Tag Archives: Tips for Professionals

Professionals

Success Will Never Come to Entrepreneurs Who Do These 10 Things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnopS4KuHoY

Whether we are talking about a football game, an election or an entrepreneurial journey, one thing is certain — there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers.

Want to stack the odds of being a successful entrepreneur in your favor? You can start by taking note of the following 10 things that you should never do.

1. Be jealous or envious

Seeing other people around you succeed should motivate you, even if they are your competitors. You should understand that every single person has the ability to become successful, and wasting time focusing on other people’s success or achievements will just sidetrack your own progress.

2. Look back

You are going to face hard times, difficult decisions and possibly even failure at some point. Don’t let small bumps in the road stop your forward progress. Find ways to maneuver around obstacles and continue to push forward, never looking back.

3. Make excuses

If you make a bad decision and screw up, own it. If something doesn’t work out as planned, don’t look for excuses. Search for the cause of the problem and chalk it up to a valuable business lesson. If you identify and own the problem you will not make the same mistake again. If you are constantly making excuses for your mistakes, you will continue to make them because you haven’t properly identified the root of the problem.

4. Stop learning

Your age, years of experience or level of success should never prevent you from learning. There isn’t a single person on this planet who knows everything. We can all continue to learn and be inspired from other entrepreneurs, whether they are billionaire household names or those just starting his or her entrepreneurial journey.

5. Associate with negative individuals

People who constantly make excuses, complain and have a negative outlook should be avoided like the plague. We all know people like this. No matter what you say or what the situation is, they always chime in with negativity. People like this are a cancer and their negative aura can rub off on you. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals that are as focused and determined as you are.

6. Wake up without a plan

Time management is a crucial part of being an entrepreneur. There are only so many hours in a day, so to be efficient you need to know what your goals are and what tasks you need to get done prior to starting your day. If you are scrambling to create a plan of attack every day you are going to be in trouble. End each day by mapping out the following day’s to-do list.

7. Be scared to make changes and adapt

You need to be willing and able to adjust your plan and overall strategy, because there is a very good chance that you will need to adapt to maintain success in the future. Imagine if Apple never adapted and just stuck to making computers? After releasing the iPod it started manufacturing smartphones, tablets and now are releasing its first wearable technology, the Apple Watch. Once just a computer company, it is now a consumer-electronics powerhouse.

8. Let your bark be bigger than your bite

Successful entrepreneurs don’t sit back and talk about what they are going to do. They plan, follow through and conquer. Nothing is going to get accomplished just by talking about it, and nobody is going to be impressed with words alone.

9. Focus solely on dollar signs and decimal points

Instead of chasing the money, focus on creating products and services that make a difference and provide value. If you do this, the money will come. I would be lying if I said the goal of my company wasn’t to make money, but focusing on providing a great service paves the path for the money to follow.

10. Let failure stop you

Most statistics state that eight out of every 10 new businesses fail. Successful entrepreneurs go into everything knowing that there is a chance of failure. If in fact they fail it is viewed as part of their growth and they keep plugging along.

James Dyson is a perfect example, as his first 5,126 prototypes were failures, but the 5,127th one worked and went on to become the top-selling vacuum in the U.S.A. He is now worth $4.5 billion because he never once let failure stop him.

Professionals

Age and Experience Don’t Matter. Mindset Does.

Since the 1960s people have talked about “the generation gap,” the difference in ideas, opinions and behaviors that separates older from younger people.

The divide narrows or widens from time to time, but it’s always there, and at the moment it seems to be cutting through the workplace in a particularly complex way: Very soon, four generations will be working together or living under the same roof.

With retirement disappearing as a concept for more and more mature professionals who are having to work longer than they intended to supplement their pension, there are fewer job opportunities for those who are younger. That’s led not just to higher levels of youth unemployment, but also of a sense of unfulfillment among greater numbers of professionals around the world who suffer from increasing levels of stress and lack of purpose in their work.

When the baby boomers (born from 1946 to the 60s) and generation X (those born in the 60s and 70s) do come together in the workplace with the much younger millennials (the connected generation of “digital natives” born in the 80s and 90s), there are often tensions.

It will be interesting to see the new and very real challenges and opportunities arising when all these groups are joined by those among generation Z (those born from the mid 1990s onwards), who have never known a life without super-fast communication and unlimited access to media technologies, smartphones and online shopping.

The baby boomers and some in gen X often perceive their younger counterparts as having an unjustified sense of entitlement, with no real work ethic, and unwilling to “pay their dues” by starting at the bottom and working their way up.

