Getting a celebrity, notable VIP , or leader in your field to give your book a short

testimonial or endorsement(sometimes called a“blurb”) is a great way to boost sales and

garner extra publicity. Remember that this is a trade-off. You get a testimonial for your

book, and the endorser gets additional exposure and/o rcredibility. Below isthe five-step

process I teach authors and writers:

How to Get Celebrity Endorsements for your Books

Sometimes it seems that folks just don’t get it. No matter what you say or how you say it, they simply don’t have a clue – and don’t seem too worried about getting one either! It’s not their nature to understand; that’s just how they “are.” Maybe so, but more often than not, the problem is a result of a communication breakdown.

In this digitally inter-connected world, you’d think we could “fix” such basic differences. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as plugging another device into the system. Maybe they’re the problem. Maybe you are. We all know difficult people and, in fact, we can all be the difficult person.

A little background on communication styles can help us understand the issues and learn how to alter our approach to eventually make life a little easier for both parties.

The Basics

Every time we speak, we choose and use one of four basic communication styles: assertive, aggressive, passive and passive-aggressive.

Assertive Communication

The most effective and healthiest form of communication is the assertive style. It’s how we naturally express ourselves when our self-esteem is intact, giving us the confidence to communicate without games and manipulation.

When we are being assertive, we work hard to create mutually satisfying solutions. We communicate our needs clearly and forthrightly. We care about the relationship and strive for a win/win situation. We know our limits and refuse to be pushed beyond them just because someone else wants or needs something from us. Surprisingly, assertive is the style most people use least.

Aggressive Communication

Aggressive communication always involves manipulation. We may attempt to make people do what we want by inducing guilt (hurt) or by using intimidation and control tactics (anger). Covert or overt, we simply want our needs met – and right now! Although there are a few arenas where aggressive behavior is called for (i.e., sports or war), it will never work in a relationship. Ironically, the more aggressive sports rely heavily on team members and rational coaching strategies.

Passive Communication

Passive communication is based on compliance and hopes to avoid confrontation at all costs. In this mode we don’t talk much, question even less, and actually do very little. We just don’t want to rock the boat. Passives have learned that it is safer not to react and better to disappear than to stand up and be noticed.

Passive-Aggressive Communication

A combination of styles, passive-aggressive avoids direct confrontation (passive), but attempts to get even through manipulation (aggressive). If you’ve ever thought about making that certain someone who needs to be “taught a thing or two” suffer (even just a teeny bit), you’ve stepped pretty close to (if not on into) the devious and sneaky world of the passive-aggressive.

So now what?

Clearly, for many reasons, the only healthy communication style is assertive communication. Surely you can identify many people in your own life that favor each of the four styles. Most of us use a combination of these four styles, depending on the person or situation. The styles we choose generally depend on what our past experiences have taught us will work best to get our needs met in each specific situation. If you take a really good look at yourself, you’ve probably used each throughout your lifetime.

Understanding the four basic types of communication will help you learn how to react most effectively when confronted with a difficult person. It will also help you recognize when you are using manipulative behavior to get your own needs met. Remember, you always have a choice as to which communication style you use. If you’re serious about taking control of your life, practice being more assertive. It will help you diffuse anger, reduce guilt and build relationships – both personally and professionally.

Take Action!

Begin to pay attention to which communication styles you use throughout the day. How often do you use a communication style other than assertive?

Watch and identify the communication styles some of the difficult people in your life use. Can you begin to notice how others use manipulative techniques to get their way.

Connie Podesta is an author, counselor, educator, humorist, playwright, consultant, songwriter, actress and trainer. She radiates a super-charged, high-energy presence that immediately involves people and has them responding to her exciting challenge to reach for the best in themselves! With her talent for humor, flair for drama and unique insight into human behavior, Connie delivers solid content and practical techniques that can be put to use immediately at work and home. To order The Best of Connie Podesta – 6 CD Collection as part of the YSS Deluxe Training Package – 17 Products at a fantastic price scroll down to #4 below or go to http://deluxe.yoursuccessstore.com or call 877-929-0439. C 2004, 2006 Connie Podesta.

They’re just different. They’re like those ultra marathon runners or the people you see on Fear Factor that will eat worms for a chance to earn $50,000.Give them a challenge with some competition thrown in for good measure and it’s off to the races. You know the ones I’m talking about – they’re the people that all of your other salespeople often call “lucky”. Look inside their office, you’ll see motivational pictures and photographs of exotic places that they’ve been. Look at the car they drive, the house they own and even the books that they read – they all speak one word loud and clear: SUCCESS. The thing is – they’ve earned every last penny of it. They generally came from a humble background – probably middle class – and saw that they didn’t want to work as hard as their parents did to get what they really wanted in life (read: lots of cash). They knew all along that there just had to be a better way and when they first learned about this “sales” thing – it was love at first sight. Now, I may not be exactly right, but I can bet that I’m probably not far off either.

I’ve personally met and worked with many of these high achievers and here’s what I’ve found separates them from the rest of the pack:

1. Superstars are there to see if anyone wants and/or needs what they’re selling. And most importantly – they’re ok with no. In fact, most of them (unlike average reps) want to hear no as soon as possible so they can go out and find someone who might say yes. I’ve found average reps will do most anything to avoid hearing no so that they can claim that they have some prospects that “they’re working on.” Not good.

