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We all know that networking is one of the most powerful ways in which to grow a business. One of the ways to make your networking opportunities much more powerful is through the development of benefits statements. I believe that everyone should have at least 6 unique benefit statements prepared for whenever someone asks you “so what do you do”.

This sounds very simple but I meet so few people who have mastered the concept. Very simply, a benefit statement gives your listener a reason to care about your product or service and shows them why they would get value out of it. The most common mistake is using features rather than benefits. The difference is often subtle but, in business the subtle differences can be the difference between a sale and a non sale.

One of the product lines I distribute is a series of oil and gas additives for cars and trucks. One of the many features of the product line is that it reduces fuel consumption in a car. Creating a benefit statement for this product line I would use statements like:

“I help people go to the gas pump less often”
“I provide a fuel savings of 20 cents per litre”
“I show people how to get every 5th tank of gas for free”

You will notice that each of these allow my listener to receive a tangible benefit to using my product. I would recommend everyone come up with a number of one line benefit statements around your product or service offering, so when someone asks you “so what do you do” you have an answer that will pique their curiosity.

Happy Selling,

Chuck

To me the single most important thing to do is decide what you want and why you want it. Whether you want to make $100,000 a year or simply buy a new lawn mower the process begins with making a decision to want it and a solid concrete reason WHY?

The WHY becomes really important because it is the motivation to get you going when times are tough. If you want to make $100,000 a year because it would be nice, I am here to tell you that is not a powerful WHY. Until you can put yourself in the position of having it, and believing you can achieve it you will never get the things you want. If you want the $100,000 because you have always dreamed of having a cabin on the lake and the nice leather seats of a luxury car then you are on your way to achieving your goals.

To put myself in the right state of mind, I always always always write my goals down. If you can’t write it down then you DONT KNOW IT. Always write as if you have already achieved the goal. For example I would write “I EARN $100,000 A YEAR”. You are telling your mind you have already achieved it.

The next step is to decide what changes you need to make in your life to make this a reality and write those down. Again writing them down as activities you have already accomplished. For example:

I EARN $100,000 A YEAR
I MAKE 50 COLD CALLS A WEEK
I ARRIVE AT WORK EARLY
I PRIORITIZE MY TIME

What you are doing is programming your subconscious mind with positive affirmations. If you do this on a consistent basis, at least once a week; you will begin to notice great things happening for you. If you tell yourself all the time you are early for work, you will all of a sudden become early for work. One little note about the wording on these. You will note I did NOT say “I will make 50 calls a week.” The purpose of this is not to create a wish list of things you would LIKE to do. You are telling your mind what you are GOING to do.

By making this simple shift in your thinking, great things will happen. I have examples too numerous to mention of this working wonderfully for me. Try it and I know you will like the results.

Cheers,

CB

There are a few key reasons why a business needs to have a blog. The first reason is for increased exposure and how quickly and powerfully a blog can spread information. Currently less than 5% of businesses have a blog but over 40% of the web traffic in Google is accounted for by blogs. This means that 5% of businesses are going after 40% of the web traffic and 95% of business are going after 60% of web traffic. Maintaining a blog greatly increases your exposure in the search engines.

The second thing this new technology allows you to do is track everything that is said in the internet. For instance, I can track any key word or phrase that is used on the internet. If I wanted to know every time the name “Chuck Brady” is used, I could get an instant update with the context in which it was used, delivered right to your inbox without having to do a thing and WITHOUT ANY SPAM. This is a fantastic way to keep track of your competition, keep abreast of your market or to ensure there is never any bad press spreading about your company.

In addition to being able to track key words, you can use this feature of blogging to your advantage to get your content read by a huge audience. The American political parties realized the power of this in the last federal election and blogging became the most critical part of their campaign. Microsoft realized the power of it and they currently have over 2000 employees whose only job is to maintain blogs.

Since blogs create a lot of traffic on the internet that are also very appealing to advertisers. There are lots of opportunities to create ad revenue with no effort on your part. Google knows that 40% of their traffic, and thus 40% of their revenue comes through blogging, so they reward bloggers accordingly. Google currently pays out over 75% of its revenue to its users; you can gain your share of this.

The final and one of the most appealing aspects of blogging is that you do not need a web programmer to do it. Once you have your strategy and blog in place; writing content is as easy as typing an email. This means that it becomes a very affordable marketing vehicle with no long term financial repercussions. As everyone in business knows, if it is not affordable, it does not matter how great it is.

Cheers,

CB

I find myself being asked almost on a daily basis just what is a blog. The interesting thing is that each time I am asked I answer the question a little bit differently. It has however got me wondering the best way to explain to someone exactly what this new phenomenon is.

A blog is a combination of web page and email newsletter all rolled into one. It is a webpage in that it has a unique, searchable URL. It is a newsletter in that every time you add something to a blog it is distributed around the world instantly much the same way email is sent. There are countless examples of how quickly information on blogs is spread around the world instantly as messages spread like wild fire.

By now most people have heard about blogs, either through the media or through the grapevine but there are all sorts of misconceptions about blogs and their purpose. I view a blog as nothing more than a communication channel used to spread information. Much in the same way a newspaper spreads news or our roads allow us to travel. A blog is merely a method of distribution.

Like any means of distribution, a blog is only as powerful or as useful as the information it contains. A blog with no content is as good as the Autobahn with no cars. It is the most power method of distributing information yet, but it is up the the blog owner to create useful info.

