Click here to read several good recommendations.

If you are at all aware of internet marketing, you should be aware of the term ‘viral’. Internet marketers love when a blog post, video, podcast ‘goes viral’ because it means that the market is passing the message along with no further effort by the marketer. Sometimes, I get the feeling that they (internet marketers) think that they invented the idea. Those of you who are old enough may remember this commercial. Isn’t that viral?

Here’s a question…Is your REAL reputation viral? Do you have people talking about you? Does the conversation continue after you leave the room? I’m not talking about forwarding a you-tube video. Is one person talking to another about you? Is the second person talking to a third? Can you ‘go viral’ in reality?

I remember (years ago) Cutco prospects greeting me with, “I was wondering when you were gonna get here. All my friends have told me about you.” I’m not trying to take anything away from all those internet people. I just want to point out that you don’t need a computer to create a buzz.

My most recent example…You may remember this blog post about Paula’s personality. Today, Elaine asked me if I would stop at Talbots and return an item that she had purchased. When I walked into the store, Paula was about 30 feet away. “Rick, how are you? Come on in. I want to introduce you to some people.” I met Becky, the manager of the branch across the mall. I met Lauren, the general manager of both stores. I was told that my blog post had been forwarded to the district manager and Becky asked if I was going to write about them tonight.

Each of them was warm. Each of them was friendly. Why would anyone not want to visit the Talbots at the Solomon Pond Mall?

Trudy, take a look at my wife’s charge account and see how many of your locations we’ve visited over the course of the past year. Not all Talbots locations are created equal. Not all are as welcoming as the Solomon Pond Mall location. My wife loved Jordan Marsh and Filenes. She almost cried when they went away. These are extraordinary times. Have you evaluated your salespeople? Do you know why some succeed and some get by? Here’s my bio. Here’s our process. Use the link at the top of the page to send me an email with your contact info. I’ll call.

Or are you gonna continue doing what you’re doing because you know how to do it even though IT’S NOT WORKING !?!?!?

I read Dave Kurlan’s post tonight about why some companies see results more quickly than others. Bottom line…They want to change and they’re ready! Great post, Dave! It got me to thinking about some real people.

Last week I bumped into this guy. He was with his boss. Two peas in a pod. Couldn’t get away quickly enough.

While I was searching for his post, I found the post about Sir. I wonder if he’s still in business.

Then I found this post which is actually a better example. These two bozos paid us and never stopped fighting us.

OK. Enough negativity. Let’s end on a positive note that’s another great example. Read this.

In case I haven’t said it lately, thank you for reading.

I found Dave Kurlan’s “thoughts of the day” interesting and thought that I’d share them without comment.

Feel free to enjoy privately or comment if you are so moved.

First, thank you for reading. Blogging is kind of like being on the radio. You wonder if anybody’s out there. I enjoy the feedback that I get, both as comments to the blog as well as private emails and real conversations about specific posts.

As you may know, I read other blogs. Some are inspiring. Some offer other points of view. Some, I learn from and remember, when you’re learning, you’re growing. I want to thank some other bloggers for their contributions.

Pete Caputa would blush if I wrote all the ways that he’s influenced my blogging and attitude about blogging. He taught me about links, aggregators, blog-versations, blog-quaintences, and so many other things. When someone tells me that they’re not getting value from the internet, I tell them about my son, Mark and introduce them to Pete.

Michael Kreppein‘s written two posts recently that are great examples of how you can get learn from a blog. Many salespeople recognize the value of a networking, referrals and introductions. Michael blends virtuality with reality with his on-line referral machine.

Many of you might consider Trish Bertuzzi to be a competitor of mine. We could compete. We choose not to, but we do get different points of view from each other. Check out Tip #2. It reminded me of Frank with his 6 at 6. He went through a period where he left 6 voicemail messages for 6 CEO’s between 6 and 6:06 AM. If you were a CEO and you got a voicemail message at 6 AM, what would you think?

These are only 4 of the 50+ blogs that I read. Few post every day and honestly, I don’t ALWAYS read every word. You can see the list of blogs that I read by going to my main page and clicking the Blogs I Read link in the right column.

Do any of your competitors, vendors, friends, allies, resources, consultants, etc. have a blog, e-newsletter, or other web presence that you can learn from or that can help you keep an eye on them?

We talk a lot about B2B salespeople, prospecting, sales process, etc.

What about retail?

On Saturday, Elaine and I went to a movie. While we were in the neighborhood, we went to Talbots so Elaine could do return. However, as you may know, Talbots puts their cash registers in the middle of the store, so that Elaine has to shop her way there. I found a comfortable chair and relaxed. Eventually, Elaine made her way to the register with her return and a very shiek wrap. I watched Elaine interact with the cashier and it was obvious that Elaine was fully engaged and having a good time. I heard the cashier say, “Here you go. Have a nice day and it was nice to see you again, Elaine.” The tonality sounded as though they were school friends that had just reconnected after not seeing each other for a while. Elaine wanted to leave from the other door, which meant that she had to shop her way through the other half of the store. She found a very stylish black coat and a dress. Back to the same cashier. This time, I go closer so I can hear the exchange. Paula acknowledged me with a very natural smile. Elaine introduced me to Paula, by saying that Paula remembered her from Coldwater Creek. Paula had apparently remembered that she’d helped Elaine before and they had a good time sharing memories. Now, here’s my question. How much of Elaine’s second purchase was due to Talbots merchandising? and how much was due to the fact that Elaine wanted to go back and talk to Paula some more?

