“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

Frederick Keonig (German Inventor)

What would you do if somebody handed you $100,000 today and said you can spend it on anything you want? What would you spend that money on? And how much happiness would that $100,000 bring you? Now what if somebody handed you 100,000 hours of time and said you can spend that time doing anything you want? What would you do with it? How much happiness would that time bring? Most would say that the hours would be a greater gift than the cash. Because the happiness the cash brings is quickly forgotten while the memories created in time stick around forever.

The good news is you have been given this gift. And what you choose to do with the gift will determine its value. So this week, make every moment count. At work, appreciate more fully the customers who give you their business, the co-workers who make your day easier and the friends and family who make your life happier. In short…slow down. Because time is only a gift if you take time to fully appreciate the moments that just past and the ones that will soon come.

Let’s not overcomplicate this. In sales, there are only two ways to get better results. The first is to make more sales calls. The second is to perform better on each call.  So how many prospecting calls do you make each week? And as an FYI, “It depends,” is NOT an acceptable answer. Because those that say, “It depends,” or “I am not really sure,” have lost control over their sales territory and as a result, are at the mercy of whatever voicemail and email are telling them to do. The top performer, on the other hand, sets a call objective number and let’s that number drive the workweek. If he or she wants to increase their sales by 15% or more, they realize it means they may have to make 15 more calls. They then let that number haunt them. They don’t start the weekend until they made the last call.

Another way 15% more effort can create 15% greater performance is by investing in improving your sales, communication and leadership skills. Buy a sales book, attend a seminar, seek out top performers in your company and grill them! By increasing your knowledge and skill by 15% or more, you will become 15% more valuable to your customers, your company and your future.

How do you feel? Are you ready? Of course you are. Because in 2010 you are going to change the world! And I promise it’s not going to be difficult. In fact, it’s going to be easier than you ever imagined. And the good news is that you have total control over how much positive impact you make. If you want this to be your most famous year ever, you absolutely can have it. But it means you have may have to “clean house.” That house is your mind. You need to get rid of any grudges, anger, jealousy, apathy or fear that existed in your business or personal life just two days ago. Why? Because it’s holding you back. If I thought being negative, angry or grumpy would help you sell more, lead more, organize more, or change the world more I would say, “Go for it!” But it doesn’t work.  It only makes people more negative angry and grumpy towards you and you can’t influence them if they think you are a jackass.

So today, make a deal with yourself. While others are making excuses, gossiping about a co-worker, cutting corners or frowning in frustration, be the one finding solutions, recognizing the good in others, finishing the job and smiling in celebration. Then be prepared for the positive results that this year will bring. Because these small changes in you are about to make BIG changes in everybody around you.

“If you don’t have a plan for yourself,
you’ll be part of someone else’s.”
-Unknown

We are now three weeks into 2010, which means your sales plan should be in full swing. If you haven’t made one yet, let’s give you some tips to makes sure you are on the right track. In order to make your plan work, you need two components. The first is a Strategic Objective that includes the larger goals you want to accomplish. Those goals might include becoming your company’s top sales performer. Another might be to grow your business by 20%. Whatever those Strategic Objectives are, it is important that you match them up with a very specific Tactical Plan. These are the smaller milestones that will help you get to your larger objectives. If you are in sales, you need to do the following:

1.    Determine exactly how much product you need to sell each week
2.    Determine how many live sales presentations you need to deliver each week to reach that sales goal.
3.    Determine exactly how many prospecting calls each day it will take to reach the sales presentation goal

For example, if you need to sell 5 of your focus products each week to reach your yearly goal, you may have to present to 10 prospects each week. To get those 10 presentations, you may need to prospect with 20 new potential clients. Which means you need to make 4 prospecting calls each day. Once you have that number in your plan each day, let it HAUNT you! Don’t end the day until you reach that Tactical Objective.  By breaking down your plan to a measurable daily number, you will have created a plan that sets the course to making you your company’s top sales performer. See you at the TOP!

The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
-Norman Vincent Peale
(1898-1993)

How do you feel? Are you ready? Of course you are. Because in 2010 you are going to change the world! And I promise it’s not going to be difficult. In fact, it’s going to be easier than you ever imagined. And the good news is that you have total control over how much positive impact you make. If you want this to be your most famous year ever, you absolutely can have it. But it means you have may have to “clean house.” That house is your mind. You need to get rid of any grudges, anger, jealousy, apathy or fear that existed in your business or personal life just two days ago. Why? Because it’s holding you back. If I thought being negative, angry or grumpy would help you sell more, lead more, organize more, or change the world more I would say, “Go for it!” But it doesn’t work.  It only makes people more negative angry and grumpy towards you and you can’t influence them if they think you are a jackass.

So today, make a deal with yourself. While others are making excuses, gossiping about a co-worker, cutting corners or frowning in frustration, be the one finding solutions, recognizing the good in others, finishing the job and smiling in celebration. Then be prepared for the positive results that this year will bring. Because these small changes in you are about to make BIG changes in everybody around you.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
-Albert Einstein

“I’ve been in this business for over 25 years. I have run out of things to learn,” was one of the saddest comments I have ever heard from one of my recent seminar attendees. Stop learning? Don’t we need to learn from our customers so we can effectively serve them? Don’t we need to learn what our competition is doing? Don’t we need to learn how our peers and employees feel about working with us? Don’t we need to learn how much we DON’T know? Once you lose your hunger to learn, you lose the ability to positively affect everybody around you. And who would choose that? And it’s not enough to be open to learning; you have to aggressively seek opportunities to learn.

