Shawn Rhodes leveraged his life as a war correspondent to become an expert in how systems affect sales success. His work from the most dangerous places on the planet has been published in TIME, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He’s a nationally syndicated columnist and author of Bulletproof Selling.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
When business started difficulties overcame:
“it was actually finding people that could buy my products and my services. And to do that I tried doing what people had said to do if you are starting a business; go out and network, go and shake hands, kiss babies, do that kind of thing. So, I went to every networking event in my entire town, I went to every networking event outside of my time and realised that I was meeting a lot of people but I wasn’t making any headway in my business. What I mean by that is there was just nobody thereby in my products and services ”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah Book by Richard BachFavourite Quote:
“The man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there.” Vince Lombardi
Recommended Online Resources:
Google Sheets – Create a new spreadsheet and edit it with others at the same time — from your computer, phone or tablet Free with a Google account
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“figure out what you would do for free and then ask how do you get paid for it”…[Listen for More]
More About Shawn Rhodes:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“If people are doubting how far you can go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.” Michele Ruiz
Other Quotes From the Chat with Shawn Rhodes:
- “I would have taken the time each week to begin mapping out problems that I was encountering. And I would have done that outside of my own head. I would have written it down in a notebook or on a spreadsheet and that way I could have begun tracking them and start reaching into my own network for solutions. The problems that so many entrepreneurs and sales people in general have really stem down to the fact that they are using hope as a strategy… We have a of hope. Great organisations and high performing teams don’t really rely on hope. What they do is track success, they track failure and then they build in ways and systems and processes to make sure that they are replicating success and not repeating their same errors”
- “every call I make with someone that has the ability to say yes to me is by definition a call that I make to someone that can say no. So, there is uncertainty with every sales call, every sales meeting. So, my job then is to learn as best I can and try to put things into place that allow me the most chance of success on the next sales call”
- “figuring out what success is for you. I think that’s a critical thing that a lot of entrepreneurs lose track of”
- “in the early days of standing up any business our number one concern is usually revenue. But how do we create money so that we can pay the bills so we can keep the business alive. So many entrepreneurs don’t take the time to step back on a regular basis, not just something we do once but something we have to reassess almost every year if not more often is what am I doing this all for? Am I doing this to create more time to spend with my family? Am I doing this so I fund and author nature in a third world country? Figure out what success looks like to you and that way you will at least have a compass bearing of knowing where to head. If it’s just about money well you will create a lot of money but you better be prepared for losing everything else along the way. And so many entrepreneurs have walked that journey and they don’t want to walk it again”
- “we have the ability to control how we react to what is happening around us”
- “in order to reach the heights of success that we are after it doesn’t happen from falling backwards. It happens from every single day getting a little better, every single day getting more outside of your comfort zone in whatever way that looks and every single day enjoying the journey to the top of the mountain. Because if we are not doing what we love we are in the wrong business”
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