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Handling Challenging Customers? DISC Insights Can Help You Connect Better!

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Does everyone in your organization communicate with customers? Do you have customers that some team members consider ‘difficult’? It’s not uncommon for customers to seem challenging, but understanding how different DISC styles react under pressure can make all the difference.

As a certified DISC Practitioner, I can help you unlock insights into how each personality type behaves under stress. Knowing this can help prevent judgment, reduce resistance, and diffuse tension in a way that truly reson…

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Transform your sales pitch less: stop talking when you present a solution

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As a sales leader, your primary goal is to help customers find solutions that meet their needs. However, one common mistake is providing too much information when presenting a solution. This can overwhelm the customer and hinder their decision-making process.

When a customer comes to you, they are looking to solve a specific problem or achieve certain priorities. It's crucial to focus on these aspects and align your solution accordingly. Here’s how to effectively present a solution without over…

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Goals Again

Yes. Goals again!

In most showrooms, December is rather quiet, with customers, clients and designers preparing for and celebrating the holidays. Prior to setting goals for the new year, December is a good month for evaluation and analysis if you didn’t do so in November. If not, see my November blogs for assistance.

Are you noticing any resistance to writing goals for next year? Do you have any sense that you don’t really need to do write goals? Perhaps you feel that you have figured out a p…

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More of...

In an earlier blog, we looked at ACTIONS – since actions are the only things that produce results. Actions are also measurable and observable so we can see if they are working.

When we evaluate performance, we need to look at the specific actions we took and the quantity of those actions. Did we take ENOUGH of them?

Or, did we need to take more impactful actions? Did we do things that were easier or more comfortable or more familiar – that didn’t work – instead of actions that would have bee…

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Evaluation

As the year starts to wrap up, we have addressed finishing strong - and the actions associated with that – so that we can carry this perspective into the end of the year.

Progressing further into the final quarter, and in preparation for setting goals in December, we want to take a hard look at the year – what worked and what didn’t work – so that we can effectively and objectively evaluate actions that did, or did not, produce results.

Objectively evaluating performance can be tough – we want…

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Don’t Let Up Until You Finish

You are almost there. It’s almost over. 

Stay with the process and keep at it until you have crossed the finish line…and resist the temptation to lighten up as the end nears.

This is when others will give up…they will say ‘it’s close enough’…or that making goal is overrated…or some other disempowering belief that makes giving up seem reasonable. You might have done that in the past, too. But this is a new reality, and you are building a new set of skills that will serve you to consistently…

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Bear Down

The strategy for coming from behind has MORE actions than the strategy for making goal when you are on track to do so. 
That means elevating expectations and perspective of what it will take…to aim higher and be prepared to do what you need to do to achieve the goal.

That also means MORE outreach calls. Making more appointments. Closing more appointments and more sales…and doing more with the time you have or maybe extending the time needed to each segment of the period. 

Notice your reac…

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Be Realistic and Honest

This month I'd like to dedicate time to discuss ENDING a selling period…and ending it on track and on goal, even if the month didn’t go as smoothly as desired.

We are now in the fourth quarter of the year, so the skill of finishing strong applies to the month as well as to the year.
Let’s start with being straight and realistic. You are either on track to make goal or you are not. You have had a specific number of opportunities that you have closed or scheduled, or you have not. You have sch…

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Be Organized BY Appointment

Last month my blogs were about ‘leading by example’ as a sales manager: to demonstrate Sell it or Schedule it with a guest, to coach a sales associate from Sell it or Schedule it, and to use Sell it or Schedule it as an operating system for interactions and intentional outcomes. 
The same goes for being organized - by appointment. 

When one is committed to making appointments and sees the value in making them, they will organize their calendar accordingly, with slots dedicated to appointment…

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What is Your Relationship to Organization?

As a natural list maker, it still surprises me when I work with someone who relies solely on a daily to-do list and doesn’t use a calendar. Is that you?

A daily to-do list is an insufficient structure for organizing actions in time. They are good vehicles for prioritizing results per day…but using them exclusively fosters high stress and a narrow perspective…which is why I encourage using a calendar with at least a weekly view. It encourages a wider vision of the time allowed and the best tim…

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