How To Set Goals
1. Specific: The goal must be specific. If the goal is not specific enough it will lack clarity and meaning. Example: “I’d like to move soon.” versus “I will move by Feb 1, 2009 to ________, by doing, ABC.”
2. Measurable: The goal must be measurable and have a well defined outcome. Example: “I want to cut weight.” versus “I will drop 15 lbs by April 10, 2009″ or “Achieve body fat of 5% by June 1, 2009.” (more…)
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.
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.
“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 (more…)
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. (more…)
“When prospecting via phone and the contact picks up, do you ask for their time? Or do you go into your spiel?”
This question was asked on and below is my public answer:
This is a great question and there are many ways to approach this. Assuming this is a pure cold call and they are not expecting your call, the first thing I would recommend doing is put yourself in their shoes. What would you want to hear? How would you want to be treated? Start there and you might find your own answer…
Here are just some of the ways to approach it below, and the key is finding what works for you! (more…)
1. Most people do not enjoy cold calling, but they need to realize it has to be done. It really is a mind-set. You have to set time daily to call, and make it part of your daily behavior/activities.
2. Not everyone will be a fit and that is ok! If they say “No” or “No Thanks!” that is totally fine. You are simply finding out who might be a fit or not. There will be less pressure on you if you keep that mind-set.
(more…)
How Life & Business May Look Without Accountability
It is essential that when setting up accountability you cover these 3 simple, yet powerful questions:
1. What are you going to accomplish?
Make sure to get very specific. (more…)
“strong consideration needs to be given to using external coaching programs to enhance internal results.”
“The study also indicates that using internal coaches to coach managers or executives is not correlated with coaching success. It appears that using external coaches for those groups is more effective and perhaps confirms that the higher cost of using an external coach may be well worth it.” (more…)
Many people new to professional coaching wonder how the great majority of it is done on the phone.
In coaching the focus is all on you and here are some reasons why coaching on the telephone is so effective.
1. It helps you really focus hearing yourself.
2. Less distractions, no visual distractions, total concentration.
3. Telephone coaching is much more efficient. You and your coach will get into coaching right away.
The following question was posted on linkedin.com: “Work-Life Balance…Any suggestion on how to find symmetry?” Below is my public answer.
Hi, these are very important questions. As a professional coach, both for business, sales and life, I find that these areas area critical for success. I started a linkedin.com group that is fully dedicated to “Balance & Fulfillment for Business Leaders” that you might want to join. We are sharing and helping each other with these exact types of questions.
Source: The Coaches Training Institute website (articles)
Coach Training Impact on the Organization
Coach training impacts not only the person being trained, but also the employees in the company receiving coaching from that individual. While no study has measured the impact of internal coaching, the impact of external executive coaching would provide some directional evidence.
The question of whether a high level of empathy for a sales professional was an advantage or a disadvantage was asked on linkedin.com. Below is my public answer to this question.
This is a great and interesting question! It looks like most people so far are saying that empathy is essential for sales people, and I agree! I will expand on the concept and how to develop it a little further as it may be of help for those who want to enhance it. (more…)
1. Be open minded and ready to move forward.
2. Think about your goals, get clear on them.
3. Be open to maximizing your potential, both in sales, business, and personally, to be the best you can be.
4. Be willing and ready to make commitments to yourself.
5. Come to the coaching session with an agenda/topic in mind that would be most important and most helpful for you to cover. (more…)
SPIN Selling By Neil Rackham, Huthwaite, Inc. McGraw-Hill © 1988, 197 pages.
This book is a classic sales book and I have provided my own summary below.
Below are the key points from this book – SPIN Selling Summary
“There’s no doubt about it, questions persuade more powerfully than any other form of verbal behavior. And this is not just in selling.”
(I would agree that powerful questions are key, but note that “persuasion” in the traditional sense is out-dated when it comes to selling effectively. Persuasion can put the prospect on the defensive and can make the sales person uncomfortable as well. Learn more about my Sales Coaching Programs) (more…)
How do you hold yourself accountable in your life or in your business? What is accountability to you? Where is it present and where does it not exist? What is the impact in your life or your business if there is no accountability?
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Research by the Chartered Management Institute and Campaign for Learning – “Coaching at Work”. Results issued in a press release dated 16th May 2002:
Top 4 words associated with Coaching (from a given list) were:
Supportive (98%), Empowering (82%), Holistic (80%), Inspirational (77%)
Top 3 words associated with Training (from the same given list) were:
Prescriptive (71%), Rigid (70%), Intimidating (50%) (more…)