–Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
American activist for women’s suffrage

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Sales check…

How long has it been since you tried something new in your sales process? Is there something you’d like to do or push on a little more than you’re currently comfortable doing?

Remember… If you never fail, you’re never pushing it. (and that’s not okay)

Set a risk goal per week or month and make sure you hit it.

(one benefit of risking failure? success)

And remember…

You have to cross the line every once in a while to know where it is.

–George Lucas (1944 – )
American film director, producer and screenwriter

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Sales mind…

"Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life, rather than a Monday-to-Friday sort of dying."

Studs Terkel (1912–2008)
American writer, journalist, broadcaster
Pulitzer Prize winner

Everything begins with our attitude toward our work — to how we contribute. We should be sure to guard and nurture that attitude.

Terkel’s bestselling book Working was published 35 years ago as an oral history of "people talking about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do".

Outside the money hours, enjoy 9 minutes of audio from NPR — the story around the book and actual recordings from a few of Terkel’s interviews for the book. Particularly heartwarming: Delores the waitress (at minute 2), Terry the newspaper boy (at minute 3.5) and Therese "just a housewife" (at minute 7).

(Selling Season II has arrived! A time of fewer holidays and vacationing decision makers. Now through Thanksgiving in the U.S. Active budgets, pressing timelines, and needs and wants to be fulfilled. MMMM MMMM.)

Lets drink to the salt of the earth"

–Mick Jagger (1943 – )
English music artist

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Sales song…

Today’s quote is brought to you by The Rolling Stones. Here’s Jagger & Richards signing the tune in 1968 (5-minute video). Richards is looking mighty young.

Happy Labor Day!

Did you know…

Labor Day, the first Monday in September (today), is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. (from the U.S. Department of Labor)

It was the Industrial Revolution (in the late 1800s) with its 12-hour 7-day schedules that inspired a need for better protection of workers. The first Labor Day parade (10,000 marching workers) was in New York City in 1882. It took 12 years before Congress made it a holiday. History.com has Canada’s labor celebrations as the spark for that first U.S. Labor Day parade.

Enjoy History.com’s video synopsis of the holiday (3.5 minutes) and be ready for any Cliff Clavin opportunities today.

(Share it with your kids.)

–Proverbs 10:4

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Sales history…

Did you know…

Labor Day, the first Monday in September (next week), is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. (from the U.S. Department of Labor)

It was the Industrial Revolution (in the late 1800s) with its 12-hour 7-day schedules that inspired a need for better protection of workers. The first Labor Day parade (10,000 marching workers) was in New York City in 1882. It took 12 years before Congress made it a holiday. History.com has Canada’s labor celebrations as the spark for that first U.S. Labor Day parade.

Enjoy History.com’s video synopsis of the holiday (3.5 minutes) and be ready for any Cliff Clavin opportunities over the weekend.

(Share it with your kids.)

–Howard Schultz (1953 – )
American chairman of Starbucks

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Sales history…

Did you know the first Starbucks wasn’t Schultz’s?

Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle, WA in 1971. Schultz joined the company 11 years later as its director of retail operations and marketing.

It was a trip to Italy in 1983 that inspired the coffeehouse culture that Starbucks now has. Schultz convinced the founders to try the concept in 1984 and it did well.

In 1985, he founded his own company, Il Giornale, and used Starbucks coffee beans for his espresso beverages. Two years later he purchased the assets of Starbucks and changed the name of Il Giornale to Starbucks Corporation.

Today the company does $10 billion dollars in sales and has more than 16,000 stores around the world.

You being bold?

“Look around, leaves are brown
And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.”
– Paul Simon (link to song)

–Cowardly Lion
from The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Sales list…

What are the most common “drag you down, get in the way of success” thoughts?

• Defeatist (accepting, expecting, or being resigned to defeat)
• Cynical (contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives)
• Vindictive (seeking revenge)
• Blame/ Fault (who cares? what are we going to do now?)
• Wishful (do what you can to influence the deal and keep moving)
• Self-pity (get over yourself… complain less… especially to yourself)

Get the complete list (5 more) and a printable reminder.

(Some definitions provided by Merriam-Webster. Most popular thoughts provided by your JustSell team. They’re not our thoughts, you understand. We have friends with these thoughts.)

–Florence Nightingale (1820–1910)
English pioneer of modern nursing

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Sales reminder…

Be sure to regularly check back with prospects that in the past have told you “it’s not in the budget” — “we don’t do that” — “we’re/ I’m happy with our current supplier.”

Budget allocations change. People leave. Trends dissolve. Customer service falters.

Opportunities once bleak become fresh again.

Be tenacious. Assume nothing.

Just sell.

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

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Sales history…

The 40-hour work week was established in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (starting as a cap of 44 hours until it locked in at 40 hours in what appears to be 2 years later). It was a factory worker and child labor protection issue rather than a scientific-study-end-all-be-all marker for optimal productivity.

Be sure you’re focusing on how much you can give with your time rather than how little of your time you can give. It’s a better bet for creating value (helping others), success, and ultimately, more fun.

(See what I learned with my 60-hour work week experiment earlier this year.)

(Did you hear about Joe?)

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

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Sales inspiration…

Martin Luther King lived for just over 39 years.

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

When you have some time (outside the money hours, of course), enjoy his “I Have a Dream” speech, 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).

(Today’s the 46th anniversary of King’s delivery of “I Have a Dream” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.)

–Chinese proverb

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Sales concept…

If you put an animal in an inescapable environment and give it electric shocks with no predictability, it’ll eventually give up trying to escape. Later, take that same animal, put it into a similar environment (but one that’s escapable) and give it electric shocks — it won’t even try to escape.

Sometimes, it can happen with people. It’s called “learned helplessness.”

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?

Email this concept to your colleagues and learn a little more about the person behind it.