Teknik jualan mudah tetapi kemas

Terdapat satu teknik jualan lain yang cukup singkat, tetapi sangat kemas. Jika ia dipraktikkan dengan betul, hasilnya sangat memuaskan.

Teknik jualan ini dapat dipraktikkan, apabila kita telah bertemu dengan bakal pelanggan dan sedang duduk semeja dengan untuk menerangkan produk kita. Sebelum itu pastikan bakal pelanggan itu tidak mengetahui apakah produk kita. Katakankan sebelum itu, kita membuat temu janji untuk berkongsi satu produk simpanan yang berkesan.

Di sini mungkin bakal pelanggan tidak mahu bertemu dengan kita, katakana kepada, tidak mengapa jika ‘encik’ tidak berminat, tetapi mungkin selepas penerangan saya nanti, encik dapat berkongsi dengan lain, dan encik dapat membantu mereka pula untuk membuat simpanan. Anda tetapkan satu tarikh untuk berjumpa. Ingat jangan biarkan dia yang menetapkannya. Di sini biasanya bakal pelanggan tidak dapat menolak.

Apabila telah bertemu dan duduk semeja dengan pelanggan, keluarkan sekeping kertas kosong dan pen. Katakan saya ada satu produk pelaburan yang mempunyai ciri-ciri berikut:
1) Pulangan yang tinggi – katakana sekitar 10% ~ 12%
2) Modal yang tidak hilang
3) Insuran takaful percuma
4) Pelaburan yang berlandaskan islamik
5) Selamat – sebab ada pemegang amanah (trustee)
6) Syarikat pelaburan swasta no. 1 dan terbesar di Malaysia
7) Pengurus dana yang berpengalaman lebih 30 tahun
8) Dan lain-lain (minta pelanggan tambah, pelaburan yang bagaimana dia mahu)

Terangkan dengan jelas bahawa, semua ciri-ciri ini dimiliki oleh pelaburan ini. Jadi, tanyakan kepada bakal pelanggan tersebut, “adakah pelaburan ini sangat baik atau menarik?’ Jangan jawab untuk pelanggan anda biarkan dia jawab. Jika dia mengatakan tidak baik atau tidak bagus, Tanya dia bahagian mana? Terangkan sekali lagi sampai dia berpuas hati. Keluarkan semua dokumen sokongan atau contoh penyata atau keratan akhbar yang anda ada.

Tetapi, andaikata ia menyatakan pelaburan ini baik dan bagus, tanyakan kepadanya, “Kalau ia bagus, berapa banyakkah encik sanggup melabur?” Untuk bahagian ini anda mesti menjawab dengan cepat, “bagaimana dengan RM100,000?”

Jika dia mengatakan dia tidak ada duit sebanyak itu, kurangkan nilai itu kepada separuh, dan begitulah seterusnya sehingga dia bersetuju untuk melabur.

Ingat! Keluarkan borang serta merta dan minta kad pengenalan. Jangan tunggu sampai dia sejuk. Isikan borang tersebut dengan segera. Minta cek atau penyata KWSP dan segeralah buat salinan kad pengenalan tersebut. Jika ia pelaburan tunai (selain KWSP), seboleh-bolehnya jangan biarkan dia bank-in sendiri wang tersebut. Bantu dia dengan cara meminta cek atau pergi ke bank bersama-samanya.

Jika dia mengatakan, dia perlu berbincang dengan isteri atau suaminya, anda hendaklah bersetuju, tetapi minta satu temujanji lagi, kalau boleh minta dia datang bersama-sama isteri atau suaminya. Anda yang tentukan bila atau tarikh anda patut berjumpa lagi, ingat jangan biarkan dia berkata “lain kali sahaja”. TENTUKAN TARIKH dan MASAnya.

Semoga berjaya!

Be Prepared To Ask: by Brian Tracy

If you make a perfect presentation, one that clearly explains the benefits and resolves all the doubts that a qualified prospect might have, the sale will often close all by itself, like a ripe apple dropping out of a tree into your hand. You will conclude your presentation, check to be sure that the prospect has fully understood the benefits and value to him of the offer and the prospect will say something like, "It sounds good to me, how do I get it? Will you take a check?"

Don't Count on MiraclesWhen you are dealing with a prospect who knows exactly what he wants and you structure your presentation so that you demonstrate to him that your product fills his needs perfectly, he can make a buying decision and invite you to wrap up the sale. But this kind of result in selling is similar to a miracle: it's not that miracles don't happen, it's just that you can't depend on them.

Be Prepared in Every Situation
You must go into every sales situation prepared for the likelihood that your prospect will have questions unanswered, concerns unresolved and objections to be overcome. Simultaneously, you must know a variety of ways to ask for the order at different points in the sales process, and you must be capable of recognizing which closing technique is most appropriate at any given time. Like a master craftsman, you need a variety of tools with which to do excellent work. The best salespeople are invariably those who are the most skilled in the fine points of bringing the sales conversation to a positive conclusion.

Build the Relationship First
Your first job in the sales conversation, and throughout all of your interactions with the customer, is to build and maintain a relationship. It is to come across in a friendly way, to be warm, supportive, knowledgeable and completely focused on helping the customer to solve a problem or achieve a goal with your product or service.

Be Positive, Polite, and Persuasive
Because of the importance of trust in modern selling, you are never pushy, obnoxious or overly aggressive. You never to or say anything that can be construed as manipulative. You never attempt to influence your prospect to act contrary to his best interests. Your job is to thoroughly understand his situation and to give good recommendations that enable him to make the right buying decision.

Action Exercises
Here are two things that you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, be prepared to close the sale quickly and smoothly, and get out, when it is clear the customer is ready to buy. This is your job. Don’t hesitate.

