Category: Success Attitude

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Success Attitude

Allowing Your Expertise to Shine Through: Common Reasons That Keep Entrepreneurs from Moving Forward

Article Contributed by Lisa Cherney

In today’s fast paced world we have access to more information than ever before, be it books, media or opportunities for education. And while it’s great to have all this information and learning at our fingertips, it can sometimes be a detriment to us. In fact, for some people, it can be an excuse for them not to move forward in their business.

Two reasons like this I’ve heard recently include: “I’m just not sure I can be successful. I know I help people, but I need more experience.” And “I need to get another certification [take another seminar/get another degree] before I can be an expert and really put myself out there.”

My friend and client Michele PW was held back by these specific reasons. Michele is an example of someone with great expertise – she is one of the hottest marketing strategists around, writes copy and creates campaigns for very well known people that get results (www.MichelePW.com).

Michele started out as a freelancer, selling services. She got into infomarketing and had some really big successes, but she always had trouble doing it for herself. She came up with a couple of products, but none of them sold as well as what she did for her clients. Her belief was that the real money would be in copywriting, not her expertise.

“I knew people could make a lot of money selling products. I knew that in my head, but I didn’t believe it for myself. I guess when you’re doing copy for people, even though you’re out there in the spotlight, you feel like you’re still the support and behind the scenes,” Michele says.

“The problem for me was that I was the expert who always needed to read one more book before I could call myself an expert,” she explains. “I was so stuck on that and I think that’s why I really didn’t value selling my knowledge. I had people pushing me to do some sort of copywriting product and all I could say was, ‘There are plenty of good products out there, what am I going to add to the mix?’ Working with Lisa pulled me out of that and now I’ve had some very successful products. Now I see that I didn’t value my knowledge. Then I wouldn’t have said that was the reason, but looking back I see that now. A big part of working with Lisa was her support and being able to call her in my moments of weakness and angst about change. If you don’t push through and have a number of people who support you, you’ll just start spinning your wheels and never get out of it.”

There will always be another book or blog to read or another degree or certification to be earned. There will always be another seminar to take or conference to attend. But at some point you need to realize that you ARE an expert in your field and you are holding yourself back – and not helping people you could be helping – by not allowing your expertise to shine through.

Entrepreneurs fail. It’s as simple as that. Every single entrepreneur out there, no matter how successful they look on the outside, has failed. Yes, they are very successful, but for all those successes, they also have failures. There were things they tried that didn’t go anywhere. But if you don’t own your expertise and take risks, you’re never going to have the big successes. Granted, you’ll never have failures, but you’ll never have success either.

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney is a Marketing Intuitive and President & Founder of Conscious Marketing™.  Lisa has helped thousands of business owners tap into their intuition and market their businesses from the ‘Inside Out’. For 15 years she worked at Fortune 500 companies and top advertising agencies.

Lisa tells her story in her co-authored book “Inspiration to Realization,” available at www.ConsciousMarketing.com. Conscious Marketing also offers workshops and coaching. Visit her website for more details or call 887-771-0156.

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Success Attitude

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

Recently, many of my “students” have told me they CAN’T set goals because everything is changing and they aren’t sure what tomorrow holds. Changing economies is exactly WHY we should set goals!

To start thinking about goals, reflect for a moment on this quote by Diane Scharf Hunt…“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

Who couldn’t use a little dreaming today? And once we know our dreams, we need to capture them into specific, written and measurable goals. That is what goal clarity is…having specific, written and measurable outcomes that we are working toward. And we can make this easier by following a 5-step process to make it efficient and successful.

The following is a goal clarity strengthening process to implement right now…really, RIGHT now. Take out a piece of paper and pen and make 5 columns on the page for your own Goal Planner.

1. In the left column write at least 5 things you want to happen in the next 60 days. These are outcomes like “Make one new sales appointment each work day.” or “Close $___ in business each week.” These are your goal statements.

A caution: Review the outcomes for measurability and specificity to see whether you can identify whether it is accomplished or not. For example, if your goal is “More time with my family,” be specific about what that looks/feels like. Does it mean a certain amount of time each night or weekend? Certain activities completed together? “I will eat dinner with my family 3 times each week,” allows me to know whether I have achieved this or not.

2. Look at each statement and identify the actions needed to take to get there. Write 2-3 actions that will move you toward each outcome in the 2nd column.

3. Write a specific time/date when you will take that action in the 3rd column. Is it each day? Week? How often? A date is another checkpoint on the road to success.

