Craig Elias created Trigger Event selling which subsequently won him $1,000,000 prize in a global Billion Dollar Idea pitch competition. Tibor Shanto is called a brilliant sales tactician showing organizations how to use the right information to execute a perfect strategy. Together in Shift, they offer a system for others in sales to be in front of a qualified and motivated buyer at the right time more often.

Won Sales Analysis™, Chapter 3, section 3, is about involving the decision maker in questions that analyze the sale before the service or product is delivered. In this way you create a unique tool to be able to see more opportunities for sales more easily – in the future. For example, one of the five questions suggested to ask is "What event or events led up to this purchase?” Elias and Shanto claim the specificity to this question is crucial in helping to identify the trigger events, so they offer this advice, "If you don’t get the kind of response you’re looking for from the primary question, ask a variation of the question. For instance: - What changed to make solving this problem a priority? - What created a sense of urgency around solving this problem? - What makes the Status Quo (or: what you were using) no longer viable?" They offer the same keen observation to the other five component questions Find, Close, Improve and Classify.

Highly recommended to the more logical seller is chapter 4.3, Logic versus emotion. Insights and strategies are offered to establish a salesperson as the buyer's "Emotional Favorite." "This is not the same thing as having a good discussion with a prospect. Instead, it means being the person the prospect wants to see win and wants to use as a resource. If you’ve ever had a prospect call you for help with a problem that is unrelated to what you sell, you already know what it means to be the Emotional Favorite. It means that you can position yourself as the “go-to” person and maximize the likelihood of winning future business." The authors tie in what's commonly called the "know, like and trust" factor into their model of Trigger Event selling with actionable steps therefore answering the question of how to establish know, like, trust.

From an engaging discussion of identifying the Window of Dissatisfaction through leveraging Triggering Event Referrals, you can discover how to both improve your timing and maintain the sales flow. Many old sales assumptions are brought to truth or fiction while at the same time tying them into the uniquely new Shift method. It's a unique customer-focused model that will engage listening, planning and establishing yourself as a problem-solver.

Instructional worksheets are generously provided for major insights in the book that readers are encouraged to put into action. The worksheets help you learn how to make this happen – on purpose – more often. While it really is not a crystal ball, anyone who sells can be more effective in achieving more results by acting on the ideas in this book. The guiding premise is it's about being in the right place at the right time on purpose with prospective customers.

Would you like: #1: Preview chapters of the Trigger Event Selling™ book SHiFT! #2: The Won Sales Analysis™ template with instructions and #3 A recording of the webinar “Trigger Events The Silver Bullet In Sales” ? You can get these from Craig and Tibor through my Book Review page at http://www.shiftselling.com/reviewers/patricia-weber So get your gifts now!

Crystal Ball for Selling – Book Review of Shift!: Harness The Trigger Events That Turn Prospects Into Customers is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

It doesn’t matter what is the size of your business and how much money you have invested in it you can’t afford to ignore the importance of standing out from the rest of your competitors for making it successful. In the current market scenario where competition increases every moment and marketing costs are going high, your business won’t be able to survive for a longer period of time if you are doing the same thing which thousands of your competitors are doing.

Time and again, I see that most of the business owners act more introverted when it comes to stand out from the others. Why? There are two main reasons behind this –

1. Laziness because it is always easy to follow someone instead of trying something else. For the most part introverts prefer creativity instead of following others so the laziness might come from something else.

2. Fear of failure in implementing new ideas because of which most of the people prefer to stick with traditional methods. Introvert tendencies can often keep us stuck in the idea creation phase and then that keeps them stuck.

I know. You must be thinking of how to make your business look unique. But before that I want to clear some myths. Presenting your business in a unique way is not rocket science and don’t need a huge marketing budget (at least according to me). Also, you should not expect overnight results because it takes time to get noticed depending on the amount of your efforts.

What follows next are the few effective tips which can help you to make your business look unique so that your business can easily stand out from the rest of crowd.

Use personalized approach - Don’t treat your customers only as medium to earn money. Customers are also human beings (At least, most of them). Like all other human beings they also like to get flattered. They become happy when they know that they are being heard or when somebody gives importance to their opinions. Always use personalized approach for your customers. Send them greeting cards on their birthdays, ask for their feedback, send them discount coupons on festivals even when they didn’t asked about them so that they don’t forget you whenever they need to buy anything.

Help when they need – Your customers won’t remember what products you sell and at what prices, the only thing they would remember is the experience they get. Make your experience as pleasant as possible by providing them with the information and things they need whenever possible. Nor does it improve your relationships with them but will also establish you as the expert in your niche.

