Volkmar Völzke's BLOG

Do you want to boost your sales without such dubious measures like price discounts? Then invest in your company's sales skills. 

Most of the organizations I see operate in sales at perhaps 50 percent of their potential, with many even being far below. 

The reason is often that management doesn't see (or want to believe) the connection between sales skills and success. Most B2B sales people know more about the technology of their products than how to communicate their value to their customers. Change that! 

Here are three ideas on how you can immediately increase your team's sales success: 

1. Train copywriting, i. e. the ability to write and communicate convincing texts. There's a difference between saying,"Our product is based on 10 years of research" and "Our customers use our product to cut costs by an average of 20 percent". Just as example.
2. Learn the importance of numbers. Every salesperson must know "his or her own figures" at all times, e. g. a number...

Yeah, I know that doesn't concern you. And yet you surely know people from your surroundings who have a huge problem with it. What am I talking about?

Unreliability.

Sure, that’s not you! Or is it? Sometimes? Here's the truth: EVERYBODY is sometimes unreliable. Some rarely, some more often, others almost always (you can at least rely on their unreliability!) 

The problem is that unreliability massively reduces productivity and success. The most successful people are reliable. 

Reliability means that you keep ALL promises and inform others in advance of any necessary (!) changes. You may think it's very simple, and that everyone should be reliable. 

Well, I am always amazed that an estimated 50 percent of business people I know are regularly unreliable, with corresponding negative effects on performance. Examples: 

1. Joining agreed telephone calls late or not at all
2. Not sticking to project milestones
3. Starting meetings late
4. Not implementing strategies
5. Not...

Let us assume that you want to achieve something in the future that you do not yet have. You may want to be someone who you are not today (often a prerequisite for the former). Or maybe you want to do more good for other people than today. 

Then here's my tip: Become extreme (above all in what you define as your benchmark!)

You don't even have to quote the usual "suspects" like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs or Richard Branson. Anyone who achieves significantly more in due course than others will have "extreme" standards in terms of what is possible. 

I repeat it over and over again - you CAN achieve much more if you apply tougher standards.

Here are three areas where you can start immediately to become extreme:

1. Goals. Do you want to grow by 5% or have 10% more customers? Then you can double and change your targets to 10% growth and 20% more customers. Unrealistic? Sure, just like the moon shot, the iPhone, or even your car once was.
2. Personal growth. Listen and read from experts...

What do you think about Elon Musk, the Olympic Games, and the world economy? The past few weeks have been a good opportunity to reflect on what we want to see and what we don't want to see. 

I keep writing about it: the world is not what it is, but what we see. And what we see is a reflection of our experiences and our mental attitude.   

Back to the above examples: 

1. Elon Musk: The guy shot the heaviest rocket and one of his cars into orbit. What do you think? Crazy, lavish and narcissistic? Or visionary, daring and inspiring?
2. Olympic Games: The recent games in South Korea have allowed a certain rapprochement with North Korea, with the outcome open. What's your view on it? Political calculation, marketing, hot air? Or hope, perspective, icebreaker?
3. World economy: Currently we see and hear more and more warnings that the economy in many countries is running hot, with uncertain results. Your view of it? High risk, probable downturn, disaster? Or great...

Forget discipline (at least in the way most people understand it)! 

Discipline is an important element for any success. However, as most people understand it, it is not enough to ensure lasting success. 

It helps to imagine that discipline has three levels. The most successful individuals and companies are disciplined in all three levels, the average only in the first. 

The good news: you can work your way up the ladder. For outstanding success, you even SHOULD. 

Level 1: Task discipline. You have the discipline to carry out planned actions and comply with agreements. In other words, you and others can rely on you. 

Level 2: Growth Discipline. You consistently implement growth plans. This means you systematically develop your personality, invest a certain amount of time every day in your education and consciously change habits towards more success. 

Level 3: Success Discipline. You set goals for yourself (and your team) that are extremely challenging...

