Maximize Your Influence

When you're an entrepreneur or sales person, being mentally tough is key.  If you want the rewards that come from owning your own business or being on commission, you need to put up with days that can be full of rejection and disappointment.  Check out a recent article posted  by Psych Central that discusses the Six Stages of Mental Strength. In any persuasive encounter, your prospect has certain expectations.  And so do you!  When things don't go according to expectation, people feel frustrated and are more likely to act out in anger.  This is a basic pyschological response that we can leverage in our favor as persuaders.  Tactfully letting our prospects know what we expect of them is a great way to get them to behave the way we want them to.  This also spins off into NLP (neuro linguistic programming).  Kurt and Steve discuss some of the merits of NLP and how to use them.

It's been 100 episodes!  After inserting some canned applause and patting themselves on the back, Kurt and Steve discuss why disobedient kids may actually make more money as adults.  They then proceed to insult people who don't listen to their show.  But if they're not listening does it really even matter? Different personalities relate to different persuasion techniques.  One method may resonate clearly with you but be completely useless on your prospect.  That's why it's important to use the T.E.S.S. system.  It stands for Testimonial, Example, Story, and Statistic.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss how to successfuly implement T.E.S.S. into your message.

Whether you think you love it or not, you love to procrastinate.  The brain thrives on it.  The reason is that we tend to treat our "current self" much better than our "future self."  We give our future self way to much credit.  We think "future me will save more money" or "future me will lose more weight."  But when the future gets here what happens?  Kurt and Steve discuss it during this week's article.  We don't like getting objections.  Nobody does.  But when they come, take it as a good sign!  Your prospect is actually listening!  There's nothing worse than an impartial prospect.  Some objections need to be dealt with as they come.  Other's need to be dealt with in advance.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss the difference. Finally, Kurt discusses a "blinja" (when a blunder meets a ninja) sales robot!  Yep.  A sales robot.  Tune in for details. 

Do you sort your mail over the trash can?  Do you delete most emails before you even consider them?  That's the reality of advertising today.  Messages to your prospects need to be compelling and grab their attention.  To start this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss a recent article about which is more effective: digital or print media? Ever now and then on Maximize Your Influence, we like to return to what is most imporant: mindset.  All the tactics in the world dont' change anything for a persuader who is negative, pessimistic, and just not right in their persuasion head.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve dive into what it takes for persuaders to have enough self discipline to make it.  Working on commission or in an industry where your living depends on getting other people to cooperate with you can be mentally taxing.  Follow the tips discussed here and you'll supercharge your discipline!

After Steve gives the full report on his recent trip to Puerto Rico (including a priceless blunder by the Ritz Carlton resort), Kurt discusses this week's "geeky article moment."  A recent article on Psych Central reveals the advantages of both active and passive communication styles. The rest of the show centers around a recent interview Steve conducted with Brad Harker.  Brad is the author of The Laws of Influence - Mastering the Art of Sales, Leadership, and Change.  He operates a sales company, FoundersInc.com and actively consults with professionals and organizations in the disciplines of sales, leadership, and influence.

To kick off this episode, the guys discuss what is likely the most offensive article they've ever featured on the show.  Kurt insists that it's Steve's doing.  We'll let you read it for yourselves, but just know that "hand's on" father's might be uhm...smaller.  For the main show topic, Kurt and Steve discuss some of the non-verbal habits that can kill your charisma.  Use these habits and your sales career will never get off the ground.  Conversely, they discuss some of the habits that the charismatic instinctively do.  Implement these habits into your behavior and you will be perceived as more charismatic.  We all want to do business with charismatic people!  

A recent study shows that if you want to look trustworthy, you should also look happy.  What's the catch?  Looking happy doesn't necessarily make you look competent.  Kurt and Steve discuss this study and how persuaders can walk the line to acheive maximum trust and competence at the same time. On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss recent obervations they've made about Negotiaton's Dirty Deeds (yes, they are done dirt cheap).  When your prospects resort to infantile tactics that have worked for them since childhood, you have to tactfully let your prospect know "that doesn't work here" without jeopordizing the potential business arranagement.  Finally, Steve throws a sleazy real estate developer under the bus for this episodes persuasion blunder. 

In persuasion, there are a few words and phrases that a lot of people say, but that they don't really mean.  In a recent article on Inc.com, 11 of these terrible sayings are reviewed.  It's an entertaining article and Kurt and Steve discuss it in detail. Have you ever received an annoying voicemail from a salesperson?  Or better yet...have you ever LEFT an annoying voicemail?  We all have.  Many think leaving voicemials is pointless.  Otheres will leave them for days and not get any results.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss how to leave an effective voicemail that will get your prospects to call you back. 

When it comes to persuading others (through owning a business, church, non-profit), it's all about networking.  Anyone who has ever been successful can attribute at least a part of that success to meeting the right people at the right time.  But what if you hate talking to strangers?  Can you be an effective networker?  A recent article published in the Harvard Business Review discusses this very issue.  On this episode, Kurt and Steve answer an email from a listener who wants to learn how to ask more effective questions.  Effective questions should move the conversation further and bring the prospects pain and or motivation into clearer focus.  They should make the prospect feel in control while the persuader is actually the one calling the shots.  There are a number of ways to accomplish this and Kurt and Steve discuss them in detail on this episode!

If you're like most people, you don't really enjoy paying taxes.  A study in the UK recently discovered how to vastly increase the rate of collected taxes, just by adding one simple sentence to collection notices.  Kurt and Steve discuss this on the show.  You can find an article from CNN Money here. Many say there is such thing as "beginners luck" in sales.  But is it luck?  Or is that beginners haven't learned some of the habits that plague veterans?  On this episode, Kurt and Steve discuss three of the key mistakes that verteran sales people make.  Getting back to basics and avoiding these mistakes will help you see an almost immediate increase in your sales results!