Mind Over Matter

A Favorite Song of Mine

“Mind over Matter” was one of my favorite songs when I was a teenager. Nolan Strong and the Diablos made it a hit. It was an early Motown sound. The song wasn’t about selling, but the message is still relevant.

Looking for Answers

I continue to interview business owners, sales managers and salespeople who are looking for answers. Our economy has collapsed, particularly in Michigan. The sales pie is smaller and selling has never been more competitive.

The Dots Don’t Connect

One thing that many of my clients and prospective clients have in common is that they don’t have much structure in their professional lives. By structure, I mean there are few or no formal sales processes or procedures in place. A lot of people out there are winging it. This is a bad economy to be “winging it” in.

Structure Rules

I teach sales strategies, tools and tactics. There is a lot of best practices information available for salespeople and managers these days. Books, magazines, tapes, DVD’s, seminars, webinars, and private consultations tell the story of what to do and how to do it. If you don’t have a budget for training materials, go to the library. The library is free. Getting things right and keeping them that way is a real case of “Mind over Matter”.

Will You or Won’t You?

Will you? Will you seek out answers to gain a competitive advantage by bringing structure to your careers? And, once enlightened, will you do it? Will you consistently work on maintaining structure in your day-to-day sales world? Can you maintain the level of self discipline required to tighten up and focus on getting the most out of your time and effort? Maybe you can and maybe you can’t.

Is The Answer...Hypnotism?

OK, keep reading. Don’t leave me quite yet.

A year or so ago I attended a networking luncheon. It is a regular event that I enjoy. The luncheon features good food, good fellowship and interesting speakers (for the most part). The speaker that day was a Hypnotist. After lunch and during her lecture, she proceeded to hypnotize most of the people in the room. I cheated and watched everyone else in the room from a slightly opened eye. The imaginary balloon on their right hand lifted most right hands in the room. The imaginary heavy rock in their left hand had many breathing hard and struggling to keep their hand level. It caused me to ask a few questions.

I asked the Hypnotist if her services would be useful to sales organizations. Could she condition salespeople to do the right things and avoid doing the wrong things? She said it was possible. Hmmmmm! That would also be an example of “Mind over Matter”.

No Brain Games

The concept fascinates me. It is out of the box. It makes me chuckle. Will I recommend it? No…I don’t thing so.