John Lees Articles

Your Sales People – Are They ‘Story-Tellers’ or ‘News Readers’? - Click To Read Article
“One fascinates, the other frustrates…”

You will be the same in 5 years as you are today, except for two things: the people you meet and the items you read… - Click To Read Article
Are you evolving, revolving...or devolving?

You don’t need a business plan until you have worked out how to be valuable and successful! - Click To Read Article
A business plan is the consummation of purpose, expectations and intended action

You will never be short of sales if you are… - Click To Read Article
You can't help customers if you can't help yourself

Why So Many Senior Managers Become Junior Leaders - Click To Read Article
‘Junior Leaders’ abound in business and they have a profoundly negative effect on people, markets and results.

When It Comes To SellingWe Are All Born Losers - Click To Read Article
“…Look at the evidence of sorrowful selling in our society…”

What is The Purpose of Business - Click To Read Article
“One of the most interesting facts about leaders in business is that their primary goal is not to be ‘successful’.”

When you sell a better belief you will find much relief, and compared to all suppliers…perhaps become chief! - Click To Read Article
To sell a better belief, it is critical to focus on the 4th factor

When it comes to setting traps to win new customers…be sure to snare with flair! - Click To Read Article
The market is seduced by commercial and personal temptations

What do financial planners really sell…and how should they sell it? - Click To Read Article
What financial planners sell is not what they do, it is what they get done…for clients.

Weakness comes naturally; strength comes by courage, design and great effort! - Click To Read Article
The greatest fight in your life will not be with customers, colleagues or superiors...it will be with yourself!

Vast numbers of sales people sound like achievers in the office…but become deceivers in the market! - Click To Read Article
The best people in business have only one standard when it comes to their treatment of people, and that standard applies to everyone they communicate with

To Win In Business, You Must Stay ‘Positively Depressed’! - Click To Read Article
“… So the challenge, and indeed the obligation, is to look for problems."

TO ‘MAKE MONEY’ YOU MUST SEE TWO ECONOMIES … NOT JUST ONE! - Click To Read Article
We must learn how to earn money before we can invest and manage it …

To Win The Service Battle...You Must First Declare War! - Click To Read Article
“…The business equivalent of a declaration of war is a ‘service promise’ that offers true and distinctive value to customers…”

To succeed in sales, this is the challenge: design your job well, learn your job well, sell your job well…and do your job well! - Click To Read Article
Unlike theatrical performers, most sales people 'rehearse on opening night'!

To build long term business…list the faults of your customers and make their weaknesses your strengths! - Click To Read Article
If customers didn't have weaknesses when it comes to getting the best our of your company and its products...there would be no need for your sales force

To succeed in business, in the sense of advancement, earnings and enjoyment…you must avoid being a walking contradiction! - Click To Read Article
Successful business people operate by only one, very high standard when it comes to communicating with everyone they deal with...and that standard keeps on getting better

To create a positive ‘economic outlook’ for 2009, learn to ‘look out’ at the market to see serious sales potential… - Click To Read Article
The difficult times we are experiencing do not require us to use bravado, or to brace ourselves for what might come...it is is a time to use our brains, so as to appreciate where opportunities can be found, and then converted into results

To be comfortable in life, get out of your comfort zones in business! - Click To Read Article
Bad business habits are easy to get into and hell to get out of

To improve sales we must stop ‘up-selling’ & start ‘down-selling’! - Click To Read Article
Like most ideas in selling, 'up-selling' is the reverse of what the market needs

To lift your sales to new heights, you must learn to look down on customers - Click To Read Article
An aerial view of the market always shows a better way to move forward

Two key rules for personal and business success: always give your best…and consistently look for the best in others - Click To Read Article
Unhealthy people don’t lecture on fitness, and miseries in business can’t sell pleasing solutions!

Those Who Serve…Succeed! - Click To Read Article
“Serving is an important exercise in giving your personal best, and it just so happens that those who serve ... also succeed!”

The ‘spectrum of selling’, from the point of access to success! - Click To Read Article
The area of access is full, while the area of success is almost empty!

“The war of the worlds” novel in 1898 was science fiction, but today in business the battle is real and unabated…and rarely debated! - Click To Read Article
If you won't treat colleagues like you treat customers, why not treat customers the way you treat colleagues?

The Secret Of Sales Success:Mood, Mode, Made! - Click To Read Article
“…you can set a new and more dynamic business focus and course, and in the process ensure that the mood of the company is of the highest quality…”

The Problems Caused By Marketing for Sales - Click To Read Article
“When marketing fails to sell ... the sales team fails at selling!”

