Salespeople are called upon to perform many duties, from customer training to market analysis. But we must never forget the primary value we bring to our organizations, the real reason we remain on the payroll: We are excellent at gaining commitment from paying customers. Or, at least, we’re supposed to be.

Why don’t customers commit? Because salespeople don’t ask them to!

Yet incredibly, four out of six sales calls end without the salesperson asking the client to commit to any action that will move the process forward toward a sale. The salesperson presents some product information, maybe leaves some brochures and then walks away.

That is a travesty. Here’s how to prevent that from happening.

1. Always set a Commitment Objective before every call. You may have any number of valid goals for a sales call, but a Commitment Objective is a particular type of goal. It is an agreement you seek from the customer to do something that will move the sales process forward.

Your Commitment Objective is not always to get an order. It might be to get a referral to the real decision-maker, or to schedule another meeting with all decision-makers present, or to gain primary-supplier status.

Before every call, ask yourself: What commitment will I try to gain from this customer during the call? How will this commitment move the sales process forward?

2. Look and listen for buying signals. These may take the form of questions, statements or body language. “How much is it?” “How soon can you deliver?” “I like what you’re saying.” All of those are signals that it is time for you to ask for commitment.

3. Ask for commitment in a straightforward and non-manipulative way.

a) Summarize your product’s features and benefits, and quote price.

b) Ask, “What is your opinion of this?”
c) Ask, “Would you like to go ahead with it?”

Whenever you quote price, always ask for commitment. To put this another way, never quote price without asking for commitment immediately.

Once more, gaining commitment is the principal mission of every salesperson. But you won’t get it if you don’t ask. Begin your planning of every sales call by determining the commitment you want and how you’re going to ask for it.

In The Field:

Since 1990, when Patterson Dental (PDCO) began training its North American sales force with Action Selling sales training, the company has become the largest distributor of dental supplies and equipment in the United States and Canada.

Jim Violette, branch manager for the Spokane, Wash., facility, credits Action Selling for a dramatic turnaround at his branch. “My sales force acts like an entirely different team since we implemented the Action Selling approach,” Violette said. “Our skills at Gaining Commitment have dramatically improved.”

That’s an understatement, both for the Spokane branch and for the company as a whole. At nearly $1.6 billion in sales, Patterson has grown by 17 percent per year and increased its market share by 32 percent over the past five years.

Duane Sparks is chairman and founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based sales training company that has trained and certified more than 200,000 salespeople in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions.

In a 30-year career as a salesperson and sales manager, Duane has sold products ranging from office equipment to insurance. He was the top salesperson at every company he ever worked for. He developed Action Selling Sales Training while owner of one of the largest computer marketers in the United States. Even in the roaring computer business of the 1980’s, his company grew six times faster than the industry norm, differentiating itself not by the products offered but by the way it sold them. Duane founded The Sales Board in 1990 to teach the skills of Action Selling to others.

Contact The Sales Board for more sales information or sales training that’s been documented and research-proven to help you sell more! 1-800-232-3485

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” — Seneca the Younger

This is a great quote to both contemplate and to apply to your life.

How often do you hear people complain? Pick a topic-love, friendship, careers, etc. The list of issues that people complain about is endless. You and I are no different. Perhaps we don’t complain about each of these things but more than likely there is something that we complain about with great regularity.

Now, sometimes complaints are simply a way to vent some frustration at the moment but we don’t really want anything to change in this area. However, more often than not, someone regularly complains about one specific problem

If I had a dollar for every time I heard one friend complain about the difficulty of finding a good man I could throw her a huge wedding bash or perhaps simply buy her a husband in some small third-world country. When I thought about my friend Donna’s problem and applied Seneca’s quote to it a light bulb suddenly appeared above my head just like in the cartoons!

It was true! Donna is having difficulty finding a good man simply because she isn’t daring enough. Sure she goes out on dates and tries to maintain an active social life, however she holds herself aloof emotionally. She isn’t willing to dare much at all when it comes to her heart-so how can she hope that someone else will do so for her? Sure, there might be someone, somewhere, but she is also missing out on relationships, at least friendships, with some really great guys simply because she is too afraid to dare to care.

