The Pierce Marrs Show

You will find sales professionals and business owners topping the lists for the highest income earners in the country. I think this is the result of the various skills required to succeed.

I had coffee with a gentleman who is four months into his sales career after spending several years as a graphic designer. He is very knowledgeable and passionate about the product and is exceeding expectations. However, the challenges are coming in the form of time management, juggling the different tasks of cold calling, following up, new proposals and effectively managing his territory.

The same challenges come with being a solopreneur and bootstrapping your own business. In spite of your expertise and passion for a product, you have to manage the business and all the tasks required from accounting to websites and product fulfillment to name a few. Plus you have to develop a sales process that works for you.

On several occasions, I have heard best selling author Dan Miller mention that his business requires as many as twenty something tasks to operate. Dan hires subcontractors to handle the majority of these tasks freeing him up to spend time in the two or three areas of his greatest enjoyment and expertise.

Depending on the product or business, your sales process may require several skills including a positive attitude, cold calling, building relationships, asking good questions, listening, product knowledge, confidence, time management and organizational skills.

Have you mastered all of these skills? If you haven’t, please give yourself a break. These skills take time to develop and no one is a born salesperson. You will also find that different aspects of your sales process will be easier than others based on your personality wiring.

People who have become competent in selling have the most transferable skill set of any profession and can be the highest paid. Find your personal selling style and remember, nothing happens in business until something is sold.

Have a great week!

Pierce

Everyone has a horror story about poor customer service or a pushy salesperson. I am no different, however, I have made it my goal to find people doing it right.

A few weeks ago Lesa and I were preparing to return home from a trip to the beach when our son called and said it was ninety-three degrees in our house. With Tennessee temperatures climbing into the hundreds, this was bad news. Especially since we just installed a new HVAC unit a few months ago.

The gentleman who installed our new unit was highly recommended from a friend. The installation went very well and we were pleased. Many times you can tell the quality of a person or company based on how they treat you after the sale.

It was a Saturday and we were four hours from home when we finally contacted the HVAC guy. He said he would be there as soon as possible. He had been seeing customers since daybreak and had several more appointments before days end.

We arrived home ten minutes after the technician and he had already solved the problem. He greeted me with a smile and explained what had happened. It was an electrical issue that had nothing to do with his installation. He used our water hose to clean the unit and as he came back around the house he took a moment to water some of Lesa’s bushes.

When I apologized for the inconvenience and asked what I owed him, he said no charge. He offered some very laid back advice about some things I could do to improve my efficiency and how he had stocked some units that I could use to replace my other HVAC unit if I chose too and save significant money. Please remember that it was six o’clock in the evening, over one hundred degrees outside and he had been working all day on a Saturday with two more appointments to go. He seemed to be in no hurry at all.

I told him that I was glad he was referred to us and he told me how most of his customers come from referrals. One lady in particular has referred more people that anyone else. She was a wife of one of our soldiers in Iraq. While her husband was serving our country, she was home with small children and no air conditioning. He replaced her unit at his cost. Did not charge her labor and told her to wait until her husband returned to pay for the cost of the unit. She was a happy customer.

After some more research, this man has volunteered for several Habitat for Humanity projects offering the material and his labor at no charge. He has so much business he can hardly keep up. He gets it.

Have a great week!

Pierce

A few months ago I was having dinner with a handful of friends who all happen to be in business. Andy Traub fielded the question, “What three business books have been the most influential to you?”

Two of the three books came to my mind immediately. Mr. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” made this short list. When I was a twenty-something salesperson, I found myself at a seminar where I first heard the important lessons of being proactive and putting first things first.

It seems that ever once in a while a writer finds a new way to articulate a set of timeless principles. First published in 1990, Covey’s 7 Habits has been named one of the most influential business management books ever and the audio version is the best selling nonfiction audio book in history.

The focus of this book is Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. When I first read this book, I recall being criticized by an older gentleman of being too self-centered and should be more others focused. He did not understand that by learning these principles, I became more effective in all of my relationships.

Here is a summary of the principle’s taught in this book.

Independence or Self-Mastery
The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence:
• Habit 1: Be Proactive
• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
• Habit 3: Put First Things First

Interdependence
The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e., working with others):
• Habit 4: Think Win-Win
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
• Habit 6: Synergize

Self-Renewal
The Last habit relates to self-rejuvenation:
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Mr. Covey passed away recently at the age of 79 surrounded by his wife of nearly 50 years along with his kids and their spouses.

Question: What three business books have been the most influential to you? Click here to comment.

Have a great week!

