What’s the Chinese view of American exports?

Chinese companies and the Chinese people have great respect for American products that are durable and made with care. They don’t have to be luxury items. A friend of mine told me that increasingly his company is selling baby milk powder to China. Because they had a scare with bad baby formula, Chinese consumers who have the extra $5 would rather buy imported formula, and a lot more of them have that extra money than they used to.

Networking, both in person and virtually, is a time consuming process; yet it can pay off big if done right! How do you get the most out of your networking investment? What should you be doing? What makes the most sense? Everyone goes to networking events to, well, network. But what does that really mean? How do you make the most of each event, each conversation, to leverage yourself into significantly more business and stay comfortable doing it?

Join your fellow independent consultants as Lisa Peskin from Business Development University will show us not only how to network but how to be comfortable meeting the people at each event to deliver a high Networking ROI.  The meeting is on Monday, January 9, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

About Lisa Peskin

Lisa Peskin has more than 25 years experience in sales performance and management. Throughout her career, she has developed an award-winning reputation as a motivational and results-oriented sales professional. After a successful career as Vice President of Sales for Automatic Data Processing (ADP), running a 40 man sales force, Lisa launched her own sales training, consulting and coaching business in 2003.  Since then, Lisa has helped thousands of sales professionals and sales managers increase their sales through training, just in time support and programs designed to maximize opportunities and drive ROI.

Scott Messer of Sales Evolution shared his Salesperson’s Bill of Rights with our recent meeting on guess-free selling.  One of Scott’s main points was that, as consultants, our sales process should focus on determining whether a prospect is a good fit for us, rather than proving whether we are a good fit for the prospect.

Of course, there is much more to it than that, but the Salesperson’s Bill of Rights proclaims the expectations a prospect must meet before they can become a client.  There is no reason, says Scott, that you have to give up any of these rights in order to win a customer.

The Salesperson’s Bill of Rights

• You have the right to earn a profit
• You have the right to have calls and emails returned in a timely manner
• You have the right to appointments kept or cancelled with adequate notice
• You have the right to ask questions
• You have the right to NOT answer questions
• You have the right to necessary information
• You have the right to make them qualify for you
• You have the right to say “No”
• You have the right to treated like a partner, not a Vendor
• You have the right to have access to the right people
• You have the right to get commitments and have them honored
• You have the right to a decision, be it a “yes” or a “no”
• You have the right to paid on time
• You have the right to not give “free consulting”
• You have the right to “no guessing”; to know what happens next, by who, by when
• You have the right to earn as much as you want to earn
• You have the right to know the truth and to honesty
• You have the right to say What you are feeling
• You have the right to use your time however you see fit
• You have the right to be treated with respect as a sales professional
• You have the right to not do business with someone who doesn’t qualify
• You have the right to feel good about yourself
• You have the right to cooperation from your prospect or client
• You have the right to break the rules
• You have the right to referrals and introductions

Source:  Sales Evolution

Join your fellow independent consultants as Scott Messer of Sales Evolution discusses how independent consultants can overcome the challenges they face in selling their consulting services, on Monday, November 14, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Participants in this program will learn strategies for overcoming these common sales challenges:

• Determining if the customer qualifies for you and not the reverse
• Getting out of your own way to close more deals
• Discovering the outcome customers seek, their dream, and selling it back to them.
• Maintaining control of the sales process

About Scott Messer and Sales Evolution

Scott Messer’s career as a business development professional and serial entrepreneur spans over 30 years. Before starting Sales Evolution, Scott held various sales, sales management, and executive positions at Union Carbide, American Chemsol Corporation, Griff Machine Products Company, Ultimate Software Group, Data Flow Information Systems, Compuware Corporation and Growth Dynamics.  He brings to Sales Evolution a blend of leadership, management, and communications skills along with a diverse background of experience from large, established companies to early stage ventures. Scott has an uncanny ability to cut through the static and get to the real issues in any buying situation. His skill and knowledge of Sales are easily transferred to those clients that need to learn a better way to elevate their sales efforts. This is why so many clients turn to him for coaching when confronted with those really tough deals that need to go forward.

October 10th
Pat Lefler on Pricing

November 14th
Scott Messer on Selling

December
Social event, date to be determined

January 9th
Lisa Peskin on Networking

February 13th
Speaker to be determined – Getting Referrals from MACN

March 12th
Hendrik-Jan Francke on Meeting Customer Expectations

April 9th
Jan Stefanski on Negotiating Client Contracts

Spring
Social event, date to be determined

May 14th
Speaker to be determined – Delegating small tasks

June 11th
Interactive session –Connecting for Better Referrals

Join your fellow independent consultants as Patrick Lefler of The Spruance Group outlines six powerful rules for pricing your consulting services, on Monday, October 10, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Some things to consider in pricing your services are:

• Do you really know the value clients obtain from your services?
• In this difficult economy, what are the best ways to adjust price in order to survive?
• Is your pricing strategy aligned to what matters most with your clients?
• If price is cut to gain market share, what are the odds that competitors will follow?

