I just finished a 16-day trip to Asia with my son and it was probably one of the best experiences of my life.

I don’t often write about personal things in this blog- but so many of you were helpful when I asked for suggestions for this trip that I wanted to let you know how it went. However, I am not going to give you a travelogue of the trip- I just want to take a few minutes and tell you about what I learned in the process of planning and having this incredibly special trip with my son, a gift to him for his graduation from high school.

First, in full disclosure, the idea of doing this trip was taken from a great friend of mine, Eric Protzman. When each of his children graduated from high-school, he took them on a long trip to anywhere that they wanted to go. The deal was that it would be just the two of them, they had to help with the planning and it had to be someplace that they had not been before.

When I asked for some context from Eric, he laid it out this way:

“Tom, you will never have a chance to have this time with your child again. They won’t be able to take the time from school, commitments, spouses or children or careers to do a trip like this except at this very particular time in their lives- right after they graduate high-school. Also, it is the perfect time to re-write some of the rules of your relationship. They are probably 18, a legal adult and are making a huge transition from your house to college and a different life. This creates the opportunity to mark that transition and re-set your relationship. And, if you do it right, it will be a priceless experience for both of you.”

Believe it or not, this turned out to be an understatement.

Zach chose China at age 12- which is when I had heard about this from Eric and the first time I discussed it with Zach. He stuck with that location without change through graduation. Eric’s kids took different paths- one wanted the Beatles trip through all of their milestone spots in Great Britain, the other wanted a backpacking trip through Central America. The location is not necessarily important as long as it is new, challenging and away from here. I personally think off of the continent is great because it puts you and your graduate on more even footing and out of the easy norms of TV, cell-phone and internet habits.

I started saving for the trip then. Stored up my points from credit cards and frequent flyer programs, (gratefully, all of the airlines have basically merged, so all my points came together into one account. Who could have predicted that?), set money aside and Zach started saving money then as well with his own special account.

About a year ago we started planning, asking for ideas from readers like you and my personal network, got a travel agent and worked out an itinerary.

Those basic mechanics aside, here is what I want to tell you:

IT’S AMAZING!

We bonded. We talked about everything, saw everything, did all sorts of “firsts” together and created a shared library of experiences that are just ours to share forever. On top of that, we are not in the same place in our relationship as when we left. Is he a man now? I don’t know if I would go that far, (seems to lack things like a job, real responsibilities, a mortgage, the ability to grow a credible beard in two weeks even though he tried, and so on). But, we relate to each other differently already.

Some guidelines I want to pass along to you…

1. No lecturing or teaching allowed. I made a deal with myself that if we were going to have this trip it was a travel trip together, not a field trip for my ongoing development of him.
2. Do new stuff. Part of what made this trip memorable was the “firsts” we did together, including doing things that I would not normally do. We raced motorcycle taxis through Bangkok at rush hour, drank 120 proof Chinese liquor in Beijing, played blackjack in Macau and so on. I have pictures of 20 buddhas from temples in China, but I guarantee that the buddhas won’t be the stories we will tell at the family gatherings for years to come, it will be these and some others I can’t publish.
3. Traveling together. I did not set out rules for how we would travel together- too much dad v. kid in that. We just talked through how we would travel and what would make it work better. Simple stuff – he stays up late and gets up late- I’m the opposite. He sleeps with the TV on and has it on all of the time, I never do. I pack in an orderly fashion and ahead of time, he looks like he is jumping bail. We worked this out beforehand with one goal; making the trip better.
4. Planning. I took the majority of the responsibility for the logistics of the trip, but we worked through what was important to him in each location and what we could get done. Part of it was money management, part of it has to do with prior experience in travel and part of it was time.
5. Shut out the world. I am not kidding when I say that this is a once in a lifetime experience. If you get sucked into blackberry, email and voicemail back in the real world, you will be trading out something short-term for something priceless and permanent. We made calls home for 5 minutes at the end of the day, (morning here), each day and that was pretty much it.

I am the zealously converted now. The graduation trip is the most amazing thing that you can do with your child as you transition into a new phase in your lives and relationship.

Let me offer my great thanks to all of you who gave suggestions of “must-see” sights for our trip. We followed your recommendations closely and our trip was vastly better for it.

