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Category: Uncategorized
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7/23/2025-Stop saying “Thanks for your time.”
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7/22/2025-“Me no afraid of sales angst!”
Daily Quote “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” W. Clement Stone
SKILL As a proud seller, you may never say aloud, “I’m afraid of my quota,” or “I’m afraid of dealing with that bully of a buyer.” But that doesn’t mean seller’s angst isn’t a real thing for you at times.
Numerous issues in The Sales Life can trigger angst: a new manager, hearing whispers about a big quota hike, or even rumblings about a re-org.
The agita that can be produced is very real.
Sellers constantly straddle the emotional line between stability and chaos. Glee and frustration. But fighting through big and small fears defines you. And you must learn to fight if you’re gonna work through that angst crap.
Read More DO Instead of playing NYT’s Connections on your break today, try this exercise to help you manage any selling angst that may be residing inside your brain.
Write down everything and anything that causes your stomach to gurgle.
Second, write a sentence about their root cause – and weight – to help you define the context of these issues.
Last: jot down a sentence on how you can control and combat these distractions. And then, focus your energies there.
If need be, talk to your manager or BFF seller about these gnats flying around your head…communication always helps.
Read More OOMPH Obviously, anxiety is a serious thing.
There’s the heavy-duty stuff that requires professional consultation, and there’s the seller angst stuff that can inhibit your performance …both can strangle your enjoyment of job and life.
This TED Talk by Glenn Rolfsen was chosen because it elevates beyond the typical bull you get on the web, a la “11 Tricks to Find Happiness in Your Stressed Out Job.” (“Oh, ok, just be happy…why didn’t I think of that?”)
Glenn’s main pitch is simple: stop the back-biting at work.
There’s nothing good that comes from talking negatively behind the backs of your peers, managers, enablement teammates…whomever.
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7/21/2025-ASK further…qualify!
Daily Quote “Replace judgment with curiosity.” Lynn Nottage
SKILL The buyer looks up from reviewing your proposal and says, “Yeah, it looks good.” You think to yourself, “…awesome….but wait…WHAT looks good about it?”
Sooooo…why are you saving that convo between yourself? Ask the buyer.
Qualify them. Right then and there.
The buyer continues, “We might move this through the org and see what others think.” Again, you think, “WHO exactly are you gonna send it to?”
ASK aloud!
Don’t squander the opportunity to learn what you need to know.
Speak up! Probe. Push. Quantify.
If your buyers make statements that need qualification, then qualify them!
Read More DO Today, listen closely to what your buyer says, and immediately decide how generic and ambiguous their answers are.
Start with this basic move: “Tell me more.”
If you’ve got that one down, then focus your qualifying questions on clarifying context and weight.
Context: “I’m glad you like our proposal…what specifically is appealing to you?”
Weight: “It’s good to hear feedback about that feature you like, how important is it to you?”
Read More OOMPH This entertaining “Questions Only” game from the Whose Line Is It Anyway show brilliantly illustrates the mental dexterity needed to ask questions when you’re in the moment.
This clip is fun – and funny – and shows how hard it is to stay curious and probe with questions.
Indeed, your job isn’t to interrogate your customers, but how often do you give up or worse, NOT ask a question you should?
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7/19/2025-Mindfulness/Self-care
Daily Quote “Our life is shaped by our mind, for we become what we think.” Siddhartha Gautama
SKILL Some sellers find release at a bar on Friday nights, for others, it’s the gym.
And some merely want to curl up with their favorite pet and binge-watch Ted Lasso for the second or third time. (Parmesan Goldfish snacks, anyone?)
The Sales Life is hard, whether you’re pacing way ahead of your quota or not.
Weekends are essential for wound-licking, breathing, and forgetting the drama…call it “self-care”. (HEY….WHOA….!)
However you define self-care (sleeping is good, so too are yoga, biking, and hiking), be selfish this weekend and make yourself number one.
Read More DO If you want to run far away from your work and mentally escape, you must do the things that bring you joy and release.
If watching Apple+ for hours does that for you, great! Do it, and feel no shame.
