When it comes to nature, bears are the toughest competitors out there. You need to emulate their model in your own business. Bears are the strongest natural example of pursuing your business with a deeper level of GRIT. Here’s why (and it all starts with salmon):

 

Salmon swim upstream and return to the parts of the river where they were born. Many animals hunt the salmon as they swim, including bears. The strongest and toughest bears go to the part of the stream that causes the most trouble for the salmon to cross: the waterfall.

 

The stream runs hard here. The rocks are slippery and dangerous. The hardiest bears know that because of the danger, this part of the stream is the least crowded. Here the salmon jump high to clear the waterfall. The bears sit poised and wait for the salmon to jump, then reach out and catch them in midair.

 

Unlike the other bears downstream, these Gritty bears take a large, juicy bite out of the salmon and throw the dead salmon back into the stream. These bears know that because they have risked the most, they reap the biggest reward: salmon after salmon, mouthful after mouthful. Abundance.

 

The next group of bears are also smart. Although they are not as Gritty as the first group, they know that the other side of the salmon is still available for them, so they sit and wait a little further downstream. When the half-eaten salmon comes their way, they grab it and eat the other side.

 

The competition is a little fiercer at this mid-level location, but the salmon are still plentiful. These bears too throw the salmon away and it floats downstream further.

 

At the bottom of the stream where the rapids end and the water moves slowly, the rest of the animals wait. Here, the foxes, coyotes, birds and rats fight for salmon skeletons. This group fight over the crumbs. The work is hard because the bones have little meat left and the competition is stiff.  Sound familiar?

 

Are your customers the skeletons of the market? Are your business dealings so low-level that your competition doesn’t want them and that’s why you are stuck with them? Force yourself to move upstream to find better customers, better employees and more abundance.  Find customers who have bigger businesses, more needs, and the ability to provide you with more revenue.

 

I have told this story so many times in my company that a member of my sales team presented me with a miniature grizzly bear for my desk. I keep it in front of me always, as a reminder that I want to be the Grittiest bear at the most dangerous part of the stream.  

 

The most dangerous part of the stream, and the toughest part of business—where the competition is the smallest, but the rewards are the greatest. Abundance awaits the Grittiest.

 

Whether a bear in nature or you in your business, abundance awaits the Grittiest of us all. The crumbs await the weakest.

 

Which bear are you in your business? Fight the temptation for the easy way out. The more you embrace Gritty behavior, by moving upstream, the closer you get to achieving abundance and greatness.

 

Here are 9 tips to help you find the courage and strategy to move upstream, work with better customers and make more money.

#1.  You must have a healthy self-esteem.  The reason you work with those deadbeat clients or have married a deadbeat is because you don’t think you are worthy of better.

#2.  You must believe the what you are doing / selling.  Without belief in yourself, your product and your service, you are toast.

#3.  Become the expert in your niche.  Experts get paid…amateurs get crushed.

#4.  Move up the food chain. – Don’t do business with people at your level or below.  Always play up, never play down.

#5.  Understand your value. – What do you do better than anyone else?  This is the super power of value that you bring to the table.

#6.  Bring more value. –Now that you know your value…bring it.  Offer it up at every chance.  Don’t wait for the customer to see, it, offer it up, explain it and sell the crap out of it.

#7.  Increase your prices.  You can always come down…it is very hard to come up.

#8.  Follow up like a madman or madwomen.  This is connected to #1 and #2.  If you believe, you will want them to have your product/service and massive follow up should come natural.

#9.  Don’t assume, ask. – You don’t know it all.  Never stop asking questions and never start thinking you already know the answers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 21st year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 3-time winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt has helped dozens of employees and thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “I NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in 2017.  Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero.

I play poker on the second Tuesday of every month, with basically the same group for the last 13 years.  My friend and old neighbor is gracious to host the event each month, cook gourmet food for us and let me be part of it. The group is made up of older friends, most pushing their 70’s in age.  Our favorite activity, even more than playing cards, is eating incredible food and talking.  We talk about everything and one of the common topics is money.  Most of the group are well heeled, some VERY well heeled, and they love to talk about money.  No bragging rights, or one-upmanship, just open and honest dialogue about the importance of money.  How much is enough, where they are investing, what to look out for, what exotic destination are they going to next, and so on so on.  I’m very lucky to have been invited into this group because I see how rich people have handled their money to become rich. Without a doubt, removing fear from your money situation and being open to discuss money with your friends is a key component to the rich.

If you can’t talk about your money, you can’t make more money.  And if you can’t make more money you are screwed.  The richest people I know have ZERO problem talking about money.  In fact, they love talking about money.  The poorest people I know will leave the room the minute you bring the topic up.

But how can you start the dialogue inside your circle of friend or family?  How can you get your own significant other on the same page so you too can will at the game of money?  Here are some tips that I have used and highly recommend you start using.

