There is one marketing truth you must understand: People buy when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell. So, just because your lead is not ready to buy today, doesn’t mean they aren’t important. After all, today’s leads are tomorrow’s customers, or next month’s or next year’s. Treating your leads like existing customers ensures they will come directly to you once they are ready to buy. Since I am in the business of essentially selling “money” I figure it is a product everyone eventually will need. The trick is in “reminding” people that I am still alive, still in business, and still anxious to help them achieve their goals.
Archive for the ‘How I View The World’ Category
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Saturday, August 28th, 2010Life Is Short
Saturday, August 28th, 2010
Life is short. No more excuses.
Carrie Garber provides some tips to play with as you continue your process of personal transformation!
Step into total self-love and acceptance.
As you move through your life, how much are your decisions being influenced by wanting approval from others? Are you living someone else’s vision for your life? If so, it is time for you to be grounded and confident in who you are…to embody unwavering trust in your truth. Just imagine how different our world would be if we were all living our most fulfilling lives, overflowing with authenticity and passion.
Stop telling yourself the old stories!
Refuse to give your limiting beliefs and stories any more power. Instead, hold as sacred the creative power of your thoughts and energy. The Law of Attraction speaks to how like attracts like. Given this reality, what do you want to grow more of with your focus? Be crystal clear about the new, empowering beliefs that you are now committed to living, and spend an extravagant amount of time magnifying, savoring and declaring those new beliefs.
Avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others.
How often are you obsessing about others and analyzing how they show up in life? And how often does this lead to worries about not doing it “right,” not being “ready” or not being “good enough?” I want you to know without a shadow of doubt that you are not alone with your fears, doubts and insecurities. We are all on the journey of being human, each and every one of us, no matter how it may look to you from the outside.
Allow your process to be messy.
How might your life be different if you were totally willing to fumble and fall? This is about tapping in the true cost of staying stuck in your comfort zones, continuing to deny yourself and the world of your vision. I want you to declare that this is no longer okay. The world is waiting for your beautiful and unique imprint. You have a contribution to make. So let go and begin taking action.
Release attachment to the idea that it has to be hard.
We tend to have our well-prepared lists of why things are the way they are, as well as a detailed description of the intense challenges or drama associated with making it different. Do your habits and patterns convey disbelief that change and growth could be easy? Well, what if it is? What if, bottom line, playing bigger is primarily a matter of simply letting go of the struggle? Maybe all it takes is to absolutely decide that you are going to release what no longer serves and finally get out of your own way. What if?
We welcome your comments.
The Day Common Sense Died
Saturday, August 28th, 2010An Obituary printed in the London Times – Interesting and sadly very true.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn’t always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
We welcome your comments
Vampire Thinking
Saturday, August 28th, 2010I recently stumbled onto a concept called Vampire Thinking articled by Carol Gignoux. Vampire thinking is the compulsion we all have to suck the juice right out of our possibilities and opportunities. Instead of acting on a good idea, we excel at finding a slew of reasons we should kill it as soon a possible and move on to continuing our “safe” existence. I’m sure you can relate to this idea because you engage in vampire thinking more frequently than you know. How often do you talk yourself right out of what you really want in order that you may choose for the safe option? And your reasons? Silly and ridiculous?
Like all successful vampires, vampire thinking has a lot of tricks up its’ sleeve, which most people never notice. These tricks, however, are the true disguises worn by vampire thinking and they are important to recognize if we want to fend them off. So we’re going to take off the masks off the vampire tricksters and see what they are really up to.
How many of these Vampire Thinking Tricksters can you recognize in YOUR repertoire of behaviors? Be aware! The more honest you are here, the better your chances to save what you’ve been squandering and retrieve lost opportunities!
Can’t ‘Cause I’m Not Sure
“Well, I would do it if I could be sure it was the right thing or I could be sure it would work”. We can hardly be sure we will take our next breath, let alone do things guaranteed to succeed. We know there are no guarantees. We think we’re being smart about our choices, when what we are really doing is shrinking from our responsibilities and hiding from our true gifts and talents. We like things that we feel we have control over and that are predictable.
