Lessons from the Street: Being a Top Performer- Part 1

Why is it that one street performer can make $100,000 per year, while his rival on the adjacent corner can barely survive? They have the same foot traffic...the same market potential...the same weather and conditions. More importantly, what can the answers to these questions and the story of street performers teach us about our business? Over the next several weeks you will find out via my Pulse articles! Lets get started.

A few years back I had the privilege of meeting world renowned author Steve Lundin. He is best known for his amazing work with the FISH! series of books. But when I met him at a small event in Helena, Montana he was releasing a new book and concept - and I was immediately hooked. The guy had passion, excitement and was bursting with enthusiasm- he had NATURAL ENERGY.

He started to tell a similar story to the one above and hit seemed to strike a nerve with the 50 or so of us in the room. What can street performers- people who are mimes, or play music or juggle --ON THE STREET--teach us about sales? About service? About improving our business? About being a TOP PERFORMER? It all comes down to one thing: NATURAL ENERGY. The Language of Natural Energy

Throughout the book, we are introduced to some fascinating terminology that translates well into the business world. Being a fitness professional I immediately connected the dots to personal trainers working in clubs and realized how much they are actually like street performers! And since most trainers are awful at sales, this new language was going to be important for me to learn so that I could develop an entire team of Top Performers.

Phrases like "Claim Your Pitch", "Mine the Mess", "Develop Insurance", "Choose Your Close", "Pass the Hat" and my personal favorite, "Juice the Jam" are now everyday thought processes as I teach others how to improve their businesses using these basic principles. This "language of Natural Energy" is fun to learn and even more fun to implement throughout your business day.

For example- you are probably concerned that each day you are struggling to find the energy to make it all work. Sometimes the passion and excitement go away and that can seriously drain your "Natural Energy". What can you do each day to keep that from happening? From getting stagnant and hitting a wall in your sales? Maybe we are too calculated and can't "go with the flow" and see how things work out and we stress ourselves out AND our team--and worse, our customers can feel it. This Top Performer system and Language of Natural Energy can help all of that.

Can energy translate? Of course it does. All of us work with energy. Either work with energy, or work with discipline. A life formed with natural energy, or 100 push-ups? (ok- so a lot of my readers are fitness pros, so they may choose both)

I invite you to take the journey with me over the next few weeks and articles as we outline in detail each one of those key phrases. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of how street performers can turn you and your team into TOP PERFORMERS!