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Sam Allman Articles

Written by: Sam Allman

What it takes to be an Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
What is an entrepreneur? Are you one? Do you fit the mold? The word “Entrepreneur” comes from the French word entreprendre (to undertake) + eur (-or). Thus, an entrepreneur is one who undertakes, or an undertaker. (Not in the funeral director sense.) One who undertakes to organize an enterprise. Just because you started a business or own a store doesn’t mean you’re a true entrepreneur.

Are You a Rookie or a Pro? - Click To Read Article
In a recent study at Cornell University, it was found that people who are arrogant about what they know are incompetent. In other words incompetent people don’t know that they are incompetent. That also matches a study that found that average and mediocre sales people consider themselves outstanding or peak performers. How come on average, the top 25% of a sales force generates nearly 60% of a company’s actual sales increases?

What to Do in a Down Economy or The Magnificent Seven - Click To Read Article
It’s easy to survive when business is good. There is never going to be a magic solution to save everyone when times are tough. The measure of a business is whether they flourish in bad economic times not in good. Maybe that’s why the average lifespan of a business is only seven and a half years. “If your business is not eight years old, the odds are it will never be.” I will share with you several strategies the will not only help you survive, but thrive in this down economy.

Customer Intimacy Leads to Customer Loyalty - Click To Read Article
Gallup research shows that satisfied customers do not come back. Only loyal customers come back. Have you ever had a previous customer come back? Why? What made your customer return; your prices, your service or your installers? What does turn a satisfied customers into a loyal customers? “Developing customer loyalty is the most important foundation for ongoing business growth.”

Synergy, The Power of the Flock - Click To Read Article
What happens when a group of players with mediocre talent outperforms a team of superstars? Just because you have a group of players playing together doesn’t mean they’re a team. “It’s easy to get the players. Getting them to play together, that’s the hard part,” said Casey Stengel, the former great New York Yankee manager.

Choosing the Selling Attitude - Click To Read Article
Think for a minute about the best salesperson you have ever known. Do you ever wonder what the secret is to his or her success? You can forget the old expression “Natural-born salesperson” because, believe it or not, there is no magic involved.

Build Customers’ Trust in You by Listening and Learning - Click To Read Article
Customers trust humble (“teachable”) salespeople. Customers don’t shop price with salespeople they trust. Salespeople build trust by listening and sincerely wanting to learn about the customer.

Enthusiasm - “It’s Showtime!” - Click To Read Article
“It’s Showtime, and you’re only as good as your last performance.” Stanley Marcus

What to Do When Customers Are Few - Click To Read Article
The measure of a salesperson is whether they flourish in bad economic times not in good. Peak performing salespeople are always producing. “They do what the average salespeople are unwilling to do.” Average salespeople blame the economy, or the boss for not advertising enough or the pricing for the lack of sales. Are you a typical salesperson, feet up on the desk, eating lunch, reading a book or a newspaper, or chit chatting with the salesperson next to you?

The Psychology of Influence or Opening the Customer’s Mind - Click To Read Article
How do you change the mind of someone who is convinced they are right when they are wrong? How do you keep a customer from not going forward when they object? Handling objections is a master skill of peak performing sales people.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Retailing - Click To Read Article
Most businesses that fail do so because of their owners’ “sins.” Usually it’s not for lack of hard work. On the contrary, most store owners put in long hours. The problem is that owners don’t succeed for working hard; they succeed because they produce results, plan ahead and optimize their resources.

The Most Neglected Ingredient in Business Growth - Click To Read Article
Some 96% of all businesses fail within their first eight years. Owners who have survived great challenges know that some crucial elements protect them from fire damage. Too many, unfortunately, have neglected one element. That void can be lethal to a business. The most neglected ingredient promoting business growth is leadership.

Taking Control of the Fear - Click To Read Article
“Successful salespeople know what to do. And they do what losers refuse to do.” Why is it that in any sales organization, a small number of sales people out sell the rest by a substantial majority? The average sales person does not do what the peak performer is willing to do. It’s all about action!

The “Back to Basics” - The Three R’s - Click To Read Article
In turbulent times, we do well to re-assess basics: Where are we, and where do we want to go. Our re-assessment may uncover nothing … or silver-linings on the edges of dark clouds. What we uncover depends largely on our attitude. Studies indicate that attitude determines as much as 88% of success. Positive attitude is critical for leaders, managers, salespeople … everyone who wants to keep learning and earning!

