The Tim McGraw Guide To Sales Success
Nashville 2004: The secrets to being a successful salesperson were released by an unnamed government agency in the form of the lyrics used for a country music song.
The artist chosen to encode ” The Secrets “, Tim McGraw, son of the late Tug McGraw and husband to Faith, did an admirable job of encoding, so it’ll be necessary for me to decode and decipher.
I’ve done so below, but use ” The Secrets “ at your own risk. Any extra taxes you have to pay on the increased number of sales you make is your own problem.
When I’m here on this highway
Breathing diesel smoke
Driving hard for hours
Trying to make that Memphis show
People always ask me
“Son what does it take
To reach out and touch your dreams?”
To them I always say
Some of us in the profession of selling for a living have to ( or get to ) spend a lot of hours driving down the highways between appointments.
It can wear on you. Before the days of satellite radio and iPods, it was tougher. Here in 2008, I always have hours of mp3’s waiting for me in the form of podcasts, teleseminars and interviews. I learn more now that I ever thought possible and I do it in between cellphone calls, stops for BBQ and catfish and, oh yeah, sales calls.
But even then you have to have a little something extra to keep you moving towards the next sales call and to keep you from stopping to waste time in a mall, at a driving range or just sitting in a park or parked watching sailboats.
Are you hungry?
Are you thirsty?
Is it a fire that burns you up inside?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming
With that one thing on your mind?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Cause if you want it all
You’ve got to lay it all out on the line
Hunger is one of ” The Secrets ” that keeps you moving forward. Hunger for more.
More money. More recognition. More power. More territory. More whatever it is that works for you, but you need hunger.
How bad do you want to stand out ? How bad do you want to beat last month’s sales numbers ? How bad do you want that new whatever it is you want ?
You cannot go into a day without a burning desire to get everything out of it that you can get and hope to succeed. Won’t work. Ain’t no free rides in the world of sales.
I get to make my living
Doing what I love
Every night I give my heart and soul
Sometimes that ain’t enough
But brother, if you’re like me
Looking down that road
Be careful of that wild wind, son
Sometimes it don’t let go
I get to do what I was meant to do and get paid for it. I played in a charity golf scramble today and one of the guys paired up with me asked me what it is I do.
For me, the answer was short, sweet and simple - ” I sell. “
No adjectives were necessary.
After we had played about 9 holes and he’d been around me for about 2 hours, he said it was easy to see why I do what I do.
” You’re a born salesman, aren’t you ? “
I don’t think people are born to sell, but I believe some of us were hardwired at birth to have the ability to learn to sell … and love every minute of it.
Can you feel it?
Can you taste it?
Can you hear it knocking at your door?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming
With that one thing on your mind?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Cause if you want it all
You’ve got to lay it all out on the line
I think about selling all day and night. When I’m eating, when I’m driving, when I’m talking.
18/7/365. I do sleep a little bit and I don’t know how to control my dreams, so I can’t say I dream about selling, although I do every now and then.
You have to see how selling correlates to every, single thing you come in connect with.
If you don’t see a roadside sign and see how to make it better, you need a new profession.
If you go into a store and you don’t think about how you could have helped the person who waited on you, get a new job.
Why ? Because you ain’t eatin’, sleepin’, dreamin’ with that one thing on your mind.
That’s another of ” The Secrets “, single, minded devotion to your craft.
There’s always a price you pay no matter what you do
If you’re gonna climb that mountain to the top
It always comes down to
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Are you eating, sleeping, dreaming
With that one thing on your mind?
How bad do you want it?
How bad do you need it?
Cause if you want it all
You’ve got to lay it all out on the line
If someone tells you they’re in sales and it’s really easy, they’re either lying or they aren’t really a salesperson, just an order taker in a product rep-type of position.
There’s a price to pay for success.
” Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ” ~ Thomas Edison
When you get up in the morning, you have to be ready to give it up all day.
” The Secrets “ are in the song, but every one of us will hear different ones, because we’re at different times in our lives, so you’ll have to listen to it yourself and then listen.
No, really, just listen.
Simple.
If Anthony Hopkins Was In Sales…
Me: Acting ?
Him: Acting.
The question before I asked before this astonished answer was:
What other profession does selling most closely resemble ?
Me: But a salesperson isn’t an actor.
Him: A good one is.
Me: How so ?
Him: They both control their emotions don’t they ?
This is getting tougher, so I’ll let the sales manager I was talking to tell you what he told me.
An actor or a salesman must control:
- His emotions
- His facial expressions
- His body movements
- His voice
Without control of all of these an actor can’t portray drama and if he doesn’t control all of these a salesman may create drama.
About now, the principle was starting to sink into my often closed, never quiet mind, so I asked:
In what other ways does a salesperson resemble an actor ?
A salesman or actor must be able exude confidence.
