Third Quarter Newsletter - Tips for sales, service, leadership and training. Public workshop schedule.

1. Taylor Performance Solutions
Supporting Your Success
Quarterly Newsletter
In This Issue Dear Linda,
Do You Live Your Brand? Welcome to our quarterly newsletter. For our new subscribers, the
goal of our newsletter is to provide you with tips on how
Protect Your Training
to enhance your performance on the job. We focus on helping anyone
Investment
who sells, services customers, manages/supervises a team or trains
Help I Can't Say No! other employees.
Additional Resources
In this issue, there are tips on:
 Learning how to say no in a way that builds strong
relationships
 How to ensure you don't lose the money and time invested in
training
 Sales and service ideas to help you live your brand.
We are also pleased to announce our quarterly public workshops. If
you are interested in attending, please register soon as the classes
generally fill up quickly. If you are interested but the dates don't work
for you, let us know because we may have other options.
At the bottom of this newsletter, there is a coupon for 10% off our
value priced online learning courses. This offer expires on September
30, so if you are interested, send an email to
solutions@taylorperformance.com or call us at 631-465-2024 to learn
how to register with the discount.
All of our content is original and we try our best to meet the needs of
our followers.If you have suggestions or requests for articles, send
me an email at linda@taylorperformance.com.
Enjoy the rest of your summer...stay cool and get geared up for an

2. Enjoy the rest of your summer...stay cool and get geared up for an
even better Fall.
Regards and thanks for reading,
Linda Berke, President
Taylor Performance Solutions, Inc.
www.taylorperformance.com
(631) 465-2024
SALES AND SERVICE
Do you live your brand?
I recently visited a bank that has signs all over about
their "Exceptional Service". I read these signs in great
detail as I waited 10 minutes for someone to help me at
the customer service area. Then I read more signs while
I waited at the teller line. When this line didn't move, I
walked outside to the ATM machine, and read more
signs. The ATM machine was not working, so I walked to
the drive-through window. The teller at the drive-
through asked me to use the ATM machine, as she was
the only teller working at the time. This story doesn't
have a great ending and I am sure you can imagine just
how pleased I was with their "exceptional service".
So, what is the morale of the story? Make sure the
actions, behaviors and skills of you and/or your
employees align completely with the
features/benefits you advertise as part of your
brand.
Companies spend a lot of money working with
advertising agencies and marketing firms to develop
their brand and to develop the tag-lines/benefits they
should communicate to their customers that correspond
with the brand. Unfortunately, not as much attention is

3. with the brand. Unfortunately, not as much attention is
spent on ensuring that every employee in the business
knows how to "live" the brand.
If you promise quality service, do you and your
employees have the skills and training to deliver quality
service? Does everyone know why quality service is
important? Can everyone make decisions, when working
with customers in difficult situations, that demonstrate
your tag-line of quality service? Do they make your
quality service feel like the best service available in the
industry?
There were so many opportunities for the employees in
the bank example in the beginning of this article to
demonstrate the "Exceptional Service" they promise, yet
they didn't. Send us your thoughts on when and how the
employees could have "lived" their tag-line of
"Exceptional Service" and we will post the best
responses in our next newsletter.
Link for Reader Poll -
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DSMRF6Y
LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING
Is it time to reinforce what you (or your
employees) learned in training? Better
check now before you lose your
investment.
Training can only bring employees so far
and then it is up to management and the
employees themselves to reinforce what
was learned in training and make it stick
long-term. So, how do you know it is time
to reinforce so you can protect your
investment of time and money? Here are
two easy steps:

4. two easy steps:
Ask Your Employee to Self Assess
Ideal Timing - One or Two Weeks after
Training
Depending on the skill your employee
learned, sometimes asking a few
questions can determine if this
employee needs some additional
reinforcement coaching or training.
Here are some examples:
What are one or two things you are
doing differently as a result of the
training?
The answer you get should be specific
to the topics learned in the training. It
should mirror the activities or role-
plays that the employee completed in
the training.
What changes came easy and what
changes are more difficult? What are
you finding most helpful?
Most adults can change one or two skills
or behaviors at a time. If your
employee says everything came easy
but when you review results (see next
set of tips) they are not where you
want them to be, you may need to do
some reinforcement.
If you think about what you learned in

5. If you think about what you learned in
training, what had the most impact on
how you do your job?
If your employee cannot come up with
something that had a specific impact
and this employee had a need to
improve in areas covered in the
training, you may need to do some
coaching and training as reinforcement.
Observe Behavior - Review Results
Ideal Timing - 30 to 45 Days after
Training
Sales Training
If your employees attended a needs
based selling program, they should be
closing more sales, achieving a higher
cross sell ratio and they should be
having rich dialogues with your
customers. You can quickly identify if
your salespeople are reverting to a
transactional approach if their first
question or comment to a customer is
focused on either the transaction
request or a product.
Example - This sales person may need
reinforcement training or coaching
because the response is too
transactional/reactive:
Click Here to Read Full Article

