Stop Gambling with Others: Start Winning by Answering Three Key Questions

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Why True Leaders Test Their Leadership by Leading Volunteers

November 2, 2024

Most leaders today focus on the fact that they have a title and therefore others need to follow their lead. Leadership isn't just about holding a title or wielding authority—it's about influence, inspiration, and the ability to rally people toward a common goal. While leading within a corporate structure comes with built-in authority and often, compliance through incentives, true leadership is best tested when that authority is stripped away. This is where leading volunteers becomes the ultimate test of a leader’s abilities and often shows where the leader has blindspots.

In most professional settings, leaders rely on their position to guide their teams. Employees follow instructions, at least in part, because their jobs depend on it. Volunteers, on the other hand, have no such obligation. They are there because they want to be, not because they have to be. This means that a leader’s ability to motivate, inspire, and guide is the incentive for volunteers to keep coming back. There's no fallback plan—no paycheck to dangle, no promotions to offer—just the leader's ability to lead.

Leading volunteers forces leaders to:

Communicate Vision Clearly: If your vision isn’t compelling, people won’t stay. Volunteers need to understand “why” what they’re doing matters, and they need to believe in it. This pushes leaders to refine their communication skills, ensuring their message is not just heard but felt.
Build Genuine Relationships: Volunteers are driven by passion and purpose, not obligation. This means leaders must cultivate genuine relationships, demonstrating empathy, understanding, and respect. People will only follow if they feel valued.
Empower Through Trust: Without formal authority, leaders must delegate effectively and trust their volunteers to deliver. Micromanagement is not an option. This fosters an environment where volunteers can thrive, feel ownership over their work, and contribute meaningfully.

One of the most telling aspects of leading volunteers is that it exposes whether someone is a true leader or merely a manager. Managers might excel in structured environments, but leading volunteers requires a different skill set—one rooted in influence rather than control.

True leadership is about:

Influencing without authority
Inspiring action without incentives
Driving commitment without compulsion

If a leader can rally volunteers, they can lead in any setting.

Leaders who have honed their skills with volunteers often bring these refined abilities back to their professional roles. They communicate more effectively, build stronger teams, and foster a culture of trust and empowerment. Moreover, they gain a deeper understanding of what motivates people, which can lead to more meaningful and impactful leadership.

Leading volunteers is crucible for testing and refining leadership abilities. When leaders step out of their comfort zones and lead without the safety net of authority, they discover the true essence of leadership. And that’s the kind of leadership that transforms organizations, communities, and even the world.

So, if you want to test your leadership, step into the world of volunteering. Lead those who don’t have to follow you, and see if they choose to anyway. Then you’ll know truly how well you lead.

Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with the best customers and top employees. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? How can we land and keep top talent in our organization with the salary wars. Kevin teaches your sales and leadership teams how to build the key ingredient to be successful with their relationships and take your goals to the next level with high levels of engagement.

Stop Gambling And Start Winning With Others: https://www.kevinsidebottom.com/stopgambling

Kevin’s website: www.kevinsidebottom.com

Kevin’s email: kevin@kevinsidebottom.com

The Sales Process Uncovered Book

The Sales Process Online Membership Site

Do We Really Need Good Leadership?

June 1, 2024

The Answer is YES!!!!!

Within the realm of organizational challenges, low employee engagement rates at approximately 30% stand as a formidable obstacle. At the heart of this predicament lies poor leadership, a factor that not only contributes to high turnover, slow operational speed, and increased costs but also underscores the critical need for transformative leadership. This post delves into the profound impact of good leadership as the key to mitigating the issues associated with low engagement, emphasizing why effective leadership is crucial in fostering a dynamic and flourishing workplace.

Low employee engagement at the 30% mark signifies an alarming disconnect within the workforce, resulting in a cascade of challenges that organizations must urgently address. High turnover rates, a lackluster operational pace, and escalating costs emerge as tangible consequences, demanding a strategic response from leadership.

The connection between poor leadership and high turnover is undeniable. Employees disenchanted by uninspiring leadership often seek greener pastures, contributing to a revolving door of talent. Recognizing this correlation underscores the imperative for leadership to transform and inspire to retain a committed and motivated workforce.

Operational drag caused by disengagement is a direct result of leadership that fails to unite and inspire. An uninspired workforce operates at suboptimal levels, leading to missed deadlines and slowed project completion. Effective leadership serves as the catalyst for breaking through this inertia, reenergizing teams, and propelling the organization forward with purpose and efficiency.

Poor leadership exacts a considerable financial toll on organizations, extending beyond the immediate costs of turnover. Constant recruitment, training, and the potential for errors among disengaged employees contribute to increased operational costs. Effective leadership becomes a strategic imperative in mitigating these financial challenges and fostering a culture of sustainable success.

Why Good Leadership Matters: Mitigating Challenges and Fostering Growth

In the face of these challenges, effective leadership emerges as the linchpin for organizational resilience and growth. Effective leadership serves to retain talent, boost operational efficiency, control costs, and foster innovation.

When employees believe in their leadership they stay and work through the trials. Individuals are trusted more and do not have to ask for authorization with constant escalations that slow down the organization to almost a stop. With speed going up that means the costs go down and that impact the bottom line. Innovation is also fostered as employees are freed up to focus on how to grow instead of maintain the status quo.

Challenges posed by low engagement rates necessitate a strategic response, and that response lies on leadership. Effective leadership is crucial for mitigating turnover, accelerating operational speed, and controlling costs. By recognizing the transformative power of leadership that inspires, organizations can pave the way for a dynamic, resilient, and flourishing workplace where employee engagement becomes the cornerstone of sustained success.

