My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communications Qualities – Part 6

My Ambit Secrets – The Sixth Communication Quality – Make Sure Your Body doesn’t distract the Prospect

We continue my Ambit secrets from the Ambit Pro Inviter Series where I train on the “how to” of the ten communication qualities.  The sixth communication quality is:

Make Sure Your Body doesn’t distract the Prospect

 Many things you do will distract your prospect from hearing the content of your message.  By the time you finish reading this post, you will be able to answer this question: What is the number one reason trade show attendees gave for not buying at the show?  You will also have a better knowledge about how your body can distract your prospect(s) from taking action:

In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, I share more great Ambit secrets about how your body can distract your prospects.  I will discuss some of those here. 

First, there are things that you may be doing to distract your prospects.  Chewing or popping gum is a big distraction.  So is tapping on the table or clicking a pen repeatedly.  Whether you are on the phone or meeting in person – avoid chewing gum, tapping on the table, or clicking a pen.  Remember, to keep your focus on being interested in the prospect’s needs, wants and don’t wants.  If you are popping gum, tapping on the table or clicking a pen, you cannot focus on the prospect.  Moreover, the prospect will see and hear this and think that you are not so interested. 

Next, body odor is another distraction of your body.  If you have been outside in the heat, or recently exerted yourself, then you may have body odor.  You may not smell it yourself, but if your prospect can smell it, they are going to be more focused on how to get away from the smell than on the content of your message.  On the same note, if you wear too much cologne or perfume, it could overwhelm your prospect.  If you do wear such, remember a small dab is quite enough.  Even if you don’t smell that small dab, your prospect will.  Also, consider that your prospect could have an allergy to cologne and perfume. 

Third, with regard to odor, consider your breath.  While none of us intentionally want to have bad breath, sometimes we just do.  It comes from what we consume (eat, drink, smoke) and how recently we brushed our teeth.  Sure, you can use a mint to cover some of the odor, but you don’t want to be sucking on a mint or chewing gum when you speak to a prospect.  If you do not have time to brush your teeth between eating, smoking, or drinking (coffee for example), breath spray is probably the best to use just prior to meeting with the prospect. 

Fourth,  your attire and how you present yourself can also be a distraction.

From the outset you have to consider your audience and the location of the prospect meeting.  If you are going to meet in a health club, then a business suit is definitely NOT a good idea.  In fact, for men, business suits are rarely a good idea.  In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, one of my Ambit secrets is – men in suits come across as “slick.” There is a time and place where suits are appropriate, however, for that health club meeting, wear nice shorts and a polo style shirt with sneakers.  This is just one of mine examples from our Ambit Pro Inviter Series with regard to attire for men. 

Women – Not to offend, but do not dress in a way that emphasizes your body.  Remember, you want your prospect to focus on the content of your presentation.   Also, do not fix your lipstick or makeup while meeting with a prospect. 

Men – If you are going to wear a tie, wear it properly.  Do not adjust your tie or other portions of your clothing during the meeting.

BOTH – dress neatly.  Again, this does not necessarily mean a suit, but consider whether your clothing is wrinkled or has stains.  Wrinkles and stains can draw your prospect’s focus away from your message to wondering about your clothes. 

Fifth, don’t answer your cell phone during a meeting with a prospect.  Another of my Ambit secrets in our Ambit Pro Inviter Series is – pull the phone out and tell your prospect that you are only going to answer if your babysitter calls, otherwise he or she (the prospect) has your full attention.  This will do two things – it will let the prospect know that they will have your undivided attention and then, hopefully you will get the same from your prospect.

In summary, create an environment where your body and the environment do not distract your prospect.  Maintain good physical and oral hygiene.  Dress appropriately.  Don’t chew gum, click your pen, or tap your fingers.  Make sure your cell phone (and hopefully the prospect’s as well) is not a distraction.

Now, did you correctly answer the question “What is the number one reason trade show attendees gave for not buying at the show?”

If you answered “Bad Breath” you are absolutely correct! 

AND, for the final of today's Ambit secrets:  What do I say about “talking with your hands?”  I believe that after you listen to our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, Call # 2, you will be somewhat surprised.

If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

Genuinely Recognize Your Team Members

"Never miss an opportunity to say a word of congratulation upon anyone's achievement."

