HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED ALL THE TIME!

The most common problem people talk about when they request
coaching is "staying motivated." Sometimes they talk about
losing focus, being discouraged, having too much to do, or
"procrastination," but what it boils down to is that they
aren't achieving as much as they would like.
We all have things that are important to us. We have goals,
or a dream, or maybe some obligations we are duty-bound to
complete, but we aren't making the progress we know we
could. Some people work hard for a while, then slack off.
Others procrastinate and "never get to it." Some "don't
know how to get started" or are too tired.
At bottom, the issue is motivation.
The fact is that we always do the things we are intensely
motivated to do. Ask a teenager how hard they'll work to
make the team or get their driver's license. Ask yourself
how many all-nighters you pulled to pass an important test
or to complete a term paper in college. Ask yourself about
the times you've worked impossibly hard to achieve
something you "had" to get done!
There's a wonderful story about a young man who travelled
the world and climbed a mountain to get an interview with a
famous guru. When they finally met, the man said, "I'll do
anything to find wisdom. Will you help me?" Without a word,
the guru silently led the young man to a nearby lake and
suddenly pushed his head under water. After the man
thrashed and fought for a moment, the guru let him up,
where he immediately gasped for air. The guru then said,
"When you desire wisdom as badly as you wanted that breath
of air, you'll find it."
Isn't that the truth? When we are motivated, nothing can
stand in our way!
So, how do we stay motivated? Here are a few keys:
1.  Be clear! You can hit almost any target if you define
it clearly enough. It's hard to stay motivated for a vague
or distant goal. Be specific. Be precise and concrete. You
will be far more motivated to increase sales by 10% than to
make "more" this month.
2.  Have an action plan. If you have a "map" and know the
next step, you are much more motivated to do it. "Baby-
steps" less sexy and exciting, but are always easier and
more do-able than "giant leaps." It's relatively hard to
stay motivated for years to put a million dollars in the
bank, but it's easy to start saving $500 this month. Have a
clear, do-able action-oriented plan. Then, consistently
take one step after another.
3.  Surround yourself with positives. Zig Ziglar made a
wonderful observation that "people complain motivation
doesn't last. Well, neither does a shower. That's why I
recommend both every day." Read, listen to audio programs,
talk with exciting people and surround yourself with things
that energize you! We live in a "bad news world." It wears
everyone down! To counter this, surround yourself  with
things that energize, challenge and excite you.
4.  The "Breakfast of Champions." With apologies to
Wheaties™, you've got to re-commit to your most important
priorities, goals and plans every single day. Personally, I
begin every morning with about 20 minutes focusing on my
major priorities. If I don't, the day "gets away from me."
In the rush of the day, minor "emergencies" will beat
strategic action every time. Start every day by reviewing
and re-affirming your most important objectives. What one
or two things absolutely, positively MUST get done today?
5.  Have lots of cheerleaders! I think this may be the most
important, easiest, and most-often over-looked item.
Recruit friends and partners to hold you accountable. Teach
them to support and encourage you. Pick their brains for
good ideas, and report back to them regularly. Form and use
a MasterMind team! Hire an expert coach! With
the right team of cheerleaders, you can accomplish
anything!

3 STEPS TO WIN IN LIFE

Step One: Planning to Win
There are lots of steps and sub-steps you have to put together when you begin to plan your success, but a few things are foundational. Planning has to be based on getting a clear vision of what you want, because without a vision you don’t know which goals to set. Without goals you have no targets, and without targets you have nothing to measure how you’re doing. So you can see how important a vision is. Getting a clear vision for your future is also important because it plays a huge role in the creation of desire! Did you know that desire is the mother of motivation? Desire is the “want to” and the motor that fuels and powers sustained success.
Desire is important and vision is critical, but there are some personal qualities you must have or acquire to get the best possible results. As a matter of fact, there are six qualities: honesty, character, faith, integrity, love, and loyalty. I have called these qualities the foundation stones to any lasting success. You can develop each of these qualities in your life as you prepare to become the winner you were born to be.

Step Two: Preparing to Win
At first glance, you might think planning and preparing mean the same thing. I admit they might look like they are first cousins, but I see preparation as much different from planning. Preparation is a matter of equipping yourself to win with the right tools, knowledge, and support it will take to turn your dreams into plans that will make your vision into reality. So, you must equip yourself in the best possible way to insure your planning efforts will be successful.
Equipping and preparing yourself to win requires five things:
• You need the right knowledge to win.
• You must continually raise your personal performance bar.
• You must acquire tools that help you work better and faster.
• You have to practice your skills.
• You have to surround yourself with positive influences and people.
In summary, you have to train yourself to become a twenty-four-hour champion. Winning involves planning and preparing. Both are a constant-improvement, never-ending process. When you stop planning and preparing . . . you stop winning. Twenty-four-hour champions continually equip themselves to win!

