TSE 1211: The Accidental Seller Series – Wendell Jordan

This is the 4th episode for the Accidental Seller series.

Wendell Jordan is the owner of Jordan Consults and a local SEO specialist. His company works with small businesses to increase their digital footprint.

Growing up, Jordan and his friends wanted to become professional basketball players. However, playing for the NBA became an afterthought when he reached high school. He actively studied music during his first few years in college. By then, he was in and out of recording studios in New York City.

Perceptions of sales

Wendell thought of salespeople as sleazy individuals. He first came across sales when he was young.  A vacuum salesman was doing door-to-door sales and he wouldn’t leave until his mother threatened to call the police. The salesman was trying to force his mother to buy a product they didn’t need. That  experience had a negative impact on Wendel and affected how he viewed sales.

Wendell’s mother worked for the city of New York and his father was a postal worker. His parents’ jobs, along with how he viewed salespeople made him think that sales was not for him.

He accidentally came into sales when he was checking out Craigslist ads. The ad was looking for someone to work in customer service and didn’t mention  sales. When he went in for the position, it was commission-only, door-to-door sales process. Wendell’s wife played a huge part in his decision to take the position. She had faith that he could do it and  encouraged him to try. He’s been in sales ever since.

Overcoming the fear

Like any new salesperson, Wendell  had fears. He worried he’d become the sleazy salesperson who had to be removed from someone’s home, just like the man from his childhood. In his first days on the job, he shadowed a sales rep and  was told just to take notes. For two days, he tried to learn what he could from shadowing. On the third day, he was thrown into the fire and had to have his first door-to-door experience on his own.

Making a sale on the first day can be difficult but Wendell was able to do it. His first deal felt magical and it inspired and motivated him to keep going. He thought, if he could do it the first day,  he can also do it the second day so he kept going.

However, the lack of sales training affected his morale and the number of sales made. Shadowing others for a day or two wasn’t enough for him selling door-to-door effectively. He just didn’t have the skill set to close and the  result was a lot of deals weren’t pushed through.

Quitting sales

Wendell’s sales journey wasn’t easy. He experienced being removed from payroll and spent a good part of the year in  limbo, not knowing if he’d be able to make a sale again. The instability of the job almost made him quit. An old business partner convinced him to try again, but  this time, he’d be selling websites. Wendell had trepidation considering that his previous sales experience wasn’t stellar. Still, he tried again and started cold-calling businesses.

Wendell went from a door-to-door sales process to  talking to potential clients and educating them about their services.

Sales has been one of the greatest opportunities Wendell has ever had in his life and he would choose it again. It allows him to work from home and learn  about different cultures. The door-to-door sales experience exposed him to different lifestyles and it trained him in different ways to socialize with others.

If you’re new in sales, keep at it. Don’t get caught up in what people perceive sales to be. #SalesMotivation

Shift your focus.

See yourself three years down the road. You’ll think about the number of Nos you got but  you’ll remember the the Yeses were far greater. Focus on the bright side.

“The Accidental Seller Series – Wendell Jordan” episode resources

Reach out to Wendell Jordan via his phone number, 314-325-829. You can also visit his website and check out the contact form there.

For other sales concerns, you can also reach out to Donald via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Use these practical sales tips and let him know how they work for you.

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077.

We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes so tune in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to.

You can also read more about sales or listen to audio books on Audible and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

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TSE 1205: The Accidental Seller Series 2 – “DeJuan Brown”

This is the second episode of the series The Accidental Seller. There is a more accidental sellers in the sales industry than we know of. In fact, there are about 4.14 million sales professionals in the United States who fell into this career. DeJuan Brown wanted to be a chemist when he was a kid. He also wanted to be a system analyst because he wanted to follow his uncle’s footsteps who worked as a system analyst for Guardian Life for a long time. But in college, he studied Psychology and Philosophy. The mathematics included in studying both Chemistry and System Analysis dissuaded him to push through with his childhood careers.

His view of sales and of the salespeople came about when his father started selling Insurance when he was two years old. Selling insurance then was very different compared to how it’s done today. People are able to sign up online or pay for their premium online but before, selling insurance was a door-to-door sport. His dad would spend hours going door to door collecting premiums from people. Seeing his dad selling made him think that sales was super lucrative on the back end but also super hard at the same time. DeJuan initially thought that salespeople were undesirable. 

The sale stigma 

The perception of salespeople then didn’t change much until today. In fact, stats show that only 18% of buyers respect salespeople. There’s still a bad stigma and DeJuan didn’t want to be associated with it. Salespeople are seen as sleazy and manipulative and even though his Dad is not like that, he came to adapt that view as well. It’s apparent with a car salesman and the salespeople you see in infomercials and TV. People kept telling DeJuan that he’d be good in sales but for him, it was a choice between using his skills for the worse which is doing sales or using it for the best which is helping people through law and other things. 

The accidental seller

DeJuan was doing a variety of things and was moving from one job to another. He ended up waiting tables and bartending. He was good at it and made a tremendous amount of money in it. His friends kept telling him to go into sales because he’s good at selling entrees but still the stigma of salespeople stuck in his mind. The stigma prevented him from considering the possibility until his buddy got a job at Intuit. His buddy convinced him to get into sales and he applied. He got a schedule for an interview and got a part-time job of 16 hours a week doing transactional sales. That’s when he got into sales. He fell in love with the reward of sales and it was the first time that he felt good about serving people. 

Fears in sales 

He had fears and trepidation when he started sales and most of the fear revolved on the thinking that he had to push people. DeJuan wanted to help people. If they want something, he wants to help them get it and if they do not want to get the product and services, then he doesn’t want to push them and he just wants to leave them alone. The fear went away relatively early in the process when he realized that he was helping people. He understood people and all that they have at their disposal. He gave them all their options and made sure that they made decisions based on what they have.

Helping people changed his paradigm on sales audits. DeJuan thought about quitting during his tough times but his experience helped him get through the rough times. When he isn’t at the top of the leaderboard, he thinks of quitting and starting out on another career.

That fact kept him on and motivated him. There’s no such thing as every time you dial, someone picks up the phone or responds to every email. Understanding that helped him control the inputs and outputs. The mindset shift helped him shift his attitude towards selling. His first sale was unforgettable for him. He was consistent with his deals and he was able to enhance someone’s product or their order.

For his first sale, he was able to sell a logo and on the same sale, he was able to add color and shadow. He also offered the self-sealing envelopes on the same order. DeJuan is now in the enterprise industry and connected with Seismic. DeJuan was an accidental seller but if asked if he was going to choose another path, he’d say that being an accidental seller is one of the best things that happened for his career. 

“The Accidental Seller Series 2″ episode resources

Reach out to DeJuan via his LinkedIn and he will also be in the Sales Success Summit. He is also on Twitter. Go ahead and hit me up for concerns and questions about sales. You can also reach out to me via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Use these practical sales tips and let me know how it works for you. 

This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. Our next semester starts on November 8 and we would love to have you. 

The episode is also brought to you by Sales Live Miami. It’s an event put on by a group of friends and it’s designed to help sellers and sales leaders improve their sales game. It’s going to be this November 4-5, 2019 in Miami, Florida. Come and join us. You can find more about this event on The Sales Evangelist website. We want you to join us for our next episodes so tune in to our podcast on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings to every episode you listen to. Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks at Audible as well and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

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Pick. Written By Matej Djajkovski, Martin Hampton; Performed and produced by OBOY

String Thing. Written and performed by Bradley Jay Hill

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8-Bit Blues. Written by Bradley Jay Hill; Produced and Performed by Fairlight

Binary Falls. Written and produced by Matthew Wigton and Caleb Etheridge; Performed by Falls

The Menace. Written, produced, and performed by Bradley Jay Hill

Juice. Written by Matel Djajkovski and Martin Hampton; Produced and performed by OBOY

Bellicosus. Written, produced, and performed by Isaac Joel Karns

Lucorum. Written, produced, and performed by Isaac Joel Karns

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TSE 1199: Sales From the Street: “I Almost Quit”

We all face challenges and sometimes, the sense of defeat is so strong that the phrase, “I almost quit,” is so relatable. 

Luigi Prestinenzi struggled in his sales journey as well. His mom was great in sales and worked for Mary Kay, a global cosmetics empire. His mother won awards and was an icon within the company. 

All the success, however, came to a halt when she suffered complete burnout. Luigi was seven then and he didn’t understand what was truly happening except that he saw his mom hustling and reaching her goals. 

Fast forward to 23 years later, Luigi also fell on the same path. Everything was working well for him but all of a sudden, deals fell apart and they just kept falling through. It was the first time that he found himself in a challenging situation. 

His manager talked to him one Christmas and he couldn’t focus on anything, not the festivities, his family, or the food. He questioned his life and his decisions and he started drafting his resume and looking for jobs. Despite that, he still went back to sales because it was his only option. 

Like other salespeople who got disappointed and might have said the words, “I almost quit,” Luigi also quit – almost. 

Changing the actions and mindset 

Luigi made a decision to triple his sales activity to make up for the last quarter. He realized that the best way to work through it is to change his actions and his mindset. 

He listened to Paul J. Meyer, the founder of the Success Motivation Institute. It was a 50-minute combination of different talks and he listened to it every day in his car. All the talks he listened to prompted him to start his pipes running again. Six months later, he closed the biggest deal in his company’s history. He also won the global sales leader award across 60 countries for that organization. 

Keep Going 

Luigi’s father was a migrant and he’d always tell him, ‘first in, last out.’ People would argue about that saying that it doesn’t foster a smart working mentality. He did not question his work ethic, but he questioned his mindset on things. He needed to change it because he’d still face the same problems at some point. 

There are a lot of salespeople these days who jump from one job to another every 12-18 months. They’re good in the interview process but the moment they hit a bump, they go to the next role. He didn’t want to be that person so he kept going.   

The imposter syndrome kicks in at your lowest points but that feeling shouldn’t let you down. Even when you close a deal, you somehow still feel like you just got lucky. 

You can only control your mindset and the way you approach the situation. 

Break it down to image and pipeline.

• Image: How are you showing up? How are you getting up? How are you preparing yourself? What is your mindset to achieve success? 
• Pipeline: Do the activity and get the hard work done. Don’t cut corners in what you do. 

Get these two done and the magic will happen. Do not focus too much on the scoreboard without getting the right mindset. If you’re not getting the target and you’re struggling, just go back to the foundation of success. 

“I almost quit,” is fine but never say, “I quit.” 

Sales From the Street: “I Almost Quit” episode resources

Reach out to Luigi Prestinenzi on his LinkedIn account and check out his podcast, Sales IQ. He also talks about sales and does interviews with sales leaders. 

