Conrey is for Closers » Not-Sales

Do You Pass the Snooze Test?

conrey — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:54:57 +0000

I’ve discovered the simplest test of whether or not you are doing work that is meaningful and engaging. It will tell you without fail if you enjoy your job.

image courtesy of Flickr User: Winter Stacey

All it takes is a simple alarm clock with a “snooze” button. When your alarm goes off in the morning, do you get up and start getting ready to go to work, or do you hit snooze? More importantly do you hit snooze multiple times. Do you dread getting out of bed and heading into work? Do you have to drag yourself kicking and screaming out the door to go to your job? Or do you get up and smile looking forward to what you’ve got on your plate today?

Obviously after a long night of work, or a few too many beers, some mornings are harder than others to escape the friendly confines of sleep, but if you start to see yourself hitting the snooze button more and more you are in trouble. Odds are you’re going to see yourself coming into the office later, leaving earlier, losing entire chunks of your day where you don’t get anything done, and all of the other office zombie behaviors we all hate.

image courtesy of Flickr User: Christopher Kennedy

If you are failing the snooze test, you have just one responsibility to yourself.

Eject, eject, eject. It’s time to get out of there and find something that excites you and engages your brain. Life is too short to be an office zombie. There are others who have done this. Find them, talk to them, and be free.

Do You Pass the Snooze Test? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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Secret to Consistent Success

conrey — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:41:08 +0000

There is never a secret to success – except when there is. I’m going to give you the real one that all others are built on so that you can be radically successful.

Image courtesy of Flickr User: Auto Clasico Mallorca

It’s actually easy. All you have to do is figure out the exact right process to do whatever it is you do. If you build cars, you need to figure out what from Henry Ford or the Toyota Production System works for you. If you are making fast food hamburgers you’ll look to McDonalds or In-N-Out or whichever you want to emulate. But what you’re doing is finding your process. Define it, codify it, and build a system so that anyone in your organization can do it.

That part you know. Now for the secret.

All you have to do is take that process and repeat it without error 99 Million times. Once you’ve done that you’ve guaranteed yourself consistent excellence and success.

See, told you it was easy.

Secret to Consistent Success is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

What Is Your Job?

conrey — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:47:46 +0000

If you’re providing a service, you have one job and one job only.

Your sole job is to make your clients look like rockstars.

They came to you to be better than they were before you. They won’t recognize this, they won’t admit this, and you will rarely get recognition for that mission.

You can accomplish this in many ways, but keep that one ever arching goal in mind. You aren’t the rockstar, you’re the stage crew. Work like a roadie and if you’re lucky you’ll get the recognition you deserve.

Image found on www.failblog.com

What Is Your Job? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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Meetings Suck

conrey — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:35:00 +0000

It’s true.

If there is one of you among my readers that loves meetings, let me know and I’ll send help. I’m not talking about meetings with clients necessarily, but usually those internal meetings that we all dread when we see them on our calendar for the day.

Why do we dread them? Because we know that they are going to be an hour or more of our time for something that could have been handled in a 2 line email, or that 58 of those minutes aren’t going to be relevant to me, or whatever else.

Luckily there are people who want to change this. I was given a copy of Al Pittampalli‘s new book “Read This Before Our Next Meeting” through The Domino Project. It’s a quick read – and right now it’s free for your kindle. I highly recommend you spend the hour it takes to read this book if you agree with what I wrote above. If you don’t agree then I think you should read it twice or more until you realize the time waste and productivity waste that goes on in meetings.

This isn’t the first time this message has been said. It’s common among people who follow Seth Godin, Tim Ferris, or any of the 37 Signals crew (especially in Rework). But this is a well written response that will help expand this movement beyond the geeks with macbooks crowd.

Meeting adjourned.

Download the Free Kindle version here

Meetings Suck is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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Are Your Prices too Low?

conrey — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 22:45:00 +0000

Between this blog and the Don’t Sell Me Bro podcast, I’ve talked about pricing a few times now, and I leant my ear to some friends talking about their pricing structure last week. They too were going through the fear of raising their rates and what that would mean for their current and future clients. I asked off hand, “Have any of your current clients pushed hard for a rate decrease when you signed them?”

Their answer was none of them had. This should be a shock to anyone selling a service or an item that has taken a basic economics course. If no one is complaining about your price, or trying to negotiate it down – you’re not charging enough. You’re giving significantly more value out than taking in if this is the case.

