Blog Archives
How Educated Are You?
We know it all
We have all the right answers
Our learning was done the last day we walked out of school
That is narrow-minded thinking!
- Our brain needs “exercise”
- Keep growing and learning
When is the last time you listened to a great podcast, grabbed a book or read a blog?
I know talk radio and music can be fun to listen to while driving, but schedule “educational windshield time” each week.
Need a new reference group?
Check out http://www.meetup.com
And see what groups are congregating in your community!
You might be surprised at the great new contacts that you make!
Let’s Connect!
You can find me at:
If you have any questions about moving forward with your business, I would love to hear from you. You can find me at: TimMushey@gmail.com
The 5 Star Five – My Best Selling Tips Ever!
When I was recently preparing a speech to up and coming sales reps, I realized that I had compiled a list of selling tips that I wanted to share today. Here are the best of the best:
#1 Consult, Don’t Regurgitate – better to listen to your prospect and find out what they really need, rather than “barf out” everything you know
#2 Share, Celebrate and Support – be a fantastic teammate!
#3 Manage Time, Plan and Prioritize – not the “sexy” part of selling, but crucial to success
#4 Fly Under The Radar, Don’t Be “On It” – if your boss does not have to follow-up with you about things not getting done, that is a good thing!
#5 The Path of “Most Resistance” Pays Dividends – anyone can do the easy stuff, but tough it out and do the difficult (or less desirable tasks) day in and day out
BONUS…
#6 Customers And Prospects Are Human Beings Too – get to know them on a personal level, make notes and show that you care about them as people too
Keep these close by and refer back to them when you need a gentle reminder of what it takes to succeed in sales!
Good luck!
Where Did It All Go Wrong?
This has been by far my most popular post in the nine months that I have blogged, and I thought it was time to revisit it and keep the conversation going. There are some incredible comments up for review. Some of my childhood friends even chimed in to challenge me with some of my content in the post. I would love you to take a read and respond with your honest feelings on the subject. Maybe I will turn this conversation in to a mini e-book or something in the future because it sure captivated my readers. Enjoy!
I recently returned from a trip to my hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Winnipeg is 8 hours north of Minneapolis, Minnesota if you are unaware. This is the first time in my career that I am able to work in my hometown since I moved away 11 years ago, and I was very excited to reconnect in my community.
Although most of the trip was awesome, I had a surprising conversation with somebody from my past that bothered me greatly. For those of you who know me well, I have “facial recognition software” engrained in my brain for remembering people who I grew up with. I was at the 100th anniversary of the suburb that I grew up in last Saturday and approached at least 15 people from my youth that I had not seen in 4EVER! That was so much fun. I digress…
I was at a trade show earlier in the week and ordered supper at a concession stand. I changed my drink order, and the person serving me smiled and gave a double take. They saw that I was wearing a name tag, and asked if I went to school in the suburb that I actually grew up in. I paused for a moment and said yes. Instead of saying that I did not remember them, I asked what their name was. After they replied, I instantly recognized their face.
The difficult part of the dialog is they hesitated to say their name out of embarrassment for the job that they were doing. I took a few moments to speak with them after receiving my drink, and saw them the next day as well.
21 years removed from high school, I was not expecting somebody to be working in that setting, and my “facial recognition software” was not activated at the time. If they were proud of the job that they were doing, and did not care what others thought, they would have had no issue telling me what their name was.
There is a silver lining for this person. It is never too late to change career paths. The generation of “go to school, get a job, find somebody, get married, have some kids, work at the same thing for 40+ years and retire” is long gone.
One of my best friends dropped everything in his late 30’s, started working towards a totally different career, and is now very close to completing his studies.
We can’t turn back the clock and hit “reset” to that day that we walked out of high school with that diploma in hand, but we can certainly hit the “reset” button RIGHT NOW and start working towards something more fulfilling.
If there is anything this experience really taught me, is that I have to keep working towards what I really want out of life, no matter how hard it seems sometimes. I would rather fall flat on my face and know that I tried, than think about it, and never do anything. I don’t care if you are in sales, management, general business, or doing whatever keeps you paying the bills, but be sure that you are happy doing it.
