Finish Strong! How to end a quarter....

It's Spring, a time when most of us feel a sense of renewed energy, hope and optimism. But, this year, Spring brings with it mixed emotions  and concern about the days ahead. Why because we are tasked daily with “change.” We pause with concern and after a moment we think, “I’m okay; I still have time to make changes” and we go about the rest of our day.  But…how do you finish?

Finishing strong helps you leave well. You will only get one chance to finish well in this position then history will decide how you are remembered. When you keep your eye on the finish line, you stay focused on doing your best right up until the end. Success isn’t about starting but finishing. The end of the quarter brings some questions with it:

“Was it worth it?”
“Did I really make a difference?”
“What kind of effort can I honestly put into this thing in the last few days?”

These types of questions can conjure up feelings of regret over what you expected to happen and where you’re currently at. They can also motivate you to make the most of the moments you have left to serve.

It all depends on where your focus is: regret or resolve.

The difficulty with regret is that it comes with the realization that you can’t go back and change what has already happened. The beauty of resolve is that it doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past, you can keep your eyes focused on where you’re headed in the present. You can experience a breakthrough in your leadership when you’re able to focus and concentrate on those areas where you can lend your strengths. 

When you finish strong, it serves as a model for yourself, your team, your division, your company. This isn't just about you, but about all of the people whom you lead. A successful ending should be a team effort. Work to keep yourself engaged, motivated, and connected to the goals and vision of the team right up to the end. Nothing will deflate team morale more than to have members of a team slowly fade away before the quarter is up.  Sales is a team sport!

The difference between a leader and a follower is found in the willingness one has to accept responsibility. You may have some “good reasons” for shirking your responsibilities as it gets close to the end. But you only miss out on the sense of satisfaction and personal pride of seeing your responsibility through to the end.

If you've read all the way to this point, you probably realize that finishing strong is a principle that you need to follow in everything you do. Do the hard work on the back end to see your commitments through.

The best piece of advice you can take from all that I have said: “Don’t give up…finish strong!

Art of "Sales" Change Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the first 5 strategies of the change transformation...have you made any changes yet? If not, here are the last 5 strategies of the change transformation:

1. Forget about the “future,” focus on your today: The “future” is an abstraction. It doesn't exist except as an idea. The only future that has any reality is the one that you continually create for yourself through each day’s contributions, achievements, and results. This is an excellent time to ignore all those experts who never saw the present circumstances coming. Focus on what you can do over the course of each 24 hours, and you’ll be the only expert on the future you’ll ever need.
2. Forget about who you were, focus on who you can be: Many people define themselves by external circumstances. When these abruptly change, they don’t know who they are, so they keep trying to be who they used to be. From now on, take your cues from the inside — from your dreams, ideals, values, and operating principles. These need never change, regardless of the circumstances.Take advantage of the present external confusion to become self-directed, self-managed, and self-motivated.
3. Forget about events, focus on your responses: When things are going well, many people think they are actually in control of events. That’s why they feel so defeated and depressed when things turn bad. They think they've lost some fundamental ability. The most consistently successful people in the world know they can’t control events — but continually work towards greater control over their creative responses to events. This period, while things are uncertain, is an excellent time to focus all of your attention and energies on being creatively responsive to all of the unpredictable events that lie ahead.
4. Forget about what’s missing, focus on what’s available: When things change for the worse, many desirable resources are missing — including information, knowledge, tools, systems, personnel, and capabilities. These deficiencies can paralyze many people, who believe they can’t make decisions and take action. A strategic response is to take advantage of every resource that is immediately available to achieve as many small results, to make as much daily progress, as possible. Work with every resource and opportunity at hand, and your confidence will continually grow.
5. Forget about your complaints, focus on your gratitude: This is one of those times when everyone has to make a fundamental decision: to complain or to be grateful. When things turn negative, the consequences of this decision are much greater. Complaining only attracts negative thoughts and people; gratitude creates the opportunity for the best thinking, actions, and results to emerge. Focus on everything that you are grateful for — communicate this —and open yourself each day to the best possible consequences.

Art of "Sales" Change Part 1

As Jim Rohn once said…any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.  But why wait?

