Goal achievement…what successful business professional doesn’t want to achieve their goals?  None that I know of, yet things get in the way – barriers/obstacles that we call “life” sometimes do make it more difficult. 

The reality is, that sometimes the biggest barrier is us – our commitment falters and our follow through fails!  (In fact, I was going to title this post Commitment and Follow-through, but felt that most of you wouldn’t want to read it!)

A recent story:  Two months ago I re-affirmed my commitment to eating better and exercising regularly.  I have been dealing with a separated AC joint in my shoulder since a bad fall in 2007 and have easily found one excuse after another to do NOTHING instead of adjusting the type of exercise I could be doing.  Guess what?  Weight has crept on and my stamina was down.  With a trip to NYC this weekend, I am afraid I will be embarrassed by not finishing the climb to the top of the crown of the Statue of Liberty! 

So two month’s ago I took charge:  First, I made the commitment, then wrote it down as a realistic goal (I exercise 4 x a week for at least 30 minutes.) and next I moved to the follow-through by tracking my activity and progress.

In the first two weeks I focused on power walking…and within days felt the shin splints, so barrier one.  I figured that I could avoid that by using my pool – and that has worked VERY well.  I have been  diligent about making sure I was in that pool with my modified swim routine. My 13 year old daughter has taken it upon herself to check on my progress, and sometimes is at the edge of the pool keeping count for me!

I have found that I have built my stamina and increased my laps over the weeks.  Not bad!  Six weeks into it and I thought…”Okay, I’ve built the habit, mission accomplished.” 

Wrong!  It is really easy to be knocked off this path.  And this past weekend reminded me that new habits can become old habits quickly!  With lots of work and personal commitments, I hadn’t had time to get in my swim these last days.  Saturday night I was feeling the lack of my follow through and promised that I would get in for a last outdoor swim on Sunday (fall is on its’ way to Wisconsin). 

It looked like a beautiful day and my husband turned on the heater.  But after a very LONG Brewer’s game (we were invited to the Suites with a friend), I made excuses. When I got home and the temps had dropped into the 60s, the threat of rain was in the air, and my daughter backed out of a last-season swim, I walked away from the pool instead of getting in, it was so cold outside! 

Suddenly, I thought “What am I doing? I feel terrible that I haven’t done this and if I leave, I am another day behind”  I quickly turned and ran and jumped in…the water was 20 degrees warmer than the air and it felt wonderful! 

 But the obstacle wasn’t over yet…As I swam my laps, my mind was constantly “negotiating” with how many laps I should really do because the mosquitoes were out, it was rather dark and I could see lightning in the distance…but I just kept at it…and after a brief stop when my daughter yelled out the door to make sure I was really in the water and alive, I finished.  Then I did TWO more laps! 

I felt great!!!!  I slept great.  Follow through and commitment to our goals will do that.  The energy wasted on excuses, guilt, avoidance are usually more than the energy spent getting what needs to be done, done!

My tips for reaching your goals?

1. Set a realistic goal - include the what, when, where and NOW (write it as if you were already “there”.)
2. Commit to it – verbally and in writing. 
3. Identify your real reward for achieving the goal (climbing the stairs in NYC without passing out is mine.)
4. Share with a stakeholder - who knew my 13 year old would be so supportive?
5. Take action!
6. Don’t ignore the barriers that pop up, acknowledge them and work through them!
7. Celebrate your progress – don’t just wait for thee final end result. Many people need encouragement along the way.
8. Find yourself off track?  Review your goal. Renew your commitment. Revise the goal if necessary. 

My reward, climbing to the crown!

How’s that sound?  It’s Monday and the perfect day to look at what you have to do this week.  Not just the “To Dos’ – the REAL actions that are tied into your goals.  Pull out your goals, renew your commitment and identify at least ONE action you can take to progress toward achieving that goal.  Then follow through and DO it!

What do you think?  Does this work?  What ideas would you add to the list? 

——————————

If one of your To Dos, is becoming more proficient at prospecting, I have an easy action for you this week!  

Over at Top Sales Experts, the most significant sales related online community in the world, five of the world’s top sales gurus gather together every month to present timely, relevant, and specific advice, all in one 60-minute highly interactive online-show.

Each TSE Roundtable addresses issues being faced by sales professionals everywhere, as we come out of the severest economic downturn ever.  This month:

OR Why not consider becoming a TSE VIP Member? Via me, membership costs just $25 per year and you get to listen to this and every other Roundtable for FREE – plus so much more Take the VIP Tour Today

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Tags: goal setting, productivity, prospecting, sales seminar, sales tips

If you want to increase YOUR sales, the good news is, that it starts with you!  The bad news is, that it starts with YOU!

Many sales professionals are having a record breaking year.  They have figured out the adjustments they needed to make to capitalize on what is happening in today’s economy.  One of the most dreaded adjustments has been the need to prospect more than ever!

That is why the Top Sales Expert Roundtable – What Top Producers Know About Prospecting That You Don’t - is so timely!  I’ve been invited to join some very knowledgeable sales experts – Jonathan Farrington, Tim Wackel, Cheryl Clausen, and Christian Maurer to give YOU great ideas for your prospecting.  Your investment is LOW and the potential returns HIGH!

Tuesday, September 29th at Noon Central is the time.  The rest of the details can be found by clicking on the image below.

Please click on the image to find out more – you can join this webinar AND dozens more in the next year for only a $25 annual members to TSE!  How’s that for an economic stimulus package?

If you really have NO funds, let me know.  I’m so confident these ideas will help you succeed and that you will have more funds next year to join, that I’ll pay your admission!!  Send me an email at Nancy@salesproinsider.com.

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Tags: Economic Stimulus, maximize sales productivity, prospecting, sales seminar

 Think it is hard to remember your customer and prospects’ names?  Well, you may never heard of Rachel Krishevsky, but she is an inspiration for anyone who has trouble with names.

Rachel and her husband married at 19 and then bore 11 children, who then multiplied, and they multiplied, and so on and so on and so on.  When Rachel died last week at 99 years old she had 1400 descendants!  Yes, 1400!  While that is impressive, what struck me as unbelievable is that she knew each of them by name!  And that all these descendants are going to miss her.

In our world of databases, Blackberry (or the like), contact lists, etc. its hard to fathom not having access to names and contact information at our finger tips.  What did sales pros do before all this technology?  The great ones committed names to memory.

I see professionals who are so dependent on technology - and we know there are many benefits – but what is being lost?  When we focus enough on the person to remember their name or something personal about them, we forge a different connection and build trust more easily.

Now this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use the great tools available to us.  But we should supplement the technology with the human touch. 

It means that we should take time BEFORE each contact to really think about the person, what you know about them, what you like about them, your previous conversations and what needs to be accomplished at this contact point.  Prepare to connect with the human being and then move into business. 

These few minutes of focus on THAT specific person will allow your meeting to start at a different level and allow both of you to be open, honest and efficient.  This leads to more sales – or finding out that there won’t be a sale and you can move on to bigger things.

Wouldn’t it be great if this focus on the person led you to mutliply and multiply and multiply for another 1400 raving-fan customers?  

More on Rachel.

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Tags: customer loyalty, Sales Tips

In the sales, leadership and coaching courses I facilitate, I often hear that the participants want to do increase sales, be a better leader, and more but there is no time to _______ .  You can fill in the blank with a lot of things.  Most have to do with proactive activities or development – for themselves and their associates.

Throughout the course we discuss the need to empower and equip your associates and those around you for the long-term good of the company. Again and again I hear professionals express that they WANT to delegate more but they can’t because:

1. It takes too much time and I can get it done faster myself.
2. I don’t have anyone to delegate to.
3. My team isn’t ready to do some of the things I do.

Sound familiar?  (I think this occurs at work and home for many of us…) But what are we doing when we don’t give others the opportunity to grow, try something and succeed?  We rob them of the opportunities that these experiences provide.  We also rob ourselves of precious time.

I’m not just talking delegation to subordinates (though that term makes me cringe) I’m talking delegation to the RIGHT person for the job.  This may be a colleague, your boss. an assistant, another department, etc.   It’s getting the right things in the right person’s hands.

Whenever I think about time management, delegation and responsibility I immediately think of the great Harvard Business Review article called Who’s Got the Monkey?  It is a great visual of what happens when a “to do” is seen as a monkey that is crawling on your back, and how in the course of a conversation the monkey moves from shoulder to shoulder depending on who is taking or owning that responsibility.  It brings a great awareness of how easy it is to take a monkey that doesn’t rightfully belong to you. 

The monkey is something that can be robbed from others needlessly. When you keep the monkey on your shoulders, you are robbing yourself and them as I already mentioned.  The question then becomes, how to remove some things from your To Do and get them to the right people?  Well, TA DA!  My dear colleague, Jonathan Farrington of Top Sales Experts, put together a wonderful one-page “assessment” for you to assess your time robbers. 

If you are looking at your list for this week and wondering how it will all be accomplished, this assessment might be the place to start.  Look at what there is to do and then who should be doing it.  Of course getting rid of it might take some time and effort.   You might need to build a case on why that monkey belongs with someone else, and then teach them how to care for it before you can truly take that weight off your shoulders.

But who knows, in the long run you might just foil a monkey robbery…and get rewarded for it with time and appreciation.

What monkeys get stuck on your back? 

I highly encourage you to purchase the article…it’s timeless.

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Tags: Leadership, maximize sales productivity, productivity, Sales Tips

I firmly believe we only achieve our best when we have people around us who help us become better.  Sometimes that means these people need to give us information that we don’t want to hear.  Yet, it is just what we need.

I heard a speaker last week – Dr. John C. Maxwell – who summed up my experiences about this topic as he talked about the inner circle leaders need to succeed.  He went through several points of what it meant to have this inner circle lift instead of  only lean on you.  His examples were very good about surrounding yourself with the right people.  And part of having the right people is making sure that they are people who will tell you the truth.

I’ve been mulling over Dr. Maxwell’s lift vs. lean idea for days now and yesterday was reminded how important this is.  I’m in the process of finalizing a very short video to explain our exciting new launch next month.  The video process has been painful to say the least and I thought I was finally done.  Many who looked at it said it was just right…but I knew that something was off.

Never one to take the easy road, I decided to send it to someone who would give me the hard truth.  She reviewed the video…and gave all the positives everyone else did, but she took a step further  to point out an observation that brought my concern to the front.  It’s not what I wanted to hear, but it’s just WHAT I needed to hear.  The end result will be better for her honest feedback.

Of course I am not thrilled about going back to the drawing board, but I will…the outcome is that important!  You see, lifting someone doesn’t mean just agreeing with them or only pointing out the positive.  We can’t get better without hard truths or reflective questions. 

I have a strong personality, and some people shy away from telling me those hard truths…yet those are the people I respect the most. 

A couple of tough questions for you today:

1. Who do you have in your inner circle that will tell you the hard truth? 
2. Do you surround yourself with  “yes” people?
3. What does lifting mean to you?  Is it superficial or meaningful?
4.  How do you lift those closest to you – at work and home?

I heard a statement years ago that puts this all in perspective….”You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  Are you spending time with people that will help raise your “average?”

In sales, there are a lot of opportunities to turn negative, to make excuses and blame others – but the most successful pros don’t let their energy get zapped in those directions.   It does mean we need to carefully choose those to spend time with.  

We can choose to spend time with those that are lifters and not leaners.  Can’t find them at work?   Then turn to some of the social media or networking groups in your area to find professional, forward thinking and positive people .

The energy you gain from the time you spend with the right inner circle will help lift you to higher levels!

Click for a great article about the Inner Circle by Dr. John C Maxwell.

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Tags: Leadership, maximize sales productivity, sales success

Yes, FREE Sales training!  We’re calling it our own Economic Stimulus plan for local companies (within 60 miles of Milwaukee, WI). 

As we get ready to announce our secret project, we are giving the unbelievable opportunity for FREE sales training to you!  Don’t reside in Wisconsin?  It won’t matter once you learn more about Sharpenz later next month. 

To learn more about our offer to deliver a high impact, compact and focused sales training workshop – You will find the information you need at Milwaukee Sales Training.

A few notes from participants who have experienced a Sharpenz session:  

• “They are short, to the point and contain good information. Great thought provoking session.” Sonya A., Primex Wireless, Inc.
• “This is a good format because a lot of concrete, useful information is shared in a short time.” D  Bennett, Kalmbach Publishing
• “An educated and fun way to deal with the sales process.” L. Jones  Woodward Radio

In the meantime, a quote for any of you who think we might be crazy for offering this:

Part of being sane, is being a little bit crazy.     Janet Long

Best to you today!

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Tags: learning, Sales Tips, Sales training

Finding success these days means we might have to try something new to stay in the game.  And it seems these days the “new” technology is coming faster than I am ready.

In 2009 I have – and am still – working through many changes as I adapt my business to the ever-changing market, needs of my clients and technology.  I have migrated my accounting system, this blog, my newsletter, Facebook use, I’m Tweeting, and I have a touch screen cell that I’m still not sure about, and on and on and on. 

At different times in the last month I have begun to feel that technology is going to get the best of me sooner or later.  That’s why sometimes when someone tells me I NEED to do another something new with technology I am not jumping up and down.  I don’t feel I’ve grasped all the technology I started this year and I’m not sure my brain can absorb anymore at this point!

Today though, I finally opened up to the idea of video use in marketing and sales – but only after the fourth “expert” let me know that I should include video in the launch plan of our super secret new product line that we will announce soon.  I’m not sure why, but today I listened…and then I pulled out the Flip Video camera that so far, I have only used for fun family times (we bought a waterproof cover and have had great fun in the pool).

Guess what?  It was FUN!  And probably one of the easiest new pieces of technology I have attempted to incorporate this year.  I passed along my freshman effort to a couple of colleagues and they said that the message on the video helped them connect to the new product in a way that the text of the new website has not.

Now I do have more work to do on lighting and making sure I am succinct, but I see why video can be so valuable.  It speaks to different Types of people.  Of course, I’ll post some of the “ready” videos here very soon and you be the judge of the quality and message.  And if I am forced to admit it, I will say that all the new tech tools I have adopted are bringing some efficiencies that I needed. 

In the meantime, what is one technology tool that you did not easily adopt and then found later you couldn’t live without?

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Tags: learning, productivity

Wait.  For what? Answers.  How long do you wait for a response after asking a question?  It is estimated that people wait 1-4 seconds for a response to an asked question.  Time it and you’ll see it is true.  

If you allow more time – even up to 20-30 seconds - for a response you may hear something spectacular.  Yes it will seem like you are waiting forever but watch/listen to what happens when you do wait.  Information will come – and the richness of the response may surprise you.

Some people need to process the informationin their head before it comes out their mouth (some other people should giv  this a try .  When we interrupt someone with another question, rephrasing the initial question or answering the question ourselves, we frustrate them and shut down communication.  Then we have to work harder to get the information out.

Today, pay attention to your wait time.  Whatever it is, focus on doubling it and see what you can learn.

I believe it will be worth the wait.

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Tags: Listening

Customer loyalty should be a goal of anyone who sells, serves or leads.  It doesn’t matter if your customer is a paying customer, a peer, direct report or an internal customer.  The benefits of earning their loyalty are many.

A loyal customer:

1. Will give you the benefit of the doubt when things go wrong.
2. Works WITH you and not against you.
3. Helps you help them – its not just one sided.
4. Can ease your way into new relationships.    
5. Gives you more business!

And the workday is just more enjoyable when you are working with those that appreciate you.

I’m in the midst of a seminar with IT professionals.  Yesterday each person identified someone they liked to do business with – and were loyal to.  They reported on the characteristic that the person has that makes them want to work with them.  The list was long and all but one characteristic was about HOW the other person worked with them than WHAT the person actually did.

Is that a tongue twister?  Simply, your knowledge, technical expertise and skill do matter.  But HOW you work with your customers – communication and focus on what’s important to them is what makes the difference.

What about you?  Who are you loyal to and why?  Leave a comment and give them the appreciation they deserve!

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Tags: customer loyalty, customer loyalty