Where Content and Ads Come Together – My Commentary

Use Systems to Scale Your Business – A review of Beyond Booked Solid by Michael Port

In this follow up to Book YourselfSolid, a sales guidebook for service professionals to build their business, Mr. Port assumes that all of the tactics he previously recommended have been implemented and that your time and efforts are stretched to follow through on all of the business that came of it. This book talks about working on your business and yourself rather than working in your business. He talks about being open to change and self improvement in order to make changes in your business with the end result being more success and free time.

His approach makes you look at and define your mission, the strategy on how to get there, and the tactics that you will use to achieve your goals. By implementing this approach you will be able to scale your business by letting go and delegating. This gives you more time to work on high level strategies and pursue your own personal interests. Get more done while doing less.

The initial phase is to look at your business. He assumes that you are booked solid and maxed out as far as time and income. In order to grow your business he suggests looking at a couple of different options including:

• Franchising
• Licensing
• Training the trainer
• Branding
• Intellectual Property
• Full-Service
• Network Marketing
• Social Networking
• The Better Mousetrap

You decide you your path through self analysis and picking the strategy that best fits you. Then, define your goals and put into place measurement tactics to keep yourself on track.

A great point that he makes is to break parts of the mission into projects. He emphasizes having an overall, long term plan but not to get too far ahead of yourself as you need to adjust the plan based on the measurement facilities you put into place and then adjusting accordingly. Keep open and flexible.

Once you have success in achieving a goal, put into place systems that institutionalize projects for consistent results. The benefit is twofold: 

1) Systems increase efficiency

2) Tactics within systems can be simplified and delegated.

He finishes the book by detailing how to hire the right people. He suggests that once systems are in place that attitude trumps aptitude. People with the right attitude can be taught. Once the right hires are made, identify what motivates them and support it. Let them be creative in their jobs and give them room to grow.

Conclusion:

I liked this book but am not ready to classify it as a must read. A good reminder about what we all need to be doing as we take control and scale our business. I found the section on whether to franchise, license, etc. a little non appropriate for my tastes but I am sure that it fits others fine. Still, a good borrow from the library.

Links:

• Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Booked-Solid-Business-Way-Its/dp/0470174366
• Book Web Site: http://www.beyondbookedsolid.com/
• Michael Port Web Site: http://www.michaelport.com/
• Michael Port Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelport
• Michael Port Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/michaelport

• Eric Low Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/EricLow

Be Someone People Want to Buy From

 A review of  Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

Buy it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Reliable-Marketing/dp/0471783935

Follow Michael Port:
Web Site: http://www.michaelport.com/

Blog: http://www.bookyourselfsolid.com/blog/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelport

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/michaelport

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/EricLow

Quick Review

Excellent sales book geared for service professionals. He outlines a strategy of building trust with clients over time by enticing them to gradually take next steps towards a sale. Mr. Port is not a mass contact, cold calling, hard closing sales person, but rather he suggests establishing a premium brand for yourself and creating a sales process whereby the prospect naturally makes moves towards doing business with you and referring others.

Part One – Your Foundation

Your foundation is your brand and how you communicate your value proposition. It includes the basics of what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and the reason people work with you. For example, my elevator pitch is that, “I help digital publishers and advertisers (who) generate more revenue (what) by providing them with high impact, premium ad units (how). This increases the ROI of lead generation and branding which leads to increased sales (value).”

My biggest takeaway was to include the why you do it. I now finish with, “because advertising is cool and display ads are boring.” I established a mission and a purpose. It is also the way that I really feel. I am all about good business and running things by the numbers, but also I really do like a well put together ad that people can interact with. I like something different and something that stands out. Good advertising many times is better than the content and I believe good advertising is a rare commodity.

If I can lay out my vision and connect with people who feel the same way then I have a better chance at a sale. This is part of recognizing the who I want to do business with. I still back up my business case with numbers but if I reach common ground with a client/prospect about creating new and cool advertising then I have a better chance to work collaboratively in achieving that goal.

Part 2 – Building Trust and Credibility

This covers the basics of acting in the best manner possible at all times. From the look and feel of your business card and web site, to being responsive and professional in your communications, to promoting your knowledge and credentials within your ares of expertise, everything along the line matters.

The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Process works when you know:

1 – Who your target customers are

2 – What they are looking for

3 – Where they look for you

4 – When they look for you

5 – Why they should choose you

6 – How you want them to engage with you

Part 3 – The 7 Core Self-Promotion Strategies

This part of the book deals with outreach and finding the people that you want to work with. Mr. Port's approach matches perfectly with my belief that people love to buy but hate to be sold. His strategies for outreach are centered around positioning yourself in a way that makes people want to buy from you.