If you love listening to an audiobook while walking your dog in the woods, fantastic.
Decide what brings you the release you need this weekend, and then do it.
Read More OOMPH For some, meditation is the only mindfulness activity that provides the ultimate release and recharge of the soul.
But have ya ever tried underwater meditation?
Spend one minute with Chris Hemsworth, and he’ll hilariously walk you through (?) the proper technique.
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7/18/2025-On this day, Nadia got a 10
Daily Quote “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet.” Nadia Comăneci
SKILL In 1976, at the age of 14, Nadia Comăneci was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games in Montreal. (Uneven bars, if you’re curious.)
At the same Games, she received SIX MORE perfect 10s for events en route to winning three gold medals.
(Standing O, anyone??)
So why is this important to you, Olympic Athlete Seller?
Nadia’s accomplishments are a reminder to shoot for 10s.
Nadia wasn’t competing for average. Neither are you.
Read More DO Nadia was the first gymnast to successfully perform an aerial cartwheel-back handspring series on the balance beam.
What is your aerial cartwheel-back handspring?
While you should always focus on “development areas”, don’t forget about your strengths. Today, think about one of your superpowers and plot a way to push it even further. Toward a 10.
Aspire to be the person your manager turns to when needing a model for that one special skill that everyone else STINKS AT! Not you.
Read More OOMPH By now, you’re curious about what “perfect” looked like in 1976 to the gymnastic judges at the Montreal Games.
Sit back and enjoy Nadia’s grace, athleticism, strength…and perfection in this highlight clip from her timeless Olympics performance.
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7/17/2025-10 weeks to win your Q3 goals
Daily Quote “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” Thomas Jefferson
SKILL To consistently rank in the TOP 10%, you must work on your non-revenue goals each day of the quarter. Most sellers take a goal vacation during the first 30 days of the quarter…but you’re not most sellers.
A good example of your non-revenue goals is:
“Grow Acme Inc by 25% this quarter,” and…
“Improve my ability to deliver the company’s value proposition to different types and levels of buyers.”
Acting on your non-revenue goals each day of a quarter will help you hit your revenue quota.
Read More DO Q3 is 16% done, so today’s DO is to put in serious time against your skill and account goals! Don’t spend another day this quarter not working on your goals.
Review the goals you wrote a few months ago, move some boulders up the hill, and record your progress at the end of the day.
If your goals need adjusting — even 16% into the measurement term — that’s okay. Edit them. Goals are meant to stretch you, and be attainable.
Read More OOMPH Stay as obsessed about hitting your non-revenue goals as you are with hitting your quota.
And if you need a break from all the intense focus today, watch these crazy and funny futbol goals in this Short.
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7/16/2025-The 5-minute pitch meeting
Daily Quote “Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation but from flawless execution.” Naveen Jain
SKILL Even before Covid brought universal acceptance to PJ-wearing video meetings, interaction times between buyers and sellers have been shrinking.
This is not a green light for you to cram more into less. Just the opposite. You must perfect time management F2F selling skills, and map out every minute of every meeting.
Think of this new era as “parking meter selling*. With each passing minute that you demonstrate your ability to run a quality meeting, the buyer will reward you with more time. Say something smart or ask a strategic question that interests the buyer…another quarter gets dropped into the slot, offering more time in the exchange.
Read More DO Practice running a pitch meeting in five minutes. (If you can run a power-packed FIVE minute meeting, you certainly can do it in 10 or 15!)
And because you’ll be judged more by the questions you ask versus the pitching you do, focus on researching your prospect’s business to ask the most relevant questions.
“What is keeping you up at night?” should be replaced by, “I’ve studied the woo-woo initiative your company launched and learned XYZ….what is your assessment of your progress to date?”
Follow that up with, “What do you need help with from partners like us?” and you’ll earn a few more minutes in the meeting.
Read More OOMPH So you got your customer to commit to a 5-minute “catch-up quickie.” Great.
Now what?
Good news: engagement techniques are the same if the meeting is five, 10, or 30 minutes long.
If you can sit still for 12 minutes, you WILL be inspired by Charles Duhigg’s TED Talk titled, “The Science Behind Dramatically Better Conversations.”