It’s ok to be lower priced than other people (see Wal-Mart or Southwest Airlines) but there is also the cost-perception of value curve. If you’re priced high enough, people will assume that there is value to be had there. Your job is to continue to deliver on value even at a higher rate.

Are Your Prices too Low? is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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A Manifesto, A Movement, A Mindset

conrey — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:18:19 +0000

After some deep soul searching this past week, I was inspired to write a manifesto. Working around a ton of people who believe strongly in the Agile Manifesto, led to a natural starting point. Coalesced from my experiences and many of the topics I’ve debated and argued with you over the years, I am thrilled with what came out of this, and can’t wait to press it even further as it evolves.

Please go check out The Manifesto for Post Modern Sales at my new venture, PostModernSales.com

A Manifesto, A Movement, A Mindset is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

The Smartest Fish In the Ocean

Potential

conrey — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:44:56 +0000

You’ve got potential kid.

I hope you never hear those words. If they do you’ve failed.

A spring has potential when it’s loaded and compressed down, ready to push something forward. That’s great and all, but it hasn’t done what it is supposed to do. It is waiting for some impulse, something to set it off.

Release that potential. Get up right now and go do the work you were intended to do. Make the call, push the button, send the email, open the door. Don’t leave that potential at the ready and unused.

This post is part of the #Trust30 initiative. “#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Use this as an opportunity to reflect on your now, and to create direction for your future. 30 prompts from inspiring thought-leaders will guide you on your writing journey. “

Potential is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

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What Closing Is

conrey — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 17:00:57 +0000

You’re here to close deals. You’re here to be a closer. You want to close the client, get the signature, and beat your competition into the dust. So you look for books on closes, audio tapes on closes you can use, training on how to close more deals. I’ve been there. I memorized a ton of them once.

There’s one small problem with that mindset. Small like the Hoover Dam.

You’re focusing on the wrong thing, the end result. Closing is the culmination of all the rest of the things you do all day. If you’re doing the rest of your process well, and working the plan you’ve made for yourself, the closing will take care of itself.

The great salesmen I know don’t worry about closing, they worry about making the right relationships and taking care of their clients. They spend more time prospecting and nurturing conversations than closing. They track way more than just a closing percentage as a sign of success.

What Closing Is is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Sustaining Success

Think Big, Act Big, and Own It

conrey — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:00:18 +0000

This was originally posted at The Whale Hunters

If you’ve been in a room with me for more than an hour or so, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ve heard me say the title to this blog post. If you’ve been in a sales meeting or a goal setting session with me it is certain that you’ve heard it. The words lead right to an important thought – in order to be truly successful you have to have some big goals. You’ve got to Think Big, Act Big, and Own It.

Think Big – Set big goals, dare to do the big scary things, reach high. If you’d asked me two years ago if I’d be recording a podcast weekly, blogging on my own blog and for folks like The Whale Hunters, and speaking regularly at local events, I’d have answered “Absolutely!” I’ve never been afraid to set big goals and then run at them. Big goals are intimidating, but motivating.

Act Big – Show no fear as you run after those big goals you thought up. There will be plenty of haters telling you that you can’t get it done, can’t close that deal, can’t write that article, etc etc. Ignore them. We’ve all been told to Act As If before, do it for real now. (warning salty language in the video)

You have to act as if there is nothing that can stop you from hitting your goals. Once you realize that you’re the only person holding you back, it’s easy to get out of your own way.

Own It - Once you’re done Thinking Big and Acting Big, you’ll have people calling you egotistical, arrogant, and other mean words. But it’s ok. They’re a bit jealous of your ability to get outside of your normal complacency and start to really achieve. Own your goals and your actions, you’re going to love hitting them and setting even bigger more audacious ones next year.

Think Big, Act Big, and Own It is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

Book Review: Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company

Talkin’ Bout My Generation

conrey — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:19:42 +0000

While usually an entertaining comic, The Oatmeal crushes it with this piece on selling. If you ever sound like the guy on the right, you are well on your way to dinosaurdom.

Notice the words describing each of the people on the bottom, which do you want to be known for? The correlations here, while meant to be funny are spot on. We talk a bunch about how we are perceived by customers and buyers, but when even the buyers are mocking salesmen, it tells you we’re not wrong.

Talkin’ Bout My Generation is a post from: Conrey is for Closers

If You Charge Them….