Posted on Monday, June 7, 2021

Shrug It Off!

Sometimes the best way to handle a setback is to just let it go.

Years ago, a co-worker came into the office one morning and told us about his son’s shocking announcement: His four-year-old was now a T. Rex, and thus would no longer be wearing shoes of any kind.

Getting a four-year-old ready in the morning is tough even on a good day—and when you’re a parent who’s already running behind, this is not the announcement you want to hear!

My co-worker didn’t lose his patience, argue, or yell. He just grabbed his son’s socks and shoes, said “Oh, well,” and headed out to the car.

It was the middle of winter. He knew that as soon as his kid’s feet hit the cold concrete outside, the boy would change his mind—and say, “Hey dad, can I have my shoes?”

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Posted on Monday, May 17, 2021

How To Master Your Sales Goals

For sales goals to work, you’ll need a plan to achieve them.

When was the last time you really examined your goals? As salespeople, we’re used to creating goals on a quarterly and annual basis. But the magic happens when we evaluate our goals and turn them into a plan.

Here’s the good news—creating goals is actually pretty easy.

There are three basic steps to achieving sales goals:

Know the numbers.
Look to the past.
Plan for the future.

Unfortunately, implementing a plan that will help you achieve that goal can be a little more painful. You need to have an honest talk with yourself—how are you going to take your sales goals and turn them into a realistic sales plan?

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Posted on Monday, April 26, 2021

It’s Time To Embrace A Sales Culture

Being shy about being in sales doesn’t help you, your company, or your clients. Embrace it—and love it!

You’re a salesperson. Can you admit it? I’ve met plenty of “recruiters,” “financial advisors,” “insurance agents,” and “loan officers” who tell me, “I really don’t see myself as a salesperson.”

This mentality even affects our job titles! There are hundreds of job titles that could be replaced with the word “salesperson” and be just as accurate—if not more accurate.

Let me start with a big, fat, bold statement: Being a salesperson is an honorable profession! So why are so many people in sales reluctant to admit that they’re in sales? And why don’t more businesses that rely entirely on sales embrace a sales culture?

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Posted on Monday, April 5, 2021

Tough Decision? Flip A Coin

If you’re stuck on a tough decision, this simple trick helps you discover the path to follow.

We face tough choices in business. You might have to make a decision you don’t really want to make—for example, whether to keep a salesperson or manager on your team—and keep kicking that decision down the road instead of facing it.

I understand! As relationship-based salespeople, we like people and value our relationships with them. It’s hard to know if our emotions are clouding our judgement, or even know what our gut is telling us. It’s even worse if we’re constantly battling decision fatigue. So what can we do?

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Posted on Monday, March 8, 2021

You Win When Your Team Wins

Don't forget to give credit to the team that contributed to your success

Salespeople love winning. It’s pretty thrilling when you earn that incentive vacation trip, and it feels great to have your hard work recognized at sales rallies or company meetings. Bask in the glory! You earned it, right?

Sure, you earned it—with help from a huge network of people who have your back!

The sales champions who win year after year, always crushing old sales goals, consistently earning the top awards—they love being in the spotlight. But they never forget this:

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Posted on Monday, January 25, 2021

Send Joy To Stay Positive

Chances are, you’ve met a few “Mr. No Joys” in your life. Here’s how to deal with them and stay positive!

If you read my blog regularly, you know there’s a character who I mention from time to time. I call him “Mr. No Joy.” He represents all the mean, rude, or miserable types we all have to deal with, but he’s based on a real person I encountered years ago.

My experience with Mr. No Joy taught me some valuable lessons for how to deal with negative or disrespectful people, and how to protect and increase the joy in my life. In a nutshell, you need to:

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Posted on Monday, November 30, 2020

The Sales Promise You Can’t Keep

Scarcity Thinking Leads to Over Promising

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.

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