Happy Blogging,

CB

This evening I was sent into nostalgia most from a conversation I was having this afternoon. Like many people in business I made my way through University working in the restaurant industry. It was often not only a source of revenue but it was also a staple of my diet for many years. Today got me thinking however and pondering one of the lessons I am always telling people and that is to do what you have done in the past when success was prevalent.

As I was re-living my days in the restaurant I was thinking about how successful some of our add on sales campaigns were and how simple the steps we took to implement them were. I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned and how useful they are.

One of the first things is to always speak to a customer on their level. All to often we find ourselves standing over the customer in an intimidating fashion. The best thing to do is kneel down so you are looking at them eye to eye and they will liken you to a friend rather than someone of authority.

Secondly when aproaching add on items such as deserts, talk about how great it tastes. Create an experience when you are talking about it rather than just talking about what it is. Using words like delicious, scrumptious or delectable will create a mouth watering experience. Always use open ended questions such as which desert can I get you? As apposed to closed questions like “would you like desert”. This technique called assuming the sale is one of the most powerful approaches you can use. The power of suggestion is very strong and will have a profound effect on your business.

Finally never under estimate the power of a smile and a kind word. We all know that life is stressful, but telling everyone around you about your bad day will do you no justice. Let your smile be infectious and who knows, maybe you will win that jersey.

Cheers,

CB

Bitron: Excellence- It is your choice

A number of years ago I was attending a business conference in St. Louis where I heard a speak by the name of Mark Gorman. I was so inspired by his speach that I bought his tape for my car (yes it was a tape at the time, I did not yet have a CD player). He really emphasised the importants of personal choice and not allowing ourselves to be anything but the best we can be.

“Don’t ever let it be said that someone else expected more of you than you expected of yourself. If anyone finds fault in a job which you have done that is less than excellent, don’t make excuses. Admit that it was not your best. Don’t stand up and try to defend yourself. Why settle for average, when excellence is an option? I’m weary of people saying that it’s not in their nature to demand more of themselves.”

It is something that has stuck with me to this day and I just love the way he puts it. If you do not demand excellence of yourself how can you possibly expect to achieve your goals in life. Ask yourself, is what I am doing right now getting me closer or farther from where I want to be?

If the answer is farther perhaps it is time to take another look at your actions or priorities…..

Cheers,

CB

In the late 1800s following the Spanish American war, one of the greatest articles in history was written by a fellow by the name of Elbert Hubbard. Even though it was written over 100 years ago the points made are still as poignant today. I particularly like one section where he states,

“when all the world has gone a-slumming I wish to speak a word of sympathy for the man who succeeds- the man who, against great odds has directed the efforts of others, and having succeeded, finds there’s nothing in it: nothing but bare board and clothes

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the “boss” is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly take the missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off,” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages.

Civilization is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town and village- in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed, & needed badly- the man who can carry a message to Garcia.”

In the world today, I think we are far to quick to pass successful people off as lucky. Instead of doing the wise thing and learning from their success and finding ways to make it our own.

These are my two cents on the day,

CB

With the holiday season upon us many people use this as an excuse to pack in the productivity and relax. I see it as just the opposite. Think of it as all of your competition has packed it in so you have the whole market to yourself.

The second thing I really like about the holidays is that it is a great time to re-connect with old aquaintances. If you have old clients you have not spoken to in a while why not give them a jingle and spread some christmas cheer. Everyone right now is in a talkative mood, so use it to build on your existing relationships and strengthen them to move forward.

A final piece of food for thought is that many companies have left over money in their budget that they can spend. If you are out there trying to sell you maybe able to get someone who has money to blow and you can shorten your sales cycle dramatically. You dont need to use the hard sell, just be your effervescent self and good things will happen.

Happy Holidays,

CB

You know when we are trying to sell ourselves or our products, I always say look back to the times you have had the most success. I think what you will find is that success always comes in waves, for the simple reason that your Emotions Are Contagious.

The fact is that emotions are contagious. The more passion you have for your life and your activities, the more charisma you will possess, and the more cooperation you will gain from others. If you are truely excited about something and doing it with zest that will grab attention of others and make them want to be a part of it.

People always want to feel good and will be drawn to things that make them feel good. I want to use the example of personal training. I don’t think there is anyone who could not make good use of a personal trainer but so few of us do. If you are in this business and want to be more successful, just raise the level of excitment in your gym. If the atmosphere is warm and welcoming it becomes a destination people want to go to.

We all have our favorite restaurants or bars, it is usually more the atmosphere in them than the food that draws us in. Use the possitive emotion to your advantage and people will be drawn to you.

Cheers,

CB

You know one thing that always makes me laugh is people who say they could never do sales, or those who say they don’t like sales people because they do not like the feeling of being sold. We can all think of the sterotypical salesman in the cheap suit talking out of his @#$. If you ask me, these are not sales people.

I think the first lesson a true salesperson learns is that you are not trying to sell. Our job is to listen, uncover problems and then find a solution to those problems. The most common misconception about selling, is that sales means talking. A good sales person is first and foremost a good listener and a caring friend. If you can make this switch in your head you will immediately notice better results.

I do beleive the reason no one talks about “good salespeople” is because whenever a good sales person is found, they don’t fit the mold of what a salesperson should look like so we mistake them for our friends.

Cheers,

CB