Sales is all about mindset. The technology of CPR (together with The World Sucks Chart, which we covered in an earlier post) is geared towards getting you in the right mindset to go out and be successful. Combined with the sales techniques that I will be sharing with you in future articles, the use of the CPR can turn you from a decent salesman into a great salesman.
CPR stands for “Context, Purpose, and Results”. Nobody does anything without first doing a CPR, yet most people don’t know they do. As with a lot of the information I will be sharing with you, a CPR only becomes a useful sales tool when you are aware of the fact that you are using it and you can control it.
Everything you do, whether conscious or sub conscious, planned or unplanned has a result. It can be a good result or a bad result, but every action has a result. Your brain sends a signal to your eye – the result is that your eye blinks. The result of your eye blinking is that your eyeball is coated with a fresh layer of tears, the result of which is that your eye is kept in an optimum condition to be able to accurately judge when to slow down before you rear-end the car in front of you. All results.
What about purpose? Well, the purpose is to achieve the results you want. It is the reason you do whatever it is you are doing. If you never do anything without having a result, it stands to reason that you can also do nothing without a purpose. A well thought out purpose will usually be a little deeper though. The purpose usually contains a compelling reason (or reasons) for wanting the result: To retain moisture by the act of blinking so that the eye will have the ability to effectively discern depth perception to a degree that allows the host to accurately decide upon a safe stopping distance behind the car in front of him and with that avoid a collision that would likely cause unwanted damage to one or more vehicles and could cause bodily damage to the host or others as well as increased insurance premiums. Hello Purpose!
Context is whoever you are at any given time. I will explain in just a bit, but for now, suffice it to say that you always have a context. Let’s delve a little deeper into CPR and then I will explain how it can help you with sales. As with all things in life that are well planned, we will begin with the end in mind.
Results:
So, we know that everything we do has a result. A result is simply what you want to achieve from a specific action or scenario. The trick with results is to know whether or not you have achieved them. To make sure that you know when you have achieved your results, there are guidelines that can help. They are called S.M.A.R.T. That handy little acronym stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-based
If you have a result that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, you will have no problem knowing whether or not you have achieved your result. If, however, one of those criteria is missing, there is room for ambiguity. So how do you know if your results are SMART? Simple. You need only ask yourself the following questions:
· Specific – Is the result too broad? If so, narrow it down.
· Measurable – What is the visible sign that this result has been achieved?
· Achievable – Can this result actually be accomplished?
· Relevant – Does this result have anything to do directly with what I am actually doing?
· Time-based – Is there a set time/date by which this result needs to be obtained to be considered achieved?
Each set of results should have a personal result – something that you want to feel from it.
Purpose:
From your results, choose the most important result and ask yourself why that is important. Then ask yourself why the answer to that question is important. Continue that process until you have 5 answers. This is called “drilling down”. Some also call it “peeling the onion”. The answers should go higher and higher up the world sucks chart (be higher and higher in purpose). I always write my purpose in a specific format:
To – what I want to accomplish
By – how I am going to do it
So that – why I am doing it
And with that – the bigger why
Here is an example using product sales. It is the purpose that I am selling what I sell, and the overall purpose that I keep in mind on every sales call. Let’s say that I am selling self help seminars, and that my most important result is that upon following up, my customers expressed that the seminar really helped them and wanted to be updated as to how to attend more. My purpose might look like this:
To continually grow a base of motivated repeat customers, serious about self help, by effectively matching my customers to the seminars that best fit their self help needs, so that each of these customers will use the technologies they learned to better their communities, and with that build a stronger and better society for future generations.
Either that or I can just go out and sell these seminars so that I can pay the rent. Which mindset do you think will contribute most to my success? Does the purpose seem too big? Maybe it is. Maybe I need to bring it down a notch and focus more on “community” rather that going all the way to “society”. It depends where I am in my life and where on the World Sucks Chart I want to operate. I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s CPR looked like…
Context:
As I stated above, your context is who you are at any given point. For a CPR, you just ask yourself, “Who do I need to be to achieve my purpose and attain my result?” Get a picture in your mind of what it looks like to successfully do whatever it is you are setting out to do and give that picture a name. The name should only be a couple of words (maximum of 3) and should bring that picture instantly to mind. For the instance above, I remember Anthony Robbins in his old infomercials, promoting his seminars. I can see his face, his animation, the way he was so excited about his seminars that you were really compelled to want to see what they were about. It was very effective. I call that picture “Robbins”. When I think of that work, it brings back the picture in my head. I remember how he was and remember that I need to be that man when selling seminars. “Robbins” is my context.
Putting it all together:
Okay, so I have studied myself and my place on the World Sucks Chart. I know where I want to be on the chart and realize that I need to be thinking “higher purpose”. I decide to start doing that by writing a CPR for my job. I keep that CPR with me and refer to it often, so I am always reminded of why I am selling what I sell and the man I need to be to do a good job at it. Keeping in mind that people read your context better that the words you give them, I’m sure you can see how this technology can be a huge benefit towards increasing your sales. More than that, though. I recommend that you do a CPR on all of the areas of your life that are important to you. It not only gives you guidelines on how to go about making positive changes in your life, but gives you a point of reference. Any tough choice you may be faced with can benefit from your CPR. Compare your options against your CPR for that area of your life. Will it help you to attain your purpose/results? Does it fit your context? Using a CPR can make all kinds of tough decisions easier.
Next time, I will gear things more towards customer interaction. Much more “sales” oriented. In the mean time… Go sell stuff!
