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American
Society of IRS Problem Solvers -
Paul Hendrickson, President
Prior
to engaging you and the Ethical Selling Institute, we did a
comprehensive nation-wide evaluation of potential "sales training"
programs. Our members pride themselves in their professionalism;
they
are all about integrity and want nothing to do with anything that would
compromise that perception in the minds of their potential
clients. To
say they were skeptical about anything to do with "selling," would be
an understatement. I say, unequivocally, that we found in you and
the Ethical Selling Institute the partner we were looking for.
Your
integrity-based approach resonated with our attorneys and CPAs.
They
embraced the Ethical Selling System as a way to convert more prospects
into clients by delivering on your EthicalFactor (trust, credibility,
partnership).
Association
of Information Technology Professionals - Martha Ludewig, Vice
President (IT)
Your
concept of ethical selling and differentiation from the competition by
building relationships through trust, credibility and partnership hit
the mark with the AITP audience. I found the enthusiastic
presentation
and delivery of your talk to be entertaining and captivating while in
itself demonstrating how to build relationships with those
present. I
know that you have previously presented to AITP at the National
Conference with positive results, and I would recommend you as a
speaker and your method of ethical selling to other individuals and
organizations.
Blackwell
Sanders Peper Martin - Peter Sloan, Partner (Legal)
Your
workshop on the ethical selling
system was superb, and it changed the way I approach development in my
law practice. Before
your seminar, my focus in networking and business development was on
all of the things that I can do for the client. Your workshop
helped me
make a subtle but all-important shift in focus. I now converse
with
potential clients with a focus on what they want, what they fear, what
they need, rather than what I do. This change has made my
business
development efforts more satisfying and enjoyable. I recommend
you and
your system to any professional who wants to move to the next level.
Blue Ocean Portfolios - Jim Winkelman,
Principal (Financial)
Before your course I more or less
operated under the notion that prospective customers would like the
features and benefits of our service offerings and, through our
persistence, would eventually break down and do business with us.
The themes of your course exposed the fallacy in our approach and
showed us the optimum way to approach and deal with customers.
Most recently I attended the Program on Negotiation at The Harvard Law
School. Your program on ethical selling was every bit as valuable
as this expensive program I attended in Boston.
Center
for Business, Industry and Labor -
Bob Serben, Ph.D., Director
I
would like to thank you for your introductory workshop on the
practical, relationship building value of ethical selling. We
whole
heartedly endorse the workshop's central concepts - the importance of
relating to clients with great respect, and being seen as trusted
advisors - of which, you are a passionate, energetic and articulate
advocate. As important as the workshop was, we greatly
appreciated your
follow-up conversations with our associates. In my opinion, these
sessions were a distinctive feature of your obvious concern for our
associates as they developed their understanding and application of
your concepts. In these efforts, you embodied the workshop's
themes of
service and partnership.
Central
Institute for the Deaf - Robin
Feder, Executive Director (Non-Profit)
I
attended the Introductory Workshop sponsored by the Ethical Selling
Institute. Your techniques helped the CID-Central Institute for
the
Deaf refine the approach we use with prospective families and we are
very grateful. We no longer focus our meetings on sending their
deaf
or hard of hearing child to CID. Rather, we use questions to
engage
our prospective families and ask the families to share their
experiences with us. They now tell us their story and we
carefully
listen so that we can truly understand their concerns. We are
then
able to share with them how we might be able to address topics that are
on their mind. This approach, along with other changes in
strategies,
has helped increase our enrollment by 57% since 2004.
Contech
Construction Products - Matt Houser, PE, Sales Engineer
(Engineering)
As
a Professional Engineer in the Highway Construction and Land
Development Industry, I struggled with obtaining a certain level of
comfort in my sales efforts. The gimmicks and tricks I had
learned in
other sales training programs didn't produce sustainable results and
didn't satisfy my desire for maintaining a positive self-image within
the engineering profession. After attending the NoHardSell
Ethical
Selling Workshop I began to reshape my approach to my sales process and
as a result I felt more comfortable. As a result, business has
sharply
increased and my professional reputation as a "trusted consultant" has
deepened many on my business relationships. In many aspects I
have differentiated myself
from competitors because of the skills I learned
in the workshop.
Lighting Service, Inc. - Kevin Horth
During my sales
career (22 years) I have been through many varied sales training
courses, but none of them have done more to help me refine my sales
skills than the program I attended at the Ethical Selling Institute
with Mr. Fred Firestone. Every other training course I have ever
taken instructed me to do things I found uncomfortable in some way or
another, and all of them asked me to do things that I would perceive as
"SALESPEAK" if I were the customer. ... (The Ethical Selling
program) has helped me keep control of the buyer-seller conversations
in such a way that it seems very natural and not the least bit pushy or
"salesmanese". ... The training has taught me how to better
convey to prospects that I have a desire to become a trusted consultant
interested in developing a long-term relationship with them that is
win-win. Simply put, Fred Firestone and his Ethical Selling
program are head and shoulders above any other sales training I have
ever taken, and I highly recommend and endorse this program.
Royal Banks - Lisa M. Frick, Vice President
I find this program to be
one of the most down to earth concepts that uses the tools I have had
all along. This program is more of a change of focus.
