Principles Established by Wisdom II

Any enterprise built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense; and profits wonderfully, by keeping abreast of the facts. - Living Bible

If we were to look for one motto for building and operating our house, this would be it. A motto is a short expression of a guiding principle. The proverbs that follow are short sayings drawn form long experiences. We must build our house on wisdom. The foundation is the most important part of any structure. Without a sound one it will soon crumble under it's own weight or be destroyed by the environment around it.

For the purpose of application we have divided these words of wisdom into five main categories. Each set of principles are important for achievement of our goals. The five categories are: Attitude, Personal, Fraternal, Intellectual, and Spiritual.

ACTION POINT: Seek a foundation of wisdom for anything that you build.

Reading between the Lines II

However, all customers -- however company-focused they may be -- are to some extent influenced by personal needs.

Selling would be a far easier task if customers could be relied on always to buy fro sound business reasons -- such as return on investment, quality, value, and competence. If the buyer always made his or her decision dispassionately, rather than based on how that decision made them feel, reading their requirements would be straightforward.

However, all customers -- however company-focused they may be -- are to some extent influenced by personal needs. These delve into areas that are harder to quantify -- security, connecting with others, ego, and comfort. For this reason, showing empathy with the customer will bring you rich rewards.

Business needs are measurable while personal needs are subjective. Below are some examples of each to illustrate the differences between the two.

BUSINESS NEEDS PERSONAL NEEDS

Reduce Cost Look good in front of peers.

Increase efficiency Gain recognition

Shorten production time Get that promotion

Become more effective Minimize the risk

Increase profitability Boost personal status

Improve turnaround time Decrease stress

ACTION POINT: Recognize motives by looking out for customers who are risk averse, or who appear to worry abut how they are going to appear; they tend to be driven more by personal needs.

Reading between the Lines

So your task is to look for the needs behind what the customer says.

Sometimes your customers will tell you exactly what they need. All you have to do is listen and respond. But if you address only these overt needs, you are not adding much value to the client, and you are doing no more than any of your competitors would do. Where you can differentiate yourself -- and win the client's respect and trust -- is by hearing and responding to implied needs. So your task is to look for the needs behind what the customer says.

For example, if the client complains about his boss constantly second-guessing him, he may be expressing a need to have a solid, tightly reasoned explanation for his buying decisions. Successful sales professionals know how to uncover these implicit needs -- indeed, it is what drives their long-term success.

ACTION POINT: After each meeting, ask yourself what the customer didn't say. You'll probably unearth some needs they did not consciously know they had.

Separating needs from Solutions

You'll be amazed at how taking one step back will leave you two steps forward.

Whenever you find yourself offering a solution to a customer, ask yourself what the need is that led to this solution. You'll be amazed at how taking one step back will leave you two steps forward.

In the early 1980's, Citibank was one of the first major financial organizations to attempt the creation of a unique sales culture. The Consumer Banking Group interviewed many of the largest sales training companies, but -- to the surprise of many -- hired a young, small, and virtually unknown firm to lead the charge.

When the decision-maker was asked why she chose that firm, her answer was simple: "Of all the firms we interviewed, they did the best job of demonstrating that they understood our needs. And if that's what we want to teach our people, lets go with people who practice what they preach."

ACTION POINT: Approach some sales calls as if you were "selling without a product." This forces you to focus strictly on the customer -- a productive habit to get into.

Seeing the Nature of Needs

"Nobody needs a drill, they need a hole." - Theodore Levitt

Before you start questioning your customer to uncover his or her needs, it helps to know what these needs might look like -- and how they are likely to present themselves. You'd be surprised at how even the most seasoned sales professionals have difficulty recognizing needs.

The respected Harvard economist Theodore Levitt famously said: "Nobody needs a drill, they need a hole." In other words, peoples real needs are sometimes hidden behind apparent solutions.

A simple example may help illuminate what Levitt was getting at. Image you own a travel agency. A customer walks in days before winter vacation; he's in a panic because he hasn't arranged that big vacation he promised his wife an children. You listen patiently. he says the family is so excited but he's worried that he's left the arrangements too late. He tells you that the vacation is hard to plan because his three children have such different interests -- from going to museums to rock climbing -- while his wife just needs to have some down time. he bras abut how the cost issue is not a big deal to him.

When salespeople hear stories like this, many immediately start thinking up solutions. "What can we offer him that will address all his issues? If he wants to spend more, let's help him -- it's more commission for us. 'What your family needs, sir, is a spa vacation in Dubai.'"

