People often ask me what a typical day’s menu is so here is an example:

Morning – 3 slices of fried bacon (streaky if you are from the UK and normal American over here), two eggs any style, one slice of bread fried in the bacon fat.

Lunch is rarely eaten as I am not hungry due to the amount of fat eaten in the morning, but I may have a handful of almonds or peanuts.

Dinner is usually some meat and vegetables and the meat will have a high fat content (belly of pork for example), also I will consume several glasses of wine each day!

Now I am human and have been known to stray off the low carb way now and then, but having done this for nearly ten years, it is difficult to over eat, so I know that my calories are under control, bu if I over eat carbs, I literally feel terrible as I now find them very hard to digest.

As I have said before, DO NOT make the mistake of going low carb/low fat – it is essential to consume fat on a low carb diet and that fat should be saturated animal fat, you will kill those hunger pangs and feel fuller for much longer!

~Neil

Now before you all go crazy and tell me that you have all these people who ‘shaped’ where you are today…I bet you that you can narrow it down to a few people. Identify these people and more importantly, identify their traits!

How then do we become leaders?

Simple

Lead!!!

What I mean here is that rather than procrastinate, rather than indecision and rather than no decision…simply make one!  Your boss may fire you, but you as a person will have learned the most important step – a decision is better than no decision! Eventually, you will learn how to make the right decision – it takes time, but start now!

~Neil

~Neil

Dr Greg Ellis has been an advocate of the high fat diet for years and not only is it a fantastic way to lose weight, but it reduces your risk against Glycation, a killer process caused by too much glucose in the bloodstream.  For all of you doubters out there, do the research and it will be clear that we have been lied to for so long.

Fat is the preferred fuel of the body and not carbohydrates as we have been told and if you have the willpower to gradually switch to a high fat diet, you will be amazed at the results, especially in the amount of energy you will have and weight loss will be easy, because the fat stays in the bloodstream much longer, so you simply don’t get hungry.  I have also read today that there is another ‘diet’ about to be released in North America called the Dukan diet.  this diet is a high protein, low fat diet and it is totally wrong.  the extra protein that is consumed can convert to glucose (up to 66%), in the absence of fat.  This is the problem with the diet industry in that there is always a new miracle diet that will shed pounds quickly.  If you want to lose weight, simply reduce the amount of calories you consume and the weight will fall off.  If you want to improve body composition, lose weight and be healthier, reduce your carbohydrates to no more than 25%, (preferably 15%) and replace those calories with fat.  Remember, low carb/high carb or whatever, calories count in the battle of the bulge

~Neil

In the DVD’s, we cover advanced Ballistic Striking, grappling and dealing with knives and guns.  People always ask me what is the difference between Russian martial arts and other Eastern styles and I simply tell them that Russian arts are extremely simple to learn devastatingly effective.  Now I know a lot of you martial artists out there will always say that some of the video clips out there on Russian arts look fake and to be honest, that was my initial reaction until I met Val and then subsequently traveled to Moscow to learn more.

In Moscow, I met Val’s teacher, Mikhail Ryabko and a host of other extremely talented martial artists and I can assure you that there is nothing fake about any of them.  I have practiced martial arts for 28 years and the Russian style for the last 7 and what amazed me was not only how simple it is to learn, but how quickly you learn the real ‘secrets’ of the art, without having to worship some ‘master’, who remains out of reach to the ordinary student.  What you also have to realize is that many of the people I met in Russia were and still are active Special Forces members and what is good enough for them is certainly good enough for me!

~Neil

Anyway, my latest venture is a partnership with Dr Greg Ellis, who for me, is the foremost expert on diet, nutrition, anti aging and wellness.  I first encountered Greg in 2002, when he wrote his book Ultimate Diet Secrets and I purchased the book.  You see young Gregory and I (have to say young as to the youthfulness of the man – he is 63), have a few things in common – we were both somewhat obese as kids, both gained precisely  five pounds on the Atkins diet and both enjoy the occasional libation or twenty!!

I was searching for the solution to weight loss and nutrition in general for twenty years and have contacted what was seen as the best practitioners in the world and seventeen years ago, made my first visit to the Country I now live in, in search of the truth.  Well what I found in 2002 certainly placed me on the path to success, even if I didn’t follow the rules to the letter – the truth is exactly that.

