The word should convey your purpose in the sport. Clarify for others what triathloning represents for you. You might use the word to guide you in race decisions. It should represent the significance of the sport in your life. It might even propel you to achieve results you dreamed about last season.

Look at the list below. Select one word that resonates the best with you as a triathlete. You want to strip away any pre-conceived complexity of the sport to allow you to focus on less to achieve more with your talents.

• Active
• "Clipped-in"
• Complete
• Confident
• Controlled
• Decisive
• Defined
• Developing
• Driven
• Engaged
• Enlightened
• Evolving
• Fast
• Focused
• Get-er-done!
• Hyper
• Innovative
• Positive
• Quick
• Streamlined
• Uber
• Under-construction
• Work-In-progress

Less is more. Most non-triathletes think there are three elements of a triathlon: swim, bike, and run. Most triathletes will claim you also include transitions and nutrition. The sport in most simplistic terms include these five parts of training, plus two-parts racing: getting started and Get Er Done!

Get focused. Stay focused. Excel at what do you really, really well. Describe what you do in terms that all others can understand. Performing to your maximum triathlete level is easier than others think. Even easier than earning Ironman status and sporting an MDot tattoo. But you don't need to tell them that type of insider information.

The initial barrier to getting it done is mental. The secondary barrier is motivational, to work through all the training to cross the finish line. Follow these seven steps to be a Git Er Done triathlete on race day:

1. Choose doing, dreaming is for spectators.
2. Connect with your supportive significant other to ensure sustainability in a relationship and in workouts.
3. Choose your personal commitment for action: wishing, wanting, and dreaming idles action.
4. Establish a workout routine. Get into your rhythm of consistency to eliminate another decision of when to workout.
5. Team up with a workout buddy. Either in person or virtual partner. Hold each other accountable to finish each day's objectives.
6. Do workouts in a bubble. Turn off, tune in, and workout.
7. Fear Failure. Be proud of your successes.

My wife Chris chose to race in her first triathlon without any background of swimming, biking, or running in a competitive setting. She trained with me to build a strong bond, honor her self-commitment, and achieve unified fulfillment.

Chris exited the water in 2nd place for the women's division.

A research study at Indiana University confirmed exercising proved much easier when mates workout alongside each other. Spouses training together proved more supportive to each other. Researchers in the study tracked married couples who started an exercise program. Half of the group comprised of both couples who exercised and half with only one spouse on a workout program. Over the course of a year, 43% of the individual spouses dropped the exercise program.

In contrast, 94% of the exercising couples continued working out together.

One binding factor included excuses to bail out were kept in check. Half of the quitters stated family responsibilities and lack of support from the other spouse resulted in their dropout decisions.

In our relationship Chris emphasized the fun because life is hard enough without adding competitive stress as an ingredient of success.

Take your first step into race action. Time waits for no one. You shouldn't either.

What other word do you use to describe yourself as a triathlete?

Here's a Great Letter to Use to Attract Single Women in the Personals:

I highly recommend that you play the personals for dating, love, sex, and romance. And when you answer a woman's ad for the first time here's a great letter to use. Just edit it to use for yourself. This letter will really make a good impression on single women and make her want to write you back. Try it, it works !:

Dear …

Let's become good friends, then … Hope for a beautiful relationship.

I feel that before we can have a good relationship, we must put forth the energy and time it takes to first become good friends. Friendship is one of the most important building blocks of a good relationship. To me, friends are like flowers in the garden of life.

My desire is to meet a beautiful, sensitive, sensuous, warm, assertive single lady who wants a friend. My interpretation of a friend is one to whom you can pour out all the contents of your heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentleness of hands will take it all, sift it, keep that which is worth keeping and, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. I thank you in advance for allowing me to be that kind of friend to you.

If you feel it would be good for us to meet, write and tell me more about yourself. And please have good thoughts about our further relationship, for thoughts are like seeds. All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seed of today.

