Monthly Archives: October 2013

Goals, Loving Life, Performance, Winning

A watched pot never boils!

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Well, it’s the end-of-the-year and I always get a bit antsy about now. A watched pot never boils!

This is when I get seduced by the temptation to hover over the contracts I want to close before year-end. I get itchy to get those deals signed, so that I can blow into new percentages of commissions and achieve epic levels of fame and adulation at my company.

I want to pull it all in NOW.

BUT, I have to remember that the watched pot never boils!

It seems to be a fundamental law of the Universe.

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If I focus on the deals that are about to close – somehow they don’t! My buyer loses budget, their company goes through a re-org, the priorities shift! It’s crazy. But downright reliable. THAT POT WILL JUST NOT BOIL!

When I remember to keep doing the right activity. Keep reaching out to my territory. Keep traveling to see people. Keep booking appointments. When I do all of this, somehow deals close and new opportunities emerge out of nowhere.

A success story

Here’s an example of something I did last week to keep my eye off of that pesky pot – and the outcome surprised me!

I went through all of my 2013 activity. Trips, demonstrations, emails, conversations…all of it. Then, I put together a list of everyone I had touched throughout the year who is not currently in a conversation with me.

Then, I sent an email to all of them – making sure to keep it personal – (no one likes to be part of a mass email).

In the email, I thanked them for the time we had spent together earlier in the year. I included a link to a cutting edge white paper that addresses a key topic in the industry. And, I asked if they had 30 minutes for a conversation to share their vision for 2014 with me.

Know what happened? I got a bunch of emails thanking me for continuing to stay in contact, I got three phone appointments with customers who wanted to discuss the timing of our contract for next year…and I got a commitment to buy for THIS YEAR – out of nowhere!

Very exciting!

On top of that, two of my deals in that pot of mine started coming to a FULL BOIL!

Keep loving ’em ALL UP and you can’t go wrong!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

 

Dignity, Irreverence, Loving Life, Quotes, Winning, Wisdom

A Fun Mid-Week Quote from Marilyn Monroe!

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Mid-Week Quote from Marilyn Monroe

“I am selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes. I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best!”

 

~ Marilyn Monroe

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

Authenticity, Creativity, Loving Life, Performance, Purpose, Winning

You are discouraged? Go, go, go, go, GO!

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Yes! The end of the year is upon us!

Yes! We don’t know if we are going to meet our goals (Didn’t it all seem so DO-able in January?)

I INVITE YOU To GO FOR IT!

Do you know that one year  I had a colleague who had sold a sum total of ZERO against her goal in October.

By December, she had exceeded her quota!  (True Story)

She went from ABSOLUTE ZERO to winning in TWO MONTHS. You are discouraged? Go, go, go, go, GO!

What was the catalyst?

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

She did some work to DISRUPT her conventional ways of thinking and acting!

Are you willing to GO FOR IT this year?

Never stop going! http://ampandpivot.com/end-of-year-success/

AND, email me for the private conversation of how my colleague made it happen: salesgirl@irreverentsalesgirl.com. Not to be mysterious. Just not everyone wants to hear it!

You can do it if you will let NOTHING STAND IN THE WAY – including YOU!

Love your success UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

Goals, Irreverence, Loving Life, Performance, Self Care, Winning

Sometimes, it is time to be quiet!

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We seem to be jacked up on being productive. Sometimes, it is time to be quiet

As if being productive makes us valuable. Or even helps us achieve our dreams.

Sometimes, it is time to be quiet.

Take a walk with your dog, read a book, snuggle with your child. Watch a football game. Nap.

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

Take care of YOU. You will KNOW when it is time to get up and go after your to-do list. You will!

In the meantime, look around, be quiet. BE YOU!

Love it All UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

 

Authenticity, Creativity, Loving Life, The Art of Selling, Winning

A Backwards Hansel & Gretel Story

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Here’s what I have learned about getting everything I want in life.A Backwards Hansel & Gretel Story

When I set myself going in a direction (goal) and then I follow the bread crumbs (Hansel & Gretel backwards), it always seems to work!

