Jim’s dad died when he was just 15, and he had a stay-at-home mom who didn’t have marketable skills.
So he dropped out of high school to work, choosing encyclopedia sales as his ticket to an income sufficient to support himself and his mom.
There was only one small, technical difficulty.
Jim had a terrible speech impediment, a stutter, so how could he make it through presentations?
He asked for a glass of water before he started his pitches, and when he began to stutter, he took a sip.
He was always well hydrated.
But he was also well compensated, because he simply had to succeed. There was no other option.
As his success grew, his stuttering improved until it became barely discernable.
Jim went on to publish his own encyclopedias and he started a finance company to make them affordable. Now, he and his family live in one of the most beautiful and famous golf communities in America.
This goes to show the curative power of selling.
One of my consulting clients told me, “I’ve never met a problem in business that a few more sales couldn’t cure!”
Let me add to his thought.
I’ve never met a problem in my personal life that a few more sales couldn’t cure, either!
One of them is SHYNESS.
When I started to sell I was a shy, 19 year-old teenager, but pleasantly, people took me seriously because I initiated my career by working on the phone. I can’t tell you how broadening and confidence-building it was to successfully persuade mature businesspeople, many decades my senior, to buy what I was offering.
Every “yes” I got chipped away at my shyness and insecurity, and this benefit carried over into interpersonal relationships, face-to-face selling and to public speaking.
So, the next time someone thinks he needs one of those pills that you hear touted on TV for “social anxiety” or some other disorder that involves a lack of self-confidence, do him a favor.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Sales Team Psychology
Goal setting is powerful way of keeping sales psychology on the up-and-up. We all know that goals dictate future performance by giving team members a sense of purpose and direction. I can think of nothing less motivating than not knowing why I’ve been asked to do something. Instill in your team members what the end objective is and explain to them the necessary steps to get there. It is much easier to put forth the effort when we can answer who, what, where, when, why and how. Make sure your goals are realistic and attainable, but lofty enough that they are inspiring.
It is a general rule of thumb that greater or more difficult goals actually increase performance. The reason for this tendency is that loftier goals or objectives set higher expectations, and expectations in turn strongly influence behavior. The power of effective goal setting or setting a target can be seen in the following example: In a particular production plant, workers with little experience were divided into two groups. One group was told to simply observe the experienced workers and try to be able to perform at a skilled level themselves within twelve weeks.
The second group received specific weekly goals that were progressively more and more demanding. Needless to say, the second group fared much better. Similarly, Yale University once conducted a striking twenty-year study that found that the 3 percent of students who put their goals in writing had significantly higher incomes than those who did not—in fact, higher incomes than the other 97 percent of students combined. From these examples, it is obvious that proper goal setting goes a long way toward promoting sound sales psychology amongst your team members.
Years of observation and study have produced personality profiles of what are considered to be outstanding salespeople. Perhaps the most recognized of these profiles is the model that was developed by Gallup Management Consulting Group. Gallup has spent more than two decades interviewing hundreds of thousands of top salespeople to help corporate clients form and develop their own sales teams. Its findings suggest that the top four qualities of top-tier producers are: 1) solid persuasion and closing skills; 2) self-motivation; 3) strong work ethic and 4) excellent people and relationship skills.
Why do I highlight these findings? It is likely that as a sales manager, you already look for these skills when you hire someone anyway. But how do you enhance these essential sales characteristics after your recruits are on board so that your team can become even better? My hope is that by giving you four key concentration areas, you can streamline your efforts into getting the greatest results with the most focused effort. When you are trying to draw out any one of these characteristics, or any characteristic for that matter, it is helpful to assess the kind of personalities you’re dealing with. For some, a strong drive to close a sale exists just because they possess a need to “win.” Whether that “win” translates into financial rewards, recognition, the glory of being at the top or whatever, some individuals just have an almost instinctive need to win. This need is compelling enough that they are not deterred by long hours, rejection or time away from their family.
For others, it is not just about winning in and of itself. Beyond that, some individuals have a competitive edge that relishes the defeat of others—even their own colleagues. Half of the victory for these types of people is seeing others left in the dust. I believe that some competition can be a good thing, but you’ve got to be on your toes to buffer this type of personality. If you think pitting your team members against each other might actually create unhealthy rivalries and negative feelings, then you’ve got to have a way to counteract those negative effects.
Next, there are those personalities who are very ego-driven. They aren’t motivated by a need to conquer others. Rather, they want success solely for their own personal satisfaction. This is the type of person who is constantly out to beat her/his own previous records. In other words, these types of individuals compete with themselves. Moreover, they are very focused on being experts. While this competitive orientation has significant strong points, its main downside is that it is too self-focused—even in a well-intended way—and not conscious enough of the team element. The self-motivated person is the one you want to be sure you can draw into the team so you have the best that both approaches have to offer.
