Just Say "NO"

From an article on time management: This is a major reason why people have poor time management in the workplace (and maybe at home too!). The inability to say NO. It is very rare to find people with the ability to politely and firmly say NO. There are many valid reasons for people not wanting to say NO. Unfortunately, saying yes all the time leads to poor time management at work and more work and more stress. 

How valuable is your time? My guess is you think your time is pretty darn valuable, and you're right, IT IS. Everybody's time is valuable, and it's important to remember that given that everybody is asked to do more and more in their jobs without extra pay or with less pay. We all have performance expectations to meet and performance goals to meet.  So why is it that you always say "yes" whenever somebody asks you to do something, even though others are available to help them, when you have tasks to complete and work to get done?

Saying "no" to somebody is like the fear of rejection in reverse. You're afraid that saying "no" when you're asked to help will make you seem rude or like you're not a team player or that the other person will be upset with you.

The people that accomplish the most with the time they have in a work day do so because they know how to prioritize, when to say "yes", and when to say "no".

Now, saying "no" all the time is a different story. You have to give to get. However, if you're always saying "yes" whenever somebody asks for help you'll be the one they come to time and time again - taking advantage of your own precious time.

Help when you can, but when you simply cannot don't be afraid to say "no". How that person that asked you for help reacts is up to them. You'll find that they'll react similar to how they would handle any obstacle in their way. Either they understand, suck it up, and do it themselves or find somebody else to help OR they get upset. Again, it's up to them - how they react has nothing to do with you and reflects more on who they are than on who you are. They asked and you simply let them know you could not help.

Next time your boss, colleagues, family, friends, or kids ask for your help be sure to assess your current situation and answer honestly if you can really give up that time to do it. If you can't give up that time, don't be afraid to just say "no".

10.5 Sales Commandments

"You don't get great at selling in a day. You get great at selling day by day." - Jeffrey Gitomer


Don't let the title fool you, although it's the 10.5 SALES Commandments, you can apply many of these principles to your own life and career in whatever field you're in.

Part of what we do as a membership team at our bi-monthly meetings is an "education" rotation. Each of us will cover a topic to educate the others on for anywhere from 10-20 minutes. There were a million ideas flying through my head on what I wanted to pass along that could help the team improve. One day last week I was stuck in my car in traffic for well over an hour due to winter weather so I decided to make use of the time and listen to the 10.5 Sales Commandments CD I downloaded to my iPhone. I knew after listening to it that this would be my educational topic.

In the health club industry it's easy to get caught up in the numbers. Just like any other industry and profession the bottom line is a barometer for your success and is critical to your sustained success. The months of December & January are huge for a health club. The weather in Wisconsin is typically frigid cold by now and people that workout outside start to flock inside finally; and of course there are the New Year resolutions. During this time the membership sales goals are at its peak and we're running around like crazy to help current members and usher in new members. It's very easy to get caught up in that sales goal and lose sight of why we're really here - to make a difference in peoples lives...by helping them achieve their health & fitness goals.

I'm sure you experience certain "busy times" in your own profession. Whenever the typical busy time for your profession is - seasonal, certain days of the week each month, certain months each year, etc. it's good to remind yourself of why you're really doing what you're doing.

The commandments focus on building the relationship, which is key in whatever you do. If you're a manager you need to build relationships with the people you manage; in sales you build relationships with the prospective buyers; in any career you also build relationships with the people you work with - these principles can apply to everybody.

#1 and #10.5 are my favorite. If you've read any of my previous blog posts you'll understand why I love #1....and you'll understand why it IS #1 :). 10.5 ties it all together and reminds the reader of how they can get better at all of the above commandments/principles.

If you have questions on any of them please feel free to comment or message me on whatever social media platform you read this on. Happy reading!

Without further a due...

Here are Jeffrey Gitomer's 10.5 Sales Commandments I handed out to the team to talk about (the little bullet points were for my own reference so I knew what I wanted to touch on with each commandment):

The 10.5 Commandments of Sales Success

ü      Sales Bible

ü      Not just commandments – core principles

ü      Build relationship, not just make a sale

1)    THINK – The sale is in your head.

o        Mindset determines success more than anything

o        Think it will suck, it will suck – approach w/o smile starts off bad

o        Confidence

o        Affirmations, positive material – “feed your head”

o        “I Think I Can” – book

o        Article…success: 1) faith – God, myself, positive expectations (positive attitude) 2) hard work

