GrayMatter

Maghound: a’ la carte magazine subscriptions

If you’re like me and love magazines you probably subscribe to more than one per month or even weekly. What about renewal time or when you grow tired of the same titles every month? Do you decide to drop a specific title and wrangle over all the direct mail offers publishers flood your mailbox with? Help is on the way.

I found a great service recently called Maghound. Now you can manage your subscriptions from a pool of 300+ titles (and growing). It’s kind of like Netflix for the magazine industry. Their website is great and the signup was a breeze. Making changes at any time is a snap.

You may get Sport Illustrated and decide after football season to pickup Wired for a few months. When it’s springtime switch to Outside or Country Gardens. Maghound offers a few membership options from 3-5-7-+ per month. Tap into the reader you want to be or “inner-hound” as your interests change with the seasons.

Sales 2.0 - What's It Mean to You?

Ever heard of Jigsaw? It's a business directory of contacts and company information, valuable stuff for any sales person. Sites like this and LinkedIn can give you an extra edge, a little extra insight that comes in handy more times than not, for instance finding connections, common ground, the correct email spelling, phone numbers, titles, etc.

Anyway, Jigsaw sent me a newsletter recently and defined Sales 2.0 as "the trend of companies taking advantage of new technology and new methodologies to increase their sales velocity and volume." Hell-yeah!  Every chance you take to advance your individual efforts, share with your team or whatever it is that moves the needle closer to closing business is hip with me.

Sales 2.0 is not a trend but a must adopt in any salesperson's career.

7 Habits Refresher

Slideshare is a not only a cool Web 2.0 site but filled with a ton of well crafted ideas and voices. The "YouTube" for PowerPoint and presentations, Slideshare is worth bookmarking and using to link with your blog or website.

I read Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly People 15 years ago and his paradigm shifting philosphy rings true, not just for today's tough economic climate but every year as a refresher. Look at Marina Noordegraaf's visual interpretation of Dr. Covey's epic manual of growth and self improvement. Nicely done!

The 7 habits of highly effective people

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: lifehacking management)

Goal Setting: The New Resolution

Before the holiday break I downloaded (copy > paste) a bunch of articles about sales and goal setting (BNET). I’ve been thinking a lot about the annual list I’ll be making for those pesky resolutions. You know, the one that is either mentally bulleted or written hastily and eventually lost in some pile of other papers.

Like so many new year “diets” of self-improvement that January honeymoon lust ends after a few days, weeks or maybe a few months. Well I decided to make a different resolution this year – get serious with goal setting and never stop, not this year, not next and especially not when I fulfill one of the goals. I’m in search of that momentum, the inertia that will propel my productivity and success further than ever. Now that I’m lucky to have a solid new job with a killer organization it’s up to me to remap the expedition.

This is a different year for me with a new gig, number two at home on the way and our first house on the horizon (yeah that’s the number ONE goal BTW).

So the articles I’ve been reading (on the bike, back in the gym this week…..ironic huh?) have all been preaching the power or writing your goals down. Goals should be definable, related to a purpose and have specific detail along with a timeline to accomplish. Organize the goals in writing and keep them part of your dashboard, DAILY. Make two lists not just one; Short Goals (this year) and Long Goals (next 3, 5, 10, 15 years). I’m actually thinking the lists could turn into my own CAD: Commitment Action Document, but that may be a bit much until I can prove consistency, action and results.

Book List: Past & Present

Books Read in ‘08

You Inc – Harry & Christine Beckwith
Think Big and Kick Ass – Donald Trump and Bill Zanker
The Go-Giver - Bob Burg and John David Mann
Meatball Sundae – Seth Godin
Little Red Book of Sales Answers - Jeffrey Gitomer
Little Black Book of Connections - Jeffrey Gitomer
Black Wind – Clive Cussler

Started have not finished

Groundswell - Josh Bernnoff & Charlene Li
The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
The Hungry Ocean – Linda Greenlaw

What The Customer Wants You to Know - Ram Charan

Wish List to Read in ‘09

Presentation Zen – Garr Reynolds
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Powerlines – Steve Cone
Tribes – Seth Godin
The Likeability Factor – Tam Sanders
The Sales Bible - Jeffrey Gitomer
Little Teal Book of Trust - Jeffrey Gitomer
Malcolm Gladwell
Ben Franklin
Zig Ziglar
Getting Things Done – David Allen
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln – James Humes

You Inc!

Ever heard of Harry Beckwith? Many have, a few have not. I am glad to know him now after reading one of his great books. Harry has written a number of excellent ones on sales, branding and leadership. His experiences in sales and marketing translate into some of the most basic teachings it's a wonder why more professional sales people don't look at their career as it's own company or as the CEO running that company.

