What ARE you smoking,

Mr. Woodward?

     Yesterday, an Associated Press writer named Calvin Woodward naively proclaimed that “Small businesses don’t create jobs!” What are you smoking, Mr. Woodward?

     In his astonishingly unprofessional, biased, gushing diatribe, he attempted to influence readers to join him in blindly supporting the terribly misdirected, partison-political “stimulus package” that takes direct aim at entrepreneurs…that seeks to cripple America’s small business owners and operators who account for the vast majority of U.S. job creation.

     As if that wasn’t insulting enough, Woodward went on to note that there are twenty million (20,000,000!) small businesses in this country that don’t even have employees. What an utterly ridiculous and misleading statement!

10 QUESTIONS FOR YOU, MR. WOODWARD . . . 

1. What, Mr. Woodward, do you think the twenty million small business owner/operators DO if they are not “employees”?
2. Where do you think new jobs come from?
3. Where do you think new jobs come from?
4. Where do you think new jobs come from?
5. Where do you think new jobs come from?
6. Where do you think new jobs come from?
7. Where do you think new jobs come from?
8. Where do you think new jobs come from?
9. Where do you think new jobs come from?
10. Didn’t Apple and Microsoft, as just two quick examples) come from one-person businesses that started in garages? 

     The United States of America would not even EXIST without entrepreneurs and small business growth to create jobs.

     It’s called Capitalism, Mr. Woodward. It works. It’s been proven. It’s called being careful with spending. It works. It’s been proven. Show us a Socialist agenda that works, Mr. Woodward! Show us that the doomed-to-failure stimulus plan is not a socialist tool to create deepening dependency on government. Of course it is. Every entrepreneur knows that. 

     And don’t you think the coming $13 a week more in every paycheck will be the height of disillusionment when a year down the road the unchanged tax laws will require employees to cough all that money (and more!) back up, plus re-tax small businesses to boot?

     I heard The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore (WSJ Editorial Board and Senior Economics Writer) comment today on WABC New York Radio that “entrepreneurs are capitalists and capitalists cannot exist without capital.”

     He explained for the public what all of us already know who run our own businesses: that entrepreneurs start new businesses and expand existing ones, and need capital investments in order to do those things. While some of these ventures fail, many (like the two examples above) succeed and create jobs as they grow.

     The so-called stimulus package does everything possible to put a chokehold on small business owners and entrepreneurs. Where does that leave us? Isn’t it jobs that ultimately stimulate the economy? Well, maybe not. Maybe jobs are not as important as many of us believe.

     Maybe we who own and run small businesses should all just throw our hands up and quit, and file for unemployment and foodstamps and welfare and other “stimulus” plan handouts. Hey, life would be easier, wouldn’t it?

     Oh, wait, I forgot, we can’t all do that because there wouldn’t be enough businesses around to pay the taxes to support these “spread the wealth” programs. And we surely wouldn’t want to prevent needy folks who choose not to work from having a chunk of change from all that wealth spreading.    Halalpiar

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What are you waiting for?

“Annnnny-daaay, noow . . .”

The once famous bank commercial mocking out competitors for their loan waiting times seemed appropriate. How much time did you spend waiting today? How much of that time was a total waste? 

WE WAIT AT, AND IN: lines, offices, reception rooms, hallways, cars, trucks, construction sites, showrooms, restaurants, parks, parking lots, airports, taxi stands, bars, elevators, boardrooms, alcoves, bathrooms, meetings, conference rooms, the water cooler, fax and copy machines, roach coach, training centers, message centers, traffic, bridges, trains, busses, hospitals, airplanes, taxi’s, garages, food lines, courtrooms, examination rooms, visitation rooms, toll booths, ticket counters, lobbies, check-out counters, subway stations, ferries, zoos, concerts, planetariums, sporting events, banks, drive-in pharmacies and fastfood windows, doorways, road construction lanes, and 487,000 others.

AND WE WAIT FOR: bosses, clients, doctors, lawyers, co-workers, underlings, salespeople, associates, lunch dates, online connections, conference calls, on-hold, dinner dates, traffic, bridges, trains, busses, airplanes, taxi’s, breakfast dates, coffee breaks, lunch whistles, clocks, scheduled events, calendar pages, waiters and waitresses, deliveries, contractors, news, alarms, prisoners, bankers, seminars, meetings, accountants, patients, families, friends, people who beat us to the bathroom, and 269,000 others.