2. Superstars will work extremely hard to get their goals accomplished. Here’s a perfect example: I’m currently working with a superstar that recently took a potential client on a ski trip. The night before the prospect had a few too many cocktails and had a headache the next morning before they were about to get on the lift. What did the superstar do for his prospect? He shouted out to the crowd: “I’ve got $5.00 for 2 aspirin – right now!” Over came a woman and said that she had some aspirin and that she didn’t need the money. Problem solved. The prospect then said “You’ll do anything to solve a problem won’t you?” To that the superstar replied; “Absolutely.”

3. Superstars are much more willing to take risks. You see, they’re afraid just like everyone else. Here’s the big difference – they don’t let the fear stop them – instead, they use it as motivation. Average reps try a decision maker a few times on the phone – then give up.  Why did they give up? They listened to the little voice inside their head that says “You’re starting to get uncomfortable – don’t push it or you’ll get them mad at you.” The superstar’s little voice says something totally different when presented with the same scenario: “ Wow – this guy’s tough. I need to try something different. My friend who’s the top performer at XYZ Corp. is really good at getting to tough decision makers. I’ll call him – I know he’s probably got some sort of great idea that’ll get me an appointment.”

4. Superstars simply do things that your average reps won’t. The key word here is “do”. Many times company owners and sales managers send their sales reps to a motivational seminar to “get them pumped up”. More than likely, after attending the seminar most of the reps probably bought all of the tapes at the back of the room and proclaimed to step up their efforts when they got back to the office. Speakers like Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins and Jack Canfield are absolutely outstanding. Here’s the problem, after a couple of days, reality hits the average reps and the tapes they bought are still unopened after 6 months. Meanwhile, your superstars listened to the tapes on the way home from the seminar, on the way to work the next day, continue to listen to them and more importantly do the things that the tapes tell them to do.

5. Superstars understand that they’re responsible for results – not outside circumstances. It’s not the economy, the competition or the paperwork – superstars understand that in order to change their outside circumstances they first have to look inside and be honest about themselves – a scary thing for most average reps. But time and time again, average reps look outside for a new “technique” or shortcut that simply isn’t – and never will be – there.

6. Superstars are extremely aware. In speaking with many superstars, I’ve found that they all have an extremely heightened sense of awareness. They’re always on the lookout for new opportunities and take action as soon as they see them. If there’s something that’s working in another industry that they can use to generate more revenue – they’ll try it. For example, I’ve personally worked with many financial advisors who use speaking engagements to successfully generate lots of new clients. Once I told that to one of my superstars, they immediately went to work and wanted to know how we could build a template for him to do the same thing.

7. Superstars, believe it or not, have balance in their lives. This might sound a little crazy but most of them (not all – unfortunately) often take time to focus on non-work items such as family, personal hobbies and exercise. They’ve met or heard about the over worked, over weight, burned out salesperson who has to go to a bar for a few drinks to relax and they want no part of it. They know that without a healthy mind, body and home life that they won’t be able to perform at such a high level – thus interfering with their all-important goals.

All in all, superstars remind me of those battery-powered cars and fire trucks that you used to always see in a big bin at the toy store. You know the ones – they go until they hit the wall, go back, turn a little bit and try again, hit the wall, go back, turn a little bit and try again, hit the wall, go back, turn a little bit and try again. I’m not sure what your thoughts are but I wouldn’t buy a toy that hit a wall and then just gave up – would you…?

Jay Wallus

Jay Wallus is the President and founder of Street Smart – The business development solutions company.

He can be reached by email at jwallus@streetsmarttraining.com

It was one of those moments when you realize that some business people just get it.

There I was with my 5-year-old daughter Jayna standing outside of the new Jordan’s Furniture in Reading Mass. We had just gotten something to eat and we wanted to go in and see what Barry and Elliott had come up with this time. These stores were a lot more than just furniture stores in the traditional sense. They were stores that when you went into them, you just got a certain feeling about what these 2 guys were all about. They had taken a commodity –furniture – and turned the shopping for it into an absolute experience. Did you know that their five New England stores sell more furniture per square foot than any other furniture retailer in the USA? Quite an accomplishment – huh?

Well, I think that it’s important for all of you (especially those of you outside of New England) to know a little bit about their story before I continue on – so I took this directly from their website:

Jordan’s Furniture Company is the country’s all-time, undisputed, retail-furniture Success Story. The statistics, citations and awards speak for themselves – Retailer of the Year awards from many industry and trade groups; appearances on Best Places to Work lists; the Tri-State Home Furnishings Association’s “Guerrilla Marketer of the Year”award.

Jordan‘s is truly the American epitome of a family business. The feeling of family is spread throughout our organization by a remarkable group of dedicated employees who call themselves “The J-Team”. This success story began in 1928 when Barry and Eliot’s grandfather opened his store in Waltham, and “Jordan’s Furniture” was born. With the help of Barry and Eliot’s father, the store began to prosper and grow.

In 1963, Eliot became actively involved in the company, with Barry following a few years later. The winning combination of the two brothers working together pushed sales volume well beyond predictions, turning a local furniture store into a major retailer, with customers from all over New England.