What we are about to reveal and I must say “we” in a very humble way as it is nearly a lifetime’s work for Greg and that will reveal the truth about why you should should NOT eat carbohydrates – trust me, it has nothing to do with weight control – that is simply a bonus.

All will be revealed in the next book from Greg

Finally, a big goodbye to the lovely Leona, who has helped serve our alcoholic needs here in Frisco for over two years ( you will be very surprised as to Dr Eilis’s views on alcohol) – she is heading back to her native Arizona.

~Neil

That was my thought in the early part of 1985 – after all, the Double Glazing industry was booming and one company in the UK, Everest, was making millions and advertising every night on TV, with the slogan ‘ Fit the best, fit Everest’!

Well, who were they?  The industry had a bad reputation and especially on the sales front as sales appointments were in the evenings and weekends, the sales people had a reputation of getting into your house, providing a quote and then not leaving until you signed on the line.  I was going to be different, I would walk into the house, measure the windows and then astound the homeowners by simply walking out and telling them to call me if they were interested.

I didn’t actually make the windows, I had an agreement with a well known local manufacturing company (who would provide product guarantees), who didn’t have a presence in my area, but I did however,  have to install the windows myself and where better to find a team of highly technical, professional and committed Double Glazing installers than your local public house (pub) on a Thursday evening!!  I don’t know the amount of alcohol that was consumed, but I do know that agreements were reached and contracts were issued (words and handshakes), but we were all convinced that Everest was finished and we were going to replace them.  What you have to remember was that I didn’t have any ready cash and was still relying on help from my poor Mother, who hadn’t yet realized that the previous business had collapsed and I was shielding the letters from the Bank from her, quite rightly asking for their money to be repaid.  Instead, I was calling the Bank, telling them that business was about to boom and could they wait – ‘yes’ came the reply, but not for long and costs and interest was mounting on a daily basis.  No time to worry about that, I thought, I have a Glazing empire to run.

One of the problems with my design, surveying and installation team, recruited in the finest of fashions was that they were already employed and any work I had for them would have to be done at the weekends!  I was already formulating my sales pitch – “Mr and Mrs …. we are so busy that the only possible time we could fit you in would be at the weekend and at the moment, installation times are running nearly three months out (my ‘team’ had vacations booked)!”  My innovation on the sales front was not paying dividends either, while I was happy to not ‘close’ the customer ‘on the night’, my competitors would do so and I lost many opportunities – I am totally convinced that if I had the resources and the marketing knowledge that I have today, I could have crushed the competition with my tactics back then.  Anyway, I had made my first sale – a patio door and a window!

One of the most critical elements of transferring a sale to an installation is the initial customer survey and this is done by a surveyor as you could guess and we had one of the best…at least that was what I was told!  After a few celebratory libations, it was time to go to work and put together an installation plan and go to work we did – moving from the confines of the bar to a large round table at the back of the pub.  The site survey as it was known was already completed and measurements were given to the manufacturer and a delivery date was given – all to the delight of the customer, who had handed over to me the customary deposit, which went from me straight to the manufacturer and I would receive my ‘profit’ from the payment upon completion. Manufacturing took around 30 days, I think from memory and the delivery date was set for the Saturday of the weekend and as it was my first sale, I wanted to be there and watch the installation personally. First, the original windows are taken out and in this case it was a patio door and a window, then, the frames and brick work (if any) are repaired ready for the new doors and windows to go in and in our case the door went in perfectly, absolutely brilliantly and it looked amazing…the window however…

I don’t know how qualified our surveyor was, nor how he got his rating as one of the industries finest, or even if he went to do the survey after a session at our local pub, but what I did know, was that the window looked a bit too large for the gap it was meant to fit in – precisely 1000 cm too long!  You see, instead of presenting a length of 900 cm to our manufacturer, which was the correct length, a length of 1900 cm was presented, leaving us with a slight dilemma!  “Don’t worry we can always cut it down and think about it – it could have been too short and then what would we do”, said the head of the team.  My years of Martial Arts practice were about to be put into use, but there was a customer present and a very upset one at that.

As it was a weekend, there was no way the manufacturer could have done anything and the only solution was for my team, to go to their employers and ask them if they would mind if we could open up their workshop, cut the window down and then install it.  They agreed, for a price and the day was saved, but instead of the nice profit I was looking at, I came away with a couple of hundred pounds – at least it was a profit, but my Double Glazing days were over!