My dear friend Nicole (name changed to protect the amazing) recently shared a story with me that brought it all home for me.

Nicole is a super-smart, super-successful, super-educated Ph.D. scientist.

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She was working in a job that was OK,  yet it didn’t give her everything she was seeking in career and life fulfillment. (Does this sound familiar to you?)

So, she sat down and started thinking about how she wanted her life to REALLY look!

And amazing things started to happen. Opportunities started to show up that moved her towards her ideal situation. Things she never could have imagined. She started finding new pathways towards her dreams.

Here’s what she shared with me:

“I started living my life in a direction. And then, I simply followed the bread crumbs in front of me.”

Isn’t that how it REALLY works?

So many times, we feel that we need to understand all of the things that will take us to our goals before we even dare to dream them.

Instead I say, DREAM THEM and be sure to say “YES” to the opportunities that show up in front of you.

You have NO access to all the things that are happening in the world that will bring you the circumstances you crave!

Scientists ascribe this phenomenom to the brain’s “Reticular Activating System”. (Much like when you decide you want to buy that brand new BMW and then you start to see them all over the road.) I don’t know much about that…

WHAT I DO KNOW is that when you really commit to something, no matter how crazy it seems…SOMETHING goes to work to help you have it. Is it the Universe? Is it God? Is it some subconscious power that we cannot explain?

WHO CARES?

I mean, really? Do you understand how electricity works? (Hint: no one REALLY does). But, do you plug your lamp into the socket and it shines? Yes, it does.

Moral of today’s story: GO FOR WHAT YOU WANT! Live your life in a direction, and then follow the bread crumbs!

Something is working in your favor! (Period.)

And a quote that my good friend Carolyn Coradeschi sent to me today:

“A step in the wrong direction is better than staying on the spot all our life. Once you’re moving forward you can correct your course as you go. Your automatic guidance system cannot guide you when you’re standing still.”~Maxwell Malz

Love your direction UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

P.S. I am about to do something that I rarely do. I am going to suggest some resources that you could check out if you are committed to living your life in your direction FAST!

IMPORTANT: I do not get paid if you do these things. I have checked them out and know they make a diff!

1) If you are looking for a powerful career transition to something you love, please hire Christie Mims at http://www.therevolutionaryclub.com/. Take the assessment for free. She only works with women, but I BET we could convince her otherwise 😉 Men are important, too! Right?

2) If you are looking for a powerful sales coach to get you to the next level, please consider Carolyn Coradeschi (www.rainmakermindset.com). Take the assessment. Get the free consultation!

Love, ISG

 

 

Customer Service, Dignity, Loving Life, Performance, Winning, Wisdom

You can scale your system, but you CAN’T scale relationships!

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You can scale your systems, but you can't scale your relationshipsHOW DOES HE DO IT?

The amazing Bob Burg continues to confound me.

He is a best-selling author and a coveted speaker.

Everyone I have ever met who knows him, LOVES him!

Wanna know why?

Well, I wanna know why, too – but here is my theory!

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

As we grow our businesses, we MUST learn better systems.

We must deliver our products more efficiently.

Sometimes, we do this by hiring others to do the work that we cannot keep up with.

Sometimes, we use technology to streamline activities.

Sometimes, we outsource activities that help us focus on what makes us great.

Sometimes, though, we do a VERY VERY VERY bad thing.

We try to scale our relationships.

This is how it looks when we do that…

* We send out marketing materials that get the person’s name wrong.

I often get REALLY interested in what someone has to offer and I reach out to that person as “The Irreverent Sales Girl” and I get a communication back that says, “Dear The”. Seriously. This actually happens! Guess how quickly I hit “DELETE”?

Can you IMAGINE how I would feel if this were my financial advisor? Or my accountant?

* We service our clients in “chunks”.

We categorize people using a limited set of data about them. Then, we put them into some kind of “System” where we deliver certain messages or opportunities or services to each of these “categories”.