- President Lyndon B. Johnson

Everyone loves to be recognized for their achievements. When you give someone recognition, then they feel that they did a good job and want to do even more. When others see someone else being recognized, it generally makes them want to make the same achievement -  if your recognition program is done right.

I'm gonna share some tips for a good recognition program:

Ask your team for input. What do they consider a reward and recognition? Do they value cash prizes, free Ambit apparel, Ambition tickets or f-r-e-e le-ads? If they get what they want, they won't feel like you are condescending to them. If you give rewards and recognition that simply means nothing to your team, then it is a pointless endeavor. So, when developing your program give your team a voice.

Tell them what activities you will reward and what they have to do to earn the reward. When your team knows what they have to do to get the recognition, they know where they stand. But, first you need to decide what it is you are going to reward.

For example, you could use any of the 13 activities in the Performance Tracker such as most appointments set, most number of presentations and most customers gathered for a given time period (week, month, quarter).

Tell them the way to rewards is through training. Nothing is more motivating than knowing what to say on the phone and how to say it. When you and your team member(s) set goals for learning - such as a certain phone script, and they meet the goal, reward them. By mentoring them, they learn, and when they meet the goal, they will feel that they earned the reward.

Just remember that genuine recognition will go a long way toward motivating your down-line. Just remember to reward consistently and fairly. If you make it a policy to reward for most phone calls per week, then you must reward every week. On the other hand, if you are doing a short term Consultant/Customer Gathering push for example, make sure your team is very clear that it is a one-time contest.

When you send a card or flowers to a team member who has made an achievement, you will motivate him to make more of those achievements. You will also make him feel that you are interested in them and their success.

So, now your mission is to come up with a recognition program for your team. Remember to include them on the discussion of what types of rewards they would like. If you need ideas, don't forget my suggestion to use any of the activities in the Performance Tracker.

Check out this video clip promotion on what we are doing for our team at Ambition

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communication Qualities – Part 5

My Ambit Secrets – The Fifth Communication Quality – Communicate Easily

My Ambit secrets are very valuable when applied.  Today's Ambit secrets are about the fifth communication quality from our Ambit Pro Inviter Series.  The fifth communication quality is Communicate Easily:  No tension or strain; No fakeness; No sounding rehearsed; and No stuttering or hesitating.

If you can communicate easily, then you will be able to tackle your “chicken list.”  In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series  I talk about the “chicken list” we all have.  This is the list of people we put off calling because we are unable to communicate easily with these people. 

Read on for some ideas about how you can start to tackle your “chicken list” and communicate easily with all your leads and  prospects:

NO TENSION OR STRAIN

Collins Dictionary defines tension as: mental or nervous strain, often accompanied by muscular tautness.  Strain is great or excessive pressure on the mind and\or body. 

When you are experiencing strain and tension your body or mannerisms can give you away.  For example, your voice may squeak or quiver. Or you might speak too rapidly, or swallow too much, or play with your jewelry, as just a few examples.  Strain and tension comes from being afraid that you will sound stupid when you speak.  One of my Ambit secrets I share in our Ambit Pro Inviter Series is to be prepared when you speak to your leads. 

One remedy to avoid the tension and strain I share is to be prepared for anything that can come up when speaking to a lead.

NO FAKENESS

Fakeness is representing falsely or pretending to be something or someone you are not.

When you fabricate a feeling, such as happiness, you are being fake.  Another way that you will come across as fake is using “fluff” words such as “awesome” and “incredible” in place of actual content.  For example, if you are excited about our FREE Energy Program, don’t just say “our FREE Energy Program is exciting.  Instead, say, I am excited about our FREE Energy Program because (it puts back money in our household budget and allows me to offer others the opportunity to do the same\whatever reason it makes you excited). 

NO SOUNDING REHEARSED

If you read from a script when speaking to a lead or prospect, then you are going to sound rehearsed.

This does not mean that you don’t actually rehearse ahead of time.  In fact, one of my Ambit secrets about learning or doing something new – drill, drill, drill!  Drilling is rehearsing.  In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series I share that I practiced my “script” tens of thousands of times until he got to the point he could use a 3” x 5” card with bullet points when speaking with leads.  I came to know the objections that come up during these first calls and I is prepared to handle them without sounding rehearsed. 

Rehearse ahead of time to the point you won’t sound rehearsed when you are talking to your leads and prospects.

NO STUTTERING OR HESITATING

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stutter as: to speak with involuntary disruption or blocking of speech and hesitate as: to hold back in doubt or indecision  to delay momentarily, pause.

