Posted: August 22, 2017 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

About 15 years ago, I was working in a key position for a worldwide training company. The owners decided to hire a new training director. She was from a large corporation and brought a new flavor to the team. The flavor she brought did not taste good. Sylvia was what is commonly referred to as a “body tripper”.

At first, Sylvia was friendly and gracious to everyone on the team. Then, once she got situated in her position, she began to change. She became aloof, ignored people, wouldn’t listen to anyone, and it wasn’t long before virtually everyone resented her. I said, “virtually”. There were a few people she was very nice too. They were all in top management. She had them snookered. Top management didn’t see what we saw.
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Posted: August 16, 2017 | Categories: Self-Improvement, Team Building

Many years ago I was talking with a client who owned a very successful bond trading business.  He was talking about how fast bond deals were processed.  He said, “In Italy, it can take as long as 30 days.  In France it would take several days.  London can turn a deal within 24 hours, but in the United States the average turnaround time is about an hour.”  I asked him why it is only an hour in the US.  He said, “Because in this country we want what we want fast and we want it now.“  So true.Read More…

Posted: August 3, 2017 | Categories: Self-Improvement

“Vision without action is a daydream.  Action without vision is merely passing the time.” 

– Joel Barker

Extensive studies have shown that less than 5% of people write out and achieve their goals in life.  To turn a dream into reality requires a certain “Vision to reality” flow. Read More…

Posted: July 20, 2017 | Categories: Sales

When a company hires a sales consultant, one of the most common recommendations they make is, “Your company needs to do more prospecting.”  This immediately leads to the next step:  Who?  Finding the answer to this question can be confusing and costly.  You can buy contact lists, but many have inaccuracies and outdated data.  I have seen some companies’ burn thousands of dollars buying lists that are almost worthless.Read More…

Posted: July 17, 2017 | Categories: Leadership, Presentation skills, Time management

“You’ve got to ride the horse in the direction it is going” -Old Texas saying

One of my clients is in a key position with a start-up company.  He is an exceptional leader with boundless energy and focus.  As you can imagine, it is important for Ray to continuously sell ideas to his very busy boss.

At first it was frustrating trying to corner his boss for a quality conversation.  It seemed like the boss was always distracted.  Then Ray got wise: Read More…