Carson V. Heady's Blog, page 43

🌟 Embracing Failure and Unlocking Success 🌟

Too often, we shy away from discussing or even acknowledging our failures, fearing that they define us or hinder our progress. However, I’ve come to realize that failure is an invaluable teacher and a stepping stone towards success.

It’s essential to acknowledge the sting of failure, to sit with it and understand its impact. Facing adversity can be awful, but it is during these challenging moments that we must resist the urge to stay down. We must rise again.

Napoleon Hill’s timeless classic, “Think and Grow Rich,” has taught us that many people find success precisely when others would have given up due to failure or the fear of it. This past year, I’ve learned a valuable lesson: the value of failing faster.

Failing faster means being willing to take risks and venture into uncharted territory, even if there’s a chance of failure. It’s about understanding that failure often clears the fog, revealing new perspectives and opportunities that would have remained hidden otherwise.

Stepping out of our comfort zones and embracing failure is how we grow and develop the resilience needed to handle future setbacks.

Failure isn’t the end; it’s a catalyst for improvement. When we fail, we gain insights into alternative paths and solutions. Whether it’s receiving a “no” during a deal or negotiating within an organization, those rejections guide us towards the next steps, helping us build the necessary relationships and resourcefulness to orchestrate success.

Throughout my personal relationships and career, I’ve learned valuable lessons through failure. These experiences have shaped me into someone who can remain calm, poised, and confident, even in the face of failure.

Remember, success rarely follows a straight line. It’s the twists, turns, and barricades that challenge us to become better versions of ourselves. So, embrace failure, welcome it with open arms. Allow it to guide you, to teach you, and to lead you towards the extraordinary.

#FailureToSuccess #EmbraceTheSting #RiseAboveAdversity #LearnFromFailure #ThinkAndGrowRich #FailingFaster #SteppingStoneToSuccess #EmbraceTheUnknown #ResilienceMatters #AlternativePaths #OrchestratingSuccess #LessonsLearned #EmbraceTheJourney #SuccessThroughSetbacks #TwistsAndTurns #BecomingBetter #EmbraceFailure #UnlockYourPotential #Success #Career

THRIVE Podcast – Meridith Elliott Powell: Secret to Reaching Your Full Potential with Carson Heady

Strategies for Success in Uncertain Times

Carson and Meredith discuss how sales got a bad rap and how it has become a challenging profession for many people. Carson suggests that poor practitioners are to blame. These are the ones who manipulate and come across as “salesy,” which customers can see and smell from a mile away. In contrast, Carson emphasizes being a noble practitioner of selling, someone who puts the customer’s needs first, builds trust, and focuses on delivering value.

Meredith then shifts the conversation to mindset and strategies for becoming a high achiever. Carson shares that he believes in the power of mindset and has developed a set of strategies that have helped him and his clients become successful. He emphasizes the need to build self-confidence, develop a growth mindset, focus on goals, and surround oneself with positive influences.

Carson explains that building self-confidence requires pushing oneself outside of one’s comfort zone. He suggests taking small steps that stretch one’s abilities and celebrating each win along the way. Developing a growth mindset involves embracing challenges, learning from failures, and seeing obstacles as opportunities for growth.

Focusing on goals involves setting clear objectives and breaking them down into actionable steps. Carson advises being flexible and willing to pivot when necessary. Finally, surrounding oneself with positive influences involves seeking out mentors, coaches, and supportive networks. It also involves guarding against negative influences and self-talk.

How to Avoid Burnout: Ruthless Discipline and Focused Non-Negotiables

In today’s fast-paced world, burnout is a real problem. With constant activity and the expectation of immediate responses, it’s easy to get pulled into the minutia of everything and forget what success really looks like. But there is a solution, and it involves ruthless discipline and focused non-negotiables.

To avoid burnout, it’s important to step back and focus on the big rocks, the key areas that will help you be successful and deliver wins for your customers. To do this, you need to be able to scale but also focus on what’s truly important.

One way to do this is to create a list of non-negotiables every day. These are the things that must be accomplished before you get sucked into the minutia of everything else. By focusing on these non-negotiables, you’ll be able to avoid burnout and feel energized and accomplished all day.

Another important element is to carve out time for yourself. This could be as simple as going to the gym or taking a walk outside. Finding ways to infuse your passions into what you do is also important. You can be the change you want to see in your workplace by building community and culture around what you do.

It’s important to be attuned to what you’re feeling and available to support others who may be going through the same thing. Building relationships is crucial, especially during times of stress and uncertainty.

Navigating Sales: Tips for Finding Fulfillment and Success

Sales can be a challenging career path, with a lot of pressure to meet targets and quotas. However, it can also be a fulfilling and lucrative profession for those who are passionate about helping others win and delivering results.

