Month: August 2024

Sir Michael Caine, the British actor known for his roles in iconic films like “The Italian Job,” “The Dark Knight,” and “Going in Style,” once dropped a nugget of wisdom that has resonated far beyond the realm of acting. He said, “Use the difficulty. If it’s a comedy, fall over it. If it’s a drama, smash it.”

This is a life lesson that holds profound significance for people from sales to leadership to personal development.

The Philosophy Behind “Use the Difficulty”

The idea is deceptively simple: when life places obstacles in your way, don’t just try to remove them or sidestep them. Instead, incorporate them into your narrative and use them to add depth, texture, and momentum to your journey. In the realm of acting, this could mean turning a prop that falls out of place into a spontaneous moment of comedy. In sales, this could translate to turning a client’s objection into an opportunity to showcase your product’s unique features.

Comedy: Embrace and Exaggerate

Let’s say you’re in a sales presentation, and you accidentally knock over a cup of water. You could let the moment disrupt the flow of your pitch, or you could seize it to lighten the atmosphere. Make a joke, perhaps say something like, “Well, I guess I’m just overflowing with enthusiasm for our product!” Not only have you defused a potentially awkward moment, but you’ve also turned it into an opportunity for connection and levity, much like a comedian would “fall over it.”

Drama: Face It Head-On

In more serious situations, where humor won’t cut it, confront the difficulty squarely and use it to highlight your strengths or to bring attention to something important. Imagine you’re a leader facing tough questions about a recent setback in your organization. Rather than evade the topic or make excuses, acknowledge the setback openly and use it to talk about your plans for moving forward and the lessons learned. In doing so, you build trust and demonstrate resilience, turning a potentially damaging situation into a platform for renewed commitment.

Applications Beyond Acting

Sales and Leadership

If you’re in sales or a consultancy role, objections from clients can seem like a big stumbling block. However, consider them a gift. They offer a peek into what the client is truly concerned about. Address these concerns head-on and pivot the conversation to highlight how your product or service provides a unique solution. In leadership, each challenge can be used as a teaching moment for your team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and mutual growth.

Personal Development

When we talk about personal happiness, it’s easy to see difficulties as roadblocks on the path to fulfillment. However, each challenge can be a stepping stone that allows you to grow emotionally and psychologically. The struggles you face teach you resilience, the art of maintaining your balance when the ground beneath you is shaky.

Taking it home

The “use the difficulty” mindset is a paradigm shift. It encourages you to view difficulties not as unwelcome intrusions on your path to success, but as integral parts of the journey. They are the grit that polishes the diamond, the resistance that strengthens the muscle, and the conflict that deepens the story. As you navigate the complexities of your professional and personal life, remember Michael Caine’s wise words. Don’t just overcome challenges—embrace them, incorporate them, and let them propel you towards your ultimate goals.

So, the next time you encounter a difficulty, ask yourself: Is this a comedy or a drama?

Either way, use it to your advantage and make it part of your story. Because as Michael Caine showed us, the obstacle is not just the way; sometimes, it’s the entire script.

Happy Selling,

David

So many people are looking for the secret when it comes to success. There are thousands of posts all over the Internet promising you the secrets of how to be successful. 

I have made it a habit to listen to inspirational videos each morning to start my day. Even the ads that come on will have so-called entrepreneurs ready to teach you how to become a millionaire with their secret formulas. Just send them the money and they will show you how easy it is. 

What I have come to learn over my career, especially after reading dozens of Internet posts about discovering the secrets to success, is THERE ARE NO SECRETS!

Let’s be crystal clear here. No matter what anybody tells you or tries to sell you, there is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme. You will not become a multimillionaire just by putting in a few hours a week, or even a day, into an opportunity. Part time effort equals part time results.

Here is my simple and philosophical theory. If you want to have incredible success, you have to be consistent and you must work smart and hard. You have to put in the time. Success isn’t always about talent or being great. It’s all about being consistent. If you put in consistent, hard work over a period of time, greatness will come. 