2)    BELIEVE – Develop a 4 part belief system that can’t be penetrated.

o        1) company, 2) product, 3) yourself, 4) customer is best off with you

o        Glue of all is #4

o        Most only believe in the $$ they earn

3)    ENGAGE – Develop rapport & personal engagement.

o        First impression – make smile, find the “link”, laugh with them

o        Ppl want to do biz with friends

o        Keep it positive – avoid weather, news, negative stories

o        Begin convo with THEM, not with us (90% of ppl look up on-line before come in)

o        Principle of leaning forward

4)    DISCOVER – People buy for their reasons, not yours. Find out their reasons first.

o        Begin with THEM

o        Establish their “WHY” – dig deep

o        Ask Qs after they talk

o        Talk outcomes – not features (Fit U/classes = goals)

5)    ASK – wrong questions = wrong answers / right questions = sale

o        Qs are heart of sales – uncover motives

o        Ask for their opinion…ask if they can see themselves here

o        Goal = “great question”…known for questions you ask

6)    OBSERVE – Your ability to observe must be as powerful as your ability to sell and ability to listen.

o        Observe leads to understanding

o        Daily practice & self discipline…be a “thinker”

o        “antennas up” – be aware of opportunities

7)    DARE – Have the chutzpah to risk.

o        Risk to succeed…voicemail, asking for sale, new ideas, resolve when fail

o        “Every day is chutzpah day” – courage and action

8)    OWN – Know whose fault it really is when the sale is not made.

o        No blame, no excuses à negative, creates a pattern, and self destructive

o        YOUR fault…didn’t return my call? – leave a better voicemail

o        Evaluate lost opportunity & determine what you could have done better

9)    EARN – Sell for the relationship, not the commission.

o        Earn a friend and earn a fortune…earn leads to loyal customers and referrals

o        Not MAKE a sale…GET a sale & not WORK HARD for success…EARN success & not ASK for referral…EARN referral

o        EARN = LOYALTY

10)     PROVE – One testimonial is worth one hundred sales pitches.

o        Video testimonials (my signature)…VALUE

10.5) BECOME – You don’t get great at selling in a day. You get great at selling day by day.

o        Development – reading, listening

o        Self discipline

o        Adopt and change to your style

o        Sales is about who you are, what your attitude is, your dedication to personal excellence, and sincerity in helping others

Take Control of Your To-Do List

"A man must be master of his hours and days, not their servant" - William Frederick book 

With New Year's resolutions in full effect, and hopefully still being worked toward achieving, this tip from the Harvard Business Review is a perfect fit. Many people resolve to get organized and manage their time better and these tips can help you actually achieve that. 

Take Control of Your To-Do List

Having an unruly to-do list can be overwhelming. If you find yourself rushing around, but not actually getting anything done, try the following process: Write it all down. Put everything on one list. Determine which tasks are easy and which are more difficult. Do some easy things. Spend 15 minutes doing the easy tasks. Focus on speed: make the quick phone calls, shoot off the brief emails. Cross as many tasks off the list as you can. Turn to a bigger task. Turn off your phone, close all the open windows on your computer, and focus on one of the more challenging tasks. Do this for 35 minutes without distraction. Take a break. After 35 minutes, take a 10-minute break. Then return to step two.

If you do any research on time management you'll find a wide variety of methods to make the best use of your time. I've read about methods that suggest spending anywhere from 1-2 hours focusing on the biggest project you have for the day first thing when you get in. Close your door, don't interact, and knock off a chunk of that big project. 

On the flip side, this HBR tip says to focus time on the small, easy tasks first so you can knock them off quickly and feel like you've made great progress and achieved quite a bit. And then focus a small chunk of time on a bigger project. 

Two things that remain constant across the time management methods are: 1) write everything down and 2) divide your day into working segments (times vary) and take a short break in between each segment. 

Taking 15 minutes before you head out for the night to plan your next day helps you to organize your thoughts and form a plan on what you're going to do. When you come in that next morning all you have to do is review your plan and get after it. 

Taking breaks between work segments helps you to remain fresh. You may think that hammering through your work for 4 straight hours is more beneficial than working for 50 minutes and then taking a 10 minute break (and repeating 4 times), but you will actually accomplish more by working less due to the mental break. Your mind will come back after those 10 minutes refreshed and ready to go. If you go straight through for those 4 hours you will hit a point where you lose motivation or feel as if you're in a fog due to your brain being mentally exhausted. 

