Discover practical advice, inspiration, and insights to help you succeed in business and grow both personally and professionally.
Found 0 posts
There are no better examples of leadership than the legacies of our great historical leaders. While they achieved tremendous fame, they did not do so without facing the occasional failure and enduring hardship. As we strive to become better leaders and learn how to inspire others, we would do well to reflect on the greatest leaders from history to see the characteristics, mentality, and habits that allowed these most revered leaders challenge norms, empower the oppressed, galvanize action, and spark change.
Lesson One: Learn from the Past
The best sources for what works in leadership are the lessons of the past. The trials and tribulations of historical leaders, while sometimes on a grander scale than our own lives, can teach us how to succeed or fail. We can learn how to lead effectively from reading about or watching movies on history, and anyone hoping to become a better leader should make a habit of it. Why make your own mistakes when you can benefit from the lessons learned by those who eventually achieved greatness? Study their lives, follow in their footsteps, and apply their leadership approaches as you drive your own team to reach its goals.
Lesson Two: Character Matters
The greatest historical leaders knew that character can often matter even more than ideas when it comes to leading others to find the greatness in themselves. Benjamin Franklin identified Thirteen Critical Virtues necessary for a successful live and vowed to exemplify them. George Washington is admired for his honesty, and Gandhi demonstrated remarkable restraint and self-discipline in his use of non-violent protest to drive change. Whether reading about George Washington, Ben Franklin, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, their character stood out and earned them respect, built trust with others, and translated to a highly-regarded reputation.
Lesson Three: Take Risks
You must be bold, and you must accept that you will sometimes fail. Failing can be an important stop on route to success. Lincoln lost a number of elections, including the Illinois Senate race in 1858, yet he ran for President in 1860. Washington struggled to win a major battle against the British for years, yet he had the courage to stay the course. Gandhi, King and Mandela were humiliated for many years on their paths toward civil rights and representation. Facing the occasional failure is a sign that you took on challenges, pushed yourself outside of your comfort zone, and it is an opportunity to prove your resilience and willingness to learn from your mistakes.
Lesson Four: You are Not a Victim of Your Circumstances
We can rise above poverty, lack of education, or lack of support to achieve greatness. Charlie Chaplin grew up in the direst circumstances, reminiscent of a Dickens novel, yet he revolutionized silent film. Men and women who had once been slaves and peasants, overcame the odds to become generals, emperors, and queens. While challenges can sometimes feel insurmountable, the stories of remarkable historical leaders prove that even when things seem hopeless, determination, passion, and grit can overcome the odds.
Lesson Five: Self Discipline is a Must
Lincoln had just one year of formal education, but he read constantly to feed his curiosity and continued to expand his knowledge. Franklin devised ways to improve his character by evaluating himself daily, assessing one character trait each day. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant were relentless in their routines to develop their skills and conditioning. The stories of great leaders of the past up to the present teach that our potential is boundless if we are willing to push ourselves. Achieving greatness as a leader means having the passion and drive to continuously transform yourself and expand your boundaries. Nobody will do that for you. To become a leader that can inspire others and provoke action, you must first be willing to lead yourself.
History is full of incredible stories of leaders who rose above their circumstances, exemplified character, and endured and overcame setbacks on their path to success. By studying their stories and seeking to understand which qualities and actions allowed them to achieve greatness, you can improve your own chances of doing the same. The stories of historical leaders are a goldmine from which I have learned so much about the kind of leader I hope to be.
To find out more about Cydcor, check us out on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
Gary Polson is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman at Cydcor, the market leader in outsourced sales. With more than 25 years of business operations experience in accounting, legal and senior management, Gary has propelled Cydcor to unprecedented achievement with clients, culture and philanthropy since 2001. Under his leadership, Cydcor has increased its revenue more than six-fold since 2001 and has been recognized as “…the most respected sales outsourcing company in the world” by Datamonitor and The Black Book of Outsourcing, one of the “Best Places to Work” by the Los Angeles Business Journal for eight consecutive years. Gary’s passion for excellence and never-satisfied approach has led Cydcor to earn both industry and employer recognition. With Gary at its helm, Cydcor has built its reputation on maintaining long term relationships with clients by consistently delivering results and by going above and beyond to help Cydcor’s clients gain market share and grow.