Synopsis

Good book. Pretty quick read. Nothing ground breaking for sales pros who have read many other sales books but it does give some great reminders and direction in how to be someone that people want to buy from.

The Future Of Advertising

Commentary on the book, “The Future of Advertising: New Media, New Clients, New Consumers in the Post-Television Age” by Joe Cappo (http://www.amazon.com/Future-Advertising-Clients-Consumers-Post-Television/dp/0071403159)

Author's own commentary on iMedia Connection: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/2918.imc

This book was written in 2004 and Mr. Cappo's direction as to the Future of Advertising have continued to prove true. The basic premise is that advertising and the entire industry is splintering and more highly fragmented with less big players and more, smaller specialists.

In the Beginning there was Mad Men

Mr. Cappo describes the advertising business in the early 1970's as one centered around few agencies and few channels. Basically, TV was the big buy and the best and only way for brands to achieve the reach they needed to promote their products. Agencies were an end to end shop for all of the advertiser's needs and they provided services beyond the television media buy for free due to the huge margins from the TV sale. The additional services and channels did not amount to much reach or impact an advertiser’s results as much so they turned out to be a throw in.

The change in advertising has come from the fragmenting of audiences and specifically the fragmenting of attention within and away from television into many different mediums. With more channels on television media buying became more complex. Since big time advertisers require reach for their campaigns this also forced them to explore additional channels each requiring their own specialists. Big name ad shops were not going to position themselves as specialists in niche channels since this would devalue their importance in the big bread winner of television.

A Vicious Cycle of Reach vs Niche

Internet advertising accelerated this shift and continues to do so. Gone are the days of media sales being the “Mad Men” three martini lunch. Today media sales are based on audience and performance data. More and more technology vendors are providing audience data to advertisers who are then demanding more and more of it for highly targeted campaigns. The more targeted the campaign, the less reach each buy has. This forces the shift from media buying being simply buying ad spots on one of the three major networks to media buying trading desks with real time bidding. To compete for these ad buys publishers are talking or selling inventory to a new type of buyer and are forced to shift from the emphasis on their brand to audience data. Advertisers care less about where their ad is shown (brand) and more about who their ad is shown to (audience).

If the medium is the message, new campaigns need to be constructed for each targeted audience on each platform. An ad targeting 18 - 34 year old males that used to be able to be run during a football game now has a new message and creative for television, web, social media, mobile and Internet video. Also, across each of these platforms messaging may be adjusted on factors such as in market consumers or product branding / awareness.

Each of these are individual and smaller buys and the publisher or media outlet needs to justify the ad spend for each campaign across each platform. Where media sellers used to spend money on extravagant parties and entertaining media buyers selling the value of the context where an ad is placed, those dollars are now better spent on audience data, private exchanges and real time bidding systems. That is the new and only way to sell to ad agency’s trading desks.

Conclusion

The future of advertising is smaller agencies, smaller and more highly targeted buys, more niche and highly targeted channels, and much more specialization in matching the message with the medium.

Give And You Shall Receive - Commentary on Power of Mid-Roll

Give And You Shall Receive - Commentary on Power of Mid-Roll on @adotas & @mediapost – http://www.adotas.com/2011/05/freewheel-broadcasts-the-power-of-mid-roll/

The most popular ad format in the video advertising space to date has been the Pre-Roll but is it really just another form of interruption marketing? Are the publisher and advertiser trying to force their commerce down the throat of the viewer in order to achieve their reach at the expense of what really matters which is the desired response from viewers? Making a viewer watch a 15 or 30 second ad before they get to view the content may seem like an equitable trade to the publisher/advertiser but may not be with the viewer.

Statistics like higher completion rates for Mid-Rolls show that by giving to the viewer first, video content publishers engage them and viewers pay them back by watching and responding to ads. A Pre-Roll gives the viewer the viewer the second chance to opt out of the unspoken trade of advertisement for content. During a Pre-Roll the viewer asks themselves if they really want to spend their time watching the ad in exchange for the unknown value of the content. By providing the content first, the publisher gives to the viewer and makes a charitable first step in the transaction. The higher completion rate of the Mid-Roll shows that viewers are really good hearted people and will reciprocate. 