Every job is different and the amount of control you actually have over your day is different than others, but you have to find what works best for you to make the most out of your time spent working. Would you rather get the same amount of work done in 50 hours or in 42 hours each week?  

A YES! Attitude Creates a Buying Attitude

"Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?"

Last week I posted about resolving to have a positive attitude and how you can make that happen. For that blog post click here. 

I came across an article in the weekly Gitomer Sales Caffeine E-zine (YES! Attitude Creates Word of WOW Marketing) that I wanted to share with all of you as you're working to build and maintain a positive attitude so you can achieve every goal you set and overcome any obstacle in your way. 

What a great story that Thomas shared about a former manager. You may not be a manager, but your attitude (whether positive or negative) has an impact on everybody you interact with and on your organization. If you work in sales your attitude rubs off on the potential customer and can lead to (or break) a sale. As a manger, your attitude can set the tone for a meeting or for an employees day. 

Like Thomas' manager said, of course he doesn't always feel "fantastic", but he doesn't let how he really feels that day get in the way of him making others feel fantastic (or turning his day around and making himself feel fantastic). And like I've written about in the past, the more you say and think you feel a certain way the closer you come to actually feeling that way. You can think to yourself that "the days sucks and nothing is going your way" then your day will continue to go down hill OR you can resolve to stay positive thinking "today is a great day; nothing will stop me from having a great day". The choice is yours!

Take the time to practice having a positive attitude and sharing it with others...yes, I'm talking about practice! (in my awful Allen Iverson voice impression). 

I hope you're all still going strong on your 2012 resolutions. If you need motivation, encouragement, or guidance on anything fitness or health related (or anything at all for that matter) please don't hesitate to contact me. Here's to making 2012 your best year ever!

Resolve to Have a Positive Attitude in 2012

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you thing about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are." - Norman Vincent Peale

The new year always brings about great hopes that "this is going to be the year I _______". Why is it that so few people actually make this "the year they _______"? Last week I blogged about how to go through the formal goal setting and achieving process. Having a positive attitude is a key factor in whether or not you'll achieve those resolutions. 

I've written about positive attitude in the past, but with the new year upon us I wanted to again touch on this extremely powerful success vehicle. 

If you look at successful characteristics or traits as a pyramid, a positive attitude is one of the base corner blocks of the pyramid, if not the entire bottom base of the pyramid. If you have a strong enough base you can build and build and build to the highest of accomplishments. However, if the base has cracks or is weak it will eventually crumble, no matter how strong and solid the blocks are that sit on top of it.

Resolve to be more positive in 2012. How do you do this you ask? 

• Wake up each morning and immediately tell yourself "today is going to be a great day"
• Look for the good in every situation. Don't look at the obstacle and think "how the hell am I going to overcome this". Instead, look at the obstacle as an opportunity. Look for what the obstacle can teach you and tell yourself "I WILL overcome this". 
• Look for the good in every person. When you deal with somebody that is having a bad day and taking it out on you try to see things from their point of view. Now, don't make excuses for the person's behavior, but step in their shoes and try to understand "why". Also, if you know the person well, try to remember what you like about them instead of letting that negative moment get to you.
• When negative situations occur, which they most certainly will, make it a point to take it in, dissect it quickly, and put it behind you. Do not hold onto the negative encounter or situation. Negativity is like an annoying little rodent. If you encourage it or feed it it will keep coming back and make itself at home. If you cannot control it, be done with it and move on. Only worry about those things that are within your control. 
• Surround yourself with positive people and rid yourself of negative people. People that are constantly complaining or are always upset about something drain your energy. Rid yourself of those "energy vampires" (read The Energy Bus) and surround yourself with people that speak about positive situations during their day/life rather than the negative. 
• Practice positive affirmations. Saying positive words or phrases to yourself daily, even several times per day, puts the positive deep into your subconscious. Over time, your subconscious will be so strongly positive that you won't even need to remind yourself of the above 5 items - you'll just do it. 

I'm very passionate about positive attitude because I've seen, heard, and read about the powers it can unleash within you. 

One of my resolutions is to focus more on the positive in 2012. To help with that I've decided to keep a daily journal where I write down every positive situation, encounter, or moment from the day. I do this at the end of the day before bed to put myself in a positive frame of mind before I lay my head down at night. This has already helped me to rid myself of stress or worries before bed (resulting in deep, restful sleeps) and has been a great way to focus on the positive. 

What are your 2012 resolutions? What is your plan to achieve them?