Realizing the dreams of their father and grandfather, the doors to our second store were opened on February 12, 1984. The success of Nashua quickly sent Barry and Eliot looking for a larger central warehouse facility and a third location. Our Avon flagship superstore and warehouse opened January 31, 1987. Avon became a huge success from day one because shoppers were treated with respect and furniture shopping became a fun experience – thanks to our fabulous Motion Odyssey Movie (MOM) ride and our commitment to making Raving Fans of our customers and employees!

In November of 1999, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased Jordan’s Furniture. Barry and Eliot remain integral parts of virtually every aspect of Jordan’s Furniture. “We are very excited about this venture. Berkshire Hathaway and Jordan’s are a perfect fit. Our growth potential is huge with the financial support of Berkshire Hathaway,” said Barry.

As the business continues to expand, the original goals of the company have never changed: maintaining a superlative reputation for customer service and satisfaction, quality merchandise, personal attention to detail, integrity, honesty, dependability, community goodwill, and a genuine concern for every employee. Our “J-Team” is really a family of employees with a unified common goal: to keep Jordan’s Furniture Company number one.

Jayna and I walked into this new Reading Mass. store and were immediately greeted by someone who thanked us for coming. As we walked around and looked at all of the different attractions that were there to entertain the shopper (an ice cream shop, IMAX Theater, liquid fireworks and an actual trapeze that you can take a swing on to name a few), we actually saw Barry (Jayna recognized him from the commercials) speaking with a visitor. We walked over and heard him talk about the store and how proud he and his brother were about how it came out. When he was done chatting, he simply turned and watched as a child took their turn on the trapeze. The child had that scared but excited look on their face as they jumped off of the stand and swung back and forth. As the child was swinging you could hear her scream: “Mom, I did it!”  What struck me was that Barry seemed to be enjoying watching the girl swing just as much as the little girl. When the girl got off – he walked over and asked her if she had fun and thanked both her and her mom for coming.

Then it hit me.

Shouldn’t this guy be running around like crazy making sure that everything is ok? Why wasn’t he “swamped” with the opening of the new store? Why wasn’t he “so busy” with all of the paperwork? After all, there had to be kinks that had to be worked out – right?

WRONG.

Now, granted, when he and his brother ran the store in the early 80’s they probably did a lot of the “busy” work. However, they got away from it as soon as they could and they never made it their job. That wonderful store and all of the happy clients that it creates – would never have materialized if those 2 brothers had continued to ignore the big picture and tell people that they should do outrageous things to grow their small furniture store – but they can’t because they’re “so busy”. No happy kids, no money donated to the Jimmy Fund with the profits from the attractions and No IMAX theater for Jayna and I to go to to see The Polar Express.

Why am I bringing this up, you ask? I’ll tell you why.

When you play small – nobody wins. When you play small in your business and your life the world gets cheated. Where would we be if Bill Gates, Martin Luther King, Oprah or our beloved Red Sox thought small (remember Theo Epstein saying his only goal is to win the World Series – anything less would be a disappointment?)? Thinking and playing big is what gets people excited. Thinking and playing big is what changes the way the world works. Thinking and playing big is when you can go home at the end of the day and truly know that you’re doing something that will really make a difference.

It’s an absolute shame when I see business owners and salespeople going through the motions. I constantly hear things like:

I can’t do the things that I know will build revenue for my company because:

• of all of the paperwork
• of all of the competition
• the industry is changing
• I need more time in a day

If you’ve ever said these things, I’d like you to remember that famous saying: “You can fool all of the people some of the time or you can fool some of the people all of the time but you can never fool all of the people all of the time” – and  – most of all, you can never fool yourself. So, go out there and play big: with your family, your relationships and your career.

Good Luck

Jay Wallus

Jay Wallus is the President and founder of Street Smart – The business development solutions company.

He can be reached by email at jwallus@streetsmarttraining.com

Every morning, as I stand in line (with way too many other people by the way) for a cup of coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts – I hear it over and over again: “Anything else?” asks the woman behind the counter in her somewhat broken English. Another customer, another “Anything else?” as she’s ringing them up. Finally, it’s my turn – “I’ll take a large French vanilla ice, skim milk, one sugar – extra light”, I shout over the 3 people in front of me.  Even as she’s walking away, she’s asking me those wonderful two words – “Anything else?” She doesn’t care if I’ve purchased a bottled water, Coolatta, or a dozen bagels – even if I’ve said no a thousand times before, she keeps asking and I absolutely love it.

So many times, I see businesses and the sales people who sell for them missing out on countless opportunities because they never tell clients about all of the other things that they can do for them. Think about your own business – how many times have you talked to a client and neglected to ask them “Anything else?”. If your answer is not at least once a month – you’ve got a big problem. Here’s a perfect example, I have a salesperson that actually takes the time to stop by our office about once a month and leave us flyers on specials that his company is having. What’s wrong with that you ask? Nothing – except that he never asks us to buy anything – ever! (details,details…)

For those of you out there who don’t regularly ask “Anything else?” I want to share with you a process that will fix that, as well as have new prospects qualify themselves and show you how to follow through so that no one falls through the cracks.

Now I know that there are tons of ways to get new business – but I’ve found that business development in itself works best when it’s driven from a structured process that leaves no room for “winging it”. Also, new business development is a lot easier if you have two very important things done for you ahead of time – namely:

• Having you or your company perceived as the industry expert.
• Having prospects qualify themselves.

