How many people go to the cabin every week during the summer? I don’t know the answer and I’m guessing it would be hard to know for sure, but I’m positive not everyone does. Businesses are still open, people are still working, budgets are being determined and spent, challenges continue to exist and problems need to be solved. [Read more…]
Define Yourself
October 23, 2016 By
During a political season, each candidate defines himself or herself before their opponent does it for them. As the campaigns heat up and issues are tossed around in the media and discussed with friends and neighbors, you can base your beliefs on what you believe to be true, based on your evaluation of each candidate.
The effort to “define yourself ” is not limited to just political figures. You do it for yourself as a salesperson who constantly opens yourself up for acceptance and rejection in the role you play. You also take the risk of letting others define you, causing you to live according to their definition of you instead of your own. But by defining yourself, when you are rejected by prospects, criticized by others and judged by strangers, you will know their judgments to be untrue because you have decisively defined yourself. 
When you define yourself, you are consciously deciding what your goals and values are now and in the future. To help stay on track when you are tempted to accept and believe criticism, these goals and values determine your daily behaviors and priorities. Here are three questions to ask yourself about who you are and want to be. [Read more…]
Fight and fail; the only option worth taking
October 12, 2016 By
Lately it seems I’ve be learning a lot of lessons. Which is another way of saying; I’ve been attempting new activities and not achieving the preferred outcome. This is frustrating for me and I imagine the same for others who are constantly doing the same.
I don’t want to learn anymore lessons for a while. I want a normal day of mediocrity, filled with a calm contentment and no surprises; like working on an assembly line for a few months. [Read more…]
Commitment > Consequences
February 29, 2016 By
Success is only possible when you have a greater commitment to achieve the goal than the consequences you will experience if you fail. Do you know the consequences if you fail? Are you willing to accept them? If you cannot live with them, your commitment is the means of overcoming them.
Commitment is transferable in all roles of your life. Commitment to play the role of a husband or wife, mother or father, salesperson or sales manager. And there are consequences of failure in every role. [Read more…]
The One Word to Stop Using
January 4, 2016 By
One of the services I offer clients is selecting and hiring superstar salespeople. I work with them on weeding through resumes and asking questions during interviews. During one of the interviews, last week, I asked a candidate to describe a superstar salesperson, and they replied with, “someone that is helping customers solve problems.” Is this how you describe a superstar salesperson? [Read more…]
It’s the bottom of the 7th and you’re trailing
December 31, 2015 By
Your team has just taken the field after another inning with no hits. You have 2 more chances at bat to change the score from being behind 5 to 3. Your focus is currently on being defensive with throwing more strikes than hits and making more outs than errors. But, you also have to get some hits in when you’re up to bat. What can you do to get more hits? That is the question.
This is the same question salespeople need to ask themselves when they are in the last two months of the year and they are 25% away of reaching their annual quota. You cannot have another year when you don’t make quota. At this point, with the current sales pipeline, you will fall short by $67,000 in revenue. What can you do to change the outcome of the year and make your quota? [Read more…]
Leaders Never Stop Learning
September 7, 2015 By
This time of year there is a buzz with back to school and back to business, like the beginning of a new year. As you probably know the school year was established around the harvest season, yet it has not changed as our country has evolved into a more industrial age.
Watching successful sales leaders, one of the first questions I ask is “What books have you read recently?” There is never a hesitation to share a title or author. Every day delivers an opportunity to learn something new if we have the Wonder. The Wonder is the first step of change.
We have to ask ourselves, [Read more…]
Self-forgiveness Begins with Others
August 15, 2015 By
Jack was playing center outfield during the third game of the season. He’ll be 10 this year and is starting to refine his baseball talents. It’s his favorite sport with football a close second.
In the fifth inning a pop fly was hit in his direction. He got under it, adjusted his stance, focused on the falling ball but couldn’t hold on to it and dropped it. He grabbed the ball and threw it to second base. The batter was safe.
He had a tough time letting that error go. Jack is one of the better players on the team. He commits to keeping his skills sharp with additional practices in the off season and learning by watching professional MLB players on television.
During the ride home, Jack was silent, though his team won. His father asked him what’s wrong. He just kept repeating he should have caught that pop up in the fifth. He couldn’t forgive himself.
His father reminded him of a last game they played when one of Jack’s teammates, Taylor, missed a pop up, causing the team to lose the game. Jack criticized Taylor all the way home and blamed him for losing the game. “Perhaps the withheld forgiveness that Jack held towards Taylor is the same withheld forgiveness Jack feels towards himself,” his father thought. He shared that thought with his son. Then he thought about it in his own life. [Read more…]
Who Defines the Marketplace?
January 22, 2015 By
Remember your first day at a new company? Maybe you started the company and were so excited you can hardly sleep. There was an unstoppable ambition fueled by a desire to succeed. Do you still have that desire? What changed?
A successful life is built on a daily commitment to optimism. Optimism has two parts. The first is maintaining a hopeful outlook before a decision is made; the other is dwelling on the most positive aspects of a decision afterwards. With all the life changes we experience, voluntary and involuntary, we must be optimistic. [Read more…]
Three Questions Begin with One Answer
July 15, 2014 By
Starting a journey begins with a desire of wanting and believing you deserve more or you decide to no longer accept the current status of your life. Some steps will not be easy and you will often be tested and challenged. Growing takes a strong commitment; enough to overcome all adversity. A determined focus will prevent distractions from your goal. As you begin this quest, ask yourself the following three questions. [Read more…]
