How many times have you sat through a sales meeting or any meeting for that matter where you’ve heard someone make the suggestion: “We’ve got to think outside the box.” It’s a phrase that doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. In factit’s seems like the perfect phrase to capture the frustration we experience when our imagination feels trapped and our thoughts appear stuck to the soles of our shoes.

If we think of this metaphorical box as containing the walls that confine our thinking, then by understanding these barriers we open up the opportunity to break free and take control of our negative senses and use the power of our thoughts to develop new ideas and opportunities. In the Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gittomer outlined the 8.5 negative senses that the subconscious mind presents and projects when selling, which become the walls that paralyze our thinking:

1.    The sense of fear.
2.    The sense of nervousness.
3.    The sense of rejection.
4.    The sense of procrastination or reluctance.
5.    The sense of justification/rationale. 6. The sense of self-doubt.
7.    The sense of uncertainty.
8.     The sense of doom.
8.5.  The sense of “I’m unlucky.”

Understanding that our minds move us in the direction of our current dominant thoughts, we have the ability to penetrate these walls by focusing our attention to our positive thoughts and taking back control. When you begin to feel in control, you begin to radiate positive energy, which leads to (sales) success. According to Gittomer, adopting the following 6 positive sales senses is the way forward….

1. The sense of confidence…. The air you have about you that’s bred by preparation and previous wins. The best part about confidence is that it’s contagious. You can give it to your prospect. (Don’t confuse confidence with its evil twin – arrogance.)
2. The sense of positive anticipation – Everyone has read the best book on the subject before the age of five. – The Little Engine That Could. I think I can, I think I can. Thinking you can is 50% of the outcome (So is thinking you can’t.)
3. The sense of determination – The sense of hanging in there no matter what. Determination is having the prospect tell you “no,” and you hear it as, “not yet.”
4. The sense of achievement – Everyone subconsciously strives for their goals. Sensing achievement comes from a replay of the satisfaction you gained from making your last sale. Remember how good it felt?
5. The sense of winning – Everyone wants to win, but only a few actually do. That’s because the will to prepare to win must exceed the will to win.
6. The sense of success – This is the hardest sense to master, because you must sense it before you actually achieve it. That calm feeling of money in the bank. An “I can do it” attitude. And a well-lit path in front of you. The sense of positive purpose.

Earl Nightingale, in his legendary tape, “The Strangest Secret,” says, “You become what you think about.” Truer words have never been spoken. But the secret to “The Strangest Secret,” is – It’s a dedicated self-discipline that must be practiced every day. How close to “every day” are you?

The most interesting aspect of “The Strangest Secret,” is that it contains the counter balance to turn all your destructive senses into constructive senses by employing the strongest sense of them all – common sense.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Please leave your comment about your thoughts during your sales process.

Which of these situations has happened to you?

• In your last meetingdid you walk out without a clear idea of what you were supposed to do?
• Have you looked around a meeting and wondered why all those people were invited?
• Have you calculated how much money your organization is “spending” waiting for meetings to start?

We all know that business can’t operate without meetings – meetings to plan, meetings for updates, meetings to keep communication lines open. However, effectively-run meetings are often hard to find in the workplace. A survey by Hofstra University projected that over $40 billion is wasted on mismanaged meetings every year. Since there are between 11 million and 33 million meetings conducted in the United States every day, the business of meetings is critical to everyone’s continued success.

As a result of discussions with a cross-section of employees and organizations, we’ve put together a Top Five list of tips for effective meetings.

Tip #1: Communicate the goal and the agenda for the meeting. Publicize that goal when you schedule the meeting, and then evaluate every topic against that goal – if the discussion doesn’t support the goal, then it shouldn’t be in the agenda. At Intel Corporation, they keep a poster in every meeting room that says “Do you know the purpose of this meeting?” How many meetings actually include a firm agenda that is published in advance to all the attendees? An agenda should clearly state the topics, an approximate length for discussion, the “owner” of each topic, and action steps for each topic.

