If you are and become what you think about all the time, then what are you feeding your mind? Is it a constant barrage of the local news, celebrity dish magazines, and reality tv? Or, are you feeding your mind substance that will drive your growth? We hear these types of questions frequently. Most people know they should be reading and experiencing motivating, educational and growth based resources, but most people don’t do what they know. Rather than give you a long list of the “why you should”, I think it will serve you better to give you list of resources I read and am reading that will help you take your life to the next level. These resources will positively feed your mind and impact your life. Don’t read them all, or each one for that matter, in one sitting. The best strategy is to read and/or experience a little bit each day. It’s the constant drip, drip, drip on your mind that will condition your success mindset over time. One big experience is great, but will only have limited impact. You need long-term, sustainable impact. So here’s what I am reading now, have read this 1st quarter, and re-read every year:
This is not an exhaustive list, and its an absolutely wonderful start to start feeding your mind the proper nourishment it needs to succeed. Program yourself for success. Stop feeding your mind garbage. Turn off the tv and pick up one that I recommended or anything you find inspirational. The point is, just do it!
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Apparently experienced sales professionals, new sales people and everyone in between is over-relying on technology to get ahead. There’s nothing wrong with this, except when technology attempts to replace good old fashioned relationship skills. Now not all salespeople are guilty, but its becoming more of an epidemic that most are relying more on the technology in their hands to sell than basic communication skills. So where do you stand? We as society have become so reliant on smart phones, iPads, and computers that we have lost the art of engagement. Guess what, it’s costing companies huge sales dollars and relationships. There is an exception. There are a handful of real professionals who understand and use technology for its intended purpose. When it comes to closing the deal its all about the relationship. Real salespeople understand that deals and relationships are won and lost in the communication. They know if they do their homework up front, they can walk into a meeting armed with nothing more than brilliant questions, a pen and a pad of paper. With these simple tools they aren’t just winning deals, they are destroying the competition. Its not even close. As a sales trainer and sales person, I can tell you that I use technology to do my homework and aid in my tracking and follow up. What wins me deals though, is good old fashioned communication 101. I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with clients who tell me that sales people have lost the art of communicating because of technology. So how does this translate to you as a sales professional? And by the way, everyone is in sales, whether your business card says so or not. You’re either selling them on yes or they’re selling you on no. You must see technology for its real value and use it accordingly. If you want to win your way more often, it’s time to refine and build your basic communication skills. Learn how to ask better open-ended questions. The best way to learn is practice. Dig deeper into your conversations and take notes. It’s huge sign of respect. You will get so much further and have far richer relationships. If you’re in sales, and aren’t we all, the proof will be on the dotted line. Technology is wonderful and serves a great purpose. When it comes to winning business, deals or basic agreement, nothing beats a pen, a pad of paper, and great insightful questions. You will embarrass and dominate the competition. Who are you really working for? I don’t mean the company, its directors or even your boss. Who do you think you are working for? Most people can’t answer this question once you take away their boss and the company. A very small percentage will answer that they work for their customers. These people are smart. The most brilliant though, will answer they work for themselves first, their customers second and the company third. Yes the customer really is the one paying your salary, not the company. But how much money can you really earn if you aren’t taking better care of your customers than everyone else? The answer is you can only earn what your worth. So the more you invest in yourself, in your self-worth, the more earning potential you'll have. If you continuously invest in yourself your customers will reap the benefit of your advanced skill-set. Then they truly benefit. So you must work for "you" first. Don’t get caught up in the excuse mindset that you work for a company and have no control. That’s a loser mindset. You’re not in prison. You’re free to do as you will. Don’t get caught up in the mindset that the company has to invest in you pay for your training either. That is also a loser mindset. Winners invest in themselves. They know it pays dividends that are immeasurable at times. They know without skin-in-the game, you have no vested interest in following through with action. When you invest your money, your time, and your resources, you are far more likely to actually follow through and take action. Then your customers, and company by default, really benefit. You work for you first. So take advantage of you by investing in yourself. Read books, attend trade shows, read industry publications, listen to audio programs, go to seminars and get a coach