Master what he teaches, apply it to your profession and you will create amazing abundance. And it’s not just about financial abundance. This guy does “joy” very well

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“Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.”

Dalai Lama

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Whatever business you might be in, you’ll probably agree with me that a critical key to your success is sales.  Of course, you need great product, great team members and grit.  But with great product and no sales…  No success.

This past Tuesday, my senior team and I spent a half-day with bestselling author Jack Daly.  In 2014, Jack wrote a book called Hyper Sales Growth: Street-Proven Systems & Processes.  He’s now 68, works only because he wants to and does just three things: speaks, travels, and has fun.  Everything else is low priority and taken care of by his assistants.

Jack said that most professional sports teams are run better than most businesses.  Many, if not all, professional sports teams have a process, they practice over and over and they are prepared to compete.  It’s about developing a game plan.  Far too many businesses just wing it.

Our firm, CMG Capital Management Group, has been around since 1992.  With our talented management team, we’ve developed processes for product development, investment research, sales, client relations, operations, compliance, etc.  For example, as part of our product development process, we repeatedly test and re-test our investment strategies and benchmark them against conventional indexes.  One of the goals of this testing process is to determine whether our investment theory and strategy could be successful over a specific time horizon.  Regular OMR readers will recall that I consistently preach that investors must have a process and plan, grounded in a sound investment methodology such as trend following, which takes emotion out of decision making.

Business processes shouldn’t be carved into stone.  They necessarily need to adapt, evolve or be refined in light of real-world factors, such as market or economic conditions.  That’s why our team was excited to attend Jack’s “Smart Selling” Workshop.  Like many businesses, we don’t claim to know everything about everything and we’re open to new, fresh ideas.

Today, let’s forget about the Fed, pensions, stocks and bonds and take a walk down a different path.  Let’sb…  Please consider what he has to say.  He is the best I have ever met.

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Jack Daly (L) and Steve Blumenthal

My summary notes follow below.  Master what he teaches, apply it to your profession and you will create amazing abundance.  And it’s not just about financial abundance.  This guy does “joy” very well.

Grab that coffee and find your favorite chair and read on.  I ordered 100 copies of Jack’s book and I’m happy to send you a copy.  My gift to you.  No cost, no strings… just hope it helps you in your business.  Shoot me a note with your name and mailing address.  I got Jack’d.  Hope you do too.  You know… It’s kind of nice not writing about global macro investment stuff for a change.

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Included in this week’s On My Radar:

  • Jack Daly — GET JACK’D
  • Trade Signals — Bullish Trends Rolls on for Equities and Fixed Income
  • Personal Note — Inside ETFs Conference & Mauldin Strategic Investment Conference

Jack Daly – GET JACK’D

One of the top business professors at MIT came in to consult to a good friend’s business.  He told my friend he was going to give his best advice in the simplistic way possible.  Every successful business’ most important ingredient is sales.  You must have an exceptional process, game plan and sales people.

Daly espouses two basic foundational principles for sales: (1) establishing systems and processes and (2) leverage.  As mentioned above, Jack emphasizes that every successful business needs a sales system and process that is followed by every salesperson for interactions with prospects and clients.  Leverage refers to engaging in activities that generate more sales and revenue with less work and effort.  Jack encourages salespeople to solely engage in “high payoff activities” and to delegate everything else to support staff.  Jack says there’s only 168 hours in a week and some people get much more accomplished in those 168 hours than others.

Jack states that any sales system and process must have a “playbook,” just like a football team.  A football playbook contains numerous plays that the offense can use to try to score a touchdown.  Playbooks of NFL teams are highly detailed and specific. Don’t go into the game without a game plan.

A sales playbook needs to be similarly detailed and specific.  Jack says, “The best sales people are canned.”  He means that a sales presentation or pitch is thoughtfully planned, scripted and practiced numerous times.

“The shortest course on sales: ask questions and listen!”  Jack continued, “People don’t want to be sold.  It’s the salesperson’s job to help them buy. The best way you can help them buy is helping them with their problems, opportunities and needs.”

Jack contends that it is imperative for salespeople to practice their pitches repeatedly and be prepared to effectively respond to objections.  Jack says, “There’s hardly anything that goes on in a sales call that couldn’t be anticipated before one’s arrival.”  Jack recommends that teams identify 10-15 common objections and develop one or two effective responses.

He recommends that sales teams regularly practice presentations together and engage in role playing.  By doing so, “prospects” can observe and provide constructive feedback to improve their colleagues’ pitches.  It’s not a one-and-done, role playing and rehearsals must be ongoing.

Jack recommends setting goals every week, writing them down and determining how you are going to achieve those goals (i.e., tactics).  Salespeople must be accountable to the system and processes.

“Things that get measured get done.”  Jack advocates the sales managers have to measure and assess progress.  With data and analysis, managers can coach and encourage where necessary.  It’s cliché, but practice makes perfect.

Jack next told us a story about his swim coach.  At age 58, he decided he wanted to do triathlons.  But he couldn’t swim.  He explained how his swim coach helped refer so much business to other people.  He needed a specialty bike, go see my friend over there.  He needed a fitness person, a strength coach…  Swim coach referred him to everyone he needed.

So the story here is to find yourself a “swim coach.”  Someone who can refer many people to you.  For example, when Jack got on the speaking/conference tour, instead of paying a big organization 30% of his fee to line up conferences for him, he got close to Vistage Worldwide (an organization he was part of for many years).  Companies like mine pay them thousands of dollars a year to train our executives.  Jack would speak to their groups and he’d then build a seminar in their city.  About 75 of the 100 people in the room last Tuesday were Vistage clients, like CMG, who heard Jack present.  $30,000 for… three hours of work and book sales.  Vistage is Jack’s swim coach.  Find yours.

Jack Daly’s “crackerjack” sales tips:

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If you would like to learn more about Jack, please visit his website.


Trade Signals — Bullish Trends Roll On for Equities and Fixed Income

S&P 500 Index — 2,776 (01-17-2018)

Notable this week:

Broad market indicators: Bullish trend continues for equities.  The Don’t Fight the Tape or Fed moved from a 0 reading back to a bullish +1 reading.  The Ned Davis Research CMG U.S. Large Cap Long/Flat Index remains positioned in 100% exposure to large-cap equities.  Despite the recent move higher in interest rates, the Zweig Bond Model remains bullish on fixed income.  HY remains in a buy signal.  As always, we continue to monitor our inflation and recession indicators.  Despite the extreme overvalued level of equities, the trend evidence remains bullish.

Click here for the latest Trade Signals.

Important note: Not a recommendation for you to buy or sell any security.  For information purposes only.  Please talk with your advisor about needs, goals, time horizon and risk tolerances. 


Personal Note — Inside ETFs Conference & Mauldin SIC

Speaking of getting JACK’D, Jack completed 15 Ironman competitions and made TEAM USA in 2012.  He is just shy of two of his other bucket list goals: he’s competed in 90 marathons in 49 states.  New Jersey is last on the list and that one is coming up next.  He’s played 92 of the Top 100 golf courses in the U.S.  I’m pretty sure he’ll check that box as well.  He’s done extreme bungee jumping and dived with sharks in South Africa.  OK, he’s not your normal guy and I don’t think the man sleeps.  I’ve never met anyone like him.  I sure did GET JACK’D.  I think I better hit the gym.

I’ve been in Boston all week and what an exciting week it’s been.  Certain investments are just out of the reach of most investors.  The best opportunities tend to get gobbled up by the large institutions and ultra-high net worth.  We are working hard to bring some of those unique opportunities to you.  More in the near future.

Tomorrow my beautiful Susan turns 50.  We’ll be celebrating her this weekend.  Don’t tell her yet, but we are going to see Hamilton in NYC next month.  It was going to be tomorrow but she totally enjoys coaching so we are heading to the National Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia.  It should be fun.

Early Monday morning I’m flying to Florida for the annual Inside ETFs Conference.  Several thousand of the industry’s leaders.  It’s meetings, networking, dinner and wine.  You’d think plenty of sunshine but one rarely leaves the hotel.  I will share my high-level notes with you, after the conference.  Here is a quick look at the sessions I’m most excited about:

  • Are We in a Bubble? Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian
  • Leadership Is a Choice: Lessons From a Military Legend, General Stan McChrystal
  • Beyond the Hype: Strategically Implementing Factor-Based ETFs
  • Pitfalls in Smart Beta: Data Mining, Selection Bias & Performance-Chasing, Rob Arnott, Founder and Chairman, Research Affiliates
  • As Good as It Gets: PIMCO’s Macroeconomic Outlook & the Importance of Active Management in Core Bond Portfolios
  • The ETF Lab: 10 ‘Hidden Gem’ ETFs You’ve Never Heard Of
  • Fixing Income: Bond ETFs, Active Strategies & Portfolios for Rising Rates
  • Everything You Need to Know: Active & Factor-Driven Fixed-Income ETFs
  • Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, ETFs & the Future of Finance
  • Everything You Need to Know: Hedging Your Downside & Protecting Against Tail Risk
  • The Best New ETF of 2017: We Present, You Decide
  • Alternative Income Strategies
  • How to Deploy Tactical & Strategic ETF Portfolios That Work (SB here: Seeing what the competition is up to)

If you too are attending, please shoot me a note.  I’d love to say hello.  Here is a link to the Inside ETFs Conference agenda.

Park City follows January 31 to February 3.  Another advisor conference (and yes I’ll again be packing my skis) and the Mauldin Strategic Investment Conference is March 6-9.  I hope to see you in Florida or at the Mauldin SIC.

Registration and agenda information for the Mauldin SIC can be found here.  Dr. Lacy Hunt, David Rosenberg, George Friedman, Mark Yusko and Jeffrey Gundlach are but a few key names who will present.  Gundlach is saying the great bond bull market is over.  More note taking to share with you.

“Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions,” said the Dalai Lama.  I’m sure Jack Daly agrees.

Hope you walked away from today’s piece with a few actionable sales ideas. Jack said that when you first start to prepare for a 26-mile marathon, you don’t just go out and run 26 miles.  You start with running just a mile or two.  It takes time to build up to 26.  Same with building your sales process and play book.  Just start with a few ideas, practice, then expand to a few more and practice, practice, practice.  Hope you GET JACK’D too…

Have a wonderful weekend!

♦ If you are not signed up to receive my weekly On My Radar e-newsletter, you can subscribe here. ♦

With kind regards,

Steve

Stephen B. Blumenthal
Executive Chairman & CIO
CMG Capital Management Group, Inc.

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