Yes, blogging has been good to me this year. I would say top three things that happened because of my blogging passion this year would be:

1. Blog to Book- After several attempts at writing formal, stiff and impersonal book proposals, my writing coach glanced at my blog and asked me, “what about that voice?”  Thanks to Naomi and AMACOM, my book Selling from the Inside Out will be published fall of 2009.

2. BlogHer Conference- This year I learned the importance of Twitter at the summer conference. I got to sit in the audience and listen to keynote speakers and on-line celebrities Heather Armstrong and Stephanie Klein.

3. 37Days Retreat- I’ve been such a big fan of Patti Ding’s blog that I was compelled me to sign up for her weekend retreat in Asheville, North Carolina

These are some of my favorite posts of 2008:

1. Wisdom of the Four Agreements

2. 2008 Innovation

3. Just Do It

4. Don’t Settle for Less when You Deserve More

5. All I’ve Got is Four Minutes

6. The Trouble with Assumptions

7. Cubicle Chronicles

8. Building a Competitive Mind

9. The Future of Inside Sales

10. Five Surfing Tips to Ride the Recession Tidal Wave

Oops I did it again….

this year had lots of spark and drama to it. Makes you scratch your head and ask, “wwwhat were they thinking when they did that, said that or tried that?” So here are some of my favorite dumbest moments of this year.

1. Dan Seidman has a great book titled Sales Autopsy where he actually chronicles over 600 sales blunders.

2. Eliot Spitzer-One of the most prominent and brightest gets caught in a prostitution scandel

3. OJ Simpson- Last year he thought he would just storm into Vegas to retrieve some sports memorabilia and his first wive’s wedding ring.

4. John Edwards- finally admits to Bob Woodruff that he lied about his affair that he maintained while campaigning as Presidential candidate for the Democratic party.

5. Email Blunders-check out what Proofpoint has put together and included Sarah Palin’s email blunder.

6. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac- They have been described as “fumbling, financial oddities” and it’s no surprise.

7. Web Sites- Just in case you decide to redesign your web site, stay away from these traps

8. 10 Common Sales Mistakes- Yes, these are spot on- especially “Presenting a non-stop Sales Pitch.”

9.  John McCain chooses Sarah Palin- No matter how you voted, everyone agrees McCain made a risky VP choice brining Palin on board.

10. Follow Social Media Etiquette- You may be on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn- but it’s easy to make a few mistakes such as writing on your own wall on Facebook.

In sales we are often as good as our last….. deal, demo, quarter, territory we managed. It’s the only profession where you get to start all over again at the beginning of each month. Not only do you have to move forward with your skills but you must utilize your tools, processes and create the opportunities.

Oh yeah, I forgot about your risk averse prospects- the ones sitting tight waiting for this year to end or wondering what they can do to look busy or productive because they have survived another round of lay-offs and after meeting with their buddies at dinner the other night, they are worried.

I’ve talked about No-Po’s a lot as they lack influence and are usually the first ones to go during uncertain times. Hey here’s an idea- why don’t you help them find another job? That’s right, instead of calling them all the time to see how things are moving along and if they’ve talked with their boss, you can call them and mention you have some potential opportunities with another company. New ways of bonding don’t you think?

The biggest difference between salespeople and No-Po’s are salespeople know how to make something happen. They know how to establish rapport and get people together, they know how to uncover needs and move something through the sales cycle, they know how to be resourceful and create opportunities. As The Sales Hunter confirms, having the motivation to sell is the most important thing to get you through this.

Spending lots of time building a concise marketing plan that is now up to 11 pages and my neck and shoulders are killing me from being slumped over my laptop for hours. I’m stuck on what to work on first and next and after that. So I continue to spin around and land on smart people who seem to have it all figured out.

That’s how I felt when I came across David Meerman Scott’s blog- Web Ink Now. I downloaded The New Rules to Viral Marketing and just devoured his amazing content. According to David, ebooks are the new white papers and he describes them as one of the most powerful forms of “word-of-mouse” content.  He is prolific,  a maverick and thought-leader in his field. My favorite is he refuses to be on LinkedIn, you’ve gotta read why. Just as I predicted, Social Networking fatique would be settling in eventually and wrote about it earlier this year in my 2008 Inside Sales Trend White Paper. Ask me to send you a copy.

