"From a relationship perspective, givers build deeper and broader connections."

Adam Grant

According to Wharton Professor Adam Grant in his book Give and Take, there are three types of people in the world when it comes to reciprocity styles: givers, takers, and matchers.

Grant’s perspective,

"In a world where we often work in teams and provide services to others, we should strive to adopt a giver mentality. Givers are more successful because they establish reputations and relationships that enhance their success over the long term."

Can a giving mindset in a sales world riddled with unscrupulous, fake, and disingenuous people be the answer?

A Giver is always trying to figure out what they can do for others. “How can I be of help?”

A Taker is always trying to figure out how to gain something from the situation. 

Is giving, the secret to long term sales success?

“The reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is my...

“Until you change the way that you look at things, those things will never change.”

Pat Riley 

What are you willing to do to change the course of your sales team and their results?

Training, I get it, it is essential to consistent sales success; yet it often gets a bad rap or no rap at all.

Ask many in sales, what comes to mind when you hear the word "training”

• Already been there done that
• It’s a waste of our time
• We already know what works
• Changing something now would be bad karma
• We're hitting our numbers (pure crap)
• Training takes us away from selling time

At this moment, if you polled your sales team and asked whether your team would rather attend a sales training event or go to the dentist; what would you believe the results to be?

Sales leaders... quit chasing quick tips, short-cuts and sales kick-off training events!

Rah-rah does not equate to revenue

Hey sales leaders... training is an event, while coaching is a lifestyle.

ONE TIME...

"First impressions never have a second chance."

Charles R. Swindoll

How does a sales professional gain momentum, succeed within their marketplace and future proof their career inside a rapidly changing business world?

If you want to succeed in this digitally driven, highly networked and socially empowered business world, it will take a new mindset and skill set.

There's a mental tug-of-war happening. Monumental changes combined with rapid shifts in how we use technology have altered the thought process of many within the sales world.

Regardless of how long you've been in sales or plan on being in sales, you must quickly assess the best ways to sell your services and market yourself in this technology-driven world. 

 “The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.”

Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft

Giving the chaotic, challenging and cumbersome course of recent events, let's...

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."
- Walt Disney

Mediocre, average, ordinary or complacent - these would not be qualities associated with successful salespeople.

Curious professionals make an impact, achieve success and smash their sales targets.

Being insanely curious is a required character trait if you wish to master business disruptions.

All sales professionals put learning into overdrive, are you?

A naturally curious professional places themselves in the client’s shoes, digs in deep to uncover business barriers and then guides them down the road to business betterment.

“When you are curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.” - Walt Disney

What is your daily appetite for curiosity?

Curiosity is essential. It drives your ability to make new connections and engage. The more engaged you become the more inclined you are to ask meaningful questions;...

“Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of you’re not alone.” - Brene Brown

Let's face it, we've all lost a client for some reason or another. How many of us fail to understand the "why" behind why they left?

What healing message are you using with your clients? Are they feeling alone and abandoned by you?

Your clients are undeniably one of the most important factors.

Without clients would you exist in sales?
The more you understand that meaningful and credible relationships with your client's matter, the more successful you will become as a sales professional.

Your clients smell what you're cooking really fast

Are you personally engaging with your clients? 

Are you authentically investing in building meaningful relationships?

THE COMPASSION REVOLUTION

To come out ahead on the other side of this crisis, think about leading yourself and your clients with...

“I’d say handling people is the most important thing you can do as a coach. I’ve found every time I’ve gotten into trouble with a player, it’s because I wasn’t talking to him enough.” - Lou Holtz

Sales are the engine. Sales drives profits, growth and success.

Just like any engine, your team needs maintenance on a routine basis in order to keep them humming along nicely.

Any mechanic can tell you that the best-maintained engine can break down due to the unexpected failure of individual parts.

I will ask you to think about the following:

• When is the last time you did routine maintenance within your team?
• When is the last time you gave your team a sales health check-up?

The sales health of your team has a direct bearing on the health of their sales pipeline

ARE YOU SETTING THE TABLE OF FAILURE?

It's fair to say, many in sales fail to close every sales opportunity. A consistent batting average of .300 in baseball and a player sets...

“The only way that we can live is if we grow. The only way we can grow is if we change. The only way we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we are exposed is if we throw ourselves into the open.”

- C. Joybell

How many of you are a having personal growth conversation with yourself?

A series of honest internal conversations can spark lasting and meaningful change.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said,

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

One can say, we have been through some turbulent and challenging sales times. Are you rising to the occasion to change the course of your sales career? Or, are you allowing the circumstances in front of you to control your narrative?

A heartfelt, sincere sales professional leads their sales life through a manifesto. They have open, honest and personal...

"Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth."
Doc Rivers

A true sales professional understands the importance that client feedback provides in how they run their business.

They proactively listen to the voice of their clients.

If you want to stay ahead of competition you should never stop listening to client feedback whether it is positive or negative, prompted or unprompted.

If you fail to continually discover what your clients actually think about you and how you've been helping them, then you will never be able to give them the best client experience they deserve.

It's their opinions about the experience they have with you that is helpful to use to adjust your support to fit their needs more accurately.

Sales professionals seek the truth from their clients. Sales reps struggle to ask their clients for the truth.

CRAVE FEEDBACK

To truly serve your clients is to listen to them. Intently listen to their voices...

“The foundational root of all success in sales is a fanatical focus on prospecting”
Jeb Blount

What is the purpose of prospecting? How would you define prospecting?

Prospect is from the Latin word prospectus which means a "view or outlook."

What is your outlook or view when it comes to prospecting?

Ask many in sales this question and you will hear a resounding, "to find deals." Or, they may say something such as, "to convince people to give them an appointment."

Unfortunately, many believe if they go on enough appointments and talk to enough people then everything will work out fine. Keep in mind, some sprinkle in some fairy dust on top of this logical thinking.

You might hear, "sales is a numbers game.” If you see enough people and make enough presentations, then you'll close enough deals.

Come on people, how old school! That archetype was from decades ago. What is concerning, most sales managers still believe, preach and teach this approach.

"Stop looking for...

“Little kindness and courtesies are so important. In relationships, the little things are the big things.”
Stephen R. Covey

Are your client relationships important to you?

What are you doing to ensure those relationships are rock solid?

At the core of every relationship is heart. Are you getting to the heart of what matters with your client relationships?

Is it me or is the concept of a business relationship becoming the latest in sales terms to have lost any significant depth and genuine meaning?

I believe before anyone throws the term on the business table, they should give some serious thought as to what it really means and how they will execute on it.

Do your actions and words convey the value of the relationship to the client?

The principles from Jim Collins' book Good to Great, can be applied to how salespeople build relationships.

As an example, the “Hedgehog Concept” which means having a simple, extremely clear concept of what is best in your...