2017

Are you ready?  It really doesn't matter - it is coming and there is nothing we can do about it.

Instead of dreading a new year, and all that means, approach it more like a new page.  In college I always felt like if I could do anything for a semester and then my schedule would reset.  I have that same feeling for each year.  It is time for a reset.  That doesn't mean dropping everything and having a clean slate but time to clear your head, evaluate everything and refocus.  It is a great time!  Let's grab this time and use it.  Take time to sit down and evaluate 2016 and continue what you love and what is working, stop what you don't and start new items.

It is exciting to see what 2017 brings!

Holiday Season

Well the Holiday Season is here.  How did it get here so fast?  I know I sound like my parents, but dang time flies any more.

That being said, it is still that time of year.  Here is my wish to a great end to 2016 and to an awesome (and fun 2017).  To fun times, great health, and of course lots of sales (I am a salesperson).

Whatever holiday you celebrate - remember the importance of it and enjoy it with family and friends.

School Technology Philosophy Statements

How prepared is your district?  How organized?  Are you ready for the future?
I have been reading a lot of information being sent out from ISTE and realized how important the school tech statement is for a district.  Do you have one?  How often do you review and update it?  If you don't - how do you know where you are going, and if you will ever get there, and what you need to do today and tomorrow to get there?
I know lots of people think planning like this is a waste - just do the work.  But it is hard to make sure you are doing the correct work, if you don't have a plan.
So do you feel overwhelmed now?  Start with something and somewhere.  Take baby steps.  Do something - right or wrong.  It is easier to keep moving, once you have momentum behind you.
If you and your district need help, give me a call.  I don't have all of the answers, but can help ask questions that might help get a basic plan  in place.

We're Secure (yeah right)

Is your school or organization's network secure?  Can anything ever be truly secure?  How do you even know, or where can you go to find help?

OXEN is offering security assessments to help give you an overview of what is going on.  Where you might want to focus your energy.

Be aware that thinking you can ever be 100% secure is a goal that can't be reached in today's world, but at least knowing where you might have an issue is a valuable thing to know.

rIf you are interested in knowing more, reach out to me and let's see if we can help at OXEN.

School Technology Philosophy Statements

How prepared is your district?  How organized?  Are you ready for the future?
I have been reading a lot of information being sent out from ISTE and realized how important the school tech statement is for a district.  Do you have one?  How often do you review and update it?  If you don't - how do you know where you are going, and if you will ever get there, and what you need to do today and tomorrow to get there?
I know lots of people think planning like this is a waste - just do the work.  But it is hard to make sure you are doing the correct work, if you don't have a plan.
So do you feel overwhelmed now?  Start with something and somewhere.  Take baby steps.  Do something - right or wrong.  It is easier to keep moving, once you have momentum behind you.
If you and your district need help, give me a call.  I don't have all of the answers, but can help ask questions that might help get a basic plan  in place.

ITEC Rocks

Another great ITEC conference!  For those not in education in Iowa - ITEC is the Iowa Technology & Education Connection group and they are rockstars (especially the board members who work their tails off to get this event planned.  I am always amazed at the quality of attendees - both school staff and the vendors to the event.  If you don't learn at least three things (usually my minimum for an event) you must be missing something.
If you don't attend ITEC (or other conferences in your area or in your field) you are truly missing out.  How do you stay up to date, and create relationships with people in your field that can help you out?  Again I highly recommend the experience!
#ITEC2016

Help (Ask for and Give)

Sitting in an airport right now on my way home.  Had a great couple of days with some incredible people at a technology event (Ingram Micro's Trust X Heartland Chapter meeting - highly recommend).  I always come home with a couple of great ideas (and very tired but full of energy if that makes sense).  I go to these events to hear what others are doing and to SWIPE (steal with integrity and pride).  Why reinvent the wheel when someone (usually much smarter than me) has done it already.  I try to live by Henry Ford's thought of surrounding yourself with people smarter than you.  Let them do their job and get out of their way (and take great notes to learn).  Do you allow yourself to do this?  Do you feel like you have to tackle it all by yourself?  DON'T.  I am always calling friends for help (and they do the same with me).  Be vulnerable and be honest.  This is huge in sales (and in life - especially with kids)!  You are not alone and you don't have to know everything.  Have fun and ask for help and see how things go for you.