  Whether your goal is to be a top performer in the business world, getting in excellent physical shape, or becoming a better spouse, or parent, you have to put in the time and be consistent in your approach. When you do this and commit to the long-haul, your rewards will come.

Success takes patience, and a strong belief in one’s self. The desire to succeed is an important key to achieving big goals. Whatever opportunity comes your way, you must believe in what you do and the service that you provide. This will give you inspiration on a daily basis.

You have an amazing opportunity. The question is.. “What are you going to do with it?” Your opportunity can be life-changing. When you first begin, it’s going to be difficult. The truth is, most people give up and settle for a life of mediocrity. You are better than that! There will be times when you feel like throwing in the towel. That’s not an option for you. Never give up and never quit!  You have to keep setting goals, and you have to commit to continuous growth, no matter what level you achieve.

  If you were to survey top performers and high-level earners and ask them what their secret formula was, all of them will tell you that they never gave up. They worked hard consistently and they went after their dreams. It’s as simple as that.

Starting today, reevaluate your goals on what you want out of life. Take complete advantage of all your opportunities and go for it. Remember, there are no shortcuts and no secret formulas. You have the opportunity and you have the talent. It’s time to go for it and reach your maximum potential.

Use the GOYA formula, ( GET OFF YOUR you know what). Work hard consistently and don’t look back. 

Your future self will be thanking you. You’ve got this! This is your time! Go out and make it happen!

Happy Selling,

David

As you begin your success journey, the first step is to believe in your opportunities, but most of all believe in YOU. You must realize that you are born with incredible gifts and abilities to achieve amazing things.

Unfortunately, far too many people let self-doubt creep in, and it stops them from achieving their dreams. You can’t let this happen. As the song goes.” Don’t stop believing.”

We will all have times when we go through failures and challenges, which can eat away at self-confidence and self-belief. Failure is part of the process. The key is to learn from your failures and to keep improving. You must learn to believe in yourself more than you ever doubt yourself.

Start out by setting some goals on what you would like to accomplish in life and visualize yourself reaching these goals. You have to see it. You have to believe it and then you must never stop working to make it happen. We are who we believe we are.

Most people, when it comes to achieving success are looking for shortcuts and the easy way to make it happen. The truth is it does not work that way. It takes many years to become an overnight success. The time is going to go by anyway. I encourage you to believe in yourself and go out and make it happen. There are no shortcuts to success. You must believe in yourself and never give up.

Never listen to the naysayers. While you are on this journey and go through a season of setbacks, these people will be waiting there to say, “I told you so”. Never be Influenced by their negative mindset. No one can take away your self-belief without your consent.

As you make the commitment to start believing in you, you must get out of your comfort zone. Nothing great will ever come out of your comfort zone. You need to walk by faith and make a commitment to go out and make it happen. You will have fears. That comes with the territory. Be Afraid and do it anyway. If you start believing in you and make a 100% commitment to your success journey, your future self will be grateful.

Make a commitment today to start believing in you. You were designed for greatness and it’s time to achieve your dreams. Believe in you and take action right now!

Happy Selling,

David

As you may know, the best way to grow your book of clients is through referrals.  Getting your customers to offer them up is not always easy though.   Part of the problem is that sales people typically wait a few weeks or months before asking for them.  It is possible to get referred to new clients if you ask a lot sooner.  Try using the method below and you will see amazing results.

When you are signing the contract with the client offer them a rate reduction for every referral they give to you – regardless of whether or not they sign up with you.  You don’t have to offer a big reduction either –  just enough to be enticing.

For example:  If you are signing someone on IC+ at 40-50 basis points offer to reduce the mark up by 1 -2 BP for every person they refer to you right then and there with a maximum reduction of 5BP.  The client gets a reduction to 45 BP and you get 5 referrals.  Dual Pricing offer to lower the monthly fee$5 -$10 bucks a month, offer a case or 2 of free paper. The client gets a better deal and you grow your business faster!  That is an incredible deal for you if even only one of the referrals turns in to a client!

