Today’s success tip comes from Paul Hanna.

Paul Hanna is regarded as one of Australia’s leading motivational speakers with a client list that reads like a who’s who of the country”s corporate elite: Qantas, Telstra, Lexus, Vodafone and BMW are just some of the organisations that have used his service.

What are your top ten tips for building referrals?

1. Set a target - you have to set a goal or target first before you can achieve it. So to build referrals, work out how many you’re going to ask for each week, because then you’ll be able to give yourself feedback on how you’re doing and you’ll know how much more you need to do to achieve your end result.

2. Birds of a feather flock together - people mix with the people they feel comfortable with. If you want to grow your business quickly, focus on people who are already customers of yours and already think you are terrific!

3. Take responsibility for getting the referral - it’s no use handing out hundreds of business cards if you’re not going to take responsibility for getting the referrals to happen. If you want to move to the next level of achievement, you must start asking for names and phone numbers.

4. Send an ‘advance party’ - if possible have a current client who thinks highly of you phone ahead to a prospective client before you meet them. All the existing client has to say is, ‘You’ll really like her - she’s very professional and calls a spade a spade’, and bingo, you’re in.

5. Nothing succeeds like success - one of my clients, Wade, who is in the home loan business, said he has obtained some of his greatest referrals after he has sent a gift basket to a client on the completion of their loan. However, he made a further leap in referrals after he started sending the baskets to the clients’ workplace instead of home. This was a stroke of genius because now, as soon as a gift basket arrives, everyone in the office gathers around to find out where it came from.

6. Follow up with a thank you call - it may not be as grand as a gift basket, but a thank you call always impresses clients because most salespeople forget to make them. While you’re on the phone, why not ask your client for at least one person they think could use your product or service. One of the ways to phrase this question is, ‘Eve, have you told anyone about your home loan being approved? Did anyone say they could use my assistance?’ One word of advice: make sure you get the person’s name and number before you hang up.

7. Non-buyers also know people who are ready to purchase - I once had an enquiry from a small business owner, who wanted to have his five people attend my seminar but couldn’t afford my fee. I didn’t have any public seminars coming up in his area, so he faced a challenge. How could he get his people to attend one of my seminars and, at the same time, spread the costs a bit? I asked him whether he had any business associates who would be interested in having their people attend with his people, and who could share the cost. Two days later, this gentleman rang back and booked a seminar with a partner, after following this advice. Since then, I have had more than 2,000 staff members from the partner attend my seminar.

8. Ask your clients to send a letter or email of introduction - in the early days, whenever I completed a successful series of seminars for an organisation, I would draft a letter that my satisfied client could send to their associates. The letter was written in a way that praised me and my seminars and spoke of the positive feedback and, more importantly, the benefits my client had received.

9. Centres of influence referrals - centres of influence are people who are well regarded among a group of people. For example, the head of your local Lions Club or Rotary chapter, or the leader of a local networking group that meets once a week for breakfast. Knowing a centre of influence could result in an avalanche of sales for you because instead of wasting your time seeing each person individually, a centre of influence can invite you to present your product or service to the whole group.

10. Manage your database for big results - without doubt one of your biggest opportunities is your humble database of past and current clients. If you haven’t started a database, or if your current one is in poor condition, make a commitment now to contact a public relations or marketing firm as soon as possible to assist you to work this goldmine of opportunities.

This website contains even more great tips from Paul Hanna.

Today’s success tip comes from Robyn Henderson.

In 1992, she authored and self-published her first networking book and is now regarded as a “Global Networking Specialist”. She has written and contributed to more than 25 books on networking, self-esteem and self-promotion.

What is networking and how can everyday people use it to expand their opportunities?

Networking is a life skill, not just something you do when you want something. There are three universal laws that form the foundations of ethical networking.

1. Giving without expectations - the basic principle of helping others without an expectation of receiving something in return. It’s about being able to give someone a key piece of information or assistance that will enable them to achieve their goal, complete their task or assist them in some way. In the bestseller, Masters of Networking, Ivan Misner says, ‘Master networkers give without remembering and receive without forgetting’. This is the key to giving without expectation.

2. Understand the law of reciprocity - what you give out comes back tenfold, but not always from the same person. If you give out referrals you will receive referrals; if you give out love you will receive love; give out help and advice, receive help and advice. Good networkers are strong believers of this law of reciprocity, which also states ‘what goes around, comes around’. So this single belief ensures that you always treat people the way you would like to be treated.

