Reagan era politician and well-known political strategist Edwin Meese is famous for saying the following: “An expert is somebody who is more than 50 miles from home, has no responsibility for implementing the advice he gives, and shows no sides.”—Edwin Meese Sage wisdom, and it’s even truer today for leadership development. Why? Let’s break it down. More than 50 miles […]
When you think of closing, what comes to mind? For most people, they think of being strong-armed. They think of a pushy, sleazy, manipulative salesperson. They have negative connotations with closing because they really don’t understand what closing is. In order to be more effective in sales, you actually need to change your perception about what closing is and what […]
Your meetings are boring. They are. It’s not that you are boring. It’s that people get sick of hearing from the same person. People get sick of hearing me if I am the only one talking too. (Just ask my team; they will tell you.) After a while, we can all sound a little bit like Charlie Brown’s teacher: “Wah […]
Developing your team members can happen in a group format but it also should be happening in a one-on-one setting. We call a one-on-one meeting a PC. A PC is not a performance review but a chance for you to meet with your people regularly to proactively develop them. There are two big reasons why doing PCs regularly is critical. […]
You have likely heard the saying, “Practice like you play.” Athletes cannot expect to go out and play at the height of their game if they do not practice. In the same way, professionals cannot expect to deliver a home run sales presentation, a tough customer service call, or a crucial leadership conversation if they are not willing to practice. […]
Have you ever thought about the correlation between delegation, humility, and wisdom? To make sure we are on the same page, here are a few quick definitions of each: Delegation: the granting, passing, or transferring of authority and associated responsibilities. Humility: a modest view on your own importance; freedom of pride and arrogance. Wisdom: the ability to discern between what […]
Have you reached a certain level of success and then found a lid that you couldn’t lift to reach the next level? These clients share their stories; sound familiar? Accountability is why Deborah Johnson signed up for Top Producer’s Edge. She had been a successful headhunter for 15 years, making good money and sort of floating along. She found that […]
One of the hardest parts of being a leader is confronting an underperformer. It is difficult because it is uncomfortable. Sometimes it is difficult because you just don’t know what to do to help that person. When someone is not reaching their potential, it is always a matter either of skill or of will. Our job as leaders is to identify […]
It started when she found a random ad on Facebook. Remote Year. Michelle signed up to do ten countries and twelve locations in one year. What I love most about her adventure is there were no concessions made. “I didn’t want to go on this journey thinking or having people say, ‘You didn’t succeed, but at least you had a […]
At a leadership summit I was hosting in Houston, I asked the group to define management and to define leadership. This happens to be one of my favorite topics to speak and write about! Everyone gave their definitions and then I asked which of the two were better. Like many other groups of leaders, when you ask this question, most […]
Effective self-management begins with a well-planned schedule. The strategy is to create a schedule for the entire week which includes both professional and personal activities from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. The idea is to treat this like you’re back in high school and schedule your activities in blocks of time. I understand […]
If you knew you would be 100% successful at getting an appointment with your ideal customer, what would that do for you? One meeting can change everything. What if you could to that 100 times, with 100% effectiveness? How long would it take for your business to be where you want it to be? If I told you that there […]
“When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to four.” Those are the words of a children’s song, sung by Daniel Tiger. He’s the main character in a show produced by the Fred Rogers Corporation. Mr. Rogers believed that if we teach children what to do with their feelings—in other words, how […]
If you tell yourself, “Accountability is really uncomfortable for me. I just don’t like doing it,” then you probably don’t understand what accountability is. Many sales managers they think that accountability is synonymous with confrontation. They think that what it means to hold someone accountable is to get in that person’s grill, to call them out about something, or to […]
Salespeople are less proficient than they think they are. They are also less proficient than their sales manager thinks they are. A salesperson might say: “Oh, I don’t need help. I’ve been doing this for 20 years.” And, the sales manager thinks so too. The truth of the matter is that while they may be doing a lot of stuff […]
The following question was recently asked of me: “How do you move from ‘personal chit-chat’ into your sales presentation?” That’s a good question. My advice: don’t start a sales meeting with “personal chit-chat.” What? Have I lost my mind?!? This is how everyone does it! Yes, but is everyone a Top Producer? Here is how the Top Producers do it: […]
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you win big? One small victory at a time. Jim Stryker, who is in the elite club as far as production and leadership, breaks down high achievement into a mindset and small “base hits” that add up to big results. Jim says that victory begins with the bed—it’s […]
After we had been coaching together for a few months, Ted (a managing director in the insurance business) told me: “Before working together, I was guilty of drive-by management.” Ted, like so many managers, would do his rounds in the morning. He would pop his head in the door and ask: “How are you? Anything I can help with?” That was […]
Sometimes people don’t do what they say they will do. Sometimes the people that we lead are clearly acting out of bounds. These are times when they need to be confronted. As leaders, we may want to run from these conversations, but we need to run face first into these situations. The longer we put off having these tough conversations, […]
One of my favorite pieces of leadership advice when running a 1,000+ team was: “You can’t do for one what you can’t do for 100.” Think about that. Think about your business and what you are doing for your team members today. Write out that list and now put on your thinking cap. What can you do to systematize this […]
Often, we as leaders, feel that we get our value from doing everything for our team members. Oh! I’ll go to that meeting and close that sale for you. Oh! Ask me any question you have about how to do something and I’ll answer it right away. I know how it is. We feel that this is the reason we […]
