Better Together than Alone

If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.  This has been cited as a Chinese proverb, and African proverb, and a motivational quote.  Regardless of its origin, it's a powerful statement that can help us all excel.

I personally fall in the trap of speed.  Execute…..and move on.  Clean or sloppy, get it done and press forward.  This trap preys on two virtues that challenge me, patience and self-control (or just control).  I love my ideas, and I can get it done faster by myself.

This goes against my core belief that we were designed and built to work in community.  Each of us within a community (organization, team, family, congregation, etc…) is a piece of a puzzle that alone can only go so far, but together can complete a purpose.

It is important that we surround ourself with others that share our purpose, but are strong in areas where we are not……but, that's only the first (and easiest) step. The more difficult step is relying on them, calling on them, and trusting in them to work in their areas of grace.

As Salespeople, we have teammates that, if allowed, can help us to achieve levels that we haven't before.  Good organizations will continually surround us with people and resources that will allow us to maximize our time spent doing what we love to do…..sell.  Touch more people, and increase our close rate…..those are our objectives in reaching these new levels.

In 2016 - I have challenged myself to allow those around me to do what they do best.  To fight off my "control freak" nature, and to be patient as excellence is achieved.  I challenge you to do the same.  See how far you can go, when working together.

Keep Your Business Personal

It's common for people to suggest to keep your business life and your personal life separate.  Why?  I've never really understood that.  There are 2 fundamental reasons that this doesn't work for me:

1 - When trying to incorporate separate business and personal lives, sometimes people take on 2 different personas.  If you're wondering if you have 2 different personas, just ask yourself if people at work would be surprised to know how you spend your weekends.  This works for some, but seems like hard work to me.

2 - I believe that truly successful people do not turn on and off like a light-switch.  I'm not talking about vacation and downtime, we all need as much of that as we can get.  I'm talking about the person that we portray at work.  If I portray a trustworthy, high-moral, family man at work...........I can't risk you seeing me out somewhere on the weekend that would make you question that.  I can't turn that on and off.

The high-moral, family man thing is only an example......not a suggestion.  I actually believe that people, in general, aren't as concerned about what type of person you are/life you lead..........they just want it to be consistent.  This is not a message about morals and values.

Also - I'm not suggesting that you invite work connections into your family life.  That's an individuals decision whether or not to do that.  I am suggesting that the YOU that your family knows, should be the same YOU that your work connections know.  Don't separate the two - it's hard work and will create problems for you in the future.

I don't like long posts, so I'm going to keep it at that for now.  Future posts on the same topic will discuss:

**  I do take it personal when I lose
**  We do need to make business decision with our heart, and not just our brain
**  There is a time when it's OK to "pretend" you're better than you really are

Go.......and Be.

This can be taken in many different contexts, but lets think Business for now:  There is a difference between Believers and Disciples.  A Believer will believe in their products, their service, their message, their strategy, their intentions.........whatever it is their selling, but they may leave it at that.  A Disciple believes as well, but then goes out and lives it........and makes other Believers.

In Sales we talk about it, that's actually what we do for a living.  We talk to our bosses about how much we're going to sell, how we're going to sell it, and who we're going to sell it to.  Then we talk to our clients about how great it is, how they need to buy it, and how much of it they need to buy.  Then we talk to our family and friends about how much we're selling and how their companies should have more sales guys like us.  It's what we do..........we are Believers.  We talk about it.

We need more Disciples, the ones who can go BE about it. These guys (and girls) still have to talk about it (it's what they do), but it sounds different.  There is a passion and confidence that is different.  It's not a "do-you-buy-in" message, it's a "watch and join in" message.  "Here's why you should buy from me" changes to "let's see if we are a good fit for each other."  Everyone around them wants to follow, they want to feed from that success.  Disciples don't cut corners or bend expectations to clients.  They promise and deliver. They don't have to talk to friends and family about their success.  Success, leadership, integrity........simply follow and surround them.  These things are in their DNA.

It is a process.  These things go hand-in-hand, and are an evolving relationship.  It grows over time, and continues to grow as you live it.  You Believe, and then you Go and Be.  Summed up in a common phrase: "Don't talk about it, Be about it."  BEing about it is what we all strive for, that's when we've hit our sweet-spot, and that's when we're having the true impact that we are called to.

The Magic of Joy

I can't believe how often I forget this.  It is so easy, so controllable, and such a differentiator.  We want to be around joy.  Seasons, holidays, places, and people.........we all have our favorites that bring us joy.