What would have happened if Walt Disney gave up animation after being fired from one of his first jobs? What if J.K. Rowling let depression keep her from picking up a pen? What if Steven Spielberg let self-doubt stop him from making Jaws? While we’ve all heard the expression “overnight success,” but stories of instant fame and wealth are the exception, not the rule. More often than not, the most successful celebrities and entrepreneurs in the world endured at least one, if not a string, of setbacks, failures, and blows to their egos before hitting it big. Remarkably, they all kept at it, and went from failure to fame, achieving success beyond anyone’s expectations, even their own. Had they let those temporary roadblocks hold them back, however, they might have allowed those failures to define them. Most of us will fail at some point in our lives, and we’ll probably do it more than once. But, letting the occasional defeat stop you from pursuing your passion could mean denying yourself the opportunity to achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. Each of these, now famous, celebrities started out just like you.
It’s hard to imagine now that he’s one of the richest and most powerful entrepreneurs in the world, but those who met Gates right after his first company, Traf-O-Data failed in 1980, might not have been too impressed with his business acumen. The company, which he created while he was in his senior year of high school with business partner Paul Allen, seemed like a clever solution for gathering traffic-flow data, except for one problem, they didn’t have any customers. Gates and Allen got so caught up in the technology, they forgot to do any market research. Don’t feel too bad for Gates though, as of September 2017, the Microsoft Corporation cofounder is the richest person in the word, with an estimated net worth of $84.8 billion, according to Wikipedia.
He may be the father of the world’s most beloved animated mouse and the founder of what would grow into a multi-billion-dollar, mega-empire, but as a young cartoonist, not everyone could see his potential. In 1919, the Kansas City Star newspaper fired Disney because, according to his editor, he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Lucky for Disney, his creative drought would eventually end, allowing him to go from failure to fame after coming up with a few good ideas that just happened to change entertainment forever, including Mickey Mouse, the multi-plane camera, and Disneyland. This one-time labeled, “creative dunce” also holds the record for most Academy Awards as a film producer.
He might be the most recognizable and best-know scientific genius of all time, but as a child, Albert Einstein was so far behind developmentally, that teachers were concerned he might have been mentally disabled. The Nobel-prize-winning physicist didn’t speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven. He would later be expelled from one school and refused admittance to another one in the years before he took the physics world by storm.
She may be mom to the world’s favorite boy wizard, but before that, Rowling was a broke mom. Recently divorced, on welfare, and clinically depressed, she struggled for five years to complete the first Harry Potter book, writing while her new baby napped. The book was rejected twelve times before finding a publisher, and the rest is history. Fighting her way from failure to fame, today, J.K. Rowling is wealthiest author of all time, and one of the richest women in the world.
While women all over the world fantasize about their dream wedding, themselves picture-perfect in a designer, Vera Wang gown, Wang herself dreamed of representing the United States as part of the 1968 US Olympic figure-skating team. But, after years of intense training, she failed to make the team. Later, after serving 15 years as a senior editor at Vogue magazine, she was overlooked when it came time to name the magazine’s new editor-in-chief. It wasn’t until she was 40 years old that she began her designing career, and the rest is history. Today, Vera Wang’s brand is worth over $1 billion, and the average Vera Wang wedding gown can sell for upwards of $13,000.
Before becoming the master of suspense he is today, Stephen King had more than a little trouble getting his writing career off the ground. A few publishers apparently thought Kings first novel, Carrie, wasn’t up to par – 30 to be exact. King got so fed up with the constant string of rejections that he threw the manuscript for Carrie in the trash. Lucky for horror fans around the world, King’s wife, confident in her husband’s talent, retrieved the book and encouraged him to keep going. Eventually, the writer would discover that one or two people were actually interested in what he had to say; King has published more than 50 novels and has sold more than 350 million copies of his books. His work has also been transformed into dozens of award winning movies and series including The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, and the story he, himself, once trashed, Carrie.
