Wow, I cannot believe it is only one week from my 30th bday and only a week remains until the launch of www.SellingAsAScience.com. The past two weeks have been very eye opening for me, adjusting to a few new professional opportunities that have presented themselves, and walked away from some that were toxic. I learned a great lesson during this time, there are opportunities that you really want to work out. In your mind you can convince yourself that it is a great opportunity, but if you honestly take a step back you will recognize that it's not a great fit. And there are other opportunities where you may not be as fired up - and just as before, when you take a step back you may notice, wow, what an amazing opportunity. This was the realization that came to me and it has been such an incredible blessing. During this time I also made a very purposeful effort to spend as much time with my Daughter, Sofia, as possible. When I walk into a presentation or meeting, I'm confident. But, I have no idea how I am doing as a Father, at the end of the day all you can do is your best, and hope it's great, but it's funny because we never really know. It's not like closing a deal. The deal never closes, you just keep growing, it's the life-long sales cycle. A beautiful one.
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I won't lie, I want to be a big-time sales leader. I want to inspire millions of young people to achieve and reach their dreams, to help new sales reps/execs become incredible producers. But there are times in our personal and professional careers where we need to look at others who have achieved what we wish to achieve and learn from them. Great leaders are typically incredible followers - they learned to listen, replicate, and then make it their own. I listen a lot to the likes of Tony Robbins, Mark Cuban, and Grant Cardone. One of my favorite clips from Tony Robbins (below) is where he discusses how sometimes we may feel as though we are a million miles off and yet we may only be one millimeter away. If our direction is is chaotic, it may just take one small change to completely change direction. The 4:30 mark is incredible. For the past few years I have always written down my 3-6-12 month goals as well as a few things I would like to improve on along the way. I've done well with the goals but very poor on the things I want to improve. Often times we set our mind to a few things, and the "other" stuff we want to merely improve we believe that we can push off onto next month to improve. Month after month and we are still without an progress. My Spanish today is just as subpar as it was 3 years ago... no improvement.
I'm going to take a new approach the next 12 months re: the thing in my life I want to improve. Studies say it takes 21 days to create or form a new habit - other research leans more towards 66 days, but I'm going to focus on 30 days. Each month I'm going to chase a new passion, an area of my life that I would like to improve. For me that may include a 30 day Spanish immersion course, an intense 30 day boxing workout (always wanted to train like a boxer), perhaps study different meditation practices, or even learn the basics to coding. The point is a simple adjustment in the way we look at the things we want to achieve may in fact lead to more success. I've always said, don't dream, dreams are scenarios in life we're ok with not accomplishing because they are so far fetched. Rather than dream, set goals. When you've set and reached goals you'll look back and realize you're living out your dreams. I have always found that when I am strong in faith, family, and fitness that my professional performance is doing well. Throughout this week I will break down at a high level what each of these mean to me starting with today; fitness. A heathy body can do wonders for your daily performance. Exercising 3-4 days a week for just 30-40 minutes has health benefits such as controlling your weight, and combating the chance of health disease, but it's the fact that exercise increases energy and improves your mood. As sales producers and entrepreneurs we work a lot, a lot. We need the positive endorphins in our system and high levels of energy. We are also likely trying to balance work and family life, and more than likely we're not receiving 8 hours of sleep. Daily exercise promotes deeper sleep during the few hours a night we receive. If nothing else, below is a quick guide to an at-home workout that takes 20 minutes max 3-4x a week. In marketing we often hear of the four P's: Price, Product, Promotion, & Place. But what we often fail to teach our business students is what comes before we ever talk about any of the P's... the market. The P's only matter once we know what problem we're solving, how many people have said problem, what they're willing to pay to have the problem solved and how many times in a given year the problem occurs. It's only after we have defined our market that we can then discuss what product we're selling and for what price. I will go into much more depth on "The Market" in the first series of Selling As A Science. Understanding your market is the fundamental first step that most sales and marketing executives miss, and it's often times because we jump straight to the 4 P's. Market's are broken into two sections with the first section being defined as: 1) What problem are you solving? There are needs, wants, and desires in life and people pay for these according what they are the level of pain they are by not having this problem solved. So, the first step in identifying your true market is to deeply understand what problem you are solving. 