Do you have sales concerns and questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Donald via LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

This episode is brought to you in-part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a program designed to help sales reps get from where you are now to where you can be in the future. This course is an aid for salespeople to become better in asking the right questions, presenting solutions, and closing deals. 

Sign up now and get the first two modules for free! You can also call us at (561) 570-5077. 

Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks at Audible as well and explore this huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day free trial. 

If you like this episode, do give us a thumbs up and rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. We produce high-quality podcasts weekly so make sure to subscribe to get more of these sales talks that matter! Share this with your friends and teach them how to subscribe as well. 

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TSE 1098: Storytelling and Leadership

I often learn from entrepreneurs and I discovered a lot about storytelling and leadership recently during the Florida State Minority Development Council’s expo. On today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, we’ll hear from two of the entrepreneurs I met there.

The best leaders learn from past leaders, whether the leadership was good or bad. CJ Latimore and Gustavo Hermida work in two different industries, but the things they share here apply no matter what industry you’re selling in.

Urban development

CJ Latimore is a public art specialist who characterizes his work as “telling stories through architecture and urban development.” He says it’s about hanging on to cultural icons even after certain buildings have been torn down.

He boils it down to adding a soul to buildings. It’s one thing to have a building that’s structurally sound but CJ believes it’s vital to track the communities and demographics that existed in the building before it was torn down. Very often, when a building is torn down to make way for something new, the previous demographic is forgotten. So is their story.

Storytelling

CJ says it’s possible to tell a story without saying a single word, and he points to art as the mechanism.

We must bring people together more efficiently and create a sense of timelessness along the way. Begin by getting people to hear your story.

Sales reps often try to add value to the company without even knowing anything about you or developing rapport with you.

Business etiquette

Consider this situation from a business etiquette perspective. If you don’t know me and you don’t know what my story is about, how can you act to help me? How can you add value?

CJ’s mission is to build images to help people get what they want in a prestigious way. When he shares that with people, they often ask to hear more. And when you can get people to say they want to hear more, they’re ready for your story.

Survival thinking

He said his biggest challenge was lack of awareness. Because the human brain is hard-wired to think about food, shelter, and clothing, stories that don’t incorporate those ideas can get lost.

The answer, he said, is to be creative. Tell a story that will make people focus on something else even briefly.

In this case, many people don’t readily know what they can do with art. Perhaps it doesn’t make sense to them. They don’t go to shows or museums.

The trick is to incorporate your uniqueness and associate it with food, shelter, and clothing.

Survival and storytelling

Everyone has pain and the quickest way to get someone to listen to you is to provide a solution to help their pain go away. You’ll have their immediate attention because no one wants to be in pain.

If you can share a way to save money, save time, or educate your prospect about saving money or time, that’s what everyone wants.

People want more time with their family and more time for vacation. Your job is to stop people in their tracks with the solutions you offer.

People will remember you more if you’re unique and if there’s something about you that’s meaningful.

If it’s true that the brain has as many as 300 impulses per minute, you have to find a way to engage three or four of those with your story.

Other people telling your story

When you can get other people to tell your story for you, that’s an indication that you have a great story and that you’ve told your story well. People love to spread a good story.

Since the beginning of time, people have shared the greatest historical events through story.

Start with your story and turn it into a community story. Own your story. Compile multiple stories that work and make them your own. Make them exceptional. Give people the results that they need.

Company values

Gustavo Hermida said that his biggest struggle has always been aligning his company with the right people who will carry the company’s values forward. His goal is to find people with integrity who make a promise and then deliver on it. It’s important because people often distrust salespeople automatically.

But people are people, and buying people are people.

He has built a career on putting himself in other people’s shoes to understand what will help the other person feel comfortable making a decision or able to move a partnership forward.

Finding the right people

He expanded his search to include looking elsewhere for the right people. Although previous experience was a welcome factor, it wasn’t the main qualifier he was looking for.

He discovered that he preferred hiring the right person and then forming that person.

Company growth

Gustavo started the company with zero base and limited financial resources. Over the last two years, the company has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America.

He caters to small startup companies because when it comes to multifunction equipment, sometimes leasing companies won’t offer financing to companies until they’re fully established.

He helps those companies build their own credit, which has catapulted his company in terms of growth.

Gustavo advises being very careful about the people that are working for you. Ensure that they share your company values. Build a team of different ages and different backgrounds.

Motivation comes in many different forms, but find people who are self-motivated. Build a team you’re proud to work with.

“Storytelling and Leadership” episode resources

You can connect with CJ at www.myuniqueawards.com.

Connect with me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com.

Try the first module of the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for free.

This episode is brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. I developed this training course because I struggled early on as a seller. Once I had the chance to go through my own training, I noticed a hockey-stick improvement in my performance.

TSE Certified Sales Training Program can help you out of your slump.

If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.

Tools for sellers

This episode is also brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

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TSE 1044: Sales From The Street: “Being A Great Leader”

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of being a great leader when you’re working to build a team or an organization into something that will change the world and make things better for people.

Today’s guest Andrei Mincov founded Trademark Factory in 2013 to help entrepreneurs secure the legacy of their brands and preserve their hard work.

Teams

As you grow your team, as you grow your business, as you grow your dream, as you grow your vision, there comes a time when the leader can’t come up with all the ideas.

In order for the organization to grow, leaders need team members who help generate ideas and who provide initiative to improve things.

You’ll likely have some team members who simply have marching orders or tasks. Others will be responsible to help you move the organization forward.

Those team members will have to have vision. They’ll operate from your inspiration.

Hiring

Finding those visionary team members is different than hiring task-based team members.

Andrei uses small, unique tasks to help make hiring decisions simpler. He might, for example, offer a jpeg with a typo or error in it and ask prospective employees to find the error. The intention would be to measure the candidate’s attention to detail.

He might also ask the candidate to build a video or a graphics project.

This process helps him narrow the field because not every candidate is willing to jump through the required hoops to get the job. It also helps him determine who actually has the necessary skill set to accomplish the work.

Without poring over countless resumes and applications he can narrow the field to the best candidates.

If candidates aren’t excited enough in the beginning to show you what they can do for you, how excited will they be after they are hired?

Growth

Leaders must have a compelling vision in order to grow a company. They should also likely have a track record of successfully accomplishing goals.

Conveying thoughts and messages won’t be enough to lead well. Leadership demands action and results.

People will follow leaders who have vision and a successful track record. The better your business and the better your track record, the more likely you are to attract great people to surround you.

Andrei shared that animals in the zoo don’t care about ticket sales. They care about food and comfort and safety.

Your team members are similar in that they care about basic things like provision and comfort. While you probably want them to have full ownership in your business, they likely never will.

Your role is to provide enough vision for them to recognize that aligning themselves with your goal will benefit them personally.

Building

Smaller companies often fail to see that they are capable of building something that matters. They may have a really cool team or a really cool business and they assume it’s a fluke. They don’t take themselves seriously enough to worry about protecting their businesses.

What steps would you take to protect yourself and your business if you knew that you would definitely succeed?

This issue boils down to leadership, because if you don’t have a vision of growing your company into something substantial, you’ll miss an opportunity.

Great leaders like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos know that they are building something that can change the world. They are building something that will help a bunch of people do a bunch of great stuff.

When you have a vision toward the path to greatness, people will follow you. Do something that people will remember years from now.

“Being A Great Leader” episode resources

You can connect with Andrei and his team trademarkfactory.com. If you have a brand you’re interested in protecting, you can schedule a free call with the team to determine the next steps in your process.

This episode is brought to you in part by mailtag.io, a Chrome browser extension for Gmail that allows you to track and schedule your emails. It’s super easy, it’s helpful, and I recommend that you try it out. You’ll receive real-time alerts anyone opens an email or clicks a link.

Mailtag.io allows you to see around the corners. You can see when people open your email, or when they click on the link you sent. Mailtag.io will give you half-off your subscription for life when you use the Promo Code: Donald at check out.

This episode is also brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn’t the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump.

If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.

I hope you enjoyed the show today as much as I did. If so, please consider leaving us a rating on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or wherever you consume this content and share it with someone else who might benefit from our message. It helps others find our message and improves our visibility.

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss a single episode. Share it with your friends who would benefit from learning more.

Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound.

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TSE 1004: Sales From The Street – “Grit”

There’s a single characteristic that distinguishes effective sellers from the others, and it’s grit.

It separates those who work hard and effectively from those who don’t. It distinguishes those who go above and beyond the call of duty from those who do not.

Grit

Those of us in sales need to have grit.

Grit is courage. It is resolve. It is a strength of character. To have grit is to have rock solid mental toughness.

If you can be rock solid, right now – at the beginning of the year – you will be so much more effective and efficient. [01:39]

Consider the new hire whose resume looked fantastic, but who shows up with no drive or passion for the work. Sometimes we pass by individuals with higher levels of grit simply because their GPA wasn’t as high or their resume was lacking. [02:34]

I have a problem with that.

I know some very smart people who lack the level of grit needed to take advantage of their intelligence. They end up in mediocre jobs. It seems like a waste of talent.

On the other hand, we see folks without the necessary level of education who have passion and grit. They have the ability to do more and work harder than the average person.

Desire

How? Where does their level of passion and perseverance come from? [03:16] I believe it has everything to do with their level of desire.

There was a low point in my life when I was faced with homelessness but I had the drive to make sure that my family was taken care of. There are certainly people who are smarter than I am or who have more experience than I do, but I had the grit to create this podcast series. I was determined to make it happen and I hustled. [04:06]

I had the desire and the perseverance. There were difficult times, of course. I didn’t always know if it was going to work. But we pushed through.

Can grit be taught? Can mediocre individuals on your team get it? Yes.

Be positive

“I can’t do it.” “I can’t make that call.” “It’s not going to work.”

If you can’t, then you won’t.  

But if you say you can – then it is more likely that you will. Things move for people who have the desire to make things move.

Perseverance means you will do whatever it takes to make something happen because you want it to happen. You have to push through the tough spots.

Use the right words. Instead of “maybe I’ll get a sale,” or “I hope I get a sale,” try “I will get a sale today!”

Obviously, realistic goals are important: Is it possible? Can I do it?  I’m sure you can make a million dollars in sales in a day – but is it likely?

Maybe not. But it is certainly likely that you will find the right client today or close a deal today. [06:22]

Visualize success

Think about what you need to do to make it happen. If you tell yourself that it isn’t possible from the very start, it’ll never happen.

When you feed yourself failure, your whole subconscious and whole body react.

Think about how to reach your goal. What will you do? What will you say? And what are the steps necessary to succeed?