Let me tell you about myself. I am divorced (five years ago), Caucasian, dark brown hair, blue eyes, 6 '3 ", trim 175 lbs., Clean-cut and a healthy gentleman. I am self-sufficient, handsome, self-employed (businessman) , happy, secure, self-confident, psychologically aware, emotionally and financially secure.

I love poetry, books, walks on the beach and cozy candlelight dinners. I enjoy movies, television, music, traveling, the desert, the quietness of the mountains, the ocean, sunrises and sunsets.

I am comfortable in jeans or a nice Italian suit. A nonsmoker / drinker, not into drugs (don't need them; I live in a natural high). I believe in enjoying the good life and am high on it. I have a healthy attitude about God and the Bible.

I am not a game player. I never want personal happiness at the expense of someone else. If we have a single date or a lifetime together, I will never lie to you, try to manipulate you or use you in any way. I am an incurable romantic who treasures, cherishes and appreciates sincerity, integrity, honesty and warmth. I enjoy picnics, laughing, talking, touching, affection and physical closeness. A good listener who enjoys mutual spoiling and also I am a one-woman man.

I am looking for a special, loving relationship with a unique lady who is affectionate, beautiful, slender, with a shapely figure, sincere, easygoing, with interests and characteristics similar to mine … someone who wants a meaningful, serious, long- term relationship … not just a few dates. Are you that special lady?

All it will take to find out whether or not things might work between you and me is a 32-cent stamp and five minutes of your time to write me a letter. Physical attraction to me is as important as the other things I have mentioned. Please send a recent photo (not over one year old) of yourself. I will send my recent photo when I answer your letter. I would also appreciate you sending your phone number.

Well, what do you think? Isn't this a great letter! You could also use this for online personals too. The next step is up to you … Try the personals, they sure worked for me!

We often get so dependent on having someone else around that we forget that it is still enjoyable and good to be single. Many of us sink into an overpowering depression when we are single that cripples us and alters our progress. Often, this leads to jumping into a relationship that is harmful to our mental health and perhaps even more. However, you should begin to enjoy being single if this is the position that you find yourself in. Single is not merely a status but a description of a person who is strong enough to take on life without being dependent on others. There are quite a number of reasons why you should embrace being single and simply enjoy it.

• When you are single, you are able to focus on yourself, be yourself and learn to appreciate yourself. Getting some 'me' time does not hurt. You allow yourself to be more open and uninhibited, and you therefore learn more about yourself and reconnect with 'you'.

• It gives you an opportunity to consider what has happened in past relationships and how that has affected you. There are going to be good memories while others aren't so great. You will need to separate the two, appreciating the positives and then pulling from the negatives. This will be a process of growth and will help you to let go of the past and enjoy the present.

• Being newly single, you may have this feeling of having lost everything. This may take some time to pass, but in the mean time, take note of the things that you think you have lost and find out what it is that is missing. Not only will this give you a new perspective, but you are able to begin doing things that you weren't able to before.

• There are some changes that are good while some are bad. However, we cannot be afraid of change and must consider being single to be a good one, and enjoy it. The overwhelming fear of meeting new people, confusion of where to hang out and what to do is a problem that many are faced with once they become single. Take it one step at a time and things will fall into place. You may even find that you are able to do and see more now that you are unattached.

• Being single may have come about through a bad breakup or simply a choice to move on with your life. Either way, you should realize that being single does not mean that you should throw love out the window. Staying open to love allows you to meet new and interesting people.

• Everything in life happens for a reason. If you are single that means that there is purpose for being in this position. This may simply be an opportunity to truly find yourself or a chance to find someone better for you. There is no need to rush and it is best to let things fall into place. However, always bear in mind that this journey is to be enjoyed.

Since roughly 1970, approximately 20-30% of children live in single parent homes. The number varies from study to study and country to country. More of those are female than male, but again the numbers vary substantially from one study to the next. Whatever the sex of the parent, parenting alone raises some unique challenges.

