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Commitment

Less of...

Yes, it is possible to do LESS of something!

It seems counter-intuitive to look at what we might do less of following a blog that focused on
MORE!

Maybe we could have talked less or talked less about things that were unimportant to the buyer
and only important to us. Or have spent less time on an interaction that was ineffective
(combine that with talking too much – ouch). Or we might have spent less time on non-sales
actions that kept sales actions from happening.

Or brought less resista…

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Don’t Let Up Until You Finish

You are almost there. It’s almost over. 

Stay with the process and keep at it until you have crossed the finish line…and resist the temptation to lighten up as the end nears.

This is when others will give up…they will say ‘it’s close enough’…or that making goal is overrated…or some other disempowering belief that makes giving up seem reasonable. You might have done that in the past, too. But this is a new reality, and you are building a new set of skills that will serve you to consistently…

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PerformNow and One by One

If you are a regular reader, you know that I have a commitment to sales managers and how they effectively execute their job and elevate their team performance. My “Sell it or Schedule it” has a sales manager training component and I easily spend as much time training and coaching sales managers as I spend training and coaching salespeople.

It’s with that commitment that I have joined forces with David and Wayne McMahon and their PerformNow Sales Manager Performance Groups. There are…

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Structures and Support

“I don’t write goals, but I have them in my head.”  What??
If you’ve heard yourself say that, challenge its efficacy: DID you really achieve the goal? Did you even have one? Or is that something you say to avoid the responsibility of making a commitment and then taking the actions to achieve the goal? 

Some facts about goals: 

  1. You need to write them down. The action of thinking it through and articulating what you want is powerful and part of the process.
  2. Put your goals somewhere that yo…

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Identifying Pitfalls and Traps

Are you good for the first three days into a new initiative and then start to slip?
When do you stop doing the actions that you committed to?
Do you start to tell yourself: “It’s not that bad” or “It’s not that important?”

Rather than avoiding these natural tendencies, include them in your goals. Consider them BEFORE they happen so that when they pop up, you will be prepared for them.

For example, if you know that you start the month strong, make your first week goals and miss your thi…

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GRATEFUL QUESTIONING

How can we bring gratitude to questioning? When do we need it the most?

Let’s look at where questions start. Are they coming from a place of interest and helpfulness?

Are the questions originating from compassion and a desire to understand?

Are the questions courageous (tough to ask but we know we must) and considerate (asked in a
way that is respectful and kind)?

When a sales interaction is successful (in that it produced a sale or an appointment), take a moment to present and to be gratef…

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Objections to Appointments

When we are committed to the process and the outcomes of making appointments, we need to prepare for the objections that come with them…so that when they happen – and they will!.. we are ready with a response that will turn that objection around to make the appointment.

A few of the most common objections and responses are:

“I am busy and will just pop back in.”
“I can understand that…and what many of my clients/customers/designers have found is that by scheduling a time to meet again, …

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Conscious Consistency

Conscious Consistency. I love the way this sounds. It came up in a coaching call (as so many things do!) and I had to write it down.

Conscious. Consistency. Two related but separate qualities that contribute to making new habits. Cool, huh?

Conscious. Present. Mindful. In the moment. Paying attention. Being focused on the action now. Noticing my thinking and how it impacts my actions. 

Consistency. Repeating things that work. And again. Noticing how the action starts to become second na…

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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Starting new practices and habits isn’t a smooth process. After the initial excitement and inspiration wears off and old habits start to call to us, we feel pulled in a couple of directions: moving toward the future that we envision and desire and being tethered to a familiar way of doing things. We start to tell ourselves that the current reality is not so bad….and maybe we just need to live with it. 

Fear. Resignation. Hopelessness. 

When we know that breakdowns will occur or we may falt…

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Slipcover Lessons

 

                                           

 

I started this project about a month ago, although how much time it was going to take to complete the project remained an unspecified mystery. Since this was the first slipcover I ever made, I spent time researching HOW to do this so that the result would be respectable. The ticking stripe fabric was a couple of years old, because I originally thought I would have someone do the work for me. But the pandemic arrived and my travel schedule slowed…

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