In 1988 I watched in horror as my childhood hero Carl Lewis was blown away by Ben Johnson in the men’s 100m final at the Seoul Olympic Games.

The ripped and bulging Canadian sprinter launched out of the blocks to blaze to a new world record time of 9.79 seconds. To my relief, three days later, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and banned for testing positive to steroids. Lewis was then unceremoniously anointed as the Olympic champion, and faith was restored to my little world.

Not many records can endure the vacillation of time. Johnson’s drug assisted time was considered only possible because he used a banned substance. His time has since been broken on several occasions. Usain Bolt is the reigning Olympic champion and world recorder holder, clocking in a 9.58 seconds. May I be so bold as to suggest that one day a man of freakish ability will run it in eight seconds?

Each generation strives to be more than their ancestors. More opulent, more enlightened, more successful. Smarter, faster! To achieve this we must overcome ignorance, abolish inhibiting beliefs, and embrace change. This path is risky, but ultimately, it serves by moving us all forward. To evolve, records need to be broken and new rules set. We live in a world of flux and ceaseless movement. If you’re standing still, in reality, you are moving backwards.

Genuine innovation is challenging to achieve, because initially only you trust it. And without others buying-in to your vision, who will fund it and run with it?  Not many, which usually spells the death of a great idea. True innovators live on the edge, blazing away with new ideas and brazen beliefs. To break a long held record or tradition set by others, you’ll need a stomach full of courage, thick skin and unyielding commitment to the cause.

Never be the one to succumb to other people’s ignorance or take unconstructive feedback as a reason to give up your dream. You are unstoppable when your vision sings to your determination and inspires you to work through adversity. Sticking your neck out is never easy, especially if what you believe in runs contrary to the majority.

Ben Johnson broke both the rules and world record in Seoul, however, in an unethical way, and that will always meet with penalty. At some point, much of what you believe in today will evolve or change, so be open to it. What shouldn’t change are your self-belief and desire to be better. Keep on striving. And if you genuinely believe a rule should be broken… smash it!

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

Sales Training

One of the most valuable asset’s you can create in business is called a ‘friendship with benefits’.

Not the touchy and feeling kind, rather an enduring relationship between a customer and vendor that contributes to both in a meaningful way. Acquaintances, we can take or leave. Typically surface level, these relationships hold little lasting value. Unfortunately, the majority of customers are treated this way because staff are not empowered habitually with the right knowledge and skills.

Its vital businesses get this right: how you treat people in a commercial situation shouldn’t differ that much to a social setting. The same essentials apply, such as; empathy, common courtesy, respect, keeping our word, and above all a genuine interest in the other party’s best interests. Think about the people we consider friends. What behaviours do they demonstrate? How long have we known them? Why are they so important to us? What really attracts us to them?

More than anything else, we are attracted to friends because of how they make us feel.

We can share a laugh or divulge our deepest insecurities. We spend time getting to know who they really are and what’s really important to them. Friends dont try to blatantly profit from us, without of course, being swiftly removed from our social group. Friends, more often than not, are adept at listening to us. When you consider your best friend, they are exceptional at it.

As a customer, I prefer to buy from someone I like and trust. I hate being sold something, instead, I want to be empowered with information. I detest being smothered by self-focused communication and marketing jargon. I crave to be heard and understood. And if there’s a problem, I need to know someone is there for me, always. Yes, as vendor, your success is important to me too. I’m willing to pay fair value for my purchase and I dont mind you profiting, but never at my detriment.

Some say, you can measure a person by the quality of their friends. This is true. The principle applies profoundly to businesses too. Ironically ― being a true friend isn’t all that hard, but it does take effort. And customers aren’t really that complex to understand, you should know, as you’re one also. Good friends are hard to find, so never be a salesperson ― always be a friend with benefits.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

sales training

Credibility can take a lifetime to establish, yet it can be stripped from you at light spee

I can speak from experience, one erroneous move, fumble or stumble can take you many years to recover.

Credibility in business is a great deal like a credit rating in our personal life. One or two black marks on your profile and no Bank will take a risk on you, for five years at least. And why should they, if you fail to demonstrate a trustworthy past?

Often business people are quick to assert a sense importance or superiority upon customers. They offer a glowing account of themselves and how adept they are at their craft.

Credibility is not something you can demand from others, analogous to “respect”, it must be earned.