Jaws. E.T. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Jurassic Park. They’re probably some of your favorites, and you’re not alone. Steven Spielberg’s movies include some of the highest grossing blockbusters of all time. In fact, he is said to have invented the concept of summer blockbuster with the release of Jaws, for the first time, creating the kind of fan fervor, and lines around the block, we often see today. He’s won multiple academy awards, and he is possibly the most recognizable film director in the world. As a young, aspiring director and film student, however, Spielberg was rejected from USC’s top-ranked film school three times, because of his mediocre grades. Don’t feel too bad for poor Steven though, the school would eventually award him an honorary degree in 1994, after making some generous donations, that most likely didn’t put a dent in his $3 billion estimated net worth.
The next time someone tells you to give up, calls you untalented, or rejects your idea, remember you know best what you are capable of. Take your failures in stride and realize that each one is just bringing you one step closer to your destiny. You can become your own success story. Don’t give up on you dreams, Instead, use those naysayers to fuel your desire to persevere and make your dreams a reality. Give it everything you’ve got, and remember that today you might feel like a failure, but the only way you truly fail is by giving up. Brush yourself off, stay committed, and live to fight another day, and you might be surprised what you can achieve.
There’s the approach. Then the smile of recognition. The beginning of a friendly greeting. Then…a blank. For budding business relationships, there’s nothing quite like that awkward feeling that accompanies a moment of forgetfulness. Remembering people’s names is something that sets relationships on the right path and sets you apart from the crowd. Hone your craft with the help of these five tips for remembering names.
You never know what a new relationship can lead to. Treat each meeting like it could be the beginning of something great. Approach each new interaction with the mindset that it might have an impact on your future. Remember that the conversation you are having and the person you are meeting are important—and that this relationship could turn out to be more significant than you know. With this attitude as your starting point, you will naturally place a higher priority on remembering people’s names.
When meeting new people, remembering names can come down to one simple act: really listening. It may sound obvious, but in the busy reality of our lives, giving our full attention might not always be so easy. When you’re meeting someone, cast aside other tasks and focus on the interaction that’s right in front of you. Instead of thinking about the next thing you’re going to say, focus on the person’s name as they’re saying it to you. If you happen to miss it the first time around, don’t fake it. Instead, show them the importance of your conversation by apologizing and asking to hear it again.
A simple tip for remembering names is using it immediately in conversation. Perhaps the easiest way to accomplish this is to repeat it back to them right away, saying something like, “Nice to meet you, Gail.” Another possible tactic is to ask them which form of their name they prefer. Asking if it’s Dave or David builds in another ordinary repetition of their name to help you remember. After this, using their name naturally—that is, occasionally—in the rest of your conversation will help to make it stick in your mind even more. Just be careful not to overdo it, or you could begin to sound robotic.
For some, associating a name with another concept is a helpful strategy for remembering people’s names. This can take many forms, and it’s entirely up to you to choose which way works best. It can be as simple associating their name with a particular detail they reveal about themselves, like a hobby or interest. You can also come up with a rhyme or a piece of alliteration to help you remember.
After meeting someone, a very effective way to remember their name is to write it down. Whenever possible, write it down by hand, rather than on your phone or computer. Research shows that the act writing things down helps nurture comprehension and retention. What’s more, by jotting down a person’s name and any important details from your meeting you can refer back to these notes in the future to help make the most of your new relationship.
Remembering people’s names isn’t rocket science. In most cases, it just comes down to good habits. To make any new behavior a habit, you must decide that it’s important enough to you and your professional future to do the work it will take to make that behavior a regular part of your routine. While remembering names can sometimes seem insignificant, it could easily give you that edge over a competitor when fighting for a big project, interviewing for a job, or attempting to earn a client’s business.
To get inspired and read other helpful sales and business insights from Cydcor, check us out on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales services. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company based in Canada to garnering a reputation as the global leader in outsourced sales, Cydcor has built our name on provide our clients with exceptional sales professionals and proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.
