by Kirby Hasseman
In a recent podcast with Roger Burnett, I mentioned the 80/20 rule of sales. I was referencing a great book from Todd Duncan called High Trust Selling. After that conversation with Roger, I got a question from Mendy Klein: “In 80 20 in sales episode that took your business to the next level from Tod Duncan’s great book. Can you describe in detail what are the few vital tasks that will bring the 80% of success?” Thanks so much for reaching out Mendy! So let’s start from the beginning. In the book, Todd Duncan says that Pareto’s rule (the 80/20 rule) is in full effect in sales. The idea is that 80% of your results in sales come from only 20% of your activities. The challenge is, that most sales professionals spend 80% of their time on the activities that only bring 20% of the results. One of the most important (at least to me) parts of the book was that in order to achieve great sales results, we need to flip that. We need to spend 80% of our time on the areas that bring the most results. So back to Mendy’s question, what are those activities. The simple answer is: sales activities. In nearly every sales job there are things you “have to do” for the sales process. They are important. But they are not revenue generating. They are things like getting proofs to clients, making sure things ship on time, organizational activities. You get the idea. The idea from Duncan is you need to spend less time on these activities (and potentially even outsource them) and spend time on sales activities. These are the ones that actually move the sales needle. So they might be: 1. Meeting with clients2. Making product presentations3. Making prospect calls You get the idea. These are all client facing activities that drive behavior. As I heard Greg Muzzillo from Proforma say once “There is no money behind your desk! Stop looking there!” I love that. So get out and “see the people.” Or as I said in this blog, let the people see you. Thanks for the question Mendy! If you have any questions you would like me to answer, please email me here. Otherwise, now is a great time to sign up for our VIP newsletter to make sure you never miss an update.
by Kirby Hasseman
You probably hear it from someone every week. “TGIF! Thank God It’s Friday.”
It seems we have an entire culture full of people that are “living for the weekend.” And though I understand that every one needs leisure time, for the most part this is nuts. As Gary Vaynerchuk says, “If you are living for the weekend, your shit is broken.”
Why? Because my whole goal in life is to be chasing something that excites me. If that’s the case, I need (and want) to be doing it all the time. I am not upset on Monday. I am excited to get after it.
That being said, I love Fridays too! Here are my reasons I say “TGIF.”
1. Everyone Else Is In A Good Mood
That’s right. One of the reasons I love Fridays is because you love Fridays. It means that you (and most of the people I know) are in a better mood. This makes every interaction more fun and productive. I am just like everyone else. If everyone around me is lighter, then I will be too! (Oh, and happy people are more successful, I talk about that here).
2. People Make Decisions
I find that a lot of work gets done before you go on vacation. Why? Because there is a deadline. The same is true, in my experience, on Fridays. The decision they have been putting off all week gets made on Friday. It’s like a mental deadline. They want to get it off their desk so they can leave the office with a clear conscience. That means Fridays are a great day to pick up the phone in sales.
3. Measuring the Weeks Results
In a sales and entrepreneurial world, we are chasing results, right? Much of the time, we measure those based on what happens Monday through Friday. So how have I done? How far have I come? What did I accomplish? I measure these on Friday. I love that. Either I have done what I had hoped…or not. Then that provides me the carrot or the stick to start again next week.
So there you have it. These are 3 reasons that I say “TGIF.” How about you? What is your favorite thing about Friday?
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by Kirby Hasseman
When people ask me if they should “go for” something, my answer is almost always “yes.” Let me explain. Should I meet with that person? Should I take that call? Should I listen to that sales pitch? Should I hear them out? Yes. Why? Because I like to put myself in a position to say “no.” What? Let me explain again. So many times we make a pre-judgement on whether we will like something, or whether it will be a good fit. We make that judgement before we really learn anything about it. By doing so, we literally keep ourself from learning whether it makes sense or not. We take ourselves out of the equation. And we do it without any information. By contrast, if you listen to the pitch, take the meeting, take the call, you get to hear for yourself. You get to really listen. You get to ask questions. You get to consider if it makes sense. You get to choose. Then, if it doesn’t make sense, you can still say no. But you do it based on actual facts…not assumptions. And who knows? By opening yourself up the possibility, you might find something really awesome. Maybe not. But as Wayne Gretzky says “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” I think sometimes we are afraid to “take the meeting” because we “might be sold” to do something we don’t want to do. It’s possible. It’s happened to me. But most of the time, I am glad I took the opportunity to learn. Then I get to say “no” or “yes” with an informed mind and a clean conscience. Want to make sure you never miss an update? Sign up for our VIP newsletter. We send out a weekly email recap of all of the content…just for you. You can do that with a clear conscience here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Some people just don’t like me. I am not for everybody.
I was having this conversation yesterday with Josh in my office. It’s a reality that everyone faces. No matter how hard I try to be a good person, or how much I want everyone to like me, it’s not going to work.
Some people have good reason not to like me. I might have done them wrong. I am not perfect. Some people have have heard something about me that they don’t like. Maybe from the group above. Some people just don’t like my face.
For whatever the reason, not everyone will like me. And that’s ok. I am not for everyone.
The same is true of your organization. No matter how hard you work to take care of each and every customer, some people will not like you. Because despite of your best efforts, there will be times when things go wrong. You (or your organization) might mess up and frustrate a customer. You won’t mean to…but it will happen. Those people might tell a few friends…so they won’t like you either. And some people will decide they don’t like your logo (your face).
But here’s the good news. You don’t need everyone to like you. Because if you are working hard and showing up every day, you will find people that LOVE you. You will uncover people that are fired up about your services (and you) and are excited to tell others about them! They will have a great experience. They will tell their friends. And they will love your face!
This is the group you (and I) need to focus on. We need to spend all of our time, money and energy on this set of people. They are the ones that we can build a business (and a happy life) on. This is also the group we can best serve.
This sentence can either frustrate you or set you free. I am not for everyone.
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by Kirby Hasseman
I was being a jerk, but I didn’t mean too. It happened this past weekend at my house. My wife had planned a neighborhood party and we had a driveway full of friends from the street. We had grills lined up on the street for people to cook their own meat. Our garage was full of tables filled with all kinds of covered dishes and the front yard had games for the kids. People were smiling, eating, drinking and having a great time. All of the ages of the neighborhood were represented…young and old. It was great. And the guests were all were complimenting the event and giving me credit. However, since my wife did all the work on the party (I mean it…literally everything…I did nothing), I did not want to take credit for her work. I talk about my concern about that here. Here’s the problem. Sometimes we need to just say “thank you” and accept the compliment. When you don’t, you take away the good feeling the person praises you intends. Jeff Haden talks about that here. You see, when you give someone a compliment, you don’t only make the other person feel good. You make yourself feel good too. You feel good about giving someone else praise. You feel good…by making someone else feel good. When we don’t accept compliments gracefully, we make the other person feel bad. And that’s exactly what I was doing when I was deferring credit at the neighborhood party. The guests were graciously letting me know that they were enjoying themselves and they appreciated the effort. I just needed to accept it. So the next time you get a compliment, accept it. You don’t need to justify. You don’t need to qualify. And remember it’s not for you…it’s for them. It’s simple. When you receive praise, just follow these simple steps. 1. Look the person in the eye.2. Smile.3. Say “thank you.” Make sure you never miss an update. Sign up for our VIP newsletter here. Oh…and if you want to say thank you to your customers or team, shop online here.
