Personal vs. Professional.

The whole theory of staying 'professional' in today's business world is, for the most part; bullshit. People who need to remain professional and speak professionally are:

a) People who do not belong in the position they are in. These are the people who put their time in a certain business or industry and have a great title, but bring no new ideas or motivation to the table. They compensate for their incompetence by trying to 'sound' like they know what they are talking about.

b) People who represent a terrible product or service. After reading this, you'll notice one thing: Some of the best looking and sounding marketing materials you will see - come from the most boring, un-innovative people in the business world. These are the same people who will send you emails that are paragraph after paragraph of garbage, buzz words and bullshit. My favorite business people are always to the point and direct.

When was the last time you saw Tom Brady tell one of his receivers, "Wes Welker, I must say that is one of the finest completions we have seen in this organization in quite some time. Your annual review will be undoubtedly positive if you keep that up."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?!?

Your 'organization' is a team. Teams thrive on structure and motivation.

Be a Brady, not a Boob. Reward people on a human or personal level. Stop focusing on 'trying to be more professional' and focus on being more personal. People buy YOU. Not your business acumen.

Success Solutions

You've heard the name Success Solutions before in my writing and talks.

We've finally built our online image.

If you think you could PROFIT from what is written in this blog.
If you think you could GROW from the teachings written in this blog.
If you think you could BENEFIT from the teachings written in this blog.

Then you should get a free consultation from our Success Solution Providers:

www.successsolutions.ca

Remember, we only profit when you do.

You are who you associate with.

There is no ‘I’ in team, they say. ‘They’ are somewhat wrong. In sales, as in life, we are who we surround ourselves with. Have you ever noticed that people who spend time with each other on a regular basis have the same catch phrases and mannerisms? Of course you have. These are the tangibles, the similarities you can see and hear.

The same diction isn’t the problem, isn’t the intangibles that effect a person’s ability to succeed or not.

In seemingly insignificant ways, those we associate with on a regular basis rub off on us. They, in part, dictate our day to day operations and how we conduct ourselves on a both professional and personal level. Napoleon Hill discusses the concept of creating a Mastermind Alliance – a group of individuals who are smarter, stronger, more creative and more successful that you. Henry Ford wasn’t the brightest man in the world, but he surrounded himself with people who knew what he didn’t – and for that – became great.

We train our Sales Professionals to surround themselves with positive people. However, sometimes people in our organization forget that that same principle goes for them too.

By allowing negative people into your life, you are green lighting others to interfere with your ability to become as successful as you imagine.

There very much is an ‘I’ in team. YOU are responsible for your team, just as much as you are responsible for yourself. If you have a cancer-type person or group in your life, in order to strengthen your team you must eliminate them. By strengthening your team, you strengthen yourself. By strengthening yourself, you strengthen your team.

Without a solid team around you, you can expect mediocre results.

- BEAT CANCER.
- ELIMINATE BULLSHIT.
- DO YOUR BEST and stop using the word ‘try’ or ‘tried’.
- TAKE PRIDE IN EVERYTHING YOU DO OR DON’T DO IT.

There are plenty of I’s in MILLION$ and BILLION$.

Recent Developments.

This post is not going to be in the format of my normal posts, as it is more of an open letter than a sales training post.

In March of this year I started working full time with a company I'd worked with on and off for since 2005. Unfortunately, our competition has been posting some negative information on the internet about us in hopes that some of the employees we have, should their malicious attacks put us out of business, would go and work for them.

For those that have ever met or spent any time with me, I am certain you would agree that my only desire in life is to do my absolute best every single day in whatever I do. Although, like most, I made some mistakes when I was in High School - I have certainly matured and grown into a man that my family, friends and co-workers can be proud to know.

That said, I find it appalling and poor business practice to attempt to soil another businesses name or reputation. The vacation club world is a small world, most of the players in this business know each other, that sometimes makes for some heated conversations and emails. However, these class-less liars who are parading around the internet posing as unhappy customers have left me no choice but to break our legal team ordered silence and speak out on my "professional" blog.

I am offering a $5000 reward to any person who can find a REAL customer of mine that has had a problem that was not addressed and corrected.

I hope this post does one of two things;
1) Perhaps has the spam artists rethink their business strategy.
2) Helps current or future customers of mine realize how serious I am about creating a team of 'raving fans' and not 'satisfied customers'.

Defined Roles.

Great leaders are considered great leaders because they were able to persuade other men and women to believe in their methods and follow them.

You don't become a great leader by doing everything yourself.

Great organizations are made by great people. Not at the top, but at the center of these great people is a man or woman to whom they all look to for guidance, advise, support and mentorship.

These leaders know how to delegate and know how to grow their team of key people.

****

Sales Professional know that THEY TOO are LEADERS.

To be great at sales, you must be great at defining who you are in your organization and what your role(s) is/are. Too often I witness sales people being asked to preform mundane and non PROFIT PRODUCING tasks.

Listen up!

Set some boundaries.
Define your role.
Preform that role better than anyone could ask of you.
Cash checks.

You'll be a better and wealthier person for doing one or two things incredibly, then for doing many things decently.

Mickey Mouse Doesn't Have A Bad Day.

Bang! Your plane lands at John Wayne airport and the children start to get excited again. 'Daddy! Are we here? Are we here?' You've just traveled miles by tres chere air. You are 20 Miles from Anaheim and the kids are ready to do Disney for the first time. The look on their faces when the plane lands is worth the $6,000 it cost your family of four to get there, right?

Thirty minutes getting bags, twenty finding the rental car shuttle and ninety minutes getting to the hotel and checking in - you are finally ready to 'do Disney' as the kids would say.

After all of this effort and money, with the ultra pure gleam of anticipation in your children's eyes; imagine that you got to Disney and Mickey Mouse was having a bad day? Mickey Mouse smells like cigarette smoke. Mickey Mouse is hung over. Mickey Mouse is fighting with his girlfriend. Forget all that, what if Mickey Mouse was just mellow. Simply, O-K. How would you feel after $6,000? How would your children feel?

What do your customers get when they call you? How do you make them feel? What personal problems of yours are visible while you are working? In order to be great at sales and customer service - which by the way, are the same thing; You must not have a bad day. That means leaving your personal problems in your car. You must be prepared to give the best version of who you are to every customer or prospect you meet.

Mickey Mouse doesn't have a bad day? Look how successful Disney is.

Business Owners, what are you customers being greeted with when they call or come in to your office?

Mickey Mouse or Grumpy the 5th Dwarf?
Tigger or Eeyore?

Happy Customers = Happy Bank Accounts

(This is more of a rant than a post)

Ravings Fans. If you haven't read that book, you need to to. If you have read it, start practicing the principles outlined more closely. In this world of tweets, texts and diggs it is easy for one person to make or break a company or person's reputation. With that in mind, it would seem so logical to have fair, just and equitable business practices wouldn't it?

The premise of Raving Fans is that satisfied customers are no longer good enough; in order to be a leader in your industry you must create 'raving fans' - a team of people who not like, but love you, your company and how they are taken care of. Imagine, you create one new over joyed customer a week and in five years you have 250+ people who every time someone mentions your product or service, they give your name. If you're lucky, they'll tell a story of how great you were as well.

In the interest of a quick buck, I've dealt with two people in the last 7 days who were more interested in my money today, than much more of my money over the next 5, 10 or 20 years. What these two people have created is the exact opposite of a raving fan. They have created a tech-savvy, intelligent and well connected foe. Instead of the awesome referral sender companies get when they please me, these two companies have created a naysayer. Someone who will go out of their way to tell others not to do business with them.

How does the Raving Fans principle translate into your success? Happy customers translates into a happy bank account.

As a true Maple Leafs fan, I'd rather cheer for the Montreal Canadians then the two people this article is about.

(Please do not discount the credibility of this information over a professional sporting team choice.)

Cost Of Doing Business

January. It was pegged to be great. Sales people all sat around on January 1st, claiming this was going to be their best year. They had the best intentions and they were eager. Then January 10th rolled around, and soon after January 20th. Many realized they were no further ahead than they were at this time in 2010.

Yikes.

What now? Resort back to bad habits, excuse making and the blame game? Not if you want to be a true Sales Professional.

I have representatives who are cutting corners, they have excuses, they point fingers, cause problems and are overly aggressive. Dealing with people who are on route to becoming true Sales Professionals is tasking at times. As the saying goes, that's the cost of doing business.

The career you have chosen is laden with opportunity. Many others before you have failed. They sit around and tell stories of how they used to do sales. They talk about how tough it is, how unforgiving cold calling is and how they could of been successful at it if their boss/company/customers would have only _________.

Being a successful Sales Professional comes down to you. Only you. If you can't convince yourself of the number one rule, how could you possibly persuade others to listen to anything you say?

Many people choose another career path because they are mentally weak. Unless you are highly educated or have a great idea, it's tough to find a trade that offers the freedom and financial gain of being a true Sales Professional. If you want to be in this business, you need to understand that it is not always going to go your way. This is an art and not a science. All you can do is remember, whether you win or lose in sales, it is all your fault. Sound bleak? Sometimes it can be.

That's the cost of doing business.

Paint By Numbers Greatness? Or Picasso Greatness?

Everyday someone in my network will ask, ‘Josh what sales book should I read?’ or ‘Haddon, what sales book had the biggest impact on your career?’ Today, someone emailed me who I had never met, asking what books I would suggest a new sales person read. So I figured I'd reply here, since this blog is how they found me.

By no means do I want to sound cynical or holier than thou, but a majority of the ‘sales’ books out there are garbage. I’ve read 100’s of these ‘sales’ books. Early in my career I bought every book I could get my hands on. All the books promised methods, systems and strategies to guarantee riches and success.

About two years ago I realized that I will never be truly great while using someone else’s verbiage, system, script or ‘master process’. Those crutches and tricks and scripts helped me be better than the average Jane, but I soon noticed I had reached a plateau.

I have a book in my library that is titled, ‘Sales Scripts That Sell’. This same guy might as well of made a book called, ‘Book Titles That Sell’ because the best sales training I received from that book is that people buy when they perceive you have a solution to their problem. Back then, my problem was I wanted to sell more, in turn, I bought the book.

I constantly talk about becoming a true Sales Professional not a typical salesperson. Therefore, wouldn’t it be counter-intuitive to walk around sounding the same way every other salesperson who bought that book sounds? Of course it would be!

When you first start on your path from typical salesperson to Sales Professional; morally sound, respectful, brand creating, referral producing sales is an art, and not a science. Once you’ve mastered the art, it appears to those on the outside looking in, as a science. Many art forms become quasi-sciences once mastered and preformed very well. Look back in history to when philosophy branched off into a science we now call psychology.

Pick three people from history who were considered ‘great’ at what they do. In almost every case you’ll find that they had similar traits. They were creative, focussed and had passion. Becoming a great Sales Professional requires the same three traits. Now, some may argue that you can in fact learn those three traits by reading a book. I would differ.

Napoleon Hill talked about having a ‘master mind alliance’. The saying goes, “Forty years from today, you will be the same person you are now, expect for the books you read and the people you meet.” I’d advocate that 40% if the people you meet, 10% are the books you read, 50% is what you choose to emulate from the people you have met or the books you have read.

Breaking down the quote my way should inspire hope. Hope that you do have a controlling share in your destiny. If you want change and you want to succeed, start changing – something. Anything. While you are at it, introduce yourself to some new people. Step out of what you know and experience something new. Familiar surroundings will almost always produce familiar results.

Typical salespeople are for the most part are actors. They recite old ‘lines’, ‘openers’ and ‘closes’, They paint by numbers. These are the guys who walk into my office at 45 years old needing a job while talking about how they are ‘the best’. They have all the ‘tricks’ of a weathered salesperson but lack of the traits of a great Sales Professional.

If you want to be the best Sales Professional possible, find a mentor and shadow him or her. While reading the hundreds of books I mentioned I read above, I used to spend thousands of hours with the top sales people in my first sales job. I would hang on their every word. When the time came that I had learned all I could from them, I found new people to absorb information from. I read books, but for every book I read, I learned 10 times more from interacting with the great minds around me.

Ty Cobb re-invented baseball.
Einstein would sit for days just thinking.
Picasso didn’t paint by numbers.

Be yourself.
Sales is a conversation, not scripted dialog.
Find a mentor or at least someone better than you to learn from.
Take some risks.
Put yourself into unfamiliar situations.
Stop listening to what your friends, family or co-workers say. Unless they are saying, ‘you are unique and beautiful; and correct to want to shoot for the stars, because every other successful person in history was also only flesh and blood, just as you are’. If they are saying anything else, forget it.