Education and Technology

Education in technology is becoming not just a great tool, but an integral part of the day for most students.  Those of us not in education think technology is important - but consider a teacher looking at 25 students while they are all trying to work on their system (usually a chromebook) and it not working.  You think you have had a bad day...  Every day I am amazed at what these people get accomplished, all while staying relatively sane.

Do something nice for these people (actually anyone who is tasked with education is a saint).  I love my kids, but do like the nice break from them during the day.  These people never get those breaks.

I am going to try to change my blogs, and most of my social interaction, to be more about how I, with the support of my awesome OXEN team, support these people and can help.

Check back and I look forward to this new journey.

Education and Technology

There are so many changes happening today there is no way to keep up with it all.  Now add on top of that the idea of working with today's youth that are full of knowledge and questions and you have a job that puts me in awe.  Director's of Technology, Network Administrators or just Tech Support, whatever the title is, it is a job of nonstop learning and support.  I don't tell them enough how much I respect and are in awe of what they do.  I have a hard enough time with two kids in my house testing my knowledge (and Googling power) let alone having hundreds to support.  Keep up the great work!

Communication TOday

While we have some many ways to communicate today, why is it so easy to not do it anymore?  Maybe I am old fashion but face to face and talking on the telephone are still my choice.  There is so much more being communicated than just words (I do love to read people's body language).  I guess you could use an emoticon on an email, text or twitter post, but it just doesn't seem to be the same.  I am hopeful that people will figure this out in the future (or maybe I will figure out how to integrate all of these technologies).  Now I have to go check Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snap Chat, Instagram, my text messages and my email to see if people have responded...

Secret Sauce

The secret sauce to any good salesperson is really the questions that one asks.  Before you go in to a meeting do you have them in your mind?  Did you do your homework?  I used to try to do it on the fly, but that just doesn't work any more.  Clients are as smart as me any more (no comments please :)).  There needs to be a game plan in place.  You can use some standard questions, but it also needs some personalization for each client.  That takes time and effort.  How much work do you do before your meetings?  What do you use (LinkedIn and the like)?

Tired of Negative

As a salesperson I am very concerned about my attitude.  I am an emotionally based person (aren't most salespeople) and outside sources have an affect on me.  Why does all news have to lead with negative?  There is enough crap out there to make you depressed all the time.  There is A LOT of positive and happy news - why can't we lead with that information?  Come on people - let's stop this cycle.  For me - I'm shutting off as much as I can that is negative, so I might miss some big news and great Facebook post, but I doubt it...

Balancing Act

Maybe it's just me, but the busier I get, the more productive I get (and better mood I am in).  The problem I have is finding the balancing point where I am running at maximum levels but not to a burn out level.  Seems like I often lose sight of where I am at (and what is coming down the road) and  fall on one side or the other.  This situation then creates a boredom to burn out and back again.  Oh well, who ever said salespeople were easy to understand...

Question

Why?  It's a question that my kids ask me and drives me crazy, but it's a great question.  Why do  we do what we do?  Why are we selling this way?  Why are you wanting to buy?  I guessed it's one of those things my kids can teach me - never be satisfied with the answer but keep asking why.

Rocket Science It's Not

Sales isn't rocket science.  Oh there are formulas, processes and best practices but it always comes down to the same things.  Do the work and get paid for it.  So what is the work?  Get in front of clients and prospects and then listen.  Really that's it.  Nothing more.  OK you should take notes so you remember things, but that's it.  So many books are written about sales - maybe I should write one.  It would have one page and it would say LISTEN.