2) What is your solution for said problem? How are you solving this problem, what is your solution that people will buy to solve the problem, need, want, or desire they are facing. 3) What price are people willing to pay to have said problem solved? This is not your "price" this is merely a range or prices that people are willing to spend to have their need, want, or desire fulfilled. In part 2 we will discuss where does your product fit on the quality scale, high-price or low-end commodity. 4) How many people are willing to pay to have said problem solved? Now we know how many people x the price they are willing to pay to understand the total addressable market. This understanding will greatly aid in our development of promotion and place. Understanding the first four segments to Part 1 of "The Market" will lay the ground work as we begin to develop a complete understanding of addressable markets and the best way to sell into our target addressable markets. Selling As A Science to launch October 30th! This is an important topic that we will dive into further on Selling As A Science. Micromanaging managers/bosses are the FASTEST way to limit top producers. Top producers are typically also strong personalities. Like any other industry or business, top talent responds negatively to micro-managing bosses. The majority of your sales staff that needs to be handheld, and worked with on a daily basis will respond well to the over-reaching and needy manager. Your top talent will run the other direction as fast as they can if you hover over their shoulders. Successful sales managers allow their talent to produce and perform. As a sales leader, be very cautious of this.
A colleague of mine posted this on LinkedIn the other day and I think there is a lot of truth to it.
1) Often times we put a lot of research and preparation into the interview process and for whatever reason many people drop off in production within the first 6 months of employment. Act as if you're always being interviewed. bring that preparation everyday. 2) The relationship with your manager is key - too many times there is an adversarial relationship. 3) Be about it, don't talk about it. Production trumps promise every time. 4) A buddy of mine once said, dreams don't work unless you do. Go the extra mile, come in early, stay late. 5) Don't reinvent the wheel. Tony Robbins often talks about finding those who have been successful doing what you're trying to do - and learning from them. 6) Life always changes. Business always changes. Without a plan, you'll always be hoping for the best. have a plan, be agile enough to adjust. Always be thinking 3 moves in advance. 7) Followers are important. It's necessary to have the army to carry out the commands of the generals. but to be a general you need to stand. Find a way to stand out. 8) Are you replaceable? If you left your company today how long would it take for them to bounce back. Would they even notice? Do yourself a favor and create your own project, something that allows you to bring more value to the company than merely what they expect from the day to day. 9) Nothing is achieved by yourself. It simply cannot be done. You MUST rely on others, and it's important to find those to help you. 10) You were chosen over others. There was and is something about you. Know your value and never forget that. Today officially marks the halfway point through my 30 days until 30. During this time my goal has been to write mini blog post around different areas that I will soon expand upon in great detail on www.SellingAsAScience.com
Selling As A Science is a new way to look at sales in both large companies and startups alike. A methodical, science-like approach can make any person a successful sales rep. The approach is broken down into a deeper understanding of the given market a company competes in called "The Market", and a diciplined approach to the sales process called "The Science." More to come at Selling As A Science. There is no doubt about it, we live in a digital world built on digital communication. There is also no doubt that miscommunication in a digital world is very likely, and very easy to do. In the digital world tone and diction are difficult to interpret, and often time leaders to broken communication. As sales leaders it is important we are very attentive to our communication clarity. Communication is key for a sales leader and miscommunication can be damaging. With all of the different communication mediums today, it is also just as important to pick the right communication channel to affectively communicate our message. I challenge each of you to take a deeper look at your communication efforts and your focus to alleviate broken communication channels.
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AuthorCarl Eppolito is an experienced sales producer, coach, and author. ArchivesCategories
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