How Does Thinking Make a Difference?

Every one of us, at one time or another, has experienced difficulty. If you haven’t, you’re likely to such as the loss of a job, a business failure, an unexpected drop in stock market prices devaluing your retirement portfolio, fire, flood, divorce, the loss of a loved one, etc. How we deal with that difficult experience determines its impact upon our lives. Long term, it is not what happens to us that’s so important. It is how we respond to what happens to us that makes the difference! Does that mean we can actually alter “reality” by the way we “think” about it? YES, we can.

The next likely question, then is, “I suppose you’d be happy, confident, cheerful, positive and enthusiastic if your spouse had just walked out on you or if you’d just lost your job?” Only if you desire reconciliation with your spouse, or if you want to remarry. Only if you desire to get another job equal to or better than the one you had! If you go around complaining, whining and criticizing your former spouse, telling everyone how unfair, inconsiderate, no-good, and difficult that person was, do you think they would want to marry you? If you criticize and complain loud and long enough, they’ll soon understand why your spouse left you!

Do you think a prospective new employer would want to hire you if you are critical, condemning and remorseful about your previous employer? Or about how thoughtless, unappreciative and unfair they had been to you? They probably already have their quota of sourpusses!

All of us regret the loss of a loved one, young or old, and there will always be a reasonable period of mourning. However, to hang on to, and dwell upon that hollow, hurtful feeling and painful memory for an extended length of time will begin to take its toll upon you physically, mentally and emotionally. And upon your love, appreciation and feeling for those whom you still have in your life, reflect lovingly upon the positive impact that person had upon your life, review the good times you shared together and celebrate their life, instead of dwelling upon their departure! Life is uncertain, no one is here eternally. Enjoy and savor the time we have (or that we’ve had) together, here, now, and today.

Our life, our health, our being, becomes what we THINK. YES, our cells are always eavesdropping on our thoughts. Thoughts are real things that cause actions that develop into habits that make us happy or sad, relaxed or tense, healthy or sick, rich or poor. Life is for living not just for enduring, not for just tolerating, but to be lived, savored and enjoyed.

Make today a good day and you’ll have enjoyed a GOOOD LIFE, today. Repeat the process, DAILY. It becomes a Habit!

Accentuating the Positive

It’s been estimated that we each have upwards of 50,000 thoughts per day. How many of yours are negative? Sometimes you have to do a mental spring cleaning to get rid of those negative ones that have become ingrained attitudes. Stopping self-destructive thoughts is like stopping any other bad habit-it takes time and effort.

Among the most effective ways to do this are visualization and affirmations. Affirmations are positive statements about yourself that you repeat over and over in your head until they’re programmed into your subconscious.

Visualization, or “imagineering” as Walt Disney called it, is mentally picturing yourself the way you want to be. You’ve heard the old saying “I’ll believe it when I see it”? Well, the reverse is also true: “I’ll see it when I believe it!” Affirmations and visualizations may not feel true at first. They may not even be true! But they can become so.

Consider what happens when you tell yourself over and over, “I’m lousy at remembering names.” There will never be any improvement there. So if you catch yourself saying, “I’m terrible at remembering names,” stop and immediately say to yourself, “I’m good at remembering names.”

Or consider the effect of telling yourself, “I’m feeling pretty good today.” Or “I can lose ten pounds.” Or “I am good at getting people to see things my way.” Anything you say to yourself over and over will actually influence your reality.

Writing down your affirmations in some handy place-above your desk, on your bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car-will help keep them in mind as well as in sight. Use affirmations and visualizations to project what success will feel like and look like. Imagine, in as much detail as you possibly can, how you feel as the boss singles you out for exceeding your quota, or how the audience hangs on your every word during your speech, or how your confident presence causes heads to turn everywhere you go.

Award-Winning Presentations

Okay. You used some of your excellent prospecting methods to find someone who needs your product or service. You made a competent original contact. You qualified the decision-makers as to their needs and are confident your product or service will truly be good for them. Now, it’s time for the show to begin — and YOU are the master of ceremonies. Are you prepared?

Giving a winning presentation is not unlike presenting at the Oscars. It’s not easy preparing for such a major event. While chances are good that you will probably never have the opportunity to present at the Oscars, every presentation you make can potentially earn you the award of a new client. Always keep the potential reward in mind when you are preplanning a presentation. That reward or goal should be inspiration enough to keep you honing your presentation until it’s smooth as silk.

While most salespeople agree that the fun is in the presenting, too many fail to prepare properly for their presentations. Preparation is the key to giving any winning presentation. Doing your homework is vital. Knowing the decision-maker’s history — his or her likes and dislikes — will help you direct your presentation in a manner that will be most acceptable to him or her. And, acceptance is exactly what you’re after. Getting acceptance, authorization, approval, an endorsement or his or her OK on the bottom line is what selling is all about.

Giving a powerful presentation or a deft demonstration should never be your purpose in and of itself. You’re a key player in the event, but you are not the star. The only purpose for presenting or demonstrating is to get the prospect ready to approve the purchase. You receive no trophy until and unless you give a truly award-winning presentation and the decision-maker decides to keep whatever it is you’re offering.

View yourself as a sort of matchmaker. You believe your product and the client are a perfect match. During your presentation, you introduce them and give them a chaperoned opportunity to get to know each other. After all, they’ll be alone together for many years if they agree to the match.

Many salespeople falter and ultimately lose sales because they try to make themselves the stars of the presentation. They want to show how well they have learned to operate the equipment. Unless you’re also applying for a job with this company to run the equipment for them, you must let the product be the star.

There’s no essential difference between a presentation and a demonstration. Both are processes by which you prove the reality of the benefits that the prospects are seeking. In the presentation, you do it with graphs, numbers and words. In the demonstration, you do it with tests, samples and performances. The results should be the same: implanting in their minds the conviction that you are their best source for the benefits they want.

During the demonstration, if you are not having people push the buttons, make the copies, type on the keyboard, smell the air freshener, open and close the doors, you’re not selling–you’re showing. You must have them participate in the performance to make them feel involved.

If you market an intangible product or service, be sure to have brochures, graphs, and other items that you can hand to the decision-makers. Give them a calculator to prove the figures you’re quoting are correct. Show testimonial letters from other happy clients. This creates both physical and emotional involvement.

Keep the clients mentally involved by asking questions that will keep them thinking about how they’ll use your offering once they own it. Keep the clients physically involved by giving them simple things to do.

Some of the best advice I give salespeople about giving presentations is to get themselves out of the picture. If you are in real estate and demonstrating a property, don’t precede the potential buyers into a room. When they own the property and enter that room, will you be there? Not likely. So, let them see it as they will once they have it all to themselves. If you sell business machines, step to the side and direct the decision-maker through the operations. Get their hands on the machine as quickly as possible. Developing their comfort level with the product is essential.

Another key point is not to let the decision-makers see anything until you’re ready to address it. Keep control of the presentation. This may require that you make a preliminary statement to the effect that you have planned a precise presentation and ask that they hold any questions, then address them when you’re ready. If you’ve truly prepared a winning presentation, chances are good that you will have answered all of their questions by the time you each the end of your presentation.

If you have several things to display, I suggest you bring a cloth of some sort to keep them covered until you’re ready for each item. Don’t risk a distraction. Keep them focused. Keep them with you. If you’re giving a computer presentation, be certain to insert attractive blank screens where you plan to elaborate or pause rather than leaving the information from your last point in sight when moving onto the next item.

Proper planning allows you to keep control of your presentation. If you’ve really prepared well, that control will lead you directly to a sale.