Notice the performance numbers listed by MediaPost on Mid-Roll performance:  

On a Mid-Roll: The Pause That Performs

 

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=151064

Action Item to Consider

If you are a publisher with video content, consider eliminating the Pre-Roll and instead scheduling Mid-Rolls earlier and more often within the content. Experiment with giving more first, engaging the viewer and you may receive more in the trade.

If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood asks us to love our world through our work, instructs is to avoid vocations that harm others. Right Livelihood is doing the right things for the right people.

From a businessman's perspective it is knowing your vision, your mission, your path and living a life consistent with that path. Who you are and who you want to be. It is the answer to the guidance counselor's question, “if you had a million dollars, what would you do?” or the hiring manager's question, “where do you want to be in 3 – 5 years?” Define where you want to be and the way that you are going to get there.

Identify your path and align your actions accordingly. Is what you are doing today getting you to where you want to be and creating the person whom you are to become? What can you do to advance? Take on new challenges and incorporate new tasks into the daily routine that give you another starting point from which to grow. If your vision is to add more marketing skills to your sales skill set, what little things can you do to market something? If speaking at conferences is where you will be, what speaking opportunities are you taking now? If aiming for larger clients is your goal, how are you building your product and team today to best address the needs of the larger client?

Make sure that you are acting not only in the best interest of yourself but also the best interest of the environment in which you are working. You help yourself by helping others. Provide fertile soil and pure rain to the garden in which you grow. Be a helpful resource to your customers, coworkers and partners.

4 Keys to Happiness

The Buddha once told laymen that there are four things conducive to happiness in this world:

1 - To be skilled, efficient, energetic, earnest and learned in your chosen profession.

Work passionately to be the best professional and expert in whatever you do. Don't sell, be a valuable consultative resource to your clients.

2 - To protect one's income and family’s means of support.

You are no good to anyone else when you can't take care of yourself. I am assuming that if you are reading this blog that you are in business and not working for not for profit, charity, or out to save the Manatee. Make sure you are paying yourself as you help others.

3 - To have virtuous, trustworthy, and faithful friends and spiritual aspirations.

Act with a good heart and surround yourself with colleagues and business partners who share similar values. You are who you surround yourself with.

4 - To be content and to live within one's means.

You are who you are and not the deals you have already closed or your next career move. Enjoy who you are and what you have while not wishing to be anyone or have anything else.

Money and Fame Will Take Care of Themselves

“Don't Be Best Friends With Pride And Vanity”

“Abandon All Hope For Rewards, Don't Expect Applause”

Monetary and fame rewards are results of what others give to us. When we base our actions and life on others then we allow them to be the masters of our fate. We act in their best interest and not ours.

Loosen the tightfisted grip on worldly values. Be centered, balanced, straightforward, calm and clear amid any temporary weather conditions. Right Livelihood is acting upon what is inside of you no matter the weather or outer circumstances beyond our control. Acting based on Right Livelihood means learning to both sit and stand erect, needing nothing to lean on. We stand up for ourselves and our beliefs and stand behind our words and deeds. We become master of our domain.

When we surround ourselves with the right people who reward us for doing what we have set out to do then we truly earn our rewards on our terms. Money and fame are not wrong but achieving money and fame based on actions that are not in line with our path and values causes conflict and false joy. To have joy within oneself without conflict is true happiness and can only be achieved by living in a way that is aligned with your path.

“If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him” - Because he must be an imposter, since the only real Buddha or divine being is within you.

There is no one else that can guide you or give you peace besides yourself. Awaken your inner guru, your inner guide – the Buddha within, the secret master comfortably ensconced forever in our own heart cave. This inner guru is non other than truth itself – our own innate wisdom and heart center's noblest intuitive understanding and love.

My Promise to Myself

In the digital advertising space, I am an advertising consultant. My job is to know my space, my industry and be able to consult with the right publishers how my solution addresses the pressing issues that hold them back.

Every Buddha needs to work. Every salesman needs to sell. I have set my path (vision & mission) and I act in a way that is in accordance with that mission and vision.

Today I will let myself just be and I will concentrate on just doing. I will let happen what is supposed to happen. I can only control what I can control and I will do the best that I can do with the resources that I have available to me.

I will not engage in destructive behavior but rather creative behavior that generate positive results. This may include educating myself on industry trends and happenings, examining the results of clients who use my digital advertising in order to create best and most efficient practices, sharing that information through blogs and tweets, and, most importantly, getting in contact with potential business partners to advance the adoption of my company's product. I will evangelize what I have to offer in order to get meetings, set demos and close deals. This is what I do since I am a salesman. 