The first step in our process will help us accomplish the above objectives:

1. Take the time to build/write an informational product that solves a particular problem that your target market is having. For example, a business-banking officer might write a paper titled “The 5 biggest reasons why businesses get turned down when applying for a line of credit- and how to avoid them.” This paper establishes the credibility of our banking officer and it also qualifies any potential prospects. You can probably expect the only people who are interested in reading the report are ones who have been turned down for a line of credit or the ones who are thinking about a line of credit. This is also where the “Anything else?” part comes in. Inside of this paper – as in the content – you’re going to suggest all of the other services/products that can also be used in conjunction with a credit line. Get it?

1. Once the paper is requested from your office/handed out at a target market industry event, there are a series of well thought our phone calls/letters/email communications – written ahead of time – that get made/sent out at certain intervals to stay on top of the potential client.

• Phone calls: They have to be made come hell or high water – whether you’re busy or not. This will start our lead generation and give us the ability to take the prospects temperature. After all if we don’t speak with the prospect how can we know what’s happening? It’s very important that you take the time to write the call with bullet points so that the people in charge of business development can look at the script (so they don’t miss anything) and put it in their own words. There’s nothing worse than listening to a canned sales pitch.

• Snail mail letters: These letters need to be written about how you solved a specific problem with a client  - a client that’s just like them. People relate to others who are similar to them. Now, just like the phone calls – I suggest that the letters be put in bullet format. The business people that you’re writing to don’t have a lot of time to spare, so give them the ability to take a quick glance and get the point.

• Email communications: The email communications can be your e-newsletter, a flash presentation or even a personal email written to them about how you helped yet another client in their industry solve a problem. I have found that when used properly email communications can be an extremely effective way to communicate with potential clients – if and only if – they know about you. Hence – the informational product. Other than that, your material is probably going to get deleted.

• Certain intervals: Now this really depends on your own sales cycle. I suggest that you put your first call in no later than five business days after the prospect has received your informational product. Now, whether or not you connect with them on the first call is the next big hurdle that needs to be jumped. I recommend putting in at least three phone calls and if you don’t hear back after that, put them on an ongoing campaign of emails every 30 to 45 days. If you do connect – then during your conversation you must “slot” them so that you can then determine your intervals of communications – the more interested the higher the frequency of communication and the less interested – you get the point.

If you really think about it, there are a few elements in this process that some salespeople follow – although they’re not aware of it. That’s exactly the problem, most of the time it’s inconsistent at best (read: they’re winging it) and it’s never spelled out so that the people responsible for developing business can follow it over and over again. Let’s be perfectly honest here, whatever the reason – your sales will never truly reach their potential until you put a process together to bring in new business/ask for additional business from existing clients (Anything else?) and have it followed all the time.

After all, what do the people at Dunkin’ Donuts know, they’ve only been offered BILLIONS of dollars to sell their company recently. That’s billions with a capital B!

- Jay Wallus

Jay Wallus is the President and founder of Street Smart – The business development solutions company.

He can be reached by email at jwallus@streetsmarttraining.com

He can be reached by email at jwallus@streetsmarttraining.com

Street Smart  – The Business Development Solutions Company – works with a New York City Street hawker making them even more sales savvy…!!

This month’s Feet On The Street brings us to the concrete pavement of 34th Street in New York City.  It does not get much more in the trenches than that and let me tell you people were selling everything from tickets to the top of the Empire State Building, t-shirts, hot dogs, and even magical “mojo” stones that bring about prosperity and good luck! (You know I bought three of those )

As I was walking around I happened to be approached by a ticket vendor – a young guy by the name of Moses – who was selling tickets to a local comedy show.  Now, because I sell for a living I wanted more than anything to be able to buy something from this kid.  How could you not want to buy something..?  Here is this guy in the middle of New York City running around trying to sell tickets, competing with about fifty other people selling “stuff”, trying to make himself a buck or two.  It was his first day on the job and I know how exciting it can be to make a sale. The problem was that I just was not going to use the tickets if I purchased them – no way, no how.  The last thing I was going to do in the day and a half left in the city was go to a comedy show.  So reluctantly I had to turn down the tickets and keep moving on with my journey in the Big Apple.

However, as we began to walk around, I couldn’t stop thinking of how I might be able to help Moses sell more tickets.  If I was not going to by the tickets, at least I could try to show him how to sell more.  My brain was spinning with a thousand ideas about how I would sell those tickets if I lived in the city.  First I thought of how he could change up his pitch, which definitely needed work.  That would be a good start but grabbing people’s attention one by one just was not going to be effective enough to move a large number of tickets.

Then it came to me.  If I was looking for an answer, or had a question about what to do on my vacation once I was unpacked and settled, I would ask the doorman or receptionist at my hotel.  Think about it.  If you wanted some information on what to do while you were on vacation who would you ask?  I bet you would give those two people a try – right?

Here’s the problem -  I was now a block away from where I left Moses. I just had to turn around and make my way back so I could tell him about this idea.  You know how it goes, you have to give, in order to get, and I wanted to help this guy out.  We went back to the area but I didn’t see him right away, luckily after a few minutes I spotted him and ran over.  He probably thought I was a bit crazy but I started telling him about the idea to get his feedback.

