What inspires you? When it comes to getting inspired in our personal or business lives, it can be difficult to decide what the next step to take should be without some type of guidance. Most of us seem to be waiting for that inspiration to strike, but there are others that seem to create their own inspiration through constant learning and curiosity. The books compiled here have a great mixture of stories that provide humor, insight, and encouragement that most people can relate to. You can absolutely apply the lessons in these books to your everyday life.

3. How are you going to open up the meeting? Now, there’s no one right way to open every meeting. But you should think about it. You need to make a decision. But I’ll tell you what works for me. In the friendliest way possible, early on in every proposal meeting, I say something along the lines of, “You know, thank you Mr. Prospect or Ms. Prospect for meeting with me today. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to put together a deal. And if we do, do you think my services would be implemented right away?” That question will give you an answer to something that you’re eager to know, and it will be extremely helpful. You might be hesitant in asking this question or asking it in this manner. No worries! Translate it into a way that you can ask it. Or if that’s not the right question for you, find the right question for yourself. But keep asking yourself, “Is this always the best way to go?” and adjust the opening with each meeting. Customize the solution for your prospect. 4. Defend why your proposal is right. Many times, I listen to salespeople on the phone, and I can hear them explain the pricing. But they don’t say what I really want them to say from the prospect’s perspective, which is a very reassuring message. “Hello Prospect, you know, after we spoke, I went back and looked at my notes. I talked to my staff. I went to our service team. I did a little research and a little brainstorming. And as a team, we came up with a plan that I think you’re really going to like. It really addresses the issues that you’ve pointed out and that you’ve told me about. I know these were important to you. Anyway, that’s how we created this proposal.” Now maybe that’s not exactly the way you would say it. But something along those lines would be reassuring. After all, people react and reciprocate. If you act with enthusiasm, the prospect is more likely going to be enthusiastic also. If you act like you don’t care, then why should your prospect? Let’s always remind ourselves of these four things we should do when we’re presenting a proposal over the phone: 1. We’re verifying information. Involve the customer in developing your solution. Show someone your sale in writing before the proposal meeting whenever possible. Showing an outline of the proposal in advance gives you a chance to react and adjust. 2. We’re strategizing how far in advance to send the proposal. There is no one magical time in which all proposals that are sent over are magically approved. Decide whether or not the proposal is powerful enough to speak for itself or make sure that you set aside the time to go through it with the prospect. 3. We’re deciding how we will open. Tailor a friendly opening and be prepared to ask what you need to ask to find out what you must. 4. And we’re preparing ourselves to defend why our proposal is right. Are you giving your prospect reassurance? Have you completed thorough research, and are you prepared to give evidence to your claim?

