I know why I’m stuck. Here’s what I’m going to do about it.

It happened. I’m in a rut. A bit ironic, because I teach a full-day workshop called From Rut to Strut. Now I need to practice what I teach.

Let me share more about my state.  I’m busy!  Never been busier.  But I’m not growing.  As a person, I am not growing.  And as a business, I am not growing. [Read more…]

7 Tips to Goal Setting in Real Life

  1. Do the means justify the ends?  Too often we focus on the outcome and lose track of the process.  Remember your math teacher from 4th grade that always wanted you to show your work?  You found the answer, but what they really wanted was to make sure you understood the process.  When you focus on the process, the outcome is predictable.  Over time you improve the process and the outcome improves.
  2. What are you known for? This is your brand, your reputation.  It is also the topic-zone you work in.  Think of 5 buzzwords that describe your business.  I use sales training; sales seminars; sales workshops; sales coaching; and sales development.  All related to sales.  Sometimes I’m invited, and tempted, to present on other topics.  I need to pause and focus on what I’m known for.  If I stray and attempt to deliver something else, that I’m not as strong in, my reputation will take a hit and I will feel like I didn’t deliver the results I intended. [Read more…]

Stop Helping People!

This title causes most people to flinch and reread it.  They react with, “but that’s how I describe what I do.  I help people.  I help companies.”  I response with, “Stop it!“

What makes you think they want your help?  What makes you think they need your help?  Why not someone else?  Why now?

Helping people that don’t see a problem is being assumptive.  What upsets prospects the most is assumptive salespeople.  Don’t assume people have problems.  It is insulting.  They certainly don’t want other people pointing out their problems.  Especially a salesperson off the street, they never met.

Start working with people.  Get on the same side of the table with them and fight with them against a problem or towards a desired goal.  Here are three reasons why: [Read more…]

VIDEO: Growing Revenue and Increasing Profit


Presented a luncheon workshop on Tuesday, January 29, 2019
at the Minneapolis Club [Read more…]

Are Your Results Rewarding?

Are your actions rewarding? Are you moving ahead. Think about where you are and where you want to be. Are your actions taking you there? If not, what has to change? [Read more…]

I Was Wrong!

Last week someone came up to me at a networking event and introduction themselves and shared they first heard me present at a chamber event in 2002. I asked them what they remember from that talk, because I may have to walk some of my advice back.

Our market changes everyday and sometimes the advice I gave, is no longer true. [Read more…]

What Are You Willing to Tolerate?

Last week I spent a day on a ride-along with a sales rep visiting existing accounts and meeting new prospects. The conversations during the miles we covered were mixed between business and personal topics. One personal story was about how the rep can’t find her hotspot at home, so she has been using the cell phone as a hotspot. I asked her how long the hotspot was missing and she said about 3 months. She was not sure if her daughter hid it or the dog ran off and buried it in the backyard.

The following week when the sales report came out, she fell short of her weekly goals.  I reminded her about the story she told me about the missing hotspot. I asked her if she is willing to tolerate substandard results at home, she will also accept substandard results at work and she will never succeed if she continued to believe she doesn’t deserve anything better than what she is getting. [Read more…]

Define Yourself

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. who-am-i
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

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…]

Leaders Never Stop Learning

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…]