The DV Weekend Pickup #20

Since this is the first ever documentary to be featured on the DV Weekend Pickup series the "best quote" section has been temporarily subbed out with "best idea." Read on...

(Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies by Yael Melamede

What I like best: The documentary is centered around the work of Dan Ariely, Duke professor of pyschology and behavioral economics who has dedicated his life to irrationality, more specifically why people are so irrational.  Ariely makes you laugh while talking about such a taboo subject - lying - one we all seem to engage in one way or another.  C'mon don't lie to yourself, ha. "It's human nature to lie, we all do it," says Ariely.  Him and a team of scientists uncover our propensity to be dishonest - sometimes unknowingly with years of experience, decades of groundbreaking experiments, and real life examples.

You'll hear from people like Tim Donaghy (the NBA ref who bet on his own games), Ryan Holiday (the PR guru who deceived millions to drive ticket sales for books and movies), Marilee Jones (the Dean of MIT admissions who was forced to resign from her role after 30 years), and many more interesting people as they tell their stories of lying. I would consider this the more sensational part of the documentary which keep's it balanced and fun to watch as opposed to just a data report on lying experiments. Highly entertaining and informative - strong 90 minutes of your time. The documentary can be found on Netflix. As always let me know what you think!

Best Idea: The ability to rationalize dishonesty has a great impact on our overall capability to lie and be dishonest. Additionally, the farther we distance ourselves from the lie, the easier it is to rationalize, hence increasing our propensity to lie.

*I find this really interesting. This could explain the modern phenomenon of social media lying, yes I mean we are so far from the people we are engaging with that dishonesty becomes easy for many.

Crush the day!

DV

A Critical Skill of The Sales Elite

Being average, above average, and good are obtainable without mastering this all important skill.  However if we want to be great or elite salespeople - which is our goal, right? - then we NEED to be able to do this skill without hesitation.  I don't care what our personality type's are or aren't and I definitely don't care if we're uncomfortable doing it, ha. 

That is we NEED to be able to have difficult conversations.  The conversations we don't want to have but have anyway.  The conversations where objections, rejections, and challenges are plentiful.  The questions we don't want to ask because we fear the answers but we ask anyway. 

Quite simply if we cannot have these conversations with our customers and prospects then "good" is our ceiling.  Sorry, it just is. All elite salespeople have difficult conversations, most have them daily, and none put this task on somebody else's shoulders.  We don't have to like having them, heck nobody does, we just have to have them.

Crush the day!

DV

Top 10 Tony Robbins Quotes

Happy Monday! Smile, it could be worse, ha. As promised here are ten more quotes from Tony Robbins legendary book, Awaken the Giant Within. Don't just read them, act on them!

  1. The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of your relationships.
  2. The past does not equal the future.
  3. It's your decisions, not your conditions, that determine your destiny.
  4. It's not what we do once in awhile that shapes our lives, it's what we do consistently.
  5. People who fail focus on what they will have to go through, people who succeed focus on what it will feel like in the end.
  6. Stay committed to your decisions, but flexible in your approach.
  7. The secret to success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of you're life, if you don't, life controls you.
  8. Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year - and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade.
  9. Successful people ask better questions, as a result, they get better answers.
  10. A real decision is measured by the fact that you have taken a new action. If there is no action, then you haven't truly decided.

The theories and strategies that back quote #7 are worth their weight in gold. I would highly suggest doing a quick google search at very least - impactful stuff. 

Crush the day!

DV

The DV Weekend Pickup #19

In honor of the release of this legends Netflix documentary...

Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

Whats I like best: Let's start by saying you can pick this book up on Amazon (shipping included) for $4-$5 and it's personal development gold.  It's needless to say that this book has been enormously successful since it's release in 1992. It is over 500 pages so it is a big boy for the non-ficiton genre. Interestingly though it is NOT repetitive there is literally that many strategies and that much unique information. The book is best consumed in bits n' pieces because of the OVERWHELMING amount of actionable info on how to take control of your life - financially, emotionally, and physically. Tony needs no introduction but it is worth mentioning that he is extremely well studied in the pyschology of change and specifically neuro-linguistic programming.  When people like Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Mother Theresa, and Nelson Mandela have sat down with Tony for advice, you have to ask yourself the question - why do I not know more about this guy's work? Here's your chance - for 5 bucks!

Best Quote: "Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions."

**Check back in next week as I will have a special post with more of my favorite quotes from the book. There is just too much of a good thing to not share!

Crush the day!

DV

The Only Solution Worth Bringing to the Table

Every problem has a solution THEN there is what I call a cringe solution. A solution so good that people struggle saying no - yup, they have to cringe. We can't guarantee a yes but we can make them cringe to say no. Cringe solutions are the epitome of the "always put your best foot forward" maxim. 

Cringe solutions are hard to provide because they require extra effort, better listening, and unusual action. Cringe solutions are worth all of that. This should be our goal EVERY time we bring a solution to the table. Be cringe-worthy.

Crush the day!

DV

Objections vs. Excuses

It's been awhile since I shared one of Seth Godin's posts (by awhile I mean a couple weeks, maybe, ha.) Anyway this one was super important especially for all my salespeople out there. He specifically talks to "us" in this post. He identifies the importance of properly being able to decipher between an objection vs. an excuse. And why it's important?

"An objection is an invitation, a request for help in solving a problem. Excuses, on the other hand, are merely fear out loud."

Crush the day!

DV

A Lesson From Drake

No, no I didn't mean Drake the rapper.  I mean Frank Drake, the astronomer, the man who came up with The Drake Equation in 1961.  If you clicked on this link you likely fell into the same trap I did, ha.  However I was happy I did! (My apologies for the bait and switch - hey, it was important - I had to get your attention.)

Why? Because Drake took something INSANELY complex like the galaxy and simplified into one equation to find out how much life was actually in the universe. Moral being ANYTHING can be simplified. Yup, apparently even the universe.

I know, I know it stills looks foreign to me too but that's not the point, ha! The people who need to understand it do. Keep working towards simplification your customers will thank you for it later.

Crush the day!

DV

 

3 Steps for a Brighter Smile

Let's take a timeout from business, have a vanity moment, and give some aid to that "Smile More" theory.  I frequently get asked about my teeth and yes I'll admit I do take a lot of pride in my hygiene, ha. So here are some tips for a brighter smile pulled directly from MY daily playbook.

  1. Morning - Floss, Brush, Crest 3D Mouthwash (This stuff is good but demands consistency.)

  2. Midday - Floss between meals (Keep the floss in the car people!)

  3. Evening - Floss, Brush (Go to bed clean.)

If it seems simple it is! Flossing is the absolute key. Stop being lazy and do the work!

DV

Up close and personal, cheese.

Up close and personal, cheese.

If you like TED Talks...

This is an awesome TED Talk by Wharton professor Adam Grant, author of bestselling book Originals. It is almost as good as the book (which was really awesome.) He cites real life examples to prove the point that originals have three main qualities.

  1. They are quick to start but slow to finish.
  2. They have fear & doubt.
  3. That have lots of bad ideas.

It's as funny as it is insightful. Well worth your time!

Crush the day!

DV