At the same time, younger employees see their seniors as intransigent, inflexible and no longer best equipped to make the right decisions. Generations Y and Z expect to have knowledge at their fingertips and the independence technology gives them to be able to work anywhere and for whom they choose. Highly transient and mobile, they expect immediate responses from others.

However, because they prefer to sit behind and communicate through the screens of their PCs, laptops and smartphones, their under-developed ability to communicate face to face could put them at a disadvantage when it comes to managing staff, making presentations and connecting with those in other generations.

Whatever the relative truth of the matter, this can make for a challenging mix.

For many in this generation war, the young seem to be winning so far, with the millennials squeezing out the baby boomers and even gen X’ers in a battle of salary cuts as companies, cash strapped after the recent downturn, seek to rein in spending.

However, while age and lifestyle preferences are often seen as the major dividing line between us, I believe there’s one that’s even more important — mindset, something that goes beyond age, gender, education, wealth and geography.

It is by focusing on mindsets and values that I believe we can transcend the traditional generational descriptions that so often seem to create division rather than harmony and unity.

I see mindset and attitude as the real differentiator of talent in our world. But while it is crucially important, it’s something that, as yet, very few companies consider when recruiting or selecting staff.

In my book Corporate Escape: the Rise of the New Entrepreneur, I coined the terms SUPER– (negative) Generation and SUPER+ (positive) Generation to separate the two opposing mindsets I see prevalent in organizations and society as a whole, with SUPER being an acronym for the characteristic way in which each sees and approaches the world.

So those in the SUPER– Generation tend to be superficial, focused primarily on their possessions and external appearance. They have an ongoing need to purchase the latest gadgets and want whatever others have.

They are also unfulfilled, feeling “empty” because of an excessive focus on their appearance and “external” things, which don’t really satisfy their inner needs.

Consequently, with few real “anchors” in their lives, they feel left out and often become negative about the future. Without any sense of purpose or direction, this makes them pessimistic, as well as rather self-centered and egocentric. They believe the world is all about “them,” so they’re rarely willing to take responsibility for their behavior and actions or take ownership for their own success.

And since all this makes their lives less than happy, they are restless, always searching for the next “new thing.” Their world revolves around others and what is fashionable, superficial and temporary.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of those in any kind of work and experience fall well and truly into this category.

Then there are those who are members of that other club: the SUPER+ Generation.

These are individuals who don’t wait for things to happen, but who make them happen, which tends to make them more successful.

They aren’t frightened to stand out and be different, which means they are independent thinkers, often with an unconventional outlook and approach.

Driven to succeed, they are energetic and passionate about making a difference, which frequently comes through in their innately entrepreneurial approach to life, taking responsibility for their own actions.

Finally, they believe in making things happen through a collaborative approach, which is why they are relational, global thinkers who are able to see beyond “me” and “you” to “us.”

As an entrepreneur, business owner or manager, who would you want more of on your side?

Those in the SUPER+ Generation I suspect, because it’s they who will drive companies and societal evolution forward. They are the leaders of tomorrow.

And since this fundamental division between generations goes largely unrecognized, businesses continue to employ based on other criteria — normally the traditional CVs and cost — a short-term approach that can leave mature professionals with plenty of knowledge and industry experience standing on the wrong side of the door. However, given increasingly volatile, uncertain and complex economies and global markets, if you really want to make things happen in the best way, experienced heads are often still needed alongside the energy and new perceptions of those who are younger. You are created to work with others, to collaborate and learn together, not to be in constant opposition.

The great thing is that at any moment you have the power to create the professional world you want to be part of. One in which where you come from, your age and gender, or and what you have done before is less important than your vision of what is possible.

When the future is created one step at the time, isn’t it time to see beyond the generations?

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240013″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

 

 

Professionals

Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My High School English Teacher

Everything I Know About Business I Learned From My High School English Teacher

By Norm Merritt

Since coming on board as co-CEO of a growing New York startup, I’ve increasingly found myself on the receiving end of one seemingly simple, yet surprisingly difficult to answer question:  “What defines a successful business person?”

The traits that matter the most are quite simple — and I actually learned all of them from my high school English teacher, Mrs. Miller. The lucky among us have had a teacher that played a pivotal role in shaping not only our work habits, but also our character. Mrs. Miller was a stern but caring teacher whose wisdom and high expectations continue to impact my work today. She encouraged me to:

Be dogged

For a long time, every English essay I submitted would come back liberally marked up with comments like, “Poor overall structure,” “insufficient evidence,” or “overly wordy.” After sitting me down and explaining in more detail where I was going wrong, Mrs. Miller would encourage me to implement the changes we had discussed instead of wallowing in defeat.

Any successful business person, from a small-business owner to a seasoned entrepreneur, experiences pitfalls. Picking yourself up and trying again after a defeat or setback is key to long-term success.

But intelligent

Unfortunately, after a round of quick edits, I’d often then receive an even worse grade than I received initially. The point? My English teacher believed that improvement wasn’t easy or an automatic function of repetition. If you wanted a better grade, you had to be willing to use your own mind, as well as work hard and fast.

The most successful business people I know put this in place every day: They are diligent and tenacious but also smart and selective in how they apply their efforts.

Be convincing

There is no greater asset in business than an ability to sell your vision to others. Whether dealing with customers, employees, managers, suppliers, journalists or venture capitalists, a successful outcome almost always depends on the same core competency that I picked up in Mrs. Miller’s English class — an ability to build a logical, well-structured narrative that persuades others of the merits of an argument.

The most impactful business people I’ve had the privilege of working with have the unique ability to think through a problem and only interject when he or she can marshal the relevant facts, statistics, insights, precedents, and comparables in support of a cohesive argument. These persuasive, thoughtful leaders are almost always the ones that actually move things forward, because people around them are convinced and inspired to act.

Be open

I had a lot of strong opinions in high school.  I still do. But Mrs. Miller taught me to appreciate one fundamental fact about English literature, life and business: There is rarely only one right answer.

Business building is a discovery process. Yes, it’s important to have a clear vision — and the drive to see it through — but the best business people are not blinded by their own passions and convictions. They remain open to a changing world and the experience and insight of others and are willing to make changes where necessary.

A successful career in business will call on a wide range of skills and require no small degree of luck — but when I want to remind myself of the basics, I always return to Mrs. Miller.

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/241918″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

 

Professionals

25 Tips for Having Meaningful Relationships

While technology has made it more convenient to keep in touch with the outside world, and even become re-acquainted with long-lost friends, it has also changed how we define relationships. Someone with 1,000 Facebook friends may think they’re a rock star. But, how many of those “friends” would be there to support them when they start a business or go through a personal crisis?

The more successful you are at relationships with your family, friends and customers; the more successful you will be in life with all of them.

Because of the hustle and bustle of the 21st century, it’s even more important than ever to have these meaningful types of relationships. Want to know how to achieve that? Follow these 25 tips.

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]

1. Be happy with yourself.

You may have heard this one before, and there is a reason for that – it remains the best place to start. As Michelle Maros so elegantly puts it in, Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life, “Your relationships outside will flounder if you don’t have unconditional love and compassion for yourself.”

2. Learn to listen and understand.

Throughout your life you’ve probably dealt with this problem. Your parents never listened. Your spouse never listens. Your boss just doesn’t understand, or listen. George P.H. notes in, Pick The Brain, that we can connect with people simply by listening to them, hearing them out without interruption, and doing our best to understand where they’re coming from.

3. Take the punch.

You can’t always take things personally. We all have bad days where we freak out, vent, or scream at those around us. My wife Kristy Rampton always tells me “There are few things in life less selfless than taking a punch every now and then from people who are having a bad day. Sometimes people just need to vent.” Get amnesia concerning the outbursts of others.

4. Follow-up.

If you feel like you’ve hit it off with someone, professionally or personally, don’t wait for them to get in touch with you. If you believe that there’s potential for a new relationship, then make sure that you follow-up. Keith Ferrazzi, author of “Never Eat Alone,” suggests that you should follow-up within 48 hours of the first meeting.

5. Be positive.

Here’s a quick question. Would you rather spend time with someone who is a downer or someone who is upbeat? Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, backs up the obvious by stating, in Psychology Today, that positive emotions help us “broaden and build” relationships.

6. Grab lunch.

We’re all busy, but are you too busy to stop and eat? Probably not. Relationship expert Nate Bagley from Loveumentary believes that you should “make the time” to schedule a lunch with friend, acquaintance or family member. This action will yield great benefits.

7. Don’t be someone else.

Adrian Savage wrote in, LifeHack: “If you can’t trust yourself, why should others trust you?”

8. Take inventory of the relationships you have.

Some relationships are meant to be last for a long time. Other relationships may just linger because it’s familiar and feels safe. Take an inventory of the relationships and see which ones you would like to hang onto and the ones you can let go. Letting go of unnecessary relationships opens up the opportunity to let new relationships into your life.

9. Pick up the phone.

Texts, email and Facebook comments are great every now and then, but there’s nothing like having an actual conversation with someone. Don’t hesitate to pick-up the phone and give your friend or peer a call to check-in and see how they’re doing. It is a good idea to be respectful of the other person’s time. The actual conversation does not have to be lengthy. Take the time to pick up the phone or Skype chat that friend. It’ll go a long ways to maintaining and fostering strong relationships.

10. Find common interests.

It could be the same sports team, band, movie, job or extreme sport. No matter how big or small, finding a common interest is one of the best ways to establish a meaningful relationship.

11. Pay it forward.

You should want to give others something because you want to. Not because you have to. If you know someone who happens to be a great web-designer and you have another acquaintance who is need of a designer, then why not introduce them to each other? Did you run across an unusual shot glass that would fit in your friend’s collection? Could you quickly purchase it?

12. Don’t wait to be asked for help.

If you know that a colleague, friend or family member needs some sort of help, then jump in and offer your assistance before they ask. For example, if you know that they’re moving and you have the time, you can offer to help, even if your body will hate it the next day.

13. Learn to trust others.

Even if you were hurt by someone in the past, either professionally or personally, you have to learn to trust again. As George P.H. so bluntly puts it “ALL relationships – family, business, platonic – require trust.”

14. Be clear on what you want.

None of us like feeling disappointed. But, did you ever stop and think that maybe you didn’t get your needs filled because you didn’t specify what you really wanted? Even if it seems uncomfortable, always be honest in what you want or need.

15. Understand what’s really being asked.

Here’s another piece of advice from Steve Boyer. He suggests that “people will always ask different questions than the one they really want to be answered.” For example, an “employees typically ask how to be more successful when all they really want is to get a raise or promotion.” In other words, there a larger question waiting to be answered behind that initial question.

16. Respond quickly.

While you don’t have access to your phone or computer 24/7, there’s a good probability that you will at some point sooner than later. If someone emails or texts you a question or inquiry, respond to them ASAP. Wouldn’t you rather be known as the speedy responder than the person who never gets back?

17. Set calendar reminders.

We’re all busy bees, so it’s easy to lose contact with friends, colleagues, family members and acquaintances. To avoid a problem, use a set-up calendar reminder so that you can schedule a time to touch base with the people in life.

18. Identify and avoid interpersonal pitfalls.

There are plenty of qualities that can be detrimental to a relationship. The Counseling Center at the University of Texas lists the following:

      • Having unrealistic expectations of yourself, the other person, or the relationship in general.
      • Coming too close too soon, physically or psychologically.
      • Being negative about self, the relationship or life.
      • Being a rescuer, a martyr, a savior or a “perfect” person.
      • Trying to change the other person to suit your needs.
      • Being too self-centered, judgmental or always “right”.
      • Stockpiling strong feelings – anger, pain, sadness, neediness – and then pouring them all out at once.
      • Expecting the other person to be a mind reader, a fixer or always a rock of stability for you.

If you notice any of these tendencies in yourself, think about trying to change them. You may even need to get help from someone you trust so that you can avoid the inclination from going any further.

19. Don’t be judgmental.

Just because someone acts a certain way, behaves in ways we wouldn’t allow ourselves to or has differing opinions, it doesn’t mean that they’re beneath you, or less than you. Instead of passing judgment, why not ask them questions to find out why they have those opinions and interests. Besides learning something new, you may discover that you’re not that different after all.

20. Pick your locations and activities wisely.

Heading out to the bar to meet new friends sounds great in theory, maybe. But, you’ll most likely develop bar buddies. Are those really the people you can seriously rely on? While there’s nothing wrong with have acquaintances, try to spend time in places where there will be people with similar interests. If you’re into books, for example, then why not join a book club?

21. Be patient.

Building and maintaining a relationship takes time. During that time, you’re going to need patience to help cope with the daily frustrations of life. If you don’t have the patience to deal with life’s little aggravations, then how can you expect to have a durable relationship?

22. Make eye contact.

Research has long proven that “people who make eye contact are perceived as more, “likable and trustworthy.” Dr. Atsushi Senju tells the New York Times that, “A richer mode of communication is possible right after making eye contact.”

23. Don’t mumble.

Communication is a big part of relationships. So, why would you want to make conversations awkward or confusing because you can’t be understood? In case you weren’t aware, mumbling is also a “sign of covert anger, resentment, disrespect, or sadness.”

24. Laugh.

In case you weren’t aware, laughter is extremely contagious. Besides being beneficial for your overall health, it can also “strengthen our relationships by triggering positive feelings and fostering emotional connection.” Also, take an opportunity to laugh at yourself sometime.

25. Let it go.

Pick your battles wisely. Even if you disagree with someone or have the need to tell them “I told you so,” it’s best to move on and let it go. No one wants to hear a lecture.

[/box]

Professionals

Make a New Year’s Resolution to Humanize Your Marketing for 2015

 prof-resolution

People do business with people they like. That adage rings will ring as true as ever in 2015. To improve your ROI on marketing, you will need to humanize your communications.

Humanizing your marketing means you think about people instead of the quantity of likes, fans and followers. Someone reading your branded content for 10 seconds is different than someone doing it for 10 minutes.

How much time are people spending on average? Similarly, how many people get to the end of your article? To answer these types of questions, measure success with quality-centric metrics such as reading impact and read ratios. You could also measure live chat engagement.

It also means shifting the focus from purely volume and quantity into one that inherently involves more quality. Here’s how to humanize your marketing for the coming year.

 

Balance quality and quantity.

Naturally, you need to have an audience to share your content with. You can measure this through traditional metrics, such as the size of your email list or your Facebook audience, but approaching your audience purely as clicks, likes, or views can quickly alienate them. Worse yet, you won’t generate worthwhile results if your content doesn’t have a meaningful impact on your audience.

You should shift your mindset to gaging the reaction your audience is having to your content. This can be done by diving into analytics, reading comments and listening to social conversations your audience is having about what content you’re producing.

There some great publishers and companies doing this that you can look towards for guidance, like Upworthy and Medium, two publishers that churn out a ton of quality content and are now measuring the success of their content with attention minutes.

Publishing higher quality content of interest to your audience increases the likelihood your brand will stay top of mind. For example, Baileigh Industrial, a metalworking and woodworking machinery company, has a visually compelling Instagram account. Ty’ve taken the time to share images that better reflect the topics that matter to their customer base, while also highlighting customer success stories. Their competitors don’t even come close to this level of engagement and therefore, it’s much easier for them to come off as a more relatable, humanized business.

 

Don’t automate everything.

There are some very useful tools out there to automate aspects of your marketing efforts, like Buffer, Optimizely and HootSuite, but none of them provide the proverbial silver bullet to make your efforts successful. You have to balance your automation efforts with sensibility.

If you try to automate everything, your customer will notice your scripted messaging and the use of templates, which makes it far more likely that you’ll be ignored. At the same time, you won’t be targeting or segmenting your audience appropriately, which defeats the purpose of using some of these tools to save time, remain productive and reach your marketing goals.

Marketing tools like Marketo and Hubspot can help your business target select groups among your audience, understand their needs and pain points and cater your messaging accordingly.

To start, try better segmenting your email list to begin to see results. Automating a few different templates, each with a unique message to a few segments of your audience. This way you’re able to both automate your messaging without overdoing it and coming off as too robotic to your customer base.

 

Be honest about your intentions.

Lastly, be honest and open with your customers and admit when you mess up. Studio Neat, one of the first companies with a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $100,000, follows this mantra by consistently updating their customers on their campaigns and blog when there are delays in production or expected problems with shipping.

Blogs like Farnam Street and Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You To Be Rich frequently tell their readers to unsubscribe if they’re not interested in receiving their emails, because they don’t want an audience that isn’t engaged or isn’t actively participating in the community.

Microsoft, on the other hand, asks their customers multiple times to opt-in to their promotional emails during check out, even if you’ve already said no. This isn’t an ideal experience for their customers and potential subscribers, instead it comes off as being too focused on growing an email list for the sake of growing it.

Today’s consumers have become much more intelligent with their buying habits, less loyal to the companies they frequent, therefore it’s important to be honest about your intentions and cater to the needs of your audience or you’re more likely to lose their interest.

With so many different ways to measure the impact of our marketing efforts, it’s easy to start perceiving customers as statistics like clicks and open rates, instead of people. In 2015, we should strive to humanize our messaging and marketing as a way of both delighting our audience and differentiating from the competition.

Professionals

Make an Impression on Employees With These 3 Simple, and Free, Holiday ‘Gifts’

prof-holidaygifts2

By PETER GASCA, Entrepreneur and Small Business Strategist

This time of year is when many business owners ponder how to demonstrate their appreciation to employees. Though much of the economy is doing very well, with 2014 being the best year for U.S. job gains since 1999, and stock markets at record highs, most small businesses and employees are not feeling it. Therefore, big gifts or bonuses will be difficult for most entrepreneurs to give.

So how can you show your appreciation without breaking your budget?

A small gift and holiday card may be in order, but you can make a much bigger impression by giving all of your employees a healthy dose of these three things:

Compliments

Early in my career, I had a job with a large home builder. The CEO of the company was a very personable and talented leader, and the first time I was promoted, she told me how much she appreciated my hard work and my great work ethic. Her compliment was sincere and unprompted, and it made such a big impact on me that I still remember where we were during the conversation.

Since my position was highly sought after in my industry, I often received recruiting calls from competitors. Each time, I was emboldened by the respect of my boss, so while the money might have been better, I always felt confident to turn them down.

