I love to read or hear about business success. I am intrigued by the steps, measures or tips that you can glean from the best of the best. I also receive countless books, newsletters and emails about management and leadership that most often lead to successful businesses. I want to share one of those books with you.
The book is titled, "Use What You've Got & Other Business Lessons I Learned From My Mom" written by Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group. She uses the lessons she learned growing up with her parents and nine brothers and sisters sharing one floor of a three family residence in New Jersey. Her book is a testament to starting small with a loan of $1,000 and turning it into a billion dollar company.
I will probably need to write two columns on her book because there is so much good information. The following excerpts are two out of her four plans. Here she emphasizes that all companies exist because of great sales results and great sales results come from great sales people.
The Most Amazing, Extraordinary, and Distinguishing Characteristics of Great Salespeople is the title of her first plan.
1. Great salespeople make lousy employees. Great salespeople are creative, maverick personalities who put a lot of effort into their jobs, and do them well, provided no one tells them how to do it.
2. Great salespeople can talk a dog off a meat wagon. Spend more than five minutes with a great salesperson, and you'll walk away swearing their idea was your idea.
3. Great salespeople have split personalities. Great salespeople are sometimes miserable to live with, but on the outside they're always masterful charmers.
4. Great salespeople listen between the lines. With great salespeople, there's no such thing as idle conversation; even a pleasant conversation is really an interview.
5. Great salespeople fail well. Great salespeople get knocked down like everyone else, but take a lot less time getting up. In fact, the lowest rate of suicide is among commission salespeople because in the course of a normal day, they field so many rejections that even when life strikes them some extra-difficult blows, they bounce back out of habit.
6. Great salespeople know when to cut bait. Great salespeople recognize when they're not in the right place, at the right time, or the right customer. They have the confidence to walk away.
7. Great salespeople believe their success is only temporary. Every great salesperson ends each year convinced they will never have another good year. They have a hard time believing they can improve on or even repeat yesterday's sales, until of course they do, and then the whole cycle of fear and accomplishment begins again.
The second plan is titled The Ten Reliable, Verifiable, Absolutely Undeniable Rules for Great Salespeople.
1. Get Outside. Selling is a face-to-face business.
2. Dress the part. People do judge a book by its cover.
3. Spend your time wisely. There are only two hundred and twenty selling days in a year. The difference between a mediocre and a phenomenal performance is how well you use your time.
4. Always tell the truth, always. Never fudge anything; it will always come back and bite you.
5. Do your homework. Knowledge is the best shortcut to earning a customer's trust.
6. Learn to say "I understand, I understand." They are the two most powerful words in the sales business.
7. Build your referral base just like a pyramid. The wider the base, the higher the peak.
8. Everybody wants what everybody wants. And nobody wants what nobody wants. It's the basic psychology of sales.
9. Go play outside. Nothing really fun ever happens at the office, and the good ideas are on the outside.
10. Make a road map. Without a clear plan, you won't know where you're going, and you'll have little chance of getting there.
I'm sure now you can clearly see how she took $1,000 and turned into a $2 billion real estate empire in the Empire state. Stay tuned next month for the last two plans.
The book is titled, "Use What You've Got & Other Business Lessons I Learned From My Mom" written by Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group. She uses the lessons she learned growing up with her parents and nine brothers and sisters sharing one floor of a three family residence in New Jersey. Her book is a testament to starting small with a loan of $1,000 and turning it into a billion dollar company.
I will probably need to write two columns on her book because there is so much good information. The following excerpts are two out of her four plans. Here she emphasizes that all companies exist because of great sales results and great sales results come from great sales people.
The Most Amazing, Extraordinary, and Distinguishing Characteristics of Great Salespeople is the title of her first plan.
1. Great salespeople make lousy employees. Great salespeople are creative, maverick personalities who put a lot of effort into their jobs, and do them well, provided no one tells them how to do it.
2. Great salespeople can talk a dog off a meat wagon. Spend more than five minutes with a great salesperson, and you'll walk away swearing their idea was your idea.
3. Great salespeople have split personalities. Great salespeople are sometimes miserable to live with, but on the outside they're always masterful charmers.
4. Great salespeople listen between the lines. With great salespeople, there's no such thing as idle conversation; even a pleasant conversation is really an interview.
5. Great salespeople fail well. Great salespeople get knocked down like everyone else, but take a lot less time getting up. In fact, the lowest rate of suicide is among commission salespeople because in the course of a normal day, they field so many rejections that even when life strikes them some extra-difficult blows, they bounce back out of habit.
6. Great salespeople know when to cut bait. Great salespeople recognize when they're not in the right place, at the right time, or the right customer. They have the confidence to walk away.
7. Great salespeople believe their success is only temporary. Every great salesperson ends each year convinced they will never have another good year. They have a hard time believing they can improve on or even repeat yesterday's sales, until of course they do, and then the whole cycle of fear and accomplishment begins again.
The second plan is titled The Ten Reliable, Verifiable, Absolutely Undeniable Rules for Great Salespeople.
1. Get Outside. Selling is a face-to-face business.
2. Dress the part. People do judge a book by its cover.
3. Spend your time wisely. There are only two hundred and twenty selling days in a year. The difference between a mediocre and a phenomenal performance is how well you use your time.
4. Always tell the truth, always. Never fudge anything; it will always come back and bite you.
5. Do your homework. Knowledge is the best shortcut to earning a customer's trust.
6. Learn to say "I understand, I understand." They are the two most powerful words in the sales business.
7. Build your referral base just like a pyramid. The wider the base, the higher the peak.
8. Everybody wants what everybody wants. And nobody wants what nobody wants. It's the basic psychology of sales.
9. Go play outside. Nothing really fun ever happens at the office, and the good ideas are on the outside.
10. Make a road map. Without a clear plan, you won't know where you're going, and you'll have little chance of getting there.
I'm sure now you can clearly see how she took $1,000 and turned into a $2 billion real estate empire in the Empire state. Stay tuned next month for the last two plans.