Second, be sure that you keep your eyes on the quality of the relationship throughout. Avoid using pressure or manipulation so you can always come back again later.

3 Perkara Wajib

Di dalam perniagaan berangkaian atau networking business, kita tidak dapat lari dari 3 perkara yang wajib dilakukan jika ingin berjaya. Tidak kiralah sama ada di dalam MLM atau industri unit amanah, asalkan sahaja ia perniagaan yang melibatkan orang ramai, maka 3 perkara ini mesti dilakukan.

Pertamanya ialah menjual. Dalam apa sahaja tindakkan, kita mesti menjual atau membuat jualan. Ia adalah kemestian. Untuk mendapat pendapatn yang berterusan, maka jualan juga mesti berterusan. Peganglah perinsip, asalkan nampak orang, maka kita ada potensi untuk membuat jualan. Maka gunakanlah segala daya kreativiti yang ada untuk mendekati prospek tersebut untuk membuat jualan. Ada seorang rakan, yang menetapkan quota iaitu, setiap hari dia mesti membuat 1 jualan. Cuba kira, jika dia berjaya membuat jualan RM5,000 setiap hari maka dalam sebulan dia telah berjaya membuat jualan sebanyak RM150,000 sebulan. Tetapi andaikata, dia hanya berjaya membuat jualan 50%, maka jualannya sebulan ialah RM75,000 ini sudah cukup baik bukan? Jadi sentiasa membuat jualan, tidak kira hari apa atau di mana anda berada.

Keduanya, menaja ejen baru. Di dalam networking business ini, anda mesti menaja ejen baru sebagai mana anda membuat jualan. Sebabnya, anda tidak akan mampu untuk membuat jualan selama-lamanya. Sampai satu ketika anda akan berhenti atau terpaksa berhenti. Anda mungkin berhenti kerana letih, sakit, masa yang tidak mengizinkan dan sebagainya. Tetapi dengan adanya sekumpulan ejen di dalam kumpulan, sebab-sebab begini hampir tiada langsung. Ia seolah-olah anda mengujudkan lebih ramai diri anda. Cuba bayangkan, jika anda seorang diri dapat bekerja 24 sehari. Maka jika diri anda ada 5 orang maka anda dapat bekerja 120 jam sehari dan sudah tentu pendapatan anda lebih baik, bukan?

Untuk menaja ejen, baru anda tidak perlu tergesa-gesa seperti membuat jualan tadi. Anda hanya perlu menaja ejen baru sekurang-kurangnya seorang dalam masa sebulan. Jadi dalam masa setahun, anda sudah ada 12 ejen di bawah anda. Ini baru direct agent, apakata jika setiap ejen itu menaja pula ejen yang lain. Sudah tentu kumpulan anda akan bekembang dengan pesat. Faedahnya mungkin anda tidak nampak dengan segera, tetapi binalah kumpulan anda dengan secepat yang mungkin, kerana anda akan menikmatinya dalam dua tahun dari sekarang.

Ketiganya, meeting atau membuat perjumpaan. Tidak kiralah menghadiri perjumpaan bulanan (monthly meeting or training), berjumpa client atau berjumpa downline.
Di dalam monthly meeting atau training, anda akan menambah segala pengetahuan yang ada dan mendapat yang baru yang boleh digunakan untuk mengembangkan perniagaan anda.
Berjumpa dengan client juga penting. Selain dari bertanya khabar, anda boleh memberikan idea-idea baru mengenai cara pelaburan atau simpanan yang betul. Juga dapat memberikan perkembangan semasa mengenai pelaburan mereka. Dengan cara ini anda akan menambah pengetahuan mereka tentang pelaburan. Bila sudah faham, boleh jadi mereka akan menambah pelaburan atau memperkenalkan para sahabat mereka. Untung, bukan.

Berjumpa dengan downline, selain mengeratkan perhubungan, anda juga dapat berkongsi idea-idea baru untuk mengembangkan perniagaan ini atau merancangkan projek-projek baru.

Jadi, sentiasalah buat 3 perkara wajib ini. Fikirkan di mana kedudukan anda 5 tahun tahun dari sekarang. Adakah ianya lebih baik atau lebih teruk dari hari ini. Rancanglah dengan teliti.

Jangan pentingkan diri sendiri

Untuk membina asas pelanggan yang kukuh, sebagai perunding unit amanah, kita tidak boleh mementingkan diri sendiri. Keuntungan pelanggan mesti didahulukan. Jangan hanya mengira komisyen yang akan kita dapati sahaja. Kepentingan pelanggan mesti diutamakan.

Jangan hanya mengira keuntungan yang kita dapati dan mengabaikan kepentingan pelanggan. Contohnya jika kita berjaya membuat jualan untuk kategori dana ekuiti (seperti ittikal, PIEF dan PIOF) dan dana seimbang (seperti PIBF), komisyen yang kita perolehi ialah 2.85%. Tetapi jika kita membuat jualan kategori dana ‘bond’ (seperti PI Bond), komisyennya hanyalah 0.25%.

Jadi ramai perunding yang tidak mahu membuat jualan dana ‘bond’, malah tidak menerangkan langsung kepada pelanggan bahawa kita juga mempunyai dana ini. Sebabnya jelas, komisyennya yang amat rendah.

Ada waktu-waktunya kita boleh menjual 100% dana ekuiti. Dan pada keadaan sekarang (17/11/2005) dimana KLCI berada pada kadar 900 mata, dana seimbang adalah lebih sesuai. Pun begitu ini untuk pelaburan jangkamasa sederhana dan panjang.

