Yesterday I made some changes in the way I run my business. They’re not significant changes in many ways but in others they will make positive differences for my clients, my prospects and my readers. Hopefully, HUGE ones! There will be more tips, more strategies, more inspirational stories and more ways for you to read, listen, watch and get involved and get better results in your sales and in your life.

One of the things I am going to do more of this year is blog posting. I already do quite a lot some might say but it’s something that I enjoy and I know that it is one of the key ways that I add value for my clients and my prospects. As a motivational speaker, I have a lot of conversations on a daily basis to help individuals to improve their motivation, their focus, their sales and their businesses. Few of these ever see the light of day but yesterday I had a casual conversation with Rob Scott of Aaron Wallis and he posted our conversation. I thought I would do likewise.

GAVIN (TWEET): Welcome to 2012! Ignore doom-mongers & naysayers! Have dreams, set goals, take action.. make it a great one! Lots of great stuff coming this year… I have good feelings about 2012! You?!!

ROB: I always have good feelings – not much point in being any other way as there’s not a lot that little old me can do about the world’s finances!

GAVIN: I always have good feelings too however it is nice when they come to light! Personally, I think there is little wrong with the world’s finances that a dose of realism and hard work wouldn’t sort out!!

ROB: The FTSE is up 2% so far today – that’s 40% of the loss in 2011 gained in just one day – will this be in the news tonight? Probably not!

GAVIN: Agreed. We ought to spend more time being more positive and asking…

• What do we do well?
• What do others do well?
• What should we be doing well?
• How can we add massive value?

The whole of the West strikes me as bi-polar…. Manically depressive one day and manically up the next BUT at all times, with little handle on the reality of our situation. We need to make massive changes but we’re either crying and moaning about our lot or being extremely arrogant about being “right”.

Let’s start with positivity and hard work and then look for opportunities to add value… Oh, strange… that’s what I do… and you too!!

(ROB as editor) I just found this so true that I had to publish it – hope you enjoy it too!

So, there we are. Three little words that could change your, our, the whole world’s lot in 2012. But will they? How many people will maintain their positivity in the face of business and economic challenges? How many people will do the work necessary to create the opportunities they crave? And how many people will make and take chances to add huge value for their clients, their communities and their families and friends?

I can’t answer that question but I can tell you I will. You with me?

Related posts:

1. What Are Your Goals And Dreams For 2011
2. Take Stock, Take Charge & Take Action!
3. Why People Don’t Set Goals When They Know That They Should

Can your Dad dance? Most can’t. I’m sure they could once but they can’t now! Music tastes changed, dancing styles changed, your Dad aged and somewhere down the line he lost touch with his ability to dance. For many Dad’s, the answer to the problem is to do their bad dancing more enthusiastically, more energetically and more desperately…

No matter, I don’t suppose that dancing is all that important in the grand scheme of things.

But business is. And life is too. And in business and in life everything changed over the last few years. The economy changed. The rules changed. Business changed. Sales changed. Life changed.

And if you want to be a success, you need to change too. What once worked, won’t work anymore. What once won customers, now doesn’t. What once helped you achieve your goals, now won’t. And doing the same old stuff, faster, more frantically and more often won’t make the wrong dance look sexy. And it won’t make you successful in business and in life either.

But that’s what much of the ruling elite want you to do. More of the same. Keep borrowing. Keep spending. Push for more of the same customers. Sell more of the same old, same old. Keep on plugging away and it will all come right. But it won’t. Because they’re out of ideas. They’re too stuck in their ways. They’re too focused on maintaing the status quo.

I’m not buying bad advice and platitudes and neither should you. It’s not good for your sales, your sanity or your business. And that’s why I am changing the approach, mixing it up, adding even more value for you and sharing with you strategies to help you to be more successful in 2012 and beyond. There will be more of some things, less of others and a whole new series of blogs, videos, tips and strategies to help you to make the right changes in your life and in your business.

Join the RSS, get on my success newsletter and let’s get cracking.

Related posts:

1. Cold Calling Sucks & It’s Only Going To Get Worse…
2. What Would You Achieve If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?
3. Does Cold Calling Work, 2?

Why do some people achieve so much more than others? Why do some people seem to have all of the time in the world to get things done whilst others constantly seem to be frazzled? How can some people win new clients every month, service existing clients amazingly, manage sales teams, become industry go-to resources, deliver awesome lectures, write books, climb mountains, run marathons, have fabulous social activities? And live the life of their dreams as well?

And yet others struggle to remove themselves from firefighting, admin and dealing with challenges and spend their mornings, noons and evenings glued to their email?

It’s an important question. It might be one of the most important. Ultimately, you will be defined by what you do and by what you achieve not by how busy you are!

Being busy is not the same as being successful. Working hard is not the same as working smart. Putting the hours in is pointless if you’re working on the wrong activities.

When I work with businesses I see busy people, energetic sales teams and frantic business leaders. I see many, many people working hard to “get things done”…

But “getting things done” is sometimes not the same as achieving your objectives!

My lifelong passion is all about understanding what differentiates top performers and then helping others to achieve it too. What makes one person a sales superstar and another a sales wannabe? What empowers one person to be a rock star presenter and another a washout? What is it that enables one leader to lead their team to “victory” whilst another couldn’t lead theirs to the pub?

And one of the key differences is that top performers spend more time working on activities that lead to results.

