Colleen’s Blog

Chris and I spent an afternoon scuba diving with the team at Key Dives. What an exceptional experience they created for everyone on the boat! And, as usual, I can distill a number of lessons that you can use to grow your business from my experience. Here are the top three: 1) Expertise matters but it must be captivating as well. The captain of our boat was a commanding and authoritative man, but also fun and likeable. He had charisma and rapport with his crew and guests that made you want to listen to him. Diving is fun but also risky, and the briefings are critical for everyone's safety. Our captain held the entire boat with rapt attention. As a contrast, when was the last time you saw a flight attendant receive 100% attention to their preflight briefing? Lesson: Bored customers learn nothing (and buy nothing).

I'd like to share a few thoughts with you. When traveling, working with clients and in my everyday interactions, I am always staying receptive to potential lessons that could benefit you.  In case you were wondering, here is what has been on my mind for the last week. Some of them may seem obvious at first, but the number of sales leaders who are neglecting these simple ideas is staggering. Don't let it be you!

We're approaching the end of the first quarter of the year. Are you satisfied with your results so far? Regardless if your sales team is way ahead, on pace or behind on the targets you've set, I want to direct your focus to a potential gold mine you're already standing on. In fact, there are countless organizations who will miss their sales targets this year, without realizing that if they took advantage of this gold mine, they could not only make up lost ground, but completely exceed the results they hope to create this year. Don't worry about grabbing your shovels, no physical labor is necessary to tap into and grab the gold that's already waiting for you. Wondering what exactly this sales goldmine is? Enough suspense!

I’m always amazed at how much one can learn about business success just by the act of travelling. Here is what happened over the last 30 days, and the lessons you can use to profit from it. It's a valuable exercise to use your own experiences as a customer to improve your own business' customer service. Why not learn from the mistakes of others?