This might indeed be a satisfactory solution, but the salesperson has done little to understand the customer's needs. a little analysis, and further questioning might reveal that the client has a need to impress and be respected by his family; to act quickly; to carve out some adult time on his vacation; to have a safe, supervised environment; and many other needs besides. Taking this longer approach has real benefits: the customer feels understood and valued; he'll buy this vacation from you, and come back for your guidance and advice, year after year.

ACTION POINT: Take time to understand and hear the needs of your customer before offering up solutions.

Article 6 Principles Established by Wisdom

Defining wisdom is a difficult thing to do.

The one wish of the wisest person was to acquire wisdom. Every time we make an unwise decision, we are reminded of the value of wisdom. it protects us, comforts us, blesses us, strengthens us, counsels us, and directs us.

Defining wisdom is a difficult thing to do. The purpose of this article is to define what we know about wisdom. Wisdom is picturesque as it speaks to us from the past with its counsel for the future.

Wisdom someone said is:

• An ability to look at life from God's viewpoint.
• Practical moral intelligence that is in harmony with God's principles of running the universe.
• knowledge guided by understanding
• Seeing life objectively and handling it with stability
• To see life as it really is, and see us as we really are

Its a combination of understanding intellectually and understanding emotionally.

What does wisdom say concerning our primary goal as a company? Which is to establish an ongoing enterprise to provide income, security, independent achievement, and a positive environment. How is this to be accomplished?

"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge it's rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. - Proverbs 24:3-4

ACTION POINT: Seek wisdom.

Taking Your Time

It takes a lot of self-confidence to step back and admit to yourself and your client that you're not yet prepared to make a recommendation.

So why is it so many salespeople respond in a way that their clients don't want? The answer is -- in part -- that they are too eager. Early in a sales meeting, they hear a need from a customer and, with the best of intentions, start to address it, start to provide a solution. You ask: "Isn't that what needs-driven selling is all about?" Not exactly: if you hear a need and respond to it immediately, its a little like reading the first chapter of a book and drawing conclusions regarding the author's message. You know a bit -- but just that; the whole story awaits. Any premature recommendation is likely to miss the mark, resulting in a disappointed customer.

It takes a lot of self-confidence to step back and admit to yourself and your client that you're not yet prepared to make a recommendation. you need to acknowledge that your don't understand your customer as well as you thought and that you need to ask more questions. This level of humility doesn't come naturally to most salespeople.

To tune into a clients needs ask yourself the following:

• What is this person trying to accomplish?
• What does he or she really want form me?
• What are their primary concerns?
• What's holding them back?
• What are they getting/not getting from their current supplier(s)?
• What gaps exist in their current relationship(s)?
• Why are they taking the time to see me?

ACTION POINT: Practice patience and listen to your customers.

Tips for Understanding Customers Needs

Ask yourself questions like this and your understanding of customers' needs will become clearer.

When you are in non-business situations with friends or family, ask yourself what their needs are relative to your discussion. It helps you become better at identifying needs and can make you a better friend.

Think of something you bought recently. Why did you buy it? What need did you have? How did the product address it? How effective was the salesperson you bought from? Ask yourself questions like this and your understanding of customers' needs will become clearer.

ACTION POINT: Use non selling situations to develop your sense of understanding.

Understanding the Needs of Customers

"Do you understand all of your customers' needs?"

Almost every sales professional worth his or her salt acknowledges the key importance of understanding their customer's needs But what does this really mean, and how do you achieve it in the real world?

The concept of needs-driven or needs-based selling is nothing new. Corporations have always boasted about their ability to develop products that address their customer's needs and the concept has been incorporated into sales training programs for decades. Why then, is needs-based selling often so poorly implemented?

"Do you understand all of your customers' needs?" In surveys, more than 80 percent of salespeople answer "yes" to this question. Yet studies of their customers reveal that, seen from the client's side, only 20 percent of salespeople are addressing needs. Some people call this startling discrepancy in perceptions the "80/20" rule." As a sales person, you need to understand why this happens, and what you can do to make sure that you're part of the successful 20 percent.

ACTION POINT: Aspire to be in the 20 percent of sales people.

Surprising Your Customers

Showing them you are different can be what ultimately tips the scales in our favor when you and your competitor are running neck and neck.