There are PLENTY of great ways to scale the services we deliver.

For example, we write a book that provides AWESOME information to the masses who will read it. I have never met Brian Tracy, for instance, but his books have provided tremendous value to me! I have paid for his information many times over and have been happy I did it.

Or, we develop a keynote where we get in front of thousands of people who can benefit from our expertise – and will pay for it. And love it.

Movie-makers develop storylines that will entertain me – even propose messages that change my perspective and that I hold dear (The Princess Bride, for example!)

My bank automates a system where I get a notification when my checking account dips below a certain level with an option to transfer money from another account. This serves me.

Even my accountant has lower-level employees actually DO my taxes, but he interacts with me personally when I have a question.

The TRICK to being WILDLY SUCCESSFUL?

You must KNOW when your services CAN be automated to serve your customers and network better.

And you must KNOW when you will put someone off by “scaling” them into your systems.

THEN, you must make people KNOW that you value THEM and actually know something about them and their goals.

As technology expands, the opportunity to try to scale relationships also expands. BUT, people KNOW IT when we are doing this. It is easy to tell when you have been put into a “category”, isn’t it?

TO BE TRULY AWESOME: You must learn when to scale and when to not.

I’ll tell the truth here. I have NO IDEA how Bob Burg, or Jules Taggart, or Carol Roth, or Phil Gerbyshak, or Dan Waldschmidt, or Anthony Iannorino, or countless others do it. But, they DO. I am determined to crack the code and I will be happy to share it with you when I do.

In the meantime, look at your systems.

Where are you SERVING your customers and network with automation? And where are you making them feel small or angry? (BIG PROBLEM FOR YOU: These people will never tell you – they will simply ignore you).

Find ways to LOVE ‘EM ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

 

 

Irreverence, Loving Life, Performance, Self Care, Winning, Wisdom

Time management is a waste of Time

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Time Management is a waste of TIMEIf you are an ultra-organized person, you should move on and read something else! (I still love you, just don’t want to waste your Time *smile*)

For the rest of us, who just KNOW that if we could manage our time better, we could be the wild success that we know we are…

THIS ARTICLE IS FOR YOU

There are a couple of KEY problems with the idea of TIME MANAGEMENT.

First, time is not even real. Every physicist can tell you that. Even Einstein acknowledged that time is relative.

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

Think about it this way:

When you are spending the last night with your lover before they leave for two weeks, time flies!

When you are sitting in a Traffic Class, time slows to a crawl.

You cannot manage time…. you have no access to managing TIME! Time does what it does. You have nothing to do about it.

Argue with me….I’m open!

Here is what my good friend Anna Belyaev taught me:

You cannot manage time, but YOU CAN MANAGE YOUR ENERGY!

What!?!

Yep!

We all have different energy cycles.

Some of us are morning people.

Some of us are night owls.

Some of us are hyper.

Some of us are sick, with limited pools of energy.

YET, we can ALL do what we set out to do!

We must first know what we are committed to and then we must KNOW OURSELVES.

But, first …. the story that changed my life.

I knew a woman who was WILDLY successful. She made more money than anyone I had ever met.

What was interesting about her is that she only worked between 10 pm and 4 am. It surprised me! How could she do that?

She KNEW herself and she KNEW what she was up to and she WAS NOT going to fail. HA!

So what does this mean for you?

Not sure, but I can tell you what it means for me.

I KNOW that I am a night owl. So, I do not schedule meetings or workouts or other stuff until later in the morning. I do “wake up” stuff in the morning, like Yoga and walking my dogs.

I KNOW that I am ON MY GAME between 11 am and 5 pm. So, I schedule my meetings during this time.

I KNOW that I hit a wall between 5 pm and 7 pm. So, I schedule my exercise at this time.

I KNOW that I am WILDLY effective from 7 pm to 11 pm, so I do my most important work at this time.

I KNOW that I reflect and relax from 11 pm to midnight, so I do that.


Ben Franklin said “Early to bed and early to rise, etc.” Consider that worked for HIM!