Striving to Always Be Right
Many of us find it very important to engage in “I’m right and you’re wrong” thinking. There’s something about being right that feeds our ego and our need to compete in the pecking order around us. Being right actually restricts our ability to develop naturally because all of our energy and our focus goes into being right. We don’t ask questions because we may be wrong, and we don’t allow ourselves to risk making mistakes.
Looking Good at All Costs
Its basic vampire thinking premise is to always do whatever we must do to not look bad. If we have to lie, cheat, steal (even on a small scale) we will do what it takes to look good. Of course many unethical, unlawful, and harmful things are done in the name of looking good. There are also many less obvious and smaller scale actions that we take regularly such as telling little white lies, exaggerations, misrepresentations, gossip, and putting down or competing with others all to make ourselves look better.
Can’t make a Decision
“I wish I could decide but I just can’t so I guess I won’t do it”. In this trickster thinking, the person tries to take themselves off the hook by backing down as the safe thing to do since they can’t decide. If you look at this reasoning you can easily see the flaws and the smoke and mirrors in this way of thinking. Of course you can decide – unless you are too busy coming up with all of the reasons why you shouldn’t do it!
Justifying my Actions and Rationalizing my Behavior
Justifying and rationalizing are the excuses and so called “causes” we use every day in the place of growth steps and taking the right actions: “I was sick”, “I was tired”, “I was too busy”, “It was too late”, “It wasn’t my fault”, “They don’t care any way”, “It makes me uncomfortable”, and on and on and on. Those excuses continually rob us of opportunities to do good things in the world for ourselves and others. And because they are so commonly used and accepted, we have lost our awareness of them and the thieves they are.
Is there a day that goes by when you don’t justify your behavior or actions either to yourself or to others? I doubt it. Do yourself a favour and count the times you rationalize in a day and the times you rationalize in a week and see what number you come up with. Then look at that number of cowardly acts and “copping out” choices as the number of good acts you were not able to do for yourself and others as a result.
I wish you luck as you uncover and expose the vampire thinking tricksters that are sucking the fun and satisfaction from your life every day. I wish you the courage to face the vampire thinking tricksters squarely and bravely and put them in their place! All the richness, variety and spoils of the life you’ve been avoiding await your courage and determination. You can let go of these sucking pests and live boldly by YOUR rules – not theirs! We welcome your comments.
How The Super Rich Think?
Saturday, August 28th, 2010Saw this article and thought, right on!
Have you ever wondered how the super rich think?
We’re not talking about “The Millionaires Next Door” here … we’re talking Billionaires.
Do they believe in the “law of attraction”? Do they “follow their passion”?
Do they play nice? What are the rules of money at the billionaire level?
In the book, The Family Office: Advising The Financial Elite, Keith Bloomfield and Russ Prince, summarize the behaviours of the rich.
And you may not like what you’ll find here. And you may not agree with it.
| Rule | Millionaire Next Door | The Super-Rich |
| Commitment | Seek work/life balance, where money is only one piece of the equation | Creating wealth is regularly the top priority and overarching motivation |
| Self-Interest | Looking to make everyone “happy” or get a fair deal | Pursue only those activities that have significant probability of generating above-average financial returns |
| Line of Money |
Believe if they do what they love, the money will follow | Pursue only those activities that have significant probability of generating above-average financial returns |
| Connections | Network with a lot of people for social cultural and business purposes |
Build strong relationships with a handful of strategically valuable people |
| Payouts | Create rapport and look to help others | Ensure each party is duly compensated for his or her contribution |
| Failure | Failure is a major obstacle that can cause setbacks reassessments and new directions |
Failure is a learning experience and a motivator |
| Centered | Concentrate on overcoming weaknesses and becoming a well-rounded person |
Concentrate on their strengths and delegate everything else |
Source: The Family Office: Advising The Financial Elite
Interesting?
Many of us believe that the super rich have some “secret knowledge” of how to make money. They don’t. But their belief system and their habits are very different from the common millionaire. Something we’ve observed is that they tie all their actions to their goal of making money. All of them.
They don’t waste time on any meaningless (to them) social interaction. They don’t waste time trying get their peers to approve of them. And they don’t care to build a huge social network.
They’re habits fall in line with a lot of what is shared on the above chart.
