“What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver

Of course we Ravens fans are disappointed. We wanted a trip to Super Bowl XLVI so badly we could taste it, and the way in which we lost that opportunity really stings. Our guys played their hearts out in that championship game… in fact, they totally outplayed the Pats, yet they fell short nonetheless. The Ravens were unable to accomplish their – and by extension, our – goal of bringing the Lombardi Trophy to Baltimore.

But step away from that sad scene for a moment and ask yourself this: why is it that we, as a society, are so hung up on winner-take-all goals and one-shot outcomes set within arbitrary timeframes? This is a phenomenon not only in sports, but also in our schooling, in our careers, in our businesses – even in our personal relationships and our parenting.

What if we were to turn away from outcomes and instead place our emphasis on the craft – on becoming better at what we do every day as a person, as a partner and parent, as a team, as a company, and as a society? It all comes down to the issue of what’s most important, the journey or the destination. We don’t like to talk about journey because we think it means there’s no reason to strive for excellence, because in the end everybody gets a participation trophy, right? Our capitalistic culture would definitely say that destination trumps journey. But if that’s true, why do we never hear a dying person say, “I wish I’d made more money”?

Back to the Ravens. The Super Bowl was their destination, but unfortunately the team bus broke down before they could get there, metaphorically speaking. There’s nothing to celebrate in that, right? But look what happens when we shift our attention to the Ravens’ journey. We see a group of men dedicated to doing their best work every day, practicing and playing to the max. We see men committed to their teammates, their coaches, their sport, their fans, and their community. We see the superhuman effort that goes into amassing a 12-4 record. We see an entire city united in its passion for football and the hometown team.

Sure, there were mistakes along the way, but there’s still room for improvement. When you’re focused on the journey, there isn’t a dead end like there is when you’re fixed solely on the destination. With destination, you risk running into a big red stop sign at some point. With journey, there’s always a tomorrow. There’s always more road. It’s always first and goal – and it’s always your ball.

Veteran Ravens linebacker, Ray Lewis understands the power of journey. Here’s part of his postgame speech to his teammates following the loss to the Patriots:

 God has never made a mistake. It ain’t about one play.

 This year, we did what we were supposed to do. We fought as a team. There will be one Super Bowl champ crowned at the end of this year, that’s it. So the way we feel, somebody gonna feel like that tomorrow, and somebody gonna feel like that in a week. That’s a fact. And the fact is, we gotta come back and go to work to make sure we finish it next time. That’s all we gotta do.

 … I’m telling you, man, don’t ever — don’t ever — drop your head when it comes to a loss, dog, because there’s too much pain outside of this that people are really going through. This right here makes us stronger. Let’s understand who we are as a team, let’s understand who we are as men, and let’s make somebody smile when we walk out of here. We got the opportunity to keep going, men. Let’s be stronger as a team, men.

 Let’s be who we are.

Yes, Lewis gets it. I believe there are three questions we’ll each ask ourselves at the end of our lives: Did I live? Did I love? Did I give? If you lived (or played football, or worked in business) with journey at your center, you’ll be able to answer each of those questions in the affirmative, just as Lewis did in his speech. In that spirit, let’s reconsider the Ravens’ season.

Did they live? Oh yeah. Nobody could suggest that these guys didn’t live to the fullest.

Did they love their sport… their teammates… their fans? Absolutely. Their passion for all three has been an inspiration all season long.

Did they give it their all? Without a doubt. They left nothing on the field, especially in that final game.

Look, I’m a business guy. I care about my team ultimately reaching its destination and achieving excellent results. But the pressure folks put on themselves toward that end sometimes causes them to botch the essential day-to-day stuff, and when that happens, they risk dropping the ball – and isn’t it a shame when you drop the ball just as you’re about to reach the end zone?

