Category: Success strategies

You Have 3 Seconds to Make a Good First Impression

Did you know your client is sub-consciously either raising or lowering their defenses based on their 3-second appraisal of who you are? What can you do to make sure their impression of you is of a professional who is open and caring? Instinctively they will decide if you are successful, confident, cocky or being fake friendly just to sell them something.

Your client will sub-consciously be reading your body language. Greet your client by clearly giving the impression you are happy to meet them. If this is difficult for you, say to yourself, “I care about who you are.” This means having a genuine smile on your face, full eye contact and a warm handshake for everyone who is in front of you, including children. Don’t forget to thank them for their time.

Salespeople talk to clients in one of three ways. Most salespeople talk to clients like they would talk to a stranger, keeping them at a distance. Some talk to a client as family, which is too casual and familiar. One major key to your success is learning to talk to your clients as if you are talking to a friend.

At the same time you are paying careful attention to their body language and their personality style, using the Getting To YES Without Selling personality matrix. If your client is a couple or a group of people, the personality matrix will help you quickly discover what the power structure is.

Small talk creates rapport by establishing friendly common ground and allows your client to become increasingly comfortable with you. This is when they will decide if they like and trust you and want to do business with you.

Continue small talk until you feel their defenses are lowered to a point where they aren’t afraid to listen to what you have to say about your product, at least five minutes. Gain their trust by sharing about yourself.

For more information on this topic, go to www.LynnPierce.com

Lynn Pierce, The Success Architect ,has been helping entrepreneurs and sales organizations take their business to the next level for over 25 years. She is the creator of the program “Getting to YES Without Selling, The YES System”.

Build Self-Esteem: Your Key to Success Part 2

As I ended part 1 of this article on March 26th, I said that high self-esteem is a gift you can only give to yourself. It’s a very valuable gift.

I’ve had some time to reflect on how this is showing up in my life lately and I realize that I have very little negativity in my life at all. That’s a conscious decision I’ve made and the way I’ve structured my life. I’ve instituted a zero tolerance policy of negative people, which does not mean I’m not allowed to whine, and so are my friends. We all get a little cranky once in a while.

On the other hand, any little compliment that has to do with the core of who I am just lifts me right up. It’s not in a needing validation kind of way, but in the appreciation that someone else is reconginzes me at a soul level.

That’s how I choose to connect with people and trivial compliments about how I look or what I’m wearing don’t mean as much as they did when I was younger. Although I still like to hear it, so feel free to compliment away. Seriously,I’m at an age or maybe it’s a point in my own personal development where I’d much rather have someone attracted to my brain or my soul than my face or my body.

I’d like you to share your feelings on what you like to be acknowledged for. Also, what are the best ways you’ve found to keep yourself at a high level of self-esteem?

People who build self-esteem are in charge of their world, have work/life balance the way they want it to look, and refrain from blaming past or present outside circumstances. They know it is up to them to take what happens in life and give it as much or little meaning as they choose.

Raise your self-esteem by becoming a master of a particular area of your life. Master one aspect of your job or a hobby. For example, start small by taking one aspect of your job that could use improvement, or develop a skill that would get you a raise or recognition.

Just making the commitment to master something will raise your self-confidence in that area. How do you feel about yourself when you do something really well?

The more things you can learn to do well, the higher your self-esteem. Take this key to success and start to build your self-esteem now.

If you have a challenge with any part of raising your self-esteem share that and we’ll give you some feedback.

The Day My Life Changed

I don’t quite know where to begin this one, especially to keep it
short enough that you’ll read it. And I think this is important to read.

So here we go:

It was a day much like today, warm and sunny.  Just another
beautiful day like all the others in Cabo San Lucas. I’d been
living there for almost 6 years and today I was going for my
first mammogram.

Because I thought it would be no big deal, hey I was only 43,
I decided to go to a local doctor rather than my regular one
two and a half hours away.

Well, it did turn out to be a big deal as I was diagnosed with
breast cancer.  But as I quickly realized I didn’t react in the
way that the majority of women I’ve known in the same situation
have.

I didn’t cry, I panicked just a little bit, mostly about how I was going
to break the news to my husband.

