In an era when politicians and celebrities find it impossible to accept responsibility – instead, blaming others for all bad things that happen, Josh got up in front of the microphone the next day and said, “I messed up. I hurt people. I let down people who lean on me.”

You can argue all day about Josh’s baseball talent. He has been injured a lot and had some very average years. But in this case, he came through victorious.

Alcohol and drug recovery is a one-day-at-a-time game. I have a little experience in that game. Sometimes, when you feel vulnerable and weak, you have to put your game face on and be vigilant about relapse.  Apparently, Josh wasn’t.

But rather than be quick to judge him for why it occurred.  I am quick to judge how he handled it.

We sales people and business leaders can take a page from the Hamilton playbook when it comes to accepting responsibility, taking the blame and doing it in a ‘stand-up, head-on’ way. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if some of our politicians had the courage to stand up and say, “I screwed up by voting for that bill. I messed up. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry I hurt people inadvertently.”

Wouldn’t that be refreshing–especially if it came from the heart?

Or wouldn’t it be nice if a company leader had the bravery to stand up in front of the executive team and admit an error in judgement? Or, if a sales person who wasn’t achieving at the level he/she desired, to stand up and admit that it’s, “all on me” instead of blaming the pricing, the website, the customer demands, the weather?

Or, if a sales manager would go into the President’s office and accept responsibility for weak sales performance instead of blaming his sales team? Or, if a customer service person would admit that they screwed up the shipping instructions?

As we go about our day in our business lives, check out when we take accountability and when we shirk it. It probably would surprise us. The great paradox is that we think it’s a strategy of strength to never admit errors. But it’s quite the opposite.

Well, in this video, you’ll see why most ‘persuasion techniques’ fail when it comes to email. It’s not because your writing is weak.

It’s not because you use the wrong font. It’s much deeper than that. It has to do with the state of mind you’re in when you write them.

And once you’re done with the video, head over to http://emailitsellersguide.com/ to check out the 20 most common scenarios that create ‘email opportunities.’ I think you’ll find some you recognize.

Blaise Pascal said:

“If you believe in God and God does not exist, little harm is done. If you don’t believe in God and God does exist, much harm is done.”  

This was the quote that sold my highly logical “prove it to me” male brain on the belief in Karma. You KNOW you’ve had it happen to you. Think of a song you haven’t heard since sixth grade and two days later it plays on Pandora. Think of a person you haven’t seen in two years and you randomly run into them in a coffee shop you seldom go to. (Both things that happened to me in the last 2 months.)

Here are some very simple Karmic behaviors that I have found to pay huge dividends in the world of sales:

1.  ALWAYS LOOK TO CONNECT OTHER PEOPLE.

The more you connect others, the more positive outcomes you have a hand in, and the more opportunity will find you. You should make at least one connection a week minimum.

2.  BE FRIENDS WITH YOUR COMPETITORS.

Most sales people (especially managers) can’t deal with this. Look, if you truly believe in an Abundant market and Capitalism, you want your competitors around. Knowing them will make you and the industry stronger. If you can’t be friends at least don’t say anything bad about them.

3.  DO THINGS FOR FREE.

One of my roles as an adviser is to raise a salesperson’s ability to command premium prices and fees. Don’t confuse these two. Hold your value, but don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little bit of you and your expertise into the market on your own dime. I promise you the economic boomerang will smack you in the temple just when you’re not looking.

4.  GENUINELY COMPLIMENT PEOPLE.

I have a client who is remarkably skilled at complimenting people. She lifts people around her up. It’s attractive. People want to be around, spend time with and BUY from people who lift them up. BTW- selling in a traditional manner does NOT lift anyone up.

 

Believe in karma. I just thought about a song on my iPad (2,000 songs) while I was typing this and guess what ……”we’re here” (two fingers pointing between my eyes and Karma’s eyes).

I work with a client that is going through succession planning and we’ve been talking a lot about those very three questions.

The interesting part of this process was the discussion on, “What do we need to learn?” As leaders, they were most concerned with their ability to lead people to new and greater heights.

Thus, the discussion turned to the difference between “inspirational skills” and “instructional skills.” As part of the analysis,   I encouraged them to ask the staff what they would miss most about the current CEO.  I bet them that the answers that came back would not be about how he rocks in accounting or production planning (the “instructional skillset”).

No, the answers centered around what a great and inspirational HUMAN BEING he is.

Where was the plan to develop those skills in the GAP analysis?  Nowhere to be found.

So why is that?  

It’s HARD work and most fail to think through it and don’t know how to go about doing it.  Our firm uses the Hogan Assessment which makes it fairly easy to create a “road map” for the work that needs to be done.  However, you still must ask yourself what you’re really trying to learn.

Here are three scenarios that might prompt you into a different level of thinking:

“Joe really does a lot of networking.  I need to join more groups.”

• Really, or is it how Joe relates to people when he is at an event?
  
• Or maybe, it’s the work he does ahead of time and after?  It isn’t just showing up at a handful of events.
  
• Sure you need to grow your network, but how do YOU best do that?
  
• What works for YOU?

“Joe really leaves our staff feeling comforted and clear on company changes.  I need to be sure and communicate clearly.”

• Really, or is that you need to ask the question “How do you feel about that?” after a tough conversation or the communication of BIG news.  Demonstrate empathy.   It’s inspiring.

“Joe always seems to be where he’s supposed to be.  How does he do that?”

• Well, Joe hasn’t cloned himself.   Joe has figured out how to be present and available.  Who needs to see him and where he needs to be.  Joe may be naturally wired that way.  If you’re not – you will have to make a conscious effort to get out of your office and lift your head up from your computer.
  

I told you, it’s HARD.

These are just some examples of how to think about growing into the role of an inspirational leader.  Pay attention to and study those people that inspire you, ask a lot of questions, and be open to the work.

Download the FREE eBook

The Painful Truth About Uninspiring Leaders: How Leadership Deficits Lead to Employee Disengagement

Bryan talks about a sales deal where his client took a different approach–and created a long term partner. PLUS, that client avoided the ‘commodity element’ of most traditional customers where they put pressure on you for reduced price.

**If you’re a sales manager, this is a great topic for your next sales meeting.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

• Join the discussion about this podcast on Linkedin
• 20 Rules For Modern Selling eBook (download here)
• The Painful Truth About Uninspiring Leaders-How Leadership Deficits Lead to Employee Disengagement eBook (download here)
• Sign up for the CaskeyONE newsletter and receive the bonus video “How To Create Prospect Urgency“

In this video, Bill tells you a story of how he and his team are brought in to interview sales people upfront before an offer is made. What they see is not good. And it all gets back to the little word with big implications: Presence.

He tells you what he looks for in those interviews and how you can think about what you bring to prospect meetings.

Video Transcript:

You know, in our work with organizations, we are asked to come in and interview people and so let’s say that a sales leader, a VP of sales, wants to hire two or three people. We will put them through some profiles, batteries of tests and they will say, “Bill, Bryan, Brooke, why don’t you come in and interview them and let me know what you think?”

So a lot of these are very opinionated things and I’m always looking at how the persons carry themselves, how they speak. Do they use run-on sentences? Do they talk and talk and talk and never get anywhere? You know, a lot of words and not much said. But one of the things that we look for, and it’s really interesting to me how often this is missing, is this concept of presence. When you’re in the presence of another person, are you really present? Are you listening to what I say? Am I listening to what you say? Is there a further, deeper conversation that happens? I’m going to draw it for you here on the board because I think it makes some sense to have a visual behind it and I’m not much of a drawer here so I’m going to draw the stick figure. OK?

So here we got two stick figures and these people don’t even have arms but that’s OK. What happens a lot of times is we will have a head-to-head conversation and a head-to-head conversation is when I say, “How old are you?” You tell me and then you ask me, “Where do you live?” I say I live in Indianapolis. You say, “What’s your favorite team?” I say this. I say, “Where did you go on vacation?” It’s very exchanging information. It’s a head-to-head conversation and a lot of times in sales and in leadership, this is where it begins and this is where it ends.

I think that it’s important also to have a heart-to-heart conversation, something that goes below the head surface and gets down into the heart and the heart would be things like – I always coach salespeople to ask their prospects or clients, “What are some of the biggest issues that you see in your business for you to accomplish your goals over the next couple of years?” I want to know personally what’s in it for them. What are they struggling with? What are their frustrations? What’s it going to take for them to be ecstatic about their world and their business? What’s wrong with their world right now? What pain are they in?

That stuff goes way beneath the head and gets into the heart-to-heart information. We always say that we want people to expose their needs and their frustrations and things like that and yet, we don’t do a good job of exposing what we want from them. So you can’t go from a head to a heart. You have to be in the heart if you’re going to have a heart-to-heart conversation with them.

So over the next few weeks as you think about this and you see prospects or if you’re in a leadership position, you’re with your team, make sure that you’re engaging them at a deeper level. Make sure that you’re present with them and as you talk to them, don’t just do a head-to-head thing. Go a little bit deeper. Find out a little bit more about what they’re struggling with or what they’re hoping to accomplish in the next quarter.

There’s always something you can ask. Always. There’s never a lack of things to ask that will help people get down into this heart-to-heart role. Be present. Be engaged. Care about what you hear. Be curious about other people and I think you will find the connection to be a lot healthier whether it’s a prospect or one of the members of your team. Hope that helps. Bye-bye.

Logic is your enemy here. Think how many times you say or think, “This deal is all about price.”

Every time you say that, think that and believe that you endorse the idea that having a sales person involved in a deal adds absolutely NO value.

The more you convince yourself of this idea (and tell your sales manager or CEO), the more they should be thinking of firing the sales staff and hiring customer service reps at $15/hour to take orders from their online catalog.

When it’s all about price, it ain’t about you. Low price = no need for sales people.

Proceed with caution.

1. Cost of problem
2. Money in customer budget
3. Money they’re willing to spend to change
4. Your belief in your own value

They have addressed this recently in the area of “positioning.” How you are positioned will determine the fees you command.

Also mentioned in this podcast:

• Seth Godin’s Blog
• Join our Linkedin group
• Follow Bill Caskey on Twitter
• Follow Bryan Neale on Twitter

Please remember: It’s never about money! It’s about their belief they have a problem, they want to invest money to fix it and that you are the lucky dog that gets to help them do that. When you brush past their money questions, or discount your value because it’s easier than educating the prospect, you’re screwed—trust lost, your value depleted, conversation over.