I am trending toward 70 live events/engagements this year, focused predominantly on the drivers of business performance (Leadership/Sales/Innovation) during this incredible time of transformation and change.

Each engagement is a little different.  We go the route of customization and focus on delivering a consistent experience.  That keeps me on my toes.  Where I like to be.

Occasionally we’ll insert an engagement into the lineup that is a departure from the conference or corporate event that challenges us to think different.

Going back on to a college campus next Thursday qualifies.  In partnership with premiere technology solutions provider CDW, Delta Sigma Pi, Pi Sigma Epsilon and the American Marketing Association I will be presenting Sales Shift: Accelerating the Transition from Campus to Sales Career.

This one is personal.  I want this evening to matter.  I recognize that sacrificing a Thursday night a few months before graduation is tough call for any college senior.  That fact that a few hundred have decided to do just that and join us at NIU is inspiring. I wouldn’t have done it.  That’s the honest truth. I would have been doing the Court Street Shuffle and that makes these future sales stars a little different from me.  Good for them.

It is also precisely why in making my own transition from campus to sales career I was 7 months into the shift with a goose egg on the scoreboard.  I couldn’t close.  I couldn’t even open.

I came dangerously close to making the transition back to my parent’s basement.  Selling baseball cards for beer money wasn’t the game plan but it was exactly where I was headed.  I had a little natural talent.  I had absolutely no sales skill.  Talent alone isn’t good enough.

Jim Rohn saved me.  He delivered an epic seminar that I still count as the single most transformational moment of my career. One night. Three hours. Jim opened the door.  He gave me permission and some powerful tools to jump-start my success.

I read Think and Grow Rich and the The Greatest Salesman in the World in the next 3 days.  (my homework from the seminar…I still have the notes).

That was the beginning.  I never looked back.  It’s funny how once you become good at something that begins to fuel your passion.  That is how it was for me.  I wasn’t passionate about sales or leadership until I was good.  That is also the truth.

Today it is even more important to be good.  Scratch that.  Today any VP of Sales is searching for the extraordinary.  Every spot on the roster counts.  Today you need to be better than good.  Average is over.  I know this because I asked.  I asked 5 of the strongest sales executives in my network what they want from new hire graduates.  What they expect.  What they need.  I will shed more light on that Thursday night.

Bottom line, they are looking for an edge. They are all very impatient when it comes to results.  They all are facing enormous pressure to hit a number.  They have no choice but to demand sales excellence and high impact performance out of the gate. That is also the truth.

In looking back today I was lucky.  That night with Jim proved to be transformational.  The decision to change happens in a moment.  That was mine. In preparing to go back to campus I plan to bring some of his timeless insights with me.

My Alma Mater has an Alumni Gateway at the corner of Court and Union Streets where Ohio University and the City of Athens meet.

The Alumni Gateway greets all who enter the campus with an inscription that reads:

So enter that daily thou mayest grow in knowledge, wisdom and love.

The inscription over the alumni gateway for those departing the campus reads:

So depart that daily thou mayest better serve they fellowmen thy country and thy God.

Beautiful words I have always remembered.  Today I am reminded of the significance in their meaning.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to connect and share next week.  I hope my words can serve to inspire.

I know these students will most certainly inspire me to continue to grow in knowledge, wisdom and love.

“21 appointments next week” I proudly offered before ingesting a large amount of a very cold tap beer at our Friday afternoon happy hour to close the week.

“Incredible! You are going to have a huge week!” my friend replied.  He understood.  He also made his living making sales.

Another round.  After all it was time to celebrate.  That was a record.  A new personal best. 21 new business meetings in 5 business days.  Each one of those appointments was secured via good, old fashioned cold calling.  You smiled, dialed, pushed and pressed until a 60 minute face to face was locked or you didn’t pay the bills.  Simple.

I planned to head out that Sunday evening and make the two hour drive from Cincinnati to Indianapolis.   I covered the whole state of Indiana and my trunk would be full with the required 21 presentation kits.  Armed with a map of Indiana I was “prepared” to hustle and win.