Jika pelabur masih inginkan dana ekuiti, pastikan dia tidak melabur keseluruhan wangnya dalam dana ekuiti itu. Nasihatkan dia melabur 50% dari wangnya ke dalam bond

Sebenarnya kita perlu faham, yang kita sedang membina asas pelanggan yang kukuh. Ini bermakna, kita sedang membina kepercayaan yang kukuh kepada mereka. Sekiranya berlaku kerugian kepada pihak pelanggan, sudah tentunya mereka akan menyalahkan kita dan menyebarkan berita buruk ini kepada yang lain. Tetapi sekiranya pelanggan mendapat keuntungan, mereka akan membawa kebaikan kita seperti, menambah nilai pelaburan ataupun memperkenalkan pelabur-pelabur baru kepada kita.

Menurut Brian Tracy dalam suatu artikelnya, ‘menjaga’ pelanggan yang sedia ada, adalah lebih baik dari mencari pelanggan baru. Cuba renungkan sejenak maksud tulisannya ini.

Your Ideal Self and Life: by Brian Tracy

Your self-concept is made up of three parts, each of which affects each of the others. Understanding these three parts enables you to put your hands on the keyboard of your own mental computer. When you learn to take charge of the development of a new and positive self-concept of selling, you can then control your sales destiny for the rest of your career.

Determine Your Direction
The first part of the self-concept is the "self-ideal." Your self-ideal largely determines the direction in which you are going with your life. It guides the growth and evolution of your character and personality. Your self-ideal is a combination of all of the qualities and attributes of other people that you most admire. Your self-ideal is a description of the person you would very much like to be if you could embody the qualities that you most aspire to.

Strive Toward Excellence
Throughout your life, you have seen and read about the qualities of courage, confidence, compassion, love, fortitude, perseverance, patience, forgiveness and integrity. Over time, these qualities have distilled in you an ideal to which you aspire. You might not always live up to the very best that you know, but you are constantly striving to be a better person in light of those qualities that you value so highly. In fact, everything that you do on a day-to-day basis is affected by your comparing your activities with these ideal qualities and your striving to behave consistent with them.

Clarity Is Essential
Successful salespeople have very clear ideals for themselves and their careers. Unsuccessful salespeople have fuzzy ideals. Successful salespeople are very clear about being excellent in every part of their work and their personal lives. Unsuccessful salespeople don't give the subject very much thought. One of the primary characteristics of successful men and women in every walk of life is that they have very clearly defined ideals and they are very aware of whether or not their current behaviors are consistent with their idealized behaviors.

Set Challenging Goals
Part of your ideals are your goals. As you set higher and more challenging goals, your self-ideal improves and crystallizes. When you set goals for the kind of person you want to be and the kind of life you want to live, your self-ideal rises and becomes a greater guiding and motivating force in your life.

Your Future Is Unlimited
Perhaps the most important thing for you to realize is that whatever anyone else has done or become, you can do or become as well. Improvements in your self-ideal begin in your imagination, and in your imagination, there are no limits except the ones that you accept.

What is your ideal vision of the very best person you could possibly become? How would you behave each day if you were already that person? Asking yourself these questions and then living your life consistent with the answers is the first step to creating yourself in your ideal image.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, dream big dreams. Set big, exciting, challenging goals and ideals for yourself in every part of your life. Allow yourself to imagine a wonderful life ahead.
Second, think about how you would act if you were an outstanding person in every way. Then, practice being this person, as though you were acting a role in a play.
You’ll immediately notice a difference in your behavior.

Why money is good: by Brian Tracy

The way you think about money will determine how much of it you accumulate more than any other factor. Your attitude toward money affects your emotions and your motivations.

Do You Feel That You Have Enough?
In psychology, money is what is called a "deficiency need." This means that it only motivates you when you feel def icient in it, when you don't feel that you have enough. Above a certain level, when you feel that you have enough, it is no longer a motivator. Put another way, when you have enough money, you don't think about it very much. But when you have too little, you think about it all the time.

Determine Your Attitude Toward Money
The effect money has on your emotional life depends on your attitude toward it. If you feel that you have too little, money can become an obsession for you. It can dominate your thinking, feelings and actions. Arguments over money are a major reason for marital breakdown. Problems with money are the primary reason for business collapse, the ruination of friendships and psychosomatic illnesses of all kinds. It's not uncommon for people to even kill themselves over money problems.

Practice The Reality Principle
The Reality Principle applies especially to matters of money. This principle states that, "You must deal with life as it is, not as you wish it were, or could be." Most people live in a world of partial self-delusion, or even fantasy, with regard to money. They wish, hope, and pray about their financial futures while at the same time, deep in their hearts, they know their dreams will never materialize. In Lewis Carroll's book, Alice in Wonderland, one of the characters says quite happily that he is quite capable of believing several impossible things before breakfast each day. In the same way, many people believe quite impossible things about money and then they wonder why they are having so many financial problems.

Overcome Deep Seated Beliefs
One of the most common obstacles to achieving financial independence is a deep-seated belie f that somehow money is wrong and that people who have a lot of it are inherently evil. This belief is not based on any factual foundation. It goes back to early childhood conditioning when the growing child is often told this because of other people's desire to rationalize away their own financial failures.

Money is Good
The fact is that money is good. It takes money to buy homes, cars, clothes, toys, food and most of the good things in life. Money has an energy of its own and it is largely attracted to people who treat it well. Money tends to flow toward those people who can use it in the most productive ways to produce valuable goods and services, and who can invest it to create employment and opportunities that benefit others. At the same time, money flows away from those who use it poorly, or who spend it in non-productive ways.

Action Exercises
Here are two things y ou can do immediately to improve your attitude toward money:

First, be perfectly honest to yourself with regard to money and to the amount you want to acquire in life. Pretending that you don't care about money when you really do will only make you unhappy.

