Lead the Way

“Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.” – John Maxwell

climbing helping team work , success concept

What makes someone a LEADER?

The best definition I ever heard is “INFLUENCE”.

Whether you lead a global corporation or run your family, every organization needs the next generation of leaders to step up and LEAD THE WAY.

John Maxwell wrote, “Everything rises and falls with leadership.”

You may be a new leader trying to establish TRUST.

You could be an established leader looking to STAY RELEVANT.

Either way, one thing is certain –

Leaders are CREATED, not born.

HOW TO LEAD THE WAY:

SHARE YOUR BEST IDEAS

Leaders need to ELEVATE the thinking of everyone in the group.

Don’t hold back.

Put your best ideas into world.

Edwin Markham wrote, “What we put into the lives of others, comes back into our own.”

MAKE DECISIONS

Leaders have the COURAGE to make tough decisions.

They gather the available information and have the guts to make a call.

Leaders know that NOT making a decision is making one.

Amelia Earhart said, “The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity.”

MOVE ON

Not every decision will work out.

Life will knock you down.

The past is an awesome teacher, but a bad place to live.

Leaders learn the lesson, adapt, then move on.

EMPOWER OTHERS

Leaders take people with them.

Wayne Gretzky said, “It’s not about how great you are. It’s about how great you make the people around you.”

Empower others.

RAISE THE BAR

Leaders raise the bar.

From Washington leading the Continental Army, to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, to Steve Jobs denting the universe…

Great leaders show what is possible.

Seth Godin wrote, “You can raise the bar or wait for others to raise it, but it’s getting raised regardless.”

Elevate what people think is possible.

STAY RELEVANT

Leaders know the best way to STAY RELEVANT is to keep learning.

John F. Kennedy said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”

Take that course.
Read that book.
Listen to that audible program.

Leaders keep learning or slowly fade away.

IT’S YOUR TURN

The world is asking you to step up and help show the way forward.

Someone is waiting for you to LEAD THE WAY.

Who will you INFLUENCE?

How far can you take them?

It’s time…

Lead, follow, or please get out of the way.

#LeadTheWay

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.net

Stand Guard

“Stand guard at the door of your mind.” – Jim Rohn

To live a POSITIVE life we have to feed our minds positive thoughts.

We have to protect our thinking from negative influences.

Negativity is constantly knocking.

It’s searching for a way in.

We have to make a conscious decision to keep it out.

In a interview, Tony Robbins said learning to deal with negative thoughts was one of the greatest lessons he learned from his mentor Jim Rohn.

“Jim Rohn taught me a simple principle.” Robbins said, “Every day, STAND GUARD at the door of you mind. You alone decide what thoughts and beliefs you let into your life. For these thoughts will shape whether you feel rich or poor, cursed or blessed.”

We have to STAND GUARD.

In our 24/7 connected world, that’s no easy feat.

Negative is everywhere.

It’s waiting for us each time we log into social media.

Negative is on overdrive on cable news.

We have to curate the information we allow to influence us.

So much of what we are exposed to are sensationalized events that have nothing to do with us.

The tragedy 8 time zones away.
The celebrity that got arrested.
The shady politician screaming into the camera.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL.

Everyday we all have important work to do.

Our job is to FOCUS on what we can control and ignore the noise.

Vince Vaughn said, “Don’t give a voice to things you’re not able to change.”

We have to STAND GUARD.

Keep all that useless, negative information from souring our thoughts and attitudes.

When we allow negative influences into out mind bad things happen:

Our attitude sours.
We get distracted.
We lose focus from the things that really matter.

If we pay attention to uncontrollable, negative events long enough, our thinking becomes negative.

Negative starts to follow us around all day long.

We have to feed our minds a healthy diet of positive information.

THINK ABOUT IT.

The information you allow into your mind affects what you think about.

What you THINK about creates your MOOD.
Your MOOD creates your ATTITUDE.
Your ATTITUDE influences your ACTIONS.
Your ACTIONS determine your OUTCOMES.
Your OUTCOMES become your LIFE.

Believing that we are unaffected by what we let into our mind is like saying what we eat does not matter.

Shut the door on the PEOPLE, EVENTS, & STORIES that try to pull you down and drain your energy.

Ryan Holiday wrote, “Cut the negative strings that pull your mind.”

Shut out the negative.

Protect your mind.

Improve your life.

#StandGuard

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.Net

Selling Is A State Of Mind

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is depth and distance.” ~ John Maxwell

Salespeople are behind the eight ball from the very beginning of their career.

They have dug a hole and don’t even realize it.

Salespeople pride themselves on being professional, and society requires initials.

