Velocity Mindset
In the early ‘90s, I trademarked the phrase “The Question Man™.” I believed then, as I believe now, that the answers to your success lie in the questions that you ask. At that time, I had a great client, Hertz Equipment Rental, that rented backhoes. It was a division of Hertz Rental Car Corporation. The VP of Sales was…
A few years ago, my opening story for a keynote involved reenacting a CPR scene. CPR is what you use when someone’s heart stops beating. In my twenties, I was a volunteer medic in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. The whole point of the story was this: “Look, I’m not here to suggest that you start…
Do you know why McDonald’s doesn’t sell onion rings? The reason why McDonald’s doesn’t sell onion rings is because of the old adage: rinse and repeat. That’s right! If you really want to scale an organization, how can you rinse and repeat the steps so that they’re easily replicable? That is where the profit is. You…
So how can you enhance the customer experience while at the same time increasing your own Velocity? You may have read this week that Starbucks is investing billions of dollars to cut down customer wait times by 55 seconds. Their solution? The new syrup machine. With it, baristas can simply press a button to access milk and…
When times are tough, and the flow of customers into your business is slowing down to a drip, what’s more important: marketing or sales? I had that conversation yesterday with the CEO I was coaching. He sells very high-end custom furniture. Because of the economy, he was complaining that the flow of traffic into his…
This morning, when I got up, I wanted to walk four miles. Immediately, my head started questioning if I really wanted to do it. I had a meeting in two hours, and my knees and hips were hurting. Now, you have to remember I’ve had several surgeries that fused half of my back, so if…
Imagine being 14 years old, diagnosed with a condition causing immense pain and grief. That’s what happened to me when I was 14. It was a speech impediment, preventing me from pronouncing the letter “R.” It was so painful and led to a lot of ridicule in my life. In fact, they called this impediment…
Think about alignment for a second. What is the opposite word of alignment? It is resistance. And you can easily see that if you have resistance, Velocity is affected. Let’s talk about resistance. Imagine you’re on an airplane, cruising, when suddenly you encounter strong headwinds. What happens to your velocity towards the destination? It’s impeded,…
Does anything in life come easy for us? Yes and No. When we engage in activities aligned with our strengths and skills, they often come easily to us. On the other hand, tasks that we dislike or lack proficiency in can be challenging. However, that is not what I’m talking about here. Recently, I had…
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Do you know that sometimes you have to go slow to go fast? Recently, I installed a new productivity software program. And like many of you, I figured I knew immediately what I had to do, so I didn’t bother reading the instructions. After two painful hours of trying to get the software to work…
Read MoreAs we’ve all seen for the last year or two, there’s been a lot of shoplifting. A pack of thieves breaking into stores, stealing massive amounts of merchandise, and leaving before the cops come. If they’re caught, they’re back on the streets in a couple of minutes. Shoplifting has gotten to such a high degree…
Read MoreWhen I think of sales success, I think of a Banyan tree. Look at this tree. It is so magnificent. But look at the integrated network of roots. It’s amazing how it grows. Now, here’s what’s special about a Banyan tree. It’s not like normal trees that have one trunk coming down, and it’s not…
Read MoreI want you to meet Alex. Alex is a van driver who picked me and a few of my colleagues up from the hotel in Albuquerque this weekend to take us to the airport. It was a seven-minute ride. During the ride, Alex asked us if we had traveled to many different cities and ordered…
Read MoreIf you truly want to keep your competitors out of your accounts, you must become part of the inner woven fabric of your client’s organization. Consider that loose piece of thread sticking out of the bottom of your sweater, and you start pulling it. All of a sudden, you inadvertently pull apart the entire sweater.…
Read MoreA few years ago, I was taking a self-improvement course in New York City with a good friend of mine. After the program, we returned to my condo in Fort Lee, New Jersey, on the 10th floor. Now, my friend is an accomplished pilot. He flew overseas commercially for a major airline and was a…
Read MoreA few years ago, I was meeting with Steve Forbes in the Forbes building in his private library. The meeting was to discuss the presentation he was about to give to the National Speakers Association that I was president of. Rather, it was to get him to agree to give that presentation. What struck me in…
Read MoreThis past Sunday, we had a great Super Bowl with an overtime win—the San Francisco 49ers against the Kansas City Chiefs. Both teams had two different styles of quarterbacks. One of the reasons both teams made it to the Super Bowl was because their head coaches leveraged each quarterback’s strengths. Coach Andy Reid, with the…
Read MoreDo you know how to reframe your argument to move forward? Reframing is a cognitive technique used both in psychology and communications to shift your viewpoint as to how you see the problem so that you can see it correctly. Hertz reframed the situation a while back when they surveyed their top renters. The biggest…
Read MoreIn 2006, I collaborated on a negotiation book with famed negotiator, Herb Cohen. Herb has a saying that negotiation is a game, a game that both sides want to win. Yet, most people lose velocity in their efforts to negotiate a deal because they are married to getting the deal exactly the way they want…
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