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Why Your Sales Team Can't Close

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Why Your Sales Team Can't Close “My salespeople can’t close.” How often have you heard that line? If you’re a sales leader, you’ve probably even said it. But closing is never the real problem. Never. That’s just the symptom. The problem is that salespeople neglect important activities during earlier stages of the sales process. Unless you address the broken links in your prospecting system, your results will not be sustainable. It’s like back pain. You can stretch and put heat on an aching back, but unless you treat the source of the pain -- a pulled muscle or degenerating disc --your back will continue to hurt. Put Your Finger on the Real Problem When you start looking at what  really  went wrong with missed sales opportunities, you’ll typically discover that your salespeople didn’t make the time to prepare for the meeting. They didn’t plan an agenda, do their research, or even check the client’s LinkedIn profile to identify common connections, interests, and...

Common Mid-Life Regrets

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Everyone wants to know what dead people say right before they die. Words maybe infused with speckles of a heaven. Beethoven supposedly said on his deathbed, “Friends applaud! the comedy is finished!” Lou Costello said, “This was the best ice cream soda I ever tasted.” Similar is, “What are common regrets of people in their 30s and 40s?” Can they be avoided if known? Here are my regrets. And they can be summed up by the word “don’t.” Don’t buy things Buy experiences. A thing is a house. An experience is a trip. An experience is a visit to that girl or guy on the other side of the world who said, “maybe.” An experience is an invitation to meaning instead of material. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do You think you have time to get out of it. But you don’t. And then it happens. And then it’s too late. And then it’s something you did. You were the target and you got shot. A black ink stamp leaving its mark on your wrist. You went to the party and the next day, all blurry and i...

Make sure you score ,Dont just get busy

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We can learn alot from sports when it comes to Management .  These basic stats from World cup 2014 says it all. The team with the most  passes lifted the trophy. When Brazil faced Germany , Brazil had 18 shots Germany had 14 ,  Ball possession Brazil had 51% Germany had 49% , Corners Brazil had 7 Germany had 5 , Shots on goal Brazil had  13   Brazil were drenched 7 -1. It means while Brazil & other teams players chose to hold on to the ball the  Germans were busy passing the ball looking for a path to score.   Germans were more focused on results. At work you could be a busy body coupled with drama but Nil at being effective . It is also clear that the team with the best attack was Brazil which also soaked the most goals in the tournament.  As they busy played individual runs and shooting in a wild manner off target they were also exposing themselves then its no wonder the team with most passes hit them 7 -1 . Germans played wit...

Steps to Self confidence

Self Confidence Formula FIRST: I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my definite purpose in life; therefore, I  demand  or myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action. SECOND: I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality; therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become, thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture. THIRD: I know through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object back of it; therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of  self-confidence. FOURTH: I have clearly written down a description of my  de...

Dream again

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DREAM AGAIN The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream." "The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY." Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world. Your star is now in the ascendancy. The world depression brought the opportunity you have been waiting for. It taught people humility, tolerance, and open-mindedness. The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which the dreamers of the past never knew. The world has become accustomed to new discoveries. Nay, it has shown a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world a new idea . The world no longer scoffs at the dreamer, nor calls him impractical. May be you have been disappointed, you have undergone defeat and depression, you have felt the great heart within you crushed until it bled.  Take courage, for these experiences have tempered the ...

5 Common Financial Mistakes that Kill Small Businesses in Africa.

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I’m sure you would have heard the notorious statistic that nearly  80 percent of small businesses  that start today may die within the first 18 months. This is both a sad reality and a mind-blowing suicide rate by any measure. I call it ‘suicide’ because most small businesses actually kill themselves without knowing it. Entrepreneurs and small business owners often form bad habits and make harmful decisions that ensure their businesses don’t survive. Don’t get me wrong; a business can fail for several different reasons. Some of these reasons are external (like a bad economy) while many of them are internal (you and the way you run the business). Sadly, poor financial management is one of the biggest internal reasons for business failure. This article looks at five common finanical mistakes that small businesses make in Africa. If you already run a business, no matter how small, you may already be guilty of a few.  Let’s find out what these mistakes are… Yes, it’s ...

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD

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Naval Admiral William H. McRaven returned to his alma mater last week and spoke to the graduates with lessons he learned from his basic SEAL training. Here’s his amazing Commencement Address at University of Texas at Austin 2014 from Business Insider. The University’s slogan is, “What starts here changes the world.” I have to admit—I kinda like it. “What starts here changes the world.” Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people—and each one of those folks changed the lives of another ten people—just ten—then in five generations—125 years—the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people. 800 million people—think of it—over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire popu...