Lindsay Teague Moreno

the not-so-shiny

3 Ways To Handle Rejection In Sales

by Leave a Comment

If you’ve been in sales for any length of time you’ve heard it all.

  • “No, thanks.”
  • “Maybe another time.”
  • “I can’t afford it right now.”

Rejection.

It stings.

Nobody likes rejection, but it’s a fact of business.

The good news is, with some simple strategies you can learn to take rejection in stride and even use to help you.

  1. Learn from your experience: You can let rejection eat you up or you can turn it into something useful. If you want to make the best of it then it’s time to turn inward and see if there is anything you can change in order to get a yes next time. Sometimes a no is just a no, but a lot of times it can mean something else and that’s where we need to work on our approach.
  2. Improve your process: Is there a part of the sales process you struggle with and think you need to improve? Maybe you’re really good at pitching, but you can’t close a sale. Maybe you can close, but you can’t work up the courage to talk about your product. The good news is these are all learned skills so think of this as a challenge and get the help you need to improve.
  3. Be better than you competitor: This might sound obvious, but can you think of some way to set yourself apart from the competition? This is usually done best through customer service. You might be faster at answering messages or better at educating or consistent with sending customer gifts. Whatever it is, highlight that. Let your prospects know what they’re going to get from you! If you don’t have something in place, think about what you’re good at and start doing it consistently.

The most important thing I want to say about rejection is that you can’t let it stop you or slow you down.

You’ve got to keep going. Even if that means you have room for improvement – most people do.

You absolutely won’t get to your goal by quitting so don’t even think about it!

XO,

How To Stay Focused Through Holiday Distractions

by 4 Comments

We’re right in the middle of the holiday season and I’m being intentional to soak up every minute of it. I love, love, love December! One thing I have noticed about this time of year is that focus can be low and distractions are high.

There are so many things to keep up with, tons of fun activities we want to do, and for those of us in cold areas, maybe the desire to just hibernate for the whole day!

I get it. There is nothing more I’d love to do than stay in bed with endless hot chocolate, watching Hallmark movies.

But.

There’s still work to be done.

Especially for those who sell products. Hello, Christmas shopping!

I put together a few ways you can manage to keep your focus on work when the distractions are high.

  1. Get up an hour earlier. I feel you if you don’t want to hear that. It’s my least favorite thing in the world, but what if you could bang out a bunch of work in a quiet space and gain an extra hour later?
  2. Put your phone in another room, turn off your iPad, close the Facebook tab, etc. The more distractions online you can get rid of, the more productive you’ll be.
  3. Set a timer and commit to working uninterrupted for a certain period of time. The time will vary from person to person, but this helps you find your optimal work stretch before you need a break.
  4. Schedule something fun, but also schedule when you’re going to work. Have your friends over to bake cookies in the morning, but commit to working after they leave. Make a date with the kids to go look at Christmas lights, but make sure you’ve scheduled time before to get your work done.
  5. Go to bed an hour earlier. Say what? Why would I suggest you take away an hour when more time is what you need? Because a lot of us spend that last hour scrolling on our phones or watching TV. Sleep is really important and can make a difference in your productivity so if you’re wasting that time anyways, give this a try.

Now hear this, I’m all for enjoying the holidays and spending time with the family. I think that is really, really important.

These are really intended to help you work smarter so you have time for all the good stuff!

When there’s work to be done though, you’ve got to work. I hope these tips help you get your work done more quickly so you have more time for the fun stuff!

XO,

Stop Focusing On What You Can’t Control

by 3 Comments

“It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized”.  – Wayne Dyer

If you plan to be in business a while, you need to learn how to stop focusing on things you can’t control.

You can’t control the economy. You can’t control what your competitors are doing. And you can’t control how saturated your market is.

Yet, I hear a lot of people complaining about this stuff. It’s easy to get hung up, I get it.

The hard truth is that the complaining and fixating is a waste of time.

It’s taking our focus off important things. We all have the same amount of hours in a day, friends, so let’s use them wisely, yeah?

Here are some things in your business you can control:

  1. Attitude: Are you staying positive or are you letting negativity eat away at your business?
  2. Effort: If you are giving your best every single day, I promise you won’t have time to worry.
  3. Reactions: You can’t control what happens, but you can control how you let it affect you.
  4. Decisions: Take advantage of all the decisions in your control.
  5. Paths: At any given moment you can choose to stay on your path or change course.

These are just a few examples and there are so many more things you can control if you’re looking for them.

I suggest putting your focus there and seeing how much better you feel.

XO,

10 Things You Can Do Right Now That Require Zero Talent

by Leave a Comment

I’ve noticed that people who are frustrated with their business growth-rate use excuses about how they lack talent or skills.

