Applying Character – Building Thought Power to Your Life

I was reading an article by Ralph Waldo Trine this week and picked up these following tips:

1. First, form your ideals. And then follow them continually, where ever they lead.
2. Always remember that the great and strong character is the one willing to sacrifice the present pleasure for the future good.
3. Life is not for the passing pleasure, but for the highest enlightenment one can attain, the noblest character one can grow and the greatest service one can offer to mankind.
4. Resist the temptation to take shortcuts because they will not lead to real and lasting pleasure.
5. Thoughts are forces and each one creates its own kind, whether we realize it or not.
6. Rather than spending your days complaining about what bothers you, focus on your ideals and that will bring you closer to them.
7. Learn to use the power of suggestion positively.
8. It’s not the conditions of our life that define us, but how we meet them.
9. In the realm of our own minds, we have absolute control.

11 Tips for More Success

1. Believe in Yourself
2. Make Integrity Your Watchword
3. Maintain a Positive Attitude
4. Realize Your Dreams
5. Go Ahead… Get Started
6. Listen When Opportunity Knocks
7. Never Give Up
8. You Become What You Think About
9. Be Prepared
10. Spread Sunshine to Others
11. Fail Forward

I got this list from a short video I watched today from “Simple Truths”.

7 Sales Tips From The World’s Toughest Customers

I was recently reading an article in Inc. Magazine April 2010 edition and came across these tips by procurement executives.

1). Be Different. And then make sure you prove it to us — Coca-Cola
2). We can spot a fake from a mile away. (In other words, don’t oversell yourself) — UPS
3). Go above and beyond. You would be surprised at how few of your rivals even bother to try. — Intuit
4). Companies are buying your reputation, not just your products. — The Bama Companies
5). Do more research than you think you need to. — Valero Energy
6). Be as specific as possible when describing what you can do for us. — Northrop Grumman
7). Start locally think globally. — Dell

Top 150 Privately Held Companies in St. Louis

St. Louis Business Journal’s March 26-April 1, 2010 has a complete list of the Top 150 privately held companies in St. Louis and information on each one. You can go to stlouis.bizjournals.com to check it out.
This resource is great for putting a list of targeted prospects and the industries you’re wanting to focus on for 2010.

A Better Way to Prospect for Clients

Are you interested in using technology to prospect better for new clients? Try using some of these tips below to increase your success.

1) Create Unique Google Email for yourself
2) Subscribe to Google Reader
3) Identify your top 10 potential clients and top 3 industries
4) RSS Feed to these clients and industries to keep update on them.
5) RSS Feed to business sites like St. Louis Business Journal, Fortune, Forbes, WSJ, CEOExpress, ect..
6) Join LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and complete your profile.
7) Use LinkedIn’s Search for Companies and People that you’re looking to prospect, join some groups on LinkedIn as well that related to your industry.
8) Google and YouTube Search them
9) Friend them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter if you can.
10) Make Hootsuite or Tweetdeck as your dashboard to manage LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. These sites can streamline all the status updates and information you send out.

If you do these things for a short period of time, you will start to gain valuable insight into the needs, challenges and interests of your target clients. You will then be in a better position to make a connection and serve them in the future.

7 Great Twitter Tools to Use

If you have been using Twitter for a while you might be familiar with some of these sites below but if not I hope you find them useful. Also, for small business owners looking for ways to use Twitter to increase their sales, I added a special link for you as well. Make it a Great Day!

1) www.twellow.com
2) www.monitter.com
3) http://localtweeps.com
4) http://www.twibes.com
5) http://search.twitter.com/advanced
6) http://sitevolume.com
7) http://www.twazzup.com

Special Link for small business owners: http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=136957

8 Keys to Becoming a Top Producer

I recently read an article in Motivated Magazine called “8 Keys to Becoming a Top Producer” by Tim Mulcahy.
He listed the following eight key factors that most influenced his career:
1. Belief
2. Commitment
3. Goal Setting & Visualization
4. Role-Modeling
5. Be Prepared Physically
6. Continual Learning
7. Lose Your Ego
8. Responsibility

If you haven’t read this magazine yet you can go to www.motivatedonline.com and buy it. I thought this was a very well written article with a lot of great content to help you reach your goals.

Survive and Keep Your Dream Alive

“Success is a habit you embrace on a daily basis and the earlier you get into that mindset, the sooner you will be able to give birth to possibilities you might not be able to imagine” Les Brown

I was inspired by this quote from Les Brown this week and wanted to share it with everyone who is working on a dream or goal. He also recommends the following ten things to keep your dream alive below:

1. Be thankful
2. Be thoughtful
3. Be active
4. Be connected
5. Be patient
6. Be persistent
7. Be positive
8. Be creative
9. Be consumed
10. Be faithful

I think the fuel for this dream or goal is the passion for achieving it or the why it’s important to you. Always keep your dream alive and never ever give up.

9 Popular Video-Sharing Sites

1. YouTube.com
2. Blip.tv
3. DailyMotion.com
4. Google video
5. Viddler.com
6. Veoh.com
7. Metacafe.com
8. OneMinuteU.com
9. TubeMogul.com

6 Sales2.0 Tools to Know

I thought these websites below could be very helpful for those in sales or sales management looking for new technology to solve problems. Please review them and let me know what you think.

www.marketo.com
www.insideview.com
www.bigmachines.com
www.kadient.com
www.right90.com
www.exactly.com