Health, Heart, Soul spells GO!

"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

~World Health Organization, 1948

A healthy, happy and well-fed sales pro or leader is created by balance at home, great company, family, and a holistic outlook from the inside out.  For example, the post Thanksgiving Dinner I had tonight with my husband was splendid.  Although his first reaction was there wouldn't be enough for his carnivore pallet :


POST THANKSGIVING DINNER:

JM's Lite Cheaters Ceasar Salad topped with fresh shrimp
Hard boiled egg
Home made Bruchetta
Couple slices of cheddar cheese
Few Carrot Sticks
Crantini


Bruschetta (8 Roma tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, 1 T fresh Basil, 1/2 tsp ea. freeze dried Oregano, 1 small red onion; sprinkle sea salt; chop everything into fine pieces ~ let ingredients absorb ~ahhh can you say garlic?

JM's LITE CHEATERS CEASAR SALAD:  Fresh Ceasar Salad Dressing from Produce section of Supermarket, 2 Romaine Lettuce Hearts (washed in ice cold water with ice, absorbed in towel and store wrapped in fridge until ready to toss); approx 3 T  Ceasar separate container; add about 3-4 cloves minced garlic;  let sit for 20-30 min.;  when ready to serve lightly coat with Parmasan Cheese, douse with coarse pepper, then toss with Cheaters Dressing.  I leave out croutons because there are enough calories .... ahhh garlic .. again!

Crantini Martini made from left over homemade Thanksgiving Cranberries (below) Place  2-3 cups ice; 1 oz vodka, 2-3 T leftover Cranberry mixture into Blender ~let it rip!


FRESH CRANBERRIES:  Fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup brown sugar (or sugar to taste), cover fresh cranberries with water, boil/simmer/mash/cool

CAUTION:  Ensure everyone eats at the same time to enjoy each other's garlic "aroma"

VOILA:  You feel healthy, prudent using leftover while being happy (thanks to the Crantini)


NOTE:  Flowers from Thanksgiving Dinner Table

TIME:  No more than an hour if you follow the menu order.


P.S.  No, hubby didn't go looking for snacks afterwards.

DESSERT:  Go for a walk, preferably a park close by (like the one I'm fortunate to have nearby pictured above) and just "BE".




"Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body"

~Cicero

Knock off JOBS!

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”

Steve Jobs

I certainly was expecting that sooner or later someone would start bashing Steve Jobs, as most, if not all, icons have their weaknesses, nor are perfect.  I'm respectfully ascertain that most have even done the appropriate amount of research before publishing their article.

What I despise and would expect is "professionalism".   Meaning respect for those that knew him personally (wife, children, inner circle, colleagues) who loved him intensely, warts and all, and allow them time for grief ….   Before having to face the ugly side that was sure to emerge.

To assume that anyone of us is perfect is naive.  Give people credit.  The wide world of web means access to a ton of information, opinions, truths, and lies.  Very few faced with so much information, believe everything they read.  About Jobs already?  All I know, is very little is accomplished without a lot of sweat and tears.   Many of us have had teachers or bosses that seemed impossible, didn't always communicate in the best fashion yet we look back at them with respect to the degree in what they taught us.

My own naivity continues to believe in the best of people.  Yet, I would still expect grace to allow the mourners the time to reflect on wonderful memories before having to face those that want to be the first to “expose” Steve Jobs weaknesses.   I guess there is that notch out there --  to be recognized as one of the first to uncover the ugly side of Steve Jobs.   We all have our choices.  My choice is to think about the magnificent impact he did have on my life.  i.e.  a colleague sending me his “Stanford address”  around 6 months ago so I could pass it on to my 18 year old daughter who was trying to decide what to do with her life, what to take in university, etc.  I forwarded it to her, we discussed it, saying:  “don’t worry so much about figuring out your whole life, start by understanding what you are interested in, want to learn, and go with that”.  That is what Steve Jobs’ address inspired me to say to her.

Uncovering the commentaries on who, what, where the iPODs, iPhones, iPADs are manufactured.  China:  imagine that!   Look at what you wear, where you shop.  I could pretend that I’m brilliant to say that there is a pretty good chance many are “Made in China”.   I certainly hope those same authors are asking people to boycott places that sound like W-mrt.    Let’s see, 1 billion people, minimum wages unheard of in North American terms, an outrage!  Teens and younger having to work instead of going to school, that is beyond fathomable!   I have had teens who turn up their nose at washing dishes in my own home, never mind at a restaurant.  Who are we fooling here?  Give credit that there are people out there that respect, help out their families, placing others before their own desires, just to put food on their tables by everyone pitching in.   Those same articles and beliefs are where all this self-entitlement comes from.    We push our kids off to university, let them live at home, while their degree measures up to working at a fast food restaurant because if the job isn’t the CEO, then they’ll bide their time.

