NSN Fall Connection Experience

This past Saturday, The National Sales Network DC/Baltimore Chapter held our last event for the year - The Fall "Connection Experience" Networking Social. It was a huge hit. Thank you to all the member (and future members) that not only made this event but the entire year a success. See you in 2009.

Think About It...

As ya'll know, I went to a business conference last week. In addition to the over abundance of fun that I had with my peeps, there were a lot of great workshops and lectures. I take notes when I'm at these kind of events so that I can remember what was said, go back and review & reflect...so that I may grow professionally. You've always gotta be "Sharpening Your Saw". When you let your blade get dull, that's when you get passed over for that promotion, hit the ceiling, get poor reviews, get put on a performance plan....all the while standing there looking like a deer in headlights, wondering what had happened.

Here is some things that I jotted down in my "handy, dandy notebook". I'm not going to expound on them much (if at all). Most of them will speak for themselves. I hope you will take a moment and think about them, but application is what sharpens your saw:

• If you don't network, and you don't relate to people & share information/resources - then you just don't get it.
• Invest in Key Relationships - "Solo - Oh, No!", Watch who you spend your time with and what that relationship is doing to you.
• Navigate beyond obstacles, distractions and small thinking. Get out of the box you build for yourself.
• Watch who you share your vision with.
• Figure out the game and learn how to play it.
• Be Mentally Prepared, Be spiritually Prepared, Be visible
• Maximize your Brand - What's Your Brand
• Stop hanging around people who "glorify ignorance"
• Do a scathing self-inventory. - find out what your are doing to get in your own way.
• Your checkbook & calendar will tell on you. -Think about it. What you spend your money & time on will tell loads about you. Are you saying one thing and conducting yourself another.
• Monitor your Conversation - What does your conversation say about yourself.
• People who talk about people are smaller than people who talk about ideas.
• Performance is the great equalizer

Commit to Self - Improvement - Constant & Never Ending Improvement.

Welcome to Dallas, TX

Enjoy these pictures from the National Sales Network 12th Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. Tomorrow I'll compile some of the "Lessons Learned" & "Key Take-Aways" from this awesome conference.

NSN DC/Baltimore Chapter Pre-Conference Party

The DC/Baltimore Chapter of the National Sales Network hosted the 2nd Annual Pre-Conference Party last night complete with music, open bar, great eats, conference registration prizes and our chapter apparel. If you are and African-American in sales, marketing or own your own business that sells products & services, then you should check out National Sales Network.

How's your network? Do you actively work on it, cultivate it, develop it or do you just wait for things to happen and people/business to come to you? Are you looking for an environment where you can develop your business & sales skills among people that look like you? You've come to the right place.

Dig your well before you are thirsty. Network so you don't have to work.

My Fifteen Minutes of Fame

Winning Chapter of the Year has been both a blessing and (occassionally) a curse (a lot more work to live up to expectations). One of the blessings was being asked to do an online radio interview about the National Sales Network and the DC/Baltimore Chapter. Don't know how many people will actually ever hear it, but it was fun to do.

If you want to take a listen....Click Here.

http://www.irocktalkradio.com/JR_Show_Lisa_Steptoe.htm

NSN 11th Annual Conference Slide Show

Chapter of the Year!

Oh Yeah BABY! The DC/Baltimore Chapter of the National Sales Network ROCKS!!!!!!! We dropped it like it was hot on Saturday Night at the NSN Conference Black & White Awards Dinner & Dance, taking home the highest award.....CHAPTER OF THE YEAR!

We said it, we claimed it, we TOOK IT. YEAH! In other words, we came and kicked some chapter butt! I was so excited, I thought my teeth were gonna pop outta my head from smiling so hard. There are 119 active (that means you paid your raggedy dues) members and we brought 112 to the conference. We got a lot more stats but I'm not gonna bore ya with em here. NUFF SAID. We WON the damn thing.

Chapter Picture (not entire group pictured) & (Some of the...) Executive Committee

DAMN WE LOOK GOOD!