Instead of force feeding clients information in a short, fast, detail
driven conversation, I now find myself in conversations with potential
clients that parallel conversations that I have had with my long
standing clients looking for guidance from their "trusted
advisor". Instead of my primary focus being selling products, I
now focus on developing relationships. After that, everything
else just seems to fall into place. I would be happy to recommend
your training to anyone interested in Ethically Selling their products
and services.
Society for
Marketing Professional Services -
Carie A. Dunn, Chapter
President (Architecture, Engineering,
Construction)
Please
accept
this letter as a follow up to the presentation you made for the St.
Louis Chapter. Your topic, Differentiate or Diminish: Practical
Value
Added Strategies in the Challenging Economy, was particularly well
received. The following points you made really hit home with our
members (marketers in the AEC [architecture, engineering &
construction] industry):
- How delivering your "EthicalFactorSM"
(components of which are Trust, Credibility and Partnership) at crucial
interactions is a vehicle to drive all three key business development
objectives: (1) Retain existing clients and create promoters; (2)
Provide more products/services to existing clients; as well as (3)
obtain new clients.
- The difference between "Satisfied"
and "Completely
Satisfied" clients and the financial impact of having the
latter.
Your
presentation was
fast-paced and engaging. Your overall
rating as a speaker ranked 4.62 on five-point scale. The
following are
some comments received from members:
- "The presenter information was VERY
informative"
- "Speaker was very dynamic"
Stone
Carlie & Company - Mark
Carlie, Member (Accounting)
I
want to take this opportunity to comment on the consulting services
you've provided to Stone Carlie and their resulting impact. Give
the
results, this letter is a pleasure to write. We engaged your
services
beginning in 2006 as a Marketing Strategist, with the designated goal
of transitioning our tag line, "Going Beyond the Numbers," into our
differentiator. We believed, as you do, that our competitive
advantage
opportunities had much more to do with our ability to deliver your
"EthicalFactor" components (trust, credibility and partnership) at
crucial client interactions, than merely with our ability to deliver
excellent compliance work. The following are some highlights of
your
involvement:
- Developed
a Client Commitment delivery plan with our different departments.
- Conceptualized
and facilitated opportunities for us to deliver "in-person impression
power," which resulted in clients and prospects perceiving the value of
our Client Commitment. While the specific dollars resulting from
these
"in-person impression power" opportunities is proprietary, suffice it
to say it significantly impacted all three of our marketing objectives
to: keep what we have; secure more services from existing clients and
secure new client relationships.
- Worked
with
me
personally in transitioning a marketing niche into a business unit.
In
sum, I see you as a trusted resource. Our objective is to be
perceived
as the best value provider. Your guidance has helped us to make
significant inroads in this direction. If I can be a reference
for you
and your EthicalFactor differentiation system, it would be my pleasure
to do so.
Stone Carlie
& Company - Richard Kraner,
Member
(Accounting)
As
a CPA, I was cautious of anything that had an aire of
salesmanship.
However, I found that the concept focuses more on listening than
selling, more on asking probing questions than selling, and more about
assessing a prospect's need for your product or services than
selling.
What a novel approach! The use of a disciplined and methodical
approach
to meeting and speaking with potential clients has broad application
for the sale of all products and services. Your insights have
dramatically changed my approach to meeting with potential clients and
there is no question that I feel better prepared, more in tune with a
prospect's needs and better able to quickly determine whether the
services I provide would be considered to be of value to the
prospect.
Thank you for providing your approach, guidance and counseling and
assisting me in personalizing this approach to the services I provide.
Touche Ross -
Michael F. LaPorta, Managing Partner (Accounting)
I
am writing to comment on the recent marketing programs you did for
Touche Ross. Your work included two focus groups, one with both
our
Audit and Tax management, and a seminar, "Client-Centered Marketing -
Your Competitive Edge," for our entire office. I was very
satisfied
with what transpired. You conveyed useful information in a
creative and
entertaining format, that succeeded in provoking thought regarding our
relationship to our clients and our products. In addition, the
fact
that you thoroughly focused on our specific agenda and developed your
programs consistently, lent to their credibility.
Vistage
International - Allen Hauge, Group Chair
(CEO Group)
My
members found the information on sales and customer service tactics
that help not only land new customers, but enhance and retain the
revenues form current ones very useful. They especially
appreciated the
introduction of the concepts of The Ethical Factor (trust, credibility,
partnership) and the Core/Outer Core differentiation model to determine
where The Ethical Factor's use may be most effective. I received
a
number of very positive comments from members after the meeting.
- "Very high energy speaker - I like the
Socratic Method and find it to be easier to learn that way vs. lecture."
- "Really liked
the
content. I am a big supporter of ethical based business
practices. You did a great job of connecting ethics to the selling
process."
- "High energy -
great
sense of humor, made me feel comfortable. Content excellent ...
culture
of engagement important to and intrinsic motivation of employees."
- "Presentation is actionable. High
energy and passion come
through. Back
half of presentation is excellent because it gives a 'how to'
blueprint."
- "Presentation style was refreshing and
engaging. WOWed Factor was
great."
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