To be credible, you must demonstrate a proven track record over an extended period in whatever it is you do. Walk the talk and make it obvious how many times your tired shoes have trodden this path.

Mistakes and more importantly how you deal with and learn from them, also helps to build cred.

In early stages of business, the battle with cash flow and credibility is an obvious and tiresome one.  But which should you focus on achieving first?

Cash flow is of course King, but dont underestimate the Queen as she often wears the pants.

A business can survive with strong cash flow and poor credibly, but its days are numbered and potential limited. Likewise, a company bursting with credibility won’t last long without cash flow.

Both King and Queen are vital to your long term commercial success. Acts of treason will result in a swift and sharp demise!!!

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

Sales Training

Selling is a contact sport and when it comes to competitors it should be full body contact!

Competition serves the collective good. Merchants are kept on their toes and customers are able to select a provider that best meets their needs or desires. Many business people underestimate their competitors ― pretending they don’t exist or their offer is irrelevant or somehow inferior. Dont make that mistake.

By default, we often frame competitors as the enemy. We’ve never met them, nor do we want to. If they’re flying a flag with a different brand ― they’re evil! This belief is not only ignorant, it’s limiting and ultimately self-defeating.

Call me mad, but I recommend meeting with competitor’s periodically. Invite them for coffee or chat over the phone. Learn what they are up to. How do they communicate and what do they really stand for? What’s their story and where are they headed?  Are they savvy, innovative, polished or coarse? This amongst other information is important to know.

Here’s why… If you know what’s really beneath your competitor’s facade this helps you to understand how to position yourself in either a contrasting or more meaningful light. And as far as your competitor is concerned, well these benefits are mutual and you both may add value to your business as a result.

Competitors’ responses commonly fall into three distinct categories:

1. Closed and Aggressive
2. Passive and Indifferent
3. Open and Collaborative

Misguided by tradition, we can be guilty of herding all competitors into Category 1. Competitors in this class generally come from a place of fear, scarcity and many overtly self-righteous. You will establish this when you make contact and receive nil response or a retort. Leave these competitors to fester in their own ignorance, or hunt and destroy them, it’s up to you.

If you are willing to make the effort and initiate contact with competitors you will find that most fall into Category 2. These types are somewhat myopic but rarely sinister. Not ones to think too much about competitors or be strategic. Safely share your inner most secrets with them, they won’t use it against you. They are frequently content and quite happy where they are in the pecking order.

Category 3 is not only a characterization it’s a way of being. Usually competitors in this grouping have realised there is enough for everyone. They also know how competition serves them and their customers. Less than ten percent of companies are in this category. The majority of others are not capable of understanding how collaborating and sharing knowledge with a “perceived” enemy can serve them and others.

Medical specialists are skilled proponents of this approach. They dont take on a procedure outside their expertise, habituably referring to someone more qualified. In addition, they regularly seek expert council from others specialists. Their resolve is always creating the right outcome for the patient. People’s lives and health are at stake. What a powerful way of operating. Aren’t your customers that important? If not they should be.

In my own business, I regularly make contact with competitors and when appropriate refer them business. I’ve learnt a hell of a lot from some of them. Sometimes not what to do, other times I’ve been given insights and ideas to help develop my business, which I’m grateful for.

Establishing connections with competitors in different markets or geographic regions, you’re not active in, enables you to cross-pollinate best practices and leverage IP.  This mutually enhances knowledge and capability and serves the best interests of customers.

Time for Action!

I encourage you to make contact with no less than “3” key competitors you respect and request a catch-up either over the phone, or better, in person.

When you meet come from a place of contribution and commonality, and if possible, try to help them in some way.

You will invariably find your competitors are facing the same challenges as you, and you have a lot more in common than you think. Some may even become friends, heaven forbid.

Happy hunting!

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

Sales Training

Often a sale will come down to a final negotiation when two or more parties aim to draw a body of communication to some form of conclusion.

In Australia, negotiating is frequently referred to as “haggling” and is not considered part of our laconic and laid back business culture.

I recently met with, Morry Morgan the co-owner of ClarkMorgan Corporate Training. His new book, ‘Selling Big to China’ delves into Morry’s ten years of on the ground experience selling in China and also provides insights into Asian business culture.

