The One Reason Why Job Interviews And Sales Calls Fail

It isn't all about you.

Selling a product is tough. Selling yourself as a job candidate is tough. Selling your company to an investor is tough.

All seem like different kinds of sales jobs, but they usually all fail for the same reason: You.

It's not that you're not good enough. You could be a persuasive salesperson. You could have a killer resume, with all the right industry experience and degrees. Your app could be the next Angry Birds.

But, if you're not achieving your goals, it is probably because....

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How Letting Go and Connecting With Faith Saved My Business

Entrepreneurs are driven, ambitious, do-it-yourself overachievers. Relying on others to get done what we perceive as our job is not only counter-intuitive, it’s often damn difficult to do.

But sometimes we actually need to let go.

I’m not a religious person. While I appreciate my own faith, particularly the cultural and family aspects, I’m more spiritual than religious. I believe there is something—some force-- bigger than us that we have no control over. I also believe that force has some control over what happens to us. It’s a force that guides us and connects us all in some way.

Over the past few months, my faith and spirituality have been tested over and over, both in business and in my personal life. Until this week, I had been neglecting my faith and instead tirelessly tried to ‘manage’ through some challenging times on my own. Even as I write this, I’m struggling with it somewhat. This all got me thinking about how letting go and combining a strong sense of faith with deliberate action is the key to...

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The 6 Words That Are Holding You Back

It’s no secret that words have power. For example, you probably wouldn’t say to a potential vendor, “I’m not hiring you because your product sucks.”  Instead, you might say, “I don’t think your offering is the right fit for us at this time.” There is a big difference in how the recipient of that information hears the first one over how he hears the second, and, as professionals and decent human beings, we are sensitive to that.

So it’s curious why we use damaging words when we’re talking about our own ability or about our willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve our goals. When talking about ourselves, we tend to use words that diminish our ability and our belief in our capability. The impact these words have on the confidence others have in us is bad enough. It's worse that they affect the decisions we make and the actions we take.

The words we use, even if only in our head, say a lot about...

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What Lessons You Should Learn After You Fire Someone

One of the dirtiest jobs of being the boss is making the decision to fire someone. No matter how much the employee deserves it, or how necessary it is for your organization to move on, it never feels good to tell someone you are taking their job away, especially during one of the worst times to secure a new job in U.S. history. Letting someone go is like kicking his legs out from under him. 

Still, it happens and is necessary. But where most employers fall short is failing to take the time to learn valuable lessons from issuing a pink slip. Perhaps you could have avoided this or perhaps you let a bad situation go on too long.

Each time you fire someone, consider the following to ensure you learn the valuable lessons from the experience:

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How To Remain Relevant In Your Shrinking Industry

One of the big challenges professionals face is remaining relevant in their industry, especially when that industry is shrinking.

Let's face it. Business come and go, in all disciplines. No matter where yours is now, employees, leaders and entrepreneurs alike can’t ignore the potential that someday, perhaps sooner than they think, their services will no longer be needed. No matter how good you think you are or how high your revenue numbers are today, you’re not immune to the possibility that you can be thrown out with the old to make room for the new.

So, how can you keep yourself relevant? It is all about the client. Whether you own a business, run one or simply work at one, we all have clients to serve. And following these steps to best serve them is the key to staying relevant and keeping their business:

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Dad, You're Fired.

Firing someone is the toughest task for a manager. Even when it’s in the best interest of the organization, most managers dread showing someone the door. The best strategy is to remove emotion from the equation and focus on the company. After all, it’s business, not personal. 

But what happens when it actually is personal? What if the person who needs to be dismissed is flesh and blood, a family member who isn’t up to the task? You can dismiss someone from the conference room, but you may still have to face him or her in the living room.

Because of the personal relationship involved when the employee is family, the last thing you want is…

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