~Neil

Myself and my new partners were determined to succeed, but with no capital, it was a non starter so two of us went to our parents (my Mother in my case) and borrowed the princely sum of 5000 UK Pounds secured on their relative houses.  Now we had a good idea of how to cold call houses and get leads for people interested in home improvements, but actually no idea of how to enter into a commercial arrangement with the manufacturers of the products.  Our first port of call was to a local Double Glazing firm in Surrey, England and the owner must have thought he was dealing with a couple of stockbrokers when myself and my partner walked in dressed immaculately in two navy blue pin-striped suits complete with crisp white shirts and sharp ties (we were 19)!  We had already called him on the phone and therefore the appointment was booked, but the look on his face was priceless and also the look on the faces of the entire sales team!

We started to negotiate a payment of 25 UK Pounds per qualified sales lead and that meant that a homeowner would have to agree to have a visit from the Company from a salesperson, to demonstrate their product.  Now we knew that we could generate an absolute minimum of 5 leads per night (without the constant pushing from our previous manager in our previous employment) and that would generate 125 pounds in income per night and 625 ponds per week – pretty good money!  The Company didn’t want to take a risk up front and wanted us to be on a success fee basis or a percentage of the sale to which we said “fine, we will simply sell the appointments to your competition”!  “Don’t do that, we can definitely work something out” said the owner and we were away with our first ‘agreement’, which was a typed letter from the owner and a few signatures that would have given any lawyer a small heart attack.

Business started to boom and for a few months it was bliss – in the sense that we were handing over more than the minimum amount of leads and payment started to initially roll in, which totally inflated our egos and also clothes sales from the various clothes retailers in Basingstoke!  We walked into all of the clothes stores, opened credit accounts and spent money as if it were going out of fashion.  My partner and I left the sales team in the hands of our canvassing manager, while we jumped on a train from Basingstoke (first class) and traveled up to London, spending our days (and money), looking at how we would become millionaires within the next year.  Unfortunately, our Bank had other ideas as our overdraft, guaranteed by parents, was rapidly running out!  We could not understand why as the leads were going out thick and fast, but the payments were not coming in.  We contacted our customers, who had told us that our lead quality was dropping and they were not going to pay us – we had received quite a lot of cash, but it was already spent in incentives for the team, payments to our managers and what was left was long spent on clothes, train tickets (first class was expensive) and London restaurants!

Money had dried up, customers had disappeared and we had no staff left and a mountain of debt!  By now, my partner had decided to start a new life with his girlfriend in the North of England and that left me on my own and both of us looking at how we were going to repay our families the debt we had created for them.  I spent the next few months in a daze – the year was 1985 and true to entrepreneurial form, I decided to form a Double Glazing Company – after all I had years of manufacturing , sales and business experience, a solid customer base and a team of people that would follow me didn’t I????

In the next part, I will tell you of my meteoric rise to the top of the extremely lucrative Double Glazing Industry!

~Neil

There are thousands of sites out there doing this so why should this be any different?  Because it’s me reviewing it and if you don’t know me as a straight talking entrepreneur, you soon will because I will tell everything as it is and am not paid to do this.  Whilst the Internet has removed the boundaries, there is no substitute for face to face meetings and that is one of the differentiators of doing business with me, or any one of my Companies – I will get on a plane and travel to see all of my Customers at some stage.

When I fly, stay at a hotel and eat in restaurants, I look for the ‘unseen’ and that often means how a problem or difficult situation is handled, because whilst you can read a brilliant review, you can arrive at the said establishment or carrier, encounter a problem and watch the entire situation go pear shaped in a heartbeat!  Also during my travels, I have this uncanny ability to get myself into some unusual situations and that is where my skills have been honed in getting out of them and that involves the cooperation and help from the vendor to do so!

In my early days, I had to do all of my bookings manually and it is a great way to learn how the industry operates and today, I have a wonderful team of travel advisers here in the USA at American Express Centurion, who I have found to be extremely helpful especially when things go wrong, so I will say a big thank you to the team!  Chances are that you may or may not have access to them or something similar, but overall, it doesn’t matter because yes, there are certain benefits attached to this and similar organizations, but even if you start from scratch, you can very quickly build up rewards on loyalty programs and of course, from your own innate ability to hustle – after all, we are businessmen, sales people  and entrepreneurs!

