Tom Cuskey

Associate Publisher

Scotsman Press

Saint Peter is standing at the gates of heaven interviewing a young man who had just arrived.

"I'm looking through your file and don't really see anything in here about good things you did in your life" said St. Peter.

"Well," says the young man, "I once stood up to gang of big, ugly bullies who were picking on this poor, defenseless young lady. All by myself, too. Told them they'd have to go through me to get to her!"

"That's wonderful," St. Peter replies. "It's not in your file, though. When did this happen?"

"Oh, about five minutes ago."

It's never too late to turn things around, is it? TV commercials show beautiful people working out at the gym, but trust me, it's chubby types like me that are there. I know - I've just rejoined my local sweat shop. It's because we always believe we can move things in the other direction. Every day people spend good time, money and effort on weight loss, habit-busting, financial planning and more, very often at the eleventh hour of their dire situation. Because here in the land of opportunity, we know it's never too late to improve.

The same is true of our sales careers. Very true. There is a direct link between our current craponomic situation and the fact that Erika Perez and I put more than 100 people through FCPNY "Back to Basics" training in 2009. And nearly 80 successful veteran salespeople attended the great Jim Busch's training session in Rochester on October 23, 2009. No doubt, many of you have participated in other sales and motivational trainings this year in hopes that it's not too late to turn things around. And it's not - as long as you make the complete 180-degree turn.

Here's the point. We all love training sessions. A great break in our routine, new ideas, new faces, lunch...yadda and so on. The problem is actually applying what we learn to the day-in, day-out of what we're doing. Real change in our approach. For the great majority of us, what've we've done is not bringing the same results anymore.

Here's what I suggest trying:

1. Make an audio (or video) recording of your current basic sales presentation.

2. Involve yourself in a triangle. No, not that kind. I'm a soccer coach. In soccer, everything works best in a triangle of players. So grab two of your colleagues, sit at a table and each of you make a presentation to the other two. Take notes - you have to find at least three, but preferably four or more different ways of spinning parts of your sales-tale than you do currently.

3. Rehearse - for at least fifteen minutes on each of the next three days, you have to look in a mirror and practice your new sales presentation until you can give it in a smooth, conversational approach.

4. Get back together with your triangle colleagues and give them the pitch, followed by a listen-to of your recorded original presentation. Make sure all agree it's new and different for you. And powerful!

5. Day One - whatever your start day (typically the day after your ad deadline), head out to your turf and find three prospects - new prospects - that you can try your new approach with. You have to keep going until you give the new pitch three times (don't quit!).

6. Review - How did it go? How did you feel? "Uncomfortable" should be one of your answers. Real positive change takes time and it should make you feel a little odd at first if it's really significant change. It should also start to invigorate you. The same feeling as dropping those first few pounds or seeing the first return from a new financial plan you're on.

On the other hand, if you spend two weeks on a new diet and nothing happens, you'd change the diet. This is no different. You may have to keep tweaking until you see new life from the old territory.

In closing, a few ideas taken from recent trainings for finding something new to try:

* PROPECTS - where haven't you been? Have you really looked for new stuff on AdMall? Have you actually asked each of your Top-10 customers for a referral?

* PROBING - ask them what their unique selling proposition is? What separates them from their competition? Do they know how much market share is available for them to grab while the economy is soft?

* PRESENTATION - look at your history. What do you sell the least of? Inserts? Classifieds? Make an effort to present in detail that "new-for-you" product in every presentation you make for the next three weeks and see if your sales in these areas improve.

* CLOSING - go online and learn a few new techniques. I found some at www.allbusiness.com and that was the first in pages and pages of idea sources when I Googled "closing the sale".

Sales is still the greatest profession in the world for those who want to be challenged and have a direct hand in their personal success. Times are changing more quickly than ever, and we must do the same. Try a new approach...before it's too late!