3 Keys to Success – You Can’t Close Before You Open!

When I ask people what their greatest challenge in selling is, the most common response I receive is that they don’t know how to close.  In a way, that’s really encouraging news because one of the fundamental aspects of my training is that 75% of the outcome of any selling opportunity is directly related to manner in which trust and rapport are established in the initial stages of a presentation.  In other words, what happens in the end is determined by the way you begin.  You may have a complex sale with a  long sales cycle or a simple product with a very short sales cycle but in either case you can’t close before you open.

There are three keys to making sure you get your meetings off to a good start so that you establish deep and lasting trust.  These keys will ensure you can properly close when the right time presents itself:

• Make a positve and lasting introduction to every meeting
• Ask good questions before you try to sell anything
• Confirm your understanding of the answers given by the other person

The number 1 rule in communication is that people prefer talking to listening.  That means that you prefer talking to listening and it means that your customers also prefer talking to listening.  Two people are trying to communicate and both want to do the talking; it’s a conflict.

Most salespeople go into meetings on the defensive trying to justify why they are there.  They begin the meetings talking incessantly: they’ve got the best product, or cheapest price, or the most incredible company with the most history etc., etc., etc., but none of this really means anything if you don’t know where the customer is coming from.  Customers need first and foremost to trust you and they can’t trust you if they sense that you don’t understand them.  Asking questions is the key to understanding it’s also the best way to get your prospect talking!

This past weekend I delivered a key note on the three keys to sales success in 2007.  I recorded that message and it’s available here for you.  It’s a 35 MB mp3 file that you can download to your iPod or MP3 player or you may simply visit the Podcast section of our site and play the audio from within its own player.  I hope you enjoy this presentation and find it useful.   

May God bless you abundantly and I wish you an amazing 2007 that exceeds your wildest dreams!

Why its easier to make money in down markets

Has all the talk about a “down market” scared you away from investing in real estate? If so, I’d urge you to take a look around. Many, many investors are making a fortune in the current market. If you stop hiding and start investing, you can be one of them too.

Here are four strategies that can make you money – a lot of it -in today’s flat market:

Down Market Strategy #1: Explore overlooked niches. This is a good time to make money by investing in “fixer-uppers,” of course. But it is also a positive climate for investing in small apartment houses, office buildings, undeveloped land and other niche properties. And don’t overlook foreclosed properties and other niche properties that could be available right where you live. To learn more, click here.

Down Market Strategy #2: Remember to look at all the numbers. Don’t get frozen by a high interest rate, slowing property sales or any other stand-alone number. Instead, analyze all the numbers that pertain to individual properties. Positive cash flow from rents, the availability of owner financing and other factors can make a property highly profitable – even one that other investors don’t want. To learn more, click here.

Down Market Strategy #3: Improve what you own. If you invest an extra $10,000 to install granite counter tops in an apartment house you are renovating, you could generate an extra $100,000 in rental income over the next ten years. If you spend $5,000 on touch-up landscaping, you could add $20,000 to the selling price of a house you own. The ability to improve property makes real estate an exceptional investment, even in slow economic times. To learn more, click here.

Down Market Strategy #4: Cash in on regional trends. If you do, you can identify cities and towns that promise far above-average real estate profits today. To learn more, click here. Look for trends like these:

• Improved train service between a town and a city nearby.
• Job growth, spurred by the arrival of a major new employer in a state.
• The discovery of a community by young urban professionals, immigrants from a particular country or members of some other group.
• Improving schools.

You could argue that investing in real estate today is risky. But I challenge you to name a time when investing in real estate involved no risk. The real question is, do you know enough to minimize those risks and maximize your profits? With my program, I bring you the knowledge that I used for success.

10 Steps to Financial Genius

1. Reasons for wanting to be rich
 - Don’t Wants – I don’t want to work, I don’t like being an employee
 - Wants – Wants to be free to travel, be free, do stuff while young, I want money to work for me
 *Must have a strong reason, or you want stick to it
2. Make Decisions Daily
 - The Power to choose to be rich, poor, or middle class
 - Most people choose not be rich, your mindset is a reflection of your spending habits
 No money is no excuse to not learn or get educated.
 We all have choices, and you have to make that choice every day
3. Choose friends carefully
 - Does not mean to choose friends based on money
 - choose friends who can teach you something, what to do, what not to do
4. Master a formula and then learn a new one
 - Baker’s learn how to make different kind of breads with the same dough
 - Money is often called dough
 - Work for money is one formula
 - learn new formula’s after mastering one
 - you must master a formula
5. Pay Yourself First
 - Power of Self-Discipline, you need to control yourself
 - no sense to invest, make money, and then blow the money
 - lack of discipline of people who get a raise, then blow it
 - most difficult step to master
 - lack of self-discipline means you should not try to get rich
6. Pay your brokers well
7. Be an Indian Giver (give and get back)
 - Power to get something by nothing
 - Sophisticated investors want a return of investment
8. Assets buy luxuries
 - income from assets are used to buy luxuries
 - borrowing money to get what you want is a bad habit
 - focus on acquiring assets to buy what you want
 - if money is smarter than you, then it will consume you
9. Need for Heros
 - the most powerful way to learn is to have heroes
 - Heroes inspire us
 - They make it look easy
10. Teach and Will Recieve
 - Charitable, to give time, energy, and money
 - most people only give time and energy, never money
 - when he was short of money, you still give
 - when you feel short or in need, just give what you can, and you will receive
 - poor people are more greedy than rich people, rich people are rich because they give something