Posted: December 21, 2020 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

I have two sons who are now married and in their mid-30’s.  Growing up, they loved to play baseball in the back yard.  One day I was coaching my son, Kevin as he was working on his batting skills.  I was frustrated that he wasn’t doing something right, and I made a comment that was not supportive.  As soon as I did, Kevin had a puzzled look on his face and asked, “Dad, was that a put-down?”  My first instinct was to respond, “Oh no, I just…(blah, blah, blah)”.  Instead, I paused, reflected on what I had just said, and replied, “Yes, Kevin.  That was a put-down and I was wrong to do that.  I am sorry”.  When I said that, I could feel the tension leave my body, and Kevin and I were back on track.

To be clear, when I say “put-down”, I do not mean we don’t ever re-direct someone.  A strong team strives for excellence, and each team member knows how to keep one another accountable.  For example, let’s say I am playing baseball in the outfield and not paying attention.  As a result, I mess up a play.  My team members have every right to say, “Hey Brainerd, wake-up!”

Throughout the holidays you may be with many friends and relatives.  You will also be with your team members at work.  Whatever your situation, when you are tempted to find fault, take a step back and pause.  If something needs to be said, say it in a way that builds trust and respect, not resentment.

Posted: December 7, 2020 | Categories: Self-Improvement

It’s the first week in December, and that means it is time to get our best mindset for the holiday season.  Even with Covid restrictions, it is likely that many of us will be attending social events and family gatherings.

For nearly 20 years, I facilitated leadership classes year round.  During that time I noticed that each holiday season, many would dread getting together with some relatives – particularly the ones they seemed to get their “fill of” quickly!  When we don’t look forward to an event, we usually don’t have a very good time.  That is unfortunate. Is there anything we can do?  Maybe.

For the first several years we were married, my wife and I kept a weekend scrapbook.  In this book, we summarized the events of each weekend of the year, and illustrated the pages with pictures and mementos.  One year we decided to spend New Year’s Eve reading through the years events and evaluate them.  We reviewed all the weekends and various activities, and rated them on a scale of 1-10.  The ratings we gave referred to how much we like the event or activity.  Joyce’s ratings and my ratings matched up pretty closely.  There was one thing we noticed that was peculiar:  One event occurred twice during the year.  It was with the same friends, and we did the same activities.  One of these events we rated high.  The other got a poor rating.  We wondered why, so we did some thinking.  We realized that our thinking going into the low-rated event was negative.  We were upset about something.  We went into the event with low expectations.  Here is what we learned:  When we are going to an event or function, we need to do an attitude check beforehand.  What is our enthusiasm on  scale of 1-10?  Is is an five?  Why?  What do we need to do to take it up a couple notches?  Then we give ourselves a pep talk, and keep talking to ourselves until our attitude is up to speed.  This works for us, and it has resulted in us enjoying many events that we normally we would have just “got it over with”.  The most important words we say each day are the ones we say to ourselves.  Happy Holidays!

Posted: December 3, 2020 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

Several years ago I received a follow-up call in mid-December from a company that sells and installs carpets.  They had given me a quote earlier in the year, and due to some unexpected expenses I had set the quote aside.  It is important to note that the person calling was professional, likeable, and easy to talk to.  She made reference to the quote and wanted to know if I was still interested.  The timing of the call was perfect, and resulted in a $10,000 order.  I can’t say this for sure, but my hunch is that the woman calling was given a list of outstanding quotes, and they were doing an end-of-year cleanup.

Many sales professionals regard December as a poor month to sell. People are distracted by the holidays and less likely to commit to any purchase that is not a Christmas gift.  While this may be so, I have found that consistently top-performing sales people do well in December.  They want to set the table to “hit the pavement running” when the new year rolls around.  If you would like to increase your sales in December, here is an idea:

Write down all the accounts and contact people for those in these categories:

• Clients you are currently doing business with
• Clients you have worked with – but not for a while
• Outstanding quotes that have not been followed up on recently

After you have put together this list, commit to a block of time, and start dialing.  You will probably get one of three responses:

1. No longer interested
2. Interested, but not until after the first of the year.
3. Yes, I am interested now
4. Let’s just say that the woman that called me had a list of 100 names.  If my sale was the only one she made, that means she would have made $100 per dial.  That is s pretty good hourly wage!  Dig in to December!

Posted: October 15, 2020 | Categories: Self-Improvement

“A sense of humor is needed armor”

-Hugh Sidey

Let’s talk about the value of having a healthy sense of humor:

Two days ago I was in a meeting with a church group I belong to.  We have all known each other for years.  We were reviewing a book we had been assigned to read.  During our discussion, the virtue of “counting daily blessings” was brought up.  That reminded me of a story, and I shared it with the group:

On New Year’s Eve of 2018, my wife presented me with a calendar she had been writing in all year.  Each day, without fail, she would write something special about me.  She noted nice things I said and did.  I loved reading it, and it was one of those “feel good” gifts.  Then, I began reflecting on what I had read.  I said to Joyce, “You know something…if I had known you were doing this, I could have done a lot better.  I’ll bet some days were better than others”.  Joyce replied, “Yes, there were a few that were a stretch!”

After telling this story, the whole group roared in laughter.  Then everyone else told their crazy story about their experience of human comedy.  We all were overcome with laughter, and before we knew it, we had gone one hour over our usual meeting time.  As we were wrapping things up, one veteran member of the group said, “This meeting has been so much fun,  The laughter has soothed my soul.  The world seems tense right now, and I think they could use a little of this”

I agree.  We need more humor – not less.  I am talking about healthy humor – the kind where we can laugh at ourselves or life in general with no personal insult to anyone.  It feels good.  Pour me another cup.

Posted: September 18, 2020 | Categories: Customer service, Self-Improvement

Last week I received a letter from the Illinois Tollway Authority.  What could it possibly be about?  I opened the envelope and was dismayed to find that I was charged $24.60.  That included $5.80 for tolls and $18.80 in fees and fines.  How could that be?  I had more than enough in my I-Pass account to cover that amount.

The next day I called the Tollway number.  I was connected with Donna, and I gave her all the information about my account.  When she looked it up, she found that the license numbers given on the notice didn’t match the ones on my account.  Of course they didn’t.  I know you are always supposed to document any changes in license numbers.  In the past 20 years I have bought a car or two, and usually get a new plate.  I never registered the new plates.  I figured if the toll booths missed the transponder signal, they would have my license plate, and could look it up.  Donna informed me that is was my responsibility to keep license information current, and they know longer looked up the number.  If the tag number does not relate to a specific I-Pass account, it goes as a skipped toll.  When I asked if I still owed the fees and fines, she said “Yes.  It was your responsibility to keep your license information current, and you didn’t do it”.  I paused, then said, “You know something Donna, I am going to get that money back.  It will cost them double.  I will curtail my tollway use, and it won’t be long before I have all the money back.  I look forward to taking the backroads and enjoying the scenery.”  Donna laughed, then replied, ‘I don’t blame you.  I don’t like the tollways either.  I have a convertible, and I like the backroads.”  We then got into a conversation about her summer and her convertible.  When the conversation was over, I still owed the money, but had the satisfaction of possibly putting a little spark into someones day.  Before the conversation was over, she did not represent the tollway.  The tollway was “they!”