Aim to give your customers something they did not ask for or expect. Let them know that you care a bit more that anyone else, that you are willing to do things others haven't even thought about, and that you are not just concerned about getting the sale.


Tom Peters, the world-renowned customer-service guru, talks about "wowing and delighting customers." Showing them you are different can be what ultimately tips the scales in our favor when you and your competitor are running neck and neck.


Ask yourself "Am I wowing my customer with the following questions:

• Are there any relevant articles or pieces of research that you could send them?
• Can you put them in touch with a third party who can provide something you can't?
• do you know of any suppliers who could help them reduce their costs?
• Can you help them solve a pressing problem?
• Is there a significant personal even that you could acknowledge?
• Do you know someone who is looking to change careers who they might like to meet?

ACTION POINT: Look for ways to "Wow" your customer.

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Piety

To love is to wish one well and to do all you can to bring that about. The gift of piety resembles the virtue of love. it gives me a childlike affection for God. I am obliged to love as God loves me. My love for you must be totally separated form whether or not you are lovable.

Through this gift you can see people in a totally different light. For instance, when you analyze why you don't like people, you will find it is because they do not do what you expect them to do., the don not give what you expect them to give, they do not please you. but if you love as God loves, you are not disappointed in anyone, because you know human nature.

The gift of piety makes me love. What is love? Love is an intangible desire, a giving of the self, something that makes my change for the better. "God is Love," St. John says (1 John 4:8). When I love Him as Father, a part of that love comes into me -- it is the Spirit. And when the Spirit of the Lord enters into my heart, He transforms me; He makes a new creation; a new mind, a new heart Love makes us new.

So my love for you must make you new, it must change both of us. You cannot posses God's love and give it to others without changing that person in some way. If your neighbor is not changed for the better because he knows you, you do not love him, you love yourself! The greatest witness of the first Christians was their love. "See how these Christians love each other," people said. We must love like that.

The fit of piety should do another thing for you. It should allow you to release everyone to the Lord. The gift of piety makes you look upon everyone as someone very precious with an immortal soul. It protects me form judging others. So every day ask the Spirit of the Lord to give you a great degree of the gift of piety that you might have patience and compassion, that you might love first and never be disappointed. Because, remember as you love your neighbor, so you love God.

God is Love

Article 4 Organizational Structure

The best structure is one that will establish authority relationships, establish and detail functional responsibilities, eliminate duplication of effort, and balance delegation of responsibility.

An organized team, set towards the same goal, is essential in maximizing productivity. An effective team will always outperform a group of individuals. The best structure is one that will establish authority relationships, establish and detail functional responsibilities, eliminate duplication of effort, and balance delegation of responsibility.

The required tasks of this corporation are classed by functional areas.

Executive

Administrative

Sales

Marketing

Operations

ACTION POINT: Follow structure to ensure team effectiveness and maximize performance.

Achieving Visibility

Your customers don't think about you as much as you think about them

Make yourself visible to your customer. To rise to the level of a trusted adviser and differentiate yourself from your competition, visit your customers in person on a regular basis. This approach has many benefits: it strengthens the relationship with your customer; it gives you an opportunity to learn their needs directly and through nonverbal clues; and it enables you to see firsthand who your customer regularly interacts with in their organization and the many facets of their work life that remain hidden on the phone.

Do whatever you can to keep yourself on the customer's mind, by emailing or sending personal notes and letter. Your customers don't think about you as much as you think about them, so ensure they think of you first when the opportunity arises. But beware -- don't become annoying.

ACTION POINT: Look for opportunities to be with your customer in person.

Differentiating Yourself

The goal is to move up the value chain to become a strategic adviser to your customer

Whether you're selling computer support, pharmaceuticals, or lighting supplies, chances are that your competitors offer similar products at equal or better prices with identical backup. You need to do everything to set your product apart form the others, and there is no better way to differentiate your company than through your approach to your customer.

To be a success in sales, you should constantly ask yourself what you can do to add value to the client relationship. If all you do is facilitate the supply of products and services, you are not adding value -- just reacting. Even when you provide solutions to known problems, you are still in reactive mode and are not adding much value. This begins only when you help the customer to determine their needs.

The goal is to move up the value chain to become a strategic adviser to your customer -- someone the customer calls for guidance, ideas, perspective, insights, and quite simply help. Once you rise to that level with a customer, your position is rock solid.

ACTION POINT: Constantly see ways to add value and solidify your position with your customer.

