Selling Power Blog

The Sales 2.0 Movement Accelerated in Chicago - Part II

When David Thompson, CEO of Genius.com, made the announcement that the bar was open prior to the social-media panel, the audience was thrilled. David explained the need for a social-media policy, since sales leaders don’t want their salespeople to waste time, but rather to invest their time in the pursuit of business.

Here are a few interesting social-media policy examples:

IBM

Intel

SAP

David was a highly energetic MC who left the stage to engage the audience with pointed questions, which lead to a highly constructive dialogue.

Nigel Edelshain presented an innovative idea that all sales leaders should follow. But first let me say that it was Nigel who actually came up with the name "Sales 2.0." He was so convinced that this would become an unstoppable movement that he named his technology company Sales 2.0. Nigel, in his inimitable British accent, made a convincing case: “Don’t cold call – social call”. He explained that by cold calling, you get a 100:1 conversion ratio, which is obviously time-consuming and expensive. Nigel’s experience shows that using social networking for lead generation results in a 12:1 lead-conversion rate. For those who did not attend the conference, here is Nigel’s slide show.

Kevin Popović, the founder of Ideahaus, stole the show with his personal charisma, superb content, and fast rate of speech. When I first saw Kevin’s presentation slides, I realized immediately that he is a visionary who truly understands where social media is headed and what we need to do to master this new medium. Kevin underlined the fact that the old push strategy no longer works. The Internet has changed the way customers buy, but many sales organizations haven’t received the memo yet. Kevin’s prescription was very much in line with what I said in my opening: Ditch the pitch and engage prospects in a conversation. Take a look at Kevin’s slide presentation.

Kevin actually recorded the entire social-media track with his iPhone while sitting on stage. If you want to spend an hour listening to the complete Panel presentation, click here. It was a clever idea, but imitators should be advised to check local government laws before recording without authorization. Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia permit individuals to record conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. Linda Tripp recorded in Maryland where the consent of all parties is required. Kevin technically tripped over Illinois state law, but he did it for a good cause.

Comment on Kevin’s blog: Social-media is not about extending your ego-system, but about building an ecosystem for conversations to flourish, for needs to surface, and for opportunities to arise. It’s not about self-promotion: it’s not about pitching. So what’s all that self-promotion doing on your blog Kevin? Let your great content do the selling!

Anneke Seley, CEO of Phoneworks, dazzled the audience by logging on to a number of Websites and showed how a salesperson uses LinkedIn Updates to share success stories, which in turn lead to inquires and online conversations. The sales rep also included an online presentation in his LinkedIn profile. He also keeps an eye out for customers who leave their company so he can then sell them again at their new place of employment. Anneke also shared how Dell creates a few million dollars in extra sales following tweet streams. Anneke promised to blog about her Sales 2.0 presentation (no PPT), and I plan to add a link to her blog as soon as it appears.

Social Media Guides

There are a number of companies that have published useful social-media guides that are worth looking into:

Kodak

Dell

Social Media Conferences

It is obvious that social-media tools like LinkedIn,Twitter, and Facebook are ideal tools for creating sales leads, engaging prospects, sharing news, announcing new products, sharing research, offering useful ideas, uploading videos, presenting slides, etc. There is still so much to learn. Here is a guide to 63 social-media conferences to be held between today and the end of 2009.

Final word: Don’t miss the next Sales 2.0 Conference on March 8th and 9th, 2010, in San Francisco. It will be at the Four Seasons hotel.

Share your success: What’s your best social-media sales story?

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The Sales 2.0 Movement Accelerated in Chicago on Sept 10th - Part I

In all, 246 sales leaders signed up to attend the third and last Sales 2.0 Conference in 2009. (The next one will be in SF March 8th and 9th 2010) It was a great success. One attendee said, “I don’t understand why this conference doesn’t have 1,000 attendees. This is the place where you meet the future of selling!” Given the fact that corporate travel has been reduced by 40 percent this year, Sales 2.0 decided to run three regional conferences. Four hundred and fifty attended in San Francisco, 220 in Boston, and 246 in Chicago. That’s more than 900 attendees. Nineteen sales leaders shared their best practices, engaged in spontaneous panel discussions, and patiently answered audience questions. I got the sense that the Sales 2.0 movement has accelerated. This is the only conference where sales leaders step up to the podium and candidly share how they have enhanced their sales organizations through better technology, improved processes, and more effective training.