Second, begin today to think about all the wonderful things that you could have in your life if you had more money. Then, begin to think of all the things that you could do to increase the amount you earn and the amount you keep.

Three Skills To Improve Conversation: by Brian Tracy

One key to becoming a great conversationalist is to pause before replying. A short pause, of three to five seconds, is a very classy thing to do in a conversation. When you pause, you accomplish three goals simultaneously.

The Benefits of Pausing
First, you avoid running the risk of interrupting if the other person is just catching his or her breath before continuing. Second, you show the other person that you are giving careful consideration to his or her words by not jumping in with your own comments at the earliest opportunity. The third benefit of pausing is that you will actually hear the other person better. His or her words will soak into a deeper level of your mind and you will understand what he or she is saying with greater clarity. By pausing, you mark yourself as a brilliant conversationalist.

Ask Questions
Another way to become a great conversationalist is to question for clarification. Never assume that you understand what the person is saying or trying to say. Instead, ask, “How do you mean, exactly?”
This is the most powerful question I’ve ever learned for controlling a conversation. It is almost impossible not to answer. When you ask, “How do you mean?” the other person cannot stop himself or herself from answering more extensively. You can then follow up with other open-ended questions and keep the conversation rolling along.

Paraphrase the Speaker's Words
The third way to become a great conversationalist is to paraphrase the speaker’s words in your own words. After you’ve nodded and smiled, you can then say, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. What you’re saying is . . .”

Demonstrate Attentiveness
By paraphrasing the speaker’s words, you demonstrate in no uncertain terms that you are genuinely paying attention and making every effort to understand his or her thoughts or feelings. And the wonderful thing is, when you practice effective listening, other people will begin to find you fascinating. They will want to be around you. They will feel relaxed and happy in your presence.

Listening Builds Trust
The reason why listening is such a powerful tool in developing the art and skill of conversation is because listening builds trust. The more you listen to another person, the more he or she trusts you and believes in you.

Listening also builds self-esteem. When you listen attentively to another person, his or her self-esteem will naturally increase.

Listening Develops Discipline
Finally, listening builds self-discipline in the listener. Because your mind can process words at 500-600 words per minute, and we can only talk at about 150 words per minute, it takes a real effort to keep your attention focused on another person’s words. If you do not practice self-discipline in conversation, your mind will wander in a hundred different directions. The more you work at paying close attention to what the other person is saying, the more self-disciplined you will become. In other words, by learning to listen well, you actually develop your own character and your own personality.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, make a habit of pausing before replying in any conversation or discussion. You will be amazed at how powerful this technique really is.

Second, continually ask, “How do you mean?” in response to anything that is not perfectly clear. This gives you even more time to listen well.

Be An Optimist At All Times: by Brian Tracy

Everyone wants to be physically healthy. You want to be mentally healthy as well. The true measure of “mental fitness” is how optimistic you are about yourself and your life.
In this newsletter, you learn how to control your thinking in very specific ways so that you feel terrific about yourself and your situation, no matter what happens.

Control Your Reactions and Responses
There are three basic differences in the reactions of optimists and pessimists. The first difference is that the optimist sees a setback as temporary, while the pessimist sees it as permanent. The optimist sees an unfortunate event, such as an order that falls through or a sales call that fails, as a temporary event, something that is limited in time and that has no real impact on the future. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees negative events as permanent, as part of life and destiny.

Isolate the Incident
The second difference between the optimist and the pessimist is that the optimist sees difficulties as specific, while the pessimist sees them as pervasive. This means that when things go wrong for the optimist, he looks at the event as an isolated incident largely disconnected from other things that are going on in his life.

See Setbacks As Temporary Events
For example, if something you were counting on failed to materialize and you interpreted it to yourself as being an unfortunate event, but something that happens in the course of life and business, you would be reacting like an optimist. The pessimist, on the other hand, sees disappointments as being pervasive. That is, to him they are indications of a problem or shortcoming that pervades every area of life.

Don't Take Failure Personally
The third difference between optimists and pessimists is that optimists see events as external, while pessimists interpret events as personal. When things go wrong, the optimist will tend to see the setback as resulting from external factors over which one has little control.

If the optimist is cut off in traffic, for example, instead of getting angry or upset, he will simply downgrade the importance of the event by saying something like, “Oh, well, I guess that person is just having a bad day.”

The pessimist on the other hand, has a tendency to take everything personally. If the pessimist is cut off in traffic, he will react as though the other driver has deliberately acted to upset and frustrate him.

Remain Calm and Objective
The hallmark of the fully mature, fully functioning, self-actualizing personality is the ability to be objective and unemotional when caught up in the inevitable storms of daily life. The superior person has the ability to continue talking to himself in a positive and optimistic way, keeping his mind calm, clear and completely under control. The mature personality is more relaxed and aware and capable of interpreting events more realistically and less emotionally than is the immature personality. As a result, the mature person exerts a far greater sense of control and influence over his environment, and is far less likely to be angry, upset, or distracted.

Take The Long View
Look upon the inevitable setbacks that you face as being temporary, specific and external. View the negative situation as a single event that is not connected to other potential events and that is caused largely by external factors over which you can have little control. Simply refuse to see the event as being in any way permanent, pervasive or indicative of personal incompetence of inability.

Resolve to think like an optimist, no matter what happens. You may not be able to control events but you can control the way you react to them.

Action Exercises
Now, here are three actions you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, remind yourself continually that setbacks are only temporary, they will soon be past and nothing is as serious as you think it is.

Second, look upon each problem as a specific event, not connected to other events and not indicative of a pattern of any kind. Deal with it and get on with your life.

