Overcoming Personal Objections

This summer I’ve been given the wonderful opportunity to work for The Around Campus Group as a sales representative. Last Sunday I hopped on a plane and headed to The University of North Carolina to attend the sales foundation academy. For the past few days I’ve spent countless hours studying and learning all the necessary skill and techniques to become a top notch sales representative.

I’ll admit this is one of the more challenging tasks I’ve ever been faced with, and at one point I found myself becoming very negative and discouraged. I was having a really hard time accepting our scripts and began to criticize my performance as well as myself.  I’ll admit I even began to doubt the overall program. Todays lessons however turned my entire attitude around. Today we learned the steps to handling our clients objections while on a sales call. If you are unfamiliar with these steps they are as follows:

1.Actively Listen

2. Ask Questions

3.Respond

4.Check

After going through the objection process and role playing different scenarios I realized lesson could be applied to a multitude of situations. So I began to apply some of the techniques to my own attitude and objections I had been feeling towards myself earlier in the day and the results were amazing.

Step 1: Listen

First  I took a minute to really “listen” to myself and try and understand what it was I was really so upset about. I had to actually define what the actual objection was and once I knew this I knew I could easily use my new skills to overcome said objection.

Step 2: Ask

Once I realized what it was that was getting me so upset and what I was feeling so down on myself I began to dig a little deeper. I asked myself some fair questions like:

“What exactly is it about the script that you do not like?”,

“What is it about the script that you think is so hard”

“Why don’t you believe in yourself?

As I began answering these questions I realized I was being a little bit unreasonable. Just by asking myself these questions I began to feel myself letting go of these objections, just like a majority of clients out in the field will.

Step 3: Respond

Once I had asked myself these crucial questions I realized I had forgotten one important thing. The most expensive thing a person can own is a closed mind. I realized that I was being very closed-minded when it came to the script and that if I really gave it a chance it would only help my career. Furthermore I realized that I was being way to hard on myself and ultimately holding myself back by thinking I wasn’t good enough to master the script.

Step 4: Check

After mentally breaking down the first three steps I started to realize just how much my attitude towards the script and the overall program as a whole had changed. I checked in with myself and assured I had completely over come my own personal objection.

The biggest take away I got from todays lesson was that not only is this entire training process absolutely amazing, it is also applicable to a wide variety of daily situations.

As if the lesson in overcoming objections was not enough, after lunch the VP of sales, Jeff Stencel, came in to speak with my region today as well. He gave us a great presentation on how to become mentally tough, which is almost ironic how relatable it was to my prior situation. Jeff is an amazing guy who gave a great speech and was incredibly quotable. One thing Jeff Stencel said to us today that only made me more confident in throwing out my previous objections was that “You are what you think, you become what you believe”. This to me told me I can do this and I will do this! I could not have paid for a better sales training and I am incredibly blessed to be apart of The Around Campus Group.

If you like my thoughts and would like to hear some more follow my blog as well as like my Facebook page, follow me on twitter and use the #MTBJ. Also check out Jeff Stencel on Twitter and The Around Campus Group Blog for more inspirational quotes and  sales tips. Thanks for reading.

5 Lessons I Learned in Social Media Marketing

The semester is coming to a close and summer is just around the corner. As I prepare to end my semester I want to write a blog post to pass on the knowledge I gained from my social media marketing course. I made a few mistakes throughout the semester and hopefully these tips will help keep someone from repeating my mistakes.

Timing is the Key

One of the most important things I’ve learned from my experience with social media marketing is that timing is key. If you want to engage with your followers or connections you have to be online when a majority of them are online. When someone comments on something you posted it is crucial that you respond in a timely manor if you wish to engage with him or her. Real time marketing is one of the fastest ways to gain traction online especially on Twitter, but in order to utilize a real time marketing strategy you have to be present at the time and aware of what is going on online.

Spelling and Grammar Counts

No matter how great or how brilliant your post is, if something is spelled wrong or if you misused grammar, no one is going to take you seriously. What you post on your social media is a direct reflection of you and your personal brand. You don’t want future colleges or potential employees to misjudge who you are and ignore all the attractive things about you because of a simple spelling error. Always check for mistakes prior to posting anything on social media.

Keep it Short

When it comes to creating original content such as blog posts, my experiences have taught me to keep it short and visually appealing. Readers are not going to read a ten-page post on a blog about marketing, and they certainly are not going to share said blog post. Using info graphics, or other visuals along with short concise paragraphs is the key to a successful and share worthy blog post.

Utilize Your Classmates and Colleagues

When I first began creating my social media presence I avoided my classmates. My thought being that most of them did not have the same career interests as me and that they really were not relevant enough in the social media world to help me develop a strong influence. However I was wrong and made a huge mistake. I realize now connecting with my classmates and colleagues on social media is the most effective way to create engagement on social media. Your classmate’s and colleges are more likely to be interested in the same content that you are, because they tend to have the same social media goals as you; thus they are more likely to share your content.

Have Fun With It

Social media is called social media because it is supposed to be a fun and enjoyable way to socialize with those who share similar interest to you. I found myself being so concerned with sharing the right content and perfecting my profiles that I forgot to use my social media outlets as a way to be social and express myself. The best engagements I have had on social media are when I am not strictly focused on getting results, rather I am genuinely excited and ready to talk to someone about a topic.

