Selling and Mindsets

Originally Posted by Fitness Trainer thats just what I see more of. Like for whatever reason I was brought up with that low self esteem and either 'taught' or learned to not make a lot of noise...not try to draw attention myself. Ok, fine. Kids should be seen and not heard etc. But that doesnt seem to work so well in life. for instance one of the top trainers in our gym....he's mr flash, mr hollering at the pretty girls across the gym so everyone can see it. he has more clients than he can handle even though he doesnt really have much technical knowledge. Another guy was a trainer there and he now split off and has his own personal training gym and he recently expanded. This guy was out of shape himself and hardly ever worked out. Youd THINK that when he did that 1x per month workout he'd just keep it low key...NOPE!! him and his buddy would count each rep out LOUD on each exercise. it was just a total blatant screaming of 'look at me! look at me". But damnit, it seems to work. dude has his own gym and I have 2 clients, lol 2 be fair I do see examples on the other side of things. the guy makign the most money trains old peeps and he himself is pretty low key. he aint in great shape either although he uses pics from 10 years ago when he was in good shape in his ads, lol. We talked one day and he told me I looked at it all too competitively and that he didnt even try to get clients from inside the gym. He put flyers up in like chiro offices etc then next thing u know the chiropractor himself wanted training etc. he wrote a book. http://www.amazon.com/How-I-Lost-100...5429009&sr=8-1 he writes articles for mags etc. He advertises heavily in a local classified ad paper. (no way i can afford it....I did one week at $54 and got not even 1 call. I simply cant burn money like that..I dont have it currently) He has been at it for like 10 years though. He has a big rented space on the gym wall with a big tarp thing with his cheesy website on it. http://www.trainwithdave.com So he is showing another model with more of a long term approach. I suppose that would be more of a model for me since im NOT a fast/smooth talking salesman type. but DAMN, I need clients now, not in 6 months or a year with tons spent up front, lol My hat is off to the guy because he is finding a way to make it work. He gets $50/session while basically the rest of us get around $20. Me, I cant even get people to bite on $20 sessions. THATS freaking sad, lol. The "loud" types dont even have biz cards, they dont put up any flyers. Youd never know they existed except for word of mouth and the gym owner pushes them, period.

There are clues in your post that you lack commitment.

please explain more fully

Originally Posted by Fitness Trainer uhmm, any suggestions? what SHOULD I do about it?

How about focusing on what you need to be doing instead of focusing on what others are doing?

I want to offer my sincerest apologies to the forum and to people that I have offended and made remarks about. I am a very passionate and intense person and I have let my frustrations get the best of me.

The remarks I have made about others were not even really meant in a personal way...its just internal frustrations coming to the surface. I am working hard to overcome petty jealousies and insecurites but its very hard to change long established habits.

I have apologized personally to people I commented about and I hope in the future I will be a better person and not let my thoughts and mouth run away with me. I hope I have not caused hurt to anyone and I hope my spiteful comments will not cause grudges to be held. The problem isnt any of YOU...the problem is all ME and I realize that.

I wish everyone much success and happiness in their lives. There is plenty to go around.

Sincerely, Randy Williams

Best of luck with everything Randy. Your recent post reflects an attitude of prosperity {vs. an attitude of scarcity} and that is HUGE.

I'm not sure if this thread isn't entirely 'off-the-rails' but I've something to add. There are two perspectives to mindsets:
1. having a "pre-conceived notion" about what's going to transpire during the call; and/or,
2. being sufficiently confident in yourself to keep an open mind throughout;

When I work with a SR who goes into the call with a "pre-conceived notion", I'm generally not wrong on how the call is going to proceed. For example, SRs can get headstrong on a certain offering/promotional pricing (whatever) and, as a consequence, nothing which the prospect says is absorbed ... unless it relates to this offering! Put differently: everything the prospect says gets twisted into the offering! In this environment, success can ONLY happen if you've fluked into a call on the day a decsion was being made ...

The human brain has only so much RAM (random access memory) and, if the SR goes into the call with a mind clouded by a specific outcome, the ears tend NOT to work so well.