AND WHILE WE WAIT, WE SUFFER FROM:

• ANTICIPATION.
• ANXIETY.
• WORRY.
• ANGER.
• EMBARASSMENT.
• EXPECTATIONS.
• DISAPPOINTMENT.
• STRESS.
• INSULT: BEING “STOOD UP” OR FORGOTTEN.

     And what do you DO when you’re thrown into that jungle described above? What did you do today in delay? And don’t try to excuse yourself with some haste makes waste explanation because I know that you know that each of the bullet items above is a CHOICE! The only thing that makes waste is waste. Waiting time is valuable.

     HOW ABOUT CHOOSING FOR THE WAITING TIME TO BE HAPPY AND PRODUCTIVE TIME, AND USE IT TO: Write? Take notes? Take pictures? (I met a guy created a complete photo essay while standing on line at the post office, and actually published it!) Text Message? Make phone calls? Plan? Follow-up? Research? Read? Make contacts? Make contracts? Network? Study?

     Can you, in other words, do something more constructive with your valuable time here on earth than to stare like a zombie at some waiting room TV tuned to some negative news network? Just because you have to wait, doesn’t mean you sacrifice your humanity for sheepdom.

     Always carry pen and paper and/or laptop and/or tape recorder and/or camera and/or a book you’re reading and/or a cell phone and/or some luggage to put all that stuff in . . . and don’t forget the umbrella and parachute . . . hey, ya never know! 

     Some action, remember, is always better than no action . . . unless “action” to you means smoking, drinking booze, eating candy bars, snorting or shooting up drugs, punching/biting/kicking, stabbing, shooting, or bank robbery.  

     And you may think, like the song, that “My time is your time,” but it’s not! Because you only ever have NO time or LOTSA time, or ANYtime, or SOMEtime, or have been having a HIGH time for a LONG time. Oh, right, there’s America’s PASTtime, which is a great way to PASS time in the SUMMERtime or SPRINGtime, but seldom in the WINTERtime.

     If all that’s not enough for you, remember that “Time and tide wait for no man.” (No mention of women in that philosophy so it must be because women have “THAT” time), and then there’s “He who hesitates is lost” (which most men are!). Okay? Okay. Later.  halalpiar     

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HERE’S YOUR CHOICE…

___YES, before I do Hal’s (free) 60-second, 4-step

stress solution, I want to read a little bit about stress!

Okay, skip over the NO choice below and the link line under that, and read a little bit first. Then you can come back up to the link anytime you like as you absorb all these great stress factoids that follow. 

___NO, I’m wired and I don’t want to read anything. Just 

   give me Hal’s (free) immediate 60-second magic NOW! 

Okay, here you go.  You get it right here on this site by simply clicking www.halalpiar.com/?page_id=35  When it works for you, please send others here for a dose –friends, family, associates, neighbors, lovers, enemies– anyone who you would like to see be more relaxed and have better control of themselves and their lives. And of course please come back and visit again soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     STRESS does not come from outside you. It is something you produce inside your body by the way you choose to react or respond to people, places, events, behaviors, and things (like a difficult person, an unpleasant environment, a boss’s frown, a car that won’t start, or an overdue bill).

     STRESS is positive as well as negative. STRESS is necessary for getting out of bed in the morning and for doing the tasks we do every day…even for reading this sentence right now! But too much stress becomes physically, mentally, and emotionally unhealthy. It is the most serious drain of human productivity in our lifetime.

     EACH OF US experiences OVERstress in different ways. Some get headaches. Some get stomachaches. “knots” or “butterflies”. Some get back pain…tightness of the neck and shoulders, legs or chest. Some eat too much. Some drink too much alcohol. Some smoke too much. Many get high blood pressure. Most who get high blood pressure also get other ailments, diseases, emotional disorders, or set themselves up for accidents and, all too often, heart problems.

     MOST OF THE BREATHS we tend to take most of the time are too shallow. If you can breathe more deeply and more often every day, you will think more clearly, perform more confidently, feel more relaxed and be assured of achieving maximum productivity more often. You will be healthier. You will be more in control of your feelings, your actions, your circumstances.

     YOU WILL BE more of the person that you’re capable of being that you’ve always wanted to be (and be happier at it)! Pretty good stuff, huh? It truly is. So, now, go back to the top of this post and click on the link and get started NOW making stress work FOR you!    halalpiar

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“Failure is an event,

not a person.

Yesterday ended last night, and

today is your brand new day.”