This blog post was developed based on the book, “Awakening The Buddha Within” by Lama Surya Das. It can be found: http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Buddha-Within-Tibetan-Western/dp/0767901576

If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Action – Derek Jeter takes grounders and batting practice very day

Right Action asks all of us to focus on how we conduct our everyday business. Our sales career is the ultimate art form and we are the creators. Any good business plan, career plan or sales plan should have a Vision, Mission, Strategy and Tactics. The plan sets forth a big picture goal (Vision) done by accomplishing something (Mission) in this way (Strategy) by doing this (Tactics) every day. A mentor of mine taught me that “You never get paid for the work that you do today.” Right Actions are the activities done on a daily basis that support the greater plan. The blocking and tackling, the execution that make plans successful. Activity drives results.

Additionally, a clear perspective on Right Action teaches us that our actions are like karmic seeds. When we behave positively we get positive results. If we hurt others, we hurt ourselves. Helping others serves ourselves. Give more than you take.

Finally, do. There is nothing such as a perfect plan so get to a point where you can stop planning and start doing. Generate positive momentum and don't be afraid to make mistakes. A body in motion has the tendency to stay in motion. Get your body in motion.

Derek Jeter takes grounders and batting practice every day

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter won the Rookie of the Year Award and helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series. Jeter was also a member of championship-winning teams in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. In 2000, Jeter became the only player in history to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. He has been selected as an All-Star eleven times, won the Silver Slugger award four times, and he has won the Gold Glove award on five occasions. He is the all-time hits leader among shortstops and his .317 career batting average through the 2009 season ranks as the fifth-highest among active players. He has been among the American League (AL) leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years. He is the all-time Yankees hit leader, having passed Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig in 2009.

Derek Jeter gets to the ballpark and practices taking ground balls and participates in batting practice every day. Do you? Do you practice your presentation consistently? Are you doing the little things every day that contribute to grand success? Derek Jeter does. I find that the hardest call to make is the first one. The best call is usually the last one – so make another one.

You Manage What You Measure

You manage what you measure. Tactics and activities that are not measured are wasted activities. On a positive note, not measuring your activities such as calls made, emails made, social media followers, meetings set/held, proposals out, etc. does not give you the positive reinforcement that what you are doing is ultimately working. Measuring what you do also allows you to optimize your actions and focus on what works best.

Don't Take Wasn't isn't Freely Given – Give to Others

You work and live in an industry and market that is a lot smaller than you think. You competitor today is your partner tomorrow. The prospect that rejected you today is your reference in the future. Help everyone. Be a servant to others and they will serve you (or at least you will be served). Think of every contact you make as part of your environment and by strengthening your environment, you make the soil in the garden you grow that much more fertile. Be a consultant to your coworkers, clients, prospects (even if you are consulting them on things unrelated to your sale and product) and industry partners. I promise you that karma will repay you.

Be careful about accepting gifts from others. Give more than you accept. When going to a client's/prospect's meeting place I don't accept the water/soda, etc. that I am inevitably offered. Be prepared, be centered and self contained. You are at the meeting to give to them. Be strong within your foundation and be ready to give to them.

Just Do It

The definition of an expert is someone who has made all the mistakes that there are to make. When one aged Zen master was asked to relate his biography, he exclaimed, “Just one mistake after another!”

As we think about our actions we can't help but reflect on our mistakes. All the things that we wish we could undo; we all have regrets. Each mistake is a learned opportunity. A mistake not made is a mistake waiting to happen.

My blog is terrible. I don't have the reach to get it out to enough people and the content is not good enough to warrant anyone sharing it with their network – ever. I am making mistakes. I will get better. I will stick with it, regret what I am doing today and over analyze my mistakes so that I don't make them again. What I am doing right is that I am doing it and if I don't do it I won't get any better.

Embrace mistakes and endeavor to make them. Conquer the paralysis by analysis by getting out there and doing. As Wayne Gretzky once said, “You never score on 100% of the shots you never take.” If your Vision, Mission, and Strategy are in place then concentrate on you actions to reach your success.

If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Speech – Think Big, Speak Big, Be Big

Everything you say can express how you feel and how you are on the inside. Your words are the windows to your thoughts and your worldview. This makes everything that you say and everything that you don’t say extremely important. Everything matters – every breath, every syllable and every sentence. Nothing is meaningless. With words we confirm to the world and yourself what you think is important. Words have power and more specifically your words have power. Choose them carefully since to examine your words is to examine yourself.

The best insights about watching what we say should be obvious:

• Don’t lie. Even the slightest mistruth undermines your credibility. Trust and credibility is everything in sales.
• Don’t over exaggerate. Again, credibility and trust.
• Don’t speak poorly of others – “Those in glass houses should not throw stones.” When you point the finger at another, you have 4 fingers pointed back at yourself.
• Know when to say something and when to stay quiet – “We have two ears and one mouth for a reason.” Silence is deafening.
• Don’t gossip or tell tales

I would like to focus in on one thing in particular – Think Big, Speak Big, Be Big. I made that one up.

Think big, speak big, be big is my theory that everyone loves a winner. Everyone wants to be associated with the best. Be the best. Be the champion. Speak like the champion. Your product/service is in business for a reason. Let people know what that reason is and why you have successful clients/investors/founders. Don’t lie or exaggerate to make yourself into something you are not but know your strengths and communicate that to your client. If you are not the best answer for your client on any level, you are speaking to the wrong client/prospect.

To paraphrase Sun Tzu:

“You can’t make your enemy conquerable; you can only make yourself unconquerable.”

Be the best by being the best. Don’t be the best because everybody else is worse. Know your competition’s strengths and accentuate them in order to draw a line of differentiation between your companies. Then, emphasize how your strengths better fit the needs of the prospect.

This week I had separate conversations with two sales execs from the same company and asked each what made their company different from their competitors. Both gave the same answer, their technology. The difference was that one just talked about their technology and the bits and bytes and efficiency and ROI. The other acknowledged the competitor and pointed out their strength. He then talked about the strength of his company and how his solution is better for a defined (but very large) segment of the market. He acknowledged the weaknesses of his solution as compared to his competitor’s but followed up that it was something they are working on and are able to overcome while still emphasizing how his current strengths are providing immediate value to his clients.

I was extremely impressed by the second approach. The second sales exec acknowledged his competition, built them up and then put himself over the top with his competitive advantage. He demonstrated why he is the champion by being the best of the best and not by being better than competitors that are worse.

In 1990 the commissioner of baseball said that the city of Atlanta could not support a baseball team. The Braves had just finished in last place after years of never fielding a winning team. Then, in the offseason Atlanta signed a high priced free agent, Terry Pendleton, and their young pitching staff came together and they finished in first place in 1991. They went on to the playoffs for the next 14 years and are now looked upon as a model baseball franchise. The fans came back in 1991. The city was always there to support a team, but the city wanted to support a winner. Be that winner.

If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Intentions

Salesmen do not live in a vacuum. Our success depends on the success of our clients, our company and our industry. As much as we can separate ourselves individually, no one will have success selling something that nobody can use, from a poor company, in a bad industry. Right Intentions or Right Thought speaks about the necessity of using our minds and firm determination, or resolve to free ourselves from ignorance, delusion, negativity and selfishness. Its asks us to purify our attitudes and thoughts – to become totally straightforward and honest with ourselves – and, in so doing, to develop a working loving-kindness, empathy, and compassion toward all. Many times we get caught up thinking about ourselves instead of the customer, trying to be the best in our organization and making our company grab the most market share and revenue to the detriment of our competition. This type of thinking is wrong since it assumes that there exists a scarcity of success and not an abundance. Right Thought and Right Intentions outlines an attitude that the best way to be successful and grow is to help everyone grow.

Freeing ourselves from selfishness means thinking about the customer/prospect and not ourselves. How many times do we concentrate so much on how we present, how our power point looks, what our value proposition is and not what the concerns and the needs of the customer? Right Thought is eliminating selfishness and concentrating on our environment. Concentrate on what the customer is saying, concentrate on the needs of the customer. Not the needs as we perceive them but the needs as they perceive them. The need may be the same but their worldview and perception of the problem is different than ours causing them to miss the value of the solution. Don't think about how the sale effects your life but rather how it effects their life from their point of view.

Right Intentions extends beyond the sales/customer relationship to your relationship with your company and your competitors. When we were children didn't we always want everyone to be happy? A child's is concerned when someone isn't. In today's hyper competitive world we can become more concerned about winning with the attitude that means someone else losing. We act in the best interest of the client so that our sales numbers are the best in the office. Our company wins the deal and we revel in the fact that our competition lost.

There is nothing wrong with winning and nothing wrong with being the best. That is what we all strive for. But lest we not forget that a rising tide lifts all ships. Right Thought and Right Intention is working cooperatively with everyone in your company to ensure everyone's success. It means helping fellow sales execs win their deals. Some companies don't let a sales exec go to a meeting with a customer until they have presented before the rest of the sales group. This collaborative effort is designed to share knowledge and help everyone prepare for their next win. Some would call this a continuous feedback loop.