His new book, World Wide Rave will be launched in March of 2009 but he is already blogging about it and creating the viral groundswell that will catapult sales of his book. Especially when he describes his book as Creating triggers that get millions of people to spread your ideas and tell your stories. It’s relevant.

It’s not just about linking and tagging anymore, it’s about connecting with a few centers of influence who tell more people to tell more people. Are you ready to go viral next year?

I’ve been consumed with every recession-related article I can find. Mostly in terms of how it affects human behavior and what people do when pulled to the extreme. I’m not that interested in learning when this recession started or when it is projected to end or what we have lost so far and how much more we stand to lose. Not really because that is just a waste of time and something we have little control of.

Art Linkletter used to say, “kids say the darndest things” and it was hysterical listening to these kids.

Well I think people do the darndest things when they are confronted with rough economic times. Everyone in my immediate circle has been effected by this recession and are finding their own ways of cutting back. As one of my friends mentioned her heating bill is $350 per month and her kids commented on how cold the house was. Her reply was, “do you want heat in December of Christmas presents?” so that shut them up quick. Another friend was laid off from a lucrative position and is walking dogs for some extra quick cash, here are a few more:

1. Next time you cross the bridge, pay for the car behind yours

2. Instead of bridal registry or baby registry, try the tough times registry

3. Order your t-shirt that says, I can’t afford to love New York

4. Check out these recession busters- coupon strategy is worth learning about

5. Get creative with this alternative Christmas tree

This is the time of year where I search for the positive highlights of the year and start making predictions for the new year. In January, I put together my Hotlist:What’s In/Out and my Top 10 Trends in Inside Sales Report.

From a professional perspective, 2008 has been very good to me. Amacom decided to purchase my Smart Selling from the Inside Out book due next Fall of 2009. I’m plugging away and have 3 more chapters to go out of 10 and feel so great about the content as I’m sure you will too. I want it to sit neatly in every inside salesperson’s cubicle so they can refer to it for tips, ideas, skills and inspiration.

Another big kudos was the TeleSmart 10 program was rolled out to 28 global locations and 60 sessions were delivered by certified trainers on the TeleSmart methodology. No matter what country or cultural difference, this program has the secret sauce for inside sales.

Okay, now back to pop culture and my list of the best:

Best Sales Warriors

Best Telephone Tricks

Best Companies to Work For

Best Gadget

Best Careers

Best Web Sites

Best On-line Searches

Most Fascinating People

Best Sudden Downfall

And here is the Best YouTube Video:

I had to hold my ears and scream “blah, blah, blah, blah” while my friend talked about the disappointing ending of a movie she just saw this weekend. I hadn’t seen the movie yet so I didn’t want to hear about it. I don’t like to walk in late to movies either, I rather just miss the whole thing.

Last week I was invited to Jack’s baby shower. No, Jack isn’t born yet- he is due December 14th (scheduled C-section) but Jack had all his future aunts, uncles, cousins and friends at his baby shower who determined his favorite color, his taste in clothes, toys, music and books. His mommy and daddy had his name printed on the walls of his room and gave out “Jack” buttons to everyone.

Why do we have this enormous need to know? Why do we give someone else the power to tell us what our destiny will be? The need to know is so important for many of us who need to organize our lives based on answers and expectations.

Our bleak economy has everyone paying attention- we want to know the ending of the financial turbulence we are all experiencing. Perhaps if we figure out when it started, we can calculate or predict when it might end. We want to know what we can expect to gain, lose and of course how much worst will it get before it gets better?

There are very few surprises in the sales world. It’s your job to qualify and reconfirm along the way. If you are blind-sided or surprised, it’s because you missed a step along the way. You should not be surprised by any objections you hear.  That’s why closing sales is one of the toughest things to write about because it’s not this big event that happens. If done correctly, it is a matter of effectively moving something along the sales cycle until it closes.

This is the most important month of the year in terms of securing new business- there are no secrets, no surprises and no one telling you something you should already know about.