by Kirby Hasseman
This time of year, everyone is looking for the perfect gift. And if not the perfect gift…an easy one. So if you are looking for a low cost, last minute gift for someone on your list, let me submit these to you. Fan of Happy: This is the book I initially wrote for my daughters. During their most challenging teenage years I decided that there were lessons I wanted to share with them. The problem is, they didn’t want to hear them. So I started writing them down to share later. What I came up with was 110 personal development lessons that are appropriate for just about anyone. If you like the style of writing (and the lessons) from this blog, you might enjoy this book. Delivering Marketing Joy: This is a book I wrote for anyone who is charged with marketing an organization. There are tons of books written on social media, marketing tactics, email marketing and more. But one of the most powerful (and long lasting) forms of marketing is Promotional Premiums (or promotional products or SWAG), and unfortunately there are not a lot of books on how to do Promo right. This is that book. There are chapters on trade shows, direct mail, promo with social and many include case studies from all over the country. If you know someone that wants to up their marketing game, this might be a cool gift for them. The Written Goal: Finally, for those last minute gifts, you could check out my friend Sam Kabert’s book called The Written Goal. I am a big believer in goal setting and the power of “writing it down” so I am excited to check out Sam’s take on it. I also know the amount of time, energy and work that goes into writing a book! It’s an awesome undertaking. Great job Sam. So those are a couple of last minute gift ideas that can help you (or the person on your list) start off their New Year right! Make sure you never miss an update! Become a VIP. What does that mean? It means we send out one email per week to catch you up on content for the week. It’s a great way to stay motivated. Sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
A couple of months ago, my oldest daughter got a puppy. This would be fun and cute except for one important fact. My oldest daughter lives with me. That means this cute little puppy became a true “routine destroyer” in my house. (I whined a bit about that here). Despite the fact that Fin is super cute, he has gone through the normal phase of trying to figure out potty training, biting, chewing, barking at random shadows and more. It’s normal. But it throws everything off. I swear, there is a point to this. This weekend, my family and I were together on a holiday shopping trip. We were enjoying a nice meal together and discussing Finn. I started to point out that we were still working on the potty training thing, and then I stopped. “Wait,” I said. “Actually, it’s been a while since I have had to clean up an accident. He has been doing better on that.” Then we all looked around the table and realized it had actually been about two weeks since any accidents had taken place. Wow. How had we not noticed? We had not noticed because it happened incrementally…over time. He went from being totally unpredictable, to a bit better to even better yet. We didn’t flip a switch. We got a tiny bit better every day. Then one day…boom! Overnight success. That’s how it works with building a business (or creating content, or whatever). You start by just making a mess of things. Then you continue to work at it. You get a tiny bit better over a long period of time. And just like the puppy, there will be times when it does not feel like you are making any progress at all. You will question why the hell you are doing any of this. Then one day, you look up from the grind, and you realized you have made a TON of progress. You will look back at the grind (that felt like it took forever) and realized it happened pretty quickly. And hopefully, when you are on the other side, you won’t have to replace the carpet. While you are on the journey, make sure you become a VIP. Today is a great day to sign up. We send one email per week with all of the content for the week. Sign up here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Many people in sales are working really hard to “get the sale.” “That makes sense,” you might think. “After all, that is what they get paid for.” It’s true. Sales people are compensated to create sales. It’s important. But I don’t think that should be the number one goal of an organization. Your goal should be to the Re-Sale…or the 2nd sale. When you focus on the sale, you (and your team) focus on the short term. You make short term decisions that create, well, short term customers. You are not focused on the overall experience. You are not focused on the happiness of the customer AFTER the sale. When you focus on the 2nd Sale, you think more long term. You want happy customers. You want delighted customers. And when the customer is not happy, you know you need to make it right. As I like to say, your goal then, is to create 20 year customers. This is the foundation for long term sales and business success. Don’t just focus on the sale. Focus on the 2nd Sale. Make sure you never miss an update! Sign up for our VIP newsletter here.
by Kirby Hasseman
Earlier this year, when talking about weekly goals with my team, I had an epiphany about big goals.
