Archive for 864Coach
Be a superhero!
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A retired teacher has debunked the commonly held belief that car owners should change out their vehicles every 5 years. Entrepeneur.com highlights Irv Gordon, who has driven his 1960 Volvo P1800 over 2.7 million miles! “Can Your Car Last 1,000,000 Miles: How to get super miles and beyond” notes that more people are going Irv’s way, driving their vehicles past the 200,000 mark.
Consumer Reports estimates that drivers can save $20K by driving the same car for 15 years and 225,000 miles. Obviously just any vehicle will not do. Starting with a well-built product and maintaining it with diligence are essential.
“And by taking care of that vehicle and keeping it alive for another few years–perhaps allowing room in the budget for a vacation or other toys–you might earn superhero status in your own household.”
Social Media Strategy: 6 Areas of Focus for 2010
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The last few months have been all about thinking… thinking about ways to keep getting better! Normally I write things down from the beginning, but this year for some reason, I delayed putting things on paper. As the new year approaches, I won’t delay any longer.
I’ve put together a rough draft and thought it would be a good idea to share my strategic plan with you! I think we can help each other in two ways.
First – Your opinion matters, and I know you have some ideas for ways I can make your SalesBlogcast experience even better! Tell me what you like most and suggest ideas for improvement.
Second – The other reason for sharing my plan is to spark a few ideas that will help you build new strategies going into the new year!
There are six key areas where I will focus my attention in 2010…
- SalesBlogcast.com
- Posterous
- Job Board
SalesBlogcast.com
Focus: Sales and Leadership strategies for top producers
Goal: Exceed 25,000 email subscribers by year end
Actions:
- High Quality Content
a. Post a minimum of 2 to 3 articles per week
b. Find a minimum of 2 to 3 guest articles per month to promote other people’s great ideas - Instead of sending 2 emails per week through the blog, transition to sending email subscribers only one email per week. (Include new articles, posts, and job listings from SalesBlogcast, Posterous, and Job Board)
- RSS Subscribers will continue receiving updates every time there is a new post
- Get invited to speak at 1 to 2 conferences, events, podcasts, etc. per month
Posterous
Focus: Share all topics of interest, including business, sales, leadership, technology, social media, news, sports, etc.
Goal: Generate a minimum of 2,000 daily page views by year end
Actions:
- Write a minimum of 3-5 Posts per day
- Integrate with SalesBlogcast blog
- Help other people by promoting their stuff, telling their stories, and sharing their ideas
Job Board
Focus: Sales, Marketing, Advertising, and related jobs
Goal: Help people find jobs!
Actions:
- Upgrade to a product that will allow for a more professional look. The service must also provide tools to improve my ability to interact with visitors.
- Provide job seekers with the ability to post their resume.
- Give recruiters and hiring managers resume search capabilities.
LinkedIn
Focus: Build the LinkedIn Sales and Leadership Community
Goal: Exceed 50,000 group members by year end
Actions:
- Begin sending SalesBlogcast.com Group members one broadcast message per week. This will replace the second email I was sending through the blog. (Include new articles, posts, and job listings from SalesBlogcast, Posterous, and Job Board)
- Revisit the value of moderating the group discussions forum. Is it worth the time and effort? (LinkedIn has yet to provide group managers with any moderation tools)
- Visit other sales groups to reconsider the use of sub groups. My initial impression was that sub groups were of little value.
Other LinkedIn Must Do’s -
- Get back to participating in the LinkedIn Q&A forums
- Post at least one question per week
- Answer questions where I can add value
Twitter
Focus: Share as much value added content as possible
Goal: Exceed 100,000 followers by year end
Actions:
- Daily participation and interaction
- Promote other people’s stuff more than I promote my stuff
Facebook
Focus: I need to figure out ways to make better use of Facebook. I just launched a fan page, but I’m not sure if that’s more valuable than simply having a regular profile page. I also have a group page, but have not focused nearly as much on building the community that we’ve built on LinkedIn. Although I’ve not yet discovered ways to produce results from on this platform, I just have a feeling that it has great potential.
Goals and Actions: TBD
So that’s the plan so far!
What suggestions do you have that will make my plan better?
What’s in your strategic plan for 2010?
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- 6 Ways to Improve LinkedIn Groups
- Is Your Tweetfolio Credible?
- Networking for Results
- 7 Tips for Getting the Job You Want!
- Achieving Greatness in 2009
Is the Sales Mindset Shifting?
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I’ve been thinking about things, and you know how I get when I’ve been “thinking about things.” Of course, I have to share it with all of you and get your opinion!
I’m wondering about mindset, and how sales people think. To share what I mean, I’ve got a couple of examples…
Recent Conversation:
I was talking to one of our business partners who I brought into a potential deal. I asked him…
“Have you been able to reach the prospect to discuss your services?”
“No,” he responded, and informed me that he had left one message.
To which I replied, “I’ll make another call as soon as I get back to the office.”
And he said, “As long as we’re not being intrusive… right?”
Recent Email Exchange:
I recently had an email conversation with someone who shared these thoughts…
“My feeling is that most people would prefer email communication over phone for several reasons:
- They can deal with it on their own time.
- They don’t have to feel pressured
- They don’t have to feel guilty for deleting an email where they might feel uncomfortable saying no on the phone.
- A prospect deleting my email means I can email them again later with a slightly different message… where I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling again after an outright no.”
Articles I’ve Read:
I’ve run across articles about “lead nurturing,” and most recently stumbled upon a blog post encouraging us to, “Stop Hunting Customers and Penetrating Markets – Start Speaking the Language of Caring.”
Ok, so I think I’ve shared enough examples to start asking questions. Is it possible for a sales person to do both… on one hand…
- Worry about being intrusive
- Be willing to have prospects deal with it on their own time
- Have a stop hunting mentality
…and on the other hand… also have the ability to…
- Be mentally tough enough to overcome the brutal challenges and the rejection to consistently exceed quota every month
- Be persistent enough to stay in front of the prospect
- Be hungry about attacking the market to find new opportunities
Can a sales person effectively manage this double mindset?
Do the most successful sales people exude one mind set more than the other?
What about non-performers… do they relate to one line of thinking over the other?
Check Out These Related Articles!
- Prospects Going Into Holiday Mode
- Hot Leads Getting Colder by the Minute
- Rebuilding Your Team With “The Core Four”
- Mental Toughness
Travel Vs. Vacation
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Have you ever considered the difference between traveling and taking vacation? I love to travel. Been to Europe multiple times, South America, Asia, Israel, and Egypt. I did all this during my life as either a student or an entrepreneur. But for the first time when I started to work at a ‘corporate’ job, I started to take “vacations.” These were much less memorable. It was about ‘getting away’ for a while to try and ‘relax’.
I didn’t think about it much, but now that I’m back to being an entrepreneur, my passion is in my work and the need for ‘vacation’ seems to be gone again. Isn’t that interesting? Would be nice to take a travel excursion though! I’ve never been to New Zealand or Australia . . .
No Fear
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So my wife hears James (my four year old) call her while he’s playing outside, “Mommy, look what I found!” She goes out to discover he’s found a snake and of course, he’s picking it up and playing with it!
I suppose at the age of four, a little snake isn’t all that scary unless someone has told you that you should be scared! After her initial freak out, my wife realized that this little snake was really harmless. In fact, his two older brothers as well as the neighboring kids started taking turns holding the snake after realizing that there was nothing to fear.
A lot of people are gripped by fear these days because of personal financial struggle and concern about what the future holds for their businesses and lives. Let’s take a lesson from a four year old who didn’t know he was supposed to be afraid!
Sometimes you get buried . . .
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Okay, most of us know that there are plenty of analogies between golf and business. So here’s one from Howard Chung! www.viddler.com/explore/864coach/videos/38/
Moving Lesson #9
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On July 10th our family moved from the Eastside to the Northside of Seattle. The I-90 Bridge used to be my connection between home and the city, now I travel I-5. The lanscape is not as scenic as it used to be. Highway 99 is still an eyesore albeit providing a slew of stores I frequent (i.e. Costco, Trader Joe’s, Target, etc). The changes that a move incurs — change of scenery, change of space, change of size of space, change of relational dynamics — can seem like a daunting mountain to tackle.
Our current home is #9. Contrary to most people’s thinking that things get easier the more you do them, I found this move to be physically more strenuous than past moves, in part because we had so much stuff collected over the years. How do you navigate through furniture, books, toys, and pictures? Without overthinking things, I gave away, threw away, stored away, and kept with me the things that our family would use.
I learned that a house is a physical container. The bigger your house, the more you tend to buy so as to fill it. The seeming necessity of painting your landscape with chairs, tables, and vases presses less upon my mind. Now, the daily routine includes preparing and eating a meal, washing my boys’ clothes, some cleaning, spending time with family, and making time to do what I love. And I turn my attention from the outer to the inner; I find that my desire is to nourish the interior house with the things that are invisible but palpable — to bear things with joy, to love and receive love — and in doing so, the manmade house where I reside becomes an extension of me and not a container that I must fill. First things first — care for the interior castle, and you can be “at home” wherever you are.
1st Generation Inspiration
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So my wife and I decided to join the local YMCA for our family. When my mother-in-law found out about this, she was very excited because not only did she get a month of free membership for referring us, she now had some exercise partners as well!
Okay, so the thought of doing early morning water aerobics with my mother-in-law didn’t exactly excite me, but sure enough at 6 am this morning, there she was. In fact, she’s at the gym every single morning at 6 a.m. sharp! I realized that this morning ritual of hers isn’t inspired by the typical motivating factors most of us need to go to the gym (lose weight, look good, etc). As a first generation immigrant to the United States, my mother-in-law worked for over 30 years (graveyard shift) on a GM assembly line in Detroit. My parents still work 7 days a week in the restaurant business. My personal experience with so many 1st generation immigrants is that there is a stronger internal DRIVE than the average person. Whereas so many of us demand an abundance of external motivation to get something done, there are those who simply know that there is no alternative, BUT to get it done.
So the next time you encounter a first generation immigrant (maybe a restaurant owner, your dry cleaners, or at the 6am water-aerobics class at the Y), try to observe some of that DRIVE I’m talking about. Some of it just might rub off on you.
