Author Archives: Luca Senatore

About Luca Senatore

Luca Senatore is a fully qualified Mind Coach and his skills include Neuro Linguistic Programming, NLP Coaching, Hypnosis, Body Language Psychology and Influencing Techniques. Luca has divided his career into two main areas; business and personal empowerment. On the business side, Luca’s Mind Coaching model focuses on empowering members of organisations by teaching communication and psychology skills that produce peak performance, turnaround and maximum results. He teaches highly advanced communication techniques to influence how people think, feel and consequently behave. Luca uses a combination of psychology, hypnosis, Neuro Lingiuistic Programming, Neuro Associations, EFT, Mind Coaching and Life Coaching, to help people get from where they are to where they want to be in the shortest time possible. Luca is known for his practical, no nonsense approach. For more information, visit: www.lucasenatore.com

Be True to Yourself, Think Positive!

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Thinking goes on in your mind! So how can anything that goes on in your mind influence the outer world so much?

Often, we engage in limiting beliefs and  negative thoughts which hold us back; thoughts like

  • “I am not good enough”
  • “I have no time”
  • “They don’t understand me”

… and the list goes on. This influences our outer world for several reasons and the most important is that your mind does not know the difference between what is real and what is only in your mind. When you think negative thoughts, your mind sends negative messages to your body, you act negatively and the problem is that everybody will notice it.

The first thing to do in order to change what goes on in your life is to change what goes on in your mind. Think positive!

Positive thinking and gratitude help you receive more of what you have. In fact, all thoughts are really requests for more of the same, in good and in bad.  This is mainly because of the fact that our mind is not able to process negatives. Here is an example: Try really, really hard not to think of a pink house, don’t think of a pink house. Now, what are you thinking about?  Don’s say a pink house! ;-)

In order for our mind to keep from thinking about something, it needs to think about it first, then decide or remember that it does not want to think about it and either change one or more elements of that something or think  about something else instead. So, what does this say? Well, I wonder what a person who keeps on thinking “I don’t want to fail, I don’t want to stay where I am. I don’t want to feel that way anymore…” focuses on. I wonder what requests he/she is sending out; and what do you think this person is likely to receive?

Thinking positive thoughts means stating what you want as if you have it now. With this I am not suggesting that you need to lie to yourself by saying things that you do not believe in. I don’t want to see things better than they are, I like to see things like they are. Not worse either though!

When you catch negative thoughts, change them right away to the positive versions. Here below you can see a brief diagram showing how to change negative thoughts into positive ones.

This will take practice; negative thoughts will try to come in from all angles and the secret is to persist and reframe each and every thought that you are not entirely happy with and this will eventually become an automatic habit.

Another tool is positive affirmations; start now! Write 5 statements that support what you want to be, have or do. Write statements which remind you of how empowered you are, things which inspire you to take action, things which will fill your mind with inspiration, excitement, enthusiasm and positive thoughts.

Starting today, write positive affirmations on Post-It and place them where you are likely to see them often. Be creative! You can print your most powerful affirmations, frame them and hang them on your walls, you can put them in your wallet, etc.

Every day, take at least three five minute breaks and read these affirmations, possibly out loud in front of a mirror.

Gratitude is another great tool which will enable you to use your mind to reach your goals; the key here is to be grateful for what we do have.

I would suggest you take 10 minutes every night or morning to write all the things you are grateful for, meaning it. Begin from the things that we give more for granted; after all, not everybody has the privilege of waking up in the morning feeling healthy, warm and with food on the table. So be grateful for those things too; don’t live anything out.

Once you have a good list of the things that you do have, for which you are grateful, take that image of what you want to be, have or do, that “You” with that final outcome and notice the difference between that “New You” and You now. What skills does the “New You” have that you do not have now? What resources? Once you have that list of those skills and resources, you will notice that some of these skills are simply behavioural and attitudinal. This means that the “New You” has acquired a different way of thinking, behaving and consequently a different physiology. The others may be skills and things that you need to learn.

It helps to take charge of those things now. You may not have the final outcome yet, nothing however stops you from thinking, behaving and appearing like that “New You” right now; you can easily act as if you are that “New You” now. You could easily imagine what it would feel like being that “New You”, and you can feel those feelings now.

This will amplify your focus on that goal you have, because when you act as if you have it now, you are acting as if you have it, behaving as if you have it, appearing as if you have it and thinking as if you have it.