Have a Great Week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with the best customers and top employees. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? How can we land and keep top talent in our organization with the salary wars. Kevin teaches your sales and leadership teams how to build the key ingredient to be successful with their relationships and take your goals to the next level with high levels of engagement.

Kevin’s website: www.kevinsidebottom.com

Kevin’s email: kevin@kevinsidebottom.com

The Sales Process Uncovered Book

The Sales Process Online Membership Site

Building Relationships With Influencers

April 27, 2024

In a world driven by connections and influence, recognizing the impact of influencers is paramount for businesses seeking to thrive in the digital age. This blog post explores the concept that everyone holds a sphere of influence, from global icons like Taylor Swift to the everyday person with a network of 150 individuals. Additionally, we delve into the strategy of cultivating relationships with your top customers to transform them into influential advocates who can ripple positive effects throughout their networks.

The Celebrity Influence

When we think of influencers, global celebrities like Taylor Swift often come to mind. These individuals possess the power to sway masses, shaping trends and influencing opinions. Their reach is vast, and their impact is undeniable. However, the landscape of influence extends far beyond the realm of A-list celebrities and landing one of these influencers can be costly to your organization.

Beyond the megastars, micro-influencers—individuals with a modest but engaged following—hold significant sway within niche communities. Their authenticity and relatability often result in higher engagement and trust.

We also need to recognize that each person, in their own right, wields influence over their network. From friends and family to colleagues and social media connections, the potential to shape opinions and behaviors exists in every individual's circle.

The "Dunbar Number" suggests that humans can maintain stable social relationships with approximately 150 people. This principle holds profound implications for businesses seeking to harness the influence within these networks. Recognize the value of personal relationships. By fostering meaningful connections with individuals, businesses can tap into the influence of each person within their network.

Word of Mouth Marketing

Every positive interaction with a customer has the potential to amplify through word-of-mouth. Satisfied customers become advocates, influencing others in their circle to explore and support your brand. By identifying and nurturing relationships with your most loyal and satisfied clients, you can transform them into advocates who influence their network positively.

Analyze customer data to identify your top 10 clients—those who consistently engage with and support your brand. These individuals become the focal point of your advocacy strategy. Offering these customers unparalleled support and personalized experiences. Happy customers are not only likely to stay but also become vocal supporters of your brand.

Ask them to share the success stories from using your product / service whether through testimonials, case studies, or collaborative content, highlight their achievements to inspire trust and admiration within their network.

Influence is a multifaceted concept that extends beyond global celebrities to encompass the vast network of connections each person holds. By recognizing the power of micro-influencers and understanding the dynamics of personal networks, businesses can strategically leverage relationships with their top customers. Transforming satisfied clients into influential advocates creates a ripple effect that extends far beyond individual transactions, ultimately shaping the success and perception of your brand in the digital landscape.

I hope this helps and I hope you have a great day!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with the best customers and top employees. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? How can we land and keep top talent in our organization with the salary wars. Kevin teaches your sales and leadership teams how to build the key ingredient to be successful with their relationships and take your goals to the next level with high levels of engagement.

Kevin’s website: www.kevinsidebottom.com

Kevin’s email: kevin@kevinsidebottom.com

The Sales Process Uncovered Book

Six Things To Be An Effective Communicator

July 8, 2023

Effective communication is crucial for any leader. It is through communication that leaders can convey their vision, inspire their team, and build influence. However, being a good communicator is not always easy, and many leaders struggle to communicate effectively with their team. In this blog post, we will discuss how leaders can improve their effectiveness in communication.

1. Know Your Audience: One of the most important things to remember when communicating as a leader is that different people have different communication styles. Some people prefer face-to-face communication, while others prefer written communication. Some people prefer a direct communication style, while others prefer a more indirect approach. As a leader, it is your responsibility to understand your team members' communication preferences and adjust your style accordingly.

2. Listen Actively: Active listening is one of the most important skills for effective communication. It involves fully focusing on the speaker, understanding their message, and providing feedback. As a leader, active listening is important because it helps you understand your team members' situation, issues, and ramifications. This can help you build trust and influence with your team, which is crucial for effective leadership.

3. Be Clear and Concise: When communicating as a leader, it is important to be clear and concise. This means using simple language and avoiding technical jargon or complex phrases. It also means being direct and getting to the point quickly. By doing so, you can ensure that your message is easily understood and that there is no confusion or misinterpretation.

4. Provide Feedback: Providing feedback is an essential part of effective communication. As a leader, you should provide feedback regularly to your team members, both positive and not so positive. Positive feedback can help motivate and inspire your team, while the not so positive feedback can help them improve their performance. It is important to provide feedback in a timely and constructive manner, and to focus on the behavior or performance, rather than the person.

5. Use Visual Aids: Visual aids can be a powerful tool for communication. They can help to clarify complex ideas, make your message more memorable, and keep your audience engaged. As a leader, you can use visual aids such as diagrams, charts, and graphs to help illustrate your points and make your message more impactful.

6. Practice Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. As a leader, practicing empathy is important because it helps you connect with your team members on an emotional level. By understanding their feelings and concerns, you can address their needs and build trust and rapport.

Effective communication is essential for any leader. By understanding your audience, actively listening, being clear and concise, providing feedback, using visual aids, and practicing empathy, you can improve your communication skills and become a more effective leader. Remember, effective communication is not just about what you say, but also how you say it. With practice, you can develop the skills you need to communicate effectively and inspire your team to achieve their goals.

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

The Benefit Of Having Mentors

April 8, 2023

Why do we need mentors? Why are they called mentors? How do you become a mentor?

Why is it that we think we can just do life on our own and that we have all the answers? Why do we time and time again struggle with the same issues and not reach out for help?

