Business Coaching

Chet Holmes, Amanda Holmes and You

I love win-win-win deals and as searches for Chet Holmes currently drive more traffic to my blog than any other phrase I thought I'd make sure that I tell you how you can::

1. Help yourself to a massive bonus of business building goodies
    
2. Help a young singer-songwriter on her way to success
    
   
3. Help Chet Holmes turn the paperback version of The Ultimate Sales Machine into a major best seller.

Let's talk about Amanda Holmes first

Amanda Holmes is Chet's daughter and won "Best Music Video Of the Year" from the Los Angeles Music Awards (I would post the video here if Typepad hadn't recently upgraded its systems in a way that seems to have stripped videos out of my blog) is an up-and-coming singer with a debut single hitting iTunes on June 3

Chet Holmes - The Ultimate Sales Machine

Loved the book but hated the title - see The Ultimate Sales Machine Review.

While Chet Holmes built his reputation working with Warren Buffett's partner Charlie Munger and then with over ten percent of the Fortune 500 companies in the US, Chet's ideas move very nicely into the small and medium sized business arena.

This is a book which I believe should be on the reading list for anyone who owns or manages a business.

Here's The Deal

This link gives you full details - Chet Holmes & Amanda Holmes promotion but briefly:

1. Vote for Amanda Holmes, buy the song on iTunes for 99 cents and tell your friends
    
2. Buy Chet Holmes' book The Ultimate Sales Machine
    
3. Fill your boots with the $10,000 dollar giveaway from Chet Holmes and his friends

That doesn't sound too demanding does it?

You get a great book, you get to help a young singer on her way to stardom and the pleasure to say that you were there at the beginning and you get more goodies than you can shake a stick at.

Just to help you out (and to try to make it a win-win-win-win so that I get something out of it) here are the links to buy The Ultimate Sales Machine from Amazon UK and USA

What Do You Get?

Just implementing the ideas from the book will make a big difference to your business. For example I have never heard anyone explain an idea like the Top 100 prospects as well as Chet Holmes and it will make a lot of sense to you.

You also get a huge range of goodies which someone has estimated as valued at over $10,000
 - see the list

I was going to pick out the highlights but there are just too many of them so just click over and take a look.

While you use them all?

I doubt it but some will strike a chord with you and the free session from a Chet Holmes trained coach is a great bonus on its own.

How Long Will This Offer Remain?

I don't know. I recommend that you take advantage now.

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Chet Holmes "The Ultimate Sales Machine" - 4.5 Stars

This is the first book from Chet Holmes and the full title is "The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business With Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies."

I hate it.

No, not the book. That's great.

The title

I've got to get this off my chest...

I don't know whether Chet Holmes was badly advised or whether this is a moment of hubris.

I thought I would use one of the classic headlines to show one of the problems with "The Ultimate Sales Machine."

As a title it's so boring. It has little impact on me and I am a fan of Chet.

Second there is the use of the word "Ultimate."

It's not "great", or even "the greatest" but "the ultimate" - the best that can ever be. Job over then, this is as good as it gets!

This contradicts one of the key messages I get from Chet's work which is the need to drive for continuous improvement on a systematic basis.

When you already have "the ultimate", you know can't get better so there is no point trying.

It's arrogant and marketing the book, I think that the title is too easily dismissed as hype. The book deserves better.

Third I don't like the "Sales" in the title. When I think of Chet I think of business growth. While that includes sales, it also includes much more.

I fear that the book will be pigeon-holed in the sales training sections of book stores.

It will be looked at by sales reps and sales managers instead of the CEOs and managing directors who need to be reading it.

Even worse, in the sales section I don't believe it will be bought as only chapter 10 is on sales skills - all 17 pages to introduce the seven stage process. The seventh stage "follow up" has its own chapter.

I can't see why someone looking for a sales book would choose this over some of the much more focused sales books by Brian Tracy, David Sandler and a host of others.

Finally I object to the word "Machine."

It underplays the importance of people and again this contradicts some of my biggest take-aways from Chet's work in terms of involving the team in continuous improvement and hiring sales superstars.

Sorry, a long rant about the title but the more I thought about reviewing this great book, the more irritated I became with the choice of title.