The Core Message: Sales 2.0 Is the Chicken Soup for the Recession Economy

I don’t need to write about my own opening speech, since Ardath Albee, a talented writer, has already covered my key points in the Web20Journal.

Conference cohost David Thompson defined Sales 2.0 for the audience: “Sales 2.0 is about the alignment, collaboration, and acceleration that results from embracing the buyer's perspective and needs in your company's go-to-market approach.” In essence, Sales 2.0 combines customer-focused processes with Web 2.0 productivity technologies to enhance the art and science of selling while creating customer value. What’s surprising to me is this: Every sales leader knows that the Web has fundamentally changed the way customers buy, but most sales organizations have not changed the way they sell.

Our charismatic keynote speaker Lee Levitt, director of IDC’s Sales Advisory Practice, shared his blueprint for creating a more effective sales pipeline. Lee outlined five critical success factors:

First: Customer Intelligence – Build a composite profile of customers and prospects from internal and external sources. Set event triggers. Continuously monitor prospects’ digital footprints on your Website.

Second: Lead Management – Create a lead-scoring process; manage leads based on quality, opportunity, and probability. Decide when and how a lead should be approached. Evaluate sales and marketing on the same lead-management metrics.

Third: Improve Pipeline Efficiency – Invest incrementally, relative to opportunity. Disqualify early and often. Measure rep performance.

Fourth: Process Improvement – Associate metrics with process. Eradicate time sinks. Make decisions based on analytics, not gut feel. Technology helps scale the right process.

Fifth: Align Sales with Marketing – Compensate on shared pipeline metrics. Include the voice of the customer.

Here is Ardath Albee’s blog on Lee’s keynote address.

How Brainshark Doubled Sales with Sales 2.0 Solutions

Dave Fitzgerald, executive VP of Brainshark, shared his company’s Sales 2.0 architecture, which was responsible for doubling Brainshark’s sales in the last 12 months. That claim got the attention of our audience. Dave presented an amazing Sales 2.0 blueprint that included the following technologies – all integrated with Salesforce.com CRM:

Lead Management – Inside View

Analytics – Right90

Proposal Creation – Conga Merge

Event Management – Corvent

Marketing Automation – Engage B2B

Web Conferencing – Live Meetings

Sales Portal – SharePoint

Web/Social Media – HubSpot, LinkedIn, Twitter

Of course, Brainshark uses its own solution for marketing and lead generation. While most companies use one or two Sales 2.0 tools, Brainshark has integrated a dozen solutions into one highly efficient and seamless system. Each system contributes to pipeline efficiency and sales acceleration. The best part is that each solution plays a role in driving up sales. For example, InsideView increased Brainshark’s pipeline by 12 percent between February 1st and August 1st this year. The pipeline value was more than $1.8 million, and the additional sales exceeded $322,000.

Sales 2.0 Isn’t a Buzzword, It Is a Scientific Way to Boost Sales and Profits

Every presenter revealed the ROI of his unique Sales 2.0 solution. For example, Elliott Baretz, director of business development with SWC, an IT consulting firm, shared how his sales team increased pipeline opportunities by 10 percent with ConnectAndSell. In the past, salespeople would connect with 8-10 people per day; with ConnectAndSell, salespeople can speak to 8 prospects per hour. Don Gushurst, director of lead generation for Molex, a $2.58 billion manufacturing firm with 750 sales engineers operating around the globe, explained how his company expects to increase the conversion rates of sales accepted leads to sales qualified leads from 16 percent to 56 percent through DowJones lead management solutions. Andy Stanis, executive director of sales with SPR, shared how his team added more than 2,500 new accounts through ZoomInfo from January 2008 through July 2009, compared to only 545 in the past three years. Jake Feivald, VP of corporate marketing with Information Builders shared how he restructured the company’s lead flow with the help of Genius.com. Dave Egloff, commissions manager with Motorola, has replaced the tedious job of managing the international compensation programs for 500 global salespeople (paid out in six different currencies using multiple spreadsheets) with Xactly.com at a tremendous savings. Motorola eliminated delays, disputes, double accounting, and costly mistakes.

HP Embraces Sales 2.0

One of the most dynamic presentations of the day was delivered by Kevin Hooper, vice president of HP's commercial business segment Technology Solutions Group. His goal was to expand the number of deals greater than $100,000, as well as change the mix of larger deals through up-selling and broadening the scope. One of the solutions implemented was a program called Selling Through Curiosity, developed by Barry Rhein. Below are sample questions designed to help salespeople gather information, build better relationships, and create customized value for the customer.

