by Kirby Hasseman
There are going to be times when you are “wronged.” The person on the other end of the conversation or interaction will be a jerk. They will say the wrong thing or mean the wrong thing. It’s their fault. But in those instances, I always find something in the interaction that I could have done better. I could have been kinder. I could have had a longer fuse. I could have taken more time to explain. It might have been their fault. But each interaction is my responsibility. It’s my responsibility to make it better. It’s my responsibility to be better next time. Stop looking for people to blame. Start looking to see how you can make it better. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for the VIP newsletter here!
by Kirby Hasseman
We all need to be inspired sometimes. There are going to be days when you don’t “feel like” doing the work. So I am constantly on the lookout for things that fire me up. That way, when I hit that spot (and we all inevitably do) when I don’t want to do anything, I know where to go to find some motivation. 
That’s what led me to this interview. On this Impact Theory interview with Tom Bilyeu, Tom interviews Ed Mylett. This was my first introduction to Ed Mylett…and wow! This was impressive. There were several takeaways from this interview that were powerful. But probably my favorite is the idea of “keeping promises I made to myself.” Mylett and Bilyeu talk about ways to increase your success and to make an impact throughout the interview. But one big takeaway from Mylett is that you need to change your identity and your expectations from life. In order to do that you need to increase your self confidence and your self worth. Makes sense right? When asked how to increase your self confidence, Mylett talks about keeping promises you make to yourself. If you want to get in better shape, you need to set simple goals for yourself that you can check off the list. If you want to make more sales, you know the activities you need to do. They are simple…not easy. But when you do get up and do the workout, it creates a sense of worth in you. It raises your level of confidence. It’s not an outward activity. It is you keeping a promise to you. By doing this over and over again, you create habits that will help to propel you toward your goals. I love it. My recommendation? Spend the time and watch this interview. I have. Now I am looking for other material from Ed Mylett so that I can motivate myself on the days I don’t want to keep my promises. Make sure you never miss an update or a chance to be inspired, sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
One of the things I love about Promotional Products is that they affect human behavior. If you want people to work safer, come to your store, visit your website or sign up for a trial…a promo product will consistently drive behavior. This is not the first time I have said this…I talk about it here. But how do you take SWAG up a notch? Add a Brand Experience to the event! This takes the power of promo and makes it fun and emotional! There are many ways to do this. Recently, I partnered with Jeff Colley and Imagen Brands in order to create a “Hit It To Win It” contest at a local Golf Outing. (I talked about this event a bit here where I found the cooler I didn’t know I needed!). So what did this look like? How do you make it happen? Watch this fun video to see it in action.
As you can see, you can have a lot of fun with a Brand Experience like this one. One of my favorite comments from the day was, “I have done around 100 golf outings, and I have never seen anything like this!” This was music to my ears. This is the kind of impact you want to make at your event. I want to give a quick shout out to Danny Rosin from Brand Fuel for making me start thing of events and Brand Experiences in this way. The fact is, we have a chance to make a difference at our events or in our organizations if we just start to think differently (and bigger) about how to make it happen! Thanks Danny! So what does your Brand Experience look like? How can you take your event to the next level? What fun stunt can you create at your next company function? Get your wheels turning…and let’s make some fun! If you want to make sure you never miss an update, sign up for our VIP newsletter here. But if you want to get shopping for ideas for your next Brand Experience, head to our site now.
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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