Although my semester is over and I will no longer be in a social media marketing course, I am prepared and ready to continue on my personal branding journey. If you liked these tips and would like to continue reading more of my content I encourage you to follow my blog and like  my Facebook page as well.

As alway have a good day and stay tuned for more Major Thought By Jonté.

5 Traits All Good Event Planners Should Have

If your like me and are seeking a career in event planning than you have most likely asked your self  “do I really have the skill set to be an event planner?” 

Event Planning admittedly requires some specific traits. Event planning is not necessarily a career that requires a lot of experience, event planning is a career that requires a person to be creative and innovative. Problem solving skills are a must for event planners. Just imagine if Jennifer Lopez wasn’t a master problem solver in The Wedding Planner, she would of had a lot of really upset brides.

If you are interested in becoming an event planner than you must have already decided that on some level you possess the necessary skills to become an event planner. But if your anything like myself than you want to be a GOOD event planner.  I narrowed down my thinking and came up with 5 traits all GOOD event planners should have.

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5 Traits All Good Event Planners Should Have

Perhaps one of the most important qualities an event planner can have is being organized. Organization is key when it comes to planning an event. Event planners will be in charge of obtaining permits, contracts, guest lists, menus and a whole lot of other important things. You MUST be organized in order to keep track of all things needed for an event.

A good event planner is a champion multi-tasker. Event Planners are required to juggle a number of tasks at one time. Whether it be budgeting for a company retreat or finding the perfect dj for a clients wedding, in one day event planners tackle a number of task.

Creativity is something that I have found all good event planners have. Good event planners are innovative and have a great eye for design. Creativity allows event planners to put on amazing out of the box and memorable events for their clients. Some of my favorite and more creative events I’ve seen are featured on my Twitter feed.

Any pro event planner will tell you that their most valuable skill is their ability to solve problems. It is almost law that something will go wrong when planning an event. This is where problem solving becomes crucial.

A good event planner is going to be very personable. Event planners have to be able to build and maintain relationships with their clients, their suppliers and their guests. People skills are key to the success of event planners.

Event planners work in a very high paced multi facetted environment. These 5 traits are essential to the success of a good event planner. Although experience matters, your personality traits are even more important when it come to your career fit. Unfortunately most of these traits are not skills you can be taught. If you don’t possess any of these traits than maybe event planning isn’t the career path for you.

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How a Male Beauty Pageant Made Me Into an Event Planner

Male beauty pageants are one of the most successful events college students can put on. They are fun, easy to plan and inexpensive. For me planning a male beauty pageant helped me find my career passion.

About a year ago I was tasked with planning my sororities Big Man on Campus event. This is an event in which Men from different sports clubs and or fraternities compete in an all male beauty pageant for the title of Big Man on Campus.

Each contestant had to pay and entry fee and all who attended the pageant had to pay for admission. All the money raised from the event went to The Starkey Hearing Foundation, which is one of the many philanthropies my sorority supports. Because I was in charge of such a large event I had to begin planning way ahead of time, something of this magnitude cannot be done last minute.

“Because I was in charge of such a large event I had to begin planning way ahead of time, something of this magnitude cannot be done last minute.”

Step One:

First thing I did was secure a venue and a date for the event. Once I secured one of the local school auditoriums I put together a team of trustworthy sorority members to handle the marketing for the event.

Step Two:

Once this was done I created all the necessary documents for the contestants and gathered the needed information from each contestant to create the proper script. I than printed the script and gave it to our MC’s to begin practicing.

Step Three:

I than made the decision to delegate some of my tasks to other members of my sorority, I created teams of women who were well connected among particular social groups and tasked them to get at least one contestant from each sports team, and fraternity to compete in the pageant. Delegating some of my event planning tasks to other members was the best decision I made. An event this big cannot be planned without any help.

“Delegating some of my event planning tasks to other members was the best decision I made. An event this big could not be planned without any help.”

Step Four:

I than delegated the task of creating all the posters, trophies, and sashes to one of the more artistically talented members of my sorority. It was more cost effective to create the sashes by hand than it was to order them online, if you would like to see more about how to make your own pageant sashes click here.

Step Five:

Once I had delegated all the proper tasks to my sisters I was ready to focus on finding sponsors for our event, this way we would have prizes for the first second and third place winners. Local businesses are always looking for ways to advertise to students on campus.

Final Steps:

Once I had secured some sponsors I than secured UNC Student Radio to cover the event. After filling out a contract with UNC radio I shifted my focus on the contestants and the actual flow of the show. I assigned each contestant a coach who was in charge of making sure they were completely prepared for each round of the pageant. Once this was done, I selected a panel of judges and prepared a music set for the DJ’s.

After weeks of planning it was finally time for the pageant. The day of the pageant me and my team arrived at the venue and set everything up. I gathered the contestants in the back and explained to them when they were to go on and how to properly enter and exit the stage to keep the show flowing. Once the show began everything flowed perfectly! There were no issues with music, contestants or coaches, everything was perfect. After the show was over and Big Man on Campus 2012 was crowned I couldn’t help but bask in the euphoria of my accomplishment. After I pulled off this event I decided I wanted to continue planning events for the rest of my life. I would of never thought that planning a male beauty pageant would help me find my career passion. So if you ever get a chance to plan a male beauty pageant, I encourage you to do so and hopefully my tips will help you.

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