Clinton Skakun

What was the cause of franchise successes like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and others? Was it the food, the brand, the service?

The franchise model caused a lot of businesses to become hugely successful in the past half-century.

I don’t think much of this success can be attributed to the taste, or the service (which is not always great).

Most of us grew up eating at McDonalds’ and Burger Kings. They have a strong brand.

They also have a system that allows them to set up almost anywhere and hire almost anyone.

It’s not so much about the burger or the fries. It’s about the brand recognition, the relationship they have with 5 decades of customers and the proven duplicable system.

Keeps you current with the times

Reading industry news, reading material related to your industry, staying well versed with what’s going on.

Gives you a wide array of knowledge to choose from

You’ll have an advantage over your college educated peers who think education ended in school. Constantly re-evaluating and re-affirming what you learn is essential. Also, exploring concepts and ideas totally foreign to what’s taught in university.

Allows you to have a discernment between false information and what’s true

For all the stable information out there, there’s a massive cloud of fluff to swift through. Reading, especially a lot, allows you to understand the difference between the real thing and the fluff. Also, the more you read the deeper an understanding you’ll have behind what you already know.

Habit 2: Successful Gen-Y Entrepreneurs Have Stamina And Nothing To Lose!

Ever run into a successful low-energy entrepreneur? I never have! I’ve never read about one, saw one on TV or met one in real life. In short, most successful entrepreneurs are outstanding people in some way, shape or form. Some of them work 100 hour weeks and never take vacations. Other work 10 hour weeks and spend all their traveling and partying. Either way, they’re always high spirited and on the go.

The younger you are, the less you have to lose. You probably don’t have kids yet, or a family to support, at least not a big one. You don’t have a lot of bills to pay. And you probably don’t have thousands upon thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off, at least not just yet. Thing is, there’s not a whole lot dragging you down, as there is for people 10 or 20 years older than you who NEED their jobs.

That said, young people can also party all night and work all day without devastating effects. In other words, they have a lot of leverage of their time and energy. Directed properly, this energy can be explosive.

Like most things, reading about sales and doing sales are two very different things. There are so many different kinds of techniques and methods for closing a sale. Most likely, everything you learn from reading about sales isn’t going to be used on your first few contacts, or first few months in the selling profession. You learn as you go, and in the end there is no right or wrong way to sell, if it works and it doesn’t trick people out of their money.

Here are 3 very quick phone sales tips that I’ve learned in the past month:

1. Sound Important and People Will Listen To You

They say, 55% of your message on the phone or in person is TONE of voice. If you sound like a VIP people will automatically listen to you. If you sound like a worm, anyone will quickly shake you off. The second you get on the phone, you need to sound like you have more important things to do. Almost everyone, and especially those you are behind the desk more than most, can detect neediness in your voice, in the first 5 spoken words.

Don’t sound like Mr. Sales Consultant or Mr. Used Car Salesman from Malaysia, INSTEAD, sound like a CEO or an experienced entrepreneur. These types of people don’t care what anyone thinks of them and you can hear it in their voice. It’s true that nice guys often finish last, so don’t sound like one, or you’ll get treated like one.

2. Rely on Impulsive Behavior

Yes!
Sure!
Yeah!
Ok!
These are the kinds of responses you want from people.

Ask anyone anything reasonably non-threatening like,
“Sure, is a nice day, isn’t it?” they’ll say “YES”

Or, in a sales situation: “Can I send you an e-mail with more information about our packages?”

They’ll either say “Sure!” or they’ll say “Uh..No” and feel really bad about it and you’ll have the enjoyment of listening to them try to explain why they said no, “I…umm…don’t like…or um…don’t need any more e-mail coming to my inbox..ok?” People almost never say no without giving a reason, otherwise they’d sound rude and that just doesn’t do, especially in a B2B situation where I need to uphold their reputation.

3. The Best Voice-mail is The One With Little or No Information

Yeah I know, it’s annoying as hell when someone leaves a message and doesn’t give enough information about why they’re calling. But the thing is, it often works. Don’t pitch to them in a voice mail, 98% of the time they wont get back to you, because they already know why you’re calling and can make the decision right there. Thus, no response. Even if they do want your product or service, chances are they are not going to call you back and ask to get sold. Chances are, they misunderstood WHAT you’re even selling, where you’re from etc.

Again, leaving the right messages comes down to TONE OF VOICE. A message like, “Hey it’s Clinton Skakun from XYZ, I’d appreciate it if you could give me a call back, I’m at 546-435-3456, thanks bye.” with the right tone of voice, is excusable. They will most likely call you back and ask what you were calling about. BANG!