Third, recognize that when things go wrong, they are usually caused by a variety of external events. Say to yourself, “What can’t be cured must be endured,” and then get back to thinking about your goals

The Determinant of Your Success: by Brian Tracy

Perhaps the most powerful single factor in your financial success is your beliefs about yourself and money. We call this the Law of Belief. It says simply this: Whatever you believe, with feeling, becomes your reality.

What Successful People Believe
Whatever you intensely believe becomes your reality. That we have a tendency to block out any information coming in to us that is inconsistent with our reality. What we've discovered is that successful people absolutely believe that they have the ability to succeed. And they will not entertain, think about, or talk about the possibilities that they'll fail. They do not even consider the possibility of failure.

Positive Thinking Versus Positive Knowing
You always act in a matter consistent with your beliefs. The most important belief system you can build is a prosperity consciousness where you absolutely believe that you are going achieve your financial goals. We call this positive knowing versus positive thinking. Positive thinking can sometimes be wishing or hoping. But positive knowing is when you absolutely know that no matter what, you will be successful.

The Foundation of Willpower
Another principle related to your beliefs is willpower. We know that willpower is essential to any success. Willpower is based on confidence. It's based on conviction. It's based on faith. It's based on your belief in your ability to triumph over all obstacles. And you can develop willpower by persistence, by working on your goals, by reading the biographies of successful people, by listening to audio programs, by reading books about people who've achieved success. The more information you take into your mind consistent with success, the more likely it is that you will develop the willpower to push you through the obstacles and difficulties you will experience.

Beat the Odds on Success
Remember that success is rare. Only one person in one hundred becomes wealthy in the course of a lifetime. Only five percent achieve financial independence. That means that the odds against you are 19-to-1. The only way that you're going to achieve your financial goals is if you get really serious. To succeed, you must get serious. You must get busy. You must get active. You must get going. Remember, everything counts.

Resolve To Achieve Greatly
Self-mastery, self-control, self-discipline are essential for anyone who wants to achieve greatly. And control over your thoughts is the hardest exercise in self-mastery that you will ever engage in. See if you can talk and think about only what you desire and not talk or think about anything that you don't want for 24 hours. Then you'll see what you're really made of. It's a hard thing to do but with practice, you can reach the point where you are thinking about your goals and desires most of the time. Then, your whole life will change for the better

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to build a belief system consistent with the financial success you desire:

First, continually repeat to yourself the words, pictures and thoughts consistent with your dreams and goals. Whatever you repeat often enough, over and over, becomes a new belief.

Second, set a goal for yourself to think and talk only about the things that you want for the next 24 hours. This will be one of the hardest things you ever do. But if you can keep your mind on what you want and off of what you don't want for 24 hours, you can begin to change your entire future.

Solving Problems Effectively: by Brian Tracy

Your ability to communicate is the most important skill you can develop to get on to the fast track in your career. Perhaps the most important thing you do in business is to solve problems and make decisions, both by yourself and with other people.

Use a Systematic Process
A major type of communication in the business organization is meetings for problem solving and decision making. The key to effective problem solving and decision making discussions, is for you to all go through the process systematically.

Define the Problem Clearly
Right at the beginning, you ask the question, "What exactly is the problem?" Clarity of definition will resolve 50% of the issues before they go any further.

Focus on the Future
When discussing a problem, be sure to focus on the future over the past. Ask the question, "Where do we go from here?” “What do we do from here?” “What are our options for the future?" Too many problem-solving discussions end up focusing all of the attention of all the people present on what happened in the past and who is to blame. The effective executive uses this type of communication to focus on where the company and the individuals are going, and what can happen in the future - the only part of the equation over which anyone has any control.

Talk About the Solutions
A second element in effective problem solving communications, is for you to talk about the solutions instead of talking about the problems. It is for you to keep the attention of the individuals in the meeting focused on the possible solutions and what can be done rather than what has already happened.

Release Creativity
The discussion of solutions is inherently positive, uplifting and has a tendency to release creativity amongst the group. A discussion of problems is inherently negative, demotivating and tends to inhibit creativity.

The Key to Positive Thinking
You can become a positive thinker simply by becoming a solution-oriented person rather than a problem-oriented person. If you get everyone in your organization thinking and talking in terms of solutions, you will be astonished at the quality and quantity of ideas that will emerge.

Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can immediately to become a better problem solver and decision maker.

First, take some time to be absolutely clear about the problem that is under discussion. Give some thought to what an ideal decision or solution would accomplish. Instead of focusing on the situation as it is, talk about the situation as you would like it to be.

Second, keep the conversation focused on solutions, on what can be done in the future. The more you think and talk about solutions, the more positive and creative everyone will be and the better ideas you will come up with.

The Directive Close: by Brian Tracy

A popular method of closing is the Directive Close. This is sometimes called the Assumption Close, or the Post-Closing Technique. It is one of the most powerful closing techniques used by top sales professionals in every industry. It is used to change the focus of the customer's thinking away from the decision, "yes or no", to the ownership and enjoyment of the product.

Keep The Initiative
Its major virtue is that it allows you to keep the initiative, to maintain control of the selling process and to wrap it up at your own pace and speed. It is also very simple.

Ask For Lingering Objections
At the end of the sales conversation, you ask a trial closing question like, "How does this sound to you so far?" If the prospect agrees that is sounds pretty good, you say, "Well then, Mr. Prospect, the next step is..."

Describe The Plan of Action
You then go on to describe the plan of action, or what happens from this point forward. You get out your sales contract or order form and begin filling it in. You say something like, "The next step is that I get your authorization and a check and get it back to my company. We will be out in three days to begin the initial planning and we should have the entire process installed and working by the third week of next month."