If you stutter or hesitate, you don’t speak for a short period of time because you are embarrassed, uncertain, or worried about what you are going to say or do.  The reason you are embarrassed, uncertain or worried is because you are not confident in our Ambit Opportunity. 

In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series I share my Ambit secrets to being confident in our Ambit Opportunity and Service.  One way to be confident is to be familiar with Ambit Energy the company and\or services(s).  When you are familiar, you will have confidence and you will not hesitate or stutter.

If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communications Qualities – Part 4

My Ambit Secrets – The Fourth Communication Quality – Using the Correct Amount of Assertiveness

Today I continue with my Ambit secrets series on the 10 Communication Qualities.  The topic for today is using the correct amount of assertiveness.  This is the Fourth communication quality from our Ambit Pro Inviter Series.

In the second call module of the  Ambit Pro Inviter Series, I train on the importance of balancing the amount of assertiveness you use when speaking with prospects.  If you are doing something that causes your prospect to pull away from you, you are being too assertive. 

One of my Ambit secrets my Coach taught me on assertiveness is – having the right amount of assertiveness really means that you have charisma.  The Merriam-Webster Learner’s Dictionary defines “charisma” as: a special charm or appeal that causes people to feel attracted and excited by someone. 

Imagine, if you will, that you are on the top of a ladder and your prospect is on a rung below you.  Your goal, of course, is to get your prospect to move up the ladder until they have joined you at the top.  Your interaction with the prospect will either pull the prospect up the ladder toward you, or push the prospect down the ladder away from you.  In these instances, it’s not what you say to the prospect, it is how your charisma comes across when you say it. 

One of my Ambit secrets I share on how to know if you are pushing the prospect away or pulling them in is to watch facial expressions.  To do this, you have to balance showing a genuine interest in the prospect while examining the person’s facial reactions.  It’s almost as though you have to have a “Third Eye” which is like having a video camera on top of your head that is watching for the reactions to what you are saying to the prospect. 

This “Third Eye” will let you know exactly where your prospect is on the ladder.  If the prospect is fully interested, then they are at or near the top.  If the prospect is not interested at all, they are at the bottom of the ladder.

As an example, if you are meeting with your prospect in a restaurant and the prospect starts looking around, you may be speaking too loudly.  Your “Third Eye” might suggest that the prospect is looking around to see who else is hearing your conversation.  You are being too assertive in this instance and pushing the prospect down the ladder away from you.  You would know that you need to speak in a quieter tone. 

In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, I share some great examples about how educating a prospect versus making a prospect feel wrong is the way to go.  The correct amount of assertiveness educates and shares the concept or idea without making the prospect feel that they are getting a lecture or did something wrong.  The goal is to let the prospect come to the conclusion based upon the education. 

If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communications Qualities – Part 3

My Ambit Secrets – The Third Communication Quality – Have a Sincere and Friendly Expression

These Ambit secrets about your facial expression will help you work your prospect.  When you are speaking with a prospect, you need to implement this Third Communication Quality:  Have a Sincere, friendly facial expression.

 You know, it might sound crazy, but there is truth to the tale – if you smile on the phone it will actually come across to the person on the other end.  This is because your facial expression is a direct reflection of what is going on inside of you.  The person on the other end of the phone can hear the smile in your voice.  On the same note, other emotions will also come through in your facial expressions – whether on the phone or in person.

For example, if you are fearful of the objections your prospect may raise, it is going to show in your facial expression.  You will not display a sincere, friendly facial expression.  The fear will take over and it’s going to show.  Even when you are speaking with a prospect and you have a sincere, friendly facial expression, as soon as your prospect raises an objection, your facial expression will change. 

 As you recall from the post on the First Communication Quality, if you say to yourself “I am interested in you,” you will better show interest in your prospect.  In our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, I teach that this statement is also one way to help you display a sincere, friendly facial expression. 

What you do not do to show interest is mirror or copy the prospect’s behavior.  This is bad advice given where you may have been instructed to do what the prospect does – if the prospect crosses his left leg, then you cross your right.  DO NOT mirror!  What you will be doing is focusing on what the prospect is doing so you can do the same.  You won’t show interest in your prospect’s needs and wants.  And, your facial expression certainly won’t be sincere and friendly.

