how to be successful – Tom Fuszard's Business Builder

Important tips for building sales

December 11, 2015January 11, 2014 by Tom Fuszard

Professional development is important for any business person. But that’s especially true of sales people. I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a very valuable presentation by Larry Cockerel. Here are some reflections of that seminar.

Larry, a veteran sales development and training specialist from the Milwaukee area, started off by reminding us that sales is all about attitude. “We have choices to make everyday,” Larry said. “We can choose to put on a positive attitude.”

Larry invited the audience to rate their levels of confidence, belief and courage. These were on a 1-5 scale. Larry pointed out the pitfalls of rating our confidence too high or too low. Too low and we don’t feel we’re able to accomplish anything. Too high, and you may fall into that trap of thinking you have it all.

More great advice from Richard Branson

December 11, 2015January 2, 2014 by Tom Fuszard

Richard Branson’s book, “Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way” offers great insight into the man behind the Virgin Group. In an earlier post, I reviewed five great concepts I gleaned from his book. This passage offers two more nuggets of advice for entrepreneurs everywhere.

Richard is often asked why he participates in those dangerous activities (balloon rides around the world, driving a power about across the Atlantic). Here is how he responds:

“Part of me is driven to try new adventures, and I still find that I want to push myself to my limits. If I were to think about it more carefully, I would say that I love to experience as much of life as I can.”

Let’s review the important concepts here:

Success secrets of super achievers

December 28, 2015December 22, 2012 by Tom Fuszard

Want to be successful? Follow those who are. What are some of the secrets to success? If you want to know, ask the super achievers. That’s what Jim Stovall did for his book, “Success Secrets of Super Achievers.” It’s a great book, and I recommend you track down a copy. Jim contacted or interviewed dozens … Read more

Ingraining the 7 habits of highly effective people

January 8, 2016January 23, 2012 by Tom Fuszard

I recently had the pleasure of attending a seminar based upon Stephen R. Covey’s landmark book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I was intrigued when I heard about the seminar, because I have a copy of the book. Sadly, it sits on my bookshelf only partially read. I found the book a bit challenging; to me, it reads more like an academic text. Fortunately, the presenter distilled the major themes – the 7 Habits – into material I could understand and digest.

Here are the notes I took from that presentation. You can see how powerful his suggestions are and why Covey’s book is a must read. It’s impossible to do justice to the book with just a few lines for each Habit. I encourage you to purchase a copy for the complete discussion.

Habit 1: Be Proactive. Stop and think before reacting. Act based upon sound principles, not emotion (which could be heated at the time). Avoid getting sucked into the emotion of the moment.

Exploit your firm’s strengths to maximize marketing efforts

February 2, 2016August 14, 2011 by Tom Fuszard

One thing I have observed working in marketing for 10+ years (including three years with ad agencies), is that business people can be a bit lax when it comes to developing marketing strategies and plans.

Many operate project to project without a cohesive, systematic program or strategy in place. Seldom do they take the time to carefully analyze their firm from a marketing perspective. Their results often are mixed, leading some to grumble that “advertising doesn’t work.”