A Campfire

What is it about a campfire that makes us fall in love again with
    Silence
      Books
        Thoughts
          Your Best Friend, who happens to be your Spouse

 

What is it about a campfire that opens our mind again to
    Passion
      Belief
        Self-Confidence
          Truth, in spite of pervading doubt

What is it about a campfire that focuses insight again on
    Family
      Faith
        Career
          Health, the benefits so easily ignored

What is it about a campfire that inspires us again to

    Listen
      Dream
        Follow
          Live, to the fullest extent

What is it about a campfire

         
       

       

Following Heart

Sometimes we all need a reminder. Robert Burns said it best in his poem "To a Mouse"

...The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,...

We can plan and plan... Prepare in such a way that provides us with the confidence that we'll succeed... and yet, our plan falls short. Our best laid schemes (plans) go astray

Every once and awhile we just need to step out knowing that we have no backup. We have no way of knowing the outcome. We do not know whether or not we'll succeed. Sometimes we just have to follow a good idea. Follow a vision. Follow a dream. Follow your heart.

Yes, there's risk. Sure the idea could flop. You might find yourself groveling on the floor asking for forgiveness. Yet, you tried. You took the risk. You made the attempt - following heart.

You can be anything you want to be, if you only believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.

~Napoleon Hill

Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.
~William Newton Clark

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

Faith is a passionate intuition.
~William Wordsworth

Follow Your Heart

Arrival & The Fall

Have you ever noticed that just when you think you've "arrived", something happens. That "something" really throws off that idea of arrival.

You know how it is. Life seems to be chugging along. No hiccups. No road blocks. Then BAM, something happens. The train derails. Smooth sailing just became rough water - and your insides scream out, "why?"

Your sales career seems to be at its peak. Gross profit dollars from repeated sales stream in. You've "arrived". All that ground breaking, foundation laying hard work paid off. You hit your President's Club Goal. You earned Bonus Dollars. It's time to take the foot off the gas pedal and coast. You've earned it. You deserve it and then...

...your #1 customer calls to tell you that they decided to switch out your highest volume item to a competitor due to price - OR - through no fault of your own your best customer opts to close the plant and move to a different country because labor or raw materials cost less. BAM!

It happens. Yet, why does it always seem to happen just when you thought you had arrived?

Most often I think it's coincedence, but it sure seems to happen when you're on top. President's Club, bonus... life was suppose to become easy.

Reality: 10% of your current business is lost each year through no fault of your own. It's an age old truth. Plan for it.

Insight: Over my 25 years of selling, it seems like the catastrophic events always happen when I become complacent with my learning. I've stopped studying & reading. After all... I've arrived. I know it all! I don't need some book to remind me how to sell. I'm good at it. I've arrived! "Wrong buddy"... this is life speaking, "I'm going to remind you how important it is to constantly be learning".

At our monthly sales meeting we role played introducing our company to a new prospective customer. Our goal was to ask questions, listen, "dance", and walk away with an agreement for a next action.

FUN FACT: Sales people do not like to role play

Unfortunately many of the reps feel like they do not need to practice. After all.... they've arrived. A couple years of hitting President's Club. A number of years of Bonus Dollars... "Who needs practice?" "Role playing isn't "real" anyway". "There's no way to you can duplicate what really happens at the prospective customers office!"

Never Stop Learning. Life is the great equalizer. Start studying and keep learning.

Start by reading Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich". It's old, but it's new!

Stage Hook Storytelling

Yesterday at church, our pastor shared a personal story. What struck me was how the story grabbed me like a stage hook around the neck, dragged me to the edge of my chair, and pulled me in. He could have set the stage for his sermon points by citing facts and details from research. However, he opted to tell a story.

 

Story telling is an art. As a story builds, anticipation is created. Your attention is focused. You're on edge, breathlessly waiting for the ending.

"But... I can't tell stories, Glen". Take heart...even a poorly told story is better than sitting across from a customer and barfing out features and benefits.

Do you have stories to tell? Yes you do! Ultimately, customers want you to answer the simple question of: "Why, given all my options, should I buy from you and your company?"

Choose to formulate your answer inside of one or two success stories. If you've survived more than 12 months in sales, you have stories to share. The art is in how you craft your story.

As you engage prospects and customers, change your habitual tactics. Try telling a personal story. Use your stage hook, grab them around the neck, drag them to the edge of their chair and secure more opportunities and sales.

Achieve your goals by using your stage hook. Tell a story today

Reflecting Forward

Wisdom

 Does it come with age?

Insight

Is it only gained through experience? 

   Self-Confidence

Ego, pride, or simply a core strength?

 

 

Lately, for some unknown reason, I've been reflecting on my life. I'm 46 years old. Married since the age of 19. Blessed to have a wife who loves and forgives me in spite of all my quasi-OCD behaviors and major and minor faults. Fortunate to have a beautiful and intelligent 19 year old daughter who is changing the Huizenga bloodline forever by being the first to attend college. We're in our 4th home. From the humble beginning in a 12' x 60' mobile home to our first "real" house... we've been blessed. I could list more... Simply blessed!

We didn't really have any "plan". There were no career aspirations. No ladders to climb (no desire to climb, really). Yet, somehow an outcome occurred.

Reflection is rewarding. By reflecting I impact my life moving forward. I'm reflecting forward. Hmmm.

I look back and realize that two people impacted me more than they know.

1. Ken Kuipers - my middle school principal and eventually my boss when I was a custodian. If he hadn't said these words to me, I'm not sure I'd be where I'm at today. He said, "Glen, you have skills that you do not realize you have. You have to take this risk". I had shared my opportunity to get into the sales field. He hated to see me go, yet he knew he had to let me go. Without that nudge from the nest, I wouldn't even be typing this blog message.
2. A Manufacturer's Rep. His name long forgotten, however after a half-day work day early in my sales career he reported back to my sales manager saying these words, "He's going to be a good one".

Add up those words. I counted 24. Twenty four words. Twenty four life altering words. Words of action and words of encouragement.

My challenge: To be a man of few, yet powerful, life altering words. Positive life changing words. Encouraging, inspiring words.

I pledge to pass on the gifts given to me - words.