So, here’s to a renewed focus on journey for the Ravens – and for all of us. I predict great success in the coming season as a result.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

It’s the dawn of 2012 – the year we’ve all been waiting for, thanks to the Mayans and their spooky calendar forecasting the end of the world in December. Some of my friends have jokingly threatened to max out their credit cards, take up smoking, stop exercising, move to a beach house, and live it up this year. Why not, right? If the end time is coming, who cares about bad credit scores, smoker’s cough, or expanding waistlines?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel just yet. The Mayans may have foretold doomsday, but I’ve got my own set of predictions for 2012. I’m not suggesting who’s going to win the next election or the Super Bowl. My predictions are less about events and more about dynamics – the nature of the dynamics between us and our companies, our colleagues, our families and friends, and our communities.

If we’re not careful, gridlock will become a way of life. In 2012, we’ll continue to see gridlock in politics (neither side of the aisle is willing to compromise), travel (out-dated and under-funded infrastructure vis-à-vis our roadways, the FAA, and a lack of fuel-efficient travel alternatives), and customer service (a generally lackluster and synthetic approach to handling customer service issues). Whether it’s in politics, travel, or customer service, gridlock is evidence that assets have been overleveraged; that there is little more to give. So, if all signs point to more impasses, more stalemate, and more logjams, is gridlock something we’re going to have to get used to? Maybe not… I think 2012 has the potential to be the year of anti-gridlock.

What follows are 10 things I think will influence all of our relationships in the coming year to help push through the gridlock that was 2011, whether the Mayans were right about the End of Days or not.

1.  Non-traditional education is in. We all agree that computers (and iPads) should be used in school, and that we should tailor teaching to the way our kids learn, not the other way around. In 2012, we will see the needle move in our antiquated education model. There will no longer be a devotion to one-size-fits-all. The curriculum is no longer a sacred cow. The Khan Academy and Moodle are testaments to this. Open source learning platforms like these will make it possible to get curriculum from anywhere in the world, quickly and inexpensively. This is a game changer.

2.  Tablets will rule the day. The same way smart phones revolutionized the way we navigate our world (now, we can even use our phones to pay for a cup of coffee at Starbucks) so too, will tablets. Tablets are going to be an essential part of our everyday lives, for everything from reading books to shopping to doing our jobs. American Airlines is even allowing its pilots to use iPads in the air versus carrying on hefty flight manuals and charts, and the company estimates it’s going to save over a million dollars a year in fuel costs as a result. Just another environmentally-friendly step closer to eradicating paper. In fact, I think tablets will be the nail in the coffin for conventional newspapers.

3.  Videos, videos, and more videos. Whereas social media was the hot item in 2011, mobile media will be all the rage in 2012. I’m not talking about high-end production in terms of video quality. No, it’s all about the content. It’s so easy for anyone, anywhere, to capture a moment, an experience, or an event and then quickly distribute it worldwide; and what’s going to distinguish all of those feeds will be the content. People will gravitate to what’s most valuable.

4.   The ball is in the employee’s court. Throughout the late 2000’s, providing an excellent client experience was the focus of the most successful companies. But beginning in 2012, we’re going to see the emergence of a talent war which will force companies to not only provide an excellent client experience, but also a superior employee experience. Even though we still have high unemployment rates, there are tens of thousands of jobs available because there is a lack of qualified workers to fill them. There is going to be more competition for talent than ever before, especially in highly technical fields. Those who are qualified will be a hot commodity, and employers will have to compete to attract and keep the best and brightest.

5.   Stories still sell. This is a prediction that would probably come true every single year, not just in 2012. We, as human beings, are always going to be compelled by the will-to-win story, the story of a person or a company who had to struggle to overcome a challenge. We love the underdog because their stories give us hope, which is something we always need. So, stories will be the continued medium for how we communicate – and how we sell.

6.   Grit is the new currency. This goes back to #5: we will really begin to appreciate people who have worked through hardship and persevered. The more challenge you’ve overcome, the more trustworthy you are. In fact, grit is the leading indicator to trust. There’s something pure about someone overcoming a challenge versus someone who’s won the lottery or who’s famous for being famous (Hello, Paris Hilton! Hello, Snooki!). The latter do not inspire compelling, lasting relationships built on trust. They’re the antithesis of grit, and people will soon tire of them.

