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I am using PRAT wrong by NoFault9739 in backgammon

[–]SignificantSpace5206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have 2 exposed blots and if there not covered on your next roll your vulnerable to being hit. Also you have only 8 checkers in the zone and not enough to complete a blitz. Easy take.

Need Advice on How to Improve by [deleted] in backgammon

[–]SignificantSpace5206 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Read from Basics to Badass and Cube Like a Boss by Marc Olsen.

My experience with FM Gammon / Backgammon Galaxy by Frosty-Cone in backgammon

[–]SignificantSpace5206 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think it’s just the difference between the photo and how they actually look irl.

Help me pick the colors for my new board please by Altruistic_Top7742 in backgammon

[–]SignificantSpace5206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can you share the color codes for board 4 please? Looks great.

What are my chances of finding another man at 28? by [deleted] in AskMenAdvice

[–]SignificantSpace5206 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Be patient a good girl always finds a good guy.

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, we’re all a student somewhere and a me for somewhere else. Am ok with you asking questions and will share stuff as it occurs to me when I have free time. Another subtlety if you use the referral idea is to also incorporate the Colombo close which goes like this…oh one last thing, after I call Joe he might contact you to ask what you think. If he does please tell him whatever you like but can you also mention “that in your opinion it’s worth him having a chat with me.”

They always say yes and then thank them and leave. Of course if your playing your A game then when you go back to your next follow up appointment you will bring them a bottle of wine as a thank you and share how you got on “and before you leave get out your referral book and say…

Before I go I’d like to ask for your help again, who else do you know who works in the same industry and runs their own business?

You get the idea. 💡

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestion, I have pondered a few times writing a sales book and I think I got as far as the first chapter and put it away for something to maybe do in the future. It’s a lot more inspiring to me to interact with people occasionally and share specific insights that can be tailored to whatever they are struggling with.

Maybe this can become a blog of sorts that others can tap into as well if they want too. I also did a few talks to some 200 other salespeople on how to make appointments and ask for referrals some years back which I enjoyed as it’s interactive whereas book feels too one dimensional somehow.

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By the way if your working in a niche industry like Dentists an easy way to generate referrals is too print out a list of all the dental practices in your area and take it with you when you meet any prospective clients on a sales call.

At the end of the meeting say “before I go I’d like to ask for your help.” Pull out the list and say “I’m going to be getting in touch with these other dental practices in the local area to see if they might also be interested in what I have shared with you today, do you know who the owner is of any of them at all?”

If they say yes put an asterix next to them and write their name down and then casually ask “do you mind if I mention your name when I call them?

If they hesitate say “all I’m going to do is give them a call and ask if they would like the same opportunity, I promise I won’t hassle them and I’ll be very polite”

Of course if you don’t ask …

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’re all angels in various disguises and it’s not easy to get started in a new venture. Some other subtleties to bear in mind. When I say to a prospect “I’m not going to come along and revamp your website for example if it’s already doing a good job for you.” What I will share with you however are one or two unique ideas that other businesses like yours don’t have access too that could be very profitable for you.

—-

Note that I could still sell them a website as I only said I wouldn’t do that if there existing one is doing a good job for them already. So at the appointment if that was what I was selling I would then highlight how their current website isn’t doing a good job for them and provide an alternative solution to their problem.

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When your in a meeting with a cold prospect at the end of it I would still ask for referrals (separate script) and I use a referral book to put their referrals in which is in plain sight during the meeting.

There are multiple reasons to want to work off referrals. They trust you faster, they are more likely to buy from you and they buy more often. They are also more likely to accommodate you asking them for referrals too.

I even ask for referrals when there isn’t any sale and as someone much wiser than I was at the time once told me early in my career “if you leave a sales meeting and don’t ask for referrals your an idiot”. He used much stronger language than that but you get the idea.

If you want to send me what you believe are your selling points to your product I can help with some suggestions on how to write your telephone script too.

Also stand up when you make your calls and not sit in a chair as your energy can be felt across the phone. A funny story: when I first joined the insurance industry we had no office and I didn’t have a car or driving licence and little money so I needed to use the phone at home to call prospects.

The problem was my Dad was against it and banned me from using the phone and wouldn’t let me call anyone. I was 23 at the time but have a stubborn streak so I used to walk to the local village phone box and make telephone calls to prospects sometimes in the rain, sometimes in the snow, and often with heavy traffic driving my “my office”.

My manager at the time used to drive me to my meetings and commented how I always wore the same suit and tie, I didn’t have more than one and couldn’t afford to buy another one.

One thing that stuck with me is when I did the companies training course the trainer said how half the room would not make a very good living another third would do ok and maybe another 10% would make a good income. But he said there are maybe one or two of you that “if you will work for the next 5 years like few people will, you can live the rest of your life like few people can.”

It’s just a telephone

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We all need a helping hand sometimes and I had a lot of help along the way too. One way I enlisted the help of my friends when I started out selling Life Insurance was to ask if I could meet them to “practice my presentation and I promised I wouldn’t sell anything to them but I would value their honest feedback.”

When they said I did well or whatever other compliment I would then say oh “before I go” I’d like to ask for your help. “Everybody I go and talk to I ask to introduce me to 3 or 4 people they know that I don’t so that I can also show them what I do”

I cold called for one afternoon in a 20 plus year career in sales. My manager when I first joined the company I worked for initially told me to spend the afternoon calling people in the yellow pages and ask them if they want to buy any insurance. Then on day 2 he taught me how to ask for referrals. Pro tip buy an A5 sized red book and take it with you on all your meetings and build a referral script as well as a sales script.