Simple truth…

If two people of equal ability, passion and knowledge work the same market in the same way but one spends 50% of their time on activities that lead to results and the other only spends 25% then the first one will outperform the second one. Every time.

This is simple and obvious and yet it is not something which drives many peoples’ behaviours. Over time, most people fall into habits…

We do things because “we should”, we do things because “we always have”, we do things because “that’s the way others do it”, we do things because “we were told to”…

But we ought to be doing things because they get us the results that we want.

Here are 3 simple steps to get you more of the results that you want in your sales, in your business and in your life…

Step 1: Take stock.

Ask yourself what results you want and then work out what activities directly lead to those results. Map how you spend your time… How much time do you spend on these results based activities versus how much time do you spend doing other things?

Step 2: Take charge.

Commit time to results based activities. Protect this time. Make it sacrosanct. Do not be distracted. Drop “time-wasting” activities, stop acts of procrastination and learn to say “No” (to yourself and others).

Know that everybody has the same amount of time in a day and how you spend yours is down to you.

 Step 3: Take action.

Make it happen. Change happens in an instant. How you spend your time will determine your results so take action now to get on the road to the results that you want.

And finally, be your own coach, assessing how you do, refining your approach and holding yourself accountable.

And here’s the magical thing. This is a never-ending process because the more successful you are, the more you have to work on this process and the greater the opportunities are to improve.

Let me know how you get on…

Related posts:

1. On Fast Food, Sales Training & Getting The Winning Edge
2. The Sales Apprentice 2009: Sales Training Tips From The Hit TV Show, Week 12, The Final
3. What Would You Achieve If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail?

Heaven, the soon to be released new song from Emeli Sande, promises to be a dance anthem for years to come. It reminds me of several songs that are as timelessly beatiful today as they were when they were written. Have a listen if you haven’t heard it yet and see what you think…

I’m no dance or music expert and I realise that music is always a personal choice but in my view this is pretty awesome! You may or may not agree and that’s your choice but I am confident it will become a classic… most certainly for this summer and, more than likely, well beyond.

But why am I writing about music and what does it have to do with sales or success? And why this deviation from the normal state of affairs? Well, having heard this song several times I decided to do a Wiki search on Emeli and found the following out about her. I’m not even going to comment, just leave you to draw your own conclusions about education and learning  and what it means for you and your sales and personal success…

A former medical student, Sandé studied at Glasgow University. She said that education was one of the most important things to her, stating that if her music career failed, she has education to fall back on. Sandé stated that her manager, Adrian Sykes, waited patiently since she was 16, saying “Adrian really respects that I want to get an education behind me. He also knows my parents are keen that I finish university.” Sandé passed her medicine exams at university and left to continue her career in music.

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2. What Constitutes A Menial Job? Piffle!
3. What Is Success?

On my travels as a sales motivational speaker, I meet a lot of people who “fell into” sales. Infact, when I ask people at sales conferences to ask the people sitting near to them, “How did you get into sales?” the vast majority reply, “Well, I kind of fell into it.”

So many people don’t choose sales as a career. They don’t sit in first school talking about how they want to be a salesperson. They don’t argue that they want to be Lord Alan Sugar instead of Rooney when they’re kicking a ball about in the playground and they don’t want to be a cold caller rather than an astronaut or a doctor.

And on top of all of this, many people are rude about salespeople saying that they are uneducated, illiterate, self-centred, selfish, pushy, arrogant, egotistical individuals. And they are rude about the job too saying that it is for people who couldn’t get a better job. Indeed, I once read an article in a national newspaper where the writer said that we should “feel sorry” for salespeople because they had fallen so low in life…

Is it surprising then that many salespeople do not want to be called a “salesperson”? They do not want the title of salesperson, preferring instead to change it to “consultant” or “account manager” or even “account director”.

And how many salespeople do you know who want to be sales managers? Virtually all of them.

Why? Because they perceive that this is promotion. Because they perceive that this elevates them above these criticisms. And because they perceive that it means more money, more prestige, more kudos, more respect…

And they might be right. Or are they?

Great salespeople can make great sales managers. And great sales managers can make great salespeople. But great salespeople do not necessarily make great sales managers. And great sales managers do not necessarily make great salespeople.

And these are important facts to swallow because if you don’t swallow them and you don’t apply them to yourself then it will cost you big! Big in money. Big in prospects! Big in personal satisfaction. And BIG in career opportunities.

Great salespeople need to be proud of what they do. Great salespeople need to recognize that their greatest asset is their ability to sell and to create new business. Great salespeople need to know that top quality salespeople are like world-class athletes and a selling career provides all of the rewards that anyone could ever dream of…

If you read the Sunday Times Appointments section this week you would have seen a huddle of None-Exec roles, Directors of public sector companies, MDs and FDs… but, the most interesting, best sounding and highest (stated) paid opportunity was…?

A sales opportunity…

London, New York, Singapore. £100k, OTE £250k (uncapped). Sounds interesting already right?

Success in life is about playing to your strengths and if you have worked hard to be a top salesperson then you ought to be proud of your achievements and continue to become a well-paid, well respected, sought after, world-class, sales superstar.

Related posts:

1. Stand Up & Yell, “I Am Proud To Be A Sales Professional.”
2. Is There Such A Thing As A Professional Salesperson?
3. What One Quality Makes A Great Salesperson?