Keep On Going
In this close, the customer can either say, "yes" and help you conclude the sale or he can ask any questions that he might still have. If for any reason the customer still objects, you answer the objection completely and then ask for the order again.

The Customer is Ready
A customer at the end of the sales process is very much like a pot of water boiling on the stove. It is as hot as it is going to get. If you take it off the stove, it will begin to cool. If you leave it off the stove for a few days, it will be stone cold, as though it were never heated up at all. If you do not ask for the order at the end of the sales process, whether it is one call or several calls, you run the risk of the customer cooling down, changing his mind and even forgetting why it was that he was so eager to make the purchase in the first place.

Action Exercises
Here is something you can do immediately to put this close into action.

Plan your words carefully in advance so you can ask for the order smoothly and without hesitation. Practice in front of a mirror if you want to. Be the best!

How To Succeed In Business: by Brian Tracy

Build Your Own Business
The high road to becoming a self-made millionaire in America is starting and building your own business. But this is not as easy as it sounds. Most businesses started by inexperienced people fail. Probably the primary reason why people don't start businesses is because they're afraid that they're going to lose their money and for good reason. 99 percent of businesses started by people lacking business experience fail within the first two or three years.

Why Business Fail
And why is that? It's because they don't know how. They haven't the slightest idea how to make a business successful. They may have an idea for a product or service, but they don't know all the things that they need to know to run a successful business.

Why Businesses Succeed
However, surprisingly enough, 80 percent of businesses started by experienced businesspeople succeed. Now why should this be so? The reason is because experienced businesspeople know what to do. They know how to purchase their products and their services. They know how to negotiate with their suppliers. They know how to raise money. They know how to negotiate leases. They know how to sell and to market. They know how to manage their finances. In other words, experience is the key. In order to start your own business and succeed, you have to learn how.

Competence Makes The Difference
Now according to Dunn and Bradstreet, 96 percent of businesses in America that fail, fail because of what is called "managerial incompetence". Managerial incompetence means that the people running the businesses don't know what they're doing. And here are the two critical areas of managerial incompetence that cause business failure. First is sales and marketing. 48 percent of businesses that fail in America fail because the business cannot sell enough of its products or services. Very few businesses fail when they have high levels of sales and revenues coming in.

Control Your Costs
The second reason that businesses fail, 46 percent, is because of poor cost control. They may be selling enough on the front end, but they're losing so much on the back end that they go broke anyway. Sales and marketing, financing and cost control, both require experience. And if you're serious about becoming financially independent, you have to learn how to do both of these.

Put Luck On Your Side
You must learn the skills you need to be successful. Business success is not a matter of luck. Business success is a matter of application. It's a matter of ability. It's a matter of experience and skill and intelligence, and wonderfully enough, you can learn what you need to know to be successful. And you can start by learning through on-the-job training, which is called OJT. Most successful businesspeople become successful because they get all their training by working for someone else.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to make sure that your business succeeds greatly:

First, take the time to get the knowledge and experience you need in business by working for someone else where you can learn a lot in a short period of time. Go to work in an area in which you are interested and learn everything you possibly can.

Second, read and study in business, especially entrepreneurial business, all the time. Read one or two business books per week and read every business magazine that is published on your subject. Never stop learning and growing.

Four Steps To A Super Attitude: by Brian Tracy

It is not what happens to you that counts. It is how you react to what happens to you, especially when you have unexpected problems of any kind. In this message, you learn powerful strategies you can use to keep yourself thinking and acting positively and creatively. Here are four things you can do to assure that your attitude is the very best it can be, under all circumstances.

Focus On The Future
First, whatever challenges you face, focus on the future rather than on the past. Instead of worrying about who did what and who is to blame, focus on where you want to be and what you want to do. Get a clear mental image of your ideal successful future, and then take whatever action you can to begin moving in that direction. Get your mind, your thoughts, and your mental images on the future.

Focus On The Solution
Second, whenever you’re faced with a difficulty, focus on the solution rather than on the problem. Think and talk about the ideal solution to the obstacle or setback, rather than wasting time rehashing and reflecting on the problem. Solutions are inherently positive, whereas problems are inherently negative. The instant that you begin thinking in terms of solutions, you become a positive and constructive human being.

Look For The Good
Third, assume that something good is hidden within each difficulty or challenge. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, a major proponent of positive thinking, once said, “Whenever God wants to give us a gift, he wraps it up in a problem.” The bigger the gift you have coming, the bigger the problem you will receive. But the wonderful thing is that if you look for the gift, you will always find it.

Look For The Valuable Lesson
Fourth, assume that whatever situation you are facing at the moment is exactly the right situation you need to ultimately be successful. This situation has been sent to you to help you learn something, to help you become better, to help you expand and grow.

Do What Successful People Do
A Positive Mental Attitude is indispensable to your success. You can be as positive as you want to be if you will simply think about the future, focus on the solution and look for the good. If you do what other successful people do, if you use your mind to exert mental control over the situation, you will be positive and cheerful most of the time. And you will reap the benefits enjoyed by all successful people.

Action Exercises
First, become solution-oriented with every difficulty you face. Make a habit of looking for the answers to your questions, the solutions to your problems.

Second, seek for the valuable lesson in every adversity. Make a list of every idea or insight you can gain from every setback or difficulty.

Third, think on paper. Take some time to write out every detail of the problem, and then take the most logical next step to solve it.

Relationships Are Everything: by Brian Tracy

Your Foundation For Success
Relationship Selling is the core of all modern selling strategies. Your ability to develop and maintain long-term customer relationships is the foundation for your success as a salesperson and your success in business. Relationship selling requires a clear understanding of the dynamics of the selling process as they are experienced by your customer.