Tip #2: Identify the meeting participants. Recent research shows that after the first seven participants, every additional person lowers the productivity of the group in a meeting. Wow! Consider your own meetings – how many do you go to that have more than seven participants? Consider who really needs to attend based on the agenda. Also, remember that the more people invited to the meeting, the longer the meeting will take.

Tip #3: Establish the ground rules for the meeting. Some typical items to include in the ground rules are when agendas are due to participants, the use of technology in a meeting, and start and end times. Designate a time keeper who is not the meeting organizer. One of the biggest time wasters is meetings that don’t start and end on time – wouldn’t you agree?

Tip #4: Use a Parking Lot. A Parking Lot is a place to put topics that fall outside the meeting agenda – or that should be postponed for later. Some meeting organizers use visual Parking Lots – such as a piece of large paper posted on the wall where ideas can be posted during meetings so they don’t get lost. Some meeting organizers simply record parking lot ideas on a pad of paper – or assign someone to capture them and send the list out for inclusion in future meeting agendas. The disciplined use of a “parking lot” will keep your meetings on track and on agenda.

Tip #5: Set Clear Action Items. Establish what is next, how will it be done, who is responsible, and deadline details before you leave the meeting. How do you hold people accountable in your meetings? Even if you are not the meeting organizer, you can still push for accountability – remind the host to set clear next steps and timelines.

Bonus Tip: Evaluate Your Meetings. Periodically, take the time to review the regular meetings in your organization. Do they all still have a clear purpose? Are they the right length? Are the right people attending? What needs to change in order to make your meetings more effective?

As a final thought, consider this quote from Patrick Lencioni’s book, Death by Meeting, “Most executives I know spend hours sending email, leaving voice mail, and roaming the halls to clarify issues that should have been made clear during a meeting in the first place … I have no doubt that sneaker time is the most subtle, dangerous, and underestimated black hole in corporate America.” You can read a summary of Death by Meeting by my friend Kevin here.

What is your biggest meeting challenge? Please comment below and share your stories and your ideas.  If you want to dive deeper into this topic – and especially how to make your meetings more effective even when you are not in charge of them, email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a free report “Eight Tips to Take Charge of Meetings, When You Are Not in Charge.”

I was running late for an appointment last week and jumped into my car and turned the key. The nice smooth sound of ignition I was so used to hearing was replaced by the horrible grinding sound of an engine just about to turnover. I kept turning the key thinking that by some miracle it would stop the grinding noise and just start. Instead it drained what was left in the battery and silence followed. I was dead in the water.

How many times have you found yourself ready to go but unable to move. You lack the spark and or energy to move forward. Where did it go? You might have started out on your goaljourney or project with plenty of good intentions but for whatever reason it dissipated or just stopped. As a student of human behavior and a Business Coach I am brutally aware of the difficulty of keeping ourselves motivated to get to where we want to go.

Do These Work?

The traditional motivation methods most of us have experienced are motivation by incentive or fear. The boss tries to scare you into action by threats that range from firing to demotion. The next day in a change of heart the boss offers you the promise of bonuses, promotion or equity if you achieve the goal. Clearly both can have an impact, and often do, but the results are usually short term at best. Threats lose their veracity if they are never acted on. Incentives are only effective if you believe the goal is achievable but lose their long term impact once achieved. Neither approach has a long lasting motivational impact. So what is one to do if you want to change or achieve a difficult goal but can’t seem to stay motivated to do what is necessary to get to your destination?

Find Out What Excites You

I believe part of the answer is in finding what sparks us or excites us. If you can discover what you are passionate about and harness that passion you can access an unlimited battery of inspiration energy to keep you motivated and moving forward. Discovering your passion can be difficult since most of us have followed the career scripts provided to us by well meaning parents, educators and society.

• A simple way to start would be to list all the activities you do in your present job that you enjoy doing and are good at.
• The next step would be to ask your peers, friends, clients and family what they think your greatest strengths are.  You should get some clarity on what you are passionate about and what truly motivates you.
• Finally, a good book that gives some insight to the power of connecting your passion to business is “Crush It!” by Gary Vaynerchuk

Aligning your passion with the behaviors necessary to convert that passion into results assures you a consistent spark that will keep your motor running! Click the following to find out the best car battery jump starter in the market today.

Please offer your comments on what you do to sustain your motivation, spark your energy and keep yourself moving forward every day.

An executive recently lamented that she and her company had far too many projects going on. All of them were importantshe said, but insufficient progress was being made on most. In fact, she described her company as being “very good at getting things 80% done!” “Why can’t we ever complete anything?” she asked me.

This isn’t the first time that I have heard a business owner or leader talk about this struggle. Often the situation gets oversimplified as “too much to do and not enough time or people to do it”, which seems like an impossible problem to address…so many times it is merely ignored. Frequently, however, this problem is the result of a less obvious issue: a lack of focus by the company’s leaders.

The Power of Focus

A wise person once said that if you chase two rabbits, both will escape. The same holds true in business as many companies have too many items on their ‘To Do’ list. This lack of prioritization and focus leads to poor results. According to a Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey of 200 companies in 30 countries, only 2.5% of these companies had 100% of their projects come in on time, within budget, to scope, and delivering the right business benefits. This study demonstrates that 97.5% of the time we get it wrong in some way… and prioritizing can help. Just as focus and concentration allow your mind to function more effectively, prioritization allows businesses to achieve greater results.

“Doing Less”

Prioritizing can seem especially difficult when all projects seem important. But this is precisely when it can yield the best results. An oft-missing element in prioritizing is a process in which employees have confidence; one by which initiatives can be compared to determine their relative importance to the business. A fairly simple process is to plot each initiative on the following 4-quadrant chart:

• Initiatives landing in the upper left (high benefit, low cost) are “winners”…do it now.
• Initiatives landing in the lower right (low benefit, high cost) are “losers”…dump it
• Initiatives landing in the upper right (high benefit, high cost) need or require a return on investment (ROI) analysis to determine if and when to move forward
• Initiatives landing in the lower left (low benefit, low cost) are prioritized based on “gut feel”

Another fairly simple and more measurable process is to:

1. Identify the key criteria to be used for judging each project (6 to 10 criteria may be an appropriate number)
2. Weight each criterion based on its level of impact on key business goals
3. Evaluate and score each project against those (same) key criteria
4. Compare the scores of the projects to one another
5. Select the highest-scoring projects

Doing both processes in an executive management team (perhaps the Prioritization Quadrant silently and the Measurable Process as an interactive exercise) can bring out everyone’s ideas and help form consensus on moving forward. The selected projects then will be of highest importance and will have the muscle of management focus. Their advancement and completion should have the greatest positive impact on the business.

Leading More

To get the best results from prioritizing, strong leadership is required to ensure that:

• All projects are included in the evaluation and that there are no “sacred cows.”
• Personalities, politics and quests for power are not allowed to influence the process.
• The negative effects of existing paradigms and “busy as usual” are minimized.
• Employees are inspired to participate, buy into the importance of this work, and trust the process to provide valid outcomes.
• The outcomes are followed through on and resources are properly allocated to the “critical few” most important projects.
• Prioritization is not viewed as a “one and done” activity. It needs to be part of the business’ standard operating process and performed on a regular basis.

One way to stay organized and make sure every member of the team is doing their part is to make use of cloud collaboration services. You can check out Airtable alternatives here. Difficult challenges and decisions will be faced during this process, especially if focus and prioritizing are not core competencies. Elbert Hubbard said that “It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.” One way that leaders can help achieve greater results is by having and instilling the discipline to focus on a few, critical projects instead of trying to do everything all at once.

In Jack Canfield’s bookThe Success Principles, he tells the story of a seminar where he held a $100 bill in the air and asked the audience, “Who wants this $100 bill?”