3. Have an abundance mentality - in our time-poor, competitive society, abundant thinkers are often in short supply. These are the people who may still be challenged about the best way to build their careers or businesses, but ethical networkers have an underlying belief system that there is plenty for everyone. That is, plenty of opportunities for their product or service on a local, national and international scale, even though there does not appear to be sufficient market share for everyone. They know future markets may be only a personal contact away, a friend of a friend, a chance conversation, a serendipitous meeting with another. Abundant thinkers are open to ideas, networking opportunities and making the pie bigger for everyone.

People wishing to expand career or business opportunities can include networking skills into their daily and weekly plan by:

* Attending a networking event once a week.

* Allocating 15 minutes per day for networking activity. This could be a specific phone call to someone in your network, a fax, email, or sending a small gift or thank you card.

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Today’s success tip comes from Paul Hanna.

Paul Hanna is regarded as one of Australia’s leading motivational speakers with a client list that reads like a who’s who of the country”s corporate elite: Qantas, Telstra, Lexus, Vodafone and BMW are just some of the organisations that have used his service.

What is sales leadership and what are some of the ways to close a sale?

Top sales professionals take accountability for closing a deal and never wait for the customer to ask for the product. This is called sales leadership. The following closes are used by sales leaders all over the world.

The assumption close - as its name suggests, the assumption close is all about assuming your customer is ready to buy and that they just need your leadership to cross the line. For example, ‘So, Mr Jones, will you be using our direct debit system to pay for the monthly deductions, or would you prefer to send us a cheque every six months?’ or ‘So which day of the week would better suit you for delivery - Monday or Thursday?’

The deadline close - this is a common close used especially at electrical stores. Even though there might be 100 yellow toasters out the back, the sales assistant will come back to you with: ‘Wow, this is the last one. You’re so lucky’, which creates a sense of urgency for you to complete the deal. Another example is, ‘This is the last PC we have in stock that has the built-in DVD player. After this one goes, there will be a two-month wait’.

The Benjamin Franklin close - this close is designed to set out all the facts in a simple format that makes the right decision virtually leap out at you off the page. It is a close often used after you have handled every objection with diligence and patience and yet the customer still remains undecided. So what you do is you pull out a piece of paper and ask the customer to write ‘for’ and ‘against’ lists, providing reasons why they should or should not proceed with the purchase. This is actually the process that I use when making tough decisions, and I tell the customer this too. You often find that they will struggle with one or two reasons why they should not purchase your product or service.

The paperwork close - this is a great close to be used after the Benjamin Franklin close and requires choosing your words very carefully. For example, ‘Susan, which state would you like to start delivery of the phones in - New South Wales or Victoria?’ After she replies ask a very powerful closing question: ‘Susan, could you please okay this paperwork down here?’ Don’t say, ‘Could you please sign the contract now?’ The word ‘contract’ implies long commitment, big dollars and legal obligations. In contrast the word ‘paperwork’ is harmless and doesn’t scare anyone.

The puppy dog close - this is one of the all-time favourite closes, and for good reason - it works brilliantly! Let’s say your five-year-old son decides he wants a puppy dog for his birthday. You take him to the pet shop and he finds a labrador pup that is just like the one he wanted. The pet shop owner knows all about the puppy dog close and encourages you to take it home for a couple of days to see how it fits in with the rest of the family. You know where this is going! As soon as that puppy gets into your home, it’s never going back to the shop. Its big eyes and cuddliness have your son hooked. And guess who else will be too? The person with the money.

The ‘no-rush’ close - this is a great close to use when your customers are feeling a bit of pressure, either from your push to close the deal or internal pressures from their company to make a decision, any decision. When you say, ‘There’s no rush - whenever you’re ready’, the customer feels totally in control. If you’ve been a bit impatient and perhaps a bit pushy, this kind of statement is a brilliant way of tipping control back to the side of your client.
This website contains even more great tips from Paul Hanna.

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Today’s success tip comes from Paul Hanna.

Paul Hanna is regarded as one of Australia’s leading motivational speakers with a client list that reads like a who’s who of the country”s corporate elite: Qantas, Telstra, Lexus, Vodafone and BMW are just some of the organisations that have used his service.

 
Why do you believe that pushy sales techniques do not work in Australia?