Are they right or wrong? Ah, that’s for you to decide. We welcome you comments.
It’s cool to know a world champion
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010It’s cool to know a world champion, someone you have known since birth, mature into quite simply “the best”. The young man I speak of is Wesley O’Beirne, a high school student from Aurora, Ontario. Wesley recently competed in The Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Career Development Conference from April 24-27, 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky. DECA is a not-for-profit student organization preparing for careers in marketing management and entrepreneurship. During the school year 120,000 high school students from the Americas and Europe compete against one another at local, provincial and states competitions built around real-life situations in marketing, management and entrepreneurship, with the winners advancing to Louisville for the finals. Wesley was part of the Ontario contingent and won the Accounting Application discipline.
Watching Wesley grow from aspirations of playing net for the Montreal Canadians (we won’t hold that against him) to this stage of his development makes me very proud. I doubt my contribution of playing mini sticks, table tennis, the occasional wrestling match and general trash talk was much of a contribution in his development, but that is not the way I will tell the story years from now.
Wesley will be entering the engineering program at The University of Waterloo in the fall and no doubt will be a future business leader in whatever career field he ultimately chooses. For all you employers reading, you might want to get your job offers in early.
Super job Wesley. We are very proud of your accomplishment. I hope you received the “superstar” treatment at home… well at least until garbage day.
All Inclusive, No Problem
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010During our recent trip to the Dominican Republic I was impressed with the level of customer service at the resort in which we stayed. The food was spectacular and the drinks flowed freely. Meandering into one of the beachside bars at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning I found myself alone and I was curious as to what time they began serving alcohol. I suspected the party had gone into the wee hours the night before and that some down time was in order for the staff. “At what time can I get a beer?” I asked. To my surprise the bartender poured me a beer and uttered the phrase we Canadians had come to love, “All inclusive, No problem.” The definition of customer service was qualified in four words, “all inclusive, no problem”. He was there to look after my needs 24/7.
I have always prided myself on being there for my clients. If they asked my hours of operation I would tell them 24/7. When I would answer the phone after typical business hours I would respond to the question “What are you still doing there?’ with my favourite response, “Just waiting for your call” For years we have been taught that we must be there for our clients. I hear that all the time. “I want to be there for my clients,” we say. But what does ‘be there’ mean? Does ‘be there’ mean we are available 24 hours 7 days a week for our clients? Does it mean that we sacrifice? Does it mean missing soccer games, tee ball games, and piano recitals?
For many that is exactly what it means. Many of us equate access with service. We have been trained for years that access is the primary vehicle of customer service. We feel we need to “be there” for our clients. We grant them access to our lives whenever they want it. They can and will take over our business if we let them.
I want to share with you a new concept. Access has nothing to do with customer service.
There are many professionals we do business with on a regular basis who are less than accessible. A skilled doctor cannot be contacted via phone and will not respond within minutes. A skilled doctor is busy with other patients and will get back to the caller during the course of the day. A professional attorney may be in court or in conference or taking a deposition. We don’t expect them to return our call immediately. I would certainly question the ability of these two professional if they could get back to me right away. That would tell me they are not very busy. It would cause me to question their capabilities.
Here are a few steps to help you clearly separate access from customer service:
Step 1: Set Boundaries.
Your clients will respect you if you set specific boundaries. Set the boundaries on your time away. Take out the days off, the family activities, and the time with your spouse, the time for you. You must plan that process before the week begins. The most effective way to set boundaries is work off a set schedule. A set schedule allows you to create each week to be exactly the same as the week before. Create specific boundaries for your client by taking your home phone number off your business card. Other professionals don’t give out their home number. Turn your cell phone and pager off at specific times each evening. Set boundaries for your clients to follow regarding your time and time with your family.
Step 2: Treat everything as an appointment.
Once you have set boundaries treat everything as an appointment. Your time with your children and spouse are the most important appointments you have. Don’t infringe on your family time. Your appointments to work out, to read, to relax are your time; don’t break those appointments. You also have appointments in your workday. You have appointments to prospect and lead follow-up. These will have a tendency to get pushed out of the way by clients. If you allow that to happen you will see a drop in business in 90 days. If you miss those appointments today the effect is not felt for 90 days when you have no closings. It’s easy to let other things move into those prospecting and lead follow up appointment slots. You have to fight the urge to take care of clients in those times.