But for me, the moment that’s burned into my mind isn’t the one
where they said those dreaded words, it’s the one where I came
out into the light of day into a completely different world than I
had left a little over an hour before.

It was surreal to say the least, but the most important point that
I wanted to clearly get across to my husband was that I was pretty
sure this was an awakening, not a death sentence.  There was
something big that had been building inside me for quite a while.

I knew there was a shift coming.  A spiritual friend of mine told me
months before that she saw a big test coming for me.  I figured this
must be it and I was going to do whatever I needed to do to get the
message I was being sent and do what I was to do as quickly as
possible.

How I become cancer free in a short period of time without surgery
is a whole other story. But what made me think of this experience on
this particular morning was that I have that feeling again.

I have that feeling of being on the brink of a major shift in my life.
For some people who don’t embrace change, it’s terrifying.  For me
it’s electrifying.

When this happened 9 years ago it meant ending a 25 year career,
leaving the place I thought I was going to stay forever and moving to
a city in the desert when I’m an ocean resort person.

But I went on faith where I felt directed to go.  And this life that I
have now being able to communicate like this with you and helping
thousands of others to change their lives came out of that moment
when I walked out of the doctors office and chose a different path.

It makes me want to cry just thinking of the magnificence of how life
unfolds in ways that are wonderful and yet unpredictable.

That shifted every part of my life.  And it was all good.  No I didn’t have
a clue what I was going to be doing for a living.  I didn’t have any idea
what any part of my life was going to look like, and thank God I had a
husband at the time that trusted my intuition and didn’t fight me on this
ambiguous picture.

And now it’s happening again. Not the cancer, the feeling.  So watch
over the next few weeks, because I’m sure I’ll be sharing things with
you as they show up. I’m excited to see where my life will go.

But today, I really want you to look at your life and ask yourself if there’s
something that could shift for you that potentially could make a huge
positive difference, but you’re too afraid to take the chance.  And why?

You have to take the leap of faith because if you wait to see for sure,
most likely the opportunity will have already gone to someone who
wasn’t afraid to act.

Build Self-Esteem: Your Key to Success

Fear, along with low self-esteem, eventually leads to self-sabotage. I know. For years I was the queen of self-sabotage. My self-image was not consistent with how the world saw me. I achieved a great deal of business success selling real estate when I was in my early 20s.

I would literally look in the mirror trying to find the strong assertive person the outside world was seeing. All I could see was someone who was putting up a big front to appear cool. I was confused by my personal success when I was young because I had nothing nurturing or positive in my life to which I could relate the personal growth.

At the time, I wasn’t sure why I was getting all this money and acclaim. I didn’t think I was worthy of it, and believed that I didn’t deserve success or happiness. I achieved the level of business success because I was highly skilled, but my low self-esteem drove me to throw it all away.

The consequences of my low self-esteem and self-sabotage were many. If I can, I’d like to save you from the same fate by parting the curtain.

First, my personal life: I felt unworthy of my first husband, but you wouldn’t have known it by the way I treated him. My self-sabotaging brain decided the way to keep him was to tear him down to my level so he would feel lucky to have anyone, even me. Then he wouldn’t leave me.

I still get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking about how I hurt myself, my personal development and other people with my low self-esteem. Don’t ever kid yourself into thinking your level of self-esteem isn’t influencing the quality of life for people around you.

In my business life, the self-sabotage was straightforward. I would achieve a great deal of business success until it got too uncomfortable for my self-image to handle, and then I would destroy my achievement and my work/life balance.

I’d make my job undesirable by having a conflict or a philosophical difference where I would have to leave to maintain my ‘higher ground’. Some of these were pretty elaborate, so I could feel superior when I left.

Similar circumstances happen more often than you’d think. I see them played out by friends and co-workers over and over throughout the years. They’re easy to spot for someone like me, a former self-saboteur.

Self-sabotage is a self-fulfilling prophecy that puts people back in their comfort zone of “I knew it would all go away sooner or later. Nothing good ever lasts.”

