by Kirby Hasseman
Today is Christmas Eve. So many people are busy with last minute plans, heading to parties, going to church, making food, and running to the store to buy that one last minute gift. It’s a busy day. But remember this. Today is a great day. Today is a great day to Be Kind. Today is a great day start something new. Today is a great day to Spread Joy. Today is a great day to make someone smile. Today is a great day to give generously. Today is a great day to give a hug. Today is a great day to be better than you have been. Remember, the best day to plant an Apple Tree is 40 years ago. The next best day is today. Today is a great day. Make it so. Thanks for reading and engaging. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, sign up for the VIP list here.
by Kirby Hasseman
No matter who you are. No matter what your idea is. It doesn’t matter how nice you are (I mean it helps, but it won’t stop it). When you are working to create something new, or push the boundaries of anything, there will be haters. This can be an extremely difficult concept to get when you are a people pleaser. It’s taken me a long time to understand (I talk about that here, when I came to the conclusion that I am NOT for everybody). And here’s the thing, even though I understand it, I still struggle with it in reality. When I am passionate about an idea or a concept, I want everyone else to be as well. But not everyone will be. I was reminded of this concept when I saw this video today from Casey Niestat. Casey got an invite to the Boring Tunnel. What is that? It’s a tunnel that the Boring Company, owned by Elon Musk, created. During his trip, Casey overheard grumblings that this “is just a big hole,” or “Musk didn’t invent the tunnel.” Okay. So if the guy that created the Electric car (that most of us want) and who has launched rockets into space can’t escape the haters…how can we? The short answers is…we can’t. If you are pushing the boundaries (on anything) there will always be haters. Oh, and here’s another cool thing. According to another hero of mine, Seth Godin, that might be a good thing. Once, when I asked him about how he deals with haters he told me, “If the haters have not shown up, you are not pushing hard enough.” Love that. So if you are: starting a business, creating content, writing a book, creating art, starting to meditate, reading books, working out, starting a new career, or creating anything new in your life, there will be haters. While you probably won’t like it, consider it a signal you are on the right track. Keep pushing. Make sure you never miss an update. Sign up for the VIP list here.
by Kirby Hasseman
It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 months. On May 30th I decided to start writing this blog every day. And since that day, come hell or high water, I have put something up. Sometimes it has been good. Sometimes…not so much. But the hits kept on coming each and every day. But why though? What is the point of the exercise? As I said in the beginning, it’s because I think we are a media company...and we need to start acting like it. I still believe that…and I wanted to revisit the idea. Since I have started this exercise, I have gotten a lot of questions. I wanted to address them here. Why are you doing this? What do you hope to gain? This is a question I get a lot. The simple answer is, attention and website traffic. Our website traffic, as you would hope, has gone up a lot. We have increased the number of people on our newsletter and we have increased the amount of opens on that newsletter. So not only do we have more people on it, but they want the information. That’s good stuff. We have also increased our sales over that time. It’s a funny thing about content marketing. It’s tough to point to one post and say “oh…that’s the one that caused our increase in sales.” For us, it has been “drip, drip, drip,” over time. During that same time…sales are up. BUT there is no way I can read it every day!I hear this a lot too. Totally cool by the way. And I guess, from my perspective, I don’t expect you to. I never had the idea that people would be sitting by their computer just waiting for the “ping” to come though to let them know I had published more amazing nuggets of knowledge. That would be great…but not my expectation. The idea is I can reach you when you want to be reached. For me to make sure I was there when you needed…I posted every day. In addition, I never knew what idea was going to resonate. I talk about that a bit here. Where Else Can I Find Your Content?As I mentioned above, I want to reach people where they want to be reached. So if you are not a reader, then this might not be for you. So here are some other pieces of content you can find. Delivering Marketing Joy: Hosted at PromoCorner, this is a video interview series that I am incredibly proud of. I have been doing this for 4 years now (so hard to believe). If you want to check that out…it comes out every Wednesday. Here is the latest episode. The unScripted Podcast: Another product of PromoCorner, my buddy Bill Petrie and I talk about the world of marketing and branding every week. We are a bit silly at times and certainly unedited in our opinions. I am proud of this award-winning podcast…and you can listen to the latest one here. Day In The Life: This is my vlog and I have been pleasantly surprised about how many people watch this (here is the latest). It’s about some daily adventures…and it’s usually fun. You can find it on my Youtube channel as above, or you can follow my Facebook page here. What Is Next?This is a question I am asking myself right now. Though I did not have specific measures of success when I started this, I have been incredibly pleased with the results. But do I want to keep this up every day? Is blogging the best way to do it? I am not completely sure what I want to continue to do in 2019. (Opinions welcome here if you want to weigh in). Here are some things I do know. Content is fun for me…and it works. I want to continue to create…and I want to get better. I am excited about 2019. How about you? Thanks so much for reading, listening and watching this year. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP list. As I mentioned above this list is growing. We send one email per week with all of the content! Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
In a staff meeting this week I was talking to the team about GOALS. As many of us start to wind down the year, it’s a great time to be introspective.
