24 Sunday Mar 2013
Posted in Dew Recommends
Years ago, one of the salespeople I managed gave me the book Life is Tremendous, by Charlie Jones. The book has sold millions of copies over the past 40+ years, and it’s motivational message is just as relevant today. It’s a short, easy read (around 100 pages) and I still find myself re-reading it when I need a little boost.
Charlie lists three simple steps to help create a positive outlook: Continue reading »
17 Sunday Mar 2013
Posted in Ask Dew, Goal Setting
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Dew: Our sales goal last month was $750,000 in new business. We missed it by $4,500. Is it OK to celebrate a barely missed sales goal? -Connie
Connie, hopefully your sales goals are aggressive enough that if you almost hit them, you will still be very productive. But it’s also important to make sure your goals have specific meaning if you want your future goals to have the right motivation attached to them.
18 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Sales Tips
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Recently, all of the coaches here at Southwestern Consulting ™ had a conversation about abundance mentality vs. scarcity mentality and how it relates to sales. The concept is so powerful and comes up so often in one-on-one sessions with my clients, I wanted to write a bit about it.
Stephen Covey first introduced the abundance mentality in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. If you haven’t read the book (and you really SHOULD read the book), an abundance mentality is one where you truly believe that there are plenty of resources (in this case, sales) for everyone. Continue reading »
14 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Dew Recommends, Goal Setting
Gratitude is a key ingredient to the winning attitude necessary for true success. The problem is, most people only make it a point to be grateful on Sundays, during holidays, or on some other special occasion. If you want to experience a real breakthrough in your attitude, you have to find ways to be thankful EVERY DAY.
I love this post Jack Canfield wrote about creating a daily ritual of appreciation. In it, Jack lists 5 ways of making appreciation part of your daily routine: Continue reading »
11 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Ask Dew
Dew: Every time I tell my associate to correct an error or tell her to do something she says I’m being bossy or mean. How can I change my approach? -Carl
Carl, it looks like you’ve already taken the first step: realizing you need to change your approach. I’ve found that this kind of misunderstanding generally revolves around two issues:
21 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Goal Setting
Tags
Recently, one of my coaching clients (Frank) told me that there was too much drama in his office and he couldn’t concentrate. He had reached the point of questioning whether or not he wanted to stay at the company or look for a new job.
The culprit: Gossip.
The account executive who worked on Frank’s accounts had gone to another team member and complained that Frank was too bossy. Continue reading »
17 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in Dew Recommends, Goal Setting
One of the top reasons our coaching clients start the program is that they feel like they have lost control of their day and they want to gain that control back. It’s not that they are doing the wrong activities, they just need to manage their time in better ways.
In a recent article by Amber Rae, she lays out the ideal situation for the start of a working day for a fictional character, Joe. Imagining some of my clients reading this description (on day one of coaching) made me chuckle – how many of them would be able to relate to a stress free presentation because they were this prepared? Continue reading »
14 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Goal Setting, Sales Tips
Recently, I was a guest at a networking meeting that meets every Tuesday morning at 7:00. When the meeting began, 3 people surrounding me started complaining that it was way too early. “I’m not a morning person” suddenly sounded like a chant. I was shocked! I wondered to myself if they wished they were still in bed, or if they just weren’t willing to meet people early in the morning to grow their business.
I often ask sales professionals that I meet how their business is doing. Sometimes I hear great news, but when things are going badly, the news is generally followed up closely by excuses. Some excuses are clearly business related, but often times, they are disguised as the negative little things you say throughout the day.
Here are 10 lame excuses I hear from salespeople all the time:
Continue reading »