Leadership and Sales BLOG

A coaching client asked me recently how she could "create more time" for her personal and professional interests. While we all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, the way we use that time varies wildly. Here are four great tips for getting more out of the time you have!

1. Clearly define what your priorities are for each day. Writing them out increases the chances exponentially that the most important things will get done.
2. Understand what your compelling purpose is for achieving a specific result. Doing this simple association turns a "nice to have" into a "Non Negotiable" result. If a result or action doesn't have a compelling purpose attached to it, that result or action cannot be a priority for you.
3. Get proactive. The average American worker spends three to four hours a day on email. At the risk of driving readers away from my own blog, limit your email. I answer personal business email in three fifteen-minute time chunks per day. Quitting all-day email must be like quitting heroin, but you must do it to create more time for yourself.
4. Find partners and make them a part of your team. I love my bookkeeper Chris because she updates my financial reports every other month. In the past, I'd spend three to four hours every month updating QuickBooks myself. That took me away from my job as the creativity specialist and visionary for my company. Updating my financial ledger was mindless, painless, and the exact opposite of what I do to serve clients and stay in business!

Try these out for thirty days and see what happens to your business. We all spend far too much time being reactive in life, whether it's personally or professionally. The key to time management is to take control where you can. This trains your mind and body to be more judicious with your time, and more focused on the activities that create wealth and fulfillment.

I've been thinking about character this week. Why is how we treat others so important? Is there a difference between our professional character and our personal character?

The old saying goes that you should "treat others as you would want to be treated". That's easy to do on the playground. Don't punch people you wouldn't want to be punched by. As you get older it seems as though the lines blur a bit. Is a contract a binding, solemn agreement etched on stone? Or is a contract something in which we look for the "lines between the lines", hoping to ferret out language that serves us at any given moment? Does it matter if a contract is between two entities, like corporations or water districts? What about a contract between a "little guy" and a monolith?

Don't you hate blogs that only ask questions?

I used the quote "Character is who you are when no-one is watching" the other day in a blog posting on my fatherhood site http://dadspeaker.blogspot.com/ and it generated quite a response. The idea of having a character "Angel" posted on your shoulder at all times sounds tiring. Who wants to be eternally on their best behavior? I find that it's easier to be that Angel in my personal life than it is in my professional life. Somehow when dollars enter the picture, my inner pit-bull kicks in and I want to defend my turf and wallet at all costs.

My sense is that when these questions take center stage in my mind, it's a distinct message that something is amiss. My character is being tested and while I want to believe that I'll always do the right thing, the temptation to do the wrong thing is overpowering. For me, the ultimate test is whether I can look my sons in the eyes and tell them I acted in a way that I am proud of. If I try to live two "characters", one professional and one personal, I'm afraid keeping my good deeds balanced with my conscience will be too great a mental challenge.

Guess that answers that question!

Here are two more fast-paced and fun games to play with The 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever! card deck. If you've come up with other ways to leverage this tremendous selling resource, please post your ideas on the blog to share with other professionals.

Great Question Game

The goal of this game is to build the habit of asking great questions in every interaction.

Match up with a buddy and grab ten index cards.

Write down the top ten questions you use in a sales call (or select your “top ten” from the 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever! card deck), one per index card.

Challenge each other to integrate one question for each contact you make.

Track your results to see which questions elicit details that you can use to position your value.

The Fish Ladder Game

The goal of this game is to create a habit of making the “big fish” phone calls. Building this behavior is just like building muscle or brain power; the more you do it, the better you become!

Match up with a buddy.

Each of you list your top ten prospects, the “big fish” who you know you should call but haven’t.

Pick off one call a day (or one an hour, week etc.) and make it.

Hold yourself accountable and hold your buddy accountable for making the calls!

I'm hearing that many professionals are using these same card deck questions to enhance business relationships, and to expand leadership discussions with colleagues and direct reports.

To purchase additional card decks, please visit http://www.52bdcards.com/

“To be, or not to be? That is the question.”

Shakespeare’s Hamlet asked that question as he pondered his mortality. He wanted to know whether it made sense for him to soldier on, or take the easy way out and end his life. Sales can be lot like Hamlet’s eternal question. When we’re marketing our services or products, some days strengthen our resolve, and other days test it. Many professionals make their business development efforts a test of wills or a test of personal value. It’s no wonder that people with great sales skills are in high demand in any economy, and it’s not surprising that those same people change jobs on average every 19-20 months. Sales can be a pressure cooker because we (a) quantify success, (b) have written objectives and (c) are reminded constantly of our successes and failures. Other than police officers and firefighters, how many workers have those criteria hanging over them?

