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Nikki Owen Articles

Written by: Nikki Owen

Open, Leading and Closed Questions - Click To Read Article
In a selling environment where most good sales people appreciate the importance of discovering a prospect’s requirements, it is easy to take questioning skills for granted. Yet, questions that are crafted with strategic intent can uncover a myriad of secrets stored in the prospect’s mind.

Understanding Social Styles - Click To Read Article
Every individual is totally unique and the best sales people are able to adapt their approach to enhance their communication and consequently their leverage based on the prospect or the customer they are interacting with. Sometimes, it can take several visits to really appreciate and recognise what makes a person ‘tick’ yet there is a Behavioural Styles Model that can circumnavigate this lengthy process making it easy to identify the ideal behaviours to adopt in the face of a variety of different people.

An Audience with Charisma - Click To Read Article
Throughout my career I have often found myself in the company of individuals who have that indefinable quality that draws you to them, and leaves you feeling wonderfully energised as a result of meeting them. As a teenager I studied theatre and the performing arts. I remember the day that I realised technical excellence alone did not guarantee a brilliant performance. Being a huge fan of Ballet I fully appreciated the precision and mastery of The Royal Ballet Company. Yet when I saw The Bolshoi Ballet Company perform Swan Lake the artistes would glide onto the stage yielding an invisible power that captivated, and mesmerised their audience whom they were able to move to tears.

Effective Telemarketing - Click To Read Article
For many sales people, the telephone is an important resource that they use to develop their business. Yet, according to a study by Behavioural Sciences Research Press: ● 40% of established sales people experienced periods of ‘call reluctance’ severe enough to threaten their livelihood in sales. ● the average ‘call reluctant’ sales person loses more than 15 new accounts each month to their competitors.

Setting Goals that Leverage Sales Success - Click To Read Article
One of the single, most important skills that a salesperson can possess is to set goals that are so well defined, and so compelling, that they become embedded deep into the unconscious mind, consequently acting as a powerful force that drives motivation and behaviour. If your sales team lacks clarity about why they are doing the job that they do, their sense of purpose will become diluted and as their sales manager you are losing out on a massive piece of their potential.

Persuasive Sales Presentations - Click To Read Article
Sales presentations become so much more compelling at the point when you have identified and agreed all your prospects requirements and have tailored your presentation so that it illustrates how you can completely satisfy their agreed requirements. If you can then add your unique strengths to what the prospect is looking for, your proposal becomes stronger and much more persuasive.

The Creation of an Objection - Click To Read Article
“You attract to you the predominant thoughts that you’re holding in your awareness, whether those thoughts are conscious or unconscious.” Michael Bernard Beckwith Before attempting to handle any type of objection, it’s important to begin by looking at the beliefs that sales people are holding in their minds. If they are focusing on what objections they believe they will encounter, they will unconsciously transmit these thoughts to their prospects.

WHEN LIFE IS HARD - Click To Read Article
In today’s rapidly changing world, nothing changes quite so rapidly as people. We all have desires, dreams, fears and emotional needs that drive us in our quest to create more of the life we want, trying to attain our own vision of success and that ellusive, tantalising taste of permanent happiness and personal fulfillment.

YOU HAVE TO DARE TO LOSE TO WIN - Click To Read Article
The changing room's stark walls created a chill in my heart as I listened to the thunderous fans screaming for the first sightings of their team. Years of sacrifice, punishing training routines and now victory was just a step away. The enormity of the side we were about to play overwhelmed the expressions on our faces and we silently went through the pre-match ritual of preparing to play the game of our life.

Working From Inside Out - Click To Read Article
Inspired by Louise Hay, renowned author and lecturer on the impact of thoughts on the body “when we really love ourselves, everything in our life works” I began to examine Charisma from an‘inside – out’ perspective. By working holistically in the knowledge that the mind and body are totally interconnected I made some fascinating discoveries.

Unleashing Your Motivation - Click To Read Article
Motivation is a dynamic state that results in the desire, directional intensity and persistence of behaviour to achieve a long or short- term goal. Without motivation our sales performance and consequently our results can be severely impaired. When we are feeling motivated, we light up our performance like a Christmas Tree and equally when we feel de-motivated, everything seems to be much harder work.

