One of the wonderful joys of this life is that it offers so many opportunities.  There are so many ‘shiny stars’ to chase, all that look interesting, enjoyable, and potentially distracting us away from the important things we need to be working on and completing.

Staying Focused

I don’t know about you, however, for me, staying focused is a continuous challenge. It is a constant battle for me to not get distracted, and I have far from mastered the art of time management.

That’s why this week’s affirmation of intention is going to be tough for me.

To practice this week’s affirmation I have returned to the age old ‘to do’ list.

But how do you make a ‘to do’ list practical and workable?  This is my challenge.

Goal Clarity

To help me, Liz and I have revisited our goals for this year.  We’re really quite clear on them, and that’s a bonus, and also my first piece of advice in this message – get clear on your goals in all areas of your life, and then prioritisation becomes easier.

What Liz and I are discovering, is that although we’re clear on our goals, relatively clear on most of the strategies we need to be pursuing, it’s a case of us holding ourselves accountable to complete the strategies where we sometimes fall down.

Why?  Because of the ‘shiny star’ syndrome.  It’s so easy to be distracted by phone calls, emails, creative thoughts, and so on it goes!

So, back to the old to do list.

Although Liz and I have goals other than business goals, for the purpose of practicing this week’s affirmation of intention, I’m focusing on business goals, and specifically building business goals.

A twist on an old classic

We’ve divided our classic ‘to do’ list into the three major categories of Find Clients, Win Clients, Keep Clients, and we’re simply asking ourselves, what will we be doing this week to find, win and keep clients.

If I find myself working on anything other than these three areas of business development, then I have a question that is posted above my desk to remind me to keep focused….the question is one that was taught to me by a long time mentor of mine, Ron Willingham, and the question is “What am I not doing right now, that if I was doing it, would help me achieve my goals?”

So, I’ve listed my activities for this week….not just for today….but for the week…..and with Liz supporting (not nagging) me to keep focused, I’m confident that it’s going to be a very productive week.

Then it’s simply the challenge of doing this again and again and again.

Easy to say…..I’ll keep you posted of my progress.

If you’d like a copy of our ‘To Do’ list to keep you focused on Finding, Winning and Keeping Clients click here to download it!

How are you doing? 

Do you have any tips on being able to keep focused, remove distractions and avoid the shiny stars syndrome?  Let me know.

Relax though, I’m not about to get on my high horse and start lecturing you about the value of exercise – I certainly don’t see it as my role to do that. 

That special feeling

What I want to talk about in this post is a parrallel feeling that I experience when exercising – not just physically exercising, but also when exercising my sales contact initiation activities.

If you’ve attended one of my presentations or workshops you’ll be aware that I am a long distance runner.  Although I’ve cut my weekly jogging distance back from around 80kms a week to now jogging around 50 to 60 kms a week, the sensation that I experience when in the flow of running has not changed.

So what does it feel like and why should you care?

Apart from the physical side of things – usually exhaustion, I get an amazing rush of clarity of thought….that’s it….I think better when I’m exercising.

Big deal I hear you say!

Exercising Your Sales And Marketing Muscles

But here’s the thing, when I’m exercising my sales and marketing contact intiation strategies, in other words, when I’m committed to my ‘sales exercise’ the same sense of clarity of thought occurs.

I reckon it’s when we know we are doing something that is good for us, we get clear about what needs to be done.  It ignites our creative juices and helps us to plan better, to think better, to do better.

What sales and marketing contact initiation activities are you going to be exercising today, this week, this month, this year?

It’s too easy in sales just to go through the motions, rather than planning and proactively ‘exercising’ our sales and marketing contact initiation activities.

Following the core elements of a successful business that SalesCoachCentral.com is focused on, Find Clients, Win Clients, Keep Clients and Manage Me, I recommend that you have a reminder on your desk that keeps you focused on these core elements…..and ask yourself…..

What am I doing to Find Clients today?

What am I doing to Win Clients today?

What am I doing to Keep Clients today?

What am I doing to Manage Me better today?

If you’d like a template for my SalesCoachCentral.com To Do template, CLICK HERE.

As I reflect on this week’s affirmation of intention, I’m reminded of a parable my mum used to tell us about a beggar who spent his life sitting on an old box against an old building where he would with his head always facing the ground hold out his hand to passers by and ask for money.

One day a small child approached the beggar and asked him what was in the box that he sat on.  The beggar replied that he had been sitting on the box for as long as he could remember, but had never thought to look inside it.

The small child told the beggar to look inside the box.  The beggar did, and was amazed to find a fortune in gold coins and jewels.  When he looked up again the child was gone.

How close are you to success?

Sometimes we’re so close to all that we need, that we don’t see the potential.

Abundance thinking for salespeople I believe starts with the understanding that our success is certainly possible and believing that with the right intention, there will be more than enough clients wanting to buy from us…..we’ve just got to be proactive about creating the right environment for us to connect.

My financial adviser has been a wonderful mentor for me in many ways.  One particular piece of advice he has insisted on holding us accountable for is to celebrate our successes.

Celebrate Your Successes

As a sales coach I pass this advice on to you.  In sales we can become so focused on the next sales target, that we forget to celebrate the successes along the way.

If you’re struggling to think of a recent success, perhaps you’re operating out of a position of scarcity and not abundance.  Perhaps you’re operating out of a position of reactivity rather than proactivity.  Perhaps you’re operating out of a position of perfection rather than potential.

