Four simple steps to reach success

When I decided to leave a relatively lucrative sales manager’s position and go full time on the speaking circuit, I went on an 18-city tour sponsored by Radio Ink magazine in the first quarter of 2000. Ads had run in all radio publications announcing the much-anticipated tour. There was good pre-booking in most cities except for the first three, but you never know until they show up.

The first stop was Orlando, FL. One person showed up. I gave that seminar to one person that day. The next stop was Birmingham, AL, where four people showed up. In Charlotte, the third stop, 13 attended - and then Memphis, with 65. The rest, as they say, is history.

I had a decision to make after those first three cities. I was losing a lot of money, but I visualized a room filled to capacity during the tour, and it happened many times. As a manager, you also have decisions to make, and when things look the bleakest, you need to believe in yourself and what you stand for. It’s pretty lonely doing a seminar in front of one person. However, if you don’t appreciate the struggles in life, you will never enjoy the rewards of persistence and the ability to overcome self-doubt. Here are some excerpts from my book, Black Belt Laws for Life.

1. Fear of Success: Fear of failure is a strong motivator, but fear of success is a greater hindrance to accomplishing your goals.We’re all a product of our respective environments.Why do most people never leave a ghetto? It’s a risk to leave your comfort zone. Are you ready to leave yours, and strive to fulfill your dreams?

2. Motivation: What motivates you?
Passion: Are you passionate about your life and career? Every day, 97 percent of Americans go to jobs they don’t like. If you don’t love what you do, take
your resignation to your boss today. If you are passionate about what you do, you will be a success.
Drive: Do you have the drive? Are willing to pay the price for success? There are no shortcuts in life.
Risk-Taking: No risk, no reward. When things get comfortable, challenge yourself. I left a six-figure job to start my own company in 1999, only to lose
over $50,000 in my first year. However, if I had never taken the risk without the security of a full-time job, I wouldn’t be where I am today. The risk was to lose it all going forward. The reward was fulfilling my dreams.
Commitment: Are you really committed to what you’re doing? Will the current career path take you where you want to be in five years? If not, it’s time to move on.

3. Visualization: This might be the most powerful weapon we have, and the one we use the least. It’s also free. You want that GM’s job? Visualize yourself sitting in the GM’s chair. Smell the furniture polish on the new desk. Hear the clapping of your peers after your new job is announced. Taste the champagne during the celebration. Get the picture? The world’s most successful athletes attribute visualization as the key component to their success. They picture themselves in a winning moment.

4. Time: Take the time to plan. Those who fail to plan actually plan to fail - they never accomplish their goals. Most of the 97 percent of people who go to jobs they don’t like spend two hours or more watching television every night.Will watching two hours of Hogan’s Heroes reruns get you anywhere on the road to success? What’s the payoff and reward? Yes, you need balance and downtime, but what do you really take from the sitcoms, other than watching the clock tick by on your life? If you do the same thing today that you did yesterday, what will change in your life?

Most people have a life expectancy of 75 years. If you sleep six to eight hours a night, you use up 20-25 years of your life. That leaves some 55 years of awake time - not enough to let it slip by watching TV.


Are you watching or playing life’s game to the fullest? If you’re reading this article while lying on the couch, get a notebook and write down your goals. Start with the things you want to achieve during the next 30 days. Next, list your 90-day goals. If it’s not on paper, it’s not a goal.


Sean Luce, a black belt in martial arts, is the head national instructor for the Luce Performance Group. He can be reached at Sean@luceperformancegroup.com.

This article should be bulletin board material for your sales bullpen. It should serve as a reminder for your veteran sales reps, and an initiation for your new hires. Cover this material in your next sales meeting, and then post it where everyone can see.

These are the still-too-common mistakes made by sales reps I consult around the world. The most important question is, what can you do to address them?

#10: Tries to be too friendly. I suggested one of our new sales managers watch reruns of WKRP in Cincinnati and pay attention to Herb Tarlek, the back-slapping, glad-handing sales manager on the sitcom. There is no problem with having fun and using humor in sales, but it’s a problem when reps go out of their way to become a friend rather than a sustaining resource for clients.

#9: Argues about the target audience. If you work in a large enough cluster, at least one of your stations will likely reach your client’s target customer. When you try to stuff a station down a customer’s throat, you know it’s not the right fit. How you position your stations makes a difference. However, sometimes reps can get too target-friendly doing so may eliminate opportunities on stations where the customer could reach an audience that might be on the fringe of the target, but could attract potential new buyers to the product or company.

#8: Shows up without an appointment. Do you really work your plan, or do your territory and accounts manage you? One quick way to have your day filled with frustration is to drop in on prospects or customers unannounced. It’s easy to be lazy and forego the prep work to set up appointments and do research. Customers are savvy, and not setting up appointments is the fastest way to lose credibility with prospects or clients.

#7: Bad-mouths other stations. On a recent speaking engagement at the Hawaii Association of Broadcasters, it was obvious that many of the radio and television reps thought the competition was inside the room. I showed them their local newspaper, which was filled with full-page ads from auto dealers. Yet the radio stations were splitting their 8 percent, and the TV stations were splitting their 26 percent - which left 66 percent being spent mainly in the newspaper. Bad-mouthing your competition shrinks your pit, it doesn’t make it bigger!