Building resilience is one of the cornerstones of success in business—especially entrepreneurial pursuits. The ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back to the task at hand is paramount to success in business, at every level.
Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey, these tips for building and maintaining personal resilience will put you on the path toward having the strength and flexibility required for success.
Pick Your Battles
Knowing your strengths is a key component to success in any endeavor; leveraging your strengths in your work will get you farther, faster, than spinning your wheels in areas where you lack knowhow and confidence. No one is good at everything, though, and learning when to power through a difficult course of action versus when to delegate is important. Building resilience includes challenging oneself, but it also means knowing when a task is best given to someone else—and being OK with that.
Build & Maintain Your Self Confidence
Building personal resilience relies heavily on recognizing your strengths and maintaining your confidence in them. You know what you know—make sure others know it too! Personal resilience takes practice and self-reflection. Take some time to honestly consider which facets of your profession you’re best at and make a list you can reference to boost your self-confidence and bolster your self-awareness.
Hone Your Skills
When you know your strengths, you can get to work on improving them. When your areas of expertise and your specialized skills are all second nature, the business of bouncing back from times of difficulty—or even failure—becomes easier. Call on your talents, experience, and knowledge to help you get through tough times, and build on those unique advantages to move on from setbacks. Honing your skills also reinforces your self-confidence, creating a powerful feedback loop for yourself as you maintain your personal resilience.
Be a Team Player
Business is built on relationships. You want—need—to be someone people want to work with. Reliable. Helpful. Trustworthy. Talented. The list of superlatives people want from their teammates and networks can go on and on, but the bottom line is this: being an indispensable member of your professional community is key to building professional and personal resilience. When your network is strong, bouncing back and moving forward—and extending successes—is much easier, because you can call on those relationships as you seek new opportunities, constructive feedback, and emotional support.
Manage Emotions During Losses—and Wins
The most resilient people have a keen understanding of their emotions and are skilled at managing them. This doesn’t mean building resilience requires stoicism—the opposite, in fact. Those who take the time to see the good in things and spread their positive outlook find it easier to work through rough patches. They see each experience, positive or negative, as a way to learn. These are also the people who are self-aware enough to see when things are going well and celebrate them.
What strategies do you use for building your personal resilience? Share your thoughts on Twitter and be sure to follow @Cydcor on Instagram to learn more about our company and our culture.
In business, as in life, building relationships is key. No matter how talented you are or what service you provide, if your customers don’t like you or, worse, don’t trust you, you’re not going to get very far. Networking is a critical part of advancing your career, but making contacts will only serve you if you can foster them into fruitful business relationships.
Whenever you’re meeting with a client or a connection, especially a new one, make time in advance to learn a bit about them. Whether this means speaking to mutual acquaintances or researching online, doing your homework on a prospective customer or contact will allow you to identify common ground and better equip you to answer their questions or provide what they’re looking for. If you want them to give you their business, it’s crucial to come prepared. Coming to meetings well versed on the other party’s needs also assures them you will go the extra mile on their behalf.
Business relationships are investments. We invest time and energy into them with the expectation that they will provide value. Just as you’re hoping to leverage your business relationships to achieve certain goals, so are your colleagues, business partners, and customers. So, consider what value you’re providing back to them. In some cases, it may be helpful to illustrate what you have brought to the relationship by presenting hard numbers and proof of results. By making a strong case for the overwhelming benefits of the relationship, you stack your deck for success, and ensure the business relationship with grow and flourish in the future.
There’s a reason why your parents always said, “Honesty is the best policy.” It is. If you promise your client the sun, moon and stars when networking, then that’s exactly what they’re going to expect. It’s important to set ambitious goals, but it’s just as important to deliver. If you can’t come through, be proactive about letting your client know. Otherwise, any frustration they feel will be compounded by your having mislead them and your business relationship may suffer as a result. To avoid this scenario, set reasonable goals and manage expectations with customers, bosses, and colleagues. Promise only what you are absolutely certain you can deliver. It’s always better to surprise someone by providing more than expected rather than over-promising and under-delivering.