With your team, do not be bashful about giving compliments, especially at this time of year. Be selfless and sincere, and your words will go much further than any small holiday gift.

Credit

Another great trait I remember about many of my role models was their humility. What I remember most was their ability to motivate others to a common goal by constantly giving credit for work. This acknowledgment of my time and effort constantly made me want to work harder and continue to make them proud.

This season, tell your team how much you appreciate their efforts and recognize them for the jobs they have done. Promote successes from the previous year, and even if your team was not completely responsible for them, dole out credit for everything. Appreciate the fact that without your team, your business could not exist. Your selflessness will be appreciated and will energize your team going into 2015.

Confidence

Another great characteristic of great leaders is their confidence. And by confidence, I do not mean self-indulgent narcissism, but rather confidence in the business and the team. Even if your company is doing well, remember that your employees and stakeholders need and want reassurance that their future is secure.

This holiday season, find a way to demonstrate confidence in your organization by leading from the top. Again, promote the successes from the past year, and set and share goals for 2015, which will show that you and your business plan on sticking around. Be sure to express that you believe that, because of the team you have, next year will be better than the last. The energy from your confidence and courage will be felt throughout your organization.

This holiday season, if your budget can afford it, do give your employees a small token of your appreciation for a job well done. Go beyond gifts, however, and give them all a healthy dose of compliments, credit and confidence this holiday season.

These are gifts that cost you nothing but will mean the world to your team.

 

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240505″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Professionals

The People Growing Rich In Sales Share These 5 Entrepreneurial Qualities

 

Seems that sales has gotten a bad rap over the past few years, and today it seems young people want nothing to do with it. Salespeople are characterized as overly zealous and manipulative middle-aged men, the used-car salesman if you will.

It’s time this stereotype is reinvented. There comes a time when salespeople need to take a step outside of their employee mindset, and begin thinking differently with a more entrepreneurial approach. Just because salespeople don’t own the business, doesn’t mean they can’t posses the qualities of those entrepreneurs. Here are the top characteristics that all of these “entrepreneurial” salespeople have in common, to help you to reinvent yourself as a salesperson as well.

1: Do-or-die attitude

Entrepreneurs have a do-or-die ethos. They will do whatever it takes to get the job done. If you can extend this into your work in sales you’ll put in that extra commitment and effort to close the sale. You must possess a high level of persistence to obtain this attitude. Entrepreneurial salespeople don’t take “no” for an answer. They will press on, even in the face of failure. They have the attitude and the confidence that they will succeed and make the sale. In the end, they always do.

2: Mindset of a scientist

This unique type of salesperson has a willingness and love for experimenting with new selling tactics, and dipping into new markets. One of the many new, great things about the web is that every interaction can be measured. We can gather tons of data about human behavior. Entrepreneurial salespeople use this data to test their hypotheses and predictions. They constantly try new things, to see what works best for them.

They know there’s not an exact universal science that will get them the sale 100 percent of the time. That’s why it’s good to experiment and play around with different methods. A good scientist never gets stuck in the past, because the world of science is constantly changing. The same goes for in the sales world. If you’ve been trying the same, mundane tactics for a long time, chances are they’re outdated. You will gain from tapping into the scientist mindset for some new tactics.

3: Efficient work, not a hard-worker

Most people working in sales are familiar with the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 Rule. Which says precisely that 80 percent of your sales will come from just 20 percent of your customers. Entrepreneurial salespeople have not only understood this concept from the get-go, but they live by it. They work smart, which allows them to work less. By focusing on just the top 20 percent of your clients you can really hone in on their needs and watch your business prosper.

It’s difficult for average salespeople to obtain this mindset because, as part of our nature, we want to treat all our clients equally. That’s why entrepreneurial salespeople will soon take over. They’re effortlessly getting a lot more sales than the salesman who’s slaving away to please everybody.

Efficiency is also obtained by entrepreneurial salespeople embracing new technology in the field. Sales-order apps make it easier and more efficient for salespeople to obtain data about the top 20 percent, so you can spend more effort on impressing them and less with the nitty-gritty details. This isn’t just in theory.

4: Attentive listener

Think about the people you value most in your life. Often, these are the people who listen to you most, who show an active caring for your situation and want to hear about it. Active and attentive listening is not only fundamental to building strong positive relationships, but it will also help you to assess better if a prospect really has the need for your product or service.

Once again, the old stereotypical salesperson is one who blabs on for 40 minutes straight and doesn’t even answer your original question. The entrepreneurial salesperson is a master listener, pulling information about the customers thoughts and feelings rather than always pushing.

