Everyone needs a measure of stability and predictability in their lives. It almost seems that we go through a never ending cycle of being confronted by change and the resultant disorder and confusion that comes with it, working like mad to make sense of it and restore some measure of order and predictability and then enjoying a brief respite before the whole thing starts again.

Sounds a little silly, doesn’t it? Yet, just imagine a situation where you knew exactly what was going to happen each and every minute of the day. There were no surprises, no problems to ponder and resolve, no challenges to overcome and nothing new to experience and learn. How would you like that constantly in your life? How would you feel?

BORED

Time would drag on interminably and you would become restless. Just think of the many time we have read of second generation rich kids who are given everything from a very early age and never have to struggle for anything.

How many of them ‘go off the rails’ so to speak. They turn to drink, drugs or even criminality. Why? Because they have no direction. There is nothing to achieve and so have no goals or aspirations. It seems that we humans have a need for direction and focus.

This implies that the current state of affairs is not necessarily ideal and that we must pursue some change in order to grow, develop and evolve.

Here’s a question for you. How do we measure the passage of time? By the amount of change that has occurred. If nothing is happening then time seems to drag. If we are busy doing things then time seems to fly.

Whether we like it or not, it appears that change is an essential ingredient for a full and happy life. In fact, it can be said that change is the only real constant there is in life. I have often said that you cannot master anything you do not understand and you cannot understand anything you are unable to learn.

What is the first step in learning? We must question, we must define and then evaluate the subject. Then we are engaged on the learning philosophy and so gain understanding.

Question 1: What is change?
Answer: Any alteration in time, place or circumstance.

Question 2: What is the best way to analyse change?
Answer: By compartmenting it into the various areas of life. For example:

• Personal
• Family
• Work
• Social
• Society
• World

It can be further compartmentalised into:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Spiritual

Question 3: What is the best way to decide on the impact of change?
Answer:

• Tolerable
• Overwhelming

Question 4: What is the best way to decide on the nature of change?
Answer:

• Positive
• Negative

It seems obvious that, unless you are a hermit and live in a cave on a mountainside you will experience change. That being the case we need to know how to cope with and manage change so that we may benefit and that others may benefit by our actions in response to change. When you stop and think about it, isn’t that the way society and civilisation is supposed to operate?

Let’s go a little further. Everyone needs some sort of focus in their lives. You could call it a goal or purpose; or, more accurately, a goal and a purpose. Now, any goal is a desired state, or circumstance or achievement. That presupposes that you are not “there” yet in terms of reaching that goal. The purpose is the reason why.

Therefore we all must undertake some sort of journey to reach the desired outcome. That then means a change of some sort from our existing circumstances. So, it would be fair to say we all have a journey we undertake as we go through life. It is a necessary function of living.

So, change is an essential part of life. It is through change that we grow and develop. Therefore we could describe our life as:

• We start out
• We experience change
• We learn
• We continue in an altered state towards our destination.

If we perceive our experience as negative we may, if we decide, end up further from where we wish to be than before. That is, we go backwards, we lose confidence and therefore are able to do less. Have you ever given up doing something because you lost confidence? It’s a terrible feeling.

The question is, how do you overcome negative change that threatens to derail your life in some fashion?

Firstly recognise that failure is an event. It is not you, but an experience.

Any experience is an opportunity to learn. How do you learn?

You question.

What questions do you ask?

• What happened?
• What did I want to happen?
• What can I do to accept that what has happened has happened?
• What can I do to change the situation for the better?
• Where do I start?
• Who can I get to help?
• What did I learn from the situation?
• What can I do to make sure I have a positive outcome next time?

Embracing change requires you to adopt a particular set of viewpoints.

• Whilst I may not be able to influence what has happened, I am responsible for my reaction to it.
• If I do not embrace change and do not change and adapt, I will become obsolete.

It has often been said that only the strong survive. In fact, it is those most adaptive to change who persist and win. The dinosaur was amongst the largest and strongest animals on the planet. Where are they now? They couldn’t adapt to climate change and perished. Yet ants have survived since the dawn of time. Why? They adapted.

In a less dramatic way, we must also adapt to whatever changes life throws at us, and continue our journey. If you look at it, we make many journeys in our lives, both personal and professional.

In sales, for example, the methods of selling have evolved and changed over the years. It used to be that a salesperson had to present, present, present and virtually bludgeon the customer into buying.

Not so today. Today we see the emergence of ‘consultative’ or ‘relationship’ selling. It is almost the opposite to present, present, present. Consultative selling recognises that customers are better informed and cannot simply be bullied or bamboozled into buying something. You have to explore what is important to the customer to establish their needs and wants and then try to match our product to those needs and wants.

