“The Specialist” Sales and Management Training Blog

Hey everybody! I just wanted to let you all know that the wait is over…the new Sales and Management CDs are now officially in production and available for distribution. These CD’s are a collection of real-world Sales and Management Training scenarios, advertising-free sales and management tips from the regional radio show based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, “The Specialist” Radio Hour. Whether it be door-to-door, in the office, retail, business-to-business, or at a client’s location, these in-depth adventures in leadership and sales strategy, laced with humor and life lessons, provide a real-world approach to improving your sales and management skills.

Purchase any set of CD’s and receive a free printed copy of “The Specialist” Sales and Management Bible , a $14.95 value!

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Hello everybody,

It has been a while, but boy have I been swamped. I have been trying to get my Radio Show syndicated so I may as well give you some updates. Here we go.

First off because of the great listeners, especially my “Road Warriors”, “The Specialist” Radio Hour starting March 10th has been moved to peak “Drive Time”, the coveted 5 to 6 pm time slot, Monday through Friday. Also WLES 580 AM on your radio dial out of Richmond Virginia has picked up the show starting May 1st. Thanks to you we will now become a regional talk show and cover the 2 largest markets in the State of Virginia. To all of you that listen to “The Specialist” Radio Hour, thanks for all of your support.

I also hope you have been keeping your eye on the food drive as we have collected and delivered over 3000 lbs. of food to the needy in Virginia.

Also if you haven’t already signed up for the FREE newsletter you should do that immediately. Soon you will be able to order DVD’s of commercial free segments of all “The Specialist” Radio Show content at our website. By signing up for the newsletter, you will qualify for a 20% discount on the DVD’s and all other products on the site.  These DVD’s are priceless not only for your listening pleasure but are invaluable for training purposes. Thanks again for all your support and I will be doing another Post soon!

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

It is the very first post of 2008. I have got a doozy for you!

Today I got to watch a young but future great sales professional (You heard me correctly “sales professional”) blow and I mean literally BLOW a lay down sale. I hurt for this young professional. The purpose of this post is not about what he did wrong but how does anyone rebound from a devastating blow like that.

The first thing he must realize is that EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE that has ever been in sales has blown an easy one. Anybody that says they haven’t is either a liar or has NEVER sold ANYTHING!

Secondly he has to have a short memory and forget about it.

Third and most importantly he has to get back on the horse and hurry up and close another prospect. It is just that simple. Consistent hard work solves everything! “The Specialist” GUARANTEES IT!!! Happy New Year and look forward to hearing from you on our web site strangeratthedoor.com. Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter and get 20% off on ALL “Specialist” Gear including “The Specialist” Sales and Management Bible, a MUST read to start the New Year!

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

It is me again! I have kinda taken a little time out from during posts because of the extra project that I have been working on. About 2 days before Thanksgiving John, my co-host and I made a pledge to use the forum we had on our radio show to help the community.

While on an airplane flying to California to do some consulting I read State by State stats on the number of children that are not guaranteed a meal for dinner each night. Right here in America! Since I am from Virginia I could not help but notice that 14.3% of all of Virginia’s children fell into that group. So we decided to step up and have a massive food drive. The goal for “The Specialist” was to collect as much food as possible as long as I am on the air.

Wednesday we will make our first delivery to an inner city church where it can be quickly distributed to needy people in that community. The GREAT news is that with everyone’s help, as of this writing we have already collected 1000 lbs. of food! We had a lot of great help from our terrific listeners! Just to mention a few of the great people and I am not going to give last names but a special thanks to Chris, Santea, Steve, Tom, Louis, and William. All of you know who you are and even though we have reached the first 1000 lbs. I am going to look to you all for a long time to come. Thanks again!

By the way I hope you have checked out the web site for some of your Christmas shopping and don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter so you can get 20% off on everything you buy for Christmas! Talk to you soon,

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday. Personally, I got a lot of much needed rest!

Today “The Specialist” Spotlight was on the best Master Closers you will ever encounter. Your children! Thats right, your children, they are naturals. Children have the ability to attach the emotional needs of their wants directly to their prospects. Their parents!

I personally know 2 little girls that convinced their father who dislikes cats intensely to buy not one but two cats at the same time! By the way I was the prospect that bought the two cats! This one young lady wanted a new car and explained to her parents that since she was attending an out of state college she was sure her parents wouldn’t want her walking the streets in a strange town. Incredible! Talk about knowing your prospect and attaching emotion to the sale…that is truly a work of art.

Here is an example that I read about that was really a stretch but worked! A young boy convinced his parents that by buying him that new video game he would be a lot safer than hanging out at game rooms where there were bad influences and maybe trouble. What a close. If you do not have any children go baby sit your sisters or brothers children and watch them very closely and marvel at their expertise. Their parents already know! I GUARANTEE it!

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter and get 20% off on all “Specialist” gear on the site. I will share another story with you tomorrow.

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

It is “The Specialist” here to wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! Please drive safe.

I do have a special announcement to make during this Holiday Season. On “The Specialist” Radio Hour today my colleague and good friend John, has agreed to start a foundation (name to be announced shortly) to feed the 14.3% of the children in Virginia that do not have enough food to eat on a daily basis or are close to that point. Thanks to a great listener of the show within 2 hours we had received over 79 lbs. of food! Can you believe that?

