CTS Live Training Webinar Notes
December 27th, 2016
Now, lets go our “Main Presentation” this evening, “The Best of CTS Success Tips.” We’ve covered a ton of great stuff with those tips over the years, and now it’s time to take a look at some of our personal favorites, and particularly those that will help each of you get yourself centered on the Success Curve for 2017. But remember, the greatest information in the world is completely worthless unless you put it into action. So take what you learn here this evening and over the remainder of this week make a concrete action plan on how you will incorporate this information in your daily activities for next year. Then, next Monday morning on January 2nd, as we begin our 17th year with CTS, you’ll be ready to explode out of the starting gate. That’s what produces results, and doing this will ensure you have a much more profitable 2017. OK, lets get started.
We’ll Begin With Tennis
o Let’s begin with one of the first ones we ever did, that talked about my favorite subject, tennis. Not so much about the game itself, but about one of the many “commonalities” that can come from comparing sports to success.
A Busy Time of Year
o Personally, we’re always very busy during the Christmas week, so I haven’t been able to get in as much of my “tennis fix” as I’d like, which is usually 3 times a week. I just started playing tennis about 6 years ago; I’d been a big racquetball player back in in the 80’s, until a serious elbow injury forced me to quit. But the tennis swing is totally different, so I initially had a lot of “unlearning” to do. I still have a lesson every month or so, and I always book a few hours of practice time every week as well. But again with all of the Holiday festivities going on over the past few weeks for the family, it’s harder to fit that in as much as normal.
My Practice Routine
o On Saturday, I had booked a court for two hours. I have a large “ball hopper” that holds about 100 tennis balls, so I started my practice session serving all of those 100 balls. Then I went and picked them all up, put them back in the hopper and loaded them into a ball machine, and I practiced 100 forehands. Picked them up again, loaded the ball machine and practiced 100 backhands. Picked them up again, loaded the ball machine and practiced 100 forehands. Picked them up again, loaded the ball machine and practiced 100 backhands. For the last 15 minutes or so, I picked the balls up again and filled the hopper, and I practiced serving those 100 balls again.
ONE Area Of Focus
o The end result was that during this practice session, I had hit over 600 ball, and I had one particular area of focus. When I was serving, I didn’t care about the “velocity” of the shot, I was practicing the “placement” of the balls in the service box. When I was practicing my forehands and backhands, I didn’t focus on where the balls went, instead, I concentrated on my swing plane, and making sure I followed through completely every swing. When I finished and gave the ball machine remote-control back to the attendant, who happens to be the mother of the owner, she said to me, “I can’t understand why someone would spend all that time doing that by yourself.” I laughed and said to Joan, “Because that’s the only way you can get better.” Was this a lot of work? You bet it was, and I was really beat when I finished. But I KNOW that is the ONLY way I can improve my game, and become the best player I’m capable of becoming.
Practice, Drill & Rehearse
o OK, what does this have to do with CTS? For years I have constantly been teaching all of my people that you need to “Practice, Drill and Rehearse” what you will say to people on your Initial Contact (AKA the Interview). It’s writing out your script, using the downloadable ones from the Interview Techniques training module as a guide, and then to practice those until you know them cold. You need to be able to conduct that interview NOT as if you are READING something, but it has to be natural AND interesting, and it must allow you to “connect” with your prospects. The ONLY way you can achieve those goals is to continually Practice, Drill and Rehearse that script over and over again. When I practice those tennis shots, “muscle memory” will retain those swing patterns for me, and with repeated practice, that “good swing” will become natural to me. So will rehearsing your scripts. When you really know them “cold,” you just need a few bullet points in front of you to make sure you cover all the essential points. But it begins with understanding the importance of putting in the time to Practice, Drill and Rehearse, and ALLOW yourself to “screw up” once in a while when you’re first starting. Remember, we all were “just starting” once, and we all had to learn how to do this, just like many of you do now. One of my favorite sayings is, “Every master was once a disaster.” That’s so true.
Action Steps
o So your Action Steps for this one is to review the “Interview Techniques” Training Module that you can find in under the “Prospecting” menu in the CTS Training Center. Make sure you download this script and re-write it so it makes complete sense with YOU saying it. And then Practice, Drill and Rehearse this one so you know it cold. If you take the time to do that, it will keep paying you over and over again every time you use it. This is a very simple thing to do, but it’s also a very simple thing NOT to do. But NOT doing this produces zero success for you, and that’s the “Road to Nowhere.” It’s your choice. The “productive” choice is to MAKE the time to do this NOW, so get working on this right away. Because best time to begin this or any task is always RIGHT NOW!
How Much Have YOU Made?
o Next, I want to address that question that everyone hates to get, “How much money have YOU made with this so far?” We covered this one for the first time back in October of 2011. If you’re just getting started, like many of you are, this question can seem like the “kiss of death.” But it isn’t really. Here’s how I handled this question when I first started, and I hadn’t had any success with the program yet.
Here’s What I Said
o Whenever a prospect asked that dreaded question, I said, “I’m brand new here, in fact, you’re one of the first people I’ve spoken to. So believe me, if I can do this, ANYONE can. But I absolutely KNOW I’m on the path to financial freedom with this program. The really important thing for you to do right now is to determine how YOU feel about this program, and if it makes sense for you. Then, as you go through the process of learning about what we do, you’ll have an opportunity to meet lots of people who are doing extremely well here, OK?” And “OK” is said like a question, with an upward inflection at the end.
