Sunday, July 11, 2010

(P) ADVICE FOR DISCOURAGED SALESPERSONS

Here's some words from an experienced salesperson, who is now editor of a newspaper in Minnesota. He doesn't want his name revealed. Enjoy! Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S.

"To this excellent psychological direction, your Editor, as a businessman and having been a salesman, must add, from a strictly business standpoint:

If you're feeling snubbed by turndowns of your product, you're in the wrong business.

Whatever product it is that you sell, it's important to recognize that, likely, 90% or more people either won't need or don't want it. Even if you really had a better mouse trap - most people don't have mice - of those that do, many have a cat.

Efficient salesmanship is only 20% presenting your product. 80% of it is ferreting out those people who need and want it. Generally, this ferreting involves a time-consuming pitch of the product. Statistically, whatever the product, and whomever the salesman, it
usually will end in a 'no.'

Augmenting your efficiency in identifying your market will generally heighten performance far more than trying to be more persuasive. Each time you get a 'no' you're one step farther in
weeding out your non-market. That's what leads to success in sales.

Know your market; project your stats realistically, that is, what percentage you can expect. Play those stats and rate your improvement against them - not a hypothetical 100% that not even
Lee Iacocca could have achieved.

Finally, if, to be happy, you have to be able to persuade 100% of the people of the benefit of your product, you're in the wrong business. Try politics instead."



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Hope you got something out of the "bare knuckle" advice above. By the way, I enjoyed the 1968 movie "Salesman", kind of a serious comedy. Description: Four relentless door-to-door salesmen deal with constant rejection, homesickness and inevitable burnout as they go across the country selling very expensive bibles to low-income Catholic families. Click HERE to view the trailer.

Click HERE for 25 movies with actors portraying salespersons, good and bad, but perhaps by watching these trailers you may pick up something.

Also, here's some great Websites and videos:
How to be a good salesperson- click
HERE
Behaviors that make a good salesperson- click
HERE
How to become a great salesperson- click
HERE
Eleven (11) ways to become a GREAT salesperson- click
HERE

Do you know who Mr. Shmooze is? If you're in sales, it would behoove you to be familiar with him- click
HERE

Lastly, as a psychologist, I enjoyed reading Og Mandino's entire series. I actually recommended a salesman read Og Mandino's one book, "The Greatest Salesman In The World". The video below is a riveting true story of an entreprenuer who read Mandino's series. I would recommend for all discouraged salespersons to read all of Og Mandino's scrolls.


Thursday, July 1, 2010

(O) LEFT-HANDERS HAVE THEIR SHARE OF GENIUS AND TALENT

Dear Mr. Morton- Our son, age 6, is left-handed. Isn’t it better to be right-handed? Can we change his hand preference?- Parents.
Dear Parents- Looking down at my computer keys, I see how a right-biased world makes it somewhat difficult for “southpaws.” The cursor bank, numerical pad and return key are installed on my keyboard’s right side. Guitars, cameras, firearms, kitchen utensils and tools are mostly designed for right-handed people.
Your son’s world may be a bit easier if the controls on camcorders, start pulleys on lawn mowers, winders on wrist watches, cranks on pencil sharpeners and fishing reels, blade-opening notches on Swiss Army knives, and gear shifts on cars were all positioned on the left side.
But things are looking up for “lefties”. Recently, researchers discovered a gene linked to increased odds off becoming a left-hander and that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men who attended college and 26 percent richer if they graduated (John Hopkins, 2006).
It’s amazing that, with only 10 percent of adults being “lefties”, a top-heavy number of pro tennis players are left-handed. Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Martina Bavratilova, Marcelo Rios, Rafael Nadal being just a few. In addition, 30 percent of all professional baseball pitchers and nearly half of all first-basemen are southpaws.
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Some interesting observations about “Lefties”:
- Some famous Lefty personalities are US President Barack H. Obama, Henry L. Ford, Mark Twain, Jimi Hendrix, Michelangelo, and our very own Rafael “Paeng’’ Nepomucen and Emmanuel “Manny’’ Pacquiao.
- Men are slightly more likely to be left-handed than women.
- When NASA began searching for imaginative, reliable, multi-talented people for the moon, 1 in 4 Apollo astronauts turned out to be left-handed (a figure 250% greater than statistical probability).

- Left-handers reach puberty 4-5 months later than right-handed people.

- Lefties tend to draw figures that face the RIGHT.
- Probably because they use the right side of the brain more, lefties appear to be better in the music and arts scene.
- According to neurologists, lefties adjust more readily to seeing underwater.
- Left-handers seem to excel in sports such as tennis, baseball, swimming and fencing.
- The probabilities of producing a lefty are as follows: 1 in 10 if both parents are right-handed; 2 in 10 if one parent is left-handed; 1 in 4 if both parents are left-handed.
- 4 of the 5 original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed.
- Lefties account for a large percentage of those in remedial reading classes.
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You’ll accept your son’s left-handedness after reading the book, “Right-Hand, Left-Hand” by Chris McManus. He explains the proportion of left-handers is rising and, historically, they have been above-average achievers.
Apparently, their brains are built such that the range of abilities broadens. Also, the genes determining left-handedness also govern development of the language centers in the brain. These “lefty” traits correspond to the number of scientific, mathematical, sporting, and artistic geniuses- Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Bobby Fisher…the list of exceptionally-talented lefties is endless.
Your son is in good company! Lastly, here’s some informational Websites:
HELP FOR LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN
LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN.ORG
LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN IN A RIGHT-HANDED WORLD
NOTE: Scroll down the right margin to "(O) LEFT-HANDED CHILDREN" for updated videos and articles on this topic.
Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has retired from his positions as school psychologist and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership & Policy Studies at Bowling Green State University.
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