Posts Tagged ‘dean lindsay’

Sales Training Tips for Harnessing Presence Power

a brief excerpt from Cracking the Networking CODE  by Dean Lindsay.

How we hold ourselves communicates a tremendous amount of information about us.  When networking or meeting with clients be aware of presence power.  Studies conducted by UCLA suggest that a person will unconsciously interpret approximately 55% of the meaning of our message from physiological cues from our attire, body position, stance, and facial expressions. 

Body language, demeanor, and dress are important elements in making lasting impressions.  So take pride in your appearance. Be fun and sociable.  Each of us are the number-one element in our success strategy.

How we look and present ourselves matters.  We want to look smart and with-it.  We should not look untidy.  No messed up hair, wrinkled shirts, or loose ties.  In fact, the ideal wardrobe for a networking event is slightly better dressed than the other attendees.

Here are Five Quick Sales Training Tips on Presence Power:

Sales Training Tips – Presence Power  #1:  Check yourself before you go out.  Do a 360 in front of a full -length mirror.  Would you want to talk to you?  Would you want to be seen talking to you? 

Sales Training  Tips – Presence Power #2:  Ask someone’s opinion .  Take the advice of others about your appearance.  I ask my wife.  She has saved me from more than a few bad shirt/tie combos.   

However, do not rely on your “together” look to cover up for sad puppy behavior or poor conversational ability.  Stand, speak, and act as if you were self-confident, attractive, vital.  If you have flair, use it.  Make sure you will be remembered in a positive way.  Be enthusiastic.  An enthusiastic attitude distinguishes the effective networkers from the so-so networkers.

Sales Training  Tips – Presence Power #3:  Exhibit confidence and display a natural enthusiasm about your life and work.  Be a walking-talking representation of life, in all its excitement and possibility.  How you say something means as much or more than what you say.  You are your best public relations representative.  You are the person who knows best what you do and what you have to offer others.

Sales Training Tips – Presence Power #4:  Sit or stand up straight.  Gesture with power and confidence.  Be fully engaged.  Nod in agreement.  Smile.  Do not fold your arms or let your eyes wander off into the distance; look like you are having a good time.  People trust people who look them in the eye.  The more you change your focus, the more new information your brain is taking in.  If you change focus frequently, you can overload your brain to the point where you are “at sea” and unable to focus on the issue at hand. 

Sales Training Tips- Presence Power  # 5:   Be careful about shifting your weight while chatting with someone.  It communicates a lack of interest and confidence, and it can result in your contact feeling a lack of TRUST. 

Each positive impression has the potential to turn into a priceless business relationship.  People want to do business with professionals who are excited about life and who look like they have their act together.

Crack the Networking CODE

Be Progress.

Sales Training Tips for Harnessing Presence Power is a brief excerpt from Cracking the Networking CODE .   For more info on Mr. Lindsay and the CODE visit www.DeanLindsay.com.  Contact him directly at Dean@DeanLindsay.com or 214-457-5656.

Holiday Networking Tips (part two)

by Dean Lindsay, author of Cracking the Networking CODE

Holiday Networking Tips (part one)

Holiday Networking Tip #8:  Careful of the Eggnog (and Miller Lite and Merlot).  Many holiday gatherings serve alcohol. I encourage you to consider not drinking at these events, or at least know your alcohol limit and not get anywhere close to it. Sure you want to be remembered, but not as the loud jerk who couldn’t hold his liquor and spilt red wine on Judge Jacob’s Hanukkah sweater.

Holiday Networking Tip #9:  Look for People Standing Alone.  These folks may be nervous, and your initiative will often endear you to them. Plus, one-on-one networking is the best networking. It is hard to join a group unless invited.

A CODE Tip on Joining a Group:  Look for someone you know who is chatting with a couple of people you do not know. Approach the group and stand to the side within view of the person you know. This serves as a subtle cue for your contact to introduce you to the group and bring you into the conversation. Try it. It works. If someone invites you to join the group but forgets to introduce you, take the initiative and introduce yourself.