Set the entire process up in your mind; from what you will say, to what the email will say, to when you are going to call. Tell yourself that the clients will be interested, they will want to set up an appointment, and you are going to get the demonstration.

Visualize it all. If you can’t see it, you can’t achieve it. [08:24]

Act

You need to practice. Perfection doesn’t come by accident. It has to be deliberate. Be specific. [09:01]

You will get the appointment or that meeting with the CEO when you decide the steps to take and then practice those steps.

Before you get on the phone, for example, think about what you need to talk about and what questions you need to ask. Know why they would want to talk to you! What challenge can you solve for them? [09:52]

In this way, if you get thrown an objection, you will automatically know how to handle it.  You’ve already visualized the entire conversation.

You can’t wing it. Winging it only gets you winging-it results. [10:32]

People with grit have a vision. They know what they want and they are determined to get it.

They practice achieving it and set a plan to do it. Then they do it, and do it, and do it again until it happens.

Succeed

Will you have perseverance this year? Will you push through the tough times, or will you just give up?

I encourage you to look past any shortcomings you’ve had. Make 2019 the year that we accomplish greatness. The theme for the year is Empire Building, whether that be your sales empire, business empire, or family empire. Let’s build it!

You are the only person who can stop you. [11:19]

“Grit” episode resources

Check out Grit by Angela Duckworth.  

This episode is brought to you in part by prospect.io, a powerful sales automation platform that allows you to build highly personalized, cold email campaigns. To learn more, go to prospect.io/tse. It will help you with your outbound to expand your outreach. It allows you to set it and forget it. Your prospecting will never ever be the same.

Previously known as TSE Hustler’s League, our TSE Certified Sales Program offers modules that you can engage on your own schedule as well as opportunities to engage with other sellers in other industries.

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TSE 794: Sales From The Street-“Don’t Be So Jealous, Bro”

Sales professionals don’t like to admit it, but we’ve all felt jealous. When one member of the team is killing it while we struggle to close, resentment creeps in; the kind of resentment that sabotages the team.

We have a tendency to compare ourselves against other people, and our managers do it to us as well. In this episode of The Sales Evangelist, we discuss the fact that,  though competition isn’t necessarily bad, ego and pride can prevent us from improving.

Ask for help.

My deals stalled. I built no value. While my coworker sailed through the discovery process, I watched my own deals stagnate.

She had experience in the kind of deals I was working on, and I eventually had to acknowledge that I needed her. It wasn’t easy, either, because I assumed as a man, I’d be a better seller than her.

Once I moved beyond those false notions and the jealous feelings, I noticed I was picking up important tidbits from her. She showed me how to guide the process and frame solutions for my clients. I noticed a difference in my sales.

I realized, too, that I was teaching her some things along the way as well.

Allow competition to drive you.

Competition among members of a sales team motivates us to do better.

Some of us won’t realize that because we’ll assume we can’t learn anything from younger team members. We’ll avoid asking for help from people we perceive aren’t as good or as experienced as we are.

Working alongside strong team members motivated me to work harder and achieve more. I learned to collaborate and strategize for the benefit of the whole team.

Now I’m selling more successfully than some of the more experienced people around me, but some of them won’t learn from me because of jealousy. I had to move beyond that thinking, and you should too.

Episode resources

We all need improvement. The Sales Evangelist Hustler’s League is a group coaching program that helps sales professionals of all levels to come together and share insights. Join us in April for the next semester, all about adding value.

It would be an honor to have you join us.

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TSE 722: The Grinch Who Stole My Sales

Oftentimes, sellers blame their sales performance on the Grinch, well, on pretty much everything else but themselves. You see, it’s probably not the Grinch Or the Grinch probably is you. And the quicker you’re able to acknowledge this, the better chance of improving for the new year.

So stop whining and make it happen!

It’s probably human nature. We find something else to blame on when we’re not doing well.  I’m sharing the top reasons of salespeople that they do poorly on their sales performance:

1. My prices are too high.

2. I have no proper literature.

3. My territory is bad. It’s horrible.

4. I don’t have enough time.

We can have difficult times but we can overcome them. Here are strategies to help address each issue.

Price Is Too High

• You might be selling to the wrong customers. Price is almost irrelevant if the value is strong enough.
• Look at a different group of people who are more qualified. They are usually the ones that are more willing to pay.
• It’s all about being able to build enough value. This comes down to you. Identify things affecting your customers. Then build value on that.
• Marketing can produce leads but you can’t solely depend on them for leads. You still have to go out and hunt for yourself.

No Literature

If you have Canva, you have literature. You don’t even have to have literature sometimes. More likely, your prospects are not going to read what you send them. In fact, only a small percentage of people do that. So don’t fall into this trap.

Can material help? Of course, yes. But that’s no excuse for you to say you’re not closing deals. If you really need a literature so bad, use this free, powerful tool called Canva. Or send a link to your webpage.

Poor Territory

Territory management is key. Don’t let your territory be an excuse for not selling. You can still find some areas where you can find success.

No Time

We all have the same amount of time in a day. It all depends on how you can manage that time. Focus on things that are more crucial. Prioritize the things you need to do and don’t waste your time on unnecessary things.

Episode Resources:

Check out the TSE Hustler’s League.

Tired of PowerPoint decks? Use Prezi Business and your presentations will never be the same.

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TSE 663: Persist: How To Beat The Things That Make Us Quit

Feeling down lately? Been getting rejection after rejection? Are you on the verge of giving up? Don’t give up just yet otherwise you could be missing out on greater opportunities to come.

Persistence is key.

Today’s guest is Dr. Clarence Lee, Jr. He is the author of Persist: How to Beat the Things that Make Us Quit. Clarence is a physician and entrepreneur. He has been practicing medicine for seven years now and has this great passion for transformation among individuals, helping them get what they want in life. Clarence is also a speaker and he does online courses and events on personal development.

Talk about persistence. Clarence actually applied to medical schools over 500 times.

He applied to every medical school for five years. So he got hundreds of rejections over a five-year period of time. He never gave up that he eventually became a flight surgeon.  

Entering the entrepreneurial world was just as challenging for him. But he didn’t give up either.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Clarence:

About the book Persist:

The book is broken down into the top ten excuses of why people quit and how you can beat them.

Some lessons from the book:

1. Separate failure from yourself and look at it as objectively as possible.

Objectify the outcome from you. You’re not the failure. They’re not rejecting you. Adjust your approach continuously to improve and increase your odds of getting what you want. It’s not you, it’s your strategy.

Most people have the mental capacity, but most people give up too early.

2. Overcoming your fears

People are scared. You might be good at sales but you’re getting paid to just show up. And you’re scared that if you move over to commission basis, you’re not going to earn as much.

Overcome this by keeping the vision in front of you. Identify that specific fear and write out the worst thing that can happen. Then you’ll see it’s comical that what you fear is actually going to happen.

Stick to your checklist. If there’s a process you have in place that has been proven to be successful, when disaster happens and you stray away from it, stick to that checklist.

3. Comfort

Sometimes we get too comfortable with our job and our life. Sometimes this can hold us back. Try to ask yourself if comfort is trying to hold you back.

4. Lack of Money

If you think the lack of resources is the reason you can’t solve the problem of the customer, try to figure out how you can add value with what you have right now. Take your knowledge and communicate that to your prospects to build value. Now you have something that you can monetize.

5. Don’t get married to your idea.

Try something else if your strategy isn’t working. You can test that in the market place and see it if you’re able to sell this or that.

How to Keep Trying Again:

1. Look at your past successes.

It can get tiring when you have a lot of failures in a row. Revisit past success to remind you of all the other things where you succeeded in your life. This is the way to build your confidence.

2. Beef up on your preparation.

When you lack motivation, how much preparation are you putting in to succeed? There has to be some prep time. The more you prepare to succeed, the more confidence you will have come game time or sales call. If you’ve had a series of no, go back to your preparation.

Clarence’s Major Takeaway:

1. Don’t be afraid to dream big. If you dream that vision that means you can do it.
2. Do not give up too early. That’s what differentiates the people that get it and those that didn’t.

Episode Resources:

Visit www.ClarenceLeeJr.com/persist and find out the bonuses you get from reading his book.

Maximum Influence by Kurt Mortensen

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

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Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/tse with over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

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TSE 633: Start Making More Money By Adopting This Simple Mindset

Are you stuck in a scarcity mindset? As sellers, we strive to find ways to generate more income for us. But did you know how you think about time and money correlates about what you value most in life?

Today’s guest, Dr. Sharon Spano, explains to us why that is and how this is going to affect our performance as sales reps.

Sharon has a consulting company where she works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, and executive leaders who find themselves in the middle of a dilemma, challenge, or life/business transition. She focuses both on systems and the people in those systems. Sharon just recently released her book,  The Pursuit of Time and Money: Step Into Radical Abundance and Discover the Secret to a Meaningful Prosperous Life.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Sharon:

Lessons from Sharon’s coolest sales experience when she was the customer:

• Listen to your customer’s needs.
• Clarity is key. Educate them why they need your product or service.

Why Sharon wrote a book on Time and Money?

• It’s important to pay attention to our internal story of how we access time and money.
• Many are stuck in the scarcity mindset and it’s time to break free from that.
• Sharon will teach us how to move from a mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance.

The importance of time and money among sellers:

• A lot of people are battling with time and money issues. And many of us distract ourselves from the real business. Time and money are great indicators in every aspect of business.
• You need to understand your own paradigm and come up with practices to move past your issues that are holding you back.

How to drive your behavior:

1. Awareness of time and money

Understand the subtle nuances that you want to have awareness of. The first moment of awareness comes the opportunity for change.

2. Determine whether you’re in the scarcity or abundance spectrum.

Sharon developed the Time and Money Inventory tool. Check it out on her website www.thetimeandmoneybook.com to find out where you may fall on the spectrum between scarcity and abundance. Be aware that moderate scarcity and moderate abundance can almost look the same.

Example of moderate scarcity:

The business owner who’s watching every penny to the point he won’t invest in training, marketing, or sales opportunities.

The scarcity mentality is rooted in fear. Examine the kind of decisions you’re making. If they’re rooted in fear, that’s scarcity.

3. Explore your subconscious paradigm.

Follow this exercise. On a piece of paper, just write whatever comes to mind as you try to answer these two questions:

• What do you believe about money?
• What do you believe about time?

Once you have awareness of them, you start to see them popping up everywhere. Then you will be able to make a change.

“We can’t make change if we don’t have awareness of what is the reality of that we’re living from.”

The biggest misconceptions about time and money:

Basically, this depends on what your misconception about time and money is. This could be influenced by how or what you grew up with. For Sharon, her biggest misconception as she was growing up was, “It’s only for the rich people.” Try to figure out what your misconception is about time and money. And how is that holding you hostage?