7.   Advice is a must. In a world where competition is fierce, people will be looking for every edge they possibly can. With fewer resources, less energy, and less to leverage, every decision becomes more critical. They’re looking for the newest, the best, the tried and true – whatever it is that’s going to help them move forward more quickly and efficiently. From consulting to continuing education, if it’s going to help folks net better results, people are going to be into it.

8.   Emotional intelligence finally breaks into the MBA programs for real. At last, the idea that ones’ emotional intelligence is as important to their success as their IQ will become institutionalized, and it will happen in an incredibly important place: the programs that train our business professionals. The notion that it takes more than book smarts to be a great business leader has been teetering on the brink of mainstream thinking for quite a while, but this year it will finally take flight in American MBA programs. It’s about time.

9.   This will be a reinvesting year… again. 2012 will not be a year to make withdrawals, but rather to continue making deposits. Reinvest, reinvest, reinvest, reinvest. I know we’re all tired of this. We’ve been doing it ad nauseam for three years now. But it is what it is, and we can’t expect the economy to be massively different than it was in 2011. Don’t expect to work any less hard. In fact, be prepared to work twice as hard, and be prepared for it to take twice as long to get us back to a pre-2008 economic landscape. We will probably have to do the same thing again next year, too. I know that’s blunt, but there’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is our new reality. It’s about living within our means. Being pragmatic with our finances. Investing in relationships and reinvesting in our companies, in our infrastructure, in our health, and in our communities. Trust me; these investments really will pay off… eventually.

10.   Gratitude is the common ground. Despite the difficulties we’re bound to face in 2012, we still have a pretty unique opportunity in this country. So if we want to find something to rally around, it would be in the form of gratitude, because it can always be worse. Our situation is not permanent. It’s not the end of the world. We have such incredible freedoms and opportunities, and so many choices compared to people in other countries. Sure, we have challenges headed our way, but at least we can be grateful for another year to be who we are, to really begin to share our perspectives with each other, and to listen to one another’s stories, because I believe that could actually move us out of gridlock and into a brighter tomorrow.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

Thanksgiving evokes images of football, family reunions, roasted turkey with stuffing, and pumpkin pie; but all too often the true meaning of Thanksgiving is lost in the shuffle of the festivities.

This year, as we think about the true meaning of Thanksgiving, the entreQuest team can’t help but express our absolute gratitude to all the individuals and companies we have had the unique privilege to work with. We are truly grateful for the remarkable opportunity to share in their growth and success.

Without a doubt, each of us is grateful for family, friends, and all that is great in our lives, but in a world that is moving so fast, we often times, become immersed in the “actions” of our day, rather than the “impact” of our day and its effects on others. 

Throughout our nation’s early history, several days were proclaimed national days of Thanksgiving and Praise. In 1789 George Washington proclaimed the 26^th of November to be a day of thanksgiving for God’s blessings. Then, years later, in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November, “a national day of thanksgiving and praise”.

Surely, our Founding Fathers were immersed in the many important affairs of their day, and yet these men took time to pause and recognize the importance of gratitude and blessings. As we face the ever changing world of today, let us also pause to reflect upon our blessings and to be thankful.

May this Thanksgiving season be filled with peace, health, and happiness for you and your family.

 “Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” W.J. Cameron

Emily Cosgrove is the Marketing Manager at entreQuest and works closely with all team members to provide employees and clients with remarkable experiences. 

At the core of every company is a promise to improve its clients’ lifestyles in some way.  Oftentimes, this promise is articulated in a mission statement or story.  It is practiced through corporate values and behaviors.  It is delivered through the employee and client experiences.

In the Microsoft Partner community, this promise is understood to fall somewhere along the lines of improving efficiency and effectiveness for individuals and enterprises by providing the best technology.  Or, in the exact words of Microsoft, “to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.”

