What is [luhv]?

September 24, 2010

What is [luhv]?

You Can’t Buy Love

Other than a noun and a verb… love has many defintions. At our most recent event, “You Can’t Buy Love,” you wrote down your defintion of love on an index card with a Sharpie. Remember, Justin defined love as a “100% commitment to another person’s well being.” As you read through the list of others’ definitions ask yourself what would change if you started showing your clients, COINs, prospects, vendors and others love? Here is what you said:

Definitions

Unconditional acceptance from a God who loves me more than I could ever comprehend. Being able to share that with everyone I come in contact with.
Unconditional
Unwavering commitment to someone or something that brings joy and satisfactory to you in return
Concern for the well being of others and may include fondness
The emotional valuing of (humans, animals) animate and inanimate objects in varying degrees
Unconditional compassion & caring. Being passionate.
To care deeply about something to the point that it becomes a passion.
A willingness to sacrifice oneself on behalf of another
Sacrifice, putting others first
Love is my commitment to bring my most authentic self to relationships
Caring enough about someone or something to put their needs ahead of you own wants, desires or comfort
My life for yours
God is love. He is the author and example.
Deep connection to and close personal attachment to someone or something
Love is an attitude. You make a decision to love others even when they are unlovable.
Commitment, respect, devotion, connection
Undying devotion to someone or thing
Charity, sincere interest
Placing others needs in front of my own

Posted by thomas | Filed Under Branding, Thoughts | 1 Comment

37 Sec Rant: Political Camp.

September 16, 2010

Topic: Idaho Political Campaigns

A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.

Posted by thomas | Filed Under Branding, Thoughts, Videos | 1 Comment

Tricycle University Launch

September 15, 2010

Today we launched Tricycle University at our “You Can’t Buy Love” event. Over 60 people attended the event and were the first to hear about Tricycle University.

Tricycle University is dedicated to helping business professionals grow, manage and develop their brand. Over the course of the 12 sessions, you will have the chance to visit every major area of your brand and discuss your concerns in a group setting- all facilitated by the Tricycle team.

Read the Press Release. Go to the Page. Watch the Video.

Posted by thomas | Filed Under Branding | 1 Comment

60 Sec: Newspapers

September 14, 2010

This week’s question: In a potentially dying industry, what areas should newspapers focus on to stay relevant?

This is our sixteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

Rather watch it in HD? Find it on YouTube.

Posted by thomas | Filed Under Branding, Thoughts, Videos | 1 Comment

60 Sec: 5 Things

September 7, 2010

This week's question: What are five things that you promise I will learn by coming to "You Can't Buy Love"?

This is our fifteenth video in our "60 Seconds" series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the "60 Seconds" series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

Register here for "You Can't Buy Love"

Posted via email from Tricycle’s Lifestream

Posted by Editor | Filed Under Branding | Leave a Comment

Kellen Moore - future Salesperson of the Year.

September 7, 2010

When Kellen Moore's football career is over, he needs to get a job in sales.

For those who don't know, Kellen Moore is a 4th year Jr QB for Boise State. He is 6'0" 180-ish. Out of his uniform, he looks a little bit like Napoleon Dynamite. In his uniform, he looks like he borrowed it to go trick or treating. Last night under the enormous pressure of expectations, he was a little off - no interceptions but some poor throws and a fumble. Until the final drive - where he threw completion to a 3rd string TE and a 3rd string WR. Then threw the winning TD pass. Already a Heisman candidate (he finished 7th last year), he has continued one of the most remarkable stories in football history.

To say that Kellen was "lightly recruited" is an understatement. Despite throwing a jaw-dropping 173 (Yes - 173!) TDs in high school, the only schools that gave him a sniff were Eastern Washington and Idaho - and eventually BSU. Despite the stats and the pedigree (son of a coach), he doesn't "look" like a QB.

In analyzing Kellen's success as QB, he has 3 specific traits:

Calm under pressure
Leadership
Command of the playbook.

In other words, all the things Matt Leinart doesn't have. And all the things that Joe Montana had.

So what does this have to do with Kellen's future in sales?

I have recruited, trained, and developed over 100 salespeople in the last 15 years. Some when I was a sales manager in my corporate life - and more recently as part of my role as an advisor to my clients. I have made and/or seen the same mistakes with salespeople over the years. We can't get past The Look: the good-looking, smooth talker with the impressive resume. So we hire them, pay an inflated base … and are disappointed by the results. It's not that they suck - they just don't perform with enough consistency where we can trust them. They do good enough to make us keep them, but not enough to believe in them. Meanwhile, our competition hired the nerdy looking dude with no corporate experience on his resume - and he is kicking our butt. If you have any experience managing salespeople, you have seen some variation of this scenario many times.

Why does this happen? Let's take the 3 traits of a great QB from above and apply to a salesperson:

Calm under pressure: like football, this is a combination of a number of scenarios. For sales, it boils down to one thing. Under pressure, they don't lie. Because of that, they don't respond to pressure like the smooth-talker does. They just find other ways to tell the truth about why the customer should buy.
Leadership: this is a horribly cliched term, but still vital. In sales, it means full accountability for their performance - and often the performance of the rest of the sales team. This means they don't get out-worked by anyone - and will police the rest of the team to ensure the same from everyone.
Command of the playbook: This doesn't mean they follow the talk-tracks and know every word of the sales brochures. It means they understand the intent of a sales strategy. They get that prospecting isn't just about the number of people you meet, but about meaningful conversations. They get that you have to be just as good at presenting as you do understanding the terms of a client agreement. They get that details matter but not at the expense of the big picture.

I mentioned trust earlier. Having coached both quarterbacks (although at a youth football level) and salespeople, it boils down to this: can you trust them to perform? If not, you hired the wrong person.

Kellen has one more year at BSU - and some sort of shot at an NFL career. Whenever football is over, there should be a line of people waiting to hire him to sell stuff for them. In the interim, I encourage business owners and sales managers to stop looking for Matt Leinart or Jamarcus Russell and maybe give a shot to the goofy looking guy who has a proven track record of actually moving product.

Posted via email from Tricycle’s Lifestream

Posted by Editor | Filed Under Branding | 1 Comment

37 Sec Rant: Boomers

September 2, 2010

Topic: Baby Boomers

A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.

Posted by thomas | Filed Under Branding, Thoughts, Videos | 1 Comment

60 Sec: Case Study

September 1, 2010

This week’s question: Here is a question is built around a scenario of a repurchased music store with a limited marketing budget. What 4/5 marketing activities should they focus on?

This is our fourteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.

2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

Posted via email from Tricycle’s Lifestream

Posted by Editor | Filed Under Branding, Thoughts, Videos | 1 Comment

I’d come for reason #5

August 31, 2010

We would like you to come to “You Can’t Buy Love” on September 15 at Wahooz.Here are 5 reasons why.

Posted via email from Tricycle’s Lifestream

Posted by Editor | Filed Under Branding, Videos | 1 Comment

Valuology

August 26, 2010

Valuology-

by Thomas Golden

The study of value, in particular- the study of value in relation to business applications and the practice of bringing value to your customers, COINs, prospects and employees.

Do you provide value?

Here is how you could provide value...
1. Do you take care of hassles your competitors provide?
2. Do you take extra steps to insure you have the best product/ service?
3. Do you have a developed program so you can listen to your customers and change accordingly?

Here’s how you’ll know if you do…
1. Are your customers delighted in you?
2. Are your customers your best sales people?
3. Are your customers providing valuable feedback?