It was 12:58pm on Wednesday, January 25th. I had just resigned a mere 3.5 hours ago and was celebrating what’s next over a beer with my husband of 17 years. As we were planning and discovering things for me to do in the next 28 days before starting work again, I somehow had the common sense to remember I had bought a ticket to a Dale Carnegie Institute/Jeffrey Gitomer Reslilient Leadership session…which was going to start at 3pm that afternoon. How coincidental??
So, we finished plotting out a grand plan for the next month and beyond, and I rushed home to brush my teeth and head over to the Embassy Suites in Greenville, SC. I’m a fan of Gitomer already – I subscribe to his sales/marketing e-zine and have dabbled in his Ace of Sales email program. What I wasn’t prepared for a was a solid 2.5 hours of atta-girl, motivational inspiration to go conquer my new opportunity. Yes, I had pretty high expectations given my familiarity with his content, but I got totally immersed into his direct Jersey boy why-haven’t-you-bought-an-iPad-yet performance that hit a nerve with me every time he opened his mouth.
So, here are the big idea take-aways from Gitomer’s session. Some are quite practical and simple, a few are merely thought-provoking, while others require action or change. I personally walked away with a rekindled confidence to move on to what’s next – smothered in a notion of Hell Yes!
JEFFREY GITOMER: Resilient Leadership Principles
- open a biz opportunity with ‘before we get started…’ – sets a relaxed, informal, truthful tone from the outset
- laugh or think in the first minute of new biz opportunity, otherwise you’ll spend the rest of the meeting recovering
- show pix of your kids whenever you can – create the emotional appeal
- sales are made emotionally, justified logically
- substitute television for writing/reading and you win
- loosen up – today’s Presidential candidates don’t even wear ties
- always train new employees for attitude first – start with yourself
- coach the player; lead the team
- stay coach-able yourself
- the more you study it, the better you are at teaching it
- people need to see your believe to become believers themselves
- don’t lead by example, set the standard
- react, respond, recover – how you do these as a leader determines your success
- if you ever SAY you are the boss, you’re probably not
- if you hire an eagle, they will fly
- make your social media policy focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t
- if your people are better at things, you will win
- have a bad minute, not a bad day
- replace the word change with opportunity to get a different reaction
- set earnings expectations & minimums, not quotas
- strive for loyalty, not satisfaction
- teach how to earn referrals, not make cold calls
- teach testimonials, not a sales pitch
- teach buying motives, not sales skills
- if someone on your team leaves for a competitor, it’s YOUR fault
- treat everyone like a one year old – without the baby talk!
Off the top of my head... 