Assuming that Partners are already wired up with the latest, greatest software programs (created by Microsoft of course), how else can you come to realize your full potential as sales-driven businesspeople aspiring to grow client rosters and revenues?

The reality is that you could come up with hundreds of products and services you have bought into to help improve your job performance.  Let’s see if we can come up with five of them for a quick hit list right now.

1. The chair you’re sitting on – Did it promise to supply more comfort than other chairs, thereby improving your ability to sit longer at your desk and finish more work?
2. The sticky notes placed on top of your papers – Did they promise to help you stay organized, thereby improving your ability to remember what work was the top priority?
3. The local business newspaper in your inbox – Did it promise to keep you in the know of your network, thereby improving your ability to keep your work strategy relevant?
4. The high quality suit you’re wearing – Did it promise to portray your professionalism with style, thereby improving your ability to make good impressions while at work?
5. The energy drink you’re consuming – Did it promise to recharge your body, thereby improving your ability to boost your work output?

Notice that each one of the promises involved the term “work” because practically everything we do and everything around us before the workday and during the workday is part of a self-created process we routinely go through to perform better at work.  Even if it’s watching TV or going to the gym after work to unwind, you’re often doing it to de-stress and refresh before the next day begins and it’s time to get back to work.

At entreQuest, we love all of these activities and accessories.  In fact, our team has invested in hundreds of them combined.  However we are all well aware that there is a shortcut.  We could bypass all of our purchases and programs and get straight to the heart of what drives human progress and organizational optimization.

There is really only one tool that actually has the power to bring in better results.  It cannot be bought, it cannot be consumed, it cannot be checked off.  On the flip side, it can be utilized whenever and it can be developed continually.  It can help you reach your full potential and its full potential is all dependent on you.

It has been the number one weapon in our arsenal here at entreQuest when we gear up to accomplish our corporate goals since the day we opened up our doors.  It is the first principle we have been consulting our clients on and training their sales team with for over ten years.  It is how our network of partners has been surviving the economic recession and how our community will continue to thrive in the future fiscal years to come.

It is MINDSET.

Mindset sits at the foundation of the Access to Achievement – or the module that entreQuest conceived to explain what drives professionals to reach their sales goals.  We use it with our clients in the context of both individual employees and organizations as a whole.

Shaped like a large triangle, at the base sits MINDSET, which takes into account an individual’s beliefs and values as well as a company’s mission and story.  It is the “why” we do what we do and the “why” our business exists.  Mindset is the foundation of all business activity to generate sales, build better relationships, foster good morale, and enhance the greater community.  It is the platform on which sits the next layer of the Access to Achievement triangle – PROCESS.

For an individual, process involves the tasks we must do to generate revenue.  It is the “how” we are going to accomplish what we originally set out to do.  Many of the items we listed in the original hit list including writing reminders on sticky notes, reading through the local business news, and gulping down energy drinks, in addition to making cold calls or following-up with contacts or doing anything extra that will enhance the employee and client experiences, would be placed in the process section.

Finally, sitting at the top of the triangle is RESULTS.  These make up the “what” we define as measurements of our personal goals and our company’s success.  Results are the product of processes and they are only attainable and sustainable if the entire vision and strategy are determined by mindset, inspired by mindset, and maintained by mindset.  Without this all too important foundation, processes and results will not last the long term even if they prove lucrative in the early stages.  The right mindset is how team members and companies effectively and efficiently grow.  It is how everyone can reach their full potential.

Imperatively speaking, Microsoft Partners must make up their mindset to accomplish their goals.  It takes focus, commitment, and effort.  It involves keeping your word, investing your passion, and learning from your mistakes.  It requires delivering excellence and demonstrating exceptionalism.

To control your mindset, you must first understand what it is made of and entreQuest defines this combination as “your recipe for success.”  There are three ingredients: patterns of your physical movement, patterns of your speech, and patterns of your thoughts.  After all, there is a way that you move when you nail a presentation, right?  There is a way that you speak when you’re on during a meeting, isn’t there?  And there is a way that you think when nothing can stop you towards hitting your goal, oh you better believe it!

