Category Archives: Hunting

Upland, Waterfowl and Big Game

Hunting

9 Characteristics of a Successful Sales Professional

Recently, I was scrolling on Instagram and landed on a Reels video of a woman sitting in her car talking about how she effectively handles objections in selling situations. She was confident, skilled, and bold. It was obvious that she could successfully rebut even the most challenging of prospect concerns. Almost immediately, I recognized that I might not react as rapidly or as proficiently as this person. Only for a moment, I wondered if I could adopt her practiced and effective techniques. Ultimately, I realized that she and I sell differently, and that I would never utilize her approach to closing business.

I have been, and continue to be, directly involved in complex, competitive, and often emotional B2B sales. There have been great moments in my career, as well as more than a few disappointments. I have been fortunate to work for and with individuals who do it right, and at a high level. These people showed me how to be a high-performing sales professional. Here are some of the key learnings that I have absorbed over the last 30+ years.

  • Conviction: Salespeople must innately believe that the people/processes/technology that they represent will positively change the way their prospective client operates. They must enter every competitive selling situation with the certainty that the prospective client will achieve the desired results from whatever has been proposed. Sellers must know that the solution they endorse will lead to definitive changes with the target client.
  • Authenticity: Sales professionals must listen well. This skill is very challenging for most of us. Sellers must genuinely want to learn about the prospective client and the businesses that they represent. That means that smart, researched questions must be asked at the appropriate time. The salesperson must care about both the trajectory of the engaged business as well as the well-being of the individuals that are involved in the evaluation process.
  • Candor: Honesty is critical to being an effective sales professional. Some people do utilize devious methods to achieve their wins. Most often, these scammers are exposed, and their victories are fleeting. Salespeople must be truthful even if things are not going to work out in your favor. Take the loss and maintain your honor. Life has a unique way of rewarding those who never waver from their moral compass.  
  • Persistence: Smart, timely prospective client interactions are critical for successful selling. A salesperson must utilize a defined and proven methodology for presenting the right information at the right time to engaged prospects. They must be disciplined in how the appropriate messaging is disseminated. Refined relentlessness creates a sense of urgency that most prospective clients appreciate.
  • Trust: Prospective clients must believe in you, your team, and your organization. Successful sales professionals must do what they commit to doing during the sales cycle. That means that salespeople must become an advocate for the client within their organization. If a client encounters a legitimate issue, it is the salesperson’s job to help them solve it. It means that a seller’s mobile phone number becomes a “favorite” of your client. Trust is reciprocal, but the salesperson must earn that connection.
  • Expertise: Sales professionals must know their product/service intimately. If you don’t, find colleagues that do, and ask for help. Coworkers that believe in you as well as your effort will support you. You will learn a lot from these individuals. Don’t be so proud as to fail alone. This means that a salesperson improves their odds of winning an engagement if they earn the right to wrap bright people into the sales process.
  • Relationships: Sales professionals should not expect to become friends with their clients. The objective should be for clients to eventually become their evangelizing advocate. When your client becomes an ally, they will praise you when you are not around. They will proactively refer you to others, because they are committed to your success. It is ideal if a salesperson eventually creates a harmonious bond with employees of their client. That type of alliance must be forged over time.
  • Grind: Anyone who has selected B2B sales as a career path understands that working diligently is critical to achieving ideal outcomes. Grit and focus are traits that every competent salesperson must have as they will be faced with challenges at every turn. Do what is required of you and then do a bit more. Most prospective clients appreciate hard work and timely, thorough communication.
  • Resourcefulness: Successful selling remains the sole responsibility of the individual assigned to the task. While a proficient sales professional relies on others to guarantee positive outcomes, ultimately, the individual contributor is responsible for guiding their company to wins. Salespeople must decipher each challenging interaction by any means necessary. They must use their imagination as well as every resource available to overcome complex issues and ultimately be victorious.

A successful career as a sales professional is one that involves both financial as well personal rewards. “Nothing happens until a sale is made” is a phrase that has and will ring true for every thriving business. There are different selling styles that are proven effective, and they should be incorporated if the practice comes naturally. While the sales methods deployed will vary, the characteristics described above will ensure a long and productive career.

Hunting

The One

For over 30,000 years, humans have loved dogs. Domesticated canines are loyal, caring, and compassionate friends. For those of us that hunt with their dogs, the relationship between owner and their pups is profoundly unique. The symbiosis is obvious; we count on them to help improve our odds of success, and they expect that we will fulfill our responsibilities in the joint pursuit of the target prey. Their excitement, effort, and determination inspire us to deliver on the unstated objective.