Holiday Networking Tip #10:  Hang a While at the Food Table.  I know it sounds like I’m joking, but people tend to be easily accessible around food. Stand near the food table, but not the bar. People tend to grab their drinks and move away from the bar, but are more likely to linger near the grub.  As people check out the buffet table, small talk comes more easily. “That fruitcake looks good…” is as good an opener as any. Once they have their hands full, people often look for a flat surface where they can place their plate and beverage. Take a spot next to them and get to chatting.

Check this out — Our endorphin levels are higher when we are close to food, which boosts our memory and the chance that we will remember and be remembered. We humans are a trip, aren’t we?

Food Additive:  Do not go to these Holiday parties too hungry. Consider eating something before you go so you can focus on the person, not the cranberry cheese spread. If you are hungry at the event, grab a quick bite off to the side, and then mingle. Do not talk with your mouth full. (I hope I didn’t need to write that.)

Holiday Networking Tip #11:  Bond with the Spouses and Significant Others of the Influential.  The influence and power wielded by spouses and significant others is grossly underestimated. And because of this, they often go ignored. When offered the chance at a holiday function, invest the time to make a solid connection with them. Get to know them as people, and after the event they are likely to speak well of you to you know who.

Holiday Networking Tip #12:  Do NOT Try to do Major Business Deals (save that for later).  Keep business out of it. It’s the holidays, and people don’t want to be sold to. Make it about getting to know others and not about you or your business. Do not rush new relationships; think LONG TERM. Do not SELL! It is a mind-set. Be subtle. The worst thing you could do is try to start selling someone at a holiday party!

Holiday Networking Tip #13:  Catch That Name.  We say we forget names. But I don’t think that’s true. I don’t think we really hear the name of the person when we meet them. We are not listening. We are more focused on what we’re about to say.

The other person’s name is way important to them, probably about as important as yours is to you. To make a great first impression, make a point of catching and tossing around the person’s name in conversation. This is almost impossible when we are preoccupied with the red and green decorations or what we are going to do or say next to be impressive.

The Name Game                                                                                                                                                           

1. Right before you meet new people, PREPARE to CATCH their name.                                                                  

2. Toss their name back in your first or second response.                                                                                             

3. Mention their name naturally throughout the conversation (but do not overdo it).                                                  

4. Repeat their name when parting.

If you do not catch it, ask them to repeat it rather than letting it go. Do not be embarrassed to ask (they probably did not catch your name either). Read others’ nametags. That’s what they’re there for.  Again, your new contact’s name is the ultimate word to use in order to make a solid first impression. Using the person’s name in a natural manner throughout the conversation is an easy and organic way to create a memorable link between yourself and your new contact.

Holiday Networking Tip #14:  Uncover the Next Step (Mucho Importanto).  Find a reason (that is good for them) to connect them again and then… connect them again (and soon). Focus on — How can you “Be Progress” for this person?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  Be Progress.

How can Dean Lindsay,  Be Progress for you?

Dean is ready to discuss your program – shoot him an email at: Dean@DeanLindsay.com or give him a buzz at: 214-457-5656

Texas Customer Service Speaker Endorsement from Weaver Boos (Dean Lindsay is based in Dallas Texas)

“We invited Dean to provide the “kick-off” speech to a very important internal leadership summit that involved our Firm’s top 70 leaders. Both entertaining and informational, Dean’s keynote provided the jump start we needed to get the Summit off on the right foot! The issues that Dean focused on, service in a challenging environment and the message of “Be Progress” were echoed throughout the weekend, long after Dean wrapped up his speech on Thursday night. Thanks for providing a rockin’ start to our conference!!!” – Jeffrey P. Young, Principal, Weaver Boos Consultants

Watch Dean Lindsay – Texas Customer Service Speaker Video Clips

How can Texas Customer Service Speaker, Dean Lindsay,  Be Progress for you?

Dean is ready to discuss your program – shoot him an email at: Dean@DeanLindsay.com or give him a buzz at: 214-457-5656

MTA Motivational Speaker asks:  What Happened to Healthy Balance?

(excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  “More than a motivational speaker , Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®  ) 

I have had innumerable conversations with a broad range of committed professionals about how they, or others they know, feel overworked and overwhelmed (not to mention underappreciated and underpaid).  Solid, proactive folks share with me weekly how they have “no time” to get it all done, and have too many demands placed on them.

“There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find them.”  – Jim Croce

Our ideal “stress-free,” “healthy,” or “right” work-life balance shifts on a daily basis, and certainly over time. The right balance for us tomorrow will probably be different from what it is for us today. 

If we want to be working and winning, which includes arriving at that well-worn expression “Healthy Balance,” we must begin to internalize our motives, the reasons for our actions.  Truly understanding and digging into why we’re choosing to do the things we’re doing is vital if we’re going to reach true balance.

As humans, we have this dangerous and unavailing habit of always looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence, unaware that it’s really all about our priorities and how we roll out our choices, thoughts, and actions. 

More on MTA Motivational Speaker, Dean Lindsay

Working and winning is a unique and personal jigsaw puzzle, and only we can put the pieces together.  This puzzle is made up of ourselves, our family, our friends, our work, our career, our interests and hobbies, and, in all of the above, our ideals and aspirations. 

I am not saying that comparing ourselves to others is unnatural.  I am saying that it is not healthy, productive, or even logical.  All we end up doing is comparing our insides with others’ outsides.  We compare the way we feel about our situation as it is today (insides) to the way other people seem to live: career, house, car, family, network – (all “outsides”).  This is not fair to either party.  We do not know what is going on in the other person’s life or head.  As my good friend and fellow author Carl Youngberg would say, “Stop measuring yourself with someone else’s yardstick.”

(excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  “More than a motivational speaker, Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®  ) 

Booking a Speaker – Questions to consider

When Booking a Speaker Question 1:

Is there a theme for the event? (If so, Dean customizes his presentation to fit the theme.)

When Booking a Speaker Question 2:

How do you want the audience to Progress (think, feel, or act differently) as a result of Dean Lindsay’s presentation?   Here’s a Quick Link to Dean Lindsay’s bio & stuff

When Booking a Speaker Question 3:

What is the date and estimated time of presentation or presentations? (We are comfortable with time changes, dates can be dealt with too with enough notice.)

When Booking a Speaker Question 4:

How much time is allotted for Dean’s presentation?  Got a few minutes now?  Watch Dean in Action.

When Booking a Speaker Question 5:

What major challenges are attendees facing – tough economy, mergers, re-organization, tough sales climate, stress, customer relationships?  It is OK to answer All of the Above.

When Booking a Speaker Question 6:

What subject/topic would you like Dean to cover?  He ain’t the guy to talk about boring stuff.

When Booking a Speaker Question 7:

What is your budget?  Dean is quite affordable but he does have two daughters to put through college for goodness sakes.

When Booking a Speaker Question 8:

Are you interested in videoing the presentation?  If so, for what purpose and can we get a copy?

When Booking a Speaker Question 9: 

Would you like Dean to present multiple times on same date or multiple dates (hint: you get a pretty good discount if the answer is YES, plus Dean has various topics and loves to talk.)

When Booking a Speaker Question 10:

Are you interested in purchasing Dean Lindsay’s books for attendees at a discounted bulk rate?  (They are good books too.  Cracking the Networking CODE is recommended Reading by Profit Magazine and Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® calls, Dean’s newest book, The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change - “a much needed kick in the pants for all of us.”

When Booking a Speaker Question 11:

What is the size of the audience? (in estimated total people not estimated total pounds).

When Booking a Speaker Question 12:

Tell us about the audience (job responsibilities, experience, age, etc.)?  Dean’s perfect audience is smart and ready to think and have fun.  Is that what you got?

When Booking a Speaker Question 13:

How can Dean Lindsay Be Progress for you (i.e. help you LOOK GOOD)? 

Dean is ready to discuss your program – shoot him an email at: Dean@DeanLindsay.com or give him a buzz at: 214-457-5656

Be Progress.

