What do you do when no one is watching?

Tonight, I just wanted to go to bed. Hang it all up for the day.

Why? Facebook has changed their rules. I was wondering why I was getting no love. No Likes. Few comments.

then, I found out that Facebook changed their rules. NOW, if you LIKE my page, you also have to HOVER over the “Like” button and request that my updates show up in your feed.

There’s a Catch-22 here. I can’t tell people to do this if they aren’t getting my feeds.

I used to have such lovely conversation with my peeps. We were growing something. It has come to a screeeching halt!

Now, I have to re-think the entire scenario.

Actually, it is probably a good thing – here we are at the start of something GREAT! And I was giving my success to Facebook – something I cannot control.

Still, tonight I wanted to just GO TO BED and not post a thing. But, my PRIOMISE is that I will post every school night – five nights a week. Period. Whether people are watching or not.

So, tonight, being WILDY discouraged (I am just launching the bit.ly/vavavavoomregister interview with the AMAZING Bob Burg). A breakout event … and NO ONE is seeing it.

I am discouraged.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I am posting anyway. Because I will do what I promised. Even when no one is watching.

And that MEANS SOMETHING!

What do YOU do when no one is watching? THOSE are the things that REALLY define you!

Love your amazing self UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

It is all about looking good!

If you think about it, the MOST important thing to humans seems to be looking good! Our currency is adoration, looking like a good guy, and being right. And, we will do ALMOST ANYTHING to achieve those key qualities.

Here’s how this helps YOU as a salesperson (or, frankly, any business person).

When someone is buying from you, MAKE SURE they look like a ROCK STAR.

If a man has to defend his purchase of his car to his wife, MAKE SURE he looks like a GENIUS about the decision he made.

If an employee is buying a service, MAKE SURE that his boss is thrilled with his business acumen.

If a … well, you get the picture.

People want to feel smart about the decisions they make. If you understand why someone is buying, what need it fills for THEM and for their INFLUENCERS — you have got it made!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Make sense? Start finding out what EVERYONE who is impacted wants. Then arm your buyer with everything THEY need to look REALLY REALLY GOOD!

Your job is to create ROCK STARS!

Love your peeps UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Race on, my lovelies ~

“Nobody remembers who finished second but the guy who finished second.” ~ Bobby Unser

OK my lovelies…the end of the year is coming at a rapid pace. You have just had a L-O-N-G weekend – even a long week off.

How are YOU going to get back to it today and make a solid finish?

This is where champions are born. At the end. When everyone else is checking out.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

I want to hear from you!

Love your year UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

The SEVEN topics I would write about if my life looked like a blog post

This one is just for fun today. A little poke at the traditional blog styling. I was just musing…

These are the SEVEN topics I would write about if my life looked like a blog post:

7 innovative ways to make coffee in the morning…included would be quippy tricks about keeping coffee from being bitter, maybe things to make my coffee taste like Christmas morning (hint: cinnamon in the grounds – nod to Berta from Two and a Half Men).

Then, I would move on to…

6 creative ways to get my dogs to walk themselves … here I would likely find fantastical and magical tips from Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer – one trick would include teaching the pups to walk on a treadmill – perhaps an advanced note on training them to turn the machine on by themselves.

5 important events that must happen before I start my day…these would likely be a bit more mundane – geared to entertain the new brand of remote employees and solopreneurs – things like clever ways to remember to brush my teeth and check to see if I need a shower. Of course, the fifth idea would be something cute and comical, just to add a kick of fun! (At what point in the laundry cycle you MUST mute your phone when on important conference calls! Something like that.)

4 items that are better put off until tomorrow … this would provide insights on the stuff to stop that TRULY sucks life out of my day. Like getting caught in a Minesweeper marathon, mindlessly trying to beat my best score from 10 years ago. (The entertaining “new” look at the power of procrastination!)

3 fun facts about work habits…this section would fascinate my reader with off-the-wall statistics about the things people do every day and do not even realize it. Something like…72% of office workers are thinking about hedgehogs while at the coffee machine (hello, Erika!). Ya know. Things you wouldn’t expect, but make you go hmmmmmmm….

