The best sales advice EVER

Record all you phone presentations and review them. Ask yourself one question over and over– what can I do to improve this interaction and get my customer to feel more satisfaction and be happier by the time they get off the phone with me? If you keep finding ways to improve before you know you will be number 1. I’ve done it several times.

Wow I am so humbled by this –50,000 views

So I’m quite amazed and appreciative that I have gotten over Fifty Thousand view on this blog with very little promotion.
I have been working on two side projects lately that’s why I haven’t had many updates. The first is a book about how to use Apples primary philosophy about creating an exceptional user experience to help grow your business. The second is a audiobook about the bad side of Groupon – ways in which Groupon could actually kill your business and ideas you can use to grow your profit margins with Groupon coupons.
In appreciation of this milestone I going to give one of them away free to you guys before I put it on the market to sell it. This is very limited time offer because I really feel the topic – Groupon is so hot right now. So if your interested please email me -Tom4change@gmail.com or leave your info in comments below and I’ll make sure you get a copy when it’s completed in a about a week if you want the cd hard copy I can get you that too

You can take away my heroes can you take away my pain?

The loss that the world took about two weeks ago with the death of Steven P Jobs has deeply affected me is every way possible. I have been a fanboy of Apple for several years and a follower of Steve Jobs since 1997.I will never forgot that moment when I read on my Iphone that he was gone I was in disbelief until I clicked on the link from MDN to Apples website standing in my girlfriends dining room right after diner. I was a wreck crying and sobbing at this loss my world was shattered. Later I shared with her the Stanford Commencement speech from 2005 which I might add is something I think that EVERYBODY needs to do. She began to see that this person was so much more that the Iphone that we depend on so heavily every day. Steve in death is teaching me so much more about myself and why he was so important to me. I had forgotten about how important I was until reviewed that speech and the think different commercial that Apple released. I have started pushing peoples buttons more because I care so much about their success. With this pain I have a new drive and and actually pissing people off AGAIN because I want the most that people can get out of life and I’ve been pushing them again to go get it. I stopped accepting other peoples limits and amazing things are happening in my life. So please stop being comfortable and start being great in your life regardless of what  you have to sacrifice to get there.

 

 

How come nobody has mentioned this in a Steve Jobs tribute yet?

The greatest thing is my opinion that Steve Jobs did is he took every industry he touched and took it from very complex to so simple we don’t even need instructions. Before Apple was reborn in 1997 I read instructions for every electronic device in my life . Remember the day where you got a computer, cellphone, digital camera , walkman, software and you had to learn how to get this piece of technology to adapt to your life. Imagine that Steve Jobs and his drive for the Simplest design also made it the easiest to use ever. Before Steve came along I had to do thing like buy batteries, find out where to insert them , find the on button to test if I put them in right etc etc etc. Steve took ALL the excess of physical and MENTAL designs in a product and eliminated them. I remember my first Ipod it had NO specific directions I had to read 1st to understand it. There where so few buttons on the devices if I couldn’t figure out the product intuitively I was and idiot. That first Ipod may have been the first device that DIDN’T label the ON button. Think about that it is huge!!!! I no longer had to figure the device out. The simplistic design created a product on all levels that in many ways adapted to me. Once I learned the interface I  literally had to stop thinking because all my I-devices worked exactly the same way. There was never this new latest and greatest model that when it was released I had to learn the new feature, figure out how to turn it on.

A great example in point is cellphones with new latest and greatest I had to completely the RELEARN the whole device. For example when cellphones went from monochrome displays to color displays in the early 2000′s ABSOLUTELY NO manufacturer I can think of made the upgrade easy. The belief was if you want color then you won’t mind the trade of not just the money and you have to completely throw away all your previous knowledge because it doesn’t apply anymore. My mono to color Ipod I utilized ALL my knowledge from the previous device. I had to learn positively nothing new and for the first time in my life this technology is making my life easier and not more complex. Since Apple revolutioned my ideas about ease of use I can’t stand having to adapt to my products because Apple keeps teaching my that I don’t need to give up my peace and serenity to get hundreds of new features no just one (ala OSX verses Windows). This is why other tech companies don’t have a clue because they HP, Dell, Sony, Samsung, RIMM, Microsoft etc and still creating products that they think I will take the time relearn and adapt to and I won’t because Steve Jobs taught me that I don’t have to. This exactly why Apple never creates a product in which they lose customers like the others and they have the most loyal following of any company in the world. So note to all technology companies that will try and market to us we no longer want more , better, faster or bigger we want SIMPLIER, ,Completely Adaptable and Seemless across all products. But I think you can’t create a product and easier that what Apple gives me so good luck in getting my attention.

A great profit question

What challenges are your customers currently having that you have or could create a new solution to? this week listen to your customers challenges closer and ask yourself –“What solution could I create for them if I really wanted to?”

Pull me Under — Dream Theater

“Every breath brings me one less too my last.” Great point in perspective,

“Every step brings me closer my last”

Stephen Covey –Begin with the end in mind— Habit #2

These two lines from one of my favorite songs really help me to maintain focus when I get overwhelmed or lose sight of what i’m really trying to accomplish. Many times looking at the big picture and stepping back from the day to day procedures of running your business and asking yourself “In the end what do I want? What do I want those around me to feel or see ? How do I want to be remembered? What do I want to say I did for my community with this business? How do i see the end of this business (selling it, retiring and closing or passing it on to the family or friends I cherish most?)

These questions aren’t easy but the are substantial in stature for your life and your business. Begin with the end in mind making problem solving easy because you don’t get wrapped up in the trivial parts of a problem like blame for instance –(when does that really help anyway?). Instead you have the ability to see beyond the challenges and focus on why we want to solve the problem. The answers of how will come much easier.

 

To many resources vs too little when fear hits

One of those topics business owners don’t consider often enough is their mindset or comfort level when a crisis hits and how many resources they have and how to best utilize them. The problem is FEAR. Fear triggers us to think in terms of scarcity instead of over abundance. We have to learn to plan for these situations BEFORE they occur. Inventory at busy times is great example –what is your plan when you run out of your best seller while you have a line?