Titled, You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself was written in '07 along with his wife Christine who is a cancer survivor, speaker and accomplished author on her own. They also run a branding and marketing firm called Beckwith Partners.

You Inc. is a collection of stories and lessons that should be one of those standard reference books for anyone's sales library. It's full of honest teachings, a little humor and lots of practical advice every business person should commit to memory.

A lot of successful authors have preached the core of this book before. Tom Peters coined Brand You. Peter Drucker said "each of us is a CEO". Your manager surely has said, "you run your own business".

SSIA, You Inc!

Sales Guru: Gitomer

Jeffrey Gitomer is my sales hero. I've read a number of his books and have been receiving his weekly newsletter, aptly titled Sales Caffeine for a few years. His teachings, philosophy, advice, IDEAS, motivation, and humor are pure gold. Many will agree that his straightforward logic is right on the bulls eye.

Besides learning a lot from his teachings I've learned a lot about myself and how I approach my sales career. In many ways I feel like I am relearning or better yet reprogramming my very basic sales skills. Do yourself a big favor and Buy Gitomer!

A great quote from this weeks newsletter about the economy:

"Business is not down, it's different. The low hanging fruit of two years ago is now much higher in the trees." -Jeffrey Gitomer

I say, "be a better climber and out smart the rest of the monkeys, the jungle is filled with plenty." -GrayMatter

Think BIG Like Donald Trump

Donald Trump is no stranger to PR and his latest book extends his brand even more. I've wanted to read one of his books for a while especially after watching The Apprentice and reading his blog. Titled appropriately, Think Big and Kick Ass (In Business and Life), Donald teamed up with Bill Zanker from The Learning Annex.

The book is a simple read and at times a little too simple but that's the point. Sure Donald had a head start in the business with his father's real estate ventures but it was his determination and drive that made him break into Manhattan and now around the world. He lays out some basic principles to use as a road map and of course thinking big is central to his attitude and focus.

Many themes from the book resonate with me both in my career and in my personal life. The book is broken into chapters authored first by Donald and then by Bill. Some of the best selections talk about the importance of passion, creating your own luck through hard work, maintaining momentum and always keeping your eye on the ball. Both Trump and Zanker tell great stories of success along with lessons learned through failure along the way. Some quotes I liked:

"Plug into your own electricity, it might flow better through another socket" - Trump

"To keep the momentum growing you must continually challenge yourself" - Trump

"Every day has a new possibility. Every day you can improve yourself and grow. Every day you can take yourself to a new level. Grab something with momentum that you can be passionate about. Keep working on it and amazing things will happen." - Zanker

Daily Drucker

Peter Drucker is an author and management GURU I have been interested to learn about. This past weekend I picked up a book at the local library called The Daily Drucker. This compilation of Drucker writings is filled with "365 days of Insight and Motivation, for Getting the Right Things Done".

I opened to a random page today and was struck how timeless his writing and teachings were, and still inspire today.

"THE CHANGE LEADER: The most effective way to manage change successfully is to create it. One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it. In a period of upheavals, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm....In a period of rapid structural change, the only ones who survive are the change leaders. A change leader sees change as an opportunity. A change leader looks for change, knows how to find the right changes, and knows how to make them effective both outside the organization and inside it. To make the future is highly risky. It is less risky, however, than not to try to make it. Anticipate the future and be a change leader." - Peter F. Drucker

How about YOU, are you a change leader or happy with your current situation, present station in life. There are a lot of change leaders out there. Whether you believe in Obama or McCain, change is coming. Henry Paulson championed BIG change last week and the financial world we live in continues to evolve. How are you adapting to change?

I'll be continuing my daily Drucker diet and plan to evolve my thinking. Change is good.

Succeed By Helping Others

I just finished  a great book that will hopefully become a movement in business and how people live their lives. The Go-Giver by authors Bob Burg and John David Mann is a fictional tale about a man trying to navigate the river of business/career success. The lead character named Joe comes in contact with "the chairman" who introduces him to five very influential people that share the the Laws of Stratospheric Success.

This is a short read and one that I not only enjoyed reading but knew I'd have to pay forward the lessons learned. It is also filled with a number of solid teachings that we should develop in our careers and personal lives. Giving things away and helping others really is the on-ramp to opening many doors. Much of this thinking also reminds me of the "Compassion Philosophy" learned in Tim Saunders' Love is the Killer App.

Go-Give yourself this book.....and copies to your friends, I plan on doing just that.