Yesterday I ate too much pizza and today I can feel it. It feels tired, bloated, and unhappy! Obviously, that’s not how I intended to make myself feel – deep down I knew better, but in that tiny moment of choice – I allowed memories of – pizza equals fun –  to win, and my reward was decided.

Did I get what I wanted? No – but I got what I was focused on. What I want is to lose 30 lbs and feel vibrant and energetic. Note to self – next time I see pizza remember how it felt afterwards – not before, and ask – “Is that how I really want to feel?”

Conjure up your vision of success and what that looks like, and what that feels like – and make a choice in line with that. The feeling of increased energy, the feelings of accomplishment, the feelings of looking your best.

Feelings of success are way better than feelings of pizza.

A lead tracking and management system is absolutely essential to your business for a number of reasons.

One, it is the only way to know which marketing strategies are working, and which ones aren’t. The information your system gathers will allow you to make educated decisions about marketing campaigns and investments.

Two, it organizes your sales and marketing efforts and manages contact information in a user-friendly way. It’s clear who you called, when, what you said, and when you said you’d follow up.

Three, it enables you to manage your sales staff by tracking their progress on several leads at once. You’ll have access to an at-a-glance picture of their sales figures and productivity.

Your lead tracking system needs to:

• record the leads that arrive by phone, in-store visit, and website visit
• track the source of each lead over specific time periods
• record pertinent customer information
• be simple enough to be used by all staff members

Your lead management system needs to:

• track your leads through the sales plan or process
• increase customer communications or contact
• keep track of correspondences and follow-up requirements
• make it easier for you and your staff to close more sales

Time is far more precious than money. There are a finite number of days that you will spend on this earth, while money is something you can usually get more of.

If you are 35 years old with a life expectancy of 75… you have already spent 12,775 days on Earth and have 480 months left to fulfill your life destiny. If you plan to retire at the age of 50 you have 180 months to make enough money to retire (a million dollars doesn’t put a dent in retirement nowadays…) and in those months 1,440 days are weekends… so you have 3600 workdays to make it all happen. What are you waiting for… time to stop confusing being busy with being successful!

What’s More Important? To Know How to Do Something, or to Believe it is Possible?

I have a very interesting job. It requires that I have both a knowledge of people and a knowledge of business. At least I believe it does. It has taught me that the knowledge of business is important, but the knowledge of people is imperative. The BE comes before the DO. The reason something within our control doesn’t get done is always because we didn’t make it important enough, not because we didn’t know how to do it. When we make something important enough, we’ll figure out how to do it. Believe in yourself, and good things will follow.

It seems like one can find a suitable quote for just about anything. Some profound wisdom uttered by a notable figure. While the cynic might see this as too convenient –the optimist would use it to propel herself forward. The choice is yours, to use whatever is available to keep yourself inspired and moving forward. www.quotegarden.com

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

This book is a masterpiece of insights, wisdom, and step-by-step instruction on how to build the Ultimate Machine. A machine implies a level of precision, and that’s exactly what you’ll take away from this book: How to turn your company into a precision-like sales machine. In most companies, the majority of the sales process is not well defined: In The Ultimate Sales Machine fourteen strategic objectives you should have for every sales interaction are laid out. Most companies have two or three strategic objectives that are met in a sales interaction, and those two or three are not even well defined. They are haphazard and left too much to chance.

Becoming a master is not about doing 4000 things, it’s about doing 12 things 4000 times. Twelve skill areas are laid out by Holmes that make you a master, explained  with great examples and practical stories. The end result of this book is that you will get a lifelong blueprint to absolutely mastering the art of how to market, manage, and sell like a machine. And in the end, no company will be able to stand against you. That is the ultimate promise of The Ultimate Sales Machine.

I know that I have the ability to achieve my definite purpose in life:
therefore I demand of myself, persistent, continuous action towards its attainment and I here and now promise to render such action.
I fully realize that no wealth or position will long endure unless it is built upon truth and justice;
therefore I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all to whom it effects.
I am succeeding by attracting to myself the forces I wish to use and the cooperation of other people.
I induce others to serve me because of my willingness to serve others.
I eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, cynicism, anger, and fear by developing a true love for all humanity, because I know that a negative attitude towards others will never bring me success.
I cause others to believe in me because I believe in them and believe in myself.
This is my creed, my quest.
To never stop striving for the top.
To always keep moving forward.
To always be the very best I can be.
I am the power. I am the magic.
I can not be stopped. I am a winner.
I promise to always be true to myself
because I am the creator and master of my universe and I am responsible for making a positive difference in the world and to the quality of life in it.
I live in constant and never-ending improvement.

Napolean Hill

This book is a classics of success philosophy and motivation that was first published in 1937, after 25 years studying over 500 of America’s most successful and wealthiest businessmen at that time. People like, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Charles Schwab, Arthur Brisbane, Howard Taft, John Patterson, and many more. These names represent a small fraction of the hundreds of well-known Americans whose achievements, financially and in all other aspects, prove that those who understand and apply the same success principles reach high stations in life.

In 1908, Mr. Hill was called for a meeting with Mr. Carnegie and was assigned a task of creating a book that will story-tell and summarize the principles of success from the most influential and successful people of America. Mr. Hill spent more than twenty years observing and interviewing 500 successful men of that time and summarizing their common mindset, attitudes, principles, and habits that lead to their success.

And now, after more than 70+ years after Think and Grow Rich was first released in 1937 and 100+ years after the idea was born, Think and Grow Rich has become the source of motivation and success principle for a lot of successful and wealthy people then and now. It still remains one of the best-selling books on success.

If your business isn’t as successful as you would like it to be, what’s holding you back? You might blame it on a lack of capital, a lack of great employees, a lack of time, a lack of inventory, a lack of … whatever. But how many of us would take ultimate responsibility and trace our results back to how we are thinking?

An affirmation by definition is an act or statement asserting the existence or truth about something. Most of us think about an affirmation as something we say out loud to ourselves, but it also occurs subconsciously in our deepest thoughts as directed by our belief system, or the things we hold to be true.

An ancient proverb states, “Thoughts are things. As you think, so you become.” Every thought you think and every word you say affirms your true beliefs. All of our self-talk or inner dialogue is a part of a stream of consciousness that drives our feelings and emotions as it creates our life experience in every moment. Beliefs are just learned thought patterns that we have developed since childhood. They may or may not be true – but they are true for us. To be truly empowered, we must take responsibility for knowing what they are and the direction they are taking us in.

Many people have been taught to change their behaviour by using positive affirmations to reinforce a behavior they want. Be careful not to assume this will work without looking more deeply for the patterns that reveal your true beliefs. Without being aware of the real belief that is driving your behavior, your results will never really change, and if they do they won’t stick.

Here’s a very simple example of how this works. Let’s say you are mad at the economy for going off the rails and causing your sales to drop. Ask yourself what it is about the economy that is making you mad? You might think, because people don’t have enough money to buy my products. Then ask yourself, is that the real reason? After a little soul searching you realize it’s really because you don’t know how to properly market your product in this new economy, and that is because deep down you believe you aren’t smart enough.

Creating an affirmation that says – “I am a world class marketing wizard” and reciting it to yourself with passion every day in front of the mirror will not change your reality. Only by raising your awareness first around the disempowering belief “I am not smart enough” and taking steps to replace it first can you really effect lasting change. This will allow you to make the necessary decisions and take the required actions to move yourself forward and stay there.

The power of affirmations can help you to transform your life, but only in concert with making correct shifts in your real beliefs.