Time Management - Click To Read Article
The most valuable resource we have, is time and sales people more than anyone know how challenging it can be to cram everything that needs to be done into their available time. According to Stephen R. Covey, author of ‘First Things First’ we should focus on our high priority tasks, those that provide the biggest levers towards achieving our goals. That’s why, being clear on what you want to accomplish in every facet of your life will determine the importance and therefore the priority of everything you need to do.

Trading Concessions - Click To Read Article
A Win-Win negotiation can only be achieved if both parties are prepared to concede some of their ‘would like to have's’ in favour of preserving their ‘must have's’. The way concessions are handled is a vitally important negotiating skill and can have a huge impact on the final result. Below are 10 Top Tactics to help you:

Transcendental Powers - Click To Read Article
Ralph Waldo Emerson explained that matter and objective things are products of the subjective mind. Lynne McTaggart, a well-respected international authority on the science of spirituality is masterminding ‘The Intention Experiment that rests on an outlandish premise: thought affects physical reality.

The Prince Charming Effect™ - Click To Read Article
External measurements of Charisma can sometimes be interpreted as charm - although this alone does not create a Charismatic presence, which requires a strong sense of the person’s character, the essence of the inner person. All the charm in the world cannot compete with an individual who speaks from their heart in a way that is genuine and reflects their deepest beliefs.

The New Generation of Lead Generation - Click To Read Article
The birth of a customer is the end result of a lead that has been cultivated, supported and encouraged to flourish. As a lead begins to evolve it can sometimes fall by the wayside, empty of possibility or emerge through a cycle bearing the fruits of labour, ripened and ready for picking.

The Karma of Connections - Click To Read Article
The ability to build rapport with customers and prospects is vitally important. Why? Because, if you have rapport with your customers, they are more likely to trust you, listen to you and communicate openly with you. This in turn enables you to interact more comfortably and work more effectively together. Rapport dramatically increases your chances of winning a sale. Additionally, Having rapport means that when there are tough issues to discuss, for example price increases, you can more easily find agreement and solutions and move on.

The Exploratory Meeting - Click To Read Article
The Exploratory Meeting is a key element in the sales process. Typically the meeting will have been arranged after qualification over the telephone, and a decision made by both parties that it would be mutually beneficial to meet. It is the exploratory meeting that will allow the professional sales person to set the ground rules and get a ‘feel’ for the customer and their needs.

Referral Based Selling - Click To Read Article
Did you know that: • 40% of sales people are failing in their sales careers? • 45% of all sales people earn the average income for their industry? • A typical sales person devotes only 10-20% of their time to actual selling because a large proportion of their available time is devoted to cold calling? • 85% of all sales people do not generate enough quality referrals? • Sales people who actively seek and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than sales people who don’t? • Referral business closes and converts more than 70 percent of the time?

Probing For Pain - Click To Read Article
If your sales people are involved in prospecting then they’ll already know the challenges of persuading a prospect to give them the business. Ultimately there is a 4-step process involved in buying, that all of us follow;

Post Sale Follow Up - Click To Read Article
The first sale isn't the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next sales cycle. What you do after you've made the first sale determines whether you get the next one or any referrals.

Pipeline Management - Click To Read Article
Imagine a bath filled with water. Almost instantly the water begins to evaporate or can slowly seep through the plughole. Over a period of time the water level reduces and the temperature drops! The only way to keep the water level high and the water hot is to turn on the tap and continually refill it. Equally, you want to keep your prospects ‘on the boil’ by actions that continuously warm up and consolidate your relationship with them. You certainly don’t want all your efforts to go down the drain!

Planning for a Negotiation - Click To Read Article
The fundamental difference between selling and negotiation is that selling is a process to identify the fit between what the seller is offering and what the buyer is seeking. Negotiation is the process of agreeing the terms of the deal and is part of the selling continuum. Yet, the negotiation should only begin when there is a genuine commitment from the buyer and seller towards a conditional sale.

Maximising the Impact of Testimonials - Click To Read Article
“If you become a testimonial-based seller, (which I believe to be the most powerful form of sales in the world). Then you can get testimonials for every element, or every step, of your sales cycle.” Jeffrey Gitomer, author of Little Red Book of Sales Answers

Looking Inside to Create What we Want - Click To Read Article
Before looking outwards at our prospects and customers, we need to look at ourselves, because each of us is a unique human being with our own desires, dreams, problems and thoughts. To understand how we can communicate and therefore sell more effectively we need to understand the human communication process.