What struck me most in Morry’s book was how culturally contrasting Eastern and Western cultures are when it comes to understanding and engaging in negotiations. For instance, in China, a discount is expected as part of the selling and buying process.  In Australia asking for a discount is customarily met with a neck twitch and pursed lips, “Hmmm, that’s the best I can do mate, sorry.”

Often a customer is lost, not because their request for a discount wasn’t met, but due to there being no attempt made by the salesperson to acknowledge the motive behind the request and to make the customer feel included in the buying process.

Morry also talks about the importance of fostering goodwill in negotiations, which derives from making a genuine attempt to negotiate a win-win outcome for both parties.  I have a mantra, how you leave a relationship is how your remember it. Equally so, in China your goodwill is vital in establishing your long term success and ongoing relationships with clients, and is measured as such. Make less now, gain more at a later date often applies.

Helping the other party to “save face” in negotiations is also fundamental in China. Conversely, in Australia there is little concession made in this area, with a winner takes all approach prevailing most of the time. I for one have been on both sides of that equation, so I can attest neither side of the fence is pleasant, particularly when you’re being bent over it!

In Australia, we have more of a short term focus and modest insights into what constitutes effective negotiations.  Moreover, scant regard for the other person saving face or the need to build goodwill. We have some catching up to do on our skills in these areas, particularly as our economy matures and becomes more intertwined in the Asian markets.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan                  Sales Training Sales Book

One happy customer plus another should equal three.

For every two customers you win at least one should buy again or refer you to a friend. We all exist in a hyper-connected and transparent business world. If people aren’t sharing their positive experiences about you with others, something about what you do needs to change.

Although competition is vicious and margins in most markets are being eroded, customers still and always will pay for value and quality service. In fact, we crave it. Deep in our psyche we all have an innate need to be loved and included. Moreover, to be valued, appreciated and remembered. This is the essence of what I refer to as, RetroService.

The most ineffective businesses commonly lack repeat customers. These cultures are unaccommodating and the engagement processes are transactional at best. Conversely, those companies more successful than most employ methods to ensure they not only obtain customer’s trust, but the commitment transcends to loyalty and perpetual value.

Despite what many think, “standing out” in today’s market isn’t all that hard, given the bar is set so low! Meaningful interactions are painstakingly too hard to find, so too are people willing to provide genuine service.  In short, today, there’s a very real opportunity to get back to basics and move to the head of the game.

You can effectively differentiate by doing the simple things that matter most, not at all hard or expensive. Care about what you do and how you impact others. When you start caring and sharing value with customers you’ll find the market a lot more sympathetic to your demands.

Gross sales are often influenced by a spooked market or other external forces, catastrophes such as the GFC and natural disasters dont help either. But, who can predict these events with any accuracy?  Dont trust a three year plan, thinking that far ahead is speculative. Twelve months is long enough, just work to a plan and make the most of what is right in front of you. 

When you stop seeing customers as faceless numbers and start treating them as valuable over an extended period, they will see value in you.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan                    Sales Training        Sales Books

The best time to “get urgent” is when you least need to.

Complacency is ubiquitous and also highly contagious. I see too many sales teams merely moving through the motions with no accountability or consequence. There is little pride in what they do and few are prepared to fight for what they believe in.

Someone in your company needs to be, ‘the panic merchant.’  This person shouldn’t necessarily always be the CFO; though most are adept in its dark arts. You’ve got to get urgent for your own outcomes. Be hungry and sell like your life depends on it. Not all the time, but at the very least when you need to.

Countless businesses underperform because no one is urgent enough or not enough people are urgent enough. There is no ‘cause’, individually or collectively. “I get paid anyway, so why push too hard?” many say. What a depressing reality that is. Be the cause, not the sum of things that affect you.

Each day I get up, I’m sometimes weary, but always hungry. I drive my business irrespective of targets and commission cheques. I do it because I want to, not because I have to. And I’d rather get urgent now, than later when I need to. Proactive urgency is powerful. Reactive urgency often defaults to desperation. And no one likes a desperado, believe me I’ve been one.

I remember hearing Michael Jordan in an interview say, “When the game is on the line with only seconds left on the clock, I want the ball.” In fact, he demanded it. Jordan thrived on pressure and immortalised himself because of it. 

Do you want the ball?

If so you’ll have to fight for it, so go out there and get amongst it.  When opportunity knocks on your door you need to be ready for it. The most effective way I know to prepare for success is through hard work, discipline and urgency.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan         Sales Training        Sales Book

Christmas is almost here bringing with it the season of loving cheer.

