Sunday, April 17, 2005

Sally's Success!

One of the reasons Sally is so successful is she doesn't let the grass grow under her feet. We only spoke a couple of days ago and already she has put one of the plans we discussed into action AND it worked.

She had a heart to heart with her Boss, after hours when he was less likely to be distracted or disturbed, and the fact that she was prepared to have an audience this way indicated to him that she was serious. So, for once, he listened.

Sally explained her process to him. It was one she actually learned from me in one of my training programs – Selling to Serving. It was considered a crazy idea when I was teaching it but now most people "sell" this way and it is considered "the" way to sell. Not in Sally's new organization though…

Sally told her boss she wanted just 3 months to do an experiment that would prove what she was trying to tell him, then he wouldn't have to take her word for it, the results would speak for themselves. Intrigued and realizing it wouldn't totally disrupt the sales department (and obviously being in a good mood!), he said yes.

So now, Sally has a handful of sales people in a small team she is developing and training in the Selling-to-Serving method. They are going to follow exactly what she tells them to do. The rest of the sales department will carry on doing what they've always done.

In three months time, Sally knows her small team will be showing increased business results and revenues proving "her" way works and with this irrefutable evidence before them, chances are good that Sally will have the entire sales department following her successful format.

She was much happier when I spoke to her on the phone… excited about this new project and glad she spoke to me and persevered with her new, stubborn, old-fashioned Boss.

You have to give new people a chance and you have to give new ideas a chance. Maybe her new Boss isn't such an old bear after all!

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Have You Met Sally?

Interesting week. Had a call from an old client I haven't spoken to in years! She's just changed jobs and has a new employer… after only three weeks in her new role she's learned she's jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

I DO wish she'd called me before she made that decision!

I'll call her Sally – of course, that's not her real name. Sally is a very smart sales person and has worked her way up into a responsible position – she was actually head-hunted by the firm she is with now, who hearing of her success rate and that of the team she used to head, wanted her for their own organization. However, now that they have her, they want her to do things THEIR way.

Sally has tried to explain the obvious… that being that if doing things their way worked, they wouldn't have been so keen to have her on the team, and the reason she was so successful was because she did things a little differently. Of course, they don't care about that. They just want her to toe the line, do things their way, and somehow be as successful as she was in her old firm. This is actually not an uncommon scenario!

Sally and I tossed around some ideas and she's going to try them. So far she hasn't had any success "talking" to her boss about the situation, but if they don't want her to "walk" it may be in their best interests to compromise. Not that I suggested she threaten them! She calls her new boss "the bear with no hair" – let's just say that among other things, he's a little moody! She'll have to pick her time.

I told Sally that sometimes results speak louder than words and she needs to prove to them her system will work for their organization every bit as well as it did with the last company – and remind them, isn't that why they hired her? I suggested something else to her too…

We'll see! I'll keep you informed!

Friday, April 08, 2005

Days of Our Lives (Cont 11)

Gayle was still feeling the new office manager was working out and really enjoyed her personality. She was funny and brought humor to the office and the rest of the staff and the patient’s enjoyed her. She said that she realized the Universe works it’s own magic and that getting a new office manager is clearly what the Universe felt was right and now she understood that, too.

She had 3 private meetings with colleagues about her business and one of them said he might refer some patients to her. The other 2 were interested in what she was doing and agreed to come by and see her office.

What she wanted to focus on today, were her fears. She said despite the fact that she had over 25 private pay clients all enjoying their treatments, every once in a while she gets scared that she’ll have no patients. We discussed the fear and what it was related to as well as the reality of the fear.

She is working on a brain dump of all her fears and also creating positive visions to overcome them.

Terri Levine, founder and CEO,

http://www.coachinstitute.com

http://www.terrilevine.com

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Days of Our Lives (Cont 10)

I returned from my speaking gig on Celebrity’s Galaxy cruise ship and met with Gayle today.

Gayle was excited to tell me she had a new office manager and things seemed to be rolling along there.

She hosted a gathering at her home for many of her colleagues and discussed with them her new center and the focus on alternative medicine that she has been a student of for about 12 years. Gayle said many were interested in hearing more and she set up individual lunch, breakfast and dinner times to meet with these folks individually to see how they can support each other and their patients.

In the meantime, Gayle shared that her private pay clients coming for the alternative medicine techniques had grown to 23 and she really believed this was going to work.

She also told me she was bringing less physical work home and her mind was able to let go of the financial challenges and work stress. She found more time to go walking, to get massages, to sit in her garden and to simply be with her husband.

In Gayle’s words, “All IS well”.



Terri Levine, founder and CEO,

http://www.coachinstitute.com

http://www.terrilevine.com

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Days of Our Lives (cont. 9)

Gayle came to the call sounding more like her. She said she had 3 people lined up for interviews and began to trust more that the Universe wanted her to have a different office manager and was thrilled so many people rallied around her and gave her leads.

She felt supported and loved.

She wanted to talk about her fear of doing just alternative medicine. She said she feared that other Doctors would think she was not professional.

I asked her if she knew other physicians’ who made this kind of change. She said she knew of 3. I asked her to spend time with each of them over the next weeks. Being honest, discussing her fears. She said that excited her.

We talked about her current practice and her future vision during the remainder of the call. She could hear the passion and excitement in her voice as she talked about the future. I asked her to get back to those feeeeeeeeeeeeeelings and stay there all week long!


Terri Levine, founder and CEO,

http://www.coachinstitute.com

http://www.terrilevine.com