There is finally a recognition that you cannot make up a person’s mind for them with any permanency and that the way to ongoing success relies on establishing and fostering relationships. A big change from the past sales thinking.

A great example of a sales organisation not adapting to change was a retail chain called Waltons. They had a large team of travelling sales people who would call on homes and present ‘specials’ to the housewives. They would also collect the account payments.

The stores themselves only accounted for about 40% of the revenue. Over the years more and more women went to work and sales decreased due to this social change. Waltons poured more and more time and effort into the travelling sales force and didn’t realise until too late that they had been made redundant by social change that they had not adapted to.

On a personal level you must recognise that your environment is continually changing on every level. Just look at the internet and the phenomenal growth of recent years.

As a sales professional, or in any occupation, you must continually upgrade your skill, knowledge and ability if you want to keep up, must less progress in your life.

You must be prepared to experience change willingly, be prepared to change what you do and continually learn to be successful in life and living. No longer is change simply a sequence of events. It is almost an avalanche as the rate of change increases almost daily.

Be flexible, be willing to learn and experiment. Above all, be willing to experience.

Life is, today, a journey to be experienced, to reset your journey in the light of changed circumstances and to press on to success. Your success will be determined by your willingness to be flexible and determined.

If you look at it, no change is negative. Certainly you will experience losses in life. It is inevitable. But no great achievement has ever been attained without challenges and losses. I don’t subscribe to the word loss.

Whenever life kicks me in the teeth I pick myself up and try to recognise the opportunity to learn that has just presented itself to me. Every experience, positive or negative is an opportunity to learn, to grow and progress. Successful living is about making progress towards your goals.

It is interesting to note that the best way you can achieve your goals is to help someone else achieve theirs. As you give, so shall you receive. That sounds almost like a religious sermon. It isn’t, it’s just an observable fact of life and living.

You expand your sphere of influence to the extent you assist others. You win respect, admiration and you will evolve into a leader.

Embrace change, you may even grow to like it. You will certainly grow and develop as a person as you do.

You’re a competent sales consultant, right?

Given current economic circumstances, your results aren’t too bad, right?

Why bother to put a lot of time and effort into self improvement?

If you believe the pundits, the road to wealth is investment.

If you look at it from the perspective of investing in assets to increase your wealth it starts to look a little different.

Other than a house and a car, the only asset anyone has to produce income is their skills, knowledge and ability that they can offer to someone in return for income.

It is common knowledge that the better the asset the more people will pay for it. It is no different when you consider your skills, knowledge and ability. These are the assets you posses, so the higher the level of your skills, knowledge and abilities the higher price you can receive.

Value is relative. That is value can only be measured when you compare it with something. For example, in the case of a sales consultant their value is measured in terms of the finite results they produce. That is compared to the expected outcomes agreed upon, your KPIs.

Take a moment and reflect on how frequently you exceed your KPIs. Do you consistently exceed them? Or have they become the ceiling of your results?

I do not believe there is an individual on the planet who cannot improve in some aspect of their life. I’d be very interested to meet such a person.

If I am correct then it is logical to assume that each and every sales consultant in the company is capable of significant improvement in performance.

That is not to say that our consultants are not trying, or coasting, not at all.

Recently we had a discussion on expectations and how limiting, or liberating they can be.

Let’s go one step further and look at how you can invest in ourselves to produce a better you.

Think back to the time when mobile telephones were built like bricks. All you could do was either take or make a single call. Look at them today. The range of applications is mind boggling.

It is said the shelf life of a new computer model is about three months before an improved model is on the market. The rate of change in life is constantly accelerating and we need to be growing and expanding just to keep up.

So, investment in your skills, knowledge and abilities is vital if you are to realize your potential and live the successful life you want.

How do you do it?

Let’s look at it from the perspective of your professional life, although the same principles apply to your personal universe.

The very best professionals in any activity have a very thorough grasp of the basics of the activity and they continually revise the basics as well as look for the latest developments in their craft.

I recently sent an email to all consultants offering three e-books on selling skills. I am not surprised at the identity of those who responded.

It is no coincidence that those who responded are already producing good results, in spite of the difficult economic times we are facing.

This ties in completely in the level of expectation we have. If your attitude is, “near enough is good enough” then you have already lost the battle. I cannot emphasize enough that your expectations are what you create for your future. It is rare to exceed what you expect.

Even when you exceed your expectations, how strong is the urge to downplay the results and assign the cause to something other than yourself? “I was just lucky,” “Good fortune,” “It just fell into place.” All these statements go to undermine your strength as they deny the fact that any success is usually the result of YOUR effort, creativity, determination and courage.