More on this: Mike Damphouse interviewed Kevin Hooper, VP at HP.

UPDATE: To learn more about how Sales 2.0 processes and technologies can help accelerate your sales, join me at the upcoming Sales 2.0 Conference on March 7-8 in San Francisco.

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When Sales Leaders Don’t Change, CEOs Change Management

Recent research suggests that the average tenure of a chief sales officer is less than two years. Why the rapid turnover? In today’s tough market, CEOs demand change to improve their business results. If the sales leaders can’t manage change, CEOs change management.

I’d like to think of sales leadership as a steam locomotive. All good leaders I’ve ever interviewed for have one thing in common: They have fire in the belly. They are able to create enough steam to move the train (people) forward so they can reach the company’s revenue goals, on time and on budget.

Good sales leaders have vision. They see ahead, think ahead, and plan ahead. They are also dreamers. They dream big with their eyes open. When others ask, “Why bother?”, sales leaders imagine what could be achieved and ask, “Why not?” Leaders keep their followers on track and on time. They say, “Get moving or get left behind.”

Good leaders are fair and compassionate, and they remind the sales team that together they’re able to grow and rise against an overwhelming tide of obstacles. They expect high performance, and they appraise results objectively, publicly praise the top performers, and compensate people competitively. When the going gets tough, they remind everyone that they can win against any adversity. Like the Marines have a saying, “Embrace the suck,” great sales leaders show through their actions that they’ve got what it takes to lead in tough times.

In the pre-recession economy, all sales leaders looked very smart. What many sales leaders failed to realize is that while they run the engine in front of the train, there was a second engine in the back that pushed the train forward. That second engine was the economy – fueled by a huge credit supply. The engine in the back made the leader look good and feel good. Last year, the good economy evaporated, the back engine first stopped pushing, and then it acted as a brake. Today we face the moment of truth in which the true sales leaders must create more steam to move the train forward while poor sales leaders get replaced.

Good sales leaders know that to survive means to embrace change, not to fear it. They see the opportunity that comes through change and are willing to adapt, transform, and grow. They know that what works today isn’t guaranteed to work again tomorrow.

Great sales leaders are always ready to rebuild, enhance, and improve everything all the time.

Are you willing and able to build up more steam, pick up the slack, and keep the train moving ahead at top speed? How? In 1940, H.G. Wells wrote, "An immense and ever-increasing wealth of knowledge is scattered about the world today - knowledge that would probably suffice to solve all the mighty difficulties of our age - but it is dispersed and unorganized. We need a sort of mental clearinghouse for the mind: a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared."

We live in an age in which we are interdependent and need to harness our collective intelligence to survive and get back on track. We are all equally responsible for creating a better future. To generate more steam, start a collection of innovative ideas that are available at no charge from your customers, prospects, suppliers, your sales team, and from any creative mind who knows that problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity.

Never allow a lack of resources to be an excuse for not being resourceful.

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Do You See Mountains as Obstacles or a Stage Set for Excellence?

Last month I went hiking in the Canadian Rockies. It was a thrilling experience to walk above the glaciers on narrow ledges that are secured by steel cables and finally sit at the top and look at the small world below. When I returned, I noticed a book in my office written by the Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who lives in South Tyrol (where the majority of people speak German). Reinhold Messner has climbed more than 3,500 mountains. He crossed Antarctica on skis and crossed over 1,000 miles through the Gobi desert. He wrote dozens of books about his adventures. Messner was the first human being to set foot on 100 unexplored summits. He climbed Mount Everest solo, without oxygen, and mastered 14 of the tallest mountains in the world, all more than 8,000 meters tall (26,247 feet). Messner describes mountain climbing as a stage set for excellence.

“To me, mountains are places that offer opportunities for performance; they should be a natural theater where I can express all my skills, my craft and my instincts.”

Note: Replace the word “mountains” with the word “obstacles” and ponder the new meaning.