That is sad. We all know that love is marvelous but it is also frightening, however we have to take risks in order to experience it fully. Sometimes we might get hurt however more often than not we will find the rewards outweigh the risks. There is no guarantee that is Donna opens herself up and dares to love that she will find the love of her life-however there is certainly a guarantee that a life filled with love is more rewarding than one that is not.

I have another friend who is also afraid to dare. Jeff hates his job. No, that’s not exactly right. He loves the work itself but he really hates the company that he works for. He finds the management very difficult to work for (and if even a small percentage of the stories he tells are true then he’s right, it is a horrible place to work).

However, every time I suggest he look for a job somewhere else he comes up with some excuse about how difficult it would be. True the job market isn’t great, but he’s a skilled worker in a high-demand field so I’m sure he could find something. He’s doomed his job search before he even started it because he’s not daring enough.

It wouldn’t be fair to share my friends’ examples without pointing to my own shortcomings. Probably the greatest difficulty in my own life is within my marriage and that is simply because I don’t dare enough emotionally there. I have become too complaisant and take my husband and marriage for granted. I need to dare more emotionally.

So think about the difficulties in your own life and apply Seneca’s rule then decide if you can be more daring! All the best!

One of the most frequently asked questions is do the use of elliptical trainers help me burn calories compared to other cardio machines?

With our busy schedules it is completely understandable that you want to get the most results for the time you spend working out.

As you may know how many calories burned during a workout will vary depending upon your weight. A 150 pound woman may only burn 387 calories while a 180 pound man may burn 500 calories on the same machine for the same length of time.

Many elliptical trainer companies say you can burn around 800 calories per hour of elliptical training workout. The following factors dictate how many calories you will actually burn during your workout:

- Workout Duration – This is simply how much time you spend on the specific workout. It is usually recommended that you do it for a half hour to an hour.

- Interval Training – Taking small breaks, followed by a cool down period is recommended for extended workouts.

- Elliptical Tension Settings – These tension settings help you control the intensity of the workout. Using a higher intensity can improve the effects of the workout.

- Current weight – as stated earlier a heavier person will burn more calories than a smaller person.

Are you interested in a few more tips to burn more calories with your elliptical trainer? Below are a few suggestions you can follow to burn more calories.

- Built in interval settings:

Nearly all elliptical trainers offer an incline and or even tension that you are able to increase or even lessen while workout out.

Midway through your workout try increasing the tension or incline to give you an extra push at burning more calories. This can also help raise your calorie burn for a few hours after your workout.

- Utilize Upper Body Arms

Many ellipticals offer you upper body arm blocks that you are able to utilize to build your arms muscles into your workout. Even more muscles worked = even more calories burned. If there are no upper body arms, grab a few of two – five pounds handweights and swing your arms while striding.

-Split your work outs:

Experts are today telling us that two smaller “mini-workouts” can even be better than one long workout as far as how many calories are burned.

Exercise with speed up your metabolism, doing one workout in the morning and one in the evening will give you two metabolism “boosts.”

All in all an elliptical trainer is a great way to burn a ton of calories.

For more information about elliptical trainers view our website below:

http://www.onlyellipticalreviews.com/compact-elliptical.html

Compact Elliptical

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters:

The Hero’s Journey:

• Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

• Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

• Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

The Hero’s Journey is also a study of repeating patterns in successful stories and screenplays. It is compelling that screenwriters have a higher probability of producing quality work when they mirror the recurring patterns found in successful screenplays.

Consider this:

• Titanic (1997) grossed over $600,000,000 – uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Star Wars (1977) grossed over $460,000,000 – uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Shrek 2 (2004) grossed over $436,000,000 – uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• ET (1982) grossed over $434,000,000 – uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Spiderman (2002) grossed over $432,000,000 – uses the Hero’s Journey as a template.

• Out of Africa (1985), Terms of Endearment (1983), Dances with Wolves (1990), Gladiator (2000) – All Academy Award Winners Best Film are based on the Hero’s Journey.

• Anti-hero stories (Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990) etc) are all based on the Hero’s Journey.

• Heroine’s Journey stories (Million Dollar Baby (2004), Out of Africa (1980) etc) are all based on the Hero’s Journey.

Screenwriting Misconceptions: Description

It is said, quite rightly, that film is a visual medium and that screenplays should seek to create visual images with words.

However, screenwriters often interpret this to mean that description should be non-existent.

