Success Blog

Why do we need to have them?

 

I’ve done roughly 250+ workshops all across the country. Each and every time I ask how many people in that room have their goals written down. Note that these are mostly sales people. I would say when I ask that question, there’s truly about 25% of the room that actually writes them down. You may have them, but they aren’t going to do much good in your head. Let’s get them down on paper, on a word doc, spreadsheet, I don’t care where you put them. But get them down.

 

This is why….

 

Clarification

This will help you know exactly what you want to go after. What you want to accomplish. There’s things we all want to do with our lives. Maybe it’s with work, family, kids, life in general. We all have goals. Something we want to achieve. Don’t just think it.

 

Overcomes Resistance

At times, it’s going to be hard. That’s okay. That’s why we write them down. It will stare you in the face, and the goals, they will win that stare down. I promise you that. This is going to help you know when you accomplish or get close to it.

 

Motivates you to Take Action

They will talk to you. They will motivate you. They will help you get over the hump. They will help you get to what you want to get. Most importantly, they will help you take action. There’s this thing that happens in your mind when you write them down. It just clicks. There’s something powerful about it.

 

It Filters Opportunities

You stay focused. Why do we need to do that? So we don’t chase the shiny object or the squirrel. The Goal will help you stay focused and true to exactly what you need to accomplish. Many of us move on when it isn’t going perfect. Worse yet, we don’t do everything we possibly can to hit it. We check out.

 

Enables you to Celebrate

You hit something. Many times something you never thought you could because you put the time, work, effort into it. These things don’t just happen. Celebrate that. It’s a big deal.

 

Brent Widman

Sales Coach

Southwesternconsulting.com

Brentwidman.com

I’m going to fail my way to success.

Who does this?

When we are in the thick of it. How do you handle it? Do you give up and just stop? Do you feel sorry for yourself? How do you handle it?

We become what we think about. I know this is hard to understand, or believe, but it does happen. The more we say it out loud, the more we tell others, the more we start to believe it.

Good…. or BAD

 

Whether you think you can or think you can’t. You are right. – Henry Ford

 

We believe what we say out loud. If you are telling others you can’t do something. You can’t hit that goal, can’t get that job, can’t make that sale, can’t work out, can’t make that much, don’t have time. Stop. The more you say it, the more you start believing it. There’s a power in believing and saying out loud what you CAN accomplish. It doesn’t just happen. And it certainly won’t if you don’t believe it.

You can change this. That’s the power of it. I know it’s not easy. I get that. You truly can change the way you think. I will. I’m going to. I can. It’s going to be a great day. I love what I do. I’m going to make it happen. I am. I did. Fill in YOUR phrases. Fill in how you want it to be.

Don’t just read this, be different, take action on it. Many of you will read this and say “I should do that.” Those that do something about it are those that will change. Don’t be a “should head”.

Do you feel you are doing everything right? For those in sales… You are making your phone calls. Working just as hard as you ever have. You are setting your meetings. Setting your appointments. Getting in front of just as many people. Maybe more. Things just aren’t falling into place. For some reason you aren’t selling as much. You aren’t that person that you were 3 months, 6 months or even 9 months ago. Do you crawl into your hole or do you do something about it? Do you start believing that’s who you are? It’s not. It will pay off. If you believe, it will happen.

The hard part is, what do you do about it? You feel like you are doing everything you possibly can. Is it your language? Is it your goals? Maybe your focus has waned. You are worried about your team. Maybe your boss was let go. Maybe it’s a personal thing. Could be a marriage, divorce, someone passing. There’s so many things that can go on during the course of your year.

We can always get distracted.

We can also be focused.

The question is again, do you give up or do you keep at it?

This is your story. Others will thrive off it. Whether you think so or not, you are helping those around you when you struggle, when you fail. Don’t give up.

 

Brent Widman

Sales Coach

Southwestern Consulting

I was having a conversation with an advisor the other day. He’s been doing it for a long time and has a good thing going. Puts WAY too much pressure on himself. So many of us do. We live in this scarcity mentality. We NEED it. We HAVE to have it. So we press, we push and we end up having commission breath.