On Breaking Records

When Messner started in 1972, it took him a whole year to raise funds to finance his first expedition to the Himalayas. When he got back he sold his pictures, films, and ideas for better equipment to pay off his debts and then started to raise funds for his next venture. Nine months of fundraising and three months of climbing mountains did not appear an efficient use of his time. Messner soon shifted the paradigm and made plans to conquer tall mountains with smaller teams, less equipment, and without oxygen. This strategy reduced the cost of his expedition and increased his chances for reaching the summit earlier. Many people thought that Messner was insane. But the new plan worked. The following year he conquered two 8,000-meter mountains in one expedition – a feat nobody had ever achieved before. Messner explains his methodology for conquering the limits of the human mind in his book All Fourteen 8000ers:

“The limit at any given time is really only a taboo which can be shifted, so that we slowly move toward what is absolutely impossible, something nobody can reach, but which is the magic point that keeps adventure and uncertainty alive. Gradually, I learned, through expeditions to the 8,000-meter peaks, just how much more it is possible to do, and how to do it better.”

On Managing Potential Disaster

Messner believes that preparation and vigilance can turn potential disaster into survival and recovery. He says, “I have always known that something could go wrong, but at the same time I have prepared myself for conceivable dangers and planned in detail what to do in such circumstances.”

In the book All Fourteen 8000ers he describes how he managed a narrow escape: “High above us, a rock as big as a dinner table broke loose. I watched it fall down the face. First it slid, and then it jumped through the air in several bounds, past my partner and directly toward me. I stared as if hypnotized, all the while hanging trapped on the rope, unable to free myself. Like a frog staring at a snake, I waited until the very last moment when the stone was right above my head, then, with a tremendous jolt, I tore myself to one side. The boulder whizzed a few inches away from me, hurtling thousands of feet downward, disappearing in the great glacier basis at the foot of the face.”

After the moment of high anxiety subsided, Messner says he reasoned, “I knew that my only chance of survival was to wait until the last moment to be able to dodge it accurately. The trajectory of a falling stone can only be read in those final moments.”

On Failure After Success

People who reach a high level of success tend to believe that they are special, they have the golden touch, and they can do anything. In business, these self-delusions can turn into financial disasters. Mountain climbers are not exempt from these risky thought patterns. Messner has studied the successes and failures of many climbers who have gone before him. He found that far fewer accidents happen on the way to the summit than on the way down. Messner reasons, “Curiosity is the driving force on the way up. Climbers often forget that most of the accidents on 8,000-meter peaks occur on the way down. The body is tired from the strenuous ascent, the curiosity of the summit is gone and the danger of falling is infinitely greater.”

Messner sees the summit as a part of a continuum. He believes in going the full distance slowly and steadily, bit by bit: “If you go too fast and try to leapfrog stages, sooner or later you will stumble.”

On Surviving in the Death Zone

Blind ambition sometimes drives out critical thinking, and one small error in judgment can lead to fatal consequences. Some people believe that a record-breaking achievement for mankind justifies the risk of losing one’s life. During the last 50 years, hundreds of mountain climbers have died trying to climb Mt. Everest. Many climbers talk about the “death zone,” the region above 8,000 meters where every breath turns into a strenuous task akin to sucking the air out of a bottle. Friedl Mutschlechner, a fellow climber on Messner’s team, once wrote, “In this zone, death becomes a tangible option. The mind tells you that dying would not be that bad. The temptation to take that tiny step toward eternal sleep is enormous.”

Good climbers develop a meditative ability that allows them to endure adversity at great altitude. Meditation helps them to slow down vital functions during a storm to allow their bodies to survive until the storm passes. One thing they know for certain: There is no access to the summit without stepping into the death zone.

On Reaching the Summit Within

Reinhold Messner believes that without inner struggle, there is no victory. He writes, “In the final analysis, every expedition to an eight-thousander involves a struggle with oneself. Any inner insight gained is infinitely more valuable than the view from the summit.

"Climbing is first and foremost an inner quest. It is not an external struggle, not a battle against ice-covered rock, not a competition with other climbers, but an attempt to put something I have carefully conceived in my mind into action. The greatest adventure does not take place in your head; the head is the place where it only begins.”

Over the past 25 years, Messner has become a world-renowned writer, lecturer, and business leader. Anyone who meets him walks away impressed with his formidable willpower. A journalist once described it as a “razor-sharp will that is able to transform his body into a goal-seeking arrow, capable of reaching any summit.”

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Is Selling an Art or a Science?

As more and more companies implement new sales technology solutions into their sales organization, it is evident that there is more science in selling than ever before. With every step forward that we take with new technology, we need to examine our progress in the art of selling.