Just as I am practicing this week’s affirmation, I recommend you do too – take time to reflect on and celebrate your successes, and while you’re doing that, remember to reflect on and celebrate on the successes your clients are achieving from utilising the value you’ve created for them when they’ve bought from you.

You have all you need right now!

My affirmation for this week is one that the true believers get….and the cynics wonder why the true believers just seem to be a bit more ‘lucky’ than them…..yep….it’s about having a smile on your dial.

I’ve got a brother, whom I love dearly, but we’re really so different in so many ways…..he doesn’t trust anyone who smiles a lot….he reckons they’re all on drugs…life can’t be that good!

Is it all getting too serious?

Well, on the other hand, as I’m walking around the corporate offices of my clients, as I watch people walking to and from work, and as I’m frequently on and off planes I’ve started to notice just how serious people seem to be.

Maybe it’s just me, but one of the comments I quite often get from my clients and people who attend my programs is they can see on my face and hear in my voice just how passionate I am about what I do.

And I guess that’s why I reckon I tend to smile more than most people…..I truly am passionate about what I do.

What about you?

What do your clients see?

In sales it is so important that our potential and existing clients can see that we’re genuinely happy….that we’re enjoying our role as a salesperson….that we’re proud of what we do…and that we are convinced of the value we create when we sell what we sell.

I remember in my first few corporate presentations when I was working with the Morgan & Banks group a fantastic lesson from my then sales manager MariLee Callister.  MariLee had an amazing ability to see more potential in others than they often saw in themselves, which is a wonderful trait of any leader.

After watching me nervously start a few corporate presentations, on my next opportunity to once again take to the podium and present to a group of potential corporate buyers, MariLee handed me a hand written note that simple said “Smile….breath….start slowly….and enjoy!”

And that’s become my mantra just before every presentation I make now.

Celebrate Your Successes

Sometimes its easy, especially in a sales role to focus only on the negatives.  You know what I mean…..we get the potential client who just wont return the call.  Or we have a proposal turned down when we thought we had it in the bag.

But that’s the reality of sales.  What about focusing on what’s going right….surely there’s plenty going on that can bring a smile to your face.

Maybe you’re saying….sure….it’s O.K. for you Penglase….you do have a lot to smile about….and you’d be right….I do.

But I often wonder whether it’s because I’ve always smiled a lot….always tried to enjoy the moments for what they are….that creates even more things to smile about.

And please don’t get me wrong…I certainly don’t smile all the time….stuff happens and you’ve got to deal with it.

So this week….let’s deal with ‘the stuff’…..and then move on and remember there really is a lot to smile about.

Remember to let you clients know just how genuinely you’re enjoying working with them, and for your potential clients to know just how genuinely you’re enjoying the opportunity to potentially work with them.

Take time to make a list of what you have in your life right now to smile about….your relationships (social and business); your past sales; your future sales; your current opportunities and the future opportunities you’ll create.

And if you’re still thinking this is soft and have a frown on your brow…..just make sure it’s not there when you’re next trying to make a sale.

Not surprisingly almost everyone raised their hand.

I then asked how many were hoping to learn or relearn some tips and strategies on how to win more referral sales and most if not all in the room raised their hands.

Here’s what’s really interesting and challenging for me – what I know is that most if not all of the audience at that time, have the intention of learning, relearning and ultimately implementing strategies to help them win more new, repeat and referral sales.

But when the majority of the audience leaves the conference, I also know that despite their intention at the time of the conference, the majority of those salespeople will return to their comfort zones, past habits, and routine.

Now, if they’re achieving their sales targets, then that’s fine.

But if they’re struggling, the question is why isn’t their intention to win more new, repeat and referral sales enough to transfer the learning and strategies covered during the conference into new actions and strategies?

The management guru Peter Drucker once said something like (and I’m paraphrasing here) “every failure of an employee is a failure of their manager”.

Most sales conferences and sales training never live up to the ‘intended’ results.

Why?

Because the intended results lack the required level of intentional pre, during and post conference behavioural change strategies.

Real intention is demonstrated and observable in the actions and support that is provided by management to create the necessary on-going success environment that will inspire, motivate and energise their salespeople into incrementally, comfortably, and confidently implementing the learning, tips and strategies from the conference.

Sure….this requires a commitment to invest in their people above and beyond just at the conference…..but surely, without an intention to commit to a level of investment that will achieve the desired outcome, throwing money at a conference and hoping that the learning will stick is a waste.

Fortunately I’m currently working with a number of organisations who have made the commitment to create a successful sales culture that the management team, salespeople, clients and their suppliers can all be proud of.

The sales management team are inspiring – they really want to create a sales culture to be proud of.  The salespeople can see that this is not some passing ‘fad’ and that there really is a genuine commitment to build a bigger purpose and story around their clients’ buying experiences.

The steps they’re taking include:

1. Completing a series of sales culture interviews with the sales managers to determine current and desired sales culture and strategies to find, win and keep clients. 
2. Establishing regular mastermind accountability sessions with the sales managers to plan, review and develop their sales coaching success 
3. Providing the salespeople with targeted and regular learning and development opportunities (with a mix of online, one-on-one and small group) to build their skills and confidence to win more new, repeat and referral sales 
4. Continual review and measurement of the sales culture and the success that it is creating.

Creating sustainable and successful behavioural changes to the sales skills and confidence and strategies of salespeople is not rocket science. It is in fact quite simple…..just not easy.

Whether you’re a business owner, salesperson, or sales manager, if your intention is to win more new, repeat and referral sales, and you’re serious about creating a sales culture to be proud of……..check that your commitment and actions are aligned with your intention. ..