Step 3: Set specific times to return calls.
Most of the calls we get are not important. They are often from someone trying to give us what they deem as urgent. Rarely must these calls be handled immediately. Most calls can wait a few hours. Set specific times when you return calls. I would suggest once in late morning and once toward the end of the day. Tell people you are in appointments and you will be retuning calls at those specific times. You need to separate the concept of access from customer service. Customer service is about getting the job done well. The client does not really care about your access. They care about a job done well. Become respected like your doctor, dentist, or attorney. Limit the instant access you grant to people. Don’t be fooled by the old access model of customer service. Who really needs a beer at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning?
We welcome your comments.
Are You Really Doing What You LOVE To Do?
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Michael Fletcher of newworldcoaching.com discusses in this topic in his March newsletter. Your homework assignment, should you choose to accept it, is as follows:
Ask yourself these questions…get out a piece of paper and a pen and seriously write these answers down.
- What makes me smile?
- What are my favourite things to do?
- What activities make me lose track of time?
- What makes me feel great about myself?
- Who inspires me the most and why.
- What am I naturally good at?
- What do people typically ask me for help with?
- What would I be best at teaching?
- What would I regret NOT doing in my life?
- What are the 3 things that I value most about myself?
- What is the biggest challenge that I have overcome?
Create a Personal Mission Statement. Answer the questions below by using your responses from the list above. Create 2 or 3 sentences.
Ask yourself…
- What do I want to do?
- Who do I want to help
- What outcome (or value) will I create by doing this?
Are you really doing what you LOVE to do?
We welcome your comments.
Success is a State of Mind
Monday, December 7th, 2009Do you ever wonder why some people seem to attract success effortlessly, while other people seem to dig it out in the trenches everyday and never get very far? Why is it that some people seem to realize their dreams so easily while others seem to constantly struggle? The root cause of success is not necessarily what you do, but rather how you think. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “if you believe you can then you can, and if you believe you can’t then you won’t – either way you will be right”. Nothing could be more true. It is our state of mind that lets some see light where others see dark, and lets some see opportunities where others see only problems.
In sales, your state of mind will make or break your career. It will affect your success more than any technology, marketing campaign or web initiative ever can. In many markets across North America, a “success” state of mind is needed more than ever before as we are bombarded with bad news about the economy more than at any other time in history. Here are some suggestions for regaining your success state of mind:
Rebooting Your Career for 2010:
- Remember your passion – before you tackle the “how”, remember your “why”. There was some reason you ventured into this career, what was it?
- Vision – Take some time during December to plan ahead and fine tune your vision for the new year so you can start 2010 with a clean slate.
- Business Plan – Once you define what it is you want to accomplish in 2010 (e.g. your income goal) the next step is to define what activities you need to do every day to achieve your goal. How many transactions will you need to close? How many per month? How many per week? How are you going to track your progress to make sure you stay on track? Leave nothing to chance.
The Do’s and Don’ts:
- Don’t compare yourself to others (everyone has their own unique path to follow).
- Do identify your strengths and weaknesses (so you know what you need to work on).
- Do find something that gives you inspiration (and keep reminding yourself of what that is).
- Do create a plan and stick with it (even when it doesn’t seem possible, don’t give up).
- Do continue to educate yourself (and put into practice what you learn).
- Do make a conscious effort to stay positive (it is a choice, and the choice is yours).
Has your get and go done got up and left you?
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009I came across this article by Marshall Northcott. He is a member from one of my Linkedin groups. I liked it so thought i would share.
How effective you are at selling depends significantly on your ability to transfer energy and enthusiasm to your prospect. You cannot give something that you do not have and that is why it is so important to be aware of the energy drainers in your life. Once you are conscious of them, it will be easier to deflect and minimize the impact the energy drainers have on you.