Successful businesspeople have noted the differences in their movements, their speech, and their thoughts when they achieved results versus when they lost out on opportunities.  They then made a conscious decision to maintain their movements, speech, and thoughts in a positive light so that their recipe for success continually cooks up a mindset that conquers challenges, defies failure, secures satisfaction, and revs up revenue.  You can have this too.  entreQuest teaches its client company teams and seminar trainees to check-in with their mindset as much as they can throughout the workday with a simple six-letter phases: “I move.  I say.  I think.”  Just like a chef has to respect the fact that a master meal can only result from the proper ingredients, so you must remember that a master mindset only brings results with the right recipe for success.

From here, we suggest you go back to your work goals and review them.  You had confidence when you created them so know that you can access the achievement.  It is only a matter of determination and planning accordingly.  In addition to being present at all times to your movement, speech, and thoughts in order to maintain them at the levels required for your special recipe for success, there are other areas you can apply the master mindset.  For instance, where can you make adjustments in your routine to take the extra step with your clients?  How can you hone your explanation of your offering to gain more prospects’ trust?  What are the risks you are not taking or the tasks you are not completing and what is preventing you?  Make up your mindset now to reach your full potential!

Of course the other things come into play too.  Comfortable chairs, sticky notes, local news, business suits, and energy drinks all have their place in assisting us through the challenges of the daily grind.  Microsoft Partners’ products and services obviously add incredible value when it comes to improving business operations so we would never suggest any professional works off mindset alone.  It must be said, however, that if everything on your desk and in your schedule suddenly vanished, a sales-driven professional can still succeed as long as he or she is sourced with a winning mindset.

Mindset is the force behind the saying “always find a way.”  Mindset is the push behind “there’s always room to grow.”  Mindset is even the champion over an excuse like “it’s always something.”

From us at entreQuest to you at every Microsoft Partner around the world, it’s always MINDSET that will access businesspeople to their achievement.  No matter what kind of improvement you need to make in your work, trust us that mindset is the all time greatest hit of the hit list.

Twenty years ago, there was one model that every America could reference for healthy eating – the USDA Food Pyramid.  Taped up to the walls of public school cafeterias or illustrated on the back of cereal boxes, everyone from expert to everyday citizen seemed to agree on the definition of the optimal diet.  Daily, it included:  6 – 11 from the grains group (bread, cereal, rice, pasta), 3 – 5 servings of vegetables, 2 – 4 servings of fruit, 2 – 3 servings of protein (meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, nuts), 2 – 3 servings of dairy (milk, cheese), and then the triangle topped off with the “use sparingly” foods (fats, oils, sweets).

Looking back now, how did that model work out for us?

Statistically speaking, the answer is not very well. 

As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high.”

Hence why the USDA sent a wrecking ball through the food pyramid and then set a plate in its place.  This new circular model acts as a pie chart for what proportions of what foods constitute an appropriate meal.  It also includes a cup of milk to the side.

While we hope the new icon provides a better strategy in America’s ongoing battle with rising obesity rates, we kind of wish the government had consulted entreQuest first.  We might have been able to save them some of the costs related to overhauling their collateral from pyramid to plate. 

Since our the earliest days of our business, we have guided our clients with a triangle and it has been so successful that we could never dream of even slightly changing it.  It is called the Achievement Model and it contains three simple layers.  The bottom and largest layer is MINDSET.  The middle layer is PROCESS.  And the top layer is RESULTS.

Please read the entreQuest article published in SmartCEO for more information on the Achievement Model at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_November_11.03pdf.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

So if MINDSET is the foundation for the PROCESSES that create RESULTS, and the desired result is a healthy state of being, then a food plan is a process to achieve such.  And it all must rest upon a mindset that is determined and focused. 