 

1. Why does money matter to you? Start with the end in mind. Why do you want more money? Is it freedom, security, travel, toys, charity, etc.? It’s your why, so take the time to get crystal clear about why money matters to YOU and what money will do for YOU.
2. You are not a money guru. The numbers are. If you want to create open dialogue about money and become great at the game of money, you need understand that it is not you…it is the numbers, the results, that are the guru.  If your needle of net worth is increasing at a rate that is meaningful to you and your why, then you should be pleased.  If the needle is not, and you still consider yourself a guru, then you will alienate the people around you and be looked at as a blow hard.
3. Don’t be an asshole about money. If you have knowledge and money then take time to offer learning assistance to someone who doesn’t have it.  If you don’t have money, cowboy up and ask for learning assistance from someone who does.  Humility opens doors, being a jerk closes them.
4. Schedule a meeting at home. Get everyone together to discuss your family money situation.  Here is a KEY POINT – don’t spring it on them. Give them 1 week to prepare.  Give them the time, the rules, the guidelines and the desired outcome of the meeting so they can be prepared and less defensive.
5. Share it all. Don’t hold back, lay it all out to yourself and your trusted supporters.  The credit card debt, including the “secret” cards, the hidden cash account, and the unpaid tickets.  All the outstanding bills should be on the table so everyone is clear on the current state of affairs.
6. Write your money down on paper. You need to have a simple balance sheet and income statement for you to know where you stand.  Keep a list of your assets vs. liabilities and your revenue vs. expenses.  Rich people know their money numbers.  Poor people hide from and guess at them.  Refresh these often so you can see the positive trend moving forward and upward.
7. Figure out how to be team. Being a money team does not mean you are on the same page on everything.  As the great coach John Wooden said, “It is perfectly fine to disagree, it is not fine to come across as disagreeable.”   Your team should, over time, be supportive and helpful.  If they are not, then you have two choices.  1) Don’t reach your financial potential. 2) Change teams and win at the game of money.

 

Remember, who you hang around matters.  In addition, who you communicate with matters.  Open communication about money puts you, your family, your spouse on the same page.  Lack of communication about money puts you in the poorhouse.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 21st year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 3-time winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt has helped dozens of employees and thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “I NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in 2017.  Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero. www.mattmanero.com

I have had it happen too many times in my 21 years in business.  It usually happens around 4 pm on Friday afternoon.  There is a knock on your door and the employee comes in and quits. The sad part is in the past, I never saw it coming.  Now, 99% of the time, I do, and I want you to see it as well.

Here are my 3 telltale signs that an employee is getting ready to quit.

1. Their performance slides. At one time, they were solid performers.  They always made their calls.  Customers never complained about their level of service.  You could always count on them to deliver that important shipment on time.  And then it happens.  Their call report is never up to snuff.  They start to miss their monthly or quarterly sales numbers.  They start to not send important shipments.  Your valued clients call you directly (if you lucky enough to actually get the call), and they complain about the level of service they are getting from your employee.  When performance slides, it is a direct indication of a problem.
2. They start talking smack. You have had it happen.  You walked around corner and two people stopped talking.  Guess what? They were probably talking about you.  How about when you walk up to an employee and they quickly click off what they were looking? Sure, maybe they are on facebook (on company time) or maybe they are submitting their resume to your competitor.  When people start to talk poorly about you and your company, it is usually the beginning of the end.
3. Their attitude changes. You no longer get the “MORNING BOSS” comment from your employee each day. During meetings they no longer offer comments or suggestions.   In short, they start to get really quiet.  When their attitude changes…something is up.

What to do about it?  If you have a real company culture that supports communication, you need to bring them in and simply ask: “something is different…what’s up?” Hopefully they will tell you the truth and you can start to coach them up or start to coach them out.  Either way, it should be a wake up call to you to start watching the credentials they have, the information you are providing to them or most of all…the trust that you put into them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 21st year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 3-time winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt has helped dozens of employees and thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “I NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in 2017.  Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero. www.mattmanero.com

We are in an economic slowdown.  If you have not felt it yet, you will in 2017…I GUARANTEE IT.  How can I predict this? Because we finance truckers, ($150,000,000+ per year of them) and they carry the freight that drives the American economy.  Our clients are slow and getting slower, and that means people are not buying as much.  I have seen this pattern 3 times in my 21 years in business, and it is repeating itself now.  What makes my perspective unique, is that trucking is a leading indicator, therefore, I get my information about 6 months before most other industries begin to feel it.  The question is will you expand or contract?  In my world, you are either growing or dying, so we will expand.

Here are my 6 UP’S program to help you and your entire team get through any economic condition and thrive.