We are drawn to people that bring joy into the room with them.  You know the type, and if you're lucky, you are naturally the type.  Here's the thing:  we all have the ability to find our state of mind in which we bring joy with us!!  We do, there is no doubt in my mind.  It's harder for some than others, for sure.  But joy can also look different in each of us.  Some are loud and jovial, some are quiet and kind, some simply care, etc....  Regardless of how you show it, people can feel genuine joy when it's in the room.

So to sales - as I forget it, it always amazes me the different type of responses that joyful salespeople get during sales calls.  They have an easier time getting appointments, the appointments last longer, the conversations get deeper, the relationships get stronger, and the clientele builds.  Joyful salespeople are welcomed with open arms.  And we can control this?  I think we can.  So why don't we?  Because we forget.  We worry about the things that are out of our control, and forget about the things that are in our control.  We focus on the technical aspects of sales, and forget about simple salesmanship.  We think that people buy into the best sales pitch, and we forget that people buy from who they like.

Everyone likes joy.  You simply can't go wrong by adding this into your daily arsenal.

Identify the Season

From a very Macro level, to a very Micro level.........we can break moments of life down into seasons, each one intended to prepare you for the next.  Lessons as a kid prepare you to be a teenager, preparing you to be a young adult, preparing you for middle-age, etc...  Each is a season of life from a macro perspective.

As you get more micro, each responsibility is a season preparing you for the next responsibility.  Each success, each failure, each opportunity............prepares you for the next.  Some seasons are short-lived by design, and some seasons can last a good portion of your life.  The importance from one season to the next is improvement...........which means something different for everyone.

In order to find your purpose of improvement, you must first identify the season that you're in.........even though you may not fully be aware of the next season in which you're preparing for.  A season of discouragement may be preparing you to be able to lift up others in the future............allowing you to share true empathy for what they're going through.  A season of financial struggle may be preparing you to become a more aware steward during better financial times in the future.  You get the idea........

One of my Pastor's once told me "you need to call life what it is."  He taught me to identify what the scenario is, what the situation is, what the season is...........identify the struggles and the blessings within that season, and allow them to make you better.

You don't need to worry about what your next season is, you likely don't have any control over it anyway.  You need to identify this season, and allow it to mold you.......but not define you.

A New Mindset

I woke up this morning with this theme ringing loud and clear.  We all have times when we need to hit the reset button, decompress, get away, recharge.  Upon our return, if we approach the day-to-day in the same manner in which we were before, that recharge won't last long.

When we return from overwhelmed, we must approach things differently.  It's not a change in strategy or skill set, but a change in mindset.  A positive outlook, an assumption of success, the benefit of the doubt, a smile, seeking out a new relationship, the yearning for an influential conversation..................if any of these can be added into your daily mindset, you will see a major shift.

As salespeople, we have been given the gift of multiple daily transactions.  These transactions are phone conversations, presentations, emails, and other interactions with people.  As we approach each transaction, we are able to influence the tone and spirit (not always the outcome) of that interaction simply by the mindset in which we go into it with.

The people that you're interacting with will feel it, and feed off of it.  Not only will things go more positively, but you will turn into someone that they will want to interact with more regularly.

Lead with Positivity

I'm sure that I've posted on this in the past, but re-stating it is as much for my own benefit as anyone else's.

A team feels, follows, and operates as their Leader leads.  If you as a Leader plan and approach with the assumption of success, the team will follow and move forward with that same assumption.  If you project positivity, so will those around you.  Positivity breeds positivity, just as success breeds success.  Negativity feels "out of place" in a room of positivity, and will either transform or weed itself out.

There is a common saying that a team is only as strong as its weakest link.  I don't necessarily agree with this.  I would say that a team is only as strong as its leadership will allow it to be.

As leaders, we should work on surrounding ourselves with teammates that are better than us......then put the resources in place to exploit their strengths.  All of this is nurtured through positivity.  Your teammates will see it in your eyes, and feel it in your vibe.  You can't fake positivity, you must live it.  Your entire team will assume success as a result.

Invest Your Talents!!

Thanks KT for the great word last night, and the inspiration for my message below.

I'm the worst about identifying my weaknesses, and focusing on improving upon those.  That's not a bad thing, and I don't want to stop that.  But, that has a tendency to get more of my attention than actually investing the strengths and talents that I've been given.  That's a problem.