Prosperity is a mindset.

Everything is a mindset because everything begins with a thought. You have to think it before you can do it and then realize the outcomes of it.

“Prosperity is a place to come from, not a place to get to.”

In our culture, we think of prosperity as something we need to attain in the future. But Sharon points out it’s about being first. Prosperity is not linked to how much you have. There is a level of contentment here based on your passion, purpose, and being intentional in the work you do. You get out there everyday and you’re disciplined in such a way that you can create results.

How we self-sabotage our own potential for success:

We do this in ways we don’t even realize. If you’re not producing results, go back and look at your mindsets, your systems, and your paradigms.

Sharon’s Major Takeaway:

Trust that you have something to offer and that the world needs it. Back it up with doing the work. If you have the systems in place and marry that with internal work and awareness, then you’d be seeing results.

Episode Resources:

Check out Sharon’s book on www.thetimemoneybook.com/salesevan (The Pursuit of Time and Money: Step Into Radical Abundance and Discover the Secret to a Meaningful Prosperous Life by Sharon Spano)

Get connected with Sharon on www.sharonspano.com

Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray

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TSE 629: Sales From The Street-“The Old Way Is Not Working”

Rejection is part of sales. And if  you don’t know how to handle it then probably this isn’t the career for you. But sales can be learned and it can be learned by anyone. It’s a matter of finding that process to help you get over rejection and ultimately gain confidence. Today’s guest is Omar Jackson who’s going to share with us the biggest struggle he had, how he overcame it, and the results he has seen.

Omar got his college degree in operations supply management then got into corporate life until finding himself in sales. Currently, he works with a national solar company and sells door-to-door.   

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Omar:

Omar’s biggest struggle as a new seller:

Facing rejection

Strategies Omar did to overcome his challenge:

1. Understand rejection is normal.

Understand that everyday you’re going to be rejected but once you will find people who see the value you offer.

2. Have a reason why you’re out there.

For Omar, his overall happiness and being able to have more control in his life were big motivators for him. So it’s important to have a big why.

3. Focus on the good things.

Focus on the people that respond to you.

4. Work to your strengths.

Have a synergistic approach to your sales process where you can focus on your strengths and the other person in your team can focus on theirs.

5. Learn the process.

Get more and more familiar with the market. Increase your skill set and confidence.

Results they’ve seen:

Increased sales with a steady, upward trajectory

Omar’s Major Takeaway:

Just show up. Anybody can learn sales. Control your emotions and just show up. There’s going to be somebody out there who’s going to buy from you and want what you have to offer. Then just keep refining your process and get better and better.

Episode Resources:

Connect with Omar Jackson on LinkedIn.

If you wish to share some sales struggles with us and how you got through them, send us an email at podcast@thesalesevangelist.com.

Maximum Influence by Kurt Mortensen

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TSE 608: Declaring Freedom From Mediocrity & Forging A Successful Mindset

As we’re celebrating Independence Day, it’s just right to discuss how you can gain financial freedom by solving the blocks that shift our thinking from entry-level job status to understanding opportunities that breed financial success. A ton of great stuff today and you definitely don’t want to miss this!

Today’s guest is Nick Ruiz. He is a contributing author for Entrepreneur Magazine and a twice self-made millionaire. After the collapse in 2008, he lost a lot of money that led to bankruptcy. Then he rebuilt his million-dollar net worth and achieved major mindset change. He wrote a book, Success from Scratch, which is focused on helping people understand greater financial freedom.

If you’re trying to start your own business and perhaps you have something you’re doing on the side but afraid to do it, declare independence. Make a plan and do it today. I forged my own path and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s time for you to forge your own path today!

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Nick:

“Rough Draft Moves”

• Most people analyze things and put everything on a spreadsheet but all they’re analyzing are imaginary thoughts.
• Take the bare minimum. Go out there and make the rough draft move, which means just go there and do something while accepting the facts that:
• You don’t know everything. You’re probably going to mess lots of things up. Start jumping into unchartered territory on a regular basis.
• Get into something you don’t know 100% how it works.

The beauty of a rough draft move

• You get into the post-action analysis, where you may now analyze something that is in the real world of existence.
• You did something physically so now you have all that real-world data, and not just the imagination data in your brain.
• Now you can say 99% probably didn’t work but you have 1% seed to build on.
• Then make another rough draft move that you can slightly fine tune and build off it.

Learning from the mistakes of others:

• Gain the knowledge and combine that with massive action
• Acquiring tools is great but you still have to use the tools and do the work to build the house.

On achieving instant success:

• The timeline for success is drastically becoming reduced due to the advent of technology.
• The biggest disconnect is this mindset of they see the “top guy” and they immediately jump to how to get that. This is a different psychological plane. Looking at the “top guy” is poisonous to new people because your path will look different than that person.
• The tons of no’s, rejections, and failures are information on what to tweak and what more rough draft moves you can make.

On Nick’s book, Success from Scratch:

• Nick dove deep into his journey and dissected and documented it through this book
• People are so much conditioned into rules which are just things some people made up based on what’s happening at that point in time.
• Understand that you are your own person and start listening to yourself.
• People are shaped based on their external circumstances, people, and events in their life. And they are continuing to be shaped and molded without their conscious knowledge. Part of this book wakes you up to this.

The Success and Food Analogy

People respond differently to certain foods. Some people experience an anaphylactic shock with peanut butter while for others peanut butter is the best source of protein for them.

The approach to success is no different. There is no blanket approach to success. You have to understand your internal personal evolution to success.

Copying People You Look Up To

• Your journey is going to look different than the other guy.
• Don’t skip opportunities just because the “top guy” you look up to didn’t go that way. Copying every move of people you look up to is a terrible mistake.
• You have to combine action with learning.
• See what works for you.

The Onion of Fear

Peel back the layers of fear. If customers want to buy but there is some fear holding them back, ask them outright about what’s truly stopping them and holding them back. Peel back those layers of fear until there is none left and they finally decide to buy.

Nick’s Major Takeaway:

Understand how rough draft moves change everything. So many people are in the planning phase or in the pre-action analysis phase. The problem with that is you don’t have any actual data to assess. All you’re doing is imagining scenarios. Do the thing. Get embarrassed. Screw things up. Mess up most things. But then just pull out a couple solid things that did work and build off of that then make a move again with a more refined approach.

The amount of things you’re going to accomplish by making rough draft moves are substantial because you’re assessing what’s actually in existence. That’s the post-action analysis you want to engage in. Success has nothing to do with who you are or where you came from. It has to do with going out and making the moves. You’re always going to extract something positive from those rejections and failures and you’re going to build off of those slivers of positivity.

Episode Resources:

Success from Scratch by Nick Ruiz

Visit www.alphahomeflipping.com if you want to create real estate success from nothing or connect with Nick on Facebook and watch his reality show on YouTube.

Join the TSE Hustler’s League.

Help us spread the word out by leaving us a rating or review on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play or whatever platform you’re using.

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TSE 598: The Seven Mindsets of Success!

Today’s guest is a true hustler Sten Morgan who went from having $40 in his account to making a six-figure salary through hustle and hard work. As a result, he created a success story in order to forge a path for other sellers. He has also written a book, 7 Mindsets of Success which will soon be launched on the 4th of July.

Sten is the CEO of Legacy Investment Planning. He started in the insurance when he was 21 and jumped into the investment side for four years until starting out his own planning firm at 25 years old.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Sten:

Why Sten wrote a book about mindset and success:

Sten shares his story of growing up in a family that struggled financially, his mom marrying five times and moving 30 times before he was in high school.

But being able to start a company and being under 30 years old to be named one of the top financial advisors in the country, he felt the responsibility of telling his story and to make sure other people have the best option to do it too.

Sten’s Story:

At 23 years old, Sten helped a guy manage around $180 million of assets. Although he already got the license as a financial planner, he didn’t have the luxury to take 20 years to be at the top so thinking out of the box, he studied harder than anyone else and got some good training and launched his own business.

Sten’s Challenges:

New to market: The challenge was he has only been in Nashville for two years so he had zero markets. Then he got to a point that he was married and a baby was on the way so for him a failure just wasn’t an option.

Age issue: Being young in the finance business, Sten competed against people who assume they know about money because they’re 50 years old. So he knew he had to be technically sound and had to have better planning ideas to overcome the age issue

• Don’t rest on your good looks or sales pitch because, at the end of the day, you are the product so you need to be able to back it up.
• Spend as much time as possible to prepare yourself so when you get the opportunity, you can close it.

7 Mindsets of Success:

1. Future self

Truly reflect on your present decisions and hold yourself accountable to the future, even five years down the road, saying that if that person was here, is it at a good move and is it going to bring you closer to where you want to be?

Train your mindset to constantly filter your decisions through this question: Am I going to be proud when I’m 80 and look back? Am I going to be telling somebody else’s story or my own?

2. Removing your safety net

Have the mindset where failure is not the option. If you want to truly reach your true potential, know there is risk as well. Everybody that did something great that everybody still talks about, it was never handed to them

3. Perspective

Our mindsets are constantly being influenced in either a positive or negative way. Accept constructive criticism and seek out constructive criticism. There’s always something we don’t know.

4. Circumstances

Maybe 10% of what happens every day we can control or have an influence on but do not let the 90% define you. Do not focus heavily on the things you can’t control because it distracts you from the 10% and the most successful people are the ones that crush the 10%. Reset that mindset and use that as a baseline.

5. Learning to pursue discomfort

Humans are wired to find the path of least resistance, fight or flight. Great things are preceded by something very challenging or uncomfortable. You can’t grow inside your comfort zone.

The Musoji Challenge: If you take on a task so daunting that chances of succeeding are less than 50% but by accomplishing it, you open your mind to a whole new possibility for yourself.

6. Conflict

Conflict is inevitable in life, business, and success in general. If you’re not having conflict, it means you’re not trying hard enough. It doesn’t mean all conflict is to end badly but it just means it’s going to happen.

Retrain yourself to say you need to try to learn something from the interaction and if they win or you win, you both lose. If you can handle conflict well, it’s going to help you (1) reveal relationships that need to end or (2) improve relationships and push you up in the organization.

7. Time balance

If your only focus on money, personal relationships can suffer to some extent. So the hours you spend each day on any task have to be so intentional and so productive that you can still be successful in your career while still be able to get home at 5:30 every day to be with your family. This is possible. Be laser-focused.