I know this because I’ve been there. It’s hard, and we know it’s hard. That’s why people quit. We quit when it gets tough. We quit when we don’t feel like it. We quit when we let the head trash in. We quit when we can’t get people to say yes, when we can’t make the money we want, when others are putting pressure on us, or worse yet, we put too much on ourselves.

Every person, EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. who is in sales has had to go through this at one point or another. The thing is, the successful people didn’t quit. They didn’t do anything different than anyone else, they weren’t broken from some magic mold, they just did not quit.

They found the motivation. They found the drive. They found the way to get past it when they thought they couldn’t. When it was hard, when it didn’t go the way they wanted. They didn’t talk themselves out of it.

This is your magic pill. Go out and do more than others. Put your all into it. Put one foot in front of the other. Stop thinking “is this for me?” Commit. There is no plan B.

Set yourself a goal every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s how many appointments you’ll set, how many people you’ll talk to, how many calls you’ll make or how long you work. Set yourself a goal. Win the day. The next day, do it again. And again. And again.

Remember why you do it. It may be kids, it may be money, it may be that you truly want to help people, it may be that you have goals that you want to hit. Whatever it is, drive for it. Know it and think about it each time you go after that dream. Each time you don’t want to do something. Remember why you do it.

Stop thinking what you don’t have. You are further than you were yesterday.

There’s a power and a momentum when you start. When you say today, in this moment, I’m going to do it. Doesn’t matter if it’s hard, if I struggle, if I look stupid, if someone says no. I know that when I keep doing it, it will pay off. There’s your magic pill, people. The power of sticking with it.

You’ve got this.

Brent Widman
Brentwidman.com

Have you ever asked yourself this question?

There’s this lie that we tell ourselves:

 

The lie that someone is smarter.

More educated.

Doing it longer.

Know more than we do.

Have it figured out.

On and on and on and on.

 

Why not me?

Why can’t I come in and set the standard? Why can’t I do more than everyone else? I may have to work a bit harder, I may have to put in more hours, make more calls, plan my day, get up earlier, stop making excuses, do the things I don’t want to, get uncomfortable, be accountable to someone, add to my vocation, take action or be a student of the game.

What do I want to achieve should be the real question.

There’s absolutely nothing holding me back except for me. Not where I live, not my market, not those around me, not my education, nothing.

The only thing truly holding me back is me.

Are you doing everything you can to accomplish the things that you want? Those things that are truly important to you. It might be making more money, vacation, car, house, kids, school, whatever your dreams are… are you doing everything you can to accomplish them?

What’s holding you back?

I can tell you.

It’s what’s between your ears. There is absolutely no reason why you can’t set the standard. Why you can’t do more than everyone else. There is no reason why you can’t have the life you want to live. It may take you more work. You might have to get out of your own way, lose sleep, forget to eat, work a 10, 12, 16 hour day, you might just have to own your own crap.

Put aside the fear of becoming successful.

You will have to make the choice in the moment. Instead of watching T.V., taking the day off, quitting early or just checking out. You might have to get up off the couch, out of bed and make that choice to work. It doesn’t just happen.

This is what successful people do differently, what top producer’s do. That person you are thinking of right now that you want to be like. You want to have what they have. They worked for it. Are you?

Those that accomplish more with their life. We just don’t see them doing it.

They aren’t better, they aren’t more gifted. They have put the work in. I’m not talking about the 9-5 work. I’m talking about the work that we don’t see. Those things you make time for. Those things you don’t put off because you don’t have time or you don’t know where to start.

If you are happy, be happy.

If you aren’t where you want to be, if you want to accomplish it, do it. But stop saying there is someone better than you. Let that person compare themselves to you. If you want it bad enough, you will go out and get it.

 

Brent Widman

Relentless Pursuit

Sales Coach

bwidman@southwesternconsulting.com

It was May and we just moved into a new house, not far from the old one, but across town. My son had to move away from some friends, go to a different school; just leave the life he has become so accustomed to. It was not easy.

