Writing a sincere thank you note is one of the professional skills that can make a lasting favorable impression. People like being appreciated. One of Dale Carnegie’s fundamental human relation principles is “Give honest, sincere appreciation.” When writing a thank you note, use a plain, small card. However, the card is not as important as the effort, so if paper is all that is available, write the note anyway! Use this 6-step formula as a sure-fire method of expressing appreciation in a written note.

1. Greet the Giver: Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith OR Dear Jamie. It seems like an obvious point, yet many people will begin a note with “Hi” or even omit the greeting.

2. Express Gratitude: Thank you so much for the book. The key is to keep it simple and specific. The point of writing the note is to create an expression of a heartfelt sentiment.

3. Discuss Use: I started to read the book immediately and have found many great ideas already. People like to know that you found their gesture or gift valuable. Sharing how you are using the item or idea makes their effort more meaningful.

4. Another Thank You: Thank them again for the gift. It’s not excessive to say thanks again.

5. Complimentary Close: Wrap it up with a close that expresses your final thought: Regards, All the Best, Sincerely, Gratefully, etc. Then sign your name.

6. Send It: Even if your colleagues and acquaintances are not of the note-writing variety, be the one who sets the precedent.

It is the mark of a true professional to become skilled at writing thank you notes in this age of email, voicemail, and text messaging.

Demonstrating business professionalism is not difficult; it just takes effort and focus. Applying simple aspects of business etiquette goes a long way in establishing our professionalism, which builds our confidence and comfort in business settings.

1. Self-Direction

To be an effective manager of salespeople, begin with yourself. Maintain a positive attitude and a proactive approach to people and situations when leading a successful sales team. Being accountable for the sales of an organization can be a high-stress responsibility. An effective leader is continuously and consciously in the process of becoming a better leader and putting systems in place that create results.

2. People Skills

As an effective sales leader, you must build trust, respect, and rapport before attempting to influence others, their attitudes, their behavior, or their performance. Effective sales leaders project a concern for others, want to understand what motivates the people they manage, and are skilled at motivating peak performance.

3. Process Skills

To manage other sales people effectively, you must recognize the need for processes that will yield repeatable sales results. Many people get into sales because they are good at building relationships. Help the people you manage capitalize on their relationship building skills by developing an effective process to harness those relationships.

4. Communication

Effective communication successfully connects people and processes. Effective leaders place a high value on creating real understanding. They actively seek suggestions and input. They demonstrate the ability to motivate others and are able to successfully persuade others.

5. Accountability

Effective sales leaders know how to close the gap between expected performance quotas and actual results. They hold themselves accountable for both personal and team results. The people they manage respect their ability to coach and mentor to achieve organizational goals.

As managers, the ability to use win-win negotiations skills can make all the difference in negotiating success. Likewise, it can be essential when influencing coworkers and facilitating constructive, positive relationships. Here are 6 things that managers should think about when preparing for a negotiation.

• Know what you want – As a manager, it’s important that you go into a negotiation knowing what you want as the end result. Make sure you put a lot of time and thought into what you want and why you want it. Remember that it is important for you to consider what’s in it for you financially, emotionally, intellectually, physically, etc. Knowing what you don’t want will also help you while going deeper into negotiations.

• Know what your counterpart wants – Your counterpart will also have an agenda when he or she enters the negotiation. Make it a point to understand beforehand what he or she wants the conclusion of this negotiation to be. Understand the financial, emotional, intellectual or physical resolution that he or she is looking to walk away with.

• Anticipate objections – The negotiation process is not always easy.  As a manager, you have to understand that you will meet some objections from your employee along the way. You need to prepare yourself for this by doing your due diligence prior to the negotiation. Make sure that you have relevant evidence at your fingertips with which the other party can identify and relate to.

• Identify concessions – Determine your absolute non-negotiable items and desirables and what you are willing to give and take. You are certainly not going to walk away from every negotiation with all of your needs satisfied. Negotiations are all about the give and take, and as a manager you need to be prepared to meet your employee half way.

