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.

Posted in Sales, Uncategorized

Tags: Campus, Career, CDW, College, Graduation, Jim Rohn, NIU, Ohio University, Sales, Sales Training

A few years ago (at 38 years old to be precise) in the recess of my mind I knew I was facing a key inflection point and some important life choices.

Career.  Relationships.  The big stuff.  Change was imminent.

The little voice of doubt and insecurity we’ve all heard was growing louder.  The questions seemed overwhelming.

Will I pass this test?  Can I make a difference?  What if…?

It was exactly during this moment of introspection (and indecision) a friend shared a little note of inspired thinking that read:

“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.

“You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.

“Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.

“And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”

{Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the sermon “But, if Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church on November 5, 1967}

The right message at the right time.  I appreciated the thought and interpreted the intended personal challenge.  I hit print and have carried that piece of paper in my bag ever since.

Inspiration can come from a variety of sources.  It can come when we least expect it.  Often, it will arrive when we need it the most. A likely source of inspiration are the people around you.  Friends.  Family.  Colleagues. Co-Workers.  Collaborators. Working and spending time with people that are inspired, creating, contributing and taking bold steps forward is helpful, particularly when faced with an inconvenient choice or a more specific challenge.  The people around us have enormous impact on our being.  How we think, act and experience the world around us.

If you want to get Switched On it certainly helps to pay attention to people that embrace inspired living because it  is going to require your own inspired thinking first. Today as we recognize and honor the birth of activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy these 10 lessons serve as an inspirational reminder of the opportunity we all have to embrace change, confront challenges, make an impact and live the change we want to see in the world around us.

 

Posted in Leadership

Tags: Change, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Inspiration, Inspired Living

Did you talk to a customer today?

Simple yes or no answer.  According to Frank Pacetta (a hero of mine) and his Blueprint for Success a “no” gets the leader or manager (CEO especially) an immediate failing grade.

{click through and take the rest of Frank’s Blueprint for Success Management Test}

Today’s leader is charged with navigating through chaotic and disruptive times.  Employees are anxious, overwhelmed, exhausted, uncertain and have far less trust in senior leadership.  Customers have an evolving set of expectations around the business relationship and brand experience.

Progressive leaders are recognizing this shift in the balance of power, removing barriers, improving access and leading from the front to cultivate a more connected and compelling brand experience for all stakeholders (employees, customers and investors).

The People Economy is here and to thrive amid this transformation true leaders are embracing the transparency that is required, leading from the front, connecting, communicating and collaborating to elevate trust, earn emotional commitment, accelerate innovation and effectively navigate change.

There are examples of next generation leadership all around us.

Consider Dallas Mavericks outspoken owner Mark Cuban who makes his e-mail address public (and has been know to offer it up for fan access on the jumbotron during games).  Don’t like the variety in the Food Court?  Send the owner a note.

How about Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh?  You can follow him on Twitter, check out real time company updates on his blog and employees can stop by his cubicle any time for a high five {forget the corner office…he rolls without walls}.

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn responded to the recent Forbes article Why Best Buy is Going Out of Business…Gradually via his blog with His Thoughts on Best Buy’s Recent Media Coverage where people are free to comment, invited to connect with him or follow him on Twitter.

Ford CEO Alan Mullaly (notice how he starts this recent keynote!) recently did better than just talking to customers.  He actually delivered a new customers Ford F-150.  CEO service.

These leaders may not always be right.  Their companies may not always win.  But they are real, relevant and represent a shift from the antiquated Command & Control style leadership to a more Collaborative & Connected  approach that is proving far more effective for the time.

How accessible and transparent is your CEO?  Senior leadership?  You?  Worth considering.

This next generation approach to business (Generation Flux) is opening up opportunity for those willing to embrace change, challenge the status quo and connect people to each other and a common purpose.

Change is hard.  It is also the one constant we can count on.

 

Posted in Brand, Communications, Leadership, Social Media

Tags: Best Buy, Brian Dunn, Collaboration, Collaborative Leadership, Dallas Mavericks, Ford, Mark Cuban, People Economy, Tony Hsieh, Zappos

“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?

Posted in Performance, Sales, Social Media, Uncategorized

Tags: Sales, Sales 2.0, Sales Expert, Sales Training

I have been writing about New Year resolutions for the last few years:

Resolve 2010
Accelerate 2011

The objective for this year is Breakthrough 2012.

Notice the progression?  With a little patience and forward progress the trend line can start to look positive.

If you are ‘resolutioning’ this weekend (and 44% of Americans will make resolutions) there are techniques to help improve goal setting and achievement (I share a few in the previous post/link).

I have also updated a few thoughts from 2010 to support resolution readiness and manifestation into meaningful outcomes:

Review:  Change requires an honest inspection and assessment.  What specific decisions lead to the destination?   As a leader/manager, individual contributor or in the personal life it helps to focus inward.  Take stock of the I that impacts the “we” or “they”.  Understanding where you’ve been is critical to help you get where you want to be going.  Look in the mirror.  Be honest with yourself. The critical component of a good resolution review and setting is accountability.

Reinvent:  This is a time for reinvention. Your company, your strategy, your brand and your career.  Transformation requires BIG ideas.  This is the exciting part.  Change.  Business models being ripped apart and reconstructed.  Customer expectations evolving.  Value propositions being reset.  The accelerated pace of transformation.  Information overload.  A global marketplace.  New skills and competency required to compete. Opportunity that is now a constant moving target.  Reinvention requires working a differently.  Welcome to The People Economy.

Reset:  What I like to refer to as adjusting to the new normal.  Constant change. Continuing education.  A climate that mandates authenticity and transparency to earn trust.   Bold Choices are required to simply stay even.   When you hit reset as an organization you need to have a clearly articulated strategy and core alignment around mission – vision – values.  These guiding principles create a culture of engagement, performance, accountability and trust.  When you hit reset as an individual it helps to begin with the end in mind.  What does success and happiness look like on December 31, 2012?  Decide today.

Relationships:  The most essential aspect to my own professional reinvention has been relationships.  A big part of my own resolution strategy is to do more relationship inventory and focus on respecting the important relationships I have.  I am fortunate to have developed a few new, meaningful relationships over the last 12 months. That is a gift.  I also had to make tough choices around relationships that needed to change or end.  You know when it isn’t working.  So did I.  Our natural tendency is to stay in them too long. We are all in the relationship business and surrounding yourself with the right people is the key ingredient to accelerating your success.  The right people hold you accountable and help propel you forward. With the right people you can thrive.

Resolve:  This is required for turning a resolution into reality.  The elevated sense of discipline and commitment required to see things through to the finish line.  It requires the understanding and acceptance that effort and results are two very different things.  It also mandates focus.  Deciding what not to do and where not to spend time are essential ingredients to staying the course. If you want to accomplish a BIG thing personally or professionally it requires alignment of a lot of little things along the way. By eliminating and avoiding unnecessary distractions you’ll be better positioned for success. Creating something new is hard work.

In the words of legendary football coach Vice Lombardi you have to “plan your work, and work your plan.”  Plans change.  The ability to adapt to new circumstances is essential.  The notion that plans can change and need to be flexible isn’t a good reason not to plan at all.

I hear and see the backlash around goals and resolutions. I get it.  After all it is so much easier to fear change, commit to nothing and simply stay the same.

I love resolutions.  The start of something new brings the hope of something great.

{BONUS: If your resolution is related to fitness or weight loss like most everyone else I know you might find these Top 12 Diet & Weight Loss Apps useful}

My favorite part about resolutioning is that I am solely responsible for making my own Breakthrough 2012 plan a reality.   I intend to have fun, be realistic and know I can count on a little help from the right people along the way.

Be Humble.  Stay Hungry.  Always Hustle.  Wishing you a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

Posted in Leadership, Performance, Uncategorized

Tags: 2012, Change, Goals, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, Performance

Two years ago I shared this post and picture about my own Christmas experience:

All You Need Is Love

As I prepare to travel back to Cleveland, Ohio for the holiday this year I am still grateful for the reminder of  joy, hope, optimism, enthusiasm and love those 5 nieces and nephews are sure to share.

However, this Christmas will be a little different.  We’ll be missing Dad.  Our father was Jewish but reveled in the tradition of Christmas. That might not make sense.  That was my Dad.

He was  fond of the gift giving and would invest the time to personalize the experience.  His specialty:  the handwritten note (a truly lost art).

Each gift received would include a note, poem, inspirational quote or personalized message intended for the recipient.  Some were original.  Most weren’t. The original author would never get credit on the card (and my apologies for my same omission here).  That was my Dad.

Over the years I saved a few of my favorites.  In the spirit of the season and reflecting fondly on those Christmas memories I wanted to share them with you.

The Gift of Wisdom From Dad

“To succeed you have to believe in something with such passion it becomes a reality.”

“The future always holds something for the man who keeps his faith in it.”

“The measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”

“Be patient in the little things.  Learn to beat the everyday trials and tribulations of life quietly and calmly. Then, when unforeseen trouble comes, your strength will not forsake you.”

“Yesterday is history.  Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Wishing you love (and memories) during this holiday season.

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags: Christmas, Family, Holidays

I have spent the last couple days in Portland, ME creating something new.

In my business when you get a break in the action that means it is time to create what is next and new.  Every entrepreneur, executive, leader, manager and individual contributor needs to spend time working both in the business (doing the work) and on the business (inventing the future and/or improving skills/competency).

Creating something new is hard work.  Creating something new when there are very real time, financial and resource constraints can prove to be a difficult and delicate balance.

However, it is simply work that must be done.

If you aren’t inventing the future and improving you are falling behind.  The status quo is dead.

I have learned a little bit about creation in the last couple years. My last creation project was our new, leadership development course:  Collaborative Leadership.

There were moments during the course design where I wanted to stop.  Start over.  Or scrap the entire project all together.  One day I thought it was my best work.  The next day I thought it most certainly wasn’t.  I pushed past that little voice of doubt and a few inevitable moments of pause to eventually ship (amazing how a firm deadline helps make that happen).