Step Three: Expecting to Win
I’ve always said that when you have planned and prepared to win, you then have the right to expect to win. The ultimate fruit of positive expectation is hope, and it is hope that pulls you forward in all you attempt to do. I’m always hopeful and I never worry. I can say that because I expect the best possible result in all that I do. I expect the best because I planned my success, prepared myself to execute my plans, and earned the right to expect the best.
Desire is the mother of motivation, because that is where your motivation is born. Properly planning and preparing heightens your expectations, which fuels your desire and drives you to become even more motivated. Through the years I’ve continually heard from individuals from all walks of life whose lives were in a downward spiral—until they heard something in my audio products or read something in my books that gave them the will and the skills they needed to change their circumstances and transform their lives. They testify that by putting my simple suggestions into practice their lives were transformed. Sometimes the transformation was mental, sometimes it was spiritual, and other times it was material. Whatever the transformation, there was a commonality to the core changes they made. These people changed the way they viewed themselves. They became willing to make significant changes, and they came to believe they were born to win! What they really did is develop the skills and take the necessary actions they needed to plan, prepare, and expect to win!
You were born to win. But to be the winner you were born to be you have to plan to win, prepare to win, and only then can you expect to win. Go out and be the winner you were meant to be today!
 

5 WAYS TO PINPOINT WORTHWHILE OPPORTUNITIES

When a salesperson is considering whether to spend time and resources pursuing an opportunity that may or may not come to pass, what it really comes down to is making a choice between chasing every opportunity and managing your territory like a business. This is why the salesperson, with their manager’s guidance, needs to do a thorough analysis of the opportunity as follows:

Ability to Deliver:
First, understand if your company has the ability to deliver a solution that satisfies the needs of the client:

• Are we able to deliver?
• Are my organization’s capabilities compatible with the customer’s needs?
• Will my products/capabilities satisfy these needs?

Cost of Sale:
Then, analyze the cost to capture and maintain the account:

• Is this opportunity worth the time?
• Will servicing this account allow sufficient time for me to work with other customers or prospects
• Will my organization be able to handle the demands resulting from this sale?

Relationship:
Review your relationship with the account:

• Is it positive?
• Have sound relationships with key players been established?
• Have buying roles, decision-making style, business goals and needs been uncovered and analyzed?
• Have strong negative influences been won over?
• Can you count on support from positive influences?

Value of Win:
And finally, ask yourself, Is this opportunity worth winning?

• Will the short-term revenues meet or exceed my account goals?
• Does this opportunity represent an acceptable return on investment?
• If the revenue is less than desired, will the prestige or strategic value associated with the account create other opportunities?

Salespeople must manage their territory as a business—able to assess the win-ability of an opportunity before committing expensive resources and wasting valuable time pursuing barren opportunities.

REALITY NEVER LIES

I recently listened to an old recording of coach and
author, Laura Berman Fortgang’s speech to the International
Coach Federation several years ago. In her presentation,
she talked about the fact that reality never lies.
While her focus was on coaching, I immediately connected
her words to the fact that our sales, productivity, profits
and customer satisfaction are ALWAYS precisely accurate
measures of the service we provide.
From the dawn of history, human beings have searched for
bargains. We love getting goods or services at a fair
price, delivered on time, and hopefully, with an extra
"bonus." In the words of the old saying, "build a better
mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door."
Because of this, your bank account is an accurate
reflection of the value the world places on your products
and services. The facts and numbers do not lie. They may
contain a message you don’t like, or one with which you
disagree, but they do not lie.
To increase your sales and profits, you must increase the
value of your services to your customers. Advertising may
help in the short-run. Laying employees off, or hiring
better people may help briefly. Cutting costs or raising
prices may give the illusion that things are better, but
illusions never last.
The key to the growth of your enterprise is providing more
value, at a lower price. Fortunately, this is not
difficult. Perceived value can be many things, from faster
delivery, to larger quantities, to more pleasing colors.
The opportunity to innovate, add value, and increase sales
is endless.
Reality does not lie. Study the numbers, notice where you
can increase value to your customer, and adjust
accordingly. Your financial future depends on it.
Often, the best and least expensive way to add value and
improve your bottom line is with the help of an expert
consultant or coach. Thousands of entrepreneurs and
business leaders have learned that an extra set of eyes and
ears, and an objective point of view can quickly make a
huge difference.