Last week we began with the discussion of how respect is a two way street and gave you the first way to accomplish this.  Here are the other two ways to ensure you keep respect when given an opportunity. .  Before you say yes to the opportunity be sure you can represent the brand or person giving you the opportunity effectively.  If you can’t represent them appropriately then you are doing them a disservice by even accepting the opportunity. Do the right thing and move on.    Never bitch about said opportunity in a backchannel.  What’s a backchannel? Any place where information is spread about someone else.  It’s... [read more]

Last week we discussed the final letter of our HEART acronym with before, during and after the sale for Thought.  Always be THOUGHTFULL.  Provide tips on how to better their experience.  Become an expert on the types of events you service.  What other problems can you help solve for them. Another way of being thoughtful is being full of thoughts that can help your customer in ways they may have never thought of.   Final Thought:  How do you share your HEART?  Don’t jump into a canned pitch.  Don’t think about you. Find out how you can help them.  What do they want more than anything else? What’s stressing them ... [read more]

Respect to me is a two way street.  I was recently part of an exchange where that clearly wasn’t the case.Someone was given an opportunity, and to me with an opportunity comes great responsibility to see that opportunity through.  My recommendation would be to go beyond just seeing it through and actually do justice and right by the person who gave you that opportunity.   The problem becomes is when you bitch about the responsibility that was bestowed upon you and the person who gave you that responsibility hears about it through a backchannel.  Now don’t get me wrong, everyone should have a right to have a safe space to ven... [read more]

An Upbeat Mix It often proves difficult to pull together enough material to bring you the themed issues that we usually produce. In this issue, however, we let go and just let the chips fall...and ended up with some interestingly related articles. While there isn't one main topic in focus, there is definitely a positive perspective evident all around. Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy a little lift as you do! ~ Dan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief Click here or the cover to the right to read now! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLAYLIST: GEAR, ETC. Getting There, Part 3: At the Venue - Stu Chisholm Mixware: A New Phase - Kevin Freese ED... [read more]

Think about this.  If you really CONNECT with someone, they're going to want to do business with you. Remember the saying, time commits.  This is especially true if you are connecting at an emotional level vs. just a transactional level. If all you are doing is spending 5 minutes on personal and the rest on business then you spend much of the end of the conversation trying to close them...do you really like to be closed?   Bridal shows are a GREAT opportunity to meet your potential clients face to face while their minds are already engaged in excitement over their big day and ready to chat about your services.  Any other time... [read more]

I heard something recently shared by one of my past students in a Sales Is Solutions Workshop (what it was called before SALES 4 Event Pros) and I LOVED it SO MUCH I wanted to share it with you in this space.  The past student is Sam Kwak, and back when he took my workshop he was EXTREMELY skeptical and needed major convincing to even take the workshop in the first place. Fast forward now several years and he has moved on from the mobile DJ industry and is one of Chicagoland’s most successful real estate investors.  Now, I’m certainly not saying that it was my workshop that turned the tide for him, but more or less just proud t... [read more]

Last week we covered the "A" letter of the acronym H.E.A.R.T., with the “H” standing for Hugs, the “E” standing for Emotion, and the “A” standing for Attitude. We continue today with the final 2 letters of the acronym, Reality and Thoughtful and a final Thought. Reality Kenny Chesney said it best “Reality, yeah, sometimes life ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be.  So let’s take a chance and live this fantasy. ‘Cause everybody needs to break free from reality.”  OK so maybe I’m in a bit of the island spirit here right now but this is a truth in mundane, everyday life as well.  Reality can somet... [read more]

We continue where we left off last week on Is There Such A Thing As Too Long with two other areas to be thinking about regarding length?   Is there such a thing as too long in life?  Yeah...I would argue that it depends on your perspective.  My grandmother was in hospice for several years, hanging on with alzheimers in Maine and living a life that, to me, wasn’t respectful of the full life she led prior to coming down with that dreadful disease.  I was glad she was able to hang on for a while to give her daughter my Mother clarity and more time with her own Mother, but to me that is not any way to go through... [read more]

Attitude Your attitude can make or break the sale.  Period.  During my Creative Consultations seminar I showed a video of a young girl standing on a sink in her family bathroom shouting out her positive daily affirmations in the mirror about what she loved and liked.  Positive thoughts affect positive actions.  Your attitude will make or break not just the sale but relationships as a whole.  You can't let an extreme high or low moment of your day affect the rest of your hour, day, week, month or even year. It’s important that you approach each client the same way…even-keeled.  Think like a quarterback. Quarterback... [read more]

We continue with the HEART series with the next letter in the acronym for HEART.  E is for Emotion. Emotion In sales, it’s VITAL to get to the emotion.  Emotion is what most sales are based off of. People buy on emotion and justify on logic. You must tug at their heartstrings to appeal to their emotions.  How do you do that? YOU have to have heart. Let’s look at a typical sales scenario.  Most event pros ask: “So how do you want your event to be remembered?”  Most couples respond to that question by saying “Fun, Memorable” (Isn’t that just a derivative of the word remembered?).  The answers are TOO ... [read more]