Simply because Australians don’t warm to the pushy sales techniques that stereotypically define the American sales industry. Yes, we might like American movies and television shows but Australians are not as upfront when it comes to purchasing, nor do they like the hype that some salespeople carry on with.

I am not having a go at American sales trainers here, it’s just that Australians are different. We watch the nightly news at 6pm; Americans watch it at 9pm. We drive on the left side of the road; they drive on the right. We sit on the right-hand side of the car; they sit on the left. We all still get to the same destination, but in Australia we like to do things differently.

I think the one thing that really differentiates Australians from people of other cultures is the way we view aggressive salespeople. When I used to work in the travel industry, one of the toughest parts of my job was to escort Australian travel agents overseas on familiarisation trips.

These trips were designed to allow agents to grasp a sight, feel, smell and touch for the city first-hand. As part of their itinerary, I would always include a city tour. No matter how many times I did this, I was constantly amazed at how intimidated the travel agents would get when market vendors hustled them for a sale. No matter where we were - Hong Kong, Rome, San Francisco or Bali - Australians really didn’t like being pushed.

I found that it was the Japanese who were the most successful in selling to Australians. Despite the language barrier, the Japanese were always willing to spend a little more time with their Aussie prospects.

The lesson I learnt here was that if you really want to bring in the dollars and make more sales, you need to do what the Japanese do - present the product or service at an extremely high standard, be courteous and patient when demonstrating it, and charge a bit more than your competitors because of the perceived higher value.

 
This website contains even more great tips from Paul Hanna.

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Today’s success tip comes from Daniel Kertcher.

In 1998 Daniel became fascinated with the stock market and went on to develop a multi-million dollar trading account. Today, he is a teacher and educator having helped 70,000 people across 22 countries.

You are well acquainted with just about all stock market strategies. Is one strategy really better than the other?

When it comes to trading the stock market there are many different strategies. Most people believe that the only way to invest in the stock market is to simply buy shares and hold them for the long term. While that is one strategy, there are many more that allow investors to make money in rising, falling and sideways markets over the short and long term. However, despite all the different strategies, they all fall into two categories: one is for capital gain and the other is for income generation.

Options allow traders to make both capital gain and income. The simplest form of options trading is to buy a call option. If the share price goes up then you will make a capital gain. There is no income from buying a call option; it is purely a capital gain, which you make if the share price moves sufficiently in your favour. An alternative strategy would be to write a covered call. With this strategy you purchase shares and then write a call option against those shares. That way you can make a capital gain on the shares if they rise in value as well as an income from writing the call option.

CFDs provide investors solely with a capital gain if the stock moves in their favour and if the company pays a dividend.

Some strategies are easier and simpler to execute than others and some are potentially more profitable than others. It’s up to the trader to determine if they want to have capital growth or income (or a combination of both), and then choose the appropriate strategy that will enable them to achieve the desired outcome.

Markets never just rise in value - they often fall and/or move sideways. Highly successful investors and traders do not rely on knowing how to implement just one strategy. Instead, they have a range of strategies with which they are familiar and experienced. They then choose the appropriate strategy at the appropriate time depending on the market conditions and their desired outcome.
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Today’s success tip comes from Pat Mesiti.

Pat has spoken at some of the largest conferences in the world and his books and materials have sold over two million copies. He is a highly effective communicator, and most notably, an income acceleration coach.

What is a millionaire mind-set?

A millionaire mind-set is not about dollars. Prosperity is not about an abundance of stuff, it’s a way of living, a mind-set we create. Similarly, poverty is not the lack of stuff, it’s the mind-set around it. Let me give you an example. I’m involved in an organisation that looks after 5,000 children in Uganda - we feed, educate and clothe them. Those children take nothing and turn it into something.

I actually tell people that if they were given more, they would probably do far less because they don’t think broke - they don’t even know that they’re broke. They know that something is not right but they take what they’ve got, they turn it into something and they are not broke in their thinking. A millionaire mind-set is thinking prosperously - like having a generous eye. Where can I be generous to people?

Prosperous people play the money game to win. Broke people play the game not to lose. The millionaire mind-set says, ‘People are the reason I prosper’. The broke mind-set says, ‘People are the reason that I don’t prosper’. The millionaire mind-set says, ‘I’m in this for what I can contribute’. The broke says, ‘I’m in this for what I can get’.

