– Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
Italian painter, sculptor, and inventor

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Sales encouragement…

complainless: (adj.) 1. to be free of complaints 2. a pleasure to be around

Your words move others. Your words move you.

Let yours send everyone in the right direction.

Here’s how to be "ComplainLess"…

• Be aware. Recognize your typical paths to complaining – what (who) sparks your tendency to gripe. Minimize your exposure to them (eliminating those ‘sparks’ altogether may not always be realistic or the best thing). Know that your grumbling is a complete waste of energy.
• Be thankful. Regularly reflect on all the good in your life (people, opportunities, things). Understand and enjoy how lucky you really are. Be entitled to nothing.
• Pause before you begin. Clip a complaint as you feel it coming. Put a smile or thoughtful statement in its path. Blame no one. Blame nothing.
• Be accountable. Focus on solving problems rather than having them (especially with prospects and customers). Set the example for others and recommit when you slip. Care for yourself and create a positive habit.

Simple. More enjoyable for everyone. SalesTough.

Spread the message with the ComplainLess pocket cards or forward this email to someone with a "Let’s commit to being ComplainLess together." Wear a wristband to hold yourself even more accountable.
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If you’ve not seen it (and maybe even if you have), on a well-earned break, here’s a hilarious 4.5 minute video clip that speaks to being "ComplainLess" (from comedian Louis CK on Late Night with Conan O’Brien from a few years ago).

For a different twist on complaints… 3 minutes from Monty Python’s classic sketch, Four Yorkshiremen.
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New Q1 printable JustSell calendars are up for the year Two-Twelve (one less syllable… and a yearlong reminder to give it that extra degree of effort).

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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– Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968)
American civil rights leader
Nobel Peace Prize winner

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Sales thoughts…

Sometimes, if we don’t have success after repeated attempts to do something, we can lose confidence and eventually give up trying. It’s called "learned helplessness" (we learn to be helpless).

Sales check: Any areas where you and your team have stopped trying (or try, but with little commitment) because prior repeated failures and/ or a perceived inability to succeed has trained you not to try? In prospecting and customer contact efforts? In motivating and improving team attitudes and cooperation? With customer care improvement initiatives?

If so, what can you start doing today to minimize any "learned helplessness" that may have set in? (Maybe have a Cross The Line discussion.)

To see (6-minute video) an interesting take on the concept from a class at Penn State Erie and to learn a little more about the person behind it… click here.

Another thought on embracing the objections of your prospects and customers…

Right now and over the next several weeks, position in your mind the regular objections you hear as not only an inevitable step to bringing in more business, but also a positive step. Objections confirm a level of need or desire for your product or service and help you better determine the next steps you should take in a sales process. For the prospect, it’s your responses to the objections that help validate or support their buying decision.

This is the reason the responses to your top objections (those you and your team hear most often) must be planned and prepared with a professional’s level of attention.

The keys… Appreciate. Validate. Be direct.

Learn more and get 3 starter ideas for objection responses.
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When you need a well-earned break, enjoy Al Pacino’s half-time speech (4.5 minutes) in the 1999 film "Any Given Sunday." Focus and turn up your speakers a bit to get the full feel with the background music.

It’s all about the 212 difference. (What’s 212?)

CAUTION: If curse words bother you, you should skip it.

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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– Paul the Apostle
Galatians 6:9

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Sales math…

If you’re not earning the income you’d like to earn, ask yourself…

"Am I working like someone who makes $X thousand a year… someone who makes roughly $Y every money hour* of the day?"

Are you valuing your time at that level? If not, who will?

• $50,000 = $25 every money hour
• $75,000 = $37 every money hour
• $100,000 = $50 every money hour (almost $1 a minute)
• $120,000 = $60 every money hour ($1 a minute)
• $150,000 = $75 every money hour
• $200,000 = $100 every money hour
• $250,000 = $125 every money hour (more than $2 a minute)

Greater than $250,000 = You probably don’t need the reminder. ("Rich enough not to waste time.")

Forward this and help a friend see the light.

*money hours: hours during the salesday where you can talk with prospects and customers
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NO FLINTSTONING…

flintstoning (verb): 1. leaving the moment the whistle blows (or before) 2. mentally checking out early 3. sad 4. not SalesTough (what’s a flintstone?)

For those who need a little push to get going… Terry Tate might work. The ‘pain train’ kills me (at 1:15).

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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– Lance Armstrong (1971 – )
American cyclist
7-time Tour de France champion
cancer survivor

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Sales resilience…

In 1996, Armstrong was 25 (and ranked the No. 1 cyclist in the world) when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that spread to his stomach, lungs, and brain. Doctors gave him less than a 40% chance of survival.

Two years later, after a miraculous recovery, he got back on a bike but quit a race in Paris realizing he wasn’t ready (ironic given today’s quote).

The following year (and the next 6), he won the Tour de France and retired as the only person to win it seven times.

Learn more about Lance at his site or follow him on Twitter.
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212 excerpt…

The weather.
The traffic.
My boss.
My customer.
My mother.
My father.
My sister.
My brother.

I don’t have enough. But I really need. I can’t. If only [he, she, they] would.

It’s been a tough [day, week, month]. It’s [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday].

212 approach: Be. Move forward. Cease to complain.

Your words move others. Your words move you. Make yours send everyone in the right direction. Complaining once less a day chokes off 365 seeds of negativity a year.

212 commitment: Put a smile in the path of a complaint… once daily.

(or be two-twelve and do it twice daily… what’s 212?)

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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–Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
German philosopher

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Sales reminder…

Objections are a requirement to a successful salesday. It means you’re engaging your prospects and customers and helps you move the sales process along (or end the process with an unqualified prospect).

When there’s an objection, it’s one or some combination of 8 possibilities.

When you’ve hit a wall with a prospect, check your sales opportunity against JustSell’s 8 objections (and get a printable reminder).

All along, make sure your qualifying continually (use our guide here).

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If you’ve not seen it or need a reminder, 1 minute from Nike… Excusing us not.

–Michael Jordan (1963 – )
American basketball player

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Sales break…

The 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament concludes on Monday with the Final Four starting tomorrow night (04.02) at 6 pm EDT.

The quote above is from a commercial by Nike (30 seconds). When you need a well-earned break, enjoy this 4.5 minutes with Michael Jordan in "What is Love?" Great even if you’re not a basketball fan.
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2nd quarter printable calendars and wallpapers are up.

(Watch in the slow motion replay how the scorer starts the attack by initially almost losing the ball – starts at 0.45.)

Thanks for the tip, Philip!

Got a favorite? Email us.

He traveled over six million miles, spoke on over 2500 occasions, became an icon for civil rights, was Time magazine’s Man of the Year at age 35, and won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

When you have some time (outside the money hours or during a well-earned break), enjoy his “I Have a Dream” speech below (really starts going around 12:20), read his Nobel Prize acceptance, or listen to this quick audio clip from his Drum Major Instinct sermon for a little inspiration (full text of the speech).

Got something inspiring? Email us.

Joe Taylor, 69, has worked 50 years with the same company without one sick day (since 1959).

He’s a quality control manager for Peer Bearing (a bearing manufacturer near Chicago, IL) and commutes 2 hours a day (each way). He started with the company when there were 5 people (they now have about 1300).

Joe’s a 212in’ Smover. (2.5 minutes)

Have something inspiring? Email us.

From the 1999 film Any Given Sunday (chapter 35 on the DVD – 4.5 minutes).

Focus and turn up your speakers a bit to get the full feel with the background music. It’s pure 212.

CAUTION: If curse words bother you, you should skip it.

Got a favorite? Email us.