Yesterday morning, my 12-year-old son Jake needed to use my computer to print out a school report. Of course, he waited until five minutes before his ride to school to do what should have been done the night before. After scrambling to get the printer to work, he finally got his printout and crazily ran out the door. Like most parents, I was not happy that he waited until the last minute. This was NOT acceptable. I thought, “When he gets home from school, that boy better prepare for a little time-management seminar…delivered by his Dad.”

As I began packing up the computer to take into my office, I began reading what Jake had written. In the report he had to identify his role model. For a Dad, this is like Judgment Day! Because our greatest fear is our boy picking anybody other than us. As I read more I discovered…YES…I made the cut! I’m not sure he ever planned on showing it to me but as I read it, I was reminded how no success at work can make up for failure at home. I was also reminded how difficult it is to really know if we are doing our most important job (parent, spouse, friend) as well as we should.

So for this week’s exercise ask yourself this one question, “If I found something written by a loved one describing me, what would it say.” The good news is that we can control the narrative that would be written…by doing everything we can to be even better at home than we are at work. And yes, we will screw up. In my case…way too often. But by reminding ourselves that the stories that will be written about us in the future are being assembled today. So make this week’s chapter of that book one you would wish others would write, and one you would love to read.

Sales Coach and Business Consultant Brian Sullivan, CSP is the author of the book, 20 Days to the TOP- How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your Company’s Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less. For more resources to help you get to the top go to www.preciseselling.com.

You are not judged by what you have but rather by what you give.
-Brian Sullivan

Are you rich? And if so, how do you define rich? Is rich determined by the type of car you drive or the watch you wear? While there are many interpretations of the word “rich,” remember that your value is not determined by what you have but instead by what you give. So if you want to become richer than you are right now, all you have to do is give more of your time, talent and treasure to others.

So this week, take 15 minutes to make a list that contains at least these three categories: Work, Community/Church, Home.  Then under each column, list your special talents that you can offer in a greater way. Then go put those talents to work. It might mean taking on an additional project at work, perhaps volunteering to help coach a kid’s team, or maybe skipping that fancy dinner and giving a few extra bucks to a charity in need. Whatever your “give” is, just remember that each time you give of yourself, you are making a deposit in your own account. And as that account fattens, you grow richer everyday.

Winners are only judged in loser’s circles.
-Brian Sullivan

Recently, as I prepared to speak at a company seminar, I looked around the room as salespeople walked in to find their seat at one of the 25 round tables. I wondered how these salespeople would choose which seat was best for them. Just a few minutes before my speech, I asked the sales manager to identify who in the room were the A, B and C players based on attitude and performance. Sure enough, they seemed to be huddled in groups throughout the room…finding comfort in like-minded performers.

As expected, throughout the day the table full of As and Bs participated in the learning more actively than the Cs. The Cs (when not enthusiastically sharing their tired story about how hung over they were from the night before) were sitting in the back, and at times rolling their eyes while the As offered their own advice and sales experience.

So what about you? Are you and A, B or C? And regardless of what you are right now, what do you want to be? If you want to be a C, it’s easy. You just have to believe you know all you need to know, what has worked in the past will continue to work, and that your sales peers who are constantly honing their knowledge and skill are nothing more than corporate butt-kissers.

And if you want to an A, then stop hanging around Cs. They are poisoning you. Grab a salad and shimmy up to a top performer or leader at your next sales meeting. Then grill them with questions about what you can do to mimic their success. And while your buddies from of the back of the room judge your motive, give them a wink, knowing that you will be delivering their performance review someday.

“It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”
-Steve Jobs
Co-founder and CEO of Apple

My three-year old daughter only recently discovered her Daddy’s iPhone. As she picked it up, she began pressing every button. As her finger accidentally slid across the screen, she noticed she could make things move. And if she pressed that button on the bottom, music came on. The more noises and movements the phone made, the more curious she became. After loading it up with a few Toddler games, she became hooked. Three weeks later, Maggie can now do more on that thing than her Daddy and is a regular shopper in the Application Store.  She keeps looking for the phone to do more, and with curiosity as her fuel she keeps making new discoveries.

So what about you? Are you as curious as you were when you were a child?  If you said yes, then it means you are NOT satisfied with what you already know. It means you feel challenged, not burdened when a new technology enters your life (either willingly or unwillingly). It means you don’t look for answers to be given to you but are thrilled when it is your job to find the solution. It means you don’t see the world for what it is, but instead for what it should be. So STAY CURIOUS, and you will realize there is no END to the potential that your “beginner’s mind” brings to your sales region, company, industry and world.

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
-Albert Einstein

Quick question. Can you make something out of nothing? For instance, if I handed you a stack of Post It Notes™, told you to get with six of your closest friends, then gave you six days to CREATE something of value using only the Post It Notes™, what would you create? Well that is what groups of aspiring young entrepreneurs from around the globe were forced to do as part of Entrepreneurial Week sponsored by Stanford University. And the ideas that came back six days later proved that imagination is truly the gasoline of progress. To see what they came up with view the YouTube video below.

So what are the lessons learned from an exercise like this? For one, it teaches how imagination is vital to creating value from minimal resources. For instance, you may have a new sales territory with few established customers. So what!  Stop thinking the way you are thinking now. Your imagination can help you make something from nothing. Or perhaps you are a corporate executive trying to put together a plan to take market share away from your biggest competitor. If so, stop thinking like every other executive and start using your imagination. Or perhaps you are an operations manager facing exploding costs that are ruining your balance sheet. If so, it’s time to let your mind go “Post-al.”  Because the sooner you realize that your imagination is more important than your Excel spreadsheet, the sooner you can create the well-oiled company that you always dreamed of.

