You're Going To Be Great At This!

When the Covid-19 pandemic struck earlier this year, many businesses were shuttered and their staffs were left without jobs. My friend Keelin Eichert was one of these people, but she took matters into her own hands, starting her own business as a business coach helping personal trainers grow their businesses. I recently had the pleasure of asking her about herself and how she is creating success in a small and somewhat specialized market.   Thanks for taking the time to talk today. Tell me about your business. I specialize in coaching personal trainers on how to sell themselves professionally and how to build and scale their business, whether their business is online, in a gym or at their studio. I started my own business because I was let go from my corporate job due to Covid-19 and I needed another income fast. My back was up against the wall and the only thing I was really good at was my corporate position! I ran multiple gym franchises' personal training departments and coached

A funny thing happened between my last post on the subject and the writing of this post. A client of mine in the Charleston, SC area and who shall remain anonymous posted on her Facebook page that she nearly sent a customer packing from her restaurant. Apparently he was rude in all sorts of ways to her and her staff. I don't know why people think it's okay to abuse people at work, but it's not, and I don't think the customer knew that she was the owner of the establishment. In her words, "We usually love our customers but this guy just sucked and wasn't worth the effort!" Let's face it, sometimes people want you to bend over backwards to please them but aren't willing to meet you halfway. We've all had that customer or client who just couldn't behave properly. When I was managing a retail store we would sporadically have some of these people, even early in the morning.  My store opened at 10am, and we would sometimes get the guy who either

First off, let me say that I really do like most of my clients. An old colleague of mine once stood up at a sales training meeting and said, "Chris lives his market. If they aren't his friends, they will be soon." I appreciated that sentiment because I really do treat nearly all of my customers as if they were friends or family. That strong relationship built on trust and likability leads to more selling opportunities and a lot of referrals! But there are times when you have to cut someone loose. The reasons may vary. In my book I tell the story of the couple that jerked me around for over a year, never buying anything but stringing me along by asking for quotes. After spending an hour or so working up prices they would disappear, only to call me again months later and do it all over again. It eventually got ugly and I asked them to stop contacting me as they were never serious about buying in the first place.  Things like this happen all the time. People who mean well b

Occasionally I will get the opportunity to speak to a civic group or a group of students and one of my favorite topics is  using basic sales techniques as life hacks. To understand the gist of this, we first must understand that we are all selling. We sell our products, our services, our time (you work for an hourly wage don't you?), and most of all, we sell ourselves.  As I state in my book, "You're Going To Be Great At This! ",  before we sell anything else we must first sell ourselves. People buy from those they like and trust, and if you are meeting someone for the first time you have only one opportunity to sell yourself and make a great impression. It does not matter if you are selling a product or going on a blind date, you will want to sell yourself and try to convince someone that you are a good and decent person. That's what sales is all about.  If you can do that correctly you will have a much better success rate when "closing the deal". By th

With the outbreak of a global pandemic, sales professionals from all industries have had to adapt quickly to stay viable. For those of us who are accustomed to meeting people in person, it has been imperative that we start using assorted video conferencing apps like Skype and Zoom. Some, like myself, have even gone back to the good old telephone (minus the rotary dial).  With all of the technological toys we have gained in the last few months, I think it's fair to say that we have lost that sense of connecting with someone else. Chatting with a prospect over a cup of coffee has a certain intimacy. People will let their guard down and share more when they are comfortable. Maybe I'm a little different, but I've always enjoyed it when someone who barely knows me divulges and tell me their goals, dreams and hopes. And not just what they want for themselves, but for their families or employees. That's when I know I have earned their trust. Last week I had an old networking f

In my own opinion, one of the most frustrating sports to watch is boxing. This is because unless someone gets knocked out, neither the fighters nor the spectators know what the score is during the match. A boxer might think he's winning, when in fact, he may be losing. There isn't a scoreboard to look up at and see where you stand. As we all know, the judges can choose who wins each round at their own discretion with little to no accountability in real time. As a sports fan, I find it strange that you don't know the outcome until it's over.  In sales, we use a lot of sports analogies. As a matter of fact, I got my first sales job by answering an ad in the classifieds for someone who was "sports minded". (If you know which company this is, let's not give them any extra press or attention as they were not the most professional bunch of idiots I've ever met.) My fellow new hires and I all thought we were applying at a sporting goods store or something to

