I lectured last week to a very nice audience that booked me pre-pandemic, after numerous cancellations we finally made it happen.

The first thing I asked was, “How many people want to earn a minimum of seven figures annually?”

As you can guess all hands went up.

The next question I asked was, “How many people are willing to do the work to earn seven figures annually”? As you probably guessed, the majority of the hands went down.

Interestingly, one person asked, “What does the work entail?” A fair question, I thought and proceeded to answer, “I don’t know. Everybody and every business are different. I can shorten the answer to this…would you be willing to do whatever it took to achieve your goal?” “Would you work 100 hours a week, take no vacation, never see your family for a period of time to achieve the goal?”

You see folks growing a business and a life is serious business. Dipping a toe in will not cut it. You have to be better, faster, and nimbler than your competition or they will eat your lunch.

This is the biggest mistake that I see small business owners make. They wish and hope for results without creating a plan. What I painstakingly do with my clients is to create a a plan and roadmap complete with actions steps. Do you know what? It works!

Last year twenty-three of my clients became a millionaire by using the aforementioned strategy. You can join their ranks too whenever you are ready to create a plan and be willing to put the time in (and then some) to execute the plan. The benefit to sacrificing now is that you can coast later on down the road.

Personally, I busted my ass when I was younger. I still bust my ass today but not as hard as I used to because of what I created when I was younger. It took discipline and accountability to make it happen. I am no better, or smarter than you. If I can create an awesome life and business, you can too.

Are you ready to achieve real economic wealth and freedom? CLICK HERE to set up a complimentary business strategy session and you will leave the call with a detailed plan!

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Yesterday we discussed that my grandfather used to say, “rich or poor it is better to have money.”  We also discussed a couple of good tips to get your financial house in order. Click here to read yesterday’s tips.

Here are some more tips and tricks to help you make and save more money.

Invest in What you know and what you are comfortable doing– I agree options are exciting and cool. However, if you don’t know what you are doing you will get crushed! So before you invest in anything, learn about it first. You should also stay within your risk tolerance. There is no reason to invest in something if you are going to lose sleep over it.

Own your own business- I understand that not everyone is capable or should own their own business. You will have to search within and figure that out for yourself. However, if you are capable of owning your own business, do it because it ensures your ultimate success.

Having a job is great but your boss will get rich, not you; and your paycheck will only come as long as your boss wants to pay you. Also, you lose all freedom of time.

Business ownership affords you all sorts of tax benefits, the ability to work as much or as little as you wish and the ability to control your destiny. If you are capable of owning your own business, make it happen.

Life is too short not to have a dream job or business. If you want a new career where you can work from home, earn $250,000+ per year and really make a difference in other people’s lives, CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE. about joining our team. You will be blown away when you watch the video!

Create an emergency fund-According to Forbes, the average American does not have an extra $400.00 saved to handle an emergency. That stat just sucks! Do not let that be you. Start saving a $1.00 per day on the low side and obviously more if able. Keep putting it away consistently. Over time it will accumulate. Put away 12-18 months of expenses as your goal.

Invest early and invest consistently for retirement-I started saving for retirement when I was 24 years old. I have advised my kids to do the same. I did not understand the advice at the time because retirement was decades away. My kids feel the same way. Now that I am 60 and don’t know where the decades have gone, I am quite happy I heeded the advice, and my kids will be too when they get to be my age. I explained in the last newsletter that consistency and persistency are the keys to anyone’s success, yours included.

The way you get wealthy is by the compounding of interest over time. Start putting away something towards retirement in tax advantaged accounts with the goal of maxing out each year. Do it early and often!

Everyone can have financial security. It takes discipline and perseverance. Sure, it is easy to buy a bigger car or house. Of course, you can put purchases on a credit card. Or, you can make up your mind to be financially independent and make different choices. The choice is up to you. Start with these best practices and stay tuned for more tips.

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Want to achieve real economic wealth and freedom? Last year 23 clients became millionaires. CLICK HERE to set up a complimentary business strategy session and you will leave the call with a detailed plan!

My grandfather used to say, “rich or poor it is better to have money.” You know what? He was right. Money buys you better nutrition, better necessities, better education, better maintenance and upkeep on everything in your life and peace of mind.

Since everyone strives to have more money; it baffles my mind how people are such poor stewards of the green stuff.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you make and save more money.

