Top Producers Edge

8 Business Reasons Why to Use Social Media

October 31, 2009 By takethestairs 8 Comments

You’ve heard everyone talking about it. You’ve probably been invited via e-mail to “join my network,” “be my friend,” or “follow me.” Social media seems like it’s everywhere. And guess what? It is. Over 200 million people are on Facebook (including fastest growing demographic age 35-55 with age 75-90 also soaring), 45 million active people on LinkedIn (51% are business decision makers, average household income of $109k), and over 8 million people are on Twitter. Which means the social media epidemic seems to be spreading faster than cell phone or e-mail use when those tools first arrived on the scene.

By this time maybe you’ve even joined a few of these networks and are beginning to play around with them to see what they’re like. And while undoubtedly you’ve figured out that they can be a great way to have fun and one more thing to spend time on, the question you and your company are probably asking is:

“Can these tools really help my business?”

Over the last several months I’ve spent a substantial amount of time learning about the ins and outs of effective strategies for social media.
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Filed Under: Standard Lessons Tagged With: customer service, discipline, Facebook, free marketing, lead generation, LinkedIn, search engine optimization, Social Media, Take The Stairs, Top Producers Edge, Twitter

Composure, Clarity, Control

August 17, 2009 By takethestairs Leave a Comment

This blog post comes straight from one of my coaching clients from our Top Producer’s Edge program. She is an extraordinary woman and she’s beginning to get big results in her life and for her company as we’ve been working together for a few months. As is customary we send a recap of each conversation we have with our clients after the call. This one seemed very relevant to a lot of the problems that we are all facing today so I included it here exactly how it appeared in the personal email I sent to her.

“Kind of ironic how the sessions I always send you are right in line with what’s going on in your life. From the Schedule concepts when we first started to the positive affirmations a few weeks ago, to the introduction and questioning techniques for finding pain before selling, using LinkedIn for referrals and recruiting and then today with problem solving.

“Remember what I said… one of the highest levels of discipline is to be a master of your emotions.

“The key to problem solving is IMMEDIATELY channeling your emotion into a positive direction and keeping your cool. People want to follow a strong leader who always has a game plan (or at least looks like they do ) to overcome any challenging situation. Here is my 3 step formula for channeling that energy: Composure, Clarity, Control

“First is Composure. Remember things are often not as good as they seem or as bad as they sound. Resist the urge to flip out in the very first moment you hear of bad news. (You can flip out later when you’re by yourself all you want) Your initial reaction to a problem sets the tone and mood for the way that you and those around you respond to the situation. And also it forms a habit for all of you about how you will deal with problems in the future. So have DISCIPLINE and begin to start channeling your emotions and staying composed. Remember my man Carl from the old TV Show Family Matters: ‘3,2,1…1,2,3…what the heck is bothering me…breathe.’ :) That is, to this day, my favorite affirmation in tough times.

“Second is Clarity. DISCIPLINE yourself to not just start taking control and yanking things around in every which direction. Instead ask questions of yourself and of those involved in the situation to make sure that you CLARIFY exactly what the challenge is, what factually happened, and to identify what limitations are legitimately on the situation. You’ll be amazed that when you take the emotional energy out of tough situations there is almost always a clear actionable game plan that reveals itself. The trick once again is learning to view things through a logical lens rather than an emotional one.

“Then Control. Not take control necessarily; but control the things you can control. Don’t focus on what is wrong with the situation. Focus only on what you can do about it. Control the controllables, execute, and take immediate action on what you can to influence things in a positive direction. One thing I’ve seen to be true in dire business and personal situations is that even in times of complete hopelessness, if you just focus on taking the step that is immediately in front of you, then the next one appears more clearly, and then the next, and the next. Which is exactly how you climb the CN Tower with 144 flights of stairs.

“That’s how you ‘Take the Stairs’ in the face of adversity. You are a champion. It’s an honor to be partnering with you as your coach to get you and your team to the next level. I’m thrilled that business has picked up since we started working together in the last few months. It’s a testimony to your own self-discipline, your willingness to change, and the result of your intense focus. Keep it up because we’re just getting started.”

For more one-line tips and strategies follow me at: www.roryontwitter.com

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See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

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Filed Under: Standard Lessons Tagged With: accountability, discipline, efficiency tips, focus, master your emotions, Motivational Speaker, performance expert, problem solving, raising your performance, sales performance, Self-Discipline, Take The Stairs, Top Producers Edge

Magnify Your Life

July 20, 2009 By takethestairs 2 Comments

If you lay a piece of paper on the sidewalk on a sizzling hot summer day, nothing happens. But if you put a magnifying glass between the sun and that same piece of paper, eventually the paper will catch fire. Why? It is the power of focus.

The same is true in life. Attention that is spread around is diluted; un-concentrated; weak. But crystal clear laser focus is powerful, intense, and hot! In the pursuit of your goals you must identify what are the critically important activities (called Critical Success Factors- CSFs) that take you from point A to point B and then focus in on them with laser-like intensity.

It takes discipline to be relentlessly committed to projects and activities that matter! The reason is because with the speed of business and life it’s very easy to get caught up in the minutiae of tasks, deadlines, paperwork, emails, and conference calls. If you’re a salesperson, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then making sales calls. If you’re a leader, then there is nothing more important that you can be doing then spending time with your people or recruiting new people. For all of us we want to spend our time with people not paper.

In any given pursuit there are typically only a handful of activities that directly forward progress toward your objective. But I find that in almost every circumstance when a person or a company is not reaching their goals it’s because their focus is diverted across too many irrelevant activities.

You say, “But Rory, I can’t abandon my email box, all of my reports, my voicemails, and I’m already working constantly!” And I’d respond, “I know, I can’t either.” So what is the answer to this predicament?

Two things…very simple: accountability and assistants; and the first is more important than the second. You have to have someone to help you identify and constantly remind you of what is the focus and what are the key elements required to get there. This can be a great boss, authority figure, mentor, or partner. The problem is that most of those people are busy scrambling with the same things you are!

It honestly doesn’t much matter where your accountability comes from as long as you have someone who truly cares about you and who is truly committed to your success and you have a worthwhile buy-in to working with them. If you agree that you need accountability and you don’t have it, please leave me a comment below and I’ll try to connect with you personally on some things that can help.

As for assistants…they can be life changing. Tune in next time for strategies on working with assistants to help clarify your focus. Until then do everything you can be disciplined about magnifying your focus.

For more free tips, one-liners, and strategies follow me at www.roryontwitter.com