Exactly!!!!!!

This is without  a doubt, the funnies description of sales people I’ve ever seen.  Amen!

Thanks to the boys over at Salesloft for pointing me to this.

Accurate?  What do you think?

“Why?” and “Who?” have books named after them. They are getting some pretty good airtime.

“Where?” certainly gets it’s time in the spot light. Everyone loves “where?”. Where do you want to meet? Where is the party? Where are we going to do this? “Where?” is loved.

“How?” on the other hand is treated like the red-headed step child. I don’t think we like “how?” very much. “How?” isn’t asked as often. “How?” doesn’t get much board room play. “How?” seems to always be left for later.

“How?” should get more play. “How?” holds us accountable. “How?” is an ACTION word.  Without “how?” nothing gets done.

• How are you going to do that?
• How are going to find the new employee?
• How are you going to implement the new sales process?
• How are you going to save for your dream trip?
• How are you going to find your next customer?
• How are you going to build the pipeline?
• How are you going to build a good marriage?
• How are you going to raise your kids?
• How are you going to get that house on the beach you’ve always wanted?
• How are you going to grow revenue by 20%?
• How are you going to make quota this month?
• How are you going to lose weight?
• How . . .

“How?” is that nagging little word that get’s everything going.  Maybe, that’s why we don’t use it as much as the others. Because, once we do, we actually have to do something. Hmmm!

 It was a surprise and an honor to be on a list with some of sales and marketings most respected and accomplished people. I didn’t expect it at all.

How was this list created?

Over the past few weeks, a small team of professional researchers rigorously examined the credentials of one hundred and fifty possible “candidates” to arrive at the top fifty, and we also asked the editors of the most popular sales resource venues to give us their opinion.

The criteria we used to benchmark each individual’s impact within the sales space was:

• Social media presence – Twitter/ Facebook/ Klout score/LinkedIn authority.
• Quality, regularity and popularity of written work – books, blog posts, articles, EBooks etc.
• Active engagement with recognized resource sites.
• And not least, a commitment to continually advance selling and marketing practices.

My dad and my grandfather taught me that if you set out on a journey to become famous or to make lots of money you are sure to fail at one or both. But if your goal is to make a difference and to do good work, regardless of fame and fortune, good things will come over time. I think this is what happend here.

I didn’t set out to make any list. I didn’t even know lists like this existed. I didn’t have any grand plans of becoming a sales “guru” which I still don’t consider myself. I started blogging to create reach. After two acquisitions left me looking for new opportunities, I wanted a way to have more control of my career. SVP, VP, EVP of Sales positions are difficult to come by in Denver. I was looking for an easier way to control my job search.  I figured a blog, pack filled with my selling approaches, methodologies, and ideas would be far more effective than a resume. I also figured digital reach would help source new job opportunities if I needed them.

Fast forward 3 years and not only am I in control of my career, A Sales Guy Consulting was created as a result of inquiries from this blog for sales consulting.

Making a list with the likes of Seth Godin, Jeffrey Gittomer, Guy Kawasaki, Marc Benioff, Jill Konrath, Neil Rackham, John Doer and all the other sales and marketing geniuses is exciting. Actually, It’s more than exciting, it’s pretty frickin’ cool.

I want to thank this community for all the shares, comments, Facebook likes and everything else you have done over the past 3 years to put this blog out there. It’s the commitment of you, the readers of this blog that are truly behind this. No one would have a clue who I am if it weren’t for you.

I’m gonna say it again.  You guys ROCK!!!

Thanks all!

Today is my birthday. I’m 44.  To celebrate, I came to Rio for a few days.  I have never been Rio. It was one of the places on my bucket list.

Like anytime I visit a new place, I have to check out all the big tourist spots.  In Rio that is the Cristo Redentor or, as I like to call him, the “Big Jesus.”  The Big Jesus is a giant statue of Jesus that sits on a mountain top looking down at the city.  It was pretty cool.  The view of the city from up there was astonishing. It was absolutely beautiful.

Being a such a tourist attraction, it was packed with visitors taking pictures. What was absolutely conspicuous was the amount of people taking pictures with their mobile phones, me included. (I took this picture with my Iphone) I would say almost half, if not more, of the people were taking their precious vacation pictures with their mobile phones. Only, four years ago, on my 40th birthday, this was inconceivable.

The pace of technology is amazing. However, even more interesting to me is our adoption and use of technology. Growing up in the 70′s, there was film, flashes, and Kodak was a big , successful company.  We printed our pictures at little Kiosks in the parking lot of the grocery store. We didn’t get to see the pictures of our vacation until we got home and took them to the kiosk. Our phones were big, bulky contraptions that sat on a wall or on a little desk in the hallway, attached to the wall by a cord.

Today, our phone IS our camera and our camera is our phone. Even more compelling, we trust our precious vacation memories to the thing we call our friends and family on.

It’s amazing to me how and what we do today, that we didn’t do when I was a kid, when I was in high-school, in college, in my first job, and even when I turned 40, just four years ago.

To my kids these aren’t changes, it’s all they know.  But, as they get to 40, they will see things as I am today, and be astonished with the changes. Getting older gives us perspective, we see changes come and go. We see the new get old and the old disappear and we see things that didn’t exist born.

Change happens, I saw it vividly while standing at the feet of the Big Jesus!

So why doesn’t everyone want to be a sales person?

Because  . . .