If you have children of any age under graduation age, I recommend that you plant the seed of the idea now, open the bank account and prepare for a graduation trip present.

Hi All,

Just a quick housekeeping item for you: I’ve introduced the “My Best Blogs” archive. Reason being, I constantly find myself having to dig for oldies-but-goodies that I think would be great for driving home various point to sales teams. But digging these things out all the time is a waste of time, so I’ve decided to get organized. My Best Blogs contains an easy-to-navigate list of some of my favorite and most frequently-requested blog posts and guest posts, organized loosely by topic category.

If you notice any glaring ommissions, please let me know. Otherwise, enjoy!

- Tom

By now you may or may not have purchased my new book, RFPs Suck! If you haven’t, you can purchase it here. It’s now in paperback. Call me biased, but I highly recommend it.

The latest stop on my book tour/media blitz was with Ian Brodie, one of the best sales consultants across the pond. Ian works with professional service firms–consultants, lawyers, accountants, surveyors, architects and coaches–to help them attract more clients and win more new business. You can check out the interview on his site, IanBrodie.com.

Thanks, Ian!

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know that my new book RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and For All to Win Big Business is now available on Kindle. If Kindle is your format of choice, well then, please go forth and order!

The Kindle edition is available HERE.

Thanks and enjoy! Tom

• 77% of Americans believe new entrepreneurs are the key to reviving the economy;
• 42% of Americans have considered starting a business since the economic downturn, with 1 in 10 acting on the idea; and
• 55% of Americans say starting a business is something they have wanted to do.

The term “newpreneur” is a great one. It represents an entrepreneur who is using the recession as a catalyst to start a business or develop an idea. I decided I would make up my own term for what these newpreneurs want: “THRIVAVING.” It’s the combination of business surviving and business thriving.

I have spent almost my whole life either working as an entrepreneur or working with entrepreneurs. So much so that I am the featured speaker and a panel judge for Alibaba.com’s Newpreneur™ of the Year award, presented in partnership with Inc. Magazine.

We all know there are a lot of risks in being an entrepreneur, which is likely the reason only 1 out of 10 who consider taking the plunge actually get in the water. Along the way, I have gone through a lot of those risky situations and have some key principles I want to pass along to newpreneurs… (more…)

Well, everyone, a collective sigh of relief just left the Hunt Big Sales headquarters (or “clubhouse” as we prefer to call it). Why? My new book—which you are all no doubt familiar with, thanks to your immense help in choosing the cover—just came out!

RFPs Suck! How to Master the RFP System Once and for All to Win Big Business is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and a slew of other places. In about a week, it will be available on Kindle so if that’s your format of choice, just let me know and I’ll send you an update when it’s ready. And if its mere existence isn’t enough to convince you to grab a copy, you can find more details about the book at RFPsSuckTheBook.com.

The Vitals:

Hardcover: 160 pages

Price: $29.95
(Yeah, it’s a bit more than your average run-of –the-mill book but that’s because it’s not your average run-of-the-mill book. And anyway, your boss should be buying this for you.)

Publisher: Channel V Books

How you can help:

• Refer it to everyone you know.
• Buy it for everyone in your office. (Hey, it makes a great stocking stuffer!)
• Leave an online review at Amazon or Barnes & Noble if you’ve read the e-book or after you read the full length version. (Links are above.)
• Vote on other peoples’ reviews that are particularly helpful (on Amazon).
• Think happy, positive thoughts about it every now and then.

Background:
As many of you know, this book is the extended version of my e-book Landing Big Sales with an RFP.

[After the jump I’ve included the full Table of Contents so you can view the massive amounts of new information, RFP samples and processes I’ve added to this new hardcover version.]

Sure I kicked and shoved when my marketing team told me that I should write an e-book on RFPs and offer it to readers for free (free?!) on my website. After all, this was the stuff that my clients pay me adult money to coach them through. But I knew that arguing with them would be a losing battle so, like all other battle-scarred soldiers before me, I raised my white flag, buried my head, and jotted down a variety of my favorite RFP-defeating techniques to share with the world.

Thousands of downloads and seemingly hundreds of “Thank You” notes later, and I realized that the demand for this type of material was strong and growing. And so I’ve expanded what was once limited material into what I like to think of as the ultimate guide to conquering RFPs—whether government, private, or public—by adding several additional winning techniques and a number of sample RFP responses (with critiques). I also did my due diligence by surveying my audience about the mysteries and troubles they’ve encountered in their RFP traumas, err, experiences and addressed them here.