One of the most important things to consider when pursuing a career in sales is understanding your unique strengths and superpowers. What are you passionate about, and what are you great at? These are the questions you should ask yourself to help identify what kind of sales role would be a good fit for you. Being intentional about your strengths and how you can use them to serve others is key to finding fulfillment in your sales career.

It’s also essential to have a clear understanding of why you’re attracted to sales. For many people, it’s the desire to help others and deliver wins. This innate human desire is fundamental to the sales profession and should be at the forefront of your motivation. However, if you find yourself unhappy in your current sales role, it’s important to reassess why you’re in sales and whether you might find fulfillment in another role or industry.

Navigating the pressure of sales can be challenging, but it’s important to remember that it’s not personal. You work for an organization that has targets to meet, and the pressure exists for a reason. Having a growth mindset and understanding that pressure is a privilege is key to managing the pressure and finding success in sales.

For introverts, the pressure of sales can be particularly challenging. However, being an introvert can actually be an advantage in sales, as it can allow you to listen more attentively to your clients and build deeper relationships. Finding ways to recharge your energy and take care of your mental health is crucial for introverts to thrive in a sales role.

Leading Through Turbulent Times + Mastering Social and Enterprise Selling: Insights and Strategies from Mike Weinberg’s Latest Podcast Episode with Carson Heady

I’ve followed Mike Weinberg for several years and love his books & podcast: his candid take on the beautiful arena of sales is profound and makes me better. Honored and thrilled to have been on the latest episode of his podcast.

Please check out the episode here: https://lnkd.in/eBmS4mgJ

First, thank you to Mike for the friendship, lessons and incredible opportunity.

I’m also grateful to everyone who has reached out since the episode aired yesterday – your support has been overwhelming.

During this show, we talked about a lot of important topics:

• The very real exhaustion our sales leaders and professionals face right now
• How to maintain focus and keep a steady hand on the wheel during challenging times
• The importance of building community around what we do
• How these crucibles cause heroes to emerge, and they make us better

• Develop a personal brand that can sustain a rough year
• Control the controllables

• Be intentional and diligent in creating and nurturing relationships, knowing your superpowers and how you can elevate the superpowers of others

And finally, when things get overwhelming, land the step in front of you. Slow it down, gain confidence, reach out to people who can help you and make you better.

I hope you enjoy the show!

#SalesLeadership #SalesProfessionals #PersonalBrand #RelationshipBuilding #Superpowers #CommunityBuilding #Controllables #Focus #ChallengingTimes #SalesTips #SalesStrategy #MikeWeinberg #SalesPodcast #BusinessPodcast #SalesHeroes #ProfessionalDevelopment #SalesCoaching #SalesTraining #SalesSuccess #MindsetShift #CareerGrowth #LeadershipDevelopment #SocialSelling #Podcast #Sales #LinkedIn

5 Musts to Motivate Your Sales Team

Motivation is a critical aspect of success in any field, but it is especially important in sales. A motivated sales team can drive revenue growth and help the business achieve its goals. However, finding and maintaining the right level of motivation can be challenging for sales managers. In this article, we’ll explore the key factors that contribute to a motivated sales team and what sales managers can do to keep their teams motivated.

Know Your Team

The foundation of a successful sales team is built on mutual respect and partnership. As a sales manager, you must know your team members individually, including their strengths, areas of opportunity, aspirations, and what motivates them. Take the time to understand what makes them tick and how they like to be coached. The key is to tailor your approach to each unique personality you train and manage. Also, be aware of how you would want to be managed if you were once in their shoes.

Show Respect

Showing respect to your sales team is critical to gaining their trust and buy-in. Avoid making drastic changes without seeking their feedback or input. Instead, solicit their opinions on how things should be done, and consider their suggestions before making a final decision. Remember that your team members have earned their positions, so until they jeopardize them, don’t impose your way of doing things. Instead, be there to eliminate legitimate obstacles to their success and be ready to call them out when they make excuses.

Agree on Positive Change

Sales managers should meet with their team members regularly to figure out who can move and make a difference, who needs to stay on track, and who needs to move into other roles. Acknowledge their prior successes and areas of opportunity, and lead by fear or criticizing only if you want them to shut down. Instead, focus on guiding and helping them achieve their aspirations. Collaborate with them on a strategy that gives them a higher probability of success in execution. Remember that positive results are a result of a strong process, not just barking orders.

Follow Through on Commitments

A sales manager’s commitment to their team is essential in keeping them motivated. Deliver on the initial and ongoing training and support promised to team members. Be responsive, available, and willing to help with legitimate obstacles. Your commitment will increase their trust and belief in your leadership, even if they don’t always live up to their end of the bargain.

