A Lesson in Scottsdale

Unfortunately had to fly home from beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona to iced-over Dallas on Tuesday. The only good part about was that I was going to see my beautiful fiance and that I was coming home with a wealth of knowledge from the previous two days!

We were in Scottsdale for the TTI (Target Training International) Winners' Conference! TTI creates some of the worlds greatest, professional assessments...and after this week, there is no doubt in my mind why they are so good!

The leadership within TTI is some of the best I have ever seen!

It is a powerhouse team of driven, vibrant, excited individuals that are always pushing to take their business to the next level!

My dad has been a distributor for TTI for about 12 years now and this particular weekend he would be given the opportunity to open the conference with a keynote. My dad has always said that this was one of his big 3...one of the 3 audiences he has always wanted to address.

The other two being the NSA Convention (National Speakers Assoc.) and Promise Keepers (a Christian organization that focuses on men and their walk with Christ)

When my dad was asked to speak at the TTI conference he asked if my stepmom and I would attend it as well! We were thrilled for him and thrilled to be attending the conference! As much as I expected to learn a ton, I never thought that I would learn so much from one specific comment!

In the program following my dad's, the founder of TTI (Bill Bonnstetter) addressed the audience! He was talking about the direction that TTI was going and the growth that was in progress. It was one of the more powerful programs I had ever heard!

As much of a high-content program as it was, it was Bill that intrigued me!

The founder of a very successful organization, that was celebrating its 25th Anniversary, was sharing his thoughts of what it took to be succesful in his industry. He was brilliant! He was obviously a lifetime learner, that you could tell was ALWAYS trying to get better...and always trying to make his company better!

It was about 30 minutes into his hour-long presentation when he said something that I will never forget!

He said, "We have stiff competition but I urge each of us to not be negative...we just need to be better!"

Wow! How great is it to hear a statement like that?!

We must not be negative...just be better!

Now, the sales application of this is apparent! How much more successful would we be if we stopped taking jabs at the competition and started focusing or providing our customers with more value?

Many of us have been tempted to throw a competitor under the bus to gain business...and let's be honest here...many of us have let it go further than a temptation! We've done it!

Even though it is more in line with this blog to explain my point through business analogies...I am going to atke it another direction!

Let's talk about our recent election...

ohhhhhh nooooo...here he goes on politics...

Don't worry...I will not go into my political stance!

I just want to discuss the pattern of politics and the way campaigns are run these days!

I have grown up in an age where an election is like battle ship...which side is the least damaged by the other's attack! The one brutally beaten wins over the mortally wounded! It really is a beautiful thing (beware of heavy sarcasm!)

In our recent election I got to the point where I voted for the one I disliked the least! Now how sad is that?!

I am voting for the leader of our country and I admit to not really being satisfied with either party!

Why do you think that is?

It is not because they are bad people...its because they have brought out every piece of dirty laundry out for the world to see! Any and every imperfection and mistake is now the headlining story...not their ideas of how to better our country!

When did winning by default become more appealing than winning through character and insight?

The campaigning was entirely based on the idea that if we destroy the other side then they will HAVE TO vote for us!

The negative side of that is that at the end of it...a good number of people are uncertain if EITHER choice is the right choice!

I use the election as an example but we face that exact same scenario in our sales careers! How do we handle it when we are in direct competition with another company or another salesperson?

Answer: We do so by focusing on why we are the right choice not why the competitor is the wrong choice!

Thank you to Bill Bonnstetter and the TTI team for showing me that a true professional succeeds through customer focus...not through competitor focus!

The Man's Shop

It's called The Man's Shop! It is a men's specialty clothing store in Arlington, TX and it has built a business around selling much more than designer clothes. I have been a customer of a, well known, men's clothing store for many years and they have always been good but I recently found myself considering moving my business elsewhere.

Why would I leave a company that is great at selling clothes?

Without giving you the name of my past provider, I will tell you that I do not have a bad thing to say about them! They have always done a great job at selling clothes! They have the answers I need about the clothes I want! They run a very solid business and I see them being around for a while.

The only problem...

