Tour Guide Tactics for Everyday Leadership By Desiree Grace, with a little help from some friends   I spent a few days this month in a foreign country and had the opportunity to observe some real professionals at work. While their job title was “tour guide,” the lessons they shared go far beyond the travel industry. The skills that make a guide successful are remarkably transferable.  In the spirit of goodwill and international cooperation, I’m sharing a Baker’s Dozen worth of wisdom gleaned from tour guides.   1. How you start matters “Hello, Beautiful People! Welcome to our catamaran!” Talk about a first impression. High energy and warmth set the tone for a positive, engaging experience. Approach your projects the same way, begin with intention and enthusiasm.   2. Shake off a miserable client Your first group of the day might be demanding sourpusses. Do you let them ruin the entire day? Absolutely not. Shake it off, reset, and start fresh with the ...

Before You Pack the Sunblock, Pack a Better OOO Reply by Desiree Grace A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment By Desiree Grace Ready for some R&R? Rushing out the door to leave work behind? Don’t forget the sunblock, the spare charger, and an extra credit card. And please, before you set that “Gone Fishing” vibe, take five minutes to craft a professional, friendly, and useful out-of-office message. Out of office? Who cares? Your customers and colleagues, that’s who. The tone of your greeting matters. Include an emergency contact who has agreed in advance to be your backup, and provide a way to reach you in a true emergency. Your auto-response while on vacation tells people a lot about you. Forgetting to create one also says a lot, and none of it good. A couple of real-world examples: “Out of the office until August 31.” “Hi! I’m out of the office on holiday, returning August 31. While I may not be checking emails, your message is important to me. Bill can help y...

North Stars: The Distributor’s Original GPS In Defense of My North Stars Why I Still Trust My North Stars (Even in the Age of AI) By Frank Hurtte Forgive the extra titles, I just couldn't decide on the perfect one to reflect this post! I’m not exactly sure when the concept of “North Stars” first became part of my thinking. It may have been from Peter Drucker, whose books-on-tape I devoured back when I was a young sales guy working through an MBA reading list on the road. Drucker hammered home the importance of enduring principles and mission-driven leadership. Later, Jim Collins in Good to Great reinforced this idea, showing how great companies cling to their core values even as they navigate massive change. For me, North Stars are those steadfast principles that offer clarity and direction, especially when markets shift and trends whirl around like the weather here in the Midwest. Never one to let a solid idea slip by, I developed my own set of North Stars for distributors...

Reactive Selling Isn't a Sin if You Do It with a Purpose By Frank Hurtte Proactive, proactive, and more proactive! Selling stories flood the internet like a tsunami of advice. Is it just me, or is every sales expert on the planet preaching some kind of “Max Overdrive” model of proactive action? Truth be told, that approach might be completely impractical for a big segment of our industry. We’ve bought into it, too. Every time a sales manager steps up in a conference room and unveils their vision of a 100% proactive future, the team shudders, digs in their heels, and covertly begins planning how to avoid it. True Confessions I used to be one of those guys at the front of the room pontificating about proactive selling. These days, I’m convinced reactive selling has an important place, especially in the world of knowledge-based distribution. Through up-close observation and dozens of interviews with successful sellers, I’ve learned that reactive selling, done right, is far from passiv...