I was working with another coaching client recently on transforming his referral partnerships. He was burnt out by years of asking, nagging, and 'bragging' for referrals. The awkwardness of it all for the seemingly low return. So he was looking to rekindle his confidence in approaching people...confidence that got lost along the way because he felt too focused on himself, but didn't know or understand how to focus on the other person. (Sound familiar? You're the one asking for referrals,...
19 days ago • 2 min read
Losing focus. You gotta watch out for when it's happening to you. So here's a little "Coach's Corner" lesson for you... I was meeting with a financial advisor client earlier this week. He's a 10-year veteran in his industry, and very successful. But he'd reached a threshold in his business where he felt stagnant. So what we did was, we went back to the basics. In my coaching practice, there's something called the 5 Elements of Momentum, or the Momentum System. So we did was, we went back and...
26 days ago • 2 min read
Recently in The Boardroom we were talking about generating ideas, and implementing ideas. For this very reason, one of the things we do in The Boardroom every month is ship a book to each member. And we do that because there's a philosophy out there, and I think Jim Rohn sums it up best: "If you work hard on your job, you can make a living.But if you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune." And the members of the boardroom realize that. They're all focused on personal development just...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
I'm a big fan of Shark Tank. So I was sitting there recently listening to Robert Herjavec, and he said something that struck me: "Good salespeople sell features. Great salespeople sell results. And the greatest salespeople sell...feelings." I reflected on that a bit, and it totally makes sense. But despite that...how often do we default to selling features? Or even at best, default to selling results? I'll wager that for most of us, it's those two defaults most of the time. So thinking about...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Reader, are you struggling with market conditions? Or afraid you might be in the future? Recently I was coaching a team who was working on some things re: their goals for this quarter, and market conditions was something they were actively struggling with. And one of the best things to do when you're struggling? Assess what's in your Circles. That's... The Circle of Concern (things we're concerned about but have no control over) The Circle of Influence (things on our minds that we have some...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Do you like to brag about yourself, Reader? Not many people do. And if you do, it’s inauthentic (it’s hard to come across as anything but that), and you end up feeling frustrated because, well…nothing really comes of it. Why? Because people aren’t usually drawn to inauthenticity. Now…do you love to hear you did a good job? Of course you do. But it's kind of awkward fishing for those compliments, isn't it? Well, here’s a way to hear that you did a good job more often AND use it to get more...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Reader, as I mentioned in my last email, we send a success story to our database about once a month. Every time we do, we see an increase in our pipeline (the people who want loans) of anywhere between 10 to 25%. So if I have X number of people who want loans, I've got X + 25% after sending a Success Story out. That's a big increase in exchange for not a whole lot of effort. Think of maybe an hour of effort total, once per month. (It may take you a little longer in the beginning, of course.)...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Let another praise you, Reader. In marketing, most of us are used to Hero stories. People tooting their own horns. The Hero in these circumstances is a person who is saying, “I’m the best at _______. You need to come see me.” (The legal profession’s particularly good at this.) That’s powerful communication. Communicating through authority. And when I say ‘powerful communication’ – it almost sounds like that’s what you want to be shooting for, right? Maybe that’s why so many of us fall into...
2 months ago • 2 min read
I talk on here a lot of about one-on-one referral generation efforts. And while I'm 100% a huge advocate of that... ...one of the biggest challenges we have as a small business owner (or commissioned sales professional) is is TIME. We come across so many different people in our lines of work, and only a small percentage are going to be a fit for true one-on-one referral partner status. So what happens with all the others? Do we just ignore them? Well the answer for a lot of people is...yes....
3 months ago • 1 min read