You may be familiar with an episode of Mad Men where Don Draper makes a smooth pitch for the Kodak Carousel. It takes a little over three minutes to watch. It’s one of the best sales pitches I’ve seen on TV. Click here to access the three minute video clip.

In case you can’t access the video from your office computer, here is the TV script that Don Draper delivered with a great deal of finesse:

“Technology is a glittering lure. But there is the rare occasion where the public can be engaged on a level beyond flash…if they have a sentimental bond with the product. My first job, I was in-house at a fur company, and this old pro copywriter, Greek, named Teddy…and Teddy told me that the most important idea in advertising is “new”…it creates an itch. You seem to put your product in there as kind of a Calamine lotion. We also talked about a deeper bond with the product – nostalgia – it’s delicate, but potent. (Turns on Kodak carousel projector and clicks through slides that show family scenes).

Teddy told me that in Greek, nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a spaceship, it’s a time machine…it goes backwards; forwards…it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called the wheel, it’s called the carousel. It travels the way a child travels, round and round and back home again, to a place where we know we’re loved.”

There are a few surprising facts about this scene. To read the script, it will take you less than a minute. To play the scene, Draper added so many dramatic pauses, that he tripled the delivery time. A lower rate of speech adds to the suspense and it enhances the impact of the message. Of course there are more discoveries that will hit you after you’ve watched the scene several times.

I suggest you play this video during your next sales meeting and ask your salespeople a few questions afterwards:

What makes this sales presentation so compelling?
To what degree is a selling an art? To what degree is selling a science?
(Ask your salespeople to come up with two numbers that add up to 100%).
How can we inject more emotional weight into our presentation?
How can we use more imagery in our sales message?
How can we improve our delivery?
What can we do to create a sentimental bond with our product or service?
What can we do to advance both: the art and science of selling?

Leave your comment: To what degree is selling an art? To what degree is it a science?

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Why America is in a Crisis of Trust

Trust is a basic human need necessary for survival. Research shows that babies who fail to form a trusting relationship with a caregiver often fail to thrive. The same developmental need applies to creating new customers. If prospects don’t trust you, they may not do business with you. If employees don’t trust management, the business fails to thrive. If a head of state fails to trust another head of state, the relationship between nations will be in jeopardy. Trust is a key driver that determines the success of people, businesses, countries and civilization at large.

America is in a crisis of trust.

News about huge bonuses collected by executives running investment banks and brokerage houses on the verge of collapse, CEO’s flying in private jets while their companies are facing bankruptcy, and mortgage companies handing out loans to people without a steady source of income have decreased public trust. According to the Edelman Trust Survey, only 47% of Americans say that the country is headed in the right direction and only 30% rate the reputation of large multinational companies as good or excellent. A little good news: Among all industries, technology is the most trusted industry around the world.

Trust in the workplace

Trust in the workplace has eroded through pay cuts, reduced benefits, layoffs and bigger workloads distributed among those who were able to keep their jobs. It is time to get to work, conduct a trust audit in your company and if needed, get to work on restoring trust. According to a survey conducted by DDI International:

The top five ranked trust-building behaviors of managers were:
1. Communicates with me openly and honestly, without distorting any information.
2. Shows confidence in my abilities by treating me as a skilled, competent associate.
3. Keeps promises and commitments.
4. Listens to and values what I say, even though he or she might not agree.
5. Cooperates with me and looks for ways in which we can help each other.

A model for building trust in sales:

While most sales managers agree that developing trust is the key to creating new customers, very few companies create a model, or a process for building trust.

In 1999, Swan, Bowers and Richardson conducted a comprehensive study of the drivers of trust in the sales process. Trust drives the development of long-term relationships in personal sales processes and is the key to moving from a short-term, transaction-based toward a long-term, relationship-based interaction between buyer and seller. (Source: www.provenmodels.com) 

Seven keys for creating trust in selling:

One: Keep your word. Never over-promise or under-deliver

Two: Never compromise with Integrity. Warren Buffett once offered his definition of DNA. He said it stands for “do numbers accurately.” Remember that customers don’t judge you by what you say when you are visiting face-to-face; they judge you by what you do when nobody is watching.

Three: When you make a mistake, take immediate action, take full responsibility and apologize without hesitation or reservation. Prospects forgive mistakes; they don’t forgive those who hide their mistakes. There is an old saying in Washington: “You don’t get into trouble for a mistake; you get in trouble for the cover-up.”

Four: Be fair, communicate clearly, don’t play favorites and practice transparency.