I spent the majority of my life doing things on my own and finding the correct answer to my situation with tons of research and exploration. Hours and hours were spent to solve the issue I was facing. By doing this I ended up wasting a great deal of time and effort with little progress.

That is when I finally relented and started asking for help. That is when mentors stepped in to help me avoid many pitfalls, increase my speed and efficiency, and grow my success faster. I have had mentors in business, finance, faith, and in relationships. All key to my success today.

Mentors are people that have experience in the area that we are trying to walk through and have the scars from the battles we will face. They have experienced a majority of the similar trials that we will see on our journey. They have likely fallen into some of the traps that we will encounter.

Mentors are people with a servant heart that want to help the next generation succeed. These individuals do not do it for the notoriety either. They are just wanting to help others succeed.

Mentors have helped me greatly when I sat with them to share my situation, issues, and ramifications. They will usually share a story about how they were in that similar situation and what they did as well as the results. Some happy ending stories, some not so happy ending stories.

When I was going through my dad’s final year of life, I met with a mentor regularly to talk about what I was going through and the stresses involved. This mentor was able to help me with coping, the grieving curve, and understand all that I was going to be losing as this chapter closed in my life. This was a tough time and I am glad I had a mentor in my life to help me see through it while managing every day stressors..

I have also been mentoring a young man who is at the stage of his life where he is trying to figure out his career path. He is an intern at a very well-known local organization and trying to figure out what doors to walk through. The discussions we have had and stories I have shared have helped him rethink his possibilities.

He has a bright future and I look forward to seeing where he goes professionally as well as relationally. The hope is that he avoids some of the pitfalls that I have experienced in my life with the stories and insight that I have shared.

Mentors are great resources to help us with questions we have about what we are going through. They are people that want to help poor in and serve us with their knowledge. Finding a mentor for a particular area of life that we need help is going to benefit us more than we can ever imagine. Seek out a mentor today if you are struggling with a decision, or offer to be a mentor. You will feel a sense of purpose when you lend a hand, or a story to help someone else avoid the pitfalls of life.

One of my favorite quotes: “Do or do not. There is no try…” - Yoda

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

Communication is Key for Success

March 25, 2023

It’s not what you’ve said, but how you’ve said it.” How about, “All you needed to do was communicate and we could have avoided this issue in the first place?”

No one is perfect with their communication, but we have to be good at communication when we are in a sales position or in a leadership position. Communication is a key ingredient in a successful business. It is actually the most important quality as a leader as well.

We may be the most brilliant leader, but if we can not communicate with those we lead, then we are not going to be able to go anywhere with anyone.

Leaders need to focus on building up their communication skills if they want to go far. There are many different ways we can grow our communication.

The first way we can become a better communicator is to check our posture. That is right, the majority of communication is nonverbal. That means what we say and how we say it are affected by our facial expressions and posture. If we are walking around like EOR (from whiney the pooh) and are trying to present good news, how does that land?

When we communicate to communicate a point, we can use stories. That’s right, stories are what we humans gravitate to when we are learn lessons. Stories allow the listeners to become a part of the story and learn the lesson that is being communicated with us. We love stories to learn lessons. We love to hear a good story and when we add the point to it, we grasp it better.

Another way we can become better communicators is to not use $100 words. That’s right too many people like to seem more intelligent by using large words that others may not understand in order to seem smarter. This is actually counterintuitive. The best leaders are able to take complex topics and communicate them in a way that a middle school child could understand them. Being able to break complex topics down into easy to understand language is essential.

There are many ways to improve our communication. We can record ourselves when we are practicing our speech, we can go to toastmasters to learn how to tell stories better, and we can go to acting / improv classes to learn how to present better. Using a little humor is like giving a little sugar to let the medicine go down smoother.

We need to become great communicators if we are going to lead organizations into the future. Without it we will lose engagement, influence, and profits.

For this year I would highly recommend making it a goal to get better at communicating if you want to excel in your career. It will pay off greatly when you reach the next level in your career and your future self will thank you.

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

The Sales Process Uncovered Membership Page“

Why Selfishness Affects Trust And Profits

March 11, 2023

When I teach organizations the trust equation and how to build influence, I run through the variables that affect trust. Why some people seem to be able to gain trust and influence better than others. It consistently comes back to one main variable in building trust.

it does not matter how competent, how reliable, or how vulnerable we are with others. If we are only out for our own gain, willing to step on others for our accolades, then we are going nowhere. That is right selfishness affects trust.

Selfishness is in the denominator of the trust equation and just like any fraction, the denominator has the most leverage. Now every individual is selfish to a point. It’s in our fight or flight mechanism that keeps us safe. We want to make sure our needs are met and that we are safe. Sometimes we take it a bit too far.

We all want to succeed at what we are doing and become successful in our careers, relationships, etc. We want that nice house, nice car, top of the line phone. No one wants to fail at their endeavors. Unfortunately, that fear of failure takes over and we start focusing how we can step on others to get to that next level then we are going to sacrifice trust.

If we are willing to sacrifice others for our gain then we are not going to be able to build trust with others. They will be able to see our intentions. We can hide our intentions for a short amount of time, but ultimately our selfishness will be like a light shining bright in the night sky.

When we act in selfish ways, people learn that they can not trust us to do what is right, just what is right for ourselves. Selfishness is a filter of how we see the world and how we function in it. We see our view of the as a means to an end for our own success.

Selfishness does not value others. It only values our gain. When others realize this, they understand that they need to interact in a way that protects them. Which means now they start acting in selfish ways as well. That means that others are affected and now trust really starts to erode in our organizations.

When we have low levels of trust, speed goes down, extra meetings happen, extra tracking files are needed, constant reporting, etc. Costs increase, from all of this excess tracking, resulting in lower profit margins.

