Posts Tagged ‘progress challenge’

a MTA Motivational Speaker Article

Progress Takes Persistence (part 2)

(excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  “More than a , Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®  ) motivational speaker

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Every moment that we focus on the strong reasons that have inspired our goals, the closer we are to taking determined action toward their achievement.  The key is to not let reasons for pursuing other goals steal our attention, or become more compelling.  We must keep our focus (and our employees’, customers’, and prospects’ focus) on the Six Ps of Progress that will be felt in accomplishing the goal. 

The Progress Challenge Riddle (a classic): If there are five frogs on a log and three decide to jump off, how many frogs are still on the log?  Answer:  Five.  Deciding is not doing.

Decided to make sales calls? 

We may have decided to make a sales call, and it may even play out very nicely in our minds, but until we pick up the phone and dial, we are not making sales calls. 

And we can’t let a misguided desire for perfection stop us.  We don’t have to be perfect to Be Progress.  We can always improve our technique, improve our plan and our actions. 

 Progress does not demand perfection, only persistence.

Things can and do go wrong.   Missed opportunities should not be allowed to become big emotional “downers.”   Self-pity is not part of a Progress Agent’s makeup.  We must reframe setbacks to our advantage.  Most “successful” people say they learned more from their failures than their successes because they were eager to learn what went wrong and to avoid repeating it. 

Being persistent does not mean being bullheaded.  If what we’re trying isn’t working, we must take a fresh approach.  Consider that by eliminating another idea that didn’t work, the path to progress became clearer.  When things go wrong, we can let Thomas Edison light our way.  Asked if he was discouraged after thousands of attempts at creating a viable light bulb had failed, he replied: “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work.”  Make time on a regular basis to revise the plan. Creating a feedback loop is vital – even if we’re the only ones in the loop. 

Fill days with action toward crafted goals.  Start and, if we get sidetracked, we must acknowledge that the reasons for pursuing some other goal or goals have become stronger in our mind. Then is the time to ask:  Why?

If the promise of our goals no longer propels us to action, we need to do a gut check. 

Are they still our goals? 

Are the reasons strong enough to propel us to persistent action?

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” — Viktor Frankl

Each step toward a goal is progress.  It is powerful for us to appreciate all that we’re doing to stay on track, and to express our gratitude to those who are helping and supporting us.  Find ways to enjoy the journey.  Pat yourself on the back.  Reward yourself.  These are our lives we are talking about here.

 Go.  Do.  Progress takes persistence.

 Be Progress.

Progress Takes Persistence is an excerpt from The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change by MTA Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay.  The ‘MTA’ refers to an endorsement about Dean from Consumer Choice Award … “More than a , Dean Lindsay is The DEAN of Sales and Service!” – Jeff Chernoff, President, Consumers’ Choice Award ®motivational speaker

Motivational Speaker Dean Lindsay was chosen as having one of the ‘100 of the Most Inspiring Business Videos on YouTube’ by Zen College Life, the #1 Destination for College Information Online. Others chosen for this honor include Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, President Barack Obama and Jack Canfield (author of Chicken Soup for the Soul).  Cool, huh?

Check out the Press Release

Funny Sales Training Cartoon – ‘have sales do that thing’

Found this funny sales training cartoon today while doing some research for a new sales training program. 

‘Sara, have sales do that thing where profits go up.’ – love that, funny and profound. 

Question for sales professionals: “ What is ‘that thing’ you could do today for your profits to go up? 

Be Progress.

www.DeanLindsay.com

Sales Training Speaker offers Sales Questions for Becoming a Business Attraction Magnet

(Excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

The BAM Dozen: 12 Solid Open-Ended Questions

Please find your own voice when asking these questions.  We must be truly interested in finding a way to help. 

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 1.  How did you get interested in your line of work?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 2.  If a journalist were to write about what’s been happening in your industry over the past six months, what might they write?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 3.   I connect with new people all the time; how would I know if someone qualified as a solid contact for you?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 4.  How would you define progress for you/your business?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 5.  What major shifts do you foresee in your industry? 

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 6.  Where do you see your greatest challenges?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 7.  Why do these challenges persist?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 8.  What difficulties will you face if you don’t meet these challenges?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 9.  What actions are you taking to overcome these challenges?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 10. What results are you expecting?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 11. Who is involved in the decision-making process?

Sales Training Speaker BAM Question 12.  If you could solve these challenges, what kind of progress would you make?

