Welcome! You remember from your written info we’d gone over a sales plan to give you more profitable clients and I wanted to cover a few more ideas I can work for you:

8. Writing: whether you’re talking about a newsletter, a sales letter, or a simple business card there can be much power in the written word. Let me get it working for you even when you’re relaxing 5000 kilometres away from work.
9. Web: well, this concept is more like, “Hit me over the head, Elmo!” obvious — a strong Internet presence is essential. Why? Because people do pre-and-post-buying research online, even when you meet face-to-face to carry out business. (Besides, it’s more economical than printing and distributing brochures to end up in the recycling bin.)
10. Seizing opportunity: It’s just like when I was 18 and wanted to get a date. One problem. I couldn’t. I learned from this embarrassing circumstance to persist and eventually strike up conversations with people on a split second’s notice even when I was at first bashful. I got over that challenge and before I met the most wonderful woman in the world (except for my mom, of course), I was able to get many dates over the years. Was I a debonair suave James Bond type ladies man? No, quite the opposite. Which is why I learned to be very good at meeting people. The same principle can be applied in business.
11. Questions: are the answer. I’m not being trite. What I’m saying is when you enter a selling situation, you don’t know everything you should. Yes, you must do research about the prospect ahead of time. However, great questions accomplish at least three goals: a) gather insight into the prospect’s buying habits, b) uncover facts about business needs/problems, and c) set the direction of thinking for both of you to positive.
12. Presentation skills: Next to good questions and closing, this is arguably less critical. I don’t want to say you never do it; you have to do it. Well. By talking a little less about your product or service and instead involving the other person and focussing on what’s important to him or her.
13. Creativity: I think you might agree if a person does something with special flair, they set themselves apart. Some people are naturally more creative than others. Fortunately anyone can learn creativity. I’m particularly fond of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. model developed by Michael Michalko. He explains it in his book, Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking TechniquesThis book is one of Jeffrey Gitomer’s favourites, the man who wrote LITTLE RED BOOK of SELLING and his book was the first ever to start me believing I am a creative person. And from there it snowballed., and if you don’t have one, I encourage you to get a copy by clicking the link above. It stands for: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Maximize, or Minimize, Put to other use, Eliminate, and Reverse or Rearrange.
14. Imitation: There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Education and training are key. Many times the solution is to return to the basics and drill in them.

“I have never made the slightest effort to compose anything original.”

— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

So those are some options for us. Obviously, I’m going to use whichever of them make the most sense for what we’re doing. I’m interested in your experiences and I want to emulate the best people you have.

Write to me at the money link below and let’s talk about some possibilities. Join me in my selling philosophy: “Ready, Fire, Aim!” Selling is your first business priority and the one thing you should always keep doing Do it now because we can discover if there’s a fit and get the ball rolling. The money link to contact me is coming up next, or read on…

Beyond Humble Beginnings

Do you remember your first sales call? Were you a natural? Because I wasn’t. I was scared. Out. Of. My. Mind.

It was a hot 30°+ Celsius day. The sky was blue and faultless. By the Sun’s angle, it was about 1:00 or 2:00 o’clock.

I had spent 3 hours on street after street looking for the “right” house to knock on. I had also stopped to study my sales literature and drink coffee at a nearby shop: Procrastination on steroids with a growth hormone kicker!

My heart was pounding as I finally approached that first stained cherry-wood door. There were yellow flowers growing in a pot on the porch. Birds were cheerfully chirping and they just made me feel more forlorn by comparison. I was anything but cheerful.

I knocked on the door and waited. No one was home.

“Thank God!” (I thought.)

It was an hour before I knocked on another door and, unfortunately, they let me in.

How Abject Failure Almost Made Me Take a Life-Long Retreat from Sales

I don’t remember their names, although they were nice people. They listened politely. They didn’t buy and that was okay with me.

I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible!

And after three more weeks of this, my sales career was at an end.

Not me. I wasn’t a salesman.

Didn’t Think I Could Sell and He Proved I Was Flat Out Wrong

6 years later… I’m in Vancouver, BC and I need a job. Out of desperation, I answer an ad in the paper: “No Selling — Just Place Water Coolers on a Free Trial”

It’s over the telephone and not in person, so I do it.

I’m surprisingly good at it. I’ve always liked communicating as long as I didn’t have to ask anyone to buy anything. I do well.

That project comes to an end and the company asks me to try my hand at telesales — selling residential long distance service back when that was big business.

I still needed money so I try. And for a week I sell nothing!

Understand the target is a new sign-up an hour and I’m selling nada. Zip. Crappola.

All my old doubts are back and I want to quit. I talk to my sales manager, Keith with the beard and ponytail (thank you, Keith, wherever you are!) and he tells me he has faith and confidence in me and wants me to stick it out.