Read on for the full Table of Contents… (more…)

When I was in college, the great lit summaries were published by Cliff’s Notes. They could get you through almost any 500+ page book with all of the key points, comparative analysis, footnotes and quotes that you would need for writing a 5 page paper. This was true even if you were starting at 1 AM for an 8 AM class.

Read It for (dot) Me has put a twist on the old Cliff’s Notes for the modern business books by combining animation, voice-over and an interview with the author into a 10- minute program for the business book reader. The company just summarized Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company coauthored by Barbara Weaver Smith and me. We did an accompanying interview with Steve Cunningham, the creator of the program.

The 10-minute Whale Hunting piece serves as a refresher for the thousands of people who have bought and read the book.  For your colleagues and others who may not have read it yet, the piece is a good intro to the book and provides some context to all of the things you have been trying to get them to understand.

Read It for (dot) Me is really worth your time.  And I promise, you can actually stomach listening to the 10-minute pieces.  Check it out.

Hi All,

I’m not one to brag (too much anyway) about good stuff that comes my way, but I’m especially excited about my upcoming work with Inc magazine, Fast Company, and Alibaba. Also, this news might be beneficial to you or someone you know, which is why it doesn’t seem too self-serving for me to share it.

In a nutshell, I’m going to be keynoting a seven-city tour along with Tom Peters. The tour revolves around the Newpreneur of the Year program and kicks off in New York on October 6th. (All dates and details are available HERE.) I suggest checking out the cities (and attending) if you’re looking for a great networking and learning opportunity.

The other part of this tour is its namesake event: the naming of the “Newpreneur” of the year. The event sponsor, Alibaba.com, will be giving away five business grants to new entrepreneurs and others with “big ideas.” If you’re interested or know anyone who fits this description, I’ve pasted the entry guidelines below. Just a quick head’s up, though: the contest ends on August 14th, so you’ve got about two weeks to enter.

Here are the details:

Have a big idea or budding business? You could be the Newpreneur of the Year and win one of five business grants from Alibaba.com.

It’s simple: share your story in a short essay on why you should be the Newpreneur of the Year; join us for inspiring discussion and dialogue among experts and peers and celebrate the excitement around entrepreneurship. Top Grant=$50,000, Second Grant=$25,000. Third Grant=$15,000 and two Fourth Grants=$5,000.

I hope to see a few of you at one of these events. If you plan to attend, please shoot me an email to let me know.

Thanks!

There’s nothing better than waking up to a note telling you that you’re the best…or, at least, one of the best. That’s what happened to me this morning when I received a note from The Fixer Upper Blog telling me I’d made their list of “Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills.” I checked out the list (which is killer), and I’m listed among some bloggers who I really respect. People like Dave Stein, Jill Konrath, and Seth Godin.

Anyhow, I’m starting to sound like The Marketing Nag, so I’ll leave you with the quick description at the top of their list. Again, if you’re looking for a “who’s who” of sales bloggers, this is a must-see list (not that I’m a who’s who, but you get it!)…

Salesmen are the dreaded enemy of dinner time and door bells, but making a career in sales doesn’t have to condemn you to being the dreaded enemy. Learn top tips from expert salespeople across the world with these blogs. Train yourself in the latest sales techniques and see what works for the experts. It’s all here in this top 100 list of awesome sales blogs.

Ever since i called my marketing partner a “nag” in my post about Twitter a couple weeks ago, she’s been wearing the name around like a badge of honor. I always worry about people who mistake insults as compliments (I kid!), but I guess if you knew her you’d understand.  She lives for this stuff…

So, as these things go, she’s now gone off and created a cartoon character of herself and even given herself an official title within the company (I wish I was kidding). If you didn’t already receive her newsletter this morning (yes, her newsletter), you can find her official announcement below. One good thing I CAN say about her new persona is that it, I mean, she,  will now be doing all of the dirty work that I can’t bear to do myself. Workshop promotions, telling you how great I am, bragging about things that don’t need to be bragged about…that’s all her department now.

So, without further ado, The Marketing Nag has a “very important” announcement to make…

(more…)