Brain contribution

When we express gratitude, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin - two hormones that make us feel lighter and happier inside. It’s been really important to take care of our minds during this pandemic and understanding how to trigger this feeling is an important tool to have at our disposal. Before you can trigger it, let’s understand why gratitude is so important. We experience gratitude when we shift our focus from what we don’t have to what we do, and when we take time to appreciate and be thankful for those who have contributed to the abundance in our lives.

Which part of the brain controls our important cognitive skills, for example, emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, judgement, and sexual behaviours?
The amygdala is responsible for the ‘fight/flight/freeze’ mechanism of our bodies and when stress makes you feel anger, aggression, or fear, the fight-flight response mechanism is activated. The frontal lobe controls our short-sighted behaviours to be able to act with a goal in mind and this may include things  like self-control, planning, decision-making and problem-solving. I think that it’s the subconscious mind that controls all our behaviours and since it is open to continued suggestions, we are being changed by the constant messaging. 

Active imagination

Imagination is more important than knowledge because imagination is the only thing that can open up our minds and our hearts to the possible - to the successful and fulfilling future we all envision for ourselves but that may seem out of reach because we currently don't have the knowledge to see the exact path to that.

“I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
— Albert Einstein

Sunday exercise

When we close our eyes, or even if our eyes are open and start to use our imagination - the Einstein brain - we have just activated one of the bigger centres of our brain, the occipital lobe that’s connected to the motor cortex. It’s also connected to the motivational circuit; the nucleus comes and releases that dopamine that makes you feel good and makes you want to act. So, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, if you visualise yourself behaving in ways that match the new belief, even if you visualise the words or you take the words on a sheet of paper and you read them. 

 

Try it: Close your eyes, see it, and feel it, your brain will begin to create a mental movie with the words and as it creates a mental movie with the words that’s happening in your subconscious mind. And when you give the subconscious mind these instructions a couple of things happen because of the way the brain hierarchy works. Number one is survival; number two is safety and number three is energy conservation. When you do something consistently, it takes between 60 and 365 days of repetition to override an old habitual circuit. Therefore, if you visualise yourself achieving the goal, feeling the success you want to feel, seeing the belief on the screen of your mind, you are actually creating an artificial numeral network through the science of neuroplasticity. And since your brain wants to conserve energy, if you do this on a consistent basis, your brain will automatically set aside the old beliefs and replace them with new beliefs, and then you will have deliberately and consciously evolved yourself.

New mindset, new results

When somebody says no to you, don’t take it personally, in my mind when they say, no - I say next, which means when you say no to me, I’m just going to move onto the next client or opportunity. There’s so much business out there, so are so many potential customers to go after, you just have to have the abundance mindset. 

 

Always reflect on why you lost the sale when you are rejected. And ask: What could I have done better? I will always encourage you to reflect on why you lost that deal but don’t just sit there and beat yourself up about being rejected. The real sales mindset is that the rejection is not about you and rejection is part of the game, that’s why you are in sales - if you don’t like rejection, you really shouldn’t be in sales.

Remote working

In the current remote working world, managers and leaders must promote ownership and accountability to help their employees to connect to the organisations mission. Do you have a clear picture about your team members?

-       Who are they as a person?
-       What skills can be improved?
-       How can you help them to thrive?

 

Leaders who want to maximise self-motivation for each member of their team would have given them a clear definition of their purpose and role in the organisation as they began working from home. And this should be connected to the organisations overall purpose (or why). Purpose may include a desire to make an impact by contributing to something larger than themselves or challenging themselves to grow and learn new skills. Overcoming challenges and acquiring mastery is one of the most satisfying parts of the human experience, regardless of whether it is work related or not. How well do you understand your employees’ current skills, aptitude, and potential?