Also, work with your competition to create a desirable market that everyone wants to participate in. This is exactly what conferences, industry advisory boards and trade associations are for. They all create a fertile garden so in which everyone can grow. Work with your competitors to create a market where everyone wants to buy.

Go so far as to help your competition. You know your strengths and your weaknesses. If you come across a business opportunity that may be better suited for another, pass along the lead. By doing good for others they may return the favor and pass along their lead that is more appropriate for you. At the end of the day the customer is best served in your industry and less motivation to seek alternative solutions. They will also tend to speak well to others about the value that services that your firm and your competitors provide.

We live in a world of abundance, not scarcity. We can win and they can win. Grow the pie. Have all of the prospects in your field have great experiences with your and your competition's solution so that the word spreads and the tide rises.

Turn the attitudes about winning and achieving upside down and inside out. It is in our best interest to be less selfish. Develop an unselfish view of the world because the reality is that we are all interconnected; our fates are intertwined. It takes an entire industry to grow a company and an entire company to grow a successful salesman.

This blog post was developed based on the book, “Awakening The Buddha Within” by Lama Surya Das. It can be found: http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Buddha-Within-Tibetan-Western/dp/0767901576

If Buddha Was A Salesman - The Wisdom of Clear Vision

From my studies of Buddhism, Right View is a foundation that reminds us to look at the world without any delusions or distortions about reality, or ourselves. See roses where there are roses, thorns where there are thorns. Right View emphasizes the development of wisdom which at its essence means knowing what is, knowing how things work, and knowing oneself and others. See yourself as you are and see others as they are.

When we as salesmen are in accord with reality we build trust since how we present ourselves and how we are perceived are in alignment. We must be who we are now since that is the way others see us. Yes, one day I will achieve that VP role and eventually become Master of the Universe through my superior skill, hard work and intellect ,but, today I am a Sr. Sales Executive. The people who I work with and the people who buy from me see me as that and if I were to perceive myself differently and act differently then I would create a disconnect that would break a level of comfort with those around me.

On a company level this is basic marketing. Who is your company and which markets do you serve best? Every company hangs their hat on marquis names but being able to claim that a marquis name within your market niche is just as important since it is more likely to generate a very positive relationship that turns into successful work of mouth and referrals. Don’t turn away “name” business but make sure that your organization is best suited for it. Having right view of your company means that you can clearly define exactly what your product can do, position it properly to the right people, price it correctly to make it valuable for them and profitable for you. Lastly, since you will be selling the right product/service to the right people you will deliver exceptional results and have raving fans who are more than willing to pass along the good word.

To get more in depth with Right View, we also have to know who we are now. Forget what we were and what we are to be. We are who we are now for a reason.

Don't be held back by or be elevated by your past. No one wins every deal. The biggest deal that you won came from a lot of hard work and maybe some “luck” or fortunate circumstances. What have you done for me lately? No one succeeds or wins in every role. It is imperative to our success to let go of the past and be in the now since that lays the foundation for tomorrow.

Similarly, looking forward, we all know whom we want to become. “Act as if” is a popular sales quote. Act as if you have the deal or act as if you have the promotion and those things will come to you. We all have goals and dreams but when we act our daily lives in these dreams we are clueless and out of touch with reality. We are not processing the world as it is happening. I will get to the next level of my career by being the best Sr. Sales Executive that I can be. I will be the best who I am now as part of becoming who I am to be.

Dissatisfaction is caused by attachments. Our attachment to acting like some who we want to be or someone that we were and not the person that we are is a great cause of dissatisfaction and ultimately leads to stress and poor job performance. Develop a mind that clings to nothing. The wise mind understands the limits in hanging on to that which is transient and dreamlike. The awakened mind is free flowing, natural and well rounded. The unawakened, ordinary mind is rigid, limited, and sticky; the ordinary mind has corners and sharp edges on such ideas get caught, hanging us up. We find it difficult to shake off our thoughts or worries, as well as unable to get off our fixed positions and entrenched opinions.

See you, see your company, see your customer as they really are. Be who you are and treat others as they are. Rid yourself of preconceived notions of your past and attachments to your future. Understand your product and who you can really help/deliver value instead of who you want to help and deliver value to. This is the way to identify a niche, take a beachhead and develop a customer base that raves about your products and services. This is what Buddha would do if he were a salesman.