– World renown motivational sales guru ZIG ZIGLAR

(And special thanks to Zig’s son Tom)

Because you run your own business, you subject yourself to a steady diet of challenges.  When you’re faced with challenges, your mind automatically shifts to having expectations.  Expectations breed disappointment. 

Let me say that again:

Expectations breed disappointment! 

So here you are, steadily challenged, trying to see problems as opportunities, and trying not to have any of those nasty expectations.  Because you run your own business, you undoubtedly have plenty of reasons to take home angry feelings or feelings of failure. 

And since no one’s ever taught youto turn them off, or remind you that you’re CHOOSING them, sometimes you do swish (or clomp) your way into the entranceway of your home, loaded for bear!  But you know what?  Your spouse, your kids, your dog, the neighbor’s cat are not the growling, bloody-fanged enemy killers that batted you around all day.     

So, tune your brain to another station!  Tune in to easy-listening.  Take some deep breaths.  [See 4-step “Are You Breathing?” feature under Magazine Articles tab above.]  Remember that Failure is an EVENT, as Zig Ziglar says, not a person.  Not you.  You may have experienced a failing set of circumstances, but YOU are not a failure!

Then Zig reminds us that “Yesterday ended last night!”  Whoa, there!  Think on that one for 7 seconds!  Is he talking about literal day and night?  No, but maybe.  Is his point that staying mentally and emotionally attached to past events, in time that is past, makes for an unhealthy present, which can practically foreclose your future?  That’s certainly part of the message.  

If it’s true (and it IS true) that even a single day wasted this way wastes others, then the message should be loud and clear that we must make every effort possible as much of every day as possible to keep our minds focused on what is happening in every passing present moment. 

Make the choice to pack away all the junk that happened on a bad day at work, and leave it at work, so that it is there ready for you to succeed with it when you return on your next brand new day.  Then make it a brand new day at home tonight too! 

Make it your Rule to never choose to go to bed feeling angry or defeated.  Yes, you DO have a choice about this.  Anger and feelings of failure are behaviors.  You choose your behavior.  You can just as easily choose to not be angry and choose to not feel like a failure.  If you think it’s not easy, it’s because you’re choosing for it to be not easy.  THAT is a choice too.  Choose to make it easy.   

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“Let’s see, why don’t we sell

our cars by showing guys

crash their motorcycles?” 

Let’s show the guy that makes a wisecrack in a business meeting get thrown from the high rise office building meeting site.  Let’s show a man getting a bowling ball dropped on his head.  Let’s show people shooting at each other.  Let’s show blood spattering. 

Oh, and, by the way, let’s not worry about the whole violence deal; we’ll just smoke-and-mirrors it all so nobody cares, and it all serves to mask the negativity . . . like the guy who’s blasted through the conference room window out of the meeting will have his fall broken by landing in gently forgiving shrubs, and then he’ll get up a little stunned and tell the camera he was just kidding about his meeting comment.  No body will notice the violent edge because they’ll be so busy laughing. 

ARE YOU KIDDING US,

PEOPLE?

     I’m no peacenik or tree hugger or love-is-the-answer nutcase.  I’m even a “24” fan.  But I am a human being, like most human beings, who respects human life and doesn’t see anything funny or entertaining about violent representations used in TV commercials to sell products and services in primetime hours when children are watching!

     I find this particularly distressing and tasteless when program scheduling is aimed at a viewing audience that targets children . . . in the media and professional sports’ feeble attempts to build fan base, they have crossed the line. 

     This Superbowl run of commercials, with a very small handful of tasteful exceptions (and you know which companies these were) was hands down the absolute WORST collection of moronic TV advertising spots ever shown in sponsorship of one single event in the history of the world! 

     What on Earth makes the primadonna creative directors at America’s top advertising agencies think for ONE SECOND that the idiotic commercial storyline he or she was sold by some space cadet art director and dope-smoking writer could possibly be appropriate or salesworthy to push down the clients’ collective throats and written off as being in good judgement?

     [In case you’re wondering about the strength of my convictions, incidentally, I spent a dozen years working at three of the world’s most famous ad agencies, and won a national award at it.  I know whereof I speak!]

     How could ANY one think that the crap presented to Superbowl audiences (especially children) had the remotest chance of reflecting positively on the clients’ businesses?  Tell me.  I really want to hear this answer.  I want to know how dumb you can get?  It’s unbelieveable is what it is. 