Listening Beyond Words - Click To Read Article
Active listening is a powerful way of listening and responding to customers that improves mutual understanding. It is the foundation of effective communication and demonstrates real respect.

IS SALES TRAINING PASSING ITS SELL-BY DATE? - Click To Read Article
As a company who specialises in sales training and development, I've found myself growing increasingly more sceptical towards the real impact of traditional sales training methods. According to Professor George Miller, Harvard University, our conscious minds can only process around 7 chunks of information at any given moment. If this is then related to applying new techniques learned during a training course, then how can salespeople feasibly put into practice loads of new techniques instantly?

Getting Prospects to Call You - Click To Read Article
Having a strategy to acquire new customers is vital because customers are lost over time for a variety of reasons. Additionally, if you are serious about sales growth then you’ll want to ensure that your salespeople become competent ‘Hunters’ of new business as well as ‘Farmers’ with their existing accounts.

Giants of the Genre - Click To Read Article
As part of my research into discovering the secrets of Charisma, I wanted to find four of the world’s best role models - famous people at the top of their game. Although there are thousands of famous people who exude varying degrees of star quality I wanted to find giants of the Charisma genre.

Features and Benefits - Click To Read Article
"Because nobody who bought a drill ever really wanted a drill. They wanted a hole. Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should deliver information about making holes, not about drills!" Perry Marshall

Empowering Sales Beliefs - Click To Read Article
The sales results you create are based on your performance. Performance has many components for example, our activities and abilities that are typically where many organisations focus on. Yet beneath the surface, our beliefs about ourselves, our customers, our job, can either help or hinder our performance.

Customer Profiles for New Business - Click To Read Article
In 1906 an Italian Economist called Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula based on observing that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. Dr Joseph Juran, a Quality Management pioneer also recognised this universal principle that later became know as Pareto’s Principle or The 80-20 Rule.

Closing with Ease - Click To Read Article
Next to objections, closing is one of the most talked-about sales training topics among sales people and sales managers. Everyone wants to know how to close and how to speed up the buying process. Closing is easy when you have thoroughly appreciated each customer’s specific requirements and aligned the presentation of your solution accordingly.

BURNING DESIRE - Click To Read Article
One week seems such a long time ago because I've just returned from Portugal where I was initiated in the art of Firewalking. It took just 4 days for me to discover that there is no logic, no trick to this impossible feat; simply trust and faith in yourself and the fire

BEYOND CONVENTIONAL SELLING - Click To Read Article
Having just returned from Copenhagen where I've been working with my favourite client; I realised that between us we have created an oil company version of 'The Tipping Point'. Essentially, you could describe this as an insatiable learning epidemic that is beginning to invade the entire global organisation and the reason for this success is so obvious, so simple that anyone could do this.

Activity Based Planning - Click To Read Article
Selling is both an art and a science. To put it another way, a sales person’s skills determine their level of artistry at selling and their strategic planning provides a scientific platform for their sales activities.

A Consultative Approach - Click To Read Article
If a sales person pitches a prospect too early in the sales process and has not taken the time to fully appreciate that prospect’s requirements, they are likely to encounter much more resistance in comparison to a sales person who has first sought to identify and agree the prospect’s requirements prior to presenting their proposals. In the current competitive climate where the role of sales people is becoming even more demanding, organisations that adopt a consultative approach are more successful.

A Magical Selling tale - Click To Read Article
When I was a little girl I believed in fairy tales, magical kingdoms and a world where all your wishes came true if you wished for something hard enough. It didn’t take long to discover that life has a cruel way of shattering illusions and the adventures of life can cause a cynical hardening of aspirations in the face of adversity.

4 Vital Negotiating Behaviours - Click To Read Article
A skilled negotiator will create high levels of rapport and be sensitive and empathetic to the people they are negotiating with, yet can still be hard on the issues. The ability to separate the people from the issues and recognise that negotiations, are often fraught with emotional intensity can help sharpen the focus on the interests of the other party to better balance perceptions.





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