2 reasons to avoid the grocery store on your way home from work…this paragraph would outline how much more susceptible I am to buying advertised items that are over-priced and high in calories at this precarious time of day. Something of critical importance!

THE ONE THING TO NEVER FORGET AT THE END OF THE DAY … my blog post would end with something mushy and inspiring, of course.  It would probably be something like … make sure to give everyone in my house a big hug with slurpy kisses (yes, the dogs are pretty slurpy!)

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Love your Thanksgiving UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

Are you eating well, and then starving?

This is SUCH a common occurrence, I must address it.

This article applies to pipeline salespeople and solopreneurs, mostly. Here is how the story goes:

I AM DOING MY MARKETING…GOING FOR IT

My focus is on marketing. I get 2 responses for every 100 messages I deliver (print media, emails, etc).

Then, I land a big deal (contract)

So, I start doing the work on that contract. I ignore my marketing.

Then, I have closed that big deal (finished the contract)

Now what?

I am back to the drawing board. Income is uncertain.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I have fallen into this trap…

I have gotten a BIG FISH on the line, and devoted all my time to that. Then, when it’s landed, I am left with no pipeline.

I have learned…

Whle I am DELIVERING, I am sharing with my prospects WHAT I am delivering, WHILE I am delivering it…this is UNBELIEVEABLE marketing. I am DOING IT NOW for someone else, wouldn’t YOU like to be a part of it?

NEVER NEVER NEVER stop marketing … and your BEST marketing comes WHILE you are working

Because you are confident. You are producing. You can leverage your current success into future success.

It takes discipline…and it is fun

When you are winning, it is easy and fun to talk about helping people win. When you are out of work, it is scary and desperate.

True professionals work their pipeline NOT MATTER WHAT.

Work yours. If you are willing to set aside time for marketing. Every week, no matter what. There is no need for famine, or desperation, or worry. They will be lining up! Because THEY see you are working and THEY have to get in line for your services.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Love your marketing UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Allow yourself to be surprised by WHO YOU ARE!

Stratospheric SuccessA crazy thing happened the other day…

I got a Tweet. A Tweet that will change my life forever.

Bob Burg followed me on Twitter.

WHAT???

Allow me to paint a picture. Will you?

I am a cartoon character with 425 comitted and amazing fans on Facebook.

I am a cartoon character with 316 followers on Twitter. I love each and every one of them.

In contrast, Bob Burg has 1,638 Fans on Facebook and 41,788 followers. Bob is someone who speaks to audiences of OVER 16,000 people at a time. He is a best selling author.

For those of you in home-making and decorating, he is Martha Stewart.

For those of you in personal growth, he rivals Oprah Winfrey.

He is a BIG DEAL.

WHY ME?

What in the world had him follow “little old me”?

My cynical side said… “He has an auto-bot following anyone in sales”.

So I Tweeted back (stay with me – this is about YOU). “WOW! Thanks for the follow, Bob. I would love to interview you.”

HA!

He wrote back, nearly immediately…”Great! I will have Carrie set up the interview”.

Now, here is what is embarrassing.

I thought that Bob was agreeing to a one-on-one conversation with me (which he did have with me), but what HE meant was that he was granting me a PUBLIC INTERVIEW for free. He was so gracious with my naivete.

So, I read his latest book – The Go Giver

I sobbed the whole way through. Have you wanted success so badly that you could taste it? Have you ever pursued it so hard you thought you would die if you couldn’t touch it?

Mine was business success.

When I read The Go-Giver, I was released. I have an undergrad in Marketing and a graduate degree in Finance. I have co-owned and sold a company. I have been a top salesperson for twenty years. I

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR THIS INFORMATION FOR MY WHOLE ADULT LIFE.

When I read this, I found out that I had EXACTLY all the things I need for STRATOSPHERIC SUCCESS. And, so do you. I THOUGHT I had to be cut-throat to be successful. I have never been stratospherically successful, by the way.