It takes guts to only have HALF your salary guaranteed

It is sucks to be rejected on a daily basis

It’s hard calling up people you don’t know and asking them to meet you

It’s scary asking strangers for things

It’s uncomfortable challenging people

It’s tough being held accountable to black and white metrics. You can’t hide from the numbers

It’s not easy having your results constantly compared, in the open, to your peers

It’s not easy losing

It’s tough being fully accountable for your own success or failure

It’s not fun doing something where you can fail so quickly after be successful

Not everyone likes being in the spotlight

Unpredictability SUCKS

Most people don’t want to be in sales, because it takes GUTS! It takes guts most don’t have.

Here is to all of you who have the guts to sell and sell your ass off.

]]> http://asalesguy.com/2012/04/11/it-takes-guts-to-be-a-sales-person/feed/ 8 http://asalesguy.com/2012/01/26/nimble/ http://asalesguy.com/2012/01/26/nimble/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:55:28 +0000 Keenan http://asalesguy.com/?p=8775

Read more →]]> nim·ble  adj \ˈnim-bəl\

I predict “nimble” is going to be the business buzzword of 2012. Just saying!

Image via CrunchBase

I use the Zemanta plug in on this blog. Zemanta makes blogging easier. As you type, Zemanta offers relevant photo’s you can add to the post, it provides link recommendations automatically based on what you type and it offers “related articles” you can add the bottom of your post. Zemanta makes blogging easier.

I had always wondered how Zemanta determined what posts to suggest and more importantly how to get this blog’s posts in their recommendation stream. I’ve yet to figure out how Zemanta works but as of a few weeks ago, this blog is now appearing in the recommendation stream.

I don’t know how it happened but It’s pretty cool.

I don’t know if any of my posts have been added to someone else’s blog as a “related article” but it’s pretty slick knowing they can be.

I’m in Zemanta’s related articles list. I guess that means I’ve arrived.

Related articles

• Zemanta: Your Blogging Assistant (viglink.com)
• Using Zemanta with Blogger (peterbijkerk.blogspot.com)
• Get Related Content for Your Blog with the Zemanta Gadget (buzz.blogger.com)

But, before you jump into the new year and abandon the old, take a look back. Look back and ask; did you achieve your goals? Did you accomplish what you set out to accomplish? Were you the person you wanted to be? What did you learn? How did you grow? What don’t you want to keep doing in 2012? Look back, take an account of the year then look forward.

When we combine our look back with our look forward the view is that much better.

Look back first.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all the through the house not a user was stirring, not even their mouse

Posts were posted on their blogs with care, in hopes Chris Brogan or Robert Scoble would soon be there

Tweeters were tweeting from the comfort of their beds,

In hopes their tweets would put them ahead

My numbers are down, as I stare my Google stats

I need to put my computer down and try to relax

When out in Twitter land there rose such a clatter,

I ran to my computer to see what was the matter

Off to twitter search I flew with a flash

Tore open my laptop in hopes it wouldn’t crash

I saw the cheesy avatars and wondered what they were for

With this Social Media thing, there has to be more

When what to my blurry eyes should appear

But a YouTube video, I turned it up in order to hear

It started to bore, so I moved on with a click

In hopes of find something a little more hip

It gets old watching people pining for fame

As they dance around like fools, where is the shame

Scantly clad women, who think they are vixen

and geeky fools with sites they’re a hackin

To the top of digg, they wish they were all

but to no avail as their efforts for fame, crumble and fall

Social Media can be such a high

Its possibilities are beyond the stars in the sky

It takes lots of effort, it embraces more than a few

It rewards those who are good, it can reward you too

In the results there is proof

Just be authentic and always tell the truth

Look to be careful, cause spammers abound

Alas, what makes the web great, is they will always be found

With tons of information you can’t help but have a look

Even Google is trying to add EVERY SINGLE BOOK!!!

It’s hard to imagine when you take a look back

A world without the internet or a good computer hack

Its limits how few, the time spent how merry

It’s never been easier to learn to make a pie topped with a cherry

It expands our horizons and helps us to grow

Yet, there is still much to happen, still more to know

We share information in hopes it will teach

How social media has expanded our reach

We connect from LA to New Dehli

To many the Internet has now replaced their Telly

For some it’s become all about self

To others it’s been fun and a great a boost to their health

As the New Year comes, let’s look ahead

In the Internet and Social Media there is nothing to dread

They are a great place to play and a great place to work

Even if on occasion you will find a creepy jerk

They will continue to rise, they will continue to grow

How far they expand nobody knows

What ever your thoughts, they are not worth dismissal

Cause, at least online, the creep can’t blow you a whistle

So on this day as you work on your site

Wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful night

I was struggling with a post topic today. I was looking at past posts looking for inspiration when I noticed my posts total. It’s 801. It was kind of shocking to see that number.  When I started blogging in February of 2009, I didn’t set out to post 801, or 1,000 at that matter.  I took it day by day.

It’s been an amazing journey. I have developed an entirely new group of friends and acquaintances. A fun and engaging community is sprung up around this blog and I’ve learned a lot.

I can see 1,000 posts is just around the corner. I don’t know how long I will post. I don’t know what the final number will be.  I do know that it’s not a 1,000. However, I will mark that day here. It seems like it might feel like a special day.

From 801, to 1,000 and then to ????, I’m going to take the approach I took when I started. I’m going to take it one day at at time.