Ways to Mitigate Risk and Build Trust

Reassure the customer -- tell them you'll be there throughout the process; if anything goes awry you'll be ready to take action if necessary.

The following are some ways for building trust and mitigating risk.

• Start Small - Don't ask for all the business; ask for a piece of it. Show the customer your capabilities and earn the business over time.
• Identify parallel situations - Review a similar situation with the customer and demonstrate how it worked previously.
• Build in an exit strategy -- Let the customer know there will be a way to get out of the situation if things don't work out as planned.
• Reassure the customer -- tell them you'll be there throughout the process; if anything goes awry you'll be ready to take action if necessary.
• Explain the worst case -- Make the client aware of all the risks and how you'll do your best to keep them under control.
• Take the burden -- Stand behind what you are doing for the customer; let them know you will take full responsibility if things go wrong.
• Share the risk -- Enlighten the customer about the risk for you -- if things don't happen as anticipated, you'll pay a price as well. Convey that "we're in it together."
• Guarantee results -- Or at the very least, guarantee your commitment to stick together throughout the process.

ACTION POINT: Earn your customers trust by demonstrating ways you will work to mitigate his risk.

Managing Risk

To be successful, you must effectively learn to manage risk.

You know that your are trustworthy, and your customer thinks you are trustworthy. Good start. Being considered trustworthy and actually being trusted to fulfill a million-dollar contract are two different things. US consulting firm Synectics Inc.. carried out some inspired research that accounts for the difference between these two concepts -- it is summarized in the trust formula:

trust = Credibility x intimacy

________________

risk

The formula shows that your ability to demonstrate credibility and build relationships is directly proportional to trust. But trust is inversely proportional to the level of risk involved in making a decision -- how much the client has to lose. The top of the equation is within your control. To be successful in sales, you need to demonstrate credibility and intimacy, which is comprised of behaviors such as empathy, affability, sensitivity, and likeability. Intimacy speaks to how safe and secure it is to work with you.

So it's the lower part of the equation -- risk -- that's less within your control and works against your ability to build relationships. To be successful, you must effectively learn to manage risk.

With that in mind, you as a salesperson must constantly ask yourself what you can do to make any commitments less risky for the customer. Remember the old adage: "Nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM." That because the risk was much lower in hiring Big Blue than a less-established high tech company.

ACTION POINT: Look for ways to minimize your customers risk.

ARTICLE 3 JUDICIAL

The judicial responsibility is to convey the policy and procedures of the corporation to each member.

The judicial power of the corporation shall be vested in the Executive Branch, Corporate Directors, and the Branch Management Staff.

The judicial responsibility is to convey the policy and procedures of the corporation to each member. This branch has the clear, indisputable responsibility to ensure polices and procedures are obeyed. Failure to perform in this important area must be seen as individual failure to meet the demand of the office.

This branch has the authority and power to exercise such policy to its full extent in dealing with violators. It has the authority to levy the necessary punishment given by policy. This branch must understand completely the entire policy and procedure of the corporation and be able to properly interpret when exercising their judgement powers.

ACTION POINT: Understand and enforce completely the policy and procedures of the corporation

Building Trust

Always assume that your customer is smart and give them due respect:

Trust takes a long time to build, but only a second to lose. To demonstrate that you can be trusted, you need to be responsive, direct, clear, reliable and straightforward. Customers don’t like to be manipulated and don’t appreciate evasiveness. If you get caught being dishonest in any way, you’ll not only lose that customer but the ripple effect of your actions will also spread far beyond the borders of that relationship.

Always assume that your customer is smart and give them due respect: don’t play games make sure to deliver on your promises, and avoid nasty surprises.

ACTION POINT: Follow the simple rules above to gain your customers trust over time.

Showing Empathy

Many people think that empathy depends on similarity of age, background, experience, or point of view. That’s a myth.

Empathy is the ability to connect with someone -- to see things from their perspective. Several recent studies indicate that, for many buyers, a salesperson’s ability to understand their situation is the single most compelling reason why they make the decision to buy.

Many people think that empathy depends on similarity of age, background, experience, or point of view. That’s a myth. A young salesperson can connect with and relate to someone much more senior if they can identify areas of mutual interest. It’s not hard to find common ground. For starters, both are already in the same business -- even if they are on different sides of the desk. They may have similar interests and educations: if salespeople allow the customer to talk and genuinely show interest in what they say the customer will appreciate the empathy shown.