5: Risk taker

Great entrepreneurs and salespeople are willing to innovate and try risky things. Today, this is more important than ever. New products and services call for new modes of selling. Once you fall into a routine and get into your comfort zone, it’s difficult to challenge yourself.

“I just broke my personal record by staying right here in my comfort zone!” said no entrepreneurial salesperson ever. In order to move to the top of the field and get the most sales, you have to think differently and take big risks. The exciting thing about risks is you can’t know or anticipate exactly what the outcome will bring you. You have to take risks to see future gains.

Anyone in sales can develop these characteristics of a successful entrepreneurial salesperson. With a change in thinking and a new attitude, we can shift the persona of the old salesman into the modern entrepreneurial salesperson everyone wants to be.

 

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240131″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

 

Professionals

5 Ways To Get Prospective Customers to Choose You

In the world of business marketing, the strategic focus has slowly shifted from seeking potential clients to making them want to come to you.

In other words, you as a business owner can finally forgo the drudgery of always having to jump through hoops to gain a client and instead focus on making your customers want to come to you.

To learn how to utilize this marketing strategy, read the helpful tips listed below:

 

1. Don’t target everyone.

Admittedly, it does seem counterproductive to minimize your potential client base when attempting to grow your business.However, often catering to a niche client base will help you succeed in your efforts to grow your business, not the reverse.

After all, you can’t please everyone and people love specific personalized solutions for their problems.. By selecting a niche group within your broad business arena, you can market more specifically and offer products or services for specific needs.

A good example is Richard Simmons. He is known as exercise expert who focuses on a niche market: overweight people who would otherwise avoid working out. In so doing, Simmons has become a huge success.

 

2. Make your marketing entertaining. 

While you want prospects to attain information about your business, product or service after watching the ad, you also want your marketing campaign to be memorable, funny and worth sharing. Otherwise, it will likely be forgotten.

 

3. Provide free resources.

If you as a business owner and solve a client’s problem for free, you will have succeeded where 99.9 percent of others have failed.

By offering a tip or helping a client pro bono, you are building repoire with them which could lead to business down the line. This can help gain credibility, trust and create an image of yourself as an expert in your field.

 

4. Use authority positioning.

Authority positioning means that you are seen as an expert in your chosen field. To communicate your trustworthiness to your clients, try the following strategies:

Align yourself with other experts. Whether through speaking at the same seminar as other experts in your field or simply using their logo on your website (with their permission of course), when you align yourself with other experts in your field, you garner immediate trust.

Appear in relevant media. Another way to prove your authority is to be quoted in articles, appear on TV or become a guest on a radio shows and podcasts.  To stand out, create three different pitches that tie into general interest news, so you can sent to producers. The key is writing them, so the producer doesn’t have to do any research or work. Give them everything they need for a five- to 10-minute segment.

Share what you know through various means. Whenever you have an opinion, can offer advice or build yourself up as a thought leader share alot and often. A great example of this point is Dave Ramsey. He shares what he knows about financial independence with Christian values on his radio show every day. He also uses seminars, books and his website, to build brand trust and recognition.

 

5. Create a strong digital profile.

Having a polished digital profile is an important step in getting prospects to come to you.

Why is this so important?

  • Potential business connections and clients will sometimes search for your name in advance of meetings, so you want to have an impressive profile available for them to peruse.
  • Your digital profile is a reflection of who you are, what you are passionate about and what you do well. In addition, since you should also include a photo in your profile, it shows your appearance.
  • Your online profile allows you to brand yourself and showcase your talents, and in many ways, has taken the place of a traditional resume.
  • A digital profile that is well maintained gives you the ability to create a professional network, which will help you build trust and authority in your field.

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239719″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

Professionals

5 Things You Should be Doing to Have an Insanely Productive Week

productive

A productive week depends largely on what you focus on every working day and how much time you allocate to activities that take up your time (i.e. busy work). Working harder does not necessarily mean you are being productive. There will always be a better way to complete that task. Find it, work smarter and get more done in your working week.

These are a few things you can do to have an insanely productive week this and every other week:

 

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]1. Stop planning, start doing.

It’s okay to make time to plan what needs to be done in the week or month but when you get back to the planning table often, you lose precious productive hours. So instead of plan, just do it. The option to work on a task in the future instead of now seem comfortable but not prudent. While you keep telling yourself you don’t have to do it now, that task won’t go away. And somebody will have to eventually account for it. So instead of procrastinating, get on with it and check it off your to-do list.

Also, are your meetings really worthwhile? Most people spend too much time in meetings, when they should be working and getting things done. To ensure you are making the most of your time, create a time budget. This will help you realize how much time you are losing to meetings or planning when you should be doing actual work. You will be surprised at how much you can get done every week if you start tracking how much time you spend planning or meeting.