CPR stands for “Context, Purpose, and Results”. Nobody does anything without first doing a CPR, yet most people don’t know they do. As with a lot of the information I will be sharing with you, a CPR only becomes a useful sales tool when you are aware of the fact that you are using it and you can control it.
Everything you do, whether conscious or sub conscious, planned or unplanned has a result. It can be a good result or a bad result, but every action has a result. Your brain sends a signal to your eye – the result is that your eye blinks. The result of your eye blinking is that your eyeball is coated with a fresh layer of tears, the result of which is that your eye is kept in an optimum condition to be able to accurately judge when to slow down before you rear-end the car in front of you. All results.
What about purpose? Well, the purpose is to achieve the results you want. It is the reason you do whatever it is you are doing. If you never do anything without having a result, it stands to reason that you can also do nothing without a purpose. A well thought out purpose will usually be a little deeper though. The purpose usually contains a compelling reason (or reasons) for wanting the result: To retain moisture by the act of blinking so that the eye will have the ability to effectively discern depth perception to a degree that allows the host to accurately decide upon a safe stopping distance behind the car in front of him and with that avoid a collision that would likely cause unwanted damage to one or more vehicles and could cause bodily damage to the host or others as well as increased insurance premiums. Hello Purpose!
Context is whoever you are at any given time. I will explain in just a bit, but for now, suffice it to say that you always have a context. Let’s delve a little deeper into CPR and then I will explain how it can help you with sales. As with all things in life that are well planned, we will begin with the end in mind.
Results:
So, we know that everything we do has a result. A result is simply what you want to achieve from a specific action or scenario. The trick with results is to know whether or not you have achieved them. To make sure that you know when you have achieved your results, there are guidelines that can help. They are called S.M.A.R.T. That handy little acronym stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-based
If you have a result that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based, you will have no problem knowing whether or not you have achieved your result. If, however, one of those criteria is missing, there is room for ambiguity. So how do you know if your results are SMART? Simple. You need only ask yourself the following questions:
· Specific – Is the result too broad? If so, narrow it down.
· Measurable – What is the visible sign that this result has been achieved?
· Achievable – Can this result actually be accomplished?
· Relevant – Does this result have anything to do directly with what I am actually doing?
· Time-based – Is there a set time/date by which this result needs to be obtained to be considered achieved?
Each set of results should have a personal result – something that you want to feel from it.
Purpose:
From your results, choose the most important result and ask yourself why that is important. Then ask yourself why the answer to that question is important. Continue that process until you have 5 answers. This is called “drilling down”. Some also call it “peeling the onion”. The answers should go higher and higher up the world sucks chart (be higher and higher in purpose). I always write my purpose in a specific format:
To – what I want to accomplish
By – how I am going to do it
So that – why I am doing it
And with that – the bigger why
Here is an example using product sales. It is the purpose that I am selling what I sell, and the overall purpose that I keep in mind on every sales call. Let’s say that I am selling self help seminars, and that my most important result is that upon following up, my customers expressed that the seminar really helped them and wanted to be updated as to how to attend more. My purpose might look like this:
To continually grow a base of motivated repeat customers, serious about self help, by effectively matching my customers to the seminars that best fit their self help needs, so that each of these customers will use the technologies they learned to better their communities, and with that build a stronger and better society for future generations.
Either that or I can just go out and sell these seminars so that I can pay the rent. Which mindset do you think will contribute most to my success? Does the purpose seem too big? Maybe it is. Maybe I need to bring it down a notch and focus more on “community” rather that going all the way to “society”. It depends where I am in my life and where on the World Sucks Chart I want to operate. I wonder what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s CPR looked like…
Context:
As I stated above, your context is who you are at any given point. For a CPR, you just ask yourself, “Who do I need to be to achieve my purpose and attain my result?” Get a picture in your mind of what it looks like to successfully do whatever it is you are setting out to do and give that picture a name. The name should only be a couple of words (maximum of 3) and should bring that picture instantly to mind. For the instance above, I remember Anthony Robbins in his old infomercials, promoting his seminars. I can see his face, his animation, the way he was so excited about his seminars that you were really compelled to want to see what they were about. It was very effective. I call that picture “Robbins”. When I think of that work, it brings back the picture in my head. I remember how he was and remember that I need to be that man when selling seminars. “Robbins” is my context.
Putting it all together:
Okay, so I have studied myself and my place on the World Sucks Chart. I know where I want to be on the chart and realize that I need to be thinking “higher purpose”. I decide to start doing that by writing a CPR for my job. I keep that CPR with me and refer to it often, so I am always reminded of why I am selling what I sell and the man I need to be to do a good job at it. Keeping in mind that people read your context better that the words you give them, I’m sure you can see how this technology can be a huge benefit towards increasing your sales. More than that, though. I recommend that you do a CPR on all of the areas of your life that are important to you. It not only gives you guidelines on how to go about making positive changes in your life, but gives you a point of reference. Any tough choice you may be faced with can benefit from your CPR. Compare your options against your CPR for that area of your life. Will it help you to attain your purpose/results? Does it fit your context? Using a CPR can make all kinds of tough decisions easier.
Next time, I will gear things more towards customer interaction. Much more “sales” oriented. In the mean time… Go sell stuff!
Ok, tell me, where did you get all this stuff? Sounds way too cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!I got this from something called "Leadership Training". It's put on from time to time by an organization called "MDI". I learned a ton of cool stuff from them.
ReplyDeleteSteve
I second. I have seen people who actively use CPR and have personally seen it work. All of this is proven and makes perfect sense. Thanks for the follow up, Steve.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. Glad to share. :)
ReplyDelete