You Absolutely CAN Be A Rock Star

Did You Make Your “Gekko” Phone Call?

by Paul Castain on May 8, 2013

There was an interesting scene at the beginning of the sales classic Wall Street.

Marv turns to Bud Fox and says . . .

“Bud, you forgetting something?

“The Gekko phone call?”

“Buddy when are you going to realize . . .

big game hunters bag the elephants!”

As a quick refresher, Gordon Gekko was a huge prospect for Bud Fox. The Gekko account is the kind of account all of us wish we could land (minus all the shady business he was involved in) . . . He was the “elephant”!

Bud hunted him diligently too.

He called him 59 days in a row and finally got in to see him by remembering not only his birthday, but the fact that Gordon loved good Cuban cigars.

Did you ever try something like that?

Why is it that we don’t make our “Gekko” phone call (or only try to reach a “Gekko” once or twice and then give up?)

Is it that we’re scared?

Feel we aren’t worthy?

Perhaps some bullsh*t inner voice giving us an excuse or belittling us for daring to think big?

Or maybe it’s that we have all this other “stuff” we’re thinking about and we don’t give it any thought.

I hope you’ll allow yourself to dream again . . .

And make your “Gekko” phone call . . .

TODAY, not tomorrow!

Oh, and guess what?

You are worthy!

I know it, and you know it . . .

All you need to do is let “Gekko” know it!

I triple dog dare ya!

I work with individuals and organizations to create new levels of awesome! Click here if you dare!

{ 15 comments }

The Purpose Of Your Setback

by Paul Castain on May 7, 2013

I’m sure you all heard the one about how important our attitude is when it comes to setbacks?

More specifically . . . How you and I choose to look at and define our circumstances can profoundly influence the outcome.

I guess that means we’re not allowed to engage in any of that “Why me?” self talk, huh? :)

Here’s a different way of looking at it and I must admit that it was inspired by a really cool book called “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho.

What if we were to look at our setbacks, not as setbacks but as tests to see . . .

How well we have mastered the lessons needed to get us to where we want to go in life?

What if the very thing we call a “setback” was actually an opportunity to reveal the additional things we need to learn to expedite our journey.

We humans are a funny group of people . . .

We typically won’t open our eyes and look inward when things are going according to plan.

They say that when the student is ready the teacher appears.

Your “teacher” might just be the lesson you had missed, that was right there all along but . . .

Things were going too well for you to notice it.

Today you are cordially invited to redefine your “setback”

Embrace your “teacher” and . . .

Take possession of the lesson that will move you a step closer to the success you thought . . .

Was slipping away from you!

Godspeed!

{ 6 comments }

How To Utilize Facebook To Further Your Sales Efforts

by Paul Castain on May 4, 2013

Download this episode (right click and save)

I’ll come right out and say it . . . I really believe that sales reps aren’t using Facebook to it’s full potential!

There are many ways that you can use this platform and it begins by rethinking this whole “Facebook is for personal” stuff!

This week . . . we’re going to dive headfirst into several (as in mucho) ideas and philosophies that will not only help you on Facebook . . . many of them will help you anywhere you choose to embrace “Social”!

Here’s What You’ll Gain By Listening Today . . .

How and why you should tap into the 480 million plus mobile users of Facebook.

Why it’s so important that people can see your “business casual” side and how you can leverage someone else’s.

How to fix your concerns about privacy and people seeing things you don’t want them to see.

Why Facebook doesn’t like your blog/website and limits the amounts of views when you post those things.

One way I dramatically increased engagement on my Fan Page.

The importance of “conditioning” your fans.

3 ways to stay incredibly relevant to your Facebook community!

How to use photos and videos to “humanize” your brand.

How to get more fans.

2 letters I send out to my LinkedIn network and how they’ve helped create Facebook traffic and new “likes”

Additional Resources To Support Today’s Podcast . . .

1)   I mention how much I’ve been learning from The Social Media Marketing Podcast.

2)   Mari Smith is a genuine expert when it comes to Facebook. Visit her website by clicking here and like her fan page by clicking here.

3)    My Why Does Facebook Have To Be That Way? post.

4)    If you’ve ever said “I don’t get (Twitter, Facebook, etc)” click here to hear what your prospect have to say about that!

5)    Did you know that you have anonymous prospects?

