V. Scott Ellis was my first interview last September for a new project I was planning to launch, Chasing DFW Cool (DFW = Dallas/Ft. Worth for you non-Texans). Scott was my first interview for the project. After I told him that, Scott said I clearly had my finger on the pulse of what was cool in Dallas. 😀 Yes, he is cool. You can tell by just looking at his head. Cool guys have common traits!
Well, the project suffered delays because I simply had way too much going on to properly launch the site. A few weeks ago I decided to start releasing some of the interviews here because I just felt the content was too good to keep sitting on it. I’m still planning to launch Chasing DFW Cool sometime this fall. In the meantime, I’d like to welcome Scott to the land of Bula!
We tried a few times to record the conversation via Skype, but the technology just didn’t cooperate. Two Dallas guys trying to connect via Skype proved much tougher than trying to connect with friends in the UK. Go figure.
Scott invited me to just come down to the Livid Lobster studios and join him in person where we could use his audio set up. So that’s what I did. I even got to meet Cali Lewis and John P. Of course, the Livid Lobster studios have since moved, but it was nice to sit across from Scott face-to-face.
Here are some links to learn more about Scott and what’s he’s up to:
Lifestyle Frisco – Frisco is an affluent suburb of Dallas (it’s also the future home of the Dallas Cowboys’ training facility/HQ and the current home of the Dallas Stars Hockey Club)
Sean is a fellow Texan living here in Dallas. I initially did this interview for a new project – Chasing DFW Cool. That’s a project I’m still planning to launch, but the conversation with Sean is too good to sit on.
We talked about his past history, technology, entrepreneurship, how he connected with Brian Clark (founder and CEO of Copyblogger) and more. Sean is the creator of Scribe, a SEO optimization solution.
Copyblogger Media offers a variety of products and services designed to help content creators build more successful platforms:
Studiopress – the creators of the Genesis WordPress framework and child themes
Authority – an educational resource and community available via Copyblogger
* The new platform, which has been teased for months now, is coming soon. In fact, this week Brian Clark is going to begin a series of webinars about the Rainmaker Platform. You can visit the New Rainmaker website, scroll to the bottom and sign up to get in on it. You can also listen to a short podcast about the three webinars on the new platform at the New Rainmaker podcast.
Undercover Boss on CBS always enlightens the boss.
Undercover Boss is a CBS TV show. The storyline is always the same. A senior executive (CEO, COO, etc.) goes undercover inside their own company with a disguise. For a week they pretend to be contestants in a reality TV show where they’re competing for a job. Each day they do a different job in the company. For example, last week the CEO of The Larry H. Miller Group Of Companies, owners of the Utah Jazz NBA team, Greg Miller (his dad was Larry H.) went undercover. He helped put down the basketball flooring in the arena, he worked the concession stands, he worked as part of the half-time dunk team and he also worked in the crowd with the folks who help give fans in the upper deck a great fan experience. That’s the sort of thing that happens in each episode.
Along the way, the boss interacts up close and personal with whoever is training him and showing him the ropes. These workers share their insights about the work, the company and their own personal lives. The bosses all quickly discover that by being in the trenches they see things that need improvement. They also find employees who are battling adversity at work and at home. It’s part human interest story, part business lesson and part entertainment.
In the end, the undercover boss reveals his true identity and rewards the employees with recognition and some personal help (last week, Greg Miller paid off some medical bills, a car loan and gave some money to employees for college funds). I find every episode heart warming as you hear the stories of courage, commitment and dedication – and as you see the boss connect with front line people in a very meaningful way!
How To Grow As A Boss Without Going Undercover
Do you have to put on a disguise and fool your employees in order to become a better boss? Maybe it helps get some firsthand stories and information, but there are other things every boss can do to learn the same things we see the Undercover Boss learn.
1. Become a student, not a teacher.
The first thing you see every Undercover Boss do is take on a job they don’t know how to do. They introduce themselves (as their alias) to an employee, usually a relatively low level person doing the actual job, not a supervisor. The employee shows them the work, teaches them, then lets them give it a try. Almost always the boss stumbles. Sometimes they stumble badly.
Over the course of doing this lower level work the boss always comes to understand the job is much tougher than they thought. By doing this work they have a new appreciation for the commitment of the employees doing thankless work. The benefit of the disguise is that it forces the boss to remain incognito. That forces the boss to be a student and stay a student without pulling the “boss card.”