Do you see what this does? You are focusing entirely on your goal; your thoughts are focused on it, your body is focused on it, your language is focused on it and your behaviour is focused on it.

Now, what is the most important skill in achieving something? That’s right, it’s the FOCUS. And there is no better way to focus than this as this way, without consciously realising it, you are focusing on your goal all day, every day, mind and body.

Also, apart from the already valid benefits above, Positive thinking will help you send a positive outlook of your persona to others. Think about this for a moment: Look at the pictures below; the same person, a different expression, clearly a different emotion and, if you listen to your feelings as you look at those pictures, you will notice that one of them makes you feel ad ease and the other does not.

Who would you buy from? Who would you like to socialise with? Who would you trust?

Although perhaps not so clearly, you are constantly sending out your thoughts with your body and people do feel them. Some people may be able to interpret these messages better than others however, even those with no sensory acuity (body language reading skills) will pick up those messages with feelings; they may say things like “I don’t know what it is but I just feel uncomfortable around Mr Left”.

Think positive and the messages that people receive from your paralanguage will be positive.

I Have Decided – Have You?

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Have you ever heard someone say: “Oh, I will quit on Monday! That’s it, I truly had enough on this junk! Let the weekend go buy and then I will quit” or “From January I will change, I will go on a diet and get myself down at the gym” or “That’s it, from tomorrow I will stop drinking at night”?

Seriously, think about all the people who made these kinds of statements and see if you can recall any of them who actually acted on that statement. Chances are that if you have caught anybody say anything similar to the above, none of what wad said has ever come to reality. The person who said “Oh, I would so like to lose some weight” whilst eating a pizza, is still overweight and the person who said that cigarettes will no longer control his life whilst blowing the smoke out, still coughs in the morning while he looks for the lighter.

This is down to one simple but very significant fact: none of the above statements constitute a decision; none of them is structured as a decision nor is it meant as one. They are simply verbalization of preferences, verbalization of what these people would like to have happen in their lives, they would like life to just give them those things but they are not willing to do anything about it.

A true decision is always, with no exception, accompanied by an action; immediately. That means that one must do the most that one can do the moment the decision has been made. This concept represents the most effective way to start, and consequently complete, anything and seems very simple. In some ways in fact, it is simple although, maybe because of its simplicity, many people fail to apply it and thus fail to reach their goals whether that is quitting smoking, losing weight, getting a new job, making money etcetera.

The power of decisions is responsible for the success of people like Thomas Edison who decided that “every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward” and, straight away, carried on seeking the right way. Edison decided that he will keep on trying until he found the right way and he did carry on until he did. Henry Ford who decided that he wanted an 8 cylinder engine mounted in one piece and invested time and money persuading his employees, who declared the project to be impossible, to find a way. Ford decided that he wanted such engine and took action right away. Silvester Stallone decided that he would have been Rocky and even when the 2000 agencies he went to refused him 3 times each, he still persisted. His wife left him, he had no money to eat, he had to sell his dog because he was no longer able to look after him and still, when the one of the agencies he went to, decided to offer him $60,000.00 for the script as long as he gave up on the desire of wanting to play Rocky, he refused and walked away with nothing. He refused and he persisted until the agency accepted with the condition that Stallone would have only received nominal pay and a cut of the profits because they would not believe that a guy who, at least to them, did not look good, did not sound good and simply did not have the right presence to be an actor, could drive Rocky to be a successful movie. They were right: Rocky was not a good movie; Rocky turned out to be a legacy!

Of course, persistence, drive, motivation, ambition, vision and desire all played key roles in the monumental achievements of Edison, Ford and Stallone and others like them, but it all started from a true decision; a decision to accept nothing less, nothing different from the dream they have carefully designed, not even the smallest compromise.

All these amazing outcomes above were once ideas, like the ones that many of us have, like the ones that remain in one’s mind and eventually become regrets. Unless we take these ideas and turned them into Decision and the one and only way known to turn ideas into Decisions is to take action; not tomorrow, not in one hour but right now. This is, symbolically as well as practically, the equivalent of giving the big wheel the first push; it makes the second spin almost inevitable.

“A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” – Anthony Robbins

Image reproduced from http://www.lesca.ca

Complementary Therapy is Dead

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Are you ready for the big change?

The “Complementary therapy” label is about to die and with it many of itspractitioners. This is actually good news because the label is about to die only to make room for a bigger, fresher and more official one; “Therapy” or “Treatment”.