 Instead, in our Ambit Pro Inviter Series, one of my Ambit secrets I share is that you want to have a real friendly look.  This does not mean you have to smile all of the time.  Practice your facial expressions by looking in the mirror.  Display your sincere, friendly expression –  then look in the mirror.  You may be surprised to see what the prospect will see.  Next, think of the last objection you had difficulty overcoming and see what your facial expression looks like. 

When you practice what your expressions are, then it will be easier to display a sincere, friendly facial expression.   However, do not try to be perfect when speaking with a prospect.  This means don’t try to have the perfect facial expression and don’t try to say and do the perfect thing all of the time.  If you focus on being perfect, you will wind up with a concerned look.  The concerned look will be a reflection of your internal concern.  You focus will be on perfection and not on being interested in the prospect.

If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communications Qualities – Part 2

My Ambit Secrets – The Second Communication Quality – Don’t Get Distracted By Anything!

My Ambit secrets are what I love to share in my training materials.  

Today I share a tidbit from My Ambit secrets about the second communication quality:  Don’t Get Distracted.

Ah yes, the joy of multi-tasking!  Hey, I can type out an email to my mom, talk to my kids who just got home from school, give my prospect a rundown on our FREE Energy Program and get my "Honey Do" List – all at the same time!  I love this new world we live and work in.  The one that favors doing many things at once cuz I get so much done!  Who cares if Mom keeps saying that the emails I send to her are often disjointed, I just gave permission for my kids to skip out on their homework, my "Honey Do" list didn't get done and the prospect didn’t sign up?  Look at all I was doing!  And that is how multi-tasking works.  You distract yourself each time you add something new.  

Here’s the better solution:  Do one thing at a time, do it thoroughly, professionally and most of all distraction free.  That’s what I cover in the second communication quality.

I am sure you have experienced a time when you took a call while you were in the middle of something.  Maybe it was a deadline.  So, you figured you would handle the call while you worked to meet the deadline.  When you reflect back on this, I bet you will recall this was a difficult process.  You probably were not focused enough on either the call or the project to do either well.

On the other side of this, you have also probably made a call to a lead where you knew they were not focused on your conversation.  Maybe you could hear them typing on the computer or shuffling around.

 Neither of these scenarios is the best.  When it comes to distractions, here's what my Coach taught me:

 “Nothing is more annoying than when you’re talking to someone who is distracted by something going on in the environment.  Whether it’s a TV that distracts them, a person walking by, or a person on the phone clicking over on call waiting to see who is calling them – anything other than 100% interest in your prospect is not acceptable.” 

A distraction is anything that shifts your focus off of the prospect and onto something else.

 If you are speaking with someone and they are not focused on you, it is really upsetting.  So, imagine if a prospect and you are meeting and you are distracted how upsetting that would be for them.  I teach about the different distractions that can happen and the my secrets to avoiding them in our Ambit Pro Inviter Series.

One of the many ways you can avoid being distracted is to avoid multi-tasking.  For example: don’t check your email while you are talking to a prospect.  When you try to do two things at once, you are less able to be fully effective at either task.  When you multi-task, you shift your focus between two or more tasks, so you are just not 100% interested in what your prospect is saying.

When communicating with a prospect and you remember the first Communication Quality (be interested in the prospect) – it is only logical that to do so you cannot be distracted during the conversation.  If you are distracted, then it would appear to the prospect that you are not interested in him or her.  

 If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

My Ambit Secrets – The Ten Communications Qualities Part 1

The First Communication Quality – Be Interested In Your Prospect

My Ambit Secrets – the Ten Communication Qualities I learned from my Coach that helped me. As you probably know, I talk about the Ten Communication Qualities and 6 step Inviting Formula in the Ambit Pro Inviter Series. We are going to focus for the next two weeks on the Communication Qualities.

The first quality is – “Be Interested in Your Prospect.” Here's one of my Ambit secrets:

“The first and most important quality of you being a great communicator is that you are interested in your prospect. If you really have this one quality down solidly, the rest of the ten qualities seem like they’re just an extension of this one.”

So, how do you make sure that you are interested in your prospect? If you say to yourself, just prior to speaking with a prospect, “I am interested in you,” then your focus will be where it should be – on the prospect.

On the other hand, worrying about "Triple/Double" or that you will look dumb in the eyes of your prospect will focus you on the wrong things. When you focus on the wrong things, you will say the wrong things. My Coach shared a story with me about a time when his focus was on needing to meet his monthly quota.