• Determine your “walk-away” – When you determine your “walk-away,” you define the point at which there is no need to proceed with the negotiation. Prior to the start of the negotiations, you must ascertain your own “walk away” point.  This will be your single most important source of negotiating power, so once your “walk away” point is met, you need to make sure you take action.

• Practice with a partner – As is the case with any important presentation you have ever made, you always want to practice. You could be faced with a difficult discussion and it is always best to make sure you rehearse possible outcomes. By practicing with someone else you will build your confidence with the situation and it will ultimately help the negotiation run as smoothly as possible.

1. Self-Direction

To be an effective manager of salespeople, begin with yourself. Maintain a positive attitude and a proactive approach to people and situations when leading a successful sales team. Being accountable for the sales of an organization can be a high-stress responsibility. An effective leader is continuously and consciously in the process of becoming a better leader and putting systems in place that create results.

2. People Skills

As an effective sales leader, you must build trust, respect, and rapport before attempting to influence others, their attitudes, their behavior, or their performance. Effective sales leaders project a concern for others, want to understand what motivates the people they manage, and are skilled at motivating peak performance.

3. Process Skills

To manage other sales people effectively, you must recognize the need for processes that will yield repeatable sales results. Many people get into sales because they are good at building relationships. Help the people you manage capitalize on their relationship building skills by developing an effective process to harness those relationships.

4. Communication

Effective communication successfully connects people and processes. Effective leaders place a high value on creating real understanding. They actively seek suggestions and input. They demonstrate the ability to motivate others and are able to successfully persuade others.

5. Accountability

Effective sales leaders know how to close the gap between expected performance quotas and actual results. They hold themselves accountable for both personal and team results. The people they manage respect their ability to coach and mentor to achieve organizational goals.

Create explosive sales growth with the techniques you’ll learn from the dynamite combination of Jeffrey Gitomer and Dale Carnegie Training. Two of the greatest names in selling have combined to create Sales Success. This interactive sales program is delivered by certified Dale Carnegie Trainers.

Preparation is a major part of the sales process and you should not overlook it. Preparation gives you a reserve power to have informed discussions with your prospective clients. A person who is prepared is more confident and effective during the sales process. Take these steps to prepare for your next sales call.

1) Get the information – Research key information about the industry, company, and people. This research should yield specific key issues and needs that your prospective client is facing. Go through the company website to find annual reports and current information on a company’s unique issues and challenges. Research their competitors, suppliers, and vendors for more insights and referrals or to add credibility to your knowledge of their industry.

2) Compile evidence – Research your own company. Has your company done business with a company in the prospect’s industry? Do some of their issues match? How will you communicate this to a new prospect? Do they use a competency model, and if so, how does your model relate to theirs? Have they or others in their industry been in the news lately? If so, was it positive or negative press? How did that press affect their company?

3) Find a contact – Look through your client list, social networking links, or list of colleages and friends to see if you can make a connection through them to any of your prospects. Contacts can help you more easily navigate past gatekeepers and get you talking to decision makers. Begin to develop champions in industries and businesses who will help you build stronger connections in those fields.

4) Set specific call objectives - Know what you want to accomplish during the call. Do you want a prospect to request more information? Do you want them to set up an appointment? Having a plan makes your approach more professional. You may need to use a multi-tiered approach of building rapport, credibility, and visibility to break into a prospect’s company.

5) Know how you want to open the call – Have a clear and compelling opening statement. Remember, you want to be concise, clear, and persuasive. The “fish on the wall” comment won’t cut it in today’s professional selling environment. Credibility is the key.

6) Be prepared to ask relevant and insightful questions – Use those questions to show your knowledge of the organization and the industry and to draw out information. The answers to the best questions will help you identify a useful solution that will get you in the door to support their strategic intent as an organization.

7) Don’t focus on the quick sale – Don’t be tempted to try to “close” too soon or without a full understanding of the client’s needs for the bigger picture. The short-term sale of an enrollment, class, or product may help a small number of people, but not the organization as a whole. Instead, focus on aligning yourself and your sale with the organization’s strategic intent.

