We apologize for the delay in getting our newsletter out to you. Due to the huge success of the Golden Circle Secrets book, our travel schedule has prevented us from completing the last couple newsletters. We are now more efficiently managing our schedules and the September and October issues will be posted on our web-site shortly, so you can retrieve them there.

If you don't have this months #1 Sales Management book in the Country yet, you can buy it at Amazon.com. If you do have our book, and like it, you still have time to buy a couple more for gifts this holiday season.

A new feature we will be adding starting with the December newsletter is a section from H&R Block that will offer tax tips for those who in the profession of sales and/or also self employed. We are very excited to partner with H&R Block and hope that you enjoy it!

Selling is and will always be, an integral part of our industry or any industry, that you may become part of. All industries must sell their product or service to someone, one way or another if they are to generate revenue. With out the revenue generation, you have no company. The form, stages, cycles and methods of making those sales will vary depending on whom you are selling to, what you are selling and the industry in which you are selling. Are you selling to an individual, a corporation, a government entity, a wholesaler, a broker (or through any third party), a business in another country with different rules and regulations? Are you selling a commodity, a product, a service, is your sale to the high end of your market or to the low end of your market, is your sales cycle short, mid term or is it long? Does your industry sell millions of low priced items or very few extremely high priced items, is your industry highly competitive or relatively safe from competition, is your industry on a growth and innovation cycle, or is it heading down, outdated and being replaced with something new? Whatever the scenario, the variations with in the world of selling are vast.

Regardless of the industry someone is in, sometimes people approach selling with a purpose and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they see it as essential and requiring a well thought out approach and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they view what they do as a salesperson important, maybe even vital and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they approach their job with passion, enthusiasm and vigor and sometimes, they just do not. The reason for that is this: everyone who is selling, no matter what they sell, is just a person, just a person like you or me, with the same types issues we face daily. Taking care of the kids, bills, spending time with family, stress at work, sometimes stress at home, car troubles, mowing the lawn, traveling too much, etc. Because of all that, different people put different levels of effort in to everything they do.

The wonderful thing about that when it comes to the profession of selling is that everyone you will ever sell to also has those same issues. Whether someone is selling software, jet airliners, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, financial services, automobiles, furniture, insurance or health club memberships each and every one of them sell to people just like themselves everyday.

Wait a minute; "just like themselves" that is a bit of a broad statement isn't it, people are not that much a like? Truthfully, it is funny to see just how many people believe that. And, to a degree it could be argued that it is not true but the answer to that is this, it depends on what level you are looking for similarities. Taken at face value anyone could easily see numerous differences between themselves and just about anyone. It is almost human nature to first see the differences that you have with someone else, before you see the similarities. In fact most of time, people focus so much on the differences, that they completely miss the obvious similarities and when in sales, as when in everyday life, because of it they miss many a golden opportunity.

Many, actually most sales systems that have been brought to popular culture promote selling to people by placing them into categories or groups. For example there are one size fits all sales approaches that teach people to motivate others by excitement, visualization, fear, or emotion. Others teach someone to master the most common objections with smooth, subtle and stylish efficiency and that will help you to sell more effectively. Others that suggest you should read peoples personalities so you know how you should act with that type of person, that way by knowing your prospects personality you can then sell to that person more successfully. There are also of course systems for the larger corporate sale vs. the smaller individual sale. There are the selling with confidence approaches, solution selling, selling with integrity, soft selling, hard selling, the 50 things that will lose a sale, selling to living people, selling to dead people, selling to a cow, selling to a chicken etc, etc. you know what I mean.

The biggest challenge that a salesperson encounters when using anyone of those approaches is this - it has no commonality among all the people he or she will attempt to sell to through out their career. Because of that, the everyday sales person will always be met with inconsistent performance, which may or may not improve over time. That inconsistent sales performance is what leads to unreliable profits, regardless of whether you are a single location, chain of locations, a national retailer or even an international conglomerate.

So what is it then, what are the similarities between everyone regardless of who they are, where they are from, what they do or you name it? It's values. Values are the one universal aspect of being a person that makes everyone bleed the same. Everyone wants to be with their family, everyone wants to be cared for, everyone wants to care for others, everyone has their faith (what ever it may be), everyone wants friends, everyone wants a roof over the head and food on the table, everyone wants to be treated with respect, everyone wants to be treated fairly, people want to help other people, people want do the right thing and there are a hundred more.

By recognizing and focusing on these things about people first and foremost, before you ever open your mouth, and then if you do your absolute best to meet people on that level, you will be amazed what will happen. Trust me.

Let me tell you about how this works in the fitness industry and see if you can apply this to what you do. I learned how to sell in the fitness industry. Everything about my approach to selling came about because of the experiences I had, with all of the people I had the good fortune and pleasure of selling to over my years in the fitness industry. As a salesperson in a health club, you are afforded a luxury, a luxury that is also a great opportunity. After you sell your service to a client you have the chance (over and over again) to get to know those people better and better every time they walk through those doors to have a workout. This gives you many opportunities to earn their trust, earn a relationship and hopefully one day, be able to call them your friend. If a salesperson is good, they will take the time to do that with every member they have ever signed up. If they are great, they will find the time to do it with every member in their club regardless of who signed them up. If someone does this, I can promise that anytime any of those people they got to know wants to bring someone in to their club, they will bring them to that salesperson. Anytime that salesperson needs a referral and they ask for one, people will do their best to give them one and, help them get that get that person enrolled. Anytime those members need anything in the club they will come to that salesperson and that is the way someone should want it. The goal is to be the one who takes care of the members. By doing so the members will trust that person, they like that person and they will want to help that person in just the same manner.

You see people come to fitness clubs everyday for a reason; sometimes it is just to get in a little exercise. Sometimes it is do to a medical condition. Sometimes it's because they do not feel good about themselves. Sometimes it's to relieve some stress. Sometimes it's just to be around other people even if they do not know them. Sometimes it's because a relative died due to bad health and they do not want to end up the same way and sometimes it is just to have a little fun. Whatever the reason is, it is one that anyone of us can relate to, provide we relate to it on the right level because they are all very human issues. And that my friends, is what gives a salesperson in the fitness industry commonality with every single prospect they will ever meet. That is what opens the door to a world of opportunities, to a long lasting relationship and to continued sales and business success. It is basic, it is fundamental but it is the truth. Plus by being able to work with your clients everyday on issues like this, by getting to know your clients this well over time, it is just as good for "the salesperson" as it for the people they sell too. That's because it helps the salesperson feel good also, and that is one thing that very few sales professionals can say that their job does for them.

Why is that? I think it is because people do not look hard enough for those relationship-building opportunities with their clients regardless of what they are selling. I think because someone may be selling a product or service that has no personal bearing on the individual, they do not attempt to make more of that they sale than simply the "transaction". This is a mistake. Remember whom ever you work with is just a person, and they all have the same experiences and issues that you do everyday. If you can remember that one thing and use that "commonality" between you and your customers everyday, you will build your business and your career and your happiness.

Dale and Ben Midgley
Co-Founders
The Golden Circle of Business©