Five: When you make a persuasive claim, offer proof before prospects ask to see the evidence of your claim.

Six: Competence builds trust. Prospects expect salespeople to be professional, pleasant and value driven. A salesperson’s competence leads to buyer trust and confidence.

Seven: Be willing to put yourself in a position of vulnerability. For example, when a prospect asks you to do your homework and prepare a proposal that spells out in full detail how your product or service will create value; you have to be willing to perform that task without any promise or guarantee of getting a reward (the sale) for your work. If you are unwilling to accept the risk of working for nothing, then you will never reap the reward of becoming a trusted adviser who earns the customer’s loyalty with every sale.

Let’s restore trust – one sale at a time

Over 200 years ago, Thomas Paine wrote “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it the superficial appearance of being right.” We created the crisis of trust; let’s drop superficial appearances and restore trust – one customer at a time and one sale at a time.

What’s your take? What will you do to help restore trust in American business?

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Are your sales reps on track to meet their quota in 2009? Compare how others are doing.

Today I received a call from Jim Dickie, Partner of CSO Insights who shared a few interesting and fresh data points about how sales organizations across the nation adapted to the recession. They say hindsight is 20/20. Take a look at these surprising numbers and try to find the logic behind this wild and crazy way of managing under adverse circumstances.

Let's raise the sales quota!

86% of companies surveyed in December 2008 said that they were raising sales quotas for their reps in 2009.

Comment: For anyone reading the news in the last quarter of 2008, it was evident that the U.S. economy was headed into a deepening recession. What were these sales managers thinking? That the economy would recover in a few months? That their company would not be affected by the downturn? That their salespeople would turn into superstars? The fact is that the majority of sales organizations engaged in wishful thinking, allowing their sales organization to operate on a fantasy instead of facing reality.

Let's cut or freeze the lead generation budget!

67% of the firms surveyed said in December 2008 that they were freezing, or reducing their lead generation investments for 2009.

Comment: Every sales manager knows that in a recession it takes 25% to 35% more leads to allow for the growing number of prospects who disappear from the pipeline. Why would sales organizations cut or freeze lead generation efforts? The smart thing to do would be to adapt to the new economic realities and increase lead generation budgets by 25% - 35%. It seems that only 1/3 of the companies surveyed took advantage of the opportunities while 2/3 of the companies failed to adapt.

Over half of our salespeople will miss their quota in 2009!

Today, CSO Insights completed their 2009 Compensation Management Survey. Here is fresh data from the yet to be published report: Only 52.4% of sales reps at the companies surveyed are on track to make quota this year. As a point of comparison, that number was 61.1% in 2007.

Comment: Jim Dickie quipped: “Cutting your way to success does not seem to be working.” We live in crazy times, but that should not lead us to stop thinking and acting rationally.

Questions: How will your company adjust to the unstable and unpredictable market in 2010? Will you raise the sales quota? Will you cut, or increase your lead generation budget? Is there a silver bullet strategy that you’d like to share? Please leave your comment below.

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Many Salespeople Feel Powerless. What Can They Learn (right now) from Tony Robbins?

Of all the people I can think of who can master the adversity that comes with the current recession, one person stands out in my mind: Tony Robbins. He has coached many successful people including former President Bill Clinton and Salesforce.com co-founder Marc Benioff.

I am the “why guy.” – “What is your motive for action?”



This extraordinary 21-minute video was recorded at the world-renowned TED conference and watched online by more than 1.4 million people. One of the fun highlights occurs when Tony high-fives Al Gore. But the most substantive idea Tony shares is when he makes the distinction between resources and resourcefulness. Tony explains that when people fail, they blame it on a lack of resources like time, money, technology, contacts, or experience. But people who take responsibility draw on their inner resourcefulness to make things happen. In Tony’s mind, resourcefulness comes from creativity, determination, love, curiosity, and passion.

Love him or hate him – his magnetism is fueled by pure energy and passion.

Watching Tony Robbins in action is like experiencing the eruption of a volcano. His six-foot-seven frame towers over the audience. His speech pattern is almost hypnotic. His dramatic gestures reveal a powerhouse of intensity. He has been known to go nonstop for eight to ten hours without food or rest. He challenges his students to expand their vocabulary to better describe their emotions. He shows people how to reduce the impact of negative experiences and reach out for greater levels of success. His boundless energy makes people shake their heads as they worry about his burning out. But the only things Robbins seems to wear out are his shoes (size 16) and the people who are trying to keep up with his pace.