This is a win-win.  The client gets an additional rate/price reduction while you get referrals to more potential deals!

Be creative! Try this method in addition to our other proven referral techniques and you will be blown away by how much your business grows!

Happy Selling,

David

There is a fairly simple rhythm of activity that should be conducted strategically every single day in order to reach the goal of making sales consistently  in Merchant Services. Each activity must be treated as a separate stage in the sales process with its own sub-activities to move the sale to the next stage. Every stage has its own reward.   

Daily Activity #1– Prospecting & Qualified Lead Generation

In the  Prospecting & Qualified Lead Generation Stage the only goal is to generate as many qualified leads as possible. There are two things that make these leads”count” at this stage:

1. The leads must meet the qualification criteria you have previously determined 
2. You are able to accumulate qualified leads in quantity every day.

If you achieved these two things in this stage the reward is you are building your lead inventory which is the reward in this first stage of the sales cycle.

Daily Activity #2  – Scheduling Appointments / Picking up Statements
At this stage there is only one goal:

• Pick up or view two current merchant processing statements a day.

The practice of picking up a copy of two current statements, that reflect processing in the last 60-90 days, this will provide you with important details about your prospect’s business in your next stage of the selling cycle. 

Submit these statements to your statement-analysis department for a detailed review or as I have mentioned before use Clientvie. (It’s FREE for 30 days) At this stage, some agents like to do a quick analysis on the spot. Sometimes the merchant will not allow you to take a copy of their statement off premises but usually will allow you to scan it with your phone.  (use TurboScan app)

 In the case of doing one on the spot be prepared with a tool like Clientvine to do an on-the-spot analysis which will lead you right into your presentation.

Before you proceed into your presentation, make sure that you are talking to all decision-makers, and that there is adequate time for your presentation to be given and evaluated.

In some cases, when prospecting, you will have to schedule an appointment at a future date when all decision makers can be present, and there is plenty of time for the presentation and evaluation. Although you may prefer to do a one-stop-close, it is in your interest to make sure that all decision makers are present, and there is time to give your presentation and allow the decision makers to evaluate your offer. Without both of these criteria you may be wasting valuable time.

Daily Activity #3 – Preparation / Statement Analysis

The preparation / statement analysis stage is important because the information gathered from current statements will reveal valuable information to customize your presentation even if you are offering cash discounting. 

This will help you build relevant value in the eyes of the merchant on why they should choose you and your company to provide credit card processing for their business. 

I have discovered that there is a lot more valuable information than just a straight across comparison of rates. If you will take the time to learn what information to gather from the analysis, and how to work it into your presentation, it will increase your ability to close in the next stage of the selling cycle.

Daily Activity #4 – Closing Deals / Boarding the merchants

This stage is the one that most sales professionals have their eye on throughout the sales process. However, skipping through, or weak execution in stages 1 – 3 will create unpredictable results at this stage. You can dramatically increase the reward / pay off in this stage if you have given adequate attention to the three preceding stages of your sales cycle.

One common mistake that I see with merchant services sales reps is that they have not properly qualified their lead in stage one. By the time they get to what should be stage four, when they are attempting to close a deal and board a merchant, they may discover that the processor considers this particular business to be high risk and will not underwrite; or, they may discover that there are other decision makers involved in the final decision and they cannot close without coming back at a future date to hopefully present to the additional decision-makers.

In this stage you will focus on building relevant value for your offer based on the information gathered in stage three. You should anticipate common objections to your offer and work the responses into your presentation before the objections are raised. 

Close with an offer of how they would like to get started, not if they would like to get started. 

Daily Activity #5 – Delivering “Rave Review, Referral Getting” Follow Up

Once the merchant application is approved

1. schedule the delivery and installation of the terminal or POS. Of course with the POS there will need to be time for the programming of the inventory or menu. Terminals are usually shipped overnight or two day delivery. Don’t try to do the installation during your new merchants busiest time of the day. Find out from the merchant when the ideal time is for installation, without letting them put off the installation too long.
2. follow up the next day to be sure that the first day’s settlement went through without a problem. Just a quick phone call or pop in if your out and about.
3. schedule to talk with them about their first statement and PCI. Schedule time to walk them through the Self Assessment Questionnaire for PCI Compliance. Do this within the first 30-40 days after the merchant has been boarded, and annually for as long as the SAQ is required and the merchant is processing within your portfolio. Trust me, other sales agents seldom do any of this at all. 

