The Quiet meeting attendee

I know we have all witnessed what I am about to discuss. You arrange a meeting with all of the pertinent players and when you all gather into the conference room there is a new face who you did not invite but you know the others did. Most of the time these new attendees are quiet and mostly do the listening but will have a few things to say here and there. I am willing to bet they are also very coy as to what their role is etc and how they tie into the group. In any event, the lesson here is these people are USUALLY instrumental in a making the decision to go with your product. Either they are the decision maker, are the champion of another solution or looking to champion yours, influencer or hold the purse strings. Just some food for thought! Happy selling!

Shawn

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Smartphones in Church?

I had attended a meeting for my daughter's religion class this evening.  It was held inside the church main congregation hall.  I arrived a few minutes late and the Religion Director had already started her "lesson" to us parents already.  At first, I was like jeez she couldn't have waited 5 minutes but then I was impressed with her need to start on time.  This showed that she at least took her job serious.  The Religion Director was basically making us aware of all of our "duties" as parents from the "Churches" standpoint.  Having gone through this before with Justin this was a refresher.  About 10 minutes into the meeting, I glanced behind and to the side of where I was sitting and I saw not one or two or three but many mom's and dad's reading and texting on their smartphones?  Really?  At this quick 40 minute meeting and in Church for crying out loud??  Now, I am slightly guilty myself because I was taking notes on my phone.  :)  I understand we are in an era of a technology driven world where we all need to be "connected" 24 x7.  But we need to know when to put the Smartphone down, unwind and remember why we are all here.  You guys are probably wondering where am I going with this.  Well, this evening made me think about how much our Smartphones rule our lives as salespeople.  We need to be connected all of the time to our partners and customers in order to get the next deal, increase revenue and ultimately get paid.  But we are only human and need to unwind.  Most of us work for our families and that is what is most important.  By no means am I saying stop using your Smartphone and concentrate every waking moment on other things besides work.  That is just unrealistic.  Just give yourself some time to unwind and put the Smartphone away to reflect on why we all wake up in the morning, put on our best attire and sell our solutions.  You will be surprised at how relieved and energized you will feel with putting the Smartphone out of reach.