Its always a great thing to have your work appreciated and recognized. I was invited this week onto the Founders Future Podcast by Closers.Io where I had a an opportunity to talk about Cold Calling, my journey and the value of Tonality in conversations. Hard work does pay off - but only in retrospect. You will never feel the benefits of what you are doing in the moment - only after the fact. So if all you do is chase that next dopamine hit for today - you will never do the things that are truly impactful that you need to wait for. What is a win that paid off for you this week?

Having hard discussions - that in the end creates positive opportunities - might be one of the hardest skills to learn in life. Salespeople and founders find themselves navigating these waters more than most. Over the years I've witnessed many of these conversations, and been part of just as many. They generally go 2 ways; 1. Demoralizing, confrontational and non-productive 📉 2. Uplifting, re-energizing and confidence boosting 📈 What I've seen to be the biggest gap between the conversations that create these 2 outcomes? The way the conversation is framed 🖼️ When having a hard conversation, the best way to create the 📈 is in how you start off, and how you wrap up. Starting Off 🏃‍♂️ 1. Take a moment to paint the picture of why this conversation is happening. 2. Be the first to take accountability where you can. 3. Explain that your goal from this call is to make a mutual action plan to hurdle the issue 4. Seek their feedback and perspective. Be genuine, honest, accountable and transparent right off the bat - explaining that everything is going to be ok as long as we get over this hiccup together. Then get into the feedback, and what you need to say, giving them confidence that this isn't make or break - it's growth and you're a partner in that. Wrapping Up 🧘‍♂️ 1. Put the 'situation' behind you - say that openly, explaining that we've already moved on. 2. Discuss the plan we have in place to get to the outcome. 3. Set a timeline for the first milestone of the plan to be executed by. This ends the confrontation by the end of the call. Gets us on the same path toward a mutually planned outcome and gives us an opportunity to create momentum in the opposite direction right away. Video below with more context 👇