Chet's Big Idea

People over-complicate what is needed for business success.

Chet believes you just have to:

• Focus on 12 key strategies rather than trying to master hundreds of different ideas and techniques.
     
• You implement these 12 strategies with pigheaded discipline and determination.

I fully commend the last point. Too often people try something that looks a great idea in a half-hearted way. They are then disappointed with the results, decide that the idea wasn't so good after all and move on to the next big thing.

I also like the focus on major themes and take a similar approach in my Eight Pillars of Business Prosperity coaching system.

The Key Strategies

1. Really effective time management
    
   We all have to find our own system that we are prepared to commit to and be disciplined. My system is based on the Chet Holmes system with a few minor tweaks.
   
   Chet contrasts his early experiences when he was running businesses for billionaire Charlie Munger. Chet was a typical reactive manager, letting his staff dictate the agenda and doing his own work after hours and at home. In contrast, his meetings with Charlie Munder were at set times and very focused on a strict agenda.
      
2. Instituting higher standards and regular training
    
   Chet rips into the traditional training practises which lack follow up so any knowledge gained is quickly lost. Please note focused follow-up is a key advantage of the coaching approach.
   
   Chet reports that up to 90% of people aren't natural learners.
   
   I am. I love to learn and pass on my knowledge but you can see that from this blog.
   
   All the professions like doctors, dentists, solicitors and accountants had to introduce mandatory continued professional development to make sure that people keep up-to-date.
   
   Chet asks the question "Shouldn't it be the same for you and your staff?"
   
   He recommends a system of group training for a minimum of one hour per week based on getting the most out of the key strategies. This could be working through each one in turn and then repeating with a slightly different theme or it might mean focusing on one discipline for ten weeks to correct a major problem.
      
3. Effective meetings
    
   This chapter gives more detail on how to run these meetings or workshops to deliver regular improvements in your planning, procedures and policies. Good advice for many people who probably haven't received training in this area.
      
4. Taking a strategic approach
    
   Too many people are tactical and work on a day by day basis when far more success can be created if you focus on your longer term aims and make sure that all your tactics move you closer to your longer term vision.
   
   Chet recommends educating your prospective customers so that you set the buying criteria and again this is an approach that I strongly believe in.
   
   Why try to play the game to someone else's rules if you can change the rule book by having a better understanding of the opportunities and threats that your customers face.
   
   An idea I like is the stadium pitch. What would you say if you had the initial attention of all the possible buyers of your product or service but they could walk away at any time?
   
   It's a powerful question on its own but Chet also introduces us to a pyramid of potential customers - some are actively looking to buy, some are thinking about buying but not doing anything about it yet, some are not thinking about it, some don't think they are interested and the last category know in their own minds that they are not interested.
    
   It could mean 90% of the audience are ready to walk out as soon as you say "Hi my name is Joe and I sell..."
   
   It could be different if you had a story so powerful that all three bottom categories heard a headline and it connected with them and was immediately relevant.
   
   For example suppose you had a product or service that you only sold to dentists eg a computerised appointment booking and record maintenance system.
   
   If you stand up and describe the product, its features and benefits then the vast majority are probably going to leave immediately. They do not naturally fall into the interested category.
   
   If instead, you stand up and talk about the "11 serious threats to the profits of dentists over the next decade and what can be done to turn these threats into opportunities", you are suddenly connecting with all your target market.
   
   It's a powerful technique and Chet been very successful with it when he has developed the stadium pitch into a core story to use in sales presentations.
   
   My one concern is that it works when one company does it, but it will not be so good when a number of competitors learn the technique.
   
   So as well as our "11 serious threats..." there is also "The seven easy to implement steps every dentist must take to boost their profits  by 20% year after year". The impact is reduced and the technique becomes cliched.It is even worse when you realise that it might not be just your competitors who are doing this. What about other specialist suppliers to dentists?
      
5. Hiring superstars
    
   There is some fantastic advice on hiring superstar sales people in this chapter that will knock your socks off.
   
   It is that good and like many things so obvious when you learn it. The technique explains why men like Chet Holmes attract the high performers while the rest of us attract the salespeople who are nice but struggle to handle the rejections that inevitably come their way.
      