Bearing that in mind, what would entreQuest have done with the food pyramid?  Simple.  We would have consolidated every piece of it – grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins, dairy products, and “use sparinglys” into the middle layer because portion control and food choices are just processes.  Then we would have made the very top layer represent a healthy lifestyle since that is the stated goal.  Most importantly though, we would have established mindset as the base because if Americans do not really believe that they can become healthier, how can they ever change their bad habits into good ones and make the right decisions over the wrong ones?  Every single reminder and recommendation in the world for what leads to a healthy lifestyle could be tattooed to their hand but if they’re not bought into their mission, that hand could still reach for a dozen donuts with a side of French fries and a supersized milkshake when the cravings come a calling.  Without mindset, processes cannot result in achievement.

It’s the same with a business.  A leader can hire only Ivy League educated candidates and then equip them with only the fastest technology and present them with a perfect day-to-day strategy for performance improvement.  However these types of processes will do nothing if the team members have not made up their mind to better themselves and better their organization.   If employees are not compelled to be the cause of their own success and the success of their company then how can the company ever survive the uphill battle to achievement?  A bad economy or tough competition or even a bad day will deter even the most competent professional’s productivity if their mindset is not aligned to a greater mission.  For corporate growth to occur, each team member must make up his or her mindset to reach goals and live up to both their own potential as well as their company’s values.

The obvious question here is how do you compel your people to master their mindset?  We suggest to our clients that you help them understand the story they are a part of – the story of your company.  If they are not inspired by their company’s values, empowered by their company’s beliefs, and charged by their company’s mission, how can they ever be expected to be inspired, empowered, and charged enough to go through the proper processes and generate real results? 

Understanding the story is not a one-time deal.  It is an ongoing journey.  The most loyal following must still be constantly reminded of the mission at hand.  There are a lot of negative forces out there that will tempt people towards inaction, indifference, falter, and failure.  Like minds, mindsets tend to wander and therefore people must be refreshed about the WHY they are doing what they are doing.  Leaders, managers, and frontline staff members must remain motivated through consistently themed messaging in all programs and protocol throughout the company.  Growth is a process and it is a result but without mindset, growth will be neither.

That goes for healthy lifestyles too.  When Americans are motivated to believe in themselves and embody their success story, their mindset will drive the processes that deliver results.  Only unlike business, these results won’t be growth in the physical sense… 

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Sources: 

“USDA Food Pyramid Out:  Is the New Food Plate Better?” The Huffington Post.  Thursday 2 June 2011.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/food-pyramid-usda_n_870375.html?view=screen.

“U.S. Obesity Trends.”  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Thursday 21 July 2011.  http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html.)

(*The following article was originally published in the current edition of OnPoint Magazine which is available to read at this link: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/1f23836d#/1f23836d/1.)

If you’re looking to grow sales, beware of the temptation look at a sales training program as a cure for what ails you.

Pulling the sales training lever to drive top line revenues is akin to the Fed lowering lending rates to revive the economy.  At its core, the problem with the economy is broken trust (Fannie Mae, AIG, Lehman, etc.) and a lack of consumer confidence.

These aren’t technical problems that require tactical solutions, but rather heart and mind issues that require bigger thinking.

Also at its core, top line revenue growth begins with heart and mind issues that require bigger thinking too.

The Achievement Model

The goal of sales training isn’t simply learning transfer – its growth, either in revenues or profits or both.  John Wooden said it best, “Never confuse activity with productivity.”

The Achievement Model, a simple, yet elegant way to describe how achievement works, provides a context to help us understand why sales training in a vacuum cannot serve as a panacea for growth.  Which is why we ought to take a good look at how the Achievement Model works in the real world.

Results: The First Step

Goal setting, generally speaking, isn’t the problem (although too often theyr’e not S.M.A.R.T. – specific, measurable, attainable, recordable and time bound).  We’re relatively clear about our goal to – lose 40 pounds, stop smoking, or exceed quota, etc.

Short-lived Resolutions

Just setting goals isn’t enough.

Mark Twain said, “It’s easy to quit smoking.  I’ve done it a hundred times.”