As a boss, can you devote yourself to being a student of lower level employees? Can you commit yourself to “stay in character” as a student? Well, the more you can do that…and the longer you can sustain it without thinking you’re too good for this, the better. You’ll quickly learn to appreciate the work and the worker! Additionally, you’ll be in a position to serve better because you’ll be armed with better information to remove the constraints that may be hindering improved performance. That’s the beauty of the boss doing this tough work – the boss has the authority to affect real change!
Lower yourself. Be willing to go to the factory floor, the sales floor, the accounting clerk’s cubicle, or any other place where the work is happening. No job is too low. Or too high (obviously). Become the student and behave like a student. Lose yourself in the moment and stay there for as long as it takes to learn all you can.
2. Get personal by being personable.
In the course of being vulnerable enough to become a student, the Undercover Boss always finds out more about the person teaching them. If not during the work, then on a break, the boss will ask about the employee’s family. It’s during these conversations that the human element of the work comes to the forefront. Employees often talk of family medical woes, children who need special attention, a recent death or some other challenge that burdens them away from work. Naturally, the employee, not knowing it’s the big cheese sitting across from them, will ask the Undercover Boss about their family, too. It’s what we all do if we have an ounce of empathy, we reciprocate.
These are often the conversations that hit the boss the hardest. Hearing these stories of hardship seem to always make the boss realize how exceptional many employees are because they’re often very good as masking their problems. For example, a young lady at the Utah Jazz basketball games is all smiles and bubbly with fans during the game. Privately, the Undercover Boss finds out her heart is heavy because her mom is under tremendous financial strain as the result of unpaid medical bills. Had the boss not asked about her personal life, he couldn’t have possibly known because she was so good at her job of making sure fans had a great time!
As you’re being taught, be interested in the person teaching you. Engage them just the way any peer would. Ask about their family. Get to really know them. Avoid making it a one-way street. Be vulnerable by sharing your story with them. I don’t mean your corporate accolades, but your family struggles. Don’t make it a one-upsmanship contest, but make them feel like they know you better in the same way you’re trying to get to know them better.
3. Thank and recognize employees for their work.
The Undercover Boss eventually reveals himself to the employees one at a time. Right away, the boss compliments the employee with personal recognition. “I was so impressed with how you went about doing your job of making sure the fans were having a great time. Your energy and personality are a true gift to our fans and I appreciate your work very much.” Any employee’s heart would soar if a boss told them that.
So why don’t more bosses do that?
Because they don’t understand leadership.
Because they see themselves as more important than the employees.
Because they think it’s soft and may lead to complacency.
Because they’re so used to facing problems they’ve forgotten (or never learned) how to celebrate wins.
Because they genuinely don’t care about their employees.
Why don’t YOU thank and recognize employees and their work more (and better)?
I’m thinking of all the times we’ve seen professional athletes perform well in the face of great adversity. As I record this episode we’re in the throws of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the National Hockey League. The New York Rangers are currently doing battle against the Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers began their playoff run in pretty lackluster fashion until some adversity struck their locker room. Martin St. Louis, a player who just entered their locker room at the trade deadline mere months ago, lost his mom just days before Mother’s Day. Her death was unexpected and naturally his teammates felt badly for him. After spending a brief time with his family, he returned the team because he said it’s what his mom would have wanted. He played in the very next game refusing to leave his teammates. It had a profound impact on the locker room. His teammates pulled together like never before. The team went on a winning spree and advanced to the next round. During the break between rounds, his mother’s funeral was attended by the entire team and coaching staff. Martin St. Louis played extremely well during all of this. We applaud such valiant effort…when we see it in athletes.
But we don’t do that at work. Why not?
Mostly because we haven’t a clue what adversity others are facing. And we don’t care. We tell ourselves that it’s none of our business. We convince ourselves that work is work and the work must be done.
It’s a mistake that leaders make every single day. Drive your employees hard. Demand high performance. But you’ve got to take the time – make the time – to thank and recognize employees for their work.
Let me appeal to your business sensibilities.
How much does thanks and recognition cost? NOTHING other than a bit of time. NOTHING other a bit of awareness and effort on your part. The capital investment is NOTHING. Well, it can be nothing. Sure, you can give people awards or rewards. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just remain focused on thanking and recognizing.