6)    There are many of you who won’t connect with business associates on Facebook because you want to keep your personal life . . . personal. Click here for an overview of Facebook’s privacy settings. It might be something to look into.

7)    To join our sales community on Facebook, please click here and be sure to “like” the page so you can continue to get updates and interact with us!

8)    To join our Sales Playbook group on LinkedIn, please click here.

9)    I mention a really cool (and reasonably priced) stock photo site. Check it out by clicking here.

10) I mention how I use Paint to create some real easy graphics for Facebook (and my blog too) Click here to learn more.

11) I mention 2 letters I send my LinkedIn network to bring our relationship to the other social networking platforms and build my Facebook community. If you would like a word doc version of this letter (so you can edit it for your own use) shoot me a quick email to request your copy paul@yoursalesplaybook.com

12) If you’d like to learn how you can use my approach to social networking to build your network and increase sales, click here to snatch a copy of my Social Networking Playbook.

Download this episode (right click and save)

I could really use your help . . .

If you’ve been loving, what you’ve been hearing on The Sales Playbook podcast, please stop by iTunes, leave us a 5 star rating and a review . . . You’d make this aspiring sales rock star’s day!

Instructions on how to write a review on iTunes:

Step 1  Click on this link

Step 2 Look to the left and there’s a button that says “view in iTunes” click it.

Step 3 Scroll down to where it says “customer reviews” Directly under that it says       “write a review”

Step 4 Write an awesome review for your Uncle Paul

{ 0 comments }

Would You Call A Prospect Out On This?

by Paul Castain on May 2, 2013

What would you do if you quoted a price for your products/services and your prospect suddenly went “M.I.A.”?

You call them.

You email them and they never give you the courtesy of a response and then . . .

At some point in the future they suddenly appear again and ask for a quote?

Would you mention the fact that they never got back to you last time?

How would you handle this situation?

Please weigh in with your thoughts

{ 35 comments }

Falling Out Of My Shoes And Other Pattern Interrupts!

by Paul Castain on April 30, 2013

It was supposed to be a simple, two night camping trip with a really cool trio I like to call “me, myself and I” but life has a funny way of changing your plans.

It all started with a rookie mistake. One that would have Bear Grylls shaking his head. I had forgotten my sleeping bag so I had to go out of my way to go purchase one. Then the real fun started.

My battery light went on and by the time I reached the campsite, it was dead. I look under my car and see a puddle of some ugly fluid and realized that it can’t be good.

So between the stupidity of forgetting a sleeping bag and my car I really wasn’t in a good mood.

I decided to let it wait until Sunday morning and have AAA tow it and Mrs Uncle Paul pick me up. Good times!

I’m sitting there in a foul mood and knee deep in a “So what else can I think of that’s pissing me off” type of inventory when it went from bad to worse.

I get up to go get a beer (my first one of the evening mind you) and I take a really bad fall.

One of the epic “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” variety and as I lay there, flat on my face, I realize that somehow I fell out of my shoes in the process.

Note: The only thing worse than falling flat on your face and falling out of your shoes would be doing all that and accidentally crapping yourself or something. How the heck does one fall out of their shoes?

Any who, I start laughing uncontrollably because how could you not? I thought about how I once watched my Dad fall off a ladder and then roll and how I laughed at him at the time. This was several years before the “stop, drop and roll” movement by the way.

I’m not sure if I was suffering from some minor head trauma but I think I saw an image of my Dad (who has been deceased and pretty much dead since 1988) saying to me “You laughed at me because I rolled and meanwhile you’re the ahole who fell out of his shoes?”

I got up, looked around and noticed that nobody caught what happened, grabbed myself a beer and went on to have a good night.

As a precaution . . . I kept my shoes off!

Having a bad day? Falling out of your shoes might help!

Sometimes we get in a really unproductive state of mind.

We feel like life might have screwed us over.

We start with the “Why me?” stuff.

That’s when we need something to “interrupt the pattern” as Tony Robbins would say.

Something that immediately (and abruptly) changes our focus and our definition of that moment and those circumstances.

Think about your unproductive patterns and come up with something you could do or think about that would be the equivalent of your Uncle Paul falling out of his shoes to change his behavior.

Gold star if you can find a way to laugh at yourself.

Life is too short not too!

By the way, my car is already fixed. I have a new sleeping bag and I was quite shocked to learn that life goes on :)

Cheers!

{ 2 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →