Category: Uncategorized

Note to Valued Team Members

The advantage to being a member of a team is working toward common goals. There are strength in numbers and as a team any obstacle that emerges can be overcome. Being a great team member will mean supporting the person leading the group. Sometimes, you will be that person.

Without seeking it, you sometimes find yourself in the leadership role.

Being dependable and responsible, will drive your peers to look to you for guidance. The position comes naturally when others are seeking your advice. Accept the responsibility, and the challenges the role brings. 

Lead by example.

Being in charge is more than telling others what to do. It means identifying the goal, and the path to it. As a team leader get to know the strengths and weaknesses of your team members, and delegate tasks accordingly. Afterward, roll up your sleeves and put yourself to work alone

When the team reaches the goal, share in the success.

Know that the task is completed because of the team’s effort. It is the collection of individual efforts, in lieu of a single effort, that results in success. Be proud to be recognized as both a leader and contributing member.

Contribute fully to every task. You may be the leader, or you may just be a contributing member. Regardless of the role, always commit to the task until the goal is achieved.

Self-Reflection Questions:

1. Whom do I look to for guidance in the workplace?

2. What are the traits of a good leader?

3. How can I strengthen my leadership potential?

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,

You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

-Author Unknown

Are you sitting down?

“Every day is easy in sales”

-no one ever

There are some that feel, or have been told, there’s nothing much we can do about this current situation. Many days over the past few weeks I feel like the little boy who kept standing up in his front car seat. Finally, exasperated, his mother swerved the car over to the shoulder of the road and yanked the little boy down in the seat, fastening him up in his seat belt. The little boy pouted and then after a minute snapped at his mother, “I may be sitting down, but in my heart I’m still standing up!”

I identify with this feeling. This situation has us sitting down, but in my heart, I’m still standing up!

Who’s standing up with me, taking action, working daily to find find a path toward your goals?

I challenge you to find a way to change things at every opportunity!

You’ve got to ask yourself one question…

“Do I feel lucky?” -Dirty Harry

Luck, it seems, is relied upon to carry many sales careers. A few of my favorite quotes regarding luck are:

“I’m a big believer in luck. I find that the harder I work the more I have.”

Thomas Jefferson

“Luck: where preparation meets hard work.”

Anonymous

Patrick Cohn, a sports psychologist and president of Peak Performance Sports, specializes in creating a championship mind-set in teams and individual athletes. Cohn suggests that there are four mental and emotional characteristics common to champion athletes. Erik Brady (no relation) cited work by Cohn in an article for USA Today in 2006. I believe the same characteristics are present among top performing sales professionals. In my experience one additional mental characteristic stands out that I’ve added below.

1. Composure

Composure is the ability to stay focused under pressure. The months ending soon and your one deal away from blowing past your goal and the customer throws you an unexpected curveball. Do you fold? Do you stutter? Do you forget your closing lines? Nope, not you. You’ve built the muscle of composure.

Composure is shown ultimately by not allowing one failure carry over to the next moment.

2. Competitiveness

Sales is very muck like a competitive sport. I’ve seen many sales bullpens made up of ex-jocks or professional women who want to maintain their glory days of competitive softball. Hiring managers often look for individuals who’ve played sports in the past and for one simple reason; they have a competitive spirit. If you look at a stacked ranking report and you’re listed any other than numero uno… you should feel that fire within your belly. Do you want to win-over your customers? How about beating out the competitors product?

Competitiveness is shown by the will to win.

3. Confidence

Ever shook someones hand and they didn’t give you a firm grip, or worse their hand felt like a wet noodle? What impression did that person leave with you? Not good right? That’s the same impression that a sales person lacking confidence leaves after an appointment. Customers want to feel confident in their decision to go with you and if you’re not showing it, then it’s not going to go well for you. Confidence begets more confidence in sales. Build on your smaller wins until those small wins add up to a bigger payoff. Realize that confidence can make or break record sales months.

Confidence is outwardly shown by your inner belief.

4. Determination

Be that little sales engine that could! My grandma would call this stick-to-it-iveness. She’s determined to never be wrong. Determination is the culmination of desire, focus, and grit. I’ve quit sales more times that I would like to admit, but it was my determination to overcome the challenge that propelled me through the moment. If sales were easy then everyone would and could be doing it, however it’s not for the faint of heart. Those who bowed out weren’t determined.

Determination is shown by continuously accepting the challenge and facing the task, and then the next…the next..the next.

5. Vision

Close your eyes, picture in your mind where you want to be in 5 days, 5 months…5 years. The ability to bring the future into the present- that’s vision. Does it excite you? That’s a goal. Does it scare you? That’s a challenge (see #4). If what you see doesn’t motivate you then I would argue that it’s someone else’s vision that you’re picturing in your minds eye. Vision is important because it’s the bigger picture..it’s the forest made up of the tree’s. Vision is the ultimate prize that makes the day-to-day worth it. Without it, it feels like your just treading water to say afloat.