The Selling Process- As Seen by Customers - Click To Read Article
Customers are experts when it comes to judging the sales performance of their suppliers’ company reps

The Selling Race With Few Competitors - Click To Read Article
“Winners in business sell opportunities ... losers sell overheads!”

The Move From Personal Competency… To Leading a Team - Click To Read Article
Managers have no right to expect from staff any more than they are personally willing to project to staff

The “pay to play” factor is still ignored by most business people! - Click To Read Article
Do you sell products or results?

The move from being just competitive…to compelling! - Click To Read Article
There are only three choices when it comes to your service stance...and only the third level will pay serious dividends

The market sees sales people as lurking wilfully, or working worthily - Click To Read Article
Is the time you spend in the market just killing time, or killing competitors?

The measure of your success is influenced by what you measure - Click To Read Article
The challenge is to measure success and then sell success

The incredible selling power of ‘the silent promise’… - Click To Read Article
There are special things we can do for customers and prospects that we can't tell them about - we must simply deliver these elements as unexpected parts of our service

The Board Of Clients - Click To Read Article
A Unique Marketing Strategy…

The “hunter & gatherer” idea is absolute nonsense! - Click To Read Article
The notion that only 'some' of the sales team will know how to sell is an insult to other team members...and awful news for customers and prospects

The distance of marketing, the dilemma of sales staff, the displeasure of customers…all leads to the death of management! - Click To Read Article
Management begins to die when it fails to understand the lives of customers

The crucial sales choice between ‘I’m ready when you are’…and ‘I’m ready! Are you?’ - Click To Read Article
Waiting on custmers beats waiting for customers

The answer to this invaluable question will create valuable strategies, team motivation…and incredibly good sales! - Click To Read Article
Sales leaders have the answers because they ask the questions!

Service Wins Business, Then Loses it! - Click To Read Article
“…no matter how much faith suppliers may place in ‘service’, their customers have little or no interest in the issue at all!”

Selling starts with an assertion that attracts, distracts…or attacks! - Click To Read Article
If you don't at the end in selling, you will be finished at the beginning

Sales People Shouldn’t Have to Get Out to Get On! - Click To Read Article
“…companies have signalled to sales reps that the only way to get on in business is to get out of sales representation! …”

Sales can only be made when you reach the 3rd and 4th ‘customer columns’! - Click To Read Article
Customers 'receive' all presentations in one of four ways, and only two have any real meaning

Poor Sales? Bad Marketing! - Click To Read Article
Marketing writes the songs so to speak and sales people sing them, so if sales are disappointing you have serious marketing problems

People in business that learn and grow don’t just take notes…they make notes! - Click To Read Article
The challenge is not to memorize, it is to realize!

“Probe 6”: A key device to improve your sales efforts and results in the future - Click To Read Article
An explanation and examination of six key areas of sales success

People that use small talk never make big sales! - Click To Read Article
The challenge is to be valuable, not voluble

On second thoughts, this is how to achieve sustained sales success… - Click To Read Article
Our first thoughts are the extent of our current knowledge, while second thoughts take us into the future

Most Vision Statements Reveal Management Weakness Not Strength - Click To Read Article
Vision, n. “a vivid imaginative conception or anticipation”

Most sales people try to sell a drawn out recipe…instead of a succinct menu! - Click To Read Article
The market is interested in deeds, not detail

Memo to managers: ‘you can have your backside in the office now and then, but your mind and heart must always be in the market! - Click To Read Article
Customer success must precede organizational success

“Let’s find out what customers think about our service, without having to talk to them” - Click To Read Article
Due to their continuing and complete detachment from customers, too many managers insist on using service surveys that actually add to the service problems!

List the faults of your customers and make their weaknesses your strengths! - Click To Read Article
Don't observe and complain about market weaknesses...act on them!

Is Your Company Seen as a General Supplier…or a Generative Supplier? - Click To Read Article
This is a critical question to confront, especially if your business is intent on winning new customers… and retaining good customers

Is Your Sales Team Expansive Or Just Expensive - Click To Read Article
An effective sales team is a welcome investment, while an ineffective sales team is an unwanted cost... An effective sales team is a welcome investment, while an ineffective sales team is an unwanted cost...

Incentives… and Other Impediments to Sales Success - Click To Read Article
If you wanted me to ride a motorbike and I did too, but I had no idea how to ride one, would you organise training for me or an incentive? This is a silly question, of course, however in business incentives are used over and above motivation and training to a frightening extent.

