As an employee of many start-ups I get asked by friends, family and acquaintances, “What exactly do you do?”  I have my standard elevator speech answer, so I don’t bore them after the first 30 seconds.  However, I found my new answer! My new answer will be, “Whatever the ’10 Foot Rule’ requires me to do.”

The “10 Foot Rule” is a practiced by many companies to simply have employees responsible for anything that can be executed within 10 feet of where that person is standing.  As an entrepreneur and business development professional, I don’t know if I could come up with a simpler way to describe what I do on a daily basis…whatever needs to be done.

Props: I’d never heard of this rule; but this morning I heard about it on The Herd.  He mentioned that Longo Toyota in Los Angeles (the country’s leading Toyota dealer) requests this from its employees.  When I Googled it, I saw that this is a staple of Wal-Mart too.

The sales professional is the one on the front lines.  They’re a lot like quarterbacks in football usually receiving too much credit and too much blame.

When credit is being dished out, you better make sure you’re taking care of the team that helped you close the deal.  Don’t ever lose sight of how you got to where you are, or else you’ll be receiving more blame than credit soon enough.

Be a strong leader and recognize the team that’s putting in work to make you look like an all-star.

Easy to sleep another hour.  Hard to stay up an extra hour.

Easy to stop running.  Hard to finish strong.

Easy to copy that deck.  Hard to create one.

How will you differentiate yourself today?

Playing soccer, football and basketball through college required lots of strength, agility & conditioning.  The former 2 I didn’t mind; however, I hated the latter.  Ask anyone from my MBA class and they’d tell you I’m Type-A with a borderline case of ADHD, so running for 5 miles used to bore the hell out of me.  I used to have to talk myself into starting the run because I wasn’t looking forward to it until I learned about runner’s stride.  (For those of you who don’t know, runner’s stride is when you reach a point mid-run where you feel like you can’t be stopped and you find a nice groove.  It’s the same feeling as being in the zone or getting pumped while lifting.) Once I learned about runner’s stride, I put myself in the habit of just starting my run and not talking myself out of the run before even starting it.

When I get stuck or can’t get the proper focus on a problem, I just start it.  It always leads me somewhere good.

Have something to write?  Start typing.  Trying innovate on a project? Just begin.  Need a better beach body?  Do anything besides sitting.

The first time I heard the phrase, “Today is Opposite Day” was in first grade.  This kid Richard broke out the choice phrase during a game of Freeze Tag.  Richard was a slow poke, so he would simply yell, “Today is Opposite Day!” each time he was tagged.  Chris, the fastest kid on the field, would simply blow off Richard each time Richard may his declaration.  But, every time he got close to winning, Richard would unfreeze someone making it impossible for Chris to win.  By the time recess had ended, a winner had yet to be chosen; but Richard never lost.  In lieu of Richard’s boldness, we made a new rule, “No more Freeze Tag on opposite day.”  I always wondered why we didn’t make a rule that was simply, “No more Opposite Day…ever.”

This story recently crossed my mind on a long drive.  I realized how vital it is has been for me to do the opposite of what people expected.  Nothing great or exceptional ever seems to come from coloring inside the lines.  Richard never lost a single game of Freeze Tag.  He just kept figuring out how to survive.

What will you do to make today Opposite Day?

Rory McIlroy won the 2011 US Open in record breaking fashion.  His ability to focus and stayed consistent under pressure is wonderful to watch.  I’ve never swung a golf club, but I know swinging a golf club is a lot like kicking a football.  Every kicking coach I had would parallel my practice sessions to golf.  ”Keep your head down, don’t look up, follow through…then adapt…enjoy,” they would say. I repeated these steps each time I practiced.