See, I grew up in the land of “Who do you think you are?” This is still a common message kids receive today. It can be difficult reconciling personal success with that message. Without a strong positive self-image, all success is temporary.

On the positive side, another self-fulfilling prophecy is that if you “act as if” you are self-assured, knowledgeable and have work/life balance, you will become exactly that.

You’ve heard the saying, “Fake it until you make it.” This is not being phony. To become more positive, you have to start somewhere, and this is the first step towards personal growth.

The key to building self-esteem is to know that your opinion is the only one that counts. Others just influence your opinions. You can accept or reject what they say about your personal development.

High self-esteem is a gift you can only give to yourself. It’s a very valuable gift.

How is Reality TV Affecting Our Self-Esteem?

When I was thinking about what to write for this article on self -esteem what showed up wasn’t just a question of whether you have low or high self-esteem. The subject of unrealistic self-esteem just kept showing up everywhere I looked. It made me ask myself a few questions.

TV is full of reality shows and even if you say you never watch any of them, for the most part, they get very high ratings-even the bad ones. Is this affecting how people look at themselves?

Are people sitting in their living rooms comparing themselves to the people who are singing or dancing or losing weight or modeling or cooking or decorating and now even telling the truth is a reality show!

Why is it that some people with so much going for them don’t recognize it and have low self-esteem while others think they have much more on the ball than they really do? I’m sure you can identify people you know that fit in each of these categories. On reality TV it’s not just in areas where they are competing on talent, it’s also shows where they try to outsmart each other like Survivor and Big Brother.

How do these perceptions aid your self-esteem in some areas and make it even lower in others? Where does an unrealistic view of yourself really come from,
especially if we are talking about a particular talent?

I find talents such as ability to play sports or do something creative like singing, painting or acting to be very interesting. People considered experts in the field and millions of people in the general public judge these activities every day.

Of course, sometimes they are wrong. But what makes somebody keep going when they’ve been told repeatedly they aren’t good at something? Remember Sanjaya on
American Idol last year? Or how about William Hung?Hey, who says you can’t make money following your passion?

I’ve had my own personal experiences with being in denial about my abilities.

I grew up believing I wasn’t good at sports; I thought I wasn’t coordinated. The first time I was told I had a natural ability to play golf it was by a boyfriend that I assumed had an ulterior motive. The second time was by a golf pro that I rationalized wanted to sell me more lessons.

I always had an explanation to discount what they were saying. I didn’t think, “Hey, how about that! I can be good at golf.”

Why not? Even though I now believe I do have the ability, I still feel pressured and uncomfortable when I go out and play. I’m always sure that no matter who I play with, they will be much better than I am and I will be holding them up. Consequently, I don’t play much and it’s not really fun, yet.

I say yet because I am determined not to let this episode of unrealistically low self-esteem go on forever. I refuse to let it control me to the point that I never play golf again. I will overcome this and learn to play confidently and comfortably so I can have an enjoyable day on the golf course.

Anybody want to play with me?

Ask yourself, “What’s the one thing I can change about how I view myself and my talents that will realistically increase my self-esteem?”

So how have you experienced this in your life? Have you let it keep you down? If not, how did you overcome it? I would love to have you share your opinions and personal insights here on my blog.

Why Fear of Success Is Blocking You More Than Fear of Failure

After reading Amy’s comment on the post about banishing fear from your life, I realized that it’s been a while since I’ve directly addressed the topic of “fear of success”. I believe it’s a much bigger roadblock to your success than fear of failure. It’s not like we haven’t all failed many times before and we know what that feels like and we have a mechanism in place for what we do when it happens. It may be unpleasant but at the same time it’s comfortable to a degree.

Some of our coping mechanisms are healthier than others, but that’s another topic.

Amy’s point, and mine, is that you have to be diligent at recognizing when it’s really fear of success that’s stopping you in you tracks.

Dr. Maxwell Maltz, Author of “Psycho-Cybernetics”, is quoted as saying, “Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not the one that has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.”

So if that’s what fear of failure looks like, what does fear of success look like?

Are you playing it safe or going for it 100%? Are you really afraid that what you have to offer is so big that if you played full out you would scare people and they wouldn’t know how to respond to that powerful person you’ve become? Or is it that the picture of you being who you truly are is so foreign to you that you’re the one who doesn’t know what to do with that?