Change Management Speaker Endorsement from ConocoPhillips

“The key is to keep scoring”. Last year Dean helped our organization step up our game and accomplish things that we never thought possible. His Progress Challenge was a key concept in our effort to implement a new service program and move into the leadership position of customer service in our industry.

Now in the face of a huge corporate change, we are expected to continue to improve and keep progressing. Dean once again stepped in and provided us with the message we need to approach the future with the attitude we need to be successful. He spent the time to understand our current situation and created a presentation that helped our people by relating to what is on their minds right now.

While keeping “Choose Progress” in front of us, we have added “Choose Positive”. He provided our team with great, real-life tips on how not to let change and the accompanying stress overcome us and bring us down.”

- Greg Pellegrino, Manager, Contracts and Customer Service, ConocoPhillips

Watch Customer Serivice Video Clips from Speaker Dean Lindsay

Booking info for Dean Lindsay, Customer Service Speaker

a MTA Motivational Speaker Article

Progress Takes Persistence (part 2)

(excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  “More than a , Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®  ) motivational speaker

Video Clips   

Every moment that we focus on the strong reasons that have inspired our goals, the closer we are to taking determined action toward their achievement.  The key is to not let reasons for pursuing other goals steal our attention, or become more compelling.  We must keep our focus (and our employees’, customers’, and prospects’ focus) on the Six Ps of Progress that will be felt in accomplishing the goal. 

The Progress Challenge Riddle (a classic): If there are five frogs on a log and three decide to jump off, how many frogs are still on the log?  Answer:  Five.  Deciding is not doing.

Decided to make sales calls? 

We may have decided to make a sales call, and it may even play out very nicely in our minds, but until we pick up the phone and dial, we are not making sales calls. 

And we can’t let a misguided desire for perfection stop us.  We don’t have to be perfect to Be Progress.  We can always improve our technique, improve our plan and our actions. 

 Progress does not demand perfection, only persistence.

Things can and do go wrong.   Missed opportunities should not be allowed to become big emotional “downers.”   Self-pity is not part of a Progress Agent’s makeup.  We must reframe setbacks to our advantage.  Most “successful” people say they learned more from their failures than their successes because they were eager to learn what went wrong and to avoid repeating it. 

Being persistent does not mean being bullheaded.  If what we’re trying isn’t working, we must take a fresh approach.  Consider that by eliminating another idea that didn’t work, the path to progress became clearer.  When things go wrong, we can let Thomas Edison light our way.  Asked if he was discouraged after thousands of attempts at creating a viable light bulb had failed, he replied: “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work.”  Make time on a regular basis to revise the plan. Creating a feedback loop is vital – even if we’re the only ones in the loop. 

Fill days with action toward crafted goals.  Start and, if we get sidetracked, we must acknowledge that the reasons for pursuing some other goal or goals have become stronger in our mind. Then is the time to ask:  Why?

If the promise of our goals no longer propels us to action, we need to do a gut check. 

Are they still our goals? 

Are the reasons strong enough to propel us to persistent action?

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” — Viktor Frankl

Each step toward a goal is progress.  It is powerful for us to appreciate all that we’re doing to stay on track, and to express our gratitude to those who are helping and supporting us.  Find ways to enjoy the journey.  Pat yourself on the back.  Reward yourself.  These are our lives we are talking about here.

 Go.  Do.  Progress takes persistence.

 Be Progress.

Progress Takes Persistence is an excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  The ‘MTA’ refers to an endorsement about Dean from Consumer Choice Award … “More than a , Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®motivational speaker

a MTA Motivational Speaker Article

Progress Takes Persistence (part 1)

(excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  “More than a motivational speaker, Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®  ) 

Video Clips       

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.” – Calvin Coolidge

Personal, professional, and social progress demands persistent action.  The greatest goals, ideas, plans, and skills in the world are useless unless they are combined with a generous amount of persistence.  Persistence is a byproduct of passion.  Passion leads to a zest in the pursuit.  To keep the passion, we must constantly remind ourselves of the benefits we are expecting from our efforts. 

