Every scrutinized historical event fails to hold up to serious inspection. There’s missing evidence. How did he get from point A to point B? Where’s the document or the eyewitness or the proof? Your future opportunities are like this as well. Even at the hottest part of the 1998 Internet run up, skeptics wanted more […]
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Category: Executive Sales skills tips
Selling like a champion
Do you have clients or customers..?
You need to choose. Customers hear you say, “here, I made this,” and they buy or they don’t buy. Clients say to you, “I need this,” and if you want to get paid, you make it. The customer, ironically, doesn’t get something custom. The key distinction is who goes first, who gets to decide when […]
Feeding the fire of the spirit in you…
The human spirit,like a campfire,must be lit again each day. Unlike the spirit,a campfire is easy to observe and understand,because we can step back from it and observe it.After a night of camping,we can emerge from our tents the next morning and notice with satisfaction that the campfire has gone out.We don’t curse the campfire […]
How long between leaps…?
Kids have to change grades every year. You hit 18 and the system says it’s time to move out and go to a whole new place. Four years later, another cycle… And then? How often do we say, “three months from today, I will be doing something totally different than I’m doing now?” How often […]
Think your way up…
In some of our seminars,one consultant like to draw a picture of a ladder on the board and call it “the ladder of selves.” On the very bottom he writes”The physical, in the middle he puts “The Emotional.” and on top he places “The Mind”. We can move up or down this ladder by the […]
Discover active relaxation…
There is a huge difference between active relaxation and passive relaxation. When we play games,sports,go to the gym,swim,work in a garden,walk the dog,or play chess,we are interacting with unexpected,and our mind are responding. All of these activities increase personal creativity and intellectual motivation.The are all active pursuits. Active relaxation refreshes and restores the mind.It keeps […]
How to be a good detective…
In your professional life,whatever it is,always be curious. When you meet with someone,think of yourself as a bumbling but friendly private detective. Ask questions.Then ask follow-up questions.And then let the answers make you even more curious.Let the answers suggest even more questions.This will motivate you to higher levels of consciousnesses and interest. When you prepare […]
Put your library on the wheels…
One of the greatest opportunities for motivating yourself today lies in the way you use your drive time. There is no longer any excuse for time in the car to be downtime or frustrating or time that is not motivating.With huge variety of audiobooks now available,you can use your time on the road to educate […]
How to reprogram your mind for yourself…
If you are a regular consumer of the major news program,you belong to a very persuasive and hype cult. You need to be deprogrammed. Start by altering how you listen to electronic radio gossip,the news,and shock and schlock TV shows.Program all the negative cynical,skeptical thoughts that you allow to flow into your mind unchecked when […]
Find your inner Einstein..
The next time you see a picture of Albert Einstein,realize that is actually you. See Albert Einstein and say,”There I am”. Every human has the capacity for some form of genius.You don’t have to be good at maths or physics to experience genius level in your thinking.To experience Einsteins creative level of thinking,all you have […]
Domination Is Good…
The key word is domination. Am sure you don’t want to just play in the game of business.You want to dominate. This is an interesting way to look at the world and you may have to train yourself to develop this perspective.Why? It really worth it. The idea here is to go against what you […]
Newness as a form of hiding…
Every once in a while someone will say to me, “yeah, sure, I’ve heard that before… what do you have that’s new?” In contemporary art or movies, it makes perfect sense to be focused on the bleeding edge, on the new idea that’s never been previously contemplated. But when we’re discussing our goals, our passion […]
Competence vs. Opportunities…
As we get more experienced, we get better, more competent, more able to do our thing. And it’s easy to fall in love with that competence, to appreciate it and protect it. The pitfall? We close ourselves off from possibility. Possibility, innovation, art–these are endeavors that not only bring the whiff of failure, they also […]
Is It Just The Good Parts…?
“I want to be an actress, but I don’t want to go on auditions.” “I want to play varsity sports, but I need to be sure I’m going to make the team.” “It’s important to sell this great new service, but I’m not willing to deal with rejection.” You don’t get to just do the […]
Its Never Enough..
There’s never enough time to be as patient as we need to be. Not enough slack to focus on the long-term, too much urgency in the now to take the time and to plan ahead. That urgent sign post just ahead demands all of our intention (and attention), and we decide to invest in, “down […]
Fear of Public Speaking…
Why is it that a common,safe,and important task is so feared by so many people? In Iconoclast,Gregory Berns uses his experience running a neuroscience research lab to explain the biological underpinnings of the resistance.In fact,public speaking is the perfect petri dish for exposing what makes us tick. It turns out that the three biological factors […]
Are you good at listening ..?
Live interaction still matters. Teachers, meetings, presentations, one on one brainstorms–they can lead to real change. The listener has nearly as big a responsibility as the speaker does, though. And yet, Google reports four times as many matches for “how to speak” as “how to listen.” It’s not a passive act, not if you want […]
Fearless,Reckless,and Feckless….
Organizations seek out people who are fearless,but go out their way to weed out reckless.what is the difference? Fearless doesn’t mean “without fear.” what it means in practice is “unafraid of things that one should not be afraid of.”Being fearless means giving a presentation to an important customer without losing a nights sleep.It means being […]
Keep Learning or Die…
Why financial education is the key to prospering or perishing in a fast-paced world Everybody learns. For instance, in order to make bread, bakers follow a recipe they’ve learned, even if it’s in their head. Surgeons follow a recipe for complicated procedures, with certain steps and actions that must be taken to see a positive […]
3 Signs You Will Fail as a Top Leader…
Outwardly, you appear effective, dependable, on top of things. But look closer. Are you in danger of destructive behaviors? Here’s a statement of the blindingly obvious: strong, effective leadership is better than weak, ineffective leadership. Thankfully, it’s usually obvious which is which–most of us can spot a strong leader from a weak one with relative […]
Maybe this year…
Maybe this year… Your knowledge will reach critical mass.. Your boss will give you the go ahead.. Your family situation will be stable.. The competition will stop innovating.. The traffic jam will cease.. There won’t be any computer viruses to deal with, and Then… You can act, you can launch your project, you can make […]
The danger of starting at the very top…
When making a b2b sale, the instinct is always to get into the CEO’s office. If you can just get her to hear your pitch, to understand the value, to see why she should buy from or lease from or partner with or even buy you… that’s the holy grail. What do you think happens […]
True professionals don’t fear amateurs…
Professional farmers don’t begrudge the backyard gardener his tomato harvest. That’s silly. And talented mechanics certainly don’t mind the antics of the Car Talk guys (or their listeners). Sooner or later, if you need a real mechanic, you’ll find one, and if you don’t, well, that’s fine too. A few years ago, typesetting, wedding photography, […]
The power of zero spend..
Sometimes, boundaries help you make tough decisions. If you build your company with the policy that you’ll never run an ad, it makes it even more important that you build a remarkable product–you’ll never be tempted to compromise and try to make it up with hype. Same thing goes for organizations that refuse to pay […]
Thank you, Zig…
One of our great teacher Zig Ziglar died last week. He was 86. Thanks for teaching me how to sell and why it mattered. Thanks for reminding me how much it mattered to care. Thanks for telling us a fifteen-minute story about Johnny the Shoe Shine Genius, so compelling that I flew to the airport […]
When everyone has access to the same too...
…then having a tool isn’t much of an advantage. The industrial age, the age of scarcity, depended in part on the advantages that came with owning tools others didn’t own. Time for a new advantage. It might be your network, the connections that trust you. And it might be your expertise. But most of all, […]
World’s Simplest Management Secret….
Forget what you learned in those management books. There’s really only one way to ensure that everyone on your team excels. Management books have it all wrong. They all try to tell you how to manage “people.” It’s impossible to manage “people”; it’s only possible to manage individuals. And because individuals differ from one another, […]
The best way to get unstuck…
Don’t wait for the right answer and the golden path to present themselves. This is precisely why you’re stuck. Starting without seeing the end is difficult, so we often wait until we see the end, scanning relentlessly for the right way, the best way and the perfect way. The way to get unstuck is to […]
The curious imperative…
Now that information is ubiquitous, the obligation changes. It’s no longer okay to not know. If you don’t know what a word means, look it up. If you’re meeting with someone, check them out in advance. If it sounds too good to be true, Google it before you forward it. If you don’t know what […]
Useful and believable promises…
That’s another way to think about marketing. We only sign up/pay attention to/pay for offers from marketers when: What’s promised is something we think is worth more than it costs and We believe you’re the best person to keep that promise. This applies to resumes, meetings and even the kid raking your lawn. If your […]
Do the (extra) work…
Do the extra work not because you have to but because it’s a privilege. Get in early. Sweep the floor without being asked. Especially when it’s not your turn. Not because you want credit or reward. Because you can. The industrialist wants to suck everything out of you. Doing extra work as a cog in […]
Waiting for all the facts…
“I’m just going to wait until all the facts are in…” All the facts are never in. We don’t have all the facts on the sinking of the Titanic, on the efficacy of social media or on whether dogs make good house pets. We don’t have all the facts on hybrid tomatoes, global warming or […]
Thinking about supermodels…
Models are fairly generic placeholders, attractive men and women who anonymously walk down the runway at a fashion show or stand up for a photo shoot. It’s surprisingly unglamorous and isn’t particularly steady or financially rewarding. Supermodels, on the other hand, are a relatively recent innovation, and they are in a totally different (financial) category. […]
Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)…
For most of us, it’s not the big traps that mess us up, it’s the little ones. Every time I break stride and distract myself by checking my email (a hundred times in a bad day), I get a small reward. I get the satisfaction of starting and finishing a project, on time and for […]
Most people…..
Most people don’t care enough to make a difference. Most people aren’t going to buy that new thing you’re selling. Most people are afraid to take action. Most people are too self-involved to do the generous work you’re hoping for. Most people think they can’t afford it. Most people won’t talk about it. Most people […]
It’s a long story..
Isn’t it always? Actually, the long stories are the good ones. About how you found that great job, or discovered this amazing partner or managed to get that innovation approved. If long stories are so great, how come we spend all our lives working for the short ones? The very act of seeking out the […]