Creating a vision board of what you want your successful life to look like is a non-threatening “dreamy” way of getting started if you’re really blocked. But I believe that having a clear vision of what you want your life to look like and creating a blueprint of what that life will be and how you’re going to get there takes all the fear away because now you’re just taking one step at a time.

That’s what I do for my clients. I take them down that path of discovering what they want, creating the blueprint for how they will get there and holding their hand through the process. Bottom line, let someone else hold that vision for you until you can hold it for yourself.

Just remember, it can be done, if you don’t think you can do it alone, get a mentor like me to help you. You can reach me at Lynn at LynnPierce.com

P.S. If you’re reading this post somewhere other than my actual blog, please click on the blog link to comment so we can all continue this discussion together.

Kevin Nations Teaches You to Sell Big Ticket Information Products

If you registered for the interview I did with Kevin Nations last week,
you received the email below from Kevin yesterday about the incredible
response he’s gotten with the replay link to listen again.

If you didn’t hear about this call in the first place, go here now to register
& you can still listen:

http://KevinNations.com/freecalllp.htm

I’m not at all surprised at the response because I’m one of his client’s and
I learned a few new strategies listening to Kevin answer my questions!

Here’s the note from Kevin:
I’m overwhelmed with the response from the call with Lynn Pierce
last week. I’ve gotten SO many powerful responses of people
sharing how they’re making adjustments in their businesses to
implement the strategies we shared on the call.

To each of you who took the time to share your feedback – THANK
YOU!

There have been so many requests for us to do this call again or to
get up a replay quickly – and I want to honor those who want
access to review this information.

If you DIDN’T make the call – I hope this information challenges you
in your pursuit of impacting your market!

**Here’s the link to register for the replay (no need to re-register if
you already have the replay link)…

http://KevinNations.com/freecalllp.htm

There’s also a very special offer I made at the end of the call. It
was totally complimentary and I always get people who listen to the
replays asking “Can I get access to the Complimentary Offer from the
Live Call??” The answer is YES! – Just register at the site mentioned
on the call and we’ll get you access to your Bonus as soon as
possible…

To Your Profits

Kevin Nations

Women’s Empowerment Tip: Banish Fear from Your Life

Overcoming your fears creates a powerfully exhilarating feeling. It builds self-esteem by changing your self-concept. It allows you to confidently take on new challenges. On the other hand, there is nothing more debilitating than letting your fears stop you from living the life you are meant to live.

Fear is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real. There is no greater loss to the world than missing out on your unique contribution because you’re afraid to fail or afraid you don’t have anything worth contributing.

We all have special gifts and talents. Only one thing separates most people from those who experience woman empowerment; it’s looking at your fears and making the decision that your goals are bigger than your fears. Don’t let your fears keep you stuck where you are.

Are fear-based beliefs running your life?

Do this personal growth exercise. Make three columns on a piece of paper. List all your fears in the first column. In the next column write down what’s the worst thing that could happen if they came true. In the third column, write down a solution to the problem.

If you feel the need to discuss your limiting beliefs with someone, take just the first five minutes to describe the problem and the rest of the time brainstorming a solution.

The reality is that 95 percent of your fears will never be realized. And now that you know the worst thing that can happen, and how you’re going to resolve it, there’s no reason to live with fear any longer.

Everybody fails at something, even the most successful women entrepreneurs. But successful women in business have learned to treat failure differently than ordinary people. They see failures or setbacks as guideposts change that which will bring them one step closer to success.

Successful women entrepreneurs have no shame in failure; they celebrate it as personal growth and move on. Every day ordinary people realize their dreams because they took action in the face of their fears. They didn’t wait for all the right contacts or every piece of information. They went for it, and so can you.

One powerful way I’ve found to overcome my fears I found by accident. It just dawned on me one day that this process is how I frequently overcome deep-seated fears. Let me share it with you.

When you are involved in a project that is bigger than yourself, a project that will help others, you forget about your own fears.