In my book, "You're Going To Be Great At This!" , I use "dumb stories" to shine the light on the crazy and absurd things that happen in the business of sales.  Some readers seemed to enjoy them more than the rest of the book and I even had a couple of people ask me to put together a sequel of just "dumb stories". Maybe one day, but for now, I'm content just letting them happen organically.  In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to regale you with one that happened just a few years ago. As usual, I'm going to change the names of all parties involved to protect myself from any legal action. I met "Mary" at a networking luncheon. She was actually the speaker and told us about her job at a state run office that assisted seniors with various issues. Considered the "Google" of the office, Mary would take incoming calls from people who needed help with everything from legal aid to putting a roof on their homes, and she would r

In a previous life I ran a retail store in a mall. My store was one of over 350 stores in a chain of music stores, selling CD's, cassettes, videos and a host of other related products. I learned a lot about running a business in those years,from personnel management to keeping inventory levels manageable.  Working in a mall I could watch as other stores had differing philosophies when it came to their operations. Some were more focused on security concerns, like shoplifting, while others emphasized customer service. I learned a lot of things but one in particular still resonates today.  Each Monday morning I would do a store walk-through. With a legal pad in hand, I would make a detailed checklist of items that needed to be addressed. After an hour or so of this, I would have several pages of chores for my staff to handle. Some would be easy things, like making sure that the CD's were alphabetized correctly, or more involved like changing out a complete display. Some of these j

In the previous post I discussed the basic structure of free networking groups. As mentioned, we aren't to pay dues or fees for the networking. This being said, we have to suffer through some fellow networkers who just don't know the prospects we want to meet, or they are just not very good at the whole networking process. I am a member of networking group that is sponsored by a wholesale club. I consider it "free" because even though I am a member of the club, this is one of the perks, and apparently it's not offered at all of their locations. We meet once a month and the wholesale club furnishes us with coffee, fruit, sweets and some door prizes. They have a small investment in the process but it gets a lot of business for them. We usually take turns going to the front and giving a quick "elevator speech" or commercial to the crowd. On a slow month we may only have 20 people show up and sometimes we have over 50. At the end of the meeting there are doo

Are you a member of a networking group? Are you paying dues or a membership fee? Are you getting a good return on your investment (ROI)?  These are important questions and if you are in sales, you should take a few minutes to see what you are putting into an networking group and what you are getting back out of it. And don't just consider your out-of-pocket costs such as dues. Your time is valuable as well and should be considered. Taking an hour or two away from seeing clients has to be accounted for.  I have seen people join networking groups and treat them as some sort of a social gathering. That's great, but it should not be your primary reason for networking. The word "work" is in there for a reason, and that is because you need to treat it as such. I have friends I work with, but I work to make money. I can see my friends off the clock as well.  Others will attend networking functions out of obligation. In other words, their employer told them that "this wa

Networking can be an effective way to build your clientele, but unfortunately, not everyone seems to understand the rules of the game. You can't go to one networking event, hand out your newly printed business cards and expect your phone to ring off the hook when you get back to the office. It just doesn't work that way. As I mentioned in my book, "You're Going To Be Great At This!", I have done a lot of networking, either through my local chamber of commerce or through other organizations. As you can imagine, these different types of networking groups have their own advantages and disadvantages, and what you like about one someone else might not like.  One thing I look for in a networking group is cost. Are you being charged a fee to join? If so, what is it and what kind of a return on your investment (ROI) should you expect? A chamber of commerce can charge you anywhere from $100 a year to thousands, depending on how they structure their dues. When I was working

Think back to the times when you needed to buy something, like a car or a phone or an insurance policy. The purchasing process has always been a hassle for most people. I am fully aware that of the stereotype of the high pressure salesman, pushing the client to spend more. Painted as cheesy villains, people who sell cars, insurance, siding and even attorneys, have tried to change their image, knowing that people who buy don't want to put up with such foolishness. I remember commercials on TV for certain products and would mention "no salesman will call on you", which implied that you wouldn't have the hassle of that horrible person coming to your home. As an agent who has been in the insurance business for years, I can attest that there are a few bad apples in the business. It's true of all industries. However, those people generally don't last long. Not working in the interest of the client (and only for a commission) eventually weeds them out. And the vast m