Whilst description should not be excessive, it should be remembered that the screenplay is a word document that will be read by a reader (and hopefully more senior decision makers) and that words must be used to create pictures in the mind of those decision makers; description has a place in the screenplay.

Lets use Dances with Wolves as an example (2000). Much is made of the “Frontier” and the “Majesty of the Prairies”. These scenes required slightly more description to communicate the message and make those scenes captivating in the screenplay.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and FREE 17 stage sample and other story structure templates can be found at http://managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://managing-creativity.com/

One of the few rules in brainstorming is “every input is welcome.” How useless an idea might appear at first sight, it might be the opening for a new fruitful thought or a chain of next steps. Do not criticize, do not laugh at an idea others brought in. Be positive!

Brainstorm meetings can be organized in a democratic way; you could make sure you do not see the others and that the others do not see you. You do not initially know who the idea is from. More important is that one idea should generate another – as one article at ezinearticles.com fires another. The democratic brainstorm could be arranged by a set of computers that are connected. This way you could arrange a brainstorm meeting at any point during the day.

So far for the brainstorming. What is important is that little yet very powerful rule. Make sure that you have a positive attitude and the creativity follows.
Now you also know when you criticize others, you are not in the creative gear. You are more likely to be in reverse.

When we criticize we destroy more than we create. The question you have to answer for yourself is, “what do I value more?” For sure it is easier to delete a document than to write one. But it gives more satisfaction, writing one than deleting one.

If you want to be (more) creative, watch out for the critical (wo)man inside you.

© 2005 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.

You can apply for a free demo account

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. You may be the most intelligent writer in the world, and have breaking information, which, if people actually read it, would benefit them and their business.

Problem: most, if not all, publishers of articles don’t have the time to read the whole article unless they are “captured” within 7 seconds. So that tells us that, when submitting your articles to newsfeed services, publishers, bloggers, and the like, you have about 7 seconds to capture their attention (and I personally believe that is a liberal amount of time – my experience tells me more like two seconds).

Example: An excellent article was written just today, if you were to be as fortunate as me and have read the content of it. But the title almost instantly created a “deletion response” from me. That is a big problem – if the title of your article does not capture the attention of the potential publisher, then what is the point?

Titles must be captivating, yet relevant as well to the content of the article. Major mistake would be to post an article with a title that has nothing to do with the content – but that is a completely different discussion.

In summation, please spend time on an effective title – and that will get your article read and spread across the Internet.

For further information, please visit ArteWorks Business Class at http://www.arteworks.biz.

Matt Foster is President and CEO of ArteWorks Business Class, located at http://www.arteworks.biz.

Regardless of which type of business you currently have, you will definately want to have a website and begin marketing it on the world wide web. After you have designed your website, the next step is to ensure it is properly “optimized”, meaning that it’s body text(the text you see), title and meta tags(the text that you don’t) all have the words you are trying to be found for on the search engine results.

Many individuals optimize each individual page of their website for a different search engine, but I recommend that you focus on the biggest Search Engines like Google and MSN Search. Some high profile Search Engines such Altavista seem to be fading in importance fast so it may not be crucial to optimize any pages for such engines that only send a small amount of traffic anyway. I recommend a keyword density of about five percent on the keywords you wish to come up for. While these search engines are of prime importance for your site, you should not rely fully on Search Engines or Directories for traffic to your website. You will want to try other tools like web logs (also known as “blogs”), an e-zine you publish, free-for-all pages, usenet, articles, bulletin boards, and so forth.

The first lesson about search engine submissions is to simply do it by yourself. This will also save you much needed capital that can be better spent elsewhere. Even though here are a plethera of automated submission services out there, it is recommended that you submit your website to at least the primary Search Engines manually. This is due to the fact that the primary search engines are so vital, and some of them automatically reject any submission made from a program. Furthermore, each search engine has different allowable numbers of keywords and they vary on how many characters your site description can be. They also want different kinds of personal information (althought in some refreshing instances they just ask for your web address). Submission software, even when accepted, is generally not flexible enouph to cover all the bases. Plus, the reality is that manually submitting your website is easy enouph that anyone can do it, and I mean anyone who knows how to type a word. You essentially just go to the Search engine you want to submit to and click the “add website” or “add site” link. Then insert the website address. Actually a few are a tad more complicated than that, but most are really that easy. This is what some people are paying seo firms to do for them, sometimes not as well.