Propose A Business Marriage
For your customer, a buying decision usually means a decision to enter into a long-term relationship with you and your company. It is very much like a “business marriage.” Before the customer decides to buy, he can take you or leave you. He doesn’t need you or your company. He has a variety of options and choices open to him, including not buying anything at all. But when your customer makes a decision to buy from you and gives you money for the product or service you are selling, he becomes dependent on you. And since he has probably had bad buying experiences in the past, he is very uneasy and uncertain about getting into this kind of dependency relationship.


Fulfill Your Promises
What if you let the customer down? What if your product does not work as you promised? What if you don’t service it and support it as you promised? What if it breaks down and he can’t get it replaced? What if the product or service is completely inappropriate for his needs? These are real dilemmas that go through the mind of every customer when it comes time to make the critical buying decision.

Focus On The Relationship
Because of the complexity of most products and services today, especially high-tech products, the relationship is actually more important than the product. The customer doesn’t know the ingredients or components of your product, or how your company functions, or how he will be treated after he has given you his money, but he can make an assessment about you and about the relationship that has developed between the two of you over the course of the selling process. So in reality, the customer’s decision is based on the fact that he has come to trust you and believe in what you say.

Build A Solid Trust Bond
In many cases, the quality of your relationship with the customer is the competitive advantage that enables you to edge out others who may have similar products and services. The quality of the trust bond that exists between you and your customers can be so strong that no other competitor can get between you.

Keep Your Customers For Life
The single biggest mistake that causes salespeople to lose customers is taking those customers for granted. This is a form of “customer entropy.” It is when the salesperson relaxes his efforts and begins to ignore the customer. Almost 70 percent of customers who walked away from their existing suppliers later replied that they made the change primarily because of a lack of attention from the company.

Once you have invested the time and made the efforts necessary to build a high-quality, trust-based relationship with your customer, you must maintain that relationship for the life of your business. You must never take it for granted.

Action Exercises
First, focus on building a high quality relationship with each customer by treating your customer so well that he comes back, buys again and refers you to his friends.

Second, pay attention to your existing customers. Tell them you appreciate them. Look for ways to thank them and encourage them to come back and do business with you again.

The Three Factors Of Time: by Brian Tracy

Organize Your Life Around Your Family, You Career and Your Personal Goals
You need to stand back on a regular basis and analyze yourself, your life and your time usage. You need to become a master of your time rather than a slave to continue time pressures.

Your Most Precious Resource
Time is your most precious resource. It is the most valuable thing you have. It is perishable, it is irreplaceable, and it cannot be saved. It can only be reallocated from activities of lower value to activities of higher value. All work requires time. And time is absolutely essential for the important relationships in your life. The very act of taking a moment to think about your time before you spend it will begin to improve your personal time management immediately.

The Starting Point
Personal time management begins with you. It begins with your thinking through what is really important to you in life. And it only makes sense if you organize it around specific things that you want to accomplish. You need to set goals in three major areas of your life. First, you need family and personal goals. These are the real reasons why you get up in the morning, why you work hard and upgrade your skills, why you worry about money and sometimes feel frustrated by the demands on your time.

Decide Upon Your Goals
What are your personal and family goals, both tangible and intangible? A tangible family goal could be a bigger house, a better car, a larger television set, a vacation, or anything else that costs money. An intangible goal would be to build a higher quality relationship with your spouse and children, to spend more time with your family going for walks or reading books. Achieving these family and personal goals are the real essence of time management, and its major purpose.

How To Achieve Your Goals
The second area of goals is your business and career goals. These are the “how” goals, the means by which you achieve your personal, “why” goals. How can you achieve the level of income that will enable you to fulfill your family goals? How can you develop the skills and abilities to stay ahead of the curve in your career? Business and career goals are absolutely essential, especially when balanced with family and personal goals.

Personal Development Goals
The third type of goals is your personal development goals. Remember, you can’t achieve much more on the outside than what you have achieved and become on the inside. Your outer life will be a reflection of your inner life. If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and your career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development. You must build yourself if you want to build your life. Perhaps the greatest secret of success is that you can become anything you really want to become to achieve any goal that you really want to achieve. But in order to do it, you must go to work on yourself and never stop.

Action Exercises
First, develop the habit of stopping on a regular basis and thinking about what is really important to you. The more often you stop and think, the better decisions you will make.

Second, decide clearly upon your personal and family goals. Write them down. Discuss them with others. Be clear about why you are doing what you do.
Third, take some time to think about your career goals and the steps you will have to take to achieve them. Do something every day that moves you forward in all three areas.

Mempunyai sebab untuk berjaya

Kadang-kadang disebabkan sesuatu perkara, kita berjaya mencapai suatu perkara yang lain. Dan biasanya kerana ada sebab musabab tertentu, seseorang itu mencapai kejayaan.

Kita biasa terdengar orang bertanya kepada seseorang yang telah berjaya, "Apakah rahsia kejayaan anda?' Selalunya jawapan yang kita dapati adalah jawapan yang manis-manis belaka. Persoalannya, adakah jawapan itu yang sebenarnya ia menjurus kepada kejayaan mereka.

