The Value of Study Groups for professional salespeople.
In my career in selling one of the greatest benefits was my membership of the million-dollar round table. The MDRT as we refer to it, is the elite sales organisation for the insurance industry. It was started in America over 75 years ago as a study group by a small number of insurance salesman who were good at their jobs but who wanted to get better. They believed that by coming together periodically to share their expertise with their peers they could help each other develope their own skills.
Over the years the MDRT has grown into a global organisation, which still has its base in America but now has over 22,000 members in 59 countries around the world These members are all in various aspects of insurance sales and comprise the top 3% of the insurance sales people in their respective countries. Each year members get together for an annual conference. Over 7000 men and women from all over the world attend the conference which is held at one of the major cities in America.
The conference itself is a great event each year and brings together not only the sharing of ideas and motivation from the best sales people in the business but it also brings to the platform the finest of people from all walks of life to share with members their success stories I attended to my first conference which took place in Hawaii 29 years ago. The impact of that first meeting had on me changed my life and I have attended the conference every year since. I soon learned that the way to get most out of the conference was to participate in helping the organisation of the meeting, in that way I got to meet all the past leaders of the organisation and the principal speakers at the meetings.
One such person was named Ben Feldman. His reputation was that of a giant in the industry, although he operated within a small community in a town in America his production ran into millions of dollars per annum.
He was one of the biggest insurance producers of all time.
When I learned that he was to be the principal speaker on the main platform of the conference I was excited, I wanted to see and meet this phenomena.
Because of the difference in his volume of production compared to mine I made assumptions about the kind of person he would be in terms of his physique personality and other personal qualities which I believed would be vastly superior to my own. I waited with bated breath for my first sight of the man and the pearls of wisdom that he was going to share with us. When the chairman of the conference ended the introduction of the speaker the curtains opened and Ben Feldman walked out on to centre stage. When I say walked it was more of a slow shuffle he seemed to have a slight impediment to one of his legs. I also noticed he was much smaller in physique than I had expected and when he began to speak he was very quietly spoken and he had a lisp.

He went on to teach us his method of selling, and it became obvious that success was based on dedicated service and the simple illustrations of how insurance would help his clients overcome their problems and achieve their financial goals.

The man and his presentation inspired me with the belief that I could do a lot better than I was doing He made me feel ,through his own belief in the value of his product and in the simple way that he delivered it, that there was no unbridgeable gap between what he was doing and what I could do,
From that day on I decided to structure my sales presentation to be simple and dramatic and to deliver it to as many people as possible.
Every year I attend the conference and listen to my peers as they share their insights and experience and I have never failed to come away from the meeting exhilarated with the new knowledge and understanding not only of a better way to sell but also of a better way to live.
The moral of this is that selling can be lonely and difficult work.
Getting together in a group with your peers where you share your ideas and motive each other will be of great benefit to the members who are teaching and to the members who are listening.
You attend a meeting with one new idea to share with the other members, one or two of the other members have an idea to share with you. You leave the meeting not only with your own idea but also with two or three new ones.
Every one is a winner.


The Pareto Principle and how it applies in the sales industry and other walks of Life
At the beginning of the last century, an Italian government bureaucrat, Snr Vilfredo Pareto, produced a number of theories concerning population dynamics.
Perhaps the best known is the one that says 80% of a nation's wealth is either owned or controlled by a mere 20% of the population, no matter what is done to try to alter the balance.
This general rule has been observed to apply to many situations since and has become widely accepted as “the Pareto Principle” or the 80/20 rule.

Nowhere is the principle more relevant than in the business of selling -
ask any sales manager!
The fact is that 80% of the sales are produced by 20% of the sales force!

What are the characteristics that put some sales people in the top 20% category?
Do they have personalities or skills that the other 80% don’t possess?
Is it because of special training? Is it simply a matter of hard work? Or is it just plain good luck?

As you read on, you will learn that it is not a single skill that leads to success but that it is all a matter of behaviour.
We are creatures of habit and our behaviour is determined by our habits.
Habits that control our behaviour and determine our results can be replaced by habits that will automatically improve these results.
Habits are designed to make life easy, they enable us to do routine things in our daily lives without thinking about them.
The way we tie our shoelaces, the way we drive our cars, or ride a bicycle, we don’t have to think about these actions we just do them on automatic pilot.