I guess that you may be asking yourself what this means and whether it makes any real difference. In fact, you may be asking yourself whether  you should keep on reading at all. I strongly invite you to  carry on reading as this very article might be the one thing that makes the difference between passion with no money and passion with rewards! This article might give you the opportunity to learn how to ensure that others see you as a professional therapist and that you canbuild a successful business whilst helping others.

In the past, complementary therapy has been criticized,  then acclaimed, then criticized some more, then acclaimed and so on, back and forth. Most of time, complementary therapy rooms were the destination of people with solid spiritual beliefs whilst “professionals”, skeptics and “old fashioned” members of the public would stick to the good old GP prescriptions and nothing else; whether these worked or not.

More and more often today we see people seeking help and advice directly from complementary therapists and GPs themselves are referring more and more clients to alternative therapy professionals. What this does is simple; it kills “complementary” and “alternative” and it makes it more and more official.

Hypnotherapy, EFT, Acupuncture, Reiki and other therapies are becoming more and more popular among the general public and people are getting more and more educated. The main natural consequences of  the above are two which, if ignored, may be the beginning of the end of your therapy business.

1. With the general public being more educated and so you must be more accurate and congruent as the level of awareness raises within the consumers.

2. Having noticed the demand, other people may spot the opportunity to help others whilst making a living and add to your competition.

Whilst some may think that the above are threats, I truly believe that they are a blessing to both therapists and clients. Why? Simple! Clients are safer and better looked after and therapists can make a better living doing a noble profession.

There are two simple things you need to do as therapist in order to make this transformation convenient:

1. Ensure that you are professional in all ways. This includes the way you dress (you must be professional), your knowledge and skills (you must attend CPDs), your premises or the clinic you operate from (which must be clean, well known, located strategically – never work from home unless you have a separate building/detached room), your fees (the lower your fees the lower the perceived value), your website (it must communicate professionally), your business card, your opening times (part timers will struggle) and your marketing knowledge (no marketing = no clients, bad marketing = still no clients and even less money).

2. Your rapport skills. Whatever your profession, you must be able to build rapport with your clients almost instantly. When I first started years ago, the only complaints that I have received (very very few), were not for the results of my therapy/coaching, but because I did not build rapport with my clients. 80% of GPs who did not build rapport with their patients, will receive a complaint. GPs whobuilt rapport with their patients, are less likely to receive complaints even when they do make mistakes.

Being able to build rapport is fundamental if you want to be successful in this business; you work with people not with their problems and many therapists/coaches focus too much in the issues and not enough on clients. They forget that clients are there because they need attention, they do not need attention put on their issues, they need to be directed onto their solutions.

Complementary therapy is dead!

You are all becoming a bigger, more influential and more official group within the healthcare industry.

A Healthy New Year’s Resolution

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A new year just started and again how many of us decided to loose weight on top of the list? Many of us are constantly thinking of trying to lose a little weight and shape up for the new season ahead.  However dieting can be a daunting task and can turn out in a disaster for many as they lose a little weight in the short term, only to put it straight back on again once they finish the diet (or even sooner).  Diets can work in the short term, then once the target weight has been reached, the dieter will begin to eat normally and the weight will go straight back on. It is a never ending battle.

So, what is the alternative? Hypnotherapy can help with weight loss by addressing the issue from a more mind related viewpoint.  Many people have reported a weight loss of up to 6 pounds per week using Hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming and Time Line Therapy.

How easy would it be if temptations are not temptations anymore? What if your stomach could feel full with less food? Hypnotherapy does just that; by reaching the unconscious mind, hypnosis can clear reasons for emotional eating such as stress, sadness, boredom etc. It then establishes alternative behaviours and resources which will cause a natural new approach to food in general and a complete new attitude and the weight stays off. Most people who undertook hypnotherapy to lose weight, reported improvements in other areas of their lives whilst losing weight.

So how does it really work? It’s simple really: when we see, hear, touch or even just think of something, that something creates a certain thought, image of feeling in our mind. This then produces a state of mind and consequently a sensation, mood and/or behaviour.

So if for example you are trying not to eat chocolate (which you like very much), you think that you don’t want to eat chocolate. It must be mentioned that the mind cannot process negative statements and therefore when we think “I don’t want to think about chocolate” we are already thinking about chocolate in the first instance and this alone creates a focus on that thing we do not want to focus on.

When we think about chocolate, we make a certain representation of it; whether this is an image, a sensation or a feeling (this changes from person to person).