Then you have those individuals who seem to get the most satisfaction out of seeing their customers happy. They don’t really have the burning desire to win or compete, but they are very much into relationship building. These people are naturally gifted at being empathetic, caring and good listeners. They are the ones who are much more inclined to stay in touch with clients after the sale has come and gone.
As you step back and evaluate what kind of team member mix you have, realize that no one is purely one temperament or another. We tend to be a combination of at least two of these different types of producers. However, we are usually dominated much more by one area than the others. Your job is to get a grip on what you have to work with and figure out how to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together so your team solidly represents all of the best qualities of top sales producers.
In closing this section, I wanted to touch on the topic of working with a rep who has hit a plateau. Why? Because it’s a very real obstacle that sometimes happens even to the very best. The most typical cause for a plateau is simply feeling burned out. In this case, a very obvious solution would be to lighten the stalled rep’s responsibilities or even give her/him some time off. On the other hand, it may be that the rep is burned out with doing the “same old thing.” If that’s the case, simply changing her/his responsibilities would provide the necessary stimulation to get her/him moving again. New responsibilities could be things like training, forecasting or recruiting. Even performing the same tasks with new prospects or in a different community may alleviate boredom and present exciting, new challenges.
Sometimes it works to have reps come up with their own solutions. They may be more apt to pursue something they feel they’ve come up with on their own than something that is imposed. Furthermore, this way they really know what’s at the heart of the issue and would, therefore, likely know the best remedy better than anyone else. Lastly, review the possibility of how bonuses and other forms of recognition might spur renewed motivation. This approach is especially effective when your team members’ financial needs are already being met and they’re looking for reward and acknowledgment in other forms. In the next section, we’ll discuss what kinds of rewards and incentives work the best.
Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life.
It is a general rule of thumb that greater or more difficult goals actually increase performance. The reason for this tendency is that loftier goals or objectives set higher expectations, and expectations in turn strongly influence behavior. The power of effective goal setting or setting a target can be seen in the following example: In a particular production plant, workers with little experience were divided into two groups. One group was told to simply observe the experienced workers and try to be able to perform at a skilled level themselves within twelve weeks.
The second group received specific weekly goals that were progressively more and more demanding. Needless to say, the second group fared much better. Similarly, Yale University once conducted a striking twenty-year study that found that the 3 percent of students who put their goals in writing had significantly higher incomes than those who did not—in fact, higher incomes than the other 97 percent of students combined. From these examples, it is obvious that proper goal setting goes a long way toward promoting sound sales psychology amongst your team members.
Years of observation and study have produced personality profiles of what are considered to be outstanding salespeople. Perhaps the most recognized of these profiles is the model that was developed by Gallup Management Consulting Group. Gallup has spent more than two decades interviewing hundreds of thousands of top salespeople to help corporate clients form and develop their own sales teams. Its findings suggest that the top four qualities of top-tier producers are: 1) solid persuasion and closing skills; 2) self-motivation; 3) strong work ethic and 4) excellent people and relationship skills.
Why do I highlight these findings? It is likely that as a sales manager, you already look for these skills when you hire someone anyway. But how do you enhance these essential sales characteristics after your recruits are on board so that your team can become even better? My hope is that by giving you four key concentration areas, you can streamline your efforts into getting the greatest results with the most focused effort. When you are trying to draw out any one of these characteristics, or any characteristic for that matter, it is helpful to assess the kind of personalities you’re dealing with. For some, a strong drive to close a sale exists just because they possess a need to “win.” Whether that “win” translates into financial rewards, recognition, the glory of being at the top or whatever, some individuals just have an almost instinctive need to win. This need is compelling enough that they are not deterred by long hours, rejection or time away from their family.
For others, it is not just about winning in and of itself. Beyond that, some individuals have a competitive edge that relishes the defeat of others—even their own colleagues. Half of the victory for these types of people is seeing others left in the dust. I believe that some competition can be a good thing, but you’ve got to be on your toes to buffer this type of personality. If you think pitting your team members against each other might actually create unhealthy rivalries and negative feelings, then you’ve got to have a way to counteract those negative effects.
Next, there are those personalities who are very ego-driven. They aren’t motivated by a need to conquer others. Rather, they want success solely for their own personal satisfaction. This is the type of person who is constantly out to beat her/his own previous records. In other words, these types of individuals compete with themselves. Moreover, they are very focused on being experts. While this competitive orientation has significant strong points, its main downside is that it is too self-focused—even in a well-intended way—and not conscious enough of the team element. The self-motivated person is the one you want to be sure you can draw into the team so you have the best that both approaches have to offer.
