Dear Readers,

Have last year's resolutions survived the Earth's latest revolution around the sun? How good are you at making and keeping promises to yourself? Did you know that most people don't keep their resolutions more than 17 days after the big ball falls in Times Square?

What year were you most successful at keeping your resolutions? To what do you attribute that success?

Do you wake up in the morning, clap your hands, and say this is going to be a great day as you jump out of bed? Or do you wait for a signal--the smell or sound of coffee brewing, the chirps or cries of children, sunlight cresting a roof or illuminating a blind, a garage door opening or an alarm ringing?

Do you look forward to a daily walk or run, even if a foot of new snow has fallen? Or has the exercise equipment in the basement become a laundry rack for damp clothes?

What drives you? What are your values? What leaves you feeling fulfilled? Do resolutions drive you, reaffirm your values, and lead to fulfillment? Or do they feel like new burdens atop a pile of tasks and expectations?

When you fail to keep a resolution, what is to blame--judgment, vision, drive? Do you allow yourself absolution? And, if so, how is absolution obtained? Do old resolutions give rise to new ones?

Are you living the life you dreamed about when you were young? Do you still believe, the way you might have believed in Santa Claus coming down the chimney or the tooth fairy putting money under your pillow in exchange for a tooth? What do you believe in? When you follow the floating embers from the bonfires as they go into the night sky, where do they take you? As the stars shoots overhead, what do you wish for?

What does the warm animal inside hunger for? What or whom is it that you're missing?

What questions are driving you forward? What questions are you afraid to ask yourself or others? Are resolutions something you tackle alone or with others? For each of your resolutions this year, have you asked, "What will allow me to accomplish this?" How, in other words, might you frame your resolutions so that they propel you to success? How might you keep the flame lit for more than seventeen days? How might you and your resolutions evolve?

Wishing you a happy new year,
Gary

Accelerants: Twelve Strategies to Sell Faster, Close Deals Faster, and Grow Your Business Faster by Michael Boylan - Book Review
By John LeTourneau

Michael Boylan's book, Accelerants, masterfully delivers a methodology to ascend from the trench that was, for most, 2009. He explains how to increase top line sales, compress sales cycle, and reduce the cost of sale.

Does everyone on your sales team believe in the benefits that your offerings provide? How does their level of buy-in affect their ability to close business in a timely manner? How much is an extended sale cycle costing you? These questions and more are addressed in Boylan's book.

Accelerants shows you how to shorten the sales-time-to-close rate. Start by offering products with a clear and unique value proposition. Clients want vendors to be confident, decisive, and articulate about how much the offering will benefit their organization. Your sales team will be more confident, decisive, and articulate if they truly buy-in to the product and the unique value proposition. They will hold the line, close the deal faster, more efficiently, and with less cost.

To learn more, please join us for CO2's February 23 installment of "Eat the Book, a CEO Roundtable Discussion." Michael Boylan will be on hand and provide the topic of discussion.

Visit the CO2 Partners Blog

Recent Past Blog Posts include:

1) Video: Two Questions That Can Change Your Life by Dan Pink author of Drive
2) Courage in Leadership - Discussion with Bill Treasurer about his book Courage Goes To Work and where leaders can make big impact
3) How to Execute Your Strategy - Interview with Scott Glatstein author of Strategy Activation
4) Building Trust in Your Organization - Interview with Michelle & Dennis Reina authors of Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace

Interested in Learning More?

Click Here for the CO2 E Brochure