Let me get right to the point of this post.  The Golden Rule is wrong. It’s narcissistic.  There, I said it.  We have been taught this rule ever since we were old enough to walk.  Treat people the way you would wish to be treated.

However, the Golden Rule is fundamentally flawed.  Treating people the way YOU wish to be treated assumes the way THEY wish to be treated is the same you.  Why would you assume that; especially in a sales situation?  Why would you take such a big risk of being wrong?

I hypothesize that the reason we make this assumption is that we believe we have no other choice.  After all, what would another option be… to treat people the way THEY wish to be treated?  Exactly!  But how would we actually do that?  How would we know with any certainty how the prospect  wishes to be treated or communicated with?

Well, I just found a tool which does just that.  It’s called BankPass.   While it is similar in some ways to the DISC Personality Assessment, there are three main distinctions: 1.)  It focuses on the prospect, not the sales person, 2.)  It focuses on values, not  personality traits, and 3.) It takes between 30 and 90 seconds to complete the assessment; yet it has the same validity of much longer assessments.

Anthony Robbins said, “Let the Prospect determine your presentation.  B.A.N.K. lets you do just that.  Knowing your prospects’ values allows you to customize your presentation, emails, etc. to your prospects’ value system. The BANK Sales Training System is a revolutionary training program designed to increase your sales up to 300%, by enabling you to be as effective in communicating with the other 3 personality/value types as your own.

If you want to learn more, you can do two things:

1.  Take the assessment by playing the BANK game:  www.playbankcode.com/sellmore.  It’s FREE to my followers.

2.  Watch a webinar that explains the complete program and how you can skyrocket your sales:   https://vq103.isrefer.com/go/bankbmw/a1062/

Leave a comment or email me back and let me know what you think.

Now that you have gotten over the fact that your New Year’s resolution weren’t worth the piece of paper you wrote them on. It is time to start working on a real plan.

I want to introduce you to a simple system to focus yourself on what you need to do in order to be more successful in 2013. Do not confuse the simplicity with ineffectiveness. THE STOP, START, CHANGE, CONTINUE (SSCC) model is an easy way to identify actionable steps to make improvements to almost anything. It can be done by an individual or in groups. It can be done to identify steps to increase personal happiness, affect improvements with relationships, improve business processes and even provide feedback to employees. It can be used to brainstorm possibilities and then narrow the field to viable alternatives for implementation.

When using the SSCC model, try to generate a good number and a wide variety of types of ideas. Ways to improve both of the number and quality of the alternatives may include:

• Write them all down
• Be your own Devil’s advocate
• Don’t edit. Wait to evaluate later.
• Involve others (staff)

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This model can be applied to almost anything that could be improved… in business, executive or life situations.

Here is a great structure for working on this. After a list of ideas and potential actions has been generated, they need to be evaluated. A quick list of items to consider includes:

• Who will be impacted?
• How much benefit will this action bring?
• How hard will this action be to implement?
• Are there resource constraints? Money? People?
• How quickly will I see results – and does that matter?
• Is there anyone who needs to agree to this action before it is implemented?

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Hanukkah is over. So is Christmas. And Kwanzaa has begun. Hopefully the gifts you didn’t really want have been returned and the gift cards have brought you some happiness. And you are now starting to turn your attention to the New Year. The week between the holidays and New Years is a great time to take stock of your business or career. It is the perfect time to relax and be introspective… to figure out what you want to achieve in 2013. So, this is the perfect time of the year to make your New Year’s resolutions. Right? Wrong!

You see, we don’t believe in making grand, unrealistic, albeit well-intentioned resolutions. Most resolutions are lofty goals without a plan. And what are goals without a plan? They’re dreams… or maybe better yet, hallucinations. Most people don’t make their resolutions specific enough and time-sensitive enough to be truly useful and motivating. And since they don’t have a plan on how to actually make the resolutions a reality, they wither on the vine and become a source of frustration and despair.

Most resolutions are made in response to something that is causing you pain or something you don’t want; such as extra weight. We think a better alternative is to create plans to achieve what you do want.

A Better Alternative to Making New Year’s Resolutions

We propose that you do something different this year. Instead of making New Year’s resolutions, make a First Quarter Action Plan.

This first involves setting SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-oriented and Time-sensitive goals. “Making more money” is NOT a SMART goal. Rather, set a goal of increasing revenues by $125k by March 31st. Also, rather than only thinking of your ultimate goal, consider setting goals that, if reached, will result in you making more revenue. Examples of such goals are:

• Increasing qualified leads by 20% by March 31st
• Increasing traffic by 12% by March 31st
• Increasing the number of consultations by 25% by March 31st
• Increasing the percent of consultations that turn into clients from 30% to 40% by March 31st
• Increasing your retention rate of existing clients or customers from 70% to 80% by March 31st

Once the goals are set, think of ways (or strategies) you can use to help you achieve that particular goal. In other words, how do you plan on making that goal a reality?

And lastly, for each of your goals and the related strategies you plan on using, detail all the specifics steps, tasks or actions you will take in order to bring that strategy to life. Make these action steps very specific. Keep asking yourself… “How will I actually do that?”… “Ok, how will I actually do that?”… until you get to an action you can take immediately. Put all the action steps in chronological order, along with a date that you will complete the task.

Here is the simple, but effect outline to use to create your plan. Use it and you will begin 2013 on the road to success.

Goal #1: ______________________________________________________________

Strategy #1: ____________________________________________________________

Strategy #2: ____________________________________________________________

Strategy #3: ____________________________________________________________

Action Steps Related to Strategy #1

Complete by:

1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. Etc., etc.

Action Steps Related to Strategy #2

Complete by:

1. _________________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________________
3. Etc., etc.

Don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Make a Plan instead!