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The Seven Powers of Words
Great post by Dan this morning! Hope you like it as much as I did. Have an awesome Thursday…
Complaining says stop or improve, but doesn’t improve anything. Encouraging points to behaviors or attitudes to continue, but doesn’t continue anything.
The danger of talking is it feels like doing.
The biggest waste of words:
It feels good to get something off your chest. But, “off your chest” conversations are pleas for affirmation not expressions of leadership.
Weak leaders run around getting things off their chest. It’s self-centered, self-indulgent, and self-defeating. Leadership is about them not you.
Talk is when it’s the environment of action.
The 7 powers of words:
- Connect. Words that create connection are about others not you. Trust is the predecessor and indicator of connection.
- Persuade. Spend more time connecting and it will take fewer words to persuade. Convincing others is about them, not you.
- Focus. It’s normal to focus on what matters. Leaders explain what matters now.
- Open. Nothing opens hearts and…
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Are You Squeezing the Toothpaste Tube Too Hard?
I planned a Saturday golf game with my friends last spring. I was very excited because it was my first game of the year, and I really needed some time to unwind with the guys.
I ended up shooting one of the top 10 games of my life. I reflected that evening on why I had done so well, and there was a very simple answer. I was relaxed. I had only played two rounds of golf all winter, so my expectations were low. I just wanted to have fun, and did not think about scoring.
I started well, and kept the momentum going throughout the entire round. Typically (due to my infrequent play) I will have a great front nine, then a rough back nine, or vice versa. But this game was consistent throughout. I still had some bad shots, but was able to recover quickly.
With my golf game, relaxation and good shots breed confidence. I heard a humorous golf analogy many years ago and I often think of it when I am struggling.
- Pretend the golf club is a tube of toothpaste. What happens when you squeeze the tube of toothpaste too hard?
- Well of course too much toothpaste comes out!
- If you are squeezing the golf club too hard, inevitably you are going to make more bad shots than normal.
What happens if you have a bad day of sales calls, or perhaps a bad week or month in general? We all have confidence and feel great when things are going well; that is the easy part. The true test of character is how we respond when things don’t go our way.
Sales people and golfers need to have short memories. If you are “squeezing the tube of toothpaste” too hard on your sales calls and during the sales process, things may not go according to plan. If you feel under pressure to close more sales, you may “squeeze the entire tube of toothpaste” out on each call! You press, you are not yourself, your presentations and discussions have no flow, and you are off your game in general.
I asked my friends about their golf game that day last spring, and they said that it was not uncommon to have 10-15 stroke swings from one nine-hole round to the next. It proves that we have the ability to bounce back if we stay focused and regain confidence.
As usual, I watched the Master’s Golf tournament in April of 2011, and it was more exciting than normal. There were 7-8 golfers in the hunt until the last few holes. I am always amazed how golfers can keep outside distractions to a minimum and just focus on the next shot. Their focus is superhero-like, and they handle pressure remarkably well.
Rory Mcllroy was in first place after three rounds, the proceeded to shoot the worst final round in Master’s history. After the last round he said that he will learn from the experience and knows that he will be in the running for many more major championships down the road. His positive attitude was impressive.
To show his resilience, he came back at the next major tournament (US Open) and destroyed the competition by nearly 10 shots. That is an incredible example of putting a negative experience in the past, learning from it, and moving on quickly.
Sales and golf have many similarities which I look forward to exploring more in the future. Relaxation, confidence and a general sense that you will excel are all keys factors while “working” on the golf course and in a sales territory.
- Do you find that you are squeezing the tube of toothpaste too hard in your sales or business role?
- What factors contribute to these feelings “invading your body”, and making things more difficult in the field than they should?
If you are struggling right now, reflect back to when things were going very well, and you were full of confidence. Make some notes about those times, and do more of that!
Saturday Music Memories – Is Your Life A “Highway”?
I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Tom Cochrane and Red Rider perform last week. He is a Canadian treasure that we all admire in Canada!
Tom has been around forever, but really broke internationally with his early ’90’s hit “Life Is A Highway”. (No… Rascal Flatts did not write this for the movie Cars 🙂
I stumbled across this absolute gem of Red Rider playing on American Bandstand in 1983. I heard “Human Race” last week and still love the track all these years later!
Enjoy and have a great weekend…
Have A Laugh Fridays – Not Feeling The Love Sales Reps?
This video proves a very valuable point.
You typically gotta have a sales force to sell stuff. This is a funny, somewhat awkward take on that concept, but the message is very clear.
If your company takes the sales force for granted, maybe today is the day to show them some love!
Have a great weekend….
The Five Star 5 – Why I Don’t Sell In The Summer!
Summers are short in Northern Canada, so I have to make the best of the warm weather and longer days!
