Focus

So the word Focus means the center of interest or activity. So when you are focused; your interest is on one thing. In the last post I wrote about Wildly Important Goals which is one or two goals that is more important than any other goal.

It is not easy to set just one or two Wildly Important Goals and then its even harder once you have set that goal to Focus on that goal in order to achieve it. We often get caught up in the whirlwind of other things around us.

Your goal could be to sell $3,000 dollars worth of product this month and that could be your Wildly Important Goal. But often times we get distracted by the whirlwind, like a customer needs you to run a product out to them right this minute, or things outside of work become distractions or the whirlwind, which cause us to lose focus and lose site of our goal. So you may be wondering how do I stay focused, here are a few key pointers that can help you stay focused.

1. Make Clear To-Do-Lists everyday with key important things that will lead you to the Wildly Important Goal, the whirlwind items come lower on the list.

2. Learn to say NO to the whirlwind things that push you away or distract you from the goal

3. Don't be a YES man where when ever some one asks you to do something you do it, FOCUS on what will get you to the GOAL

These are three simple steps that can help you stay focused and help you reach your Wildly Important Goal making you Wildly Successful.

Good Luck and Go Succeed!

What is your W.I.G (Wildly Important Goals)

I have been listening to a book on CD on my way to work. Its called "The 4 Disciplines of Execution" In the first part of the book it talks about goals. Many times we set a lot of goals and we want to accomplish all of them. But it is better to set one or two Wildly Important Goals. When you set one or two goals you are able to focus and accomplish the goals with perfect execution.

When you set multiple goals that you feel are important you begin to spread yourself too thin and while you may be able to accomplish the goals, you will likely accomplish them with poor execution. When you don't reach your goals with perfect execution you are doing yourself, your team, and your business a disservice.

So take a look at your goals and narrow it down to one of the most important one or two goals that are Wildly Important. What most people find out as they set their Wildly Important Goals and accomplish the goal is the goal actually took care of a lot of the goals on the other list. Don't spread yourself too thin, set one or two Wildly Important Goals and go complete them with perfect execution and you will realize how much more successful you will be when you are focusing on one or two things.

i.g. Why is Apple the number one producer of Cell phones? Because they only have one model every year, they don't have multiple sku's unlike other competitors like Samsung, Nokia, etc.

Apple is more focused on a couple of products rather than hundreds of products. Which makes them execute with perfection. Whereas the competitors work on hundreds of products spreading themselves thin so their execution isn't as high of quality.

Product Knowledge

Knowing about your product is really important to selling anything. Knowledge is power and for  sales people product knowledge can mean more sales. It is hard to effectively sell to a consumer if you cannot show how a particular product will help them, that is why it is so important to know your products.

Having a good understanding of your products when selling will allow a sales person to use different types of sales techniques to close the sale. When I was in the car business selling cars it was important to know your different vehicles, because when you were helping a customer, they only cared about 20% of the features on the car so you had to know the product really well in order to present those 20% features that they were truely interested in. If you knew your product you could also use different techniques to sell them the car. Every customer is different that is why you need to know your products from the inside out.

Product knowledge doesnt just apply to sales people. If you are a consumer you need to know about the products you are buying so you can make sure you are getting high quality products at a good price. I'm always doing product research about things before I buy them. For example if I want to buy a new video game system I would want to research all the different gaming systems and how they each perform so that I can make the best decision when purchasing my next system. It is just as important for a sales person to know their product as it is for the consumer to know their product.

Study your products and go sell or be informed. Please comment below if you have any questions.

Thank you

It's a numbers GAME!

It's all in the title it's a numbers game. In business and in sales its always a numbers game, the more people you can get in front of the more you will sell and the more you will acquire new customers. If you are in sales, starting a business, or have been in business for years what is the main goal?

Right, it is to get your product or service in front of as many people as you can. You do that through multiple avenues like marketing, sales people, store front, ant the list goes on. If you think the customers are just going to come walking into you and want your product or service you are wrong you have to put it in front of them so they can see what you have to offer before someone will buy. Often time you have to get your product or service in front of that person multiple times before they will buy, that is why sales and business is a numbers game.