My friend was right.  I had a huge week.  I called on and closed BMG Music.  Remember BMG Music Club?  12 CD’s for the price of one?   At the time their business was booming and they became a very big client.

That was selling then.  This is now.  Not much of what I did then would pass as sales competency now.

The world changed. BMG Music?  Out of business.  That old school approach to professional selling? Dead end.

The best sellers are making the sales shift, gaining a huge competitive advantage and exploding past plan.

Unfortunately this is the week that a lot of sales professionals part company with their organization for missing plan the previous year.  I had a CEO just say this to me directly, “show me a sales organization where a bunch of sellers who missed plan the previous year are still employed and I’ll show you an executive team that doesn’t know how to establish and adjust targets and plans.” That is tough.  That is sales.

Missing plan isn’t an option for the best sellers.

The best sellers today are experts.  They rigorously prepare for every prospective client encounter and customize solutions to fit for the specific opportunity {TIP:  You cannot do that 21 times in one week}.  The best sellers know how to deliver value first, earn a reputation and wield influence. Yes, they still hustle.  The difference?

I don’t cold call anymore.  I don’t enjoy it and more importantly the effort/outcome equation doesn’t compute.  Time is a precious commodity and there are simply more efficient/effective ways to end up with a calendar full of quality meetings with qualified decision makers eager to do business.

I prefer warm calling and social selling (click the enclosed link for my Social Selling Keynote).

More effective.  More fun.  Makes it a whole lot easier to make plan.  New techniques, tools and technology give the more progressive sales pro an abundance of opportunity and huge advantage in competitive selling situations.

Knowing that the way we connect, communicate and ultimately make decisions has changed means knowing that professional selling requires a new and improved approach.

One constant does remain.

Sales drives the business.  All of the ideas, innovation, strategy, interpersonal relationships and process initiatives don’t matter much if you don’t have the revenue to turn on the lights.

Sales success today requires a shift in approach, strategy, skill and competency.  Are you ready?

When you do something 200 times you learn a little.  When you do something 200 times you have an experience set and some frame of reference. When you do something 200 times you start to understand why you are doing it and how to do it better (Writing: Why & How).

Writing isn’t my job but has served as a catalyst to connect me to others in ways I simply could not have imagined 200 posts ago.  Yesterday I received this note from an old college friend who just so happens to be the current VP of Sales for Madison Square Garden:

“Hope you’re well. Feel like we talk more often than we do because I read the blog and know what’s on your mind. Really, really impactful stuff.  Thank you.”

The opportunity associated with this kind of connectedness is powerful.  It requires a bit of transparency and effort but the impact can far outweigh the input.

200 blog posts improved my relationships.  Professionally and perhaps more importantly, with the people I care about the most.

200 blog posts accelerated growth in my business:  The 2012 Speaking Tour

200 blog posts helps me make so many new, meaningful connections.

Looking forward to the next 200!

Be Humble.  Stay Hungry.  Always Hustle.

A good sales mantra to close one year/start another.

What is Hustle?

Hustle is doing something that everyone is absolutely certain can’t be done.

Hustle is getting commitment because you got there first, or stayed with it after everyone else gave up.

Hustle is shoe leather and elbow grease and sweat and missing lunch.

Hustle is getting prospects to say “yes” after they’ve said “no” twenty times.

Hustle is doing more unto a customer than the other guy can do unto him.

Hustle is believing in yourself and the business you’re in.

Hustle is the sheer joy of winning.

Hustle is being the sorest loser in town.

Hustle is hating to take a vacation because you might miss a piece of the action.

Hustle is heaven if you are a hustler.

Hustle is hell if you are not.

{Author Unknown}

I had my shopping list:

-A device to keep my MacBook Pro and iPhone charged during a long flight
-A presentation remote
-A hands free wireless microphone
-A new digital camera

I could have purchased all of this online.  However, I am essentially inept when it comes to electronics.  I need support, guidance and expertise.  I am willing to get into my car and drive for that expertise.  I am even willing to pay more for that expertise (and generally to avoid buyers remorse).  I am inclined to get excited about the notion that the expertise and technology could possibly be available in one place. I am excited about what this technology can do for me.  I have dreams!  I just need a little support to make them come true.