I have been going to this store for about 4 years and they still ask me, "Hello sir. Is this your first time visiting ________?"

At one point about a year and a half ago I visited the store a couple times over the span of two weeks (we were trying to get suits picked out for a friend's wedding). I spoke to two individuals on a Monday and came back on Tuesday and spoke to the same two...as I walked in they asked, "Sir, can I help you with something today?"

They had NO IDEA who I was or why I was there!!!

Ok...so I have to be honest...at that time it did not bother me at all!

It was like a bad relationship! Sometimes you don't know you are in a bad relationship until you get a taste of what a good relationship is like. That was the case when I found a great relationship at The Man's Shop!

My fiance's parents had been pushing me to visit the store for a while (they have been good friends with the owner for quite some time) so I decided to swing by this past Saturday to see if they could help me with attire for my wedding in July.

As I walked in I had really already made up my mind to buy my clothes from my old store...I was just doing this because my fiance's mom asked me to (Just being honest...sorry Wally!)

Little did I know that my mind would change within 5 minutes of being in the store!

I walked in and asked for Brandon (which I was told to do) and told him that I was sent by the Moore's to discuss potential wedding attire.

The first thing Brandon did was he walked me over to a file folder and began taking notes...

Now these weren't notes of what type of clothes I needed, colors, or even measurements (he recorded those later).

He began asking questions and taking notes on details such as...

- Where in Mexico are you getting married?
- How do you spell Caitlyn's (my fiance) name?
- Who's your best man?
- How do you know Matt? (he began using my best man's name immediately...why...build trust!)
- When did you graduate from TCU?
- What is your degree in?
- etc.

I was caught off guard! Wally (owner) and his team were more interested in my needs than what I might spend!

They realize that people love to buy but hate being sold!

For the next hour they answered any and every questioned I had. They were not sales people...they were clothing consultants!

As I left I still couldn't believe the difference in The Man's Shop versus other stores I had visited.

And it only got more impressive as I pulled up in front of my fiance's house!

As I was walking up the driveway my fiance's mom just got off the phone with Brandon. He was calling to tell her thank you for sending me!

WOW! Small things make a big difference!


I now pledge my allegiance to The Man's Shop and will recommend them to anyone looking for a great store with an even better motto...

"We don't sell clothes...we sell relationships" - Brandon Baker

Thanks to The Man's Shop (www.TheMansShop.com) for a wonderful experience!

A Master's Mentality

A couple weeks ago my fiance and I flew down to Rockport, Texas to meet up with my family and spend a couple days fishing together. The four of us fished as a group at the start of the week but on Friday my dad and I decided to go out with a guide. The girls did not go on this trip because the trip would be 100% wade fishing (standing in the water while fishing) and I would have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting my fiance to go wadefishing. As we showed up to the dock that morning, I would have no idea of the life lessons that were around the corner!

Before we get into these lessons, let's flashback a bit...

We have a boat for a couple years now and even though we love to fish out of our own boat, we still go fishing with a guide a couple times a year. We hire a guide for the same reason you would sign up for a seminar...its a learning experience. On this particular trip my dad wanted to do a little research and find the local "expert". It wasn't long until we booked the saltwater fishing legend, Jay Watkins www.JayWatkins.com .

It was a unanimous conclusion throughout Rockport that if we wanted the best, Jay was the one!

We stepped out on the dock, that day, walking up to the boat as if we were about to get golf lessons from Tiger Woods...nervous, yet eagar to learn!

From the second we stepped on the boat the seminar began!

Jay educated us on anything and everything that had to do with fishing...but the real lessons came when we started fishing.

Our first stop was a shoreline where the bait fish were jumping as if they were allergic to the water (this is a good sign that fish were in the area). We shut the boat down and began to pile out. We began wading down the shoreline and it didn't take long to realize that the fish weren't there. As opposed to trying to force something to happen or waiting on our luck to change, Jay said "Let's load em up boys...we have a ton of places to hit today!"

I looked at my dad as we walked back to the boat and whispered, "We were only there for like 10 minutes...at this pace he is going to run out of spots in a couple hours!" My dad just looked at me and shrugged (I think he realized I would end up eating my words by the end of the day).

