This is the Sales Success Stories Podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. I really appreciate you listening to this show, but listening is such a passive activity so I want to challenge you to get a little more involved in the Sales Success Community and to do something to improve yourself. So today I’m going to issue that challenge.
I’m releasing this little bonus bonus episode on Wednesday, August 11th, because tomorrow, August 12th is 60 days before the start of this year’s Sales Success Summit. Real quick on that front, we’re on pace to sell out by the end of the month maybe even sooner, so if you were hoping to join us here in Austin you’d better get on that. You can grab your ticket at Top1Summit.com. That’s also where you can register for the free, sponsors-supported live stream. I think we’re even going to make the recordings available on-demand for a limited time this year to those who register, so I guess no matter what you’re gonna want to go Top1Summit.com and take an action, but back to this challenge idea.
I decided to call this event the Summit 4 years ago because of the dual meeting. It’s a meeting of high-level individuals, but it’s also the top, the apex, the highest point, and that’s where many of us are trying to get right?
Well, that’s certainly what we try to inspire with the event, but I wanted to do something in advance of the event this year to build community. To allow you to connect with each other, and with many of those that you’ve heard here on this show, and how doesn’t love a good challenge. One that maybe even has a leaderboard and another opportunity to compete. To be pushed and pulled by others in the community.
So tomorrow, with 60 days to go before the Summit, we’re kicking off the first-ever Sales Success Summit Everest Challenge. Should you choose to join us in this challenge you’ll have 60 days to get outside and gain 29,032 feet of elevation by walking, biking, hiking, or running. We’re going to track it and connect with each other through my favorite fitness app, Strava, and I think we’re going to have a ton of fun doing it.
I’ve actually been experimenting with this idea for a few days, and like anything, there’s always something to be learned. It took me a few days to find the right hill to focus on. The first couple of tries it was taking me about 75 minutes of walking hill in the neighborhood to gain about 500 feet of elevation, before I got really efficient and found a nice short steep hill where I can get the same result in about 45 minutes. The lesson being that we need to keep looking for better ways and opportunities to improve.
Now you might be thinking: Scott, why are you doing a fitness challenge in the Sales Success Community and not an actual sales challenge.
There are actually a number of reasons for that. First, there are a lot of different types of people in different roles that listen to this show, and finding a universally applicable sales challenge is really hard. It would also be tough to track something like that, but more importantly, one of the things I really want to help people get to through listening to this podcast and being a part of this community is the Fundamentals of Sales Success. And I firmly believe that your health, your mindset, and your mental health are core ingredients. Going out for a walk or a run every morning is going to help all of those things. Even better, you can probably listen to the podcast while you’re doing it!
So to get involved we’ve set up a whole system through our new sponsor Skipio. In the US and Canada, all you have to do is text Everest to 512-813-0676. Outside of the US and Canada, things are a bit more manual, but I wanted this to be a global challenge, so all you have to do is send a message to that same number: 512-813-0676 via WhatsApp and I’ll reply with the instructions.
Now there are a few ways to do this and I need to give a shoutout to DeJuan Brown and Andy Racic who are both helping with some of the challenge elements behind the scenes in Strava. Oh, and there will very likely be some awards too, but I wanted to give you some ideas on how to get this done.
Like I said you can do this through any combination of walking, hiking, biking, or running. I believe we will have some pure-play options if you plan to only do it on a bike or only do it on foot. If you live in a relatively hilly place then cycling is probably the easiest way to get this done. In fact, this whole challenge was inspired by the idea of Everesting where psycho cyclists knock this thing out in a day. In fact, the record is under 7 hours, and it’s worth googling, but for the rest of us who aren’t elite athletes, I think spreading this out over 60 days is way more manageable. Like I said I think cycling is probably the easiest way, but you can also do what I did and find a nice steep hill to work with. It doesn’t hurt that I live in a part of Austin called Oak Hill, but if you live someplace super-flat, then a stadium or other big set of steps will probably serve you well.
I’ve also done some math for you to help break this down, and I’ll have all of these details for you in writing at top1.fm/everest2021 you can click over there to find this stuff. But if you were to get out every day for all 60 days you’ll need to average 484 feet a day. 6 days a week will take an average of 564 feet and a 5 day a week effort will require an average daily gain of 677 feet. Now I’m not sure I’d recommend this, but if you want to knock this out weekend warrior style. You’ve got 9 weekends to work with and you’ll need to do 1,613 feet every one of those weekend days to complete the challenge.
Now the beauty is that through Strava we’ll all be able to see each other’s efforts, support each other, cheer for each other and push each other to achieve more. So I really hope you’ll join us in this challenge. Again, to get the instructions just text “Everest” to 512-813-0676, or if you’re outside the US and Canada send a message via WhatsApp to that same number: 512-813-0676 and we’ll get you going.
Thanks for listening. That’s for being a part of this Sales Success Community and I’ll see you at the top!