When we have lower profit margins, organizations will then have to start cutting costs everywhere they can. That means layoffs, using lower quality materials in our of our products / services, making our offerings worth less. This then starts the downward spiral of lower revenues and accelerates the speed of bankruptcy.

We need to avoid this pattern if we want to stay in business for the long haul and we need to stop being selfish. We need to serve those around us and as a result we will be able to generate trust which will reverse this spiral and keep us profitable.

When speed goes up, costs go down. That means more profits. That all is affected by the trust and selfishness levels we have at our organizations.

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

Sales = Influence = Leadership

February 18, 2023

When I decided to become a professional salesperson, it was based on the sales pitch that if you want to be a better manager, more successful in any career, you need to know sales. I was an engineer at the time and wanted to climb the corporate ladder. I dreamed of leading groups of people and helping the team shatter goals while working together. It was not until I received my certification from John Maxwell to be a speaker, trainer, and coach that I understood that Leadership and Sales go hand in hand.

Throughout the certification training John Maxwell stated, “Leadership is Influence, nothing more, nothing less.” John states this over an over when he talks on leadership. One gauge that John uses to see if we are good leaders is to see how many people that volunteer look to us for leadership. When we are moving forward for a cause how many people are willing to follow us when we are not paying them.

People being paid by us are doing so because they are receiving payment for their services so just because they follow us, does not mean that they believe in us. If we are not paying these people and they are following us, then we know that they are following because of our leadership. This is done by our influence. The more influence we have, the more people will fight by our side for the cause.

What I learned through sales is that the more influence we have with our customers, the more they look to us for help and want to do business with us. The more we help them get what they want to go, the more we provide top notch service, and the value that we bring causes us to gain influence. They reach out to us for advice and help. It does not have to be the product that we sell either. I have had customers reaching out to me for advice in marketing, software packages, cars, digital cameras, etc. I was gaining influence with them and they were reaching out to me for help in other areas.

That is when I started really looking at this sales and leadership thing to see if there were common threads. The truth is that sales and leadership are based on influence. Great leaders are those that can sell a vision to their organization so much so that the people will “Charge the pits of Hell with a water pistol” – Dave Ramsey. The most influential people use sales practices to drive forward and get their teams engaged.

Steps in the sales process to get the customer engage translate right into the leaders process to gain influence with those around them. They both find the needs of the organization and people, verify those needs, and present the solution in a way to drive engagement to move forward together. The great thing is that it really is not that complicated. It’s following a process over and over again gaining influence. That is why I love working with leaders and sales professionals to help them move forward and grow. They are so similar that this one process I help with will enable sales professionals and leaders to gain their influence.

If you are someone looking to grow your influence reach out to me today and I would be happy to review where you are at, where you want to go, and how you can get there. It’s not complicated, and you can do it.

Reach out here if you would like to start the discussion.

Have a great weekend!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

The Question Our Employees Are Asking

January 28, 2023

Last week we talked about coaching others, this week we will have the discussion that those around us are asking.

Has anyone ever asked you the following question…Do you have my back?

Chances are if you have direct reports, they are asking this question about you. They were trying to figure this out the moment they start working for you.

Your direct reports want to know that when the chips are down that you will have their back as long as they are doing what is right and ethical. Far too often in big business employees feel they have to CYA because they do not trust their manager. CYA stands for Cover Your Assets. The A is sometimes shortened.

I have experienced in the issue of having to CYA myself in communications due to a lack of support from managers. It agitated me greatly because I believed I was left to fight for myself. It is a lonely position to be in as a report. Here’s the thing, relationships do not thrive in this kind of environment.

Employees want to know that their managers have their back when the chips are down and that they can reach out to their managers when they need help. Far too many managers are so busy themselves they forget to establish ground rules for trust and communication at the beginning of the relationship. There needs to be a set of ground rules of engagement set up from the beginning. Leaving it up to assumption is a recipe for a bad relationship. There are a few managers out there unfortunately that don’t really care about relationships with their reports and should look to either move on from their position or retire.

When trust and communication are not flowing it becomes like a body of water with no movement. It becomes toxic and everything in it dies. When trust and communication are absent fear also starts setting in. When Fear takes hold, trust and relationships do not flourish, they unfortunately die.

If reports don’t trust their manager, then where does the employee bounce ideas off of to move forward in the correct direction? Where do they expect to get mentorship? Where do these reports learn the correct way of operating for the organization?

Far too often employees have enough of this lack of trust and communication and elect to leave the department, or worse the organization. The intrinsic knowledge that the employee has is also following them right out the door. This then puts the team and management back to start the process over to onboard another employee. If the cycle keeps occurring the manager will be found out and their management will have to discuss options.

The cost of onboarding on average about $4000 per employee. Not to mention the training them on the software and teams that they will need to engage with often. It is also a good to note that it takes about three to six months for the employee to get comfortable in their new role. This means they are slower at the start in their position which also costs money to the organization. Why not work to make sure our reports know that we have their back, how to communicate with us, and build trust.

The answer is setting up guard rails with our direct reports from the beginning to make sure they understand how the trust and communication can work together. Setting these guard rails up will keep everything moving better and work life to improve. Employees need to know that they can trust their leaders. Having that trust and communication will allow the employees to excel and thrive in our organizations.

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

Why Quiet Quitting and Quiet Firing Are Not New

January 14, 2023

Quiet Quitting is this new phrase for those employees that are trying to do the bare minimum to not get fired from their work and still collect their pay check. This can be claimed because people want to have a better work/life balance, quality of life improvement, or just pure mailing it in.

Quiet Firing on the other hand is where management does not want to have the tough discussions with employees about their lack of achievement. They keep cancelling meetings, not opening time up for one-on-one meetings, not responding to emails. The manager just makes themselves unavailable to the employees.

So why is this not new. It’s the same thing we have been talking about with those engagement surveys. That is right disengagement is the same thing as quiet quitting and quiet firing. Employees that are disengaged from their work will not be efficient and will not move the organization forward. Goals will be missed, profits will go down, costs will go up, and the mood from the team also suffers.

What we need to be focused on is not allowing quiet quitting and quiet firing to happen. We need to be intentional with our employees and managers. We have to take it upon ourselves to focus our efforts to stay engaged, or we need to find something else.

There is no quality of life improvement from being disengaged in an area of our lives. There is no improvement in relationships when we are not engaged. It is like a pool of water with no movement. Scum starts forming, and starts to smell bad.

We need to get our pride put aside and focus on doing our best even if those around us are not putting forth their best. People will take notice from us going the extra mile and challenge the status quo. They will start seeing the movement and want to also put forth the extra effort as well.

We need to make sure that our culture is one of growth and improvement. One that people will not give up and quit anything. We need to address issues if there are issues and find ways to give it one more shot. We need to put forth that effort so we can leave it all out on the field instead of have regrets.

It is on leadership to set the tone, but here is the thing. John Maxwell wrote a book called 360 degree leader. That means that leadership is not just from a title. Leadership belongs to the individual not the title. We have to put forth the effort and be the example. It will become contagious after we build the momentum to go the extra mile.

We can influence the rest of the organization by the way we show up and how we are engaged. We can either show up and put our best foot forward and be a shining light, or we can be disengaged and pull the organization down.

It is up to us to be engaged or not engaged. No new words, no new language, just get engaged and be the change.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

Are you Building Trust During This Season?

December 24, 2022

Christmas is here! This is the time of year where we are giving presents away to others and enjoying quality time with family and friends. Ever stop to think why we find more joy at this time of year than any other?

In the book Well Being from Gallop who do studies on people for just about everything, they write about how spending and focusing on others actually makes our mood better. That’s why we need to really think about our intentions when we are interacting with others.

If we are in a bad mood, are we just trying to bring others down, or are we trying to help them? Are we trying to build better relationships, or just help ourselves get to a better place? What is the motivator here? Are we being selfish, or are we being giving?

Ever wonder why some people just don’t trust us? No matter what we do, it just seems like they will not accept us as being honest and worthy of trust?

There are so many areas that can derail trust, but today I want to focus on one huge variable in building trust that most people have a blind spot to.

The main variable in trust that derails most people is Selfishness. That’s right, the level of selfishness that is in us determines how much others will trust us. If our actions in working with people is only to accomplish what we want to achieve and not caring about others then we will not get gain trust. Selfishness is the largest factor of trust.

We all have difficult people in our lives. We are all selfish to a degree. Just look at a toddler and how they play with others with the same toys. They don’t share. They want all the toys. We have our wants and dreams and we want to achieve them and that is okay. The issue is when we want others to help us achieve those wants and dreams and not care about helping them as well. We forget that others need help as well when we are in that selfish frame of mind.

Zig Ziglar has a quote that states, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Simply said, stop thinking about ourselves first and start looking to others on how we can help. Whether that is communicating effectively, lending a hand, or just listening to someone else we need to be focused on helping others. It’s just like farming. Planting one seed doesn’t net a huge crop, but planting millions of seeds, the harvest is plentiful.

That’s right if we truly want to others to trust us enough to help us, then we have to change our focus from one of receiving, to one of giving. We also need to do this for the right reasons.

We can be the most competent, consistent, vulnerable, people out there, but if we are only out for our own gain, well it will be an uphill battle to build trust. We must check out selfishness.

This Christmas when we are engaging others and attending Christmas parties stop and think about why we are engaging others. Look at our moods when we are exchanging gifts. Are we happier when we give or when we receive? Chances are when we watch other’s eyes light up with joy when they open that thoughtful gift we searched for we have that extra kick of energy and a larger smile.

Who is someone that you could build more trust with by changing the view from what can I get to how can I give this Christmas? It will help you build trust in the long term.

Merry Christmas!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

Why This Questions Is Crucial With Others

December 17, 2022

Isn’t this a question we all ask? How can you help me?

All of us by nature are born with the innate desire to find out how we can be helped by associating with others. Call it selfishness, survival, whatever you want to call it. We are born with this desire to find out how we will benefit by the interaction with another.

Our customers want to know how they will get to a better place by doing business with us as well. Just like us, they want to know how their lives will improve. It’s up to us to answer that question each and every time we interact with them. If we chose not to, then we will find ourselves receiving price down requests instead of how can we help them innovate. No one wants to continually fight cost down requests. We want to have people coming to us for help and providing solid solutions for them.

The question we should be asking ourselves is what do we have in our capabilities to make the customer’s life better? How by doing business with us will we help them. This is a crucial change in our focus. Instead of focusing on how we can benefit, we need to shift that focus onto how we can help the customer. What is it that we, and our organization can do to help the customer get to a better place.

Do we have a software package that will allow for the customer to spend less time counting inventory with real time updates? Do we have interactive videos that will help the customer walk through and diagnose malfunctions with their equipment? How about an app that tells the customer when their robot they are using is not functioning as efficient and needs a service call before it breaks?

One thing that I have strived to do is add value in each interaction. It doesn’t have to be monetary all the time. It can be helping the customer with software that we are fluent in that they may be having issues with, ideas and local hot spots for a vacation location that the customer wants to travel to that we have also visited, life hacks, deals, helping them find toilet paper when the country is freaking out during a pandemic, connecting them with someone we know that can help them, etc.