~Neil

Now that we have that out of the way, I am going to talk about some controversial subjects – diet and sunbathing – we are told that the healthiest diet is one of fruits, vegetables, grains, limited meat (preferably white) and a low level of saturated fat and for me, this is absolute nonsense!  Here is why:

The diet of our ancestors contained little vegetables and fruits and their only source of food would have been what they could have got their hands on – brontosaurus burgers, elk stew and maybe the odd glass of blood to wash it down!  I am serious here – think about it, where would the eggplant have come from and not to mention the idea of five portions of fruits and veg per day?  I tell you this – the maggots, birds and insects would have got their five portions, if of course, the products even existed.

Animal fat is the preferred source of energy for our bodies and that is because we use it so efficiently – carbohydrates however, are not.  Despite what you have been told, carbs are NOT the preferred source of energy for the body and the net effect of carbs is sugar, whether they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sources.  Carbs are converted into body fat and then have to make a metabolic change to be used for energy and more importantly, as they are cleared from the bloodstream quickly, they make you hungry.  One word of warning here – don’t buy into the debate that carbs make you fat – it is an excess of calories that makes you fat and from whatever source.  Carbs will make you more hungry and eliminating them and replacing them with fat will naturally make you consume around 30% less calories. Learn from the master - Dr Greg Ellis and then you can figure it out for yourself!  Remember this and whatever you believe, nature gave you the egg – man gave you egg beaters and egg white omelets!

Now to the Sun – I do not believe for one minute that the Sun causes skin cancer and wholeheartedly do believe that sun creams do!  I cannot see how applying a layer of chemicals that allow you to stay in the Sun much longer than you should, could possibly be healthy. Again, I dont want you all to go out and ditch the mainstream advice and do as I say, just try to become more informed. There are so many resources out there that support what I have just said, or rather, where I got the information from and take a look at Barry Groves from the UK, who I have learned so much from. Another culprit that I have read about in the one of the causes of skin cancer is vegetable oil and I found the article on Mr Groves site.

When we are in the sun, we will react to it and the reaction depends on our skin type…but… we will react and that reaction will change our color and it is this change that prepares our bodies for even more Sun…again…it is down to the individual as to how much we tolerate at any one time.  Why would nature allow us to tan if it were unnatural?  Now there is a slight twist and again, this is from my research and you must do your own – the Sun does cause the two curable forms of skin cancer and that will be down to pure over exposure, but …it does prevent against the most dangerous form – malignant melanoma. Go and research the importance of vitamin D and tell me the consequences of too little and what is the #1 source of this vitamin?

I cannot stress enough that you should do your own research and in doing so, look at the conditions of the experiment, for example, it is easy to argue that saturated fat causes a dramatic rise in blood chloesterol if the diet is also high in carbohydrates.  Lower carbs to around 20% of the overall diet and I mean all sugars – forget the slow release/fast release bullshit and you will get a totally different result.

~Neil

I was 19 and at college as I left school with a few qualifications, went to further education to get the qualifications I should have got at school, went to further, further education to get the qualifications I should have got at further education and failed!  I went to what is called a Technical College in the UK and it was in a Town called Basingstoke.  There was a young student there called Elizabeth Hurley, the now famous actress and that was about. I must say that in those days, Elizabeth was a punk rocker, with a crazy hairstyle and studs!  I could not believe how stunning she looked all those years later, when I saw her in the UK National press, in that famous black dress!  That was about all it was famous for.

I spent all of my spare time, actually that is a lie as even during lessons, I regarded that time as spare, trying to work out who was actually going to employ me.  I was totally clueless as to what industry and what job and the frightening thing was that I didn’t even worry about it!  ”How was college today”, asked my Mother, “just fine”, I replied and although she had absolute faith in me, I could see that she was worried.  I was scouring one of the local papers and I saw a Job advertisement and this was in 1983 and it said “Canvassers required”.  I had no idea what a canvasser was and was simply looking at the three hours per evening and the pay of 5 English pounds per hour which equated to 75 pounds per week – a small fortune for a college student!