Find out what WORKS FOR YOU!

Don’t fight it. Sometimes your energy is high – do the important work then. Sometimes your energy is low – take a nap – refresh.

If you are always fighting yourself, you will never find your SELF!

Trust your cycles. (I trust your cycles!)

Love it ALL UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl

 

Dignity, Goals, Loving Life, Performance, Purpose, Winning

The more conversations you have, the more discouraged you will become…

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The more conversations you haveAs we all now know, protecting our mental space is PARAMOUNT! It is the single best thing we can do for ourselves, whether we are “sales professionals” or anything else. Becoming discouraged can become dangerous and even fatal to our most dearly-held dreams.

DO NOT FALL INTO THE DEADLY TRAP THAT MOST OF US DO!

If we want to be wildly successful and a crazy important INFLUENCER (which I’m betting you do, if you are reading this), we must have many, many, many conversations. With many, many, many people.

The trap we fall into is that we only talk to the people we think will be receptive. We judge by their demeanor, or their background, or their title who might be the most receptive audience.

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

This is ONE WAY of protecting our mental space: Only talk with people who will not ignore you, say ‘no’, or not disagree.

That is not what is going to get us where we want to go!

Wildly successful people cannot afford to “play it safe”.

The Antidote?

FIND YOUR VISION

Whether you are in sales and you are committed to blowing your quota out of the water, or if you are trying to get a new project going in your community, or interested in making a change in the way your family gets along with each other – you are going to have to have conversations that are uncomfortable, risky, and not always rewarding.

When you have your VISION squarely in front of you and it resonates in your soul – or simply drives you to excellence from sheer desire to WIN – THAT is when you can start to move the needle on how effective you are.

THAT IS WHEN YOU BECOME UNSTOPPABLE

Let’s get a little bit obvious and trite here for a moment, but just to prove a grand point. Then, we will bring it back to YOUR success.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a vision,  a dream. While his dream and his stand is VERY popular now – and we revere the man – you have got to remember that this man was COMPLETELY OUT OF HIS GOURD when he first started.

Nearly every conversation he had was risky and unpopular…at first. Then, it began to take hold.

Can you EVEN IMAGINE how many unpopular conversations he had to have with people? He was risking HIS livelihood and asking others to do the same.

But, know what? THEY DID! And sometimes at great cost to them and their families.

THE GOOD NEWS

Your goals are probably not as dangerous as Dr. King’s. (And if they are, I salute you! Go, Go, Go, GO, GO!)

But, they are lofty. Ideas and dreams and goals have a very short shelf life. They must be moved forward and they must gain momentum and this requires lots and lots of conversations.

CONVERSATIONS ARE THE ONLY THING IN THIS WORLD THAT MOVE THINGS FORWARD

So, if you want to be number 1 in sales, you have got to get great at having conversations. The more conversations you have, the better you will get at having them be effective the first time. But, you will not start there. And you will not finish there, either.

Every pro, in any field has started out by having conversations that did not work. They learned, they modified, they clarified. But, they could only learn, modify, and clarify by HAVING the conversations. They did not work them out in their heads.

Every pro, in any field, CONTINUES to have conversations that do not work. Some of us call these COLD CALLS. Others call it networking.

Do you know that TRUE PROS do NOT resist COLD CALLING? They KNOW that is where the action is and where their future lies. More about that later. (Your competition may know this, too.)

Here is what it looks like to be great at having conversations.

Be someone who has lots of them. Period.

It does NOT mean that your conversations will turn out the way you planned. It means that you are someone who is WILLING to have lots of conversations.

AND… Back to the title of the post!

The more conversations you have, the more discouraged you will become…

…if you are attached to them all turning out OK.

The reality is, if you can manage your mental space and be OK no matter HOW the conversation goes…

THE MORE CONVERSATIONS YOU HAVE, THE MORE WILD SUCCESS YOU WILL HAVE!

And, that is all!

Know that I admire your courage and dedication to whatever it takes.

Love ALL the conversations UP!

The Irreverent Sales Girl