Since most single parents continue to work, many of the basic difficulties involved are practical ones: how to find and afford a sitter or day-care, what to do when having to work late or weekends, how to arrange shopping, etc.

Single parents find all manner of creative arrangements for meeting these difficulties. Many rely on older children to care for younger ones, while the younger ones often take on more responsibilities than other children in their age group. Many rely on friends and relatives. Some simply leave the child home alone for extended periods.

But beyond the practical arrangements, there are many parenting issues of a more value-oriented or psychological nature that can be equally or more daunting. Single parents will more often second guess their actions, not having a spouse to bounce ideas off of.

Many find dealing with children of the opposite sex a special challenge. Single parents will often find it difficult to know how to guide a child of the opposite sex, not having a spouse to consult with about his or her childhood experiences. Some of that gap can be filled by discussions with grown siblings, however.

But single parenthood can have advantages, even in the light of difficult circumstances. The absence of a partner means the absence of sometimes irrational and vehement arguments that the child would observe. Establishing parenting rules and guidelines is more straightforward for the single parent, since there is no partner to consult or with whom to debate.

Several recent studies point to other positive – or at least the absence of negative – aspects of single parenthood. For those single parents with adequate incomes, there is no observed ill-effect of the single parent home on a child’s educational or personality development.

Indeed, being raised in a single parent home often makes children more mature and self-responsible at a younger age. Many benefit from the increased attention that a single parent will often bestow in the absence of a spouse.

Being raised in a single parent home may have been a social stigma in previous generations, but those attitudes are largely gone. Some now regard the situation as more ‘contemporary’ or even ‘hip’.

Single parents can do much to ease their own minds by paying close attention to observable behaviors to monitor their children.

Pre-teens who become withdrawn may be suffering from the effects of parental divorce or death. Children will often be reluctant to discuss their feelings on these subjects and much patience may be required to draw them out.

Teens left alone at home for long periods may be unduly influenced by peers. That can often lead to unwanted behavior. While most parents will want to respect their teen’s privacy, watching for early tell-tale signs of drug use or other harmful behavior will save everyone much grief later on.

Single parents have a unique opportunity to influence their child for good or ill, without the counterbalance of another parent. Fortunately, many children raised in a single parent home will report with admiration the extra effort required and made by their single parent Mom or Dad. You can be one of them.

In your school days, you may have found, as I did, that economics really is the “dismal science”. However, I did learn one key fact. Supply and demand drive prices. For solo travel, the surcharge or “single supplement” does vary partly in keeping with this tried and true rule. The good news? If you prowl through the Internet, you can find ways to save on solo travel when demand is down. The bad news? Reduced or no single supplement offerings are limited in number and go fast.

Here are 10 ways to save.

1. Don’t ask for one room. Ask for a “room for one’. In Europe, lodging is often sold with solo pricing. Be sure to see if it is a solo price for a standard room or a small single room. Look at the size offered for single occupants. Then consider the amount of time you will spend in your room. I often take 10-12 hour day trips abroad with almost no time spent in my hotel room except to catch some sleep before heading out again.

2. Get there first. Book even one year ahead since few slots are reduced for solos. This is really important if you go in-season. Holiday resorts and hot spots in summer may have return visitors book the next year when they check out.

3. Head to the airport when everyone else is heading home. Off-season travel is the best way to get immediate 50% off reductions. In the south of France, rates go down as fast as Sept 9. Ski resorts, like the fabled Sun Valley Lodge, have specials just before Christmas. In winter and spring, European discounts can be half-price as well.

4. Get excited about rainy weather or extreme heat and cold. You will have to think how far you want to take this. I had a thrilling short term work trip one Jan. in Siberia. I also went on tour in India during the monsoons. In some cases, the negative pronouncements may not impact your trip. A good example? The risk of hurricanes each fall is less likely to touch the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) making for better pricing. In Africa, for example, safari rates are lower during the rainy or “green” season if you can get away, and don’t mind the possibility of short, heavy rains.