I applied and was told to come for an interview at a hotel in a place called Reading, near to Basingstoke.  I did not own a suit and thanks to some borrowed cash from Mum, I went out and bought my first business suit.  The interview was a mere formality and I was offered the job there and then – what I didn’t know was that they would take absolutely anyone!  I went home excited and ready to report the next evening for ‘training’.  Well training consisted of me following the canvassing manager around and listening to his pitch although I had no idea that we would be calling on homeowners each evening for three hours asking them if they were interested in having any home improvements.  think about it – you get home after a hard day’s work and some guy knocks on your door while you are eating or watching your favorite TV program!  The trouble was that I actually enjoyed it and it was easy money – also, I was developing a thick skin from the insults and grief I would get, but our target was five leads per night and then we would go home.  The manager however, had other ideas, he wanted to be the best team in the Country and he was after the highly paid National Canvassing Manager’s job!  For us, that meant three solid hours and we would regularly pull in ten solid leads per person per night.

I think it was at this time that my entrepreneurial streak came out as I was already thinking that I could do this myself and sell those leads to a wider range of companies at a much higher price so after about six months, I left and with two partners, formed my first company at the age of 19.

~Neil

The low carbohydrate diet has been around for centuries and it was popularized initially by an English carpenter called William Banting.  You were not dieting in those days rather, you were ‘Banting’!  The late Dr Atkins brought this to the public over the last ten years and of course, he got mutilated by the powers that be because it was against the mainstream.

If any of you have any doubts as to why this is a good diet then think of your ancestors thousands of years ago – where would they have found fruits, vegetables and grains?  Fruits, even if they existed, would have been eaten by unsavory characters and I remember as a child, we had cherry, apple and pear trees, but I would be lucky to have got a handful of fruit each year before the maggots and whatever else got at it, that is until my Grandfather found a wonder substance called ‘Killerspray’!  But after that of course, we were eating chemicals and not fruit!

Back to the diet and what most people are unaware of, is the process of glycation.  I heard about this when talking to Dr Greg Ellis, who for me is the number one nutritionist out there and I have scoured the world to find him.  Greg explained to me that no matter what you think, there is no such thing as good or bad carbohydrates as ultimately, they are all turned into glucose in the bloodstream and also to forget the glyceamic index as this is nonsense as well, coupled with all of those other miracle diets out there as they are all total and utter bullshit!  If you want to control weight, then you need to control calories and calories count, no matter what you have heard.  Glycation, is the process of sugar bonding to cells and literally destroying them, now there is a reason to stop eating sugar in all forms – also, Greg explained to me that sugar is the root cause disease and I for one believe him totally, as I am the lightest and leanest that I have been in ten years and that is down to the low carbohydrate diet.

There is one more vital fact that Greg told me about and I can guarantee that most of you will not know this – 66% of all protein is turned into sugar!  That means that whilst the humble egg has absolutely no sugar in it if you were to dissect it in a laboratory, but in the body, over half of the protein grams are converted into pure sugar!  For all of you high protein maniacs out there, you need to factor this into your carbohydrate grams. Recently, after talking to Greg, I have significantly increased my fat intake and by fat I mean saturated fat and no, it does not cause heart attacks no matter what you have been told.  In a matter of days, I became leaner, had more energy and the hunger pangs have gone away.

I am about to launch a video blog and I will be sharing some of my favorite low-carb recipies as I love to cook and eat!

~Neil

The gatekeeper to all you non sales people out there is someone you have to go through to get to your target prospect and this person could be a receptionist or the assistant to the Chairman.  There job is simple – filter calls and salespeople.  Now what most sales people do is to assume that the gatekeeper is not intelligent enough to understand what he or she is selling and aims to steamroller the person into putting them, through to the boss.  One such method in response to the ‘block’ by the gatekeeper and the block was simply to ask the salesperson to put an email summary to the assistant went as follows:

“Your boss cannot afford to wait for an email and what I have to offer him impacts him right now, this very second and when he hears how obstructive you are, he will fire you and if you don’t put me through right now, I will make sure he does hear about it and let’s see if you still have a job”.

The above comment was made to my assistant some years ago and funnily enough she is still with me and I never even knew the name of the company, only the person!  Assistants are trained and mine was no exception – the time of a senior executive is precious and equally, keeping abreast of all of the latest ‘must have’s’ from all the sales people out there is equally precious, but what us senior executives must do is juggle our time, otherwise business critical issues don’t get completed.  This is exactly why we hire assistants and they are not there to block anyone, just to prioritize.