     It is pitiful that any company in its right mind (whatever that might be) could even imagine that the impressions made on the viewing public would possibly translate to increased sustained sales.  Positively won’t happen.  But then hey, how hard do you sell your braindead ideas to clients when they’re putting up $3,000,000 for a 30-second commercial and your company is earning roughly half a million dollars for that one 30-second commercial?  Huh?

     Madison Avenue disgraced itself for stooping so low as to buy into the pretend violent mindset of low-life TV wrestling, and pawn it off as a client’s humorous attempt at reaching out to the tough-guy football fan crowd. 

     Got some news for you marketing research and focus group geeks: the football fan crowd you think you scored big with is not a collection of stereotype tough guys.  And I hope you sleazy characters who sold these commercials from the media to the agencies to the clients are all out of work soon! 

     That whole crowd of know-nothing advertising executives who haven’t a clue about what really sells, and don’t care anyway is almost as bad as those behind the warped decision to allow has-been Springsteen on the halftime stage.  They probably thought he was great while the rest of us all ran to throw up when he couldn’t sing on key or even hold his breath long enough to carry the notes he once made famous. 

     There was a reason of course that “The Boss” only performed old biggies that everybody knew . . . a great cover for fading skills!  He had no right to be there.  I feel sorry for his fans that he made such a fool of himself. 

     But I guess it’s all about money, right?  Right.  But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck!    halalpiar

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Do You LOVE

What You Do

For A Living?

     If you do, you are a rarity!  [Maybe you could sell yourself on E-Bay?]  And if in fact you DO love what you do for a living, then you’re likely to also be exceptionally good at doing what you do.

     But (and be truthful with yourself here) if you really don’t love what you do (and endless studies indicate that this constitutes the vast majority), then the odds are overwhelmingly that you’re not particularly good at doing what you do.  Similarly endless studies also say that we perform best when we enjoy what we’re doing! 

     So, if that’s the case, and you’re just muddling your way through your job or career, and not making waves, in order to keep food on the table and tunes on your ipod, you need to do two things: 1) Keep your day job, and 2) Get off your butt and pursue work that you’ll enjoy doing. 

     FYI, 1) and 2) above are based on the fact widely known but little followed fact of life that it’s easier to find a job when you’re already employed than it is when you’re not.  

     Now, if you are one of those oddball types that is extraordinarily good at job performance for a job or career that you hate, you need to make sure you’re sitting before you read the rest of this. 

     In a chair?  Okay, here’s the scoop: There may be dozens (hundreds, even) of reasons that you are performing well at what you hate, but none of them changes the fact that you need to work yourself out from under. 

     Why?  Because every minute of every day, you (your mind, your emotions and your physical body) are experiencing negative stress decay.

     Negative stress takes its toll.  Eventually it finds it’s way into your overall mental, physical and emotional health and well-being.  You may altready be well on the way there.  But, don’t let that depress you.  Not doing anything about it is what’s depressing!

     Like having your lungs miraculously return to healthy pink just a short time after you stop smoking, your mind, emotions and physical health can likewise begin to recover and surge and thrive as soon as you start to change your over-stressed lifestyle! 

     Remember that this kind of lifestyle/behavioral change is your choice.  And you can choose to make it hard or easy.  If you make it easy, you can take it easy.  Happiness breeds productivity and self-worth.  Take a couple of deep breaths and do it, or pass this post along to someone you care about!

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Lost Your Marbles Lately? 

Probably the world’s greatest expert on the subject of death and dying was Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, whose definitive book, “ON DEATH AND DYING” has now become a true classic in the worlds of psychology, psychotherapy, social work, and caregiver counseling. 

     So what?  What does that have to do with your job, or the job of someone close to you going down the tubes?  A lot! 

     The dynamics that Kübler-Ross devoted her life to studying are the same for virtually ANY loss.

     So, the “5 Stages” of death and dying that she defined apply to loss of life, loss of limb or function, loss of possessions, loss of health, loss of friendship, loss of a spouse or parent or child, loss of a home, loss of money, loss of a pet, loss of business, and –yes– loss of a job.

The 5 Stages are, in order of occurrence:

1. Denial and isolation

2. Anger

3. Bargaining

4. Depression

5. Acceptance

The ultimate goal for any of us when we experience loss, has to be to move through the first four Stages as quickly as possible, and get ourselves to that 5th Stage point of Acceptance.

     Some succeed at this.  Some get stuck at Stages 1, 2, 3, or 4 along the way.  [Thes would probably be the majority.]  Some never make it to Stage 5 Acceptance, ever, and live the rest of their lives, for example, angry or depressed.  Those who don’t achieve a sense of Acceptance (as well as those who do but who require a particularly long time to get there) set themselves up to be in an emotionally unhealthy place in life.