If I'm a sales person for ABC company I want to sell 10 of XYZ product and my closing percentage is 20% I need to get the XYZ product in front of 50 people that week so that I can sell 10.

This is really simple math and can really help you reach your sales and business goals. It gives you a physical number to work towards. If you just go into sales or business without a plan, you can forget about really succeeding and doing really well.

So when you start selling something as a salesperson or business person. Find out what your closing percentage first and then you can figure out how many people need to get in front of the product to hit your goals.

Here is the formula again:    Take # of customers (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, Etc.) X Closing percentage (Convert closing percentage to decimal by moving the decimal two spots. If closing percentage is 20% conversion is .20) = Final Total Sales.

Just like I said at the beginning it all a NUMBERS GAME!!!

If you could ask Mark Cuban anything what would you ask?

So as the title says if you could ask Mark Cuban anything what would it be?

Have you ever had a question that you wanted to ask someone famous or super smart? I have! I will have a question and I will think if I could only ask Mark Cuban that or Richard Branson, Just to name a couple really smart business billionaires.

So I am throwing this out there to see if I can get any responses from you. It can be any question for Mark Cuban or anyone who you think could answer your question. Just post the question in the comments and put who the question is directed at.

Thank you

My question to Mark Cuban and Richard Branson would be if you were 25 again what would you do differently?

Consistency

One thing I have learned over the last couple months is the consistency of continuing on with your goal. I have been working on a business for the last 6 months at first I was always working on the business. But then I started a new job with a new company and it was very time consuming, I found myself working on the business less and less.

I constantly think about the business but I don't find time to work on it. That's when I realized starting a business is a marathon not a 100 meter dash. If you want to get rich quick.......Sorry there is really no such thing, you hear about these multi-million dollar acquisitions, and you think oh if I could just come up with an idea like that I would be rich. Well you might get rich but it is going to you a lot of time like it did those people. Again its a marathon not a 100 meter sprint.

I have found the best way to marathon is to be consistent. To work consistently on your business the same amount of time every day or every week. The consistency is what will get help you win the race in the end and become really successful.

Consistency doesn't just have to be when starting a business it is best to be consistent with everything you do in life, working out, eating healthy, losing weight, your career you name it; Consistency is the best policy for success.

Lets all be more consistent and be more successful!!!

StartSLC is going to be EPIC!

StartSLC is a 3 day tech festival that will be happening in the silicon slopes or as some may know it as Utah from January 29th-31st. Silicon slopes has been turning into the new silicon valley, with great opportunities for entrepreneurs to start companies in Utah and the tech community that already surrounds the state it is the perfect place of an amazing tech festival.

If you are an entrepreneur, techie, or business person you will not want to miss this awesome fun events that will happen during the tech festival StartSLC. Here are some of the awesome events you will want to put on your schedule.

January 29th, 2015

1. Kickoff Party 7pm-11:30pm. Location: Church and State building

January 30th, 2015

1. SLC Angels Pitch Session 1pm-4pm. Location: The Gateway
2. Ping Pong Tournament 9am-1pm. Location: The Gateway
3. Startup Grind (Google for Entrepreneurs) 3pm-5pm Location: The Gateway
4. Launchup (Barn Raising for Entrepreneurs) 7pm-9pm Location: The Gateway

January 31st, 2015

1. Kickstarter Alley 8am-5pm Location: The Gateway
2. Family Tech Day 9am-5pm Location: The Gateway
3. Sustainable Startups series 12pm-1pm Location: The Gateway
4. Pocket Film Fest 3pm-5pm Location: The Gateway
5. $250,000 Pitch Competition 6pm-8pm Location: The Gateway
6. Final Utah Startup Awards 8pm-9:30pm Location: The Gateway

These are just some of the events that will happen over this three day period, it really is going to be should I say EPIC!!! So mark your calendars now for these dates and attend some of these awesome one of a kind events. For more info check out StartSLC.com.

Sincerely,

SalesFinch