It's my sense that, where sales people are held in poor esteem, this might well be at the root of the problem. When we don't listen or "can't hear", we're missing the opportunity to have our prospects tell us what they truly need ...

Good luck & Good selling!
Pat

"When I work with a SR who goes into the call with a "pre-conceived notion", I'm generally not wrong on how the call is going to proceed. For example, SRs can get headstrong on a certain offering/promotional pricing (whatever) and, as a consequence, nothing which the prospect says is absorbed ... unless it relates to this offering! Put differently: everything the prospect says gets twisted into the offering! In this environment, success can ONLY happen if you've fluked into a call on the day a decsion was being made ...

The human brain has only so much RAM (random access memory) and, if the SR goes into the call with a mind clouded by a specific outcome, the ears tend NOT to work so well." - Pat

I like that RAM analogy - that's a good one, Pat. Training - teaching people to listen with clarity void of an underlying RAM agenda is ultimately one of the most important skills to lead companies and individuals and teams to greater confidence and success.

MitchM

In an effort to help me deal with a serious brush with cancer, in the fall of 1990, I had a pyschiatrist tell me that "...you only have so much RAM to deal with all this stuff ...". (So it's not my line.)

But it is a superb analogy which, in this instance, relates to "the amount of room upstairs" to deal with all of the topics under consideration. The better salespeople learn to approach the call with no pre-conceived notions (ie. a clear head) in order to listen to what transpires during the call.

Good luck & Good selling!
Pat

"Overload" is something we have to deal with - another RAM situation, Pat. Your analogy from your brush with cancer is so personalized but I can see it personalized that way for people in many ways.

For us - my wife and I - it's a good analogy because our business is one easily over loaded on: it's health related and often health issue related which can have many dynamics to it - AND it's also business related as you know: recruiting, training, prospecting, marketing, retailing, sometimes advertising - cold calling, follow-up -- all of that -- distributors can overload.

Our personal challenge has been learning how these things can over load someone's RAM - we've been able to compartmentalize these things and order and control them for them most part even during the "learning curve" time BUT realizing not everyone can do that as we could took time for us to understand THEN learning how to pace people and help people acquire these skills took time for us to learn.

That's really why people are successful in the business we're in - it's much more than a sale - it's learning how to teach.

SOOOOOOOO I'm using your RAM analogy too, Pat. It fits.

MitchM

Originally Posted by OUTSource Sales I'm not sure if this thread isn't entirely 'off-the-rails' but I've something to add. There are two perspectives to mindsets: 1. having a "pre-conceived notion" about what's going to transpire during the call; and/or, 2. being sufficiently confident in yourself to keep an open mind throughout; When I work with a SR who goes into the call with a "pre-conceived notion", I'm generally not wrong on how the call is going to proceed. For example, SRs can get headstrong on a certain offering/promotional pricing (whatever) and, as a consequence, nothing which the prospect says is absorbed ... unless it relates to this offering! Put differently: everything the prospect says gets twisted into the offering! In this environment, success can ONLY happen if you've fluked into a call on the day a decsion was being made ... The human brain has only so much RAM (random access memory) and, if the SR goes into the call with a mind clouded by a specific outcome, the ears tend NOT to work so well. It's my sense that, where sales people are held in poor esteem, this might well be at the root of the problem. When we don't listen or "can't hear", we're missing the opportunity to have our prospects tell us what they truly need ... Good luck & Good selling! Pat

Here! Here! Awesome post.

Also, to Fitness Trainer, what kinda shape you in anyway?

I figure in your business, YOU'RE the billboard, right?

And $57 for one weeks worth of local exposure sounds pretty reasonable, btw.

But my real question is, what are you doing to differentiate yourself from those guys? You need an angle! You know, go after the other side of the market. Not everyone likes a loudmouth Type A to train them. Heck, where a TankTop that says something like, "No Small Talk, Just Big Results!" haha whatever- you get my point!

Oh, and eeeeeeasy on the "LOL's", please.