Good people have a knack for inheriting other people’s problems. If you have a big heart and a sympathetic ear you probably know how difficult it is to care enough to listen but still remain objective and not permit their problems to creep there way into your life. You cannot help anyone when you live in their problem. When your energy level matters, you cannot afford to take ownership of the situation. Stinkin’ thinkin’, whether your own or someone else’s, depletes your intensity. Small petty thinkers, negative and abusive people (whiners, complainers and hypochondriacs) are everywhere and they wander the earth with dark clouds looming overhead. They are the reason for the saying “misery loves company.” You must identify these people in your life and do your best to minimize your contact with them. If you don’t, they will drag you down into their world of despair.
Inactivity can kill your personal drive and energy. “A body in motion tends to stay in motion and a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” Get active at work and at play and you will discover that your energy level will automatically increase exponentially.
Depressing news will kill the human spirit. Whether the news directly or indirectly impacts your life, it has the power to drain your will. I remember after 9/11, I had an overwhelming need to constantly know what was going on in the world and every moment that I spent in my vehicle I was listening to the news reports. Eventually, I determined that the more I tuned in to the news, the more depressed I was becoming and the more difficult it was for me to remain upbeat, positive and energized. I doubled up on my daily dose of positive motivational tapes and music to overcome the effects of the discouraging news.
For a short time, a lack of balance might not disrupt your life, but over any length of time it will eventually steal your energy and enthusiasm. Too much of any one thing over time cannot be good for you. An energy charged life is fun and enjoyable. Yes, you must be serious but being too serious all the time will burn you out. Being light hearted, smiling, laughing and sharing good times makes life worthwhile.
We all live with health challenges from time to time. I’m not sure why it is that men have a tendency to deny their illnesses until it is too extreme to do anything about. You cannot perform at your best when you are ailing and it will negatively impact what you do even if you only suspect something may be wrong. Overindulgence with food, (emotional eating) alcohol, drugs, gambling or yes, even sex can consume your world to the point that your focus, personal drive and oomph are curbed drastically. Usually, by the time any of these habits are carried to excess it is beyond the control of the person experiencing them. Professional help is the only way to get things back on track so that your energy can be directed into activities that will produce positive outcomes.
Getting involved in, or procrastinating doing work or tasks that you despise will depress you. If it must be done then get it completed so you may concentrate on activities that excite you. It’s easy to get caught up doing something that appears important but focusing your efforts on nonproductive activities will deplete you.
It’s impossible to operate at your maximum output when hampered by self-doubt. It creates confusion and emotional instability in our decisions and fear of action. Gaining control of that voice inside that attempts to sabotage your determination and erode your persistence will make a massive difference in your energy. Not only does that voice destroy your ambition but it also requires energy to fuel it.
Unfinished business or tasks (assignments) clutter our mind and create wasted brain space. An inner struggle over complacency or a lack of accomplishment will create similar feelings and paralyze us. A stressful work environment or home life obviously complicates our ability to be our best. Building a net of encouragement and positive motivation with supportive people will make you strong and powerful. It gives you the courage to weather the storm during difficult times.
Problems with money, credit and personal financial challenges make it very easy for you to lose focus. Overtaxing yourself with too many monthly payments or financial commitments sometimes seems like a great way to motivate but eventually it catches up and you end up feeling like all you are doing is working to pay the bills (most of which is in the form of interest charges).
Unfortunately, it is often out of your control but when you work for a company that makes changes too often (pay plan etc.) it will take you for a ride on the emotional rollercoaster. Poor office communication will have the same effect on you and it will eat away at your power source. If you believe that imposed quotas or sales targets are unachievable then subconsciously you will not pour 100% of your effort into your career. Clashes with customers, management and or co-workers can destroy all your best efforts. Proactively working towards improving communication will make your life easier and also attest to your leadership skills. Learning how those seemingly impossible targets are achievable will enable you to devote energy into making them happen. Great sales professionals learn to master quality communications skills.
Going against your personal values and beliefs will nag at you and exhaust your resources. You must avoid involvement in activities that are opposite to your core values because you will constantly feel like you are an exposed liar. This will hurt your performance either immediately or at some point in the near future.
Your energy level is so vital to your success in business that you must recognize areas that require attention and then work towards making improvements. This is something that you, must be in control of because it isn’t anyone else’s responsibility but yours.
“Has your get up and go done got up and left you?”