2. You don’t have to say “yes” to every request.

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.” — Warren Buffet.

Saying “yes” to a request seem easier than a simple “no”. Yet every time you agree to do something for somebody that brings low or no result, it makes it difficult to have a schedule you can really control. You don’t want that. You can achieve more if you know what you have to do, when you have to it and what you expect to accomplish. All that can be done in controlled schedule.

3. Don’t be a perfectionist.

If you keep chasing perfection, it could take you longer to get your tasks done – and you will most likely be less productive than you planned. The reason being is when you activity strive for perfection you spend more time on a single task than required, causing your other responsibilities to get pushed back. This will cause you to lose time and possibly annoy your immediate boss in the process. Perfectionism is even higher when you don’t account to anyone but yourself, as the fine tuning never ends.

4. Get everything out of your head.

Don’t rely heavily on your memory. It will fail you when you need it most. Instead, write things down.

There are hundreds of options for taking notes — everything from the good old sticky notes to applications like Evernote, Any.do, and Wunderlist. By jotting down everything that needs to get done in the week, you will have a better picture of what needs to be accomplished – and set priorities accordingly.

5. Review and measure your accomplishments.

Just before you close the week and prepare for next week, review your achievements, along with everything else that needed to be done, to see if you really got work done. Get back to your to-do list and check them off and find out what you were not able to do and why. Celebrate your accomplishments, take note of everything you postponed and learn from your mistakes. You will be better prepared for the following week.[/box]

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237985″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]

 

Professionals

Where Does Innovation Come From?

where-does-innovation-come-from

The theme of Vanity Fair’s inaugural New Establishment Summit in San Francisco was “The Age of Innovation.” As overblown and overhyped as the word is these days, even a cynic has to admit it would be nice to know where innovation actually comes from.

Perhaps it’s even more important to understand where innovation doesn’t come from.

It doesn’t come from a blog, a book or an article. It doesn’t come from inspirational quotes and stories. It doesn’t come from LinkedIn Influencers or anyone you follow on Twitter. It doesn’t come from motivational speakers. And it most certainly doesn’t come from any kind of self-improvement or personal productivity.

Innovation comes from inside you. Ideas, inspiration and innovation only seem to come from outside you, but they don’t. They always come from inside you. The only exception is small teams…but only intimate groups in real time in the real world, never large-scale or online collaborations.

It comes from obsession. Albert Einstein believed light was special, unique. He was obsessed with light. Elon Musk is obsessed with manned space travel and electric cars, among other things. Every successful founder was inspired by obsession. If you’re obsessed, you never need to be inspired by anything else.

Innovation comes from history. Microprocessor architecture comes almost entirely from the way mainframe and minicomputers were designed decades ago. So much innovation comes from ancient history it isn’t funny. Why reinvent the wheel when you don’t have to?

It comes from perseverance. Steve Jobs said, “You’ve got to have an idea or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you’re passionate about, otherwise you’re not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that’s half the battle right there.”

Innovation comes from focus, discipline and patience. These days, everyone is obsessed with squeezing every ounce of personal productivity and self-improvement out of themselves. That only takes you further away from innovation. Innovation comes from focusing on one thing and letting everything else fade to black. It’s the big picture that drives you and that’s also what drives you to come up with unique solutions to tough problems.

It comes from the need to prove yourself. The human mind is surprisingly powerful, especially in terms of the need to prove yourself. While it usually manifests early in life, the motivation tends to stick with us and often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It doesn’t even seem to matter if you know to whom you’re proving yourself – your father, yourself or teachers who said you’d never amount to anything.

Innovation comes from your subconscious. Brilliant ideas often come when you least expect them or when you’re not even paying attention. They may come to us in dreams, during meditation, in the shower, or when we’re otherwise preoccupied with some menial or repetitive task that allows our deeper emotions and thoughts to engage. And no, distracting yourself with games or social media does not qualify.

It comes from identifying problems. Granted, there has to be a solution but the problem comes first and foremost. The reason is simple. Without a pressing problem, there’s no real need of a solution. And until you correctly identify the problem, your solution is suspect and lacking innovation. Always focus on the problem. What do people need or want to do that they can’t currently do or do cost-effectively?

The most important thing to know about innovation is that it’s not the same as invention. We might even go as far as to say that, in the world of startups, invention is sort of immaterial. Just come up with problems that need to be solved and solutions that are unique and that people can actually use. More often than not, that will do the trick.

 

[button color=”blue” size=”small” link=”http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238545″ target=”blank” ]Source[/button]