In today’s society, “professionals” are identified with initials behind their name: DDS, RN, NP, JD, MD, MPH, CPA, CMP, OD, DO and many more.

Virtually every person in a physician’s office is also loaded with initials credentialing their education, professional status and legitimacy to be called “a professional”.

Many of these people with initials in their name, are required to take continuing education courses each year, to maintain their stature or licensure as “professional”.

Not salespeople.

Many salespeople attend a 1-2 week long training course and may take a couple quizzes from the company hiring them, and manufacturing the product they are about to sell.

These salespeople may be among the highest paid people in a lawyer or physician’s office, with no requirement for CEC (continuing education credit).

Society may treat salespeople like a label.

They weren’t smart enough to get into medical, pharmacy, optometry, dental or law school.

Since they are not professionals, they settled for sales.

They are like a brother-in-law, who is unemployed or spends most of his time on the couch, claiming to be a professional.

“Professional” in the sales world is a state of mind – the customer’s mind.

Salespeople aim to be perceived and received as “professional” and yet society, doesn’t’ really recognize selling as professional.

Salespeople are already in a hole.

“Wanna be a Better Salesperson – be a better Person.” ~ Jim Trunick

Professional sales people have to be incredibly:

Trustworthy
Patient
Sensitive
Hard-working
Dedicated

A “professional” salesperson has to rise to the level of ‘professional’ expected in society.

We all know “professionals” who act unprofessionally.

In yesteryear, when professionals with higher education, knew more, it was everyone in society hanging on every word or action of intellectual professionals, to guide their lives.

Today knowledge is so prevalent, that all professionals are in the persuasion game.

All professionals are selling:

Teachers sell kids on the value of homework.
Parents sell kids on the value of spinach.
Brokers sell clients on value of stocks.
Physicians sell patients on compliance of medications.

That requires professional conduct even more that professional letters.

In fact, any professional of letters, asked to describe their biggest challenge, or what keeps them up at night, its not their knowledge or studies, they almost always lead with – “getting people to do what they expect”.

We all sell.

Those members of society believing initials somehow separate professionals from non-professionals, are misguided in the emotional intelligence that goes along with influence, persuasion, caring and engagement.

Care More Win More.

Selling is a State of Mind.

– Jim Trunick

Author, The CORE of Leadership™

https://jimtrunick.com/

Build It

“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos

My first year in SALES was rough.

Watching me try to secure an appointment was like watching Shaq at the foul line.

They paired me with the best sales person in our office.

He took me to lunch.

After listening to me complain how hard it was, he offered some advice:

“Be patient. You need to BUILD YOUR BRAND.”

I wasn’t even sure I knew what a BRAND was.

BRANDING was not taught in tax accounting class.

We all need to BUILD our own BRAND.

What’s a BRAND?

Our BRAND is:

The REPUTATION that arrives before we do.
What people EXPECT when they decide to work with us.
What our customers SAY about us when we’re not in the room.

Tom Peters said, “All of us need to understand the importance of branding. Our most important job is to be head marketer for the BRAND called “You”.

If we don’t BUILD IT, we’ll become just another face in the crowd.

If we work for a BIG company, we’ll fade away into another replaceable employee.

If we run our own business, we’ll be at the mercy of PRICE.

Our BRAND gives others PROOF:

It’s the PROJECTS we’ve done.
The OPPORTUNITIES we took on.
It’s the way we TREAT other people.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR BRAND:

LEAD WITH VALUE

Our first move should be to HELP the people we are looking to serve.

Find ways to help people accomplish their goals.

Nothing establishes TRUST faster.

BE FRIENDLY

People may not remember what you accomplished.

They will definitely remember how you made them feel.

KEEP IN TOUCH

Remembered people get opportunities.

Send the hand written note. Remember their birthday. Know their kid’s names.

Do the hard work it takes to make CONNECTING easy.

BE AUTHENTIC

Have the COURAGE to be yourself.

Everyone else is already taken.

BUILD YOUR ON-LINE PRESENCE

Your BRAND is not your product or your company.

It’s YOU!

Pick a social media platform.

Establish your online presence.

A good brand acts like a MAGNET.

People will proactively seek you out.

The best time to start BUILDING YOUR BRAND was about 5 years ago.

The second best time is TODAY.

If we don’t BRAND ourselves, someone will do it for us.

Your move…

#BuildIt

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.Net

Create Your Beautiful Day

“It’s a beautiful day – don’t let it get away.” – U2

The lights go out.

A man dressed in black comes out of nowhere.

He walks calmly to a seat behind the drums.

A sea of 40 year-olds hold up their phones.

The man starts pounding the beat to an anthem we played in college.

70,000 people jump to their feet.