What’s the ROI on thanks and recognition? IMMEASURABLE. Maybe somebody smarter than me can quantify it, but in all my years of leading people and managing processes I’ve never been able to. However, I do know it’s a bit like those MasterCard commercials. It’s priceless. How can you measure the power of feeling good…or having high morale?
Athletes talk about being “in the zone.” It can happen with your employees, too. As the boss you can impact helping people find the zone. The most effective way you can do that is by thanking them and recognizing them for the work they do.
If you want your sales team to sell more, thank and recognize them. Then sit back and watch them sell more.
If you want your accounting staff to process paperwork more efficiently, thank and recognize them. Then stand back and watch them find ways to be more efficient.
If you want your engineering staff to solve problems faster, thank them and recognize them. Then sit back and watch them find a faster gear.
Every boss I’ve ever worked with knows and understands that you get what you reward, but few of them make that part of their daily work habit. Most bosses are given to the stick and carrot business model except they gravitate toward using the stick and forgetting about the carrot. If employees never get to taste the carrot, but they’re constantly being beaten with the stick…in time they’ll quickly learn the carrot is fictional. Nothing will move them toward higher performance. Eventually, you’ll leave your people beaten to death by the side of the road. And it’s YOUR fault as the boss.
Catch people doing good work. Look for it. Search it out. Do that every day. Do it every hour.
Make it your business to lead the cheers to celebrate victories by merely thanking people and letting them know how genuinely appreciative you are of their work. Will it take effort? Yes, especially if you’ve never been used to doing it (and that includes far too many bosses). But keep doing it. Make it a trademark of your leadership and you’ll be rewarded more than you ever imagined by people who will run through a wall for you – because we all want to be recognized and feel special. It’s your job as the boss to make employees feel special. Don’t neglect it.
4. Reward good work with a gift.
The Undercover Boss will dole out rewards to the employees at the end of each show. It may be a contribution to a father for his children’s college fund. Maybe it’s a paid trip to Disneyland. This past week the owner of the Utah Jazz paid off the car loan of an employee and bought him a second car because he and his wife both worked 2 jobs each, all with one car between them.
I’m not saying you’ve got to buy new cars or give away expensive trips, but I am saying you can’t neglect investing rewards in your employees. Yes, that means spending some money. How much? That’s up to you.
Don’t be fooled into the stupid idea that because you can’t do it for everybody, then you won’t do it for anybody. Rewards are democratic. Nor are they always systematic or automatic. In fact, the kind of rewards I’m talking about have nothing to do with compensation. So don’t think about commissions or bonuses here because that’s not what I’m talking about. The Undercover Boss doesn’t dole out extra commissions or bonuses. The boss recognizes the work and the employee and gives them a gift.
Husbands, do you give your wife a gift on your wedding anniversary? Why do you do that?
Moms, do you give your kids a gift on their birthday? Why?
Just because another year has passed? That warrants a gift?
No, it’s not merely the passing of another year. It’s the fact that this person is important to you. You love them. You want to show them. The gift is an expression (not the only expression) of that love and concern.
When you – the boss – give an employee a gift as a reward and recognition for good work you’re letting them know how important they are to you and the organization. The difference between these gifts and those anniversary or birthday gifts is they’re completely random based on the extraordinary work of an employee. On Undercover Boss the employees never expect what the boss does for them. That’s how it should be in your organization. Your gifts of recognition shouldn’t be expected. Employees expect commissions and bonuses, provided they know the rules going in and they’ve met the standard. That’s not the same thing. That’s compensation, not a gift.
A gift is surprise that says, “I appreciate all you do.” Don’t ruin it by making it some standard, systematized practice. Keep it random. Keep it fresh and surprising.
Be gracious. These are gifts and they can be whatever you want, given however you want. Don’t sweat keeping score. Don’t try to make things equal. If once a year you want to give an employee an all expenses paid trip to Disneyland, do it. Don’t avoid it because you can’t give that to every employee. If six times a year you want to give an employee an Apple iPad or some other cool toy, do it. Remember, make it unexpected and surprising. Make it genuine and show employees that you’re doing it because you know how hard they work, how well they work and that they make a difference in your company!