In my 20+ years in sales I’ve made more than 200,000 cold calls. While I’m not “dialing for dollars” at the 175-200 calls a day rate anymore, my outbound contact with prospective clients is just as critical today as it was twenty years ago. Fortunately, the stress of selling abated greatly once I learned these Six Truths of business development.

1. Know your audience. Making one-hundred phone calls a day can de-personalize the people you’re calling, not to mention yourself. Instead of shooting for volume, shoot for quality. Wouldn’t you rather make fifteen to twenty high-value contacts a day, with people you’ve had time to research, than fishing for anyone with a pulse?  
2. Be a “Quiet Expert”. My first few years as a sales leader were spent trying to demonstrate how smart I was to everyone around me. I believe the technical term for my style back then was “Blowhard”! Instead of supporting the people around me, I tried to steamroller them with my knowledge. When I didn’t know something, I made a “best guess” and hoped that it was right. A “Quiet Expert” doesn’t need to demonstrate their awesome powers. A “QE” listens attentively to others and supports their knowledge. 
3. Ask better questions. Having a “script” for a business development interaction can be a blessing or a curse. Once the conversation veers off your agenda, you can feel like the proverbial fish out of water. Asking great questions takes the onus off you to talk; you’re still guiding the interaction but you’re not doing the heavy lifting. This “Truth” about selling led to the newest 89 Seconds to Success™ resource “The 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever!” card deck.   
4. Respect your connections. We’ve all had the experience of handing out business cards at a networking meeting. Two days later, three new email “Newsletters” show up in your in-box that you didn’t sign up to receive. “Respect” means that you ask permission before adding someone to your regular contact list. This also means narrowing the field of your professional contacts, so that you can follow-up with people in a personal and timely fashion. Think of it this way, having five great friends is far more valuable than having 100 casual acquaintances.
5.  Be the Rock. No, you don’t have to adopt the persona of a professional wrestler. Being the “Rock” in your professional relationships means being the voice of reason. It’s easy to get sucked in to office politics or petty complaints. We’ve all been party to those discussions, and we’ve all fallen victim to “victim” thinking. After surviving seven rounds of layoffs at a previous employer I can recall days when job cuts dominated my every move and thought. We should have been thinking about innovative ways to generate new business yet as a company, we became immobile and unable to move forward. The “Rock” stands steady and remains calm in crisis, while continuing to push the proverbial envelope.
6. Celebrate Success. In the 24/7 world of constant communication, somehow we’ve misplaced the ability to be spontaneous and joyful. Total immersion in your work may mean short-term gains coupled with long-term losses. The most meaningful recognition in my professional career was not an award I won, but when an employer recognized and rewarded the sacrifices my family had to make for me to accomplish my goals. To whom do you owe a “Thank You” to today?

Hamlet’s question led him on a long and tortured path that ended in murder and his ultimate demise. No doubt his internal strife was good for box office receipts in the early 17^th century. Regardless of external economic pressures or your internal strife, your sales efforts shouldn’t include personal agony. Following the Six Truths of business development helps you stay positive, and stay focused on what generates consistent achievement. After all, what good is success if you’re too depressed to enjoy it?

To bring the Six Truths and Mike’s 89 Seconds to Success™ business development resources to your next sales meeting, please call 720.851.5208 (US/Intl.) or visit us on the web at www.mikefaber.com</span>. The 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever! card deck is available at www.52BDcards.com</span>.

My eight-year old son Christopher is agonizing lately over how slow time seems to pass. This is typical behavior for our "type A" little guy. The impasse this month is Christmas. "I just can't wait for Santa to come" is Chris' refrain, and we're hearing it hourly if not more often these days.

Patience may be a virtue, but that doesn't mean we have to embrace it. Results take time to achieve and for every time I've heard a leader say "Business is a marathon, not a sprint" I've heard ten other leaders exclaim "Why wasn't this done yesterday!" Sound familiar?

As you plan for the year ahead, keep in mind three tips on results and focus.

1. Business is a marathon, not a sprint (sorry, I just HAD to put that in here) but speed counts! Focus on what you're really great at, and build the core of your endeavors around those skills. Repetition builds competence. Repetition of competence builds expertise.

2. You can't achieve a result if you don't believe you can. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and it's especially sad when we waste our time worrying about what we cannot do. If results seem too big, break them down into bite-size chunks.

3. Get creative. Try new directions and ways of thinking. When you feel like the only one pulling at the oars, stretch yourself to make new connections with colleagues, customers and complete strangers. 

Chris complains about the slow pace of time. You and I know that as we age, time moves much quicker than it does for an eight-year old. The benefit of this is that we feel a sense of urgency about what we want to accomplish in life. We can also feel more scattered amongst all the "things" that we want to achieve.

Create results that make significant contributions to the ideas and goals that are most important to you. What can you achieve in the next month that would positively impact your family, your career and yourself?