After it was all said and done, we rocked the house with the DJ and I even tried to "drop it like it was hot" for a little while...had to take several rest breaks but I managed to not blow a stitch or drop one of those drains....And yes! I managed to find something to wear that didn't make those damn things showed up. Took me almost a freakin' week to plan a wardrobe for the conference where you couldn't see that I still had my drains in, but I thought FO SURE that Howard Hewitt was gonna squeeze em outta me the other night. I survived or rather "I was healed." It is amazing what you can do with a half a perc, a handsome husband, top honors, a hot gown and a slammin DJ. We partied hard.

Now you know I'm a gonna be haulin' that plaque to every function the chapter has for the next year and workin' our sponsors to renew their sponsorship for the chapter for 2008. A President HAS to use ALL of her assets. For those of you in sales...ABC...Always Be Closin'

NSN Career Fair, Cathy Hughes, Winning & Howard Hughes

Yesterday was an awesome day at the National Sales Network 11th Annual Conference. We started with the Career Fair. We even offered a one day tickets so people could attend the Career Fair, Networking Reception and Concert. I know I've talked about this enough and sent out enough emails to choke a horse so if you missed your opportunity to attend the Career Fair - YOUR BAD. Just about every company was conducting interviews right on the spot or at least screening you for the next step. It was thrilling to go around and see some of the people from our chapter (and others) really utilize the Career Fair as an opportunity - having 2-3 interviews in one day. FANTASTIC.
(ADP is one of the DC/Baltimore Chapter Sponsors)

I even stopped by the P.F.E booth and just COULD NOT resist messing witht he recruiters. I walked up to the booth and introduced myself. One of the ladies said "Are you interested in a career with P.fiz.er?" So, I planted the huge smile on my face and said, "Well, I recently enjoyed a 15 year career at P.fi.zer and you saw fit to lay me off with a huge severance package...so, no not really. But I will take a few pens for nostalgia sake, okay?" These two ladies stood there with their mouth hanging open not knowing what to say. I thanked them for the pens, wished them luck and moved on to the next booth. HILARIOUS.!!!!!!

After the career fair, there we had our Keynote speakers luncheon and I had the honor of introducing Kathy Hughes, Radio Maven of Radio One. WOW! She was fantastic. Her talk was right on and her side bars (the tangents she went off on regularly) were so funny, I thought I was going to blow a one of my surgical drains out from laughing so hard. She went on for 2 hours (only scheduled for an hour) and nobody wanted her to stop. She commented on everything from OJ, Clarence Thomas, Michael Jackson, Jena 6, hip hop, the N word and more. I just know some of the corporate sponsors were squirmin' in their seats, but don't you just wish that you made so much money (Radio One is worth 2 Billion Dollars and 10 years later she is STILL the only African American woman on the stock exchange) that you didn't give a rats bootie what you said?

All I can say is that you missed one of the best luncheon lectures that I've heard in years.

Later that night we had a Networking reception, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch. They were NSN's very first sponsor and they have always sponsored the Friday night reception and concert. The reception was very nice and they raffled off some awesome prizes ('bout 5 portable DVD players, 'bout 4 30G Ipods, 'bout 6 GPS units, and 5 leather jackets). I have been running around or 2 days, claiming that I was gonna win something. Dell was raffling off computers, Abbott gave away jump drives just if you talked to 4 people in thier hospitality room on Thursday night and a PSP player. I WON! I WON! I WON!. My name got pulled out of the bowl and I chose the 30G Ipod. I had to then protect it with my life. Everyone was wantin' to "see" my pod and I would hold it up and say SEE!

After the reception, we went into the ballroom for the Howard Hewitt concert. He was AWESOME. He did some old Shalamar stuff, songs we all knew and then a song from his new album. We had the best time. He stayed out in the audience to sing and went around to everyone. I was having so much fun and even forgot or a short time that I still had a compression suit on and 2 drains in. I was feeling great! Then the DJ came on and we partied like rockstars, tearing up the dance floor. Wish you had been here!