Now wouldn’t it be a dream if the salesperson approached it like this:

“I know the time of Mr/Mrs/Miss xxx is precious and I actually DON”T want to take any of it up, but could I ask that I can email you personally, what I can do for them, so you can evaluate and inform”.  How many refusals do you think you would get?  Now I know all of you die hard ‘closers’ out there are probably lying on your backs in hysterics, but try to see life from the point of the assistant – talk to them!

Oh and by the way, that is how I succeeded in selling one of my companies solutions to a huge multinational Board member!  It didn’t happen overnight, but one of the first building blocks was working with and not against,  his Executive Assistant.

~Neil

~Neil

I was already a proven and successful salesman at the time and was lured by the ad in the London press talking about a career in IT recruitment.  Toni did a fantastic job of selling me the company and me of vocalizing my resume or CV as it is known in the UK and I was sold on Toni’s passion and agreed there and then to start.  When I arrived at the office to start, I was introduced to Teresa and told that I was needed to help grow the latest division of the Company, placing secretaries!  “Toni I thought I was going to join the IT division”  “Don’t worry darling, you’re such a good salesperson that I need you to help get this business off the ground and you are going to do so well” “Thanks Toni”, I said with a stunned look on my face.

Within minutes I was sat at my desk, given a box of cards containing clients and these were few and far between because Teresa had only just started and another containing candidates.  There was no Internet of course and I was then told to call all of theses clients and of course many more, from the companies listed in the London Yellow pages.  I remember my first call vividly – to the Royal Institute of British Architects, to a lovely lady called Vivika Mortenson.  How’s that for a memory!!

I had made my first ‘placement’ fairly quickly, under Teresa’s ‘regime’ and the point of this story is that the Training I received from Teresa, all those years ago, is exactly the same as I give today and it was based on a very simple formula which I will outline below:

• A minimum of 40 customer contact calls per day
• To send out a minimum of 5 CV’s or resumes per day
• To arrange a minimum of 5 interviews per week
• To obtain a minimum of 2 job ‘offers’ per week

The above will result in 1 placement per week!

Now I can hear many of you recruiters out there thinking how archaic the system is and how there are far more intelligent means of getting the same or even better results…and they are absolutely right.  We are now in 2010 and with all of the business and social networking, not to mention the hugely advanced database systems and job boards out there, we can do it so much smarter…but…if you do not understand the core of an industry, then those tools are totally useless and whilst I am an advocate of technology, I make sure each of our recruiters go through the ‘manual labor’ phase first and here’s why:

Under the watchful eyes of Teresa, I would call candidates for two to three hours each evening and Saturday mornings and call companies all day.  You see, I was always on the phone talking to people, selling and building relationships and even in 2010, there is no substitute for talking and personally, I keep emails to a minimum and would rather meet, or talk on the phone any day of the week.  The target of one placement a week for one person is perfectly reasonable with consistent and hard work and when you combine today’s technology, with yesterdays work ethic, you can achieve even more success.  The problem with many recruiters today, is that they are lazy – you should hear the amount of ‘voice mail pitches’ that I get on my phone, or the amount of generic emails I get trying to get me interested in candidates.  How the hell are you going to build a relationship or market a candidate like that?

Back to the story and Teresa hired more people and built a nice division only to be told that the company was going to close it, because they wanted to focus on the much more profit lucrative IT arena.  Teresa and I were offered jobs in that division and we never looked back.  What was funny was that the secretarial and IT divisions were in the same room, but the some of the IT recruiters did not like our constant, loud phone calls and thought the way that we sold was not fitting for the industry and voiced their complaints.  They saw themselves as ‘consultants’ and us as ‘agents’, but our monthly sales performance soon silenced the critics!

It was good talking back through old times and especially some of the funnier moments (those who know me know that I have a passion for practical jokes) and I promised Teresa that I would never tell anyone about the joke I played on her a couple of years later and it did involve the days before she was about to take delivery of a new BMW convertible, a ‘call’ from someone from the garage (I was on one of those brick type mobiles in the kitchen area of our office) and the need to come immediately to the dealership to be measured for the new feature of custom seats!!  Now I wont say anything more than I remained locked in the kitchen for the rest of the day, fearing for my existence!

