Fuentes Friday #0018

Here is your end-of-the-week insight into what I see going on in the business world, what I’m thinking about, and what I’m learning about. Forward anything that you feel inspired to share.

What I’m Hearing From Sales Leaders/Professionals

This past week I had a lot of conversations with sales professionals lamenting the summer slowdown, in both pipeline and lead generation. The first piece of advice I gave all of them is to shift the mindset (see quote below) and not worry about the slowdown, but think about how to maximize what is in front of them. A mind shift can have a profound effect on performance and outcomes. Going into a quarter already thinking it is lost is not a recipe for success.

The second thing I suggested was to figure out who the worst salesperson was that no longer worked at the company. Then go mine their closed lost deals for gold. Often these deals were lost because of sales skills as much, if not more, than anything else.

Outside of the traditional segmentation steps (ICP, # of contacts associated, etc.) I told them to run some additional reports around time in stage and time between touches. What they would likely find is that many of these deals hung out in stages a very long time and were not touched very often. These were deals where salesmanship was an issue.

They could then cohort the deals and run specific campaigns around closed-lost month, reason, industry, etc. Further, for the prime deals, they could dig in and see if there had been any changes in the contacts (promotions, exits, new contacts), the product’s value to that ICP, or industry trends.

I have already had a few AEs report multiple new (for them) opportunities being created. The summer slowdown is only real if you let it be.

What Made Me Laugh

Last week, after taking my 13-year-old son to see South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut (it was back in theaters for a limited run), I was nominated for a Father of the Year (FOTY) award. Upon hearing about my nomination, I started to reminisce about the second semester of my second year at VA Tech (1997), when a kid from Long Island named Lenny brought a bootleg tape of a cartoon of kids cursing while Santa and Jesus fought. This got me thinking about who else Jesus has fought. The answer? Godzilla.

This Week’s 40/20

For every 40 hours of work, I believe you should spend 20 (additional) hours mastering your craft. This is how I spent some of my 20 hours this week.

When I first started Fuentes Fridays, I posted some hip exercises. I was committed to not walking like an old man before I turned 50. Outside of the benefit of added flexibility, I have found the time I spent stretching provided moments of great clarity for me.

Some of my best strategic advice this year has been sparked during my stretching time. There is a ton of research about how you can gain clarity from exercise and meditation, so I guess it all makes sense.

If you are interested in starting a hip mobility program, here is a link to three exercises for both beginners and advanced practitioners.

Potpourri for 800

Potpourri (shoutout to Jeopardy!) is a category that covers a variety of topics.

Earlier this week I gave my network the opportunity to impact many young men’s lives by contributing to the Wakefield Warriors football program. The program serves an incredibly diverse community with a large percentage of the players struggling to have the basics in life, let alone for football.

If you are so inclined, any and all donations are appreciated. The link to donate is HERE . If you need the last four of the phone number for Venmo, they are 6615. If you want to send a check, send me an email or text. They have asked me to collect checks as mail tends to get lost at the school during the summer. Thanks for the indulgence!

Quote for My Son

Every day, I leave my son a note with a quote. This was my favorite from this past week:

“It is what it is. But, it will be what you make it.” Pat Summit