Almost everyone raised their hands, dozens of people shouted “I’ll take it!” and many more stood up and cheered. This went on for a while, but Jack just stood there and waited. Finally, someone ran up and took the $100 bill right out of his hands.  Everyone else wanted the money, but no one else had the guts to take the necessary action.

When Jack asked the audience why they didn’t do what the one lucky audience member did, most said they thought about it but didn’t have the guts to do it. Fear held them back. Some of the reasons they gave him were:

• I was afraid I might be doing something wrong and then people would judge me or laugh at me
• I wasn’t sure you’d really give it to me
• I didn’t want to look greedy
• I didn’t want to look like I wanted it that badly
• I was too far back in the room
• I was waiting for further instructions

What’s interesting is that these are the same fears that stop us from reaching our goals in our own lives. What actions should you be taking in your business or your life that you’re NOT because of fear?

Let’s face it, there’s a lot to be fearful of these days.  Fear is natural. We all feel it. The difference between incredibly successful, fulfilled people and everyone else is how they react to that fear.

Some respond to fear by worrying, stressing out, excessively planning every thought and action. The effect is paralysis in our business and our lives.  Often times, this paralysis causes our worst fears to come true.

Others respond to fear by using it as motivation to take action. While many have the “ready, aim, fire” philosophy, some realize that the best way to hit a target is to fire first, see where the bullet lands, and then adjust your aim and fire again (ready, fire, aim). Very quickly, you’re hitting the target.

A great way to think of fear is to use the acronym, False Expectations Appearing Real.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

Here’s an idea…

Set a goal to do one courageous thing every week.

• Call that prospect you’ve been afraid to call
• Confront that co-worker you’ve been afraid to confront
• Take a stand on an important issue
• Start that new business you’ve been afraid to start
• Start writing that book you’ve been meaning to write

Turn your fear into action by doing one courageous thing every week. You’ll be amazed at what your business and your life looks like at the end of the year.

What courageous action have you done lately? Share an example so that we can all learn from each other. Your comments are welcome.

There are five frogs sitting on a log. One decides to jump off.

How many are left sitting
on the log?

Fivebecause the one made a decision but never acted on it.

 

We often make decisions and then don’t follow through. Managers at every level gripe about this. They get their staff (or themselves) to say they’ll accomplish this or that by a deadline. The time comes and it’s not done. Why?

1. They haven’t prioritized it
2. They haven’t planned time for it
3. There are other obstacles including some mental ones that prevent accomplishment.
4. There is no one holding them accountable.

Let’s see how you as the manager can address these sticking points.

1. It’s your job as a manger/owner/self-leader to determine how this task fits into the grand scheme of all the other things that have to be done and communicate that. It’s a follower’s job to say ‘Mr. Manager, you’ve given me 6 things that have to be done today. It’s humanly possible to get four of those done. Which ones are your priorities?’
2. Most of us use a time management system - a paper, smartphone or online scheduler. If you really want to get something done, you’ll give it a realistic date and time and put it into your schedule as an appointment with yourself. You can also encourage/require your staff to do this. It’s a standard procedure for project management, and computerized company calendars were invented for this reason.
3. Does the person you’re delegating this task to have the necessary skills? Are there obstacles in obtaining resources? Then there are mental obstacles, for instance, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of success, thinking too small, etc. How can you make your staff feel more empowered to succeed? Certainly not by brow-beating them which is part of an older but still out-there model of command and control management. Can you use coaching and collaboration to achieve better results?
4. Accountability and follow up is an often neglected part of management. You assign tasks and then get on with your own work. But if your own work doesn’t include follow-up half way through the job and at the deadline, or if you don’t use technology to track the status of jobs, or if you don’t use staff meetings to engender a little peer pressure, you may find that people respond to the ‘issue of the hour’ instead of the ‘tasks due at proactive deadlines’. This creates a ‘putting out fires’ environment and everyone deals with a lot more stress and staff turn-over results.

As an owner/manager/self-leader which of the four points above resonates more with you and your organization: Prioritization? Time allocation? Lack of training, resources or success mentality? Accountability? Why? What would the ideal outcome be if you could fix it?