The Sales Experiment

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Our Heart and Our Sales

I’m not talking about what I recently heard termed ‘head trash’ – those preconceptions, issues with self-confidence, and other screwy thinking that can bump up against our success as sales professionals.

I’m talking about taking care of our most important relationships.

Success is much much more than cash money. We all know that you can have a horrible family life and still make stacks of cash.

I wonder if a life riddled with destroyed relationships, regardless of monetary success, should be considered success at all.

Reading: Zig Ziglar – See You at the Top. Chapter on marriage (Segment 3, Chapter 3)

Zig was a traditional old guy. While it’s obvious that See You at the Top is not a purely sales book, I don’t think I’ve read any other recent sales or success literature that dedicates a chapter to nurturing ones marriage.

I struggle with trying to use the chapter to prove that if one is at odds with his or her spouse, children, and other important relationships that he or she will not be successful as a salesperson. It’s simply not true. Everybody has a story of the complete jerk who seems to close every deal.

But ultimate success – legacy – does not place deals higher than relationships.

In my world, I know that I have to be vigilant around becoming obsessed with work to the detriment of my other relationships.

The way I perform as a professional is important to my legacy, but it’s much less important than my availability to my spouse and my children. If I blow past goals but fail to build into my children, what’s the point?

I appreciate Zig’s acknowledgment of this part of our lives.

How about you?

Where is your heart while you chase sales success? Do you think it even matters?

Until tomorrow….

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Other Reading and Listening

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation 

I just started this book, and as my 6 year old said, “Daddy, you’re always reading like 5 books at a time,” so I might set it aside so I can finish Zig’s See You at the Top.  So far, though, it’s a great book about the profile of top sales reps.  Any of my success has had to come by leveraging my natural approach while super-imposing best practices. This book, so far, offers great suggestions based on exhaustive research, regarding how to move from being a ‘core’ or mediocre sales performer to a high performer.

More Social Media Marketing Podcast, with Michael Stelzner (and various guests).

I’ve been power-listening to a bunch of these podcasts. Over the last week or so, I’ve been catching up on shows dating back to May (It’s the day before Thanksgiving, if that tells you anything.

Some good ones…

Writing and Social: Why the Written Word Is Your Marketing Advantage – w/ Guest Ann Handley

Webinars: Growing Leads and Sales With Live Online Events w/ Lewis Howes

YouTube Growth: How to Grow Your YouTube Channel – w/ Steve Dotto

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Be Kind and Brave

School is a Place to Learn Bravery and Kindness

In the last 15 minutes of the Lewis Howes interview with Glennon Melton (link below), I found some of the best parenting advice ever.

Glennon talks about ‘the talk’ she has with her children every year before sending them back to school. I won’t try to relate it all here, because I couldn’t do so as eloquently as she does in the interview or in the post on her site (Go read her blog post “The Talk” on Momastery because it should be required reading for all parents).

She basically tells her children that she cares little whether they are the best or worst at any given school-based pursuit except for one: bravery and kindness (pardon the long quotation)….

We don’t send you to school to become the best at anything at all. We already love you as much as we possibly could. You do not have to earn our love or pride and you can’t lose it. That’s done.

We send you to school to practice being brave and kind.

Kind people are brave people. Brave is not a feeling that you should wait for. It is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.

Trust me, baby, it is. It is more important.

Don’t try to be the best this year, honey.

Just be grateful and kind and brave. That’s all you ever need to be.

You must stop now and go read the rest of the post at The Momastery – “The Talk”

I could use that advice myself everyday when I head off to work or when I sit down to parent my children or be a husband to my wife.

It’s not the goal to be perfect or the best. The goal (as Ms. Melton also discusses in the interview with Howes) is to bring who I am, wherever I happen to be, to whatever situation I’m in, and just give myself. My kids don’t need a perfect dad. They just need me. And I have to believe my clients don’t need a perfect provider of services. They need a straight up, honest, servant.

She said (and I paraphrase), “When we stop trying to be perfect, we finally have energy to do good.”

I love that. It’s mantra-worthy.

As a matter of fact, if I worried about being perfect, I wouldn’t have written and hit ‘publish’ on all of these posts from this past month.

Thanks Lewis and Glennon. This 43 year old dude appreciates you both.

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Today’s Action: Brainstorm seminar/workshop topics for my first (official) opportunity.

Checked that box. I put together 6 topics with a short synopsis of each and sent them to the association’s education coordinator (not sure if that’s her official title).  I loved the fact that after having blogged for a while, I was able to develop topics pretty quickly. In truth, I didn’t have to develop them. They’ve been bubbling up and being fleshed out over the past 2 or 3 years.

Today’s Listening

How to Overcome Addictions and Be Courageously Vulnerable with Glennon Melton – The School of Greatness Podcast with Lewis Howes.

I finished up this episode today. I’m so glad I did. While it wasn’t directly actionable, I got all kinds of parenting ideas. In the end, if I can parent well, I will have been a success. Don’t forget to check out Glennon’s blog, The Momastery, to learn more.

What Sharing My Childhood Rape Taught Me About Being a Loving, Vulnerable, Free Man – The School of Greatness Podcast with Lewis Howes

I came close to passing over this episode of Mr. Howes’ podcast. Having a 7 year old daughter and 6 year old twin boys, I wasn’t sure if it was a story I had the emotional bandwidth to listen to today. I’m glad I did and appreciate, deeply, Lewis’s willingness to be ridiculously vulnerable. Courage has many faces and this episode showed one of them.

Until tomorrow…

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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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I Have a Crush on Pinterest

And I blame Cynthia Sanchez and Vincent Ng. I also blame the fact that I went through a brief spat with Twitter and Facebook. They just weren’t giving me what I wanted. I needed more.

So, I started flirting with Pinterest. She is gorgeous. I love her long, slender images. And the fact that she’s always full of surprises and suggestions and fun ideas.

I still feel a little awkward around her (her being Pinterest, of course), but that’s why I love Ms. Sanchez’s Oh So Pinteresting Podcast.

Sanchez has a handle on how to make your pins as searchable as possible (hint: pin descriptions and image names and alt-text are really important. If you don’t know what that means, neither did I). She also offers wonderful insight whenever Pinterest changes (which seems to be daily).

When I first started getting into Pinterest to help out a friend’s ecommerce efforts, I found her podcast and power listened to about 15 episodes (at least). If you’re new to Pinterest, I recommend doing the same to give yourself a solid foundation.

In addition to helping me with the ecommerce work, I ended up picking up great tidbits to use for my B2B day job as a commercial insurance man.

Vincent Ng’s book Pinterest to Profits with Pintalysis is also a wonderful resource. Mr. Ng helped teach Sanchez’s Oh So Pinteresting Pinterest for Business Workshop – a solid little course that takes you from 101 status to 301 status pretty quickly.

Pinterest and Editorial Perspective

While I’m not sure if Pinterest is the most effective social channel for insurance, I know that developing an editorial perspective with Pinterest in mind helps me work harder to get inside of the heads of my clients.

As a matter of fact, one of my favorite things about all content and social marketing methods and options is that they have helped develop my voice as a sales professional. They force you to clarify your value and gain greater understanding of your audience.

But like any other social channel, you have to be social. And that’s what today’s short action is about.

Today’s Action: Reach Out to Pinners Who Pin Your Pins and Pin Their Pins

Yes… that was an intentional attempt at a tongue twister. The Oh So Pinteresting (OSP) episode 71 encouraged being a little more social on Pinterest. It’s a great idea. And it seems normal to do. I went into a couple of my accounts and dug through the people who pinned my pins and followed boards, left comments, and repinned pins.

Simple. Easy. Not groundbreaking activity, but this challenge isn’t about being a daily groundbreaker. It’s about taking a small action daily. I did the action. Yay me. 🙂

Today’s Listening and Reading (besides the Oh So Pinteresting Episode 71)

How to Overcome Addictions and Be Courageously Vulnerable with Glennon Melton – The School of Greatness Podcast with Lewis Howes. Melton’s story is powerful. Check out her blog, The Momastery, to learn more.

The Power of Consistency: Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals (Affiliate Link) by Weldon Long  – I’m still making my way through this book. Look forward to being… consistent with the info that is in the book, doing my daily quiet reflection exercises.

Until tomorrow…

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