Accept your faults – Nobody is perfect but what irritates a customer the most is when a business owner doesn’t accept his/her fault and start giving lame excuses. If you have done a mistake or don’t have skills to perform job successfully then accept it upfront.

Make yourself accessible - Provide as many channels of communication as possible to your customers to contact you. Join all the popular social media sites, forums and everything else where your customers spend most of their time. The more ways you will provide to your customers to contact you, the easier it will be for your customers to find you and the more they will buy from you.

Try to do things differently – Whether it is something big like designing a whole website, designing your office, implementing marketing strategy or small but important actions like packaging, shipping or just billing. You need to do things differently to stand out from the others and to get the attention you deserve. Unique visual appearance influence the consumer decisions most of the times. Doing everything in a different style will give you a winning edge against your competitors.

Rajkumar Jonnalla is working for Fortepromo Promotional Products that help companies to promote their brand in market.

How to Stand Out from Your Competitors Even if You Tend to be More Introverted is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1 – The spieler. After a first meeting a salesperson immediately emails you with a cursory first line, “It was great to meet you at the Chamber event tonight. Let me tell you I am so excited about this new product release I just heard about…” and on with the spiel. Where’s that delete key?
2- Just get the sale. On the morning after your visit to the auto dealer, you get a voice mail to your cell phone, “Marty, I just wanted to remind you that it’s going to be about 4 more weeks before we get any new inventory in and that Beemer you were test driving is still here. Call me and we’ll get the paper work going.” What? Where is the interest in Marty as a person? Marty could have visited the typical used-car lot for the push treatment.
3- Too late. One person you met while at a networking event was actually a prospect – a client or a referral partner prospect. You talked at length, each of you expressed interest in talking further, you offered to telephone the next day to set a meeting up. That day is now a week later and you decide, “Oh well, too late, I’ll just move on.” End of the beginning.
4- Didn’t expect you. Have you ever had friends or family just stop in to visit you at your home? When you follow-up with a person who you didn’t ask for permission to do so it’s almost the same kind of situation. Avoid it.
5- I did make one call. If your main or only intention is to get the sale, then one call with do it. That’s right: it will slow your progress down. Sometimes buyers today need up to 21 calls to make a decision. Decide if you want to push or pull your prospect along.

Follow-up is critical to gaining 80% more sales than what you could leave behind. Doing a lousy job with it, well, you might be able to say, “Yes; I follow-up” and feel good about it. But the 80% more sales won’t be seen any time soon.

What frustrates or disgusts you that salespeople do in follow-up? Can you comment below?

How to Do A Lousy Job at Business Networking Follow-up is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

If you want to know: why prospects and clients have price objections, how these objections affect the salesperson and three main things to do to protect yourself when then come up, read, That’s Outrageous, it’s too Much Money! by Marshall W. Northcott.

Sales Tip – What to Do When Price Gets in the Way is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1. Before you start making your prospecting calls, do your homework: Set up your strategic marketing plan, identify your ideal prospects and write your script.

2. Develop your ideal customer profile. List your top ten customers, (i.e., customers who buy the most and the most often) along with the type of business they are in, the title of the decision-maker and any other similarities you notice. Find other companies that match your top ten. They are potentially good customers for you.

3. Analyze your competition’s customers-they are your potential customers as well.

4. Develop your list of Qualifying Parameters-the conditions that are necessary for you to consider doing business with a prospect. If your prospect does not meet your qualifying parameters-they are not a qualified prospect!

Planning, preparing, analyzing. All an introvert's natural talent. Wendy just recently announced her new ebook “101 Cold Calling Tips For Building New Customers”! Many businesses are struggling to stay afloat and are looking for a low cost, efficient way to bring new clients in the door and generate revenue in today’s economy. Are you?

Cold calling is a time tested tool to prospect and generate new revenue. When done effectively it is a targeted, cost efficient way to develop new business. There ARE businesses thriving in the current marketplace using updated cold calling methods targeted for recession weary prospects.

What do you think? Can you pick up that telephone? Or could you use a little help? Check out what Wendy has to say about the new ebook now.

Sales Tip – Introvert Who Needs to Cold Call? is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1. A cold call is not life or death. If someone says 'no' to you, no one will die. You will not destroy your life or that of innocent passers by. Your company will not fold; the world as we know it today will not come to an end. It is only a phone call. Loosen up, be creative, and have some fun with it.

2. Be yourself. Be genuine. No one wants to deal with a phony. It is okay to simply be yourself, selling a product or service in which you believe. Prepare, so that nothing will surprise or stop you. Continue being a thinking human being. Listen actively. Focus on the conversation you are having with your prospect and only on that conversation.