Echo turned 9 in December. Age has brought on a few health issues that have challenged some of her natural abilities. Like most any gundog, her drive as well as the adrenaline brought on by doing what we love to do, keeps the chronic symptoms at bay. Despite our advanced ages and minor physical challenges, we still hunt hard.

Echo and I have been teamed together for a long time. We’ve experienced tremendous successes as well as unexpected adversities. She always remains positive and continues to be relentless despite my annual shooting slumps. For that fact, I am forever grateful. It is not easy to look her in the eyes after whiffing on a bird that she spent so much energy locating. While I feel both guilty and miserable, Echo quickly moves onto the next chase.  

It is hard for me to effectively articulate what Echo means to me. My life is better because she is in it. She seems to understand how much I love her. During our hunts, she will unexpectedly leap in the air to give me a kiss. I feel that this is a sign that she is pleased and focused on the work that has yet to be done.

I don’t know how many more adventures that Echo and I will experience together. I will not push her to continue to hunt if her body will not tolerate the physical exertion. It is important to me that I retire her before she demonstrates any signs of despair. I am hopeful that we have at least one more season together. I cannot imagine ever leaving her behind.

Hunting

Fortunate

The last 5 years underscored the fact that life is both short as well as fragile. Unfortunately, some of my contemporaries unexpectedly succumbed to a variety of different types of ailments that took them from the physical world. Most battled to remain alive, while others voluntarily perished. It has been difficult for me to witness these heartbreaking circumstances. Life is always challenging but adding disease or psychosis to the equation makes for a brutally difficult existence. As a believer in preventative medicine, I consistently employ healthy habits that should improve my ability to continue living. While there are no guarantees, I want to give myself the best chance to continue to evolve. Given what I have recently witnessed, however, I recognize that remaining alive is tricky. To that point, while I continue to walk amongst the masses, I want to offer an expression of gratitude to those people that positively influence my life.

To my wife, thank you for the love and support over the last 22 years. Our journey has been filled with great times as well as unexpected trials and tribulations. We battle adversity together. Your integrity, composure, and practicality keep me grounded.  

To my sons Ty and Jesse, you are both humble, kind, empathetic, smart, and brave. The greatest blessing in my life is being your dad. You both possess great character and immaculate souls. The future is bright for both of you. I admire who you are now, as well as the men that you are becoming.

To my parents, thank you for teaching me about honor, compassion, discipline, tenacity, and grit. I learned the fundamental principles of my life from both of you.

To my friends, thank you all for the bond we created. Navigating life with righteous, insightful, trustworthy, and loyal allies is something that I value. It’s a privilege to earn relationships that are not blood affiliated.

Lastly, I rarely contemplate how I want to be remembered after I am gone. There is a bit of narcissism associated with this type of thinking. As I get older, however, I do hope that the most important people in my life reflect positively on our time together. I would like those closest to me to remember me as honest, loyal, caring, and dependable. I also hope that they recognize the unfettered, genuine love that I have for them.

I don’t plan on going anywhere soon, and I hope to meet other great human beings that positively impact my life.

Hunting

Golf – It’s Hard to Get Better

Like many people that are addicted to the sport, I want to be a good golfer. I envy those who find the sport easy to play. Golfers that possess geometrically precise swings, and can launch a ball mile, keep me motivated to work to improve my game. I enjoy practicing, but my range game generally doesn’t translate to a similar performance on the course. My expectation that the latest equipment advancements will help me achieve my scoring objectives generally ends in disappointment. Some of the professional instruction I have received over the last 30 years has helped me execute better than I would have if I had not taken the lessons. I own almost every training aid that has been invented, but only a handful have assisted me in producing positive results.

I have never hit the ball very far, and my ball contact has always been suboptimal. Those issues have undermined my ability to consistently score well. When I was playing more often, and my body was more flexible, my handicap dropped to a 5.7 index for a few seasons. Now that I play less, and I am older, it has become more difficult to create a reliably effective golf swing. My handicap has ballooned to a 9.9 index (even higher at times), and it seems as though I hit an improvement wall.

