by Mike Brunel | Mar 27, 2018 | Uncategorized
Decide your Personal Operating Procedures
In my previous post, I covered some personal messages from the book “Only Two Seats Left” www.onlytwoseatsleft.com
I have collected a few more for discussion.
- Have a simple written business plan with objectives & goals.
As I have said any goal setting I do is always ongoing but it follows an underlining theme. In the case of John Anderson at Contiki he sets his goals this way.
- 5 pieces of paper laid out in front of him
- First-page overall long-term goal and objectives
- Second- personal objectives
- Third page- business objectives
- Personal and business- for the following year
- Income and expenditure for the next two years.
- Don’t make your prices be the cheapest – offer the best value.
That might be easy for me to say, but if you are in the business of just price only then you become commoditised, something no one wants it this world of competition.
That tactic only gets you in a scrap with your competition, you are better to dominate that position by being unique and different.
If you are not in that businesses make a promise to yourself that you will walk away from a bad deal once a month. It’s liberating and they may just respect you more and ask you back.
Have fun Selling your stuff.
Mike
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME
by Mike Brunel | Mar 20, 2018 | Leadership, Sales, Strategy
Decide your Personal Operating Procedures
In my last post, I talked about the story of Contiki, this excellent travel company born out an idea of John Anderson that provided 18-35-year-olds an avenue to see the world in the company of people their same age.
In his book “Only Two Seats Left” (link) www.onlytwoseatsleft.com John Anderson the founder lists 25 personal and business messages. These are sprinkled through the book.
I have picked out two in this post and a couple in my next post to illustrate the need for something to think about this coming year.
- Do not research an idea to death – often go with your gut feel.
This is one of the common mistakes many startups and people new to business make, they analyse until they are paralysed.
The truth is that they are paralysed with fear, and are afraid to “just do it” as Nike would say.
If there are ideas out there that you have wanted to try then make a promise that you will try.
- Specialise & be the best in the market.
You can’t be all things to everyone. Salespeople in this new economy have to find a new way of doing business you now need a good story; you need a reason to be in your market, with your opposition, that sets you apart from that opposition.
The reality is the economy is getting cleaned out- it was badly needed, and its happening, the worst employees, the worst salespeople and the worst managers are moving on.
Salespeople have to be problems solvers for their client, not their company they represent.
Our clients know and hear a sales pitch, they defend, use tactics to say no.
What they want are ideas, ways to solve their problems, just like John, who had an idea.
Have fun selling your stuff.
Mike
PS Looking for ideas to help your sales improve, contact me for a FREE 45-minute sales session.
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME
by Mike Brunel | Mar 13, 2018 | Leadership, Strategy
£25 and a Dream
Down under the under, a term I used to tell my American clients to describe where New Zealand was in relation to Australia has had one of the best summers for several years.
It’s a chance to reflect as well on what makes this part of the world a special place.
And why I think that us Kiwis are a clever bunch of people when it comes to innovation and following our dreams.
Every year down under the under most of us get to take a few weeks away to enjoy our summer. I get to go to a family beach house I have been going to for 20 odd years.
Most of my partner’s family have been going to this part of the world much longer, probably three generations.
The beach is a five-minute walk, it’s a daily ritual with two children and of course Bruno the dog.
Part of summer holidays is reading, usually for me fiction an easy read about not much.
Kind of takes your minds off things if you can sprinkle that with the odd nonfiction it gives you some balance.
Those that have read some of my thoughts on goal setting know that I am not big on doing these in the New Year… I tend to set them at different times of the year so they overlap.
I was looking through some of my posts from years gone by and I came across this one, £25 and a Dream.
It’s important I think in this day and age when our young folk think that they are the only pioneers of entrepreneurship, that we did have trailblazers paving the way, with as much passion and determination dating back a year or two.
To the post, one of the books I read on my summer holiday was: “Only Two Seats Left” the story about Contiki.
Its author and Contiki founder John Anderson blends his autobiography, and tales of travel into a great read its Australasia’s great untold business stories.
A story about a company that started on just £25 pounds and became a worldwide travel company.
For those that do not know about Contiki, it’s a travel company for the 18-35-year-olds.
You get to explore Europe and other parts of the world with other young people your age. Many friendships are formed that have lasted years. He says that he thinks the company is responsible for over 5000 marriages.
It had such an impact on so many young people and these are told in this great read.
There are also some great lessons we could all take note of if we are in sales,
I am going to explore a few with you with a couple of revamped posts and lessons I learned from John’s book.
Keep selling your stuff.
Mike
PS. Want to get better at sales? Try out our 7-day Challenge FREE
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME
by Mike Brunel | Mar 6, 2018 | Negotiation, Strategy
Do you know the difference between a small sale and a large Sale
An excellent book that I have had tucked away in my library is called Spin Selling by Neil Rackman.
In Neil’s book, he maintains that there is a difference between a small sale and a large sale and different philosophies are used for both.
If you are able to know the difference between a large sale and a small sale you might just be able to save a lot of time when you go to prospect.
So what is the difference?
How does that relate to your long-term success?
If you can grasp this idea you will able to avoid all those frustrating “no calls” you keep making and begin to focus on the calls that do matter.
The general rule for small sales is the one from Neil’s book.
He is sitting in an airport waiting for a connecting flight; he was browsing in a store and spotted one of those multipurpose knives, like the Swiss Army knife, the price $15.
Within 2 seconds of seeing it, he bought it and his immediate need was satisfied. To him, it was what I call a no-decision decision.
Now, what about a bigger sale? Let’s take another scenario, you are meeting your client for the first time, potentially that client could invest with you several thousand dollars worth of product or services.
Are you going to get him or her to buy on the first call?
The best way to approach the larger sale is to expect that it may take a little longer. They simply have different needs than smaller sales.
Here a sure fire way to make sure that you do know the difference:
- A larger sale will contain more than one decision maker
- A larger sale involves asking more specific questions about their problems and moving them up to solutions.
- Larger clients tend to take a more rational approach to decision making than a smaller client.
Do this on a regular basis and monitor what are your small sales and your larger sales.
One action you can take straight away is write down all you larger clients based on spend and see if this does stack up against the criteria above.
List all your larger clients in a notebook and begin to ask questions to discover the needs over time.
Have great fun selling your stuff.
Mike
Mike Brunel started mikebrunel.com after being a successful entrepreneur and founder of NRS Media. He co-founded NRS Media in Wellington, New Zealand, expanded it into a global powerhouse in media sales and training, and was eventually responsible for opening offices in London, Atlanta, Toronto, Sydney, Capetown, and Bogota. His products and services are now sold in 23 countries and in 11 languages generating $350 million annually in sales for his clients. Mike sold the company in 2015 and now spends his time following his passions which include rugby, travel. His promise: “I can find thousands of dollars in your business within minutes – GUARANTEED” TRY ME