Pierce

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes recap the final episode of Season 3. Barbara is back with Kevin, Damon, Mark and Robert where they review the “Cougar Ltd.”, “Remyxx”, “Nitroforce Titan 1000”, “Unikey” and an update on “EZVIP”.

Features and benefits are essential to your product or service, but we can’t forget that people are doing the buying, and those people love a great story; especially one they can relate to and retell.

Steve Jobs said, “Story is job one.”

Andy Andrews read biographies that led to The Seven Decisions and his best selling book The Traveler’s Gift. He is a master storyteller and the power of these stories helped Andy connect with his audience and sell hundreds of thousands of books and build a worldwide platform.

I recently read a blog from Kimanzi Constable explaining the struggles he experienced selling his first two e-books. I asked him to elaborate and he responded, “I would tell people why they NEEDED the books and how they’ll benefit their lives, no one would listen. I even had close friends that stop being friends with me on Facebook because of the spamming.”

“I figured out the best way to connect with people is through my story, so instead of posting the links and sharing the benefits, I started sharing something specific from my story. People clicked because they can relate to the things I did and was going through. They just didn’t want to be preached at.”

Kimanzi stopped spamming and started connecting and went on to sell over thirty-thousand books and is becoming a sought after speaker around the world.

Ask yourself, am I pushing or pulling people? Anytime you take short cuts and try to close the deal without leading people through the proper steps of a sales process, people feel pushed and they will resist.

Take the time to connect by telling a good story. Listen closely to theirs. When they know you better, they may like you and trust you. Then you will have earned the right to ask for their business.

Have a good week!

Pierce

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes catch up with Billy Blanks Jr and his amazing wife Sharon Catherine in New York as they are touring the country and the world to promote the certification of their fitness program. You may recall that Damon John followed the Blanks into the Green Room for a very emotional ending. Follow this interview as the Blanks revisit their journey to the Shark Tank, being homeless and the importance of family and unity. The last fifteen minutes are the best.

A friend recently reminded me of a quotation and philosophy by Jim Rohn that I wanted to pass along to you. After reading it, his words lingered with me for days as I understood the depth of his message.

“Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.” —Jim Rohn

I believe success is attainable for those of us who have a thorough understanding of our personality, talents and abilities. When we understand that we can set a course in the direction we want to go. This is what makes you different that most people in the world. You choose to set your sail.

Here is Jim Rohn’s message:

In the process of living, the winds of circumstances blow on us all in an unending flow that touches each of our lives. We have all experienced the blowing winds of disappointment, despair and heartbreak. Why, then, would each of us, in our own individual ship of life, all beginning at the same point, with the same intended destination in mind, arrive at such different places at the end of the journey? Have we not all been blown by the winds of circumstances and buffeted by the turbulent storms of discontent?

What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we have chosen to set our sail. The way that each of us thinks makes the major difference in where each of us arrives. The major difference is the set of the sail.                  

 The same circumstances happen to us all. We have disappointments and challenges. We all have reversals and those moments when, in spite of our best plans and efforts, things just seem to fall apart. Challenging circumstances are not events reserved for the poor, the uneducated or the destitute. The rich and the poor have marital problems. The rich and the poor have the same challenges that can lead to financial ruin and personal despair. In the final analysis, it is not what happens that determines the quality of our lives; it is what we choose to do when we have struggled to set the sail and then discover, after all of our efforts, that the wind has changed directions.

 When the winds change, we must change. We must struggle to our feet once more and reset the sail in the manner that will steer us toward the destination of our own deliberate choosing. The set of the sail, how we think and how we respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy our lives than any challenges we face. How quickly and responsibly we react to adversity is far more important than the adversity itself. Once we discipline ourselves to understand this, we will finally and willingly conclude that the great challenge of life is to control the process of our thinking.

 Learning to reset the sail with the changing winds rather than permitting ourselves to be blown in directions we did not purposely choose requires the development of a whole new discipline. It involves going to work on establishing a powerful, personal philosophy that will help to influence in a positive way all that we do, think and decide. If we can succeed in this worthy endeavor, the result will be a change in the course of our income, lifestyle and relationships, and in how we feel about the things of value as well as the times of challenge. If we can alter the way we perceive, judge and decide upon the main issues of life, then we can dramatically change our lives.

Have a great week!

Pierce

Pierce Marrs and Steve Hayes recap the episode that aired May 11th, 2012. Barbara is back with Kevin, Damon, Mark and Robert where they review the “WIld Squirrel Nut Butter”, “CAB20”, “Mix Bikini”, an emotional presentation from Billy Blanks Jr. with his “Dance With Me” workout videos and an Update on “I Want To Draw A Cat For You”.