In hard times, cutting back on costs does not take talent…but moving forward in sales does involve a special gift! - Click To Read Article
There is no point being Gung-Ho! at 'pulling back' in these trying times, if your attempts to move forward in sales are Ho-hum

Improving your effectiveness on the phone, or how to be lord of the ‘rings’! - Click To Read Article
We all have to use the phone to conduct business, but not like 99% of tele-marketers do...

In selling, when the student is ready to learn…the teacher is never far away! - Click To Read Article
Leaders in business always seem to be just getting started

In business, the ‘worlds’ include suppliers, their sales people, their internal divisions, their customers, their customers’ customers and the staff of their customers. The reference to ‘war’ relates to the various ‘worlds’ being at odds with each other, to the point of becoming enemies and doing harm to each other. For example… - Click To Read Article
The market's message to suppliers is very clear: 'do me a favour!'

If only customers and prospects went to ‘buying school’ - Click To Read Article
“Why is it that customers and prospects rarely if ever complain to companies about the unprofessional, unbusinesslike, unproductive behaviour of their sales people…?”

If You Need To Reduce Profits… Do Some sales Training! - Click To Read Article
Take the sales team off the road, pay big money to feed them nonsense, send them back to market worse than ever ... and watch results plummet!

If you have ‘happy customers’… you could be heading for trouble! - Click To Read Article
A 'happy customer' can be easily seduced by rival suppliers, either for a short while or forever...and so we must proceed to a higher service goal

Hypothetically, if you wrote to the market about your service promise…which of these two letters would represent the truth? - Click To Read Article
When it comes to communicating with customers, many senior managers seem to feel that websites and ads are more important than sales people

If you have team members that are apart from your service promise, rather than a part of it…use the ‘amnesty factor’ - Click To Read Article
An idea that allows staff to step up to, or away from the plate...

If your attitude and results are falling behind, learn to lead with your mouth! - Click To Read Article
Say it, think it...do it!

How To Create Compelling Value Propositions - Click To Read Article
Imagine the futility of sales people ‘trying’ to win new customers and to develop and keep good customers with unremarkable offerings.

How To Build A Winning Team - Click To Read Article
The most important step in creating a professional and productive team is to recruit the right people.

How To Avoid Being an Expert Dunce - Click To Read Article
expert dunce n., & n. someone who knows much but sells little

High-achievers in selling make more mistakes than average performers…but they do so before they go to market! - Click To Read Article
There is a difference between failing...and failure

Every negative move you make in business is always twice as bad as it first seems! - Click To Read Article
To lose a sale is bad. To lose the customer too is much worse!

Don’t ever forget that you sell to people who are both valuable and vulnerable, just like me! - Click To Read Article
Customers and prospects are very smart in their business, but not in yours

DO YOU SELL FAR MORE THAN YOU CHARGE FOR? - Click To Read Article
We might charge for our products or services, but this is not what we sell; we sell progress

Do You Want or Need Business Growth? - Click To Read Article
There’s a big difference between what people want and need in life, and the same principle applies to business.

Customers and prospects prefer to be told in a nice way, not sold in any way! - Click To Read Article
Just as you would expect your doctor to tell you what is best, so do customers

Do you sell opportunities to the market, or just overheads? - Click To Read Article
The market needs more productivity, not more products

Beware Old Sayings in Business Many Are Outright Lies - Click To Read Article
“Knowledge is power” and “the customer is always right” are but two prime examples of nonsense circulated in the world of business

Beware the ‘contradictions’ that lead to failure and derision… - Click To Read Article
Don't fall for the trap of pretending to be special in business

At the start and close of all sales calls, you either assert or desert…yourself! - Click To Read Article
How to get off to the best possible start in selling

An idea for managers: ‘beckon the team before you push the team!’ - Click To Read Article
The management art of 'working backwards' from the market, so as to move forwards in service and sales

A Franchise Is Like A Car… But Who’s In The Driving Seat? - Click To Read Article
A franchisor provides a franchisee with a franchise, and the franchise resembles a specific kind of car, built for successful journeys ... providing the franchisee takes the driving wheel.

A recession: is it coming, here now…or mostly in our minds? - Click To Read Article
Difficult trading times do not require us to brace ourselves, or to engage in bravado. The real challenge is to use our brains

A critical marketing decision: "To sell intelligence...or just items" - Click To Read Article
Items refers to 'products and services' for sale, and there is no shortage whatsoever for such 'items. Intelligence though, is in very short supply...and much needed by the markets we serve

A serious selling challenge: to conform to the market…or to transform the market - Click To Read Article
The majority of companies spend more time, effort and money on the creation of websites and advertisements, than they do on ensuring that their sales people are incisive and decisive.


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