When he had his focus in the wrong place (on his quota), rather than on the prospect he said exactly the wrong thing: The prospect said that he needed to wait before he could join his organization. Coach's response was to tell the prospect that time was of the essence. Coach was not interested in the prospect – he was interested in volume.

Instead, Coach should have kept his focus on the prospect.  He taught me one of the ways to do this – before you speak to the prospect, tell yourself “I am interested in you.”  Don’t think about whether you are dressed properly or whether you are looking dumb. Just explore what it is that the prospect needs and wants (or does not want), their "Why" or "Dream". Then, when the time is right, share how your Ambit business opportunity or service can help the prospect.

  If you love Ambit First Class training and don’t want to miss new blog posts, be sure enter your email address in the box named "Subscribe to Kevin's Daily Post by Email" found at your upper right of this page to get the blog feed & receive new updates directly to your inbox!  

3 Tips to Making Sure your Meeting Takes Place

My Coach shared that he used to get ticked off when prospects were a no show. The reason, he would plan out his day, arrange for childcare, buy gas and then drive across town, only to sit and wait for someone who would not show up.

Well, if you knew my Coach, you would know he was ALWAYS confirming his appointments, so he sat and figured out why his prospects were not showing up. He had to confirm his appointments - but differently than he had been doing.

I share these proven steps he taught me and I applied with success in my Hot Prospecting Tips Series, and I will list some of them here.

First, you should remember the reasons you confirm an appointment are:

1. To ensure your prospect gets what they need/want.
2. To ensure that the event didn't slip the prospect's mind.
3. So you are certain they know all the details about where to be and at what time. This could include dress code, specific meeting location, fees that might be associated, etc.
4. So that you can plan and have a correct estimation of educational leave behind materials with you.

With these reasons in mind, My Coach came up with steps for confirming his appointments as well as a “script.”

Here are 3 of Coach’s tips he taught me about how to confirm appointments correctly and a short script:

1. Confirm your appointment the night before. It gives your prospect enough time to plan or reschedule accordingly;
2. The best time to call them to confirm is the time you know you can reach them. If you know they work all day, try to get them right before or right after work. If they put the baby down for a nap at 1:00, try calling then.
3. When you reach the person, DON’T say, “Are you going to be there?” Instead, give some small details about the meeting like the dress code and location.
4. Also, when you reach the person, DON’T insult their intelligence by saying “I just wanted to remind you in case you forgot.”

When you call, using a script such as the following one will let you confirm your appointment effectively:

“Hi Wendell, this is Rylona. I’m just calling to let you know I’ll meet you at the door by the front desk tomorrow at 4:30. By the way, I’m coming from a meeting, so I’m going to be in dressy/casual clothes. See you there!”

For more of my Ambit secrets on confirming appointments and other prospecting tips, check out my “Hot Prospecting Tips Series.”

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

[Video] In Business and Sales, Practice Still Makes Perfect by Coach 100K

Practice makes perfect, is a familiar one. Creative types seem to know this intuitively and are driven to practice their art during each free moment. Professional athletes seem to have the same understanding. Next time you watch a 30-second Olympic event, think about the countless hours of practice that led to that moment. These methods are proven to work, but in many cases, business professionals don't seem to follow them. Companies typically invest a lot of time and money into new employees to make sure that they are trained on company policies and practices, but after that, most employees get nothing more than an annual training program rather than the daily practice that gets proven results.

Last month, the You're the Boss blog in The New York Times tackled this topic in a post called "If Practice Makes Perfect, Why Don't Companies Practice More?" The author of the post discusses Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, which states that in order to become proficient in his or her field, a person needs at least 10,000 hours of practice. Given that, why do so many business owners meet clients or put employees in front of them without providing the opportunity for practice?

In sales, practice is essential.

    Study your products.
    Understand your services.
    Take turns describing them in your own words with colleagues.
    Write cold-calling scripts and carry on practice phone conversations with office mates.
    Ask your partner to come up with objections until you become adept at getting around them.

Make this a weekly, if not daily, habit, and you'll see your confidence improve as you become more and more successful in your field. If you have any questions about best practices in sales, contact Closing Time.

Listen to my interview on Top Ambit Incomer Executive Consultant, Nir Golan's, conference call with host Executive Consultant, Debra Hicks: