The Sales Experiment

by Leave a Comment

Practice High Quality Mindset Action

Practice High Quality Mindset Action

Some days don’t go awesome. They aren’t child in the hospital or the bank repossessed the car bad. They’re just rock in the shoe types of days.

They are splinter that won’t come out types of days. They are dryer stopped working and forgot to renew the tag type days. They are slight reprimand by the accounting manager days.

I’m not fond of those types of days. Who is?

Having a good day is about attitude
Give me your best shot, day!

Practice Mindset. Why Not?

One way to handle those days is to bitch and moan. Complain. Eat a lot of chocolate. Play a lot of Candy Crush. Go off on Facebook (please don’t do that one).

Another way to handle those days? Practice having a high quality mindset. I loved the advice that Jordan Harbinger of The Art of Charm guy gave on pat Flynn’s podcast:

When you walk into every room, have the shoulders straight, hold the chest out as if you’re shining a light with it, and have a big fat smile on your face.

It doesn’t matter if anybody’s in the room or not. Just smile and walk in confidently. I talked about this before, but it bears repeating. Plus, I’m blessed that I might get a new reader who won’t thumb through my posts to find this gem of advice.

Our problems are first world problems, and most of them won’t right themselves via whining. Never happens.

We want sympathy and all that, but over time, the better play is to stare the situation down and give it the big finger of a more hopeful, proactive mindset.

Which brings me to strategy number two…

Notice the Thing You Fear… And Do It

Today, I listened to The Shawn Stevenson’s The Model Health Show Podcast with Pat Flynn: How To Grow Stronger From Stress, Live More Fulfilled, And Do Work That You Love.

One of my biggest takeaways was this idea that if we fear something, then that’s a clue that we probably should lean in and confront the thing. If we are nervous about making a phone call, that means there is something to be learned or gained from making the phone call. If we are scared of a project or making a presentation, we might just be in the perfect place for growth.

Often one of these scary tasks or projects accompany the crappy days I referenced above. Sometimes these tasks are the reason for the crappy days.

Most often, the scary task has nothing to do with fighting a tiger to get the last bit of meat left on the savannah. The things we normally fear simply won’t hurt us all that bad. But they will help us to grow.

Lean in to the fear and consider it an opportunity. Walk into the room with a big cheshire grin and tell the day that you are officially taking over.

Again I ask, why not?

It won’t hurt. The people around you will thank you for having a decent attitude and things just might change.

I write these things because I need to do these things much better and much more consistently.

How about you? How was your day today and what did you learn?

———————–

Today’s Listening (in addition to the podcast mentioned above):

Why Is Profit Viewed As a Bad Thing? John Jantsch interviews Mike Michalowicz for the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast – Great business advice in this podcast about how profit seems to be the extra that happens if we can sell enough and not spend too much. Michalowicz suggests that profit should be accounted for up front so that we don’t always spend up to our gills. (He just released the book Profit First – affiliate link)

When I listened to this advice, I couldn’t help but think about other areas in life. We need to take care of ourselves first or else we ain’t no good of anybody else. We need to build in our ‘profit’ – our time to reenergize, get some exercise, hang with the kids. All that stuff gets squeezed out way, way too easily. Don’t you think?

Leave any thoughts you have on these or any other topic burning up there in that noggin of yours. Drop ’em in the comments.

Until tomorrow….

—————————————

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. 

by Leave a Comment

Clearly Define the Goal

Clearly Define the Goal

Hit the target

I love that old saying, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.”

It’s easy to set goals – to arbitrarily write down how much we want to weigh or how much money we want to make or what kind of parent or spouse we want to be.

Set It and Forget It

Too many people set it and forget it. They create a list of goals and shove them in a drawer and only run into them a year later when they create a new list of goals.

Set it and forget it might be better than nothing, but it’s probably not a great system for optimal growth.

I’m the poster child. I never used to create goals. Then I started creating goals and trying to review them periodically. Then I started creating little disciplines to achieve the goals. Then I’d forget to do the little disciplines.

In other words, you shouldn’t read a thing I write. I kind of suck at this stuff.

Intentionality, Goals, and the Like: Skills to be Learned

Actually, I’m going to take it easy on myself. I didn’t set goals for nearly 37 years of my life. I practiced not being focused on achieving things. I got by on natural talent and, dare I say it… charisma.

Just like a high school football star knows that natural talent only takes you so far, so do natural talent and charisma in the business world and otherwise. At a certain point, there has to be some intentionality about things.

That’s what I’m trying to become better at: Being intentional and sticking to it. It’s a muscle. I’m working it out. It’s taken longer than I expected to get good at it.

The primary key to intentionality, though, is a clearly defined goal. 

Not only a clearly defined goal, but a goal that has high emotional value (I’m stealing from Weldon Long who brought us the book The Power of Consistency, which I’ve written about here, here, and here).

Creating Cognitive Dissonance

Every morning, I’m sitting and imagining these clearly defined goals as accomplished. I’m taking into account all five senses, across all areas of my life.

What is the result of such a flaky practice?

The cognitive dissonance that Long talks about in his book really starts happening. Cognitive dissonance is that thing we feel when the way we are acting or what we’re saying doesn’t line up with what we feel to be true or important.

If I pick up my phone to play Candy Crush during work because ‘I’ve earned some down time’, I start feeling this pull. It’s like a good angel in a workout outfit screaming at me, “Does someone who makes ______________ a year play freaking Candy Crush at work? If they do now, they didn’t when they were where you are!!! Put the phone down!”

He’s nicer than that, but you get the picture.

So… clearly define the goal. And connect your heart, soul, and mind to the goal (In my world, this includes a good bit of prayer).

Maybe it will help you not shoot at nothing in particular. Perhaps it’ll help you get the things that you are trying to get.

Until tomorrow….

———————————–

Today’s Listening and Reading

SPI 116 : Copywriting Tips and Formulas with Kevin Rogers – Pat Flynn: If you want to get a handle on copywriting for business, even if you can’t spend hours and hours being a copywriting perfectionist, give this episode a shot.

by Leave a Comment

Be Violently Consistent

The only thing that will work for everybody is consistency.

It might work for ill, or it might work for gain, but it will work.

Whatever we consistently think about and do will deliver our results. Even if we have genetic issues or some other handicap (used in the general sense), if we consistently do the right and healthy things, we’ll end up as the healthiest version of ourselves.

If we consistently give in to lazy, sloppy, and otherwise unhealthy habits, then we’ll end up with something other than the healthiest version of ourselves.

The most compelling part of the Power of Consistency (the book by Weldon Long I’ve been reading this week) is the final chapter.

Long tells the story of when he was released from prison and has to find a job. He endured rejection for months until someone finally gave him a chance. And he made the most of his chance.

Obviously, making the most of the chance was an exclamation point in the story, but I was struck with his persistence in finding a job in the first place. His prison record as a convicted felon kept slamming the door on his prospects even when a hiring manager liked him.

But he kept getting after it, day after day after day.

I know salesguys (not myself, obviously) who make 10 cold calls, get nowhere, and declare cold calling to be dead.

Long, on the other hand, endured rejection after rejection and didn’t lose hope. He kept getting after it. He was violently consistent in keeping with his goal to make a life for himself.

Be Consistent… At What?

My only struggle with this idea of consistency is knowing what to be consistent at. I’ll panic wondering if I chose the correct action to be consistent on. In truth, writing this blog everyday for 6 months is a commitment I question at moments. Especially here at 8:21 at night, knowing I have a 4:30 wake-up call.

That said, I know writing daily about success, sales, motivation, and marketing will not hurt me. I’m sure of that. And most actions can be tested for 3-4 months and will create more results than taking no action. It’s okay to be a little off on the exact action item, pivot, and keep on going.

The key, though, is violent consistency. Give the dang action a chance to work.

My Action Item Today: Write down 3 daily consistency actions to take in my two roles at work. 

Since it’s Sunday, I spent time with the family. But I did read for 30 minutes and sit down with Evernote to map out the daily actions I’ll take at work in my two main roles. I sell and I help other insurance agents develop their proposals. Both of those require some daily tending for long-term success.

I selected three things for each role. We’ll go full-bore on those for the rest of this year and do some evaluation at that time.

I also typed up some of my Prosperity Plan. It’s awfully similar to some ‘life plan’ type work I’ve done before, but it’s much, much more concise. According to Mr. Weldon Long, I must meditate on this daily, so I prefer brevity.

My Reading: I Finished The Power of Consistency: Prosperity Mindset Training for Sales and Business Professionals by Weldon Long

Long’s book is a strange one. Don’t read it unless you plan on taking action. It’s not a theoretical book at all. The ideas and concepts can be summed up relatively easily. His repetitive style lends itself, though, to beating you into submission regarding taking action on his simple plan. If you are trying to develop an action bias in your life, then I recommend reading it. And I’d also recommend reading The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, editor of Success magazine.

Both books cover similar territory and would complement each other nicely.

Until tomorrow….

—————————-

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. 

Recent Posts