How did your year go? Did you do the things you wanted to do? Did you move toward your goals? I talked about the 1 thing holding many people back here.
In addition, I spent a bit of time talking about my thoughts on big goals. I believe you should stretch yourself. These big goals are not Pass/Fail. Read more on that here. But there is one thing that I don’t think we talk about enough when we talk about goal-setting.
If you want a well-rounded life, you should probably have well-rounded goals.
Most of us have goals that center around two areas; finance and fitness. Though those are both important areas, they are not the only ones. That’s why I talk about the 5 F’s of Goal Setting. Finance, Fitness, Family, Faith, and Fun. If you want a well-rounded set of goals (and a well-rounded year), this is a good list to start with.
Finance: This time of goal might center around how much money you want to make, how much you want to save or the sales number you want to achieve.
Fitness: Do you want to lose 10lbs? Want to run a half marathon? Maybe you just want to improve your diet. These are all great and they fall here.
Family: This is the place where I remind myself that I want to spend time with those that I love. Do I want to have a date night with my bride? Do I want to do something specific with my girls?
Faith: Do you want to give more? Do you want to get involved and volunteer? How can you make an impact in this area?
Fun: Yes…I think this area is important too. And it’s great if a few of these might overlap. For example, if you want to take a great family vacation, that might cover two of the five “f’s.”
This is not a comprehensive list. But it’s a great start to getting you thinking about creating a year that you will be excited to live. Now let’s get them on paper! Oh…and if you want to dig deeper on goals, we have created a FREE course on goal setting here.
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by Kirby Hasseman
I was working with a brand new sales rep the other day (don’t worry, we will have more on that soon), and she asked me a question. “What do you say when a prospect says ‘We already have someone who does this and we are super happy?'” she asked me.
This is a love/hate question for me. I hate it because whenever I am asked, the person asking is hoping for that magic response that opens all sales doors. This response is the ultimate objection over-comer. I hate the question, because I don’t think that answer exists. At least I don’t want it to.
I love the question because it reveals an important secret in sales. It reveals that much of what we have been taught about sales training (through movies and books) is a lie. Your job, as a salesperson (or entrepreneur, etc.) is NOT to convince people who don’t want to buy from you to buy from you. It’s not. That will be frustrating and a huge waste of time.
Your job is to help guide prospects who ARE interested in buying to buy from you. Your job is to serve them. Your job is to be a human.
So my response is simple when I get this push back.
“You already have someone and are happy? That is awesome. I respect that loyalty. I certainly hope my clients have that same loyalty for us! You have your number 1 option. But if you ever need another quote, another set of ideas, we would love to be your number 2 option.”
So…how do you sell to someone who does not want to buy? You don’t. Simple as that.
The fact is, with most products there are plenty of people who are interested in what you are selling. There is plenty of business out there to get. Doesn’t it make more sense to focus on those people that are interested? It’s a waste of time to chase people who (for whatever reason) are not. Oh, and as a side note, most people are so used to being “sold to,” that by simply being “a human” about it, you might actually win them over.
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