NSN DC/Baltimore Pre-Conference Party

Last night was the NSN DC/Baltimore Pre-Conference Party at The Gallery in Silver Spring. WE HAD A BLAST. We had a private lounge area where we could listen to "Soulful Sounds" play and enjoy great food and drinks. WHUR was there hosting the live jazz event and we just got to take part in it all.

The 11th Annual National Sales Network Conference begins next Thursday at the Wardman Park Marriott in DC. If you are not registered...YOU ARE GONNA MISS a great conference.
So WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND (Do what you want, I'm just sayin...):

The NSN conference workshops are designed to assist you with the development of the skills required to ensure that you are competitive in the fast paced ever changing sales environment. The workshop presenters as well as the featured speakers are carefully selected and represent the absolute best of class.

Personal Development
It's not all about what you can do for your company. Your personal development is critical to your health and well being without which you could not be a star producer for any company. The NSN conference makes every effort to incorporate and address issues that impact your personal development.

Networking
The NSN conference provides a unique opportunity to interface with sales professionals that represent all industries from around the country. In addition, attendees are able to have one-on-one conversations with VP's of Sales from some of the leading companies in the US. The annual NSN conference has the dubious distinction of having the highest concentration of Africa-American VP's of Sales then any other annual meeting or conference in the world.

Cost/Value Relationship
The National Sales Network Conference & Career Fair has one of the best cost/value relationships. The very low registration fee far exceeds your return on investment.

Conference Profile 2006
Over 600 Attendees
Over 22 States Represented + International
Account Executive to VP of Sales Titles
Attendees Manage Up to $1.2 B / 200 Employees
Average Yrs of Selling Exp. = 10.3 yrs
Average Yrs of Management Exp. = 5.5 Yrs Average
51.4 % Company Paid (Career Development)

NSN Industry Representation
Pharmaceuticals
Consumer Products
Medical Devices
Technology
Financial Services
Hospitality
Real Estate
Consulting
Advertising / Media
Telecommunications
Industrial
Education

The Frustration of Leadership

I was asked to become President of the DC/Baltimore Chapter of the National Sales Network almost 2 years ago. The Chapter has made a huge comeback thanks to the dedicated efforts of a few people on the Executive Committee. HOWEVER, every time we have an event coming up I agonize over why people won't RSVP, won't show up, won't participate - WHATEVER. It is so damn frustrating.

We had an incredible Success Experience last month (Men of Valor-Successful Men in Sales) with 3 very powerful, incredibly successful Regional Directors & Vice Presidents and only 25 people showed up. We have over 100 members and a distro list of 500 and I can only get 25 people to come out to hear about the experiences of three successful Black Men. WHAT GIVES?

This weekend (June 16th), we are having a Sales Excellence Academy & Conference Kickoff at Dave & Busters. Daniel Grissom from PhD in Results is coming to do the workshop and then we are hosting a social event to kickoff registration for our National Conference in September. How many RSVP's do you think I have? 15. I'm bout to go crazy! Why - cause I'm bout tired of hearing about how we (Black people) need to network more, we need to invest in our personal development, we need to be more involved but then those same whiners don't show up to nutin. What's a Diva President to do?

Well, I just had to get my frustration off my chest. A lot of work goes into putting together a calendar of events that meets the needs of the chapter AND the needs of our sponsors. Lord have mercy. Get me through the conference without getting an eye tick.

The Start of the Holiday Parties

As President of the DC/Baltimore Chapter of the National Sales Network, I hosted the chapters final event of the year - Fall Networking Social event. Looks like the season of parties has now officially started with a whirlwind of events. I think I have a party or something to go to every weekend up until the 1st of year. Only thing I don't have anything planned yet is on New Years Eve. We will probably stay home again this year. We used to have a New Years Day dinner with Ron's family every year for the last 4-5 years or so at Shirley's house (Ron's mom) but she has moved in with her future husband and they are not volunteering this year. Ron is not up to hosting it. Not sure why and I'm don't really want to ask because that would mean I'd be working on planning & organizing. We will see.

The NSN Party was a hit and we had a wonderful time. In the picture to the left my daughter Erin (Chair, Membership Committee), my husband Ron, myself and the founder of NSN, David Richardson.