Conrey is for Closers

30 days of growth, that’s what you see on my chin there. My genes have conspired to keep me from ever being able to grow facial hair in any reasonable quantities. I gave it a month of growth to see how long it would actually take for viable results and also to see if it ever got better. Clearly it didn’t. I have known that I was unable to grow facial hair since I started to get patches on my chin. I know that a mustache or goatee are completely out of my reach.

I have made it known before that I think that at a high enough level, salesmen are born not trained, it is in their genetic makeup. Remember that there are things you are good at, and things that you are not. Surround yourself with people who can do the things you can’t and your life gets to be a lot easier. If only I could outsource my facial hair growth to Sunny.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away I think it is appropriate now to thank those who have made a difference for me over the last year. By no means is this a complete list as there isn’t enough bandwidth in the internets to complete it, but I know that I don’t thank some of you nearly enough so I’m going to try to get some of it out here:

• Melissa – My wife who puts up with me and my insanity day in and day out.  Thank you for everything we are together. I wouldn’t be who I am without your love.
• Amie – My daughter who reminds me that there is nothing more important than family.
• Jade Meskill – Thank you for believing in me as a salesman and trusting in me to help shape Integrum’s growth.
• Derek Neighbors – Thank you for never holding back your true feelings and being smart enough to know the right way to say them.
• Chris Young – Thank you for the honest feedback on my ideas and the objectivity to know that when we disagree its not a bad thing.
• Mike Benner – Thank you for the late night hours cranking away on my personal pet project and the conversation
• Andrew “Mini-B” Bowerman – Thank you for reminding me that there is something valuable in making a blind leap of faith.
• Ed Nusbaum – Thank you for the perspective from outside of my own little bubble when it comes to the business world around me.
• Tyler Hurst – Thank you for being the agitator and provoking voice that is needed sometimes around here.
• Steve Swedler – Thank you for calling me on my bullshit when I need it.
• The Whole Integrum Team – Thank you for being a great team to work with and one that I’m proud to represent every day.
• James Archer – Thank you for countless ideas bounced back and forth at Gangplank.
• Reese Lloyd – Thank you for being the brother in spirit that I never had in blood.
• Stan Fleming – Thank you for reminding me that family does all kinds of things for each other without fear and for providing an example of success in business.
• Justin McHood – Thank you for the many emails and blog comments of advice and opinion from one salesman to another.
• Mark Dudlik – Thank you for truly loving the community even though your profess to hate people at every opportunity.
• Dave “Bully” Bjorn – Thank you for the great conversation anytime we take the time to slow down and have it.
• Jason Newlin – Thank you for being a great guy even though you like the Yankees.
• Joe Guadagno – Thank you for the many hours put in to rally the local dev community to do better things.
• Chuck Reynolds – Thank you for the reminder that hard work pays off and days don’t end at 5pm or midnight or 2am unless all the work is done.
• Tammy and Leo Godin – Thank you both for being great friends to my family in so many ways.
• Bill Weaver – Thank you for being a great leader in our church and reminding us that life is fun too.
• Mom – Thank you for teaching me to work hard for everything because no one is going to give me anything in life that I don’t earn. Thank you for the constant reminder that I’m still somebody’s kid with half a clue about what the world is all about sometimes.

I really could go on and on and on with this list, it’s already longer than I expected it to be, and I know that there are plenty of people who I’m leaving out that are as equally deserving of an honest and heartfelt thank you. I debated doing the whole list thing because I knew I’d miss people but in the end I realized that I can say thanks in many different ways.

Don’t forget to thank those around you this week who have made your life better.

If you’ve ever had someone teach you to swing a baseball bat, golf club or tennis racket they alway tell you to make sure that you finish your swing with a good follow through. As someone who has swung all three of those to some degree of failure in my lifetime (see above), I know that if I don’t follow through with my swing and stop it halfway (at the contact point generally) the ball doesn’t go where I want or as far as I want. This same thing applies to working with your clients.  Don’t stop halfway through your swing with them.  Follow through until the ball goes where you want and as far as it can.  Just getting a yes isn’t the goal, getting a successful sale is the goal.  Make sure that you follow through with every possible thing to ensure that happens.

If you go move half the distance to a goal each time you take a step you’re never going to get there.