Category: The Game of Life

Everyone on Staff is in Sales (whether they realize it or not)

Mike Walters

Here’s the Skinny,

I’ve been saying for years, “anything you ever do to earn income requires selling.”

There are obvious direct sales roles, but even the “best” of those have been re-positioned as “consultative selling” by today’s standards.  Financial advisors may now be the best example of the consultative (and fiduciary) approach to building business (aka, selling), with attorneys, accountants and consultants in that same category.

Beyond that, no matter what the role someone plays on staff, sales skills are “still” required – even if you don’t think of them that way.  Imagine a receptionist (the voice of your company), or customer service rep (CSR) dealing with both happy and disgruntled customers.  Every situation you can imagine requires some sales skills:

  1. Helping a customer make a decision or choice of any kind.
  2. Handling a difficult conversation and/or delivering bad news.
  3. Getting along with co-workers.
  4. Solving problems and creating solutions of any kind.
  5. Project management and/or new initiatives.
  6. Thinking creatively.
  7. Interviewing for a job.

Simply put, revenue dries up and the world stops spinning without sales.  My dad used to always say to me, “nothing happens until someone sells something.”  But the trick is, people don’t actually want to be “sold.” However, they love to “buy” and they very much appreciate sincere assistance and trusted guidance in every situation along the way.

Quote - Jay Abraham

My point for sharing this today is simply that I read the blog re-posted below from Seth Godin (best-selling business author) and felt it was one of the better ones I’ve seen that describes the subtleties and broad scope for all that includes sales…

Enjoy & and may I suggest, contemplate:

“I’m not selling anything” (from Seth Godin)

Of course you are. You’re selling connection or forward motion. You’re selling a new way of thinking, a better place to work, a chance to make a difference. Or perhaps you’re selling possibility, generosity or sheer hard work.

It might be that the selling you’re doing costs time and effort, not money, but if you’re trying to make change happen, then you’re selling something.

If you’re not trying to make things better, why are you here?

So sure, you’re selling something.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, “I’m not selling something too aggressively, invading your space, stealing your attention and pushing you to do something that doesn’t match your goals.”

That’s probably true. At least I hope it is.

(But if you are any good at all, you are always selling something, especially through infectious enthusiasm for what you do.)

That’s the Skinny,

Living a Worry-Free Life thru Growth & Risk

Mike Walters

Here’s the Skinny (sharing with you what I send & mentor to my adult kids)…

NOTE:  Words in italic are from a Seth Godin post – the rest I specifically tweaked for my kids’ consumption.

Two kinds of practice

The first is quite common. Learn to play the notes as written. Move asymptotically toward perfection. Practice your technique and your process to get yourself ever more skilled at doing it (whatever ‘it’ is) to spec. This is the practice of skiing the grand slalom, of arithmetic, of learning your lines in a play, memorizing information, etc.

Once you’ve built a basic foundation of knowledge (see above), the other kind of practice is more valuable but far more rare. This is the practice of failure. Of trying on one point of view after another until you find one that works. Of creating original work that doesn’t succeed until it does. Of writing, oration and higher-level math in search of an elusive outcome, even a truth, one that might not even be there. Being bold. Being you.

We become original through practice.

We’ve seduced ourselves into believing that every breakthrough springs to life fully formed. What always happens (as you can discover by looking at the early work of anyone you admire), is that she practiced her way into it.

Image result for quality life pics

Everyone always asks me (even Mom), how I can be so comfortable taking risks without fret and worry.  There are two answers to that:

  1. I strive to do my best via (what I always refer to as) faith, honor, effort & intent.  If I’ve done my best in these four areas, then there is nothing more I can do.  The rest is up to God. My fret or worry is then simply unproductive and damaging to myself and others around me. (If I do not give my best effort, that and only that, is what creates my fret and worry.)
  2. What most people misunderstand is that taking an educated-risk is far less-risky then taking no risk at all. The ONLY constant is change. And change can only be won through risk.

Love, DAD/MIKE

That’s the Skinny,