The key is to take the focus off of wondering how we can capitalize from the exchange and how we can add value to the customer. I love the quote from Zig Zigler that says, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough people get what they want.” Read that one more time and marinate on that for a few minutes…

It doesn’t mean we just give away all of our profit if we are selling something, but it does say constantly add value with those we come in contact with and focus on how we can help them. Not for how we will benefit, but how that person will get to a better place. It is harder to accept something with a closed fist, but with an open hand more can be added.

I know we are all in stressful times right now with what is going on in the world, but we will get through this and we will become stronger because of it. Innovation is happening each day and we will be ready for the next challenge. If we open up our hands today and help those around us especially in this time of need, we will get to a better place ourselves.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

The Question To Ask For Trust With Others

December 10, 2022

Today we get into the second question that customers are asking themselves when speaking to sales people. Do I trust you?

That is a huge question that if answered No, can stop you from selling anything to that customer. If they do not trust you then you are stuck and you can’t get past the first of five buying decisions.

I have spent the majority of my sales career studying why people buy. Being that I was an engineer there had to be an equation and magic was not going to be the answer. What I found is that when people use humor, are upfront, and show empathy towards others. That is when people really start to open up and trust.

I’ve had a manager that had issues gaining trust. This manager would openly tell anyone he first met within the first few minutes about his Christianity, but his actions would contradict what he would say he stands for. He was explosive to be around and would demand you follow his view points on business. If you challenged his view points, watch out!

This kind of behavior erodes trust the same as lying to others. Trust is crucial for any kind of growth between sales organizations and their customers.

So how can we grow trust fast?

1. Social Proof

2. Heart of a teacher

3. Open and honest communication

4. Encourage customers to show you opportunities for improvement

Social proof is using a mutual connection between the customer and yourself. So many people like Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, music artists, etc would see huge followings after being on the Oprah show. Once they leveraged that connection, they were considered the go to expert. Now we can’t all get on the Oprah channel, but we can leverage anyone that we know who knows us well that could reach out on our behalf.

Having a heart of a teacher is offering help to the customer get them to a better place even if it does not benefit you. Teaching the customer to give them free knowledge for the heart of helping them is something that is lacking in today’s culture. People tend to only want to help if they will receive something in return. What I can tell you is that if you want to gain trust, you have to have a heart of a teacher to help the customer.

Open and honest communication means reaching out when you see something bad coming, but also making sure that the customer is not unsure about anything related to your products. Making sure that they are communicated to in a personal level is key. Pick up the phone when you can instead of just sending an email. This is something that I still struggle with sometimes when I am busy, but what I have learned is making sure I talk to the customer is key. Keep in mind the written word it taken negative most times when someone reads it. Most of communication is nonverbal, posture, tone of voice, etc. An email does not help with communication.

The last key thing to do is encouraging the customers to show you opportunities for improvement. Allowing the customer to feel like they are a part of the product design in the future makes them feel like they are a part of something more than just themselves. We all strive to feel like we are included in decisions, so encouraging them will allow for this to open up.

There you have it. Four ways to grow trust fast. Just put on your SHOE to walk with the customer… You need to have your shoes on if you plan to walk the talk.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

The First Question to Ask

December 3, 2022

Good morning everyone. Last week we discussed the three questions that customers ask when the meet with us on every interaction. If you missed it go back and read it as it will help you with this week’s post. it only takes three minutes to read.

The first question that we ask ourselves subconsciously when we interact with another person is “Do I like you?” Our brains are trying to figure out if this person standing in front of us is a threat or a potential ally. Should we stay, or run like…

Physically our bodies will change posture depending on how this question is answered. Our posture will literally change as much as leaning in to leaning back depending on engagement and trust. This is why sales professionals have been taught to always mirror your customer’s posture.

Did you know that depending on if you are male or female you tend to want to stand in different postures when interacting? Women prefer to stand at 90 degree angles to men when they are interacting in the personal space. They naturally want to keep a guard up to not feel vulnerable. Men typically like to stand face to face total body facing their counterpart.

Are you starting to see how this might be a problem getting someone to like you if you do something small like use the incorrect stance?

Here is something else that will impact the way someone answers that question. The color you wear on your clothing can also impact how you are judged. That’s right the color we wear actually has an impact on how others perceive us. We could start the discussion off on the wrong foot just by color. In Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence” he breaks down the colors and what they mean. It is a must read if you are working to sales! To make it easier for you, I tend to wear light blue and white shirts when I meet someone for the first time because those colors are associated with “Trust.” They are also calming colors. I want the customer calm and feeling like I am a trustworthy advocate for them.

I make sure to wear the right color tones for the meeting that I am about to have. The reason is I need the customer to feel at ease while meeting with me. They will be more relaxed and willing to hear me while we are discussing a topic. I also pay close attention to their posture as what I have learned is that 93% of communication is actually non-verbal.

Here are some other factors that can affect the first impression:

Scents you wear, voice tonality, pace of speech, jewelry, etc.

The old saying you only get one chance to make a first impression still is true today. Making sure we are paying attention to the person standing in front of us will help us greatly generate trust.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

How To Build Rapport

August 27, 2022

Having rapport with others is crucial if we are going to move forward together. We need engagement and that begins with rapport. If we don’t have any kind of relational collateral, then we will not be able to ask people to walk with us on a adventure.

First and foremost, we need to remember that when we are hosting meetings, we are asking others to give up one of their most precious commodities. Something they can not add, multiple, but only subtract. It’s their time. Time is the most precious of commodities to individuals and organizations.

We need to make sure that we are focused on others if we are going to build engagement. To do that we need to build relationships with them. The hot word on this topic currently is Rapport. If you have heard me speak at any event / training you know that I believe rapport is something we should start with, but we need to go deeper with others.