Here comes summer. He’s sitting around the first week. Playing the iPad, iPod, watching some movies. Lazy days. “I’m bored dad.” If you have kids, you’ve heard this! The thing is, there are kids that live in the neighborhood; he just doesn’t know them yet. I asked him to go out and meet them.

Jack was 10.

He didn’t want to, he was scared he said. He was nervous. I let it be for a day.

The next day I knew he was still bored. See, my son is a go getter, he loves to be outside, he loves to do things. Doesn’t matter what it is, as long as he’s outside he’s happy. What he doesn’t like is to sit around.

The next day I told him it was time to go down there. He did. He needed the push.

He was back in about 5 minutes. I asked him: what happened?

He didn’t go to the door… he was scared. I sat down and talked to him. Asked him what he was scared of, why he was, how we could get past it.

His biggest thing, he doesn’t know what to say.

I told him it doesn’t matter. Say you are bored, say you just wanted to come say hi, say you wanted to see if he’d like to shoot baskets. We walked through all the different things he could say.

We sat down and developed a “script”.

I asked him to Do It Scared. He walked down again.

He spent the rest of the afternoon there. They kayaked on the pond, they had ice cream, they played Wii, they played outside, road bike and just had a fantastic day. When I went to get him he literally danced when he walked out. He jumped up and down. The joy on his face was something I will never forget.

He did it scared.

How many of us hold ourselves back from what will truly make us happy? We do what Jack did. We hide from it. We avoid it. We come back to what’s comfortable because that’s easier.

I learned from my 10 year old son that day that when we do it scared the life we are so used to might just change. It will get better. For you it may be money, friends, business, life, doesn’t matter.

Ask yourself in this very moment: what’s holding you back? What do you need to do that you have been putting off for days, weeks, months even years.

Knock on that door. Feel free to DANCE when it all works out.

This one is big. If you are in sales. EVERYONE struggles from it. Whether you want to admit it or not. We do… Here’s how you know.

Do you ever put off calling someone?

Do you plan calling hours?

Do you plan calling hours and things get in the way? Hmmmmm

Do you creatively avoid making that phone call? (Checking e-mail, talking, bathroom, water, etc.)

Those are just a few examples. I’m going to give you A LOT of ways to overcome this. You pick yours.

1. Be planned – know the first 10/15 people, at least, you are going to call.
2. Set a number for calls – how many people are you going to call?
3. How many people do you want to talk to?
4. Tell someone how many of those calls and e-mails you are going to make: commit.
5. It’s just one call – to other people it’s just one call, to you it’s 10/20/40 – but it’s just one to them.
6. Look for no’s. What does this mean? How do we have a conversation that we can move them to say no, but at the same time “not right now”?
7. You can still contact them in the future, just might not be a good fit today.
8. Why do you do what you do? Do you want to help people? If we truly want to help people and we suffer from call reluctance, are we thinking about ourselves, or are we thinking about them? If we are thinking about them it doesn’t matter if they say no.
9. Use names. Names are power, but get permission. It opens up the conversation.
10. Use a script. Be smart enough to be dumb enough, not to have to think about it.
11. Commit to the call. What does that mean? It means when they answer you know the name, you use the script, you aren’t looking at other things, you aren’t distracted; they have your FULL attention.
12. Positive self-talk. What are you saying to yourself in the morning? Before you call? Even right before that call?
13. Motivational videos – go to YouTube. Google it. Do what you have to. Find it.
14. Read some testimonials. Even if they aren’t yours. This helps you understand how important you are to helping others.
15. Set a time to make your first call and an end. We can do anything for an hour.
16. Don’t overthink it. The more you think the more your mind will get in the way. Just dial.
17. Go out and get enough leads. It doesn’t matter if people say yes or no.
18. Realize this can change your whole life. You do it, and you can’t fail. Sales is a numbers game. Play that game.
19. Do you go look for people to talk to? Or are you hoping people don’t answer?
20. It’s practice: the more you do it, the better you will get.

These will help. Maybe you do all 20, maybe you do one of them. You’ve got this!