For this example, let’s say that when you think of chocolate you get an image in your mind, now that image, which is normally in vivid, bright colours, creates a certain thought and consequently a feeling or sensation which is normally making that piece of chocolate even more compelling. This is, in a nutshell, why it is so hard to resist that temptation and, after a struggling internal battle, you end up biting that piece of chocolate with intense emotions, either passionate love or frustration and revenge.

For many people this can cause a vicious thinking pattern that creates guilt for having given in and therefore, now that we failed, we may as well eat the all block of chocolate. Sounds familiar?

Now stop and think: what would happen if chocolate would create a different set of images, emotions and feelings in our minds? What would happen if this representation would not be that appealing anymore? I guess that we would probably not be attracted to chocolate that much, would we?

This, added to letting go of any emotional issue which may have caused you to look for comfort in food and eat when your body didn’t really need it, generate a natural motivation to exercise and perhaps use the immense power of the unconscious mind to provide you with the sensation that your stomach shrank and that you therefore no longer can eat as much as before even if you wanted and you have found yourself a brand new behaviour, attitude and personality which will help you lose weight like no diet could ever do. And the best part is that all of this will feel ever so natural to you.  Happy dieting now.

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3 Reasons Why Therapists and Coaches Fail

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And 3 things You Must do if you want to  succeed!

If you are a practitioner or a coach, you will certainly know that over 90%of people starting out will fail within the first 12-18 months. Our estimate is that 3 of the remaining 5% will be forced to shut down within the first 24 months and 1 within 36 meaning that only 1 out of 100 new professionals will succeed.

So what are the reasons behind this and, most importantly, how can you  change today and become one of the successful ones?

Here below you will learn the 3 most important steps to take in order to succeed and escape the “Closed” sign on your door and you will be surprised to find that it really is simple and easy. There is however one condition; one factor which will determine whether you succeed or not even with these new notions; that is Action. You must act on what you learn right away, not next week, not tomorrow and not in one hour but right away; you must take at least one action (the biggest you can given the circumstances) as soon as you have finished this article.

Never leave the scene on a decision without taking action!

Okay here we go… what makes people in your business fail?

1. Lack of business sense
That’s right, you might be a great therapist with skills, passion and love for helping people BUT (and this is a really big BUT), unless you learn to understand that you are in business and behave accordingly, you will not make it; there is no exception!

2. Marketing is not Market Inn
Many of you mistake Marketing with Market Inn, an imaginary hotel chain where people meet and do all sorts of wrong promotional activities.

Marketing is a science, marketing needs to be studied (and I don’t mean at school), understood, tested and, most importantly used.

Most of you do not do any marketing at all, waiting on the dream of referrals. Well, it is now time to wake up before the dream becomes your scariest nightmare. Referrals will come but (and again a big one), with time and even then you will need new clients. New clients are your future and here is why:

  • Referrals will not be passed by all your clients as some of them will forget about you. After all you also would want to forget about a problem you had and with it you will also forget the person who helped you overcome it
  • Your old clients may move town
  • Your clients may not want to share their old issues
  • After you have successfully worked with them, they took no action and regressed back to the old issue and of course, blame you!
  • They cannot find your details anymore

Marketing must be done intelligently and continuously.

3. Professionalism
And please remember that I do not mean anything personal with this but (… a big one again), you mustbe professional not only in what you do and the results that you achieve but also in the way you do it, the way you look and the fees that you charge.

See below for more details and solutions.

So, these are the main three issues which keep many from succeeding in this business, now lets look at what you must do in order to save yourself from being part of that 99% who will never make it; but remember, you must start now!

1. Your therapy work might be your love, your passion but remember that you are in a relationship with your clients and your suppliers (whether that’ s your landlord or other). Whether you like it or not, you are carrying out a business transaction, your passion is also a business and thus you must treat it as such.  This point number 1 is all about teaching you to create and maintain a business attitude when you work. It is up to you to draft the policies as long as you have some.

2. Marketing is not a hotel chain but it is a chain that can either pull you up to success or drag you down to failure. Here is what you can do:

  • Join a clinic which offers you serious marketing support. By this I mean a good Google ranking, good general advertising of the clinic, good presence on their web site and a good Google AdWords campaign management
  • Hire a Marketing Expert
  • Learn Marketing
  • Reframe your expectations (not recommended)

3. Professionalism
You might think that dressing casual puts your clients at ease, you might think that “that’s what you are and either they like it or not, it’s their problem” or you might even not think about your dress code. Well all of the above is wrong.