Well, it got his brain going and guess what?  I found out that his dad was a doorman/concierge at a local hotel.  Jackpot!  Half of the challenge is already solved.  I gave him a brief overview of what I thought needed to be done and left Moses there on the sidewalk of 34^th.  I truly hope he took action on the things he and I spoke about. Let’s break down the necessary business development action steps that would see this idea to fruition (read: let’s be Street Smart!).

Step 1:  I would speak with his dad to see if he has friends or connections with other doormen or receptionists (remember, we’re looking for some connections to give us more leverage).

Step 2: I would sit down and think of how to compensate my future network of hotel greeters for each ticket sale. Remember, at Street Smart we build it once and then leverage the heck out of it!

Step 3: I would have his father put together a short testimonial explaining how visitors to his hotel absolutely loved the seats that they got from his son (everyone loves testimonials – they’re not hard to get – but nobody asks for them!)

Step 4: I would search for hotels on the Internet and map out territories from maps provided by Mapquest and only after exhausting his fathers contacts, make my way onto the hundreds of other hotels in New York City and the appropriate doormen. Are you thinking about the opportunities that I am here…? Lots of hotels, lots of doormen, lots of sales..!

Sure its going to be a lot of work to get the system going, but he could either spend his time trying to sell one ticket at a time, or spend the same amount of time bringing someone into his network that can sell ten a day.

Now I know this article was about a ticket vendor named Moses in New York City, but here is how it relates to you…

1. Who are your “hotel doormen” and how do you get them on your team?
   In other words, who sees or talks with your target market on a regular basis that can provide you referrals and or sales? And most importantly – how can you help them in return?
2. Are you teaming up with someone right now that provides referrals or other types of business?
   Can you get them to write a testimonial of how you have worked with them in order to attract other referral sources?
3. Once you find these sources do not just say “hi” and forget about them.  Plan out a schedule of times you will call them, mail them something interesting, or stop by to say hello.
   Think of creative things to mail or leave after saying hello:  A red tube, an interesting book, fake hundred dollar bills, ideas that will help them make money, etc., etc…

Hey, by the way if you’re ever in New York City – stop by Moses and buy some tickets – tell him Ted from Street Smart sent you!

- Ted Wallus

Ted Wallus

Street Smart – The business development solutions company.

He can be reached by email at twallus@streetsmartbizdev.com

o       the industry is changing

• I need more time in a day

If you’ve ever said these things, I’d like you to remember that famous saying: “You can fool all of the people some of the time or you can fool some of the people all of the time but you can never fool all of the people all of the time” – and  – most of all, you can never fool yourself. So, go out there and play big: with your family, your relationships and your career.

Good Luck

Jay Wallus

Jay Wallus is the President and founder of Street Smart – The business development solutions company.

He can be reached by email at jwallus@streetsmarttraining.com

Nothing frustrates the human spirit more than stagnation.  We have an innate desire to progress and advance forward.  If you don’t believe that to be the case, let me set you in bumper to bumper traffic when you are running late and we’ll see how long it takes for you to start complaining to your windshield.

If you are hiking through the forest and become thirsty, would you look to drink from a stagnant pond or a babbling brook?  The brook of course!  We not only like to move forward, but we like to be connected to things that move forward.  Think about it…from the beginning of time, man has tried to throw a saddle on top of anything he sees that can move him forward faster than his two feet!  A horse, a camel, an elephant…it really doesn’t matter, we just like moving forward!!!

We weren’t satisfied with “still pictures”, so we invented moving pictures and Hollywood has now become “the place to be”!  If you went to the horse track and bet $1,000.00 on a horse named “Pepper Foot” to win, then they threw open the gates and all the horses took off like a flash of lightning EXCEPT for “Pepper Foot”, you would start shouting like a lunatic.

Why?  It’s simple.  We like things that move!  Roller coasters, motorcycles, race cars, grocery lines, and football games, we expect each to keep moving forward!  We crave forward progress.  It’s who we are.  It’s how we’re made.

I submit, if you will take a look at your life and list the area’s that you are most frustrated with, each one of those area’s will have one common denominator…A LACK OF FORWARD MOTION.  If we are not growing spiritually, we feel lost.  If we are not growing emotionally, we become insecure.  If we are not growing financially, we experience lack.  If we are not growing relationally, we feel isolated.  For example, if a husband and wife never became more intimate than simply holding hands or giving a simple goodnight kiss like it were still their first date, there would soon be issues.  If that relationship doesn’t ever move forward, they will never experience reproduction.

You see, we are designed to advance so that we will eventually reproduce.  If you aren’t growing spiritually, you can never reproduce yourself by discipling someone.  If you aren’t growing emotionally, you will never learn how to deal with grown-up issues and will treat every situation in an immature manner.  So, instead of re-producing, you would just be re-visiting the same situations again and again.  If you aren’t growing financially, you are simply adding and subtracting from your bank account each week.  However, if you learn how to get your money to re-produce itself, then your finances can become a way to get ahead, rather than a way to get a head-ache.

I want to challenge you.  Before your head hits the pillow tonight, simply choose one of these important area’s that you KNOW is not experiencing the kind of forward moving progress that you desire.  Then, determine to take at least one small action to improve your situation.  The only thing powerful enough to hold you back from the positive results you desire is YOU!  Improve your life immediately.  Make a commitment to yourself today to advance forward!