Accept credit for what you can, and have achieved. Recognise however, that by tomorrow, today’s success will be history. Continuous effort, creation and action are the only paths to continuing success. To be able to do more you must know more and you can’t know more unless you take every opportunity to learn and develop.

It is human nature to want stability and predictability in our lives. But doing the same old things each and every day will never stretch you and bring about development. It is only when you step into the unknown, open your mind to new experiences, knowledge and viewpoints that you develop.

Unless each week, each day, each moment is a journey to continuous improvement, you will fall behind. It is far easier to be in front of the game than forever trying to catch up.

So, how do you start on the road to continuous improvement? You look at the successful people around you. Ask them what they do and how they do it.

It is a fact that if a successful person does something and you do the same thing, you will be successful. You may not do quite as well as the successful person, but that is only because you haven’t yet got the experience of doing the successful action.

You read books, listen to cds, read industry journals, you listen to your peers. It doesn’t mean that everything you read and hear will necessarily be beneficial, or applicable to your particular circumstance. But constant exposure to new information, viewpoints and experiences will have a cumulative effect and you will become far more professional in every way if you seek to learn.

We are unique individuals, and will put our own spin on whatever we try to do. That will produce a variation in the result and you must be prepared to do something new quite badly at first.

With practice, you will improve and, if you persist, learning from every mistake, you will master any skill, knowledge or ability.

• Ask questions.
• Read books.
• Observe successful people.
• Be prepared to try.
• Persist and you will succeed.

Have you ever wondered why it is that you find some activities easy to do and you have great skill in that area? Conversely, have you ever been frustrated at being weak at some things. Not seeming to ‘get it’ and failing or not performing well?

Why is it that some people are skillful in some areas and apparently ‘stupid’ in others?

It’s all to do with the fact that we are unique individuals and we all have skills somewhere. What determines our natural ability includes our experiences and the decisions we make about them.

Here’s an interesting observation. Have you noticed you seem to like those activities that you are good at and tend to avoid those you do not like? Those activities you do not like are, co-incidentally those you have less competence at.

Whether you like something because you are good at it or are good at it because you like it is not important. What is important is to recognize that the relationship exists.

If you think of something you are really good at you will find you tend to feel a certain way. Think for a moment and recreate the way you feel. What is the feeling like?

Observe your level of confidence about the activity? Yes, that’s right, you have a high level of certainty. What is that certainty based on? It’s based on previous successful actions.

When you do something successfully what were you thinking at the time? It varies according to the individual and the activity, but be assured, you will find that your were learning or realizing something as you went along.

The main reason we have a low level of ability in any area is that, firstly, we have in place a negative decision regarding the likelihood of success. This negative decision is the result of past negative experience.

The end result of past failure is often confusion and confusion is the result of unknowns. In other words there is something to learn that you did not learn.

Skill in any area of life operates on a gradient scale. The more you know the more you can do, the less you know the greater the difficulty and so your application of the skill suffers.

What is the answer? How can you get over the negatives that face you? The answer is quite simple. If you are having difficulty in an area of your life and you feel negative or unsure of whether you can succeed, recognize that you simply have a learning opportunity.

THERE IS SOMETHING TO KNOW YOU DON’T CURRENTLY KNOW. – THAT’S ALL THAT IS PREVENTING YOU FROM SUCCESS.

So, how do you address this? Whenever you need to learn you must:

ASK QUESTIONS

Go to someone who is successful in the area you are struggling with and ask them how they do it.

So many of us are unwilling to say, “I don’t know.” Please recognize that until you do you cannot progress in improving your skill, knowledge or ability.

The only thing standing in your way of improving your ability is you.

The pathway to increasing your ability in any area is as follows.

OBSERVE

Look realistically at the results of your actions.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

The only one you will fool is yourself.

BE PREPARED TO ADMIT YOU DON’T KNOW

The first step to understanding is this recognition.

ASK QUESTIONS

Be prepared to learn from others.

TRY A DIFFERENT WAY

Try things and be prepared to fail. When you do, try something else until you find what works for you.

RECOGNISE THAT FAILURE IS AN EVENT –
IT IS NOT YOU

Failure is simply the opportunity to do things better next time

ABOVE ALL – PERSIST

The difference between a champion and an also ran is that the champion never gives up.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP

How to focus and what to focus on to be a great public speaker.

We all need to know what can go wrong in a public speech but, more importantly, we need to know why and what we can do to make sure disaster doesn’t happen. Learn how to focus and what to focus on and your ability as a public speaker will soar. Enjoy.