Sales success is a state of mind.

How can salespeople put themselves into a state of peak performance where they literally become irresistible? Robbins told me in an unforgettable conversation at his stately home, “You've got to develop an emotional sense of certainty that what you have to offer is worth ten times more than what you are asking for in return. Sometimes we know something intellectually, but we don't practice it emotionally. Often people say, ‘I know what to do.’ Yes, they have the knowledge, but why don't they apply what they know? Your core belief, your inner sense of certainty, gives you the foundation for creating a state of peak performance where you can follow through on what you know.”

How do you create emotional intensity?

Says Robbins “First put yourself in that state of passion. When you are in a state of passion, you are not pushing someone; you're enveloped by a force field of emotional intensity. Your belief is so strong, your mission so powerful and your caring so genuine that you will sweep people right off their feet. You create more energy for yourself in the process.”

How does Tony tap into the huge reservoir of energy that’s ready to be released from his mind and body? Robbins shared his personal secret: “To me it means standing up, moving, breathing, gesturing until every part of my mind and body is awake, alive, vibrant, intense and passionate. Next I go through a focus ritual, where I move intensely and put myself in a peak state. I say to myself, ‘Now I command my subconscious mind to direct me to helping as many people as possible today by giving me the strength, the emotion, the persuasion, the humor, the brevity - whatever it takes to help these people increase the quality of their lives through what I am sharing now.’

"I do that again and again. This is not just an affirmation, because an affirmation without discipline is the beginning of delusion. I am using my whole body when I am saying it. I am creating that emotional focus so that when I go in there, I know that I can give every ounce of myself. So when I walk into a room with 5,000 people, my whole focus is on the customer.”

Build trust through integrity and authenticity.

Tony explains the need for integrity and authenticity in selling: “Integrity is the number one success ingredient. Salespeople overlook that the way you really feel will influence the sale more than anything else. The biggest mistake salespeople can make is to fake themselves into a positive emotional state when they are in a state of frustration. If you are not in the right emotional state, it's going to come through at some level. As a result, the prospect will begin to associate negative feelings with your product. But if you truly love what you're doing, and if you are passionate about it, then you'll be in a state that enhances rapport, and soon your prospect will feel the excitement and your positive energy.”

The ultimate achievement is to happily achieve.

Robbins is not only a seeker of insight, he also seeks fulfillment. He once said, “In the past I achieved to be happy: today I happily achieve.” How do we create a good life? Tony says, “A good life only comes from who you become as a person. We all want to feel that our life matters. We all want to make a difference. The ultimate fulfillment comes from making a contribution. Salespeople must know that they are giving much more than what they are asking for in exchange. As long as we know that we've gone so far above and beyond compared to what anybody could possibly expect from us, we will always be in the position of the giver. As a result, we will not only prosper financially, but also emotionally.”

You can’t get to the future by looking into the rearview mirror.

While some motivational speakers serve water sandwiches, Tony offers real meat when he explains how he looks at a life filled with amazing opportunities. He says, “My number one tool is my vision of what life is right there in front of me. That vision has to expand every day. It is just like when you look at the horizon and see something: as you get closer, you see more and at the same time you'll see a new horizon.

"The second tool is the driving force that makes sure that my present is being enhanced every day. I always ask, 'What can I learn from this?' or 'What can I use from the present that will help make my future greater?' That's the force of ongoing improvement.

"My third tool is faith. I have an unbelievable sense of faith in my purpose for being here. I don't have any references to back that up, but the power that comes from constantly improving myself, the certainty that comes from improving the quality of life for others gives me an inner sense of certainty that says I can succeed against the most incredible odds.”

Life’s challenges call for a change agent – you!

Tony never fails to point out that life serves up surprises. We enjoy the surprises we want, but we don’t like the surprises we don’t need. Says Tony, “Whenever a challenge comes up in my life, I ask myself, ‘What is great about this? What is not perfect yet? What would be great?’ These questions imply that the problem is not going to last forever. It is in a state of transformation, and I am the change agent. The next question is, ‘What am I willing to do to make it better?’ In other words, I immediately focus on finding a solution and hold myself responsible for being the source of it.”

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A 35,000-Foot View Doesn’t Show the Recession Ending. How Can We Succeed?

I just reviewed a number of unrelated research documents that show a common thread: The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t very bright. Review the facts, and then decide what you can do about it.