Paula is one of those people who’s not only engaging, but she’s real. Go see for yourself. She works at Talbots at the Solomon Pond Mall.

Now, how about you? Do you know a retail salesperson that’s special?

Are you a sales achiever? How would you grade yourself? Can you answer 10 questions in 5 minutes? We’ve just introduced OMG’s Free Sales Achievement Grader. Click the link to try it for free. Get your personal results and grade in seconds!

Also, Dave Kurlan’s Recession Busting Boot Camp is being held on February 5-6. If sales are an important part of your plan for 2009, the timing couldn’t be better. It’s less than a month away. There are seats left. This is the only time that I will mention it. Several that attended in May, 2008 handled the obstacles presented in the last half of 2008 and had their best year ever. So, click the link, read what’s included. Read what will happen to your and register today. Nothing would be worse than deciding that you’ll register later and forgetting to do it.

Happy New Year!

I have a new client. Successful CEO. Aggressive. Assertive. Respected. Confident. Experienced…and a whole bunch of other superlatives. He was thoughtful in his decisionmaking process and made a comment on closing day that I’d like to share.


“Rick, I don’t think that your competitor will be able to stand up to me as well as you will.”
Think about that. How many times do we think that we have to ‘yes’ a client? How many times do we worry about pushing back? Real clients don’t want more of the same. They want you to fix their company or they’re wasting your time. This prospect doesn’t want to waste time. He wants change and he wants an expert that’s going to help him change, not help him stay the same.

He also used a pretty cool close on me. When I asked, “What should we do now?”, he said, “Why don’t you send me an invoice for the evaluation? It takes a couple of days for me to request a check and I want to get the controller used to the idea.”

He was so smooth that I had to send the invoice (almost immediately).

…the art of keeping up with yesterday.

…the thief of time.

…opportunity’s assassin.

Think about them. Are you keeping up with yesterday? What did you want to do yesterday, last week, last month or last quarter that’s still not done? How many of us aren’t even finished with 2007, yet?

Have you ever spent five minutes, five hours or five days finding ways to avoid doing something that needed doing? Did you ever get that time back? GONE! STOLEN! the thief of time.

How many opportunities have you missed because you put it off until yomorrow? How many have taken advantage of opportunities that should have been yours? How many opportunities are gone forever? Dead! Assassinated!

So, here’s my point. Today is the last day that you can procrastinate until tomorrow. Tomorrow, you can only procrastinate until next year. Do you really want to do that? Maybe you should do it today, so that tomorrow you’ll be able to get a head start on next year.

If I made you feel bad, it wasn’t my intention. Rather, I want everyone to know that we all fight the same demons. We all have the same 365 days and the same 24 hours a day. Some of us get better results by doing the right things at the right time.

Finish up this year as best you can. Look forward to a happy and prosperous new year in 2009 and if you want my help, ask for it.

(I found these and many other quotes at http://en.thinkexist.com/.)

Katya told us about a lesson learned when her company first began and it started me thinking about the way we learn lessons and how the way we learn lessons might affect us as we claw our way through these economic times. The experts have been telling us that we’ll have to work harder and smarter to get the same results. They’ve told us that recessions are “nature’s way” of getting rid of weak inefficient companies. We’ve been warned that our prospects may become more cautious or worried that their company won’t survive, so they conserve cash by delaying or cancelling expenditures that they had planned for growth.

Search Grow or Die in Google. One of the results starts off, “There are only two kinds of problems in business: (1) growth problems; and (2) liquidation problems….”.  Let’s see….Growth…..or…..Liquidation. Keep growing or start dying. Which do you expect? Which do you wish for? Which is unexpected and unwished for?

Unfortunately, even if a company survives, they may no longer be competitive.

Companies that conserve cash often run out of cash. Do they expect it or wish for it?

Companies that postpone growth often lose market share. Do they expect it or wish for it?

By the time a company owner realizes that they’ve made a mistake, the company will be in a worse cash position, a worse competitive position in the marketplace, or out of business.

So, back to my thoughts about Katya’s comment and the way we learn lessons. Do you HAVE to learn from your own experience? Do you HAVE to make the mistake before it sinks in? Or can you learn from other’s experience(s)? If you know why others don’t survive a recession, will you make the same mistakes or will you learn from someone else’s mistake? Do you HAVE to lose market share or go out of business before you realize that you should be growing sales rather than cutting costs?

Maybe that’s a good New Years Resolution? “This year, I will learn WITHOUT having to make the mistake myself.“

Have you done this yet?