If you can train yourself to notice area’s in your life that aren’t growing, expanding, and advancing forward, then you will be so far ahead of the average person who just stays in the same place until the pain becomes so great that they are forced to move!

Whether it’s a spouse that say’s they are going to leave you, a friend that for some odd reason just stops calling you, a creditor who WON’T stop calling you EVERY day, or the feeling that God doesn’t listen when you call!  Each of these could be avoided if you will simply learn to notice areas that aren’t progressing and then immediately do something to advance forward!

Darius D. Arnold is an accomplished author, popular speaker, conference host, and peak performance consultant based in New Port Richey, Florida.  To receive a copy of his breakthrough free report entitled, “Power To Prosper” simply call (727) 379-3867 or send an email to: p2p@advancingforward.com

How many people do you know who wear glasses or contacts?  Chances are, you may be wearing a pair right now.  In fact, I am wearing a pair of glasses as I write this article.  Do you know anyone who has already had their vision corrected using laser technology?  What is so important that we would continue to spend our money for these things?  Focus.  If we can’t see clearly, we will spend whatever it takes to regain our focus.  If focus is so important to us in regard to our sight, why does it take a back seat in other areas of our lives?  Focus is just as important (if not more so) in our business, our health, our relationships, our finances, etc., but yet we often overlook its importance and in so doing, we pay the price every single day.  Use the following four points to understand the benefits of focus and apply each to improving these important areas immediately.

I.  Focus Accelerates Accomplishment

When you decide to be a person of focus, you will begin to see your life propelled forward and begin realizing your destiny at an extremely accelerated rate.  When you harness the power of focus, you can achieve in six months what could otherwise have taken six years.  One of the best examples of this comes from an article that I recently read which challenged the commonly accepted idea that having the ability to multi-task is a positive quality.  Stop pretty much anyone on the street and ask if they feel that multi-tasking is a positive or negative quality to look for in an employee and I’m confident you will hear a unanimous and resounding response of “positive”!

The article that I read was of a well-known university’s study of this commonly accepted idea to see if multi-tasking is a positive trait for someone to have or if it actually makes someone less effective.  Now, I’m like anyone else and would assume that multi-tasking is a good thing.  In fact, I have been hired for many jobs throughout the years using “I’m great at multi-tasking” as one of my selling points.  Well, the university’s study showed just the opposite.  It proved that people who multi-task actually accomplish less throughout the day than individuals who prioritize tasks at the beginning of the day and then execute each task one at a time throughout the course of the day.  Those who multi-task actually burn up a great deal of their time trying to “get back into the flow” after each distraction and waste much of what would qualify as their peak performance hours.  Focus will accelerate your accomplishment.

II.  Focus Jolts Your Joy

When you decide to become a person of great focus you will immediately experience a jolt of joy!  Far too often we focus on too many things at one time.  When we focus on too much, we are actually no longer “focused”.  The perfect expression of focus would be to eliminate things from our lives that are “less than” or unimportant.

When we choose to focus, we are forcing ourselves to remove the clutter from our lives.  Clutter and chaos create high levels of stress and produce feelings of overwhelm.

Identify those activities that directly impact your primary goals.  Ask yourself which activities you are spending time on, which have little or no real connection with your life’s primary goals.  You cannot afford to continue spending time on activities that have no significant relationship to your main objective.  These powerful decisions will begin to open up your schedule to a much greater extent and you will feel a sense of calm that you haven’t felt for a long, long, time.  Joy is restored to your life by simply realigning with those things which represent who you are as an individual and by investing your time into areas that are truly fulfilling.  Focus will give your life a jolt of joy!

III.  Focus Causes Obstacles To Become Obsolete.

I’ve heard it said by more than one mother that while giving birth to a new baby is one of the most painful experiences that a woman can have, the pain is nothing in comparison to the feeling of joy that they have when they see the face of their newborn baby.  I think that maybe one of the reasons God delegated the child bearing process to the woman instead of the man is because most men would opt for remaining childless if that were the requirement of a newborn baby.  (At least that’s the case with me!)  I’m pretty sure that if someone told me the only way to have a baby was for it to come out of me the way they typically come out…well, it’s pretty safe to assume that I would be opting for the 3 dogs and 2 cats in lieu of the children.  Our family portraits would be of my lovely wife and I, sitting with our furry little tail-wagging darlings.

I use this example because I believe that you could double or triple the pain involved in child bearing and we would still have women happy to sign up for the privilege.  You hear women claim that child bearing is horribly painful, but then you see the same women only a few months or years later pregnant once again, and quite often, again, and again, and again!  These women somehow manage to lose sight of the pain because their complete focus is upon the ultimate goal of holding that beautiful newborn baby in their arms.  These women want so badly to hold and kiss that little gift from God that they will endure whatever is necessary to bring that little miracle into the world.

When you become completely consumed with accomplishing your single objective through focus and begin to really live as though the realization of that goal is the most important task on your plate, it no longer matters what challenge presents itself, it will not be so intimidating that it can cause you to quit, back down, or reconsider.

If you are pursuing a goal that you can be talked out of or in which the goal’s attainment requires you to endure more pain than you are willing, you should find a new goal.  Any goal worth pursuing will have its share of naysayers who intend on enlightening you that you should give up.  Any goal worth pursuing will also come coupled with its share of painful and embarrassing circumstances.  Laser beam focus will cause both of these challenges to practically go unnoticed as you pursue your goal.  Focus has a way of making a mountain look like a small pebble.  The more intense your focus, the less intense your obstacles appear.  If you are ready for your obstacles to become obsolete, you’re ready to focus.

IV.  Focus Is A Window For Wealth

Great wealth has always been realized in specific areas of focus.  You’ve never heard of someone striking it rich in every type of business imaginable.  Wealth is always awarded to those who understand the power of focus.  The world stands up and applauds great men and women of focus.  We applaud those who master a particular area so well that their abilities seem impossible and the impossible seems simple.  Focus rewards its students with wealth and notoriety.  For example, I can say a name and you can immediately identify their chosen area of focus.  Names like, Michael Jordan, Emiril Lagasse, Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, and on, and on, and on.

I had a best friend in high school who was always completely consumed by anything having to do with military planes.  If I was hanging out with him at his house and he happened to flip past a channel on t.v. that was airing a World War II documentary, I knew it was time to head home.  He would sit and stare at that type of programming for hours.  He was always watching the History Channel trying to find out as much as he could about military planes and aeronautics.  As you would expect, he was in our high school’s R.O.T.C. program and began wearing their military uniform to school.

After graduation, we lost touch with each other as is usually the case.  Then, years later I was back in my home town visiting old friends and someone informed me that after graduation he had gone on to become an award winning dog trainer.  No, I am kidding.  He had gone on to do exactly what I expected him to do.  He had joined the Air Force and was serving as a fighter pilot.  He had narrow, laser-beam focus and nothing could shake him from the pursuit of that dream.  So, today he reaps the rewards of such great focus by being able to pilot some of the fastest planes ever built.  Only a select few will ever have such great privilege.

When you take the deliberate action of removing distractions in your business and create an environment conducive to intense focus, you close every door that leads you down a path of lack and you open up a window for wealth!

Darius D. Arnold is an accomplished author, popular speaker, conference host, and peak performance consultant based in New Port Richey, Florida.  To receive a copy of his breakthrough free report entitled, “Power To Prosper” simply call (727) 379-3867 or send an email to: p2p@advancingforward.com

What is the purpose of a business?  Every time I ask this question during a business seminar, the immediate answer that I get back is, “To make a profit.”

But this answer is wrong.  The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.  If a business successfully creates and keeps customers in a cost-effective way, it will make a profit while continuing to survive and thrive.  If, for any reason, a business fails to attract or sustain a sufficient number of customers, it will experience losses.  Too many losses will lead to the demise of the enterprise.

According to Dun and Bradstreet, the single, most important reason for the failure of businesses in America is lack of sales.  And, of course, this refers to resales as well as initial sales.

So your company’s job is to create and keep a customer, and your job is exactly the same.  Remember, no matter what your official title is, you are a salesperson for yourself and your company.  And the best way to increase your value as a salesperson is to build your customer base.

The two most important words to keep in mind in developing a successful customer base are Positioning and Differentiation.

Positioning refers to the way your customers think and talk about you and your company when you are not there.  The position that you hold in the customer’s mind determines all of his reactions and interactions with you.  Your position determines whether or not your customer buys, whether he buys again and whether he refers others to you.  Everything that you do with regard to your customer affects the way your customer thinks about you.

Differentiation refers to your ability to separate yourself and your product or service from that of your competitors.  And it is the key to building and maintaining a competitive advantage.  This is the advantage that you and your company have over your competitors in the same marketplace¾the unique and special benefits that no one else can give your customer.

There are three keys to keeping customers for life: relationship selling, partnering for profit, and consultative selling.  These are all methods for differentiating yourself from anyone else who is offering the same product or service.  They are ways to get customers and keep them.  I will explain each of these in detail.

Relationship Selling is the core of all modern selling strategies.  Your ability to develop and maintain long-term customer relationships is the foundation for your success as a salesperson and your success in business.

For your customer, a buying decision usually means a decision to enter into a long-term relationship with you and your company.  It is very much like a “business marriage.”  Before the customer decides to buy, he can take you or leave you.  He doesn’t need you or your company.  He has a variety of options and choices open to him, including not buying anything at all.  But when your customer makes a decision to buy from you, he becomes dependent on you.  And since he has probably had bad buying experiences in the past, he is very uneasy and uncertain about getting into this kind of dependency relationship.

What if you let this customer down? What if your product does not work as you promised? What if you don’t service it and support it as you promised? What if it breaks down and he can’t get it replaced? These are real dilemmas that go through the mind of every customer when it comes time to make the critical buying decision.

Because of the complexity of most products and services today, especially high-tech products, the relationship is actually more important than the product.  The customer doesn’t know the ingredients or components of your product, or how your company functions, or how he will be treated after he has given you his money, but he can make an assessment about you and about the relationship that has developed between the two of you over the course of the selling process.  So in reality, the customer’s decision is based on the fact that he has come to trust you and believe in what you say.  In many cases, the quality of your relationship with the customer is the competitive advantage that enables you to edge out others who may have similar products and services.

The single biggest mistake that causes salespeople to lose customers is taking those customers for granted.  Almost 70 percent of customers who walked away from their existing suppliers later replied that they made the change primarily because of a lack of attention from the company.

Beyond relationship selling, the second key to keeping customers for life is the “partnering for profit” approach to business sales.  When you deal with a businessperson, you can be sure of one thing: that person thinks about his business day and night.  It is very close to him.  It is dear to his heart.  And if you come in and talk to him and ask him questions about his business, looking for ways to help him run his business better, the customer is going to warm up to you and want to be associated with you and your company.

As a partner, you should always be looking to help your customer to cut costs and improve results in his or her area of responsibility.  You should look for ways to help your customer in non-business areas as well.  You should position yourself as someone who cares more about the success of your customer than anything else, even more than you care about selling your product or service.  This approach to partnering in profit with your customer is a key way to differentiate yourself and to keep your customer for the indefinite future.

There is a principle of reciprocity in business that is extremely powerful. It is simply this: If you do something nice for someone else, they will feel obligated to do something nice for you. You should be looking for opportunities to go the extra mile, to do more than you are paid for, to put in more than you take out.  By extending yourself, you improve your positioning in the customer’s mind and increasingly differentiate yourself and your company from your competitors who are after the same business.  If you do this long enough and strong enough, you will eventually develop the partnership to the point where your competitors don’t have a chance against you.

The third part of keeping customers for life is the consulting approach to your customer, or what is called consultative selling.  When you position yourself as a consultant, you are really positioning yourself to serve your customer as a problem solver.  Instead of trying to sell something to your customer, you concentrate all of your efforts and attention on helping your customer solve his problems, achieve his goals, or satisfy his needs.  You ask excellent questions that help your customer think through his situation in greater depth.  And you listen carefully to the answers, knowing that listening builds trust.

When customers are asked why they decided to buy from a particular salesperson or company, they invariably give these reasons: the reputation of the company, the level of service and support that the company offers, the reliability of the company and the salesperson, the responsiveness of the organization to complaints and requests, and the quality of the individual salesperson with whom they have been dealing.  Price ranks at number seven or eight, if it comes up at all in the surveys.  This is important for you to know because it is amazing how many salespeople get sidetracked into negotiating on the basis of price and then they can’t understand why they failed to get the sale.

84 percent of all sales in America originate from the recommendations of satisfied customers.  A referral to a new customer is worth ten times more than a cold call.  And it is 16 times easier to sell a satisfied customer something new than it is to sell something to a brand new prospect. In the final analysis, dedicating yourself to serving your customers in such a way that you keep them for life is one of the smartest and most profitable things that you can ever do.

About The Author

Brian Tracy is legendary in sales, addressing more than 250,000 men and women each year on the subjects of management, leadership, and sales effectiveness.  He has produced more than 300 audio/video programs and has written 36 books, including his just-released books “TurboStrategy” and “Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.”  He can be reached at (858) 481-2977 or www.briantracy.com .

What is selling?  In its simplest terms, selling is the process of helping a person to conclude that your product or service is of greater value to him than the price you are asking for.  Our market society is based on the principles of freedom and mutual benefit.  Each party to a transaction only enters into it when he feels that he will be better off as a result of the transaction than he would be without it.  In a free market, the customer always has three options with any purchase decision.  First, the customer can buy your product or service.  Second, the customer can buy the product or service from someone else.  Third, the customer can decide to buy nothing at all.

For the customer to buy your particular product or service, he or she must be convinced that it is not only the best choice available but he must also be persuaded that there is no better way for him to spend the equivalent amount of money.  Your job as a salesperson is to convince the customer that all these conditions exist and then to elicit a commitment from him to take action on your offer.

The field of professional selling has changed dramatically since World War II.  In a way, selling methodologies are merely responses to customer requirements.  At one time, customers were relatively unsophisticated and poorly informed about their choices.  Salespeople catered to this customer with carefully planned and memorized sales presentations, loads of enthusiasm and a bag full of techniques designed to crush resistance and get the order at virtually any cost.

But the customer of the 1950s has matured into the customer of the 21^st century. Customers are now more intelligent and knowledgeable than ever before.  They are experienced buyers and they have interacted with hundreds of salespeople.  They are extremely sophisticated and aware of the incredible variety of products and services that are available to them, as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses of those products.  Many of them are smarter and better educated than most salespeople and they are far more careful about making a buying decision of any kind.

In addition, they are overwhelmed with work and under-supplied with time.  Because of the rapidly increasing pace of change, down-sizing, restructuring and the competitive pressures surrounding them, customers today are harried and hassled.  They are swamped with responsibilities, impatient, suspicious, critical, demanding, and spoiled.  To sell to today’s customer requires a higher caliber of sales professional than has ever before been required.  And it is only going to become tougher and more complicated in the years ahead.

Now, here’s what you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

• Think continually about how you can convince your customer that your product or service is the very best available.

• Learn why he buys, or refuses to buy and develop strategies to turn non-buyers into buyers.

• Upgrade your knowledge and skills every day so you can sell more effectively. You always want to know more about your product or service than your customer.

About the author:

Brian Tracy is legendary in the fields of management, leadership, and sales.  He has produced more than 300 audio/video programs and has written 28 books, including his just-released books “Getting Rich Your Own Way” and “TurboStrategy!”  He can be reached at (858) 481-2977 or www.briantracy.com.