Conclusion
Today is Memorial Day in America. It’s a day when our country celebrates the ultimate sacrifice made by members of the armed forces throughout history. Many people are off work today. Families spend time outside together enjoying a day off – a 3-day weekend. If you’re a boss, do yourself a favor. Take a bit of time to consider all the benefits of becoming a better boss by embracing the strategies of Undercover Boss. Make the lives of your employees memorable by showing them how important they are to your success as a leader, and how meaningful they are to the work of your organization. You want your employees to be better, don’t you? Then why don’t you show them how determined you are to show them how willing you are to be better, too?
Have a safe, happy Memorial Day. Then tomorrow, get busy making this week memorable for your employees.
The other day I heard a man talk about how his great grandfather had his own business. His grandfather and his father also had their own businesses. Now, he had his own business. Four generations of business owners, including the current generation!
You’re thinking, “What a great family tradition. I wish I had entrepreneurship in my DNA like that.” Wait a minute though. Tap the brakes.
He went on to say that none of them, including him, had experienced financial success. He summed it up by saying, “We’ve all struggled and never broken through.”
Four generations of business ownership seems impressive until you get that last little truth.
In 2012 the median income in America was $51,017. The great grandson figures he’s made more money in a single year – in hard dollars – than his father or grandfather. It was under $50,000. He’s not been able to crack the median income. Struggling with failure is a daily feeling for him. “How can you feel like you’ve broken through simply because you work for yourself?” he asks. Everybody thinks working for yourself is the road to financial and lifestyle freedom.
And it can be, but it’s not an automatic outcome.
You Must Be Willing To Risk It All
We’ve all heard that. Define all. Does “all” mean your family? Your wife? Your kids? Does “all” mean your health? Does “all” mean your convictions and beliefs? Business pundits who tell us how to achieve success may back pedal at these questions, but if ALL doesn’t include these things, then how many other things are excluded? Sounds to me like all doesn’t mean all, or even nearly all. Or does it?
Sacrifice Means Giving Up Some Things So You Can Claim More Valuable Things
I’m not telling you that success – even financial success, if we want to limit our discussion to money – hinges on risking everything. I don’t believe it. For every person who claims to have put everything at risk to make it financially I can show you others who will admit they didn’t risk much at all. Life just isn’t so cut and dried or simple. It’s very complex with more variables than I’m able to quantify.
Here’s what I do know to be true – you must be willing to sacrifice some things if you’re going to have some things of higher value. Fitness is going to require you sacrifice morning donuts, mid-afternoon soft drinks and late night pizza gorge-fests. A successful marriage is going to require self-sacrifice, not hanging with your buddies too much, not spending 80 hours a week working and tons of other sacrifices. Raising children, if you’re going to succeed, is going to demand lots of sacrifices. All kinds.
“Yes, I want all those things…and I want to be rich, too.” I’m not saying that’s impossible, but I am saying it’s improbable. It’s foolish to think you’ll buck the odds and it can happen for you. It might, but you’re likely going to be very disappointed.
If everything is important, then nothing is important.
Yes, making money is important. Yes, having a great marriage is important. Yes, raising good, well-behaved children is important. They’re all important.
Okay, then let me give you a scenario and you tell me how you’re going to handle it.
You’re youngest son is 8. He’s got a school program tonight. It’s been on your calendar for almost 2 weeks. Your wife’s family have come to town to attend. They’ve arrived in town yesterday. Your wife has made plans to go to a restaurant 2 hours before the event. That’s been on your calendar, too. The school program is at 7pm. The restaurant reservation, with the family and in-laws, is set for 5pm. At 3:45pm you get a phone call. A prospect is in town and wants to know if you’re free tonight to discuss your newest products. He knows it’s last minute and hates to impose, but he’s flying out late tonight and would love to talk about your products. He’s potentially a big customer.
What are you gonna do? Which of these is important? I know they all are, but you have to sacrifice something.
Will you:
Sacrifice the family dinner?
Sacrifice the school event?
Sacrifice the business prospect?
These are real world scenarios that many of us face.
In business, if you selected 1 and 2, then congratulations – you’re on the road to financial success. Maybe. There’s no guarantee.
The prospect may spend the evening listening to you, asking you questions and flying home only to have second thoughts and deny you the purchase order. Or, he may go home and write you a million dollar order. Can you risk that?