5. Look for new travel providers. Hotels that are just opening or reopening after renovations have specials to gain or regain market share. The Hotel Castille in Paris, for example, had short-term deep discounts when it reopened just steps from fashionable boutiques. Thereafter, the rates increased in keeping with other high-end small hotels

6. Be a contrarian. Don’t pay a premium for what’s currently trending. Prowl the Internet for undervalued regions. If it is all the rage, prices will soar. In the 1980’s, I somehow found a Montenegro resort right off the Albanian border. Since then, Sveti Stefan, where I stayed, has been updated as reflected in its 5 star pricing. The moral of the story is get there before the crowds discover a destination.

7. If you can’t pronounce it or spell it, you’ll love the prices! Substitute the road less traveled. If you have a dream to see the Parthenon you must go to Greece. (That is unless you live in North America and would like to see a perfect replica in Nashville, Tenn.!) Regional air carriers are a good way to find out great largely undiscovered places at low prices. One example: I dreamed of Tahiti in my early post-graduate days. When rates were high there, Air New Zealand suggested alternatives: Rarotonga and Aitutaki. I took them up on it and had the trip of a life time dining out on the stories for years.

8. Scour the Internet for national and regional programs offered by tourist boards. Check ahead as they may only be available abroad. One of the best deals I found in the 1990’s was with then “Lan Chile”. From the US, I purchased three stand-by tickets for a total of $200 to go anywhere in the country. At that price, I made my way to Antarctica Chile, at the end of the world!

9. Use flexible dates to grab week-day deals. Hotels and airline rates often go up and down together. Why is that? That takes us back to supply and demand. When planes and hotels have low load factors, prices are softer.

10. Share to save. Look for tours that have no single supplements by agreeing to share. The benefit to this approach? It is a way to save if your travel dates are not flexible, and no to low single supplement deals are not available.

In any case, before you give up on fitting solo travel into your budget, look at these options.

Retiring single is much less daunting than in prior generations. Part of the reason is that it’s now socially acceptable. Women desire independence, but don’t want to be disconnected from people. This is actually easy to achieve when your social network of friends and family is well developed and local.

I believe that it’s not only acceptable to retire single, but it can be more rewarding. Single women often have a much broader social network than married women. A recently divorced woman in her 50s told me that her husband was so unfriendly to her friends, they stopped visiting. Her network gradually disappeared and stayed that way for many years. After her divorce, she has many more friends and has social engagements any night of the week if she wants. She is more socially involved now than when married.

When a man is not in your life, you’re freer to do what you enjoy and what benefits you the most. Some of you may think that means doing more things alone. But, that is now OK and acceptable. There is nothing wrong with doing things alone while you always have your network to fall back on. So, part of retiring alone is that you must be the first one to accept and want it. If this is a calculated decision based on proper planning, you’ll feel more confident and energized to embrace it.

The chances are that as your network develops, you will be doing less and less alone. Our goal is to always stay connected to the friends and family of our choice. A boyfriend can be part of this network, since being single only means you are not married or cohabiting. I’m not suggesting celibacy unless that is your conscience decision. I’m suggesting an independent life that you control and decide when to bond or not bond with the opposite gender. There is no pressure to perform or follow the expectations of others unless you choose to do so. You’ll need to explain your position to a boyfriend and request his acceptance of such.

Single women I know that are successful at networking, claim they are happy not dating and don’t feel a need. So, I can personally verify that happy and successful adjustments can be made. That being said, being single is not for everyone. Whether you are an introvert(internally focused) or extrovert may matter. Since these types may be genetic and hard wired into your brain, you might want to see where you fit. Most of us know which type we are. If you are an introvert, you enjoy spending time alone and tend not miss people. So, this lifestyle may be more suitable for the introvert who enjoys more solitude.

