You're Going To Be Great At This!

Many of us who have been in sales and marketing for a while have been fortunate to have someone mentor us early on in our careers. The best mentors help us negotiate the potential roadblocks that could keep us from sales success. We lean on them because if we can learn from their mistakes, we won't make as many of our own. As I have said in the past, a good mentor should have no financial connection to your business. I'm not saying they can't, but the best possible scenario is one in which their income doesn't depend on your production, like a manager. And although they may be a good mentor, it's not ideal. When I first got into  door-to-door  selling insurance I didn't know what a mentor was. But there was a kindly older man who felt bad for me and the rest of our sales crew. He'd always say something like, "You're doin' good! Hang in there!"  This guy had been with the company for decades and was actually successful, despite a horrible st...

I try to attend networking events when I have the time. These meetings can be productive if you can work the room (or in this case, table) efficiently.  The group I had lunch with consists of about 25 people, some of which I have known for a while, but there are always new faces passing through. A few months back, one of the newbies was Angie Cowger. She and her husband own and operate Custard Stand Chili, selling their chili and chili soup to grocers across the southeast.   I managed to get her to have a conversation with me via Zoom a few weeks after meeting her and it turned out pretty well. Have a peek and please subscribe to my channel. Ch ris Castane s is a humorous speaker and former comedian who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His newest book, "Nearly Motivated", is yet another humorous look at sales. For booking information,  click here.  As president of  Surf Financial Brokers   he sells life and...

Over the last few years I have realized that I really enjoy being a guest on podcasts. I've been featured as a guest on about a dozen and they have always been fun. The hosts are as diverse as their podcasts. One host was apparently in the Middle East while others were comedians or local entrepreneurs.  Recently I was asked to share my experiences on the Sales Hindsight with Patrick Kagan of the PK Solutions Group. I met Patrick through a group on LinkedIn and he has been a great supporter of my work, even contributing a blurb for my newest book, "Nearly Motivated".  He's an internationally renowned author and speaker as well.  We had a great talk and I wanted to share it with you. We discuss branding yourself and using humor, among other topics. Patrick is a skilled host and makes the podcast informative AND interesting.  Take a listen here and let me know what you think. Ch ris Castane s is a humorous speaker and former comedian who helps sales people succeed thro...

I recently had a great conversation with Bill Whitaker, realtor and owner of RawtapeRPM.com. Bill talks about his time in the real estate business, and his journey that led to running a business as a consultant and coach for real estate agents all over the country.  Below is the footage of the conversation. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Ch ris Castane s is a humorous speaker and former comedian who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. His newest book, "Nearly Motivated", is yet another humorous look at sales. For booking information,  click here.  As president of  Surf Financial Brokers  ,  he sells life and disability insurance in several states.

Are you leveraging social media to help your business? Are you posting daily and creating content like the "experts" say to do? Most importantly, are you getting results? I've tried using most of the more popular platforms for my insurance business, as well as my writing and speaking business. To say the results are "mixed" would be generous. This may be because I really haven't invested much into advertising on these platforms.  The way I see it, when Facebook, for example, allows me to set up a free page for my business, that is like a "free trial" to see if I can get any interest in my product or service. After nearly 15 years of this trial period, I have garnered little to no business.  One can come up with two arguments here. The first is why would you throw money at advertising when you haven't seen any returns. The other side is that "you could have done better if you had quit being a tight ass penny pincher." Fair enough. But ...