Do you make an investment in your own professional development?  If you don’t, shame on you. With the speed of change at rapid pace, to not work ON yourself means you are truly behind the flow. Yesterday I invested over 13 hours of my time attending a seminar offered by Ari Galper.  I did this to make my quarterly goal of 25 hours of professional development away from my office. To be truthful I was somewhat cynical of this seminar on being the Trusted Authority in sales given I have attended so many similar seminars in the past.  I was truly surprised by the content and the nug ..read more

So what’s your purpose if you are in sales, leadership or some other role?  People are so busy working IN their lives, they fail to stop and take a step back to work ON their lives. Credit www.gratisography.com When we understand our individual purpose, we gain clarity and this supports us as we move intentionally forward. Isn’t it funny we use words all the time and think we know what they mean?  Take the word purpose. This word has Latin roots but is viewed as an Anglo-French word of “purpos” meaning intention, aim or goal. This definition of intention, aim or goal makes sense wh ..read more

Have you ever considered freedom to be intrinsic to motivation? Many times we think of freedom in different terms such as the freedom to walk the streets, the freedom of free speech, etc. Yet if one understands the Theory of Self-Determination, freedom is the authenticity to be one’s self while being responsible to ourselves and others within our community. Choice is infused within freedom. We chose our behaviors. When we ignore others in the quest to assert our own freedom, we are no longer making responsible choices. We truly are not free. Autonomy is the ability to make choices.  This ..read more

Credit: Gratisography Most sales professionals have sales goals and in many instances these are mandated to be SMART goals. By the way did you know that Zig Ziglar was the first salesperson I found to talk about SMART goal setting? Just as a fresher the acronym SMART stands for: Specific Measurable Attainable Realistically set high (Stretch) Time driven or target date Daniel Pink in his book Drive mentions these criteria and why they fail.  Anyone who understands the Theory of Self Determination from the 1970s long before Pink know why these criteria are not enough. Years ago when ent ..read more

Yesterday, I made this short update at LinkedIn about professional growth for executive coaches, business coaches or sales coaches: If you are not continually expanding your knowledge, testing your own boundaries, how can you ask your coaching clients to do the same? Even though I referenced those in professional coaching roles, this question can be asked of any professional in any role including sales, executive leadership, management and even customer service. With over 97% of all U.S. businesses being fewer than 20 employees, professional growth many times falls on the financial shoulders o ..read more

Did you ever think how you respond to a simple statement reflects your most inward and personal regrets? Yesterday when leaving a national drug store chain, I told the clerk to “Make it a great day.” Her response was “I will at 4:15.” As this encounter was early in the day, I quickly surmised she had been at work for around an hour and she was already regretting she was not where she wanted to be.  How sad. What a waste of human potential. I believe this woman saw only limitations and no opportunities in her current role.  Working was not something to enjoy, to embrace, but a daily d ..read more

A colleague of mine S. Anthony Iannarino, discussed in his weekly email about how changing one’s decision changes one’s trajectory.  I agree with him because there are a lot of bad results happening because of bad decisions. Years ago I read this book The On Purpose Person by Kevin McCarthy.  He rendered down purpose to being a light switch.  When the light switch is on, you are on purpose.  Conversely when the light switch is off, you are no longer on purpose. Many bad decisions are the result of not having clarity around one’s purpose.  This is true for any professio ..read more

SMART goals have been with SMB sales professionals and owners for over 50 years.  Yet how many executive leaders and salespeople consistently fail to achieve both professional and personal goals? As SMB has evolved, now is the time for SMART goals to evolve as well.  In the past, the SMART acronym was: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistically set high Target date, time driven Lee Iaccoca is quoted as saying: “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.” Written Other research supports the act of committing something to writing increases t ..read more

One of the most popular Internet search terms for my website is “action plan to increase sales.”  In reading the book Managing in a Time of Great Change by Peter Drucker, he refers to the Japanese term “kaizen” and explains it as continuous self-improvement.  How many professional salespeople have such a plan? From my early college days, I adapted the old Bingo Sheet and revised it to a quarterly goal sheet. I would write down my goals and then monitor the results each quarter. One of my personal goals was to get married by my 40th birthday and stay married for a minimum of 25 years ..read more

Let’s stir the self-improvement pot and finally admit work-life balance never really existed. This life concept is more of an ideal way to live than reality.  Now this may upset some who continue to sell and make money off this never really existed life concept. What does exist and what is real is work-life alignment. Imagine for a moment two wheels connected. One of those wheels is your personal life and the other one is your professional life.  When both wheels are not in alignment, there is a tendency for them to go off track even when you are doing the steering towards where you ..read more