Ultimately, you’re here to serve your customers. If they feel your own agenda is taking priority over theirs, your business relationship will not last very long. You can only meet someone else’s needs if you listen to what those needs are, so always be as ready to hear as you are to speak. Listen to Cydcor President, Vera Quinn on the subject of really hearing your client:
You likely learned about playing “hard to get” in high school. In many ways, the same rules apply when building business relationships. If you appear too interested – contacting them incessantly, coming across as desperate for their business – they may start to suspect that you’re not that hot a commodity. You should seem interested in securing their business and maintaining a fruitful partnership, but make it clear that you have other irons in the fire and will be fine should things not work out. As we said earlier, if you’re clearly demonstrating the value you’ll bring to the relationship, they’ll be interested.
It can be a fine line between projecting confidence and arrogance, but it’s one you’ll have to navigate if you hope to form long-lasting and fruitful business relationships. A client or contact will be impressed by your knowledge and expertise but annoyed if it crosses over into condescension. You demonstrate your value to this business relationship best by doing your job well, not by being your own hype-man. An easy way to avoid sounding arrogant is to continuously show the other party that their thoughts and opinions matter. Remember that all business relationships are partnerships of some kind, meaning that both parties rightly feel that they matter and their ideas have value.
Often we make ourselves most available when we want something, and less so when we don’t. After you complete whatever business you’ve conducted with a client or contact, it can be easy to fall out of touch. Don’t fall into this trap. Make an effort to stay engaged and to continue networking, even when there’s nothing clearly “in it for you.” Business relationships, like fires, require constant kindling, or they can fizzle out. By checking in with clients and contacts on a regular basis, you demonstrate your long-term investment in the relationship and dedication to your customers.
Ultimately, maintaining a real, lasting business relationship is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, it takes work, and it takes commitment. By constantly providing value to your client or contact, consistently delivering what you promise, and by taking the time to nurture the relationship, you can build relationships that will continue to pay off for years to come.
Entrepreneurship is an exciting opportunity for those, with the right attitude and pioneering spirit, to build something from the ground up, take ownership of their time and decisions, and potentially, achieve financial independence. But what are the characteristic of successful entrepreneurs? Why do some succeed while some don't?
Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires unwavering focus and commitment to your craft, strong relationships, and an open mind to new perspectives. We asked a group of entrepreneurs about what drives them and what they believe it takes to achieve success. What we discovered, is that even when you do everything right, success is not guaranteed, but the thrill of the journey, the chance to influence and support others, and the potential payoff are what drive daring entrepreneurs to venture down this career path time and again.
COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS
What sets entrepreneurs apart is not their mastery of specific hard skills such as writing, programming, or public speaking. From our discussions with independent business owners, we learned that the top characteristics of successful entrepreneurs are rooted in soft skills shaped by the right attitude and mindset, seen in the infographic below.
Self-Motivation
It’s easy to talk about building a business, but it’s entirely another thing to do it. The number one characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is self-motivation—the ability to put ideas into action. Think about some of the best-known entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs, for instance, didn’t wait for a company to come looking for him to build a new kind of personal computer. Instead, he partnered with the right people, turned his ideas into real-life products, and convinced the public that they needed the Apple Computer. Self-motivation can mean the difference between dreaming and achieving.
Determination
Our business owners identified determination as another major characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. This important trait is the drive that helps us follow through once we start. It’s what pushes us back up when we fall, and keeps us moving through uncertainty until we reach our long term goal.
THE BENEFITS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Going from ideas to great products or startup to corporation is a remarkable feat that requires passion, focus, and resilience. It’s not a straight path, and there will often be twists, turns, and moments of uncertainty. We wanted to understand what makes it all worth it? What is it about the life of an entrepreneur that continues to drive so many to brave those, sometimes, stormy waters?
Developing Others
The majority of entrepreneurs said the most valuable benefit of entrepreneurship is the opportunity to help others grow and develop. Think about it. At one point, these entrepreneurs were employees, too. At the helm of a business, an entrepreneur has the experience to recognize greatness in others, and the leadership expertise to inspire them to get there.