We have all been blessed with skills, talents, gifts, strengths...........and we need to invest those into our people and places of influence.  Our families, friends, networks, and companies need what we have to offer.  When you contribute your talents, you will improve the people and environment around you.........and build you own confidence at the same time.  Success breeds success, not only person to person, but also within yourself.

Spend, invest, contribute..........steward your talents, and EVERYONE will benefit greatly.

Keep Pushing

Our world is full of distractions that can lead to wasted time, frustration, and discouragement.  Obstacles present themselves which turn easy-to-accomplish objectives into something much bigger than you planned for.  Challenges come up that seem impossible to overcome, that will bring your progress to a halt altogether.  Negativity surrounds that turn small tasks into uphill battles.  The enemy will continue to try to knock you off of your game, they win when you give up.

Keep pushing.  That's the only answer.  You've established balance, you believe, and you have established unified support...........now push.  Don't let the distractions take a stronghold on you.  Don't let the obstacles, challenges, or negativity get you off track.  Evaluate progress in comparison to the big picture regularly, so that you can redirect and adjust as necessary.  But don't let up while doing so.

If the strategy has been planned, deviations and doubt do little good anyways.  You'll slide off track, make a bad decision..........no big deal.  Keep pushing through, it's the only way you'll find victory.

Unity

Perhaps the most under utilized and under appreciated factor of them all.  Without unity you have division.  Without unity, you are alone.......working toward your objectives, with your power, your resources, and your intelligence. The importance of unity is often forgotten, but it is not a new or revolutionary concept.  There are 10+ versus in the Bible discussing unity and division, obviously it's at the foundation of success.

Unity is a must while overcoming overwhelmed.  To get through the thick of it......you must share a vision, share an objective, have a helping hand to ask for, have an empathetic person to talk to, have a mentor to bounce ideas off of, have a friend to laugh with, and have a belief system to fuel your progression.  Without these things, you are counting on you...........and you may be the reason that you're in a state of overwhelmed to begin with.  We all need the support, the encouragement, and the affirmation.  We all need the unity of those around us, both inside and outside the workplace.  Without unity, we are setting ourself up for failure.

Surround yourself with a united front, and cherish that unity.

And Now - Belief

There are entire books written about belief pertaining to your career, and a book itself cannot even cover the full impact that it has on your success.  So - I'm only touching here on the impact that belief can have on overcoming overwhelmed.

We always wonder, we always dream, we always fear, we always imagine.  As you enter a state of overwhelmed, the fear will begin to take over the dreams and imaginations.........and soon you will be imagining the worst outcome, expecting to lose, and predicting to fail.  Everything turns into worst case, bad timing, poor luck, why me, what now, and what if.  Unless you believe.  If you believe in where you're headed, if you believe you're doing the right thing, if you believe in your mission..........you will fend off the fear and expect to succeed.  Belief will get you through overwhelmed.  Belief will make overwhelmed look like confidence.  Belief will make others want to be overwhelmed with whatever your overwhelmed with.  And when you believe, others will believe.

2 of the steps to overcome overwhelmed - Balance your YOU so that you are 100% real, and then use your passion to follow what you believe in.  Others will run to follow.

Overcoming Overwhelmed

It's been over a year since I last posted..........  And, the timing is now perfect.  My mind is right.  A clear mind to to encourage, to strategize, to share, to learn, to lead, and to follow.  In my last post "The State of Overwhelmed" I was entering the early phases of a season in my career (and life) that made these things blurry.  Thank you to my accountability partner Double-O for encouraging me to get back to the blog, I appreciate you.

Balance, Belief, & Unity - these are three areas (among others) that we must keep an eye on, and keep fine-tuned to manage and persevere through Overwhelmed.  For the sake of keeping this a short read, I'll only talk about balance here, and follow-up posts about belief and unity.

It's very cliche, but we must balance life and career...........but take it further.  Yes, balance the time and priority placed among the two.  But how about merging your person, personality, and values of "life" into your career?  One of the things that prohibits balance is we have trouble being our real self in the work place.  Of course I'm talking about our real self in a dressed up, professional, best manners version........but still real.  We train ourself that to balance means that we have to flip a switch from hard-charging sales guy to family man (or whatever fits you)...........switching from persona to persona. With this, balance means a major shift.  If we train ourselves to be real always, then the only switch we should flip during certain hours is our cell phone on and off..........period.  I'm learning, and on days that I succeed.........it's liberating.  I realize how exhausting changing personas can be.  The next step to that is that you'll realize that people want to do business with "real" people anyway..........and that you may have been limiting yourself in both roles all along.  This isn't a blog to focus on personal life, but it's amazing the positive impact that comes along outside of career from this merging of career and life.