6. Targeting your best buyers
   
   More excellent advice about focusing your marketing on the target customers that you believe really matter with tips on how to do it. This is one area that you will have been told about before but do you do it and if so, do you do it with pig-headed determination?
    
7. The seven musts of marketing
    
   You can't rely on just using one weapon to attract new customers so Chet echoes messages from Jay Abraham (the Power Parthenon) and Jay Conrad Levinson (200 Guerrilla Marketing weapons).
   
   The book gives some solid advice on advertising and trade shows but the treatment of some of the other areas is superficial compared to what you can get from the two mentioned marketing giants.
      
8. Better presentation skills
   
   Some good advice in this section including some common mistakes that presenters make. If you are a sales professional, you may have heard it before and I have a problem with "death by powerpoint."
      
9. Winning the best buyers
    
   Picking up on the theme of chapter 6 on the importance of targeting your best buyers, the book now reveals practical advice on how to make it happen including tips on getting past the gatekeepers.
      
10. Sales skills
     
    For Chet, selling is a seven stage process - establishing rapport, qualifying the buyer based on need, building value by matching your product to their buying criteria, creating a stronger desire, overcoming objections, closing the sale and following up.
    
    As you can see, there is nothing revolutionary in his sales process. It is still good sensible advice and I recommend you use a systematic process that moves you along.
       
11. Follow-up and client bonding
    
    This essentially covers two vital topics.
    
    The first stops what is known as post purchase dissonance and happens when an order is cancelled. What seems like a good idea with the sales person, no longer seems a good idea when you are on your own.
    
    The second correctly identifies that as a general rule, you don't make the bulk of your money on the first transaction but on the subsequent business which relies on developing the relationship.
       
12. Goals and measures
    Standard material but rarely done well.

Conclusion

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes is excellent and I recommend you add it to your library of business books, read it and put the ideas into practice.

I first encountered Chet's techniques through the course materials from major seminars with Jay Abraham and Jay Conrad Levinson, both of whom say very nice things about Chet. As such there was little in the book that was new to me although it is structured in a slightly different way.

You will find it an easy to read, powerful and inspiring book that puts the emphasis on action. You will certainly see why Chet Holmes is one of the business development superstars that I promote.

It's just a shame about the title.

You can buy The Ultimate Sales Machine from Amazon UK or USA.

The Ultimate Sales Machine is also available in summary form from Soundview. The idea that somebody else reads the best business books and then produces short summaries for you to take the best ideas from is excellent. Soundview have produced an excellent summary of the book and has been updated by Chet Holmes himself.

Have you read the book? Do you agree with my review? It would be great if you could leave a comment.

To Your Success
Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Are you making these 11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes?

DT Alpha - A New Force In Business Training & Business Management Education

This is a bit of a scoop but I wanted to bring it to your attention.

There is a new force bubbling up in the business training and management market that I believe will be very exciting.

It's called DT Alpha or DTAlpha - I've seen it written in both ways.

The aim is to bring you the right information, right now.

It is brought to you by Stephen Pierce (who I first encountered through Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren).

What's included?

Well it looks like the main focus will be on DT Alpha TV but there are also articles from informants, reviews, events and a forum.

Now why so I think this is so exciting?

It's the list of informants:

• Jay Abraham 
• Chet Holmes 
• T Harv Eker
• Christopher Guerriero
• Dave Lakhani
• Jerry Clark
• Joe Polish
• John Childs
• Mike Filisaime
• Patric Chan
• Russell Brunson
• Stephen Pierce
• Yanik Silver

It's a mouth-watering list of business experts and that's why I've taken a little bit of a gamble and signed up early.

I know that with these people behind it, DT Alpha will launch to a tremendous bang and behind the seems activity is growing.

It's not ready for public entry yet but I am confident that it will be exciting.

I will keep you posted.

To Your Success.

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

David Lakhani Interviews Chet Holmes

David Lakhani of Bold Approach has interviewed Chet Holmes and the mp3 is available to download free from the Bold Approach website.

So if you like the idea of doubling sales in the next twelve months or you would rather listen to what Chet has to say before buying his great book "The Ultimate Sales Machine" (Amazon UK, USA) then click here.