Yes, you need your daily dose!

What am I talking about? That you want to become better, no matter with what. 

If you want to become healthier, slimmer, fitter or whatever, you must do something about it every day. It is simply not enough to eat healthy food once a week and otherwise stuff junk food into oneself. Or just brushing your teeth once a month and relying on the forces of nature. 

Here is the exciting thing: When it comes to mental fitness and a strong mindset (i. e. what we need in every team to achieve outstanding success), most people think it's done with an annual workshop. 

For a strong mindset and mental fitness, you must do something every day. As a team leader or CEO, it is your job to work continuously with your team on these topics. 

Here are three powerful areas (from a variety of others) that you have to train every day: 

1. Objectives. Set goals every day (in writing!) and work consistently to achieve them. Attention: Goals are NOT tasks...

"Great new ideas are ridiculed at first, then resisted, then admired, and lastly applied by all." 

I have to keep thinking of that old wisdom when it comes to new technologies and approaches. 

"Siri? I tried it and it did not understand my question. Forget it!" 

"iPhone? It’s only an extended MP3 player. Business people will never use that! " 

"Online Language Translation by Google? That's just nonsense! " 

Stop! Do you notice something? Yesterday I had a complete presentation translated by Google online from German into English (for free by the way). The result: 95% correct and meaningful content, even with content that is not easy to interpret. It needed the odd improvement here and there, but that's it. Fast and cheap. When did you last try it? 

Watch out, and beware of premature judgments. Just because something did not work a year ago, does not mean that it still does not work now.

My questions to you: 

1. What are your (hidden)...

The year is now a bit more than four weeks old, and many people are already getting exhausted. Not you? That’s great! 

Because today I have an important tip for you in my series "how to make 2018 outstanding". 

This is it: spread high energy! As a leader, this is one of your most important tasks. Unfortunately, I often see the opposite. 

What do I mean by that?

Here are three examples of how, where, and why you should (better: MUST!) radiate high energy: 

1. For yourself. Yes, you can always put yourself on a higher energy level. Why is that important? Because you are not only much less productive with low energy, but also lack joy. Did you know that in positive states you ALWAYS have high energy levels?
2. For your team and your colleagues. It works like this: great leaders exude high energy. The reverse applies as well. Start every morning full of energy, even in meetings. Your team needs to feel your positive vibes when they are nearby!
3. For your...

The new year just started 19 days ago, and here's an important tip at the beginning - take your foot off the brake!

From my observation, there are 3 groups of behaviors in the new year: 

1. You just keep on going as before, with the result that 2018 will be worse or only marginally better than last year. That's the biggest group of people.
2. You set big goals, inspiring yourself and others and take some action. With a bit of luck and perseverance, you can increase your success in 2018. Maybe half of the business leaders are acting this way.
3. You do everything as in point 2, plus: you release the brakes that have kept you and your team from achieving greater success so far. That is what few people do. What do I mean by this?

Your brakes consist of mindset, habits, and fears. In other words, it's your mindsets and habits, as well as your fears (yes, we all have them!) that keep you and your colleagues from achieving outstanding results. 

If you and your people are on the brakes...

There is a common cause for both growing success and greater fulfilment and enthusiasm in life. Can you guess what it is? Yes: the speed and clarity with which you decide and then implement those decisions. 

Asked the other way around: Do you know someone who decides and implements quickly - and at the same time is unhappy and unsuccessful? Probably not! 

Conversely, the conclusion also applies: If you want to achieve more results quickly and feel happy about it, then you need to decide faster and ensure swift implementation. 

"Yeah, but ..." you may think now, "it's not always that easy!" No, it's not! Because what's in our way is our mindset.

However, we can train our decision-making speed. Here are three ideas: 

1. Become aware that most decisions do not get better if you wait longer. On the contrary! There is an optimal point of decision, and that is almost always earlier than when most decisions are made. Try it!
2. Become aware of your fears. Indeed, what...