One dinner missed. One school function missed. That’s not going to wreck anybody’s home. True enough, but we both know it’s not just this one time. It’s priorities and it’s vexing to have to wrestle with these, but it’s how our real lives work. And many of us make a choice one time, then a different choice the next time and we end up wrecked all the way around.
We all know of too many people – maybe it’s US – who tried to have it all only to realize they couldn’t have any of it. Lost their family. Lost their kids. Lost their business or financial success.
Well rounded people aren’t at the top of the hill in financial success. So don’t start shouting that you want to be well-rounded unless you really mean it.
Here’s The Secret Rule: There Are No Rules And There Are No Formulas
We love to focus on outliers. We also love to think we’ll be one of them. It’s just highly unlikely. Just look at the barometer of money, income. Only 3.9% of American’s earn $200,000 a year or more. That means 96.1% of the American population is earning less than that. 80% of Americans earn less than $100,000 a year. Do you still think anybody – or everybody – can make $200,000 a year? They can’t. They won’t. And there’s tons of reasons or explanations on why. The numbers don’t lie. We do. To ourselves.
Can a person be wealthy, have a successful marriage and raise good kids? Of course they can. But again, the odds aren’t favorable. As I type this up we’re experiencing severe weather in Dallas. Some homes have been destroyed. Power is out in some major parts of the city. We’ve had tornado warnings. Tornados are like success in some ways. They’re random. Yes, the atmosphere can produce conditions that enhance the possibility, but that doesn’t mean we’ll get a tornado. Just like financial success, there are no guarantees.
We want guarantees. At least we want a guarantee that there’s a chance. And we’d like it to be a good chance! We want a formula to follow like a cookie recipe. Insert these ingredients, at these quantities, during this point in the process and presto! Success. But there are no formulas or recipes. And there are no rules.
I’m not saying we roam the earth subject 100% to random chance. I’m not saying we shouldn’t assume responsibility for our outcomes. Fact is, I’m fond of the saying I first heard from Jack Welch during his days running GE, “Control your own destiny or somebody else will.” I believe in doing all you can to give yourself the best opportunity, but that doesn’t mean you’ll ever break through. You still may fail. But it beats the alternative to just sit around hoping lightning will strike.
Figuring Out What Matters Most Is Often Harder Than We Imagined
Here’s the reason we can’t make success a formula, recipe or secret. It’s individual. It’s based on our own exploration and discovery. It’s based on our own values, ambitions, skills, talents, connections, choices and behaviors. You have to find your own way. I hope to just supply you a bit of help along the way.
I had shoulder surgery on Monday so this week I’m a bit out of commission. I’m sure you understand. This podcast is from the vault of Leaning Toward Wisdom, dated March 28, 2014. Leaning Toward Wisdom is another podcast I produce. This episode, FTV (from the vault) is the first of these episodes I’m going to share here. This show is about resilience. I hope you enjoy it.
Using morse code, he blinked, “TORTURE.”
Jeremiah Denton was a Viet Nam war veteran. He died this morning. He was 89. Sadly, I had never heard of him until I was reading about him in the news following his death.
Denton was a US Navy flyer shot down in July 1965. The North Vietnamese army captured him. He suffered as a POW under horrible conditions, including the famed “Hanoi Hilton.” He was held captive for 7-1/2 years! In his book, When Hell Was In Session, he wrote…
In the early morning hours, I prayed that I could keep my sanity until they released me. I couldn’t even give in to their demands, because there were none. It was pure revenge.”
Denton suffered torture. In 1966 his captors taped a propaganda interview with him. During the interview he used Morse code to blink the word T-O-R-T-U-R-E. That alerted the U.S. intelligence community that American soldiers weren’t being held under the conventional rules governing POW’s.
As if being in imprisoned wasn’t enough, he was also isolated in solitary confinement for 4 of those years. Daily beatings. Horrid conditions. Now, isolated.
How does a person survive such treatment without giving up? It’s too trite to say, “You gotta do what you gotta do.” But I don’t have a good explanation because I don’t fully understand the difference in people. We vary in our ability to withstand pain and difficulties. We vary in our tolerance for pain, too.
We are too soft!
We sometimes let the smallest bumps in the road throw us into the ditch. Worse yet, we sometimes can’t find our ways out of ditch…all because of one little bump.