I Bragged About Being New
o Do you see what I did? I actually BRAGGED about being brand new, and then I turned the prospects focus onto making his or her own evaluation of the program first. That’s really important. When they attend a Q&A call, they’ll hear the stories of the hosts of those calls, who have all been very successful, and that objection will usually completely disappear. But this is a great way for all of the new people to handle this question.
Use Someone Else’s Story
o Also, if you have a successful inviter, you can weave his or her story in here as well. For example, I would then add, “In fact, my inviter had a successful Financial Planning business for 10 years prior to joining this program. But he left that after only 3 months to do this full time because he had so much success.” If you use a story like this, you again must turn the prospect’s focus onto his or her own evaluation, by saying, “But the really important thing for you to do right now is to determine how YOU feel about this program, and if it makes sense for you. Then, you’ll have an opportunity to meet lots of people who are doing extremely well here, OK?”
Preparation Breeds Confidence
o The better prepared you are for that Initial Call, the more confident you will be, and little scripts like these can easily be memorized so you can deliver them very effectively. In fact, we’ve attached a “Notes” document of this presentation that will be stored with the archived version of this Webinar that you can download at your convenience. That will give you the entire content of the script we just went through.
Action Steps
o So your Action Steps for this are to add this component to the script you created earlier, and make sure you “practice, drill and rehearse” this one so you can deliver it in your sleep. It’s a very short script so that should be a relatively simple task. You always want to have this powerful wording ready when you get asked, “How much have YOU made yet?” But again, this great information is of ZERO value to you unless you actually incorporate it into your process, so again, this is something you need to get after RIGHT NOW!
Fear of Rejection
o Next, I want to talk about something we first discussed in a Success Tip back in June of 2012, and that’s the fear of rejection. This is very likely one of the biggest reasons new members are so reluctant to begin picking up that phone.
Rejection Is A Fact of Life
o Certainly no-one wants to experience rejection, it simply isn’t pleasant. But being rejected is a “fact of life” in ANY opportunity like ours. Most people won’t accept your offering, many won’t like or “get” our program, and others simply aren’t serious about becoming financially free, which is what CTS offers. So that means they say NO! Rejection. For those of you who have never encountered this before, it can be very discouraging. But it really shouldn’t be, particularly when you understand what an indispensable commodity rejection is to the success we all seek. The truth is, you simply can’t get that YES, without experiencing many “No’s. And the very successful people who work CTS not only understand this concept, but they embrace it, and use it to their advantage.
Learn Your Rejection Rate
o They KNOW that rejection and getting told “NO” is a natural part of presenting ANYTHING. And they also understand what their “rejection” rate is before it turns into a success. For example, many people will move forward one out of every 5 good qualified prospects they encounter. That’s a pretty good ratio. But to find 5 good qualified prospects, they may need to call 100 leads, or Voice Broadcast to 10,000 or so prospects. So the bottom line is that doing a Voice Broadcast, or calling an entire Lead List can produce a signup. And that can mean up to $10,500 for you, if you’re participating and qualified at CTS Platinum. It’s very important for each of you to understand and accept the “numbers,” because they’re the key to your success.
Two Important Things
o There are two things that are important here. First, you need to understand and accept that rejection in our opportunity is not a “Stopping Stone,” but rather a “Stepping Stone” to success. Every NO you receive, brings you that much closer to a YES. You absolutely can’t get the YESES without the No’s. As soon as you truly accept that concept, rejection takes on a whole new meaning, and it really isn’t that bad anymore. Second, you need to be constantly working to improve your “Rejection Rate.” Here’s how you do that. You need to simply improve your process. You must get better at doing that initial interview, you must get better at qualifying prospects and weeding out those “Tire Kickers” early in the process, you must get better at following up and booking prospects on the Q&A calls, you must get better at moving prospects forward after they’ve been to the Q&A.
You Must Make The Effort
o All of the help you need to do that is right at your fingertips in the Training Center, but YOU must make the effort to research that information, learn and master it, and apply it every single day. It’s not easy, but it sure is profitable. Harvey MacKay, author of one of my favorite books, “How to Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive” has a motto about rejection. Harvey says, “Don’t get dejected if you’ve been rejected. Just get your skills perfected!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Action Steps
o So that’s your “Action Step” for this segment. Earlier, we had you reviewing the “Interview Techniques” module and perfecting that script. Now, we want you to do the same thing with the rest of your process, using the “Information Process” training module as your guide. You can find that one under the “Prospecting” menu as well. The more time you spend perfecting this, the bigger and more frequent pledges you’ll receive. But nothing will happen unless you actually DO IT! And that doesn’t happen unless you get started, and as you may have heard, the best time to do that is RIGHT NOW!
Adding Value
o Next, I want to review the Success Tip we also did in June of 2012 where we discussed the topic of “Adding Value.” Surprisingly, this is the most overlooked subject when we are approaching new prospects, and it actually should the the ONE MAJOR goal that you have with each Initial Contact. Simply ask yourself one question, “How can I add value to this person’s life?
The Foundation Of My Working Life
o One of the strongest mentors in my life, Zig Ziglar, taught me something more than 3 decades ago that quickly became the foundation for my entire business life from that moment forward, and it still is today. It was undoubtedly the most profound concept I have ever come across, and its’ power translates to everyone it touches. Here it is. Zig said, “You can have ANYTHING that you want in this life, if you’ll just help enough other people get what THEY want.” Let me say that again, and I highly recommend that each of you write down this quote and place it in a prominent space in your workplace. Here it is again. “You can have ANYTHING that you want in this life, if you’ll just help enough other people get what THEY want.”