July 2010
Strategies for Success Newsletter July 2010 Issue 55
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Published by Emily Huling Selling Strategies
www.sellingstrategies.com
Copyright 2010 Emily Huling. All rights reserved.
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In this July 2010 issue:
Thoughts from home
Emily’s mailbag
Thoughts from the office
On the road in 2010
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1. Thoughts from home
Excusing yourself with excuses
My neighbor Kate is always complaining. More days than not, she focuses on what hurts. Her most common ailments are headache, stomach ache, muscle aches, and trouble sleeping. Her conditions aren’t life threatening, but she seems to use them to create excuses to not to do things. She’ll say:
“I couldn’t go to the gym this morning because I didn’t sleep well.”
“I would love to go to the movies, but I’m afraid I’m coming down with something.”
“I love being with my grandchildren, but I always get sick.”
“I helped my son in his business yesterday, but couldn’t do much because I had a migraine.”
Kate believes that a person either has good health or doesn’t. She tells me how lucky I am to have none of her nuisance health issues. I’ve told her that I have the same challenges she has, I just choose to live life moving through them, not attaching myself to them.
Moral to the story: Don’t seek reasons to excuse yourself from living a full and happy life.
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2. Emily’s mailbag
Challenged by Great Service Sells
Dear Emily,
I’m the operations manager at our agency. We are currently going through your program Great Service Sells in our staff meetings and I’m encountering a problem. There is resistance from the senior CSRs who believe it’s a waste of time because they already know this. I feel like you can always refresh your memory and I like the discussions that we have after the material is presented. But they don’t seem to see it the same way. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Sincerely,
Resisting Resistance
Dear RR,
What you described is quite common. So instead of asking your senior CSRs to learn, ask them to teach. Use those four magic management words which are “I need your help.” Meet with your senior-level staff. Tell them you hear them and understand their frustration with the basic nature of GSS. Tell them that you believe it’s in the agency’s best interest that these customer service and sales practices become your culture. How do they suggest using GSS to do that? Or if they have better ideas, can they create another program to turn service into sales?
Another approach is to ask each person to read GSS on her own giving them a deadline. Ask each CSR to write down her top ten strategies that she uses or should use. Your GSS meetings would be each person presenting two of their ten ideas and how those practices have played out. Hopefully each will have success stories to share. At the conclusion of these meetings, consolidate the top ideas to create a combined list of ten top practices to turn service into sales.
Please let me know how it all works out!
Sincerely, Emily
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Avoid complaining. If you don’t like something, find a way to change it. EH
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The Energizer Minute
This month tune in to hear Slow it Down. Go to the www.sellingstrategies.com home page and click on the Energizer Minute.
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3. Thoughts from the office
Working smarter/Getting smarter
I have made a concerted effort this year to improve my office productivity and brain power. Here are my recommendations to do that.
Working smarter
Dragon Naturally Speaking 10 – speech recognition software. By simply speaking into the provided microphone, this amazing software program turns talk into text. It’s integrated into most Windows ™ office applications and is accurate and easy-to-use. I’m using it right now.
Kindle – the electronic reader by Amazon.com. As an avid reader and traveler who has several books going at once, this invention is a life changer. I was skeptical at first. I couldn’t imagine not having a paper book to hold. Now, I can’t imagine picking one up. Affordable purchased books are downloaded in less than 60 seconds. I have the newest version – the 6 inch, 1/3 inch thick model. Reading is easy with the adjustable font size and the finger-touch page turner. My local library offers electronic books, but unfortunately not yet for the Kindle. I can’t wait.
MozyPro online data backup program — John has been backing up our computers in-house for years. It was the encrypted and remote storage features that sold us on the need for off-site data backup. MozyPro is affordable, easy to use, and reliable.
RoboForm password manager – I’m passing this resource along to you because it is highly recommended by my clients. This program allows users to log into multiple websites automatically using one single personal password.
Getting smarter
Internet marketing and the social web – IIABA’s Agents Council for Technology (ACT) offers free articles, reports, and webinars. Industry experts and agents provide in-depth information to use this media appropriately and profitably. Go to www.iiaba.net/ACT and click on Internet marketing. You’ll find several seminars on social media marketing to expand your Web presence and communication prowess. Many thanks to Jeff Yates and his team who volunteer a lot of time to create these learning tools.
Soundview Executive Book Summaries — I’ve been subscribing to this service for 15 years and I’m very impressed with the additional resources they now offer. Online content is much easier to retrieve by subject and author. Free monthly webinars are presented by best-selling authors and business leaders and recorded for on-demand access. To stay current with exciting and innovative business thinkers, I recommend subscribing to this resource.
What are you doing to work smarter and get smarter?
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For dozens of resources to create individual and company top performance visit www.sellingstrategies.com or get in touch with me at emily@sellingstrategies.com or 888-309-8802.
Apply Coupon Code NEWS11 to receive a 20% discount on all online product orders.
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On the road
Business travel is taking me to these places. Please give me a call if you’d like to connect when I’m in your area.
Agency Management CIC, Minneapolis, MN July 14, 2010
Consulting engagement in Oklahoma City, OK July 19-20, 2010
Agency Management CIC, Oklahoma City, OK July 21, 2010
AASCIF Conference, Lexington, KY July 25-29, 2010
AAMGA University West, Scottsdale, AZ August 20, 2010
Agency Management CIC, Grand Rapids, MI September 16, 2010
Agency Management CIC, Virginia Beach, VA September 23, 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.