Consensus buying

More people are now involved in making buying decisions in the B2B world as the product or service being sold will probably impact more than one stakeholder, and in some cases more than one department. And the risk associated with this high-priced item you are offering comes with more risk; therefore, more people need to be in on the buying process. The challenge we face as salespersons is now, we must develop “consensus buying.” When I say consensus buying, I mean it’s difficult to get 5 to 10 decision makers on the same page. How do we control the narrative? It’s the salespersons job to find common ground and work towards a consensus.

 

All stakeholders have an opinion on what they should buy and for what reasons they should buy, and in many cases it’s all about self-interest as they are only looking from their own perspective. Now this gives the salesperson an opportunity to get people on board, build consensus and serve all these different interests. Therefore, good sales training is more important than ever before, contact via e-mail for sales training and workshops.

Dream big

All our unfulfilled dreams, constitute a limitation on what we are and could become. Usually it’s fear and it’s close cousin, anxiety, that keep us from doing those things that would make us happy. The things we long to do - educate ourselves, become successful in our work, fall in love - are goals shared by all. The things we are afraid to try usually are made up of broken promises to ourselves. Yet the means to achieve these things are not obscure. Why don’t we do what is necessary to become the people we want to be?

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
— Henry David Thoreau

Most people are stuck in life because of fear, fear of everything outside their comfort zones. We are exposed and vulnerable when crossing a bridge; that keeps many of us from crossing to where our dreams live. Our minds have a way of rising to the occasion - challenge it - and it will reward you. Our dreams transport us to magical places that we try to capture in music, film and art, but we only dream when we sleep deeply. I think you should focus more on why you want your dreams to come true, rather than on how to make them come true. When we do this, the “hows” happen in a miraculous way.

Going through the motions

Now we are in the first week of 2022 and after the festive season many people are struggling to get back into the work rhythm. I think human behaviour is driven by our attitudes, and our attitude is based around the beliefs that we have. Maybe if you understand at a deeper level what you really want then you will really want to act. What’s your passion?

When you develop that something that’s bigger than yourself, it will help you to stay focused and stop your subconscious mind from hijacking your thought process. I think that if you learn to sell and share information, then selling products and services will become as natural as positioning yourself at an interview or on a date. When you are in a leadership position, you must be able to sell the organisation’s vision, goals  and your ideas with enthusiasm and energy if you want your team to follow without protest.

“When it comes to developing your style, listen to other people and absorb what is useful, discard what is not and add what is uniquely yours.”
— Bruce Lee

Working from home

Working from home is not a new phenomenon but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it has become the new normal for most employees. It’s more than likely that many of you have been or will be working remotely for the foreseeable future, so it’s imperative to distinguish between private and professional life at home. As employees are the key drivers for all businesses, companies, and organisations, hopefully your boss sent you home with more than just your laptop. 

 

In a remote working model, autonomy, mastery and purpose will help leaders to replace control with empowered self-control. Leaders and managers should focus on empowering and motivating their teams by establishing clear goals and boundaries for each member of their team and allow them freedom to operate within these boundaries. I think leaders and managers should concede control and enhance motivation by trusting employees to work in ways that suits them best.

Think positive

The brain tends to focus more on negative thoughts and this is based on the instinctual parts of the brain. We can train ourselves to focus on the positives as well. Here’s a simple exercise: Write down 3 things you are grateful for and 3 things that you did well every day for 7 days. By doing this simple you can change your brain and you will see your self-esteem grow. The more you are grateful, the more you will have to be grateful for.

Teach a man to fish

Hunting is all about the kill, while gathering or farming requires nurturing over time to yield the bounty. In his book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Jared Diamond studied why some cultures today are highly advanced and others are still living very primitive. One of the key factors he found was the difference between how they ate. A hunter for example ‘works today, eats today,’ which points to short-term thinking. On the other hand, a farmer can grow a crop that can last him a whole year or more, which requires more nurturing but also provides more long-term resources.

When setting goals, you want to set both short-term and long-term goals. A short-term goal is a goal that is designed to be completed in a short period of time, typically, between a few weeks and six months Long-term goals can be anything ranging from a year to ten or even twenty years. They may be vague, but that is exactly what long-term goals are meant to be – to serve as a vision for your future.

Take responsibility

As we near the end of the calendar year we’ll see many people setting goals both sales and personal goals for the New Year. Are your goals financial, physical, educational or career? Setting goals gives you both a long-term vision and a short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge and helps you to organise your time and resources so that you can make the most of your life. I think that they will abandon them within a couple of weeks, as most goals and resolutions are intentions and intentions don’t equal behaviours or achievements. Every one of us are in our current situation right now as a result of our life choices, behaviours, and habits.


By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you'll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. You will also raise your self-confidence, as you recognise your own ability and competence in achieving the goals that you've set. Contact me via e-mail when you ready to take responsibility and fulfil your goals like top-level athletes, successful businesspeople, and high achievers.

Magic words

I’m interested in making good things and creating a buzz for organisations. I own my feelings, my emotions, and my results. I’ve learned how to be responsible, to be able to respond to emotions that are unpleasant and to feelings that are undesirable. I have learned that whatever is happening in my world, I have the ability to upgrade my skills so that I can use everything that’s happening in a way that serves me as opposed to a way that hurts me or moves me back.

“I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.”
— Muhammad Ali

Dealing with rejection

A study by the Sales Benchmark Index concluded that only 13% are natural born salespeople, that means that 87% have to work at it, learn how to sell and rejection is part of the learning process. Most salespeople hate to be rejected, they hate how they feel after putting all that time and effort into that deal or relationship and then the client says no. Rejection is one of those things that we all know can install self-doubt, but when people reject your product or service, they are not rejecting you - don’t take it personally, stop being so egotistical, it’s about your product or service.

 

Would you like to learn how to shift your paradigm and view rejection as an indicator that something is not right? Rejection is an indicator that you are doing something wrong. I think that customers will reject you in sales based on three things: product, presentation (sales pitch) or price and it hardly ever has anything to do with you personally, so don’t get emotional when you lose a sale.

1. The product is not aligned with what they want or need. and the way to fix that is by improving your pitch.
2. The price, as maybe they can’t afford it.
3. A good presentation consists of you showing the customer how your product or service is going to help them increase their revenue, reduce their costs and/or expand their market share.

 

Most salespeople blame the product or the price for being rejected, and both of these can be fixed with a great sales pitch (presentation). It’s never really about the product unless you are selling to the wrong market but if you know who your target market is you know it’s not the product. And if you are targeting the right people in the right market segment and in the right demographics then you’ll know that it isn’t really about the price. If you are being rejected the indicator is that one of those 3 are broken and it’s most likely it’s the pitch.

A golden opportunity

When there’s too many options the brain locks up! Have you heard the term, buyers regret? Buyer’s regret is where buyers would rather not decide than decide and be wrong. When there are more options, this provides a golden opportunity for salespersons to help the customer and become that trusted advisor. The opportunity to explain things to the buyer and help guide them into a buying decision, now salespersons are more valuable than ever. In other words, it’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell in today’s market, and good salespersons are more valuable than ever because there’s more options.

 

As a salesperson you are not just selling a product or service, you are selling the way to build their business and different ways they can use it. What if you start getting more creative about how your product or service can help the company increase revenue? What if you start getting more creative about how your product or service can help the company reduce expenses? What about if you can help them expand their market share in ways that they haven’t thought about? The fact that you can give them ideas, positions you as the expert, the person with insights who adds value in the conversation.

Focus on yourself

Stop focusing on what other people have and start focusing on what you have. Everyone defines their own success, and when it comes to selling - shift your mindset. It’s not about forcing someone to buy something they don’t want, that’s the wrong mindset. The right mindset says, how can I help you solve a pressing problem to help you build your business, to help you protect your assets, to help you become better. Why? Because if I can help you, I serve you and make money at the same time, so it’s a win-win solution.