That's why they call it a slippery slope.

Just back from Denver, site of the Association of Free Community Papers 2013 conference, where I had the privilege to be part of the training component of the three-day program. "Reaching New Heights" was the theme and I believe we did just that. My colleagues in The Leadership Institute did a great job presenting on a wide variety of topics and the rest of the presenting team was simply awesome. It was one of the better conferences I have ever attended.

In keeping with the "heights" theme and the Rocky Mountain backdrop was our keynote speaker, Rex Pemberton. The Australian native is the youngest person to have scaled Mount Everest and his presentation was spellbinding. He also put on a great business skills seminar using the art and science of climbing as a teaching tool for teamwork, communications and decision-making. Two things struck me about the taking of Everest:

1. To reach the summit, a team has to alternately ascend and descend from one camp level to the next in order to acclimate to the brutal physical conditions. You just don't go up and come down, but rather advance and retreat in order to reach the goal. It takes months.

2. More than 80% of the mishaps that occur happen on the way down after the summit (or goal) has been reached. 

A publisher can apply these lessons to their overall business just as a salesperson can do so in approaching a customer. Good salespeople tackle big goals and big prospects. They feel their way through the process, advancing an idea, retreating and learning from the environment and are willing to invest the necessary time to win. They don't give up when conditions get tough. And once the sale is made, they stay focused on service and follow up making sure their "descent" from winning the sale is also successful. After all, in sales you have to live to sell again tomorrow. 

You have to train to be successful no matter what you do. One of our goals this year at FCPNY is to help provide sales and sales management training on-site for our members. We will be reaching out to members soon with a menu of available topics to help your team reach new heights this year, too.

Thanks for your time today!