Work to Get Them What They Want

Many sales managers fear supporting their top producers because they might lose productivity. However, promoting those top producers can inspire others to rise to the challenge and strive to be the top producer. Similarly, don’t abandon team members who aren’t a good fit. Instead, provide them with the training and answers they need to succeed in another role, whether internal or external.

In summary, maintaining the happy medium of motivation in sales requires sales managers to know their team members, show them respect, agree on positive change, follow through on commitments, and work to get them what they want. By building mutual trust and respect, sales managers can help their teams stay motivated and achieve their goals.

What Makes a Great Coach?

Coaching is a great responsibility and privilege that needs to be done intentionally and with clear purpose.

As a coach, you are an advocate and evangelist for your team. You are responsible for uncovering their “why” – what motivates them, what they care about, and what they want to achieve. Some people care about getting paid, while others care about winning and achieving success. Whatever it is, it’s your job to understand their needs and help them achieve their goals.

One of the most critical elements of coaching is building trust and transparency. As a coach, you need to understand where your team members are in their learning and career journey, what they want from you, and how often they want to meet. You need to establish a plan together and work towards it, whether that involves taking on a new role, being promoted, or improving their brand.

Communication is also vital in coaching. You need to over-communicate and send a lot of information to ensure that your team members understand the processes, see behind the curtain, and feel trusted and included. A good coach ensures that there is trust and transparency between leaders and teams, enabling them to do their best work.

At the heart of coaching is helping team members achieve their goals. This involves setting milestones, working towards goals, and being proactive in achieving them. A great coach is clear about expectations, sets goals, and proactively works towards them.

Finally, being a great coach also means being a good person, treating people with respect, and earning their trust. The best coaches lead by example and inspire their teams to achieve great things. Whether you’re a new coach or a seasoned veteran, at the heart of it all is just being a good person and treating people with respect.

Living Your Why: Finding Purpose and Fulfillment in Life

Living a fulfilling life is all about knowing your why. It’s that one thing that drives you every single day, keeps you motivated, and helps you stay on track towards your goals. But how do you figure out your why? And once you do, how do you make sure you’re living it to the fullest?

Whether you’re leading a team or just trying to find your own way, understanding your why is essential. As a leader, it’s important to understand the motivations of your team members. What drives them? What are their ultimate goals? Understanding their why will help you keep them motivated and engaged, and it will also help you identify ways to help them succeed.

For me, my why has changed over the years. When I was younger, it was about making my parents proud. Later, it was about achieving success in my career. And now, it’s about making a positive impact on the world around me. But no matter what my why has been, I’ve always tried to live it to the fullest.

Living your why means being true to yourself, even when faced with difficult decisions or challenges. It means staying focused on your goals and making choices that align with your values. When you live your why, you’re able to contribute to the world around you in a meaningful way.

So how do you find your why? It starts with asking yourself some key questions. What are your ultimate goals? What drives you to succeed? What do you want to achieve in your career, your personal life, and your relationships? When you have a clear understanding of your why, you can start making choices that align with it.

Living your why is a lifelong journey. It’s not something that you figure out once and then forget about. Your why will evolve and change over time, and that’s okay. As long as you stay true to yourself and keep your focus on what’s most important to you, you’ll be able to live your why to the fullest.

In conclusion, knowing your why is essential to living a fulfilling life. It helps you stay motivated, focused, and engaged, and it allows you to make a positive impact on the world around you. Whether you’re leading a team or just trying to find your own way, take the time to understand your why and make choices that align with it. You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve when you live your why to the fullest.

Transparency in Sales: Building Relationships & Earning the Right to Be a Trusted Advisor

Sales is often associated with closing deals and achieving excellent sales results. However, true sales excellence is not just about hitting numbers, it is about becoming a student of all the variables and parameters involved in the playing field. This starts with building relationships and utilizing resources. The ultimate goal should be to become a trusted advisor to your clients, and deals and sales results will come as a byproduct of these relationships.

To build strong relationships, honesty and sincerity are essential. Instead of rattling off a list of the great things about your product or service, acknowledge the limitations and show a willingness to learn about the client’s needs and priorities. By doing so, you will stand out from other sellers, and your authenticity will help build trust with your potential clients.

The importance of transparency in sales cannot be overstated. Whether you work for a small or large organization, acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses is crucial. Conducting a SWOT analysis on your competitors and yourself can help you identify gaps in the market that you can fill. When reaching out to potential clients, be open about any investment they have made in your company, and show them how you can provide additional resources to maximize their investment.

Another crucial element of transparency in sales is being open about the deals you offer. By showing clients what levers you can pull to bring resources, provide funding, or offer discounts, they will see that you are working in partnership with them, and they will be more willing to engage with you. Understanding their budget, priorities, and buying process will also make you more in tune with their needs and increase the likelihood of a successful partnership.