As managers, the ability to use win-win negotiation skills can make all the difference in negotiating success. Likewise, it can be essential when influencing coworkers and facilitating constructive, positive relationships. Here are 6 things that managers should think about when preparing for a negotiation.

Know what you want – As a manager, it’s important to go into a negotiation knowing what you want your end result to be. Make sure you put a lot of time and thought into what you want and why you want it. Remember that it is important for you to consider what’s in it for you financially, emotionally, intellectually, physically, etc. It also helps to know what you don’t want as you go deeper into negotiations.

Know what your counterpart wants – Your counterpart will also have an agenda when he or she enters the negotiation. Make it a point to understand beforehand what he or she wants the conclusion of this negotiation to be. Understand the financial, emotional, intellectual or physical resolution that he or she is looking to walk away with. Anticipate objections – The negotiation process is not always easy. As a manager, you have to understand that you will meet some objections from your employee along the way. You need to prepare yourself for this by doing your due diligence prior to the negotiation. Make sure that you have relevant evidence at your fingertips with which the other party can identify and relate to.

Identify concessions – Determine your absolute non-negotiable items and desirables and what you are willing to give and take. You are certainly not going to walk away from every negotiation with all of your needs satisfied. Negotiations are all about the give and take, and as a manager you need to be prepared to meet your employee half way.

Determine your “walk-away” – When you determine your “walk-away,” you define the point at which there is no need to proceed with the negotiation. Prior to the start of the negotiations, you must ascertain your own “walk-away” point. This will be your single most important source of negotiating power, so once your “walk-away” point is met, you need to make sure you take action.

Practice with a partner – As is the case with any important presentation you have ever made, you always want to practice. You could be faced with a difficult discussion and it is always best to make sure you rehearse possible outcomes. By practicing with someone else you will build your confidence with the situation and it will ultimately help the negotiation run as smoothly as possible.

Top posts of the past month:

The Lost Art of the Thank You Note

Writing a sincere thank you note is one of the professional skills that can make a lasting favorable impression. People like being appreciated. One of Dale Carnegie’s fundamental human relation principles is “Give honest, sincere appreciation.”

Management Tip: Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to

Dale Carnegie Principle #28  from bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People and featured The Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations  – Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to

Fortune Magazine: (Dale Carnegie Feature) The best salesman in business

(Fortune) — Twenty-five years ago, when he was asked to assemble a list of the “Ten Books That Shaped the American Character,” critic Jonathan Yardley summoned the works of the great ones: Thoreau and Whitman, Twain and Hemingway, Thorstein Veblen and W.E.B. Du Bois. And standing next to them in this pantheon of the nation’s literary giants, he also placed the man who once told America to read his work “with a crayon, pencil, pen, magic marker, or highlighter in your hand. When you come across a suggestion that you feel you can use, draw a line beside it.”

DALE CARNEGIE TRAINING APP NOW AVAILABLE FOR BLACKBERRY

Dale Carnegie Training^®, the international leader in performance-based workforce training and solutions, is pleased to announce the availability of its popular “Secrets to Success” application for download on the BlackBerry handheld.  Previously available exclusively for the iPhone, the application is now available for $2.99 through the BlackBerry app world webstore http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/), as well as on the Dale Carnegie website (http://www.dalecarnegie.com/app/).  The launch comes as welcomed news to the legions of BlackBerry owners who could previously not access the business application, which reached the #1 paid business app spot on the iTunes bestseller list within one week of its release in February 2010.

Dale Carnegie Principle #30  from bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People and featured The Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations  – Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest

Watch a YouTube Video on the importance in business to — Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest

For more tips on how to become a more effective communicator, leader, and team member download Dale Carnegie’s Secrets to Success App now available on blackberry, iPhone, iTouch, and iPad

Dale Carnegie Principle #29  from bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People and featured The Dale Carnegie Course: Effective Communication and Human Relations  – Use encouragement.  Make the fault easy to correct.

Watch a YouTube Video on the importance in business to — Use encouragement.  Make the fault easy to correct.

For more tips on how to become a more effective communicator, leader, and team member download Dale Carnegie’s Secrets to Success App now available on blackberry, iPhone, iTouch, and iPad