Not necessarily playing dumb, I asked - How ?
By the tone of his voice, the expression on his face, the words and facts he uses and how he weaves them into the conversation.
Basically, he said, by being sincere.
Suppose, I said, the salesperson isn’t all that sincere.
An honest salesperson never tries to sell anything that the prospect doesn’t really need, no more than an honest actor will take an phony part.
Hey Will Farrell, you listening ?!
Prince Goes Crazy and Sings Teaching Sells Theme Song !
Okay, I admit it. I listen to The Big ’80’s on my Sirius Satellite Radio…sometimes. Not all the time. Sometimes.
Today while driving between projects, I heard Prince do Let’s Go Crazy !
Then I got home and saw the latest additions and a list of coming attractions over at Teaching Sells.
Well, I couldn’t help myself, so I looked up the lyrics and “creatively adapted” them into the unofficial theme song for Brian and Tony.
If you can read this without hearing the tune in your head, you’re one in a million.
Make sure to click the graphic over in the right-hand sidebar before the $1 trial offer expires. Dude, it’s one, single dollar. One.
The Unofficial Teaching Sells Theme Song
Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
to talk about this thing called Teaching Sells.
Electric course, Teaching Sells
It empowers you forever and that’s a mighty long time
But I’m here to tell you
There’s something else
Your expertise
Your brain has never ending knowledge
You can always sell some advice, day or night
So when you’re ready to profit on the internet
You know you want to, the Clark boys will make everything alright
Instead of asking them how much it costs
Ask them how much of your mind you can sell
‘Cuz on the internet
Things are much easier than in Web 1.0
In Web 2.0
You need a product of your own
And if the naysayers try to bring you down
Go crazy - start a membership site
If you don’t like the world you’re living in
Take a look around you
At least you got friends - Brian and Tony
You see I called some other guru’s
for a friendly word
They picked up the phone
Dropped it on the floor
A bunch of crap is all I heard
Are we gonna let the other guru’s
Bring us down
Oh, no Let’s Go!
Let’s go crazy
Let’s get nuts
Let’s look for the Teaching Sells banner
And click on it, let’s go!
We’re all excited
And we know why
It’s because
We’re all gonna make more money
And when we do (When we do)
Who’s it all for (Who’s it all for)
We live better now
And the customers come knocking on our door
Tell me, are we gonna let the other guru’s bring us down
Oh, no let’s go!
Let’s go crazy
Let’s get nuts
Look for the Teaching Sells banner
And click on it for a $1 trial offer !
That, my friends, is sheer genius at work … or derangement. One or the other, I’m sure.
Here’s what you’ll miss if you don’t take Brian and Tony up on their $1 trial offer:
Launch Strategies for Membership Sites and Training Programs
This heavily-requested course ties together general membership site marketing with “under the radar” promotional content strategies that lead to big launches (and perpetual re-launches) for big amounts of instant cash.
The “Entreproducer” Model for Online Business Success
What’s an Entreproducer ? It’s a smart person who leverages unique online marketing knowledge and the skills and credentials of others to produce a series of profitable sites… Hollywood style.
Under the Radar Affiliate Marketing
This course will show you step-by-step how to make money online with affiliate marketing. You’ll also discover how to use other people’s products to find out exactly what kind of membership site people will pay for… so this way you’re literally removing any risk of failure.
Quick and Easy Content Strategies
Quality content production can be the biggest stumbling block to online success. This course will demonstrate techniques for cranking out content in multiple media formats… in a lot less time than you might think.
How to Explode Profits with Seminars and Workshops
On of the many business models we’ve explored in Teaching Sells has to do with upselling to live events such as seminars and workshops. This course will take you behind the scenes of the paid-speaking industry to give you what you need to succeed.
About That $1 Trial Offer…
Here’s your “fair warning”.
The $1 trial for seven days is still live, but they’re switching it off at noon Eastern time on Thursday, April 17.
No exceptions, no sob stories accepted.
Jump on board or be left behind as the rest of us outlearn, outearn and outlast the rest of you.
I mean, come on… it’s a buck, right ?
Can A Restaurant Hostess Cause Bankruptcy ?
Have you ever lost a bet and had to buy lunch for a coworker ?
Me too. Lotsa times.
I sometimes use it as a means of creating a bond between those who are in a support position for me.
They don’t get as many perks as I do, so I lose bets to them every now and then and buy them a lunch or some donuts or whatever.
They love to get into my wallet and I love making ‘em feel like they got something over on me.
They like me more than any of the other sales people in our organization and that works in my favor.
It’s kinda like an organized bribe on my part and they never seem to notice that I lose almost every bet.
I lost another one last week to a young man whose butt I ride all the time, trying to get him to catch on to more things and trying to get him to be a bit better. When it starts to get to him, I lose a bet and he feels better.
