Successful entrepreneurs, the true rockstars of business, all share certain habits that set them apart.

The most significant of those habits is the way great entrepreneurs approach their work. There are two fundamental styles:

1. Flat out, fast paced and crazy
2. Zen-focused, thoughtful and introspective

Do you fit into one of these categories? Let’s find out why and how you’re conditioned to work (and what you can do about it).

Style one is suitable for entrepreneurs running rocket-ship businesses – especially in the crucial “start up” phase. This is where you need to be all over your business like white on rice. Taking action, ticking off (hundreds) of “to-do’s” and keeping the business alive.

Any entrepreneur who has successfully launched a start up is a master of this work style. Solopreneurs even more so (they have to be all over everything, all the time.)

The great thing about this style? Mastering it means that your actions will have an enormously wide impact. You can make crucial sales calls, follow up emails, attend meetings and make sure your business machine runs smoothly.

The entrepreneurs who master this get a kick out of running around like a headless chicken (they call it multitasking) and are incredibly effective at it.

The second entrepreneurial approach to work is totally different. This is a style that will enable you to do work that counts – the significant, game-changing stuff that sets you apart from every competitor. This is where you switch off to distractions and zoom your mental focus in on the one crucial project in front of you.

This style is for working on that book you’ve been excited about starting, or for planning your business strategy for the next 12 months… or maybe that exciting new marketing campaign.

When you master the zen-focus style, you’ll tap into your true potential to turn out fantastic ideas, products, strategy or “art”. It means focusing deeply on highly specific item.

Which style do you rock?

All business owners are (actually, everyone is) conditioned to be better at one style than the other.

I’ve seen startups that run on pure rocket-fuel… where the CEO is pouring in enormous energy and enthusiasm. They move quick (and often make great money) at the cost of burn-out for that individual.

Then, when it comes to doing work that counts and being a game-changer, the entrepreneur is so caught up in day-to-day operations that they find no time to give their creative work the attention it deserves. That work and ultimately the business, suffers as a result of this.

On the other end, there are the people who are natural born artists. These folks just love focusing on making things perfect and spend loads of time developing a genuinely awesome product.

Problem is, the tactical day to day side of their business is neglected, so while they’re off doing “work that counts,” vital tasks are procrastinated, existing customers are ignored or, even worse, no sales are coming in!

The psychological conditioning that makes each individual entrepreneur lean in one direction or another is pretty tough to overcome.

It’s also worth mentioning that the solution isn’t to simply “be somewhere in the middle”, but rather to know when it’s the most effective to be in either state. If you have both styles at your disposal and can consciously switch between the two, then you’re whole miles ahead of 90% of the wannabe business people out there.

So, what style are you preconditioned to?

For me, it has to be the first “all over things like dog-poop on velcro” style. Just like dog-pop, it’s real tough to get me off (every little task).

I’ve found changing my immediate environment and taking short “power breaks” are both effective techniques for when I want to “switch” and get more focused.

What about you? How do you ensure you get the best out of both work styles? Let me know via a comment…

Selling is a critical, make-or-break skill for every entrepreneur

If you’re serious about growing your business, hopefully you’ve already got some sales stars helping you achieve the dream.

As a leader, your top objective is to keep those sales people (or yourself) operating at the peak of performance (and profit) with one simple caveat: Never let them burn out.

Many business owners make the mistake of assuming sales management is easy, but without the right skill toolbox, it will always be an uphill struggle.

This article (1st of a series) breaks down a simple psychological formula which you can use to inspire top performance from your sales people and yourself.

In my recent “Leadership Cheat Sheet” post, I revealed the precise (psychological) formula that top leaders use to inspire their teams to the lofty heights of mega-performance.

This article fills in the blanks by breaking down the specifics of that formula when applied to sales.

We’re going to start off with Step 1 of the formula and go through the other steps in the four subsequent posts in this series.

The formula is going to be especially useful for super small businesses – simply because those entrepreneurs have to become their own sales managers. It’s a whole lot more difficult to manage yourself (and kick your own ass from time to time).