If you are thinking about taking the single path in retirement, look into you past first. How happy are you on your own? Do you tend to get lonely when not around people? Does a lot of social contact exhaust you? It’s just about understand your social needs. If you have a history of doing well with solitude and don’t crave social contact, this might be for you.

In conclusion, retiring single is now an acceptable and viable option for women. A well developed social network provides the mental stimulation and emotional support needed. Having a boyfriend is just part of the network. Being introverted makes this lifestyle easier to adapt to. Women who make this adjustment, feel they have a happy and complete life. I’ve always felt that the best retirement is based on your personality type. What society or past generation did has nothing to do with you because they don’t have your character. L. Johnson

I was raised in a church-going family of three children. My parents were too busy working and there was not much time for family bonding to ask personal questions. As you know, young people have all kinds of questions going through their heads. We tried to look for our own answers and searched in the wrong direction. Over the years, we children became difficult to manage, and one after the other got into problems.

I became rebellious as a teenager. It was not long before I got involved in drinking and smoking. I did not go to church anymore. I was attracted into sexual relationships and I became pregnant by a young man who did not want to marry me.

I knew there was a God, and I also believed that Jesus Christ died for all our sins, but I did not know how to apply this knowledge to my personal life. Neither had anybody ever told me that this was necessary in order to become a Christian. I was never taught that one needed to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. I thought being a churchgoer was enough. Sad to say, I became entangled in gross sin.

Here I was, stuck, with no way out, and nowhere to go.

My parents decided to send me far away here for my pregnancy to keep it secret to other friends and relatives until I delivered the baby. All this time, I had struggled with it by myself.

Shortly after the birth, I became so desperate I wanted to end it all. But my family were so amazed and blessed when they saw my little baby girl so adorable and cute. And I was loved by everybody, but that did not change the fact that I was single with a baby. Often I cried, thinking that I would never be able to find a nice young man who would want to be my husband.

Four years after, my daughter attended nursery school. Her teacher was proud and surprised by her performance and talented skills. She can sing, dance, draw, actively participate and answers the question in relation to Mathematics. She was a great blessing! God has given me this child as a miracle. I got saved and accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. I started to attend Church again every Sundays. And thank God for His blessings.

I continued my studies and graduated with a Degree of Bachelor of Science in Accountancy. I got my first job and raised my daughter with my parents’ guidance and loving support on how to be an effective Mother to my child, not when they both died due to Diabetes (no cure for this kind of sickness). As the eldest of siblings, I took the full responsibilities of my parents for us to survive.

I had no choice but to accept that they have left us. Again, I kept on blaming myself why it happened. I can’t move forward because of sorrow and pain in my heart that I felt.

I struggled to look for a stable job to support my child’s education, basic needs and wants. Finally, after long waits and follow-ups, I availed the next-of-kin program for children of former bank employees (my father was a retired bank employee). An opportunity to join a Bank Institution is a privilege. I was first assigned as a bank teller and attended training and advancements. After a year and a half, I was transferred to Loans Department which allowed me to broaden my own skills, experience and additional knowledge for another six years. I can foresee myself working with the Bank for many more years. However, I realized I have other priorities to consider. My daughter as a teenager became wild and uncontrollable. She kept secrets and dishonest to me about everything. Due to working too long hours in the Bank even weekends and holidays, I have no time for bonding with her. So, I decided to leave my stable job just to be a full-time Mother and a Father to my only daughter. It is one of the most difficult moves I have to make for I have already established a good working relationship with my colleague and already familiar with my job.

Many invitations offered me to join or apply for employment but still, I have to consider how to manage and divide my time. Not until one day, my co-siblings introduced to me to apply for an online home-based job as a Virtual Assistant. Jumping into a new career is a crucial part of the process. The Lord has wonderful surprises. He will make a way. He will answer your prayer. He will look after you. God is always at my side. This encouragement made my decision to take the opportunity and to develop more and enhance my skills; a comprehensive Virtual Assistant Training helped me to become more efficient.