With this I am not suggesting that you should change who you are or dress with suits or white gowns. All I am saying is that you need to look professional, clean  and tidy. Remember that people are putting their problems in your hands and to be frank, if you cannot keep yourself clean, tidy and presentableyou are not going to even hear about my issues!

The above goes for your clinic too.

Your fees reflect  how good you think you are. If you want to give discounts that’s fine but always send your invoice with your usual fees and then apply the discount so that they know what your fees are.

So what do you need to do now?

The 3×3 Essentials in the Complementary Health Business

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Complementary health is first and foremost a business.  Many make the mistake of treating this profession as a passion for which they get paid. It must instead be a profession for which you have passion. The difference is small but critical and it often draws the difference between success and failure.

This article shows the 3 steps to take to ensure that you succeed in complementary health. Follow these steps and your chances to succeed may grow exponentially.

1 – Be professional

  1. Do not work from home. Working from home underlines a lack of professionalism and lack of commitment toward your profession. It is like saying “I cannot be bothered/commit to take an office as this is really something that I do in my spare time”. Even if you only practice on a part-time basis, working from an office tells that you work part-time, working from home tells that you work on your spare time; not the same thing!
  2. Specialise.  Jack of all trades masters of none belong to the past. Today people look for specialised knowledge. At first you may think that specialising in one area, whether that is weight loss, phobias, sport, back pain, or whatever you may specialise in, will reduce the number of enquiries you receive. In reality this is really not an issue. On the contrary you will get more business; there may only be 20,000 people suffering from a phobia in your county against the 5,000,000 seeking help in all areas. 20,000 people is still a lot of people and even if you only got 5% of this, you will need to see 1 client per day for 4 years before you have worked with your 5%. And that is working 5 days a week for 52 weeks of the year – eg no holiday! There are enough clients in any niche.
  3. Do your homework. Make sure that you know your stuff. Don’t improvise and ask for advice from people who have done what you do for longer than you. Ask the question and you may look stupid once, don’t ask and you will always remain stupid.

2 – Be seen

Marketing is important and it is important to get your marketing right. The way you market yourself depends pretty much on what you do. In complementary health however there are a few things that are proven to work. These are:

  • Networking
  • Flyers
  • Competitions
    1. Networking needs no elaboration other than getting out there and talking to people. Let everybody know that you are the expert in whatever it is that you are an expert in. Collect business cards and send them follow up emails after you met. Do not be pushy, something light like: “Hi Greg, it was good to meet you earlier today. Just a quick line to say hi and make sure that you have my contact details. I would like to be included in your newsletter and I would like to include you in mine which I hope you can find useful.”
      You can also go the extra mile and actually ask some of the people you meet at networking events to meet again on a one to one basis to understand more about each other businesses and requirements. There is enough to say about networking for a book to be written; for now, make sure you follow the steps above and a large part of the rest will come naturally.
    2. Flyers are one of those things that some people believe in and some others don’t. The truth is simple: those who believe in flyers understand how to create and use flyers, those who do not believe in them do not know this. Flyers must:
      • Include a head line, sub-headline, photo, call to action, urgency factor, benefit for the client
      • Be delivered to your neighbourhood at least 3 times (eg 3000 flyers to 1000 houses)
      • Be small and essential (not too many words and printed on A6 or A5)
      • Be monitored in terms of results
      • Here is an example of a good flyer

  1. Competitions are the best way known to me to generate traffic to your website and get free press coverage. The way this works is elementary: write to the local press offering to give away a series of treatments to their readers through a competition. The competition will involve that the readers fill out a coupon or enter their details on a webpage and the winner will be given the prize. All those people who did not win can be contacted with an offer such as: “Sorry you did not win! As consolation prize here is a 50% off discount voucher”. This is an excellent way to get targeted traffic and free press coverage.

3 – Business is Business

Business is business and so treat it as such. Here are the 3 main pointers:

  1. Be profitable. Make sure that you are making a profit with every client you see. If you lose 1p every client and you increase the number of clients you see, you will lose more pennies. Analyse your costs including marketing, rent, disposables, taxes, transport and all your other expenses related to the business and make sure that the fees you charge can generate the desired profit for you.
  2. Pricing. Charge what you are worth plus a little more! People associate the fees of a service to the quality of the same. Increasing your prices to the higher end of the scale will not only give you more profits but also more clients and more people will associate more value to your services. Investigate and see what your competitors charge and put yourself at the higher end of that scale.
  3. Plan and forecast. Make sure that you have a business plan so that you have a precise goal and an action plan that backs it up. In short, make sure that you know what you want and what you need to do in order to get it.

