Posted on Monday, December 14, 2020

Drowning In To-Dos

Get Your To-Do List Done with the 10-10-30 Rule

How often do you get to work, dive right in to putting out fires, and come up for air around lunchtime only to realize you didn’t finish ANYTHING on your to-do list? Do you also have days where you don’t even know where to start?

One of the things my coaching clients struggle with most is sitting down at their desk in the morning and feeling like they have control over what to do first. An effective to-do list is just one piece of the puzzle; You also need to devote a little time every day to review and revise your to-do list and re-center your priorities. At Skillway, we created a simple method we call the 10-10-30 rule:

Posted on Monday, November 30, 2020

The Sales Promise You Can’t Keep

Scarcity Thinking Leads to Over Promising

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There’s a common trap in sales that good people are falling into, and it could be killing your business.

Abundance is an ideal trait that all top performers have. It’s critical to your success. Are you familiar with the idea of an abundance mentality?

Stephen Covey popularized this idea in his essential Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and it’s a valuable way of looking at how we interpret and interact with the world around us. An abundance mindset is one of my core values, and every day I teach my clients about abundance and its counterpart, scarcity.

Posted on Monday, November 16, 2020

Eliminate Distractions and Take Control of Your Time

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I talk about distractions a lot! It’s because many people feel like they’re losing control of their time. If you’re working from home, you’re probably experiencing more distractions than ever! The number one way to regain control over your time is to get better at eliminating distractions.

One study from UC Irvine showed that we get interrupted every 11 minutes on average, and it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back on task. All those distractions can add up to hours every day! Studies have also shown that interruptions and distractions increase stress and mistakes.

If you want to be productive and effective, you need to stay focused (no multitasking!). Here are my tips for getting rid of common distractions that keep us from “deep work” and add stress to our day.

Posted on Monday, October 26, 2020

Multitasking is Another Word for Half-Assing

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Do you ever brag about all the things you can get done at once? Do you think “multitasking” is an impressive part of your skillset? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but “multitasking” is impossible.

Sure, we can all do a simple task like washing the dishes while listening to the radio. But have you cut yourself in the kitchen while trying to have a conversation? Tripped up the stairs while you tried to balance something in your hands? Lost track during a Zoom call because an email popped up on your phone? It’s because we’re all human, and the human brain just isn’t great at paying attention to two things at once.

Trying to multitask is counterproductive, impolite, and inefficient. Here’s why:

Posted on Monday, September 7, 2020

Is Sales the Right Career for You?

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As a sales coach, I get asked this question all the time: “Is sales really the right career for me?” And you know what? Sometimes the answer to that question is no. Not everyone is built to enjoy it and thrive in sales.

If you’re new to the sales world and thinking it might not be a good fit for you, or if you’re not seeing the kind of results you want to see from your sales career, maybe it’s just not what you’re destined to do. There are a few specific questions you can ask yourself—and answer honestly—that will reveal the truth.

Posted on Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Sales Skills are Transferable—You Can Sell Anything!

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In my years as a sales coach, I’ve seen this situation play out a million times: A salesperson gets a new job and doesn’t want to call on prospects until they feel like they’ve learned absolutely everything there is to know about the product or service they’re selling.

They feel like making those calls would be “wasting” a lead on someone before they become “good enough” at their job. That is 100% the wrong way to approach things. Doing so will pretty much guarantee that you never become a top producer.

Posted on Monday, August 24, 2020

Having Difficult Conversations with a Team Member

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Most of us don’t enjoy having difficult conversations. Whether we’re saying or hearing the phrase, “We need to talk,” we know that it’s typically not going to lead to a fun conversation.

However, when we don’t discuss problems, we risk allowing them to fester and worsen. Thankfully, there’s an easy formula to follow for every hard conversation you’ll ever need to have.