Sales and Leadership
Sales and Leadership are cut from the same cloth. An excellent sales consultant will help their client voice their needs, desires, and their trouble-zones and then match those up with the perfect solution. They layer in their communications so expertly that they’re collecting yesses all along until that final big yes happens …and…
Read MoreHappy Customers: A Three-Step Approach for Small Business Owners
I was recently asked the age-old question – Is the customer always right? Well, it’s not a simple yes or no, so I want to share three key insights that transformed my approach to customer relations. You see, I built my Window Coverings business entirely on referrals, but it took me years to realize the…
Read MoreSmall Things and Intention Setting
At the start of a new year, sales results zero out and you think about what your year ahead will look like. As we ponder it, we often think that the big sweeping decisions will make or break our year. But, as the great G.K. Chesterton tells us, it’s not the big things that are…
Read More71% of business owners are bad at this
Change is hard. Most people avoid it at all costs. That’s why 71% of business owners in our industry report that they are not confident in their ability to get their team members to do what they want them to do! They don’t know how to get their team to embrace change. If…
Read MoreThe stress of success
Over the last decade, I’ve had countless conversations with business owners who are facing challenges in their businesses: employees who just aren’t fitting within their roles, systems that are starting to fail under the stress of growth, communication challenges, quality control issues, scheduling conflicts… the list goes on and on. When you add these…
Read MoreWhy it’s so hard to hear ‘No’
Failure is essential to growth. We can’t succeed if we never fail. And while failure might be a great opportunity to learn — it still stings, burns, and sometimes feels downright agonizing while it’s teaching us. The strength of that discomfort is usually proportional to the investment that’s been made — the…
Read More3 Things Failure Teaches
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how much failure can hurt. And why trying again — despite the burn — is so important. We’re human, so we don’t love admitting we’ve failed. And we live in a culture that celebrates slaying and winning. That’s why it’s important we talk about the…
Read MoreVacation
When was the last time you took a summer vacation? How about just a week? A long weekend? Oh, boy… Too often I hear from burnt-out business owners who are unable [read: afraid] to take a summer vacation because of the repercussions it could have on their businesses. If I’m not there to do…
Read MoreSmall Things that Get You Big Wins
I’ve said many times that sales is a marathon, not a sprint. There are a thousand decisions and adjustments that a marathon runner makes before, during and even after the race and each one helps them reach that finish line – and makes them just a tiny but faster, tiny bit better every time.…
Read MoreDon’t Fall in Love with your Plan
“Don’t fall in love with your plan.” That was a lesson that my Dad taught me from a young age. My Dad, who died a little over a year ago (love and miss you every day, Dad!), was a licensed AMP (for the uninitiated, that’s an airplane mechanic). Over the course of his career, he…
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