Script Your Pitch!

Over my career I have worked for some top fortune 500 financial firms.  The managers I worked under always wanted the teams I was on to have a consistent message, a simple repeatable story.  We always seemed to come up short as a team to develop this message.  I even have taken part in boot camps to come up with a core story.  My last couple years I spent in the financial sector we were riddled with product changes almost every day that unless you were trained in linguistics you could not help but to struggle developing a message.   Denise and I have been calling this script your pitch.  We always were good at developing our own messages and as a result we were always successful at selling.  We now combine our linguistics training and are able to use what has made us successful with more purpose and clarity to help companies increase their sales by 20%.  Here are the top 10 reasons you should be scripted just like great athletes and actors. 

Top Ten Reasons to Script Your Pitch:
 
1.     Stop “shoulding” on yourself with the things you should have said
2.     Work smarter not harder
3.     Turn prospects into clients
4.     Bump your closing ratio by 20% or more!
5.     Win Big: say what the client wants to hear
6.     Increase company reputation
7.     Know how to counter attack objections
8.     Make the client experience more enjoyable
9.     Turn up revenue
10.   Of Course: Increase your ROI

Do not lose another sale or client without a simple repeatable core story for your company and employees.  The language you use is the difference that makes the difference!

Personal Coach and Business Mentor, Matthew Linklater, Named as One of America’s PremierExperts

Matthew Linklater, personal coach, author and public speaker, has recently been named as one of America’s PremierExperts® in recognition of his leading role in the business and marketing community.

Orlando, Fla. – October 20, 2010 – Master Coach, Practitioner and Trainer of Nuero-Linguistic Programming, Matthew Linklater, has recently been acknowledged by America’s PremierExperts® as one of the leading experts in his field. America’s PremiereExperts® recognizes leading experts, across a wide array of industries, who are willing to provide information and education to consumers as a public service.

Personal coach, business mentor and success-seeker Matthew Linklater is an accomplished motivational speaker, author and life-changer. His multifaceted approach uses his expertise as a certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy® and Hypnosis to help Live Your Vision.  Matt is also the author of Quick-Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big and the forthcoming Basic Training: Sales Boot Camp and Counter-Attack: Business Strategies for Explosive Growth in the New Economy with nationally renowned business development expert Brian Tracy.

Matthew asks his clients, “What is the one thing, professionally or personally, which if you had it now you would live the life you dreamed?” Matthew’s goal is to help others to “stop dreaming about your goals and start living your dreams.”

America’s PremierExperts® LLC is an organization that honors an exclusive group of celebrity experts who are dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness in their field of expertise and making significant contributions to their industry and the marketplace as a whole.  America’s PremierExperts®, was launched by Nick Nanton, Esq., The Celebrity Lawyer and J.W. Dicks, Esq., the world’s leading expert on business growth through personal branding, authors of the best-selling books, “Celebrity Branding You®, “Big Ideas For Your Business” and “Shift Happens.”

To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit http://www.TheLinklater.com

For more information about America’s PremierExperts® please visit http://www.AmericasPremierExperts.com

About Matthew Linklater:

Personal coach, business mentor and success-seeker Matthew Linklater is an accomplished motivational speaker, author and life-changer. His multifaceted approach uses years of experience as a Vice President at three fortune 500 companies, as a real estate entrepreneur, and his expertise as a certified practitioner and coach of Neuro-Linguistic Programming in conjunction with Time Line Therapy® and Hypnosis to help Live Your Vision.

Matt prides himself on his congruent lifestyle, excelling both personally and professionally and living the healthiest life possible. He knows that when you point the mind, body and spirit in the right direction, you will manifest exactly what you desire.

Matt is the author of two essential books: Quick-Witted and Basic Training.

Quick-Witted: Saying the Right Thing to Win Big. Matt believes the key to success and becoming the go-to person is be creative and a problem solver.

Basic Training: True Sales Training (Coming Fall of 2010) Matt offers state of the art communication technologies to communicate and sell more effectively.

As a speaker, Matt is full of an infectious energy, a passion for life and a gift for high-energy storytelling that captures audience attention and draws them in. Matt leaves the audience wanting more and with actionable usable strategies.

Through Success Coaching, Matt, along with his fiancée Denise, can help reach your dreams through their Live Your Vision coaching process. They believe strongly that the only thing holding us back is the quality of our thoughts. Matt and his beautiful fiancée Denise currently reside in Chicago. When they’re not inspiring people around the globe they can usually be found reading, learning and experiencing life to the fullest.

