The Salesby5 Blog

The past few weekends have been brilliant in proving that audiences vary all over the world.  Two different events with which I had a personal experience painted a vivid picture.  First, the iPad launch.  I’ve read a number of tweets, blogs and even a clip on Modern Family asking why someone needs an iPad.  It’s not really a computer, ebook reader or netbook.  It’s just…different and it’s at $500 in it’s least expensive form.  But you can read books on it!  You know where else you can read books?  In books.  Consider Luis Soriano, who has a “biblioburro” or a “library donkey” in Magdalena, Colombia.  Children in his part of Colombia will walk up to 40 minutes to get to school.  He’ll ride 5 to 8 hours to get books to kids.  The iPad’s price, need for electricity and web seem preposterous in those terms.  Think of all the books we could buy in developing countries!  Nonetheless, Apple raked in about $150 million in sales the first weekend.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

I received a call this week from a close friend regarding her annual review. She described how her boss explained to her that they really liked how dependable and trustworthy she was in her position. The quality of her work is of the highest caliber. Her boss then explained that he felt that she needed to do more work – she needed to take on more projects and more responsibilities. He felt as if she hadn’t been doing enough. Cue the sinking feeling.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

Have you ever been told “that person can do no wrong in your eyes” or “give the guy another chance, he’s a really nice person”?  This past week I found out that those preconceived notions have a name: Hypothesis Bias or Confirmation Bias.  In the case of someone you may not like, you’ll look for comments, actions and intonations to help support your reason for not liking that said person.  On the other hand, for a person that you’re fond of, you’ll easily gloss over flaws and mistakes simply because that person is held in high esteem.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

My mornings usually start the same way; with me sleepily stepping into the gym.  I turn on my music, put one foot in front of the other on the “dreadmill,” lift weights, get cleaned up and head to work.  I’ve met a few people at the gym, but chat rarely.  You can count on a “good morning” or “hello” and a warm smile as I rest during reps, while the headphones blare.  I may be guilty of yelling my greetings due to the volume (don’t judge me).  Today, though, I plopped down on a machine, started my exercise and a friend came and sat beside me, so I pulled the headphones off.  After we exchanged pleasantries, I kept the music off.  I noticed something.  The sounds of people breathing, the weights clanging, more huffing, sighing and grunting from those people around me.  The silence and the sounds between those seemingly random noises affected me.

Nan Palmero | BlackBerry Power User

We live our lives based on social conventions where we want some sort of relationship, no matter how fleeting it is, before we want to help someone.  I know that I’m guilty of this mentality.  Do you have an internal monologue that goes something like this: “What? You want my help? You want to inconvenience me? Ugh. I don’t really know you OR you haven’t gone through the right channels to be able to ask for that.”  This is typical and no one would be surprised if you thought that way when a stranger asked for a favor.  Dr. Cialdini, professor at the University of Arizona even talks about the importance of reciprocity.

Last week at Salesby5 was busy! This post will be very different from the ones you have seen and probably will see.

A week ago today, Nan turned 30 and my gift to him was stock ownership in SalesBy5. The certificate hot off the law office’s printer and it was given to him at a tweet up turned birthday party at the Roaring Fork. The rest is well played out on an unplanned video shot by our friend Alan Weinkrantz. After 2 years and 9 months with Salesby5 it is my honor, privilege, and pleasure to welcome Nan Palmero as my partner!

photo by Ashley Palmero

My first real job during and after college was working for Candy. Candy is an amazing leader. From time to time, I’d blow it. I would fill out an application incorrectly for a client, miss an overnight shipment drop by mistake because I put it in the FedEx box instead of UPS or I broke the refrigerator. Each time as I would sheepishly approach her about it, she would respond, “If that’s the worst thing that happened today, you’re doing great! Most people can’t even say that.” She knew that I gave her my best. Some of these mistakes could have had significant impacts on the business, but she always maintained an amazing attitude. Of all the things she taught me over the seven years I worked for her, and there were many, her amazing attitude was the most powerful.

Now, working with the fantastic SalesBy5, I have an amazing team surrounding me, with another great leader. Sometimes, things don’t always go the way I need them to. Hey, mistakes happen. Every time, I think about how Candy would respond. I try my best to always issue the same response, and then help my team get back on their feet to get the situation resolved. For me, an amazing attitude is easy when things are great. When the amazing attitude remains even when circumstances aren’t great is when you see a true leader. Remember, leadership has nothing to do with your title; it’s an attitude. I hope I can live up to the examples set for me.

What do you think it takes to be a great leader? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

As seen on MySA.com

Considering the economy and the difficult job market, it’s an especially important time for new graduates to be well prepared for success, especially online. The wonderful part about this time in history is how connected and accessible recruiters, executives and decision makers are online. This means easier access for the folks that are leveraging the free tools available to them. Let’s review some of the tools and tactics I suggest for accelerated success.

