Year: 2017
Some people think the big idea will always remain unattainable—and for those people, it will. But as a Sales and Leadership expert, I promise you that big ideas are meant for implementation. Here are five tips for creating your own big idea to Impact! your markets and achieve exponential results: Create a Vision—Before calling on…
It’s easy to spot a big idea because it’s usually followed by the thought that it will never happen. In The Science of Getting Rich, published in 1910 (find the free e-book online), Wallace Wattles examines what separates those who make it big from those who always seem to fall short of their goals. According…
What are you avoiding today? Avoidance played a big part in my failure to write last week’s blog. You see, I was busy with client work, and there was the holiday weekend, and I had writer’s block… and yes, I am making excuses. Usually, I get motivated by the big idea, and when I don’t have a…
Have you ever heard successful salespeople say they do very little marketing yet business just comes to them? Everyone wants to increase sales and impact their markets, but not everyone has uncovered the key to making that happen: calling on the right customers. The old axiom “You can’t be everything to everyone” is as true…
This past Sunday the New York Yankees retired their remaining single digit number, which belonged to their former captain Derek Jeter who played with them for twenty seasons. For most of his career Jeter was consistently among the leaders in the American League in hits and runs scored, and he served as the Yankees’ team captain from…
This past Friday I had the privilege of attending my daughter’s graduation from Northeastern University where CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour spoke to the graduates. In her commencement address she quoted a civil rights activist who once said, “Give good trouble,” and implored the graduates to “make a hell of a lot of good trouble.” In sales, you’re…
This past Sunday on a flight to San Francisco, I had the privilege of sitting next to Jim Plunkett, who led the Raiders (first Oakland, then LA) to two Super Bowl wins, and who also played for the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots during his career. I remember watching Jim play in the ‘80s…
Do you accept the fact that every employee in an organization can impact customers? The recent United Airlines fiasco should make that clear to us all. United is a rules- and systems-based culture, not a customer satisfaction–based culture, and that is why they imploded last week. As a Sales and Leadership expert, I help people…
If I were to ask about the biggest issue preventing you from ImpactING your markets and closing more sales, most of you would say low-cost competitive pressures—and you would be wrong. The biggest issue that prevents us from ImpactING our markets is actually…us! By us I do not just mean sales execs, but all of…
Last week I had the privilege to have Todd Davis, the founder and CEO of the publicly traded company LifeLock, speak at the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) Mastermind dinner in Scottsdale. This is a group of CEOs from high-growth companies who get together with me three times a year for peer-to-peer mentoring and coaching on…
When my 23-year-old daughter Amanda started her job in New York City on October 1, she decided to join the company gym and be there at 6:45 every morning. That means leaving for work every morning before 5:45 a.m. to drive the 30 minutes to catch the 6:15 ferry to the city. I figured this wouldn’t last long. Boy did she prove…
Read MoreFor the past thirty-five years I have used option selling to help close business. and neuroscience reveals why this works so well. It boils down to choices, engagement, stress, and risk aversion. Traditionally, sales people go for the trial close and just offer one solution. If the prospect does not feel the risk is low enough…
Read MoreYesterday morning I had the privilege of hearing Daymond John (of Shark Tank) being interviewed by Jeffrey Hayzlett, CEO of C-Suite Network Advisors. Jeffrey asked Daymond about his strategies for success, and Daymond said that he is always learning, always trying new things, and always adjusting his strategies in order to keep growing. Not everything he does…
Read MoreWhenever I give a keynote or work with an executive team, and an audience member finishes a statement or an exercise, I urge the rest of the group to give that person a hearty round of applause. In my work as a Sales and Leadership expert, I’ve discovered that doing so changes the energy and dynamics of the group.…
Read MoreIn the United States we are two weeks shy of our national Thanksgiving holiday, a celebration that can be traced to an autumn harvest feast held by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians in 1621 at Plymouth. Giving thanks is an important cultural tradition, and similar celebrations of the harvest occur in countries throughout the world. These…
Read MoreA medical doctor recently asked me what I did for a living and after sharing about my role as a speaker and expert on influence and impact, he shared how he has become a better person—and a better doctor—by learning how to listen better. He spoke about not merely listening to the words being used, but…
Read MoreWe all want success, and we may even expect it in some way, but not everyone attends to the details and habits that build a successful outlook. This morning I walked into the lobby of the Residence Inn where I am staying in Winston-Salem and witnessed a surprising scene—the entire hotel staff was going through…
Read MoreLoyalty is a valuable commodity. First and foremost, of course, our loyal and valued customers buy from us, and better yet, they come back, again and again. But they also tend to sell us in a way that we can never sell ourselves. As a Sales and Leadership expert, but also as a customer, I have seen that loyalty…
Read MoreWe rarely think about it or recognize it, but we all operate with something known as “normal strategies by default,” those ingrained strategies we have used all our lives to help us get to where we are today. As salespeople, some of those strategies are geared toward protecting us from rejection. Yet when those strategies…
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