To learn more about Matthew Linklater, please visit http://www.TheLinklater.com

About America’s PremierExperts® LLC:

America’s PremierExperts® is an organization that recognizes business experts for their willingness to promote free expert content in their field of expertise to consumers and journalists alike, while offering business owners, entrepreneurs, professional speakers, authors, professionals and corporate CEOs exclusive, invitation-only, opportunities for further exposure and growth in the marketplace.  JW Dicks, Esq. and Nick Nanton, Esq., attorneys by trade and entrepreneurs by choice, founded America’s PremierExperts® to honor entrepreneurs, CEOs, authors, professional speakers and businesspeople who are dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness in their field of expertise and making significant contributions to their industry and the marketplace as a whole.  For more information about America’s PremierExperts® visit http://www.AmericasPremierExperts.com

10 Secrets to Success! (shshsh)

The following 10 secrets to success are adapted from the Investor’s Business Daily.  We are bombarded by negative messages every day.  Why not have 10 positive reminders by your side.  (If you only have a few minutes, read the bold)

 1)      How you think is everything!

                              Create self-fulfilling prophecies through positive expectations.

2)      Decide upon your true dreams and goals!

                              Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to get there.

3)      Take Action!

                              Like Nike – Just do it.

4)      Never stop learning!

                              Read books, take trainings, acquire new skills.

5)      Be persistent and work hard!

                              Have a resilient attitude.

6)      Learn to analyze details!

                              Get all the facts, all the input.  Learn from mistakes

7)      Focus your time and money!

                              Don’t let other things or people distract you.

8)      Don’t be afraid to innovate; be different!

                              Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

9)      Deal and communicate with people effectively!

                              No person is an island.  Learn to understand and motivate others.

10)   Be honest and dependable; take responsibility!

                              Otherwise 1 – 9 will not matter.

Your Are The Decisions You Make

I recently did a keynote presentation for the Farmers Illinois symposium.  This presentation was in front of just shy of 300 Farmers Agents and District Managers.  One of the topics I discussed is how our decisions lead to our success.  Who you are now is a result of all the decisions that you have made in your life up to this point.

When I was in college I played two years of football.  During my two years of football I sustained a knee injury that I did not fully recover from, therefore my playing days were over.  In my last two years I had the opportunity to coach at Western Illinois University.  At WIU I coached under one of the most successful coaches in 1AA history, Randy Ball.  The first year we were ranked number 2 in the country and made it to the semifinal game of the playoffs.  The great story about Randy that sticks in my head is what he used to say to the team before every game.  Randy would come in and say this is the toughest game you are going to play in your career.  The funny thing is that you believed him every time.  He then went on to say today we are going to play about 140 plays and this game is going to be decided by 3 or 4 of those plays.   The thing is you do not know which 3 or 4 plays are going to decide the game.   That means whether you are on offense, defense or special teams you have to play every play like it is the play that is going to decide the game.  When that play comes you want to be the victor not the victim.

See I believe life is a lot like that metaphor.  When you look back on your life you will see that your life ultimately was decided by 3 or 4 decisions.  The thing is you do not know which 3 or 4 decision.  Therefore, you have to play hard and stay focused each and every day to make sure you come out victorious. 

Prigogine’s Postulate states that all of life’s big decisions are made at what he calls a bifurcation point.  Prigogine states that we walk through life with all our body’s biochemistry supporting us in good order.  Then entropy sets in.  As entropy sets in we approach a bifurcation point.  At this point we either elect to carry on to more entropy or we select a new order.

A couple years ago my position was eliminated at AXA.  At the time unemployment for my type of job was moving toward 40%.  I had a conversation with one of my bosses at the time Mike McCarthy.  Mike stated that if I am as good as I think and as good as he thinks there will always be a job out there for me.  See I could have pulled the covers over my head and went on to more entropy, but I decided to heed is advice and carry on to new order.   The last couple months of ’08 and the first couple months ’09 I had 4 interviews.  Two of the interviewers I had to sell over the phone to even see me.  I went on to get an offer at two of those companies, while 40% of my buddies were sitting on the sideline.  The only difference between me and them is I made a decision that I was not going to be a victim of circumstance.  Are you ready for when your life’s biforcation points arrive?  Play each day like it is the day that is going to decide the outcome of your life.