Question: Are you committed to failure?
That may explain why your pain level is so low…too low to achieve success.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has the motto, “We Deliver For You.”
You can’t outsource results in your career. Nobody can deliver for you. It’s all up to you.
Time is the single biggest component of delivery. Fail to get it there on time and you’re toast. It’s not enough to get it there. It’s not enough to get it there in one piece. Those are assumed outcomes.
But time also involves timing. You’ve got to deliver on time and you’ve got to hit at the right moment.
Hustling Demands Speed, But That’s Not All.
Faster is better. Sooner is better than later. The very term “hustle” denotes speed. But sometimes people feel like they’re hustling when they’re creeping along.
It’s the common malady of confusing motion with meaningful action. There’s only one area of my life where that’s profitable: the treadmill. I can do 4 miles a day on a treadmill and it helps my health. It doesn’t take me 4 miles down any other road though.
Fast doesn’t mean reckless. Or ill-planned. Or knee-jerk. Or seat-of-the-pants.
It means taking the next step now. And it means being comfortable knowing that you don’t have complete knowledge or insight.
The Marines talk about a 70% rule where in the field, armed with 70% information, troops make the best decision possible without delay. They know success is more likely using that formula than it is if they wait for more information.
In fact, Louis C.K. talked about the same thing in an upcoming GQ interview.
These situations where I can’t make a choice because I’m too busy trying to envision the perfect one—that false perfectionism traps you in this painful ambivalence: If I do this, then that other thing I could have done becomes attractive. But if I go and choose the other one, the same thing happens again. It’s part of our consumer culture. People do this trying to get a DVD player or a service provider, but it also bleeds into big decisions. So my rule is that if you have someone or something that gets 70 percent approval, you just do it. ‘Cause here’s what happens. The fact that other options go away immediately brings your choice to 80. Because the pain of deciding is over.
“And,” he continues, “when you get to 80 percent, you work. You apply your knowledge, and that gets you to 85 percent! And the thing itself, especially if it’s a human being, will always reveal itself—100 percent of the time!—to be more than you thought. And that will get you to 90 percent. After that, you’re stuck at 90, but who the (bleep) do you think you are, a god? You got to 90 percent? It’s incredible!”
How often do you find yourself completely stumped about what to do next? Sure, it happens, but most often don’t you know what you should do?
Make a phone call. And you know who you should call.
Go see somebody. And you know who that is.
Write something, read something, research something or do something. And you know what it is.
It’s just one thing, but it’s the next one thing…not the next 10 things.
Hustling Is Selling
Are you a creative? Don’t confuse creating with hustling. You’ve got to be busy creating your art, but that’s not hustling. That’s being creative. Hustling involves money. Whether you need a patron or a customer, you’ve got to hustle.
Are you a business person? Then I don’t have to explain it to you.
We all need people who will fund us. We need money. Without it we can’t keep doing whatever it is we want to do. Paying customers don’t merely provide affirmation that we’re on the right track, they let us stay on the track so we can keep moving.
You gotta hustle! You gotta keep hustling!
For some (maybe for many) selling can be the hardest work possible. After 41 years of doing it, I’ve wrestled with just about every imaginable selling problem.
Call reluctance
Fear
Timidity
Not wanting to be “that guy” who always self promotes
People claim these problems stem from our personal history, our point of view, our personal philosophy and our personality quirks. Maybe. Maybe not.
Me? I think they stem from more basic and fundamental problems like idiocy.
I’ve known stellar salespeople who could sell (or attempt to sell) just about anything. I’m not that guy. I’m certainly not a “sell ice to eskimos” kind of sales guy.
And I’m not a master closer. You know the ones, don’t you? They can pitch like nobody’s business, but their real skill in compelling or coercing you to say, “Yes.” Even when you don’t want to. They don’t care if you have remorse after the fact. Too late, they’ve made the sell and extracting a refund is nearly impossible and hardly worth the trouble. But these sales animals are creatures built very differently than the rest of us.
Sadly, you may be tempted to think that there’s only one way to sell – the way you hate most! WRONG.
You have to be true to yourself. Sharks recognize posers. Don’t try to be a shark…unless of course, you are a shark. It’s okay. We’ll all know you by your fin and sharp teeth. And the fact that you’re swimming alone!