Many people would ask me how I was able to maintain my composure on the field during a kick with so much pressure.  The truth is that the hardest part for me was the hours and days I spent preparing in the off-season or practices leading up to game-day.  Before each kick, I checked which upright I wanted to hit; and then I’d take my steps back…2.5 back, 1.5 left. Once the ball was snapped, my internal clock told me that I had exactly 1.3 seconds or less to get the ball into the air or risk having it blocked.  The crazy thing is that in less than 1 second so much can happen.  The snap can be high.  The holder could mess up his handle; or the grass could be soaked and my plant foot could shift mid-stride.  And in that one second (that most people never see), I had to adapt to the game.

Successful people know how to adapt to their surroundings quickly.  Their core set of principles help guide them down a path; but as that path adjusts they need the survival skills to adapt.  Years of hard work and dedication can be deemed a success or failure with one split-second decision; and it happens every day.

“Keep your head down, don’t look up, follow through…then adapt…enjoy,”

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Cost: Free (Beta)

Browser Support: Chrome // Firefox // Safari

Problem Solved: Quick Access to Social Media Profiles

Situation: I used to use Google to search for the social media profiles of my contacts, colleagues and friends.  Now, I simply use Rapportive.

Why?: Once I receive an email from a contact in my Gmail (business and personal), Rapportive displays a column on the right that provides me with an overview of that person’s social media profiles.  From there, I can request to connect without ever having to leave Gmail.   It’s just that easy!

3rd Party: It also integrates with several outside CRM systems including MailChimp and TechCrunch’s Crunchbase.

GET RAPPORTIVE!!

Product: Boomerang for Gmail

Cost: Free (Beta)

Browser Support: Chrome // Firefox

Problem Solved: Effective Emailing to Decision Makers

Situation: Sending out cold sales emails is a daunting task.  As someone that takes pride in his relationships, I find the cold email to be the least satisfying part of my job.  I always keep them short n sweet like an elevator pitch; but no matter how good it is, I fight with timing.  Blasting off cold emails to decision makers at an organization during the middle of the day is not likely to garner a response.  The best time to grab the attention of a decision maker is usually first thing in the morning or late in the evening, but I can’t plan my day around when I should be in front of my computer.  Enter Boomerang for Gmail.

Timing: With Boomerang, I can create several emails from my bed at 11PM and schedule them to go out the next morning at anytime I choose.  Boomerang has been especially effective for sending out international emails.  The program has cool presets too like send in “2 hours, 4 hours, etc.”

Reminders: It also has an email reminder feature that will send out a reminder if an email has yet to receive a response.

Download Boomerrang for Gmail.

Remember when Burger King first showed us how to “Wake Up with the King” with a series of commercials that showed a really weird guy in a mascot get-up?  Everyone seemed to be a little freaked out by him; but now everyone sees him as a mainstream character.  If you’re working on business development inside a start-up, this is how your clients will view your new product, and your goal is to get them thinking about your product as something they need to have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4_5qoy4oaQ

Like the BK commercials, starting out, your clients are a little shocked and distorted by the images shown to them.  After their initial confusion has passed,they quickly try to process and translate the images that have just passed in front of their eyes.  This is the part where you have to be on top of your game because it’s now your job to “connect the dots” for them.  If you fail at this juncture, then you will lose your prospect quickly; and it’s will be terribly hard to get them listening again.

These 3 things will help get them interested and the conversation warm:

1)    Know Your Product In and Out – Seems obvious right?  Well, it’s not enough to know just your product.  You must to know all the ones that are alike, seems alike and nowhere near alike.  This is your golden opportunity to establish yourself as an expert.  In a business relationship, this is what will make you trustworthy.
2)    Be Familiar with Their Needs – Don’t be arrogant in trying to know more about the client’s business needs than they do.  You won’t, and it makes you look unprofessional.  Some business development professionals are so anxious to get a client that they start sprouting off irrelevant ideas.  Instead, have an idea of what they might be looking for and begin a dialogue with your prospect at that point.  Listen!
3)    Establish a Strong Follow-Up Agenda – You just found out their true needs, so how can you possibly have a solution for them already?  If you’re selling something revolutionary, then you can’t.  Even if you think you already have a “God-like” solution in mind, establish a follow-up agenda.  It will show that A) You care about their brand and want to give them the best possible solution and B) You now have a reason to follow-up that is mutually beneficial.