A man wearing a knit hat in 90 degree heat strolls out.

He tears off a guitar riff that sounds like lighting.

The crowd goes insane.

Then a man with purple sunglasses emerges.

The stadium shakes.

Welcome to the Joshua Tree Tour.

I attended U2’s concert in Philadelphia.

It was an amazing experience.

What can U2 teach us about SALES & LIFE?

A ton…

To SUCCEED in today’s world, we need a plan.

U2 has been rocking for over 30 years.

Even though they are ONE of the most successful bands of all time, they leave nothing to chance.

U2 creates a script for every show.

FOLLOWING a script gives the band the freedom to be their creative best.

This same principle can help us.

Each day we need to WRITE our own SETLIST.

Work off a script to maximize your chances to succeed.

Each morning create your own BEAUTIFUL DAY:

3 Ways to Create A Beautiful Day:

Define Your Priorities

U2 centers each show around their Joshua Tree album.

It’s the heart and soul of the concert.

What needs to be at the heart of your day?

Write that blog post?
Send out that customer proposal?
Have that tough conversation?

Life can come at us in MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

We have to tune out the distractions.

Decide where your focus & energy need to go.

Shun the busy work.

Work on things that matter.

Schedule Your Big 3

Every U2 concert is planned out on paper before Bono’s sunglasses go anywhere near the stage.

The band knows what songs they will sing.

They even know what order they will be sung.

We should do the same.

Write a list of everything you need to do.
Narrow that list down to no more than 3 priorities.
Put your BIG 3 into your schedule.

This is HUGE.

What gets scheduled, gets done.

Bring Your Energy

A U2 show feels like gulping down a triple espresso from La Colombe.

Give your best energy to your top priorities.

What part of the day do you have peak energy?

Early morning? Night owl?

Work on your Big 3 priorities when you’re at your best.

Each day is a gift.

Don’t let it get away.

Go To WAR on your priorities with energy and focus.

Watch your life RATTLE & HUM…

#CreateYourBeutifulDay

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.net

Super Power

“Know thyself.” -Socrates

If you could have one SUPERPOWER, what would it be?

Growing up I wished I could read people’s minds.

Facebook cured me of that.

Now my superpower would be SELF AWARENESS.

Self awareness is magic.

Self awareness is:

Knowing your strengths.
Realizing your weaknesses.
Understanding how your actions affect others.

Self Awareness is more important than intelligence.

Early in my career, I struggled big time with self awareness.

I wanted to be a tax accountant.

I got a degree in accounting and a position in a CPA firm.

How do you say “bad idea” in Italian?

Family members, who never offered me advice ever, pulled me aside during parties and told me I was making a mistake.

They said accounting and me were not a good combination.

Did their opinions have something to do with my inability to sit still, not being great with math, and my habit of talking to anyone who entered the room?

It’s amazing what others see, but we can’t.

My lack of self awareness caused a number of job changes.

I moved through 3 different industries to find my career path.

Fun times…

Tony Robbins said, “Self awareness is one of the rarest of human commodities. Very few people are aware of their own patterns.”

So true.

Self awareness dramatically improves your chances of succeeding in SALES.

How?

Selling is about INFLUENCE.

Influence starts with self awareness.

3 Ways to Increase Self Awareness:

1. Video Yourself

There’s a reason video is used by every professional sports team on the planet. The tape does not lie. Watching yourself give a sales presentation can make you uncomfortable, but gives amazing perspective. It shows things you would never realize. Once you see your errors, they are much easier to correct.

2. Imagine You are Being Recorded

This idea came from Jocko Willink. Willink said just the thought of being recorded will affect your actions. Imagine your actions, expressions, and words are being taped. Then imagine that video played back to your family & friends. Ouch…

3. Seek Out Feedback

Find someone you respect. Ask them to critique your game. How do they think you’re doing? What should you start doing? What do you need to stop? This one takes courage. Double that if you ask one of your customers.

Gary Vee said, “If you don’t have self awareness, then no matter how smart you are, you aren’t going to get very far.”

#KnowThySelf

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.net

Plus, Minus, Equal

“To become great, you need someone better you can learn from, someone lessor you can teach, & someone equal that can challenge you.” – Ken Shamrock, UFC Legend

Ken Shamrock is a dangerous person.

Shamrock is a legend in the Mixed Martial Arts community.

He is a 4x World Champion and UFC Hall of Famer.

What can Ken Shamrock teach us about sales and personal growth?

Everything.

Shamrock is now a renowned trainer for young MMA fighters.

He developed a training strategy that is studied by business leaders and best selling authors.

It’s called: Plus, Minus, Equal.

Let’s double leg in to take a look…

PLUS

Everyone needs a coach.

