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I must tell you of something that happened to me the other day. The previous night I had attended a competition squash night. I dropped my watch into my bag before my match and, when I returned, the metal band was in pieces. How it happened was a complete mystery to me.

Next morning I dropped into a jewellers to either have it repaired or replaced. I had purchased something else from the store a couple of years ago and had not been back since. It was early in the morning and the counter staff were not there yet.

The jeweller himself served me. I gave his the pieces of the band and asked if it could be saved. I jokingly said to him that if he had to put it out of its misery could he be merciful. He grinned and went out the back, presumably to his workshop.

Within three minutes he returned, brandishing the watch like a trophy. “It is fixed.” I pulled out my wallet and took out a note.

He smiled, raised his hands and shook his head. “No trouble.”

I looked at him in astonishment, then thanked him and shook his hand. Our parting was warm.

The rest of my day went very smoothly. So smoothly that, late that night when I reviewed my day. (I always spend a few moments reviewing my day to see what lessons I have learnt.) It struck me that perhaps my positive approach struck a chord in the jeweler and caused him to make his generous gesture. After all, he makes part of his living doing repairs.

The positive note carried through my entire day. It is very apparent to me that a little kindness, an unselfish act or simply showing regard for another can set in motion a whole chain of positive events.

I am going to try even harder to make some positive gesture to someone else wherever I can. In fact, this morning A young fellow I train (weights) who trains me in  squash in return, gave me a near new squash racquet. He simply said, “You help me, I help you.”

It’s amazing how a sense of fair exchange pervades life to the extent that it does.

Try a little kindness. It will repay you many times over.

Live well,

Ollie Lind

One of the biggest challenges all salespeople face is what I call “Pretence of Knowledge.” So many salespeople ‘know’ what the customer wants and so they present, present, present, at the first opportunity and then wonder why they walk away empty handed.

A great deal of misinformation is out and about regarding sales. Personal interaction, be it in life in general or sales specifically is an evolving and dynamic process. What was acceptable some years ago is simply just not appropriate anymore. That is not to say that the basic fundamentals of selling have changed, just the context in which we sell.

It used to be that buyers knew very little about what they wanted to buy and the salesperson was the expert. This lead to many manipulative practices and much bitter experience for buyers. Have you ever been ripped off? How did you feel? I rest my case.

These days people are very well informed and, in most cases, know at least as much as the salesperson. So we come to the age of relationship selling. Develop rapport and get the prospect to trust you and Bob’s your uncle. Not so fast.

Certainly develop rapport, it’s critical because people will buy from a salesperson with credibility. But credibility must be earned. Funnily it’s not earned by you talking, or convincing, or presenting.

It’s by BEING INTERESTED IN THE CLIENT. JUST HIM.

You cannot satisfy a prospect’s needs and wants unless you know them. Often they don’t really know their needs and wants. They have some vague idea that they need to do something, but they’re not sure what. Most people make buying decisions on the basis of feelings rather than rational, analytical decisions.

So, what’s the tip?:

ASK QUESTIONS.  ASK QUESTIONS.   ASK QUESTIONS.

You cannot learn unless you ask questions. Questions direct focus and when you direct the prospect’s focus they will unearth their needs, rather than wants and then you can match what you are offering to what they need.

The other, vital aspect of the equation is to LISTEN. LISTEN AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS UPON IT.

Beacuse, if you job supports your living, then listening is the single most important action you can do.

So, to sell successfully it must be all about them, ask questions, listen attentively and you will find, if your interest is genuine, selling becomes helping a friend get what they want AND need.

Live Well,

Olle Lind

I was conducting a sales workshop in Brisbane last week. The topics were were looking at were handling rejection (a fascinating subject) and coping with change in life. In the middle of the discussion on rejection one of the particiapnts said “…but that’s what I expect.”

It was one of those ‘aha’ moments for me. “Of course” this voice in my mind said. “Your power is the power to decide. Your expectations are simply the extension into the future of your decisions.”

When you stop and really think about. I mean REALLY think about it, life becomes so much simpler to grasp. Anything that occurs in your life manifests from your expectations. For example, walk into a room and say “You can’t win, can you.” and see how many people agree with you. If you press them they will recount time after time when they have been dealt a harsh blow by life, further reinforcing their original decision. That decision is reinforced by their expectations.

It has been said you get what you focus on. Well, try this. Focus on something positive occuring in your life. It doesn’t have to be any specific, although being specific is always better. Look forward in a positive manner to the coming day. I guarantee you will, almost every time, have a good day.

I am reminded of the hilarious Monty Python movie that closes with the guy being crucified and the song playing is “Always look on the bright side of life.” A bit extreme, but try having positive expectations and see what happens.

Live well,

Ollie Lind

Recently I was asked by a director of a large transport company to do some coaching with one of his senior managers. This manager was of the autocratic mould and had difficulty in relating to the female members of his staff. Oh, the department was very efficient, but internal communication was not ideal and there was an implicit rift between the radio room staff and the telephonists. As a result, there was some tension and service levels suffered accordingly.

I had a preliminary meeting and I questioned him on his history of management and gave him feedback that some of his staff felt a bit neglected. HIs response initially was to the effect that it had to be some of the women and all they really had to do was what they were told and everything would work out.