Think about it.  Visualize it.  Practice it.  Merge YOU in life and career.

The State of Overwhelmed

What a good problem to have.............in some cases anyway.  In todays world, not many people can claim being overwhelmed with opportunity.  Overwhelmed with busy work?  Probably so.  But overwhelmed with business to win is an extremely fortunate situation.

We're all well trained on how to drum up business, and how to organize and manage follow-up.  But managing opportunities when they all seem to drop at once is something that isn't generally covered in sales training programs.  With an excessive amount of bids to compile, research to gather, items to pull together...........and finally deliver professionally and on time............it takes real time management and team work to not let anything slip through the cracks.  The goal is to treat every opportunity with our 100% best effort from every angle, and come out the other side to find that we won our fair share (or more) of the opportunities attempted.  The fear is that efforts get watered down with less than 100% of capability, only to find that you lost it all in the end as a result.  The management and collaboration it takes to pull this off is as big of a challenge as we will face in the sales world.  And the margin that differentiates you from winning big or losing all is extremely minimal.

Like I said, this is a very fortunate problem to have...........but a daunting task nontheless.  Do what it takes, and sleep when the results come in.

The Tougher the Days, the.............

the what?  The bigger the load to carry through?  The sweeter the celebration of victory?  The more the potential for growth?  The higher the reward?  The less hair on your head?  The better you become?  The more you appreciate the good days?

I would imagine that a combination of a few of the above is true.  Some cases will end more positively than others.  I believe that all of these days will come with a learning experience.  All of these situations present opportunities to learn and get better.  Some "valleys" are longer and deeper than others, and take endurance and perserverence to pull out of.  All valleys lead to a mountain top, which in our case represents victory.

Tough days will make you stronger, and can prove to be a stepping stone in achievement if you approach them as such.  There is no magic formula to get through tough days, or tough times.  We can't sit back and wait for things to get better, we must aggressively create the opportunities to make progress.  Trek through the valley with an undying commitment to succeed, and before you know it you will find yourself climbing up the mountain.

What Are My Competitors Doing?

Our world runs on competition, as it should.  I respect worthy competitors, as they continue to raise the bar to make me better.  This doesn't mean that I root for them, or wish them luck..........but I respect what they do and acknowledge that honest competition is a good thing for our clients.

I constantly find myself attempting to benchmark my actions against those of my competitors.  Are they working harder than me?  Smarter than me?  More efficiently than me?  More aggressively than me?  What is it that they do that wins business away from me at times?  Do I need to wake up earlier?  Work later?  Become more knowledgable?  Dress differently?  Present differently?  Provide differently?

I don't track this as if I'm "chasing," as I beleive that presents the wrong intentions.  I need to stay a step ahead.  As they get faster, I must get faster.  As they get better, I must get better.  If I stay the same, I'll get left in their dust.

It's intriguing to me to think of what they do on a daily basis.  Are they comfortable, or are they scrambling?  Perhaps this is unhealthy, but it's intriguing nonetheless.  I think the awareness keeps me on my toes.  The unaware will be surpassed before they even realize it.

What Are You The Best At?

Are you the best salesperson?  Are you the best at managing?  Are you the best at developing, launching, and seeing something through?  Are you the best at creating a buzz?  You need to be able to answer "yes" to one or possibly two of the above questions in order to make a name for yourself.  If you answered "yes" to all of them, you likely have a clouded view of your skillset.  Would others answer these questions the same as you, if they are asked about you?

The key is not to be the best at everything, as you will spread yourself to thin and decrease the likelihood of being the best at anything.  Find your natural talents, recognize them, exhaust every angle to improve them..........and delegate the rest.  A "Jack of All Trades" will generally lose out to a specialist.  Good baseball teams will have a couple of players that can play multiple positions on the field when needed.  However, that player is usually not better at 2nd Base than the everyday starting 2nd Basemen.  This isn't a bad thing, as the multi-position players are in high demand and usually have long and successful careers.  Which one do you want to be?

Growing up I played football, baseball, and basketball.............every season up until middle school.  At some point I realized I had a choice.  I could either continue to play all three sports, and accept the fact that I would be an average contributor...........or, I could focus on only one sport, and give myself a chance to be the best.  I chose football, and I never reached the "best" status.  But, I'm confident that I became better with focus and dedication than I ever would have become had I tried to develop in all three sports equally.