Mine for Gold in the Right Places - Click To Read Article
“Where are my customers?”…“Why isn’t my usual advertising working?”… “What can I do to turn this around?” These are among the questions being asked as many businesses face a falloff in the number of customers. It is no secret that many companies struggling these days. There may be reasons related to the economy, but I am convinced it’s also because many businesses are looking for customers in the wrong places.

Leadership: The Successful Use of Conflicting Principles - Click To Read Article
“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” -Niels Bohr, Nobel-Prize winning scientist

“If you were put on trial as an expert, - Click To Read Article
“If you were put on trial as an expert, would there be any evidence to convict you? The fourth characteristic of high performing salespeople is expertise. Expertise is the element of the law of authority. The law of authority says, “if you are perceived as an authority or expert, trust is enhanced.” We trust experts. We trust experts who testify in court. We trust doctors who have been trained well and are experienced in their field. How would you feel if, while seeing a doctor, who said to you, “You need an operation, I’ve never done this one before, but I think I can do it?”

Expertise - Click To Read Article
As consultant and trainer I always teach the value of being an expert. There’s no doubt that as an expert it’s just as important to be an expert in not just product knowledge, but in your subject matter as well. This knowledge helps your confident in front of a customer or audience. It also gives you the ability to ask excellent and relevant questions. You can quote famous people and books to position yourself as an expert, but you can’t fake expertise very long.

Empathy - Click To Read Article
When your customer feels understood they are more open to influence. Ability to read people, feel what they are feeling What is it? Understanding a need is as good as fulfilling it. People buy what they need from salespeople who understand what they want. Empathy leads to sensory acuity – “Unlike the mind, the heart finds it difficult to lie.” Robert Cooper.  Empathy leads to trust – It makes the connection. Integrity

“Empathy? I hate that touchy feely stuff” - Click To Read Article
Study after study has shown that KEY to solid relationships, selling, leading and parenting is empathy. Indeed, empathy is the prime characteristic of great salespeople.

Embracing Technology - Click To Read Article
We hear so much talk about retailers embracing technology, Fortune Magazine may have summed it up best: “If you want to outdistance your competitors… you have to embrace technology as powerfully as you can. But what type of technology?

Build your business on the Pillars of Profitably - Click To Read Article
Most businesses don’t maximize profits. Indeed most businesses fail - usually because owners and managers are reacting more than focusing. “Crisis-fires”, daily and hourly, command their attention and consume the day. As a result, they find themselves staying busy, instead of being highly productive.

Ask, and You Shall Receive - Click To Read Article
“Ask” is a powerful word because it calls upon another person’s most noble motive—to serve. As a result, I’ve found that nearly all people will give when asked. You may recall the greatest teacher said, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” I believe you can get almost anything you want … if you ask.

Be Remarkable! - Click To Read Article
I believe if there is nothing very special about your selling, no matter how hard you apply yourself, you won’t get noticed, and that increasingly means you won’t make very much money either. To stand out in this sea of similar, you must be remarkable!

Are Your Operations a Well-Oiled Machine? - Click To Read Article
“Customers now penalize businesses that infringe on their time, whether through delays, mistakes, or inconveniences.” Have you ever had that “customer from hell” who was unreasonable in her demands? Did a minor “screw up” in serving the customer cost you big bucks? Have you ever considered what it costs you to make a mistake? A mistake is a waste. "Waste is worse than loss." Thomas Edison

Are you Proactive or Procreactive™? - Click To Read Article
Experience tells me that the primary force separating successful from unsuccessful people is action. Successful people act, while unsuccessful people don’t. Achievers do what failures beg off doing. Chinese proverbs put it this way: “Talk will not cook rice,” or “Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth will wait a very, very long time.”

Are You Crisis-Minded or Opportunity-Minded - Click To Read Article
Today, the economic boom has gone. What’s your attitude? Are you thinking “doom and gloom”? Or are you thinking “hidden opportunity”? I believe our attitude and thoughts are a bigger problem than the external economy. An African proverb states it well: “It’s hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your mind.”

Abide by the Rules of Engagement - Click To Read Article
We are in a war. Not the war in the Middle East, but the war we are all experiencing for sales. The battle is almost like hand-to-hand combat because it will be won by selling one customer at a time. To survive in these turbulent economic times, we must win the war for customers; we must be more effective at closing the fewer customers who are looking for our product or service. The game has changed, but the rules of engagement haven’t.





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