– Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–1944)
French aviator and writer

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Sales influence…

How are you kicking off your salesday?

Are you preparing your mind with solid thought, information, and support? Are you allowing the right radio or TV personalities to get you ready (are any of them good… share one)? The right news or material? The right people at the office?

Be careful to what you give your attention. It all has an influence on you. (And kicking it is much more fun than mediocrity… or worse.)

Feed your mind well. It’s where action starts.

(And life’s too short to be mediocre.)
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If you’ve not seen it (outside the money hours or on a well-earned break)… an inspiring 1-minute Apple ad on "Thinking Different."
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In case we missed you on Friday… How to avoid annoying (and be SalesBright).

Connect with Sam (guy behind this stuff)…

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– George Cecil (1891–1970)
American advertising copywriter

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Sales risk…

Comfort. Risk. Both are enjoyable.

One we strive to create. One we try to minimize.

One can make us lazy. One can make us stronger.

When did you last risk failure? When did you last leave your comfort zone?

212 challenge… Step out of your comfort zone once more each week and create over 50 additional opportunities for excitement, challenge and possibility each year. This is what life’s about.

It’s been said that youth is wasted on the young. By taking risks, we assure life isn’t wasted on the living.

212 commitment… Risk. Attempt. Fail. Succeed. Once more each week.

(from the book, 212° the extra degree® – what’s 212?)
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Q1 printable JustSell calendars for Two-Twelve (one less syllable… and a year long reminder to give it that extra degree of effort).

Area code and state abbreviation charts are here.
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Today’s quotation is from a correspondence school advertisement in 1921. George Cecil was writing as William Lawrence.

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– Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915)
American publisher and writer

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Sales thought…

You can draw value from a naysayer or cynic by remaining objective and positive in your thinking (yes, it can be tough).

Occasionally, they’ll point out valid hurdles or challenges you haven’t seen (even if they present it like an @ss). With their help, if you can remain objective/detached (and keep your ego in check), you’ll have a better chance of getting something valuable from the interaction.

Stay objective. Be no ego. Get value. (Seriously)

(5 ways to get your ego out of the way)
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How long’s it been since you evaluated your sales value? Here’s our guide to a formal evaluation (great for managers to use with their team too). In the second paragraph is a link to our short version.
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Today’s quote is by Elbert Hubbard who wrote A Message to Garcia (1500-word classic on Initiative and Responsibility). Do you have your free downloadable copy? It’s one of our favorites. We’ve even created a fun version for kids.

(No Gomo printable reminders are here.)

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– Hillel (30B.C.–10A.D.)
Babylonian scholar

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Sales time…

Today is 20% of your salesweek.

Two salesdays are 10% of your month. (A salesmonth is made up of roughly 21 days.)

To lose only two salesdays each month to fatigue or a desire to wait for a better day to make the call would be to lose more than a full month of salesdays each year.

Imagine if your income reflected your slow days… and know that in the long run, it probably does.

47 salesdays remain in the quarter. Tic toc.

(Who should you remind? Get your printable salesdays for 2012.)
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What if you checked email only 3 times a day?

Since November 2010, we’ve been doing this as a team at JustSell to see if it helps us.

Here’s what we’ve learned.
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Today is one month out from Christmas day.

In the SalesQuote we published on the day after Christmas, I highlighted some history of the day and suggested that the date itself was arbitrary and that we should carry the holiday’s spirit every day. A few subscribers were a bit annoyed with some of what I said (the original "Merry Today" post is here).

I just came across another piece written about a 100 years ago by a preacher that says what I was trying to say, but so much better. It’s called "Keeping Christmas" – something I plan to remind myself with on a weekly basis (about a 3-minute read). I hope you enjoy it.

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– Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
Danish philosopher and writer

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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.
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In case we missed you last week… Here’s how to best handle the objections of your prospects and customers.
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If you’ve not seen it or need a reminder to dump your excuses, here’s 1 minute from Nike.

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– Ethan Lipton (1971 – )
American music artist, playwright

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Sales attention…

Beginning at the top of the next hour and through the next 48, challenge yourself (and your team)…

When you begin a discussion with a customer, prospect, or colleague, give that individual your complete attention until the issue at hand has been fully addressed.

Every single discussion. Every single interaction. The entire 48-hour period.

Don’t let a phone call interrupt an in-person conversation. Don’t let your email distract you from a phone call. Don’t let a passerby, instant messenger, ithing, droid, or berry take your attention away from someone standing right in front of you (or on the phone).

Remember… Sales is an interpersonal profession (and you’re a grown-up).

(Dig deeper and get 5 tips to giving better attention.)
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"Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it ‘real life’ and don’t let him ask what he means by ‘real’."

C.S. Lewis (1942)
from The Screwtape Letters

Louis CK’s version of that thought here (funny 2-minute video).
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Today’s quote was from a song in the credits of the film, The Shift (Stars Dr. Wayne Dyer). While I didn’t find it to be great as films go, I did find it valuable. It’s available on Netflix and here.

Here’s a link to the song and video on YouTube. Lipton and his orchestra can be found here.

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– Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)
Dutch painter

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Sales reminder…

We earn more challenges by dealing with and overcoming more challenges.

Embrace your experience. Enjoy the weather.

(carpe diem, baby… you didn’t forget did you?)

weathered: (adjective) seasoned by exposure to the weather

seasoned: (adjective) made fit by experience

(sounds good)
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If you’ve not seen it (outside the money hours or on a well-earned break)… Be inspired to think more and fear less with this favorite clip from the film Defending Your Life.
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On Columbus Day: According to History.com, this American holiday commemorates a European guy who landed in the Bahamas (on what really was a business trip) thinking it was Asia (did you follow that?).

Throw in a little politics in early New York, mix in a couple presidents, add some religious influence, and in 1937 you’ve got a national holiday that eventually settled in 1971 as the 2nd Monday of October. (dat cwazy… really crazy) More here.

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–Paulo Coelho (1947 – )
Brazilian writer

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Sales concept…

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?

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.
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Here’s 30-seconds from Michael Jordan (former basketball great) on failure leads to success. On a well-earned break, enjoy this 4.5 minutes with Jordan in "What is Love?" Great even if you’re not a basketball fan.

Today’s quote is from Coelho’s modern classic, The Alchemist – a great little parable about following one’s dreams – an inspiration to millions of people (including your Just Sell co-founders).

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–Albert Camus (1913–1960)
French writer
Nobel Prize winner

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Sales thought (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?)
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If you’ve not seen it, on a well-earned break, here’s a hilarious 4.5 minute video clip that speaks to the being "ComplainLess" (from comedian Louis CK on Late Night with Conan O’Brien from a couple years ago).

For a different twist on complaints… 3 minutes from Monty Python’s classic sketch, Four Yorkshiremen.

–Bono (1960 – )
Irish music artist and activist
from ‘Summer Rain’

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Sales luck…

"Diligence is the mother of good luck."

– Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
American statesman, scientist, and printer

luck: noun: a force that makes things happen

You want more luck? Be the force that makes it happen…

1. Prepare. Work hard to be ready for the opportunities that are important to you. Research. Practice. Perfect.
2. Be awake. Pay attention to the people, events, and things around you. Evaluate logically and trust your gut instinct.
3. Take action. Put yourself out there. Explore. Be vulnerable. Make contact with people. Take risks.
4. Expect positive results. Optimism improves your chances. If (when) you fail, embrace the lesson and continue on, smarter.

That’s it. Now go be lucky (and sell something).

(inspire someone with the Push Your Luck card or wristband)
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A flash from the past (outside the money hours or on a well-earned break)… The classic monologue from the film Dead Poets Society (1989) on the importance of now. We love this.