 Also, encourage prospects and clients to expand on their answers by asking:

            Sales Training Speaker BAM Bonus Questions

             Would you tell me more about that?

            Could you please elaborate?

            Could you clarify…?

            How so?

            What did you mean when you said…?

Do not ask too many questions or ask them at a rocket-fire clip.  People should not feel they are being interrogated.  Being interrogated is neither attractive nor enjoyable.

Be Progress.

(Excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

Motivational Sales Training Tip – Respect Time and Structure.

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

Structure is vital for becoming a Business Attraction Magnet.  Solid self-management (formerly known as time management) leads to higher productivity and reduced stress.  Our desks need to be workstations, not storage space.  We must be able to quickly locate important information.  Being well organized shows a respect for time (ours and our customers’).

Looking sharp is also part of solid organization.  If we can’t get ourselves together well enough to look presentable, how are we going to be able to help someone else see us as together enough to handle their challenges?  Plus, how we present ourselves shouts volumes about how we feel about ourselves and our work.  Becoming a Business Attraction Magnet takes preparation.  Unfortunately, far too many of us invest more energy in planning our weekends, or even what we’ll have for dinner, than we do our opportunities to be progress for prospects and customers.

Don’t believe anyone who says sales is “just a numbers game.”  Sales is a Progress-based Impressions Game – a Proof-of-Progress Game – The Ultimate Game of Trust.

Sure, the more contacts you make the better your odds – but you may also be blowing your chances for many potential relationships, not to mention time (yours and the prospect’s), by rushing through the process half-cocked with an indifferent attitude.  The worst time to think of what you’re going to say is as it’s coming out of your mouth.

Be Progress.

Motivational Sales Training Tip – Respect Time and Structure is an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay

We Don’t Have to Do Anything, But We Can’t Do Nothing. 

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

Ever call up a buddy and ask, “What are you doing?” and they said, “Nothing.”   You can’t do “nothing.”  Doing nothing requires taking heavy medication.  Actually, taking heavy medication is still doing something.  Sleeping is doing something. So is staring into space; so is flossing your teeth; so is scratching your arm; so is eating a plate of lima beans; so is waiting in the dentist’s waiting room.  We are always investing our time somewhere for some reason.  We might not connect with the reasons consciously, but we are always doing something. 

“Doing nothing is not as easy as it looks.  You have to be careful, because the idea of doing anything could easily lead to doing something, which would cut into your nothing and force you to have to drop everything.”    — Jerry Seinfeld

We have each said to ourselves at some point, “Why am I doing this?”  Consciously or unconsciously, we choose to do what we believe to be the best option at the time.  We may even know consciously that the activity is not good for us but still we do it.  There are reasons.  They are our reasons.  We may not be able to vocalize them, or even wrap our minds around them, but we have reasons for the actions we take. 

The action may not be what we wished we would have wanted to take. Still, we chose to act (based on the circumstances and anticipated consequences).  That is what personal regret is: wishing we’d have wanted to do something differently.  

When we look back upon actions we have regretted, we find that, at the time, we thought that taking the action would help us attain some mixture of pleasure, peace of mind, profit, prestige, pain avoidance, and power.  We regret the action because we did not receive the Ps that we expected, and/or because our actions deprived someone else of those good outcomes.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t have a choice”?  Not true.  We always have a choice, usually several.  The choices may not be enjoyable, safe, or even legal, but there are always choices.  Every choice has consequences.  Maybe we view the consequences as unpalatably negative for us, but we do have choices.  The choices might not be choice choices, but there are always choices from which to choose (that was a fun sentence to write).

 We don’t have many have to’s. 

We don’t have to kiss our spouse. 

We don’t have to exercise; we don’t have to pray.

We don’t have to smile, or even brush our teeth. 

We don’t have to sleep or pay our mortgage. 

We don’t have to feed our pets or hug our kids. 

We don’t have to pay for our kids’ higher education (or for our pet’s higher education, for that matter). 

We don’t have to eat. 

You say, “Wait a minute, Deano. We have to eat.” 

Are there people who chose not to eat?  Yes. 

What has happened to them?  They died (painfully).  It’s still a choice. (If you know me, you know I choose to eat, and hug my kids, and to pray, for that matter.) 

We do not have to pay our income tax.  The consequences may include us going to jail but that is our choice. 

We do not have to stop at stop lights.  The consequences may include injuring ourselves and others – again, our choice.  We do not have to work.   We’ve sold ourselves (most would say rightfully) on the idea that the benefits of working outweigh the benefits of not working. 

