Sales Blog from Sales expert Trent Leyshan

Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Rules and records are made to be broken

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Break free!

In 1988 I watched in horror as my childhood hero Carl Lewis was blown away by Ben Johnson in the men’s 100m final at the Seoul Olympic Games.

The ripped and bulging Canadian sprinter launched out of the blocks to blaze to a new world record time of 9.79 seconds. To my relief, three days later, Johnson was stripped of his gold medal and banned for testing positive to steroids. Lewis was then unceremoniously anointed as the Olympic champion, and faith was restored to my little world.

Not many records can endure the vacillation of time. Johnson’s drug assisted time was considered only possible because he used a banned substance. His time has since been broken on several occasions. Usain Bolt is the reigning Olympic champion and world recorder holder, clocking in a 9.58 seconds. May I be so bold as to suggest that one day a man of freakish ability will run it in eight seconds?

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It’s time to get angry!

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

defusing-angry-cust

Sales is a game. Though not a numbers game as some would suggest, it’s more a mental game.

Every year, I work with hundreds of sales and service people across industries. What strikes me most is the chasm between the high and low performers. This distinction is always a matter of mindset.

If you haven’t made a sale in weeks, or hit a target in months, you should be anxious. That state should transcend to frustration, and if that persists, then raw anger! By anger, I dont mean, slapping customers in the face until they sign the contract. I refer to a deep sense of injustice for not succeeding at what you do. This sensation is essential to all creatures that compete for survival in any jungle.

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Where success and defeat meet

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

nose729-420x0Flash point!

A micro slice of space and time where our lives change, forever. This is either a painful moment that haunts us, or a place where our wildest dreams are so vivid they become real.

A photo finish decided the 2011 Melbourne Cup. Only the benefit of technology could confirm the faintest speck of light between first and second place. This year’s winner Dunaden and connections pocketed $3.6 Million in prize money for their efforts. As for second place, well, it’s only a few days on and the name of that horse already escapes me.

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Overcoming fatigue, apathy and burnout

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

tiredUnlike other performance athletes ― salespeople are expected to compete forty eight weeks or more every year. It’s no wonder most salespeople are bloody tired, if not utterly exhausted.

Nearly all performance sports are structured in a way so that the athlete actually competes at a small fraction of their time in comparison to the time spent developing strategy, refining skills and training and recovering.

Sales managers for some bizarre reason believe their salespeople needn’t subscribe to the same approach. This false belief limits their sales people’s success and ultimately leads to fatigue and underperformance.

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Belief is not important, it’s everything

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

780795-bailey-pies - Copy

You will struggle to find a better example of brand loyalty than from AFL supporters.

Year in and year out, fervent fans brave the winter chill to cheer on their favourite teams. Win, lose or draw we ride every bump, “booo!” every dicey umpire decision and lose ourselves in elation with every crucial goal.

Last Friday night, I cried myself to sleep after my beloved Hawks squandered a 3 goal lead to lose to the Pies in the final quarter of their AFL preliminary final. My emotions boiled from confusion and disbelief ―to rage ― and then grief stricken. I’m still hurting.

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How to thrive in trying times

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

20091201_mass_extinction

Cast your mind back some 65 million years ago.

It’s a mild afternoon. Striking pink and orange shades of light paint the horizon. Forests and jungles are lush. The air is angelically pure. Seas are hundreds of meters higher than today. The earth is a sphere of splendour and energy.

Giant beasts roam and dominate the earth. Salivating meat eating predators along with their long neck tree foraging relatives panic the ground dwellers. Mighty birds the sizes of buses glide through the air with wings that cast a vast dark shadow onto the ground below. This is a terrifying time to be a small earthly bound creature.

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Are you a quitter?

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

exhausted-runner

Despite what some entrepreneurs believe, taking risks is not a silver bullet to success.

What is, is taking a risk, experiencing challenges, and then applying what you’ve learned, time and again.

Many business people take risks and then experience overwhelming resistance, but this is not failing. You only truly fail if you abort your dream entirely. Ironically most people give up just before the finishing line, not aware that the line is within their grasp. Which demonstrates your potential is usually just beyond your breaking point if you dare to smash through it.

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How to be a soloist and why you should

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

climberMore hands can make light work. Yet, often more hands only equates to more work.

When too many people are involved in a decision making process it becomes counterintuitive. Double handling frequently occurs so insecure managers are given a false sense of control. And it’s not difficult to get bogged down in bureaucracy and internal politics either.

Sometimes you’ve just got to go it alone. Particularly if you have no one around you prepared to strive for excellence with you. In that case, take the bloodied bull by the horns and put yourself out there!

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Own your mistakes or they will own you

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

sorry-coverIn a panicked state, I exited the terminal three hours late after my flight was delayed due to fog and inclement weather.

I rushed to pick up my hire car while apologising over the phone to my client and assuring her I wasn’t far away.

Bleeding beads of frustration I anxiously took the sixty minute trek to my new business pitch.  Being late to a key presentation seldom sets a positive tone and negative first impressions are always challenging to overcome. Driving with a sense of defeat, I questioned whether my many hours of preparation, flight and now pained efforts would be all in vein.

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Follow your conscience

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

martin-luther-king2It doesn’t take any real skill in business to sell your soul and get paid.

I’ve been guilty of it, and if you’ve been in sales long enough its likely you have at times too. Countless salespeople follow this seductive and destructive path their entire careers and many are happy doing it.

When bills are bleeding us dry we often resolve to do anything to survive. An alternative is to simply do nothing and let the salivating jaws of procrastination consume us.

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