That is why I do the house exercise in my trainings to help individuals take the focus off ourselves and onto the others they are engaging with.

Now it is hard to build rapport with people at first because most people are guarded. We need to make extra efforts to build that exchange. We can do a few things prior to meeting with the individuals.

Social Investigating – we can look up their social profiles to learn a little bit about them prior to meeting with these individuals the next time. What are their hobbies, what does their family situation look like, what are their interests, etc. Do they post about certain topics that resonate with us? Where can we find common ground?

CRM – keep a customer relationship management tool in use when learning about people. The more we learn the more we can relate. If they say something in a meeting, or talk about their weekend experience in passing, write it down. We can’t remember everything especially as we get older, but we can review our crm profile prior to meeting with the individual again.

Social Proof – This phenomenon is really effective in growing trust fast. Basically, it is having someone that we know and have a good relationship with that knows the person that we are trying to gain trust and influence with introduce us. The mutual person is actually allowing us to have levels of trust immediately with the new person. Some call it the Oprah Effect that when someone was on Oprah’s show they immediately were known as someone of trust and an authority in their field. It was overnight that these people had authority.

These are a few ideas, but the main topic is taking the focus off ourselves and our needs and turn the focus on others. When we do that, we will grow levels of trust and engagement with others.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

How To Build Rapport In Online Meetings

August 20, 2022

How many times have you been on a meeting that people seemed to be bothered to be in? How many times did people drive a lack of engagement and have to be asked multiple times to respond? This is a topic that effects most people working in this world utilizing online meetings more than ever before.

Last week I talked about The Ringleman Effect of larger meetings and why it drove lack of engagement. I ended that topic with the need to build rapport during meetings with others.

This week we will focus on ways to gain rapport with others so that way we can gain more engagement during online meetings.

First and foremost, we need to remember that when we are hosting meetings, we are asking others to give up one of their most precious commodities. Something they can not add, multiple, but only subtract. It’s their time. Time is the most precious of commodities to individuals and organizations.

We need to make sure that we are focused on others if we are going to build engagement. To do that we need to build relationships with them. The hot word on this topic currently is Rapport. If you have heard me speak at any event / training you know that I believe rapport is something we should start with, but we need to go deeper with others.

That is why I do the house exercise in my trainings to help individuals take the focus off ourselves and onto the others they are engaging with.

We can start with rapport building, but the focus is to really care about others so much so that we want to learn about them and help them. When we do this, we will build trust and engagement.

For online meetings a good resource is “Virtual Selling” chapter 4. I am always looking to grow my capacity and I do that even by investing in reading material from other professionals. We are all in this together. This book that I am reading has a great deal of ideas on how to grow rapport during online meetings.

This book goes into the differences between 2D virtual meetings and face to face meetings. Where we can usually have casual discussion before and after a meeting naturally in real world meetings, but on virtural meetings typically the start right into the meat of the meeting. There is little if not zero time to have casual discussions.

It’s harder in the virtual meeting to build rapport, but there are some ways that we can do this if we pay attention to details and focus on those in the meeting. Having smaller meeting sizes will also help us with this. This book gives 20 questions to ask during the meeting with others to learn and grow rapport.

They also have a few rules like authenticity, similarity, and shared experiences which is similar to what we would do when meeting in person. One thing they suggest is to ask someone to stay after for a few minutes so we can dive deeper into a comment that person made during the meeting. Not earth shattering epiphany, but one that will gain small deposits of rapport over time. We will also know if we have some relational collateral with them if they accept, or decline.

Learning how to run virtual meetings and building trust and influence is going to be crucial as we go forward with this ever-changing environment. More and more people are choosing to work remote which makes it harder to build rapport. We can’t take them out for coffee, or a meal as often. We can set up a quick call to share coffee online, but I would be hesitant to eat food online in front of them. It will save them if we spit our food when we talk I guess…

Focus on learning about people and expanding our knowledge how to build trust and influence will go a long way in growing our sales capacity in the next decade as technology makes it harder for us to meet in person.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

Be The Bridge

June 25, 2022

Have you ever wondered how some people just seem to build influence with others so quickly? That they just seem to gain engagement without much effort?

Today let’s talk about one of the concepts that I teach in my Unmatched Influence training, and is also part of my online Trustworthy training below. It’s called being the bridge.

This concept was something I stumbled onto when I was new to a particular sales territory that I moved into for one of the organizations that I worked for in my career. I was not the only part of the organization that was new to this territory. The entire organization was new.

We had no previous relationships in this territory so we were starting from scratch. We were hustling to get the business growing and fast. This part of the United States was also considered a good ole boy network. If you were an outsider, good luck…

I started building relationships with customers and prospects as fast as I could. I was working extra hours and getting to know the territory and who were the top prospects. While doing so I was building my CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database as I went. I was asking all sorts of questions.

There was a lot of caffeine and memorization as well. Back when my memory was great…

One day I was calling on a customer that was asking me about a software they were looking at using for their business. I knew nothing of the software and was curious as to why I was being asked. It was because I was an electrical engineer by training. Like just being an electrical engineer made me understand all types of software.

Granted I could probably debug some software issues and fix windows issues, but know all software was not something that I could sign up for. What I did know is that another customer about three hours north of this customer actually used this software.

I reached out to this other customer and asked if they wouldn’t mind answering some questions for another customer not in their territory. The answer was yes and they had a call which resulted in the customer asking the question to avoid some pitfalls that the other customer had. They switch over to the new software was a success.

What I didn’t expect is that the customer that I helped get in touch with this other customer was grateful and started confiding in me more and more. Asking me questions about more business solutions and ideas and telling others that I was the go to person for help.