He also commented that he had worked many years ago at another, much larger company and they had simply instructed staff to do as they were told. I asked him why he no longer worked there and his reply even made him smile when he realized what he said. I quote, “The culture was rotten, no one listens. I couldn’t stand it.”

I questioned him on the basis of the similarities and differences between the old place and now. I then asked him to consider what values from the old place he might be carrying onto his current position. He said he would consider what we had discussed.

I was contacted by his senior manager the next and was asked to be careful of what I said to the other manager as he was apparently very upset at what he thought I was inferring. The senior manager said. “I don’t want to lose him.” My reply was, “If he doesn’t go to the next level of managing his people you will probably lose him anyway. Have faith, I know he will embrace the change.”

Within a week I had a further meeting with the manager in question, let’s call him Brian. Well, Brian had gone to each of his female staff and apologised for not communicating more directly with them. He also set up a weekly meeting with senior telephonists and a senior radio operator, appointed a telephonist’s supervisor and written an open letter asking for suggestions on how they could do it better.

He was a new man. No longer tense and unapproachable, he was warm, open and truly concerned with his people. He said to me. “I had a good think and realized that if I wanted the department to change for the better, I had to change. It’s so much easier now that I don’t feel I have to do it all and that I can rely on my people.”

Brian now comes in every morning and goes around, personally greeting each staff member and sharing something of himself. He truly has started on the road to be a servant leader. I’m proud of him and simply wanted to share his success with you.

Live well,

Ollie Lind

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I have spent the last few days in a lather of frustration and perspiration. I turned on my trusty (?) computer the other night and found I couldn’t get onto the internet. I did my normal technical checks. Was the beast switched on? (Yes) Were all my connections intact? (again yes, 100%)

I did the most technically complicated thing I knew. I switched the computer off and restarted it. They say if you do the same old you get the same old. Guess what, they were right.

I kept getting conflicting messages. First it would say (rather petulently) “You are not connected to the internet.”) I would check and it then said. “You are connected.” (I am sure it whispered ’stupid!’)

Then it changed it’s mind again and said it couldn’t connect to my modem. I sat very still for a long time. At last I got my temper under control and telephoned my son. He rattled off a number of instructions certain to fix the problem instantly. The problem was he may as well have been speaking Swahili.

When I get like this my son’s voice changes. He starts speaking to me as if I am deaf or slow. Eventually we arranged for me to unbuckle my computer from its leash and take it to his laboratory. It’s actually his den but he is one of these frightfully clever people who not only builds computers, he is a talented musician and also a qualified sound engineer. I don’t know how he tolerates the older generation.

He worked on the problem for almost three hours. I must confess I got a degree of perverse satisfaction when he couldn’t fix it. Then he had an idea. “I think the problem is with the firewall. He turned it off and voila! It worked.

I asked him if we could access my e-mails as I was sure there was a mountain of them. We went downstairs and had lunch while the computer went about its business. When I got back I saw an e-mail from Zone Alarm (I have their firewall). They were alerting us to the fact that MicroSoft had released an update that apparently had an effect on Zone Alert firewalls and we had to take action to correct the difficulty.

I’m afraid I laughed and laughed and laughed. I had lost over two days, but still found something to laugh at. Think about it a minute. I couldn’t get on the internet, therefore I couldn’t access my e-mails. So, I had to solve the problem of getting on the e-mail so that I could be informed that there was a problem and they would supply me the answer.

I am now sitting at home, downloading the ‘fix’ and ruminating about the situation. It’s funny how two unrelated happenings can have a profound effect on others not directly connected to the happenings. MicroSoft developed a solution to a problem. This resulted in a possibly more serious problem, with no clues as to the origin of the difficulty. Talk about six degrees of separation.

I just checked. I have been downloading the solution for an hour and am only 41% there. A late night tonight.

This gets me to thinking. Sometimes random challenges and problems occur. There is no obvious cause and they can be very frustrating. About the only thing you can do is gather what information and help you can and tackle the situation head on. Find something to learn from the situation. I know if I have another situation where I cannot get onto the internet I will switch off my firewall and try that. It might even work.

What positive did I get from the situation? I got to spend more quality time with my son. I got to love and appreciate him even more and I learnt that sometimes, when things go wrong, I didn’t do it. I also learnt (again) any challenge or problem can be overcome or solved and you can always learn from it.

 
Live Well,

Ollie Lind

Have you ever gone through a period where the universe seems to conspire against you? Well, I have been through the wringer recently. Firstly we had technical problems with the site that defied the designer’s best efforts. Then we had a sound failure with the three ten minute videos I promised.

Well, the site is back up, phew. Yesterday we re-shot the videos. I hope to have them on the site within a week.

I have often been told that delays and misfortune are the universe’s way of presenting you with opportunities. While going through my recent frustrations I had trouble seeing the truth of the opportunities. As it turned out, I was astounded by what transpired. The designer has introduced improvements to make the site easier to navigate. As for the videos, the producer changed the lighting and sound set-up. I am pleasantly surprised by the result.

I do apologise for the delay in posting the videos. I hope you will enjoy them….soon

Live well,

Ollie Lind