When selling a “revolutionary” product, it’s important to remember that they don’t have to have your business because in their mind they have survived to this point without it.  It’s your job to understand your product and their needs, so you can “connect the dots” for them.

These 3 simple strategies will help you sell like The King by helping potential clients brush off the initial confusion of your product and get them to look at your product as a mainstay of their business success.

The NFL Combine took place this past weekend.  Too many times, especially in large sales organizations, the sales manager will solely look at performance numbers from their previous sales positions.  This is certainly a place to start reviewing candidates, but it can’t be the sole factor in your hiring decision.  You have to put them in an environment that will test their talents in a manner that will be relevant to your organization.   In each of their previous companies, there are too many variables to possibly speculate whether or not a candidate will be successful on your sales team.

The NFL Combine exists to offer draft prospects a chance to display their skills, mentally and physically, on a level playing field.  It is not possible for an NFL franchise to decide between quarterbacks Mark Sanchez (USC – PAC 10) and Josh Freeman (KSU – Big 12) by what they did on the field in college.  Getting an invite to the Combine is the first step in the interview process for these young men, but having to prove themselves in tests that are important to individual NFL franchises will be the deciding factors in their draft status and position.

In the world of professional sales, you have to run your potential hires through a “sales combine” to prove whether or not they are qualified to be on your team.  Here are 5 NFL Combine tests you can put your future sales stars through to guage how well they will perform for you:

1)    Wonderlic Test (Intelligence) – This sometimes-controversial test is a random series of questions that is supposed to measure a candidate’s aptitude and intelligence.  You don’t have to spend the money to administer an expensive formal test; but a search for random seemingly useless knowledge is crucial.  The last thing you need out in the field is a sales person that has nothing to discuss except your product or service.  The search for random knowledge can be anything from a conversation about business to art to a reading assignment from a particular book.  The point is to see how they think and converse about topics totally unrelated to what they will be selling.
2)    Vertical Jump (Goals) – Ask your candidates how high their goals are for themselves and the company.  Look for drivers in their answer.   Your sales team has to be a driven group of individuals.  Some sales managers make the mistake of simple wanting to hear, “I want money, money, money!” This is great, but it’s not the only thing that drives people.  Listen for the things that are valuable (drivers) for the candidate such as advancement and culture.  If they are things that your company can offer, then make sure to capitalize on those drivers.
3)    Bench Press (30-60-90-Day Plan) – The key to having success in any sales environment is strength of mind and endurance.  The bench press is a great test of this.  Have your candidates layout a plan for their first 90 days at the company.  If it’s a well-know product category, you can even have them write it out through 120 days.  It is a good exercise that will force the candidates to prove their grasp of the product and industry.  Their style should give you a view of their sales acumen.  If you’re in an emerging field, focus hard on the first 60 days and look at the candidate’s ability to adjust in a fast-paced environment.
4)    40-Yard Dash (Showtime) – The “40” time is often the most popular stat resulting from the Combine.  It’s the catchy number they shout out on ESPN because most people find it easy to understand.  The sales version of the “40” is a live sales presentation of your product put on by your potential candidate.  During the “40,” you’re looking for their grasp of the material, presentation skills and presence.  At this level, the difference between times is hundredths of a second; so you have to look for those 1 or 2 indescribable traits.
5)    3-Cone Drill (Agility) – During the presentation make sure to ask questions that your clients have typically asked you in the past.  Don’t be scared to push the envelope with your questions.  The goal is not to make them feel stupid because they can’t possibly be as polished as you.  The goal is to see how the candidate responds to being outside the comfort zone.

Sales people are like the pro athletes of the business world because they are in the spotlight of the organization.  They are often the most highly compensated individuals; however, along with their glory, they get most of the blame.  As a hiring manager for a sales team, you have to put your candidates under fire to get a sense of how they will perform when it’s game time.