#6: Ignorant about their station/the broadcast industry. Why is learning about your product so hard? Do your reps know everything about your radio station demographically and geographically? Do they know the qualitative profile of your listeners? Hire good salespeople, teach them your product, then teach them the methodology of your sales system. Because it’s an intangible product, many radio reps don’t believe in their own stations’ ability to deliver results - because
they don’t understand their own product and their own industry.

#5: Doesn’t provide timely information. Just today, I found a media kit that was dated 2005, with statistics for the station that dated even further back. Make sure your research is as new as possible, and update it quarterly where applicable.

#4: Doesn’t understand the customers’ needs. In my experience, 90 percent of customers say sales reps aren’t inside their business and don’t understand their challenges. It’s not a cookie-cutter world anymore one schedule or package doesn’t apply to all. A customer’s proposal should be tailor made, not a template where only the name of the business is changed.

#3: Acts overconfident or pushy. It’s one thing to be able to close a business on your radio station during your presentation. It’s another thing to not listen to the prospect or customer, and push them rather than lead them. This is a fine line, and top-notch sales reps know how to walk it.

#2: Tries to sell customers something they don’t need. You see this in the automotive industry: The finance & insurance manager takes advantage of a customer who barely qualifies for a loan once approved, he stacks on the "extra" coverage and insurance that duplicates what’s already provided by the manufacturer.

#1: Shows poor follow-through. Do you over-promise and under-deliver? Weak salespeople don’t do what they say they’re going to do. Great salespeople get the re-order by producing - and exceeding - the goals expected by the client. Does this describe you?

Sean Luce is the head national instructor at Luce Performance Group. He can be reached at 832-567-6340 or by e-mail at Sean@luceperformancegroup.com.

Seeing Clearly Through Travel-Weary Eyes

April 12: Wheels up from Houston to Baltimore to meet up with one of my consulting clients and 70 of their top clients on a trip to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. My focus is to work the stations’ clients without distractions. Last year, I took along a date for this same trip. I enjoyed the company, but I must admit that having someone along proved to be quite a diversion.

Tip #1: Limit your daily distractions. I see a lot of sales reps picking up their dry cleaning or getting their nails done during work hours. How much time are you in front of prospects or clients each day? Giving clients your undivided attention for a week and getting to know them up close puts sales - and your performance - at a whole new level.

APRIL 18: A lot of business was written on the beaches of Punta Cana thanks to the bond created outside of the normal selling arena.

Tip #2:Why don’t more stations put together sales incentive trips like these? While I was in the kiddie pool splashing around with some of the clients’ kids, I asked Chris William and Vicki Simonetti from Christopher William Jewelers in Weyers Cave,VA, to give some tips for media sales reps:

Tip #3: Send confirmation notes once the appointment is made: Chris says to make sure it’s handwritten, not typed. What percentage of your sales reps do this? Imagine if they all did! Would it change your revenue? It would!

Tip #4: Dress for success. Both Vicki and Chris mentioned that they would not buy a station rated tops in their market if the rep was dressed in a cheesy suit and shoes that haven’t been shined in a month. "It’s about wanting to be around powerful, successful people. I feel better knowing someone who looks successful and drives a decent car is handling my advertising money," Vicki said. Think about your wardrobe it does make a lasting impression!

Tip #5:They both attend seminars given by their media partners. When was the last time your stations put on a seminar for your clients - one that doesn’t focus strictly on radio, but on the strengths of all media? This is a sustaining resource for your clients.

Tip #6: Do you really know your clients? One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2007 was to learn the names of spouses, significant others, and children of everyone who works at the properties we consult.Yes, it requires a concentrated effort. Do you and your sales reps know those names? This is not about schmoozing - it’s about caring.

April 20: I met one of the most interesting people on the flight back to Baltimore. Greg Turner runs Phoenix Development in Harrisonburg, VA. Greg was on the 1980 USA and 1984 Olympic swimming teams for paraplegics, and now works in a missionary hospital in Guatemala. Here are his tips for success:

Tip #7: Failure is not an option. "No matter your situation, you can find answers to any of your problems if you don’t feel like a victim all the time," Greg said.

Tip #8:Always give of yourself to help other people. Make this an unspoken rule, and never expect anything in return.

April 21: Back to Houston for 36 hours.

Tip #8:Make sure you get enough sleep. Had a hard weekend? Some reps go back home and sleep after the Monday morning sales meeting. Salespeople who look like they didn’t sleep the night before will not inspire confidence from their clients.

April 23: Off to British Columbia to work with our online site www.castanet.net, for a week.

Tip #9: Expand your horizons. We just started the Castanet auto mall, and already seven dealers are involved (the target is 14). Challenge yourself by combining your radio station with online to create the ultimate "air force" (radio) and "ground force" (online) combination for you clients. This particular example is for auto dealers, who are still spending 30 percent of their local advertising in the local newspaper.The auto mall on Castanet dispels the theory that auto dealers can’t live without newspaper.

April 30: I’m finishing up my article for Radio Ink on the plane. I have a 65-hour turnaround before I leave for Honolulu for a speaking engagement. Despite my experience during last year’s trip to Punta Cana, I’m thinking of inviting a friend along. I’ll let you know if her company becomes a distraction!

Tip #10: Focus follows fun.


Sean Luce is the head national instructor at Luce Performance Group. He can be reached at 832-567-6340 or by e-mail at Sean@luceperformancegroup.com.