I actually do sell in the summer, and just wanted to get your attention with a catchy title 🙂
Here are the top 5 things that I like to do with customers and/or prospects when most of my competitors are on the golf course:
- Drop by later in the day with cold drinks and snacks. Most people are stuck at their desks just counting down the minutes until they get to leave and enjoy the sun too!
- Take them out to lunch! Make sure to sit on a patio and take in the great weather.
- Attend an outdoor sports game, concert or other outdoor event. No better way to get to know them than enjoying these activities together
- Plan a trip with key customers. Every time I hear about customer trips they rave about the good fun for years to come!
- Have a “there are still people to sell to” mentality vs. “everyone is off ’til September so I will just coast” mentality.
These business building activities will pay dividends in the long run. Nobody likes being stuck in the office when the weather is balmy!
I am sure there are many other great ideas that I am missing. But the key is to:
- get creative
- build rapport
- get sales!
You don’t want to risk your competitors having all the great ideas!
Raw Talent vs. Passion – And The Winner Is…
I went to a Van Halen concert last spring. It was a huge letdown after waiting 28 years to see the first incarnation of the band, and I won’t be seeing them again, EVER! If you are not a Van Halen fan that is ok, this is a broader message than just about their music. I have wanted to see The Van Halen brothers with David Lee Roth since I first heard of them as an eleven year old in 1984. I am still not sure how I was able to convince my parents to buy me a cassette tape with a baby smoking on the cover!
The show did not come close to meeting my expectations. Would they have been incredible if I had seen them in late 1984 or early 1985 before they broke up? I have a hunch it would have been amazing. But this is 2012, and it seemed like a job to them, and they “had to be there”. There was no chemistry between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen, and they seemed to be going through the motions.
The hastily introduced “Jump” as the last song and did not even come out for an encore! News broke a week later that they had cancelled their summer tour. “Allegedly” there is serious infighting within the band. Other reports are now saying that fatigue has been an issue for band members, and the tour will take up to two years. They are taking precautions not to burn out.
Rewind to 2004 when Van Halen was touring with Sammy Hagar once again, and Michael Anthony was still playing bass. It was my birthday, and I had an incredible time. The band was in synch, they were having a great time, and Sammy was signing autographs for the fans in the front row. There were already rumours surfacing that Sammy and Ed were not getting along, but I did not get that sense that fall evening in Edmonton, Canada.
Eddie Van Halen is one of the greatest guitarists ever, but I have never gotten a warm and fuzzy off him. Sammy is not a guitar playing or singing virtuoso, but is an above average musician and vocalist. What he lacks in raw talent, he more than makes up for with passion and love for his “career”, and the fans that have supported him for over 40 years.
Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony have formed a new band named Chickenfoot with Joe Satriani and Chad Smith (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers), and their shows are electric. They are having the time of their lives, and care deeply for those they are performing for.
I had a chance to see the band in Vancouver when my friend was working for them, and I did not go. I am still kicking myself. I hope to see them again in the future. If I had a choice to see Sammy Hagar/Michael Anthony or Eddie Van Halen/David Lee Roth perform one more time in my life, hands down it would be Sammy and Mike. Eddie may play the guitar like no other, but raw talent is not the only criteria where I will spend my hard-earned dollars on. It is on my bucket list to go see Sammy Hagar play in Cabo in Mexico at his birthday bash one year. And that WILL happen. I can’t wait!
How does this all relate to business? You don’t need an “off-the-charts” IQ, or raw talent to achieve massive success. You need to show up regularly though. You have to care about those paying for your products and/or services, and be willing to go “that extra mile” when they need you the most.
The passion that you exude for your audience/customers, the depth that you are willing to go to help them get to where they want, will pay dividends in the long run. I needed Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth to “knock it out of the park”, and they let me down.
- What band’s concert have you attended, or company have you “dealt with” that just blew you away?
- On the flip side, what band let you down at their live show, or company disappointed you, and you will never “deal” with them again?
No Laughs This Week – Just Smiles And Reflection!
This is an older post that I pulled out of the archives today. Instead of laughing this time, I will be smiling and reflecting. My championship hockey team from 1985 lost a teammate way too young last week, and I want to dedicate this post to him and his family…
I love sales, and I love sports – especially hockey. It’s natural that I see similarities between professional athletes and sales reps, as well as between the roles of sales managers and sport coaches. One story sticks out in my mind, and it has motivated me for close to 30 years now.
Growing up, there were four different tiers of hockey leagues in my city, and I was very excited to be selected to play for the Tier 2 team when I was 11 years old. It was a great group of guys, and the coaches were awesome. We had a pretty good year, but started to slip in the standings towards the end of the season. Six out of ten teams made the playoffs, and we qualified by a narrow margin.
To be honest, I don’t remember the playoff rounds leading up to the finals, but what I remember is how the coaches got us to come together as a team. Players would be asked to play different roles depending on the scenarios that unfolded during the season. Some players were more skilled than others, and they would be counted on to score. Others were better at defence, and they would be counted on to prevent the other team’s best players from scoring.
We remarkably made it to the finals, and had to play the first place team. They were the top team for the entire season. It was a best of three series. They had one superstar player, who was a big reason that they had advanced to the finals. He was hands down the best player in the league. Our strategy going in to the finals was if we could neutralize that player, and keep him off the scoreboard as much as possible, we would win.
They won the first game. But our coaches were so good, they told us not to panic, and stick to our game plan. If we played better in game two, and continued to focus on the star player, we would still win. Game two was much better, and we kept the star off the score sheet as much as we could. All our players pretty much played the same amount, and we attacked our competitors as one unit. They would play their star player and his supporting cast most of the time. We won game two.
We advanced to game three, it was winner take all. I was so nervous that I thought that I was going to throw up! It was a very evenly matched game, and it went in to over time. I did not know how the families and coaches could bear to watch anymore. I do not remember exactly how long it took, but during the overtime period, the puck came to me by our bench. I skated up the ice with the puck, and one of my team mates had just hopped on to the ice. I sent a pass over to him and he scored the winning goal! We were champions even though nobody thought that we could do it.
What I really got out of that experience was the value of working as a team. A group of people with their own goals do not make a team. The other team relied too much on one player, and in the end that strategy did not work. Our coaches were instrumental in keeping us motivated, positive and continually instilled in us that we could do it! Their confidence in us never wavered for one moment. Losing was never an option.
This is very much like a sales team. Everyone has their own individual goals. But if team goals are important too, it will create a better work environment for everyone, and a much stronger company overall. There is no better feeling than succeeding when nobody expects you to! And success feels so much better when you have teammates to celebrate with.
- Have you ever been a part of a winning sports team, and if so, what factors contributed to its success?
- Do you have any memories of that team that will be with you for the rest of your life?
Is It Time To Hit “Reset” With Your Team?
Managing, coaching and/or leading a team can be a very rewarding role when things are going well. There’s a method to the madness in motivating and inspiring team members. When things don’t go well, the accountability has to fall back on the manager, and tough questions need to be asked. One of the questions that has always intrigued me is,
“Do you know your team members?” (yeah, yeah I do!)
No…
“Do you really KNOW them?”
I heard a story once about a sports star who was allegedly upset that his General Manager did not phone or visit him while he was in the hospital recovering from surgery. This caused a great debate – whether the manager should have had to make personal contact, or if it was satisfactory that his support team did the checking in.
I had a strong opinion on the situation initially, and concluded that the player was another over paid athlete who was whining and wanted a “big hug” from his adoring fans! A radio announcer quickly put it in to perspective for me. He said that although it was ridiculous to expect a General Manager to make calls to a player in the hospital, he needed to know his players. If all it took to keep a multimillion dollar player happy was an occasional phone call or visit to the hospital, was it really that big a deal? Maybe he only had to do things similarly with a handful of players, but it would have kept harmony within the team. Speculation ensued and the player ended up being let go in a very public dispute.
“The Blind Side” movie provided another great lesson about knowing players. A high school football coach had an offensive lineman on his team who was having difficulties blocking opposing players. The coach got frustrated, and did not know how to teach the player to block better, and protect the quarterback. The player’s mom was watching that practice, and went on to the field and gave some insight to her son. She knew that he had scored very well on testing at school when the topic was protection. She gave him examples of how he had protected the family and others close to him over time, and how it related to the football team concept. It really sparked something inside him.
From that point on, he did an incredible job protecting the quarterback. The mom commented to the coach that he needed to know his players better. Every time the player struggled and was not blocking as well in the future, they just had to remind him again that this was his “football family” and he needed to protect them too!
In today’s business environment, now more than ever, Sales Managers and Executives need to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of each of their team members. In the sales profession, some reps will be better at presenting, others will have more technical knowledge, and some will be customer relationship building standouts.
Work your butt off to understand the different personalities that you are managing, and adjust your style when dealing with each of them . Focus on assisting them in areas of weakness, and capitalize on their strengths. Well-rounded reps will be much more successful on your teams in the long run than those who are one-dimensional.
Managers need to be prepared to change-up their leadership strategies based on their team member’s needs. If your team genuinely knows that your number one priority is their success, life at work should already be good if not great. If things aren’t going well with your team, ask yourself:
- How well do I know each individual?
- What motivates them day-to-day?
- What are their long-term goals?
- What can I do to get to know each person better?
- How can I further their career development? (i.e. one-on-one coaching, encouraging continued education, job shadowing, mentoring)
Taking time to get to know your employees gives you valuable insight into leading your team effectively. Happy employees are more productive which is a win-win for everyone.
Have A Laugh Fridays – Everyone Needs A Vacation!
Everyone needs a vacation, even Terry Tate! You just know that you have to watch all 3 minutes.
Have a great weekend!
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 