Keep your fixed costs down– Your rent, mortgage, telephone, insurance bills etc. will come every single month without fail. These are called fixed costs. The key to wealth accumulation is keep those pesky costs DOWN! Buying or renting a smaller home keeps your mortgage or rent down. It keeps your taxes down. It lowers your insurance costs, maintenance costs and electric costs too. Do you really need that bigger house over a smaller one?

What about your car? Do you really need the more expensive one which raises your insurance, gas, and maintenance costs over the less expensive one?

Pay off Debt and stay out of debt before you start investing-Debt is the absolute killer of dreams. As the Fed continues to raise rates your debt becomes more expensive. The key is to stay out of debt in the first place. If you have debt, then the key is to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Use this thought…DEBT=CANCER (DEADLY, UGLY CANCER THAT WILL RAVAGE YOU AND ULTIMATELY KILL YOU) Do you still want to use that plastic?

Clients often ask me what they should invest in. I agree, investing is a huge key to wealth accumulation after you get rid of debt. Getting loan and credit card balances down to zero and keeping them there is a very straightforward way strategy for increased wealth.

Start with these suggestions and tomorrow I will give you some more tips.

Need everything done for you marketing? Click Here to take a free tour of the Academy.

Want to achieve real economic wealth and freedom? Last year 23 clients became millionaires. CLICK HERE to set up a complimentary business strategy session and you will leave the call with a detailed plan!

Did you ever wake up in the morning and everything seemed perfect? You felt well rested, no aches, no pains, and you felt calm and at ease? Success routines will help.

That state is called effortless ease. Contrast that to the alarm going off late, no hot water for your shower, a stubbed toe and a fight with your spouse.

We have all had both scenarios. How can we create scenario one over and over again is the focus of today’s newsletter?

To grow a successful business and life you will need and want more scenario number one’s, so let’s get to it.

Everything in life has a natural and harmonious rhythm to it. The ocean waves come in with a certain rhythm and go out. We breathe with a certain rhythm. The flowers bloom and die with a certain rhythm. Well, guess what we have certain rhythms too!

The key to having a good positive rhythm is to create it with a success routine. These are the steps that I use that have worked for me for over thirty years. They will work for you too.

Create a morning routine that is done consistently. I never ever miss a day. My routine consists of affirmations, visualizations, meditation, prayer and exercise. I also write in a journal and look at my goals. Let me emphasize…I NEVER MISS A DAY! EVER!

My afternoon routine is I evaluate my goals again and determine if my daily action steps are moving me closer or further and I tweak accordingly. I also do a gratitude exercise. Let me emphasize…I NEVER MISS A DAY! EVER!

My evening routine is an evaluation of my action steps for the day. Post-mortem analysis of the day (evaluate what worked and did not work) Gratitude exercises, prayer, and reading. Let me emphasize…I NEVER MISS A DAY! EVER!

By executing those action steps, I create a rhythm to my day that over time becomes the natural state of order in my life. Now, is everyday Christmas for me? Absolutely not! I have crappy days too, however, they are very few and far between. You may want to try the above suggestions for yourself CONSISTENLY AND PERSISTENTLY FOR six months and evaluate for yourself if it creates a better rhythm in your life too.

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If you are ready to grow your business? CLICK HERE to set up a complimentary business strategy session and you will leave the call with a detailed plan!

If I say Tony Robbins, Mark Cuban or Kevin O’Leary you know who they are immediately. As a matter of fact, on Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary always says when “I put my name on something it automatically grows.”

Do you know why? Because he is the brand. Tony Robbins and Mark Cuban are their brands too. They get paid millions of dollars not because of what they do but because of WHO THEY ARE!

Who are you? What do you do every day to nurture and grow you? How are you building your brand?

The first thing to do is think about how you want people to perceive you. Next, create your ideal client and determine what problems they have that “Your brand” can solve.

Consistency is key. Keep posting and post some more. The trick is to make your posting relevant for that target audience.

If you are consistent, in time you gain more and more of a following and your brand will be created. Please note, it takes time to build a great brand and seconds to destroy it. You must uphold your brand by having integrity always, practicing common sense things like returning communications in a timely fashion and being an ambassador of customer service.

If you nurture your brand and treat it like gold (which it is), that brand (you) will reap the rewards decade, after decade, after decade.