Vision is shown by those who can go from one opportunity to the next, win or lose, and know that all experiences can move you towards your goal.

Whether luck being the result of hard work and preparation, I contend that success in sales can be attributed to the core qualities of composure, competitiveness, confidence, determination and vision. There you have it. The intangible qualities of high achievers.

“Time is a luxury we no longer have”

Stressing urgency is not about PUSHING people to do something that they don’t want to do. Instead, use urgency to PREVENT them from procrastinating on something that will ultimately benefit your customer in the long run.

Be of service to your prospect, rather than your own self-interest. I never feel pushy or obnoxious when I feel that I am working in the best interest of my customer. However, the best way to be in this position is by being a consultant. Odds are you’ve got an interested buyer who is only procrastinating.

Don’t run your customer off by using worn out closing techniques… help them to make the move they likely already want to take and bring to light the negative outcomes of procrastination. (implications) Below are some examples where I’ve used urgency phrases. While I don’t believe every objection revolves around cost, it’s the objection that I hear most often as to why salespeople have business that is not closing. Isolate any objection first to know what you are truly working with…”Mrs. Jones- let’s take cost off the table for just a moment, if cost was not a deciding factor would you be moving forward today?”

“Mrs. Jones, in my experience I’ve found that this is one of the easiest decisions to procrastinate on and the kicker is that these problems only get worse with time and eventually cost you more money. Time really is of the essence. Because of these reasons- my professional recommendation would be for you and I to get started right away, and with our current promotion you’ve got an even better incentive to do so.”

“Mrs. Jones, I’ve worked with many customers who were facing the same decision you are now. It’s perfectly normal to feel apprehensive. We need to use what little time we have left in this promotion to agree on the remaining details so that you can take advantage of the savings, but more importantly eliminate the problems that started you on the is journey to begin with.

“Mr. Jones, we don’t have a second to waste. Waiting has done two things for you up to this point: increased the scope of work & increased the cost of fixing the problem. In my effort to save you time, eliminate higher cost, and address some of the problems we’ve discussed, my professional recommendation is that we get a move on it!

Give people a logical reason why they should buy now, and more people will.

For more ideas or for a list of 19+ phrases that express urgency simply type URGENT in the comments below and I’ll send you the list of phrases.

How do you finish your race?

“Effort is a commitment to seeing a task through to the end, not just until you get tired of it”

Howard Cate

At ten minutes to seven on a dark, cool evening in Mexico City in 1968, John Stephen Arkwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic stadium- the last to finish the marathon.

The winner had already been crowned, and the victory ceremony was long finished. So the stadium was almost empty as Arkwari, alone, his leg bloody and bandaged, struggled to circle the track to the finish line. The respected documentary filmmaker, Bud Greenspan, watched from a distance. Then, intrigued, Bud walked over to Arkwari and asked why had continued the grueling struggle to the finish line.

The young man from Tanzania answered softly, “My country did not send me nine thousand miles to start the race. They sent me nine thousand miles to finish the race.”

The Olympic Legend Who Finished in Last Place

What commitment to effort have you made to finishing your month, quarter, year, your race? Be it placing first or last, make it legendary!

Who will you be introduced to today?

That’s how Bill Cates, author of Beyond Referrals, opened his session for our sales team. If you enjoy working with referrals in your business and you’re not familiar with Bill, I can tell you that you’re missing opportunities to earn even more referrals and introductions.

Bill is an accomplished speaker and founder of Referral Coach International. Bill worked in the referral space for over 25 years and has developed a proven system for acquiring more referrals through word of mouth, and personal introductions.

I recently hired Bill to work with my sales team to share his V.I.P.S. referral method. Bill states that when you discuss the value recognized, treat requests with importance, gain permission, and suggest names; you can collect referrals without having to beg. Our workshop contained great exercises in which we put his method into practice, and fostered collaborative discussion among the team.

Beyond Referrals contains many pearls of wisdom that goes beyond just asking for referrals and breaks down into 6 Strategies. Those strategies are broken down as follows:

  1. Adopting the Right Mindset for Growth
  2. Becoming Super Referable
  3. Asking for Introductions
  4. Securing a Solid Introduction
  5. Introductions from Referral Alliances
  6. Social Event Marketing

My favorite part of the workshop was around tapping into the power of Your Customer Focused WHY. This exercise was a fantastic reminder for our group about the great work we do, and the power of sharing our personal value.

Bill laying down a great foundation for customer referral engagement

Whether it’s an onsite workshop, or his books, I highly recommend Bill if you value referrals!

For an introduction to Bill check out the video below.

New Year-New You from Tony Robbins

One of my favorite videos to watch from time to time. A great message with important reminders about the habits & rituals that we create daily that lead to success.

We often overlook the importance of daily habits in managing ourselves and our lives. But, it’s often the small changes we make to our daily routines that enable the BIG changes in our lives and careers.

For more insights or to get my 5-Steps to identifying your daily success habits, comment below with “HABITS” and I’ll send to you for download.