As we got back to the boat my dad asked Jay, "How long do you stay at a spot when you feel it might not produce?" Here was lesson 1...

Jay said, "Not long! As a professional, you don't wait on change...you make things change!"

That was the moment I knew this would be a trip that might not only impact the way I viewed fishing, but would change the way I viewed success!

Jay then cranked up the boat and headed off to our next spot. As we pulled up to the shell reef he was constantly telling us what he was looking for..."Yep! There's bait here boys...water looks good...current's perfect...Let's do it...let's go bend these rods boys!"

My dad and I were eating this up...we couldn't get enough of this guy!

We began wading down one side of the reef and casting to the other side. Jay was constantly walking and changing his "area of attack" (refer back to lesson 1...create change!). After about 5 minutes we heard Jay say, "There he is boys!" ...as his rod was beant down! (this would be a phrase and a sight we would experience over 100 times that day).

"Move down here boys...they are right over there!"

I proceeded to cast it right where he said (lucky I guess) and he looked at me and said...

"That's it right there! Hold on! You're gonna get 'er with that cast!"

He didn't even finish his sentence when I got slammed by a big trout!

This guy was rediculous!! He was like Babe Ruth calling his shot but saying..."I am going to hit a home run to the guy in the green shirt, row 12, section 114!

I finally had to ask him..."How do you know know where these fish are going to be and when they are going to bite?"

Jay looked at me, chuckled, and said " If you spent thousands of hours out here like I have, you would be able to do it as well! It's not a God-given ability...it's a learned skill!"

I think too many times we see someone that is exceptional at what they do and we try explain their degree of success by saying that they are gifted or just lucky. A couple thoughts on the perspective...

1- That is just a way to justify why we aren't as good as someone else. "I could be as good as Tiger if I could hit the ball 350 yards!"

The statement should go like this...

"I could be as good as Tiger if I put in the hundreds of thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears, on the driving range like he has!"

Now, some of you might be thinking..."Talent does play a part in success!". First, let me say that I agree with you...BUT...

Talent is only the "wood"...it takes a great deal of work, preparation, resiliency, and patience to build a beautiful home!

2- It takes away from the hard work the individual, like Jay, had to put in to be so good!

ok...Back to our fishing trip...

We had caught 30 or 40 fish at this spot and we were still catching them when Jay said...

"Load 'em up boys! Nuff playin with these kids...lets go find their parents!"

(just for the record...the fish weren't small but when you are a true professional "small fish" aren't good enough anymore...you begin looking for the "Big Fish")

We got back into the boat and headed to a few more spots but Jay treated them like the first spot we went to...10 minutes and no BIG fish..."Load 'em up boys!"

That's when we hit a shoreline where the next life lesson took place...

We piled out of the boat and began wading down the shoreline...

We couldn't have been more than 20 feet away from each other and we were casting into the same vacinity but Jay was catching 5 fish to every 1 we caught!

How can this happen?

We are standing right next to him, casting to the same spot, fishing with the same bait, and he is catching 5 fish to every 1 we catch!!!! I asked my dad..."How is this possible?" His answer would be my next lesson...

My dad said..."Jason, its simple! Its just like sales! If you put an amateur in the same territory as the professional, the professional will beat him all day long! Its not the water...its the process at which he works the water!"

After about an hour of fishing this shoreline we decided to head in and call it a day!

I figured the lessons would end at that point...since the fishing did...

ohhhh how wrong I was! The next lesson left me speachless!

On the ride in my dad asked Jay, "So Jay, do you ever have a problem with clients fishing your spots?"

Jay said, " Nope. They aren'y MY spots! If they are in a spot that I regularly fish then I'll go to another one. I don't have 6 spots...I have hundreds! Anyone who gets mad at you for fishing in their spot is relying on the location...I rely on my ability! If you know how to fish and what to look for...you have endless options!

WOW!!! I still cannot stop thinking about this fishing trip! The lessons I learned, that day, will stick with me for a lifetime!

Thanks Jay! It was one of the most memorable fishing trips of my life!!!