3. Remember to breathe. Sometimes, when people get nervous, they forget to breathe. Breathing relaxes and grounds you. Take deep breaths; fill your lungs with air. If you find you have this problem, do some breathing exercises before you pick up the telephone. These exercises can be as simple as closing your eyes and taking deep breaths in and out. Try breathing in for four counts and out for four counts. And focus on your breath. You can also sit in a chair and breathe into each vertebra of your spine. Also try moving around. Move your shoulders, head and arms; shake out your legs.

In particular if you are an introvert, re-read points 2 and 3. Remember that being reluctant in any part of selling, is such a negative energy that before we do move ahead and engage in action, we'll be more attractive if we are in our normal relaxed state and feeling good.

Wendy, in my early days of selling, I had your title: it was from the way I carried a tray of Dun & Bradstreet companies with contact information. Before computers were fairly much commonplace. I would sit with these cards in front of me and just flip through each card, picking up the telephone and counting the number of no's, knowing - a yes was soon to come.

You can get Wendy's free, Special Report, "Getting in the Door: How to Write an Effective Cold Calling Script," visit http://www.queenofcoldcalling.com.
Wendy is also on Twitter and Facebook

Introvert and Extrovert – Get Out of the Grip of Sales Cold Calling is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

An article by Tom Sant gives one of the simplest descriptions about the sales process: Following a Process: The Best Way to Sell.

If you want to hire the best salespeople, top salespeople, you would have a profile to follow of the best on your sales team to match new salespeople to that profile. Why then would you not follow a profile, a process, of how you have successfully made previous sales?

What do you think about the article?

Does it make sense to you?

In particular number two - are you guilty?

Do you hate to sell, or get energized by cold calling? What is your natural tendency when it comes to networking, schmoozing and sales? Take a moment to get honest with yourself when you answer this quick survey.

Sales Tip – Selling is a Process is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

Recently a sales entrepreneur friend had an aha moment. She found that naming a file with an underscore solved her previous online forum group problems when naming a file with a space. Isn’t it amazing that one little character difference can make massive results? If you sell anything – products, services or ideas – then you want to understand this: it’s about putting the underscore, the emphasis, on your prospect and customer!

Marketing and selling are not about you. Now if you are an extrovert, take a deep sigh of relief and let that sink in. Your attention and conversation can lead to what you want to say and present; but first, it’s about the customer. Take time to listen and then respond to what your prospect tells you they need or want to know. Hold back on your natural social reflexes to talk about yourself and your company. If you are an introvert, take heart that you can be relieved too. Because you are already a natural at listening, trust that this one honed skill will guide you to know what to say about yourself and your company at the perfect time.

Emphasize what the customer wants, not what you want to say. Think about the salespeople you like to buy from. Now, what is one of the reasons you choose them? One big reason is that they talk about what you want to talk about. They don’t just go off on their own agenda or spiel. It doesn’t matter whether you are an introvert or extrovert – you can sell to what the customer wants.

Confusion and misunderstanding are preventable. Communication and interpersonal skills are keys in sales. You can easily avoid any sales mishaps of a confused prospect when you put them to work for your relationship. Polished presentation skills, active listening and writing clearly are all critical. Taking time to always be in rapport, talking through concerns and getting closer to a decision to buy with each contact are easier with an underscore of the prospect.

Do you want to know how to close that space between you and your prospects? It’s easy: underscore their importance in the sales relationship and build trust as you focus on them.

And sidestep your sales performance anxieties, overcome your fear of rejection and demolish your devastating doubts to become a top sales pro using the secrets revealed in FREE reports at Sales Tips for Introverts.

What do you think about underscoring the prospect and customer in selling?
Let me hear from you.

Sales Tip – Top Salespeople Know to Underscore and Not Space Out Serving Their Prospects! is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

1. We Belong Together, Ritchie Valens. “You’re mine and we belong together.” Is that what you are thinking about your prospects? And just how are you showing them? Do you take your time to build rapport? Are you getting to know them? Remember if you’re an introvert, sales is about deepening a one to one relationship. Then you le them get to know you, your product and your service.

2. What's Your Name, Don and Juan. “What's your name? May I walk you to your door? It's so hard to find a personality, With charms like yours for me.” Learn about primary personality styles with a model like the Personal Profile System® or some other. An easy and exacting model of a prospects buying style will help you help them easier. If you open the next sales step sooner or later, depending on the buying style, you will find a perfect match of selling for your customer.