Now, I am learning that ALL the things I value are EXACTLY what will make me (and you) WILDLY successful. When you become a master of the five qualities Bob sets forth in The Go-Giver (you are so close, already), THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER.

Now, about you!

Two things:

1) Do you put yourself out there so that those who can help will find you. Do you take the chance?

2) I want YOU to come to the VaVaVaVoom (Voyeuristic, Vicarious, Virtual) Interview I am having with Bob on December 6th at 1 pm Eastern (register for FREE at http://bit.ly/VaVaVaVoom). You will leave INSPIRED and TRANSFORMED.

We are giving away 19 books to the first people to register. They will include an autograph from Bob and me. An historical event.

Remember who you REALLY are…

If you are reading this, YOU are committed to STRATOSPHERIC SUCCESS. You may not think you are capable of it. That doesn’t matter. You are committed to it.

Please let me join you on YOUR journey…

I am committed that we have 500 people sign up for this break-through event. If that is to happen, I need your help! I am asking YOU to register and I am asking YOU to invite your peeps!

I do not get a toaster if you do. I do not benefit from book sales.

I only WIN because you had access to something you wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Love your life UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Do you have to be COLD to make COLD calls?

You do not have to be cold to cold call
Cold Calling Myths

Today I was doing my cold calls.

I think about cold calls a lot, the more I talk with solopreneurs and budding salespeople.

Here’s what I realized.

There is a lot of mythology about cold-calling.

There are two visions that people conjure up when they think about cold-calling:

Either they imagine the frustrated cold-caller: locking his jaw, picking up the phone with a clenched fist, hoping that someone won’t actually answer the phone, “Please GOD Please, let it go to voice mail”. Then (when they answer) “Please GOD Please, let them be nice”.

OR

They imagine the Monster Cold-Caller: fangs dripping with the blood she anticipates from her victim.Going for it. Driving and driving and driving – like a machine mowing down everything in her path.

(Genders made up).

It’s not like that for me, and it doesn’t have to be that way

I am not going to pretend that calling on someone I do not know is ever easy. We have a natural resistance to being a pest and feeling like we are wasting someone’s time! THANK GOD for that resistance! It is not something to overcome. It is a reminder that you are an AWESOME human being.

Which brings me to the next mythology:

If you want to be a great cold-caller, you must have a thick skin

People imagine that the great cold-caller can take a “rejection – kick-in-the-teeth” call and move on. Not true.

It doesn’t work to have a thin skin, either, but perhaps the thickness of your skin has nothing to do with it.

A new paradigm

Imagine this. If you were a person who was passionate about your product. You had done as much research as possible about who you are calling to make a conversation about THEM (this takes about 2 minutes, tops!) and you are willilng to consider that there is another person on the other end of the line who has priorities in their day and their lives. And you KNEW that 3 out of every 10 people were going to respond to you favorably.

NOW, how does cold-calling look?

It starts to look like an interesting conversation. An opportunity to connect. A thought about how YOU can make a difference in someone else’s day.

Here’s the rub

There are four muscles YOU MUST develop as a ‘cold-caller’.

1) Creativity – get creative about how to reach the people who will care
2) Emotional Radar – learn to get in “someone else’s world” FAST
3) Vulnerability with Confidence – the ‘hardest’ of all, but the most rewarding
4) A system that you stick to – you’ve gotta do the work. Every week. Sorry!

If you can do those, the world is your oyster

And they are simple skills to build. And trainable. I have trained my sales staff to LOVE outreach. I have a hard time calling my cold-calling “cold”, ‘cuz it rarely is.

Let’s keep the conversation going. Just know that there are ways that you will be LIT UP by your cold calling. AND YOU WILL RULE!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Love your work UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Feelings…whoa, whoa, whoa Feelings!

PuppyNow that I’ve got you humming THAT in your head.

2012 Goals – How do feelings play out?

I noticed something today. We are headed to the end of the year and I started reviewing the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the year.

I set Minimum, Target, and Optimal goals for each area of my life. Health, Home, Finances, Work, you know the drill.

Minimum, Target, Optimal

Minimum…the absolute minimum that I want to achieve.
Target … the “good” goal
Optimal…the very best I could imagine in that area
(This is something I learned from Jack Canfield in “Efffortless Success”)

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Which one did I NAIL? PUPPY!

Here’s what I noticed. There is one Optimal goal in particular…that I NAILED months ago. It happens to be the one that I have THE MOST EMOTION around.

When I got my puppy two years ago, we found out (at a very young age) that he has elbow dysplasia. A situation that can be crippling. Not years from now, crippling NOW. He was limping. I made my OPTIMAL goal that he would be healed (something the vets say is impossible). We haven’t done the x-rays yet – coming in December, but my puppy is HEALED, no limping, no pain, no signs.

When I found out about his situation, I was a WILD WOMAN. I was going to prove the authorities wrong. I have done EVERYTHING there is to do to make him better. And it has WORKED.

So, WHY not the other goals?

When I look at my other goals…I see that they looked like “nice to haves”. The ones that I had EMOTION around (even fear, sadness, worry), they got DONE. The ones that are less infused with emotion, not-so-much.

INTERESTING.

I’m actually a little disturbed. Some of the goals I set for myself…I really meant them. How do I conjure up FEELINGS … true FEELINGS for them? Am I so comfortable that I can only be driven by fear and worry for someone else? Am I only about the status quo until something bad is looming?

How do YOU make yourself care? I want to know!

Love your goals UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

AND….we’re back!

For a moment, I forgot that what you expect from me is hard-hitting messages.

Things you can read in two minutes…

I was becoming a “blogger”…HA!

Here’s what I remembered (sorry I forgot). I am your VOICE OF REASON on the train in Manhattan at 5:30 in the morning.

I remind you of what you are up to and who you are with no fancy pictures or long essays…something you can take to the bank every day.

Thanks for letting me stray! I LOVE YOU!

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Let’s play this game of day-to-day success together!

Love ’em UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Do you need permission?

GO FOR IT!
I give you permission to pursue your passion!

I was speaking with a good friend of mine today. She was a successful partner in a successful law firm and just retired (at the old age of 44)!

She was bemoaning the things she REALLY wants to do in life. Things she has always imagined.

She wants to walk into a prestigious nonprofit – dressed to the nines – and offer them her service – if even to only bring coffee to the people who run the show. She feels dorky doing it.

She wants to call her childhood friend who is now pursuing HIS (and her) LIFETIME PASSION for acting and musicals. She feels dorky doing it.

Wondering how to go from 5 to 6 figures in sales? Check out this Free eBook: http://ebook.solidsixblueprint.com/solid-six-ebook/

Even though she “knows” that if she doesn’t approach these people the answer is as “NO” now as if it would be if they told her “NO”. She still doesn’t want to put herself at that risk.

It made me wonder. This is a person who has been a HIGHLY PAID professional, a leader in her community, a bad-ass-mamba-jamba. Yet, she is AFRAID to pursue her passion.

Where are we looking for permission to pursue our passion? Do we feel better about holding our passion as a possibilty than finding out that we can’t have it? Possibly so. Maybe the “wondering” feels better than the “no” that we fear we would find.

So, here we are, my lovelies. Passionate beings who want to pursue our passions (and feel the hole inside that we are not), but happier to have it as a “possibility” than a clear “no”.

I GET IT!

Tonight, I BEG OF YOU, to think of ONE THING you could do to pursue your passion. Get ahold of someone who will hold you to account. Let THEM give you permission to pursue your passion.

Then, GO FOR IT!

You probably won’t. We seem DESIGNED to hold back, but maybe, just maybe ONE OF YOU WILL.

Tell me your story. Tell me the passion you are resisting. Let ME be your accountability partner. I mean it. YOU have access to The Irreverent Sales Girl and I will work with you to give yourself permission, BUT, I will also ask you to help me get the same permission I seek.

Any takers?

Love our lives UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl