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As a sales professional, sales leader or business owner, distractions can often be the main obstacle for achieving great success.

If you have too many distractions, you will never achieve your full potential.

It is important to continue to evaluate what sales activities will be most important to reach your goals. Then, you must focus on those activities first, and make a commitment to complete them each and every day without failure.

You must remove and minimize your distractions. You will then have the time to focus on what you have determined is most important.

Here are some tips on how to minimize common distractions:

Limit your number of social networks. Determine which social networking sites are most valuable to you. You may be a member of multiple forums, on line groups, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and will be invited to join other networks as well. Pick a couple that are most helpful for you and drop the rest.

Do not log into social networking sites while you are working. Save social networking for times when you are not at work.

Block time to check your email. When you are working on a task, focus on the task. Emails constantly flying into your inbox can be a constant distraction. Schedule specific times during the day to read and send emails.

Send fewer, shorter emails. Also, don’t become dependent on emailing versus picking up the phone. There is value in the personal touch.

Shut off notifications. Are you constantly getting pinged with an email, or tweet, or text or IM? When are you actually focused and present in the moment? Don’t forget that the most important time you have is right now. Consider at times completely shutting off your computer or turning off your smartphone.

Clear off your desk. Only keep what you truly need on it. Keep it neat and tidy. Do the same for your computer desktop.

Do one thing at a time. Multitasking can be totally counterproductive.

Do the tough stuff first.

Have a cut off time. Make sure you have set times to complete your activities as well as set times to stop working. Have you ever planned a trip where you left work early at 12:00 noon? Remember how much you got done before 12:00 noon because you knew you had to leave early that day? Exactly.

The next step is to put these items into action and start minimizing your distractions today. Also, consider making a list of all other distractions you may have.

By minimizing my own distractions, I was able to be a #1 sales performer within multiple fortune 500 organizations. Now, as a sales coach, I help support my sales coaching clients achieve similar success by providing specific solutions to challenges that are holding them back from extraordinary results.

This article was inspired by the minimalist, Leo Babauta, and some of the writing is taken directly from his uncopyrighted material on his website which he gives full permission to copy, distribute and modify.

I have added my own perspectives, made deletions, and modified various sections and wording so that this article is true to my own values. However, I wanted to be sure I gave him the credit he deserves.

I believe it is important to share this information as it has proven to be incredibly valuable for me.

You can become a minimalist overnight or through a gradual process.

For most people, it will be a transition that is made by taking one step at a time.

1. Stop buying things you don’t need. Before any purchase, ask yourself, do I really need this?

2. Get rid of things you never use. Take a look around your office, your house or apartment. Gather a few boxes and fill them up with items you never use, or no longer need. Give them away to friends or family, or donate them to those who could really use them.

3. Get rid of more things you never use. After step 2, you will have less clutter. So look around again, box up more items and get them out of your ownership.

4. Clear off your desk. The less distractions you have on your desk, the more you can focus. Only keep what you truly need on your desk.

5. Clear out your closets, garage, drawers. Again, remove what you never use, or no longer need.

6. Learn to let go. Some old items will be hard to give away. Old childhood items or things you have an attachment to, but no longer use or need. Start to let go of these items and it will become easier and easier.

7. Repeat the process. After you have gone through all of these steps, you can repeat the process again on a monthly or quarterly basis to ensure you are maintaining the changes you have made, or to further progress towards becoming a minimalist.

Keep looking for ways to make things easy and simple. Then implement the changes right away.

So, how does this make everything easier?

Well, that is for you to experience first hand. For me, the less I own, the more freedom I experience. The less worries I have, the less I have to repair or replace things, the less I want, and the more content I feel. I am continuing to work through these steps and do not claim to have this all at 100%, however, I have made great strides in this direction.

Why be a minimalist?

It’s a way to escape the excesses of the world around us — the excesses of consumerism, material possessions, clutter, having too much to do, too much debt, too many distractions, too much noise. But too little meaning. Minimalism is a way of clearing out the non-essential in order to focus on what’s truly important, what gives our lives meaning, what gives us joy and value.

Granted, for all of us, there are certain values that are more important than for others. Being a minimalist isn’t about being cheap, it is about quality over quantity, and choosing what is most important. It is about freeing up more time and energy for what is most important.

Isn’t minimalism boring or too sparse, with nothing in your life?

This is a misconception about minimalism — that it’s necessarily monk-like, empty, boring, sterile. Not at all. We are clearing away all but the most essential things — to make room for that which gives us the most joy. Clear away the distractions so we can create something incredible. Clear away all the obligations so we can spend time with loved ones. Clear away the noise so we can concentrate on inner peace or on our thinking. As a result, there is more happiness, peace, and joy, because we’ve made room for these things.

What is minimalist living?

It’s simply getting rid of things you do not use or need, leaving an uncluttered, simple environment and an uncluttered, simple life. It’s living without an obsession with material things or an obsession with doing everything and doing too much.

What are the benefits of minimalism?

There are many. Less stress…much less. It’s less expensive and less (or zero) debt. It’s less cleaning and maintaining. It’s more enjoyable. There’s more room for creating, traveling, and for doing the things that give you joy. There’s more time for being healthy. It’s more sustainable. It’s easier to organize. These are only the start.

What does the schedule of a minimalist look like?

There’s no single answer to this question, but a minimalist would probably focus on doing less, on having a less cluttered schedule, but what’s on his or her schedule would be important.

A minimalist would also save a lot of time because of having less clutter and fewer possessions. That means less time cleaning and maintaining, and less time searching for things. A minimalist who clears away distractions and single-tasks would also waste less time with those distractions and in switching back and forth between tasks (multi-tasking).

In general, all this results in more time for relaxing, for hobbies, for creating, for doing fun things.

What rules do I need to follow to become minimalist?

There are no set rules. There’s no one way. In general, however, you want to live simply without too many unnecessary possessions, distractions, clutter, or waste. You want to live frugally, debt-free, sustainably, naturally.

Do you need to be vegan or vegetarian to be minimalist?

No. I am am not a vegan or vegetarian, though many minimalist would say that a vegan/vegetarian type of lifestyle is consistent with minimalism. For me, I eat very healthy and “clean” as they call it within the bodybuilding community.

I believe in simplifying, but why should I be so frugal — what wrong with a few REALLY nice things?

Frugality is simply a way of not spending on unnecessary things — sticking to the essentials. If you need to buy something, it’s usually better to go for quality, rather than cheap, because it’s better made and will last longer. Minimalism is about quality over quantity.

I don’t claim to be a master minimalist or a living example of minimalism. However I value minimalism and I value simplicity. I continue to move towards a more minimalistic and simple way of life. It is very freeing and fulfilling. There is no one right or wrong way, and there are all different paths and different levels of minimalistic living. Some people would consider me to be a minimalist, and others might say I am not. It all depends on perspective.

All too often, I see emails from sales professionals and business leaders that are 10x’s longer than they need to be.

They loose the attention of the recipient and the purpose is not always clear right away.

By learning to write brief emails you will save yourself time and save the time of the recipient.

Below are some tips for writing brief emails:

Keep it to a few sentences. 2 to 5 sentences max is a good rule.

Skip a long greeting. Their time is valuable so get to the point.

Focus on a single topic. This will help you keep it concise.

Re-Read & Edit. Remove unnecessary words and sentences.

Consider not sending. Sometimes, an email is unnecessary.

Shorten Your Sales Cycle So You Can Win More Clients, Faster!

By Coach Jeremy J. Ulmer

As a sales professional, entrepreneur or business owner, being able to effectively establish new client partnerships and increase sales results quickly is vitally important. When sales are going great it can be very exciting! When you have a great month you are filled with sales motivation!

But, after a while, things slow down and you hit a wall. You find yourself chasing after prospects and wondering why it is taking so long to convert prospects into clients.

You’re stumped!

You start exploring different techniques and try to find a solution. But, no matter what you try, the results are the same and the sales cycle is a much longer process than what you would like.

So where do you turn when you are stuck in sales quicksand and can’t get your prospects to move forward?

Here’s How You Can Shorten The Sales Cycle and Win More Clients, Increase Sales and Profits with 2 Simple Strategies:

1. Determine, Uncover & Clarify Challenges
If a prospect is not clear about their challenges and the impact of these challenges, this will greatly slow down the entire sales cycle. This is because the client does not yet believe their challenge is significant enough to take action, and guess what, because of this, they won’t take action! It is a waste of time for you to give information before understanding their needs, goals, challenges and problems. You are presenting a “solution” to someone who doesn’t believe they have a “problem.”

So, what do you do about this? Ask a lot of questions! Ask open ended questions. Get curious and don’t assume you understand their problem or challenge no matter how long you have been in the industry. Dig in and really find out what is going on, and ask follow up questions that focus in on the greater impact of their challenges. Uncover the impact of the current challenges on both the organization and the individuals or groups you are selling to. Your questions will help them understand and verbalize that they have a challenge or problem. Now you have the information you need to explain how you can help solve their challenge.

If you find yourself talking more than 20% of the time during your sales meetings with prospects, stop yourself, and ask a question!

2. Always Set A Clear Next Step
Have you ever heard this before? “Thanks for your time today, your product looks great and we will get back to you soon.” Yet, you never hear back, and end up having to chase, follow up, and make multiple calls, send multiple emails to no avail. That is not fun for you, nor is it fun for the prospective client.

How do you solve this?

Well, if you are a great salesperson or great sales minded business owner, you don’t need to chase. You don’t need to pressure. You don’t need to persuade. Really. You need to set up a clear next step, and if your prospect is not ready to take the next step, they will tell you, and you will determine if they are a serious prospect or not, on the spot.

Remember, give your prospects an option to say, “No.” When you do this, all the pressure is taken off of you, and more importantly off of your prospect. That way, they do not feel like they are being “sold,” nor do they feel any pressure from you. Many of the sales coaching programs and sales coaches still are teaching the same old techniques developed decades ago that involve pressure and persuading. You do not need to do that anymore and it does not work.

Simply set up the next step at the end of your meetings. The next step could be a follow-up face to face meeting or a scheduled phone call for example. However, make sure the next step is moving the sales cycle forward and has a scheduled date, time, and location.

Map out your sales cycle and know what steps need to take place. Here is an example of a 5 step sales cycle: 1. Initial appointment, qualification, discovery, 2. Agreement to conduct an in-depth analysis, 3. Demonstration of service or product, 4. Contract review meeting, 5. Signed agreement.

At the end of each meeting, you should be setting up the next meeting and next actions. Explain the next steps you both will need to take to start working together. Map it out for them and provide them with a simple document that explains the next steps with clear time lines. Ask them to commit to the next steps along the way. Guess what happens if you do this effectively? You don’t need to “close” or persuade, the sale will be made, faster, naturally, and more effectively.

I truly enjoy the art of sales and sharing sales tips to sales professionals, sales leaders, sales experts, and entrepreneurs just like you. I am lucky to be able to live and breath my sales approaches everyday for my own business, as well as witnessing my clients putting these techniques into action and reaping the rewards! These 2 steps will help you shorten your sales cycle and experience dramatically improved sales results. Don’t wait to make these changes, take action now, and make a commitment to yourself. Want more ideas, tips, coaching, and support to shorten your sales cycle? Contact me for a free coaching consultation or subscribe for free tips below.

About the Author:
Sales Coaching & Business Coaching Expert, Jeremy J. Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs overcome sales and business challenges to achieve breakthrough results. Jeremy has been ranked a #1 sales performer in the U.S. for 4 years at two Global Fortune 500 Companies, is the former Director of Sales at the #1 Outsourced Sales Company in the U.S., and is a Featured Presenter on Sales Skills and Entrepreneurship at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. If you are ready to dramatically increase your sales or business results then subscribe for your Free Tips or request a Free Coaching Consultation at: http://www.CoachWithJeremy.com or visit Coach Jeremy’s Programs.

Are you looking to hire a sales coach to improve your career, leadership, life, business and sales results?

Well, I’m going to tell you right now that there are many sales coaches in the field and it is hard to know where to start, or what to look for when hiring a coach. There are highly qualified sales coaches like myself – and then there are others who just jumped on the sales coaching bandwagon so they can profit from you even though they have not proven themselves to be worthy of getting you as a client.

Knowing this, how can you find the best sales coach for you and your organization? Simply ask the 10 questions below….

Here Are My Top 10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Sales Coach So You Can Achieve Breakthrough Results:

1. What is your personal track record of success in sales?

I was ranked #1 sales performer in the U.S. for 4 years at two global Fortune 500 Companies. I generated over $135 Million in Sales Revenue. I know what it takes to become a top sales professional.

This is not true for many sales coaches as they do not have the credentials of being a #1 performer in a large organization multiple times. And, many sales coaches do not have extensive experience building, developing and managing sales forces.

But what if those are your goals? See the concern? If they have not walked the walk, and proven they know what it takes to achieve great sales results, how can you expect them to know what it takes to achieve extraordinary results?

Now, it can be hard to find a sales coach’s past sales performance on his or her website or on LinkedIn, so be sure to ask or do your own online research and find out.

2. Will you customize your sales coaching programs around my particular needs and goals?

Many sales coaching programs simply place all individuals and businesses into the exact same sales coaching process. In effect, each business or individual is taught in a training format that starts with certain skills or techniques and moves on to the next set of techniques. They do not take into consideration the immediate challenges at hand, nor do they focus on customizing the program around the strengths of the individual or organization, while identifying and addressing weaknesses.

Before you hire a sales coach, ask how they customize their sales coaching program. If they don’t have some good examples to share, run fast, or face receiving cookie-cutter coaching which will greatly impede your results.

3. What is your general sales philosophy?

Sales coaches often have a very traditional perspective when it comes to sales and selling. This results in the coach teaching you to persuade, push, be very aggressive, and to forcefully change the mind of others. This will make both you and the prospective client feel uncomfortable. This will automatically lead to lost sales.

Many of the old persuasive selling techniques really are a thing of the past. They don’t work. Yet, many sales coaches are still teaching the same stuff. If you want to increase your sales potential then you need a sales coach who understands how to create a genuine, natural, customized sales philosophy for each individual they coach. If they don’t, watch out.

4. What professional coach training do you have?

You may find a sales coach who has a respectful sales background like me. But, in many cases they’ll have very little, if any professional coaching training. There is a big difference between calling oneself a coach, and having 100’s of hours of face-to-face coaching training. If they do not have this training, you may not receive all the support you need around motivation, focus, changing your mind set, accountability, and being able to support you towards success in your entire life. If you hire a sales coach who does not have professional training, do not expect the same results. You will not be supported holistically around all the intangibles that help people reach extraordinary results.

5. Do you offer monthly programs?

Many sales coaching programs involve a 6 month or longer commitment or a large upfront investment just to get started. Be careful, because if you don’t see the results you want with your sales coach, you are stuck. Look for a coach who offers flexibility. Including, month-to-month programs or packages that enable you to minimize your upfront risk as you initiate your partnership with the sales coach. When working with a top-level expert sales coach, you should quickly see results. Then you make the decision to invest in the coaching, versus being trapped in a long-term agreement with a coach who is not an ideal fit for you.

6. What experience do you have managing or leading a sales force?

Often a sales coach may have experience selling, but they will have little or no experience actually managing, developing and leading sales teams. If you are a business owner who is focused on building and developing your sale team, then you need a sales coach who has something of value to offer.

7. How did you end up becoming a sales coach?

Find out if the sales coach made the conscious choice to become a coach for the right reasons, or if they burned out of corporate America or fell into the position as a back up because they lost a job. You want a coach who loves coaching, sales and changing lives. Look for a coach with whom you connect with. Look for a sales coach who truly cares about your success and loves the work he or she does. If you do not sense a great deal of passion in their voice when they describe how they became a sales coach, talk to another coach.

8. How else can you support me to achieve my goals?

The sales coach you are thinking about hiring may know how to sell, but does this sales coach lack the necessary skills to provide the support you need when it comes to mindset, motivation, focus, productivity, effectiveness, and discipline. Teaching and sharing new skills is just one small piece of effective sales coaching. When an expert sales coach can support a client with all the intangibles, far greater results are possible. Pay attention to how they answer this question and ask for examples.

9. Can you show me new and innovative ways to increase sales?

If the sales coach is not aware of how to use social media, blogs, website marketing, SEO, AdWords, effective article writing and publication, LinkedIn and other similar tools to grow their own business, how can they help you to grow yours?

Technology is always changing and there are ways to use it to increase your sales results. Find a sales coach who is using these tools on a daily basis to grow their sales coaching business. Find a sales coach who can show you how to generate leads, contact new prospects and network effectively in the modern era of sales. If they don’t use these tools, keep on looking.

10. Do you have a coach?

I don’t know if I have ever been asked this by a prospective sales coaching client, but I share the information freely. I work with a coach. I get a tremendous amount out of it and I am convinced of the value of coaching. How can you be a coach, but say you don’t need a coach yourself?

Even the most successful people in the world have coaches to stay on top and reach even higher levels of success. As soon as you stop learning, growing, improving and developing, what kind of an example are you showing for your own clients? Find a sales coach who has a coach, believes in coaching, uses coaching to continue to become a better coach, a better entrepreneur, and a better person. Find someone who inspires you to do more and doesn’t just coach you, but leads by example. If they don’t have a coach, just ask them why. This is an important question to ask and I’m guessing you will decide to move on pretty fast after they say they don’t need a coach or don’t have one.

Find a sales coach who is right for you by asking these questions. Look for a sales coach who truly cares about you and your success. Make sure the sales coach you select takes the time to get to know you, your sales goals and challenges. Follow these tips and you will ensure you partner up with the right sales coach for you to achieve amazing sales results.

About the Author:
Sales Coaching & Business Coaching Expert, Jeremy J. Ulmer, has helped hundreds of sales professionals, sales leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs overcome sales challenges and achieve breakthrough results. If you are ready to dramatically increase your sales results then subscribe for your Free Tips or request a Free Coaching Consultation.

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What if you could create all the positive habits you wanted in your life, business or career, right now, to make an immediate impact?

Well, you can, and below are 4 tips to get you started on creating new positive habits.

1. Identify What You Want To Change: Find the areas in your life, business or career that you want to change. Make a list of all the changes you want to make. Next to each item, write down the new habit or habits that would need to be formed to make the necessary changes. At this stage, do not worry about how you are going to form all of these new habits.

2. Pick One Habit: People often have a tendency to sabotage themselves by trying to change everything at once. Instead, just pick one major habit that you want to form. For the next 5 to 30 days, (depending on your plan) this will be the habit that you will create and focus your attention on.

3. Take Baby Steps: Now that you have the habit you want to focus on creating, design a daily and/or weekly routine that is easy to follow. For example, let’s say that you want to wake up one hour earlier so that you can be more productive each day and get more done. Instead of setting your alarm one hour earlier right at the start of your habit forming program, set it 10 minutes earlier each morning until you reach your goal. In this scenario, in about one week you will have created the new habit. Remember, the new habits you are creating will be forcing you to often make very challenging changes. Sometimes, yes, absolutely go for implementing the entire habit right away! However, in some cases it will be good to take it one step at a time to ensure you stay on course. This is especially true since you are doing this on your own.

4. Repeat The Process: Once you have created your new habit, move on to the next habit from your list that you want to create. Before you know it, you will have created a whole new life or business full of success filled habits.
Imagine where you will be in one year if you follow these four keys to creating successful habits. If you can form a new habit each month, you will have developed 12 new habits in one year!

1. Decide To Be Successful: Make the conscious choice to be successful. Own it now! Deciding to do something is the first step towards success. This is a critical step which is often overlooked.

2. Focus Your Mind: Get clear on what you desire. Ask yourself: What do I truly want? What does success look like to me? How will this achievement change my life, business or career? How can I use this success to make a difference for others? Understand what you want, why you want it, and what it will do for you.

3. Set Clear Goals: You may have heard of SMART goals before. The standard definition of SMART goals is as follows: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Sensitive. I prefer the following definition: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Resonant, Thrilling. Learn more about How To Set and Achieve Goals.

4. Commitment: Make a commitment to yourself to have success. Find an accountability partner or hire a coach to help you stay on course. Remember, Tiger Woods has multiple coaches. The “best” surround themselves with support.

And there is no “trying” in commitment. As Yoda once said to Luke:

Luke: "All right, I’ll give it a try" - Yoda: "No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try."

5. Belief: This is sometimes the greatest challenge for some people to overcome to be successful. Most people have an entire series of self-limiting beliefs that will hold them back from success. Thoughts like, “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not smart enough” or “I can’t do this” are just a few of the self-limiting beliefs that people will often hold. I help my clients identify these thoughts and to shed these non-supportive beliefs, and replace them with beliefs that will help them to accomplish their goals.

6. Take Action: Put everything into play and execute your plans! Don’t let paralysis by analysis set in. Dive in, don’t hold back, and get started.

Have you ever lost employees because they did not understand your company culture?

I have listed some ideas below that will help you get your new team members on board and moving in the right direction.

1. Friendly Welcome: Thank them for joining your team or company. Be sure they feel valued from day one!

2. HR Items: Cover HR policies, vacation policies, sick days, hours of work, pay periods, holiday pay, pension, medical benefits, lateness, safety rules, any unique company policies, etc.

3. Meet Their Manager: Have the new employee meet with their manager to get a clear understanding of expectations, goals, training, expected work ethic and teamwork. Make the bottom line objectives of the organization clear to the new employee. Share how other employees have had immediate success and explain / outline opportunities for promotion.

Make sure open communication is established. Make it a co-active process and get their feedback. Discover what drives and motivates them! Let them know you will be there to help coach them to success.

5. Training: Set out a clear training plan that will include hands on activities and background on the overall market as well as the competition. In addition to the formal training, place them with an experienced employee that they can shadow for a period of time.

6. Introduce To The Team: Consider taking your new team member to lunch with the entire team. Do something memorable that welcomes them and makes them feel connected to their new team members.

Are you thinking about starting your own business? Do you have an idea for a new business but are unsure about how to proceed? If you have answered yes to either of these questions, this article could be of benefit to you. I am going to write about how to plan and create a successful small business.

Many people are looking at ways in which they can become self-employed. Leaving a full time career can be quite a scary prospect however for some. The security of having a regular income and other benefits such as a pension can seem hard to let go.

Before you invest a single dollar, talk to a few experts. Go to the library (ok, maybe no one does that anymore ) or get on the internet and research. Take ample time to make sure entrepreneurship is right for you. Be sure you have support along the process. Hire a small business coach or seek out mentors.

1. Conduct a feasibility study of your business. Describe your typical customer, your product and your competitors. Who will your suppliers be? What will you charge for your product? How will you market your product? These are just a few of the questions you need to answer.

2. Write a business plan for your company, using the information you gathered from your feasibility study. This step needs to include a description of your company, its goals, competitors, market, financial information, and of course, how you intend to meet your goals.

3. Get your financing in place. You will now need to work out how much money you will need to set up the business. This can be quite daunting but it is essential. In the short term, I would advise to keep these start up costs as low as possible. Once you are aware of how much money you need, you then have to find it! You may have enough yourself via savings, however most people are not in this position. If you do not have enough money, you could try and raise money via the family, by seeking a partner, bank loans, by releasing the equity from your house, or personal credit cards. If you need credit, know your business plan from front to back!

4. Decide what kind of legal structure your company will have. Examples: sole proprietorship, llc, inc. Contact your accountant to learn what is right for you.

5. Choose a name for your company and check on name availability. Naming your company is highly individual, but it’s the first thing associated with your business, so choose your name carefully. I would keep this name quite short as it makes it easier to remember for people. It obviously needs to have something to do with the business sector you are entering. Important Note: Keep in mind SEO when determinng your business name. This is important as your business name will likely be a part of, or all of your url. Your url has a significant impact on SEO.

6. Develop the marketing materials and actions you decided on in your business plan. They should include at least a press kit and most importantly a website. Also, don’t forget business cards and letterhead. A press kit can include letters of introduction, biography sheets, press releases, articles and a brochure. In today’s electronic age, printed materials aren’t enough.(how much are they worth these days?)  You need a great website that looks professional, matches your printed material and has great copy. You’ll also want to make sure it’s optimized for search engines! Hire a web developer who understands sales, internet marketing and SEO. Also, there are many ways of marketing your business. Consider hiring a sales coach or a business coach who can help you put together a great plan.

7. Set up your business bank account and record-keeping system. Your banker will need to see your incorporation documents, and you should probably set up more than one account so you can keep track of your finances better. Record-keeping is required, and can be done manually or with a computer program. There are many on-line options out there.

8. Consider if you need to purchase insurance. There are many different types of insurance and your business will probably need at least one type.

9. Decide where your business will be located. Lease your space. Alternatively, you could choose to start your business from home if it’s feasible. There are advantages and disadvantages to starting your business from home.  It all depends on the type of business you are operating.

10. Purchase supplies and office equipment. I could make a long list for you, but just get what you need. Keep it simple and control your costs. Get an all-in-one fax machine, printer, copier.

This list will help you to begin the journey of starting your own business. It is essential to have the sales skills and business support to put things into action. If you have a dream, I would encourage you to go for it! Becoming an entrepreneur can be one of the most rewarding things you can experience in life.

Learn how to boost traffic to your blog with 5 simple to learn techniques.

Blogs are a very popular ways of promoting your product or service. They are easy to install, administer and update. Search engines love them too! But what is a blog without traffic?

Here are five simple ways to increase your blog traffic.

1. Build a list of blog services that you can ping
There are a lot of blog services you can ping. This means that you notify this service, that you’ve updated your blog. These services then list your new posts and you get traffic from them. These lists are available if you search Google or any other search engine for it.

2. Add buttons to popular news readers
What does this mean? Well there are sites like yahoo or Google or bloglines, which have a members area where you can select sites with RSS feeds to fetch the latest updates from different blogs. That way you can have the latest updates from let’s say 50 blogs listed on one page.

3. Update your content regularly
Search engines and blog services love regular updates. It’s very likely that you will get targeted traffic from search engines if you post regularly.

4. Post in forums
Post in forums, but don’t spam them. Post something new and unique and then put a link to your blog in your signature. Use anchor text, not just your link. Example: Business Coaching Services versus http://www.coachwithjeremy.com/business-coaching.html. Don’t just post in any forum. For example if you’re selling books, post in forums that are about books. By posting in forums in this way, you will get one-way links to your site which are good for search engine position in search engines like Google.

5. Submit to blog search engines
There are many of search engines available, that list only blogs. Just Google for “blog search engines” and you should find at least 50 of them. These blog search engines will help you with targeted traffic. Be sure to write a good title and a good description for your blog.

Follow these 5 easy steps and you will start seeing lots of traffic on your blog!

Subscribe for more tips below or visit Sales Coaching and Business Coaching Services.

An ideal attorney will not just have a set of impressive credentials. He or she should be caring, concerned, and devoted to their work. You need to think carefully before putting your trust in an attorney…after all in some cases your life, future, money or property will be in his hands.

Apart from doing extensive research to short-list possible attorneys, you must ensure that there is not conflict of interest, that you understand everything the retainer agreement states, and that you have checked the references and details regarding the practice.

Here is how to know the attorney you have chosen is a good fit and can help you with your tax goals:

1. He makes an effort to spend time to understand your case himself. He will not assign a legal assistant to take facts of the case down.

2. He will not just focus on the problem at hand but examine the problem from all sides. This will create a complete picture highlighting all factors of relevance and the different ways one can approach the case.

3. He will be self-disciplined, thorough, and self confident. Courteous at all times he will respect you as well as all the staff who work for him.

4. He is recommended by not just his friends and relatives but by other professionals of good standing and from his field.

5. He will not just present to you his victories but be happy to tell you why and how he lost certain cases.

The bottom line is that the attorney must be worthy of your trust. Use and trust your intuition.

Everyone worries about taxes and looks for ways of reducing the tax burden. When you have a small business of your own, you must update your knowledge of tax laws that pertain to “small businesses.” As a business owner, you must understand clearly about accounting systems and tax planning. Sit down with your accountant and plan on ways of maintaining business expenses, filing receipts, planning on “tax saving” investments, and a strategy for running the business in the most beneficial way.

Did you know that:

1. According to law you can reduce your tax liability by hiring family members to carry out work in your business. Pay your children and spouse to perform assigned duties. This way you can shift from higher tax rates to lower ones.

2. Consider hiring independent contractors instead of employees. You will save on payroll taxes. However ensure that you meet the IRS’s criteria.

3. Think about “deferring income” postpones receiving money to January instead of December. This means that payments received will be up for “tax” calculations a year away. However ask your accountant’s advice as the benefits are dependent on profit and losses for the year and your corporate legal structure.

4. Take advantage of tax deductions allowed for charitable donations. Make donations in November or December instead of January so that you can include the donations for tax deductions in the current year.

5. Maximize your expenditure on equipment and office supplies. Buy in advance for a quarter and use the tax deductions allowed in the current fiscal year.

6. Include expenses of business related travel in the current year.

7. Pay all bills due before the end of the year. Payment to cell services, rent, insurance, and utilities related to the business can be included for accounting and applicable tax waivers.

8. Plan a retirement plan and make payments before the end of the year. This will reduce your income for the year and proportionately the tax due. Be sure to check on the limits. Plan a feasible and beneficial strategy with your accountant.

9. Be sure to deduct from your taxable income money paid to licensing fees, businesses taxes, and annual memberships to businesses related organizations. Be sure to deduct interest paid on borrowings for running the business and related fees. Insurance premiums paid to insure the business office and machinery are eligible for tax deductions. Make a list of your memberships and check which ones are eligible for tax deductions.

10. Check whether you have deducted management and administration expenses as well as money spent on maintenance and repairs of equipment. Decide whether a cash accounting system or accrual one will benefit your business. The tax deductions are different depending on the system you use. When setting up your small business take the advice of a tax and accounting professional as to which accounting system would be most suitable.

*Be sure to consult with your attorney, financial advisor, or accountant to determine what is right for your small business.

Why I Take The Stairs Everywhere I Go

After reading that Bruce Lee, one of my youth idols, always took the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, I started doing the same. When an opportunity to get a workout presents itself, no matter how small, I take it. For example, a 10 minute walk 3 times per day is equal to one 30 minute walk.

With this philosophy in mind, even if I only walk a few flights per day, that is added exercise. And although I always work out religiously, this small change is important because it forced me to look for ways to integrate exercise into my daily life. This might include parking further away from the entrance to a store, choosing to walk or bike instead of driving, or jumping on a pull up bar on a running path for some chin ups or hanging leg lifts.

When I started to make choices like this, I noticed enhanced awareness around all aspects of my health and fitness. Challenge yourself and take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator for one month and see what happens for you. This simple change can have a significant impact over time. Below are some further benefits:

1. It’s a free workout that you can integrate into your day easily. You don’t need a gym membership. Even if you only have a 20 minute break, what would happen if you climbed up the stairs in your office building nonstop during that time every day?

2. It all adds up. Even if you only climb one to two flights at a time it will all add up at the end of the day, week, month and year.

3. Climbing is good for your heart, lungs, and muscles.

4. It actually can save you time. Often when I see an escalator next to a set of stairs, I beat the people taking the escalator as I walk up the stairs. What about when you are traveling and you have heavy bags? Bonus time! I take it as a challenge and get even more of a workout when I choose the stairs. Give it a try!

5. Exercise is proven to reduce stress and release endorphins. Even if it is just a mini exercise, it helps and all adds up!

6. Weight loss will result from the extra calories burned. Depending on how many stairs you climb per day, you could shed anywhere from five to ten pounds in one year just from making this simple change.

7. Gain confidence by improving your health. It feels great to be healthy and this small step (pardon the pun) can make a significant impact on your health.

How To Motivate Your Sales Team

Have your tried everything possible to motivate your sales team but still are not seeing the results you crave? Have you tried everything listed below?

Common Tips to Motivate A Sales Team:

• Create a clear sales plan
• Provide ample sales training (learn why sales training alone fails)
• Set achievable goals
• Empower your sales team
• Establish a solid base salary in addition to their commissions and bonuses
• Provide positive feedback and recognition
• Celebrate the successes
• Communicate frequently with your team and have an open door policy
• Involve your sales team with setting quotas, sales plans, sales goals
• Set challenging goals
• Motivate with significant bonuses
• Established sales contests or sales games
• Provide sophisticated sales tools, from the best CRM, to marketing support, to internal support
• Spend time helping out on sales calls
• Grant sales’ awards, such as sales person of the month or sales person of the year
• Adjust compensation plans to increase motivation
• Hire motivational speakers

Many of the items I list above can help you motivate your sales team. They each have different levels of importance given your particular situation. However, I was looking for something new, something dare I say, revolutionary that would catapult my team into a thoroughbred sales force, possessed with energy, passion and motivation.

I have developed a breakthrough sales solutions that deliver results.

To create dramatic results in a short period of time I use a customized sales coaching process, which produces extraordinary results for sales leaders, sales managers, and sales professionals of all levels. Please visit this link to learn more about Sales Coaching.

I also recommend attending a Public Sales Workshop or having an On-Site Private Sales Workshop at your organization.

How To Motivate Your Sales Team With Sales Coaching & Sales Workshops

Article Source: Red Eye Chicago, A Chicago Tribune publication, redeyechicago.com, By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz

They’re young, powerful and successful-you may be surprised how they reached the top of the career ladder so fast.

Julie Smolyansky was 27 when she became a CEO. Her father died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving her to run the publicly traded yogurt company he’d founded 16 years before. ”The outside world didn’t believe I could handle it,” Smolyansky, now 34, recalls. “But failure was not an option.”

For the next three years, Smolyansky said, she slept an average of three hours per night as she worked to save Morton Grove-based Lifeway Foods. It paid off.

Last year, the company’s revenues were more than triple what they were when she took over, having risen from $12.2 million in 2002 to $44.5 million.

Smolyansky, who lives in Lincoln Park, credits her success to her instinctive knack for marketing, a dedicated staff, some strategic product initiatives–and most of all, a genuine belief in the product.

“You have to live it, love it,” she said.

Every now and then, you come across a young person who seems to have sprinted up the career ladder. A 27-year-old CEO. A 26-year-old high school principal. A 28-year-old congressman.

For the masses toiling at more modest posts, such a swift upward trajectory is met with a mix of awe and envy. How did he or she get there so quickly? What is it about this person’s talent, work ethic, connections or luck that propelled him or her to such prestigious heights so early?

And what am I doing wrong?
While there’s no magic formula, young Chicagoans in high places say good mentors, positive attitude, willingness to work every waking hour and humility are among the secrets to their success.

That’s not exactly groundbreaking insight, but it bears repeating as job dissatisfaction rates sit at 35 percent, according to a survey published this year by salary.com, with Millennials reporting the most job dissatisfaction (65 percent).

Jeremy Ulmer, a Chicago coach, said he gets a range of clients, from recent college graduates to CEOs, who are seeking support or looking for a sounding board in order to be more effective, attain higher leadership roles or get a lift out of the quicksand of their stagnant careers.

Sometimes, he said, it’s hard for clients to answer the most important question of all: What is it that you really want?

“If you can find what you love to do, it doesn’t even feel like work,” said Ulmer, 32. “When you’re that passionate about it, the likelihood of success is 10 times greater.”

Talking to young Chicagoans with impressive career paths, passion is the common ingredient.

“It’s about love,” said Eboo Patel, 33, who recently was appointed to the Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core when he was 22 and continues to spend “every spare moment” working on the nonprofit, which brings together young people of different faiths for community service projects to highlight the goodness of religion.

Patel ran the organization with no budget for four years, working as a professor to make a living, before he got his first grants for the Youth Core, totaling $100,000. This year, he said, his budget is $4 million.

Of course, love isn’t all you need. In Patel’s case, a prestigious Rhodes scholarship and substantive knowledge of religion and foreign affairs helped win him supporters and funding because they allowed him to smartly and seriously convey his vision. Mentors also are key.

Read the rest of the article here.

How To Stay Motivated – 45 Tips To Help Stay Motivated

I posted the following question on LinkedIn.com: “What is your best single tip to help an individual stay motivated?” Below are some of the perspectives, ideas, and tips. Do you have other ideas or suggestions on how to stay motivated? Please add them within the comments section.

1. Do what you are passionate about! The rest comes naturally. -Kimberly Yow

2. “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.” Quote by Bobby Knight -Kevin Maloney

3. Attitude— if you are negative, that’s the result you’ll get from your work. Having a strong/positive attitude allows you to brush off any distractions and focus on what’s important to you (life/work….)

–Too many people worry about stupid things, but worrying is like a rocking chair…..gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere. -Jared Grinkis

4. Don’t we all find motivation in different ways? Some are motivated by the carrot, which could in itself be anything from money, commendation, etc. Others are motivated by the stick, temporarily at least. The trick is to find that motivating factor in each person. Have you tried asking the unmotivated person the direct question…what motivates you? -Krystal Jordan

5. I try to sum up the question by replying with the rotation of some quotes in my e-mail signature. They are as follows:

When I Dream Alone it is a Dream, But When we Dream together it is the beginning of reality — Brazilian Proverb

The World is a Better Place Because of Those Who Refuse to Believe they Cannot Fly

EXCELLENCE is the result of: CARING more than others think wise;RISKING more than others think safe; DREAMING more than others think practical; EXPECTING more than others find possible — Anonymous

“Anyone can slay a dragon he told me, but try waking up every morning
and loving the world that’s what takes a real hero” – Seen on the wall
of a retail shop

Hope that helps. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason, even if we do not understand what that reason is. -Daniel Bloom

6. For me it has always come down to goal setting. If I want my goal, more than I want to goof off/avoid the work that I need to do to get the goal, then I will stay motivated. Even if it’s over an extended period of time. -Cathy Jo MorrisJack Raifer LION

7. All I can say is keep moving forward. No matter where you are, keep moving forward. Life is action and movement. No matter what happens or where you are, keep moving forward.

Think of it like this, if you are in a slump, where you think things can´t get worse, only way to get out is moving. If you reach a point were everything seems to be going down the drain, move and you will get a new perspective.

Even in nature, the lazy Gazelle is the one that get´s eaten. A sleepy lion gets no lunch and in the world of humans the ones that are successful are those that took an idea, no matter how mediocre or good, and went with it no matter what. Think about bottled water and how many people were sure it was the lousiest idea ever. -Jack Raifer

8. The best way for an “individual” to stay motivated is to become less of an individual! Interdependence is key in “staying up”. No matter what drives us we will need support when we are weak. “Pity the man who has nobody to help him up”. -Rick Bailey

9. When in doubt, get out of the office and go talk with customers! My outlook always improves when I’ve had a chance to get out of the office, talk with clients, learn more about their businesses and find new ways to help them.

When I sit in the office I see WORK everywhere. When I’m out with clients, I see possibilities. The possibilities are much more fun, even though they lead to more work. -Eric Engwall

10. I would say hope that a goal (or dream) can be reached if the individual works at it, step by baby step. Once hope is gone, it is impossible to stay motivated. -Ellen Kirchman

11. Hang out with winners, not whiners. Successful people breed optimism and hope. -Gene Urban

12. One easy tip – reality. Call out the SWAT (Stop Whining And Try) team – it’s not everyone or everything else that is preventing your success; it is up to you and only you. Reality is a great motivator – in sales there is no prize for second place and you can’t pay for groceries with “well, I tried”. If you are in sales and not motivated please get out. Motivation is a professional gut check.

Now, inspiration is another issue. People can be inspiring by their actions and their words. This is personal to each individual, but stories of triumph and perseverance over adversity are usually a good form of inspiration that can lead to personal motivation. Look to successful people for inspiration, but the motivation needs to come from within. -Eric Hastings

13. Get hungry — either physically or emotionally for something you love doing. -Susan Shwartz PhD

14. When it comes to motivating others, just remember this simple question. “What happens when I see people doing things right?” All of learning takes place through either association or consequences. Make sure that positive productive behaviors get recognized and rewarded. A salary does not pay someone to perform, it pays them to show up. Praise and recognition are both infinite and free, yet rarely used in any systematic way that focuses effort and produces outstanding results. As the great psychologist William James once said, “A man’s greatest desire is to be appreciated for his contributions.” -Thomas Haizlip

15. Setting goals based on our values, mission and roles (as per Covey’s 7 Habits) has helped me stay motivated — because the goals were in alignment with what “matters most”… thus motivation seemed to flow from within. Just my two cents. -Keith Kail

16. The best tip is to write out your goals and review them often. Put the goals in a place where you will stumble upon them. Also, I personally have a board that keeps track of my goals and ideas and have a “started” column and “finished” column. Finishing a task or accomplishing a goal is the best motivation. -Jeffrey Chubb

17. Think of yourself as being in a competition for a bag of gold, or whatever your heart desires, that can be yours, all yours, provided you are willing to strive hard enough, to really push yourself beyond your comfort zone to truly excel. -Judy B. Margolis

18. The dream plus the belief that the dream can be converted to reality.Nothing motivates more than the realisation of the fact that you are capable enough to materialise whatever you desire.Its only your own imagination which is stopping you from achieving the best. -Swati Panda

19. First, take out the head trash. Throw out the negative record collection playing in your head. Set a goal in your mind and think on it daily. Control your thoughts and control your life. The essence of “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. -Chris Metcalf

20. We’re all individually motivated but you could make the generalisation that some are more motivated by a goal and others by solving problems. Often when you’ve lost motivation it’s because you don’t know where you are in relation to your goal or the problem you’re trying to solve. So my tip is – periodically stop and review where you are in relation to either of the above and then work out what you need to in terms of resource. Always congratulate yourself on progress! -Liz Labrum

21. I normally don’t quote others, but this one has seen me through a very rough patch!

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.” Quote from Rocky Balboa. -Krunal Desai

22. Keep smiling…even if you have to fake it. -Kelly Gabel

23. Have goals in all six areas of your life. Pick one from each area. Find a role model. Be an understudy. Use visualization and affirmations. Cash the check, enjoy your family…become the person you aspire to become. Motivation is an outcome not an input. Motivation is the belief, held in expecation, that something personally important to you is acheivable. Motivation only comes when you can imagine what you want to have, hold or become. -Greg Deming

24. You can follow the standard “hold a gun to their head” motto in most companies today–do a good job or get downsized–since that has worked so well in the markets…  Seriously though, give the person a short start-to-finish project or add a game to the task. A sense of accomplishment helps people to stay focused on the unending tasks of life and work, though, it cannot be busy work–people smell placation like a fart in a car. Adding a game to the task-like “pick the number of new leads that will call today” does the same thing. It involves people in the task at hand and works in short terms to motivate people.

In a previous job, hurricane season brought about a series of tedious tasks every year. To make it go faster/better, we started a contest to pick the number of named storms. Instead of being a dreaded time, people actually started looking forward to the next season to see if they could be the winner of the poll. (The only reward was being the one who got it correct.) -Joe McComas

25. Fear. -Mark Schaefer

26. Surround yourself with what YOU consider to be successful people and strive to be more like them. -Paige Dumoulin

27. This is what works for me, and others that I’ve observed: find out what interests and excites the individual and then find related achievable problems for them to solve, with them receiving the recognition for solving the problem. -Paul Esler

28. When I feel overwhelmed and need motivation, I keeping reciting the old adage that “every journey begins with the first step”. -Vanessa Jackson

29. Winners never quit …. and quitters never win.

Find a way to lift yourself …. smile, volunteer, be in the moment and know
that you are never ever alone.

If all else fails, send me an email … I promise to motivate you.  -Lori-Ann Jakel

30. ”Carry a bottle of water in one hand, fertilizer in the other. Put water on the employees who are seeds and watch the GARDEN grow.” -Shatru Naik

31. Say “Thank you”. There’s little more motivating than knowing your time and effort is appreciated. Of course, monetary, or material reward helps, but there’s not much of that around at the moment. -Laura Shapland

32. Go help someone less fortunate than you. The first time I worked in a soup kitchen I realized what really is important. Afterwards I felt silly for some of the things that used to concern me and felt extremely appreciative for the good things that have happened in my life. -Kevin Sasser

33. Don’t try to take on the world alone. Network and build relationships with people who are “for” you. -Eric Pennington

34. Encourage appropriate self-nurturing and energy management. Energetic people who feel loved and loveable will naturally do a great deal more than the minimum expected (and will happily never even think of goldbricking), because they’re fulfilled and enjoying themselves. Needy people who feel ripped off and wanting will naturally avoid giving anything to anyone that they don’t feel has already vastly overpaid for it, and then only give the minimum they can get away with — grudgingly. -Linda Clement

35. Since the question narrows us to focus on a “single tip”… I would say that everyone needs to get absolutely clear as to what their own “WHY” is. Meaning… Why are you doing what you are doing? When your WHY is big enough it will motivate you to rethink, do and evaluate anything that will prevent you from not accomplishing what is most important to you! I believe that when we get discouraged or lose motivation it is because we stopped believing we can actually accomplish our WHY or we havent identified a WHY that’s big enough. Remember; a barrier is what you see when you take your eyes of your WHY (goal). WHY’s are often bigger than any material possession or fading trophy. It’s deeply rooted in your values, beliefs and core philosophy of life or business.

Why do people run into burning builidings where children are inside? Because the WHY YOU MUST is bigger than why you shouldn’t! And “musts” get done while “shoulds” don’t. We have to ask ourselves: Are you absolutely clear as to WHY you are doing, working, or sacraficing as much as you are right now? Are those around you just as clear?
Thanks for asking and for reading! -Sean Oliver

36. You must understand that you are in control of your life. Once you take responsibility for yourself no one can take it away from you. -Charlene King

37. I have an interesting view on Motivation. I used to believe that as a sales rep it was all about the money. Although money is important, being important is more motivating than just money. For me I need to know that what I’m working on, pre and post sales is important to the organization.

The one thing I learned as a sales manager is that as a boss you can’t make people motivated. The individual has to have an internal drive to do whatever it is that they do. That being said, as a manager you can kill motivation faster than anyone else if you are not careful. -Simon Hanauer

38. Always use positive reinforcement and, more important, empathy! If you are able to put yourself in the individual’s shoes, then your clients feel you understand their problem/position and they listen. -Monica Stevens

39. Do you love (whatever you want to stay motivated at) ? If yes…Tip would not be needed. If no…You really need to find something that you love doing… -Sudeep Bhaumick

40. Achievement is by far the biggest self-motivator for anyone. It breeds a inherent and latent feeling of personal success, which in turn builds self confidence to “keep trying more” This achievement doesn’t have to be big, or small, just positive and acknowledged.

A successful Swedish friend of mine is obsessive about writing lists, both at work and in his personal life. Why? Because everytime he achieves something he crosses it off the list. He even writes things on that he’s already done – just to cross it off immediatey.

At the end of the day, he goes to bed with a huge sense of achievement, self value/worth and looks forward to another day.

Try it for a week . . . it actually works. -Paul Stokes

41. Remind yourself of times when you smashed targets and were generally very successful, remember how it felt to be top performer or when you brought in your biggest deal… self motivation is very useful in tough times. -Matt Rogers

42. Only 20% of your effort generate 80% of your sales. Analyze your sales record and focus only on the targets and activities that meet that 20%. You will close more business in less time…very motivating! -Tina Kerkam

43. The biggest way to motivate some1 is showing money on the table. Have a monthly recognition party at your office. Recognize the best performer of the month. It has made wonders for me in my company….-John Smith

44. To truly stay motivated towards what ever profession or goal you are trying to attain, a person must truly understand the core motivation in his/her life. Many salespeople and sales managers love to say or hear “I’m motivated by money.” The flaw in this logic is that money is a means, and not the end. Unless you truly know a concrete reason how much money you need to make and what that is getting you, you will not achieve your goal and not stay motivated when set backs occur.

A single parent that needs to pay mortgage, car payment, day care, food, etc…, and needs to leave by 5 to get home in time to get his/her child, knows how much money he/she needs to make to survive and what needs to happen during the day. This concrete reason will keep them motivated even when rejection and setbacks are knocking them down.

Bottom line, know your core motivation. Why you get up every morning and why you bother to work hard every day. If you don’t know this, no amount of inspirational quotes or motivational CDs will keep you motivated. -Teh Chen

45. Put on your mental body armor each day before hitting the streets. You do so by putting good things in your head such as: 1) Inspirational Storie, quotes etc  2) Comedy , , , Its hard to be negative when you are laughing your tail off!  3) Good Pump Up Music: Music that gets you going, foot tapping, I want to rip bumpers off of cars stuff!  4) Positive inventory of all the things you are grateful for!  5) Review of your goals so you remember to keep moving towards the things that are most important to you! -Paul Castain

Tips To Stay Motivated

Article Excerpts Below Are From: The Wall Street Journal, Article By Sue Shellenbarger

Be Your Own Boss

In the broadest, most-comprehensive survey yet of how occupation affects happiness, business owners outrank 10 other occupational groups in overall well-being, based on the landmark survey of 100,826 working adults set for release today. Defined as self-employed store or factory owners, plumbers and so on, business owners surpassed 10 other occupational groups on a composite measure of six criteria of contentment, including emotional and physical health, job satisfaction, healthy behavior, access to basic needs and self-reports of overall life quality.

Measuring Well-Being

In a study of how occupation affects happiness, business owners came out on top.

Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index

Note: Scores are based on respondents’ answers to six categories of questions about work and life quality.

Read the rest of this Wall Street Journal article here

Contact me to learn how I can support you to achieve your goals.

Article Sources: Dr. Madan Kataria, Laughteryoga.org

Scientific research shows that laughter can help to resolve many major workplace issues, but until now there has been no reliable and effective system to deliver laughter. Humor was the only tool available, and it is not reliable and seldom leads to continuous hearty laughter.

Laughter Yoga is a breakthrough laughter delivery system that can enable a person to laugh continuously for 15 to 20 minutes with short breaks of yogic breathing.

Factors of work stress and how Laughter Yoga helps to reduce workplace stress

Occupational stress is the most rapidly growing global phenomenon. People are succumbing to work pressure and its damaging effects are being felt in almost all the countries and among all levels of the workforce.

This rise in unhealthy levels of stress leads a broad range of pathological consequences ranging from chronic fatigue to depression, insomnia, anxiety, migraine, emotional upsets, allergies, hypertension, heart disease, peptic ulcers and stomach disorders. It can also alter immune functions, which may in turn lead to the development of cancer. Taken together, these disorders are responsible for a majority of disease, death and disability.

Physical stress: This results from working beyond one’s physical capacity. Working continuously without sufficient rest or recharge makes one physically tired and exhausted.

An extended hearty laughter is the safest and the easiest exercise which massages the entire body, oxygenates the blood and other organs leaving one bursting with energy. Blood pressure and pulse rates decrease and there is an increase in creative thinking, productivity and memory.

Mental stress: This stems largely from heavy workloads with tight deadlines, from fear of losing one’s job or pushing too hard to fulfill basic needs. Competing with others or competing with yourself to improve your performance also leads to mental stress.

Laugher has the ability to reduce stress by reducing stress hormones. It also boosts self confidence and communication skills that enables one to peak performance at work. Deep breathing exercises eases physical pain and reduces mental tension.

Emotional stress: This is deep-rooted and caused by bad relationships at home or at the workplace. Even highly talented and skilled employees cannot perform well if they are emotionally disturbed. Emotional problems at home reflect at work and vice versa.

Extended hearty laughter helps to develop emotional expression through physical playfulness and a playful mental attitude. This physical playfulness helps to shed these masks and enables the free expression of emotions without fear. Laughter Yoga provides a simple, painless and effective release mechanism to help rid the subconscious mind of pent-up emotions through catharsis during intense laughter. Such release helps builds performance and improves one’s emotional intelligence and communication skills.

Decline in teamwork: Competitiveness leads to an aggressive work atmosphere in which team work suffers. People develop a selfish and self promoting attitude.

A hearty laughter session creates a positive work environment. People become better as they drop the ‘I’ for a ‘We’. They learn to compliment and practice other values based supportive social behavior that helps in good team building and ensures better productivity.

Insomnia: Sleep is nature’s best mechanism to recharge so that one can work day after day. But, long hours of work coupled with intense work pressure and tensions take its toll on one’s sleep pattern, which is a cause of many heath related problems.

A good hearty laughter helps improve the sleep pattern and relaxes both the body and the mind.

Stagnation and boredom: The level of job satisfaction and fulfillment falls, leaving a person frustrated and tense. This is a major cause for job hopping as people feel they might have made a wrong choice of a career. They start striving towards a new set of goals which may be unrealistic. This further leads to a dip in performance and self esteem thus keeping them away from happiness.

Extended hearty laughter develops playfulness and new insights that helps one to revive lost creativity. It also helps one to find the source of joy and happiness within, irrespective of the turmoil in business and personal life. It helps people to develop emotional intelligence to connect with others and strengthen their social life.

Anxiety and depression: Business people are more prone to anxiety attacks and depression as they are often highly stressed.

Laughter exercises and deep breathing is a great way to eliminate the physical and the mental symptoms of depression and reduce anxiety. Deep diaphragmatic breathing helps to flush the lungs of stale residual air replacing it with rich oxygenated air. Laughter Yoga has the power to raise the spirit and change the mood instantaneously. It releases natural opiates or ‘feel good’ hormones called endorphins which ‘kick start’ good feelings and also alleviate pain.

Physical illness: lack of exercise and mental tensions and stressful breathing patterns lead to many physical illnesses.

Extended laughter practice reduces irritability, insomnia, anxiety, depression, allergic disorders, asthma, bronchitis, tension and pains and aches due to arthritis. Boosts the immune system which is the key to good health – reduces absenteeism. It can prevent cardiac diseases as it is the fastest and the best workout regime which benefits both the body and the mind. Laughter is equivalent to aerobic exercise in terms of cardio-pulmonary endurance. According Dr William Fry, 10 minutes of laughter is equivalent to 30 minutes on a rowing machine.

Laughter Yoga ebooks!

How To Reduce Workplace Stress

Learn more about Coach Jeremy’s Laughter Yoga Programs, Team Building or Corporate Stress Management.

Do you get a lot of paper letters and junk in your mail?

Does it ever pile up and sit unopened or get thrown into the garbage only to sacrifice another tree? Does it waste your time to open up the mail to see what’s inside?

I have taken the initiative to receive less mail and the process has been working for me.

Here are some of the steps you can take to receive less paper junk mail, and have more time for more important things:

1. Catalogs. Email or call the company and request to be removed from their mailing list.

2. Junk Mail. There are some great resources here.

3. Bank and Financial Statements. Go to the website and request for electronic statements.

4. Bills. Set up autopay. Request e-bills or no bill at all if you autopay.

5. Checks. If you receive checks on a regular basis see if you can receive them via Paypal or direct deposit into your account.

6. Invoices. Ask for electronic invoices versus paper invoices.

7. Business Correspondence. Ask to be removed from mailing lists and ask that they email you instead.

8. Magazines & Newspapers. Well, some people like to have the printed copy of a magazine or newspaper and I can understand that, so this one, like all of the above, are optional. The option is to cancel your paper subscriptions and read online.

9. Credit Card Offers. There are some great resources here.

How To Make A Homemade Protein Shake

One of the best ways to get protein into your system is to make a homemade protein shake. The recipe below will produce 2 to 3 servings.

You can make this homemade protein shake anytime, however, I prefer to have one serving first thing in the morning and the second serving around 10:00am. I have added various other ingredients to this homemade protein shake, so that it will act as two complete meal replacements as well.

Here is my homemade protein shake recipe that will produce 2 to 3 servings:

• 1 cup of frozen spinach (yes, spinach, the taste is very subtle and it will give you your greens for the morning)
• 1 slice of ginger root to taste (peel the ginger first)
• 1 lemon (just the juice)
• 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup of walnuts or almonds (5 grams of protein)
• 1 small spoonful milled flax seed (2 grams of protein)
• 2 hard boiled eggs and 4 eggs whites from hard boiled eggs (22 grams of protein)
• 2 scoops of whey protein (I prefer chocolate for this shake) (50 grams of protein)
• 1 handful of ice
• 1 cup of skim milk (you may need a little more or less milk depending on how thick you like your drink) (8 grams of protein)
• 1 cup of old fashioned/unsweetened oatmeal (you can cook it first with water and then add it, or put it in dry) (10 grams of protein)

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender on the highest setting, pour, drink, and enjoy!

Approximate amount of total protein:  97 grams of protein

Amount per serving based on 2 servings: 48.5 grams of protein

Amount per serving based on 3 servings: 32.3 grams of protein

This homemade protein shake recipe makes 2 to 3 servings.

Be sure to consult with a professional about how much protein in-take is right for you.

Weird Tips to Lose Your Stomach Fat

How To Gain At Least 17 Pounds of Rock Hard Muscle & Slash Your Body Fat In Under 16 Weeks Without Over Priced Supplements & Spending Your
Entire Life In The Gym.

How To Make A Green Drink in 5 Minutes

This is my simple version of a green drink. I would encourage trying my green drink once per day in the morning for 5 days in a row and see how you feel! Remember, this is not a complete meal, so eat oatmeal (old fashioned/unsweetened) and a protein source to round out your breakfast.

Here is my simple green drink recipe that will produce 2 servings:

• 1 cup of frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley
• 1 slice of ginger root to taste (peel the ginger first)
• 1 lemon (just the juice)
• 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup of walnuts or almonds (optional)
• 1 small spoonful milled flax seed (optional)
• 1 stick of celery (optional)
• 1 handful of ice
• 1 cup of water (you may need a little more or less water depending on how thick you like your drink)

Mix all of the ingredients in a blender on the highest setting, pour, drink, and enjoy!

How To Make A Green Drink

Weird Tips to Lose Your Stomach Fat

How To Gain At Least 17 Pounds of Rock Hard Muscle & Slash Your Body Fat In Under 16 Weeks Without Over Priced Supplements & Spending Your
Entire Life In The Gym.

What Does It Take To Be Successful In Business?

This list is an attempt to shine a spotlight on what it takes to achieve great success in business. Please add your ideas in the comment section below. Which of these would make your list and what should be added?

(These are listed in no particular order)

• Follow Your Passion and Dreams
• Be Genuine and Authentic
• Practice A Great Work Ethic
• Surround Yourself With Successful People
• Be Enthusiastic and Passionate
• Enlist Support From Coaches, Peers, and Mentors
• Maintain Focus and Discipline
• Create Well Defined Goals
• Exhibit Internal Energy and Drive
• Create A Positive Attitude
• Grow and Learn by Experimenting
• Do Not Be Afraid To Fail
• Keep Your Business Aligned With Your Values
• Maintain High Standards
• Visualize Your Goals and The Future You Want
• Believe In Yourself
• Exhibit Self-Discipline and Self-Management
• Take Risks
• Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
• Make Your Health a Priority
• Recognize Your Strengths and Weaknesses
• Dream Big
• Be Persistent and Assertive
• Celebrate Your Successes
• Live In The Moment
• Follow Through With Commitments
• Learn To View Challenges From Different Perspectives
• Maintain Optimism
• Develop Your Communication Skills
• Be Likeable
• Laugh At Yourself
• Learn New Things

Are you ready to make a breakthrough and take your business and life to the next level? Contact Me for a Free Consultation.

Want to cut stress for your company or department and improve productivity? Contact Me to learn more about my Team Building and Stress Reduction Programs.

This is Dale Carnegie’s summary of his book:  How to Win Friends & Influence People

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

• Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
• Give honest and sincere appreciation.
• Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

• Become genuinely interested in other people.
• Smile.
• Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
• Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
• Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
• Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Win People to Your Way of Thinking

• The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
• Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
• If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
• Begin in a friendly way.
• Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
• Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
• Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
• Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
• Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
• Appeal to the nobler motives.
• Dramatize your ideas.
• Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior.
Some suggestions to accomplish this:

• Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
• Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
• Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
• Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
• Let the other person save face.
• Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
• Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
• Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
• Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Summary by Dale Carnegie

Zen To Done: The Simple Productivity E-Book

The below is from by Leo Babauta’s Website:

Zen To Done is a simple system to get you more organized and productive, and keep your life saner and less stressed, with a set of habits.

Zen To Done takes some of the best aspects of a few popular productivity systems (GTD, Stephen Covey and others) and combines them with the mandate of simplicity. It makes things as simple as possible, and no more.
Buy the ZTD system in a handy e-book, with additional material, resources and forms:

Reader testimonial: “I had always dabbled in trying to establish some sort of productivity habits, but GTD and everything similar seemed too intensive to realistically implement. ZTD and its simplicity make perfect sense to me.” Christopher

What is ZTD?

Simply put, ZTD teaches you:

• The key habits needed to be productive, organized, and simplified … and no more than that.
• How to implement these key habits … tips on forming a habit.
• How to organize these habits into a simple system that will keep everything in your life in its place.
• How to simplify what you need to do.
• Minimal ZTD. Also includes an even simpler version called Minimal ZTD.

Hundreds of readers have written to me with comments about how ZTD has changed their lives, made them more organized and less stressed, and has worked better than other productivity systems. It’s definitely worth a try.

Why buy the e-book?

Buy It Here: The Simple Productivity E-Book

A number of reasons:

It’s handy. All the articles are gathered in one easy-to-read e-book, making it easy to print stuff out, read it on any computer, or take it with you.

There’s more material. This ebook includes the essential productivity concepts written about here on Zen Habits, and more, from an FAQ to a practical application of ZTD in my everyday life to resources to forms and more. More on this stuff below.

Forms. I decided to give a sample of how you could set up ZTD with some simple forms. Of course, ZTD is flexible … you don’t need to use these forms, but I thought they’d be useful.

Resources. Links to articles and tools are available in the e-book.

FAQ. A number of readers had questions/comments about ZTD that I thought I’d answer in the e-book. I think this will be a useful feature.

Snazzy new look. The e-book was designed by James Wondrack, and he did a great job.

Pricing: To keep the book affordable, I’m pricing it at $9.50 … less than $10 for something that can improve your life right away … and again, with author tech support!

Buy the e-book now here: Productivity E-Book

Reader testimonial: “I’d say that the minimalist system is a safe first step. The beauty is, of course, that it needn’t be just a first step: it works as it is and some people don’t need to go any further.” Jeff

Table of Contents:
Introduction
1 Why ZTD?
2 Overview – What is it?
3 Minimal ZTD – the simpler alternative
4 Forming the 10 Habits
5 Habit 1: Collect
6 Habit 2: Process
7 Habit 3: Plan
8 Habit 4: Do
9 Habit 5: Simple, trusted system
10 Habit 6: Organize
11 Habit 7: Review
12 Habit 8: Simplify
13 Habit 9: Routine
14 Habit 10: Find Your Passion
15 A Day with Zen To Done
16 ZTD FAQ
17 Resources

Get The E-Book Now Here & Increase Your Productivity Today

Other E-Books:

Motivation E-Book
Minimalist Life E-Book
Productivity E-Book

Laughter Yoga Programs

Laughter Team Building

Laughter Stress Management

Speaker | Social Events | Ice Breakers

The Benefits Of Laughter

• Reduction of Stress Hormones
• Improves Mood
• Muscle Relaxation
• Immune System Enhancement
• Pain Reduction
• Cardiac Exercise
• Reduces Blood Pressure
• Respiration
• Boosts Immunity
• Helps Prevent Heart Disease
• Adds Joy To Life
• Eases Anxiety & Fear
• Relieves Stress
• Increases Focus
• Enhances Motivation
• Helps To Perform At Peak Performance
• Positive Frame Of Mind
• Enhances Resilience
• Improves Productivity
• Strengthens Relationships
• Enhances Teamwork
• Helps Defuse Conflict
• Promotes Group Bonding
• Dissolves Distressing Emotions.
• Relaxing
• Recharging
• Shifts Perspectives
• Be More Spontaneous
• Let Go Of Defensiveness
• Release Inhibitions
• Express Your True Feelings
• Physical Release
• Live Longer
• Fight Illness Better

Kids get it! Kids can laugh 300-400 times in a day! Adults generally laugh 15 times a day at best!

