By Alex Mandossian, http://www.alexmandossian.com/
“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson
There are two major fears that commonly get in the way of most entrepreneurs: the first fear is the fear of failure. When individuals struggle with this fear, they do everything we can to avoid getting started. The second fear is the fear of success. Although understanding both fears is important, I’d like to focus on the second fear mentioned. I’m going to guess that you’ve feared success at some level. It happens to everyone. You become afraid that something is going to work, and some way along the way, you stop doing it, you sabotage and start blaming the things that didn’t work . I have a very specific system that I followed in order to overcome this common challenge, and I want you to try using it as well.
Here are the two ways to overcome the fear of success—to not even focus on it:
1. Publicly declare what you will do with the money once you turn your annual income into a monthly income. That’s what I did. Once I publicly declared it to my colleagues, friends, and family that I wanted to turn my annual income into my monthly income, it became real, and I actually was able to do it.
2. Find out what you are going to do with the extra time you’ll have once you successfully turn your annual income into a monthly income. This is another important part of overcoming your fear of success. Once you publicly declare how you plan on spending the extra time you’ll have after you successfully accomplish the first part of this system, your fears of success will slowly evaporate as you work toward achieving your goals and sticking to your declarations.
Leap of the Week:
Being held accountable is a great motivator. Find a person or a group to be your sounding board, and to hold you to your word!
To learn more about Alex’s strategies for turning your annual income into a monthly income, go to: http://www.alexmandossian.com/teleseminarsecrets.
HUMAN RESOURCES: What to keep in mind when hiring an intern and how to get the most out of the experience. PERFORMANCE TIP OF THE WEEK: Effective hiring questions to obtain better results. www.MyLeapTools.com
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This article was previously published at Small Business Trends and is being republished with permission.
When I heard Marcus Sheridan speak at BlogWorld, one thing that stood out was his statement, “Businesses are afraid to talk about pricing.” I realized he was completely right.
Think about the last time you went to a website for a product or service that you couldn’t buy outright online. Did it list prices? Or did the site encourage you to call for more information? How many times do you walk away from a purchase simply because you couldn’t get enough information on pricing to make an informed decision? I know that’s been the case for me in many instances.
Why We Don’t List Prices
I think we’re afraid to talk about pricing on our websites because we want to convince potential customers of the value our products provide. Simply giving a number doesn’t express how awesome our widgets and doohickeys are. But we, our companies’ salespeople, can expound upon the benefits our products provide! They’re magical and worth every penny!
But the truth is: Price does matter. No matter how magical your unicorn clone machine is, if it’s out of my budget, there’s nothing you can do about that.
Writing From Inspiration
I decided to write this post after I had an experience that hit home on this topic. I was looking into gyms in my area. I found one website, but it didn’t list prices, so I called. My husband groaned in the background:
“Don’t call!”
I found out why. I was put through to the sales guy. I asked how much a family membership was. His response?
“Let me get your name!”
Instantly, I was put off. I explained I simply wanted to get pricing, not sign up for anything. We proceeded to get into an argument; he said I was reducing his product to a price. He wanted to talk about value. I told him I was familiar with his brand, and I just wanted information on pricing to help me make a decision. I got frustrated and got off the phone.
Guess what gym I didn‘t sign up with?
Bingo. There it is. As business owners, we hate the idea of customers reducing our product to a price. But they do. If I hadn’t considered that gym of the quality I was looking for, with the services I needed, I wouldn’t have called. If all things are equal, price is the one factor that will help us make our decision most of the time. Am I right? But the fact that the salesperson made getting this information a headache turned me off, and I walked away.
In Sheridan’s presentation, he quizzed several members of the audience on whether or not they listed pricing on their sites. One man in software development, when asked why he didn’t list pricing, said:
“Because it depends.”
And that’s the case for a lot of us. It depends on what the client wants; how big he is; how many he wants. But Sheridan shot that down and said that’s the case for everyone in the room, and it simply isn’t an excuse.
I get it now. I just listed prices (at least, starting prices) on my site as a result of this lesson learned. My goal is to at least weed out the people who can’t afford what my company offers, and to create a starting point for the pricing conversation. We’ll see if it draws more clients or makes it easier for potential clients to make a decision.
Leap of the Week – I have a challenge for you:
If you don’t list prices on your site currently, change that. Even if “it depends,” list prices “starting at” and see what happens. Direct potential clients to your site so they can understand what to expect with regards to costs. Let’s get out of the habit of pushing customers away by closely guarding pricing as a big secret! Are you with me?
By Kelley Robertson
In a perfect world, every person or company you contacted about buying your product, service, or solution would make a positive buying decision. However, we don’t live in a perfect world which means many prospects don’t buy.
Here are eight reasons why prospect’s don’t buy from you.
1. They already have a supplier.
It can be difficult to unseat a current supplier even though your solution may be better, faster, or more advanced. This is especially true if the current supplier has consistently met the company’s expectations.
If the prospect is a high-value opportunity, then you need to keep your name in their mind by staying in touch. That can help you get your foot in the door if the existing supplier falters and makes a mistake.
2. They are resistant to change.
This is an extension of the previous point. Many people in organizations are reluctant to make a change because of the potential pain or headache of making that change.