Opportunity for Growth
Have you ever felt like you’re not getting anywhere in your current role, or looked up the organizational chart and didn’t like what you saw? Another major benefit of entrepreneurship is the opportunity for growth. And not just career growth, but personal growth, as well. Taking a chance on yourself and pursuing your passions will test your comfort zone, but the freedom to be your own boss and do what you love is an unparalleled experience and a unique benefit of entrepreneurship.
See what else entrepreneurs had to say about why owning and growing your own business is worth it.
Building a successful business of your own is not something that happens overnight. It takes unwavering dedication, unshakable focus, and a healthy dose of endurance. It’s an accomplishment, much like a marathon, that is achieved one step at a time. But for those who stick with it and embrace the adventure, the benefits of entrepreneurship can be life-changing.
Most highly successful people share one important trait: focus. They know what their purpose is and what they want to achieve, and everything they do and say aims to bring them closer to their goals. But maintaining that intense level of dedication and drive takes effort.
When striving toward any goal, it’s important to find ways to remind yourself why that goal is so important to you so you can stay focused. Creating a personal mission statement gives you a way to identify your values, commit to your goals, and put yourself on a path toward success.
QUESTIONS FOR CREATING A PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT
To create your own personal mission statement, start by asking yourself these questions:
THE BENEFITS OF HAVING A PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT
There are many benefits to creating a mission statement to help you reach your goals:
PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENTS FROM NAMES YOU MIGHT RECOGNIZE
High achievers in many industries live by a personal mission statement. Here are a few:
Gary Polson, CEO, Cydcor
“As CEO of Cydcor, I will assure the long-term growth and health of Cydcor and the opportunity by 1) attracting, developing, motivating and recognizing our people; 2) developing a culture of sustainable success; 3) overseeing the strategy; 4) focusing on the financial health of the field; and 5) building relationships with our key people and connecting with the newer people.”
Richard Branson, CEO, The Virgin Group
“To have fun in (my) journey through life and learn from (my) mistakes.” (Motivated Magazine, 2011)
Oprah Winfrey, CEO OWN
“To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.” (Oprah.com, 2009)
Amanda Steinberg, CEO, Dailyworth.com
“To use my gifts of intelligence, charisma, and serial optimism to cultivate the self-worth and net-worth of women around the world.” (Forbes, 2014)
Creating a personal mission statement is just one more way you can position yourself to reach your goals. Writing down your goals, values, and vision for your future is a form of commitment in itself, but creating a mission statement does not guarantee success. In order to make your mission statement work to your benefit, you must imbue it with importance. Whether daily, weekly, or monthly, check in with and remind yourself of your mission statement to keep yourself faithful to its message. Consider keeping it by your bedside, taped to your bathroom mirror, or posted at your desk. You could even use your mission statement as part of your social media profile as way to subtly invite others to hold you accountable as well.
While the act of creating a personal mission statement can help you learn a lot, committing to its message could help you transform it from words into reality.
We Asked About Careers in Sales; Sales Managers Answered.
Whether you're pursuing a career in sales, or you’re considering one, working in sales is exciting, challenging, and highly rewarding! A career in sales can benefit you by helping you find focus, teaching you to set ambitious goals and achieve them, and by showing you the value of helping others reach their goals, as well. We asked a group of sales managers about what they believe to be the best and most rewarding aspects of working in sales, and the results are in. Check out our findings in the sales infographic below:
A career in sales can have a profound impact on you and your future success. Even if you only work in sales for a short time, gaining sales experience can increase your value to a potential employer by expanding and improving your skillset. It can also bolster your leadership ability by putting you in a position to mentor others, to help them achieve their own career goals and aspirations.
What does it take to be a successful salesperson? One of the best ways to unlock your real sales potential is to look at the traits of successful people in other fields. Whether it’s astrophysics or technology or sports, there are a number of traits that successful people share. Discover what those traits are here, and find out how you can utilize them to become the most successful salesperson you can be.