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, “The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life: If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life. And it all begins with your very own power of choice.

Now, how do we change?  Below are the first 5 strategies of the change transformation:

1. Forget about yourself, focus on others: Fear can drive people into themselves, making them feel isolated and helpless. The best strategy here is to go in the opposite direction, expanding your connection with others — focusing on helping them transform their negatives into positives. The more you contribute in this fashion, the less you will need to worry about your own situation. You will become a source of confidence for everyone else.
2. Forget about your commodity, focus on relationships: In scary times, people become frightened about the viability of their “commodities” — the things they sell and the jobs they hold. A more strategic response here is to disregard your own commodity and focus on deepening the power and possibility of all your relationships —with family, friends, team members, suppliers, clients, customers, and prospects. Every time you strengthen a relationship, the viability of your commodity, without you focusing on it, will increase.
3. Forget about the sale, focus on creating value: Most people don’t like being sold at the best of times. When times are scary, they turn off, hang up and slam shut. But what people want at all times is value creation — that is, solutions that help them eliminate their dangers, capture their opportunities, and reinforce their strengths. When you focus on providing these three solutions, the sales will naturally follow.
4. Forget about your losses, focus on your opportunities: Things you had, things you took for granted, may have disappeared. Some people never get over this. They keep trying to replay their old games. A better strategy is to start an entirely new game — using new ideas, new energies, new tools, and new resources. A big opportunity is suddenly available now for achieving far more than you ever did in the past.
5. Forget about your difficulties, focus on your progress: Things may not be as easy as they were. The new difficulties will either defeat you or reveal new strengths. Your physical muscles always get stronger from working against resistance. The same is true for the muscles in your mind, your spirit, and your character. Treat this whole period of challenge as a time when you can make your greatest progress as a human being.

4 Step approach to getting things done!

Getting it all done at work can seem overwhelming sometimes. You have too many projects to complete. Your calendar has too many meetings. And too many people are clamoring for more of your time. The trick to getting it all done, done well, and done on time is a simple four- step process that I discovered on About.com.

Step 1 - Pick What To Work On

The first step is to determine what to work on. With so much to do, it’s important to that your time be spent on only those activities that really matter. Be sure to work on what is truly important and not just urgent. It’s hard to not drop what you are working on in order to deal with the “crisis” of the moment. And there will be times when that is necessary. Just make sure the issue that interrupts you really is important.

So how do you determine what is really important? A good place to start is what your boss is asking for. There are things your boss expects from you: reports, activities, and other deliverables. These should be high on your list. He or she also may ask for special things from time to time. Just be sure to prioritize these special requests appropriately and push back if they would require you to bump something important.

Step 2 - Get Started

It does not matter how well you have prioritized, nor how good your plan it, unless you actually get started working on the tasks you have identified as important. Stop planning when it’s good enough. Stop talking about how much you have to do and how overloaded you are. Stop wasting time on things that don’t really need to be done. Stop procrastinating and get going on producing results.

Step 3 - Stay Focused

Start by planning your day’s work the night before. Outline for yourself what you need to work on tomorrow and then tomorrow work that plan. When you get interrupted or distracted from the plan, work hard to minimize the distraction and get back to your plan. I have a yellow sticky note on my monitor of the top three things I want to get done today. I scratch them off when done. It’s a great visual reminder to me that helps me bring my focus back to my plan.

Remember the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule. You’ll get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of the projects you work on so find those truly important activities and focus on them.

Step 4 - Use All The Tools Available

Finally, it’s important you take advantage of all the tools available to help you get more done. Time management, self-management, and delegation are important tools for any manager.

My most valuable time management tool is A To Do List That Works. I developed this tool years ago because it works for me. It isn’t going to work for everyone because we all work differently. Try it. See if it helps you. If so, good. If, not, find or develop one that does work. Time management tools are also good for helping you stay focused, as discussed above.

Are you as good at managing yourself as you are at managing others? Do you stay focused on the tasks that are truly important and not just urgent? Do you do your job the best you are able? Or do you cut yourself some slack? Are you harder on your team than on yourself? Don’t forget that a key element of being a good manager is managing yourself.

You can’t make any more hours in the day to help you get more done. And working 80-hour weeks is seldom a workable solution. One thing you can do to gain more time during the day is to offload some of the task that you have been doing onto others. The key here is to Delegate, Not Just Dump. Dumping your work onto others just demotivates them and you end up spending more time correcting the mess than if you had done the work yourself. On the other hand, delegation is a way to help you with your workload, while at the same time training and developing your team members.

Bottom Line

Focus on what’s truly important, not just urgent. Get going. Stay focused. Use all the tools at your disposal. And you will be able to get it all done

Are you ready for CHANGE?

Change is something that presses us out of our comfort zone. It is destiny-filtered, heart grown, faith built. Change is inequitable; not a respecter of persons. Change is for the better or for the worst, depending on where you view it. Change has an adjustment period which varies on the individual. It is uncomfortable, for changing from one state to the next upsets our control over outcomes. Change has a ripping effect on those who won’t let go. Flex is the key. Even a roller coaster ride can be fun if you know when to lean and create new balance within the change. 

Change is needed when all the props and practices of the past no longer work. Change is not comforted by the statement ‘just hang in there’ but with the statement ‘you can make it’. We don’t grow in retreat, but through endurance. Change isn't fixed by crying, worrying, or mental treadmilling. Change is won by victors not victims; and that choice is ours.

Change is awkward -- at first. Change is a muscle that develops to abundantly enjoy the dynamics of the life set before us. Change calls own strength beyond anyone of us. Change pushes you to do your personal best. Change draws out those poised for a new way. Change isn’t for chickens. Change does have casualties of those defeated. Change will cause us to churn or to learn. Change changes the speed of time. Time is so slow for the reluctant, and yet it is a whirlwind for those who embrace it. Change is more fun to do than to be done to. Change seeks a better place at the end and is complete when you realize you are different.

Change is measured by its impact on all who are connected to it. Change is charged when you are dissatisfied with where you are. Change doesn't look for a resting-place; just the next launching point. Change is only a waste to those who don’t learn from it. Change happens in the heart before it is proclaimed by our works. Change chaps those moving slower than the change itself.  If you can change before you have to change, there will be less pain. Change can flow or jerk, depending on our resistance to it. Change uses the power invested in the unseen to reinvent what is seen. Change is like driving in a fog – you can’t see very far, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Change is today…are you ready?

5 Questions Sales People Should Ask Themselves?

There are two sides to every story, two sides of a coin, and two ways to face the day (good or bad). There are always the prophets of doom and the cynics who will be happy to lead their followers through long periods of drought and famine. When an unfortunate individual starts blaming his own failures on others, and on conditions over which he has no control, he can usually forget about achieving his goals.

There are good times and bad times, but at all times there are sales that are made and sales that are lost. Sales leaders prove every day that you are not only capable, but excel as sales professionals. Sales professionals know that nothing can hold back the motivated individual who has an excellent product to sell.

“You will always get what you want, if you help enough people get what they want.” Zig Ziglar

There's a lot of airplay right now about social media and whether salespeople should use it as a method to drive sales revenue. The answer: maybe! Start with the following below to find out.

Salespeople should ask these five social-media selling questions:

1. "Do my potential buyers use social media?" Depending on your product, service, or industry, the answer may be yes or no.
2. "If my buyers do use social media, where do they spend their time?" On blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, or forums? You must ensure that you fish where your buyers swim.
3. "Considering other sales tactics (email, trade shows, calls), will using social media produce an equal or better return on investment?" A salesperson's time is extremely valuable, so you must spend time on the activities that will deliver the best results.
4. "Do I have the skills and knowledge to leverage social media?" Selling is a process and has related best practices, as do blogging and tweeting. If you plan to use social media, you must understand "the how" first.
5. "Am I ready to commit to using social media on an ongoing basis?" Tweeting once a month adds no value. Starting a blog, writing two posts, then not writing again for months can do more harm than good. It's a good idea to observe social media before participating so you understand the investment requirements.

Flip your coin this morning and ask yourself, “Do I really want to get what I want today?”