It’s a gem!
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7/15/2025-“You NEED to see this proposal.”
Daily Quote “I passionately believe that it’s not just what you say that counts, it’s also how you say it – that the success of your argument critically depends on your manner of presenting it.” Alain de Botton
SKILL You work hard to get to the proposal stage with your prospects, so why do you hit “send” and ask the proposal to close the deal for you?
Proposals don’t close business. You close business.
If you think your buyer is going to review your proposal the second you send it over, you’re mistaken. While it’s the most important thing to you at the moment, it’s not viewed that way by the buyer. (Sorry.)
You must do everything possible to present your proposals personally to your prospects. Even if you get 5 minutes of their time on Zoom to review one crucial part of your proposal, that’ll make a big difference.
Read More DO Fight, scrape, claw, bite – or do all of it – to get time with your prospect to review some of your proposal. (Notice the emphasis on “some”.)
This is where Champions can really help…and why it’s good to have junior Champs as well as senior Champs on your side.
This approach relies on your ability to get your customer to commit to a 5-minute phone meeting. One thing is for sure: sending an email asking for feedback will most certainly produce crickets.
Note: the art of the 5-minute pitch meeting is covered tomorrow!
Read More OOMPH Oh, to be Don Draper….the ultimate closer.
Even though Don exists in our minds, his unparalleled ability to present ideas and proposals is good entertainment…and good modeling.
Let this 2-minute Mad Men clip inspire and inject you with the same confidence and courage Don wields.
Your proposals are nothing more than a digital file unless you bring them to life…they’re begging for “salespersonship” to get them closed.
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7/14/2025-“Agendas aren’t my thing.”
Daily Quote “Effective performance is preceded by painstaking preparation.” Brian Tracy
SKILL “Meeting agendas are old and crusty…my dad used meeting agendas. I personally like to be fluid…I like to run my meetings in real-time…yeah, that’s it. Agendas just box me in – I’m a bird…no wait, I’m an eagle who needs to soar. And my clients love my meetings ‘cuz we laugh and horse around. That’s the way it should be, right? By the by, I’m one helluva relationship seller. They wanna have fun in meetings, right? But, hey, I’m all about bid’ness, too. I’m always throwin’ out smart lines and witty witticisms. And then POW, I deliver a great value prop…umm, once in a while. Oh sure, I ask a few questions here and there, but I like to keep things loooooose ‘cuz HEY, that’s what clients want and love right? My clients…they love me…!”
Read More DO Prepare an agenda for every pitch meeting.
USE the agenda that you’ve prepared in every pitch meeting.
Agendas keep the meeting on track. Agendas keep you on track. Agendas signal to your customers that you truly care.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve been selling for a year, five years, ten, or twenty…use meeting agendas.
Read More OOMPH Had Dr. Evil created an agenda for the meeting you see in this classic Austin Powers 2-minute clip, he would have been better prepared for this disaster of a gathering. But it’s funny!
Not saying Dr. Evil only needed to focus more on meeting agendas…but….
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7/12/2025-Mindfulness/Self Care
Daily Quote “See if you can allow gentle self-acceptance to coexist with the active drive for self-improvement.” Kristin Neff
SKILL This weekend, don’t even let the word “skills” enter into your brain. That’s for Monday through Friday.
While skills development and self-driven improvement are the backbone of why you visit MySalesDay regularly, take a page from Kristin Neff’s book and leave it alone for a few days.
Read More DO Whether it’s archery, bird-watching, javelin throwing, or napping…do something for you today that fulfills your inner joy.
Costco and Home Depot can wait. Save those visits for Tuesday night after work.
Today needs to be about you.
Isn’t there a hammock or chaise lounge out there somewhere calling your name?
Read More OOMPH …or if you want to laugh today, then get started with this funny and sharp-witted yoga instructor in this Short. See how she skillfully parodies her class in this bit titled, “Passive Aggressive Yoga Instructor.”
Her tongue is finely tuned, and she’s hilarious. (The comments on the YT page are juicy, too.)
Laughter is a great part of mindfulness too.
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