1. Skill up – Who are you listening too? What books are you reading? What training videos are you watching?  The best in any industry understand the importance of getting better and learning new skills.  Constantly be on the lookout for new ways to be learning.
2. Follow up – Without question, the single greatest activity you can do to make more sales is to follow up more. Most salespeople stop after the second follow up call, yet data tells us that it takes 7 or more follow ups to make a sale.  Most people stop following up way to early.  Remember, follow up comes in many different methods today.  Phone, email, text, video, links, articles, or a simple handwritten card are all wonderful ways to follow up with your prospect or client.
3. Leverage up – Who do you know who knows your prospect? Leverage their relationship to help you get in front of the proper decision maker.  In the old days it was called a Rolodex.  Today it is called a lot of things, but LinkedIn is a great place to start.
4. Offer up – Weak salespeople are “takers”. Great salespeople are “givers”.  Constantly be giving your prospects and clients information.  Have you read an article that might be interesting to them?  Great…email OR snail mail (yes, I said snail mail) to your clients with a note that says, “when I read this, I thought of you.”  During your next follow up, reference the article and the content within it.  Always be giving ideas, concepts and information along the path to a sale.
5. Ask Up – “Never assume…always ask” is something that my sales team hears every day from me. Many salespeople, begin to make assumptions vs simply asking the prospect more questions.  This is a trap the many salespeople fall into around month 3.  They listen to everyone and ask a ton of questions in the first 60 days of any new venture, and success starts to trickle in for them.  Then…around month 3, they stop asking and start assuming and sales plummet.  Even if you know the answer, make sure to ask the prospect questions that confirm your assumption.  Assuming answers will cost you deals.
6. Close ‘em up – ASK FOR THE SALE. Too often salespeople think the customer has received enough information to make their buying decision.  Maybe the customer has…but if you don’t ask for the sale you will never know.  Asking for the sale is part of the closing process but it is not the end of the sale.  If you ask for the close and the customer says, not…keep questioning to better determine their needs, and ask for the close again.
7. BONUS UP: PLAY UP…NEVER PLAY DOWN. Never ever, play down…always play up.  This means challenge yourself.  Never feel comfortable because you beat someone who ranks below you.  Be challenged to play up and beat the person ahead of you.

These tips have served me well, and they will serve you well if you put them into place TODAY.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 21st year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 3-time winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt has helped dozens of employees and thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “I NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in 2017.  Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero. www.mattmanero.com

Rhythms – plural noun: rhythms

“a strong, regular, repeated pattern”

I just finished a 2-day mastermind session here in Dallas, and the primary take away for me was the importance of installing “rhythms” in your business and your life.  Rhythms are consistent activities that are scheduled, calendared and communicated with everyone in your inner circle.  They are vital to keeping everyone on the same page in your business and at home.  Without rhythms, we can quickly fall into a “chicken and feathers” existence and that creates chaos, stress, fear and eventually the breakdown of the unit either, business or family.

The definition is above, and it is vital to make sure that you have “rhythms” in your business and your life.  Here is why?

Quick video about rhythms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Gy71wMV7A

Lack of having scheduled Rhythms will:

• Invite chaos into your business and life
• Allow fear to seep into your organization
• Reduce the ability to become an expert
• Dilute the Legacy you are meant to live

Rhythms produce:

• Predictable and repeatable actions.
• Consistency and stability and improved communication.
• A reduction in stress.
• Repetitions and repetition is the mother of all skill.
• Rhythms create memories.

What are real life examples of Rhythms?

• At my company, our primary Rhythm is our morning “scrum”. Every day, at 9:30 am, the entire company meets around our conference table. We talk about important events/activities that impact all of us.  Our scrum lasts approx. 10 mins. and we never miss it.  If I’m traveling, someone else runs it.  It’s a rhythm that everyone understands is vital to our success.
• Daily/weekly meetings with your team that are put on the calendar. Have an agenda, limit the time of each and don’t miss!
• Weekly reporting that review meaning data such as sales, customer satisfaction, trends and profits/losses.
• On a personal note, rhythms are weekly date night with your spouse. It could also be Sunday Family Dinner, or annual road trip to the beach or mountains.  Remember, rhythms produce memories that last a lifetime.

 

Keys to installing and keeping Rhythms going:

• You must have a real purpose that is clearly defined and understood by everyone. Rhythms without meaning are a waste of time.
• Everyone knows why, where and when they are to attend.
• Rhythms should be high value activities that connect to the “why” of your business or your life.
• Rhythms must be calendared.
• If a Rhythms is to be cancelled, the reason must be greater connected to your “Why” than your Rhythm event scheduled.

Here is an extra step if you want to use it.  Fill in the blanks below.  What are the top 5 things that are important to you in your life and your business?  These top 5 areas should dictate the reason for the rhythms you are creating in your life.

What is important to me?

Home:

1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________
4. ______________________________________
5. ______________________________________

Work:

1. ______________________________________
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________
4. ______________________________________
5. ______________________________________

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Matt Manero is the Founder and President of Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF) located in Dallas, TX. CFF is celebrating its 21st year in business and provides financing for commercial fleet vehicles such as box trucks, cargo vans, big rigs, tow trucks, dump trucks and construction equipment. CFF is a 3-time winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Inc. Magazine Top 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Matt has helped dozens of employees and thousands of small business owners move closer to the money they deserve. He is the author of, “The Grit”, and his forthcoming book, “I NEED MORE MONEY” will be out in 2017.  Learn more at www.cffnationwide.com or call 972.247.8447 phone or on all social media platforms via @Matt Manero. www.mattmanero.com