But his heart really broke when he had to lay off Marvin, a 26-year employee who had battled prostate cancer and other illness over the last few years. But there was just no place in the company for Marvin anymore. A few days after he let Marvin go, he got a phone call—Marvin asking to schedule some time with him sometime in the next couple of days. Dan agreed, and Marvin came in with a proposition.

Let Me Make Cold Calls

At that meeting, Marvin talked about his tremendous commitment to the company and how he loved the business and knew a lot of customers. He wanted to cold call past clients, inactive clients and new prospects to see if they were interested in buying equipment. But there was a catch.

Marvin didn’t want any money for it; all he wanted was the commission that came from the sales if he made any.

Now think about this. Marvin is a guy who’s never been in sales, never made one cold call, never went on one appointment, but willing to work for performance only.

Sitting around tonight complaining about the economy and how you’re going to have to bail out the at-leasters, think about Marvin. If we had three million Marvins, we just might not have the unemployment problem.

Recently, I drove by a retail lighting store that had bitten the dust. No doubt they will blame the economy — and some banker is probably holding the bag for thousands. Yet, was it really the economy’s fault?

No.

You see, I remember going into that store last year for two sconce lights. When I walked in, I was impressed with the inventory. (When you’re 6′5″ and walk into a lighting store, you can basically ‘feel every light.’)

But as I looked for someone to help me, there was no one there. Only one guy working with one customer. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Never did he acknowledge me–or say, “Sir, I’ll be with you in a minute.” Nor was there any sign-in sheet at the front register where I could have registered my grievance and in so doing give him a chance to call back and make it right.

Nothing.

So I walked out and never went back. And since that day, I never saw any advertising or marketing from that store at all. Zip.

Those Who Beat Themselves Should Please Stop Whining

So I can only assume that the economy didn’t beat them. They beat themselves. The beat themselves because their sales and marketing sucked. The Big Three are failing because their products are not in demand–and haven’t been for decades.

Your business may be failing as well. But before it does, ask yourself a question. “Am I investing all I need to invest in sales and marketing? You probably aren’t.

No, I don’t mean the same old crap that doesn’t work anymore–direct mail, billboards, media buys. At least it hasn’t worked for most B2B businesses.

Your Customers Are Gold. Treat Them That Way.

Are you treating your current clients like gold? Are you giving them first shot at new products? Are you asking for referrals? Are you doing anything creative at all–like customer events, new client seminars, webinars?

Or are you just hunkered down in your same old-fashioned, worn out sales and marketing approach that will never work again?

If you are, I feel sorry for you. Your time is limited. You might be able to weather it if you have a lot of money banked away. Unfortunately, most don’t.

BUT, if you’re beginning to think differently about sales and marketing…if you are subscribing to blogs/podcasts/and other online content…if you really are committed to growing during bad times… then you will prosper beyond your wildest dreams.

As I’ve said before, recessions have great ways of hammering those that are not accountable and responsible — and thinning out those who were on treacherous ground anyway.

Now, if we could just get the government to be accountable and responsible, we’d make real progress!

I was watching the Navy-Notre Dame football game last week and heard an unbelievable story about the Navy running back, Zerbin Singleton. His story brought tears to my eyes – tears of grace and hopefulness.

The short version is that his mom was incarcerated for drug abuse and other things when he was young. After making the rounds of being raised by Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents, his father came back into his life.

But shortly thereafter, his dad committed suicide. He was in high school at the time.

Pretty severe hand he was dealt, huh? So how does a young man turn that turbulence and heartache into success? Well, he did. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in his high school class. After being turned down at Navy, he attended college in GA – but he never lost his dream of playing football at the Naval Academy.

Somewhere along the way, I’m sure he had counsel who said, “Hey, consider yourself lucky. Think of where you are – versus where you could be. Think of the odds you’ve beaten to even be in college.”

But that wasn’t enough for him.

After his freshman year, he went back at Navy again. This time he got in. And now he’s majoring in Aerospace Engineering at the Academy – and playing college football.

So the next time you complain a little because things didn’t go your way – or you begin to feel sorry for yourself at the hand you were dealt, think about PVT Singleton. I know I will. He had no options. He HAD to make it happen. He didn’t have parents to nurture him – to coddle him – or to bail him out.

He is the poster boy for PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. Like Nietsche says, “That which doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger.”

When you’re in the “change” business like we are at Caskey, we come across a lot of companies/people who say they want different results in the market: more money, more fame, more customers, more profit, etc.Several weeks ago, a prospect sought us out to train his sales/marketing team. After he told us about his $2,000,000/year revenue problem, we began giving him recommendations on how we would approach the project. Through that process, the conversation turned to content – exactly what we would teach his people. While some trainers/developers refuse to talk about that in the sales process, we disagree. If what we teach will be resisted by company/people, then why start?As we discussed some of our philosophies, I sensed he was becoming nervous. I reverted back to the original problems/pains (the ones that were costing him $2,000,000/year). He maintained he was “very open-minded.” (By the way, if people tell you that, be careful. Usually, it’s just them trying to convince themselves of it.)

As we continued with our conversation, it became apparent that this was going to be the “client from hell.” The type that says they want help – and want to fix the problem – but they really don’t because they are so emotionally invested (not financially) in their current model. There was so much “resistance” to change that he preferred to stay in his rut (losing $2M/year), rather than change his belief set and take new action.

I learned a valuable lesson there (probably had learned it before, but I need the Universe to remind me): People want different results – but they don’t want to change their thinking and actions to get them.

When’s the last time you changed something major in your business life – how you do something or how you approach something or how you think about something? When’s the last time you took inventory of your sales approach/philosophy (I mean a rigorously honest assessment, with someone from the outside helping you)?

If you haven’t done that in a while, you may be operating at a low optimization rate – and rather than resorting to the worn out adage of “working harder” to accomplish your big goals, maybe you can just work different. If you really do want different results, you might just have to change some things up stream to insure that your goals get met. As a friend says, “Don’t let your ego get in the way of your future.”

by Brooke Green“Your opinion of me is none of my business. . . ” (Author Unknown)

That is one of my favorite quotes and one I keep filed in my brain at all times.

Peer Pressure
I train a lot of business development teams that have become more interested in how they look to their peers than fulfilling the job that they were hired to do. Why is that? As adults, don’t we talk to our kids about being proud of who they are, operating with integrity, not buckling under pressure? Why are we spending time covering our rear ends with our peers, instead of operating with the intention to do our jobs to the best of our ability and being fulfilled in our professional life? Why is it about us, instead of our clients?

Truth
Is it because it’s easier to get mired down in the crap than to use our brains and operate with pure intention? The answer, YES! When I’m training groups of intelligent adults, with really good hearts, I find that they would rather place blame than take accountability. “Suzy isn’t doing her job!” “Bobby is saying bad things about me!” “If my boss would hold me accountable I would care about what I do.” Most are looking for someone else to hold them accountable or they think they have some sort of accountability hold over their co-workers.

You can only be accountable to yourself. The truth is that we create reasons not to do our jobs, not to be successful. If we clear all the crap away and act with the intention to help our clients, the expectation rises. Darn, then we’ll really have to perform.

Get out of the CRAP
So what can you do when you lose your way? Life is a series of choices – slow down, and make a different choice. Get out and see suspects/prospects/clients – dive into what you are supposed to be doing. Remind yourself why it’s fulfilling. When you make it about other people instead of yourself – the crap quickly clears. As my Mom would say, “take the high road!”