It’s such a crystal clear goal, yet how many light up again after only a few months, weeks, or sadly, just a few days.

If it’s not goals, could a weak process be the culprit? 

A Better Process?

An improved process equals improved results, right?  There are a lot of folks out there who will tell you they have their method will help you kick the habit.  In fact, according to Medical News Today, the global smoking cessation market was approximately $13.6 billion last year and is nearly is expected to grow 13% per year through 2015.

There’s no shortage of processes designed to help smokers quit: Hypnosis, Nicorette gum, electric cigarettes, reduced-nicotine cigarettes, skin patches, inhalers, medication, etc.  Yet, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) 76.4% of smokers who attempted to quit using smoking cessation programs failed.

Unfortunately goals and processes are NOT enough.

Why don’t they work ?

Because people put their faith in the process instead of themselves; because they fail to consider the very foundation of achievement – mindset.

Mindset: The Foundation to Sustained Results

According to Webster, mindset is defined as a mental attitude or inclination.  Call it the lens through which we see the world.  Our mindset is shaped by our beliefs.

What we believe matters.  Specifically, do your employees believe in what leadership believes.  Are they inspired?  If not, how can business leaders inspire their people?

Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, says, “All organizations and careers function on 3 levels. What you do, How you do it and Why you do it.  The problem is, most don’t even know that Why exists.”

Start with WHY

Sinek reflects on a turning point in the civil rights movement, “300,000 people didn’t march on Washington in the heat of an August day in 1963 for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; they marched for themselves.”  They believed what he believed.

“Though others knew what had to change in America to bring about civil rights for all, it was Martin Luther King who was able to inspire a country to change not just for the good of a minority, but for the good of everyone. Martin Luther King started with Why.”

Sinek’s model fits hand and glove with the Achievement Model:

Results = What we plan to achieve.

Process = How we plan to achieve it.

Mindset = Why – do my beliefs align with my organization’s?

entreQuest, the growth consulting firm where I work, started as a sales training company.  Clients hired us to improve processes (sales training and sales process) in order to impact growth. However, we came to the conclusion that sales training absent the reason for the training doesn’t work.  It’s a tactical solution to a bigger problem. 

We realized that improving a one of the “processes” inside an organization that did not inspired employees would just be wasting money on the training.  Client would get a short-term uptick followed by a leveling out.

The Bottom Line

No smoking cessation technique or weight loss diet will work unless they have already made the decision to do it.  Until their WHY outweighs any other possible outcome, to endure the discipline, they won’t succeed.  The processes are simply a means to an end; an outcome they have already made up their mind to achieve.

The same is true for a business interested in revenue growth.  You must be clear on the WHY and they must resonate with it.  At entreQuest, one of the exercises we engage senior leadership teams in is 25 reasons why.  We ask each member of the team their reasons why.  More often than not, the first 10 lie on the surface: 

• We’re faster
• Newer
• Safer

The next 10 start to get deeper:

• We care about our employees. 
• We help our customers deliver a better service. 

Yet, it’s the last five or so that get to the depth needed for a cultural change in thinking, a clarity about the organization’s mindset: 

• To make my parents proud.
• To leave a legacy to the next generation.
• To create a company that sets values ahead of profits

This exercise is an example of the kind of soul searching that can lead to real breakthroughs that inspire change.

For business leaders, it means first asking the question, are we (leaders) clear on our WHY and then connecting with every team member about the WHY.

This will inspire them to have the endurance and discipline for the “processes” because they believe in something greater than a vision statement on a dusty plaque. 

A big enough WHY leads to not just attainable, but sustainable achievements.  Without it, even the best sales training program won’t yield lasting results.

Mark Slatin is a VP of Sales at entreQuest who is outsourced to a wide variety of companies to coach their teams, improve their client experiences, and raise their revenues.

While we’d like to call him one of our resident experts here at entreQuest, the Outsourced VP of Sales Mark Slatin is hardly ever home at the office.  He’s always out working in-the-field managing our partners’ sales teams be they around the corner, down the Interstate, or up the coast.