In December of 2021 I visited the PXG store in Arizona. They were kind enough to oversee me as I tried to get the ball airborne in their facility. My driver swing speed averaged 95 mph and the ball dispersion on the clubface was ghastly. Additionally, my swing path was surprisingly and regularly over-the-top. As I drove away from the facility, I realized that I would have to make radical changes, or golf would become perpetually frustrating for me.

Things began to slowly improve when I incorporated two new training aids. This past winter, I read an article featuring the Rypstick. During my subsequent research on the product, I watched Dr. Luke Benoit, Director of Instruction at Interlachen Country Club, and inventor of the Rypstick, discuss the science behind his device. I was desperate to get better, and unafraid to invest the money, so I ordered one. Once it arrived, I followed the training protocol suggested. Over the next few months, I did almost everything Dr. Luke demonstrated. The workouts were rigorous and swinging outside in cold temperatures was unpleasant. That said, when I was able to get back on a launch monitor, my driver swing speed averaged 101 mph. When spring arrived, and I was able to hit a ball outside, I realized carry distances that I never thought were possible. Unfortunately, my swing path remained over-the-top, and I couldn’t find a way to create an inside-out path. All that said, when I hit the ball squarely, my ball went farther than it had in years.

I ended up hiring a friend, and PGA professional, to help me better my game. For years, I snatched the club inside, and then dropped the club even further inside on the downswing. My miss was a nasty snap hook, but I regularly hit a “draw” loaded with distance-gaining, ground topspin. Late in 2021, I surprisingly got over-the-top, and my ball regularly flew feebly to the right. My instructor told me that my club was not on plane, and he asked me to work on both my alignment as well the shaft position on my backswing. That is what I continue to work on during my practice sessions. The outside-in path remains a challenge for me, and it must change if I am going to continue to evolve.

Early last season, I purchased the Lag Shot Golf 7 iron. Most amateur golfers struggle with rushing their swing from the top as well as casting the club. I am no different, and this flaw is a power-killer. My pre-round routine now includes 10 minutes warming up with the Lag Shot. I try to get a feel of how I should be swinging my actual clubs during the round. When I can consistently hit the ball with the Lag Shot, my confidence improves. That is a good thing when I get to the first tee.

I am far from where I want to be. I will continue to work with my instructor, as well as utilizing both the Rypstick and the Lag Shot. I will remain dedicated to improving my strength, flexibility, and pliability. Golf is hard, and my regular regressions make the game maddening. Quitting is not an option, so I will embrace the struggle.

Please feel free to offer up any sage advice if you feel like you can positively impact my game.

  • If you want to improve your swing speed, and you’re willing to put in the work, purchase the Rypstick. Use this link and enter this code “HUNTFISHGOLF” for 20% off your purchase.
  • If you want to work on your temp and transition, purchase a Lag Shot product. Use this link and enter this code “HUNTFISHGOLF” for 20% off your purchase.
  • If you want to reduce inflammation and pain, while improving mobility, purchase a Kineon MOVE+ product. Use this link and enter this code “HUNTFISHGOLF” for 15% off your purchase. I use the MOVE+ to relieve painful arthritis in my fingers, as well as tendonitis in my elbow.
  • If you want to diminish soreness while you are playing, put STAMINAPRO patches on your body. Click on this link and use code “TFG20” for 20% off any purchase made.
Hunting

Most

It is September of 2022, and most of the citizens of United States of America are angry and divided. Politicians and the media continue to produce contrived narratives that blur facts and undermine the truth. Their actions are deliberate, and they have successfully pitted neighbors against neighbors, friends against friends, and family members against family members. Power and money make up the core reasons for this relentless and corrupt attack against the people of our country.

It is my contention that most American citizens want the devolving of our society to end. We want to live in a free country where skin color, religion, sexual preference, gender, and political affiliation are not a matter of consequence. Most of us want to work hard, raise a family, and experience happiness. It is my contention that:

  • Most people believe in God.
  • Most people are kind.
  • Most people are inclusive.
  • Most people have integrity.
  • Most people are generous.  
  • Most people value a meritocracy.   
  • Most people protect the most vulnerable.
  • Most people appreciate free speech.
  • Most people want to protect the planet.

Americans need and deserve representatives that are honest, transparent, and selfless. Elected officials must prioritize bettering the lives of their constituents versus angling themselves for personal gain. The people that report the facts must disregard their political bias and stop perpetuating obvious falsehoods.  The blatant narcissism and self-aggrandizing must end. The system must work as our forefathers intended if the citizens of this country are going to prosper.