When it’s not about you, it’s much easier to move through your fears towards personal growth. It doesn’t have to be as big as ending hunger or creating world peace, just something big enough to pull you out of your comfort zone.

Here’s how I overcame a fear that was very real to me the whole time I was growing up. It may seem silly to you, but I had the fear of being noticed.

I tried to be invisible. I grew up with low self-esteem and was incredibly self-conscious. To avoid drawing attention to myself, I dressed very conservatively.

So how did I start modeling and in a short amount of time, begin modeling bathing suits?

I modeled because a friend asked for my help. It wasn’t about me, it was about helping another.

I shopped at my friend’s boutique and loved the clothes she carried. She asked me to help out when she lost her regular model for a weekly hotel fashion show. I was scared to death, but I told myself I only had to do it once.

Incredibly, sales from the show increased and she asked me to replace the other model. Since I was helping her build her business, and I liked being helpful, and I said yes.

It became clear to me that my mousy self-concept was the opposite of how other women in business saw me. I started modeling for other stores, doing runway shows in my local area and posing for print ads. I loved it.

The biggest benefit was not that I changed my wardrobe, but that I changed my self-concept. I had overcome a major fear that had stopped me from saying yes to many opportunities.

All it took was saying yes one time to something that was scary and outside my comfort zone. What would happen if you gave it a try?

Women’s Empowerment Action Step: What would you be doing if you knew you couldn’t fail?

What’s the first thing that pops into your head? There’s a picture that immediately flashed into your brain when you read the question. What is it?

I encourage you to write that question on several cards and post them in different places around your home. Take this first step, and it will remind you that you’re on the path to personal growth and banishing fear from your life.

Lynn Pierce is the founder of one of the most exciting annual events for women entrepreneurs, “Women’s Business Empowerment Summit”. For more than 25 years she’s taught people how to combine business and personal development to reach the pinnacle of success and live the life of their dreams. Now she shares her keys to success and life mastery with you. Lynn’s commitment to your success continues online at www.LynnPierce.com www.YourBreakthroughToSuccess.com, www.WomensBusinessEmpowermentSummit.com

The Secret to Big Ticket Sales

I promise you – you will NOT want to miss this one!

You see, Kevin Nations is one of those “behind-the-scenes”
secret weapons that many successful entrepreneurs use
to take their business from fledgling or struggling…
to stratospheric levels of success.

He’s “THE MOGUL MAKER”
Kevin is part of my success team and I’ve also seen him help
others make amazing, and very quick, transformations in their
businesses.

And now Kevin has agreed to speak publicly about what he
does behind the scenes for his biggest clients.

http://KevinNations.com/freecalllp.htm

Have you ever heard yourself thinking…

* I wish I had a working system.

* If I could design a better website, I’d begin
making the money I deserve.

* If I could afford a better copywriter I’d get
higher conversions.

* I need to get a book published so I could get
more clients.

* I wish I had a selling process from
point-of-contact through continuity.

* I need better marketing material.

If you’ve EVER considered ANY of the above,
you absolutely must be on my upcoming
teleseminar this Thursday.

==> On this call, Kevin will reveal the single
ingredient to breaking any income barrier.

Register now at http://KevinNations.com/freecalllp.htm

==> AND Kevin will reveal why all of the other
“strategies”, “services” and “tools” are
completely worthless until you learn this
ingredient.

After revealing this information only weeks ago,
it is already creating huge waves within the
business community.

If you truly VALUE your life and your future,
join me on Thursday and find out exactly how
much more valuable your life could be.

To be registered for this call and to gain
complimentary access to the recordings after
the call, click the link

http://KevinNations.com/freecalllp.htm

All the call details will be sent to your inbox.

Please dial in a little early to this call as
I expect the lines to be full… I’ll see you
Thursday!

You’ve got to see this quick before it’s gone!

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I’m at the airport on my way to the Cayman Islands and I don’t want you to miss this.

Don’t you think it’s time you learn how to maximize the reach of your business online?

Frank Kern’s Mass Control is the answer. This program is the key-don’t wait, click the link. I’m serious. Otherwise I’d be standing in line for coffee at Starbucks instead of writing this post.