We’re not sure where he found the time to write but his wisdom did somehow make its way into words for OnPoint Magazine – “a publication dedicated to the independent office product dealer.”

In his upcoming article titled “Why Sales Training Is Overrated,” Mark explains why most motivational programs and skill sharpening seminars do not produce more profitable salespeople.  He makes his [on] point with the help of Mark Twain and Martin Luther King, Jr. too but we won’t give any more details away at this time.

We can discuss some wisdom from another great American though - Albert Einstein – who once defined insanity as: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” 

With that in mind, Mark and the rest of us here at eQ can’t help but be curious as to just how many typical training programs and seminars a salesperson has to undergo before he or she realizes that the results will always be the same.  How many before you realize that your results will always be the same?  How long before that moment of clarity restores your sales sanity and you acknowledge that improvement will require deploying your desire for better results on a deeper level?  Before you realize why sales training is overrated?

Mark will take care of answering that question in the next issue of OnPoint Magazine.   But why not try to come up with the answer on  your own before his article hits cyberspace?

Take five minutes and think about every motivational/educational seminar, course, program, speech, etc. that filled you with immediate inspiration to take over the world but all too soon soon subsided into that feeling of that world being back on your shoulders.  What were the similarities between the suggestions of the experts who led these events?  What in their messages matched?

Now take it deeper.  What were the similarities in you before, during, and after each of these events?  What marred the messages from making a sustainable difference in your sales performance?

See if your answer to why sales training is overrated comes close to Mark’s reasoning in the second quarter issue of OnPoint Magazine.  In the meantime, feel free to contact eQ if you need a hint.

Jeremy Steinberg is an Outsourced VP of Sales at entreQuest who has led companies across the country to increases in revenue by driving the performance of their sales teams to unprecedented levels of achievement.

In the movie “Wall Street” (the original version, not the new one with Shia LaBeouf although I’ve heard this is a decent sequel), Michael Douglas’s character – the billionaire broker Gordon Gekko – says:  “The most valuable commodity I know of is information.  Wouldn’t you agree?”

Yes, we would agree although the information we encourage CEO’s to seek for success is legal insider information that doesn’t require hiring a Charlie Sheen to do the dirty work (he’s in enough trouble these days anyway…). 

Growth begins with basic information about your prospects, your sales team and your company itself.  Once that information is acquired, you are ready to act, adapt and achieve.  As it turns out, Gordon Gekko, though ruthless, can provide our economic interests with some good reminders.  

To get information from your prospects, remember that “money never sleeps,” so the time has come to shake up the snoozers in your pipeline.  De-grape them by simply asking them the question that will turn them into a yes or into a no as discussed above.

To give information to your sales team, remember that “if you’re not on the inside, you’re outside.”  Thus, over-communicate your company’s vision, plan or strategy again, again, and again.  Your team can’t win if they’re not amazingly clear on what they are aiming for.  Uncertainty on their end will put them in The Grape Zone of inaction, or worse irrelevant action.  Clarifying vision should be done weekly in 1:1’s, team meetings, emails, a weekly blog and of v-log (video blog) from the leadership in the company.  This is the inspiration, pace and frequency they need.

And for the most important information on the inside, focus directly on your company’s mindset.  Mindset is where winning sales and building sales teams starts.  Putting mindset before process is what we call The Achievement Model.  The Achievement Model establishes that, with the right mindset, almost any set of processes aimed at developing new business will work.  Think in terms of enrolling clients, as opposed to closing deals.  Be a client’s partner instead of their vendor.  Provide value because you have worked to understand your partner’s ends needs rather than just their immediate problem.  Staying true to the winning mindset of your company can be a grueling routine that requires daily, if not hourly, adherence and discipline.  But it pays off.  Mastering mindset propels the right action which ultimately leads to growth in sales.  And when it comes to new business, don’t be shy. 

As Gekko said: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” 

At least we think so in terms of growth for CEO’s in 2011.

Happy New Year!

Joe