Retailers are rallying in hope of a bumper period, while other less active industries are winding down for a well earned respite and regroup for the New Year.

December is my silly season, every year I spend this time investing in my clients. I take a selection of my valuable clients out for celebratory lunches. We simply catch-up and share a meal, sometimes wine, but always meaningful conversations. This is not my time to sell, in fact there’s little business banter, rather it’s a moment to simply relax and reflect.  

Christmas for most of us is about family. My clients are part of my extended family. They are so important and fundamental to my success, which flows into my personal life. My family’s financial security and children’s education, among others make my business and those who contribute to it very important.  

Whether you’ve had a bumper year or not, one thing is universally true: we’re all another year older and hopefully wiser. This time can never be experienced again. My old mentor, Big Kev, when asked how he was, would usually respond, “Every day above ground is a good day!” Kev’s no longer with us, but his maxim lives on.

 When the bell sounds for your final knock-off for the year―just take a moment to reflect on your achievements. What mistakes were made  and what did you learn? Look how far you’ve come.  Recognize the good things and people that have come into your life. Perhaps some have moved on, so thank them with a respectful thought.   

This is a moment to celebrate simply being here, its also a time to spend with family and loved ones. Such as special time of year, so dont waste this opportunity to offer loving cheer.

It’s been a privilege writing for you this year. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you again in 2011.

Have a sublime Christmas and prosperous New Year!

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan, Founder BOOM! Sales

Being competent at what you do is a good start, but it’s not enough to be the best.

People that stay competent kill long term company value. Ooh that’s a  harsh sweeping statement I know. But competence breeds complacency which leads to mediocrity. To be a great salesperson or company you need to go from being competent to being the best. That’s how great companies and people grow.

How does you being the best benefit your customers? It means they get the right people that provide the best advice, commitment to outcomes, and value/benefit for their risk/investment.

Ask yourself, can “you” be the best at what you do? If not, why not? Or what can you be the best at and can you commercialise it? I’m not saying this process is easy, but resigning to a life of competence, will ultimately prove much harder, soiled with the bitter zest of regret.

I regularly get requests from inspired and sometimes desperate businesspeople looking to partner-up on an idea. The first place I start when evaluating any proposition like this is by getting to know the person behind the idea.  The first question I ask myself is, is this person “exceptional” and does the idea have any hope of one day being the best? The answer ninety nine times of one hundred is a stone, cold, no. “…Next!”

It’s the people behind a business that make it truly great, but not just any old (competent) people, the right people. The right people are always self motivated and disciplined and willing to get their hands dirty. They are committed to learning and self improvement. The right people have a vision to be the best and they stick at it until the job is done. And the right people always attract other like-minded right people.

On the other hand, competent people do their job well, but doing well is all they will ever do. Being competent is not good enough to be exceptional and certainly not enough to be the best. Being the best may take you half your lifetime to achieve. But that’s fine, because you’re following a path that lights up every molecule of your being and the reward is not just being the best, but the journey itself.

Life is way too short to be competent.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan, Founder BOOM! Sales, author of The Naked Salesman

In business if you aren’t contributing to the lives of others, you’re either simply doing nothing or taking from them.

Many people think “selling” is the art of getting what I want. This is only partly true. The real movers and shakers in sales understand how contribution serves them and others. 

We all know people in life who take, so as we get older and wiser ― we don’t associate with these people for too long. Perhaps if we are really honest with ourselves we take more than give sometimes too. And this is easy to do, particularly when we get desperate.

Over the years, I’ve been desperate more than once, so I can speak from experience ― when we get desperate we approach things from a place of need ― which isn’t a nice place to play, nor is it an attractive way to be viewed by other people.   

When we are needywe think we dont have much choice other than to take. But we do have a choice.  When you dont have much, this is the best time to give. Give more passion! More energy! More love. More value. Think More. Do more! Not less.

Contributing to a team can be boiled down to a simple definition:  Always going the extra mile! Do the little things that add value beyond the norm. It doesn’t need to cost you money or drain your energy, just do something small and make it a big habit.

A tap on the back. A smile or cheeky wink. A thank you. Share a joke. Make an effort.  Be positive to be around. Be interested. Ask questions and really listen. It’s not hard. The little things over time add up to a lot making contribution a lot easier than you think.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan, Founder BOOM! Sales