Sales is so easy...

Just a side note - if sales is so damn easy was isn't everyone in it and making a crap load of money???
Oh that's because it isn't that easy.  There are parts that are, and parts that aren't, but overall it is a skill that most people don't have and don't want (just like I can't program in Java, and never will).
Saying that - I wouldn't do anything else in the world.  To me sales is awesome and fun and it allows me to wake up every day and be excited to attack.
OK getting off my soap box now.
Enjoy the rest of the day and remember to have fun!
#salesfun

Sales Fun

Life can suck - both at work and at home.  Bad things happen - it's life.  Why do we let this drag us down?  People don't want to meet with me to hear about all the problems I'm dealing with that day.  We all have issues.  My job is to sell, but more importantly it is to understand what is bothering them both at work, but also at home.  My best skill is listening (most of the time, but I do seem to lose the skill when at home, but I am working on that one).  I listen and people talk.  I look in their eyes so they know that I am there with them - with what ever they want to talk about.  I also want to have fun.  The meeting is not over unless I can get the other person to laugh.  I want to have fun, and I want other to have fun with me.  Try it - don't dwell on how you lost a deal, how someone did you wrong or whatever is stuck in your head.  That's not to say you can't deal with it, but not when you are in front of others.  So I am starting a new focus - #SalesFun (I hear if you put the # sign in front of something it is real).  What do you do to have fun?  How often do you do it?  Why not more often?
I look forward to hearing from you...

Administration vs selling

How much of your day is dedicated to administration work versus meeting and talking to clients and prospects?  Yes documenting what is going on in your day is important, but not as important as actually doing the work.  This is a never ending discussion that will happen between sales and management.  Do the sales work, but you need to document to show your activity points and build your pipeline.  Both of these are important and have a reason to have time dedicated to them (you schedule time on your calendar for prospecting and client meetings why not dedicate office time also).  So the moral is - you need to do them both, and dedicate the time.

Away From Work

Is there anything you can't do from mobile now?  From email to using your CRM (I use ConnectWise) to even writing your blog post, it all can be done.  No more time when work can't be done, now it is all on us to balance it all. It is both exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

Podcast

I have a secret.  I am now addicted to podcast.  I can't get enough.  I listed to about 4 a day with others sprinkled in as the become available.  It is a great way to stay on top of items, hear new things, and be entertained.  From tech to sales to even Adam Carolla I enjoy listening to them all.  If you listen to some, you understand.  If you don't - give it a shot, you might find some things that you will find it hard to stop.

Vacation

How productive are you?  How productive the week before a vacation?  Big difference isn't there...

Focus can change a lot of things can't it.

Some days you need to relax and some days you need to focus.

Snow Day

Do you remember when snow days were full of excitement and wonder?  Why are they now filled with dread (missing a day of work, having to entertain the kids)?  This last one was different.  I worked out a deal with my kids that we would play if I could also work.  So we played Monopoly, went sledding and even had a snow ball fight.  In between I got to take a few conference calls, work on a few quotes and respond to a bunch of email.  All in all we had a great day.  Guess it's time to start looking forward to snow days again...

Happy New Year

So the holiday's are over so time to go back to the old grind - right?  Why???
While I love the holiday season, it is more than just time off and giving gifts.  It is spending time with family and friends, sharing good will and happiness with your fellow man, and it is time for great food and drink.  Why do we have to wait till once a year to do this (OK I have never had problems with the food and drink part of it).  Why can't we continue this great mojo for the entire year?  I think it is about a change in mindset.  So as you can tell, I have a little different goal this year (well I still have lose weight, but that is a never ending one on my list) .  Treating everyone with the golden rule for the whole year is the goal and hopefully I can get a few other people to jump  on board with me.  I don't expect to change the world, but maybe make a few people happier through the year can't hurt anything.  Here is to a great 2016!