When you’re negotiating with a customer, how do you develop specific trading currencies? Think about a sale that reaches the proposal point. Often times, the customer might say, “We want to negotiate.” Very often, we’re thinking, “I have to lower the price to get them to agree to get to sign it, and hopefully my company will allow me to get away with a deal with this lowered price.” That, my friends, is not negotiating. That’s simply discounting. Let’s revisit the terms of this trade. Pretend that money wasn’t involved. What do you really want from the customer, or what are you willing to give up in exchange? Well, as we develop our trading currencies, there are four things that we want to consider: 1. What do you need? 2. What do you have? 3. Free 4. Unbalanced You’re going into a sales meeting, and you’re hoping to close the sale. What is your goal? Simply another sale? Well, if you’re a new salesperson to the organization, sometimes what you really need is a first sale. Without that first sale, you’re not going to get anything else. There’s a psychological barrier that prevents you from getting anything else until you finally acquire that first sale. On the other hand, your company might need the cash right now. So what you really want is not simply just a deal. You’re saying to yourself: “I need to get paid today.” Or “I need an account receivable today. Must invoice today.” Or “I need to be able to render a service now, because my people are available now. “ Or “My people are busy now, but three months from now, I expect them to be more free. It’s normally my slow season, so I want to think ahead and prepare for that.” You want to be as clear as possible. And you may want to even share that with the customer. You might want to introduce new ways of thinking: “What I’m really looking to do is not only do business with you, but I want you to introduce me to somebody else.” “I want to be considered for some other future expanded service.” “I want to avoid an RPF process.” “I’m looking to market my services to other people, and you can help me by agreeing to do a case study about the work that I’m doing with you. If we could do it that way, then I would be willing to give up something in exchange for that.” “I want market share, and I’m willing to give something up in exchange for that.” So the clearer we are in our own heads, the better we will be at communicating value to the customer, and the more likely it is that they’ll work with us to develop that trading currency we need. 2. Now, what do you have? Well, you always have two kinds of resources, and what we’re looking for are resources that could be valuable to the customer. You have resources in great abundance at the time of this negotiation or trading. What resources are these? Look at your arsenal of unused resources. We have knowledge, and what we know is worth money. We have experts willing to help right now, and they can do an audit. Maybe your customer needs an analysis or a delivery of a customized solution, which we don’t always make available, but could at this time because the resource is in abundance now, perhaps exactly at the right time. You may have cash now, so you’re willing to take on a deal where the customer will pay you on a future date and you can afford to extend the terms. This, in and of itself, becomes its own currency. Do you have the opportunity to introduce your client, or somebody who works for your client, to other people of value and interest to them? You might even have the ability to help your clients market their services through your marketing efforts, and through some of the webinars or speeches or the other kinds of marketing campaigns that you carry out. All of these become currencies. 3. Now, what’s free? What could you give to the customer at absolutely no cost to them? When you bundle a group of services together that includes one free thing, whatever it may be, your customer can no longer compare your services as apples to apples against any of your other competitors. So whenever possible, load up your bundled offer with a free piece. It could be consulting, coaching, or something that allows the customer to remove an expense. “We’ll do some work for you that you normally do on your own.” And in that way, we can save you time, resources, or money. 4. Finally, when you’re presenting your deal, you want to unbalance it. Give the customer a deal that looks so good they can’t refuse it. So I have had the occasion of saying to customers INSIDE MY HEAD, “What I really need is this amount of money right now in order for me to hit my goal, so I’m willing to give you all these other free services of value. In exchange, I want the contract today or the delivery of that service today. I have the ability to invoice you right now, and I’m going to make your side of that contract robust with extra added-on value, so that I can obtain what I want.” If you really think of it this way and you’re clear about what you want, and truly understand what it is that would be of value to the customer, you’ll be able to put together a deal that’s a win-win every time.

There are four reasons why I want you to ask the "obvious" question during an interview with a customer. The reasons are as follows: 1. Great stories. 2. The right questions. 3. Their perspective 4. Explanations. What's obvious to one person can be a source of oblivion to another. This is applicable to when a salesman meets a customer. Why? Because the salesperson works for one kind of a company, and the customer works for a completely different kind of a company in a completely different kind of a role. And so the two of them are not likely to agree on what "obvious" may be. They worry about asking an obvious question – as if there was a death penalty associated with it. I’ve spoken to 30,000 salespeople and none of them have ever told me that they were kicked out of an office for asking a too obvious of a question. But what sometimes happens – and many times does in fact happen – is that the obvious question triggers a story. So it’s not the question; it’s the story answer it produces. That’s the key concept. So what question is going to get you onto the very subject about how important solving their issues are and how you can help? How are you going to get into that conversation if you’re not talking about that subject? How are you going to get there if you’re not talking about some “obvious” question? Ask the right questions. You need to think about the world from the point-of-view of the person you’re meeting with. Imagine being in that kind of a company which makes money in a certain way and has organized itself with a certain go-to-market strategy. It is constructed in a unique way and has a certain kind of market share and they do things in a particular way. What questions can you ask will really get to the heart of the matter? Really get into the customer’s shoes, so to speak, and imagine the world from where they are and the only way to do that is to research. But once the thorough research is completed, you’re now able to ask the most important question. It’s as if you’ll be the "mirror" organization and this client was meeting his counterpart (you) and the two of you now completely understand each other. How can you solve your client's challenges? What is that one problem that is the trickiest of them all? This is the kind of question that you want to be asking: How is the client solving those "obvious" issues?