by Admin | Jun 17, 2014 | Business Relationships, Networking, Uncategorized
The roads and sidewalks are full of runners and many of my friends on Facebook are posting pics of their 5K, 10K, Half – Marathons and my die hard Marathoner friends. Summer time is here (the pool is open right?), and I am reminded of the draw of the outdoor sports to many of us. All of this training is leading up to an event or competition where the goal is to finish, improve your personal results over last trip, or win. Social media allows us to follow our friends along on a journey and I am constantly reminded of the amount of effort put into preparing for these events. A lot like setting your goals for sales results this year and then committing to the action plan to attain. Today’s post is about maintaining your pace even when you get tired or distracted by mid-year stuff. Halfway through the race, you typically can’t see the finish line, you know you are halfway there, but it’s not real what that actually represents. I know many folks give up at the mid year point, we can see the activity remains consistent until the kids get out of school, vacations hit, prospects go out of town or they get wrapped up in their own activities. I am not picking on those who have other pursuits beyond their sales careers. With 4 kids, 2 businesses and the host of challenges experienced by the sandwich generation, I’m right there with you which is why I’m sharing 5 tips to keep the activity consistent and not lose ground at the mid year mark. 1....
by Admin | Mar 8, 2014 | Employee Engagement
More than 85% of people currently employed are looking for other opportunities. Did you get that percentage? It wasn’t a typo. Here’s the study from Gallup that proves just how disengaged employees are: Study. It was formulated from data in 2010-2012 and is one of the more complete explanations for how and why employees are tuning out. Do you think it’s gotten any better? It hasn’t. The scary part for employers is the economy has improved enough that your team is jumping ship for what they perceive are better opportunities. Which do you think are most at risk? Your bottom performers? Middle? Or the most productive of your team? So what do you do about it? Just how in touch are you with your employees personal goals as well as their professional? Are you aware of their career plan? In tune to what they aspire to for growth? Do you recognize that generationally you are probably speaking different languages? These are all things to consider with your team. Many companies are doing business as usual circa 2009 when people were scared to move or do anything. Times have changed. To change with them, you need to recognize accomplishments of your team, let them know you appreciate them. Because people don’t leave jobs. They leave leaders. So go take you’re A+ team members to lunch, talk to them about what they want this year to look like in their career. How about next? Where do they see themselves? And how can you help them get there…. Remember to get what you want, help others get what they want is Emerson’s Law of...
by Admin | Feb 16, 2014 | Business Relationships
This month our theme is all about 30 second commercials and your messaging. This is an area I see screwed up on an hourly basis at networking events. It seems as if we are a bunch of kindergartners who are conditioned to spew as much of our credentials, experience and certifications as possible in the 30 seconds we are granted which turns into a minute and your audience’s eyes are glazing over. Enough! You are disengaging people who would be good prospects with your self-absorption. I know you’re nice and don’t mean to be arrogant. Just stop. It’s not helping you. It’s hurting you. It’s hurting the people who are leading the group thinking graciously about how to cut you off, when they should be thinking about who they can introduce you to. So here’s a personal challenge – see how long you can have a conversation without referencing yourself once. Just focus on someone else. What they do, what challenges they have. Describe yourself from the perspective of what problems you solve. The client perspective is all that matters. It’s not about you, really. It’s about them. If you are struggling – download our free whitepaper. Please. It’s our public service to fix the world of networking – 1 30 second commercial at a time. When you do a better job, it makes a better event for everyone. It’s about connecting. And relationships. And yes it’s Valentine’s Day, the day for love. So love the people you network with and give them a reason to love you. And we know it’s not about us, so if you are...
by Admin | Feb 10, 2014 | Mindset, Networking, Referrals
Someone asked my husband once what I did for a living and he responded with – she drinks a lot of iced tea and hangs out in coffee shops meeting people. Doesn’t that sound like my job isn’t work? I am one of those coaches who believe you must practice what you teach to have credibility with your audience. And also, this stuff really works. This blog is a little about the day in the life of a SalezWORKS coach. We work with a large segment of clients in the financial services arena. One of the foundations of our process is to be able to offer a comprehensive solution to our clients for their growth challenges, which means we spend our time looking for coaches and resources our clients might be in need of on their path to success. We have a financial service advisor we are partnering with who referred us to 2 resources he has worked with successfully. Our blog is the result of those 2 meetings and to share with you characteristics we have found are present in great partners for us. And probably they’ll be present in your great partners. And even more importantly – how do you recognize a partnership that will be a one way street not heading your way… Meeting #1 – Highly successful career exec who has been in a leadership role in a fast growing company about a year. He’s known as a problem solver, innovative thinker and all around good guy. Scene – Coffee shop in the a.m., he arrived 15 minutes early, Joyce and I were right on...
by Admin | Feb 3, 2014 | Influence, Prospecting
One of my favorite Sunday School stories was of the poor woman who only had enough oil in her bottle to prepare one last meal for her and her son. As the story goes she was gathering wood for a fire to make their last meal and were visited by the prophet Elisha who requested she prepare a meal for him. She explained her circumstances and he commanded her to prepare the meal and also told her that her bottle of oil would not run dry until the famine was eased in the land. This story reminds me a lot of how influence works. Times have been pretty tough the past few years in a lot of industries. We have become a part of the statistics in our household with the closing of plants, losing jobs and contracts evaporating. But much like the widow woman we have something left – and that something is influence. Influence is one of those tricky words in the English language that pulls an extra heavy load, it is a noun and a verb. Meaning it is and it does. And the interesting thing about it is that the more it’s exercised, the greater it gets. And the less it’s used, the more it diminishes. You can ‘Be all you can be’ but if you don’t ‘Do what you can do’ it’s pointless. So how is influence used? It’s pretty simple. You help people. By demonstrating genuine interest and caring about other people, you find opportunities. I teach people how to prospect. One of their first assignments is to go meet with someone that they hold...
