The Sales Experiment

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Any Favor We Receive Should Spark Generosity

Today, I spent what felt like 18 hours in the car.  I have the list of listened-to podcasts to prove it.

The first podcast was from College Wesleyan Church. The sermon was called “Better Lucky than Good.”  Rev. Steven Neff’s premise is that regardless of how faithful and how hard we work, sometimes it takes an act of God’s favor to catalyze that work to create success (he uses Naseem Taleb’s books Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan to back it up).

When we receive that favor, the proper response isn’t gratitude only. It’s generosity. When we receive favor or even the fruits of our hard work and labor, we should be moved toward generosity.

It was a convicting idea. What will I do with any success I achieve? Will I be a giver? Will I be a person full of grace and humility and generosity?

Should We Give Everything Away?

I don’t believe that is what we should do.

But I do believe that favor and outright, hard-fought success demands increased responsibility.

Therefore, while I continue on this Dan Miller 6-Month Content Consumption Challenge, I pray that I also develop a better eye for opportunities for generosity.

This generosity doesn’t mean that I give all my cash money away. It does mean that I seek opportunities to serve, give where I can, and speak encouragement and life into situations and individuals when I can.

It also means that much of the good that happens to me isn’t because I’m any better than anybody else. I might have done better at putting myself in a position to have better chances. It might mean that I’ve had plans and executed them. It might mean that my mom and dad did a decent job.

But even some of those things represent opportunities I’ve had that others don’t. I must steward those opportunities well.

When favor comes – when those ‘Black Swan moments’ come – I pray I’m ready to receive and ready to give.

Until tomorrow…

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Reading and Listening Today

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t read too much today. l listened to 6 podcasts, but I didn’t read so much. I’m starting to wonder if I need to commit more time to reading vs. simply listening to content.

In addition to the sermon referenced above, I listened to episodes 101-105 of the Social Media Marketing Podcast with Michael Stelzner. I plan to write about these podcasts (in general) tomorrow, so I won’t go into detail.

Those podcasts are crammed full of incredible social media marketing strategies (I did a couple today). That’s what I want to talk about: the difference between strategy, tactics, and goals.

 

 

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Learn One (and only one) Thing at a Time

The problem with this Dan Miller Challenge that I’ve taken up is that part of the premise is to pick a new action item everyday based on what I read and listen to.

Therefore, I’m often doing something different everyday. Sometimes, these items build on each other. Other times they are completely different.

I’m sticking with this plan for the next 5 months, but I’m realizing the importance of sticking to one main project or skill, even if the

Do you struggle with trying to learn and do too many things at once? 

A couple weeks ago, I read about the importance of finding opportunities to present in front of groups, associations, and other organizations.

I emailed a couple organizations, and lo and behold, I got an opportunity. October 30th.

While I love reading and listening to all kinds of content, this upcoming presentation has become my focus.

I’m filtering all content through my desire to create value for those at the conference.

If you’re like I am and love to read this book, listen to that podcast, watch that series of Youtube videos, then you can relate to my version of adult ADD learning.

In order to make strides in any one area, though, you and I must learn to choose the most pressing piece of learning and focus on that one thing before bouncing to other things.

Just in time learning

Smart Passive Income’s Pat Flynn and Internet Business Mastery’s Jeremy Frandsen and Jason Van Orden introduced me to this idea of ‘just in time learning’.

Just in time learning is a practice whereby you focus solely on learning what you need to learn to achieve the next step in a current project.

For instance, for me right now, I’m focused on the presentation I have to give. My first job is to understand the best method planning and preparing my talk. Therefore, I’ve read a few blog posts and listened to a couple podcasts all around structuring my research, outlining, and pruning of my talk. When I get to the point where I need to create slides, then I’ll focus on that type of content.

Jumping from one thing to another, even within one project, slows down progress.

I get so tempted to try my hand at graphic design by creating slides, but first, I must focus on figuring out the one point I hope the audience walks away with.

Then I will focus on developing the supporting points and how to weave data and stories into the talk.

After that (and only after that), will I study the how-tos and worry about the slides.

Right now, every bit of content that I consume is around public speaking. But I’m drilling down deeper toward specific learning around the step I’m in at the moment.

How to practice just in time learning

Most of us don’t have the luxury of spending tons of time on one project at a time. Our day jobs are filled with a bunch of different people with whom we have a variety of relationships (bosses, colleagues, clients, direct reports).

We might have to stay sharp in a variety of areas.

That said, you and I should also be selective.

What’s one skill we know that would best move our work forward?

If you’re in sales, perhaps it’s learning the age-old practice of cold calling.

If you’re in customer service, perhaps it’s learning how to be more engaging with difficult customers.

If you’re a web designer, perhaps it’s learning a new CMS because WordPress is so 2013.

Pick the one thing and focus on it as much as possible until that one thing is either accomplished or deeply learned.

Write that one thing out on a piece of paper or create a file for it or a note in Evernote.

And get to work. Google it. Youtube it. Buy a book. Go to the library.

Figure that one thing out first before moving on.

I think we would all benefit from that type of focus.

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How about you? Do you practice this type of approach to learning, especially for your work? 

(Leave an answer in the comments)

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Listening for today:

What the Speak Podcast – with Bryan Kelly: I binge-listened to about 5 episodes of this podcast during my commutes today. Michael Hyatt, Nancy Duarte, Chris Brogan, Jeff Goins, and Ken Davis all taught me a little more about public speaking, from preparation to presentation. (By the way, all the sudden these podcasts stopped in July. I’m hoping all is okay!)

SPI 087 : Why You Belong on Stage – Pat’s “Braindump” of Public Speaking and Presentation Tips – with Pat Flynn: This podcast is a wonderful overview of public speaking, especially for newbies like myself.

 

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Is Your Marketing Useful?

Is Your Marketing Useful?
useful marketing
Photo Credit: zzpza via Compfight cc

Hardly do insurance professionals hear comments like, “Wow, you make my life easier!” or “Dang, what a fun and helpful process that was!”

Even with my blog, where I attempt to be generously helpful and useful, I wonder how the niche I aim to serve experiences what I’ve put out there. (You can check it out here if you’d like and let me know if it’s helpful or a head-scratcher).

Don’t Just Have a Useful Product, Have Useful Marketing

Listening to the EntreLeadership podcast with Jay Baer today, I considered what it means to be useful to my clients and prospects.

I’ve not yet read Jay’s book Youtility, but I’ve heard him interviewed a few times. One of the points I always come away with is the importance of having marketing that is profoundly useful at the moment where someone actually needs what you have to offer.

The strange distinction here is not that your product is useful at the moment someone needs your information (although it should be useful), but that your marketing has to be useful.

For instance, if a nonprofit leader (my niche happens to be insurance for nonprofits) needs answers to a question about how volunteers are covered by insurance, then I hope, when she finds my blog, that she will find a clear, concise answer.

My blog is my marketing. But it has to be every bit as useful as a wrench might be when it’s time to do some plumbing.

Today’s Action Item: Review my blog for usefulness and include some survey-like questions in my next email newsletter.

I spent some time asking myself these questions:

  • When someone goes to my blog, what is his experience?
  • Is it easy to navigate?
  • Is the most helpful and useful information the easiest to find?
  • Is there a call to action?
  • Is it clear that I do, actually, sell insurance products should someone actually have a need?
  • What would make a better experience for nonprofit leaders and others who happen upon my day job blog?

Those are extremely difficult questions to answer when you’re the one who put the thing together. Consequently, my next email newsletter will include a little digging.

The only way for me to know if I’m being useful is to ask the folks who might have experienced my marketing. Baer suggests, also, that it’s a good idea to spend a lot of time talking to clients, asking them what we do well and what we don’t do so well.

I started putting together a ‘start here’ page a la Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (click here for his ‘Start Here’ page).

The fact is that an insurance blog isn’t like People or Sports Illustrated. It’s more like a handyman reference book up on the dusty part of the bookshelves. You don’t read it often, but when you grab for it, it better have some answers.

That’s how I hope people find my day job blog: a key reference that answers questions clearly and builds trust over the long haul. 

The question, then is, how in the world can I make sure my site is doing just that?

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How are you useful as a salesperson or marketer? Do you depend on your product to be useful or are you planting seeds of utility and trust even before a sales relationship is established? (I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments)

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This blog is a response to Dan Miller’s unintentional challenge from his podcast on August 15, 2014: If you read or listen to 30 minutes of quality content a day, you’ll double your income. 

From September 1, 2014 through March 1, 2015, I will be doing the following:

  1. Listening or reading to 30 minutes of success, growth, business, spiritual, or other mindset-shifting, skill-sharpening content.
  2. Selecting one action item from that content (with some leeway to select an action from a previous day’s content).
  3. Doing that one action.
  4. Writing about the action or some other idea from the reading and listening of the day.

 

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