I was throw up nervous the day I delivered the course pilot at AT&T University and I am pleased the outcome is AT&T including the course as part of their 2012 executive development curriculum.  However, even if they hadn’t moved forward the act of creating something new would have still been well worth the effort.  Simply for these 5 lessons learned:

Start:  Research and planning needs to have a beginning and end.  The key is to start making progress.  Any progress.  A white board, post it notes, project draft and/or a sample counts as a start.  The start creates momentum.  Momentum is required to finish the work.  Keep in mind that everything is a draft until you decide it isn’t.

Effort:  It is supposed to be hard.  There might be a little pain, long nights, sacrifice, self-doubt and seemingly insurmountable obstacles along a creation endeavor.  Let me rephrase.  There will be.  Know it.  Expect it. Finds ways to push through it.  Your very best work will demand your very best effort.

Collaboration:  Because creating is hard you need help. I need a team.  I need to know my Business Manger is working in the business while I am working on the business.  I need to know that my Advisory Board is available for feedback and counsel.  Source your sounding board.  Your very best work is rarely done alone.

Commitment: Collaboration also helps drive commitment.  When you are accountable to people you care about it can drive a ferocious resolve to push hard simply to make sure you don’t let them down.  Having the right attitude toward the choices and commitment you make is essential to delivering your very best work.

Cross the Finish Line:  Starting and stopping is easy.  Finishing isn’t.  When procrastination is the enemy it helps to have an adversary.  A firm deadline works for me.   Finishing means we have to confront our fear of failure.   That is a powerful fear to face down.  Once you’ve done whatever it is you are doing once the next time might just get a little easier (no guarantee).  {Tip:  The Dip is an excellent little resource for determining when to quit and when to stay the course.  Many people give up on the cusp of a breakthrough}.

I am back to the beginning on a new creation project.  I am probably writing this post as a reminder to myself more than I am for anyone else.  I know what it feels like to finish.  I know I am capable.  I just have to do the work.

The truth is most people don’t want to create something new.  What they want is to be finished, receiving praise and accolades. Most people don’t want to spend 60 minutes, 6 days a week working out.  They simply want a killer body in a bathing suit.

Creating something new isn’t easy.

Results take real resolve. I believe it’s worth the effort.

When in doubt, just ask someone who crossed the creation finish line…victorious.

I’ll pose the same question to you that my friend Ross Bernstein (a creation machine) posed to me:

How many books are you going to write this year?

OR

What something new have you resolved to create in 2012?

Let the work begin.

Posted in Leadership, Performance

Tags: Art, Creation, Creatvitity, Do The Work, Ross Bernstein, The Dip, Writing

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!

 

 

Posted in Performance, Sales, Social Media, Uncategorized

Tags: Blog, Keynote Speaking, Speaking, Writing

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}

Posted in Performance, Sales

Tags: Hustle, What Is Hustle

I was fortunate to find myself in Miami this weekend for the incredible Art Basel show featuring works by more than 2,000 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. It was an a unique opportunity for me to reunite with the entrepreneur, athlete and artist in an environment where the the world’s creative community comes together to connect, collaborate, contribute and celebrate art.

Making great art is incredibly hard work.  A blank canvas doesn’t come with a set of instructions. Working when there are no rules is difficult for most of us because we have simply been conditioned to color inside the lines for so long. Do what we are told.  Hand in our homework. Follow the formula.  Finish our TPS Reports.

There are valuable business and leadership lessons to be learned from the professional artist, particularly in a time where work increasingly resembles art.

Seth Godin explored this topic in more detail in his NY Times Bestseller, Linchpin.  Defining an Artist this way:  “An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo.  An artist takes it personally.  He further defines art as “A personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter.  The intent does.  Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does to change another.”

What inspires you to make your art?

The artist needs to tap into the source that inspires creativity.  Increasingly, so does the Sales Professional, HR Manager and Chief Marketing Officer.   The rules have changed and almost every leader and manager is being required to solve new and increasingly more complex problems that mandate creativity.

A likely source of inspiration are the people around you.  Friends.  Family.  Colleagues. Co-Workers.  Collaborators. Working and spending time with people that are inspired, creating, contributing and taking bold steps forward is essential to my own personal and professional growth.  The people around us have enormous impact on our being.  How we think, act and experience the world around us. I was also fortunate to spend this past weekend with a very talented, emerging artist who drew incredible inspiration and ideas from the Art Basel experience. I always get inspired watching people I care about get switched on.

The artist has an advantage. Most people prefer to play it safe. Work in the confines of comfort. Minimize risk. Continue the familiar. Playing it safe provides a feeling of security. Unfortunately, in the new economy, it’s dangerously false. The best ideas and breakthrough moments often remain elusive in the safety zone. Those that are willing to take a risk, venture into uncharted territory, color outside the lines and create what is next and new have an increasing opportunity to thrive.

Those skills are necessary. They are deeply coveted by progressive organizations. They move us forward. They make business happen.

Posted in Brand, Leadership, Performance, Uncategorized

Tags: Art, Art Basel, Artist, Linchpin, Seth Godin