How to Increase Your Sales Easily

As a salesperson, you are focused on achieving your target. Just as important as target oriented thinking, or even more, is putting yourself in the customer's shoes. If you do this, you will be quickly able to identify their needs. That can create a win-win situation for both of you.

The following story is about how a visit to a sports shop turned into an important lesson on improving sales.

I needed a toy ball for the stray puppies that visited our home for food. They needed some exercise.
There was a sports shop nearby and I visited them.

There were two people in the shop. One appeared to be the manager or owner. The other was the salesman. It seemed as if he was free, so I went up to him and asked if they had small footballs or handballs.

No answer. In fact, he looked away.

I repeated the question, to make sure he heard.

He showed the least interest, and did not bother to answer.

I felt very small-there was another customer now who was talking with the owner. Generally it is better to be indifferent to such things, and I was about to take my leave quietly, making a mental note never to visit that shop again.

I turned towards the door and saw the owner. He seemed approachable. Delhi was a big metro and sometimes getting things as simple as a ball could involve traveling a long distance-this also motivated me to ask!

I repeated my question to him. He made sure that he had understood correctly, and produced a football of the normal size.

It was big and heavy. The little puppies would not be able to move it. A smaller, lighter one would be better. He showed another sample. But it cost 350 bucks. It was possible to get a ball like that at a much cheaper price elsewhere. Also the need was for a light weight plastic or rubber toy ball.

This shop was for real sports goods, not toys.

OK, he said, without any sign of irritation. The salesman was watching the incident, and looked at the owner, like ‘I told you so.’ This guy will just keep asking questions, and not buy anything. Waste of time.

I did feel a bit small. However, there was no need to buy something just to make myself big in their eyes.

Just then, something that had been at the back of my mind, popped up. I had wanted a board of magnetic darts, some time back.

But there was slim chance this shop would have it, small that it was. I took a chance and dared to ask.

"Why yes. It sells here. I even might have one right now” said the owner and pulled a long black cylinder off the rack.

It was a magnetic darts board.

He opened it for me to see. He patiently answered my questions; and let me test its magnetism. Good.

The look on the face of the young salesman when I paid the bill and had it packed was incredulous. Too bad for him.

There are other factors also at work here: I had already thought of buying a dart board. But, who would have bothered to ask if the manager had not shown interest ?

Point: Be considerate and value your customers as you would like to be valued. The manager did not go overboard to please; he just listened, and patiently answered queries.

Result: a sale in 5 minutes!

Afterthought: Perhaps the salesperson may not have received his pay, or maybe he had some other gripe. Sure, but a customer is not a doctor!

Clients and customers can behave unreasonably. But their feedback is vital to your business. Salesmen need to find mature ways to resolve their issues.

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5 Ways to Keep Yourself Relaxed

The need for relaxation cannot be overemphasized. You need to be relaxed to function at your optimum potential. Without relaxation, you may miss the ideas and solutions that your subconscious throws at you. You are not able to listen to conversations with balance, you are not able to handle crises. It will be just a blur of thoughts and emotions and we react in the same old conditioned way- KABOOM!! I'd dare to say that many relationships run aground just because people are perpetually tense, they do not take the time and effort to relax.

I can see your brows going up. Effort to Relax? Is not Relaxation a state of being? How can one reach a state of being through effort? Will not that make us more tense, further away from Relaxation? Perhaps you imagine a person working himself into a frenzy trying to relax himself.

Agreed, relaxation is a natural event; but you need to give the time and space for it to occur. A bucket of muddy water needs to stand still for some time, if the mud is to settle and the water to become clear.

Here are some exercises that can help you be more relaxed. Relaxation is a common result if you do any of them. That is, you do not have to do all of them. They have other effects as well, which are different. For example, Taichi and Yoga aim at physical development also.

1.Taichi
Taichi is a form of dynamic meditation. It was developed by Taoist masters in ancient China. It is a series of poses which progress in an uninterrupted flow. It resembles slowed down Kungfu Kattas (forms or series of postures). One derives the maximum benefit when the attention is held in the movement or on the breath or in the Tan tien, the energy centre in the abdomen.
It heightens awareness and speeds up response time, while also making you relaxed.
The type of the energy experienced is slightly warm and quite buoyant (like the solar (Pingala) energy in Yoga). Ideally, one should acquire preliminary training in Taichi from a good teacher.


