Mowing

"It's too hot to wear clothes today," said the salesman stepping out of the shower.    "What do you reckon the neighbors will think if I mow the lawn like this?" the salesman asked his wife.
"Probably that I married you for your money," she quipped.
Moral of the story.  True sales professionals know that in order to be successful in sales, they cannot let themselves be intimidated.  They realize each morning when they step out of the shower, that millions of sales executives, CEO's, CFO's, their competitor's, their co-workers and even their boss are stepping out of the shower just like they are.   True sales professionals know that they put their socks on one at a time just like they are, and they get into their pants one leg at a time, just like they do too!   When you strip the fancy titles away, when it comes right down to it, we're all just alike really.   But the true sales professional knows he can get that competitive edge, that one leg up sort of speak by going that extra mile and doing what the majority of others aren't willing to do.   
"Everyone who's ever taken a shower has an idea.  It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off and does something about it who makes a difference."     -      Nolan Bushnell
Mowing down the competition,
dan

Inspiration

     

  After a speech one day, Zig Ziglar was approached by someone in the audience who said: "Zig, it was a great speech, but...motivation just doesn't last."
Zig said, "Bathing doesn't either. That's why I recommend it daily!"
      Where do you get your inspiration?  Church on Sunday morning, attending a motivational seminar once a year, watching "greatest moments in sports weekly.  If that is the case it just is not enough.  I hope you read these weekly articles I write and are inspired by them but you need to feed yourself inspiration daily at a minimum and I recommend that you do not get it from just one source but multiple sources.  See it as a work out for the soul!
Here are a few sources of inspiration:
Music:  if Josh Groban's You Lift Me Up" does not inspire you well..............you are likely beyond inspiration  LOL
Books: ever read anything by Andy Andrews?
Social Media: yes it can be a downer but I find amazingly inspirational stories on there daily.  Click on the top splash for one of them.
People:  take the time to find our their stories and you will often be inspired in the process.
Prayer:  when you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them and sometimes when you are safe and happy remember that someone has prayed for you
This list is endless and you find inspiration in the most unlikely places and people.  But you have to look a bit for it as it will not always come to you on its own.
     You want to be really great at what you do?  Feed your soul a healthy helping of inspiration DAILY without fail!! It will help!

"Inspiringly" yours,
dan

Habits

An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it  becomes almost involuntary (the Barbie Nun top splash was just to get your attention)
     I have read volumes about good habits and how to establish them.  From visualization to starting small to doing something for thirty days straight (repetition).  They are all important! However, I have to tell you something that I learned a long time ago regarding behavioral changes.  Back in the day, it was called "accountability partners" but in today's lexicon I would characterize it as "shout it out"
Tell as many people as you can about what it is you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Not only does it create accountability on your end (the heaviness of living up to expectations is a massive motivator for taking the right action) but it also might give you that "cheerleader high five" just when you need it.

     So start by telling everyone you are going to begin making 5 well researched prospecting calls per day and suggest to them that they ask you about your progress on this.........well....everyday. 
     Let me know what happens!!!

 Habitually yours,
dan

 

PS:
     It was a hot day outside.....so three nuns decided to take off their clothes and bolt the door to their church.Since there were stain glass windows, nobody could see inside, and the door was locked. The nuns were busy doing renovations when a Thud Thud Thud hit the door. A shocked nun ran to the door and pulled her clothes up over herself, when she asked "Who is it"? The reply from behind the door was "Its the blind man". The 3 nuns looked relieved when they heard he was a blind man, no sight no problem they figured, and let him in. Upon opening the door, in entered a burly man in coveralls and said loudly "on which windows do you want these installed? "

Habitually yours,
dan

Look Me In The Eye

It was nearing the end of the the quarter and the Vice President of Sales sent out an urgent email asking his reps to email him a copy of their latest updated forecasts immediately.

The salesman, who had been sandbagging a deal or two, decided to now include the extra several hundred thousand dollars in potential sales, look like a rock star, and take the opportunity to ask for a raise.  So he attached his file to the response email, but not before entitling it, "Increase_my_pay."

A few moments later his email was returned, acknowledging the great effort in drumming up new business.  But there was no comment on the file name or his likelihood of getting a raise.

It was then that the salesman noticed that his attachment had been returned and the name of his file had been changed to, "Fat_chance."

Moral of the story.  Want to close a big deal?   Go out into the field and meet your customers face to face.  Make it impossible for them to ignore you.   Or you can stay in the office, send out a bunch of templated emails and hope that "Tinkerbell" waves her magic wand and whisks you away to quota attainment land.   The choice is yours.
 "The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."     -      Henry David Thoreau


Yeah I am looking right at you,

dan

No Tears

Two new salesmen were sitting outside the large company's corporate clinic.   One was crying.

"What's the matter?" asked the second new salesman.

"I had to come here for a blood test," replied the first.

"So, that's nothing to be afraid of," asserted the second.

"You don't seem to understand.  For the blood test they cut my finger."

Hearing this, the second salesman started to cry too.

"Why are you crying now too?" sobbed the first salesman.

"Because they called me in for a urine test," cried the second.

Moral of the story.  True sales professionals know that in order to succeed in sales you need to be able to deal with cuts.   Whether it's your finger, your account base, your territory, your commission rate, your base salary, or even your job; cuts are just something you have to deal with.   Regardless, cuts are nothing to cry over.   Keep a stiff upper lip, pick up your briefcase and carry on!   Tears for Fears, may have been a successful rock band in the eighties, but they're not going to help your sales career.

"I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention.  To not be like your parents.  To not be like your friends.  To be yourself.  To cut yourself out of stone."       -       Henry Rollins

No Tears for Fears,

dan

Love Is A Choice

     I have had a love affair with sales since I saved up some money and bought an Esquire shoeshine box and set up on North Main Street in Federalsburg, MD.  I was doing really good at 10 cents a shine until the local shoemaker, who was a even family friend) took exception to me "stealing his business" (he employed a full time shoe shine "boy") and the town policeman made up some story about me not having a business license. That ended my shoe shine career after about 5 days.  I matriculated to the local drug store where it was soon discovered I had a talent for "up-selling" customers after I graduated from the obligatory stock boy apprenticeship.  They came in for a box of Kleenex and left with an arm full of other stuff I suggested they might try or need.  I think I was making about 1.00 per hour with no commission but I was thrilled every time I made a sale.  I still am after about 50 plus years.
     It is my fervent hope on this "Valenheart's" Day (in my family we call it that because my daughter, Aimee, now almost 42 called it that as a kid and it stuck with all of us and continues to this day) that you get a thrill out of making a sale that transcends the money part.  If that is all you are in sales for, then get out and get out now.  The calling is about serving others by showing them how something you genuinely believe by asking them questions is in their best interest and will enhance their business or personal lives. One of the higher callings in life I believe and I hope you do too.
     So on this Valenheart's Day 2013, rededicate yourselves to loving sales because as we all know "love is a choice"!

Vetting

I am not sure when this word became part of the jargon in the transportation world or in business in general but I have always like the sound of it for some reason. Kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Vetting.

Vetting is a service that Trinity Logistics provides to our customers to make sure the carriers we use to transport their freight are the very best we can find.  We go to great pains to determine their worthiness to carry our customers freight.  It is a process that requires the greatest of diligence since not only our customers but Trinity has a lot riding on the outcome.

I know how seriously we take this carrier vetting process but I have often wondered how diligent we are about "vetting" the people that provide our freight.  How much do we know about those to whom we are so dependent.  Oh sure, there are the normal processes such as Dun and Bradstreet or the Better Business Bureau which would tell us about their financial and ethical strengths and weaknesses.  But what about the people within the company on whom we are depending upon every day?  How much do we know about them and what makes them tick?

As individuals who work for Trinity, we say we highly value relationships and we eagerly reach out for those relationships.  We say we genuinely like people and we like to do business with friends so we make every effort to become friends with our customers.  Are we really practicing what we preach?

Everyone is busy.  We are busy serving hundreds of customers every day and our customers are busy serving their customers every day.  We should never too busy to take time to really find out about the folks with whom we are dealing every day in so many ways.  We should ask questions about family, sports and many other “personal” things because we really and genuinely want to get to know them and understand them better.  We should know a lot about our customers because we take the time to engage them not for any gain but because it is a lot more pleasant to do business with friends than it is with strangers. We should friend them on Facebook, connect with them on Linked-In, Tweet with them, share You Tubes of our family just to get to know each other better.

I also often wonder if our customers are really “vetting” us.  Really finding out about what makes us tick so they better understand the person on the other end of the phone, fax or keyboard.  I really hope they are because what they will find are some really great people who have done and are doing some really great & interesting things in their home, community, and work place. They will find people who are serious about their reputation and standing in the transportation industry and whose only purpose here is to serve them with the excellence they deserve. This will very rarely happen unless you "put yourself out there" first.  Someone has to take the initiative and that someone is likely going to have to be you.

I sincerely hope that we all  take some time from working “in” our businesses each day and start working “on” our relationships just as hard.  You make friends with your customers, providers or vendors or whatever we call one another and I think you will see the wisdom of when it comes to building relationships it works just as well on both sides of the fence.

When all other things are equal (and sometimes when they are not) people like doing business with people they like.

I am "vetting" on you to be better in 2013 than you were in 2012,

Dan