1. Have a High Speed Summary on Your Resume

If you haven’t heard already, people are busy. No one has time to review your twelve page resume and nobody cares about all your extracurricular activities, at least not on your resume. Your resume is merely to get your foot in the door. To do this, I suggest you do things a bit differently. I tell job hunters to include a high speed summary at the top of their resume (under their contact information), instead of an objective. A high speed summary includes 3 or 4 bullet points of what makes you awesome and sets you apart. Make it as powerful as you can, showing leadership, dedication, intelligence or whatever special qualities you are able to bring to life. If you’d like to pick up my favorite free template, head over to lifeclever.com and download it.

2. Clean Up Your Social Networks

One would hope that you would never show up to a job interview with a beer in hand – save that for when you’re golfing with the CEO after you’ve been hired. Similarly, you should review all your social networks, online photo galleries, blogs and other websites for less than flattering photos. Promptly remove them as any person who is hiring can likely find them as well with a quick search on Google, Facebook, MySpace and the assortment of other nooks and crannies online. Instead, why not make your sites a place to help sell yourself with pictures of you doing great things with and for others. Make these sites sales tools that work for you by telling the real story of you, instead of working against you. Test this by having your friends search for you and see if they can pull up anything questionable about you.

3. Register on Linkedin

Sure, you’ve been on MySpace and Facebook for some time now. It’s time for you to also register on Linkedin. Never heard of it? No problem. Head over to Linkedin.com to get started. Complete as much information as you can that is pertinent. Just like a resume, have someone proofread what you’ve written for accuracy and grammatical errors. Use a headshot of yourself (not bonging a beer). While you’re at it, why not make all your headshots, avatars, and gravatars match across your websites. Yes, it takes time but you develop a consistent personal brand. Also, remember to create the personalized URL, it’s a breeze and free.

4. Join Twitter

Have you heard of Twitter on tv? If you don’t know what it is, hop over to Common Craft and learn about it. While you’re there, why not brush up on some other topics like Google Docs and RSS. Once you’re on, use Twitter to contribute to the conversation in a positive fashion. Provide great links to things you’re passionate about. Help others who are struggling by encouraging and coaching. People are grateful and others notice. You’ll see that Twitter is chock full of decision makers and you can speak to them – directly! Here’s a hint, if it’s available, use your real name or a shortened version of it as your user name. Once you’ve chosen this, do your best to use it across all your networks. Come find me, I’ll follow you back.

5. Set Up Your Google Profile

Remember the resume that you’ve been working on and the Linkedin profile that you sweat over? Why not pull all that information over to your Google Profile. No Google Profile? No Problem. Get one now. Be sure to link to your other pages and networks. Have a look at mine, if you want an example. You can also do this with PeoplePond for additional hits on Google.

6. Get Involved In Your Community

Your parents and friends have already told you, but getting involved in your community is a great way to get connected. Getting involved can mean applying your abilities for non-profit at a place of worship, participating in one of the many “camps” or even attending a tweetup. There are amazing people all over, be sure you get outside of your usual group of people you’re comfortable around and meet some new ones. You never know when that next person will be your next mentor, boss or business partner.

If you’ve applied these six steps, you will soon have a number of new friends, contacts and abilities. You’ll be amazed as to how easily “searchable” you become online as well as how well you can leverage the internet to make you look as good as you are. If you have additional suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

As seen on MySA

Last December, seeking to enhance sales, Gary Vaynerchuk offered free shipping and promoted it three ways. As a result, he said, a direct marketing mailing cost $15,000 and brought in 200 new customers; a billboard ad cost $7,500 and won 300 new customers; and tweeting the promotion on Twitter attracted 1,800 new customers.

Are you using social media to get your story out there? You don’t have to pay for attention anymore.

Nan here, writing on location from the Press Room at CTIA, an incredible wireless conference, in Las Vegas. I’ve seen some amazing new technology here including some of Garmin’s new phones as well as had the pleasure of seeing Al Gore speak – he’s a great showman! The most interesting part of this show, though, is the gradual death of the business card. It seems that more and more people at these events are refusing to carry them.  Interestingly, people are opening up their social networks to everyone that wants a business card.  Essentially, this lowers the time to be able to connect (it’s a pain to enter the contact information), it let’s people get more details about you and a better look at who you are thanks to the information you populated on your network and it gives us multiple avenues to communicate. Our friend, Alan Weinkrantz, even wrote about the new .tel domains that are standardized for you to create a website with your contact information.

This brings up a few interesting concerns.   First, are you on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo or the other more popular sites with appropriate information that sells you and your brand?  Next, do you have a smartphone or web enabled device to make these 21st century connections on the go?  Third, do your photos and the things you talk about sell you or unsell you as a brand?  All of these considerations matter.  The future of social networks is now, are you prepared to face it?  Like the internet, it’s not a fad.