The Selling Power 500: More salespeople, a drop in sales, and lower productivity

I just received the preliminary numbers from our own research department. Every year we identify the largest sales organizations in America. We rank sales forces by the number of salespeople they employ. The good news: The SP500 companies employ 1.1 million more salespeople for a total of more than 21 million employed. (Drill down and you’ll see that this increase came mostly from the direct-selling industry). The bad news: The SP500 companies’ sales volume was down $600 billion to a total of $6.4 trillion. More bad news: The service sector showed a 14.3% drop in productivity per salesperson. The final report will be published in the October 2009 issue.

Silicon Valley - the cradle of creative business bubbles and sharp investor needles.

Today’s San Jose Mercury News reports that 20.5% of Silicon Valley’s commercial real estate is vacant. The cover shows empty buildings as visible monuments of layoffs and mergers and dashed hopes and dreams turned into nightmares. The skinny newspaper underscores the miserable July unemployment rates of 11.8%. In Palo Alto, there are people sitting at a small Starbucks checking job sites on their computers. There is no big lunch crowd at the Four Seasons in Palo Alto. A year ago, it was a hot place for deal makers.

The job market is not improving. Productivity is up, but pay is down.

According to the US Bureau of Labor, the number of job openings in the US has declined by 1.3 million in 2009 compared to this time last year, which represents a 33.6% drop in job opportunities. The number of people hired was the lowest since 2000. When you dig a little deeper, you realize that American workers produced 6.4% more goods and services in the second quarter of 2009 than in 2008. But the unit labor cost fell by 5.8%. This means that the employees who remained on the payroll are making up the work performed by those who have been laid off. Since many companies had to cut pay, it means that the extra work yields a smaller paycheck.

Fake work: work that creates no value.

The recession has caused more useless meetings than ever before. Today’s purchasing process involves more people, absorbs more time and often leads to a “let’s wait” decision. "Analysis paralysis" has become the norm, not the exception, in many companies. What’s paradoxical is that companies that brag the loudest about creating value for their customers are often those who diminish the value of their employees by having them jump through an endless series of hoops before they get clearance on any initiative that involves spending money.

Employees are experiencing increased financial stress.

According to a recent research report by Financial Finesse, the signs of an economic recovery on Wall Street are not showing up on Main Street. Here are a few alarming findings:

More people were worried about their finances in Q2 than in Q1.

More people experienced high or overwhelming financial stress in Q2 than in Q1.

A friend in New York, an executive in the financial services industry, told me that his company has laid off 60% of the staff and changed the compensation package to commission only, which caused him to reduce his personal expenses, dip into his pension fund, brown-bag lunch, stop eating out, and defer the planned summer vacation.

Gallup tells us how happy or how stressed we are in America.

The Gallup Organization measured "the percentage of Americans who, reflecting on the day before they were surveyed, say they experienced a lot of happiness and enjoyment without a lot of stress and worry." Gallup also tabulated the percentage of people who say they "experienced daily worry and stress that far outweighed their happiness and enjoyment." Here is how happy/miserable America was on August 29th, 2009:

Fifty-six percent of people said they experienced a lot of happiness and enjoyment that outweighed their stress.

Ten percent said they experienced a lot of stress that far outweighed their happiness.

How can we succeed in this stressful, negative, and irrational environment?

First: Think your way out of the box called recession. Adversity is nothing but a wake-up call for creativity. Necessity is the mother of invention. We live in a time that makes it necessary to reinvent ourselves and our strategies, and it begins with our thinking.

Second: Increase your emotional fitness. Accept what you are powerless to change. Don’t stew, go out and do. Action creates motivation. Apathy gets you nowhere. The upside of disappointment is that you can turn it into the cradle of ambition.

Third: Our future doesn’t depend on today’s circumstances; it depends on the choices we make today. Nobody can take away the power of choice. We cannot choose the direction of the economy, but we can choose the direction of our thoughts.

Fourth: We are stronger than we believe we are. One of the biggest challenges we face is to let go of the mistaken notion that life is too strong and that we are too weak to succeed. What do you think is more beneficial, buying into your fear of failure or selling yourself on your capacity to succeed?

Fifth: Success is a game of confidence. We all gravitate toward people who have great confidence. It doesn’t take a huge amount of confidence to succeed. All we need is the confidence to take one step forward. Once we complete that step, we can reinvest the same confidence into the next step.

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