Sten’s Major Takeaway:

Take that discomfort challenge and every thirty days, add something to your calendar that’s new, different, and that’s going to grow you. Whether you’re speaking in front of the group, taking a new sales test, hiring a sales coach, or something you’ve been avoiding, actually do it and it will change your life if you’re willing to do that.

Sten’s goal is to train people on these mindsets to not only recognize them but learn how to fix them, maintain then and challenge them to be able to give back radically, whether it’s time, money, or training other people. The motivation behind everything you do has to be strong enough or else you won’t be able to hang in there when things get really tough because they will.

Episode Resources:

Know more about Sten on www.stenmorgan.com

7 Mindset of Success by Sten Morgan

Join the TSE Hustler’s League.

How I Built This podcast by NPR

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TSE 591: Getting Your Motivational Level Up

 We’re basically in the middle of the year, how’re your sales going? Are you slowly finding yourself in a rut? Especially, if you’re not where you want to be at this point, this episode is going to help lift your spirit up. Allen Brouwer is going to talk to us about motivation and setting goals.

Allen is the co-founder of BestSelf Co., dedicated to helping people become the best version of themselves through productivity, performance, and positivity.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Allen:

Don’t be inundated with the news.

• Only consume a bite-size portion of the new. A lot of them are made-up propaganda to capture your attention.
• Allen uses Amazon Echo that features flash news briefings without going down that rabbit hole of being inundated with all the propaganda and nonsense.

The Feast and Famine Cycle of an Entrepreneur

Allen walks us through that time when he had -$44 in his bank account and swore he will never be in that situation again. That was the turning point of his life.

Strategies to get out of your own rut and keep that positivity:

1. Change your mindset.

Realize that the only person who can change this situation is yourself. Do everything in your power to get yourself out of the situation.You can’t rely on anybody else but you.

2. Have a morning routine.

Start your day off on a positive flip to set yourself up for success. Through research, mentors, books, and seminars, Allen found that a lot of successful people have a morning routine. This is something you do each morning that you have on auto-pilot that covers your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, all in the morning. That way, you’re not worried about it later on in the day and just focus on work and getting everything you need to get done throughout the rest of the day.

3. Write down your goals each and every day.

When you do this, your subconscious can pick up ideas of how to get to that goal whether you know it or not. Plus, New York Resolutions don’t work. So how do you get out of that procrastination mindset?

Change how long the goal setting process is. Thirteen-week is ideal which is roughly 3 months and it’s one-quarter of the year. You can base your business based on quarterly results and outcome.

4. Set a 13-week goal and work your way backward.

This way you’d know what you have to do each and every day to get there. The reason we do 13 weeks is that it’s far enough ahead where we can make progress on it and close enough where we can see the end in sight. So there is no time to procrastinate because it’s too close but it still gives us that runway to pick up some steam and some momentum.

5. Establish your baseline and deconstruct it backward.

If you’re just starting out, take action and figure it out. But if you already have an established business and you know what your baseline line, that helps tremendously. Then set x number of clients by the end of thirteen weeks. How many consultations does it take you to close a client? Then how many phone calls do you need to have in order to book those consultation meetings. Now you know how many phone calls are needed to get those number of consultations in order to get the x number of clients you need.

Reverse engineer that back even further to how many phone calls you need a minimum to make each day to make that number of clients.

Allen’s Major Takeaway:

Believe in yourself. Take 100% control of your life because you’re the only person who can do it. Be positive. Put together a plan for what you want your life to be and then surround yourself with the people that will help you get there. Have all these and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, how often and however much as you want. That’s a life of abundance.

Episode Resources:

Find out more about Allen on www.turnonthehustle.com and this will lead you to his free private group and visit www.BestSelf.co or connect with him on Facebook.

Join the TSE Hustler’s League. Register today and be a part of our upcoming semester focused on closing and being buyer-centric.

Amazon Echo

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

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TSE 551: How Can I Get and Stay Motivated Everyday?

Motivation is a huge part of every salesperson’s success. But how do you actually stay motivated especially during those tough times?

Today’s guest is a motivator and excited Shawn Anderson and he’s going to help you get pumped up to sell and hustle. Shawn shares with us how you can get motivated as well as what you can do to make sure you stay on top of your game.

Shawn started his path to entrepreneurship at 10 years old, selling worms to fishermen as his very first business. What motivated him to sell those nightcrawlers? Baseball cards.

Fast forward to today, Shawn is a motivational speaker, coach, and author. He is also the Founder of Extra Mile America, a nonprofit organization that empowers individuals, organizations, and cities to go the extra mile.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Shawn:

Shawn’s coolest sales experience when he was the customer: The Concept of Gratitude

• When you feel appreciated by someone else, you want to be with that person.
• If you got that positive energy flowing in you, it’s going to come out of you and people will feel that and they are going to want what you’ve got.

Intention + Action = Goals Turning Into Reality

• If you want something in life, the only thing that truly blocks us from getting that is our own action.
• Stop giving lip service to your goals. Put legs under it so your goals have the chance to run.
• The only person you truly lie to is yourself!

“If it’s only words coming out of your mouth then you’ve lost all integrity with yourself to ever become anything as far as being the best version of yourself. You’re always going to be the second best version of yourself unless you take your own words and thoughts seriously.”

Why People Have a Hard Time Getting Motivated:

• Doing something you’re not passionate about
• If you’re not motivated about what you’re selling, you’re selling the wrong thing.
• If you’ve got to talk yourself out to getting off the ground, why are you on the ground to begin with?
• Motivation is something you want to do because you want to become better at what you’re doing.

Overcoming Fear and Self-Sabotage

• We sabotage ourselves all the time and make excuses.
• The reason we don’t take risks is we let our minds flow with these excuses that we don’t really want something and we let fear stop it.

FEAR is what blocks us from having to step outside of our comfort zone. We’re afraid of failing, of losing, of what someone would think, of having to start over. Then when we start feeling fear, we let it dominate our lives. This is when we begin to sabotage ourselves and settle for mediocrity.

• Step outside of your comfort zone and your world explodes with awesomeness!
• Look at fear as a chance to either win something great or to learn something awesome and take the whole “lose” part out of it.

Shawn’s secret to getting past his fears:

The one thing that affects him stronger than the fear of getting on the stage is not getting on the stage and missing the chance to share a powerful message that can help change someone’s life.

How would you feel if you don’t do the thing that you wanted to do?

How to Affect People to Help Them Become Motivated:

• You don’t have the power to change people. All you can do is change yourself and you will find that the more that you change yourself, the more people around you start to change.
• Keep being the best you can be and share the message you passionately believe and hope the others will catch that too.
• The number one virtue a successful person has is a positive person at their very soul. Negative people are not destined to be salespeople for long.

Watering the Seed: Have the daily accountability to stay motivated.

Stay on top of yourself every single day. Every day is a new start. Every day is a new beginning.

Dealing with Failures, Loss, or Lack of Self-Confidence:

• Each failure makes you stronger and each of those failures makes the next failure easier to deal with and less likely to happen.
• Change your perspective on failure and become grateful for those lessons learned because those are what make us who we are now.

How to be consistently optimistic:

Practice. Program your thinking, And start mastering your thoughts. That’s when you start to change your feelings. And when you change your feelings, that’s when you start to change your actions. So it’s a three-step snowball effect:

1. Change your thoughts.
2. Change your feelings.
3. Change your actions.

Where to look for motivation:

• Look around you and everything you see, feel, or hear can inspire you if you just open yourself up to be inspired.
• If you look for inspiration, you will be inspired more and more and more!

Shawn’s Major Takeaway:

Go the extra mile. If you really want to change your life and create the most amazing adventures, romances, thrills, moments, and meet the most amazing people, you don’t just keep living the status quo. GO the EXTRA MILE! Do more to be more. Give more to live more. It’s in going the extra mile that you get the chance to change your life. Quit blaming others. It’s time to stand in front of the mirror and that’s how you change your life. And when that person in the mirror does more and goes the extra mile, that’s when you start to live the life that you truly love.

About Extra Mile America:

In 2009, when America was going through some very tough times, people started to lose faith in themselves and started looking at everybody else to make the changes that would make their life better. Shawn decided to use his small voice and did something that reminded people that if you want to live the life you love, you go the extra mile.

Hence, the birth of the Extra Mile America Tour, where he paddled a bicycle from ocean to ocean along a 4,000-mile journey. Along the way, his staff created events in 21 cities where he got to talk to over 200 people who have been pre-identified as going the extra mile either through volunteering or chasing their own dreams. At the end of his ride, he gave away $10,000 to the one that had a story that was most inspiring to him.

On November 1, 2016, Shawn created a day in America called the Extra Mile Day where 560 mayors across the country declared it an Extra Mile Day and recognized their local heroes who were going the extra mile to make the world a better place.

Episode Resources:

Learn more about Extra Mile America

Sign up for Inspiration Thursdays to help you get motivated and achieve your goals. Go to www.shawnanderson.com.

Get connected with Shawn through email at shawn@shawnanderson.com.

Join our group The Sales Evangelizers on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Predictable Prospecting by Marylou Tyler

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TSE 511: From Telemarketer To VP Of Sales And Lessons Learned

Sure, some people believe that people are born to be sales professionals but for many people, such as myself and my guest today, we believe that sales can be taught. Jon Manley is an inspiring story of how he went from being a telemarketer with no college degree and a car that broke down every week to becoming a VP of Sales. And he’s going to share with us how he made this happen.

With 11 years of experience in the technology space, Jon works with individuals and companies to help them improve their selling and understand their potential.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Jon:

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Are the odds stacked against you?

• The odds just seem to be stacked against you.
• Look at it from the opposite side of the perspective.
• Look for everything you did wrong and make sure you avoid those things.
• Study and do everything you can to ingest content from every possible source to make you better.
• Look for micro-refinement that can help you improve on a daily basis.
• Don’t be complacent!

Winning strategies that got Jon to becoming a VP:

1. Understand everyone’s point of view and their perspective.

Always come from a point of empathy and not what you want the customer to do or what your boss to see.

2. Put your customers’ needs ahead of you.

What would the customer want? What would the customer like to see what you’re doing to make the world easier? Then you’re going to make yourself a better resource to them and you will earn loyalty.

3. Show that extra level of care and value.

Be an expert resource in a way that your product or service resonates with them and helps people in your position all the time. Be respectful to ask a few minutes of their time.

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4. Make them understand why you’re a good resource to their exact position.

Always use their exact position or where they are in life as the exact wording in your conversation to make add that personal touch.

5. Have short term, medium term, and long term goals.

Long terms goals give you perspective for what your short term activities need to be. Make sure you can control your goals.

6. Focus on highest rewarding activities.

Schedule your day and break down activities that you can control so you don’t get off track.

Jon’s Major Takeaway:

Believe in yourself and completely get rid of complacency. Understand your level of greatness because you’re no different from anyone else. Sales is not a born skill but a learned skill that requires consistency and absolute passion for what you do.

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Episode Resources:

Check out Jon on YouTube Manley Minute that features a 60-second daily sales tip. Follow him on Facebook The Manley Formula, LinkedIn, and Medium.

Check out Steven Hart’s podcast The Trailblazers Podcast

The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey

Say goodbye to long, boring proposals and check out PandaDoc. Sales teams who have used this tool have seen a 30% increase in their sales productivity. To get a quick demonstration and a free trial, go to www.thesalesevangelist.com/panda

What do you like about our podcast? Kindly leave us some rating and/or review on iTunes. This would mean so much to me.

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TSE 500: The Sales Evangelist 500th Episode-“I Can’t Believe We Are Here!”

Today marks our 500th episode! And to celebrate this marvelous milestone, we’re having this fun Q&A session where I pulled out some questions sent to me through email or from the Facebook group.

Q: How do I get current customers and referral partners to write recommendations about me on LinkedIn aside from skills endorsements? How can I help influence them?

A: The best way to get something is to GIVE something. Give them something of value. There’s a feature on LinkedIn that allows you to write a recommendation and you’re asked if you want to write a recommendation in return. These people are already your partners so they’re willing to do this but people are usually afraid to initiate the process. So try writing them recommendations first.

Q: What comes to mind when you hear $8,500?

A: When I began doing speaking engagements, I was practically taking opportunities to speak for free and getting paid $500 blew me away. Fast forward to now, I’m closing deals to speak for over $500. One of the highest I’ve had is $8,500 for a speaking opportunity and I am now on the $10,000 range.

This is HUGE! The point here is to not undervalue yourself and to not be afraid of asking for more. Don’t hold yourself back. So when I hear $8,500, I think about the idea that the sky’s the limit. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, you can’t let yourself hold you back.

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Q: How would you coach someone who has recently been hired to do outbound sales for a company who has not had anyone in this role before?

A: Understand the ideal client for the organization. Go into the CRM. Look at the top deals closed in the past 2-3 year and look at client demographics. Then figure out how long does it take to close the deal and what products/services you have to offer to your ideal customer.

Find out why they went with you and what issues did you solve for them which you can use as a talking point to other customers. Then outline your sales process. How do you find your ideal customers? (Outbound and inbound strategies). Set a discovery meeting to see if you’re a great fit. Have the right people on board. Then bring value. Make sure to have a standard operating procedure and qualifying metrics before going to the next stage.

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Q: When you recorded Episode 1, what did you hope to be getting out of podcasting and 499 episodes later, can you say that you’ve achieved your goal?

A: I was excited to create a community of people that I could help overcome the pitfalls that I also went through when I started off. That was the dream. 500 episodes later, I did accomplish that. I’ve seen so many individuals whose lives have changed because of the things our guests have shared or the lessons they’ve picked up from the podcast.

Q: How do you hustle to get promoted?

A: Just give value and go above and beyond your call of duty. Bring value to the table. Find the challenges and offer solutions. Work early and stay late. Bring something to the table to help you get noticed. Act rather than be acted upon. Also help other departments.

Q: How did you go from working a full-time sales job to creating 500 episodes and give time to your wife, church, community, traveling, and taking time to take care of yourself?

A: I found the most important elements in my life and I made sure I put time in for those. I have always loved planning and was always writing things out and making goals. I put the big things in place. So put the times in for the things that matter the most. Then I started delegating other tasks to my team members (ex. writing the show notes, audio editing, etc.)

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Q: How did you make yourself productive without losing sleep?

A: Just put the most important things first. Don’t jeopardize your family or friendship for your career. Make sure you give them your time. Sometimes you have to work early too.

Q: From the time your dream hit you, how long did it take before launching? What steps did you take to help others achieve big things as well?

A: I got introduced to listening to podcasts by my friend Jared Easley and so I started listening to Seth Godin’s Startup School Podcast and got hooked on podcasting since then. I listened to Pat Flynn and I was thinking about how this stuff could work and how I can talk about sales and sales challenges. So it took me around 3-4 months from the time the idea was conceived to the actual execution.

My key takeaways:

• Strike while the iron is out so you won’t talk yourself out of things. Keep that dream alive and keep going.
• Start small. Big things will come when you start small but you have to start in order to get there.

Do you have any questions? Email me at donald@thesalesevangelist.com and I’d love to hear from you.

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Episode Resources:

Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross

Asana project management tool

Seth Godin’s Startup School podcast

Let’s go down memory lane and listen to the very first episode of The Sales Evangelist

Join our Facebook group, The Sales Evangelizers

Say goodbye to long, boring proposals and check out PandaDoc. Create electronic proposals to your prospects. Sign and receive payments without leaving your CRM. It integrates well with other CRMs such as Salesforce. Pipedrive, and HubSpot. To get a quick demonstration and a free trial, go to www.thesalesevangelist.com/panda

Help us spread the word out by leaving us a rating or review on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play or whatever platform you’re using.
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TSE 483: The Self-Motivation Handbook-“Do What Needs To Be Done, Even When You Don’t Feel Like Doing It”

Lacking some self-motivation? Well, my guest today is just the man that you need. Jim Cathcart is a sales expert, a professional motivational speaker, and a musician. He’s going to share with us some strategies and principles from his recently released book, The Self-Motivation Handbook which he has developed and used over the years as evidenced by the success that he has made not just in his career but also in his personal life. (Talk about a 70-year old man with a 30-inch waist who continues to hustle.)

Jim is a prolific author having written 18 books where 3 of them have become international bestsellers. He has is a professional speaker and has delivered over 3,000 speeches around the world. Jim first came on the show to talk about Relationship Selling for which he wrote a book on. And just recently, he released another awesome book,.

Jim designed co-designed the Sales IQ Plus, an online assessment that leads you through the 8 divisions of a sales cycle.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Jim:

Jim’s coolest sales experience when he was the customer: Understand customer needs

Two parts of selling:

1. Product/service
2. Sales itself

The 8 Divisions of  Sales Cycle:

1. Preparation
2. Targeting the right people
3. Connecting with the people
4. Getting trust
5. Assessing needs and wants
6. Soften their problem
7. Getting their commitment to buy
8. Managing yourself in managing sales

These are the core elements of relationship selling and when you get better with it, you become better at ANYTHING you sell.

Jim’s motivation behind The Self-Motivation Handbook:

Motivation comes from the words, motive and action

• A motive without action is just a dreamer of fantasy.
• Action without a motive is just a random behavior.
• Motive + Action = Achievement

Motivation is getting yourself to do what needs to be done or what you want to do whether you feel like it or not.

Get yourself to agree to the first action.

Make that commitment. Get yourself to show up.

A few key points taken from the book:

Vital Traits of Self-Made Millionaires:

1. None of them succeeded by accident.
2. All of them were eager to change themselves necessary to be more successful – habits, people they hang out with, thought patterns, etc.
3. None of them did it alone.
4. All of them were eager to share what they learned.

Wealth versus Value

The amount of stuff accumulated often reflects the value you place on ownership of things.

Jim’s Major Takeaway:

Go to the homepage of www.cathcart.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out this sketch video that executes the concept of motivation.

Episode Resources:

Check out my previous interview with Jim on TSE 003: Relationship Selling with Jim Cathcart

https://staging1.thesalesevangelist.com/relationship-selling-with-jim-cathcart/

Sign up for Jim’s 6-week online health challenge.

Catch Jim’s daily radio show along with Coach Ron Tunick called The Land of Opportunity!

Jim’s music website: www.guitarmusiclive.com

Sales IQ Plus

Jim Cathcart books:

• The Self-Motivation Handbook

• Relationship Selling

• The Eight Competencies of Relationship Selling

• Getting Things Done

Check out this featured article about TSE on KiteDesk.com

David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

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TSE 476: How I Lost My Business And Rose From It A Victor

What better way to end 2016 than by drawing inspiration from our guest today, Damion Lupo, an entrepreneur and author of several books. He lost his business once but he was able to rise from that and become the very successful, wise man that he is today.

From selling Nintendo games when he was 11 years old, Damion has truly evolved over the years and is now the owner of Total Control Financial that seeks to disrupt Wall Street by empowering people to take control of their retirement money investment-wise.

Damion shared a whole ton of golden nuggets of wisdom that we’ve included below. Read on and truly learn from his mistakes.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Damion:

Damion’s story:

Holy Crap!

Damion jumped from the insurance space to the real estate industry with the goal to build his  Trump-inspired skyscraper empire. So he started buying houses and was starting to make every possible mistake under the sun. One major mistake he found was the failure to make follow ups. So apparently, he wasn’t driving any cash in until he was 30 days away from bankruptcy, 6 months into his business.

Hustle to Execution to Meltdown

As a result, Damion was calling people back and started closing deals. He bought 8 more houses in the next 30 days and got really serious with it. As he was making more money, Damion made further mistakes.

• No bookkeeping for 2 years (major IRS dilemma!)
• His ego got so big he can’t be told anything by anyone (not even his mentor)

Then the “natural market cycle” came in 2008 and he experienced a major financial meltdown. (Note: Damion senses the cycle is coming soon.)

What Damion would have done differently:

Listen more. Naive inexperience is dangerous so it’s important to listen to people who have been there and done that.

The Mindset Change

Following his failure, Damion went off the grid and volunteered at a campaign and got fired. Eventually, he surrendered to the truth and took responsibility for everything. He did the work to change

Do the work to change!

What work are you doing on yourself? It’s not just about you getting a new tool kit but it’s about you becoming a different tool kit. Shift “you” and everything else will shift as a result of that. If you don’t shift you, you’re going to get the same thing over and over again. It starts with you!

The fear of being vulnerable: Why people run from adversities and challenges

Our society is set up to praise the winners. We need to step back from the system and think about how we can get better and grow by stepping into those mistakes.

Learn from OPE

People need to realize that you don’t have to make the mistakes yourself. Learn from Other People’s Experiences. Leverage on other people’s wisdom. Find your own mistakes and then teach people from that stuff.

Inspiring Quotes from Damion:

“You don’t have to sell the luxury goods, you just have to be a world class salesperson at any level you can show up and just kill it.”

” A lot of times we tie our net worth for our self-worth. It’s just money. You can make it again. And then you get smarter, real wisdom. Not just reading a book.”

“Most people aren’t doing the work to change… What work are you doing on yourself? It’s not just about you getting a new tool kit but it’s about you becoming a different tool kit.”

“Shift YOU and everything else will shift as a result of that. If you don’t shift you, you’re going to get the same thing over and over again. It starts with you!”

