Note from the NNBV Publisher: April 2019

I recently attended a high-level executive sales event as a media correspondence, at the Sales 3.0 Conference in San Francisco. It was produced by Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and CEO of Selling Power, the media company that produces the award-winning Selling Power magazine and the Selling Power TV series.

Reno's own Alice Heiman, Founder and Chief Sales Officer of Alice Heiman, LLC, was the emcee of this star-studded business gathering. The focus of the conference was on “Optimizing People, Process and Technology.”

Twenty-seven speakers in the top echelon of industry presented to a packed ballroom of C-Suite, top sales executives who came from around the globe.

To give you a taste, the presenters included Joe Batista, Director and Chief Creatologist of Dell Technologies, who spoke about “Beyond Solutions Selling”; Tiffani Bova, Growth and Innovation Evangelist at SalesForce, who talked compassionately on the subject of “Customer Experience is the New Battleground”; and Ben Schemper, CEO of Abundant, who presented “Leading is the New Selling.”

Marcus Sheridan, of Marcus Sheridan International, Inc., gave an outstanding talk on “The Visual Sale: How to Embrace the Visual Revolution and Create a Culture of Video in Your Organization,” and Bill Eckstrom spoke about his exciting book, “The Coaching Effect.”

Every speaker had an enlightening, useful take away. And some were dazzling.

Pearls of wisdom:

According to Bill Eckstrom (“The Coaching Effect” ) and his co-author, Sarah Wirth, every growth challenge that a business faces is a also a management issue.

Another favorite: “All progress takes place outside the comfort zone,” meaning that when business becomes too comfortable or stagnant, complacency can rear its ugly head. Thus managers need to become coaches, and there is a fascinating correlation between high-performing teams and managers who create a healthy discomfort for team members.

Just like life, business is cyclical. To prevent boredom and complacency, we must constantly sharpen our tools/skills. Staying true to our core values and mission statement is paramount because this keeps us on track and connected to who we are at our soul level.

To grow and keep our creative and competitive edge, it is important to spend time periodically with different industry leaders and learn what other successful business owners and entrepreneurs are doing to successfully drive sales, especially in this age of technology.

Engaging with our peers and competitors keeps us on our toes, paying attention to important questions: Are we relevant? Is our business model unique, even though we provide the same services?

For example, all restaurants sell food. Yet, to stay alive and thrive, they must each be unique, with a clear target and designed to draw a particular demographic.

Other great questions to ask oneself: What is our company purpose? What is my purpose? What do we want our business to look like? How do we benefit our customers? What is it in it for our customer, i.e., why should they partner with us?

Expanding outside our comfort zones allows us to experience the “ah ha!” moments that recharge our creative capabilities.

And of course, the biggest question: What kind of leader are you? Do you want to find out?

If so, then sign up for The Abundant Leadership Experience, June 6-8, at the Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas. Go to www.abundant.com to learn more.

Hope to see you there!

Respectfully yours,

Dawn Gowery

Publisher

Northern Nevada Business View