There were a few kids that had the natural capability to be the best in any sport they played, all the way through high school.  These kids represented a rare few, out of a lot.  Even these kids had to make a choice later in life, one or the other.

To pursue a route of becoming the best at everything will only hinder where you go.  Give serious thought to the avenue in which you can truly succeed.  Where you can truly set yourself apart.  Where you can truly make a difference.  Then pursue it with every ounce of energy and integrity that you have.  Good things will happen.

Attacking a Challenge

New Challenges bring fear, stress, heartache, headache, humility, and reality.  Yet we thrive in challenging times.  We love when the challenge presents itself.  We anticipate the opportunity, and we yearn to face the challenge head on.  Why?  Because succeeding through new challenges is one of the few tangible evidences of improvement.  You have accomplished something that people doubted you could.  You succeeded in an arena that even you didn't know you could.

It goes back to the obstacle courses we faced in elementary, the ropes courses we faced in middle school, and the pushup contest we faced in high school.  Or for some of us.........the reading, writing, and arithmatic that we faced accordingly.

None of us want to sit back and bow down to the challenge, giving into our fear of humility and reality.  We don't want to watch the opportunity of improvement and success pass us by.  But it's the choice that you make at that moment that will hasten or delay your development.  Challenge is opportunity.  But you must choose to face it head-on immediately, or risk missing out on seeing what's on the other side.

Convenient Improvement

When I'm on the road, each night as I'm winding down in my hotel room, it seems that I refect on activities that occured throughout that day and key in on areas that I need to improve.  I got to thinking last night that I have created a habit of improving when it's convenient to me.

When all is still, and there's actually nothing that I can do right or wrong, I come up with ways that I can do things better.  The problem is just that, it's on my mind at a time when I can't make a difference.  I can justify what I should be doing, but I have trouble maintaining that focus of improvement during the course of the day.......when my improvement actually matters.

In hindsight, things look clearer.  I should have done this, and I could have done that.  And, if something like this comes up tomorrow, I will respond differently.  Then, tomorrow comes, and I can't say for sure that I react as planned.  This is a simple exercise of learning from mistakes, and adjusting my actions so that the same mistakes are not repeated.

The conflict is simple, when we get caught in the moment, it is often less convenient for us to improve, and very easy for us to react as status quo.  To shape improvement, we must react in a way that is somewhat out of our comfort zone, out of our nature, and do things better than our covenient habits have created.  Getting better means learning new habits.......not when it's convenient to us, but when we have the chance to make a difference.

Let Leaders Lead

A colleague said to me today, referring to another company, "They have great leaders, they just need to let them lead."

There are a lot of leaders out there.  People with great ideas, great work ethic, great aspirations, great intentions, great leadership skills.  Yet they are handcuffed, reigned in by their leaders, bursting at the seams to implement their skills.  This might be because their leaders don't feel as if their ready, or don't recognize their skill set, or fear that this person might be able to do a better job than they can.

Look around you, identify your leaders, and loosen the reigns.  They will make you look good.  They will help you succeed.  And they will help you achieve your own goals and aspirations.  Don't hold them back, or the next thing you know they will be leading another organization.  If your job security is threatened by them, then it's probably for good reason.

True leaders will find a way to lead.  People will follow them, and they will succeed............either with you or against you.

Clients will tell you how to sell.........you just have to listen to them.

As salespeople, we have an agenda too often.  An agenda of what we want to say in our sales meeting.  An agenda of what we want the client to hear.  An agenda of what we want to accomplish.  Good luck accomplishing YOUR agenda.

The reason we are even having the meeting is because THE CLIENT has an agenda, and that's the agenda that matters.  But yet, sometimes we sit down and begin spewing out the things we want to make sure we have a chance to say.  And then we're left with trying to figure out what we need to do next to put ourselves in a position to sell.

Your position will be drastically improved if you can simply ask the appropriate questions, sit back, and listen to what the client has to say.  It won't be long before they make their agenda very clear, and state to you what needs to be done to win the business.  Now that you know what the client is needing, forget all of the other items on your list to discuss, and focus on what's been asked.

Take the guesswork out of the equation.  Do not gamble and try to guess what the client wants to hear, only to backtrack when you realize your off track.  Don't confuse the objectives with your goals.  Let your clients tell you the needs and the rules, and prove to them that you can fulfill those needs.