I asked a group I was working with once:

“Do you have to work?” 

Somebody yelled out, “You do if you don’t want to live in a tent.”   

I said, “Are there people who choose to live in tents?” 

They responded, “Yeah.  But I don’t want to live in a tent.”   

I said, “Exactly.”

These are choices that we are making.  There is power in that.  At each moment, we make decisions based on what we believe will help us feel the Six Ps of Progress – in the short term or long term.  As an example, let’s take an activity that most people would say they wish they didn’t have to do – mowing the lawn. 

Why mow the lawn?

-         Maybe we want to have a good-looking yard like the neighbors do, and don’t want to look like dirtbags. (Prestige; Pain avoidance)

-         Maybe it gives us a sense of accomplishment and a chance to think.  (Peace of Mind, Pleasure)

-         Maybe we believe lawn mowing offers exercise.  (Pleasure, Pain Avoidance)

-         Maybe we don’t want to get fined by the city.  (Pain avoidance)

-         Maybe a significant other “told” us to.  (Pain avoidance of not doing what significant other wants; Pleasure from pleasing significant other)

-         Maybe we would rather keep our money than pay someone else to mow it.  (Profit, Pain Avoidance)

How we judge the results is subjective.  Having a well-groomed lawn offers progress for some.  For others, amassing a noteworthy collection of vintage lipstick holders offers progress.  There is always a result, an outcome. 

We cannot not accomplish something.  Some shift in feeling attends everything that we do.  There is a new normal.  It may be only ever so slightly new, but it’s new. 

            There is some profit in having a garage sale.

            There is some power in punching someone.

            There is some pleasure in eating a bag of Pringles. 

(I know it is not a bag of Pringles but what is it — a cardboard sphere of Pringles? What?  A tube of Pringles, I guess.)

We may not like or care for what is achieved, but there are outcomes and consequences – and these outcomes affect our next action. 

Did the action (eating that sandwich, working for that company, using that wireless company, reading that book, wearing those shoes, buying that house) result in us feeling enough pleasure, peace of mind, profit, prestige, and power? 

Did the action help us avoid enough pain? 

There are outcomes for both parties when someone chooses to utilize our products and services.  There are outcomes when someone decides not to utilize our products and services.  This is also extremely subjective.  We value achievements, as well as gauge success, based on whether the time and effort invested in the activity help us feel enough of the Six Ps of Progress. 

 We can’t choose nothing.  Choose Progress. 

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

Dean Lindsay Video Clips

Motivational Leadership Speaker Video Clip – Dean Lindsay, Author of The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change and Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships 

An authority on harnessing human potential and creating authentic business growth, business networking speaker Dean Lindsay is an engaging and highly sought-after business consultant and speaker. He is an active member of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy and the American Society of Training and Development.

Dean Lindsay sees an important connection between sales, motivation, solid customer care and leadership. All are achieved by effectively positioning ideas, recommendations, solutions, products, services – even ourselves – as PROGRESS in minds of those we wish to inspire to action. All must be positioned as Progress and NOT Change. It is natural to resist change but we embrace PROGRESS. All progress is change but not all change is PROGRESS.

Dean is a featured contributor to Executive Travel, Sales and Service Excellence and the American Management Association’s Moving Ahead magazine as well as the nationally distributed audio publication Selling Power Live. He has been spotlighted as an Outstanding Speaker by the International Association of Speakers Bureaus and recognized as a ‘Sales-and-Networking Guru’ by the Dallas Business Journal.

“Dean Lindsay is an outstanding thought leader on the subject of developing priceless business relationships.” — Willis Turner, President of Sales and Marketing Executives International

Dean has served as Guest Lecturer to International Customer Management Institute as well as both the UCLA and University of Dallas MBA programs. He is a Cum laude graduate of the University of North Texas and serves on the Executive Advisory Board for UNT’s Department of Marketing and Logistics and the Board of Directors of the UNT Alumni Association. Dean’s first book, Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships is Recommended Reading by United Professional Sales Association and Profit magazine.

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Dean Lindsay, Author of The Progress Challenge: Working and Winning in a World of Change and Cracking the Networking CODE: 4 Steps to Priceless Business Relationships

2010′s BEST Stress Management Tip! – Say Yes to NO.

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

In 2010, most of us take on too many responsibilities, try to do too much, and even own too much.  Being too busy is a big source of stress in today’s get, get, get and go, go, go world.  Often, we are so chronically over-scheduled that we never give ourselves a chance to offer our best or to enjoy the moment. 

 Are your days fulfilling, or are they merely full?

It is possible that we could get more out of life by doing less. When we internalize the difference between full and fulfilling, we realize it’s not how many events we attend, activities we get involved in, or how much stuff we have that’s important.  We do not have to say “yes” to every demand on OUR time.  And we shouldn’t feel bad, since we are saying “no” to the event or project, not the person.

 Being busy can wear us out.  If we are committed to working and winning in this world of change, we must know our limits and not limit our NOs.

-  Consider your well-crafted goals and your schedule before agreeing to additional work.

-  Simplify – get rid of the clutter and baggage in your life and in your house.  Say NO to clutter.

-   Start your own Just Say NO campaign to regain quality time.  Review priorities and see if a request fits.  When you see things that waste time or hinder your progress, speak up.

-   Stop trying to make everyone happy. (We can’t do it anyway.) 

A polite way to say NO to a request for YOUR time:  “I’m quite committed.  I can be your backup, but please keep searching.”

Be Progress (not busy).

(2010′s BEST Stress Management Tip! – Say Yes to NO is an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

The Little Mind That Could (an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

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I was listening to my elder daughter, Sofia, reading Wally Piper’s classic The Little Engine That Could to her younger sister, Ella, one night and it occurred to me what a powerful little story it is.  In his book, Mr. Piper shares the story of a little red engine pulling a train “filled full of good things for boys and girls” on the other side of a mountain. 

When the little red engine breaks down, a toy clown hops off the little train and starts asking larger passing trains if they will help. 

The first two trains refuse to help because they feel they are too big and important to pull toys and goodies. 

A rusty third train relates that he is too old and tired to help, and chugs away saying, “I can not.  I can not.  I can not.”

Finally, a little blue engine passes by and stops immediately when she sees the clown waving.  The little engine’s first words are, “What is the matter, my friends?”  

The clown relays the challenge, and the little blue engine explains that she has never been over the mountain.  She then sees the tears in the dolls’ eyes and thinks of the good little girls and boys who will not have any toys to play with or good food to eat unless she helps.  She looks at the mountain and says, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” 

The little blue engine hitches herself to the little train and starts tugging and pulling and pulling and tugging.  Slowly, the train moves forward. 

“Puff, puff, chug, chug, went the Little Blue Engine.  ‘I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can. I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can. I think I can.’”   – from The Little Engine That Could by Wally Piper 

Up they go, ever so slowly to the top of the mountain.  When they reach the top, the toys cheer.  After coming down the mountain and unhitching the train, the little blue engine chugs away, saying happily, “I thought I could.  I thought I could.  I thought I could.” 

The conviction that we have the power to progress is a major key to progressing.  Remember, our brains want to be right.  Whatever the mind believes, it will work to make true.

But, the little blue engine didn’t say, “I think I can,” only one time.  She said it over and over and over and over.  Repetition, repetition, repetition. 

 What do you think that little blue engine will say next time she is asked to pull a train over a mountain?

Will she say, “I think I can”?

 I think not.  She will say, “Yes, I can.”

Also, the little blue engine did not say, “I think I can,” and then glide away.  She said it and immediately hitched herself to the little train and started tugging and pulling and pulling and tugging.  To progress in this world of change, there must be ACTION. No dallying!

The little blue engine had to tug and pull to reach her goal.

Will some of the progressive action steps that you and your company need to take to climb that mountain and reach your crafted goals be painful?  Yes.  Again, consider: 

What is more painful to you, discipline or regret?

Finally, the little blue engine had strong reasons.  She saw the tears in the dolls’ eyes and considered the little children, who would not have any toys or good food to eat unless she helped.  She would feel pain if she didn’t help, and would gain pleasure, prestige, and power if she did.

Develop strong reasons for taking strong action.  Remind yourself often of the personal benefits that reaching your and your company’s goals will have for your life.  Help others develop strong reasons, so they too choose to take strong actions. 

Define your Parameters for Progress.

Commit to well-crafted, progress-based goals.

Stop Changing and Start Progressing.

Uncover others’ Parameters for Progress.

Earn and Maintain Customer Loyalty.

Be a BAM and Believe you can help others progress.

Stop, BOP, and Roll.

Focus on Being Progress – not being perfect.

Believe in yourself.  Chug.  Chug.  Puff.  Puff.

 Progress is a step forward.  Take today’s step.  To change is human; to progress, divine.  

 Meet The Progress Challenge

Be Progress.

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)