 If I may say, what a great sign. When I relate the sign to sales I come up with this. No cutting corners. I wanted additional info on Sabbath so I googled Sabbath and came up with this. "A supposed annual midnight meeting of witches with the Devil." How appropriate within sales. Witches and the Devil are always trying to steal my sale. Who wants to meet at midnight with the Devil? Not me! It is so obvious that if I take the Narrow Way then nothing good comes of it. I take Broadway and shine. Sunday is a day of rest. Recharge the battery, take care of myself. You know what they say, "take care of yourself and you will be a better spouse, partner, friend, father, brother, coworker, employee, etc." You get it, you know where I am coming from. If you look above the street name, Sabbath and Sunday appear. Love that. In my mind, Sunday suffocates Sabbath. I am going to do the right thing within a sale, always taking Broadway. Staying away from Narrow Way. It is so easy to take the simple path to victory, going right down Narrow Way. When I do this, I fail, I fail miserably. I learned the hard way. How? By losing large, HUGE commission checks that had my name on them but I went down Narrow Way. Ha. Never again. I pay attention to the details, I am always timely, apply the best selling techniques for that given sale and walk it across the finish line. Came across this quote, "I like things to happen: and if they don't happen, I like to make them happen:" Bingo, Broadway!
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com
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 Oh wow, what a story I am going to share. This story changed my life as well as many others, I kid you not! I had started a job in ATL back awhile ago. I was the brand new sales rep and a VP within the office decided to have fun with the new rookie. He was a joker. Everyone has come across a joker that does not know when to stop, right?!! Well he joked 24/7 so you never really did know when he was serious. Here I am a rookie and this VP calls me into his office. "Hoyt, I have a lucrative lead for you in Charlotte, NC. Pack your bags and get up to see my CFO friend at Presbyterian Hospital. He is waiting for you tomorrow at 8 am. WOW, I am going to be a star. Went home, packed my bags, flew out that night, leaving myself room for error, landed in Charlotte, got a rental car, did a dry run, rode to the hospital so I knew where I was going in the morning. All set. I bedded down, got a good nights sleep and was ready to SELL and make the VP proud. Only to find out that when I showed up to the hospital that the name of the fella that the VP shared did not exist. The VP duped me. I was furious to say the least. Came back to ATL, met with the VP the next morning and shared that the person that he asked me to go see in Charlotte did not exist. He said, "come on Hoyt, I was kidding dude!!" That is when the word Iacocca showed up. I came up with a key word that means, "I am telling the truth, you can trust me I am not joking." Whenever I am in conversation with someone who knows the meaning of Iacocca the word comes up a lot. In today's world it is nice to have a go to word, in this case Iacocca cuts to the chase and says come clean, tell the truth, no lies. When someone throws an Iacocca at you, you better come clean. Hey Paul, "where are you from?" I respond the moon, "no really where are you from," the moon, "Iacocca", okay ATL! Iacocca boldly says stop the joking and give me the truth. I love it and my family and friends use it all the time. Spread the key work - Iacocca. Do you need a key word to keep the truth working for you? Try Iacocca, it works.
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com 913-522-3944  Ever heard "you only live once-but if you work it right, once is enough." I do not want to look back on my life and say, wish I did this, wish I did that. Nope. That is why I have goals. For me there are two sets of goals. Small one's and HUGE one's. It's important to have daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. I do not take them lightly. They are my road map to success in life. Keeps me centered and focused on my purpose. On the other hand, I get excited about my HUGE goals. I enjoy dreaming big. The big man say, "have not, ask not". So with that I set HUGE goals and dream big. I look at it this way, if I am going to dream why not have a HUGE dream. Takes the same amount of energy. Decision done, dream HUGE. In sales, dreaming of being #1 in the country, making 7 figures, that's right 7 figures, going to the President's Club, winning the Rolex watch, cashing in on quarterly bonuses. On and On! HUGE is not in scarcity. There is an abundance of HUGE so I ask for it. Everyday I ask for the success of my HUGE goals. I write them down and I visit them everyday. Dedication, organization, attention to detail and timeliness are disciplines that launch me towards HUGE. I like this saying cause it relates to goals, "dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become." Are you in pursuit of your HUGE goals? I know you are and you are on your way to Success Street.
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  Certainty. I love certainty, hate gray. I have never been one who likes to guess and see what is going to happen. For example, my wife and I did not want to wait and see what sex our baby was going to be when born. We wanted to know now. Forecasting is the same for me. I want to know what is going to happen with a high level of certainty. I want to know the outcome with a high level of certainty. If I can control most of the situation then I will be confident in the outcome. Forecasting is scientific, based on events and information, that will determine when I will close the deal. For me forecasting is not like predicting the weather. A lot of guess work goes into predicting the weather. Forecasting for me needs to be predictable, accurate and dependable at all times. If leadership is going to run an organized, efficient company they need a forecast from me that they can count on. To do this, I am diligent in asking the tough qualifying questions. No easy road to travel. Keep asking the questions that get me thrown out early and if I cannot get thrown out then I will provide leadership with an accurate forecast. Accurate forecasting provides for sunny days. Are you bulletproof on your forecasting? Does leadership trust your numbers? If so, excellent, go out and enjoy the sun, the forecast calls for it!
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  That little boy in the picture reminds me of my son Angelo. A full head of hair just like Angelo. Ever heard of the phrase, "even keel?" I was having one hellava month, Ammazza! Which means killing it in Italian. Some of you may know that I have a lot of Italian blood in me. My mom is 100% Italian. Back to my story. When I was killing it that month, the next month I went bone dry. I could not land a deal to save my life. My boss at the time said to me, "what's the matter Hoyt?" She could tell I was down. Sales bring lots of ups and downs as you can imagine. The key to getting to the top and staying there is to have an even keel frame of mind. In sales, let you not forget, you always have to have your A game with you. I do not allow myself to get to high or to low depending on my performance. If I go crazy when I win and on the flip side get depressed when I lose then I become unproductive. It's exhausting mentally and I lose focus on what is important, closing deals. So as I go through my selling days, I stay disciplined on even keel allowing me to have productive days without having to ride the roller coaster. It is a simple discipline however, and you have read this before from me, simple but not easy. This behavior also helps me in everyday life. Sure it's fun to get overly excited, and I am not saying do not celebrate but I have to be careful that I do not over indulge because the emotional swings can be to much to handle. This is an area that I have had to grown slowly in but the return on my even keel efforts has been and will continue to be mentally rewarding. In selling, anything I can do to enhance my performance I am willing to do. Do the emotional highs and lows of selling drag you down? Are you an even keel person? If so, super! Keep up the even keel and enjoy the rewards of this highly effective discipline.
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  Working for Texas Instruments in PGH right out of college. First day on the job and my leader Evelyn shared the following. "Hoyt on this team you don't learn to hold your own in sales by standing guard, but by attacking, and getting well hammered yourself. Hoyt we don't sell to not lose we sell to win! You will be prepared for battle and we will go in swinging. I expect us to win every deal and to do that you have to aggressively attack. Unlearning is more difficult than learning. So start learning the right way. You got it Hoyt, cause if you don't take your briefcase and get out." Damn that was strong, I was intimidated. I thought this woman is crazy, what did I get myself into. No good morning, welcome to the team, friendly handshake. NOPE. She meant business. Looking back, how blessed to have such a strong leader to teach me right out of the blocks. OK, welcome to the world of taking charge. I was ready to embrace it. What she taught me no college classroom could ever come close to teaching me. It was street smart knowledge at it's best. She taught me to be disciplined, organized, attention to detail and timely in every aspect of the sale. She ingrained in me to learn as much about the prospect and the competition before I showed up for my first sales call. And heaven forbid, she said, "when in a sales call shut up and listen." Hoyt, selling is investigational, listen more than talk." Oh, let me share a story about my early stages of sales calls as I worked for Evelyn. I would prepare for the sales call, check in with Evelyn before I departed, then hit the road. I would come back to the office after the sales call and have an AAR, After Action Review with Evelyn. The AAR stood for what I did well and what I could have done better. For the longest time she would always ask me the question(s) I forgot to ask the prospect. Made me so mad. I thought I was so thorough until she asked me the one question I forgot to ask the prospect. What a great learning experience in how to prepare for any sales call. I wanted to come back and have all the answers to her questions. I wanted her to be proud of me. By her always naming the question I forgot to ask made me a more thorough complete sales executive for the next sales call. The benefits are powerful. The more I knew about the prospect the better I could serve them. Even though she frustrated me, she did me right. Eventually the AAR's turned into meaningful strategies on how to close the deal. Blessed to have such a mentor that was sincere in making me the best sales executive in the country. Are you thorough in your investigational work prior to making your sales calls? Gather as much information, for if your going to lead the sale to the finish line you will be doing a service for the prospect and your company. Attention to detail will drive you right to the winner's circle. Success smells so sweet. Don't you think?!
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  Back in junior high school I played quarterback. Coach Moressi would ride me like a crazy bull every practice. At the time I hated him, but as I reflect back, I love and respect him for his passion to make me a better player and most important a better person. He would get up in my grill at least once during practice. "Hoyt, your are the leader of this team and you are acting ordinary! Put something extra into your efforts." He pushed me to exceed my gifts. The extra effort paid off for us. We won a lot of games and as former NFL Jets quarterback Joe Namath said, "When you win nothing hurts." Coach always made me do more than anyone else on the team. Coach would randomly say to me, "do you want to win Hoyt?" I have incorporated that culture into my life, the tankdiesel model. Look at the picture that I have posted. I do not want to be a common yellow practice range ball. Do you? I want to be the ball that a champion like Tiger Woods tees up to win The Masters. I do not need to win I WANT to win. In my mind wanting something is a key component to success. My wants drive my success. Being ordinary will not cut it in sales. I put extra into all areas of my life like Coach demanded. Extra puts me ahead, escalates me to the top. Extra is something most sales people will not commit to. The path of least resistance leads to last place. Not an area that I am familiar with. Winning through extra efforts, strategy, energy, herculean efforts, laser focused action pays high rewards to me. I put extra into ordinary and now I am extraordinary. Have you looked at your actions? Are they ordinary like others or are you adding extra to your ordinary? March on to financial freedom by being extraordinary.
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  On the road one day with my then current boss reviewing my sales pipeline, funnel. I was a rookie, learning as much as possible from my mentor. He was a strong willed, scientific seller/leader. Scientific meant no gray when it came to selling. He used to say "Hoyt, your either going to close the deal or your not. Which is it Hoyt? The questions requires a binary response. Get good at that son so when I ask you if your going to close a specific deal I want to hear yes or no. There is no emotion in selling Hoyt. Just the facts." It was a lesson that I embraced and to this day have woven into my sales approach, tankdieselsales.com. Scientific selling to me means, asking all the hard qualifying questions all the time to the prospect so that you can get to a yes. If the yes is not coming move on. I did a BLOG on getting thrown out early. You may want to go back to that one and reflect. Getting throw out early means you are not going to close the deal so pack up and move onto a better qualified prospect. Don't fish where it's nice to fish, fish where the fish are. Do not waste your time on deals that are not going to close in your favor. So as the story goes, that day my boss shared that I needed to build into the CRM, salesforce.com at the time hard questions within each stage. If you can answer all the questions positively within a stage then you move to the next stage which is closer towards the sale. He shared, "be disciplined on this process Hoyt (he loved to call me by my last name) and watch your W2 grow. Remember Hoyt scientific selling is full of certainty. Learn to hate grey. Certainty will not let you down." The tankdiesel model is full of certainty. Do you selling through emotions? When your boss asks you if your going to close a specific deal do you answer through your gut and emotions or do you answer scientifically? If you answer scientifically then you are on the right track, the track that leads to successville.
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  Have you ever heard the saying, "imagination is the preview of life's coming attractions." I have and I believe it. There have been many times in my life where I have thought, wished, fixated, obsessed, etc. on something and darn, the hell if it did not happen. Powerful stuff. Imagination has no prejudism. In my personal sales putting positive imagination to work is healthy. Doing the footwork and then imagining closing the deal is healthy. Why not use my positive imagination to bring things to the forefront? If I believe that something positive is going to happen then I am attracting it to me. I put it out there in my imagination and work my plan A. I displace worry, which is anticipating a negative outcome with positive imagination, a preview of life's coming attractions. As I walk through my selling day, it can be tough to stay laser focused. So many things going on and so many critical deliverables on my plate at any given time. Day or night. So at times my mind will wonder. That is when I come back to my positive imagination. Remember it is key for me to keep my imagination positive. NO, NO, NO on the negative imagination. If negative, I come to a screeching halt and get my mind off of those toxic thoughts. This is a simple exercise for me but one that I am diligent in carrying out. Why? Because positive imagination promotes healthy thoughts within my mind. My healthy thoughts generate mental energy. I use this burst of mental energy to work on selling strategies. Out with the worry, in with the positive imagination. I want to thank my buddy for sharing this sales pearl of wisdom. It works and it's healthy. Do what you can and pray for what you cannot yet do. Put that imagination to work. Wear it out. Do you allow your mind to recklessly wander into thoughts that are an absolute waste of time and typically are focused around worry? If so immediately replace worry with positive imagination and watch out!
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com  One day early in my selling career Lou Holtz former Notre Dame football coach was being interviewed and I remember one attribute he said to his listeners "there are many highly qualified football coaches in this league however none of them will out hustle me"! I learned from an early age that hustle makes up for a lot of other deficiencies. I may not be the smartest one in the room, however, that does not intimidate me. When you select me to do a job, I am all in. No one, absolutely no one will out hustle me. I believe you are born with the hustle DNA. I have not been successful, (occasionally) in coaching, teaching, instructing, instilling hustle into someone. You are blessed if you are one of the fortunate one's that hustle is your only gear. A majority of people rely solely on their big brain and as Lou says, "I will out hustle you"! My point is that I lean on hustle along with my other skills to get the job done. During selling I know that the competition is right on my tail. There is always someone trying to knock me down, take the sale from me and go to the ATM with my money. Wait! It's my deal, so I hustle after it with a ferocious attitude. Not many slackers are at the top of their game, not many CEO's are lazy, not many top sales executives make a lot of money by coasting. Take my skills and combine them with hustle and I have a winning formula that I can count on. I put a grain of hustle into everything I do. Are you giving it all you have every time you go sell and provide exceptionally high quality service? If yes, excellent. March on!
“Our sales training creates a culture that delivers measurable results. For more information, call TankDiesel at (678) 665-1111.” tankdieselsales.com |
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