We need someone in our life who has more experience than we do.

It’s human nature to revert back to the mean.

You need someone you can go to when you’re in a slump.

You need someone to tell you the hard truth you don’t want to hear.

Consider this:

Tiger Woods has a swing coach.
Mike Trout has a hitting instructor.
Robert De Niro has an acting coach.

Even Warren Buffett has Charlie Munger to run deals by.

It doesn’t matter if you have won 4 Masters, 2 American league MVP’s, 2 Academy Awards, or have a net worth of $74.6 Billion.

You need a mentor.

MINUS

Everyone needs someone to teach.

When you teach something, you are forced to understand it better.

The teacher benefits as much as the student.

I was a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 7 years.

People earn their law degree faster.

I had incredible instructors.

I had a peer group who enjoyed smashing me into the mat.

But 1 thing was missing.

I was not teaching anyone.

Then I was asked to teach a weekly basic’s class.

An amazing thing happened…

The more I taught, the more refined my own skills became.

That faded blue belt is now draped around my college diploma in my home office.

Find someone to mentor.

EQUAL

We all need a peer group that pushes and challenges us to be our best.

Tony Robbins said in a podcast that there are 2 rules people need to follow to live an extraordinary life.

Rule #2 is:

“Surround yourself with quality individuals. You become who you hang out with.”

Rule #1?

Sorry, that’s a topic for a future Vibe.

The Plus Minus Equals concept works so well because it gives us continuous feedback from every angle.

When we play in all 3 spaces, we get exponential benefits.

Plus Minus Equals changes our mindset.

Too often we get caught up in singular titles:

“I’m the director.”
“I’m just a sales rep.”
“I’m the new guy.”

No more.

Everyone teaches.

Everyone learns.

Everyone trains.

Your CHALLENGE is to find an area in your life where you can dive into all 3 roles.

Mouthpiece not included.

#PlusMinusEqual

-Joe Ciccarone

http://www.SalesVibe.net

Own It

“It ain’t the rain, the snow, the boss, the competition, the spouse, the money, the car, the job, or the kids – it’s you! And it always has been.” – Jeffrey Gitomer

The first person we have to lead is ourselves.

We have to own the outcome for all areas of our life.

This is called taking Extreme Ownership.

When we take Extreme Ownership, we change everything.

We no longer have our happiness dictated by circumstances.

We set the tone, not others.

But this mindset requires COURAGE.

Why?

Because when something goes wrong it’s on us.

There is no one else to BLAME.

Taking full responsibility can bruise your ego.

The BIGGEST threat to our own success is not some uncontrollable outside factor.

It’s our decision making process.

Don’t like the way things are going?

Change it.

Not where you want to be?

Adjust.

We may not be able to control what happens to us.

But we have 100% control on how we respond.

Once we figure this out, everything else becomes easier.

#OwnIt

-Joe Ciccarone

www.SalesVibe.net

Prioritize & Execute

“Make a list of everything you need to do. Figure out your highest value activity. Throw the rest of the list away.” – Warren Buffett

Life gets hectic.

The urgent gets in the way of the important.

We miss opportunities to do our best work.

Daily fires burn up our chances to create an impact.

It’s time to push back.

It’s time to punch our TO DO list in the face.

How?

PRIORITIZE & EXECUTE.

Average sales people check off items on their TO DO list.

This gives them a false sense of accomplishment.

Elite sales performers:

Allocate their time to their highest VALUE activities.
Create IMPACT by focusing on what matters.
IGNORE distractions.

Most people have life happen to them.

It’s time to start happening to life.

Last week’s Vibe discussed the value of putting everything on paper.

This week we turn our TO DO list into a strategic game plan.

“Prioritize and Execute” is a core principle in Jocko Willink’s book “Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALS Lead & Win“.

It goes like this…

You have to be RUTHLESS to the things that don’t matter.

You have to learn to DISAPPOINT the right people.

How to Prioritize & Execute:

Write out your TO DO List
Prioritize your list in order of importance.
Create 2 lists:
1. Your Top 3 TO DO items becomes List #1
2. Anything on your list from #4 down becomes List #2
Title List #1: Game Plan
Title List #2: Do NOT DO List

You just decided where you’re going to focus your TIME & ENERGY.

You also just decided who you’re going to disappoint.

Never fun, but necessary.

Focus and attack #1 on your GAME PLAN list.

Be relentless.

Decline, delegate, or delete everything on your Do NOT DO List.

This is simple, but not easy.

It takes courage to say “No”.

But hold the line.

You will be trading a few uncomfortable conversations for long term impact.

We dive head first into AVERAGE when we try to be all things to everyone.

You’re not here to be AVERAGE.