When I first started my sales training business I enlisted the help of a friend to create and maintain my website. Unfortunately, every update and revamp took twice as long as she quoted, there were always typos and spelling mistakes, and communication from her was very weak. However, I was hesitant to find another webmaster because of the hassle associated with the change.
3. They don’t need what you’re selling.
Unless you sell a product or service with mass appeal, not everyone needs your solution. There is no point trying to convince someone that your solution is a good fit when they don’t need what you’re selling. The best way to avoid this is to target your prospecting efforts.
4. They don’t see how your product will benefit them.
Most sales presentations (aka pitches) miss the mark and fail to clearly show the prospect how they will benefit from their particular solution. This happens because sellers focus their time and attention on discussing their product or service rather than outlining the key outcomes of implementing their solution.
5. They don’t have time.
Corporate decision makers in today’s business world are exceptionally busy. Their daily schedule consists of dashing from meeting to meeting, putting out fires, and dealing with current problems in their business. The average executive has approximately 40 hours of unfinished work on their desk at any given time which means it would take them a full, uninterrupted week to clear that work from their desk.
As a result, they simply don’t have time to listen to another sales person pitch their product or service.
6. They don’t want to undertake another project.
A good friend of mine is an executive in a large organization and he once told me, “I never return calls from salespeople because I already have too much on my plate. I can’t possibly take on another project.”
This is a common lament from many decision makers. They already have so many projects to deal with that they simply do not want to take on another one, even if it makes good business sense to consider that solution.
7. They have other priorities.
Priorities in business often change in an instant. A priority today, can be pushed to the bottom of the list tomorrow, when something else arises or another problem becomes more important.
As sellers, it is essential that we discover the level of importance of this project and what could derail it or prevent it from moving forward.
8. They don’t have the money.
Some experts claim that if you demonstrate enough value a company will always be able to find the money to pay for it, especially if you sell to senior executives. However, there are many situations when this simply does not work.
A few years ago one of my clients was tasked with reducing expenses in his division of the company by half a million dollars. However, as the year progressed, the company increased their demands and doubled the expected amount of cutbacks. That corporate mandate affected every single buying decision my contact made in the next twelve months. Many organizations still face the same scrutiny when implementing new projects or initiatives.
Leap of the Week:
As you can see, prospects face a multitude of challenges which affect their buying decisions. Some factors are within your control while other are not. Focus on the ones you can influence, and don’t get stuck on the others… Maintain momentum!
Kelley Robertson writes for Future Simple’s Growth University and is a business expert experienced in helping people master their sales conversations so they can win more business. He conducts sales training workshops and delivers keynote speeches through his company The Robertson Training Group.
By Jason Kulpa
Business owners have little challenge with motivating themselves to go the extra mile, but how can they get others to mirror that work ethic? This can often be a painful point for entrepreneurs because they see success related to time and energy spent on projects, when in reality there is often a disconnect between employees and ownership of the company they work at.
Often, employees do only the required amount of work rather than take the extra steps needed when growing an enterprise. Think of how powerful the company would be if you were able to clone the same drive and passion you have for making your company successful. This could be possible if you began creating a mentality that your employees were CEOs in their own right.
Throughout my journey as a startup CEO, I’ve found that empowering my employees to feel, act, and most importantly, work like CEOs has been a key factor in the success of the business, time and time again. The environment here is conducive to innovation, and employees embrace an owner’s view from all aspects. By taking ownership of creative, challenging projects, each person is able to develop into a business-savvy professional, to think outside the box and to make experience-driven, intelligent decisions.
A culture that encourages ownership also fosters a sense of employee investment; therefore our employees take pride in their work and value the footprint that they are able to leave on the company. I’ve managed to do this by creating a few key initiatives, and most importantly, by digging in and sticking to those initiatives. For example:
- Creating a competitive environment that mirrors the increasingly aggressive market landscape. Competition is an intrinsic and powerful motivator, therefore creating a work environment where employees can quantify and compare individual benchmarks will channel competitive spirit and increase performance. For example: high-stake “hack-a-thons” where developers who devise the most innovative new feature or product solution are rewarded with a hefty cash bonus.
- Empowering and rewarding creativity. Innovation is key to a business’ success and is an important quality to reinforce and reward as it motivates employees to take ownership of their ideas. At Underground Elephant, we’ve been known to reward the achievement of exceeding challenging performance benchmarks with the occasional new car — a lasting reminder of a job well done.
- Making work fun — A LOT of fun. The better the work environment, the more time employees will want to spend there. At Underground Elephant we have an in-office foosball table, a pool table (with regular tournaments), and at the holidays we bring in a cash machine — just a few examples of how we make work fun.
Leap of the Week:
Many executives wonder who else can do the job better than they can.
I think there is a lot of truth to this. Put employees in your shoes, saddle them with a taste of your responsibility and reward them at the level of which you’d expect to be rewarded. This in turn creates a recipe for incredible overall success for the business.
Jason Kulpa is the founder and CEO of technology-based marketing company Underground Elephant. Since the company’s launch in 2008, it has become a leader in technology-based marketing and is one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies in San Diego. Kulpa was named the Most Admired CEO in 2010 by the San Diego Business Journal and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