Let me set the stage. I had recently read “The 4 Disciplines of Execution” and wanted to institute some of the principles. (If you want to learn about the book, I wrote about it here). In doing so, I had instituted a weekly meeting and we discussed what we were going to do to move the company toward that goal. The goal of this meeting is to keep people accountable and to keep everyone rowing in the same direction toward a goal.
But I noticed a pattern of language that I didn’t like.
If someone had set a goal for the week and didn’t make it, they said something very specific. “Well I wanted to make 5 cold calls this week. I only got 4, so I failed.” Or they might say “I wanted to get 10 face to face meetings and I only had 7, so I failed this week.”
Then it hit me.
Many people believe that GOALS are Pass/Fail. That’s one of the problems some people have with stretch goals. They think if they don’t reach them, they have failed. I don’t agree. I love the idea of creating goals that stretch you. My attitude has always been, “If I shoot for a crazy high sales goal, and almost make it, that’s amazing. That will be much better than shooting for a low goal and making it.”
But that’s not everyone’s take. Many people get discouraged.
So in that meeting I came up with another way of looking at a big/stretch goal. I told the team, “Let’s stop looking at these as Pass/Fail. Let’s start grading our success more like we did in school. If the goal was 10 meetings and you only got 8, you didn’t reach the goal. But you did get an 80%. That’s a B!” This is not about letting people off the hook. There is still accountability. You want to get 100%. But when it comes to most goals, progress (any progress) still counts. So as you create goals for your coming year, don’t be afraid to think big. This new grading system might give you a bit of encouragement to “make the grade.”
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by Kirby Hasseman
It’s hard to believe it’s been over a half a year! For better than 6 months, I have been writing a blog post here each and every day. It’s Saturday morning, as I write this, and here I am, typing away. The experience has been enlightening in many ways, and it has forced me to stretch myself. Ed Mylett talks about being successful starts with “keeping promises to yourself,” and this has been that for me.
But one thing it has truly taught me is what I DON’T know. I don’t know what it going to work or resonate. I don’t know what is going to help people. Here is an example from this week. On Monday I posted a blog that I wrote a few years ago. It was 5 Business Lessons you can learn from Garth Brooks. I was watching a concert with him at Notre Dame Stadium and that seemed appropriate. It was a blog post that did very well.
Then on Friday I posted 5 Business Lessons you can Learn from Adam Sandler. (I had seen him on the sideline of an NBA highlight). I enjoyed writing this and thought it would really take off. I linked to outside sources. I referenced movies. This post was viewed 8 times LESS than the one above.
Was it because Garth is better than Adam?
Is one better written than the other?
Was it the time of day? Could it be the day?
What was the reason that one of them took off…and the other did not? The honest answer–after 6 months of doing this every day–is I have no idea. I think this is a strange little mind game that holds people back. They just don’t know what is going to work. So they think about it. Then they think about it some more. Then they talk about it and plan about it…and do nothing. This question of whether it is going to work creates a “paralysis by analysis.”
They literally “think” themselves out of taking action.
What I have learned from this exercise of writing every day is we need to do just the opposite. We need to lean into action, precisely because we don’t know what is going to work! That consistency of taking action is what will create the outcome we are looking for. It’s not the one action. It’s the many.
*In sales, we don’t make the sales call because it’s not the right time of day, week, year, etc. But you don’t know. So you might as well make the call.
*In fitness, we don’t start working out because we are going to wait for the next new workout plan. Just get on the treadmill.
You get the idea. Will it work? Will it fail? Will this be the magic video that goes viral? The answer, if we are honest, is we don’t know. Will this be the blog that has an impact and creates a mindset of change for you? I don’t know. So I will hit publish to find out.
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