No Lame Ducks

No “Lame Ducks” on the Oregon team. I know I know all we need is one more sports analogy pulled into the business world.

There are 3 ducks I’d like to highlight and if you guessed one would be a Heisman winner or the head coach you’re wrong. Don Pellum (Defensive Coordinator), Jim Radcliffe (Strength and Conditioning) and Gary Campbell (Running Backs) are coaches with 22, 28, and 31 years on the Oregon Ducks Football coaching staff.

The Ducks are arguably the fastest and most innovative team presently in college football and one game away from proving themselves the BEST team.

Experience does count and embracing change, innovation, and relating to a diverse audience does not have age restrictions.

Far too many companies that are mired in mediocrity contribute to a world where 15 million C-Level Sales Directors change teams in less than 2 years of being appointed with far more under increased pressure to perform without being given the time and resources required to build success.

As you build, grow, and strengthen your management, training, and sales team to compete like champions in your industry take a look at who’s on the Ducks sidelines teaching and coaching up their players.

Marketers Ruin Everything

Habits have changed. I think it’s easier said if I share this 56 seconds of Gary Vaynerchuk for those that still need a sense of urgency when it comes to implementing a multi-media approach to marketing. One thing for sure is that you’re not going to just meet your prospects and customers at their mailbox and inbox.

Sales is…

Sales is leading people to the right decision

Do you speak this language?

Social Media Acronyms we know or should know.

The first eight acronyms I bet you know because it’s 2014 and you’ve either heard or read them with enough frequency whether you’re still holding onto your aol.com email address or you communicate more with an @ in front of your name.

DM, FB, G+, IG, ISP, LI, RT and SM

Now if you know 100% of the next eight acronyms there is hope that you’ve not yet been left behind or totally out of the loop.

CPC, CTR, ESP, KPI, PPC, RSS, SaaS and SEO

Now for extra credit if you’re 16 of 16 how about…API, CMGR, RTD, UGC.

This isn’t about going 10 for 20 or 20 for 20, but it is to remind us there is social media language that is now spoken across all business lines and all levels of the organization. It’s no longer kept inclusive to the IT or marketing department.

DM – Direct Message, FB – Facebook, G+ – Google Plus, IG – Instagram, LI – Linkedin, RT – Retweet and SM – Social Media

CPC – Cost Per Click, CTR – Click Through Rate, ESP – Email Service Provider, KPI – Key Performance Indicator, PPC – Pay Per Click, RSS – Really Simple Syndication, SaaS – Software as a Service and SEO – Search Engine Optimization.

API – Application Program Interface, CMCR – Community Manager, RTD – Real Time Data and UGC – User Generated Content

When you knock knock on your customers door do you

Differentiate Yourself

Lunch Hour – our most productive time at work!

In the context of inside sales and/or sales management, let’s look at an office norm…it is lunch time  and someone in the office will ask aloud to anyone in earshot “who brought lunch and who is going out today?”  Ninety – Nine percent of  the time this person did not bring their lunch and they have no plans of going alone.  So before we give a response that will obviously lead to “would you care to join me?”, we need to think before we give up this “prime time” slot in our business day.

Lunch comes at the pivotal time when half the day is in our past and the other half is in our future. Our best teacher is the past and our greatest motivation lies in our future.

Lunch definitely comes at a point in our day when we need to re-energize, re-focus, and plan for the remainder of the day.

We could skip lunch and prove ourselves as the “workaholic”, while we are feeling the beginnings of our energy running low and our stomachs growling? We don’t need to skip lunch. We need to eat to provide our body and mind the fuel it needs to work at optimum performance.  In some work environments it’s also the only “me” time we’ll ever have in our day.

We start each day with a plan and there are days every interruption, and situation goes against it.  Lunch is often like half-time of a football, basketball, or soccer game. If all is going as planned we can stay the course or if not, we have the opportunity to change the game plan…and nothing feels any sweeter than those come back victories.

There are definitely those circumstances that call for a working lunch. Just never forget that lunch is a lot more than a sandwich or salad…it’s an opportunity. In fact it can be the greatest opportunity in our business day!