Here’s the deal. For every person who says you CAN’T sell like that…I’ll show you somebody wildly successfully doing it exactly like that.
“You can’t pitch all the time.” Sure you can. I know people who do it all day, every day. And make lots of money doing it. They eat, drink and sleep selling themselves and whatever that involves (real estate, insurance, stocks, financial services, etc.).
“You can’t bug people into buying.” Oh yes you can. I also know people who bother the snot out of people until they either hack them off, or make the sale. Either way, they feel like they won. And for them, that’s the point. They just have to work as fast and hard as possible to get a YES or a NO. If YES, they celebrate, but only briefly. If NO, they quickly move on.
“You can’t make it all about yourself.” Yes you can. Plenty of people do. Some don’t even hide it. Others try to feign caring about others, but in time it’s obviously not genuine. Self-centered, ego maniacs are running rampant in sales circles because some of them have figured out how to make it work for them.
Pick the most despicable selling behavior and I bet I know somebody making a handsome living doing it exactly the way you think it cannot possibly be done. And that’s a problem. For all the rest of us, in overcoming our adversities to be more effective in selling.
We’re repulsed by the notion of hustling or selling. It seems sordid, seedy and something we’d just rather not be associated with. But if we ignore it, we’ll fail. If we neglect to figure it out, we’ll join the vast ranks of people whose great idea never saw daylight because nobody funded it, nobody supported it with purchases and it faded into oblivion.
All for the lack of a paying customer!
Today’s show has one big aim – to help you flip your mental switch in favor of the single biggest activity that will drive your financial success, SELLING. This includes career folks who want to move up the ranks. It includes creatives who need patrons and customers to buy their art. It includes attorneys who need to persuade prospects to hire them. It includes doctors who need to establish referral networks. I don’t care who you are or what you do, selling is still critical for your success. If you’re failing, it’s highly possible that a big reason is because you’re neglecting this major daily activity.
Why?
Laziness
Don’t want to sacrifice anything
Stupidity
I’ve heard tons of people make this excuse: “I’m just not passionate about selling.” They’re nuts. They’re also wrong!
Oh, I know some people want to chase their passion. Well, behave like a dog chasing a car if you’d like, but that’s not what I do, or what I help clients do.
Doing the work requires doing stuff you don’t always enjoy. And you’d better work hard and be good at it. Else, you won’t find success. You have to hustle as though your livelihood depended on it…because it does.
Stop looking for the elusive definition of “successful” because it changes for all of us. Instead, focus on making yourself a success by doing good work really well.
If Mark Cuban netted $100K a month he’d be suicidal. If he made $1 million a month he’d still be suicidal. At the altitude where he’s now accustomed to flying, financial success is measured in 100’s of million of dollars annually. Anything less is disappointing. Cuban is always hustling because he’s now a whale and it takes a lot to feed a whale. His hustle has to match his needs, ambitions and desires.
The point isn’t to compare yourself to Cuban, or anybody else. The point is you do have to hustle to match your needs, ambitions and desires. The world won’t deliver any of those to you. Stop waiting for the truck to pull up to your office or house.
YOU gotta deliver the results you need to make your enterprise succeed. YOU gotta deliver to get what your family needs to survive and thrive. YOU gotta deliver if you’re going to fulfill your ambitions.
So here’s what you gotta do:
Give up excuses! All of them. Take responsibility.
Stop procrastinating. It’s never worked for you. It never will.
Be more fearful of letting down your family and your potential than in hustling. Don’t your loved ones deserve your best? So do your prospects and customers!
Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. You can’t have it all, but you don’t want it all anyway. You’ve just been listening to all the noise telling you you do, and that you can. It’s a lie.
Chase what’s important to you. You have to get the things you need first. That’s money. You need paying customers because you need money to live and to make your other dreams come true. Money is a resource you need, so go get what you need and don’t stop until you get it.
Build a bridge over disappointments and setbacks and stay focused on hustling. A closed door, or a rejection is the price you have to pay for winning. Embrace it and get past the losses fast!
Own it. Own your outcome. Own your actions. YOU gotta deliver!
The other day I heard a man talk about how his great grandfather had his own business. His grandfather and his father also had their own businesses. Now, he had his own business. Four generations of business owners, including the current generation!