I am constantly amazed in my role as a coach and as a speaker when the first thing people who are applying for a job ask is, ‘How much will I be getting paid? What are my benefits? When can I take my holidays? What are the hours?’ They haven’t even worked five minutes yet - their mentality is so wrong.

So, it’s really about getting people to think differently, to think prosperously and to get rid of the viruses they have. For example, why do we refer to people as an ‘Aussie Battler’, when they really aren’t?

Yes, we’ve had some struggles but we are not battlers, we are achievers, and if you look at our history as Australians we are a very prosperous and wealthy nation. I actually think the average ‘Aussie Battler’ is really the average ‘Aussie Whinger’, complaining about what they don’t have rather than being grateful for what they do have.
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Today’s success tip comes from Bakous Makari.

In 1997, Bakous started Makari & AMP; Co, a business founded on the principle of “We See Opportunities, You See Results”. In the last few years he has helped his clients save millions of dollars in tax. His work has attracted the attention of Jay Abraham, who has actively endorsed Bakous’s wealth creation service.

What do you think holds businesses back from maximising profits and achieving their full potential?

Inadequate cash flow. Many people are amazed to know that most businesses that fail are actually profitable. Unfortunately, the business owner becomes so focused on trying to do the best that he or she can that they lose sight of the cash that is coming into and going out of the business.

As a result they get caught in a cash flow squeeze, where they’re not getting enough money in time to satisfy creditors who are demanding payment. So frequently, the result is that they get wound up. This to me is one of the great tragedies of small business in Australia and all around the world.

Inadequate systems. Many people believe that having strong systems will stultify their business and hamper creativity. That is just not true. Systems make the routine, day-to-day running of the business so much easier.
Businesses without systems are disorganised - they spend a lot of time looking for things, losing things, and re-creating things because no one remembers when things were done before. As a result, they not only waste time but also drive up their costs. 

Limiting beliefs. This is probably the most important thing that holds businesses back. These beliefs can manifest into reality for people who think they will not be able to handle more than one or two employees, or manage any more growth, or be able to cope with competition from larger players.

There are many stories in the world about small businesses that have grown to be great businesses, successfully operating in the most competitive marketplaces because the owners truly believed in themselves and what their business stood for.
This website contains even more great tips from Bakous Makari.

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Today’s success tip comes from Daniel Kertcher.

In 1998 Daniel became fascinated with the stock market and went on to develop a multi-million dollar trading account. Today, he is a teacher and educator having helped 70,000 people across 22 countries.

How do you think the stock market compares to other investment vehicles such as business or property?

I believe that the stock market is the single greatest business concept in the world today. I approach my trading in the stock market as a business. If you use the analogy of a store - you buy your stock at a wholesale price and sell it on at a retail price - in essence, that is what we are doing in the stock market. We are buying stock at a certain price and selling it on at a (hopefully) higher price. The benefit over other businesses is that we can trade the stock market with $1,000, $100,000, $1 million or more. There is really no limit to what we can do.

What’s more, there are strategies in the stock market which allow us to make profits in rising, falling or even sideways markets! So trading the stock market is a much more versatile investment arena than traditional businesses, or even real estate.

To be successful in a traditional business you have to have a good product, excellent marketing, and a competitive price, while also being a master of many different business skills such as leadership, management and finance - there are a lot of things you need to be good at in order to be successful. All you have to do to be successful in the stock market is spend time becoming educated on how the market works and how to protect your capital, and then start gaining experience. Start investing with a small amount of capital and build that up as you become more confident in your trading.

In the property market you only really make money when the market rises. You need a substantial amount of capital to get into the market, the rental income may not always cover the mortgage, and you may have an ongoing cash shortfall. If you want to sell your property it may take months for the property to settle and for you to gain access to the cash from the sale. In the stock market, you can close out all of your positions and have all of your cash back in as little as two business days! 

What’s more, the commissions and expenses for running property are huge compared to trading similar amounts of money in the stock market. The sale of a property worth $500,000 would cost tens of thousands of dollars in commission, not to mention the stamp duty upon purchase, rates, land taxes and so on. In the stock market, you can buy or sell a parcel of shares worth $500,000 and pay as little as $625.00.

There are advantages and disadvantages in the business and property markets; however I believe the overall advantages of the stock market far outweigh the risks and rewards of business or real estate.
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