~Neil

That’s why I ended up paying $222 for a download! One song!

Beautiful!!!

For the Network Operator that is!!!

I live, but the learning part…

~Neil

DON’T ARGUE WITH IDIOTS…..

They will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience!!!

Take note!

~Neil

• Who you are
• What you do
• Why you are calling
• What you can do for your prospect

Notice I haven’t covered ‘why’.  The reason ‘why’ will be covered during the four points as if you follow my method, there will be a story of some description involved and that story will outline the reasons to buy and involve testimonials.

Too often, I hear salespeople cover all of the above and successfully, but they still fail to get the attention of their prospect and that is simply because they follow the order in a robotic and businesslike fashion.  You can actually be too businesslike!  What I mean here is that many people deviate from their true personality, jump into ‘professional’ mode and this becomes so transparent to the customer, that without even making a conscious effort, the customer starts to shut down.  Now I am not suggesting that we abandon all etiquette and just be ourselves – rather that we need to make sure that our real personality comes through in everything we do, and this is vital in sales.

Here is an exercise for you to try:

Take a subject that you are extremely passionate about – mountaineering, for example.  Now imagine you are the head of a mountaineering safety equipment company and you are selling your products to a group of rookie mountaineers, who are just beginning the sport.  Now answer the four points given at the beginning, but do it in two ways – first, as a simple list of facts answering each of the four points and second, construct a mini ‘story’ around the facts relating to your own mountaineering experiences, making sure to cover each of the facts in the same detail as the first.  If you are a sales manager/Director conducting role plays in sales training, then this is an excellent exercise to perform.  Notice that even though people talk about something they are passionate about, simply telling the facts will still sound boring and uninspiring.  Also, notice that when the mini story is told, it goes on far too long, because the person is talking about their passion. Now do the same exercise again, but this time related to your product or service.  The goal of the exercise is to be able to tell the mini ‘story’ in the shortest possible time, but to be clearly understood by the prospect. The purpose of this exercise is twofold:

1. To get people used to talking to an audience and this is far easier to do when you ask the person to talk about a hobby or interest that they are passionate about
2. To teach people how to structure a sales call, covering the four vital points, but to get and keep the interest of the prospective customer

Most sales people are not as passionate about their jobs as their hobbies and interests so can you imagine how dull some of the sales calls and presentations are, especially when they make those presentations and calls are ‘factual’?

Finally remember this – think about when you were a child and you got excited about something you were going to do, a holiday, a birthday etc and I can guarantee you that those around you were excited too.  Excitement is part of passion and it is totally infectious, contagious and in the case of the child, totally innocent and without fear.  When you are selling, you need that same excitement, but tailored to your audience.  Even today, I get the same excitement when I sign even the smallest of deals and on the outside, I may look calm and controlled, but inside, my excitement is raging and the passion will show through to my audience.

Practice the above until it becomes second nature and make sure you master the art of telling a story, but keep in mind that another of your goals is to take up as little time of your prospective customer as possible as after all, time is $$$!

~Neil

I have an idea – let’s take a vote and I mean a Natinal vote, after all, it is the fans who provide the income for the players wages, managers salaries etc, so let’s create regional voting centers and work our way up to a National decision. I am totally serious about this as appointing the English coach is probably as important as appointing the Prime Minister theses days!  Also, what about the players themselves?  Can they not have some kind of say?

There is too much power in the hands of bureaucrats everywhere and the arrogance of the FA and FIFA is unbelievable.  I have already talked about the lack of use of technology in the World Cup and the arrogant head of FIFA, has now said he will”look into” the use of technology.  How very kind of him!  Does he not realize that without the fans, there is no FIFA and to all of those England fans who saved long and hard to travel to South Africa and watch Frank Lampard put the ball about two feet behind the line only to have the goal disallowed.  So what should have happened – as the referee and linesmen were so far away, any decision is questionable and to then see the evidence before our eyes on TV means the goal should be IMMEDIATELY awarded and the score adjusted.  SImple as that.

So a message to FIFA and the FA – think what would happen if every fan in European soccer boycotted just one match – how much revenue would be lost?  How much confidence would be lost from the sposors who put millions into the sport? What about TV?  You see, we need to listen to the people who really pay the wages.

I promise this is the last rant about soccer!

~Neil