by Tech Support | Sep 18, 2015 | Motivation
This weekend I took my kids to see the movie Inside Out. If you haven’t been, even if you don’t have kids, I really recommend that you go. I also advise that you take a box of tissues with you. The gist of the story is there are different people (voices) inside your head: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear. They all work together to create our emotions and how we react to different situations. This film focuses on a little girl and her experiences from the time she is a child until she is a pre-teen and moves to a new city. The girl’s emotions face challenges as soon as they get there. Joy wants to make sure that the girl is happy, and will do anything- at any cost, to make this happen.
Joy and Sadness try to do what they feel she needs and, in the midst of it, get thrown from front and center in Headquarters into the depths of Long-Term Memory. During this time Anger, Disgust, and Fear are all that is left, and they are in charge of her actions.
I’m sure you can see how this might be problematic and have probably felt similarly out of control during a difficult situation. How we choose to handle challenges, changes, and opportunities says a lot about us and how we show up to others.
It’s like anything in life, and especially in sales. We are going to have times of Joy when we close a deal we have been working on or meeting our goals, Sadness when we lose a sale or missed a goal, Anger when people won’t call us back or are being difficult, Disgust when things just don’t go our way, and Fear that we won’t make our goal. Sometimes we have to go through hard times and challenges before we experience joy and success.
The important thing is that we allow these feelings to happen in a healthy way and that we keep working so that we can experience happiness and satisfaction in the end.
by Tech Support | Sep 11, 2015 | Sales
I am always trying to learn as much as I can in order to continuously improve. I’m not “there” yet, but I like to think I get better every day! For some professional development, I attended a sales management webinar recently, and really got pumped up thinking about what we need to do both for our company and for our clients.
The presenters were asked a question- one that we are often asked by clients, as well. “Should we spend time coaching A players, B players or C players?” Meaning, should you coach the bottom or the top performers? The presenters had a lot of great things to say. One said that often we think our top performers don’t need coaching because they’re rocking the house. Have you ever felt that way? Like we should leave our great team members alone because they’re doing everything RIGHT? He explained that the mistake in this way of thinking is that the people at the top are very often MORE eager, MORE coachable, and MORE able to improve their performance, which in turn earns MORE sales. All too often, the lower performing team members become the “squeaky wheels” that we spend the most time with. That said, he explained that it’s important to spend time with team members at every level. Those who can be taught to perform better and higher should be coached up, and those who can’t, should be coached out of the organization. It’s so powerful to me to always remember that people need your leadership in order to be the best for your organization (or to be part of someone else’s)!
The web duo argued over one point though, with one claiming at any point, if a top performer becomes “uncoachable,” the question is no longer IF they should be removed from your organization but WHEN, while the other believes that there are 10-15% of (sales) people who are truly top performers, and so for those, he’ll tolerate some bad behavior. That’s where the wheels fell right off for me!
From my perspective, there is so much wrong with allowing what I’m going to refer to as “jerk factor,” from ANY performer, top or otherwise. I find it to be a pretty short term strategy to allow (and thereby encourage) unacceptable behavior just because someone may be great at their individual job.
Yes, he might be the best desk agent you have; he’s always on time and his drawer is always accurate. But if everyone hates him and he rolls his eyes every time you ask him to do something extra, you’re not only allowing him to undermine you in the moment, you’re also teaching the rest of the team that you 1) don’t deserve respect, or worse, that you 2) have favorites who can get away with anything (which can hurt morale, then performance, then sales. Yes, she might be rocking the house at sales now, but if she alienates everyone in the kitchen, how soon before they stop going the extra mile to make those events go perfectly when she makes an error in communication? In my opinion, it’s so dangerous to keep a toxic team member on your staff no matter where they fall in the performance ranking.
While you might have to work that shift tonight, or you might have to pick up those sales calls while you’re trying to get someone hired, I believe making that (extremely difficult, for sure) decision can help you avoid the long term negative effects someone who doesn’t fit your values can leave on your team, your guests, and your bottom line. What do you think?
by Tech Support | Sep 3, 2015 | Education, Motivation, Personal, Sales
Have you ever read the children’s book: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? The premise is that from the time he wakes up, absolutely NOTHING goes Alexander’s way all day long. I think we have all had that day before. The day where you feel like you just cannot win, and going to bed seems like the only solution to end your misery!
While in the middle of one of these days, it’s easy to feel bad, or sorry for ourselves, or to just throw a full-on pity party. I’m guilty of all of these things, as I expect you all are, also.
What can we learn from a day like this?
We can turn one of these days into a different kind of story. How about a “choose your own adventure” story? Today, I’m going to choose my attitude. I’m not going to throw a pity party. If I need to shake a bad situation off, I’ll turn on some music that I like, or listen to a podcast that I enjoy. (Have you taken to listening to podcasts yet? They are fantastic, and they come in every kind of subject matter!) I might send a positive text to a friend or my husband. In short, I’m going to CHOOSE to remember that I am good, that there is so much good in the world, and that I have this wonderful opportunity to bring change by being the change I want to see around me.
The power of positive thinking is real. The power of positive people is legitimate.