News flash!!! – Goals can be achieved without a plan.  It will most likely take us much longer, but we will eventually progress if we stay committed.  The dangerous thing about not having a plan is that the longer it takes to progress toward a goal, the more likely we are to search out or give in to other ways to try to feel the Six Ps of Progress. Note that I said other ways, not better ways.  And I said try to feel, not feel. 

Without a plan, we are likely to get discouraged and give up. “Losing sight of the goal” means that it has not been defined clearly enough, and/or not held on to long enough, to be realized. A plan helps us achieve our crafted goals faster and more efficiently, without wasting resources or pulling our hair out. 

Let’s say I wanted to travel:

From: Columbus, Ohio (girlhood home of Erma Louise Fiste, later known as Erma Bombeck).

To:      Hannibal, Missouri (boyhood town of Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain). 

Maybe I’m hoping to start a tour business, highlighting the childhood towns of America’s wittiest.  Anyway, I’m ready to roll, and my wallet’s bulging with fifties, so I get into the car and buckle up. I have everything I need, except for a plan: no map, no GPS, no particular itinerary.  I have a full tank of gas, so I turn the key and drive.  I am committed to getting to Hannibal. 

Will I eventually get to Hannibal? 

Yes, if I am persistent, I will eventually make my way to Hannibal.  It might take me a week, and I may run out of money, have to sell the car and then hitchhike the last 75 miles, but if I’m persistent, I will eventually get to Hannibal. 

A plan would certainly help me get there a lot faster, without having to ask a bunch of people for directions, without running out of money, or hitchhiking.  However, it is not the plan that makes achievement possible.  It is persistent action.  And action is initiated and sustained by strong, internalized reasons. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am a firm believer in planning.  But the best-laid plans of mice and men will not take us where we are not committed to going.

Keeping our thoughts constantly on the reasons behind our goals is the stimulus that keeps us committed and able to dispense with setbacks quickly, and to decisively redirect our efforts. 

“Nana korobi ya oki” is a popular Japanese saying that vividly expresses the importance of persistence, despite setbacks.  As the proverb teaches, the eventual winners are those who “fall down seven times, get up eight.” 

“Making miracles is hard work.  Most people give up before they happen.” – Sheryl Crow

Part Two of Progress takes Persistence in the next post.

Be Progress.

Progress Takes Persistence is an excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  The ‘MTA’ refers to an endorsement about Dean from Consumer Choice Award … “More than a motivational speaker, Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®

Inspirational Motivational Speaker Video from Dean Lindsay

“More than a motivational speaker, Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service! Energetic, Funny and Thought Provoking, Dean delivered an outstanding presentation to our elite group of business people. We look forward to inviting Dean back to our next business event!” - Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®               

“Dean Lindsay is an outstanding thought leader on the subject of developing priceless business relationships.” – Willis Turner, President, Sales and Marketing Executives International     

COOL NEW THING! – Dean Lindsay was chosen as having one of the ‘100 of the Most Inspiring Business Videos on YouTube’ by Zen College Life, the #1 Destination for College Information Online. Others chosen for this honor include Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, President Barack Obama and Jack Canfield (author of Chicken Soup for the Soul).  Cool, huh?

Inspirational Motivational Speaker, Dean Lindsay, is the author of The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change and Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships

Inspirational Motivational Quotes from Dean Lindsay, Author of The Progress Challenge and Cracking the Networking CODE

“We create our future with our responses to change.  Be Progress.” -Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“When the going gets tough, sometimes the mind has to get tough to get going.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Change is inevitable, Progress is a Choice.” – Dean Lindsay

Watch Dean Lindsay Videos

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Time management is really self management with a respect for time.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Turn people on to you by tuning into them.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“If an organization wants first rate external customer service, their internal customer service must be first rate first.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Progress in service leads to progress in sales.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Stop changing and start progressing.” – Dean Lindsay

Inspirational Motivational Quotes

“Keep your eyes, ears, mind, and heart open for ways to progress.” – Dean Lindsay

Dean Lindsay Booking Information