You deserve the best life and business, don’t you? If you are not happy where your business is, speak to a friend, colleague, another business coach, or me. Action steps are what will create results. Wishing and hoping are not strategies.

Need everything done for you marketing? Click Here to take a free tour of the Academy.

If you are ready to grow your business? CLICK HERE to set up a complimentary business strategy session and you will leave the call with a detailed plan!

Please look at the picture above. Seeds were planted and then a routine was set. The routine will either create fruit or famine and you can literally measure those results.

The same for your business. Your routines are creating measurable results either good or bad. The nice thing is results don’t lie!

For nineteen years, I have been working with small business owners just like you to create or change their non-working routines into fruit-bearing routines. Here is the great news…you can be helped too.

Do you have a morning routine that will set your day for success? If you don’t, what would happen to your business if you did?

Do you have a set up systems that your business runs by; or does the business run you?

Last year alone twenty-three of our clients became a millionaire. Each had the same type of response…”That was easier than I thought once I had the guidance.”

Results are what is measured. If you are happy with your results do nothing. If your results are poor talk to a friend, colleague, another business coach, or me. If you want to grow faster than you are, talk to a friend, colleague, another business coach or me. After thirty- six years of being in business and after nineteen years of coaching small business owners just like you, you should be confident that you can be helped too.

If you would like to explore the possibilities, Click here to set up a free and no-obligation strategy session and screen share and I will show you how.

In Gratitude,

Paul

Don’t freak out we are in a recession folks. This is normal. Economies go through cycles which are up, down and sideways. When the economy goes down for a long enough period of time and loses 20% it is called a recession; or if it continues to go down further, it is called a depression.

When Michael Jordan had a few bad games in a row did he fire his coaches? No, he looked to them even more to help him get through his “recession” in play.

In May and June, I lost three clients. Their reason for discontinuing was to save money. I told them “That is not the way to save money, but it is their choice, and my door is always open for them to return.”

Last week two of the three returned and wanted my services again. Why? Since they left their businesses dropped another 12 and 18% respectively. They realized that the way back is through the fundamentals that I teach. Yes, grand slams are nice, but it is the fundamentals of singles and doubles coupled with accountability are what consistently wins ball games.

I always use current events to inspire my blogs. There is always something to be learned.

Here are the suicide moves that small business owners make during down-turns in business; you would be wise to refrain from making them too.

1. Proper cost-cutting not just slashing across the board is the way to cut costs. To keep this short don’t cut advisers (business coach, accountant, lawyer, insurance agents). Cut anything personally and professionally that does not make or save you money or have the potential to do so.
2. Don’t cut marketing and advertising
3. Don’t cut staff

It would be too long to explain why in this newsletter. Just trust me on this after 36 years I do know what I am talking about. If you need further explanation, I am happy to hop on a call with you and you can schedule a call by clicking here.

Recessions are wonderful times to grow a business. I know that sounds counter-intuitive but look at when the biggest companies were born. It was during or after a recession or depression. If you execute proper action steps while everyone is hunkering down and pulling back, you can massively gain market share, but you have to do it correctly.

Results are what is measured. If you are happy with your results do nothing. If your results are poor talk to a friend, colleague, another business coach or me. If you want to grow faster than you are, talk to a friend, colleague, another business coach or me. After thirty- six years of being in business and after nineteen years of coaching small business owners just like you, you should be confident that you can be helped too.

If you would like to explore the possibilities, Click here to set up a free and no-obligation strategy session and screen share and I will show you how.

In Gratitude,

Paul

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If you’re interested in developing salespeople with master-level skills, here’s the method that will absolutely, positively help you accomplish this.

The following Seven Steps to Every Sale make this method revolutionary. These seven steps are essential to every sale. There is, however, a principle that’s essential for success with the seven steps.

No skill is gained by mere intellectual agreement

There is a missing ingredient to almost every sales training program, and it’s not information. In fact, the “better” (based upon popularity) sales training programs usually have more information, better information, and even more advanced ideas and concepts.

Herein lies the problem with most sales training programs: You do not gain skill by intellectual agreement. For example, you might be very capable of understanding the principle behind a judo flip, but to be able to do it, you have to practice it. To do it perfectly every time, you have to practice it continually.

If you’ve ever been part of a highly trained team, you know the sense of confidence that translates into success. The secret to building an excellent sales force (or team of any kind) is in repeating core training on basic sales skills again and again.