This is part of my commitment to bring you the best business advice resources that I can find.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Are you making these 11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes?

Chet Holmes Interviews Rich Schefren - Free Download

While I was on Rich Schefren's blog I noticed that he has posted the mp3 audio recording of his recent interview with Chet Holmes.

When two of my favourite business development gurus talk, it has to be worth listening to so just click on Rich's blog.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Chet Holmes Videos On YouTube

I have found that there are several videos of Chet Holmes on YouTube for you to watch.

Double Sales 12 Ways

and

Chet Holmes at the T Harv Eker Guerrilla Business School

Each video is five minutes long but it gives you a good flavour of his style and key messages.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Who Is Chet Holmes?

If you are a regular reading of this blog, you will know that I have a few business heroes.

One is Jay Abraham and another is Jay Conrad Levinson, Father of Guerrilla Marketing.

So how can I ignore someone who has had high profile alliances with both? In fact I believe that all three worked together on one project.

I'd like to introduce you to Chet Holmes, one of America's leading business growth specialists.

Chet made his name at the sharp end of business when he was running nine (that's right NINE) divisions for Charlie Munger (billionaire and partner of Warren Buffett).

You could say he made a bit of an impression.

He doubled sales in the first year.

Then to show that it wasn't a fluke he doubled them again. And again!

With his track record established, he set off on a career consulting with Fortune 500 companies in the US as America’s top marketing executive, trainer, strategic consultant and motivation expert.

To date he's worked with more than 60 of them so you can be sure that he knows what he is talking about. His client list includes: American Express, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Pac Bell, Estee Lauder, Thomson International, Merrill Lynch, Solomon Brothers, W.R. Grace, Citibank, Cosmair, Banker’s Trust, Xerox and many more.

Still believing that he could do do more he then he turned his attention to helping small businesses.

After a relentless (or should I say pig-headed) campaign over about 24 months he finally got Jay Abraham to meet him and together they put together the famous PEQ seminar in 2001. (You may know by now that I love Jay Abraham's copy so take a look at the sales letter for the first PEQ home study course to learn more about Chet).

The PEQ course was a major success. Regular Jay Abraham devotees rated it the best he'd done because Chet introduced the systems to help implement Jay's profit building concepts. Together Chet Holmes and Jay Abraham went to to run another two PEQ courses.

This is what Jay Abraham has to say about Chet:

“When you see how methodical Chet’s approach is, you understand instantly how he can assure dramatic sales increases. Chet is a very brilliant man in his discipline. He’s a very strategic-minded person, but his even stronger suit is figuring out the systems, the process, and the procedures that drive, sustain, maintain and replicate a system so a company can grow and become great. This is what I think is missing in most entrepreneurial companies,”

But being a top producer and master achiever, working closely with one world renowned marketing guru wasn't enough for Chet.

He also formed a relationship with Jay Conrad Levinson, Father of Guerrilla Marketing.

Together they produced a seminar and home study course called "Guerrilla Marketing Meets The Karate Master" (see the sales letter for the follow up).

And this is what Jay Conrad Levinson thought:

"Chet's programs are simple and easy to implement, but powerful. I worked on a project with Chet where sales increased by 700% in just two years. He's one smart Guerrilla and you will be too if you get his programs."

Are you beginning to get the impression that Chet Holmes might be a man worth getting to know more about?

He has written a great book called "The Ultimate Sales Machine" (click on totle to see my 4.5 star review) (available from Amazon UK and USA).

You may also be interested in taking his CEO test by clicking on the picture below to see whether you are destined for greatness.

Chet and his team have created a web seminar (aka: Webinar) that has even more impact than the live meetings.

You can attend the Webinar from the comfort of your favourite chair right over the web, view the slides taught by a Chet-trained expert and interact directly with trainer on the phone with a small group of only 10-15 other company owners at a time.

Go on - give it a go! Register today.

But don't forget to come back and share your experience on my blog.

Alternatively perhaps you are already familiar with Chet's methods and his twelve disciplines for business growth. If so, can I ask you to say how effective you have found his methods.

To Your Success

Your Profit Coach

Paul Simister

Business coaching for customer focused entrepreneurs

Are you making these 11 Common Sales & Selling Mistakes?