Passion
It’s nearly impossible to be successful in any arena if you aren’t passionate about what you do. It takes long hours and hard work to get to the top of any field. If you’re not passionate about what you do, it makes it that much harder to put in the effort. But when you love what you do, all those sacrifices you make for the job no longer seem like work. They feel worth it, because this is what you were meant to do.
Innovation
Innovation is one of the main traits of successful people that pops up in nearly every field. But how, exactly, do you tap into the creativity that leads to innovation? Try looking at the obstacles in your life. It may seem counterintuitive, but every obstacle has an upside. It provides you with a way to find a solution. Ideas are born from the combination of a need to accomplish a task and a fresh perspective. Keep your eyes open for novel solutions that others may not see. Keep your ears open to listen for obstacles that others might have. Ask questions that can uncover the root of the obstacle, and you’ll unleash your inner innovator in no time.
Self-Improvement
Think about your favorite sports figure for a moment. They are exciting to watch—thrilling even. You root for them and you’re disappointed when they lose. Now imagine if you found out they no longer showed up to training and refused to practice. It wouldn’t take long for you to find someone else to cheer for, would it? Self-improvement is a process that never ends. There’s always room for you to be grow, improve your skills, and become a more successful salesperson. There really is no such thing as a plateau, because there is always more to learn. Maintain a student mentality to avoid becoming complacent. Look for ways to further your education, your technique, and your motivation to ensure long-term success!
Self-Reliance
Successful people don’t become successful through luck. Luck is merely means being prepared when an opportunity arrives. You have to develop your skills and position yourself in a space where opportunity exists. That way you are ready, available, and capable to meet your opportunities head on. Remember that a successful salesperson can thrive in any market, because when you are living up to your potential, you create your own success.
Provide Value
You’re never really selling goods or services; what you are always selling is solutions. Your clients have problems that they need resolved, and you have the means to resolve them. Listen carefully to your client, and ask them questions that get to the root of what their issues are. Then, you are poised to add value to their day-to-day life. Think about Martha Stewart. She mastered the skill of making a beautiful home, and in turn, she sold the solutions she discovered along the way to millions of people across the country and benefitted their lives.
Persistence
Failure is inevitable, and the ability to work through it and keep yourself dedicated to your goals is one of the defining traits of successful people. There are countless examples of this. Sir James Dyson created 5,126 failed prototypes before creating a bagless vacuum that worked. Dyson Vacuums is now valued at billions of dollars. Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers. Stephen King threw away an entire early draft of Carrie because he was unsatisfied with his product. His wife saved it from the trash and it eventually launched his career. Every failure is a chance to learn, to adapt, and to refine your approach.
Self-Control
A successful sales person doesn’t need anyone other than themselves to hold them accountable. Similarly, you are the only person who truly knows just how valuable you are to a team. While your manager will set certain expectations of you based on your potential, to really excel, you should set even higher standards for yourself. You know what you are capable of. You have the discipline to achieve success. You must answer to yourself at the end of every day.
Exceed Expectations
There’s an old sales saying, “under-commit and over-deliver.” But what happens when you over-commit and still over-deliver? Successful people do more than what is asked of them. They think of their job description as where their job starts, and then they look to add even more value to their team. In addition to proving to others that they are a team player, their work really stands out.
Goal-Oriented
Across all disciplines, it is a proven trait of successful people to remain goal-oriented in spite of any and all surrounding circumstances. The key to obtaining the goals you set for yourself is to approach them strategically. Differentiate short term goals from long term goals and prioritize your progress accordingly. Realize that long term goals are often made up of a number of more easily actionable short term goals. Tackle those short-term goals one by one, and soon you will discover you have achieved the success you deserve.
Be sure to check the Cydcor Blog regularly for more tips on how to become the successful salesperson you are meant to be!
Self-confidence is a quality that can affect almost every part of your life including peer perceptions, decision-making, job performance, and growth opportunities. Learning to feel comfortable in your own skin and believe in yourself can do much more than just improve your well-being, it can directly impact the course of your career. Having low self-confidence can prevent you from accepting challenges that might help you get ahead, stop you from asking for the salary or title you know you deserve, and hamper your journey toward roles of greater leadership and responsibility. Learning to build self-confidence and helping others develop their own self-confidence, can improve you and your team’s prospects for success. Learn how to build confidence in yourself and others with these helpful tips.