Part of what we are doing is taking a portion of the proceeds from strangeratthedoor.com website (amount to be announced shortly) and donating it to the food drive as well. We will also be doing live remote radio shows at all three big malls in Virginia Beach and Norfolk. At those live promotions we are going to give away hundreds of “The Specialist” Mugs, Hats and other gear in exchange for canned food and non-perishable foods. You can see it is going to be a great cause. I will keep you posted.

Happy Thanksgiving !

“The Specialist”

Hello kind readers,

It is I “The Specialist” with a great TRUE story.

Today I was invited to a luncheon where a gentlemen was to speak and in return everyone received a FREE luncheon at a Mexican restaurant. The reason I was in attendance was the group consisted of sales type people that wanted to exchange ideas. Here is what took place.

The speaker was representing a Fortune 500 financial planning company and he hoped to acquire some leads from this event. I am sorry to say this gentlemen could not pass salesmanship101. First, he never asked even one person their name. Imagine that! Then he went on to tell everyone repeatedly how he was paying for EVERYTHING including the tax and tip. Nice until he went on to emphasize that no-one could order anything over $10.00. Say what! He was representing a Fortune 500 Company. Not to mention there was nothing on the menu that was even close to $12.00! On top of that he proceeded to ask everyone to fill out this form with personal information while explaining the only reason he wanted this information was to call us to see if we enjoyed our meal. Come on!

To top it off the final straw was that he asked questions of his guests that insulted their intelligence and if someone didn’t answer the question the way he wanted it answered, he told them they were wrong in front of everyone! I don’t think I need to explain any further. It is obvious why this was “The Specialist” Spotlight on this day.

“The Specialist”

Wow, what about “The Specialist” Spotlight today! Race In Sales!

Most people would not even attempt this subject for obvious reasons. “The Specialist” doesn’t back down on controversial issues. I will tell you, my 40 years of experience tells me it is.

First, anyone that tries to tell me that there is a level playing field between White and African-American salespersons is in self denial. I have gone door-to-door with almost every race in a training situation in my career. I will address the door-to-door experience first.

When you go to someone’s residence, the boldness of the residents is incredible. The vile and cruel things that come out of some of these people’s mouths cannot even be repeated. The abuse that African-Americans suffer is unspeakable! For that matter any minority is at a grave disadvantage. I have shielded many minorities from abuse in this setting.

Lets go to business to business or retail sales. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there are segments of this country, like the deep south, that still would rather not buy from a specific minority. The classy African-Americans, as well as other minorities, publicly refuse to admit that they realize they are at a disadvantage. Being “The Specialist”, I have befriended many minorities and they have confided in me about their true feelings, knowing they would get a fair shake.

Now that we have established the truth I do have the solution to level the playing field.

First, the minority MUST become the consummate professional. They have to have superior product knowledge. Their counterparts will not find that necessary because they have a perception, PERCEPTION being the key word, that they don’t need superior product knowledge.

Second, they must have an extremely neat appearance. Again, their counterparts, because of perception, don’t feel that is so major either.

Third, they must out-work their counterparts. Again their counterparts will never work as hard because they perceive it’s not necessary.

Fourth, they must have tremendous voice inflection! You should know the drill by now, their counterparts won’t find it necessary to perfect that skill either because of their perception.

Finally, you must be extremely sincere! You must master the art of making the client not only like and trust you, but enjoy being around you. These are the necessary steps that all minorities MUST perfect to level the playing field.

Do I like it? NO! Being “The Specialist”, my job is to give you the solutions, not join in a pity party. Nothing is accomplished from the latter.

Master these points and watch the results…you have just been SPECIALIZED!

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter. Besides the 20% discount on everything on the site, there is plenty more you can read about and benefit from.

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody.

It is I, “The Specialist” with another Spotlight from “The Specialist’ Radio Hour.

Today we talked about giving personal information about yourself when speaking with a prospect. I STRONGLY disagree with doing this. Remember what Donald Trump always says “It’s nothing personal, It’s just BUSINESS”! Keep your personal life out of conversations with your clients. The only way I incorporate my personal life with my business is to make a joke about my life or possessions that will make the client think he has it a lot better then me. That is the ONLY time!

Remember, you are there to learn and talk about YOUR Client, NOT YOURSELF! Check yourself before you speak and you will see bigger checks in your bank account.

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE newsletter and keep in touch with all the great things happening in the world of “The Specialist”

“The Specialist”

Hello everybody,

If you missed the radio show today it was incredible!

The reason there are no transcripts today is because we had a very special guest on that just blew the listeners away. His name was Kevin Kordek, the CEO of A-Active Termite & Pest Control Company. This was not the ordinary Pest Control Executive. Kevin last month was the recipient of the prestigious Virginia Pest Management Association’s “Lifetime Industry Stewardship Award”! If you want to learn more about this amazing individual whose life has been dedicated to the environmentally safe approach to pest control just log on to www.123bugfree.com

Something else that came out of the interview that I can pass on to everyone was the fact that about a week before the radio show Kevin and I exchanged books, of course I gave him “The Specialist” Sales and Management Bible he gave me a book I STRONGLY recommend “Blue Ocean Strategy” it, like “The Specialist” Sales and Management Bible is a MUST read!

Don’t forget to sign up for the FREE Newsletter before it’s too late.

“The Specialist”