We get to do it once. That’s it.

Do you sell yourself short by just doing enough to get by?

I see so many people struggling just to get by. We may not be making the money we want. We don’t have the job or career we want. We don’t see or talk to family as much as we want. Maybe we want to be in shape. Maybe we just want to be a better version of ourselves.

What is that better to you? Not to me, not to anyone around you. But to you?

We look around and say “If I just had this, if I just had that” everything would be better. What is that for you? Maybe the bigger question is, what are you willing to do to get it?

That’s the question I ask. Why can’t you? Why do just enough?

Do you accomplish everything you want to accomplish?

I often wonder what the thought process is when you get up in the morning… Do you tell yourself today is going to be an “ok” day? Or do you say it’s going to be a GREAT day? Do you study just hard enough to pass? Do you work on that project just enough to pass it on to someone else? Do you make enough calls to just set the bare minimum of meetings? Do you just work hard enough to get by? Are you stuck? Do you “hope” and “pray” good things will happen to you or do you make them happen?

I want to help you be successful, I want you help you work a little harder, and there’s a few ways we can do this.

1. It starts when you wake up. Tell yourself it’s going to be a great day. It works, I promise.
2. Plan your day. Doesn’t have to be to the minute, but plan the big things you want to do. The things that will make you happy when you do them. Can be small, can be big.
3. Do those things! You’ll be amazed when good things start happening. You may even start getting “lucky” (you make your luck).
4. Create a routine – Do these things every day.
5. When you get good at these and get done, do a bit more. It won’t hurt, I promise!

Consistency. Every day. Don’t get away from it. Even if it’s hard.

It’s really that easy. It truly is. Everyone has the ability to be the best at what they do.

Consistency is the key. Every day. Whether you “feel” like it or not. Stop thinking and start doing.

I was having lunch the other day with an advisor. She’s one of those driven, “I’m going to make this work and I’m going to be the best….” type of people. She has what other people want. When I say that I mean the drive. The vision. The knowledge. The motivation.

She wondered why it wasn’t working. Why it wasn’t going the way she wanted it to. She wasn’t making the money she wanted, didn’t have the life she wanted. Wasn’t in the situation to be successful the way she wanted. It wasn’t moving forward.

She has it all. But doesn’t have anything at the same time.

She has one foot out the door. She isn’t fully invested in what she’s doing. What I mean by that is she’s looking at other companies to work for. Her husband has been working out of state for some time. She has a young daughter. She has a dog too, (and yes, this counts). She has a lot of things coming at her.

I see this so, so often. People aren’t happy with where they are. They are looking at other ways, other places, other things that will make them happy. It’s always a job, their life, someone at work, there’s always something. That’s the exact same conversation I had with her.

Here’s what I asked her and everyone else in her position… Have you done everything you can where you are? Have YOU put your all into it? You know why people get frustrated? They choose to. They choose to listen to others, to have a bad attitude, to not be focused, to let others pull them in different directions.

As the conversation went on, and I dug in a bit, you could see the light bulb go on. You could see it, catching herself making the excuses. Saying it was where she worked, who she worked with, her husband, having limited time. Each time she said it, she caught herself, knowing it was just an excuse.

As we walked out of there she looked at me and said, you know what I took away from this? I need to make a decision. I need to make that decision and put my all into it. I need to figure this out before another day, week, month or year has gone past and I’m not working towards it and getting to where I want to be.

The next thing she asked me is, “How can I help you?”

You don’t have to do anything. You just did. Sometimes we just do the right things for people and don’t expect anything in return.

Be that person for someone. That’s all the payback you will need.

When I first started my career I wanted to be the guy. I wanted to be the manager, the director, the person that’s always in charge. The go to person! I thought that’s who I was, what I wanted to do, who I should be. Not realizing the hard work it was going to take to get there. I thought I was owed something since I went to college and got a degree. I was owed something since I had an MBA. Someone has to pay me now!

Here’s the thing. You have to work for it. I knew I worked hard, or so I thought. I was at work on time, I showed up, I called people and sold some stuff. That was about it. That was my life. I was on my way. I was good at sales because I could call more people than anyone else.