Some Search Engine “spiders” or “crawlers” will eventually find your website if you submit your URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to them or not. They will find your site by following links from other websites that link to yours. For this reason you should consider trading links with other similiar but non-competing websites. Doing this will also give you website a higher ranking on some of the major search engines. This is because some engines, like Google and MSN for example, rate your website at least partially on it’s “link popularity” with other websites. This is also a free way to help your site recieve more traffic without wheelbarrels full of venture capital. And sometimes these free methods are as effective than more expensive strategies and do not always take up more time.

Although meta tags are not as critical to your site as they were in the past, they are still of some value. Concentrate mainly on the title and description tags and make sure the keywords you want to come up high for are there. To find out if your meta tags are optimized, go to scrub the web dot com as they have a free meta tag checking service. They will automatically spider your webiste and give you suggestions on how many keywords each of your tags should have, etc. Some search engines, such Inktomi still give a relatively high relevence to these tags.

When creating your “Alt” tags for your pictures on your site, do not stuff too many keywords there as the Search Engines, at least some of them, seem to be getting wise to this tactic and may penalize your page. The main Search engines and Directories you should focus on for yours site include Google (which is currently the most popular), Yahoo(you need to pick a category to submit your site if you are submitting to the directory side. Some categories are free to submit to and others are not), Search.msn.com, Inktomi(used in several search engines. Pay for inclusion or you can wait untill the spider finds your site for free), ODP or thr Open Directory Project(critical to be listed here, go to dmoz.org), Looksmart(free and paid listings) and Lycos.com.

For more information go to Home Business Articles and find out more about search engine optimization in the business article archive.

Ryan Joseph is writer/researcher. For more info visit http://www.aaronsfreebies.com/

These two traffic building techniques have been mentioned many times before but I felt like they should be re-introduced again. If you are like most small internet businesses it is very important to receive all of the free traffic you can get. Keeping the advertising budget down can mean the difference between making a profit or not.

I have found in my many years of web site promotion that you just can’t beat free classifieds or free traffic exchange programs.

Free classifieds sites are a magnet for quality targeted visitors. When someone searches within the site they will be sent right to your keyword rich ad. Most free classified sites offer free photo uploads and URL listings. Most will allow you to run your ad for as long as a month with several renewal periods. Also, in order to stay on top of your category most sites will allow multiple ad submissions weekly. It may seem like your ad is buried deep in a zillion ads but believe it or not most people take advantage of the site’s search capabilities. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of what these free classifieds web sites have to offer. Just think if you placed an ad on ten sites daily what kind of traffic you will receive.

Another great web site promotion tool is traffic exchange sites. If you sell a product that deals with internet marketing or web site promotion, traffic exchange sites are for you. Yes, I know that there are many other sites promoting the same thing but if you have something to offer they will visit. You may even find an advertiser that offers something that can help you promote your site. Many traffic exchange sites offer free sign-up and allow you to generate as many surf credits as you would like by clicking and surfing other sites. Join several of these sites and dedicate an hour each day surfing several of these traffic exchange sites at one time. Again, take advantage of what these sites offer and see how many new visitors you will receive. If you find that you do not have time to sit and surf many of these sites offer low credit cost. When a promotion is on you can buy thousands of credit for less than a penny a credit.

Now these two techniques might be monetarily free but not free from hard work and time. In order to take full advantage of these techniques you will have to set aside some time each night. Good luck.

Dennis Watson – Just helping others succeed.

Zeoh.com Free Classifieds Web Site =>http://www.zeoh.com/

After the video production is completed the editing process kicks off. More often than not editing control units stay largely with the editing business and the technically practised specialised professionals put forward high level of inventiveness at some point in the editing job. As a rule at some stage through the editing assignment the positive fragments of the video recordings are set aside and surplus sections are removed. There is a range of useful software that are in immense demand for this job. The purpose of the video is analyzed & subtle changes are completed as well. Audio clips & background music are also utilised at some point during the editing. There remains Special Effect Generators (SPG) which helps to make the specific footage even more eye-catching. Some of the video production businesses supply the video production & the editing services.