2.Yoga
Yoga of the body (Hatha Yoga) originated in ancient India. It is believed to have been handed down by the great Yogi God Siva himself. Yoga consists of static poses (Asanas) that you hold for extended periods. You will  pay attention to:

• Relaxation (avoid forcing your body into difficult postures but approach them gradually-over days/weeks/months)
• Slowness (while approaching a pose and descending from it)
• Awareness (of your movements and breath)

However, in recent times, variations like Vinyasa yoga (Power Yoga) have developed, which are more dynamic.

The energy experienced in the traditional Hatha Yoga is very cool, soothing, and refreshing. The internal organs receive a good, invigorating massage. After performing Yoga asanas as above for some time, you are ready for a session of meditation.

3.Meditation
Meditation for the modern man consists of two types:
(1)Sitting meditation in which the practitioner becomes aware of his thoughts and bodily movements so that they gradually reduce to zero (this can take quite a long period of practice). This need be practiced only for 15 to 30 minutes in the beginning.

(2)Dynamic meditation for the rest of the day:
The practitioner tries to maintain relaxation and focus throughout all daily activities. This is possible through awareness. Again, it requires sustained practice.

The benefits of Meditation have never been fully documented. This is partly because, as the practitioners go deeper into it, they are interested more and more in self-effacement (merging individuality), as they become aware of the Infinite Truth within. They are interested then only in experiencing it, not in communicating it.


4.Free Writing
Also known as Stream-of-Consciousness writing, in Free Writing we let our mind express itself freely on the paper-without the limits of grammar, meaning, punctuation, logic, or spelling. You can set a timer for 5-15 minutes and write non-stop- whatever comes to you.

CAUTION:In case you find an (unpleasant) issue recurring again and again, keep writing: Why am I feeling this way? You will get answers in due course. Some people get them immediately, for others it is a gradual calming in which things become clearer. Dr. James.W.Pennebaker has analysed Free Writing in detail in his book "Opening Up: The Hidden Power of Expressing Emotions."

Free Writing can cause you to enter a state of altered (heightened) consciousness.
5.Laughter Therapy
You can perform Laughter Therapy by yourself in privacy. In this, you laugh as much as possible, for no reason, for 5-10 minutes.You will feel a bit artificial at first, then you start enjoying the laughter, and you feel the relaxation spreading in your insides.

Nothing can frighten a man who can laugh. And we have the choice to laugh in any situation, it is our choice. Obviously, people in authority may misunderstand.  If you are apprehensive of offending others, laugh silently inside you.
Here is a post on Laughter therapy in Gaza.
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Part 2: Overcoming Resentment and Other Negative Feelings

The first part of this article did not mention the law of karma. It is a very useful concept to understand, irrespective of one's faith. It can significantly improve our mental equanimity and quality of life.

The Law of Karma boils down to this: you create your own destiny. What each of us is experiencing is the result of our own actions.

If we produce a line from our current location and extended it infinitely, and lived long enough to see it, it would describe a huge circle/ellipse in space and return to the point of its origin (See bottom for the explanation).

So, the point is, we have nobody to credit for our experiences but ourselves. We have brought on ourselves everything in this life by our thoughts, words and deeds.

As you sow, so shall you reap.

Newton’s third law of motion seems to corroborate in the metaphysical plane too: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

In the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

One need not change one’s faith or religion to understand and accept the law of karma. You are not bound to accept other related philosophies if you accept this law. It is your choice.

At present, we cannot mathematically prove the law of karma and rebirth. But some documented cases point to this theory. You can check out this post here.

To understand karma in its real form, one needs to transcend karma. If we are inside the ocean we see only water; to see the ocean, we have to rise out of it.

It does not matter if we do not understand how and why each event arises in our life or how we go through each experience, the fact remains that we ourselves are behind it all. The action may have been performed in some previous birth.

Even in daily life, you can experiment: a smile begets a smile, a frown another frown. Efforts breed corresponding results.

How can accepting the law of karma benefit us? We can stop complaining about anything and everything, and if we want to change something, we can take constructive action towards it. Action performed with a calm and focused mind delivers results.

Accepting the law of karma means taking responsibility for oneself, which means we stop blaming others or God. It is like taking a huge burden of negativity off the mind. You will feel calm and relaxed.

(Explanation for infinite line becoming a circle: This seems plausible if we assume that the universe is spherical with a curved surface. All heavenly bodies-planets, their satellites, and stars, are spheroids. They have geodesic shape-that is, giving the appearance of straight lines even though having curved shape. Everything in the universe is found to rotate and revolve, so it seems fair enough to assume that the universe is a spheroid as well. Riemannian space theory (named after the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann) assumes that space is curved as opposed to Euclidean flat space. If this be so, a line (in mathematical terms, a ray) extended to infinity moves on a curved trajectory, and has to return to its originating point.)

Do you agree with this theory ?

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