A Lesson From Paris

I just got back from a week in Paris. A great trip, amazing history and the true memories of enjoying it with many wonderful people. Perhaps I will talk about that another time.

Halfway through the week on an unbelievably gorgeous day, I find myself walking down one of the side streets near my hotel. This is one of those streets that you would see in a movie…lined with trees, the occasional scooter passing by, quaint little shops and restaurants as far as the eye can see.  As I’m strolling along, I begin watching the people eating lunch at the many sidewalk cafes along the path.

And then it dawned on me. What a contrast from what is going on just a couple of blocks away!  All around Paris, the traffic and the hurry to get somewhere can literally be felt. If you are in the midst of it, you better get moving or you will get run over (as I nearly did on more than one occasion). Like others who live in large metropolitan areas, the Parisians are going to get to work or on to their next errand as fast as they possibly can.

But not right here, not in the spot I was standing on at that moment in time.  The people I was watching had an amazing ability to compartmentalize the constant hurried nature of their days. When they sit down to enjoy a meal, that’s exactly what they do. They shut out the mornings’ challenges or what they may have to do later in the day and they just enjoy the food, the conversations, the weather. They enjoy the process – from beginning to end and all parts in between.

So, I asked myself, “When was the last time I did that?”

We all know how fast the world is moving today – we are expected to do more and produce more than ever before. But at some point, we need to step away, gain some perspective and see what is really around us.  It is a choice to do so, but one I believe we all can make for the benefit of ourselves and those around us.

Paris was a wonderful city, a city with a vibe all its own. I will forever remember the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and all of the wonderful things I saw and learned about. But the greatest gift from this trip will be to stop, if only once in a while, and find the enjoyment in whatever journey I might be on at that moment.

Don’t Chase, Attract!

I have been giving this a lot of thought and have come to the conclusion that the single greatest challenge that today’s salespeople face is one of mindset. All of us have been taught in one way or another that in order to achieve success in sales, we must be hunters. We have to find prospects, track them down into a corner and then sell, sell, sell!

While this approach may have been the way to go in the past, things have changed. It is more difficult and more costly to chase people down. Prospects are busy. And the last thing they want is to be sold anything. They want to buy what they want or need when they want or need it.

I’m not suggesting that we stop being proactive in our businesses. A proactive strategy is still required, but can we redirect our efforts to become more attraction oriented? As the world has evolved, it is more important than ever to find ways to bring people to us who want to buy when they are ready.

Could you imagine a steady flow of prospects calling you, wanting to meet with you, wanting to buy from you? No selling, just helping people take full advantage of the product/service they want to buy.

We must focus our marketing and sales efforts on becoming more attractive to potential buyers. By providing messages, content and resources to our audience (marketplace) that help them in their daily lives, we become more discoverable and attractive when they are ready to buy what we sell. They will come to us on their terms, not ours, and be free of the idea that they are “being sold.”

The value of free tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube provide multiple platforms to become more attractive to your market. Dive in, start creating & building that attraction mechanism. It is an amazingly empowering process that will lead to long-term business success.