Today several video production agencies operate to satisfy requirements of different corporations. Besides corporate presentations, videos are also utilised to record important events of life like that of wedding anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions; family holidays etc. Portable video cameras with digital chips are now commonly available in the consumer market. Short films have turned out to be fairly fashionable not counting being very enlightening and funny. In reality videos allow people to relate better to the topic than any other form of online communications.

Today, quite a lot of people are setting up video production businesses as need of these sorts of companies are rising. It is also feasible to acquire a lot info from the Web about video production & publishing just with a few mouse clicks. The expansion of online video market has assisted the expansion of short-format online video commercials and to make professional commercials, a good video production and publishing company is key. Online videos play an important part in execution of branding tactics and at this time video publishing is a very popular concept with the World Wide Web users. As a result, across the globe online video production and publishing plays a major function. Vidify offer unique video production and distribution solutions that help broadcast your business online to a global, regional or local audience.

Is this the perfect moment for writing a sad poem?

Raining hard, feeling like a bard

Holding a pen, lost in thoughts

Outpouring, as raindrops softly and quietly

Kiss the grass on the backyard lawn

As always, I’m alone and lonesome

Nine months have passed, yet everything’s virtually the same

Would Time ever give birth to Laughter and Mirth?

Will I remember this someday

As the saddest year of my life?

Would these be the loneliest leaves of my diary?

Should this be the bleakest part of my biography?

Suddenly a black-furred squirrel sneaks into the lawn

Looking for something to eat or, perhaps, checking the raindrops

But in my mind, it’s just a solitary squirrel

Staring at a man wandering in his mind…

Or could be, a solitary man staring at a

Squirrel wandering under the rain

Whatever…does not matter anymore

When feelings are overwhelming

Reasons no longer count after all

I have come to an age when the joys and woes,

The fun and pains of my past

Pour down like rain

The stillness of the trees

The coldness of the breeze

The numbness in my heart

The sameness of the rain

The sadness in my childhood

The arrogance in my youth

Are these reasons for this perfect moment?

Am I really alone in this kind of situation?

Or am I simply expressing something natural and universal?

That every beinghuman, animal, or plant

Is cursed most of their lives with solitariness and loneliness

And with the longing to belong with someone or

With others of their own kind

Is there really happiness after sadness?

Is there togetherness after solitariness?

Is there belongingness after loneliness?

Is there heaven or hell after death?

Or is sadness only the default state

From where every being strives to escape?

While Heaven and Hell are just the

Personification of everything good and evil on Earth?

Is this really the perfect moment for writing a sad poem?

Could this someday be the saddest poem I ever wrote?

Could I then someday be among

The saddest poets one will have ever known?

Suddenly a black crow perches on the backyard fence

Braving the rain, just to feast on its piece of grain;

While I:

Still the same hopeful man with a pen in his

Hand and a heart full of dreams

For I am a yan yong you hong hu zhi

‘Little sparrow with dreams of swans’

=====

“That’s all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.

My soul is lost

“The same night that whitens the same trees.

We, who we were, we are the same no longer.”

Pablo Neruda, “Saddest Poem”

- 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 26, 2004;

Surrey, British Columbia

While listening to “Tragic Comedy” by

Immaculate Fools (‘Dumb Poet’; 1987, A&M)

About the Author: aLfie “eLf” vera mella was born in 1971 in Metro Manila, Philippines. He was a very inquisitive child who had shown fondness for reading and writing at an early age. He graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, but the literatus in him never left his heart.
A true artist, eLf was the vocalist of a New Wave band, named Half Life Half Death, which served as the musical vehicle for his poetry. Before he left his beloved country in 2003, he was working as an editor of and writer for scholastic books and magazines.
eLf is currently living in British Columbia, Canada, serving as a caregiver for his maternal grandfather. He may have left a well-loved work but for a noble reason, and he never ceased from doing what he loves most since childhoodwriting. Virtually always home, he usually spends his solitary nights reading, researching, and writing about various subjects of his interestchiefly, Culture, History, Literature, Mythology, Music, and Sciencewith New Wave music always lingering in the background like a gentle breeze on a quiet sea.
A writer at heart, eLf started inditing his thoughts around the age of six; and he intends to continue documenting his feelings and ideas until his twilight.

Source: www.isnare.com