An excerpt from Blair Singer's Book, The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins. 

"Greatness doesn't happen by chance, nor does it occur in a vacuum. Greatness comes from, first, a passion for what you do; and second, a clear understanding of what you can and want to be best at. 

 The third component involved in any great story about someone going from rags to riches, overcoming adversity, achieving success in any area of life is a personal Code of Honor, a set of personal rules and agreements that they are unwilling to compromise. 

 Do you have a Code of Honor for you? What are your rules? To what do you hold yourself accountable? Who the heck are you? 

You see, because when all the smoke clears, they can take away your money, your possessions, your friends and even your health, and what you are left with is your honor. 

In those terms, what is your Code of Honor? I have found that the most powerful people are not always found on the cover of Newsweek, Fortune Magazine or Sports Illustrated. 

Sometimes they may be sitting in the office next door. They are those who have decided in life to take a stand about who they are, what their standards are and who the want to be without regrets. 

My suggestion is this: If you haven't don so already, sit down and look at your financial life, your health, your relationships and your values, and create your code. What are you willing to commit to for yourself and your family? What do you stand for?" 

Try this exercise. Answer each of the following questions in the form of a list: 

 What am I most passionate about? 

 What can I be best at? 

 What do I want to be best at? 

 What do I stand for? 

 What do I want out of life? 

 How can I achieve my goals? 

 Who do I know that has what I want (or admire?) 

 Why do I admire them? 

 What do I see as unacceptable behaviors for successful people? 

 What do I dislike? 

 What would I like to avoid? What are my necessities in life? 

 What should every person try at least once before they die? 

 Can you think of any more questions? Use your answers to begin to form your personal code. Once you have your code you will find a new level of focus and a more defined path to achieving your life goals. 

 For more about creating a Code of Honor please refer to Blair Singer's book, The ABC's of Building a Team That Wins or his Code of Honor Training Kit. 

Most often when we lose a sale it is simply because we give up too early.  When you hear an objection to your pitch it is important that you don't take offense or get angry.  Just try to figure out what exactly your customer is objecting to.
 
The best way to do this is ask an open ended question.  Here are Blair Singer's rules for handling objections from his Sales Dogs Training School Kit:
 
RULE #1:  NEVER, ever, ever, ever, ever negate the experience or view of the prospect!!!!
 
RULE #2:  Answer each objection with an immediate "thank you" or an acknowledgement of the objector's position or point of view.  If it is a true objection or disagreement, or if it is a true inquiry, first acknowledge the source and then respond briefly with a concise, courteous answer.  Then ask the question, "May I ask why?"  DO NOT answer anything until you ask a question first.
 
RULE #3:  DO NOT ask "trapping" questions to corner or close the prospect.  Instead, ask "Why, How and What specifically" questions.  Make sure you are really concerned and interested in the response.
 
RULE #4:  Always have a succinct, one line response to potential questions prepared.  These responses should be unique to each customer.
 
If you follow these rules you will vastly increase your sales percentages.
 
The following is a common objection and some recommended responses to keep your prospect involved in the sale:
 
OBJECTION -
 
I have a relative in the business who can get the product for me cheaper.  My cousin knows someone who can get it or who gave some good advice about this stuff.  (Uncle Louie Objection)
 
RESPONSES -
 
That's great!  Is it possible to get together with him/her and make sure that we're all on the same page.
 
Excellent!  Perhaps we can give him a call right now and make sure that we're talking about the same thing.
 
For more responses to the Uncle Louie Objection please refer to ourSales Dogs Training School Kit.  The kit includes training on objection handling as well as responses to the top 30 objections that stump unprepared salespeople all over the world.

In Blair Singer's book The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins Singer speaks of three keys that every team needs to aspire to greatness.

They are as follows:

1. Pressure builds great teams in all arenas.  Embrace it and don't run from it.
2. Find constructive ways to release stored emotion so that the evolutionary process can proceed - exercise, sports, discussion, whatever works.
3. Use a code of honor to hold the team together under pressure.  More than ever, if you stick by it in the heat, you will emerge more powerful, with better results and with a sense of incredible pride and accomplishment.

Here is a drill that you can do with your team to help them release stored emotion and bond simultaneously:

Describe moments of high pressure and how they were handled - well or not so well.

How could they have been handled better knowing what you know now?

Make sure that you encourage participation by all and are open to every idea.

 Once you have incorporated the three keys above into an automated system you will be well on your way to massive success.

If you would like to know more about strengthening your team with a code of honor please refer to Singers book The ABC's of Building a Business Team That Wins.

 
Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which you only had a moment to pitch a product or service that you provide?  Many of us have. 

Imagine that you have struck up a conversation with someone at a coffee shop and you instantly recognize them as your ideal client demographic.

How do you get them interested in your product/service right away?  Do you ramble about your experience?  Spout out a bunch of general facts, numbers, features and benefits?

The answer is no.  The key to generating instant interest is to tap into their WIIFM, or "What's in it for me?"

Everyone wants to improve their life in some way.  Chances are your product/service can help them with that.

If you want to hold someone's attention you have to offer them a reward for listening.  They want to hear how you can help them.  They would love for you to solve all of their problems.

Of course we are talking about offering them the benefits of your product/service here, but you don't want to list benefits.  You need to find this person's particular "hot button" or "x-factor." 

The key to finding this information is simply by asking questions.  Don't chase a prospective client away by talking at them.  Ask them a series of open ended questions until you get them to admit a problem that you can solve.

Then throw out your numbers, facts and testimonials to prove to them that you can deliver.  People love to talk about themselves, especially their problems.  Asking questions invites them into the conversation and allows them to vent, they will be thankful for the opportunity.

Listen to their problems carefully.  Are they lonely, overweight, sick, overworked and stressed?

You should know how your product/service can remedy these problems so you can offer a swift solution.  Take a moment to come up with as many life problems that you can think of.  Now make a list of ways that your product/service can solve them.  It would be highly beneficial to memorize this list.

For more on generating instant interest (including in written adds) please refer to our Automatic Lead Generator Training Kit.

In sales it is a necessity to have strong listening skills.  Especially when it comes to objection handling.

Throughout the course of a sale you should be constantly asking questions to get a better understanding of what your prospective client needs, or wants, from you.

Asking questions is the easy part, however.  Listening is where most people drop the ball in a sale.  You have to let your client finish talking the whole while listening intently with genuine interest.

Make sure your next question or statement is related to what the consumer just said.  Remember it's not enough to just listen, you have to be an empathetic listener as well.

The following are 10 tips to becoming an empathetic listener:

1.  Practice saying, "Take your time, I'm listening." and really mean it.

2.  Set aside your own agenda.

3.  Be available and receptive emotionally as well as through body language.

4.  Try to appreciate the other person's point of view.

5.  Listen without being in a hurry to take over.

6.  Try to imagine yourself in the other's place; feel what the speaker feels.

7.  Help draw out thought and feeling by asking questions.

8.  Have the speaker elaborate for further understanding.

9.  Say, "Let me make sure I understand," and then restate the issue.

10.  Be sensitive to the speaker's feelings.

Being an empathetic listener will help your closing ratios tremendously because the customer will feel you understand their needs and have their best interests in mind.  For more on objection handling please refer to our SalesDogs Training School Kit.