This began a snowball effect which resulted in me getting more phone calls from potential customers than me having to chase them down. I was building influence faster and faster. Now the initial help that I offered by connecting the two customers did not result in sales that day, but it did build a relationship and influence in the entire territory fast.

I call this “Being the Bridge.” By connecting others that are able to help each other I am also granted influence and credibility as well. By being the bridge, I was able to gain much faster influence in my territory that I actually was being asked to stop in to help. It also netted me a great deal of business. I was growing my territory at a fast pace, I won the award for top sales person for the United States, and grossed more income all by serving the customers by bridging them together.

To build influence, we need to serve those around us whether they be customers, or team members. We need to use the open hand and not the closed fist when interacting with them. If we do so, we will be successful in building unmatched influence that will allow us to go further faster with others.

I hope this helps you on your journey to building influence.

Have a great week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

We Need A Break!

June 4, 2022

This weekend is a reminder of my father who recently passed away in April. This would be his birthday week as well. As I reflect on this I am reminded about a few things about him.

He was a father, fire fighter, electrician, beer truck driver, and the list goes on and on. It was hard to keep up with him most days even when he was retired. He was a worker which resonates with our last name. See back in old country as I am told our name comes from where you were on the mountain. Being we were not Topbottom means we were workers. We were not royalty, we did the hard work and thrived in it.

He worked three jobs at once when I was a child and was both my father and mother for quite a bit of my life. He made it to all but one of my highschool competitions, in which he consistently beat himself up about missing. I reminded him that it was okay, but he kept to the tasks. He was always working to finish the next task.

He was a remarkable man, but one thing he didn’t do much was take a break to go have fun that often. He was all about finishing the tasks and moving on to the next task. This is a trait that I have adopted for most of my life, but with the help of my caring wife, we have grown my ability to take time and slow down. She was very influential on buying a boat and taking trips which is good for me to slow down. Who doesn’t want a wife that would encourage us to buy a boat?

We need to work hard and get things done, but it is good to take time to relax and go to a lake for a weekend, take a trip to the ice cream shop, and spend quality time with the kids. We need this to refuel our tanks. We can’t keep running on empty all the time or we will get burned out.

We need to have these breaks especially with the stress levels we have been under from the pandemic. We are meant to get out and have community. We also need to have fun and enjoy our lives.

Too many people keep putting off fun until later. Telling themselves that when they retire, they will finally relax and take time to enjoy life. The issue is a good deal of these retirees end up sick, or die soon after they retire. Maybe it’s because they are bored to death, or something else, but I believe we should be working even after we retire from our day jobs.

We are meant to work and to have community. So why not focus on taking time to rest and enjoy quality time with friends and family going on small adventures periodically instead of waiting until retirement? All work and no play drains us mentally and physically.

Stop putting off tomorrow for tomorrow may never come. This does not mean that we need to just have fun and live under YOLO (You Only Live Once). We need to enjoy ourselves and fill those tanks that will get emptied during those not so fun times. Especially when those times that drain us seem to last for longer periods than the great times. Take the small wins and savor them so they can fuel you during the next grind.

What is something you have been putting off for tomorrow to refuel yourself?

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training

Do You Know The Situation?

May 28, 2022

Ever wonder why some people just don’t follow our direction? Ever hate having to interact with some people because you just know they are going to sabotage your plans?

In sales and in leadership, we have to deal with a lot of people. Some might cringe at that and want to just order people to do something, but unfortunately when people are involved it is messy. We can’t just simply demand things.

People have many things they are juggling on their day to day plates and we need to understand why they may be acting a certain way if we are going to be able to work with them. I’m not talking about gossip stuff, but finding out what is going on. Peel the onion to get to the less superficial level. In cooking we learn that the deeper layers of an onion are the sweeter and most flavorful layers. The same thing happens for learning more about people.

If we simply put a label on someone because they are acting a certain way without know the facts behind the situation, how can we be justified in that? We need to do better!

I have had a manager that has checked in with me periodically when they found out about a situation I was going through. This meant the world to me as I was in the struggle of emotions, mental fatigue, and stress. It affected my work, my attitude, and my success. It actually kept me working for the organization instead of leaving because someone showed they cared. This is how our employees and customers feel as well.

I have had many customers that were struggling through situations that I have been able to lend an ear to, a helping hand to, and simply showing that someone cared. This helped them see that they were not alone in the situation and that others would lend a hand. Even if it is just an ear to let someone vent. People are meant to be around others. We need others to know that they matter.

Ramsey Solutions in Tennessee mandates that managers know what is going on with their subordinates so that they can help, rally the team around the individual, and to mitigate pitfalls. They know if a family member is going through a severe illness, if a baby is on the way, or some other major event. This way they show that the team member is valued and cared for. Showing people we care is vital for trust and influence. It’s called empathy which unfortunately is in short supply lately.

Understanding the situation is crucial to helping solidify any issues that are popping up and so that we can move forward together. If we don’t, we lose time on an already limited clock that is ticking down. Gain more engagement and influence by understanding the situation that others are in and learn more about them so that they know they matter.

Wouldn’t you rather associate with an organization that you feel values you? Why not be that person that reaches out to customers and team members to let them know they matter as well.

Have a good week!

“Businesses wonder why it is still hard to be thought of as the brand of choice with customers. How can our business make more profitable transactions and stay out of the commodity battle with low profits? I equip your sales team to walk with the customer through the five buying decisions, and in the correct order to generate explosive revenues with greater profits!”

https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Process-Uncovered-Success-Influence/dp/0578421518 - Book

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lWIVasmkFsoYL4h0AqIZgH6LC3qaw_gI/view?usp=sharing – client profile sheet

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/5AF12 - Sales Process Uncovered Online Training

https://kevinsidebottom.kartra.com/page/68N10 - Trustworthy Online Training