This article gives you a good idea of the main points that you must pay attention to when running a complementary health business (or any other small business for that matter). I recommend that you elaborate on every single point and apply these notions to your business as soon as you can.

Top image reproduced from http://www.easyaccountingsolutions.co.uk

Dealing with Difficult People is Difficult …

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Or should it perhaps be “dealing with people is difficult”? As Neil Donald said in his Conversations With God, relationships are the biggest challenge that life presents us with. It takes time and effort to keep a healthy relationship and sometimes even the best efforts are not enough. Dealing with people equals relating to them which means building a relationship of some sort.

Relationships, like most things in life, are made of respect, responsibility, agreements, considerations etcetera; all of these fall into one big basket called Communication. The level of respect we feel a person is giving us is dictated by their communication, whether that’s verbal or non-verbal, with us. The level of responsibility they take or give to us is suggested by communication. We agree to things through communication and the whole relationship cannot function without communication.

The reason why this is stressed so greatly is simple: dealing with people means dealing with relationships, being in a relationship with someone must happen through communication and thus it would be useless to even attempt to deal with difficult people if we do not deal with the level of communication between them and us.

Often difficult relationships, situations and outcomes are nothing more than the result of poor communication; change the way you communicate and the response that you will receive will change too. This does not mean your words, not only words at least. Paralanguage, or non-verbal communication, represents more than 80% of the message we send across; when my wife looks at me saying “Luca Senatore!!!” after I have let my son eat Nutella, I know she is not just calling my name! Ever heard a friend calling another friend with a rather offensive name which, with a smile and a different tonality, becomes a compliment?

Communication is the most powerful interaction tool we have and yet, many of us do not know how to use it. This is the very core of dealing with difficult people; difficult people do not know how to use communication to express their needs/requirements/preferences. Difficult people are difficult because we do not like, rightly so, their way of communicating; they are only different to us, even if “us” means the rest of the world. Difficult people are not difficult to themselves; most of the times they would not think that they are being difficult which makes the whole thing even more difficult right?

So how can we deal with difficult people?

Easy, through communication! Whilst every situation is unique and needs to be analysed individually, the following tips may reveal themselves magical if you apply them rigorously. You must remember that there are different kinds of difficult people: the grumpy ones, the “I know better” ones, the lazy ones, the rude ones, the nosy ones, the “Everything is bad” ones, the “You have no rights over me” ones and the list goes on and on and on.

Whilst the specific process of dealing with them may vary and there might be several techniques available for you to do so, the core is always the same: Force them to change the way they communicate! That’s right; this is the one key to dealing with different people easily and quickly. If you are dealing with a grumpy person, you must elicit in him or her, a non-grumpy communication. If you are dealing with a lazy one, then you must elicit a non-lazy communication. What this means in practical terms is that you must persuade the person to snap out of the old, unproductive state of mind and get into a more productive one.

So how do you do that? Easy… Ask! That’s right, if you ask questions people must think. When you talk to people often they drift off thinking about something else. The mind can think up to 7000 times faster that our mouth can talk and so whilst you say one think they could be busy processing 7000 other things. When I teach sales techniques I often tell my student to follow the TTT approach. The TTT approach is Tell them what you are going to tell them, Tell them and Told them what you have told them. This is because generally, during a typical 60 minute conversation, people will only take in 40% of what you have said. The rest will be forgotten.

You can alter this by asking questions. When you ask questions people have to think before they can give you an answer and this keeps them hooked and focused on what you are saying. Whilst in sales we want to ask questions to influence the way people feel about our product or service, when dealing with difficult people our aim is that of influencing our “receiver” to think in a different way from their usual negative one. So to a grumpy man who we need to complete a project by the end of the week we may ask: “I have a problem Mr Grumpy: I have a challenging situation and I don’t know if this project can be completed by the end of the week, do you think you might be able help me find a solution?” or “I don’t know whether this can be done by the end of the week, what do you think Mr Grumpy?”. Things like these force us to think. They require rationality, analysis and focus which soften the edge of emotions and also they make the person feel responsible, and therefore capable, worthy and respected, for an evaluation. This might elicit the wish to help, which is a common human need, from Mr Grumpy.

So you have asked Mr Grumpy to give you something proactive and positive, “forcing” him to change they thinking pattern. The same concept can be applied to other “difficult” personality traits, simply ask questions which are specific and can lead the “receiver” to the opposite state of mind.

Whilst there are hundreds of good techniques to deal with difficult people, the above will help you a great deal if applied and so, as I often say and yet not often enough, take Action and use what you know.

Telesales in Complementary Health

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Whilst not specifically designed to gain more one to one clients, telesales can be very effective when selling complementary health packages, seminars or training to companies. It is however very important that you know how to approach a prospect on the telephone as there specific techniques which, if applied correctly, may change your outcomes radically.

Here below I have included an article about telesales and, although it may appear to be addressed  to a corporate environment, the very same techniques can be used to contact companies which may be interested in a complementary health package for their employees.

Telesales does not work for 90% of people who pick up the phone and the truth is that this happens because often we pick up the phone but we forget to pick up ourselves from whatever state we were in. If done correctly, telesales can not only greatly increase our revenue and profits, but also increase productivity and produce extra free time.

There is so much to say about telesales that I could easily write a book about it and add it to the many already written. If applied correctly however, the following techniques will be more than enough to help you immensely to optimise your efforts on the telephone.

In order to carry out a successful telesales campaign here is what you must do:

Preparation

1. Prepare a document which allows you to make telephone calls systematically – a spreadsheet on which you can insert all the details of the companies you will be contacting including the notes that you will make after the call.

2. Group the calls into categories: “Appointment making”, “Seeking the name of the decision maker” (usually for larger companies), “Confirmations”, “Second visits” etcetera. This means that you will be making calls to companies belonging to the same category for long enough time to get into the momentum and consequently be more productive. This will allow you to pick up the jargon and generally be more familiar with the industry.

3. Have the purpose (goal) of the call clear in mind – know your outcome. Do you want to make a sale, find out the name of the buyer, get an appointment? Be sure as to what you want from that call and ask for it.

4. If you have appointments out of the town where you are based, arrange other visits to maximise the efforts

On the telephone

There are several things you can do to accelerate the process of building rapport both in person and on the telephone. Like attracts like remember; so if you look or sound more like your prospect you have more chances to build rapport quickly – this is called mirroring and/or matching. It is however very important that you do not sound/look obvious or you will not only lose the sale but also look ridiculous. I have seen this happen to many people and it really does not look pretty!

If done subtly, mirroring can be very helpful and by making slight changes to your paralanguage (tone, speed, pitch and sometimes accent) when talking on the telephone, you can see miraculous progress in your rapport building skills. If you think about it for a moment, it is absolutely normal that a person who speaks very slowly might find it easier to talk to people who also speak slowly. People who speak very quietly might find it disturbing to talk to people who shout. For this reason, if the person that picks up the telephone has a soft voice and  with a deep, low voice says “H-e-l-l-o, C-a-m-b-r-i-d-g-e C-e-n-t-r-a-l H-o-t-e-l; H-o-w- c-a-n- I h-e-l-p- y-o-u?” very s-l-o-w-l-y, you ought to slow down as well and perhaps lower your pitch to a deeper level (this is deep for you, do not try and match that of your prospect as matching the voice of an 60 year old Sicilian man would make you look rather ridiculous).

Use your client’s vocabulary; if they tell you that they want something elegant, say that you will give them something elegant – not smart! If they say that they want to see how your pictures willlook on the site, do not tell them that they will fit in well or that it will feel good to have them on there. Tell them that they will look good!

If they talk about colleagues when referring to their competition, call them colleagues, not competitors. You get the point.

Use your body as if you were there in person. People might not see you when you talk to them over the telephone but with your voice you also send other messages. If you smile, they feel it. If you feel insecure they feel it. They might not be able to pin point what it is but they will feel something is not right. So, behave on the telephone as if you were there in person.

Oh yes, I almost forgot… Do NOT make calls in your pajama! You are working and so dress accordingly. I am not even going to get into the reason why this is important, simply follow my advice.

Get used to “talking in questions”

This means that you need to learn to talk to your prospects by asking questions. Look at the examples below and see how you can use questions to lead the conversation you where you need it to go:

Prospect: “I do not have money”
You: “Alright, so if  you can see that this is going to put money into your account,  would you be happy to buy now?” Or “That’s exactly why you need to increase the conversion rate of your website which is what this product will do for you. So, if  you can see that this is going to put money into your account,  would you be happy to buy now?”.

P: “I am not interested”
Y: “What is it that you are not interested in?”

P: “I need to think about it”
Y: “What is that question that I need to answer now which will enable you to see how you can benefit from this right now?”