3. Stop And Think It Over, Dale & Grace. This is the slow song of rapport: “We've got to stop and think it over. Before we say we're in love. Are we right for each other? Can what we feel be lasting love?” Ask early on a qualifying question like, “And are you able to move forward today if you find I can provide you with …?” It is your role to ask at the appropriate time, often at the end of follow up meeting, for your prospect to make a decision. If you find there are concerns or objections, don’t feel obligated to respond immediately. As introverts, take that brief time to collect your thoughts before you respond. Clients appreciate you thinking things over too.

4. Talk To Me, Little Willie John. “Talk to me, talk to me. Um-mm, I love the things you say. Talk to me, talk to me. Tell me what I want to know.” Welcome objections. I remember an early selling situation where I was not communicating properly with a prospect on their sensory language pattern. I was using primarily visual words when she was clearly auditory. I was getting maybe, maybe, maybe until I made a question shift using auditory language. All of a sudden she was pouring out her concerns to me! Because of that, I could answer her questions and she signed training contract. Learn to listen: introverts just pump that listening muscle and extroverts if you have learned to listen then do it!

5. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Roy Orbison. “The silence of a fallin' star, Lights up a purple sky, And as I wonder where you are, I'm so lonesome I could cry.” Lack of follow-up is the bane of salespeople. Yet the prospect wants to and even needs to hear from you. Maybe they aren’t really lonesome, but they are waiting to hear from you. They want you to attend to their original interest. Plan a scheduled series of between five and twenty-one follow-ups. Planning, deepening a relationship: sound comfortable for an introvert?

6. At Last, Etta James. “At last my love has come along. My lonely days are over, And life is like a song.” Both the prospect and the salesperson will be singing this! The buyer, they want relief from the product or service you have. You the seller, you want that new happy, lifetime customer. Both buyer and seller really are headed in the same direction, but it is because of the skills of the salesperson that they will reach that same point, at the same time, together.

More than a stroll through history with the Jukebox melodies take to your salesperson heart some of the meaning they carry for selling. Better yet listen to each song if you can. It’s the music in them that will make you smarter, take the pain of rejection away, improve your creativity and reduce your stress.

And if you want to sidestep your sales performance anxieties, overcome your fear of rejection and demolish your devastating doubts , you can join me every week on Sales Tips for Introverts for free teleclasses!

Patricia Weber, 20 years sales training and business coach helps introverts, shy and even reluctant to sell extroverts who want to accelerate their sales results!

Sales Tips – Salespeople Get Uplifted With Jukebox Music! is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer

Color coded: In many cities across the world, selling actually happens at the red lights! Street sellers approach your car when you come to a stop to sell you a newspaper, wash your windshield or maybe someday offer you a cup of coffee. That may be the only straying from the original purpose of bringing your vehicle to a stop. Still the red light communicates a steady action – stop. Take your stop, caution and go commands from the prospect. In business-to-business and most business to consumer selling, if your prospect gives you signs to slow down, then do it. If your prospect gives you signs to keep on, then continue with your questions, your presentation and your helping them to buy. This makes for easier selling. And introverts may this most comfortable.

Sequenced: Years ago my husband and I wanted to buy a home delivery service. There was one company in our area so we called them and they sent a representative out to talk with us. My husband and I both generally are decisive. After we learned the basics and then the pricing, we were ready to buy and told the representative, “Let’s do it.” Unbelievably, he said, “Oh, no. We can’t. I have to complete my presentation!” Informed and top sales people take their Stop, Caution, and Go commands from the prospect. If your prospect is ready to buy, then go with them. If your prospect has concerns, then they likely need more information and it is your role to find out what that is. Introverts may have to let go of the urge to follow the planned approach.

Certainly there is more to traffic lights, like flashing, combinations and even pedestrian lights. For now let’s consider life without traffic lights: European and Asian countries regularly use roundabouts, a traffic circle. At a road junction, vehicles yield and go into and around a central island. Studies in general prove roundabouts to reduce accidents. How is a roundabout relevant to selling? Just as you approach a prospect, Yield – ask questions to find out about the prospect. Slow down – take time to build rapport and focus on what the prospect wants and needs. Like a roundabout is one way, a salesperson’s one way will get results if the one way is with more attention on the prospect rather than on the sale. And that, the yielding, is something an introvert in sales may find energizing.

Follow your customer’s stop, caution and go commands, as you would follow a traffic light to avoid accidents or mishaps. When you do, you’ll be more comfortable, gain more confidence and sell more to more people more often.

And if you want to sidestep your sales performance anxieties, overcome your fear of rejection and demolish your devastating doubts to become a top sales pro using the secrets revealed in FREE audio reports at Sales Training for Introverts.

Salespeople Stop: Learn Success from Traffic Lights and Roundabouts is a post from: Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketer