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.
by Kirby Hasseman
When I was younger, and I thought tennis was my entire life, I played with the mantra of “just one more.” I was not the strongest or fastest or most skilled player. But I thought if I could get “just one more” ball back over the net, good things would happen.
It turned out I was right.
When I was able to get that “just one more” ball back into play, often the opponent would be surprised or annoyed (or whatever) and miss their next shot.
I won a lot of points on “just one more.”
Now, it turns out, this is a great mantra to reach success in other areas of your life too. You can get a lot done by implementing “just one more.”
Just one more sales call.
Just one more run through.
Just one more phone call.
Just one more blog post.
Just one more video.
Just one more thank you note.
Just one more mile.
Just one more hug.
Just one more minute with an employee that needs you.
Just one more word of encouragement.
So when you are tired, frustrated, impatient and at your wit’s end. Do “just one more.”
Then do that again.
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by Kirby Hasseman
When this guy asks you to be on his podcast…answer the call! I had a blast recently when Roger Burnett asked me to be on his podcast! Roger is a long time sales guru and is the VP of Sales for Branded Logistics. He is also a Co-Founder of an organization called Promo Cares. The goal of the organization is to get Promo Super Heros to “put on the cape” and use their power for social good. When Roger asked me to be on his podcast he promised not to ask me the “easy and standard” questions. Though that is a little intimidating, it was really fun to cover some new ground here. So feel free to listen in as we cover a range of topics including: * Why the skills that make a sales person and a sales manager are different…* How and why to justify the time and budget for content…* How content marketing is very much like fitness…* And quite a bit more! It was an honor and it was fun. Listen in now…and let me (or Roger) know what you think! Sign up for our VIP Newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
I admire people that chase their dream. It’s hard to put yourself out there with a project that might not work. I know. (I talked about that here). So when people are willing to not only take the leap to chase their dream, but to put themselves out there, I love it. I even did a podcast about it here. So I am excited to give you a quick update on Tanner Ward. As I mentioned in the podcast, he was fishing in the College Bass Masters Tournament. It was a team tournament (two people in the boat) but Tanner qualified by himself. So it was a huge honor when, after two days of fishing, he ended up in the Top 12 (out of 136 boats) to fish on the final day. At this point I wanted to give a quick update…yes there will be spoilers. Here are a couple of quick points. *Tanner did well on the final day of fishing and he moved up in the final overall standings. *If you want to know specifically how he did, you can watch the College Bassmasters Tournament today on 11am on ESPNU. And if there is an updated Youtube link after the fact, I will post it here. *Tanner has also created his own website. On here he can post is results, pictures and he is considering starting a blog or podcast. Since I believe everyone is a media company, you can bet that I love this idea. Here is a quick link to the site. Feel free to follow up and support Tanner on his journey. I know I will. For those of you that are actively chasing the dream, I salute you. And I would love it if you would subscribe to our VIP newsletter here. Our goal is to provide you inspiration and motivation every day.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s amazing how some people can watch the exact same video and “see” different things. You have probably noticed this in the most recent Presidential Election in the U.S. People would watch the same debate and come away with totally different takes on how it went. “My person is awesome. The other person is despicable!” I saw this first hand recently when drone footage was posted of construction going on in the Coshocton community. The footage shows some of the changes and work being done on the Three Rivers Bridge. It’s a big project that will take quite some time to complete. Most of the reaction was pretty positive. People fell into the camp of seeing the footage as a cool look at progress being made. The video was shared (at this point) 74 times with thousands of views. But the other group (albeit a small group) was not as rosy about the project. They saw this video and pointed out the amount of money being spent on the project. They pointed out that traffic was being challenged in both directions. They even took the time to challenge the assumptions of all decisions made in the community (current and past). As I said, it’s amazing to me that people can watch the same video and “see” two different things. When I look at the video I see “progress.” Progress is messy and it takes time. Progress is hard work and it takes sacrifice. The best progress isn’t easy. It takes planning and hard work and perseverance. But that’s what I see. The point is, what you see often has a lot to do with what you “want” to see. I choose to see things through a positive lense. To a degree, that’s my nature. But the reality is, it’s much more of an active choice. I work every morning to put myself in a positive frame of mind. I do it on purpose. I don’t do this because I want to see the world through rose colored glasses. I do it because I don’t like the alternative. Like most things in life, construction is going to happen. I can see it as wasteful or I can see it as progress. It doesn’t affect the project. That’s going to happen anyway. It just affects how my mind reacts to it. So I choose to be happy. What you choose “to see?” Want to see more progress in your life? Now might be a great time to sign up for the VIP newsletter. We provide value each and every week and deliver it to your email box on Monday. Sign up here.