“I’m not good at sales,” or “I don’t have friends” or “I don’t know how to use photoshop” or “I’m an introvert.”

Let me tell you, skills can be learned. You just have to be willing to get up off the couch and turn off the TV.  

The first step is to invest some time in identifying what skills you need to win at your job. Once you’ve got that down there are countless ways to learn and build skills. The internet is basically like free college in some areas and of course you can buy courses, read books, take a class in person, ask for help from someone who’s ahead of you.

I do not accept the skills excuses. 

I don’t accept the talent excuse either.

Do you see a pattern here?

Talents differ, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use yours to get ahead. I believe with every fiber of my being that God gave each and every one of us a talent or ability that is special to each of us. If you don’t know what it is, it’s time to do some self-exploration and get to know what you love and figure out if you’re good at it or if you can learn to be good at it. Just like little kids, we have to learn to develop our talents and skills, kids don’t just know how to write and read, they have to learn it but some of those little kids will excel in those areas.

Now that we’ve gotten to the point that excuses are a waste of time, here are ten things you can do right now without any talent or skill:

1. Always Show Up On Time
2. Have a Killer Work Ethic 
3. Put In The Effort
4. Show Good Body Language
5. Keep A High Positive Energy Level
6. Have A Good Attitude
7. Show Your Passion
8. Being Coachable
9. Go The Extra Mile
10. Be Prepared

XOXO,

Grab Your Ticket For The Struggle Bus

by Leave a Comment

Have you ever felt like your business wasn’t growing fast enough? Or you try and mirror the speed of your growth to someone you know or someone you don’t know online?

This is probably the number one complaint I hear in my business and I see it online a lot from other small business owners. It’s frustrating because there isn’t much you can say back to that complaint except to start rattling off things they haven’t tried. I’ve found at best that holds them over until that doesn’t work fast enough either.

You know what that is? It’s entitlement.

Entitlement is the idea that you deserve happiness and don’t have to struggle for it.

Building a business is a struggle. Every day. Even if you grow fast, it’s still a struggle, the struggles are just a little different, but we ALL have to pay our dues.

At one point or another we all had to learn the lessons about how to reach people and how to connect with our customers in a way that helps our business grow. Some already target market who will make the purchase faster than others. That doesn’t mean that the other market is wrong.

It’s just different. It’s a different struggle. 

We need to embrace the amount of time it takes us to make our business our success story. For some, it’s going to be short because they likely have a long list of failures and growth opportunities in their past. If this is your first attempt at a business or your 15th, it’s still going to be hard. It will be a struggle. We need to embrace it as part of this process.

Here’s what you need to understand, HARD IS REQUIRED. Nothing worth having is easy.

Don’t be frustrated that it’s hard and it takes a long time. Be thankful for it. The harder it is, the more we’re learning and that’s going to give us a shortcut down the line.

Own the struggle it because it’s required. Your attitude about having the get on board the strugglebus is what determines your fate because you can’t get ANYWHERE without it. It’s the only ride to business success.

Might as well choose a seat.

Practice gentle persistence and lean into the struggle this week. Own it as part of your job rather than be frustrated because it’s holding you back. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you grow.

XOXO,

1 Word To Eliminate From Your Business Vocabulary

by Leave a Comment

One area I continually feel like a failure in is conflict management and resolution.

I didn’t grow up with good examples. My family was a fight to the death kind of family. If there was a problem it was an immediate war, which has made me avoid conflict in business.

As I’ve grown, those lessons (or lack thereof) have bubbled to the surface and, honestly, I’m really self-conscious about it.

I’m getting better each day and with every effort. I learn from books, and articles, and real-life conversations. It’s going to be a learned skill for me, if I can master it.

My problem is I want to be liked and conflict to me ends in, “yea, i’ve decided I hate you.” I am realizing that I can’t control others feelings about me so I just have to do my best and let the rest be.

In an article I recently read, the author was talking about the one word to eliminate from your business vocabulary because it sparks defense on the part of the other party.

That word is, “why.”

If you have to have a confrontation with someone that could end up in a conflict or you have to resolve a conflict that has already reared it’s ugly head, using the word ‘why’ puts the other person on the defense. It implies that an entire explanation for an action is needed.

I think it also implies that they were absolutely at fault, when clearly they have their own side of the story.

Next time, instead of asking someone “why would you say that?” or “why would you do that?” try asking some what or how questions. The other party will feel less defensive.

“What happened that brought you to that conclusion?” or “how did your feelings create that action?” or “how did you perceive the situation?” or “what led to actions?”

These are safer questions to help get you to a resolution rather than a bigger problem that ends in severed relationship.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly have had enough of those in business and would be happy to avoid any more.

 

XOXO,