If you doubt your own qualifications or question whether you deserve your job, you’re not alone. What you’re feeling is called “imposter syndrome,” and it affects many successful people, from executives to founders, causing them to doubt their abilities no matter how many great accomplishments they have achieved. You have earned your place, and nobody can take away the work it took to get there. Here are a few small steps you can take to start acting like you belong right now: hold your head high, make eye contact when speaking with coworkers, and shake hands firmly. Body language goes a long way toward conveying to coworkers that you belong there, and not only will it build confidence in yourself, it will build others’ confidence in you, as well.
Confident people always seem to know what they’re talking about, and that’s because many confident people maintain a student mentality. They constantly seek out and absorb vital information to strengthen their expertise and provide more value to others. When you know your stuff, you’re prepared for tough questions, and your coworkers and team members will notice. Being an expert in your field holds a lot of credibility, and being knowledgeable helps your team members feel more confident about your leadership and about their own chances for success as part of your team.
Mentoring others can help you gain confidence in your abilities. Helping others master critical job skills forces you to hone your own knowledge of those skills, while also improving your ability to communicate essential information to others. Collaboration and coaching also builds confidence in others by helping them feel well prepared and informed to conquer the tasks ahead of them.
When someone lacks confidence, even the slightest mistakes can haunt them. When you or members of your team make mistakes, avoid placing blame or dwelling on what went wrong. Instead, work together to develop a strategy to move forward and avoid that same mistake in the future. The process will help boost your confidence as a leader or colleague, and it will help your team member feel supported and reassured that making mistakes is part of the learning process. Knowing that you have their back can make team members and colleagues feel more self-assured and confident about the work environment and their chances of success.
As you work with your team, you’ll see the value each of your team members bring, whether that be a skillset or mindset. Recognize team members’ individual contributions, and they will bring that value more confidently to the table. People love to be recognized for things they do well, and they appreciate being coached to overcome their weaknesses. By recognizing things your team members do well, they’ll do the same for you, helping to build confidence for the entire team.
People don’t like to admit it, but self-doubt is normal. Everyone has doubts and worries about not being the best, the smartest, or the most liked, and even the most confident people struggle to keep those doubts from derailing their goals. Once you recognize that, it levels the playing field. No longer is that keynote speaker an unapproachable business guru, he’s just another person trying to make it, just like you. Remember that your doubts and insecurities are just feelings, and they don’t define you or represent your real potential. Don’t let them stop you from stepping out of your comfort zone or going after your long-term goals and dreams.
Learning how to build confidence starts with just acting the part. Practice using confident body language, even when you’re feeling uncertain inside. Sometimes, the image we present on the outside, helps us begin to feel the part on the inside as well. Use the tips above to bolster your own feelings of self-confidence, and whenever possible, help to support others who may also be feeling uncertain. By focusing on others’ journeys toward growth, you distract from your own self-doubt while helping someone else achieve his or her goals. Throughout that process, you’ll discover that, not only will they become more confident, but you will as well.
Who doesn’t want to be more influential? People who are influential can drive others to accomplish more and achieve goals, they can inspire action, effect change, and transform people and organizations. Influential people are powerful. They command attention and they garner respect. Being influential means that what you say and do matters, because it sets the tone for others who will strive to follow in your footsteps.
You don’t have to be a billionaire or a genius to influence others. Influence is about moving and motivating others through effective communication. Anyone can build influence by focusing on the way they present themselves and how they deliver their message. Becoming an influential leader is about much more than getting your way. It can make you an invaluable asset to a business by helping to unite teams, get employees on board with new projects, earn investments, realign thinking, and strengthen partnerships. By practicing the tips above, you may be surprised by your own power to move others to action, and no matter your goals, being more influential is a critical step toward becoming an effective leader and getting things done through and with others.