It’s wonderful that the Lord’s ways and the nightmare had ended. God turned my night into day, my crying into laughter, my despair into relief and my sorrow into joy. Now, I am ready with confidence to start having potential clients and so grateful to have a brighter future together with my daughter.

Here you are, in the midst of menopause, single and childless. While your monthly cycle was a nuisance and always come at the most inopportune time, now it is leaving or gone. With the exception of several times in our lives we looked forward getting rid of it. Now, something unexpected has happened, you are not as cheerful as you anticipated. You have apprehensions. Why? There suddenly are emotions that have surfaced that you did not predict. With menopause, you have lost that hidden desire to bear children. It had always been your decision not to have children. You now realize that you no longer have the option. Menopause has stripped this decision from you.

Now you mourn. You mourn the idea of ​​not having the joys of motherhood. You will never have the joys of feeling movement in your womb. You will never witness your belly grow. You will never have the joy of holding your newborn. You will never have someone depend on you for food and changing. You will never have someone call you Mommy and want you over everyone else. And the pain is there, very vivid, very real. So you mourn alone, you cry and you have your wake, your funeral while you build a monument in the depth of your soul. And this pain is yours and yours alone.

And you wonder if your decision was correct. You have lost all options for at 50 you are not even considered a candidate for adoption of an infant. That camp is closed for good. This is a cry that cannot be explained except by the women that shares the same pain. There has been a demise that no one has recognized. The world continues as if there is nothing wrong. No one realizes there has been a great loss; you are isolated in your grief. No flowers, no condolences, no cards nor apologies. Only you know of this demise. No one else understands or possibly even cares. How do you explain to others that there has been a fatality and no wake, no funeral, no acknowledgement? Your grief is disenfranchised so you wipe your face, and you try to continue as if there is been no loss. You tell yourself, I am intact and all is well …. but the pain continues. You are in the depth of pain and dissolution with feelings of disconnection during this season of menopause yet single and childless.

Your mourning will subside. It will get better as mourning always does. But you never forget. Every now and then you go back to the memorial in your heart and you metaphorically bring flowers, kneel at the grave site, you may even shed tears as you remember the loss of never baring children. You still have an opportunity to leave a contribution to the world by finding a vessel to deposit your emotional wealth. Where will you set the ashes of your lost children? You sprinkle the ashes among your nephews, nieces, your friends children and / or mentee's. This will be the greatest way to spread the ashes of your loss. This will be your legacy and it will assist in easing your pain. In every loss there is a chance for creativity.

And you move on. You continue living. Realizing your opportunity is gone forever, in spite of being in menopause, single and childless.

If you're looking at creating a new product in the marketplace, the absolute core thing you need to appreciate is that the standard marketing mix (4 P's) is not really going to be much of a help.

Microsoft have been selling Windows for ~ $ 100 for decades; during that time, Linux and a number of other operating systems have also been available … for FREE. According to common marketing doctrine, this would instantly make Linux far more attractive to the end-user. Not so.

The reason for this is something called the "offer". The offer is never really discussed in "traditional" marketing circles; it's basically the "USP" (Unique Selling Point) of a product, but with more depth. The main issue is that "USP" (to most people) is just a feature that may be unique (for example "it has more colors than the competition" etc).

Whilst the USP is important, it's a symptom of a successful product, NOT the cause. The cause is what the product is able to "do" that others cannot (hence why Windows is so much more successful – it's compatible with all other systems that businesses end up using).

The RESULTS the product is able to create is the underlying "offer" that it provides to the buyer. This is best evidenced with "weight loss" products:

• Whey Protein (product) // Rapid Muscle Growth (offer)
• Red Tea Detox (product) // Lose 5lbs In 7 Days (offer)
• P90X Workout Routine (product) // Beach Body in 90 Days (offer)

The way to determine the effectiveness of an "offer" is to create a guarantee.