I went to pick up our lunches and the hostess was, how shall we put this …. stupid ? An idiot ? Worthless ?
Yeah, those will do … for a start.
I asked her if I could pick up a couple of sandwiches to go and she said she would try to find someone to take my order, but ” … they all are real good at hiding out in their places and I have trouble finding them, but when I hide, they find me. “
At this point, I wasn’t real sure who “they” were, but I was hoping it wasn’t the people from I Am Legend or the things in The Mist.
About 15 minutes into my ordeal, which I won’t document here ( I’m saving it for a podcast ), a mother and son came in. The boy looked to be 14 to 16.
The hostess with the leastess says to the young man, ” Why ain’t you in school ? “
Not Hi, not welcome to XXX ( name withheld to protect my bank account ), not anything that you’d expect from a hostess.
The young man said, ” I’m homeschooled. ”
So The Brain says, ” Oh, that means you get to play hooky and eat lunch. “
I myself went to a public school and ate lunch every day, so I don’t know where she went or if she actually went.
So here’s the questions I have:
Will that mother and son ever eat there again ?
Will the management ever find out that she’s a complete and finely tuned utter fool ?
Can she and will she affect the repeat business ?
Would you let it bother you and would you go back if you were that mother and son ?
Revolutionize Your Blog !
Don’t forget to listen in tonite, Tuesday March 25th, as Brian Gardner, designer of the Revolution series of WordPress themes answers your questions about using Premium WordPress themes.
Head over to the site for listening to the telewebcast and ask a question or just listen in and discover the secrets that Brian lets loose.
Why You Should Use Teleseminars and Virtual Book Tours To Market Your Products, Services and Books
Why is Mike doing so many teleseminars and virtual book tours ?
That’s what several readers want to know and it’s a fair question.
It’s because Mike likes helping people make more money and because Mike likes making more money.
Simple.
How does a teleseminar or a virtual book tour help people make more money ?
One simple way is by repurposing the content.
You don’t see ALL of the teleseminars or virtual book tours I do posted here.
Many of them are events that I’m paid to host and the author kept control of the content.
I explained the premise to them and they saw the value of talking about their book for 1 to 2 hours and using that content to create articles that drive traffic to their book’s website.
Some of them have used the content to create podcasts and used those to create traffic for a website of choice.
Several have found that the 3-4 hours we were on the phone was as good or better than their book and used that audio content as another product or a relevant bonus for their offer.
One thing that’s simply a surety is that it’s easier to find a new market for your product, after you do a little repurposing, than it is to create a new product from scratch.
Alex Mandossian , is the man who, thru a series of teleseminars over 5 + years, taught me a large portion of what I use as the basis for my methods.
I did add in my two decades of sales and marketing experience, but you can click thru and find out more about the methodology.
His theory, which happens to work very, very well, is that authors “… should have at least three virtual book tours to promote their books - one before the hard cover is launched, one when it is launched and one for the launch of the soft cover. You can even have events to launch you eBook and audio book. This is a great Internet marketing strategy all authors should be taking advantage of. Remember that your hard cover book, soft cover book, eBook and audio book are just a vehicle. You are the message and that’s what is most inspiring - no matter which way the content is repurposed.”
Do You Have a Business, Life or Success Question for Dr. Joe Capista ?
What Can a Dentist Teach You About Business, Life and Success ?
Plenty.
On March 26th at 8 PM Eastern - 5 PM Pacific, I’ll be grilling Dr. Joe Capista about these very topics.
If you’ve read his book or just have a question, click thru and Ask Dr. Joe your most important questions.
If you need to get a copy of his book, which has been getting great reviews, just follow this link.
I just used Google and found over 19,000 references to Dr. Joe, so he must have said something in his book that appealed to everyone !
Join us for 90 minutes of good content and success secrets that you won’t get anywhere else.
Do You Have A Question About Using Premium WordPress Themes ?
Premium WordPress themes are much more professional and profitable than free themes.
There, I said it and I believe it and I’ve been saying it for a long time.
I’m also holding a teleseminar with Brian Gardner, of Revolution fame, to prove it.
Free theme creators support their themes in their spare time and, most of the time, very sparingly.
Premium theme creators support their themes in a professional way.
Free theme creators get tired of the emails and comments and slowly stop upgrading and tweaking.
Premium theme creators are, basically, paid to support and refine their work, so they do a great job and love doing it.
Are those blanket statements fair or gospel ? No.
Are they the norm ? Yes.
Do you have a question about the Revolution series of Premium themes ?
Do you have a question for Brian Gardner ?
Do you have a question about what using a Premium WordPress theme can and will do for your blog and your status as a blogger ?
Click thru and Ask Brian Gardner any question you have and we’ll get as many as we can answered on March 25th at 10 PM Eastern, 9 PM Central and 7 PM Pacific time.