These are the very minimum boarding activities you should do to support your merchant.

There are other things that you can do to stay in touch with the merchant to let them know you’re available when they need you. And, of course, always a good opportunity to let them know you have time for their referrals.

• Drop off receipt paper or order it from the processor for them,
• Drop by point of sale tools such as signature mat, table tents, pens, and a variety of things available through Discover Signage with the card brand logos on the item – available to you for free to supply your merchant. 
• Send weekly, bi weekly or monthly emails with basic information that helps them understand their processing service better. Services like mailchimp which is free or Constant contact are good to use.
• Send monthly post card or greeting card – This is a fun and friendly way to stay in touch; something that I call my “Ultimate Referral Program”. Postable and Send out cards are good resources for this.

Let’s Wrap it up – Putting it all together
Initially you will be doing all of these activities yourself. However, once you get a rhythm and start making regular sales, look for qualified team members to whom you can delegate some of these activities. Your primary role should be to generate new business. Your support team should be trained help you with installs maintaining current business and encourage referrals. 

Happy Selling,

David

We’ve all been there.  Ever have the feeling you’re expending more energy and time avoiding a task instead of actually diving in and doing it?

I usually can get a lot done, but I can also be a master of putting certain things off. I have an email sitting in my inbox about an offer for lead generation that I’m keep telling myself I will look into. Oh, wait, it’s from June. I get to it today, maybe.

Procrastination is an ailment that debilitates salespeople. Not only does it create guilt and anxiety about not getting things done, it obviously pulls down our sales results.

So what causes procrastination?

Fear of failure, and/or of success, says Jane Burka, author of “Procrastination: Why You Do It; What to Do About It,”(Yes, its available on Audible) Regarding the fear of failure, she says that it’s more acceptable to believe you’ve failed to reach a goal by putting it off, than to believe you lacked the ability to reach it.

Also, there’s the fear of success. Some salespeople put off prospecting, since they feel that by reaching and beating sales goals, they’ll be expected to exceed higher ones each month. They’d rather not face the new demands success can bring.

Here are some ways to  deal with procrastination:

Use power-blocking. Break your prospecting day into 45-minute, one-hour, or other segments that work for you. Take breaks in between and do nothing during your power blocks but prospect.

Break huge tasks into manageable chunks. Prospecting an entire day could seem like a Goliath-sized task. But slicing it down into a series of bite-sized morsels makes the mountain easier to scale. ex. 3-5 cold calls per hour, till you reach 25.

Schedule unpleasant duties for your own “up time. Those parts of the day when your energy level is the highest. It’s easy to procrastinate when your energy is dragging, so find easy, mundane tasks to do during those times.

Don’t anticipate how prospects will respond. Often, procrastination is a result of saying, “Oh, this person won’t buy. I know they’re from someone else who is cheaper than us. They wouldn’t be interested, I won’t call them. Most successful merchant salespeople realize that by simply calling instead, they’re pleasantly surprised.

Schedule a specific time for tasks you’d usually rather avoid. For example, setting aside a certain day or morning can provide the motivation to dive right in.

Don’t let unpleasant jobs age and pile up. Just like rotten food, the longer it sets, the more foul it becomes, and the more you avoid it. Do these tasks the first thing in the morning. You’ll feel better knowing that you’ll quickly get them out of the way. Just get them done.

Make tasks you avoid more pleasant. If you fear prospecting, learn more and better ways of doing it. You’ll boost your confidence, and won’t avoid it.

Avoid procrastination, do it now, and you’ll watch your sales production skyrocket!

Are you a procrastinator?

In what ways do you deal with procrastination? Let me know.

Happy Selling,

David