He suggests I take home the “script” and practice it out loud until it sounds natural. In retrospect, this was a good idea because I discovered I didn’t even truly understand the basic offer.

On the way home from work, I buy a cassette recorder, batteries, and a single blank tape. And I worked that night — and much of the weekend — by myself, drilling and rehearsing.

Can you guess what happened?

Turn Adversity Into Triumph

Thanks to the leadership of a good man, my self-confidence is salvaged.

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.”

— William “Billy” Durant
Founder of General Motors

On Monday, I sign up two new accounts and within one week I am outselling 91% of the people I am working with — and joining the ranks of telesales pros I respect.

I have worked in several different call centres since then. What made me smile?

In almost every one, a new person has heard me on the phone, successfully, confidently, and warmly wrapping up business (or raising funds or whatever our objectives are that day) and said…

“Wow, you’re such a natural on the phone.”

Too funny.

If only they knew my  ***TOP SECRET***  method:

It isn’t much of a secret admittedly. From the % of time the average person spends aimlessly surfing the net or aimlessly watching TV compared to bettering themselves, don’t you agree it may as well be?

I shared these ideas and noticed the few who put in the “elbow grease” were working with me months later earning commissions and bonuses… and the ones who didn’t came, went, and said to themselves… “I’m not a salesperson.”

Since then, I’ve worked in residential direct sales again (making a sales contract my first night and more that week) with zero apprehension about knocking on doors.

And then I took years off to work in customer service.

Okay, so those experiences helped me gain sales skills and I’m almost embarrassed to admit gaining an understanding of how to create an internal Blueprint set for happiness and success, plus how to manage my good habits in a consistent way, would take many more years and indeed happened only recently.

Here’s What You Get

You know how some salespeople seem to need their hand held either because their attitude is down in the dumps or to make them work when they are supposed to?

I’m beyond that. Life is too short; besides, working is fun. I often find myself researching how to do things better.

You can count on a self-starter.

Here’s What Else You Get

Hey, this might throw a monkey-wrench in things: I don’t know everything.

You know more about your business than I do. I guess you may have to “settle” for a salesperson for whom daily learning is a habit, and who also possesses a strong willingness to learn from you, from fact-based selling resources, and from our clients.

Full stop! Yes, you will discover I have ideas I will implement as I educate and train myself in our business so I can achieve my goals.

What’s More, You Get This

I like helping others.

I spent 3 years in customer service work and they weren’t not wasted. On the contrary, I’m good at it (or “… good as” as my Aussie mates would say).

“He has an excellent work ethic, he is loyal and he consistently contributes his best effort to his work. Christoph is detail orientated and also a creative individual, able to detect process’s [sic] that may not work well and suggest well thought out, creative solutions.”

— Jeanette EasonRead Jeanette’s letter
Contact Centre Manager, Victoria, BC

I took it seriously and would often stay late to help a client solve a problem, or go the extra mile uncovering what was going on rather than leaving it for someone else to do… because if I didn’t do this right, the client would suffer the consequences.

Sometimes I would bring an unpleasant reality to our client’s attention even though it made my call much more difficult. Because I knew it was in his or her long term interest to understand the problem so they can deal with it.

Once in a while in selling, there will be problems: a shipment will be late, a product won’t perform, or a person hired to do something won’t be able to do it.

Then a businessperson is faced with 2 choices:

1. Hide behind their desk or behind voicemail being the modern equivalent
2. Figure out what the problem is and do what they can to make things right

By fixing it, it’s possible to make the relationship better than before. There’s great gratification from talking with someone who’s hot under the collar and soon after having them thank you for solving their problem.

Do You Want Your Salesperson out of the Office in the Field on Qualified Appointments?

Here’s my specialty. What I do the most.

“Opening the door.”

Because if this doesn’t happen, nothing else counts!

Besides, this was my initial fear in sales and what should a person who discovers fear in their heart do? Replace it with…

“…the Right Attitude in a Given Environment or Situation”

“Most everyone thinks they have a positive attitude, but they don’t. Usually not even close. Earl Nightingale, in his legendary tape, The Strangest Secret,Watch Earl Nightingale Discuss the Strangest Secret on YouTube reveals the secret of a positive mental attitude: We become what we think about… but it’s a dedicated discipline that must be practiced every day. People don’t understand that the essence of attitude is not a feeling — it’s a state of mind that is self-induced. You are in complete control of it. You determine what your attitude is. It has nothing to do with what happens to you. It’s not about money or success. It’s the way you dedicate yourself to the way you think. But you must rededicate yourself to the principles of it every day.”

— Jeffrey Gitomer
Author of The Sales Bible

Imagine now you’re the prospect. The phone rings or a package is dropped off and a salesperson is hot on your trail. Will you do business together?