I will also embarrassingly acknowledge that my DVD player died 6 months ago.  I have no idea what model/make to replace it with.  Installation is another issue.  If there is an easy solution and support then sign me up!

Enter Best Buy.  The electronics superstore that offers customers Dream Support!

I entered.  With my shopping list.  Ready to spend.  I was a very engaged potential buyer.  They could have easily had the full inventory on my list and sold me a new DVD player with an up-sell for installation. Let’s keep going.  It has been 8 years since I purchased a television. I could also easily add a television to the home office. Why stop there?

Instead I walked out of the store with nothing.  No sale closed.  Why?

Dream Support is a tough business (a very worthy aspiration no doubt and I absolutely love the enclosed video and positioning).  To consistently execute dream support is a challenge.  In a stalled economy with new competition that takes skill.  That takes expertise.  That takes sales competency.  That takes ongoing training and development.  That mandates preparedness, competitive intelligence and all around sales excellence.

After 30 minutes and 3 mediocre conversations I walked out of the store.  I wasn’t angry.  I was perhaps a bit unsure,  a little overwhelmed and not having an in store experience consistent with my expectations.   I was never asked about my dreams.  I love to talk about dreams.  I was directed to aisle 6.

At the end of the day this has very little to do with what Best Buy does and much more with how they do it.  Dream Support requires an upgrade in the “How“.  Increasingly, so will growth in the new economy.

One stand alone sales expert could have carved out a very nice sale and likely added layers of upside to the transaction.  The difference between several thousand in revenue and the no sale that resulted was skill.  Not attitude. Not desire.  Everyone in that store was perfectly polite and I am certain they would have been more than happy to take my money.  However, in this era of increasingly elevated expectations that often isn’t enough to make the cash register ring.

Multiply this over 1,400 stores and you might have an incredible opportunity to ring the cash register a lot more often through some elevated sales skill and strategy!

When you deliver an experience that meets or exceeds expectations consistently, you can build customer loyalty.  If the experience is differentiated and compelling enough people will keep coming back, pay more and spread the good word.

Often, that comes right down to skill.

(Note:  To my friends working for Best Buy…I am rooting for you!  I am also going back to shop Saturday and you’ll have another opportunity to separate me from my $ and make my dreams come true!  Sales 2.0 TIP:  Start with an effective, open ended question that immediately connects me to my dreams…you will have me at hello!).

In an era of all the time connectivity there is increasing competition for the attention required to engage in meaningful conversations that move a connection forward and make a relationship better.  The downside of the being constantly plugged in is that it is increasingly more common to be alone together.

Conversations that connect us matter. They create clarity.  Establish expectations.  Evolve understanding.  Elevate emotional commitment.  Resolve conflict.   Solidify trust.  Serve to validate and acknowledge the ideas, opinions and importance of another person.

If you are finding that technology has replaced talking or simply has become a distraction to deep dive dialogue, consider these 4 keys for more effective interpersonal communication:

1. Power Down: Turn off the technology from time to time.  You cannot have compelling conversation while text messaging, tweeting and updating your status.  You cannot connect when you are consistently distracted.  Demonstrate respect by offering a moment of your absolute, undivided attention.

2. Eye contact:  Maintaining eye contact is essential for elevated engagement during a conversation.  It demonstrates sincere interest and helps you remain focused and present.  It also helps you make a stronger, more meaningful connection.

3. Ask important questions:  I don’t have meetings without a question map (effective, open ended questions prepared in advance designed to serve the agenda and outcome objective).  I don’t want to waste anybody’s time. Skill with questions can be the difference maker between average and extraordinary sales performance (and average and extraordinary leadership).  Skill with questions applies to life.  And this question is still the single best question of all time for initiating new relationships.  Give it a try at your next cocktail party and see what happens to the conversations you are having and the connections you make.

4. Listen:  Acknowledge what you are hearing by reinforcing key points.  Ask probing questions to layer the conversation and create the next level of understanding.  Don’t interrupt.  Don’t focus on what you are going to say while someone else is talking.  Relax and really work to develop understanding.  Perhaps the best rule of interpersonal communication comes courtesy of Dr. Stephen Covey, Habit 5:  Seek first to understand, and then be understood (a habit you will rarely see in practice on Twitter).

Conversations that count can lift us up, move our spirit and serve as the catalyst for making new friends and connecting in our most meaningful relationships.

Sometimes it just requires a little more effort to not be alone together.

If you are trying to manage change, navigate chaos, re-invent, ready yourself or your business for what is next and new writing can prove to be a powerful way to accelerate results.

Since that applies to just about anyone and everyone in today’s time of transformation I’ll offer a few ideas related to why and how to write.

Why?

Writing helps you organize thinking.  Identify outcome objectives.  Drive accountability.   Improve focus and concentration. Prepare for success.

Writing publicly vs privately is a personal/professional choice to be made based on the objectives.  Not writing at all is often a missed opportunity.

This Forbes article, 9 Reasons You Should Blog, offers some nice summary insight on the advantages of writing publicly for professional growth. I can assure you that if part of your role and responsibility is business growth (Executive, Entrepreneur, Sales, Marketing), writing is a significant, potential competitive advantage.

Writing publicly can move your ideas to others, differentiate your position, elevate interest, accelerate credibility, expedite important relationships and immediately garner respect and attention from people you want to impact and influence.

Writing connects you to people and opportunity.  I am writing this morning from Caracas, Venezuela. I had the good fortune of having breakfast with leading Argentine business strategist Walter Torre (a professional speaker and author) and Alejandro Eira, our event partner from Uruguay and Alta Gerencia.  Writing was our bridge.  Our shared point of interest and intersection and we all acknowledged, the impetus for bringing us together.  Walter and I will both be speaking tomorrow but in truth, had it not been for writing it is quite likely we wouldn’t be here and now well positioned to evolve these relationships in a more meaningful way going forward.

How?

I’ll preface this by stating first I am not a professional writer.  I don’t make a living writing. I have been writing for myself for some time. I write a blog that has become a part of my business (sales; marketing; strategy).  I know and have the very good fortune of spending time with people that do write professionally (ie. people that get paid to write books).  I listen closely to their advice. My breakfast companion Walter is on his fifth book.  I can assure you from our conversation that writing is hard for him.  It is incredibly hard for me.  It is likely going to be hard but well worth it for you.

For starters, write like you talk. Most people rarely suffer from talkers block but stop and stare cold at the blank screen. Simply start writing and let go.  It will come to you. Over time you might get better.  Eventually, you may want to share your writing with others.

Write like nobody is watching.  Don’t fear judgement or potential criticism.  So what?  Write for you.  Eventually, you could be writing for people that care about what you have to say.  The rest doesn’t matter that much.

Write down what you want to do, be and become. Write down the difference you want to make.  Write down the things that matter most.  Write down your big ideas and dreams.

If it is important, write for other people.  Write down what you want to read.  Your experience set is unique.  Your expertise is valuable. Your ideas and insights are special, worthwhile and can most certainly have an impact.  If you let them go.

Writing has changed my business.  In many ways, writing has changed my relationships and my life.

Also, did I mention that writing is free?

If you want to write I would also suggest reading the book:  If You Want To Write:  A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit by Brenda Euland.  Her writing will help you find your authentic voice.

Still not convinced?  Don’t take my word (or writing) for it.  Have a listen to what Seth and Tom have to say:

I am in Bangor, Maine today about to keynote a leadership event for my client Maine Veteran’s Homes.  Prior to traveling to Bangor a friend of mine casually asked, “Don’t you wish you didn’t have to go there and you could still get the money?”  He offered, “you should figure out a way to give the talk virtually…then you wouldn’t have to travel.”

I didn’t hesitate in responding that I wouldn’t want to give the talk virtually.  I want to go somewhere different.  Meet someone new.  I want to share, listen and learn with extraordinary leaders.   I want to understand their challenges.  I want to hear the stories. I want to connect them to my ideas.  I want to help them navigate change.  I want to have a full, rich, meaningful experience that has a lasting impact.  That is my purpose.

I want to do the work.

It is a question I am also reminded to ask myself.

What do I want to be doing?

Why? {Purpose}

The answer to those questions inform action.

Money is a reason.

Meaning is a reason.  A very good reason.

The intersection of purpose and the paycheck are a precious gift.  It is the place where people are in the best position to maximize their full potential.

It is easier to contribute and succeed when you really want to do the work.  When it matters.

What do you want to be doing? Why?

We’ll have some fun exploring those important questions today.

Increasingly, when a client partner has a meaningful, high impact experience they feel compelled to share.  They want the world to know. Smart sales leaders recognize this opportunity and invite their best customers to share their experience with the world. For example:

Simply stated your own customers are your best brand ambassadors.  If your customers aren’t telling your story, evangelizing the experience and sharing the outcome perhaps you need to consider:

1.  Are you delivering enough value?  Value your customers simply cannot live without?

2.  Are you developing real, meaningful relationships?

3. Are your customers invested in your success?  Are you invested in their success (or just making sales)?

4.  Are you really listening to your best customers?

5.  Are you Social Selling?  Do you have the platforms and requisite participation to create an impetus for your customers to socialize your brand experience?

Writing and sharing takes time.  It is hard work.  It is also the work that makes sales easy. It sure beats the hell out of cold calling.

For example:

As a seller your own opinion of the value, differentiation and impact of your solution is increasingly insufficient. Invite your best customers to share their experience with the world.  Make it easy for them.  Flip the sale.

You might soon find yourself spending a lot less time time doing the thing that sellers dread the most (cold calling) and more time in business development meetings that matter.

Sales drives the business.

All of the ideas, innovation, strategy, interpersonal relationships and process initiatives don’t matter much if you don’t have the revenue to turn on the lights.

Want a cure for the business going sideways?  If layoffs, furloughs and salary freezes sound familiar the solution is simple.

Sell more.

You can sell your way right out of a recession.  There are great examples all around us (the coffee shop I am sitting in now achieved explosive sales growth and expanded during the great recession).

Increasingly, sales growth requires strong leadership.

Ironically, sales success as an individual contributor doesn’t automatically translate into the requisite skill and competency to lead other individual contributors.  I know this from personal experience.  I know this from our consulting work. Yet, sales organizations routinely move their top individual contributors into management roles as a matter of practice and risk missing twice (weakening the territory and the team if the top producer isn’t prepared to lead and is no longer closing).

That doesn’t mean it can’t work.  It simply takes work and is far from a sure thing.

I’ll have the good fortune of spending tomorrow morning talking Sales Acceleration with a room full of gifted Sales Leaders and C level executives preparing to push their business to the next level of breakthrough performance.

3 key themes I will reinforce:

1. Lead From The Front: You’ll get attention and effort around what you inspect.  You’ll earn respect based on your own ability to contribute value to the process, people and performance.  Set the tone.  Drive the pace.  Never demand more than your are willing to give yourself.  If the performance isn’t where it needs to be look in the mirror first.  Own your number.  If the CEO is spreadsheeting all day long encourage him/her pick up the phone or join a call once in a while.  All hands on deck.  Your team is watching.

2.  Protect & Serve: Lead in the service of others.  Sure, we’ve all heard of servant leadership.  What it means is that your existence isn’t about you.  It is about them.  You exist to help, guide, develop, teach, counsel, coach, correct and consistently elevate their potential and performance.  Your success is entirely their success.  Fight with them.  Stand by them.  Hold them accountable.  Firmly accountable. Your team is watching.

3.  Let Go: Hire great people (you need great HR because as a Sales Leader you likely don’t have the art of selection perfected).  Develop their talent.  Earn buy in to your process and program.  Put them in a position to fulfill their potential and blow past plan.  Then…get the hell out of the way. Autonomy is a coveted culture characteristic of top producers.  Let them learn by doing.  Proposals and power point presentations don’t need your approval.  Not if you have the right people in the right job. Let them do the work.  Celebrate their success every step of the way.  Your team is watching.

When others entrust you to guide and shape their sales talent and career path it is an awesome responsibility. Embracing the weight of that challenge is incumbent upon today’s effective leader. It is a phenomenal time for emerging leaders to add more value to the business, impact people and accelerate growth by doing the right things.