The Most Unproductive Question You Can Ask

"On most days, I wake up extra early in the morning to get stuff done. It doesn’t always work, but it’s part of the productivity rhythm I’ve developed over the last year. This time is critical for me; no one else in the house is awake, the phone isn’t ringing and there are very few people online to chat with (no offense to people I chat with!) It means I can focus on a few important things to gear up for the day. Waking up early sets the entire tone for being productive.

But getting up early to get things done is completely useless if I have to ask myself: What am I supposed to be doing today?"

Sales as an Honorable Profession

"According to my friend Howard Stevens of The Chally Group, there are more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States and fewer than three dozen of them teach sales. Yet, of college graduates without a professional certification, fifty percent of them will find themselves in sales as a first job! The market in the U.S. needs an additional 1.5 million new sales candidates per year.

These 30-plus universities are the start to a sales profession.

At recent Sales Leadership conferences put on by Selling Power magazine, when Gerhard Gschwandtner asked an audience of 200 sales executives sitting at 25 tables to discuss and put forth a 'table' definition of 'selling', there was nothing close to consensus. The most common theme put forth does not bode well for sales as an honorable profession—the theme of convincing; persuading; getting the customer to do what you want when you want; handling objections; closing early; closing often; and taking at least five 'no's' before giving up."