figure out a way to add value to their lives and businesses. Try to help them wherever you can. This shift where you change your mind-set from selling to helping, adding real value and always ensuring there is a level of fair exchange, will transform your behaviour. This positive shift in your behaviour will influence people to respond differently to you and your sales results will improve. Approaching people with the objective of helping them, makes it a whole lot easier to sell and makes your life more rewarding and meaningful.

Commit to sharpen you “HELPING” skills and you will have discovered the key to unlock your competitive advantage in the market place. You will transform your life and business, you will begin to experience amazing, profitable results and amazing success.

Author: Andrew Horton best Sales Training South Africa

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: You can Master the Art of Innovation

Andrew Horton Inspirational Speakers: You can Master the Art of Innovation: We live in an ever changing world. Any casual observer can see that the pace of the change, we see all around us, is speeding up every day...

You can Master the Art of Innovation

We live in an ever changing world. Any casual observer can see that the pace of the change, we see all around us, is speeding up every day and so the best way to survive and to thrive, in this ever changing environment, is to commit to constantly innovate, evolve and grow.

Your commitment to consistent innovation is what will separate you from the followers and make you a true leader, path finder or trail blazer. You will become an achiever, who will stand out, someone who is a trend setter, rather than a trend follower. It is far better to be setting the standards of performance and achievement, which other people will follow than it is to be the person who is constantly trying to catch up.

Uncover how to Innovate once Again

Most of us are born creative and with an innate ability to innovate. At the age of two over 80 % of two year olds test as highly creative. By the time we reach the age of ten, only two percent of people test as creative and this then remains constant throughout our lives. What happens between the age of two and ten, which kills that creativeness and innovativeness in us? It is time to re-awaken your creative and innovative side and to start down the track of super achievement. Innovation will help you in many ways:

·         Innovation is what will help you to create real meaningful and sustainable progress in your life.

·         Consistent progress is what will advance your life and business beyond the average.

·         Constant innovation will put you ahead of the competitive herd and the status quo.

Innovation has Become a Requisite for Super Achievement

Gone are the days where innovation was reserved for the select few, such as Einstein, Edison and the Wright Brothers. The ever increasing pace of change has made it imperative that everyone, who wants to succeed and excel, must become an excellent innovator or they risk being side-lined, to become just part of the herd or a very small spoke in the wheel of life.

Believe you can Innovate or you Never Will

Innovation is not an event, it is a process. You must first open your mind and believe that you have what it takes to be an innovator. Have the courage to make the crucial mind-set shift and change your beliefs and philosophy. Innovating must become a way of life for you. Make a commitment right now to stop looking at the world and only seeing what is. Make the shift and make a new commitment to look at the world and to constantly search for what could be or in fact should be.

Keep asking a better quality of question

The quality of your life and business is dictated by the quality of the questions you are asking. Learn the art of always asking explorative questions. Questions that will help you unlock possibility and to allow you to constantly flex you innovation muscle.

When you are a true innovator you constantly see the potential within yourself and others. You look for the opportunity for what could be in every event, situation, process, experience or outcome. You are committed to constantly serve, guide, help and solve.

Learn the Art of Observation and Take Action

To become a great innovator you must start by becoming an excellent observer. Study people, your environment, how people operate and live, what they want and need and what challenges they face. As you observe, constantly look for ways to add value to the world and the people around you. As important as it is to come up with new ideas, being creative is not being a true innovator. A true innovator is a person who takes action and makes things happen. They are real implementers of ideas and new strategies.

Innovation is a Doing Word

Creativity is thinking of new things, which will make a difference in the world. Innovation is implementing these changes and making a real and lasting difference to the world. True innovators go way beyond creativity and they become the people that transform people lives. They are the people that turn creative ideas into real and meaningful progress. Innovation is converting creative ideas into marketable products, which will make everyone’s lives better.

When you make this shift in philosophy, you have the courage to once again unlock your creative side and you commit to become a true innovator. You will begin to see the world very differently and every challenge or opportunity, which crosses your path, will present you with new ideas and marketable concepts. These marketable products or services will have so much value that people will want to part with their hard earned resources to get their hands on them and to create meaningful and lasting mutually beneficial relationships with you and your business.

Author: Andrew Horton Motivational Speakers South Africa

http://www.andrewhorton.co.za