Ollie Lind

Also you will see no ‘call to action’ so favoured by the marketers as a means of making the item scarce, therefore valuable. No showy testimonials, no money back guarantee in 90 days. In fact, no marketing effort whatsoever.

As a result I have not sold anywhere near as many of my DVDs as I would have liked. Now, whenever you wish to learn about something you must ask questions. So, my first question is why?

It could be because I haven’t done all the whizz bang marketing actions I am told is necessary to be a successful e-entrepreneur.

Perhaps my products don’t work.

Both of those may be true, particularly as I haven’t broadcast testimonials. If you look in the section marked “What People are Saying.” you will see testimonials. I have decided not to keep them to myself anymore.

As to the material not being effective, read the testimonials.

I will never tell you lies as to ‘this is the last opportunity at this cost,’ ‘expires at midnight,’ or any of the other fanciful tales we see everywhere.

I will tell you the reason why I set up HOWCANI.

Over many years I read, researched, trained hundreds of people in many of the soft skills. I have sold successfully and have worked as a transport executive in one of the largest transport conglomerates in the country. My experience is varied, but has always had a common theme. The realization that the most valuable asset any company has is its people.

I have devoted my life to searching for answers and delivering these answers so that people can realize their very considerable potential. I created the DVDs do that I could reach a broader audience and so do more good. I do not offer huge discounts or specials. My costs are steady and so are my prices.

I simply want you to share in what I have learnt. Every datum on the DVDs is true and works.

Please have a look. I will guarantee your money back if you don’t improve your skills knowledge or ability as a result of what you learn.

Live Well

Ollie Lind

Build rapport in face to face sales

Yet there are more ex sales people than anything else. Why is this so? Well, the greatest challenge facing most people is making friends, facing new people and developing rapport. Why is this? Because life didn’t come with an instruction book and most people learn by the hit and miss method. Try something, if it doesn’t work, try something else. If that doesn’t work, give up.

I’m joking, I’m joking. The one thing you should never ever do is give up. By all means vary your approach, but keep trying. How often do we see two competitors battling it out on the sports field. Very often one individual is obviously more talented that the other, and yet so often the underdog wins. Why? He doesn’t know how to give up.

I believe that tenacity is the greatest single attribute any individual can possess. it will overcome any shortfall in talent or skill. Then, if you combine it with the ability to learn, you have the makings of a champion.

I have spent a lot of time training sales people with a deal of success. What I will do is issue a Sales Tip of the Week each week for the foreseeable future. I won’t give you some rehashed, tired old quote from another source, I will give you conclusions I have reached as a result of training courses I have run and results my people have achieved.

Here is the first SALES TIP OF THE WEEK:

DEVELOPING RAPPORT IN A FACE TO FACE SITUATION

Find something about the other person you can like or admire. Just be aware of it. You do not have to comment on it, or compliment the person on it. Just be aware of the favourable feature whenever you are speaking with them. Your admiration will communicate and the other person will feel better and not know why. We communicate on many levels and simply being well disposed towards another shines through.

Try it with anyone you meet. life will be smoother and easier. it’s like magic.

Live well,

Ollie Lind

He was certainly trying hard, he was always on the telephone or on the road. He was seeing as many people as he could, but nothing seemed to be going right for him. The prospects were interested, yes, “I’ll call you soon” etc. Nothing seemed to work.

I had a one on one interview with him and quietly asked him when the trouble started. He had great difficulty pinning it down. At first he said it was just bad luck and he was just having a bad run. He felt all he had to do was keep going and it would turn out okay in the end.

I said to him, “If you keep on doing what you are doing you will keep getting the result you are currently getting. We have to isolate what the outness is.”

In my experience, if a consultant has been sucessful and then goes into a trough (assuming others are still being successful) then, logically, the consultant has stopped doing something that was working.

We humans have a penchant for gaining a level of knowledge and understanding of a skill, knowledge or ability and automatically assume we know it all. We then, for some obscure reason (I actually know the reason, but that is for another discussion) alter our successful set of actions to “do it better.” On most occasions we crash.

It’s not that we necessarily do something wrong, we simply LEAVE SOMETHING OUT. WE OMIT A SUCCESSFUL ACTION.

I found out (eventually) that he had changed his way of sourcing sales leads. He shifted to a ‘more efficient’ method. He stopped cold calling and simply drove around his area and recorded company details so that he could telephone later for an appointment.

He stopped ‘presenting the body’ and so missed an opportunity to more exactly qualify the possible lead and develop rapport with the receptionist.

As soon as I identified what he had omitted his eyes widened and he said. “You know, it was two weeks after that that the slump started. He grinned and looked across at me. “I won’t have that problem again.”