The 4 Steps in Learning
We learn all habits through a four-step process.
Let’s use as an example learning to ride a bicycle: -
You see somebody riding a bicycle and you think you will do the same.
You sit on the bicycle; you attempt to ride it and fall off.
This is the unconscious incompetent stage - you don’t realise you can’t do it.
Next you practice, you learn to guide the bicycle and pedal at the same time. While this is going on you are at the conscious incompetent stage.
With continual practice you move on to the next level which is known as the conscious competent stage.

Sometime later you are riding the bicycle on automatic pilot thinking about what you may be having for your dinner;
you are now at the unconscious competent stage, where the habit has been perfected.
Whilst most of our habits help us get through our daily life more easily there are others holding us back.
They are having a negative effect, on our need to change in order to make progress in our lives.
The power of habits can be exceedingly strong as shown by a famous experiment conducted by a scientist.
He was studying the habits of a certain type of caterpillar, which he called the Processionary Caterpillar. These caterpillars have the habit of foraging along the forest floor searching for food. They travel in single file nose to tail.
He thought he would test the strength of this habit.
He set up an experiment by placing food and water in the centre of a large saucer. Several caterpillars were placed around the edge of the saucer, nose to tail,
so that they formed an endless belt trundling around the perimeter.

He wondered how long it would be before they would break away from the circle and head for the food.
He was amazed when they relentlessly circled the saucer until eventually they gave up from exhaustion.
Fortunately for us we can exercise our minds to break an old habit or form a new one.
If you practice a new habit you go through the process of the four stages of learning and it is said that within 21 days you will become unconsciously competent in this new way.
Habits that control our behaviour and determine our results can be replaced by habits that will automatically improve these results.
You need habits that will help you achieve more. These habits are
Goal Setting, Time Management Improved Sales Skills.
Each of these subjects I will enlargedupon later and will become the success habits, that will increase your self-esteem and lead to greater achievement,
not only in selling but in all other areas of your life!


Build Your Selling Organisation
As you are selling and building up your client bank over the years, you will become enmeshed in a growing mountain of paperwork and unless you take steps to prevent this you will end up with little or no time to increase your income and eventually you will run out of steam.
The excitement of your early years dies and your job becomes humdrum and in the end you become a slave to it.

What you need now is a new 3 year vision.

In 3 years you can change everything that needs to be changed to improve your business and personal life, even though the means to do so may not be apparent right now.

Frank Sinatra did not push the piano!
Every time Frank sang he earned many thousands of Dollars.
Before he gave a concert, the venue was booked well ahead of the date.
Advance publicity was sent out and the tickets were sold.

At the appointed time the orchestra made ready , the stage was set and the grand piano was pushed out to centre stage.
When all was ready, a fanfare was sounded, the curtains opened and out onto the stage walked Frank.
He leaned on the piano and started to sing. When he had finished singing the curtains closed and Frank walked off.
Frank did not push the piano!
The only thing that you get paid for is the time you spend talking to your prospect,
All the rest is "Stuff"
You have to delegate the "Stuff".
It's 10 Dollars an hour work and will eventually kill you or your business!
You are in the Relationship business.
Focus on Relationships.
Build up stronger relationships with the top 20% of your clients.

Give them improveed service. They will help you more than the rest of your other clients.

You don't have to give equal time to all of your clients.
Spreading your selling time over too many clients creates a problem, which leaves you with not enough time to give to your better ones.
The 80% of smaller clients eat up your money making time with "stuff" and neither will you get higher quality referrals from them.

Delegate your Weaknesses!
Focus on your Strengths which is selling and Delegate your weaknesses.
Focus on your habits.
These habits are the building blocks of your total behaviour.
It takes 21 days to change a habit.
Change one at a time.
One habit changed will impact on other habits. Eg daily exercise will invigorate you and enable you to be more disciplined towards your work.
After three years of changing Habits you will be an entirely new being.

Goal directed habits are progressive.
You must be prepared to step out of your current comfort zone into the excitement and uncertain future.
All life is risky but the risks are reduced when you are working to a plan
"You can help people most in this world, by making the most of yourself."