“Probably the biggest mistake that people make is they go into things alone. Business and entrepreneurship are a team sport. It’s about your tribe.”

Damion’s Major Takeaway:

Think bigger. We all have goals. If you were to 10X your goal, what would that take? You’d first realize that you would have to shift who you are and you’d have to find people to start modeling. Once you’ve decided that is your goal and you’re going to do it, there’s something powerful about owning it and sharing it and putting it out there. You’re going to look crazy until things start popping.

“I may be wrong but I’m never in doubt. I make decisions. I act. I move. I make mistakes. I learn. I maneuver. I switch gears. And we keep going and never in doubt. If you’re in doubt, you stalled. You’re dead.”

Episode Resources:

Know more about Damion on www.totalcontrolfinancial.com/donald and check out Damion’s books including the Reinvented Life.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

World Class by Jane Boyar

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/tse with over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

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TSE 308: TSE Hustlers League Tip “The Most Important 10 Minutes”

Today, I took a snippet out of one of our training sessions from TSE Hustler’s League so you can take some things and apply them to your selling career and help you improve.

The TSE Hustler’s League is a paid community gathering held each week to get a training focused on topics relevant to them. Recently, I brought on Jimmy Burgess, a great motivational speaker and trainer to talk about our “why.”

Here are some takeaways from the training session:

1. Figure out what your why is.

• Why is it important for you to reach your goals?
• Why is it important to do the things you have to do on a daily basis to reach the goal you’ve set?
• Communicate your why in a way that brings you to an emotional place.

2. Focus on the 10 minutes that matters most to you.

• A coach at the University of Alabama football team won some championships by coaching the players on developing the right mindset where they had to focus on the 10 minutes after the game.
• Sometimes we get so caught up in worrying about the process and we lose focus on what truly means something to us.
• Focus on the 10 minutes that you need to focus on the most.

Episode Resources:

Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/tse with over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

Join Today!

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TSE 275: People+Passion=Sales

People + Passion = SALES. This is what you’re going to learn about today as we bring in Kati Whitledge. Kati is the owner of an upscale boutique salon in Madison, Wisconsin called Be Inspired Salon. They opened in 2010 with 2 employees which has now scaled up to 22 members.

She further created Meet Your Match with the purpose of increasing the retention rates of salons which is currently at 30%. Through this platform, they are able to help visitors find the stylists that would be the best fit for them based on profiling and lifestyle preferences. Kati’s endeavor has become so successful that she is turning this into a national platform which will go live in the next month.

Dig this: The relationship with your stylist can actually surpass that of your spouse.

But what does this have to do with you as a salesperson? Well, you’ve got to pay very close attention to find out as Kati shares with us tons of valuable information that could help you better your sales.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Kati:

The benefits of Meet Your Match:

• Increases the speed of the sales process by alleviating the fears of new guests sitting in the chair of the stylist they have no idea about
• People buy from those they know, they like, and they trust.
• It’s not about the client finding the best stylist but it’s about the stylist who they do their best work with. Stylists pre-qualify their buyers

People + Passion = Sales

• People buy from who they know, they like, and trust.
• It’s not about your product. It’s about who you’re selling to and why.
• Trust is key.

How do you build trust?

1. Be vulnerable.

Be out there. Don’t be scared if people won’t like you. If they don’t, then they’re not your people. You’re not perfect and that’s what makes you real.

2. Be authentic.

People will do business with those who believe what they believe. Be who you are to naturally attract the right people to you.

3. Decide on the values of your company.

Everyone is not your customer. Follow your passion and the people who it’s for, they will gravitate towards it.

4. Be genuinely interested in people.

Get to know people around you on a deeper level. Ask them questions. Take care of people you already have as they become your second sales force.

Where does sales come in here?

When people see how fired up you are and you believe in what you have to offer, they will believe it and when you become real, the sales part comes easy… so easy that you don’t have to offer discounts or devalue what you’re selling. Sales becomes effortless. It’s just a result of being great with people and believing in what you have to offer.

More tips from Kati:

Practice makes permanent. Don’t skip steps. Go all the way and follow through.

Kati’s Major Takeaway:

Be authentic. Be yourself. Don’t be fearful that people won’t accept you. By being vulnerable and authentic, you will attract more of the right people that you want to do business with.

Connect with Kati Whitledge on Facebook , Twitter @kati_whitledge, and LinkedIn.

Visit www.meetyourmatchus.com

Episode Resources:

Get a free audiobook download and a 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/tse with over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

Check out Simon Sinek’s YouTube video: If You Don’t Understand People, You Don’t Understand Business

Book mentions:

Grant Cardone’s book, Sell Or Be Sold

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TSE 238: How Do I Become More Positive In 2016?

First off, we are two years old. Our first episode went live on the 26th of December in 2013. Happy birthday to us! I would like to say a million thanks to everybody who has contributed to the success of The Sales Evangelist Podcast in one way or another.

Now that the new year is ushering in, it’s the perfect time of year to get ourselves pumped up and motivated as we set and accomplish our goals for the coming year.

7 Things to Get You Motivated for 2016

1. Compete against yourself.

Comparing yourself with other people will not help you. Instead, compete against your yesterday. Break and surpass your mediocrity.

2. Start motivating yourself from within.

Set the internal drive. Find out your why, your purpose, your aspiration or whatever it is that’s going to drive and move you every single day to get out of bed to grind and hustle.

3. Set fewer goals.

Set your goals in way that they aren’t going to stretch you. It’s better to work on 3 goals that you can focus on rather than setting 15 goals that will only dilute your focus and you’ll end up not accomplishing any of them.

4. Create routines and habits.

Form not just habits, but good habits. Build routines into your week and make sure they tie back to accomplishing your personal goals. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to accomplish those goals because you dedicated time towards them.

5. Energy

Build exercise into your routine. It could be a 15-minute morning workout or whatever it is, you have to do some exercise. Having energy is so important to make sure you’re able to go throughout the day and that you can accomplish what you plan and your goals.

6. Flood your mind with positivity.

Listen to things that are motivating. Listen to podcasts. Watch YouTube videos. Read books. Listen to music that gets you pumped up or TED Talks that get you excited and motivated. Doing these things will help you get internal motivation.

7. Join a mastermind group.

Get with the right group of people where you can stretch each other’s minds and share goals each week and where you have an outlined meeting or a plan. When you collectively come together, you can accomplish great things. Be with like-minded people who can help you. Check out the The Sales Evangelizers and see if there are other people you can connect with to form a mastermind. Better yet, check out TSE Hustlers League where sales professionals come together to get training from me and other sales experts on a weekly basis.

Episode Resources:

Get a free audiobook download and 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/tse with over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

Check out Peter Voogd’s book, 6 Months to 6 Figures

Simon Sinek’s Start With Why

Join Today! 

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TSE 206: Sales From The Street- “Hustle & Motivation”

What do you think every salesperson needs to have to get things going in this highly competitive selling world? One word, ten letters, four syllables.

M – O – T – I – V – A – T – I – O – N

In today’s episode, Vernon Foster II shares with us how you can get that fire burning and charge up for the daily hustle!

Vernon currently works with companies helping them launch podcasts, get their message out to the world, and build the know-like-trust factor through the podcasting medium.

Having completed two college degrees (one in marketing and another in real estate), Vernon was ready to take on the world until he realized there wasn’t actually a lot of opportunities out there and got blindsided by the American Dream. How did he manage to get up, find his purpose, and live by that purpose each day? Let’s find out!

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Vernon:

Strategies to Keep Your Fire Burning:

1. Don’t depend on someone to be your sole provider.

Be in the position to kill the meat and bring it home. If you don’t, no one else will. You are the sole provider and creator of your own destiny. Don’t expect others to fulfill that for you.

2. Watch your inputs and outputs.

• Avoid watching the news which has negative stuff.
• Surround yourself with people at your level or above. That way you soak up the knowledge and swag in your life and it helps build your confidence.
• Read, read, read.

3. Start your day right with a personal daily ritual.

• Cultivate patience through meditation and gratitude. Vernon spends two hours each day meditating and keeps a gratitude journal where he writes three things he’s grateful for that happened the day before.
• Recite daily affirmations.
• Exercise even for a few minutes a day.
• Read motivational/spiritual books.

4. Set goals.

Set income goals and prospecting goals. Set goals but also be flexible. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t reach your goals. Instead, think about why you didn’t hit your goal and how you can do better.

Vernon’s Major Takeaways:

Don’t be afraid to go out there and drum up the business and live out your dream or purpose. You can’t depend on someone to be your sole provider. Set goals, be consistent, manage your expectations and the universe will provide what you’ve asked for. Come up with your personal daily ritual to cultivate the right mindset and trust in abundance.
Connect with Vernon through Facebook and on Instagram @vernon_foster

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TSE 176: How I Was Motivated By Students At Cal Poly

Have you ever found yourself at the bottom of the barrel? If you think you’re struggling with your sales quota and feel like you have the whole world on your shoulders and want to give up…

Better think again…

I was on a mini-speaking tour this past week attending the Podcast Movement, a discussion at a San Diego college, and finally another keynote speaking event in Cal Poly where I got to speak with approximately a hundred amazing, first-generation college students who basically come from “rough” backgrounds and who are the first in their immediate family to go to college.

You might want to get some inspiration from and be motivated by these first-generation college kids (in the same way they’ve motivated me and renewed my spirit) and learn how to apply that walk-on mentality to your business, to your sales, and to your life.

How to keep the walk-on mentality:

1. Always be hungry.

2. Have a tenacious drive to follow your passion.

3. Who cares about what people say about you?

4. Sacrifice, go deeper, and work harder.

5. Out-beat everyone around you and be the best you can be.

6. Keep moving forward and never give up.

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TSE 107: 6 Things Every Seller Must Do To Stay Highly Motivated

Brace yourself guys! This episode comes with an explosive, wealth of really good, motivating and happy information.

Being his second time on the show, Ralph Quintero talks about the power of storytelling to achieve success in sales, the key aspects or fundamentals of being a good salesperson, turning so-called failures into positive things, surrounding yourself with superstars and so much more.

Ralph was my guest on Episode 2 which was one of the most downloaded episodes of The Sales Evangelist podcast. And I am so happy and thrilled to bring back Ralph Quintero who is the genius behind Happy Someone.

Here are the highlights of my conversation with Ralph:

Ralph’s second best sales experience being the customer: Being sold $1400 set of Cutco knives by a guy who reminded him of me.