and/or a mentor. Your life will start paying you what you are really worth. You work for YOU! A couple weeks ago I was sitting in the Boston Airport, waiting for my flight home and enjoying a clam chowder at one of my all-time favorite restaurants - Legals Seafood. Nothing all that unusual, and in fact, this is normal for me to be in an airport. What was unusual though was a call a took from a potential new client. This is a prospect I’ve been pursuing for close to a year. He asked me how well versed I was in their products and business and could I prove it? Interesting question, and it brings about a bigger question for you. How well prepared are you for life’s challenges and that next key engagement. Are you doing all the work up front, the research, the physical preparation, mental and emotional preparation, and are you ready to prove it to others? Now I can’t tell you what preparation you need to do in advance, because I don’t know what you’re going after. What I can tell you is how I prepared for this opportunity. Before I ever picked up the phone, sent an email or an intro letter I researched this prospects business aggressively. I didn’t just look at their webpage. I looked into their financials, the differing markets, products, and economies they conduct business in. I made a list of potential new markets they may or may not have been considering. I looked into those markets. I followed their company on LinkedIn. I followed the key players on twitter, and I found who we had in common on LinkedIn and arranged for introductions. Then I looked at their sales team members and how they managed and ran their sales process. Once that was done, I also looked into their competitors for any advantages or disadvantages being exploited and/or ignored. The point is I was so thorough that I knew their business better than they did for the most part. Yet I hadn’t spoken to a single person about me or what I had to offer. I invested in myself preparing for the opportunity. I’ll spare you the year of campaigning for their attention, and come full circle. When the Director of Sales asked me if I was prepared and could prove it, my response was simple: "Mark if I wasn’t prepared before I first contacted you then I should never have contacted you. Ask me anything about your business and I bet I can drill down better than anyone on your sales team.” I won the business, and more importantly, made the client a cheerleader of Me even before I’ve conducted the first training series. So I ask you again - how well are you preparing for life’s challenges and goals you set? Lottery fever has clearly struck many, as the jackpot in the lottery grew to over a HALF-BILLION DOLLARS. That’s a ridiculous amount of money being won on luck, and make no mistake, it is luck. The odds of winning are 1-in-250,000,000.
With those odds it begs the question, what determines how lucky you are? Are you a person of chance who’s hoping to be the lucky lottery winner, or are you the person who makes their own luck? Read any detailed breakdown, article or book chronicling the traits of highly successful people and they all say that the wealthy don’t believe in luck. The wealthy and successful believe in making their own luck. In fact, the average statistic says that of those living in the top 1%, less than 4% of those actually play the lottery or gamble in casinos. The truly successful understand that while there may be some element of luck, its usually the result of preparation, hard work and commitment to excellence that creates luck. Its these elements that puts them in front of opportunity, and opportunity is luck created from all the up front work. Luck isn’t buying a $2 ticket and hoping to win. That’s just foolish. What determines your luck, and more importantly your success, is preparation, is hard committed work, and is your commitment to success long-term. In life you can either play the game of chance and hope to be lucky, or you can commit to making it happen and create your own opportunity - your own luck. P.S. If you are blessed to win the lottery, don’t forget to help out those who truly are less fortunate and haven’t been blessed in life. Lots of experts tell you the only of the only way you'll be fulfilled professionally is to work with something you're passionate about. I'm one of those. But does that mean that every aspect you're going to be passionate about?
Of course not. I'll be the first to tell you I live and love what I am doing. In fact I think it's why God put me on this earth, and how he intended for me to make a difference. I can also say there are elements that I am not passionate about. I could care less for planning logistics or micromanaging certain financial elements. Are these elements critical to my success? Absolutely in terms of the big picture, and the big picture is what I focus on because it's my passion. I'm now different that way than anyone else who is succeeding in their passion. Where people get in trouble, and never wind up following through, is they believe that they must be passionate about every area of the business. They set themselves up to fail with that mentality before they ever begin. Consequently, most never even take the first step towards working in their passion. For the rest that do take action they either focus on the big picture and succeed, or they caught up in the minutia that doesn't drive them and then quit. Do you want to succeed and be fulfilled long term professionally? Of course. Understand up front that your focus must be on the big picture outcome and not get caught up in the few items you don't like. Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for, and who are you saying thanks too?
