January 2010
Strategies for Success Newsletter January 2010 Issue 49
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Published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies
www.sellingstrategies.com
Copyright 2010 Emily Huling. All rights reserved.
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Happy New Year! Wishing you the best and brightest year ahead!
In this January 2010 issue:
Thoughts from road
Thoughts from home
Have you read…?
On the road in 2010
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NOW AVAILABLE! Great Service Sells
CSR Development Program is ready to use in your agency staff meetings!
Great Service Sells – How Great CSRs Turn Service into Sales – book and audio CDs
Designed for CSR group learning in staff meetings using both the print book and accompanying audio CDs. Presented in 21, five-minute chapters, the tips, techniques, real-life stories and personal challenges offer a year’s worth of training sessions. For a complete list of chapters and facilitation tips, go to www.sellingstrategies.com. Newsletter readers receive a 20% discount by using coupon code NEWS11 at checkout.
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1. Thoughts from the road
The gift of touching others
I rediscovered the small painted stone in my kitchen catch-all drawer. I hadn’t looked at it in a few years, but it looked as fresh as the day I received it.
It was the summer of 1998. I was making the three-hour car ride home after a client visit in Raleigh. I was still single after my marriage had ended the year before so heading home to an empty house always made me feel adrift.
For some reason, I stopped at a Food Lion grocery store, where I had never stopped before, to pick up something for dinner. I was standing in the checkout lane when I felt a tap on the shoulder. An older man in back of me said, “I believe you dropped this” and placed in my hand a one-inch square pebble. I was holding an intricately painted stone with a picture of an old-fashioned mast and sails ship sitting on a turbulent ocean. It was beautiful. “No, it’s not mine,” I said, and handed it back to him. “Well, it is now. I want you to have it.” I gave him a questioning look and he told me that his hobby is painting stones and giving them to others. I smiled and thanked him.
Holding that stone eleven years later, I once again sensed that warm feeling of having a random act of kindness bestowed on me. It makes me wonder why I ever hesitate to do something kind. We never know how someone may need that touch and we may just be the person to help.
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Be generous in kindness and friendship. EH
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2. Thoughts from home
If it’s a secret, please don’t tell me!
“Emily, I’m going to tell you something, but it’s a secret. Be careful not to tell your mom, your brother, or your cousin. It’s OK to tell John but be sure he knows it’s a secret, too.”
Whoa! This conversation with my aunt was entering very dangerous territory. Sharing confidential information puts both the speaker and the receiver in a bad place. Why? Because the mind hears the thought and enters it into the brain. Unfortunately, the “don’t tell” isn’t usually part of the memory. So we have information, but we don’t remember its status. In addition, once information is retold, it’s too easy to repeat it again. After it crosses our lips, we have a permanent record in our brain of having told it. We totally forget that it is a secret. And who really believes that it’s a secret since it’s been shared?
Thank goodness I was paying close attention to the conversation. I quickly said, “Aunt Judy, please don’t tell me this if it’s something I’m not supposed to know.” “Oh,” she said sounding disappointed, “you’re right.”
Moral to the story: Don’t share information that’s not yours to tell.
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The Energizer Minute
This month, tune in to hear New Year, New Intentions and hear my long-time technique to stay focused on self improvement. Go to the www.sellingstrategies.com home page and click on the Energizer Minute.
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3. Have you read…
It’s always gratifying to read business books that challenge my mind and broaden my thinking. I have two recommendations that meet that criterion.
How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything…in Business (and in Life) by Dov Siedman, 2007, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
If you’ve doubted that attitude, behavior, and principles are the foundation for personal and organizational success, you won’t have any skepticism after reading this book. Using a diverse spectrum of examples, the author firmly states his case that the soft skills of trust, integrity, and values trump product, price, bells and whistles.
Be Unreasonable: The Unconventional Way to Extraordinary Business Results by Paul Lemberg, 2007, McGraw-Hill.
Backward thinking, inside out strategy, the opposite of truth, know what you don’t know – these are just a few of the brain challenging phrases that make this book so much fun. This is not a conventional business read. Paul Leming forces the reader out of his or her comfort zone which is the only way to consider new possibilities and new ways to do things.
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Consulting, coaching, and workshops to stay up to date with current business trends and approaches
Phone consulting to Create an Effective Marketing, Sales, and Service Plan for agencies with fewer than eight people. Learn more on the website consulting information page.
Strategy planning consulting and facilitation Professional facilitation and guidance enable owners and managers to agree on goals, strategy, and implementation. Establishing priorities, creating action plans, timelines, accountability and follow through generate results.
New producer development and sales coaching Customized personal guidance for new producers. Includes sales plan creation, structured curriculum and phone coaching,
Workshops – Turning Service to Sales for CSRs and Client Based Selling for producers
In-house workshops for agency sales and service staff. These sessions fast forward individual skill building resulting in improved customer retention and new business growth.
Presentations Speaking topics include Lean and Mean Management, Selling from the Inside, and Kick Your “But” to name a few. Additional topics on the website information page.
For more information, www.sellingstrategies.com or emily@sellingstrategies.com or 888-309-8802.
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On the road
Early 2010 business travel is taking to me these places. Please give me a call if you’d like to connect when I’m in your area.
James K. Ruble Graduate Seminar, Concord, NC January 13-15, 2010 (attending)
Speaking engagement in Albuquerque, NM – private client – February 19, 2010
Speaking engagement in Scottsdale, AZ – private client – February 23-24, 2010
Speaking engagement in Denver, CO – private client – February 25, 2010
NAPSLO Mid-Year Conference, Scottsdale, AZ March 3-6, 2010 (attending)
Independent Agents and Brokers of SC spring conference, Columbia, SC March 17, 2010
Agency Management CIC, Louisville, KY March 18-19, 2010
AMS Users’ Group Annual Conference, Nashville, TN March 25-27, 2010
Speaking engagement in Des Moines, IA – private client – April 11-13, 2010
Speaking engagement in Appleton, WI – private client – April 14, 2010
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Selling Strategies: Strategies for Success Newsletter is published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies. For further information contact emily@sellingstrategies.com.
© 2010 Emily Huling. All rights reserved. Feel free to share our newsletter if copyright and credit are always included.