Saya mempunyai ramai kenalan yang telah berjaya. Salah seorangnya, bermula dari hidup yang terdesak, hutang keliling pinggang, permintaan kehidupan yang tinggi dan anak-anak yang ramai. Tetapi kesemua kesukaran ini ditukarkan kepada kesenangan. Kesusahan yang dihadapinya dijadikan cabaran untuknya. Dia bekerja keras. Membuat pelbagai pekerjaan untuk menyara hidup keluarganya, membayar hutang-hutang dan yang penting dia menabung sebahagian kecil pendapatannya. Dia juga cuba membuat perniagaan kecil-kecilan. Baginya perniagaan yang mudah sekali ialah MLM. Dia mencuba berbagai-bagai syarikat MLM, namun satu pun tak menjadi. Akhirnya dia memilih sebuah syarikat MLM yang kecil tetapi berlatar belakang yang stabil. Dan kini telah hampir 8 tahun bersama syarikat itu. Pendapatannya tidaklah banyak katanya. Tetapi dengan pendapatan itulah dia menyara keluarganya, membeli kereta baru, membayar ansuran rumah, melangsaikan hutang-hutangnya bahkan dia dapat menyimpan sebahagian besarnya gaji pekerjaan tetap untuk hari-hari tuanya.

Bagi saya, dia memang seorang yang berjaya. Berjaya mengubah nasib hidupnya yang melarat menjadi seorang yang 'senang', bahkah jauh lebih senang dari orang kebanyakan.

Berbalik kepada pokok tulisan saya ini, adalah penting kita mempunyai sebab untuk berjaya, tetapi tidak perlulah membiarkan hidup kita menjadi susah melarat baru hendak berusaha untuk berjaya.

Kita boleh mencari sebab musabab yang lain untuk berjaya. Dan pastikan ia menjadi pendorong yang begitu kuat untuk menjadi kita berjaya.

Cerita seorang tua yang bijaksana

Sebenarnya saya sudah lupa dari siapa saya mendapat cerita ini. Tetapi jalan ceritanya masih jelas diingatan saya. Ceritanya agak menarik. Suatu masa dahulu, terdapat seorang tua yang tinggal di dalam hutan di kaki sebuah gunung. Orang tua ini dikatakan seorang yang bijaksana.

Tidak jauh dari hutan itu, terdapat sebuah kampung. Di dalamnya terdapat beberapa orang budak-budak nakal. Pada suatu hari, mereka telah bersepakat untuk mempermainkan orang tua ini. Mereka pun membuat perjalanan untuk menemui orang tua tersebut. Di dalam perjalanan, mereka telah menangkap seekor burung dan membawanya bersama-sama mereka.

Tidak beberapa lama kemudian sampailah mereka di rumah orang tua itu. Mereka dapat melihat orang tua itu sedang berehat di kerusi kuda-kudanya di beranda rumahnya. Salah seorang budak itu telah mengambil burung yang dibawa bersama itu dan menyembunyikan di belakang badannya. Lalu dia pun bertanya kepada orang tua itu.

"Wahai orang tua yang bijaksana, apakah yang aku sedang sembunyikan di belakang ku?"

Orang tua itu tidak serta merta menjawab soalan itu, sebaliknya menggoyang-goyang kerusi kuda-kudanya untuk beberapa ketika. Kemudiannya dia pun berkata.

"Orang muda, kamu sedang memegang seekor burung di dalam tangan kamu".

Maka terkejutlah budak-budak itu. Mereka sama sekali tidak menyangka bahawa orang tua itu tahu, yang mereka sedang menyembunyikan seekor burung. Pun begitu, budak yang sedang memegang burung itu, tidak berpuashati dengan jawapan orang tersebut. Dia mematahkan sayap burung itu, dan bertanya lagi.

"Wahai orang tua yang bijaksana, jawapan kamu memang benar. Tetapi beritahu kami, apakah nasib burung ini?".

Sekali lagi, orang tua itu menggoyang-goyangkan kerusi kuda-kudanya buat seketika. Kemudian dia pun berkata, " Wahai anak muda, burung itu berada di dalam tangan kamu, maka nasib burung itu adalah terletak kepada kamu. Kamulah yang menentukan nasibnya'

Maka tamatlah cerita yang pendek ini.
Moralnya, ialah kita yang menentukan nasib dan masa depan kita. Ia adalah di dalam tangan kita. Tiada siapa yang akan menentukan biuat kita.

Kita yang tentukan ke manakah kita hendak pergi dan kitalah yang menentukan apakah masa depan kita. Cuba renung sejenak. Di manakah kita 5 tahun akan datang?

Keeping Yourself Positive: By Brian Tracy

The most important thing you do for your success is to take control of the suggestive elements in your environment. Be sure that what you are seeing and listening to is consistent with the goals you want to achieve.Listen Your Way To SuccessListen to educational audio programs in your car. The average person drives twelve to 25,000 miles per year which works out to between 500 and 1000 hours per year that the average person spends in his or her car. You can become an expert in your field by simply listening to educational audio programs as you drive from place to place. Take Courses In Your FieldAttend seminars given by experts in your field. Take additional courses, learn everything you possibly can. Learn from the experts. Ask them questions, write them letters, read their books, read their articles and listen to people with proven track records in the area that you want to be successful in.

Get Around The Right PeopleAssociate only with positive, success-oriented people. Get around winners. As we say, fly with the eagles. You can't fly with the eagles if you keep scratching with the turkeys. Get away from the go-nowhere types and above all, get away from negative people. Get away from negative coworkers. If you've got a negative boss, seriously consider changing jobs. Associating on a regular basis with negative people is enough in itself to condemn you to a life of underachievement, frustration and failure. Associate only with positive people. Get around winners. Visualize Your GoalsThe last thing before you sleep and the first thing in the morning, think about and visualize your goals as realities. See your goal as though it already existed. Your subconscious mind is only activated by affirmations and pictures that are received in the present tense. See your goal vividly just before you go to sleep. See yourself performing at your best. See the situations that you're facing, working out exactly the way you want them to. Feed Yourself Mental PicturesSee yourself living the kind of life that you want to live. See yourself with the kind of relationships, the kind of health, the kind of car, the kind of home you really want. Visualize just before you fall asleep at night. The first thing you do when yo