In conclusion, sales excellence is not just about closing deals and achieving excellent sales results; it is about building strong relationships with clients and being transparent about your strengths and weaknesses. By becoming a trusted advisor to your clients, you can create long-term partnerships that benefit both parties. Remember, transparency is not just essential in sales, but in life as well.

Mastering Sales: Elevating Brand, Impacting Results, & Controlling the Controllables

In today’s world, social media has become an integral part of building and nurturing relationships in the business world. As a social seller, I have been able to create meaningful global relationships, amass a significant social following, and even get recognized as the number one social seller in my company, Microsoft. In this blog post, I want to share with you some of the insights and tips that have helped me achieve this.

It’s crucial to understand that sales is a people and process game. It’s all about relationships and resources. Therefore, it’s essential to invest in building relationships with the people who matter most, both internally and externally. These relationships can benefit customer relationships and career growth. With the help of social media, you can engage with the right people and build lasting relationships.

Social selling is a probability game. Just like gambling, you need to understand the probability behind your actions. The quality, quantity, and consistency of your outreach and engagement are critical factors that you can control. Understanding the metrics and statistics of your actions will help you optimize your efforts and achieve better results.

Control the controllables. There are many variables in sales that we cannot control, such as competition undercutting prices. Focusing on the things that we can control, such as the quality of our outreach, the quantity of our engagement, and the consistency of our execution, is paramount.

It’s essential to be a student of the game. Sales is a constantly evolving field, and you need to keep up with the latest trends, tools, and techniques. You also need to build a playbook that outlines your accounts, investments, and milestones. By understanding the playing field, you can position your resources and investments strategically.

Sales is not just about closing deals but building relationships – creating and nurturing them while delivering value are keys to success. Understanding the motivations and needs of customers and colleagues is crucial to building these relationships.

Technology has also empowered salespeople in the digital workforce, allowing them to be in front of customers with the press of a button. It empowers and enables us to show up with more insights, show up better and open doors we would not be able to open otherwise. Balancing this with face-to-face work where it makes sense and is mutually agreeable is the present state and future of sales.

To develop mastery of sales, understand and develop your unique superpowers and personal brand, whether your desired outcome is promotion, a paycheck or meaningful impact in your organization.

How to Lead From Every Seat

What does it mean to lead from every seat? That we can all be leaders, no matter what our job title is. More than ever, it is so important to focus on building our personal brand, discovering our passions, and finding ways to contribute to others regardless of title.

We all have the ability to lead from every seat, by sharing best practices, seeking out mentorships and relationships, and proactively solving problems that our leaders may face.

Being a leader means more than just achieving individual success. It means looking for ways to increase our impact and outcomes for everyone we touch, whether that’s our customers, our team, or our colleagues.

By nurturing relationships and investing in others, we can become ambassadors for our brand and trailblazers for our field.

As someone who has worked in both leadership and individual contributor roles, I know that there are always opportunities to do more, to take on stretch projects that fuel our passions and lead to wins for others.

When things don’t go exactly as we want them to, we can also consciously choose to hit the challenge head on and embody the qualities of a true leader.

So, let’s seek those opportunities for broader impact, to build community, and to be the servant leaders that make a real difference. When we focus on creating value for others, we all shine brighter and achieve even greater success.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. What qualities do you think are most important for leaders, regardless of title? Let’s continue to support each other and build a community of true leaders.

#LeadFromEverySeat #PersonalBrand #Ambassador #Trailblazer #ServantLeadership #Mentorship #Relationships #StretchProjects #CommunityBuilding #ValueCreation #TrueLeaders #LeadershipQualities #Collaboration #Impact #Outcomes #Success #Passion #CareerDevelopment #CareerGrowth #Leadership #Management #GrowthMindset #LifelongLearner

What is YOUR Superpower?

What is your superpower? The unique attributes you have whether a talent, skill or just a way of thinking, your superpower can help you transform and infuse passion into everything you do.

It can be challenging to find “the perfect job” or easy answers on your life and career journey. But if you tap into how your superpower can make everyone around you better, it can elevate your fulfillment exponentially.

It’s amazing what you can achieve when you combine your passion with your work.

It’s also about finding the superpowers of others and helping them amplify their strengths. By forming mutually beneficial relationships and adding value to each other, we can all win together.

So take some time today to think about your superpower and how you can bring it into your work. And don’t forget to look for the superpowers of others and help them shine!

What’s YOUR superpower?

#Superpower #Passion #CareerJourney #Strengths #Skills #Talent #PersonalGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #Motivation #Inspiration #Success #Collaboration #Networking #Mentorship #Leadership #Teamwork #Empowerment #CareerAdvice #CareerTips #CareerGoals #Career #Leadership #Management #GrowthMindset #LifelongLearner