For simplicity’s sake, I’ve written this article referring mainly to “the sales rep”… so I may be talking about YOU, or your team, depending on your situation.

Whether you’re a leader of others or still just planning to be one someday, this formula is one you can use right away for an immediate sales boost.

The pre-plan (what we’re after)

We first have to define our reason for using this formula. The goal, in other words.

In this case, we’re really shooting for the basics: High performance and consistency.

The later is the most important. We’ll flesh this out more in part three.

Great beliefs (that are required for effective sales)

There are five basic beliefs that are superbly useful for sales reps to possess, ticking away at the back of the unconscious mind, paving the way for the enormous action and energy that puts dollars in the bank.

It’s worth mentioning that I’m not too concerned with the inherent “truth” of these beliefs… rather, I only care what kind of results we get if we presuppose certain beliefs to be true. (Sort of deep and philosophical for those who care to ponder what this means)

The five beliefs:

The Industry

The sales rep must believe in the industry, what it’s all about and why. Ethical considerations (if any) must be cleared up.

Example:

Most sales reps in Life Insurance struggle with “believing in the industry” – except the ones with a historic family tragedy where cover was much needed, but missing. These folks tend to be big believers and top performers. It’s no coincidence.

 

The Company

It follows naturally that a strong belief in the company is required. The “what it’s all about and why” factor is important. This question is what most lame “corporate values” statements are trying to answer.

Answering the question right simply means having a worthwhile reason and purpose for being in business. Being cheaper isn’t one. Being better is.

Additionally, your sales rep must have a strong belief in your company’s ability to deliver on promises. The bad news (for some) is that this means having an established track record of delivering quality work or product, on time.

The Product

The third belief has to be a faith in the product itself. Many executives tend to (falsely) assume that belief in the company means belief in the product.

Many businesses start out with a product worth believing in.

However, as companies grow and products are revised, phenomena like Feature Creep and changes in competitors products can compromise the integrity of your product.

Many organisations (examples include the big photocopy firms) make another mistake: Using a super-duper, ultimate up-sell.

This is when the sales guys are encouraged to up-sell as many half-useless, secondary products/services as possible.

Typically, sales metrics will reveal very few of these deals get closed (the client picks the cheaper, just-what-is-necessary option) mainly because the reps are never really pushing them very hard.

The sales rep knows the deal is a con and deep down, no sales rep worth her salt wants to turn valued customers (who trust her) into suckers.

The Market

The number one reason (or excuse) for poor performance, which every sales manager hears, is all about the market “being down” or not cooperating in some way.

For a sales rep to really get out there and kick arse, they’ve got to trust (again, at the back of the brain) that the market will afford them the opportunity to hit target and win the vacation.

Good sales people believe “the market” should be ignored (when it’s bad) and that positive thinking and action will win the race.

They’re right, and the best way to convince not-so-good (or inexperienced) sales reps is to put them in the same office as the successful old hands. Incentivising the mentor relationship often helps.

The smartest organisations ensure that there is always someone to go first.

The Self

Finally, predictably, but most importantly: A sales person must believe in themselves and their own abilities.

We all know this.

However, there are a couple of psychological principals here that make all the difference:

Never tear a sales rep’s strategy down to the ground

Even though it’s tempting to “start from scratch” with a new guy, always give them a chance to be themselves and use skills from their previous job.

If the results are less than satisfactory, make sure that you develop a positive coaching relationship from the moment they come to you with questions.

Short term, tangible targets build self belief

Confidence comes from nailing short term milestones and enjoying the success. Twelve month targets are intimidating.

Offer a bonus for a 1 month KPI. Even better, work out a weekly target. Occasionally throw down a crazy challenge to focus on one major sales strategy (“Telesales week” etc). Offer prizes.

I recently offered a sales rep a weekend with a Porsche Boxster – if they successfully booked twenty appointments for the following month. Not only did this tangible, exciting goal tickle their fancy… it also ironed out an annoying too-busy then not-busy-enough cycle from their calendar.

Pay attention to feedback preferences

Humans are conditioned to accept and utilise some feedback formats better than others. It’s strange, but true and everyone is different.

As an effective leader and manager, it’s up to you to spot the preference and utilise it to keep individuals happy, driven and aware of areas for improvement.

These are the two polar opposites to watch out for, but most people sit somewhere in between:

Criticism lover

This guy needs you to tell the bad stuff like it is, but will never need reassurance that they’re doing it right (they’ll figure this out on their own, internally). Will seldom get offended by even the most upfront approach.

Validation seeker

This is someone who needs constant positive recognition of all their wins (even the little ones). They won’t believe they’re doing “good enough” until they get it. If you need them to step up the game, say nothing and watch the flurry of activity unfold.

Mastering the giving of feedback will make your life as a manager enormously easier.

Flexibility is required because even a small team will include folks from both ends of the scale.

Quick conclusion: Integrity and confidence

The two words above are the required abstract ingredients behind any consistently successful sales rep, team or entrepreneur.

The first step is to cultivate these two ideas into your business (if you haven’t already). Then put this formula into action with your sales people.

The following articles in this series will show you how. They’ll be published over the holiday period.

There is a reason for the timing: Sales leaders who want the tools to fast-track their success can digest these lessons over their vacation.

I’ll be wrapping up the series with a quick, step-by-step (free) guide to launching a sales “kick start” workshop for January. You’ll get everything you need to start the new year with some fantastic tools and psycho-savvy tricks… ensuring a record sales year from the get-go.

I’ll also be conducting the workshop in the real world (and commenting on it here) – in a closed door session with two sets of my clients’ staff.

If you’re interested, the best thing to do is to subscribe to my email list by clicking here.

That way, you’ll receive all the rest of the series straight to your inbox – allowing you to happily procrastinate reading them ‘til you’re ready.

Plus, there will be a (yet to be revealed) subscriber-only bonus. Totally free and guaranteed awesomely useful.

It’s super easy to subscribe (and unsubscribe if you want to later on). Just click here. I hate spam and will never sell, rent or share your details.

If you’ve got a question about the series or this article, drop me an email or leave a comment below.

(Click here to read Part 2 of this series)

Here’s a very simple yet effective technique for narrowing the gap between planning and action.

Everyone makes plans, to-do lists and brainstorms… very few of us tick off as many tasks as we’d like. Personally, I scribbled massive to-do lists in my handy notebook for years without getting much action to happen.

I made a real big breakthrough when I learnt how to increase my instantly increase my action-taking abilities. Here’s how you can do it too…

The secret that bridges the gap between planning and action is simple: Plan to take action

What do I mean by that?

Most people make a really common mistake with their to-do lists: They write huge, significant tasks like “build a website” or “make 5 sales”. They do this because it feels good to “plan” for such big achievements.

The big (important) stuff seldom gets ticked off because huge goals appear overwhelming and become too easy to procrastinate.

The solution is to break your massive, important tasks into bite-sized, achieveable action steps.

I would take:

“Make 5 Sales”

and turn it into:

“Select 100 prospects from database”

“Make 100 calls”

“Set 20 Appointments”

“Make 5 Sales”

The secret, in this example, is the first task. Selecting names from a database is super easy for any sales person. It is an action step that can happen well within their comfort zone, at their desk. No effort required.

By beginning the list with something so simple and easy, it becomes easy and simple to take immediate action.

What easy, simple actions (that get you started on major goals) can you take today? Post your reply in the comment section below…

Sometimes even the best laid plans go awry. It’s important not to get too hung up over goals and/or time frames.

If you think back to previous successes or times in life when you’ve really enjoyed yourself, more often than not it’s because the plan, the map and/or schedule gets chucked out the window.

Outcomes are important – knowing where you’re headed is critical.

Detours, diversions and delays are often the spice of life.