Posted on October 21st, 2009 by
Brandt Smith in
Entrepreneurship
The other day I was asked how I could have the highest sales in the company yet I had the fewest quotes in our system.
There are two winners in any contest: the person who takes first place, and the first person to walk away.
Some people view sales as a numbers game, where the more projects you quote the more orders you win. They indescrimantly throw their time and resources after all projects. Most of these guys stink at sales and their numbers (and commission checks) reflect it!
My approach (and that of every high performance salesman I’ve met) is to focus on the winners. We pick the promissing projects and put all our resources into winning. We know that our time is precious. Unless an activity moves a key project closer to an orde...
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People who know me well are familiar with my views on college. I am a huge believer in obtaining your education, and have seen first hand the impact this can have on your career or your business. I’ve earned two bachelors of science degrees working full time with a young family, and my wife has earned her bachelors of science in business while being a full time mother. I’m not bragging, I’m just making it clear how much I believe in college education!
I also am not a big fan of the traditional college experience. When you look at the cost it is hard to justify. This is both for adults going back to school and for our children. If you follow the traditional college path the costs are staggering, and the traditional college ...
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Frustration
It all boiled over. They were not really mad to each other, but one night it all came to a head.
When I talked to Bob the next day he was exhausted. They had talked – and sometimes shouted – into the wee hours of the morning, but it wasn’t tired due to lack of sleep. He was drained emotionally.
Bob and his wife had spent the last two years trying to start an internet business. They spent a couple hours each day on web design, blogging, etc…They read ebooks and watched videos. They bought books and attended seminars. Month after month they poured their heart and soul into their business, but it was for nothing. They had made no money to date and felt lost.
As we talked he revealed how much it had taken out...
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Posted on August 10th, 2009 by
Brandt Smith in
Entrepreneurship
We weren’t sure what to expect. While I have been to more conferences that I care to remember, this was the first time we had been to an Entrepreneur Camp. Adding to the uncertainty was the lack of solid information on their website. Oh, it gave the date and time. It just was pretty vague on the agenda.
We arrived bright and early on Friday with a whole lot of expectations, hopes, and misgivings. While we hoped the event would be educational, it was the chance to network with entrepreneurs that excited us the most. We also were a bit concerned, as we have gone to “entrepreneur networking” events in the past that turned out to be nothing more than thinly veiled hard sells filled with amateurs, con men, and plenty of weird ...
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I met Norman two years ago. When we first started talking it was purely business. He needed good people to represent his company and we were looking for a great deal on equipment. Norman was the regional representative for Ektelon, the top racquetball equipment manufacturer. One of the main ways they promote their product and the sport is to sponsor players. In exchange for a great deal on equipment, the players are loyal to the brand, using only their equipment, wearing clothing with the company emblem, acting as ambassadors, selling equipment to players at the club.
It started out as a business relationship: he gained a team member who was a top salesman and teacher, he gained a top junior player with a ton of potential and a great attitu...
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A couple weeks back I wrote about the need to take responsibility for your life. Though it is a simple concept it has a profound effect on y0u life. In fact, you could say it is the foundation for all personal development.
What I didn’t go into was how it applies to business. Everyone is hit with the same problems, losing a top customer, having your best salesman quit to work for a competitor, watching bad economic conditions hurt our business. What differentiates the top performers is how they respond to stimuli and events.
Why some companies win while others lose
80% of companies refuse to take responsibility for the situation. They tell the board of directors that the economy is hitting everyone just as hard, it isn’t their f...
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Posted on May 28th, 2009 by
Brandt Smith in
Entrepreneurship
Or how to stop sounding like a pompous ass I had to shake my head. Apropos, paradigm, myopic, maligned, rapier like,fondled,terminological exactitude. What was he thinking? It would have been bad enough if he was speaking to a panel of executives. In this case the words were inappropriate. After all, he was an announcer calling ...
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Posted on May 19th, 2009 by
Brandt Smith in
Entrepreneurship
We should have known better. We hired a friend to do some administrative tasks at Wealth and Wisdom (and a couple of our other businesses). On the surface it seemed like a great idea. Ed was more than qualified to do the work. While I’m pretty good at spreadsheets and databases he made me look ...
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Posted on May 12th, 2009 by
Brandt Smith in
Entrepreneurship
This review is about a year overdue. Last year I made some major changes to our blog and website. While our blog is on the WordPress platform all of our websites were created using a tool called XSitePro. I had just upgraded to their latest version – entirely rebuilt – and had just started playing ...
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Time management is the central skill of success. Your ability to manage your time, to focus and channel your energies on your highest value tasks, will determine your rewards and your level of accomplishment in life more than any other factor. Save Hundreds of Hours and Thousands of Dollars in Personal Advancement Your mind is ...
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