Here’s how I might do it:

The Steps Change. The Ideas Are the Same:

The “Killer” Part Is the Next Step

Hear what my results were like BEFORE I discovered this idea:

“Starting the first night and during the course of his employment, Chris has been our top producer, booking more and more [sic] leads that became sales for the company than any other person during that time. In fact, his bonuses have been consistently among the largest we have paid out for telemarketing.”

— Lance BennewithRead Lance’s letter
Sales Manager, Price’s Alarm Systems, Victoria, BC

“Chris has distinguished himself by making an extra effort to do a great job:

1. Booking leads in higher quantity than his peers
2. Booking high quality leads
3. Consistently keeping his sales high”

— Shirley GeyerRead Shirley’s letter
Top Residential Salesperson, Price’s Alarm Systems, Victoria, BC

After I discovered the idea from a book, I was able to improve my results — with less work.

For a while I thought the easiest step was getting the appointment.

Done properly with qualified people who’d read my marketing material (and the BEAUTIFUL part is it worked even when they hadn’t!), I heard an an astonishingly large percentage of them SAY YES when I asked for the meeting. I was shocked to realize the cleverly crafted rebuttals I’d (successfully) used for years were no longer necessary in the majority of cases.

Subsequent experience in different industries convinced me those results are not always reproducible using that same method.

In fact, there are only about 8 different efficient approaches to choose between and test: some designed to take the pressure off each of us in the cold call and get into a real business conversation, others focussing on giving a brief value statement, getting the meeting, and explaining later. Often hybrid.

Using voicemail and email advantageously can make a measurable difference. It really does depend on the offer, industry, and above all the quality of the list.

Problem is, telephone lead generation can work very well and on the other hand it’s not always the most effective method of developing long term relationships. The alternatives? Public speaking. Networking.

So those are some options for us. Obviously, I’m going to use whichever of them make the most sense for what we’re doing. I’m interested in your experiences and I want to emulate the best people you have.

However, I want to go further… and if they’re really great people they probably do too.

In Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (a bestselling book for 71 years and counting), Thomas Edison, inventor of the soon-to-be-banned incandescent light bulb, said:

“He stood before me looking like an ordinary tramp. I had learned, through years of experience with men, that when a man really desires a thing so deeply that he is willing to stake his entire future on a single turn of the wheel in order to get it, he is sure to win. I gave him the opportunity he asked for, because I saw he had made up his mind to stand by until he succeeded. Subsequent events proved that no mistake was made.”

… referring to Edwin C. Barnes. Barnes would become Edison’s sales and marketing partner after he promoted the Edison Dictating Machine worldwide. He received this break from Edison because Edison’s salesmen pronounced that the machine could not be sold without great effort. Then Barnes stepped up to the plate to do just that to the tune of millions of dollars in profit.

Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again says:

“… there is one innate quality that sits at the heart of it all: DRIVE.”

Finally, from the childhood classic The Little Engine that Could:

“I think I can. I think I can.”

Together they make the point desire, drive, and belief are key elements to selling. Can you see where having a salesperson with a strong self-image intensified daily might help you?

Since I returned from my second vacation in Australia, forgive me for having both a thing for Australia and an ever so slight (okay, big) corny streak to my nature…

Are You Ready to Watch from the “Comfy Pouch” While I Hop Your Sales Up to the Next Level?

Working together to promote your products and/or services, we can help people and make tens of thousands of dollars in the coming year… working that number upward.

Of course, you don’t have to contact me right away.

You may want to take a few moments to consider some of the growth difficulties your business faces or even read this page over a few times before you contact me… just don’t be #7 to respond when I end up producing profits for #6!

One more thing: I want to work with a company with a positive mission plus a fantastic opportunity to make a growing profit as relationships between myself and our clients blossom.

If you’re part of a large or small top quality organization with a strong spirit of service, massive desire for new revenue, and enough capital not to bounce your commission cheques (I’ve had it happen), then you and I just might get along great — I’d love to hear from you.

Warmly,

P.S. Yes I want to help and I don’t know if I can. First I need to understand what you want to accomplish, what’s worked for you in the past, and what you think could work. If that makes sense to you, let’s talk about the results you imagine. If I feel I can’t help you, I’ll tell you that, and if I feel I can, I’ll tell you that too. Then you be the judge. Fair enough?

Kindly choose from the 3 options below by clicking on the appropriate Yes!/No link so I can take you to the right page:

• Yes.Invite a friend to ChristophDollis.com While I personally don’t need a sales pro to generate new business for me at this time while treating our existing customers like gold, I want to share ChristophDollis.com with someone else
• Yes.Call or email me I want to talk with you about increasing my business’s fortunes
• No!Repeat after me, Mr. Salesman: “I am not interested.” Your “on purpose” selling approach wouldn’t fit in with my business

P.P.S. No deadline, no artificial pressure… when I decide my availability is over… it’s over! So if I were you I would set up a meeting now before I achieve my objective and pull the plug on this site.