Pricing is complex, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Follow these six powerful rules for pricing excellence to find the pricing strategy that gets the most for your services.

Rule #1: Always price for value
Rule #2: Anchors aren’t just for ships
Rule #3: Never underestimate the power of FREE
Rule #4: Innovate with price
Rule #5: Let price drive value
Rule #6: Price wars are a fool’s game

Master these six rules and you’ll be well on your way to achieving pricing excellence.

About Patrick Lefler and The Spruance Group

Patrick Lefler is founder of The Spruance Group – a management consultancy that helps growing companies grow faster by providing unique value at the product level: product marketing, product pricing, and product evolution.

Mr. Lefler’s leadership expertise comes from leading outstanding men and women while serving as a officer and pilot in the United States Marine Corps. His critical thinking and analytic reasoning skills come from my experience as a bond trader for Goldman, Sachs & Co. And his sales and marketing knowledge comes from my decade-long experience with the software firm, Wall Street Systems – a Warburg Pincus portfolio company.

Mr. Lefler studied engineering at the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1980, and has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Spruance Group was founded to provide outstanding value to its clients – value that can be measured and directed towards improving the bottom line. It is committed to providing this through a distinctive style of service that is meant to be “second to none.”

Please join us for an evening of relaxing drinks & supper by the pool. Reconnect with old friends & connect with new ones.

BYOB and a swimsuit (if you are so inclined)

Sodas, hamburgers & hot dogs will be provided.

R.S.V.P. (Please!)

Dale Power 610-585-6567 or

dale@bigshoesmarketing.com

NOTE:  There will be no regular meeting this month!  We will resume our Fall program in October

We have this whole place to ourselves!
Please bring $20 cash for food.

Everyone can buy their own drinks, but they are extremely reasonable and the place is great!
Please R.S.V.P. as soon as possible. If not enough people say they are coming, we will have to cancel!

By the way – there is no morning meeting in December, just the Holiday social…

Dale Power 610-585-6567 or

dale@bigshoesmarketing.com

Join your fellow independent consultants as Michael Gidlewski of Achievement Unlimited leads us in an interactive workshop on execution, on Monday, June 13, at 7:30 am, at Intelligent Office, 1150 First Avenue, Suite 501, King of Prussia, PA 19406.

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming.

Tired of setting goals and not achieving them?  Learn insider secrets on why your goals aren’t working and how you can become more effective in setting and achieving goals.  In an interactive experience, walk away with some concrete goals to focus on during the summer and through the rest of the year.

Presenting a workshop to help business owners tackle the number one critical issue described by The Conference Board in the 2010 CEO Challenge –“Excellence in Execution.”

Workshop Takeaways:

• Learn six strategies to take your business to the excellence in execution level.
• Increase your productivity by 25-40%.
• Learn 4 tactics that will almost guarantee you can accomplish far more in less time.
• Become more pro-active and reduce stress levels by practicing the ideas and concepts from the workshop.
• Gain a sense of clarity and control over your business your personal life.

Formula for Success:

1. Learn the Principles of  “Achieveology”
2. Principles of Effective Personal Productivity
3. Harness the power of the Pareto Principle
4. Eliminate Bumper Car Management
5. What are you Worth
6. Power of “Leveragation”
7. Benefits of Pro-active Management

F. Michael Gidlewski, Business Coach and Trainer

BACKGROUND

Over a 25-year career, Michael Gidlewski learned about business and the qualities that produce successful people and companies by working his way up from the ground floor.

Michael Gidlewski learned about the dynamics that enable companies to grow and prosper by developing what has become most companies’ single most valuable asset:  their employees.

He has focused on proactive behaviors and winning attitudes to produce consistent peak performers.

EXPERIENCE

Michael Gidlewski is a seasoned professional known for maximizing human potential. As president of Achievement Unlimited Inc., he is committed to singleness of purpose in helping individuals and organizations discover and harness their strengths to achieve extraordinary results.  As a success coach and professional speaker, Michael believes that it makes sound business sense to invest in the growth and development of a company’s human capital, their greatest resource.

He helps clients create an organization of winners by increasing personal productivity, improving leadership effectiveness and developing winning attitudes. Michael’s high energy personality and positive attitude captivate and inspire audiences.