And if you have time during all of this, read books that promote character building more than you read books that promise wealth.

Never Slow Down.

Today was our team's first full day back from holidays. This morning's meeting was a special place to be. It's nice to see determination and excitement in people's eyes at eight in the morning. Especially since December was below par by my standards.

We spoke at length about what we learned last year and how we can apply what we had learned this year. They had this new, 'I'm going to take 2011 by storm' look in their eyes. By nine o'clock I was certain these men had evolved into Sales Professionals. They started making their follow up calls and I could hear in their voices they meant business.

Around one o'clock, I could see the determination and excitement fade in some of them. They looked like the 2010 versions of themselves. It was as if their 2011 dreams had been defeated in only three hours of follow up calls. (Which in the sales world is really only about 20 calls.)

I sat there in shock. You can probably tell I'm rarely at a loss for words. In this case though, how was I to point out to these grown men that they had just given up on their dreams of a great year because of the immediate results of 3 hours? Less than .008 of the year!

The key trait of a person who is great at something is their ability to always keep moving. Like the shark, who's intake of oxygen would cease if ever they were to stop moving, a true great-anything is one who finds a way to keep moving, no matter what. I told one member of my team today to never slow down, 'keep pushing' I said. His eyes lit up. He knew what I meant, he knew what he had to do and he did it.

My best friend says to me once a month when I ask how he is, 'I'm just moving the ball forward man, moving the ball forward.' It wasn't until today that I realized how important that expression is in life. To see your wildest dreams come true, you must always keep momentum, never lose hope and have a short memory.

Strive on no matter what. The marathon runner began with a single walk around the block.
Believe that you are capable of anything - and you will be.
Learn from your mistakes and quickly forget them. Failure is just research.

With the whole world moving around us, if you're standing still, you're going backwards.

The Morning After

Today is a new year. A time for triumph. A time to eliminate all of the bad habits you have been practicing for the last 365 days. It is true that New Years Day signifies a new beginning. Most people use this day to make a ‘resolution’. We use today to plan our tomorrow for the better. The fact is though, today is just another day.

Your tomorrow, your next week, your next month will not be any better by simply making a resolution. Waking up and saying, ‘I will be healthier’ or ‘I will make more money’ are the same mantras you said to yourself the last time you were out of breath or the last time your paycheque wasn’t enough to cover an unexpected expense. The easiest part of goal setting is coming up with the goal. If you’re like most people who learn from making mistakes, you probably made a new resolution weekly or even daily last year. I know for a fact I did. New Years Day is filled with hope and resolve (and in many cases hangovers). I made a December 31st resolution to not start 2011 with a hangover. So far I’m perfect when it comes to resolutions achieved. In addition, I decided that 2011 was going to be a great year. The greatest year of my life. I’ve made this very easy to achieve by breaking my grand New Year goal down; into bite sized, manageable pieces that I can chip away at day by day. I suggest you do the same.

What is a great year anyway? It is just 365 great days strung together. That sounds simple enough to me. 2010 was very good in its’ own right. So how have I ensured that this year will be better? I broke down the three main areas of my life I want to do my best at. The first being my health (physical and mental), secondly my self (including my relationships with friends and family) and third my personal wealth (increase earnings, increase savings, increase free time).

Goal setting is mostly about planning. The goal is what you reach after you properly implement your plan. When I get in the car to drive to an appointment and I have never been there before, I will look at Google Maps or my GPS and plan my route to get there. If my appointment is at 1234 Main Street, Toronto, Ontario – I don’t just jump in my car with the goal to arrive at that appointment on time and just drive around hoping I get there. That would be impractical. I plan my route to get to where I want to be at a certain time. The same goes for your goals this year.

By writing out the 20-30 daily small actions, that I will take every single day this year, to improve upon the three areas of my life noted above; I am 15 hours into having the best year of my life. If you improve one area of your life a mere 1% every single day, how great will that area of your life be in 30 days? 300 days?

This 2011, instead of saying you area going to do something, just do it. Become a person of action. I promise you, win or lose people of action live better lives. Enjoy your hangover today; I’m on my way to being 365% better for 2012.