We did many more things in the two days and, overall, much progress was made. We looked at the DVD on managing fear and applied it to the sales situation and, to my delight, a couple of the guys realised the application of managing fear in personal situations.

But it was the discovery of what the consultant discovered about what he was NOT doing that stuck in my mind.

He told me he had the best time.

Guess what, so did I.

Live well,

Ollie Lind

I read a great deal. There is a great deal of wisdom in the world and I try to avail myself of as much of it as I can. I find the best material is that taking a holistic approach to training and development.

You notice I said “Training AND Development”?

I believe that, if you are training someone in any skill, knowledge or ability, you must train the WHOLE PERSON. What do I mean by that? I believe in viewing life as a pond of still water. If you make a change in one area (toss a pebble) the effect ripples through the entire pond.

So, if you are training sales consultants (as I do so much) you had better make sure that what you teach can be applied to the person’s life as well.

For example, developing rapport. Much has been written on the subject and I won’t try to go into it here. Suffice to say that effective rapport training is not about fiinding engaging things to say to put the prospect at ease so that you can now present, present, present.

It’s about being there for the prospect, it’s about actually caring about what they are saying, it’s about being interested in just THEM. In a nutshell, it’s about being yourself and being honest and genuine.

What is the result of all the above? A relationship based on truth, honesty and credibility begins to emerge.

Let me ask you this, doesn’t that sound like making a friend? Who, in this world couldn’t do with more genuine friends?

So, when I train sales consultants it’s about making them more effective beings in all of their life.

That way, everyone wins.
Not a bad way to live. What do you think?

Regards,
Ollie

We were there to examine how people learn and to foster understanding of how we function when we seek to master any skill, knowkedge or ability. I was happy to do this workshop because the Master, Sifu Rick Spain is dedicated to the spirit of learning and he was happy for me to share the concepts we had previously discussed.

In fact, I had already done a basic workshop a couple of months ago and this was to be an extension of that. Well, I have to tell you it became much more than that. Fortunately we had decided to film the workshop.

Not only did we overview the philosophy of learning, we expanded into my favourite subject; how to transform yourself and your life. We looked at so many things it’s impossible to list them.

What we did do is examine the realtionship we all have with the universe and how we function in terms of, not only taking on new skills and knowledge, but how we interact with others and the reason we are on this planet.

We also looked at the Law of Attraction. Everybody had heard of the latest buzz word in personal development. In fact the law is not new at all. I commend you to read the ancient Greek philosophers, the Holy Bible. Thomas Equinas and myriad other influential thinkers.

Personally I am disappointed at the merchandising that has surrounded The Secret. There is no doubt the Law of Attraction works. Unfortunately the impression given is that you simply have to focus on what you want and the universe will reward you.

There is more to it than that and we touched on it at this workshop. The atmosphere was electric when we looked at it. We called the workshop, “HOWCANI learn the Secret to mastery and abundance.”

I have just finished watching it and I have to say I’m very pleased at the concepts we examined. It simplifies the reasons why we function as we do and what we can do to maximize the chances of the Law of Attraction working for you.

I don’t normally ‘plug’ the videos I create. (perhaps I should, but I have an aversion to blatant merchandising) I believe people should be free from pressure when they look at concepts of this nature.

I am suggesting you look at the preview we will place on the product page in the next few days. It could help you transform you life.

Regards,

Ollie Lind

When I was a small boy I couldn’t wait for the latest edition of Reader’s Digest to arrive at home. I would feverishly rifle through the pages looking for my prize. That prize was any quote I could find from a “wise man.”

The fact that I was often too young to understand the true meaning of the quote was not important. I had something of value to be puzzled over, to worry in my mind like a kitten with a fluffy ball.

I knew these sayings were valuable and loved using the quotes in the most inappropriate moments. It felt like I really knew something and wasn’t that a great feeling.

My passion for great quotes has not diminished over my lifetime. Sharing the viewpoints of outstanding people gives me new perspectives on life and living.

Take the Da Vinci quote above. It says so much about what people really search for; CERTAINTY.

Another way to put that is answers to the many questions that plague us all.

I suppose that’s why I started HOWCANI. So often we are given ‘advice’ on all manner of things and we take on someone else’s system for doing something. So often we don’t gain the understanding necessary to really master some skill knowledge or ability.

At HOWCANI we offer, not only the answer to How Can I ? do something, but an understanding of the principles that are so vital to mastery of the subject.

You deserve the right to make your own decisions on how you take on a skill, knowledge or ability. HOWCANI helps you achieve that.
Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Ollie Lind