The levels of learning…

The lowest level of learning is memorization. It’s easy to memorize the seven steps to every sale, but that doesn’t mean that you can apply them. However, it’s an excellent starting point.

The highest level of learning is known as synthesis. This means that you have learned the material so well that you can synthesize it into your own style and method of doing things. Synthesis requires a lot of repetition and practice.

To achieve synthesis in your sales team, begin by having them commit the following seven steps to memory, then set about polishing each skill area until your people are masters of each.

The Seven Steps to Every Sale…

• Establish rapport. You will find that you close a much higher percentage of sales if you have good, solid rapport with your client. The ultimate definition of rapport is: They like you, they trust you, and they respect you. Respect and trust lead to influence. Influence leads to control over your market or the buying situation at hand. Work with your staff to design standards for establishing rapport.
• Qualify the buyer (find the need). To reset a customer’s buying criteria in favor of your product or service, you must begin by gaining a complete understanding of his or her current buying criteria. Develop the six to ten questions that you would like to know about every prospect before you begin to present your product or service. Drill these questions into your salespeople until every one of them can recite them by heart.
• Build value. After you have assessed your customers buying criteria, you must begin to build value around your product or service. Make a presentation at this point in the sales process. The presentation should be targeted to the buyer, not to your product or service.
• Create desire. Be clear on this important point: Your buyer will be a lot more motivated if his or her current situation becomes unacceptable. To create desire, you must motivate your buyer using a combination of problems and solutions, even if you’re the one pointing out the problems that they haven’t really considered. For example, one company that sold information services to accountants showed the accountants how much new tax information (statutes, regulations, tax law, tax cases, etc.) they have to know each year. This information made the accountants feel overwhelmed and predisposed to purchasing anything that would help them survive the tax-information plight. The company actually helped create the “plight” by introducing the accountants to the very real market statistics that existed but that no one else was showing them. It was very, very powerful.
• Overcome objections. A talented salesperson does such a good job of finding the need that objections are covered earlier in the sales process. A top salesperson will qualify the buyer’s buying criteria right down to his or her toes before they even begin to sell. However, an “objection” can still surface when it’s time to close the sale (see below). If you remember that “an objection is an opportunity to close,” you will always be happy to hear one. For example,
  1. The client states an objection: “I’d love to buy it, but I just can’t afford it right now.”
  2. Agree that the objection is valid. The client will drop his or her guard: “If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it (meaningful pause). But let me ask you a question: Is money the only thing standing between you and the purchase of this product?” At this point, if there are more objections, they will surface. If not, the client will say, “No, if I could afford it, I’d buy it.” You have just moved a huge step closer to closing the sale.
  3. Lock down the sale: You say, “So, if I can find a way for you to afford this product, you will buy it?” If the client says yes, you have just closed the sale. You will now need to be more creative in the financing of the product or service or help create more desire, so the prospect will pay the extra money to buy the product or service.

  Getting commitment is key to closing the sale.

• Close the sale. In truth, the best salespeople I have witnessed do not “close,” they “bring the sale to a logical conclusion.” They have helped set up such a logical buying criteria that the prospect and the salesperson walk to the close together. That being said, it should also be stated that most people need help making decisions.This article cannot cover all the aspects of closing a sale, but it can cover the oldest close of all: assuming the sale. Do this by asking a question like, “Who do we send the bill to?” or “How did you want to pay for this?”
• Follow up – Last but not least, be prepared for The Cool-Off Factor. Because enthusiasm and rapport are extremely influential in the sales process, a salesperson must know that a prospect is going to “cool off” after the salesperson leaves the room.How do you avoid this? Follow up strongly after the sale! The fax machine was the greatest invention for a salesperson. A good follow-up letter faxed hours after the sale, or the next day at the latest, can go a long way toward avoiding the cool-off factor. (Much more effective than an email).

Summary

These seven steps are core sales skills and procedures. Just as basketball coaches must constantly train their players on lay-up shots and blocking, sales managers must constantly train their players on polishing every angle of the Seven Steps to Every Sale.

Smart companies build tools, policies, and procedures that support these seven steps. The more standards you set, the higher the performance you can expect from every level of talent.

Go forth and master The Seven Steps to Every Sale. Only constant practice and repetition will create master-level salespeople.

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