You’ll be able to phone in or use a web player to listen thru your computer. Your choice because we want as many live participants as possible. I’m not sure if Brian will release the replay for free or use it as part of his marketing.
Ask now or forever hold your peace.
We use one of the many styles of Revolution on “several” of our blogs. I hope to have it here soon, but I’ve been waiting for the WordPress upgrade noise to shallow out a tad.
Will The Slowing Economy Slow Your Sales ?
The economy is slowing, so you need to accelerate your knowledge.
March 27th is fast approaching. Have you registered for the teleseminar with Bill Caskey and his tremendous team ?I just noticed that there were several bonuses for attending:
- A copy of Same Game, New Rules
- A 60 minute audio about making that first call
- A copy of The Sales Playbook
Each one of those is worth the price of admission by itself. Easily.
Some of the other topics include:
Another selling strategy that is so simple yet so rarely followed by sales professionals. It has to do with your “Basic Orientation” of selling.
A series of customer questions that you absolutely MUST put in your arsenal during a slowdown. (If you get these, they will change your perspective of professional selling.)
How to be relevant to your prospect. This strategy works in good times and slow times, but if you don’t understand “Value Relevance” then you’ll be pushing a rope uphill.
What the “Imaginary Budget” line is inside companies. Do you know some people in companies are not hindered or limited by budget. If you’re getting the objection, “It’s not in the budget,” you’re talking to the wrong person.
How to inventory your assets. (You have assets you don’t know you have). But its’ hard to leverage something that isn’t identified. We’ll give you 5 ways to do this. You’ll be pleasantly surprise and inspired when you make this list.
15 actions items that you will begin implementing the next day. We’ll give you lists to make, thoughts to think and words to say - so that this call will change how you sell during 2008.
That’s more than enough incentive to sign up, so head over and join in on making profits when others aren’t.
Seth Godin Live … On The Phone
The fabulous Sethmeister’s going on tour !
WARNING ! The best part, in my opinion, of this post is near the end, so don’t stop til you’ve read it all.
I recently got an email from a new blog friend, Edith, who’s located way out west and associated with SFentrepreneur, the host for this event.
Seth Godin’s doing a free call with them and the only requirement beyond registration is that you own a copy of Meatball Sundae.
I’ve provided their info below and as everybody who’ll pimp this will do, I suggest that any time you get a chance to hear Seth, you should take it.
Event Details:
Is the New Marketing stuff working for you ?
Are you mixing your meatball business with your marketing sundae ?
Seth Godin, marketing guru and bestselling author has the answer for you.
In his new book Meatball Sundae, the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore, Seth explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts. About shorter and shorter attention spans and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t.
Seth doesn’t pretend that it’s easy to get your products, marketing messages and internal systems in sync, but he’ll convince you that
it’s worth the effort.
Ignore it at your own risk and peril. You will be left behind or end up with a “meatball sundae” (a big, ineffective mess).
By the end of an hour, Godin will have us looking at the world we live in very differently - the new rules create new winners (and losers) and there’s no time to waste.
When: April 9th 12:00 at 1:00 p.m (Pacific Time)
What: Conference Call with Seth Godin (Call details will be provided after you sign up)
Follow this magical link to sign up for Seth’s call and there’s a chance to get a copy of Meatball Sundae if you don’t already own a copy.
Join this conference call on and learn directly from Seth Godin himself.
The Fine Print:
1) Participants must purchase a copy of Meatball Sundae in order to register for this conference call. If you are already a meatball fan, great. We will ask you a simple question when you register.
2) If you are new to Meatball, that’s fine too. We’ll let you buy the book and send you the call details and the book.
Mike’s Simple Take On This Event:
1) I’ll have trouble making the event live, as I have a daytime career, so next time you guys at SFentrepreneur need to schedule this type of thing in the evening.
2) I’m in the process of trying to get Seth to agree to a virtual book tour.
Him talking about what his fans want to hear is way more powerful than him talking about what he thinks they want to hear. Simple.
Think of a virtual book tour like this:
When you read a book, you have questions that you wish you could ask the author, you have points you’d like clarified and any author who doesn’t make use of this new way of promoting their book is missing a VERY LARGE, VERY EASY opportunity to satisfy current customers and create evangelists.
Just to show Seth and any other author out there what it would look like, I created a site as an example:
Ask Seth a question about Meatball Sundae
If you’ve actually read Meatball Sundae, stop by and ask a question. I’ll compile them and send ‘em to Seth. Or remove the page quickly if he emails and asks me to.
I’ve done “several” of these, the last of which was with David Meerman Scott and his viral marketing ebook and every time we do one, the “fans” love it and the author gains an even greater hold on his position in his niche. I’m just starting to post them under the Teleseminars and Virtual Book Tour Categories in the right-hand sidebar.
Simple.
