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The value of a good sense of humor
Mark Twain once said, “A sense of humor is a sense of proportion”. He was so right. My coaching experience has taught me that top-performing teams have a hearty sense of humor. They laugh at life, and they laugh at themselves. They do not create humor at another person’s expense.
Excellence means setting and exceeding high expectations
With online shopping steadily on the rise, retail chains nationwide are struggling. As many face this issue, it is common that they turn to improving customer service. I once heard someone say, “Success comes in what we do after we have done what we have been paid to do.” In other words, go the extra mile. Setting the bar high is one challenge. Keeping the bar high can be an even bigger challenge.Read More…
The most important leadership skill…
Early in my coaching career I developed an hypothesis: There is no leadership growth without an improvement in listening skills. So far, this theory has served me well.
If someone challenged me to come up with a list of people I thought were truly good listeners, I would only be able to think of a handful. No, I wouldn’t be on that list (unless my wife wasn’t reading it!).Read More…
Smart sales professionals know how to avoid an acute angle
Anyone in Law enforcement will tell you that the most dangerous situation they can encounter is interfering in a domestic squabble. They approach such situations with extreme caution.
In sales, we can run in to the same type of situation. While it may not be life-threatening like a domestic quarrel, how we handle ourselves could easily make the difference between weathering the storm rather than losing an account. Read More…
How to “un-stick” a bad first impression
How long do first impressions last? I get a variety of answers when I ask that question. I have heard some say that first impressions last forever. Let’s see if we can improve on that:
Experts tell us that when we meet someone for the first time, we form a first impression in 4 seconds. The good news is that this first impression, like quick-drying cement, is not solidified until 30 seconds have passed. That means we have 26 seconds to recover. Once that 30 seconds is up, the impression is locked in, and we now look for things to validate the impression.Read More…