So those that do want to continue to bash Steve Jobs.  Continue.  I’d love to see you wrestle the iPhones and iPADs away from your kids.  Do you think they care who, what, where or how they’re made?  If you do, hats off.  If you don’t, I’ll root for the long climb ahead of you.  Those that say “huh?” well, ‘nuff said …. Perhaps controversial readership is where its all at?

At the end of the day … when my time comes to pass,  I would be thankful if people celebrate the good that I’ve done, respect my family and loved ones mourning.  Thinking about it, perhaps obscurity won’t be such a bad thing.  At least, there won’t be an “a-wake” to what I could have done better.

 

“Be a yardstick of quality.  Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Steve Jobs

Is Cold Calling Dead? Instead ask: "What if there were no longer sales pros?"

"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up." 

Vince Lombardi

I have to give credit where credit is due.  A Google+ posted by my pal Gary Hart (Salesdujour) whom I respect and follow inspired me to write this Blog!    The same question keeps cropping up in several different ways, in several different manners, regardless of what forum I dip into:  Linked In, Quora, Blogs,  Facebook, Twitter and now Google+  "Is Cold Calling Dead?"  .... there is even professionals out there that tell you it is dead in no uncertain terms.


Cold calling is part of sales, like "prospecting" "closing" "objection" functions are. In my perfect world  everyone will join together to get on the same page, agreeing on a definition.  Instead, when you ask  what people feel towards cold calling you end up with a debate on whether it works, alive, etc.  If you "Google" cold calling, you may end up at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_calling that explains it to be:  "Cold calling is the marketing process of approaching prospective customers or clients, typically via telephone, who were not expecting such an interaction. The word "cold" is used because the person receiving the call is not expecting a call or has not specifically asked to be contacted by a sales person."   


Oh, oh.  The last business development role I was involved in, they would have hired "Telemarketers" to do "cold" telephone calls, which some are asked to schedule appointments for sales people.  What they wanted was a warm body in front of customers that they weren't reaching by advertising, marketing, etc.  Most bosses I know who have sales departments consider hiring telemarketers an overhead cost.  More often, that falls under "sales" on the balance sheet.  Even more, would say they don't need telemarketers if they have sales professionals to do their own telemarketing.




My first take when I see the question asked is that not cold calling means you be handed engaged buyer-ready customers.  Perfect, all you have to do is "close" them. I want a million dollars and a second home in the tropics too. Doesn't mean I'm going to get either.  In fact, if the world agreed that cold calling is dead, then sales pros may just be killing their own careers!

Seriously, if companies want order takers primed on the ready for warmed leads banging down their door, a sales career would become obsolete.  If marketing could bring in new customers all nice and neatly tied up in a bow that just needed to be written up, would they need sales professionals?  I think not, they would be called "Customer Service Representatives".     In fact, if that were the case, I'm sure most executives would pour more money into marketing and be talking to accounting more about what to do with all that money.


Sales professionals are one of the toughest groups to manage.    Each brings in a set of tools, success strategies, and war stories that would make even the most notorious war generals blink!  Asked why sales aren't improving, you better sit down because that may take a while.  


One of my first Blogs ever, written last August 2010  "When the Going Gets Tough The Tough Go Hunting" http://optioneerjm.blogspot.com/2010/08/when-going-gets-tough-tough-go-hunting.html What I said then and say still is when the economy softens and revenue streams dry up, people turn to their sales professionals or even some stretch resources to hire sales professional(s) to offset declines.  


Now, if we start talking techniques that take the "Cold out of Call" http://optioneerjm.blogspot.com/2010/11/take-cold-out-of-call.html and devise solutions on making it seem less intrusive to people that are too busy to stop for a call from a customer, never mind a sales pro that somehow got through, then we're getting somewhere.  


The great part of these debates, they fuel my passion to write more!  That is why so many sales Blogs like mine are alive and doing well.    Well folks, you won't find any excuses NOT to cold call on this one.


"Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go."

William Feather