For example, this week try these three questions with your current customers…and family members:

•    What am I doing I should keep doing?
•    What am I doing I should stop doing?
•    What aren’t I doing that I should begin doing?

Because customers, peers, employees and family members won’t often seek you out to tell you how you can be more valuable to them, you have to ask. And when you ask, you show a willingness to learn. And once you create a habit of LEARNING, you will create a habit that creates some of the world’s top performers.

People fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.

-Bonnie St. John

Bonnie St. John lost a leg at the age of 5. Several years later, she would go on to become the first African-American to win an Olympic medal in skiing as she was awarded a silver and two bronze medals in the 1984 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria.  This week on my radio program, I asked Bonnie to tell her story about how she won the Silver. She said, “I was leading in the slalom after the first run. Then in the second run, I slipped on an ice patch and fell down the hill. I thought for sure this would cost me a medal, but I got up and continued racing.  Several other competitors hit the same patch of ice and also fell…even the one who eventually won the gold.  The only difference, however, between her and I, and the Gold and the Silver, was SHE got up faster…and THAT won her the gold.”

So what about your business? In this tough year, do you feel like you have “slipped on a patch of ice?” Well if so, NOW is the time to get up…and get up FASTER than your competition. Because there is only one gold, and it’s either going to you or them.

Here are three ways to get up faster in your business:

•    Get out of bed 30 minutes “faster” and earlier each morning.  Then use that extra time to learn something new about your Product, Industry or Competition.

•    Stop procrastinating! It’s time to quit talking and start doing. Write down a list of high value activities that might be painful but necessary to make you famous in your company then schedule time each day to do those things.

•    Network and Cold Call more than the competition. If you are speaking to 10 accounts each day, pump it up to 15 accounts each day.

And remember, the common fuel to “getting up faster” is URGENCY. Make your body feel it, then help others use it to make decisions more quickly. And by this time next year, you will look back on the autumn of 2009, as the greatest FALL of your career…the fall that couldn’t keep you down.

“My life insurance was stopped when?!!!” were the words I used with a John Hancock agent this week as she told me they changed their policy and were no longer pulling monthly fees from my credit card. My response was, “Were you going to tell me so I didn’t put my family at risk?” Her response, “We mailed you something. It’s not our process to call customers. It’s your responsibility to check your account.” I could almost sense the “gotcha” in her voice. Furious, I demanded to speak to a supervisor who eventually delivered a resounding, “Sorry sir, that’s our policy.”

Next step…the full-blown manager and department head. Just as I wound myself up like a Jack in the Box prepared to once again eloquently and pathetically express my frustration, a woman warmly and calmly greeted me, asked me three questions, then said, “No problem, we will take care of it.” I hadn’t even had time tell her how I REALLY felt when she made it “all better.”  So what was the difference between associates one and two, and the eventual “solution” representative? Well I believe this woman, like all great service associates, EXPECTS to find a solution every time she faces an issue. Her desire to serve the customer outweighed her desire to serve the “policy.”

So this week, when faced with the challenge of doing the right thing for the customer, or doing the right thing for the “policy,” pick the customer. Or that customer just might take his “policy” somewhere else!

“I Email, Twitter and Blog…therefore I am.”
-Brian Sullivan

What is the first thing you do in the morning when you get in the office…or kitchen for that matter? Do you kiss your computer even before you kiss your spouse, kids or dog? To prevent communications technology from ruling or even ruining your life, do the following.

1)    Schedule email time- When in the office, only check email at specific times…for instance 10:00 and 2:00 pm. Then put an autorespond message telling others your email schedule. Checking email every five minutes can divert you from focusing on your most important objectives that day. (Time Savings 45 minutes each day)

2)    Honor the Email Sabbath- Pick at least one day during the weekend to go email free. You will get several minutes back that can be spent on better things…like cleaning the garage! (Time Savings 1 hour)

3)    Don’t Bring Facebook or Cell Phone to Dinner. Instead, talk to the face in front of you, and then get reacquainted with that little book on the table called a menu.  (Time Savings- 2 Hours of Apologizing)

By following these tips, you can get back 7 or more hours each week, which accounts to 15 days a year! That’s two full weeks of bonus time that can be spent prospecting for new customers, reading that recommended business book, or just hanging out with your #1 customers…your family and friends.

“How’s it going,” were the words I casually used as I walked past a fellow vacationer in a hotel hallway. The bearded man responded reluctantly, “It’s going.” That was it! No “Fine, how are you?” …or “Great, how you doing?” “Oh well, perhaps the guy is just having a tough day,” I thought. The next day as I carried my 3-year old’s floatie to the pool, there he was. As I walked past him I tried again, “How’s it going?” Sure enough, he responded with the same apathetic grunt, “It’s going.”

As I walked away I wondered why he had chosen to make THAT his response to a simple greeting. Why did he CHOOSE to be cold and uninterested in a stranger who was showing interest in him? So how do YOU greet strangers and even co-workers when you pass them in the hall? Do you look down at your feet as if the answers to life’s problems are on your shoelaces, or do you make the first “warm” move? If you said the latter, congratulations!

So this week, pay attention to every casual encounter you have and be sure to deliver your best. Because with each warm greeting and smile you deliver, you increase your worth and value to your customers, organization and world. In other words, your “stock” value goes up. But perhaps even more importantly, you help others “stock” value go up as well. And don’t be surprised if the gift of good nature that you deliver is returned in the form of more knowledge, more money and more honor…whether you intended it to or not.