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!”

Posted: July 21, 2020 | Categories: Self-Improvement

“Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans”

– John Lennon

You don’t have to answer this question out loud.  I don’t want to embarrass you.  Have you ever sat through a performance, program, or sermon and found yourself dozing? Because you were amongst a crowd, nobody saw you…right?  No.  That’s not right.

Here is something that all presenters know:  If we are one person in a crowd of 250, we can make a positive difference on the presenter and the quality of the program just by our alertness, engagement, and expression on our face.  Part of my work involves public speaking, and one of the first things a presenter does is look for the “sparkler” in the crowd.  This person may have a built-in smile on their face, or just a sparkle in their eye, and we can pick it up like radar.  We don’t stare at this person, but we do glimpse at them a lot to help keep our energy level where it needs to be. Afterward, this person often has questions, and we realize that during the presentation we have built some trust with them, and we are probably very receptive to what they have to say.  They are more influential.

A few years ago I was in an audience listening to a presentation from a person who worked with autistic children.  I knew she had not given many presentations before, and I sensed she was a little nervous.  I was sitting towards the back of the room.  It was a 40-minute presentation, and the entire time I was looking at her and doing my best to be encouraging.  After the program she singled me out, and told me how much she appreciated my smile and encouraging nods.  She said she would never forget it.

The next time we are hearing someone present, let’s remind ourselves of the responsibility we have as a member of the crowd.  So often we make a difference without saying a word!