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Truly, this is the Holy Grail in sales organizations. Sales recruiters are always looking for the “intangibles” that make for a great sales producer. Management is frustrated in their hiring. HR is always on the lookout for seminars and classes that can help improve performance from this vital part of every organization. Sales Managers have their bookcases filled with the latest theory on unlocking the keys to attract this special talent.
12
Work no more than 90 minutes and then take a break! Do this two more times in a day and you’ll accomplish more in 4.5 hours than those cranking hard for 8 to 12 hours straight. Throw in an occasional Vitamin C IV with glutathione and some deep breathing exercises and you’re good to go for the next decade.
I’m oversimplifying the message from executive performance icon Tony Schwartz, but not by much (NOTE: I added the Vitamin C IV recommendation!). As Schwartz exclaims, “energy management is more critical than time management, something today’s leaders must understand in (re)-structuring work.”
12
Starting your own business may be a dream come true. Paying for this dream may be an entirely different story. How you structure the finances for your business will have long term effects on your entire life. Unless you are wealthy enough to finance your new store with no financial strain, raising the money you’ll need may prove to be one of the toughest challenges you’ll ever face.
A word of warning: whatever you do, make sure you leave yourself a few thousand dollars in the bank to pay your living expenses as you grow a business and cover emergencies.
12
There are a handful of authors whom I suggest business leaders read everything they write: Jim Collins, Pat Lencioni, Malcolm Gladwell, and Steven Berlin Johnson – the latter likely the lesser known of the group.
In fact, it is one of my best-read mentors, Reade Fahs, who first turned me on to Johnson’s work, hammering me for not having read Steven Johnson’s earlier book Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities and Software.
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For a myriad of reasons (economic recovery, increased global competition, or simply tired of sluggish growth), there has been a renewed focus on cranking up the sales side of the business with frequent requests for recommendations on effective sales training and techniques.
So, in the spirit that it takes a “village of gurus” to help a company, I have recommended several books and techniques, which when woven together, will give your firm a comprehensive upgrade to your existing sales approach.
05
How much will you lose by not having your online sales channel developed and marketed properly? My nephew can build me a website for $2500. Why does yours cost so much? I used to get this question a lot. Now I mostly pre-empt it, so I hear it much less. One has to decide if their goal is to have a website or an online business. A website requires much…
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Marissa Levin more than doubled her revenues at Information Experts in the past three years, and she’s the first to tell you she couldn’t have done it alone. Her secret sauce: A great advisory board. About three years ago, the founder and CEO of the 18-year-old strategic communications consultancy turned to a mentor for help in growing Information Experts. “My company was stuck at $5 million,” she says. “I couldn’t…
24
Marissa Levin more than doubled her revenues at Information Experts in the past three years, and she’s the first to tell you she couldn’t have done it alone. Her secret sauce: A great advisory board. About three years ago, the founder and CEO of the 18-year-old strategic communications consultancy turned to a mentor for help in growing Information Experts. “My company was stuck at $5 million,” she says. “I couldn’t…