Want to laugh more? Learn about Laughter Yoga.

Laughter Yoga ebooks!

Many studies, such as Amen Clinics Research, illustrate the importance of a positive mind for physical health, mental health, creativity, productivity, focus, discipline, fulfillment, imagination, and dedication. All of these benefits have a direct impact on living more fulfilling lives and experiencing better results in business.

Brain scans show that a positive mind is much more active than a negative mind, and active in the areas critical for many of the benefits above. My focus here is on how to be more positive and if you are already in a positive state, how to enhance it further.

Below are a few approaches that may be helpful for you. Try them out and find what works for you.

Question the negative thought.
1. Ask yourself what it feels like to experience this thought?
2. How does it limit you?
3. What would be different for you and what becomes possible without this negative thought?
4. Flip the negative thought upside down to create a positive thought.
5. Consciously decide which thought feels better for you.

Acknowledge the negative thought.
1. Choose to separate yourself from the negative thought and view it as separate from your true self.
2. Notice your negative voice, (ie- “I can’t do this” or ”I will fail”) and then ask yourself what you truly believe.
3. Consciously decide which way of thinking is right for you.

Ignore the negative thought and tell it to get lost!
1. Tell your excuses or negative thoughts to go away and back off.
2. Then you can focus on what is most important to you.

Enhance your positive mind-set by asking these questions.
1. What is going well for me right now?
2. What keeps my energy going?
3. What values, natural gifts, or talents are present when I am feeling positive?
4. Who else can I count on to have positive energy?
5. Is there a place in my business or life, where I can tap into positive energy?
6. How would being more positive benefit me?
7. What changes can I make to put more focus on a positive mind-set?

Would you like to have more positive energy at your business? Learn more about my team building programs.

Spread positive energy throughout the world. Please share this with others who may benefit from reading this.

Picture: Make sure you add one if you don’t have one on your profile yet. Headshot is best.

Personal Tagline: Write one, and update it. Click on the blue text, “What are you working on”  Maybe place your elevator pitch here?

Don’t Cut and Paste Your Resume: Describe experience/abilities.

Elevator Pitch: Make sure it is within your introduction section. You have 5 seconds to grab attention.

Specialties: This section is where you put your most important keywords for SEO, and searches within LinkedIn. Make sure you use variations of the keywords as well, so you will appear in LinkedIn searches.

Additional Information: Add websites, (customize it, don’t leave it as “My Website” and it can help with Google page rank) Add awards, passions, other abilities. Round out your profile.

Recommendations: Write them and request them.

Answer and Ask Questions: You will get more clicks on your profile when you ask thoughtful questions or give helpful answers. Establish your expertise and credibility in a field.

Add Connections: This boosts visibility and when people scan your profile, they will look to see who you know in common. If you know someone in common, your profile is often viewed in a higher regard.

Profile URL: Make a custom URL, to reflect your name or tagline. (Edit-’Public Profile’ near the top) You can then add this custom URL to your website or email signature.

Groups: Join groups that you wish to participate in their discussions. Ask questions and answer questions there. Be aware that many of the groups have turned into job boards or free advertising. So if you start a group, make sure to specify the rules/regulations. Starting a Group for yourself can be a great way to network and drive business as well.

Applications: There are some great new applications within LinkedIn that enable you to post presentations, travel information, attach your blog to your profile and many other ways to add depth to your profile.

Here is my profile as an example: www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyulmer

Do you want to take your Linkedin Profile and Linkedin Results to the next level? Contact me for a free consultation or learn more about my Linkedin Coaching program.

Jeremy J. Ulmer, Professional Coach, Sales Coach, Sales Mentor, Business Coach, Life Coach, Executive Coach

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their full potential.” - Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot

“Many of the world’s most admired corporations, from GE to Goldman Sachs, invest in coaching. Annual spending on coaching in the U.S. Is estimated at roughly $1 billion”. - Harvard Business Review

“Recent studies show business coaching and executive coaching to be the most effective means for achieving sustainable growth, change and development in the individual, group and organization.” – HR Monthly

“A major benefit of coaching is having someone who helps you see your strengths and weaknesses and uses them to accomplish your goals.” – Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“Using [coaching] instead of sending executives and managers to seminars two or three times a year can be more beneficial to ongoing career development, not to mention less expensive…” – PC Week

“Coaching takes a holistic view of the individual: work, corporate values, personal needs and career development are made to work in synergy, not against one another.” – British Journal of Administrative Management

“Coaching started in the business world to help stressed out executives cope with their professional and personal lives, and it still thrives in the corporate environment. But, increasingly, individuals are turning to coaches for help with every sort of problem.” – Boston Globe

“If you want to build your business and at the same time have a rewarding personal life, you call a coach.” – Denver Post

“A personal coach can help you by getting you to spell out what it is that you really want and then working with you to make the changes that actually enable you to get there.” – The Vancouver Province

“A study featured in Public Personnel Management Journal reports that managers (31) that underwent a managerial training program showed an increased productivity of 22.4%. However, a second group was provided coaching following the training process and their productivity increased by 88%. Research does demonstrate that one-on-one executive coaching is of value.” – F. Turner, Ph.D.

“Xerox Corporation carried out several studies on coaching. They determined that in the absence of follow-up coaching to their training classes,  87% of the skills change brought about by the program was lost.” – Business Wire

“In a 2004 survey by Right Management consultants, 86 percent of companies said they used coaching to sharpen skills of individuals who have been identified as future organizational leaders.” - Excerpt from “What An Executive Coach Can Do For You” – Harvard Business School.

“Business coaching is attracting America’s top CEOs because, put simply, business coaching works. In fact, when asked for a conservative estimate of monetary payoff from the coaching they got… managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.” - FORTUNE Magazine

“A coach may be the guardian angel you need to rev up your career.” - MONEY Magazine

“Across corporate America, coaching sessions at many companies have become as routine for executives as budget forecasts and quota meetings.” - INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY

“Coaches are not for the meek. They’re for people who value unambiguous feedback. All coaches have one thing in common. It’s that they are ruthlessly results-oriented.” - FAST COMPANY Magazine

“I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.” - John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd.

“.[A coach] is part advisor, part sounding board, part cheerleader, part manager and part strategist.” - THE BUSINESS JOURNAL

“[Executives should seek coaching] when they feel that a change in behavior-either for themselves or their team members-can make a significant difference in the long-term success of the organization.” - Marshall Goldsmith, Fast Company Columnist

Sales Interview Questions

I have posted sales interview questions for various sales positions below. These questions will be helpful when interviewing a sales professional or leader of any level.

(If you are a sales professional or sales leader looking for how to answer any question an interviewer could ever throw at you, please visit here!)

Sales Representative, Sales Executive, Account Manager, Account Executive, Sales Manager, District Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Director of Sales, VP of Sales, Executive Vice President of Sales, Chief Sales Officer.

Personal Sales Interview Questions:

What are your long-term professional goals? And short term goals?

What do you do personally for your professional development?

What did you do this past weekend?

What kind of goals motivate you the best?

What is your greatest dream?

What was your most significant personal accomplishment?

What would you say your one or two biggest failures or mistakes were in life? What did you learn from them?

What are you passionate about?

What fulfills you?

What are your top values?

Work Ethic Sales Interview Questions:

Tell me about your last three days at work. Please fill me in from start to finish each day.

Tell me about an experience that demonstrates your work ethic.

What was your most significant professional accomplishment and what did it take to achieve it?

What were your goals for the past three years and did you meet them?

What is the reason for your past success?

Objection Handling Sales Interview Questions:

How do you overcome buyer objections?

How do you handle price objections?

What do you say when the prospect says everything looks good, except the price?

What do you say when the prospect says send me some information?

Sales Process and Sales Cycle Interview Questions:

What do you like and dislike about the sales process and why?

What type of sales cycle is most rewarding to you? A long cycle for a large ticket item or smaller and more frequent sales?

Describe a time where you used a creative approach in meeting a sales goal or making a sale?

What is your process to qualify your prospects?

What do you do to generate leads?

How do you ask for a referral?

Sales Management and Sales Leadership Interview Questions:

As  a  sales  leader, how  did  you  go  about  recruiting  your  sales  staff?

What  criteria  did   you  use  to  evaluate  your team members?

How  would  you  describe  your  sales  management style?

Rate your management skills on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 representing excellent management skills. Provide three examples from your past work experiences that demonstrate your selected number is accurate.

Tell me about a time when you reorganized a department or significantly changed employee work assignments. How did you approach the task? How did the affected employees respond to your actions?

When you have entered a new workplace in the past, as a manager or supervisor, describe how you have gone about meeting and developing relationships with your new coworkers, supervisors, and reporting staff.

Intangible Sales Skills Interview Questions:

Describe a situation with a client or prospect where you made a mistake. How did you handle the error?

What do you think are the most important skills in succeeding in sales?

What are your top three open-ended questions for initial sales calls?

What are your 3 greatest sales strengths or gifts?

What do you see as the key skills in opening new partnerships? (“Closing”)

Want Increased Sales Results and Productivity From Your Sales Leaders or Sales Executives?

Contact Me to learn more about Sales Coaching and the Coach Jeremy breakthrough Sales Workshop: Reprogram Your Sales Mind.

Sales Interview Questions