Passion is good - especially when you are running the show. When I meet a business owner or entrepreneur who isn't excited and confident about what they are doing, I know that the company is heading for tough times. There are many challenges for small businesses. Sometimes the leader's enthusiasm and optimism are the key to finding success at the end of the day. Even though it's good to talk to your customers, employees, and partners with passion, though, it can quickly become a liability when you have to sell yourself or your company. It sounds counter-intuitive, but if your main sales tactic is to share your excitement about what you … [Read more...]
Small “v” Victories
Do you want 2 million people to show up and celebrate your victories? Unless you are a major league sports team like the Chicago Blackhawks and you just won the Stanley Cup, you might be waiting a while. Don't Wait for the Big Wins For most of us, that's a problem, because we keep waiting for the huge wins in our life to acknowledge our progress. We think that we can only feel successful on the days when something big happens like a graduation, a promotion, or a project completion. And so the feelings of success are few and far between. (You will still feel the rush of graduating only a handful of times in your life, for example, even … [Read more...]
3 Keys to Creating a Great Sales Contest
I've coached a lot of sales managers and leaders on how to drive business with their teams. One of the most common tools they reach for is the sales contest. They tend to think that a good sales contest is the panacea for all their issues - that the only thing keeping their people from having explosive results is a mix of excitement and fear... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4] Most sales contests, however, fail to create meaningful change. They usually end up rewarding top performers (who would have produced great results anyways) and demotivating those on the team who could really use the help. Too often they end … [Read more...]