Without understanding the customer and showing real interest in what he or she has to say, a key ingredient in the relationship will be missing and the salesperson will remain an order taker... at best.

ACTION POINT: Focus on empathy. Management guru David Maister famously said: “Customers don’t care how much you know until they know ho much you care.”

Gaining Respect By Showing Respect

Be the kind of person who brightens up a room when they enter

You don’t have to be funny to be in successful in sales, but it helps to be fun. Be the kind of person who brightens up a room when they enter, as opposed to the person who brightens up a room when they leave it.

Some guidelines for showing respect include:

• Do you show respect for your client’s space by, for example, avoiding placing objects on their desk?
• Do you show respect for their business by, for example, asking before you take notes?
• Do you show respect for your competitors? If you put down one of the client’s existing suppliers you are disrespecting the client.

ACTION POINT: Do you brighten or darken the room with your presence?

Appealing to Buyers

What do they demand from salespeople? The answers come down to three discernible behaviors:

Countless studies have addressed the central question of sales -- why do buyer buy? How do customers make decisions? What do they demand from salespeople? The answers come down to three discernible behaviors:

• Believing in your position
• Empathy
• Trust

People buy from people who know their stuff. If the salesperson can’t consistently demonstrate that he or she knows what they are talking about, it becomes almost impossible to buy from them.

Put yourself in the buying role. You want to buy a new refrigerator, but the salesperson just can’t explain why model A is better for you than model B. Chances are that you’ll be shut down as a customer; in fact, you’ll probably want to leave and go to a different store.

Knowing what you sell inside-out is a given, but your credibility extends far beyond product knowledge. You must become familiar with your customer’s business, competitors, industry, and marketplace. You need to be well prepared. It’s not hard -- almost everything you need to know about your customers and markets is readily available online.

ACTION POINT: Evaluate how much you really know about your product, customer, competitor, industry and marketplace.

Article 2. Legislative

The legislative branch is charged with the responsibility to make the laws or rules by which the corporation abides.

The legislative powers of this corporation shall be vested in its policy committee. This committee shall consist of the Executive branch and the Administrative Director.

The legislative branch is charged with the responsibility to make the laws or rules by which the corporation abides. It has expressed power to establish such laws.

All policy must be written in such a way to document clearly what the law is for every area that the committee feels compelled to regulate. Decisions concerning questions not regulated, should be answered in harmony with the Principles, and Values of this constitution.

This committee has the authority to amend or add to policy to meet the changing demands of economy, strategy, state and federal law, or the current state of affairs. This policy committee also has the responsibility for implementing the procedures required for adherence to policy. These procedures must be written in such a way to document clearly in a chronological manner how to complete the process from start to finish.

These policies will impart basic daily demands upon the corporations employees. cooperation with executive, administrative, operational, sales and marketing needs will be achieved when policy is obeyed. The membership of this corporation has the right to offer requests for policy statements or policy amendments. The method is via management, and formalized in written form being addressed to the policy committee.

ACTION POINT: Know and follow policy and procedure where it exists.

Solving Problems

The process of problem solving is also remarkably similar in its structure to that of selling

Success in selling is linked to effective problem solving. If you're good at one, the chances are that you'll excel at the other. The process of problem solving is also remarkably similar in its structure to that of selling, further reinforcing the link.

• STEP 1

PROBLEM SOLVING

Set the stage. Provide structure for the problem solving session.

NEEDS-BASED SELLING

Open the meeting. Build rapport, confirm the agenda, prepare the customer.

• STEP 2

PROBLEM SOLVING

Define the problem. Review background information and solutions already tried.

NEEDS-BASED SELLING

Determine needs. Engage with the client and tease out both their obvious and their hidden needs.

• STEP 3

PROBLEM SOLVING

Generate ideas. provide the climate where everyone can contribute creative perspectives without judgement.

NEEDS-BASED SELLING

Present products and services. Describe the feathers and benefits of what you have to sell. Impart your enthusiasm and belief in your products.

• STEP 4

PROBLEM SOLVING

Evaluate the ideas an develop the best ones. Identify the appealing aspects of an idea, then list the concerns.

NEEDS-BASED SELLING

Resolve objections. Effectively and sensitively resolve the objections that customers inevitably raise.

• STEP 5

PROBLEM SOLVING

Summarize the solution. Put together a specific action plan.

NEEDS-BASED SELLING

Close the deal. Agree on how to move forward with fulfillment.

ACTION POINT: Identify your customers problems and then work to solve them.