Fundamentals of being a good salesperson:

1. Tell great stories.

Why stories are so important to a seller as you’re explaining the point or value:

• Stories connect with people emotionally.
• People don’t really care about what you’re selling or about you. All they care about is how you can help them. If you can do that by connecting with them emotionally through a story, then you’ve got them!

Having “storyteller” as your title on your business card instead of “sales person” on your business card.

The Cutco guy who sold knives to Ralph told him an amazing story:

• How Cutco had changed his life.
• How Cutco has helped him go through school.
• The impact of purchasing those Cutco knives on him.

Ralph had different motivational quotes printed on the back of his business cards and it became an automatic networking machine. (Check out www.moocards.com) Moo on Facebook

My funny story behind my Instagram handle @Folgers09: I was in college and one year, I came back home after a semester and worked for a company called CompTec where I sold technical classes. I was making pretty good money plus commission. When I went back to school, I bought a new car, had a new computer and all that stuff. My friend, Jon told me I was like in that rap song by Nelly where he says “I’m like Folgers” (the coffee) “I’m young, black, and rich.” So my friend Jon and everybody in college knew me as Folgers.

2. Stay motivated
3. Get inspired

• Knowing your “why” and how it frames things into perspective.
• Money as motivation vs. your “why”.
• Start with affirmations every single day to get yourself in the right frame of mind.
• Read/listen to a motivational book or audio.

Ralph developed and affirmations app, Affirmations for Entrepreneurs

• With 200 of Ralph’s favorite affirmations.
• You have the option to set your favorites and set a reminder and you get push notification every morning.
• Practice them consistently.

My personal favorites:

• Doors of opportunity and abundance open to me NOW!
• New opportunities come easy to me.

The concept of 212 degrees – the precise temperature at which water boils

• One tiny little degree makes all of the difference in the world.
• You may be one degree away from making things happen.

4. Set huge goals

Also give yourself a reward for achieving your goal (whatever you’re motivated by)

Shoot beyond where you want to go because:

1. You might surprise yourself.
2. Even if you don’t make it, you get pretty close to where you want to go when you set yourself up. It’s not a failure, but another stepping stone to get to where you want to get to.

How to take a situation that doesn’t work and turn it into a positive:

• Learning lessons from your failures – What worked? What didn’t work? Do more of what works. Do none of what didn’t work (going forward).
• Don’t be down on yourself for a long time.
• Own up to it. It didn’t work. Put the failure aside. Move on to the next thing.
• Failure and the way you feel about your failure has a lot to do with your ego.
• Look beyond yourself and your ego.

5. Surround yourself with other superstars

Get rid of the “Negative Nancy’s” by literally running in the other direction as fast as you possibly can.

Surround yourself with other motivated and inspired people. Listen to people putting out positive content.

Ralph started out his Happy Someone Facebook Community.

Life is too short to be around negative people and negative people are going to bring you down.

You have the power to make the decision to not be around negative people. Remove yourself from a negative conversation.

Good salespeople never really have a horrible situation, company or boss. They realize that everything that happens to them is an opportunity to learn and do something better.

6. Have fun and celebrate everyday

Celebrate the little things or the little wins every step along the way.

Happy Today! Celebrate just because.

Focusing on positive stuff = better output on personal life.

If you find yourself thinking that you said something negative, stop yourself and rephrase that into something positive. Keep rephrasing it until you get the negative thought off your head.

Build a snowball effect of positivity!

Current projects Ralph is working on:

App Your Biz, A flexible, online platform that allows businesses to take their marketing to a whole new level by allowing them to build their own mobile apps.

• Option to choose 1 of 8 templates or a blank template.
• All widget-based: Drag and drop widgets to build your app (Loyalty widget, Social Wall widget, etc).
• Smart push notification feature – allows you to message anybody who has your app right on the home screen of their device (tips, specials, promos, upcoming events, etc).

Not having a mobile app for your business could actually put you out of business. Here’s why:

• 79% of people are within reach of their mobile phones for 22 hours a day @RalphQuintero.
• 80% of consumers will make a purchase via their mobile phones this year alone.
• 70% of consumers research purchases via mobile.

App Your Biz makes it easy and accessible for business owners to have their own app and be able to partake in this mobile movement that is taking over commerce.

Connect with Ralph on Twitter @RalphQuintero and Facebook.

Find out more about Ralph and the awesome things he’s doing to spread happiness around the world over at www.happysomeone.com.

Affirmation for Entrepreneurs

App Your Biz

Ralph’s Major Takeaway:

Take massive action. Do big things. Stay motivated. And know what your why is. What is your why? Why do you do what you do?

Intro music by: http://www.freesfx.co.uk

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TSE 061: Eveline Pierre, Empowering Sellers with The Secret to Winning Big!

Let’s face it, as a seller sometimes we all fall into a rut or need an extra boost. Well, this is why I thought it would be great to bring Eveline Pierre on our show. Eveline is also known as the “Campaigner of Empowerment”. She is the author of  a book entitled “The Secret to Winning Big” with Brain Tracy. Eveline is also a  highly sought after speaker by the media for her expertise in Art, Entertainment and Empowerment.

Notably, Ms. Pierre is on the advisory board of Art Basel Miami Beach Brickell Avenue Literary Society and Miami Dade County Commission for Women. In 2012, Ms. Pierre has been awarded Black Street Excellence in Arts Award, ICABA Most Accomplished Caribbean American Executive, Miami Today 2011 front cover the “Achiever” and the In the Company of Woman Arts and Entertainment Women of the Year 2011.

In 2004 Eveline founded the first Haitian Heritage Museum in the world outside of Haiti to create a legacy for future generations. The museum has been critically acclaimed as Miami Best Museum 2010 by Miami New Times. Through books, CDs and seminars Eveline looks to empower 1 million people to live life on purpose!

Today, she is here to empower us on The Sales Evangelist Podcast. Here are some of the major takeaways from our discussion.

What does empowerment mean to you? 

It means you are not waiting for an affirmation to come in, you make things happen!

Why is the empowerment mindset so important to an entrepreneur and sales professional? 

Eveline shared that people will buy from you because of your confidence. When you are confident your ability to portray values increases drastically and clients will see that. When you are confident, you are able to express yourself more effectively and buyers can see and feel your conviction.

One simple way sellers can gain more confidence.

Record yourself doing your sales pitch several times. Just simply doing it without stopping and keep on going. When you are done, send it to a friend who does not know your business/industry very well. Take their feedback and refine your presentation.

Other  takeaways from Eveline:

• Change your mind frame and you will see tremendous success. Don’t fog your mind with failure, focus on the positive or the abundance mindset.
• Go to networking events with the idea of being a “GIVER” as oppose to being a beggar.
• Don’t be afraid of sharing your top clients or contacts, great things will replicate back to you.
• Maintain your imagine online, offline or where you may be. Be true to yourself in everything you do.
• Never give up on your dreams no matter what you are going through!

Things Eveline is working on:

Eveline is currently developing “The Women’s Technology Alliance” in Miami.

Stay in touch with Eveline: 

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Eveline’s Book!

Remember as alway, go out and do BIG THINGS!

MUSIC PROVIDED BY FREESFX

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TSE 050: “The Power Of Belief” With Lin Hart Part 2

In this episode I interview Lin Hart author of the book “Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice….The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire”. Lin wrote this book focusing on a specific 10-year period of Reginald F. Lewis’ life. It was a period during which the two were particularly close and it is a period that received little coverage in his autobiography, “Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun.”

“During his lifetime, Reginald F. Lewis accumulated great wealth and arguably the richest African-American on the planet. This book is not about his wealth. It is about Reginald F. Lewis long before the wealth. It is about the challenges he faced during this 10-year period and the way in which he overcame them. It is about how he transformed himself from being ordinary to become extraordinary”-Lin Hart

I personally feel that the principles that Lin shares are very important to our lives as sales professionals and entrepreneurs. Here are some of the major take aways from my conversation with Lin:

• Don’t just talk, look for opportunities to do things.
• Reginald came from a humble background and was able to climb the tallest ladder and accomplish great things.
• Align yourself with great people because they will have an impact upon you.
• There are no straight lines to success. You will have to hustle.
• Most people are fearful of change because they are afraid of the outcome.
• Changes are never free and this is why some people don’t like changes.
• Success will come to you when you find something that you love to do so much, that you would do it for free. However, you get compensated for it.
• Understand your business at a granular level (deep dive). Always understand ALL THE DETAILS! The genius is the one who REALLY understands the details that most others do not or is not willing to understand.
• Knowing the details of why you are doing something will help you become confident.
• “The most impactful limitations you will face are the ones you will place on yourself” -Lin Hart
• Before you start selling something, you must start selling yourself.

Post by The Sales Evangelist.

Books Lin spoke about:

1. “Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun” 
2. “Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice….The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire”

Stay in contact with us:

Facebook

Twitter

MUSIC PROVIDED BY FREESFX
 

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TSE 049: “The Power of Belief” with Lin Hart Part 1

In this episode I interview Lin Hart author of the book “Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice….The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire”. Lin wrote this book focusing on a specific 10-year period of Reginald F. Lewis’ life. It was a period during which the two were particularly close and it is a period that received little coverage in his autobiography, “Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun.”

“During his lifetime, Reginald F. Lewis accumulated great wealth and arguably the richest African-American on the planet. This book is not about his wealth. It is about Reginald F. Lewis long before the wealth. It is about the challenges he faced during this 10-year period and the way in which he overcame them. It is about how he transformed himself from being ordinary to become extraordinary”-Lin Hart

I personally feel that the principles that Lin shares are very important to our lives as sales professionals and entrepreneurs. Here are some of the major take aways from my conversation with Lin:

• Don’t just talk, look for opportunities to do things.
• Reginald came from a humble background and was able to climb the tallest ladder and accomplish great things.
• Align yourself with great people because they will have an impact upon you.
• There are no straight lines to success. You will have to hustle.
• Most people are fearful of change because they are afraid of the outcome.
• Changes are never free and this is why some people don’t like changes.
• Success will come to you when you find something that you love to do so much, that you would do it for free. However, you get compensated for it. 
• Understand your business at a granular level (deep dive). Always understand ALL THE DETAILS! The genius is the one who REALLY understands the details that most others do not or is not willing to understand.
• Knowing the details of why you are doing something will help you become confident.
• “The most impactful limitations you will face are the ones you will place on yourself” -Lin Hart
• Before you start selling something, you must start selling yourself.

Post by The Sales Evangelist.

Books Lin spoke about:

1. “Why Should White Guys Have All The Fun” 
2. “Reginald F. Lewis Before TLC Beatrice….The Young Man Before The Billion-Dollar Empire”

Stay in contact with us:

Facebook

Twitter

MUSIC PROVIDED BY FREESFX
 

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