February 18, 2012 – Saturday’s Smile
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Episode 117 – How Do You Want To Spend Your Days?
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Her day wasn’t going so well. She was dangling her toes over the ledge, fully prepared to implode – or quit. Frustration boiled over from too many days of chaos. Constant interruptions. Distracted at every turn from doing the work that needed to be done. She’d had enough.
And I asked the question…stopping her dead in her tracks.
He sat across from me lamenting ongoing employee problems. They simply don’t do what he needs. They’re busy solving problems that don’t exist while real problems crop up constantly…without being properly tended to.
And I asked the question…once again, the crickets started chirping.
“How do you want to spend your days?”
We often aim at the outcome we think we’d like, but we don’t often enough consider the daily actions required to achieve that outcome. Thoughtful consideration about how we’d like to spend our time – with an emphasis on our professional/business life – is in order. As with most of life’s important questions, asking is easier than answering.
I want to encourage us to spend time answering the questions. It can help us move forward, even if only by inches. Some days we need to be thankful for inches of progress. But some days, we’ll be able to advance miles. We want opportunities. We want progress. We want improvement. Advancement.
We’re going to fail. Maybe often. So what? Keep swimming. Seth Godin calls it “the dip.”
Everybody experiences a dip. Many of us experience quite a few of them. Keep swimming. Figure out how you want to spend your days.
It only happens when we’re intentional, strategic and methodical. Well, at least part of our time needs to be characterized by those things.
Mentioned in today’s show:
• Jeff Dunham: The Birth of a Dummy (a Biography channel show)
• Jeff Dunham finally got on Comedy Central, but only after he went out on a big limb.
• Net News Wire (a terrific RSS reader that integrates with Google Reader)
Leave me a comment. I’d love to hear what you think.
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How Do You Know When To Quit?
Ah, the questions of life. How can I get started? Is now a good time to start? How can I know I’m going in the right direction? What’s my best option? So many questions.
Quitting isn’t among the most popular topics to consider. Nobody likes a quitter, we tell our children. Fact is, people quit all the time. Winners quit regularly. It seems contradictory.
Mentioned in today’s show:
• David Siteman Garland runs The Rise To The Top. He interviews people.
• Andrew Warner runs Mixergy. He interviews people, too.
• Jaime Tardy runs The Eventual Millionaire. And she interviews people.
• Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (the YouTube video; if you’ve never seen it – do it now)
No, I’m not quitting. At least not today!
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Build Rapport Before You Start Selling
Connections come from being able to relate, communicate and understand each other. Sometimes it happens effortlessly. Other times we have to really strain to make it happen. Then, there are those occasions where it’s just not going to happen…unless we intervene and do something constructively.
Salespeople have to be willing to go the extra mile for it…or risk losing all hope of creating a customer. Rapport building is a skill. It can be learned. Don’t spend all your time learning about your product or service. Rarely do we decide to do business with people who have the most product knowledge. We do business with people we can relate to well, people who understand us and people we feel we understand. It all leads to like-ability – rapport. You know the definition of rapport, don’t you?
harmonious or sympathetic relation
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Is The Past Or The Future Easier For You Than The Present?
This past Sunday was a big day for Glen Campbell and his family. His story appeared on CBS Sunday Morning. Then Sunday night during the Grammy’s he performed following a tribute to his lifetime contributions. A weekend to remember…for as long as he can. A year for one final tour to support one last record. Campbell has Alzheimer’s disease.
Stories like his give us all reasons to ponder our own situations. Our own lives.
Thanks for watching, listening and giving me part of your time. I know it’s the most valuable thing you’ve got!
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Talk Less, Sell More
Lots of people talk too much. Even me. Sometimes. Actually, too often. It’s not a bad trait if you produce videos and podcasts. It’s a terrible trait if you want to succeed in sales.
I was in sales long before I was in podcasting, or videocasting. Or blogging. I grew up selling, but it wasn’t because I enjoyed talking. It was because I was hungry for money, and I was curiously interested.
I quickly discovered I had the ingredients necessary for sales. Like every novice, when I began I had to learn, practice and improve. One of the first lessons I learned was to shut up and listen. Even though I learned it well, I still sometimes forget.
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