A great trait to have.

What I didn’t have was the tools, tips and techniques. I didn’t ask for referrals, I didn’t know how to set goals, create emotion, plan my day, give a great presentation, get past any fear I had, use social media to build my business, practice my scripts, be a student of the game, read books, listen to people, be coachable, positive self-talk or even be that leader I strived for. I just didn’t know, and when you don’t know, you don’t know.

This is when things started to go differently. I then moved into a Sales Director role. I didn’t know how to manage people, but I thought I did. I went to be a District Manager. Again, I didn’t know how to manage people. Then I went on to being a Division Director with a global company. Still didn’t know how. And notice, I was a manager, NOT A LEADER. Not realizing I couldn’t just transfer my work ethic to others. I didn’t know how to meet people where they are.

I was a manager. I became a leader.

Then I came to Southwestern Consulting. I learned how to practice a script, and just how important that is. This can sometimes be a bad word in sales, but it makes you smart enough, to be dumb enough not to have to think about it. I also started asking for referrals. I practiced it. I started reading and listening to books. I worked on mind set. I read modules and watched videos on how to become a better sales person, a better leader and just an overall better person. When I called people I knew what I was going to say. I practiced. Every day. We all know; and a wise man once said:

“Success is never owned, it is only rented, and the rent is due every day.”

It means if you want to be successful it’s about the hard work. You have to understand what hard work is. If you aren’t practicing, learning, adding to your vocation, getting past those excuses, taking action and developing yourself you will always stay stagnant.

Do these three things:

1. Practice your scripts. If you don’t have them, find someone to help you
2. Watch videos. Get a coach, mentor or something to hold you accountable
3. Set goals. Personal and professional and do everything you can to achieve them

Give yourself permission to get better. The people that are successful aren’t lucky, they aren’t better than you. They gave themselves permission to keep going when it was tough; figure out what they can do more of, be better at. Give yourself permission.

Teach yourself and find those people to hold you accountable, and you’ll go from a Sales Boy to a Sales Man! Or a Sales Girl to a Sales Woman!

We all have the ability to make something of ourselves. We are all unique in some way. It doesn’t matter what that is. That’s YOUR uniqueness. It’s time to start owning it. It’s time to make a commitment to honing in on it and making yourself the best.

I heard a quote once by George Zulacki and it went something like this, “Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do long after the mood you said it in has left you”.

So many of us commit to things in the heat of the moment. I’m going to sell this much, I’m going to make this many dials, I’m going to read this much, I’m going to set more appointments, bring in more apps, find a new job, write a book, spend more time with the family, be a better leader, lose this much weight, change my marriage, do a date night and so on and so on and so on.

Have you ever done that? I’m going to guess the answer is YES.

Have you ever had the “Law of Diminishing Intent” happen?

When you make a commitment to yourself it’s time to start going through with it. Those commitments are supposed to be hard, they’re supposed to make you sit there and wonder what the heck you were thinking. You are supposed to work for it. It will make you stronger. It will make you better. It will make you enjoy every little last piece of what comes of it. That’s the joy of accomplishing something!

This is part of the training you go through daily. It’s learning to love the grind. Not walking away or shying from it. Learning to embrace it. If success was easy, everyone would be successful. It’s supposed to be hard, because it’s worth working for. It’s truly not a grind if you enjoy it.

At first, you may feel the struggle. You may wonder what you got yourself into. You may wonder why you committed to something you weren’t sure you could do. Even if you don’t do it, aren’t you happy you went for it? We are all meant to have goals and commitments, and sometimes we don’t achieve them. Sometimes it’s just about the journey and the path we take to get there.

Commit to doing something every day. Commit to making more of yourself and to being positive no matter what. Commit to getting out of your comfort zone. Facing that “FEAR” head on and owning it. Showing it who’s boss.

Each and everyone of us has it in us. Do you have something you want to strive for? Commit and go get it. Stop letting yourself down.

Pick the one thing every day and commit to it. You’ve got this.