So here is this week’s exercise. I want you to assemble with one or more people on your team or in your company and engage in an imagination exercise. You may choose to grab some Post It Notes ™ and take 20 minutes of pure imagination time to create something of value using the notes. Or pick a business related challenge that your company can’t seem to overcome and ask everybody to come up with the wackiest ideas they can to overcome it. Then open your mind to the possibility that one of those crazy ideas might just be the solution to make you and your company famous in your industry.

“I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard.”
Estée Lauder

Hard selling, Estée? Careful, that may scare some of the readers. Nobody wants to be perceived as a salesperson, do they? But you don’t care, do you? And you know what I love about your comment? You aren’t afraid of the word “selling.” You see, in this politically correct business environment we live in, “selling” has become a nasty word. In fact, we have become so afraid to call ourselves salespeople (this includes executives and business owners), that we have forgotten how to sell! Have we become WIMPY? We aren’t asking enough questions, we are talking too much, and we are delivering too many presentations without asking for agreement.  And because we aren’t “selling,” we are walking out of meetings having accomplished nothing. We are visiting the same customer fourteen times having never asked for a commitment. And as leaders, we are wondering why our employees aren’t “buying” into the corporate initiative. And why, we ask? Because we aren’t SELLING!  So  Estée, thanks for reminding us of who we are…salespeople…the engine of our great economy!

Brian Sullivan
President Salesperson
PRECISE Selling

There are two ways to be successful. Know a ton of people, and make sure more than a few of those people are well respected and influential. First, make it a habit to know the leaders and influencers in your organization. If you are a company employee and find yourself at a corporate convention where your leaders will also be, find a way to develop a conversation with as many as possible. This means you should NOT spend every free minute and eat every meeting meal with your group of business buddy associates who you already feel most comfortable with. And while they are calling out “Brown Nose!” as you shuffle past them to the leaders table, just give them a wink, knowing that your circle of influence is only 20 minutes from growing larger.

Next, remember not all “movers and shakers” reside in the Executive Suite. In fact, the most influential people often lack the fancy business card title but own the “street credibility” necessary to get things done. Don’t overlook them. In fact, go out of your way to help THEM increase their network and watch how the favor someday gets repaid.

Your next influence tip is to hone your speaking skills and USE THEM outside your company. Why? Because people in leadership positions often have to deliver both formal and informal “speeches.” And the ones who get to the top most quickly are often those can deliver a “talk” with poise and confidence.

And this is a skill that, when owned, is perhaps your single biggest weapon to increase your professional perception.  So find an area of expertise that you feel you know well. Then develop a 20-30 presentation on that topic. Practice it, rehearse it, and drill it until you impress even yourself. Then find a place to use. This could be a company meeting, an industry event, a Chamber of Commerce meeting, Rotary Club, or any number of organizations looking for an expert.

Lastly, spread the word on the web. Sign up for a Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account, and as you keep learning, keep the world informed about who and what you know. And as you find new ways to share valuable information with others, you will find that you have become an irreplaceable asset in THEIR rise to the top. And when you become irreplaceable, you become unbeatable in business.

To listen to Brian’s radio interview on “how to increase your circle of networking influence” with Sheryl Nicholson, author of two Chicken Soup for the Soul books, go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm. Brian is author of the book, 20 Days to the Top-How the PRECISE Selling Formula Will Make You Your Company’s Top Sales Performer in 20 Days or Less. To learn more, go to www.preciseselling.com.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
Mark Twain

Think of the five people (outside your family) who you spend the most time with. Are they successful, happy, positive, caring and selfless? If you want to be successful, happy, positive, caring and selfless, the formula is simple. Make sure those five people who you spend most of your time with share those same qualities. And here is the tough news. If those people don’t possess the positive qualities you wish for in yourself, it may be time to replace them with people who do. And while that is often a difficult task, it’s important to realize the negative thoughts and words that you are exposed to DO have a direct correlation on your ability to succeed. In short, their thoughts and words are poison to your mind and force it to be something that it doesn’t want to be.

Author of the book “Winning-How Winners Think, What Champions Do” Edie Raether told me this week that people’s incomes are usually the average of the top five people they spend time with. So if you are in sales, seek out the top performers in your company and build a closer relationship. If you are a leader in your company, first coach the negative employee, but be prepared to remove them from your team (tough love). If you are unhappy in your current position because of a belittling boss, offset the negative vibe with enough positive influencers. Then make a plan to move on to a more positive career.

The good news is, YOU have control over the influence you are exposed to.  And as you make the tough choices of who your influencers will be, be aware that the benefits of replacing the bad with the good far outweigh the pain associated with distancing yourself from those that hinder your ambitions. And by surrounding yourself with “greatness,” there is a 100% chance that you too will find the greatness you seek.

To learn how your mind can create greatness, go to www.preciseselling.com/Radioaccess.htm to hear Brian interview Edie Raether, author of the book “Winning.”  As president of PRECISE Selling, Brian Sullivan helps improve sales, customer service, negotiations, leadership, and presentation skills through seminars and Internet training programs. He also hosts “Entrepreneurial Moments,” a radio show on business and personal development. For more on his speaking, consulting or book, visit: www.PreciseSelling.com or email: bsullivan@preciseselling.com.

Trust me, I am not what you would call “fashion forward,” however, I love this quote. Coco (that’s different) reminds us of a super lesson. Whether you are a salesperson, regional sales manager, or the head of a hospital department, you can’t do the things that everybody else does if you are to become irreplaceable. This week, challenge yourself to come up with a new, irreplaceable, different and creative idea that gets the attention of the people you either serve or workwith. And how will you know that you are being different? You will feel a sick pit in your stomach that is telling you that you must be “nuts.” That, by the way, is a gift from above reminding you that you are still alive! So this week, LIVE a little!