P: “Our business does not need that”
Y: “I am sure that your business does excellently already and I wonder whether a professional set of photos, which make your website even more elegant than it already is, could help your prospects understand how much you care for your business and thus for your guests?”

P: “I need to see some numbers, some stats”
Y: “Sure, what would seeing the numbers and stats give you?”

These are only a few examples; you need to consider the specific circumstances before you choose what to say. As you know, some of the above might be relevant and appropriate in certain circumstances but not in others.

The purposes of asking questions are 1. To know what drives the prospect and what they are trying to achieve with their objection/statement/question.

For example, in this example

P: “I need to see some numbers, some stats”
Y: “Sure, what would seeing the numbers give you?”

The answer to your question will reveal the need that the person is trying to satisfy. This could be reassurance, analytical personality, something to show to the boss etcetera.

In this example

P: “I need to think about it”
Y: “What is that question that I need to answer now which will enable you to see how you can benefit from this right now?”

There is something that your prospect is not sure about and it is your job to find out what that something is and clear the insecurity. Or maybe, the person needs to speak with somebody else before making the decision because he or she does not have the authority to decide.

And 2. Lead the conversation to where you want it to be – i.e. “So, if I can show you how this can help you increase your sales, you are ready to buy?” moving from the problem to its solution and then to the closing of the deal.

Listen to the real needs

When people object it a good sign; it is a sign that they are interested but are not able to overcome insecurities about your proposition and are asking you to do so. For example, when people say things like “I have no money” there are two possible truths:

1. They have no money – it is unlikely for most business to be in such position when the investment required for your product or service is below £1,000.00. If however you find one of those, my advice is to walk away unless you truly feel that your product/service alone could really change they cash flow issues virtually instantly in which case you can persuade them further. This is however a subject on its own.

2. They feel that they have to pay money; they feel that your product/service is a cost. This means that you failed to illustrate that the value that your proposition would add to their business is way higher than the investment required. What the prospect is telling you here is “I do not believe that I can benefit from your proposition and so I feel that this would be a cost and not an investment. Please help me understand that it is indeed and investment that will bring results”.

Also, when people say things like “I need to think about it” or “Can you send me an email” after you have pitched to them, it usually indicates that there is something that stops them from buying now. This might be that they do not have the authority to buy, they are not “sold” or anything else that stops them from buying now. This is why questions like “What is that question that if I could answer would allow you to buy now?” could be powerful.

Remember however that you need to consider the specific situation as such questions might not be appropriate in certain situations. Experience and common sense will teach you that.

Mastering the techniques

1. Print this and read through it several times until you are totally familiar with the notions included.

2. Write down 5 false options every day – False options are propositions which give the impression that all the power of choice is in the hands of your prospect when it really is in yours. For example: “Would 3pm be suitable or would 4:30 be better?”. In this example, the prospect might feel as if they are deciding and, truthfully, they really are, only they are deciding between 2 options which both suit you. They are deciding between seeing you at 3pm or 4:30pm (or today and tomorrow, Wednesday or Friday etcetera) but they are not deciding between seeing you or not; that’s given for certain. This technique will not work all the time but it will work more often than not.

3. Read the false options twice after you wrote them

4. Write down 5 statements per day which include embedded commands “If I can show you that it is convenient for you to    buy from me now, would you be happy to go ahead?” Embedded commands are commands hiding in a sentence. “Buy from me now” is the embedded command in the sentence above. This will not make the client buy instantly like a puppet but it will enable the client to be more at ease with the idea of doing so. When you then verbalise the sentence, you will include a pause between the word preceeding the embedded command and the command. You may also slightly emphasize the command by changing the tone of voice slightly. Remember subtlety is key.

When I train sales people, I spend a great deal of time and advanced techniques to develop the ability of constructing and using embedded commands and so the above ought to only be a slight introduction to them.

5. Once you have written the 5 statements, read them twice (applying the slight pause necessary to make it effective).

6. Start practicing your mirroring (verbal – not body language for now) with friends/TV/radio.

7. Have that conviction when you talk about your product or service. This means believing firmly that it is beneficial for the client

8. Write down the list of the 5 most important benefits of your product/service and repeat them out loud 10 times each every morning – for at least 2 weeks

Do everything suggested above to the letter and I guarantee you that your telesales skills will improve immensely. If those improve, you will sell more, if you sell more you will have more time and more money – more success. And guess what, I am not even charging you for this!