I will always keep trying, scratching and clawing towards surpassing my goals, no matter how tough things seem to get. Just ask those who played hockey against me when I was a one man wrecking crew pushing for victory as a kid!
- How is your job/career going?
- Are you jumping out of bed excited about what you are doing from the moment your feet hit the floor each morning?
- If you had an unexpected meeting with somebody from your past, would you be embarrassed to tell them what you are doing?
- If so, whatcha gonna do about it?
Have A Laugh Fridays – ABC (Always Be Sellling)!
This is one of the top three most popular Have A Laugh Friday segments, so I thought it was time to show it again. This guy is hilarious, and it is only a 30 second commercial. Count how many references he makes to the movie “Top Gun” during this clip!
Remember “ABC” (Always Be Selling)!
Have a great weekend….
Are You Just A Perimeter Player?
In sports like hockey, football and basketball, certain athletes get tagged with the name “perimeter player”. They mainly shoot from the outside, or in the case of football, only catch the ball near the sidelines. They play it safe, and stay away from the “dirty” dangerous areas. They can still score from the outside, but are missing other opportunities to score.
In sales, most well-adjusted reps have the ability to:
- Sell more products to their most satisfied customers
- Sell to a prospect who has all but pulled out a purchase order number and said “I’m buying!”
- Take over and succeed in a territory that is already on “auto-pilot”
That would be described as perimeter play.
What about getting in to the “dirty”, dangerous areas?
These reps have the ability to:
- Put together action plans and succeed in getting struggling accounts back on track
- Get in front of dissatisfied customers, and fix problems face-to-face
- Make difficult decisions to drop underperforming accounts that will never thrive
- Succeed in spite of lack of leadership and never make excuses
My favourite analogy for this type of work is always related to hockey,
“Who is willing to go in to the corner, get hit by a bigger player, and still come out with the puck?”
The perimeter players, will let up, and watch somebody else complete the difficult tasks.
The perimeter players may still have a long career, but be just average. If you are looking for average, then you must be ok playing it safe. The repeated overachiever, who is always looking to improve never hesitates and welcomes the difficult tasks on route to massive success!
The questions are:
How badly do you want it?
And….
How “dangerous” are you willing to be?
Only you will know the answer. It’s your choice!
Have A Laugh Fridays – My Ice Bucket Challenge Vid!
Happy Friday Everyone!
Last night I completed the Ice Bucket Challenge! It was launched to raise money for ALS – Lou Gehrig’s Disease. One of my family member’s challenged my son and I, and we happily obliged.
This is a very serious disease and I challenge you all to take part, and invite others to participate as well to bring more exposure to the cause.
Why is this under my Have A Laugh Fridays? Check out my video, and please share with others.
Have a great weekend.
Tim
Is It Time To See “The Other Side Of The Fence?”
I looked at many notebooks of my writing one day and …
Thought nobody would care what I had to say
Did not feel confident in my abilities
Was apprehensive and nervous
Realized nobody else I knew was doing this
Did not feel I was creative enough
Something inside of me finally clicked and I took action!
I started a blog
I was still scared
What if nobody viewed it?
What if I did not make any new connections?
What if I faded away in to “Google anonymity”?
To my surprise, posts …
Were viewed
Attained “likes”
Lead to followers
Were shared via social media
Acquired comments
But you have to …
Commit to do the work
Put yourself out there
Engage your community
Care
Show up regularly
The game changer for me occurred early on after I received a personal email from a reader.
It was simple and to the point, but it meant so much.
“Thanks for the post Tim. It really resonated with me. Keep up the great work!”
Validation!
If you are on the fence, I understand (more than you know). Been there done that! Why not jump over? You might like what you find on the other side 🙂
- How has your writing experience been?
- Better than expected?
- More struggles than you bargained for?
Would love if you shared your thoughts in the comments section!
Saturday Music Memories – Rockin’ Live DOA!
I have not been running as much as I should this spring, but I finally got out this week for the first time in a while.
I make sure to have FANTASTIC rock music on my iPod to keep me motivated.
This wicked track by Foo Fighters came on, and I hit repeat three times!
Have a great day and embrace the first day of summer!
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 