Have you ever realized that it is “that” time? Time for a leap of faith: in yourself, your employees and your business model? That remaining stuck in what got you to where you are, Today, just is not going to get you to where you need to be, Tomorrow, and in the Future? And then what happened? Did you act on your thoughts? Or did your thoughts remain stuck where they always reside: inside your head. Instead of emerging into the world, and blossoming, for everyone to behold and enjoy?
This Thanksgiving, as always, I am so very grateful and thankful to my followers, readers, colleagues and clients. You are the pulse, the essence, of my inspiration. Your words, actions and values encourage me to stay the course, on your behalf. Write my stuff. Deliver the spoken word. Catalyze forward momentum and success for the individuals, teams, organizations and associations I serve.
Always with passion, purpose, impact and innovation. On behalf of serving you, better and better, through each blog post.
This year represents the culmination in an ongoing business pivot – my own leap of faith – I’ve been making since 2014. Starting in 2012, I realized that while my Sales Aerobics for Engineers® Blog continues to win awards, the blog focuses on far more than topics which are exclusively sales-related. My thanks, to you all, for these honors!
However, that little word, “sales” in the blog title, skews expectations about the Business Purpose behind the blog. After all, in addition to creating blog posts, I am a speaker, coach and consultant. I work with associations and organizations, like yours, who want to leverage collaborative business models and profitable workforces to retain the customers and members you work so hard to win.
As I told the sales colleagues I ran into at this year’s National Speakers Association annual conference, I can be on stage, in front of 5,000 sales professionals, project the word “sales” on the screen in back of me and ask: “What is the next word?” Their answer would be unanimous: “Training.”
And as anyone who works with me knows, I am not a sales trainer. Even my book Do YOU Mean Business? is about leveraging more collaborative business models and profitable workforces to retain customers. And, yes, those workforces are full of sales professionals. And a whole bunch of other people critical to customer success, as well.
Since 2014, I gradually rebranded, leveraging the importance of my third registered trademark: One Millimeter Mindset™.
Because I was spending more time explaining “what I did not do” to colleagues and clients, than enlightening them about “what I am so very committed to continuing to do.” I took my own advice. I moved that one millimeter forward, beyond what is comfortable. And then, I moved another millimeter forward, and another, and yet another millimeter forward. Right out into what, at first, seemed risky, untested, untried, uncomfortable.
Today, and moving forward to better serving you tomorrow, I find that my colleagues and clients immediately “get” what I do! And, more than that. They are so jazzed about the who, what, how and why my speaking programs and workshops catalyze them to move that one millimeter forward, as well. How about you?
Often that first step we decide to take, even though it seems 300 light years away, becomes the longest distance we ever need to traverse, emotionally and logically. I look forward to continuing to guide you along your individual, workforce and business customer retention journey. One millimeter at a time.
I encourage each of you to take “that” step, forward: your own professional leap of faith. Do the hard work, discover what really is out there for you and your employees to accomplish. Purposefully, productively, profitably. What people see on the surface, right now, is just a glimpse of what is Possible, tomorrow.
Love and light to you all,
Babette
Babette Ten Haken catalyzes organizations and associations, like yours, who want to leverage a more collaborative business model and profitable workforce to retain the customers you work so hard to win. Her One Millimeter Mindset™ speaking and consulting programs leverage collaboration to catalyze professional innovation, workforce engagement and customer retention. She is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Babette’s Playbook of collaboration hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Her professional speaker profile appears on the espeakers platform.
Image source: iStock
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