     What is it that makes these failures and long delays emotionally unhealthy?  Denial, isolation, anger, bargaining, and depression all live in fantasyland.  The only reality there is on Earth is the one that is happening right this very split second as you are reading these words and thinking about them.  It’s a state of balance and harmony.  It means being focused on the present moment as much as possible.

     Often a “rescuer” or professional “coach” is needed to assist the sufferer of a loss in accelerating and smoothing the way to transition, to Acceptance.  If you want to help someone through a loss event or loss period of time, you must be prepared to be extraordinarily patient, empathetic (putting yourself in her or his shoes) and encouraging. 

     You need to help the individual or group or family pass through each stage and let go of each stage before moving to the next level, and to help him/her/them from slipping backwards.  Keeping those with loss issues and upsets focused on the immediate present moment that’s in front of their faces as much of the time as possible can be frustrating and emotionally draining for the helper(s). 

     It is not always an easy task and –while I heartedly recommend that responsibility for this function is best left to professionals who are trained to provide proper guidance— you can always lend a support system to encourage pursuit of professional assistance, and you can help prompt a sharper “here and now” awareness level simply by keeping your SELF focused on the present, and calling attention to it.     halalpiar

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THICKEN YOUR SKIN!

     Everybody sells or has to sell something

all or some of the time. 

Whew, now that’s a brainful of thoughts! 

     What I’m saying here (and run the risk of offending some by offering an “in other words” interpretation) is that anybody who sells anything, which means YOU (unless you’re a hermit or a castaway with a Wilson soccerball!), odds are great that you need to run an internal (inside your head) crusade to wipe out self-doubt!

     We can discuss what makes the odds “great” some other time; just trust me for now as I share with you “like it is” . . . IF YOU CAN’T shake off (like your dog after a swim) the worryworts about what your concerns are of the impressions and opinions others have of you —by worrying about what you think they think– you are dooming yourself to failure.

     At a time when more people are looking for fewer available jobs and the challenge to compete harder is tougher than ever, you cannot afford to short-change yourself or second-guess your actions or underestimate your abilities.

     You are what you are and worrying about what you are not will not make one iota of difference. 

     If others like, appreciate and respond to you and what you have to offer (regardless of whether it’s product or services for sale or your job qualifications), that’s great!  If they don’t embrace your ideas or what you have to sell, it’s their loss.  Period. 

     Don’t busy your mind with overkill analysis.  Move on to the next opportunity.  There is always a next opportunity that comes from what you make happen, and you can only make things happen when you’re free from dwelling on what didn’t happen! 

     You think maybe this sounds good but isn’t practical?  Wrong.  It sounds good because it IS good.  Making things happen and dropping the things that don’t along the way, are both a matter of choice. 

     Simply recognizing that your behavior is your choice will often turn the tide by itself, and other times will prompt you to free your mind up sooner rather than later.  It feels pretty stupid to be wallowing in disappointment and feelings of failure when you are thinking that you are CHOOSING to wallow and feel sorry for yourself. 

     Okay, and what will make all of this thinking work quicker and more effectively?  Getting in touch with the “here and now” that’s in your face (and that’s passing you by, NEVER to be retrieved if you’re busy wallowing), and the best way to do that is to TAKE A FEW DEEP BREATHS. 

     Circulating more oxygen to your brain makes you more alert and tuned in (kind of the opposite of wallowing).  Deep breathing also circulates more blood flow to your muscles, making your body more relaxed, less tense, more prepared to be going forward. 

     You’ll find four (just 4) VERY simple, detailed steps for making the most of deep breathing elsewhere on this site.  Try the “Magazine Articles” tab above, and click on the second article link (“Are You Breathing?”) in the lefthand column. 

     Oh, and as you thicken your skin, remember to believe in yourself, will you?  You are unique.  There is no one else on Earth exactly like you!   halalpiar   

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When did your ego (or favorite

 blog) last get the best of you?

     This morning at breakfast?  In a meeting?  On the telephone?  At lunch?  Over the conference table?  On your way home?  After dinner?  All of the above?  (Oh, ha-ha, not me! Not all of the above. Good heavens, man, I’m not that bad!)

     Well, maybe, maybe not.  If you think something outside your own body got the best of you AT ALL, you may have a problem.  Why?  Your ego can only take over when you CHOOSE for it to take over.  You don’t get angry and no body makes you angry. 

     You choose to feel angry about what you or someone else does or says or something that happens.  You may not be making a conscious choice, but it is nonetheless a choice. 

     Contrary to what the majority of the civilized world’s population seems to believe: Behaviors –ego, guilt, anger, arrogance, or otherwise– don’t fall from the sky and land on your shoulders and make you into an ogre or cause you to do or say anything.     

     So, tuck that little pouch of wisdom in your pocket and let’s go take a look at the blogosphere.  What is it that bloggers seem to be grasping at and pretending they have no choice about these days? 

     Now, I don’t look at hundreds of blogs because I also have a life, but it seems to me that the ones I do check out are inevitably shallow ego-trips aimed at unloading lots of doom and gloom lectures in very authoritative fashion.

     Why is this important to business owners and managers and entrepreneurs?  Well, here’s the news flash: believe it or not– you are human too! 

     Just because you run around in scuffed shoes and drooling your last meal out of the corner of your mouth because you’re so preoccupied with your cashflow, or the bumbling idiot who’s representing your business interests somewhere, or the next big idea you’re birthing, doesn’t mean you don’t or can’t have feelings!  The bloggers who lecture on current events and industry trends love having you return to their sites because they’ve made you worry or sad or angry or enraged.  They live for that. 

     Alrighty then, you’re rushing through life and are now close to relying completely on the Internet for information and nurturing.  Blogs have become a way of life.  You visit YouTube and Face, then tweet your brains out on Twitter before hitting up your favorite 3, 4, 5 (?) blogs, where you get massive doses of smug, self-serving, know-it-all infusions of negativity. 

     Hey, you might as well be watching that 11 o’clock news crap . . . nothing like seeing babies burned in ovens, terrorist beheadings and a family of 14 jammed into a compact car and crushed by a runaway dumptruck just before you go to bed!  Great food for lovely stressfree dreams!    

     So where’s a serious entrepreneur to turn?  Sideways.  Check out what’s around you instead of the steady diet of what’s on top of you and what’s being pulled out from under you. 

     Many blog writers are just closet psychos.  Their only interest in you is as a site visitor and comment poster.  The more they get, the more the search engines reward them with bumped up rankings.  They don’t care about misleading your tired brain, or about helping you learn or see new ways to help yourself. 

     The Blog Smog is just as useless as network TV news smoke and mirrors acts.  Choose what you want when you want but don’t choose to think that all blogs are worthwhile uses of your time.  They’re not.   halalpiar

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Can you answer this

barrage of questions

to your own satisfaction?

     Do you believe in an “educated consumer”?  What do you do or not do to promote that?  Do you actually teach prospects and customers about your products and services while emphasizing benefits (because you know of course that people buy benefits, not features). 

     Do you educate others about your industry or profession?  Do you share the dirty little secrets of your industry or profession with customers and prospects?  (And please don’t pretend there aren’t any!)  How do you do this or not do this?  Are you sidestepping what needs to be transparent?

     Do you inform customers and prospects about your competitors?  HOW do you do that or not do that (i.e., what steps do you take or not take regarding this point)?  Are you gracious about it?  Aggressive? 

     Do you only accentuate the positives?  How do you like to have salespeople deal with you?  Do you represent information to customers and prospects with an air of pomposity or humility or a little of both?  Or neither?  Again, how do you like to have other salespeople deal with you?

     Do you ask questions first and listen [the most effective salespeople listen 80% of the time and talk 20%] carefully, or just launch into a lecture?  Do you lecture or inform?  Do you share just the right amount of information that the customer or prospect wants to know (vs. too much or too little)?  How do you know?

     Are these questions reminding you to listen more?  Are you choosing to feel annoyed by these questions?  Or are you choosing to feel invigorated by them?  Are you remembering to put youself in the customer’s/prospect’s shoes (empathy) or just steamrollering forward, or shooting from the hip?  Do you paraphrase and offer examples?  Do you ask for feedback? 

     Do you get tired of other salespeople when they blabber?  At what point do you say something or simply walk (or run) away?  When you think about the salespeople who have lost you as a customer or prospect, how did they do that?  What does it make you think of?  What are you learning about your SELF right now?  Hmmmmm?

     Okay, well this is all just getting you ready.  Tomorrow (now that you are primed or re-primed about how to deal with them), we’ll start focusing on how to get those customers and prospects in the door!  See you then.      halalpiar   

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