4. Next, identify your reward for completing those actions or the goal. Think through the BENEFIT of completing the action that leads you to the goal or outcome. Will you sleep better? Will there be self-satisfaction? Will it be a treat like a special coffee or candy? Be prepared to “reward” yourself when you have completed the action/outcome. Write these in the 4th column.

5. And in the 5th column write the name of a stakeholder for this goal or outcome. A  stakeholder is someone who will care about this outcome – it might be a manager, a spouse, a colleague, a friend. You may have different stakeholders for each goal.

Finished? Congratulations! Look at this paper – you have at least 5 goals and a plan of action for the next 60 days to get there!

What’s next? Take action! Share each goal with your stakeholder for that goal. Your stakeholders may be able to:
•    Clarify the outcome with you to make sure it is specific enough for you to know whether you reach it or not.
•    Identify other actions that can get you there quicker or easier.
•    Help you in some way to achieve the goal.
•    Celebrate your progress and ultimate success!
•    Add accountability.

After your stakeholder is ready to stand by your side, it’s all up to you. The 5 steps to goal clarity will allow you to progress where you want – regardless of changing market conditions. It starts today with the action you take!

What are some of the goals you’ve set for yourself? Let us know in the Comments section.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to motivate and equip their sales team to sell more each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster programs help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz’ ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free sales training kit today!

Goals are Dreams with Deadlines: How Goal Clarity Will Get You Where You Want

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Success Attitude

Driven to Distraction: How Latest Trends Will Hurt You

Article Contributed by Mark Hunter

Now more than ever, you need to stay tightly focused on your goal if you expect to keep your level of sales motivation up. It becomes far too tempting to start chasing after the latest trend when things are not happening at the rate you expect them.

We’ve all done this at one time or another. Sales slow down and suddenly, a new customer appears, a new product comes out or a new sales technique emerges, and you start to think it is the “cure all” for ALL your sales struggles.  You begin chasing after the new trend instead of sticking to tried-and-true sales techniques.  Ultimately, the only thing that happens when you chase the trend is you waste time and effort on something that ends up de-motivating you.

Our problem begins when we start doubting our current sales strategy, our prospects or some other element in our approach. This opens the door to us becoming distracted. It also makes us more susceptible to being swayed by the new trend or new customer we believe will turn our sales slump into a huge new level.  We begin grasping, desperately bouncing around for the “magic” solution that will “fix” our dilemma.

Don’t get me wrong – it is good to be open to new ideas and new customers. Obviously, that’s part of the sales industry. You have to have discernment though.  You have to be able to quickly assess what are valid opportunities worth pursuing and valid techniques worth incorporating.

I have always believed it is far better to slightly alter the course than it is to dramatically change the course altogether.  Sales are driven by momentum and awareness from both the salesperson and the customer.  When you change course dramatically, you no longer have the ability to leverage the momentum and awareness that you have built with current customers and prospects. Sure, you may see a burst of momentum from the thrill of running in a new direction, but this momentum will be lost quickly if sales don’t materialize immediately.

So what does it look like to slightly alter your course?  You start to incorporate slight modifications to your selling process. This may include developing new questions to ask prospects, creating a new customer referral program, and/or increasing the number of sales calls you make.  All of these changes enhance and build upon what you’ve already done. In other words, you work with the momentum and awareness you have already created.

There is just no substitute for tweaking well-established sales techniques, rather than scrapping them altogether.  And this is true no matter what industry you work in. For example, a real momentum killer is when a salesperson will fail to close a sale because they fail to make that one last follow-up call or visit to the client. To use a football analogy, this is like a team’s inability to score from the “red zone” – the last 20 yards on the field just before the end zone.

If a team drives the ball consistently down to the red zone but then fails to score, there has been so much wasted effort. It’s no different in sales.  Instead of abandoning the sales strategies that get you “down the field” (so that you can jump on some bandwagon of a slick trend), you would be wiser to simply alter your approach slightly so that you will actually score more.  If your current sales techniques are getting you down the field, then maybe all you need to do is add a few more follow-up calls and visits in order to incrementally close more sales.

The best recommendation I can make to any salesperson is to stay focused on the opportunities you have at hand and work to enhance your current processes to ultimately close more sales.   The more you stay focused on the prospects you have, the less you’ll be distracted by the latest trend.  Let your competitor fall for the new trend. Let your competitor chase after the fleeting opportunity. When they do this, they leave you with more opportunities to actually make more sales.

About the Author:

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” helps individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. Since 1998, he has consulted nationally and internationally with thousands of salespeople and global companies. You can follow his Sales Motivation Blog at www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also connect with him on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheSalesHunter, Twitter www.twitter.com/thesaleshunter, and Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/markhunter.

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Success Attitude

Negativity Has Left the Building: Focus on the Positive & Show Negativity the Door

It’s the beginning of August, and I just received a phone call from someone I met at a July 4th Bar-B-Q. Quite honestly I had forgotten about this particular conversation until the phone call today. You see, I had given this person a personal challenge and asked him to try it for 3 weeks and let me know if there was a difference.

John approached me and introduced himself as someone had told him that I help sales people sell more and managers manage better for their sales people to sell more. He was at his wits end because his sales team had gone negative, they were selling less and he could see his ship had sprung a major leak and was going down.

I asked John how he was responding to his sinking ship. He said he didn’t enjoy talking to his team and that all he could do was tell them to get over it.

I really didn’t want to spend my 4th of July “working” so I gave him an exercise to show negativity the door. This is what I told him:

1. Get an index card for each seller.
2. Place their name at the top.
3. List all of the good qualities for each person.
4. Carry the cards around each day.
5. Look at them and any chance you get comment to your sellers about one of the good qualities.
6. Do this every day for 3 weeks and let me know if you see a difference.

John snickered and said that finding good qualities would be difficult for one person in particular. I asked him to find something – even if it was that they had a nice smile, or a good voice or dressed well. It didn’t matter. You can find something good in everyone, even if it’s only one thing.

When John called me after his 3-week experiment, he was amazed at how the negativity had left the building! People were collaborating on strategy, new ideas and new ways to bring in business. The attitude and atmosphere had changed, the energy was different and he could see things were turning around.

It is amazing how focusing on the positive will shift people’s thoughts, attitude and behavior. If negativity is in your building and you’d like to show it the exit I challenge you to take this 3-week challenge and I look forward to reading about your success in the Comments section.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

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Success Attitude

Through the Looking Glass: Your Beliefs May be Holding You Back from Success

I have had such a transformation in my business this year that’s in such contrast to the general way of thinking in terms of how businesses should be doing during an economic recession. One of the most important steps I took was looking inward at my beliefs that were holding me back and putting them under a magnifying glass.

Now, there are a lot of coaches and consultants and spiritual teachers and wonderful people who I love to support who talk about being mindful of our thoughts, and I can’t say enough about that. But sometimes I feel like it’s “woo woo” stuff and I just need to get back to work. But I realized that there were some pretty big beliefs that I was holding onto that were really keeping me from moving forward in my business.

Here’s one of them: I can’t take time to reevaluate my business or take my eye off the ball because my income will suffer. Here’s another one: I can’t take time off because my income will suffer. And another: I can’t say no to a client because that would be giving up on income.

Sound at all familiar? Now I invite you to really take a look at the beliefs you have that are keeping you from making changes in your business. Think about good ideas you’ve seen or what other successful people are doing, but when you think about doing it yourself you have a belief or resistance about it. Just investigate your thinking. And then allow yourself to do something outside your comfort zone to battle those beliefs head on.

If you can really dissect and understand where your thoughts are coming from and why you are having them, it will work wonders. It certainly made a huge difference for me.

I’ll give you one example. For years I saw people charging several thousands of dollars for the stuff that I was only charging several hundred dollars for. “How could they do that?” I’d ask myself. And you know how they could? Because they chose to do that! I had a belief that I couldn’t do that.

So one of the things I did was hire a coach to invest in training for a specific area of my business that I wanted to grow in. Paying someone a couple of thousand dollars for a couple of hours of her time completely pushed me out of my comfort zone. But within two weeks I made the money back, and even more important is that I shifted my consciousness around what I was worth. I believed my services were of high value to my clients and I upped my pricing, which was something I had never done before.

We all have beliefs about ourselves, positive and negative, that are holding us back from success. Take a hard look at yourself in the mirror, pinpoint the beliefs that are holding you back and confront them head on. Not only will you see a new person looking back at you in the mirror, you’ll open yourself up for business, personal and spiritual development.

About the Author:

Lisa Cherney is a Marketing Intuitive and President & Founder of Conscious Marketing™.  Lisa has helped thousands of business owners tap into their intuition and market their businesses from the ‘Inside Out’. For 15 years she worked at Fortune 500 companies and top advertising agencies.

Lisa tells her story in her co-authored book “Inspiration to Realization,” available at www.ConsciousMarketing.com. Conscious Marketing also offers workshops and coaching. Visit her website for more details or call 888-771-0156 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              888-771-0156      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.