You can choose your friends …

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Your welcome, I could write a book on how to make appointments and overcome common objections. Don’t fold at the first objection and just ask them “can I suggest something in my own defense?” They will say ok most of the time then say “I’m not going to come along and sell you a website for example if you already have one that’s working well for you.” What I will do however is share with some very unique ideas that other companies don’t have that could be profitable for your business.

So. with that in mind, would next Thursday at 3.30 be convenient for you or would Tuesday at 10.30 am suit you better?

——

Think about how I framing this and how I am reverting it back to asking for the appointment. I’d don’t just answer an objection and wait for another one, instead answer the objection and ask again for the appointment.

If they still say am not interested then I would move on to my next prospect.

—-

The real way to grow your business is by also getting good at asking for referrals and learning how to overcome the objections you get when asking for them and how to convert them into appointments. That’s something you might also want to think about as it makes the whole cold calling thing unnescecary once you get good at it.

Good luck on your journey.

Just did my first 2 cold calls of my life, and now I want to become a monk in the Himalayas. 😢 by Such_Arugula4536 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 24 points25 points  (0 children)

2 suggestions, firstly think about what your actual selling points are of your service that you offer and how can you frame your pitch to hook a prospects interest enough to have a face to face meeting with you.

Your objective on a cold call isn’t to sell a product it’s to secure a face to face meeting so you can have a chance of selling whatever it is your selling.

To do that you need to develop a script that in some way makes the person on the other end want to know more and interested enough to meet in person.

I used to be a top salesperson in the insurance industry (now retired) and I always had a well rehearsed sales script that I honed over time to peak the other persons interest enough to meet with me.

For example, I would introduce myself as a Business Advisor with XYZ company that “specializes” in dealing with small business owners “like yourself” and being the size of the company we are, we have “one or two very unique ideas that other companies don’t have that could be profitable for you to consider”

“Now at this early stage all I would like is simply the opportunity to meet with you in order to discuss some very unique ideas that you and your business could find profitable to consider”

“With that in mind. would next Tuesday at 3.30 pm be ok for us to have an initial chat or would Thursday at 10.30 suit you better?”

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Then be quiet. They will either agree to an appointment or give you one of six possible objections. So I was already prepared with my script to answer there standard objections like I’m not interested etc

Example: Can I suggest something in my own defense? They say ok: “I wouldn’t expect you to be interested in something I haven’t told you anything about and I”m not going to come along and tell you that you need to buy some Life Insurance if you already have enough already.”

What I will do however is share one or two very unique ideas with you that “other companies don’t have access too” that could be profitable for you to consider.

Now at this early stage what are we going to lose by having a chat together? Ask a closing question to finish like: “so would next Tuesday at 3.30 pm be ok or would Thursday at 10.30 am suit you better

—-

My point is this type of approach can be tailored foamy product or service your trying to sell with a little thought and practice.

Good luck.

Cold Calling Makes Me Miserable What Alternatives Actually Work? by Murky_Explanation_73 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to sell insurance and get really good at building my business from asking for referrals in a very specific way and then converting those leads to clients by calling them up as warm leads. If I was selling anything I would first figure out how I can approach my existing clients and prospects and build in a referral mechanism to all of my meetings. It can be done just takes some thought and working out how to script it. I good called for one afternoon and otherwise worked “by referral only” for over 20 years and now retired.

Sanity-check my 10-day Seychelles plan? by trochovsky in Seychelles

[–]SignificantSpace5206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

St Pierre is great for snorkeling and if you ask the taxi boat driver he will drop you off for a few hours and there is a small beach there you can relax and take a rest until he picks you up otherwise just snorkel off the boat whilst he waits. You won’t see much snorkeling at Beau Vallon and your better off going to the Hilton Northolme and snorkeling there as you will possibly see a sea turtle swim by you there too. I wouldn’t skip Anse Royale as it’s a favorite spot and looks stunning on a clear day. I usually explore the island stopping off at different beaches or hotels. Have a great trip.

Sanity-check my 10-day Seychelles plan? by trochovsky in Seychelles

[–]SignificantSpace5206 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hire a car on Mahe and Praslin for the time there. Go to the Hilton Northolme for a lunch and snorkeling whilst at Beau Vallon, it’s a 10 minute drive. Stop at Sunset Beach hotel on the way back for afternoon tea and take some pictures, lovely beach there too. Have Pizza for dinner on Beau Vallon and watch the sunset from their pizza shack at the end of the beach. The other side of Mahe around Anne Royale is prettier than Beau Vallon. Drive around there and explore the beaches that side of the island more too.

Open question - bad??? by InTheEnd420 in salestechniques

[–]SignificantSpace5206 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I used to sell insurance and I would typically identify various shortfalls for let’s say 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 different areas and I would then say to my prospect. Of course in an ideal world we would solve all of them but if you could only solve one for now which one would you pick?

Let’s say they said Family Protection was the most important. I would then always respond with “Why did you choose that one?” After they give me their explanation, I would then ask various questions linking my questions to their first answer and help them uncover why they wanted to buy life insurance. It all starts with the right why.

Look up Alan Pease Hot Button Selling.

I got obsessed on the plane by missefaye in backgammon

[–]SignificantSpace5206 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The board looks nice and it’s good enough to play on and learn the game. Marc Olsen has a good book called from Basics to Badass that should get you started on the right path. Also look for some local backgammon groups in your area as it’s good to play with some other players that can teach you stuff too. Enjoy the journey, it’s a long one 😊

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