If you're offering a product to someone, make a guarantee based on the results the product is meant to deliver …

"We guarantee our analytics platform will give you + 50% new leads in the first 60 days or your money back" …

"We guarantee our technical support solution will integrate all your digital infrastructure into a single, central, service management system which will decrease software errors by 80% in the first 5 weeks."

The reason this works is down to a simple human trait – people never buy products, they buy results. Whilst the type of result may vary, the way it's created and delivered is basically where the offer comes in. Product = what is it; Offer = what it does.

If you're looking at positioning a new product, the way you do it is by creating as lucid an offer as possible. If you don't * have * an offer, the key thing you need to do is make one. It will form the basis of your product & its effectiveness in the world.

It's so easy to do, if only more salespeople knew about it.

One day I was talking to Greg, a client of mine who is the general manager of a dealership in the Orlando, Florida area. He told me about the time he had been a volunteer at the Disney World annual marathon. His job had been offering candy bars to runners at the 22 mile mark "candy stop," which was toward the end of the marathon. He did this with a small group of other volunteers.

Greg said initially about 2 out of 10 runners accepted his candy bar offer. Then Greg noticed each runner had their name on their shirt. So he decided to start calling them by their name when offering them a candy bar. "Tyler, would you like a candy bar … Martha care for a candy bar …"

To his surprise, once he started saying their names, his candy bar acceptance rate jumped up to the 90% range.

The other candy bar volunteers started noticing what was happening with Greg, so they started saying each runner's name too. Suddenly they had about the same increase in acceptance rate.

The change was so dramatic that Greg wanted to try an experiment …

Greg asked the other volunteers to stop using the runners' names to see what would happen, and they agreed and all stopped. They still made a pleasant offer, but they said, "Here's a candy bar … would you care for a candy bar …" without mentioning any names. As quick as they stopped doing this, their acceptance rates dropped back down to around the 20% range again.

The reason Greg told me this story was because we just completed doing a dealership wide phone sales audit at his store.

One of the tests we did that prompted his story was study of two groups of calls.

In Group A: We randomly pulled calls where the salesperson used the prospect's name one or more times during the telephone conversation.

In Group B: We randomly pulled calls where the salesperson did not use the prospect's name during the telephone conversation. In general with this group, the salespeople were just as friendly and some even said "Ma'am" or "Sir" as they talked. They just didn't say the prospects name such as "Mr. Jones" or "Bill."

At Greg's dealership the vehicle sales department had a 36% greater appointment rate when they used the prospect's name on the phone compared to the group that didn't. In the service department, they had a 19% greater appointment rate when they used the prospect's name on the phone.

The first time we did this test at a dealership, Group A had a 26% higher conversion rate of leads to appointments than Group B. We have been doing these audits now for a few years and the results have fluctuated from a low of 12% greater appointment rate to a high of 44% greater appointment rate.

We have done these dealership telephone audits with different size dealerships, in different markets, from different franchises. We have even gone back a year later and re-audited a dealership's current calls. The one consistent result, we find, is when salespeople use a prospect's name one or more times in a phone conversation, their average rate of converting leads to appointments increases noticeably.

Our most current statistical audit results show that 41% of the time on inbound sales calls salespeople do not use the caller's name during the conversation even one time. But if I had to guess, I would say 90% plus of salespeople think they do use the caller's name. Service advisors' use of the caller's name is significantly lower than salespeople.

Next time you are hesitant to get on the phones, try this tip to increase your phone appointments by 12% to 44% …

… and use the prospect's name in conversation. Some of you probably know from experience sales appointments have a much higher closing ratio than regular ups, so this is a very lucrative thing to get good at.

Please note our audits have found that it's important not to overkill with this tip and say their names too many times to where it seems artificial.

When talking to a friend, you would probably naturally use their name a couple times in conversation. That number is consistent with the best number of times to get appointments according to our statistical sampling.