Yes it’s that time again. Time for turkey, stuffing, all the fixings, and let’s not forget - football! We know we’re supposed to be thankful, but for what, and are we really giving thanks to anything or anyone? What I see is, most not all and hopefully not you, have lost the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is not about the turkey and feast, it’s not about football, and it’s definitely not about preparing for Black Friday sales (don’t get me started). Sure those are all apart of the Thanksgiving holiday, but they are not what giving thanks is all about. Thanksgiving, and this holiday time of year for that matter, must include giving genuine thanks and gratitude for all the blessings in your life. What and whom are you privileged to have in your life? Is your health something to be thankful for, how about your family and friends, what about having a roof over your head, and what about your customers and clients? Don’t they deserve a little thanks and gratitude, with no strings attached, other than the times of year where you ask them for money? Saying thank you, or giving genuine gratitude seems to be more and more rare as time goes on. We get so caught up in the day-to-day demands that we’ve forgotten what’s truly important and whom has helped shape us to become who we are. So here’s my advice; make a list of everything, every blessing and everyone in your life who’s had any impact at all on you and express gratitude. After you’ve done that for your personal life, do it for your professional relationships. Let people know just how grateful you are for them, let them know you want nothing in return, and then commit to them too go above and beyond and deliver even more of yourself in 2014 and beyond. You’ll definitely stand out and you’ll definitely receive their gratitude and thanks. Enjoy your turkey and feast, enjoy the football, enjoy your loved ones, and even have fun on Black Friday if you must, but do not miss the real meaning of this and the holiday season. Express your gratitude. It’ll fill you up like no feast or drink or toy ever could. I wish you a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving! No one’s life is perfect, and in fact most lives are riddled with problems. Some of these problems have external forces that cause them and some of the problems we bring on ourselves. Have you ever just been so overwhelmed you wanted to throw your hands up and give up? What do you do?
These are great questions because most don’t have a strategy or strategies to deal with the overwhelm of problems that life inevitably throws your way. One thing is for sure, whenever you hear someone tell you not to give up, and then give you any number of redundant quotes as to why, it really does nothing to help you. Come on, you know those quotes, and may even be guilty of using them yourself - the night is darkest just before the dawn, you only have to get up one more time, when one door closes another one opens, or success lays just one step beyond your failure. While these may all be true, they presuppose you have the emotional game plan to keep pushing. So what can you do? Is there an emotional game plan or strategy to help you persist through what feels like overwhelming pain at times? Absolutely! Here are 5 steps you can take to keep causing yourself to push forward and feel a whole lot less pain:
When you’re ready to give up, breathe and follow the five steps. You’re not alone, and yes, your success is just in front of you. It’s time to open your eyes see it, and go get it. No matter what your chosen profession, there are necessary skills that you absolutely must posses or you are guaranteed to fail. Sales and entrepreneurship are two very intertwined professions.
Sure sales is more concrete than the idea of being an entrepreneur, but salespeople are by nature entrepreneurs. They run their own businesses, and they have significantly more autonomy over their success than any other profession. In sales and entrepreneurship there are 9 emotional skills that are absolutely necessary to succeed. Fail at, neglect, or ignore any one of them, and your success becomes infinitely more challenging. These really are emotional laws to succeed as an entrepreneur or in sales. Here are the 9, and what you need to understand about them:
So there you have it, the 9 essential emotional laws absolutely necessary to succeed in sales or as an entrepreneur. There either apart of you or they aren’t. They can be learned, and the moment you abuse any of them, failure is sure to follow. Live them and success is sure to thrive. What system are you using to manage your time and life? Is there a system that effectively does just that and helps you find the elusive holy grail of work life balance?
Some would argue yes there is a system, a time planner that does just that. I’ll argue that’s not the case at all. Sure there’s the Franklin Covey planner, Daytimer, your iPhone calendar, google calendar, etc., and they all have value. But don’t they all really do the same thing? They all provide a organization method for scheduling appointments, reminders, and contacts. But none of them manages your time. See, time is not something you can control. What you can control is what you do with the24 hour day you’re given. In other words, if I give you an hour and ask you what you plan to do with that hour, you may give me a list of to-do’s. That’s not time management. That’s to-do management. Now, given the same hour, you can decide to focus on improving your skills, your health, improving your teams efficiency, etc. Those are all strategic items that are life oriented. You don’t need a fancy planner or organizer to be strategic. All you need is a legal pad and a pencil. Your priorities, in other words, where you place your emotional value is how you’re investing your time. You can’t control the 24 hours in a day, but you certainly can control how you prioritize your activities that command your focus. So don’t think of a day as a series of “to-do’s”. Rather think of the day as; what are my priorities and how will invest of myself in them today? What results then am I after? If you operate under those guidelines and start managing your priorities, instead of time, you’ll be far more productive, far more successful, and significantly more fulfilled. Guess what, that work/life balance thing will start to become your reality. |
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April 2018
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