Sell or Be Sold(41)

Write down a time when you underestimated the amount of effort that was required in order to reach a goal and how much you underestimated the effort.

What are the four kinds of action?

1.

2.

3.

4.

What will a person immediately experience from taking massive action?

The author says that most people never get enough in life because … (finish the statement.)

What is the 10X Rule?





CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE POWER BASE


WORK YOUR POWER BASE


Salespeople tend to put their attention on selling to people that they don’t know and ignoring the people they do know. Entire companies advertise to people they don’t know and to whom they haven’t sold. They even advertise to people who are not even interested in their products. Salespeople wait for people they don’t know and even call people they don’t know, while completely ignoring their known lines of influence. This is one of the most violated basics that salespeople overlook in their careers.

Everyone has a base of power in their life where things are familiar and known. Typically, it starts with one’s family and friends. Most everyone has a place where there are elements of understanding, comprehension, safety, security, and strength. The easiest sale you’ll ever make in your life is the one to those people who already know you, trust you, and want to help you. Everyone has a power base or a fan club. Don’t ignore it; work it, use it, and mine it like gold.

Your power base is made up of the people who will be happy to hear from you and want to know what you’re up to. One of the fastest ways to not get into power in your career is to abandon those who love you, care for you, and have some interest in your life. Therefore, no one has to start from scratch in building a base. Everyone knows someone.

I had a customer who had bought many products from me, and we became personal friends. I called him up one day and I told him, “Get over here right now. I have to show you something.” He asked me what I was up to and I repeated, “Just get over here as soon as you can.” Not long after he showed up at my office, I pulled out the buyer’s order and told him to sign it. He asked, “Sign it? But I don’t even know what I’m buying.” I assured him, “Don’t worry about it. I would never mislead you and I guarantee that you’re going to want this.” He signed the order, I presented him with his product, and he fell in love with it! It was that simple. I sold him something he wasn’t in the market for and didn’t know he needed, and it was one of the easiest sales of my life. You can do things like that with your power base. Think of yourself as the center of the base, and the closer to the center of the base the individual is, the easier the sale.





HOW TO BUILD YOUR POWER BASE


The first thing you need to do is make a list of your power base. Your power base includes, but is not limited to, friends, family members, associates at past jobs, past employers, current and former clients, members of clubs, neighbors, members of organizations you belong to, members of your church, and believe it or not, even people who didn’t like you in high school.

Who are they, where are they, how do you contact them, and what should you say? What you say to them is the easiest part. Just tell them what you’re doing. First make your list and then make contact. Let them know what you’re up to and find out when you can meet with them to catch up. The purpose of the meeting is not to sell them; that will happen naturally. The purpose is to get in contact with them and to work on restoring your power base.

If you’ve come up with a list of ten people, automatically consider that number to be at least one hundred. Each of the people you know will have at least ten people in their own power base who can benefit from what you’re selling or the service that you’re offering. If you don’t believe this is true, then I suggest you go back and reread Chapter Five in this book and resell yourself on what you’re doing.

You can contact these people by phone, in person, by mail, or by e-mail. The best way is to meet face-to-face if possible, so drop in or call and set up a time to have lunch. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen these people for years. Forget the past. Go catch up with them and create your future. Take interest in your contacts and mine your power base. Find out about them—what they’re doing, their work, their family, and everything that’s going on. Restore the relationships. When it comes around to you, let them know what you’re doing and how much you love it. You can broach the subject that you’d love to show them your product, but at this point your intention is simply to restore, rebuild, and mine your power base.