The Salesby5 Blog

What if you were 18 years old and knew one of your strengths in life was to compete in road racing? You knew this before you were 10, but at 18 you were racing 45 other drivers in your first  Grand-Am race. Then you placed 5th out of the 46 during the qualifying race and came in 11th out of 46 for the race! Well, our client, Jared Beyer, of Beyer Racing did! He and his co-drivers Ricky Taylor and Andy Wallace did just this last Sunday, April 27th. This is a new team, with great heart and they never expected to win.  They respect the sport, it’s drivers, and it’s rules. They have passion, they want to be the best, and they want their sponsors to benefit much more than they contribute! Jared, Ricky, Andy and the rest of Beyer Racing, you inspire us! Your attitude rocked, your driving rocked and your 11th place was stellar. Congratulations!

What opportunities and natural gifts do you have?  Are you putting them to full use?  If not, what’s keeping you?  Do you think you’re too young?  Too old?  Are you scared?  Take a page from these young race car drivers - do what you love and love what you do!  You might just inspire the next person to take the first step on their journey.  What do you have to lose gain? What would you lose if you didn’t take that step?

People are sometimes concerned when they feel that their strengths aren’t very good or they prefer someone else’s over their own.  The great part is that we are human and continuously have new experiences.  As we have new experiences, it is important to remember how we feel when we are performing new new activities.  New strengths (and weaknesses) are discovered daily!  For example, I realize that I love developing long term business relationships where I influence others to connect.  Reading this sentence gets me fired up but might seem terribly boring to you.  That’s okay.  Your strengths may appear boring to others.  That’s the great part about strengths…If we’re all wired the same, why would we need a team?  Lean on your team, have hope, and remember how to further refine your strengths.

VP of Marketing, Account Executive, Customer Service Representative.  I wonder how many None of these people have received compliments on their titles.  Why do companies give their employees lame titles?  Maybe it’s laziness or just convenience.  What if you gave someone a title that ties to the benefit they provide the customer?  Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to encompass everything they do.  How about just the big stuff or cool stuff they do?  At our company, Kya is the Director of Remarkable Service, Erik is the Chief Energy Officer and I am the Chief Inspiration Officer.  People remark on how cool our titles are for two reasons; they are dramatically different and people receive those benefits when they meet us.  We didn’t come up with these titles for hype or fun, it was natural and real. What would be your ideal title?  Here’s a clue on how to figure it out.  When someone meets you for the first time and they email you to follow up, what words do they use to describe you - fun? energy? brilliant? ideas?  Pull from those words!

The flywheel is a concept by Jim Collins where there’s a large, heavy disc on an axis.  At first you push on it and it moves microscopically.  As you continue to push, the flywheel builds momentum.  After time it builds an amazing speed and people ask you "what was the one thing you did to get this moving so fast?"  A truly ridiculous question from your point of view - you’ve pushed it countless times, there wasn’t a particular one that made it spin this way!

Through our adventure of life, we humans tend to compare.  We compare cars, marriages, weight, income, relationships, fun, the list goes on and on.  The overall difference comes down to your flywheel.  If it’s a large flywheel, that may mean more opportunities, but heavier, so harder to get started.  How long have you been pushing on it in a consistent direction?  Don’t be discouraged if you feel others have more than you in any area.  You never know how long they’ve been pushing, with what effort and how big their flywheel is.  Stay focused on your flywheel instead, the payoff is much better than sitting by watching someone else’s spin.

Jack Daly rocked the house yesterday in Orlando at the Fortune Small Business Sales and Marketing Growth Summit. One of the great points was that it’s the culture that matters. As he stated, Microsoft has great benefits and great pay. They have a market share the is enviable. Guess what? People are leaving to Google. Why? It’s the culture! People want to be part of a winning team AND enjoy the adventure. Microsoft is holding tight to their products and services, Google is here to try and change the world (just how Microsoft USED to be). Google has captured their people’s hearts, hence the cult-like following.

We experienced a great culture to and from Orlando - Southwest Airlines. The chatter from the cabin went something like this. “This is your captain speaking. It seems that most of you made it on this plane alive… If you are needing a bit more light, press the button above you that looks like my haircut. I think they should add a smiley face on it. Now that I think about it, if you have a smiley face sticker, please place it on the button… Just want to let you know that the bathrooms have cameras. They only activate if you smoke, though. Maybe that’s why the bathrooms are so small. If you find the camera in there, will you let me know where it is please? Thank you.” Have you ever heard this banter on a Continental or American flight? Even now, when the domestic airlines are doing terribly, Southwest Airlines still has over 80 people apply per job. I think I know why. Do you have a culture that fires people up to work at your company?

Four of the SalesBy5 team have been at the Fortune Small Business Sales & Marketing Summit. We have worked with Bob Bloom, Neil Rackham, Jim Gilmore and today, Jack Daly. The gift bags for all 350+ attendees had the SalesBy5 barf bags as part of their package.  The interesting take away from Neil Rackham was that the #1 of the five deadly sins, based on extensive customer surveys for sales people, was “THEY TALK TOO MUCH.”  It sounds like the barf bag needs wider use…

Returning calls and emails in a timely fashion makes a difference.  People take ignored communications personally.  By saying nothing, people think you don’t care about their opinion, you disagree with what they’re saying, or you dislike them.  It is up to you to manage expectations.

It is easy to stand out.  Be quick with your responses, no matter who you are.  You have a cell phone with text messaging or email.  What’s keeping you from being a great communicator?  Put numerical precision to it - Who do you need to call or email back within the next 10 minutes?

Before coming to work at SalesBy5, I worked in an insurance office.  It was the agent and myself.  Having gone to school, I had learned about corporate culture.  Interestingly, I had never considered us having a culture, because it was just the two of us.  Now, looking back, we DID have a culture and it was wonderful. Our culture was one of trust, fun, openness and respect. I learned how to communicate well via phone and email with a positive touch.  I am often tapped now to help write a difficult email or help others professionally deal with sticky situations.  SalesBy5 is the same.  In hindsight, I went from one phenomenal culture to another.  Now, while helping companies grow and teaching strengths, I see that not everyone is as fortunate.  It makes me work that much harder to help others feel excellence in their culture. 

Culture is the predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.  Core values are what you would hire, fire and promote by. They are the guide for behavior!  Attitude is what we hire for and only a positive one is acceptable.

Whether you put your core values on the wall, talk about them all the time or never, you have a culture.  It is a living and breathing element of your company.  The decision is up to you to embrace it and shape it into what you want it to be or ignore it and let the chips fall where they may. 

Do you know anyone that inspires you? Someone that always believes in you, no matter what the task? Even if the job or the idea gets the best of you, they are there to help you pick up the pieces? If you don’t have a cheerleader in your life, why not start by being one in someone else’s life first? We all need the person who genuinely believes in our cause or our idea.

Here’s a quote to inspire you to be someone’s cheerleader today…

Those who are lifting the world upward and onward are those who encourage more than criticize.

-Elizabeth Harrison

It’s a staggering statistic: less than 2 out of 10 U.S. workers are happy with their jobs. Best selling author and friend of SalesBy5, Marcus Buckingham has an amazing program to reach new levels of success and happiness! This Friday, April 18th, Marcus will be on Oprah, showing you his findings from working with 30 working women.

If you own a company, are employed, or a stay-at-home parent, this is high value and not a fad. SalesBy5 has been a Strengths-based company for the last 16 months. The change, the feel and the brand is better, stronger and more contagious because of it. Set your DVR to record Oprah on Friday the 18th for a show and see our website where our head strengths coach, Nan Palmero, coaches companies and organizations to dramatically change their work environment for the better, by using strengths. 

If you or your team can relate with the title of this post, you’re probably not playing to your strengths and maximizing your potential.  Call us, we can help!