My experience with a particularly friendly wolf, Micah, got me thinking about how, in sales, we sometimes constrain ourselves with limiting beliefs, or myths, and the New Year is the perfect time to debunk these falsities and rethink how you are going to approach sales in 2018.
Although the spirited year-end holidays are long gone, I’m still hearing a festive jingle … except, this time the sound is coming from my dog’s tags. Eager myself for the mental exercise of calmly planning the upcoming workday, we step out into the early-morning world.
Q: When we’re up against a crunch deadline, our CEO tries to bolster our confidence by giving us a T-shirt with “YGT” on it. It stands for “You Got This.” I don’t need to be told I can tackle a tough challenge. I do need better support—more resources, more time, more cooperation from the CEO. Can I rip up my shirt?
Q. I work closely with the owner of a consulting firm. He’ll only let people ask a question, not explain what’s going on. He says that’s just his personality (he says he’s a “D” and an “I”) and his style is normal for his personality type. It’s driving me crazy. What good is it to have me here if I can’t provide information on the status of projects or situations?
Improving the customer experience, says Jay Forte, consultant and president of The Greatness Zone, starts with understanding the importance of noticing: aggressively examining the little things that are working and the things that are not.
Knowing which customers are spending more or less is the ultimate metric for tracking and analyzing performance. Understanding customers starts with collecting data, and then translating data into insights to be more relevant—and loyal to—your customers. Ask yourself and your leadership team these questions.
A better future for America includes a retooling of the CEO pay machine that now includes salary, stock, options, “non-equity incentives” and other perks—in other words, a machine out of sync with employee compensation.
