Create For Cash

Create Your Own Job

Home

Learn From the Mistakes of Others

I often wonder who the first food tasters were and how they knew what was poisonous and what wasn’t. Maybe this is why there are so few real innovators because being the first to do something can be scary and sometimes dangerous. We like to know that someone else has been through the trial and error first before we decide to jump in.

learning from others
learning from others

I was in the grocery store today looking up at the eggs on the shelf and a woman leaned over and said “Be careful”. She pointed at the ground to a pile of egg yolks with a big footprint in it. “I learned the hard way”, she said, “I almost slipped and broke my neck”.

The first thing I thought was what a tragedy it would be to break your neck on a pile of egg yolks in the grocery store. Not skiing the Alps or drag racing at 150 miles an hour, but in the egg aisle at Ralph’s. [Read more…] about Learn From the Mistakes of Others

Speaker Sponsorship

Every day more entrepreneurs are entering the speaking arena. Granted, public speaking isn’t for everyone. It does take a special talent to want to get up in front of a group of strangers and speak. But if you have the talent and you have the expertise, why not share it?

speaker sponsorship
speaker sponsorship

The problem is, once a market starts to get over-saturated you have to work even harder to find people who will pay you for that expertise. These days way too many meeting planners have stopped paying speakers.

If you’ve ever thought about becoming a speaker, you should know how much work goes into it. Writing a speech and giving a great speech are only a fraction of what you’ll spend your time on. Most of your time will be spent on getting the work. And getting free speaking jobs is much easier than getting a paid one. But there is a way to guarantee you’ll get paid every time and that’s through sponsorship. [Read more…] about Speaker Sponsorship

How to Sell Over the Phone

cold calling
cold calling

I made a call to a company today to find out about their legal services. The guy on the phone used the word “like” every few seconds. This made him sound unprofessional, and made me uncomfortable having him handle any legal issues. I would feel equally uncomfortable with a doctor who talked that way, but it really goes for anyone in a business position.

This got me thinking about how people can make slight changes in their voice and etiquette that will help them sell more over the phone.

  • Eliminate the word “like” – We all like to be liked on Facebook, but like, the word is like, totally overused. Nothing screams being unprofessional more than overusing that word. Like anything (used correctly here), you can break yourself of the “like” habit. The next time you start to say the word, pause briefly and continue. The more you practice not using it, the easier it will get. Practice not using it at all and you will eventually become more articulate. [Read more…] about How to Sell Over the Phone

In Sales, No Means Maybe

I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve actually grown to love cold calling. I like that it’s active, not passive. And it’s infinitely fascinating to deal with human nature on such a personal level that you’ll never be able to get from an email. That’s not to say that everyone is nice or that everyone says yes. In fact, most people say maybe. And even when they say no, many are still saying maybe. At least that’s what I’ve learned in the past couple of weeks.

selling
selling

I sell everything from products to services and talk to a wide variety of people. Meeting planners, small business owners, mom bloggers, promotional products distributors, retailers, wholesalers, etc. I talk to people from all over the world in countries I never even knew existed.

If I contact someone and they flat out say no to me, I cross most of them off my list. So imagine my surprise this week when I was contacted by two companies that said no before. I had to go back and check my records just to make sure. Yep, great big X across the page. (yes, I still write things out by hand) It wasn’t a casual no, but more of a “hell, no” Not interested, no way, no how. These were calls that were completely out of the blue. This time it was a bending over backwards to please kind of call. Okay, I’m stumped. Pleased, but stumped. [Read more…] about In Sales, No Means Maybe

Are You Really Listening to Your Customers?

When you travel you get the best chance to observe good customer service firsthand. A hotel is your home away from home, and you have many places to choose from. It’s the customer service that makes the difference between a great experience or a lousy one. So, on my recent trip to NY I got to see some of both.

listen to your customers
listen to your customers

I got to the hotel quite late and was just ready to get to sleep. I quickly found out that the heat had two settings, boiling hot or freezing cold. There was a draft so bad it blew the curtains. And the heating system was so noisy I couldn’t even hear the TV. When I checked in, the only thing I asked for was a quiet room with temperature control. I didn’t care if it was the size of a closet with no frills.

An employee came up to see if he could fix the heat and said he would have to call the maintenance guy in the morning. Really? So, I would have to freeze all night? They offered me a free breakfast and a foot rub to make up for it. Okay, so they didn’t offer a foot rub, but a free breakfast wouldn’t save me from hyperthermia and lack of sleep. They finally moved me to a bigger room which was slightly better, but still very noisy. The whole time I was there I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. No warmth or friendliness. And they definitely weren’t listening. I couldn’t help thinking that the place could have been run better by robots.  [Read more…] about Are You Really Listening to Your Customers?