In order to progress we must first find common ground

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Collaboration, Common Ground, Communication, Environment & Sustainability, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Sustainability & Environment, Wellbeing

The Common Ground Series – Part 1

Common ground: shared interests, beliefs, or opinions between two people or groups of people who disagree about most other subjects. (Cambridge dictionary)

Finding common ground is indispensable to our progress, especially if we are to move forward as communities and solve the most pressing issues we have to deal with as humans inhabiting an abundant but vulnerable and finite planet. This matter affects us all, in all aspects of our lives and as such it is a topic worth exploring and understanding in more depth. This article is the first in a series about progress …

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How to make informed Buying & Voting decisions in a sea of Biased & Fake News

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Buying, Ethics & Values, Life Skills

In a world filled with so many opportunities, choices and facts there are also equal amounts, if not more, of biased news, fake news and fads, which now make it that much harder to make sound decisions, buy or purchase anything or vote with confidence.

The internet and, more specifically, social media is flooding us with so much information that it is screwing up with what I call ‘our bat radar’ – our ability to make informed decisions about whatever is important to us.

Many people are vying for our attention, our spend and our votes. And it seems many will do …

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Someone has to sell, or you don’t have a business

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Entrepreneurship, Life Skills, Opportunity, Sales Essentials, Sales Results, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Sales Training

Someone has to do the selling or you don’t have a business.

I have met many people over the years who have great ideas, skills, processes or inventions but hate the thought of selling.

They usually come from two camps:

Camp 1: Those people who understand they have to sell in order to have a business but just do not know how to do it. They often harbour some fears and anxieties about selling because of its bad public reputation and can feel overwhelmed about what they have to do. However, I find these people are willing to have a go.

I will gladly …

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Sales Tips for everyday life situations

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Life Skills, Sales Skills, Sales Tips, Selling Better, Sustainability & Environment

Whether we are a salesperson or not, there are times in our daily lives when knowing how to sell well turns often awkward situations into positive outcomes for everyone.

We are social animals. We rely on others for our existence which means we need to engage with others in some way to be able to live effectively and have a meaningful existence.

Let’s look at the new school year as an example: there are often many new faces, new people to meet and people to interact with across the year whether you want to or not.

This means that people find …

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12 things we’ve learned so far about Selling Better in a 21st Century world

By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Sales Culture, Sales Results, Selling Better, Success

My team and I have been studying sales teams, salespeople, sales operating systems, sales strategies, sales processes, and sales cultures across a wide variety of industries in the public and private sectors, N4P and government since 1995 and we have seen and learned a lot of things.

Here is some of what we have learned:

  • Selling is everybody’s business and everybody lives by selling something
  • Selling starts with opportunity and purposeful optimism
  • Selling is the vehicle that allows opportunity to flourish and people to prosper; nothing happens until something gets sold
  • Selling at its best is when humans solve …

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    This didn’t happen in my time …

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Selling Better, Success

    Today it happens it is the same
    to be decent or a traitor
    To be an ignorant, wise, a pickpocket,
    a generous person or a swindler
    All is the same, nothing is better
    They are the same, a fool
    and a professor
    There are no failing grades or hierarchy,
    the immoral people have caught up with us.
    If one lives in deceit
    and another, in their ambition, steals.
    It’s the same if it’s a priest,
    a mattress maker, a king of clubs,
    a rascal or a stowaway.

    Currently this seems to be the world we live in, and everywhere we turn, …

    This didn’t happen in my time … Read Post »

    Why Purposeful Optimism is great for business

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Innovation, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism, Resilience

    I want you to imagine that you are a 24 year old graduate going for job interviews. In this instance, you are being interviewed by a multinational who takes you to the next stage- completing a range of psychometric assessments followed by an interview with a psychologist. Imagine if you will, that this psychologist starts his interview with you by saying you are ‘too optimistic’, that you are a ‘Pollyanna’, that ‘you are unrealistic in seeing the world in such as positive light’, claiming there is something really wrong with you.

    How would you feel? Well, this scenario happened to me …

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    What are YOU doing to create space for opportunities?

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Life Skills, Opportunity, Optimism

    In recent months, I have deliberately chosen to start each week by writing down this statement:

    ‘Be open to great opportunities’

    This statement appears at the top of my To Do list book that I take with me everywhere.

    It is handwritten and highlighted with yellow highlighter.

    I have chosen to do this for several reasons:

  • It keeps me focused on moving forward and being open to new ideas, new ways of doing things, new people and markets, new opportunities with new and existing clients, and so on
  • It stops me from falling into ‘group think’ and being drawn into unproductive spaces, and negative and ‘fake …

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    Selling isn’t only for salespeople

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Education in Sales, Ethics & Values, Life Skills, Self Promotion, Selling Better, Success

    Have you ever tried to persuade someone about the merits of a new idea, service or initiative?

    Most surely you have. Countless times.

    People do this all the time, since we were born; in our personal, professional and community lives. It is part of being human.

    So how did your efforts go?

    Did you get their attention?

    Did you manage to convince them to adopt your idea?

    Did you both get what you wanted out of the exchange?

    Did you feel satisfied that you made a positive impact?

    Maybe. Maybe not.

    It all depends on how well you were able to enlist all the skills and qualities of good …

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    The Optimistic Sales Professional

    By / / Attitudes & Behaviours, Emotional Intelligence, Life Skills, Mindful selling, Opportunity, Optimism, Resilience, Sales Essentials, Self Development, Success

    Sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well – both physically and psychologically. And there’s a body of research showing that keeping an optimistic outlook and having the physical energy to meet the demands of working in sales are critical to a salesperson’s effectiveness, success and overall well-being. Something many of us know intuitively, but good to have it validated.

    Managing and overcoming setbacks is key to succeeding in anything. In sales we are tested every day. Without a sense of optimism it would make getting …

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