6. SALES, SERVICE AND LEADERSHIP
Help! I Can't Say No!
Noon - You have been out sick for a week. You returned to work
today and have spent the last four hours catching up on your
paperwork, emails and phone messages. One of your "internal
customers" stops by your desk to talk about an upcoming project. You
have a meeting in 10 minutes. He says he needs your help.
2 PM - One of your long time customers is quite angry. She wants a
full refund of a product that she has already used. A full refund is
out of the question.
What do you do? Do you drop everything and respond to your internal
customer? Is there a way to say "no" without actually saying the word
no to your external customer? Can you make your "customers" happy
even if they don't hear the response they want? Yes, sometimes you
can. And, you can increase your odds of making your customer happy
if you follow these simple rules of customer engagement:
STOP what you are doing - LISTEN to your
customer
In both of these scenarios, there is a tendency to multi-task
while the customer is speaking. In the first scenario, you might
think multi-tasking will help you save time. In the second
scenario, you may think multi-tasking will help you find a solution
to the customer's problem. Multi-tasking in either of these
situations will be a detriment.
If you stop what you are doing and actively listen, your customer
may give you information you need to make an effective
decision. Or, at the very least, you will have information you
need to ask questions to help you make an effective decision and
to identify options to provide your customer.
Identify ALTERNATIVES that meet both parties needs.
This is a negotiation. You have one set of needs or requirements
and your customer has another set of needs. If you stop what you
are doing, actively listen and ask questions to better understand

7. are doing, actively listen and ask questions to better understand
exactly what the customer needs (vs. wants) you can often find
common ground, alternatives or options that will meet both of
your needs.
Once you understand what your customer wants AND needs, you
can position an alternative to the original request. If you actively
listen and ask good questions, this alternative or option may be
the way to say no, without using the word no!
For more information about training classes that can help your
employees negotiate effectively with internal and external
customers, contact us today at solutions@taylorperformance.com.
Additional Professional Skills Resources
For more t ips, you can always visit our blogs:
Taylor Performance Solutions, Inc. Articles and Workshop
Updates -
www.taylorperformance.com/workshops-articles.php
Supporting Your Success - Sales, Leadership and Service Tips -
http://taylorperformancesolutions.blogspot.com/
Trainer Connect - For anyone who trains employees in a
corporate setting -
http://trainerconnect.blogspot.com/
Taylor Performance Hub Pages - Articles focused on sales and
service.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Extraordinary-Customer-Service-
Increased-Sales
Upcoming TRAININGSHARE Workshops

8. TRAININGSHARE workshops are public workshops offered
through TAYLOR Performance Solutions. These are
small class workshops customized to your needs.
Typically, our workshops are offered once per quarter
and can fill up fast. Here is the schedule for this
quarter. If you are interested in learning more, please
contact us at solutions@taylorperformance.com or call
(631) 465-2024.
Presentation Skills for Speaking to Groups
September 14, 2010 - 9 am to 5 pm
Melville, NY - $475.00
Maximum class size - 6
Click Here to Register - http://presentationskillstaylor-
rss.eventbrite.com
Train the Trainer - Instructional Design and
Facilitation Skills
September 8 and 9, 2010 - 9 am to 5 pm each day
Melville, NY - $975.00
Maximum class size - 8
Click Here to Register and For More Information -
http://taylortrainthetrainer-rss.eventbrite.com/
Coming Soon - Next Step Career Workshop -Resume,
Interviews & Job Search Techniques
This workshop is for the unemployed, underemployed or those
looking for a career change. Our goal is to keep the fee for this
workshop as low as possible so we are in the process of
identifying inexpensive (or free) space to hold the workshop. This
way, the only costs we need to cover are for the facilitator and
the materials. If you are interested and want to be notified of the
date, send an email to christinem@taylorperformance.com.

9. TAYLOR Performance Solutions also offers individualized
coaching and training for all the topics listed above if
the dates and times do not work within your
schedule. Call us to discuss fees for our individualized
programs.
I hope you found at least one tip in this newsletter which will bring
you more success. Enjoy the rest of your summer and we will be back
in touch in the Fall.
Sincerely,
Linda Berke
Taylor Performance Solutions, Inc.
On any online training program available through
Save TAYLOR Performance Solutions, Inc.
10% www.taylorperformance.com.
Offer Expires: September 30, 2010
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