What is the main ingredient in Zappos, Barbara Corcoran and Victoria Secret’s explosive success? A focus on delivering unprecedented customer service … even when they screw up, even when the client’s a jerk and even when the client has unrealistic expectations. Given the ability for anonymous bad reviews to spread like wildfire on social media […]
Before you hit “DELETE” because you’re not in sales or a real estate agent, think again. The mistakes made below are universal and applicable to almost every profession. I find numerous parallels between the top reasons agents get sued and the top reasons doctors, lawyers, dentists, physiotherapists, insurance agents/brokers and chiropractors get sued. Ignore this […]
Why do some people seem to get all the best deals? The conventional answers: They call more people (it’s a numbers game!); They’re taller (yes, we generally do like and pay taller people more than shorter people); They’re charmers and really handsome (also a factor in sales success…but certainly not critical); They come from money […]
Picking up the phone to make a cold call is terrifying. You put yourself through that torture and, finally, after hearing “no!” numerous times, you get interest. This potential client is excited and, a week later, you follow up with a quick email and a call. A month or two goes by without a word from the […]
Confidence is often confused with having a massive ego. Women (exceptions notwithstanding) typically lack the same level of ego as men. Studies too long to list suggest that this lack of ego impedes us women’s ability to rise to the top, negotiate well and get the biggest bang for their buck. Even if we have the confidence, however, […]
Proof Sales People Are People Too Sales people are people too (shock!). I help train them and – believe it or not – they are good people who are just like you. They don’t want to be sold and they don’t like people interrupting their day with calls about a product or service they neither need nor […]
Aggressive is Not Good – Unless Used Strategically A common mistake negotiators make is asking for everything they want at the beginning of the negotiations. This aggressive approach is tantamount to forcing your counterpart to eat an entire elephant in one bite. They’ll be offended and suspicious and likely walk away from negotiations. From their perspective, you’re too difficult and, […]
We all lie. And we’re all lied to. In fact, in any given day you’re lied to between 2 and 500 times. Think about it: has anyone told you “yes, you do look fat in the that dress” or, “yes, she is too good for you”. Probably not. Men typically lie about themselves and their awesomeness more than […]
Why Aren’t You Protecting What’s Important to You? The more you do, the more people ask you to do. And if you’re a people pleaser – which most people are – you’ll say yes. And as soon as the “y” word escapes your mouth, I bet you begin to cry on the inside because saying yes means saying no to: sleep, […]
This past Friday, I was negotiating the terms of a 50-page lease– which isn’t unusual, except that the landlord rejected EVERY single one of our edits and refused to budge on even its most ridiculous demands. My stomach began to knot. My stress was further compounded by the fact that I was up against a sharp lawyer who’d […]