Then you have those individuals who seem to get the most satisfaction out of seeing their customers happy. They don’t really have the burning desire to win or compete, but they are very much into relationship building. These people are naturally gifted at being empathetic, caring and good listeners. They are the ones who are much more inclined to stay in touch with clients after the sale has come and gone.
As you step back and evaluate what kind of team member mix you have, realize that no one is purely one temperament or another. We tend to be a combination of at least two of these different types of producers. However, we are usually dominated much more by one area than the others. Your job is to get a grip on what you have to work with and figure out how to make all the pieces of the puzzle fit together so your team solidly represents all of the best qualities of top sales producers.
In closing this section, I wanted to touch on the topic of working with a rep who has hit a plateau. Why? Because it’s a very real obstacle that sometimes happens even to the very best. The most typical cause for a plateau is simply feeling burned out. In this case, a very obvious solution would be to lighten the stalled rep’s responsibilities or even give her/him some time off. On the other hand, it may be that the rep is burned out with doing the “same old thing.” If that’s the case, simply changing her/his responsibilities would provide the necessary stimulation to get her/him moving again. New responsibilities could be things like training, forecasting or recruiting. Even performing the same tasks with new prospects or in a different community may alleviate boredom and present exciting, new challenges.
Sometimes it works to have reps come up with their own solutions. They may be more apt to pursue something they feel they’ve come up with on their own than something that is imposed. Furthermore, this way they really know what’s at the heart of the issue and would, therefore, likely know the best remedy better than anyone else. Lastly, review the possibility of how bonuses and other forms of recognition might spur renewed motivation. This approach is especially effective when your team members’ financial needs are already being met and they’re looking for reward and acknowledgment in other forms. In the next section, we’ll discuss what kinds of rewards and incentives work the best.
Kurt Mortensen’s trademark is Magnetic Persuasion; rather than convincing others, he teaches that you should attract them, just like a magnet attracts metal filings. He teaches that sales have changed and the consumer has become exponentially more skeptical and cynical within the last five years. Most persuaders are using only 2 or 3 persuasion techniques when there are actually 120 available! His message and program has helped thousands and will help you achieve unprecedented success in both your business and personal life.
Feasts, Failures and Food for Thought
It’s the year end. It’s holiday time. It’s time for banquets and budgets. Along with assorted food items accumulating in the office, most companies are deep into their budgeting process. Those responsible for revenue are getting the emails, calls, and memos saying “more.” Those controlling expenses are getting emails, calls and memos saying “less.”
It is the same stuff different year. Cut the cake and cut the costs. Have some sweets and sweeten the revenue. When all the snacks have disappeared and the office party is only a blur, the revenue goal will have been set and the expense budgets confirmed. The sales manager’s food for thought will be, “What can I do to hit my number this year?” The answer may well be the calculated and consistent avoidance of the top three mistakes sales managers make.
I hasten to add, I have made each of these mistakes myself more than once. I have observed them habitually being made by others. They creep back into the sales manager’s life like dessert into a diet. They are neither new nor surprising. They are simply the most common mistakes made. Because they are so common, the corrections are simple. A disciplined approach to correcting each is a sure ticket to a better revenue feast in the year ahead. Go ahead, help yourself.
1. Mistake: Feeding the weak: --Giving your weakest producers the biggest cut of you management time sandwich. Because your biggest producers are producing, you invest your time in the lowest producers. What would time and support for your best producers do to your overall revenue picture? Often a 10% increase from the biggest producers will be greater than a 20% increase by our weakest producers.
Correction: Feed the Strong first
2. Mistake: Ignoring the food you ordered --Sales people respect what you inspect not what you expect. Have in place and pay attention to a sales activity reporting system. Most companies have one, but do most sales managers check it daily? Asking sales people to report their activity and outcomes is basic to the sales management process. Reading their reports and examining their input daily is a primary management task. The fact is, as managers, we dislike reading the reports just as much as most salespeople dislike creating them. Writing and reading the reports, however, must be a non-negotiable element for everyone, including you.
Correction: Feed on the food you ordered
3. Mistake: Failure to feedback: -- If you ask sales people to do something and they do it, acknowledge it. If you ask them to do something and they don’t acknowledge that too. It goes to the heart of mutual respect and accountability. Reading sales reports is one thing, taking the time to let a sales person know you have done so, is another. A quick and specific note that indicates that you have read the report is not only courteous it is productive. It says you are paying attention, care, and take them seriously. Sales reports and feedback are a critical communications vehicle in the well run sales organization.
Correction: Feedback what you’ve been fed
Three steps to making next year better:
1. Feed the Strong first
2. Feed on the food you ordered
3. Feedback what you’ve been fed.
It is the same stuff different year. Cut the cake and cut the costs. Have some sweets and sweeten the revenue. When all the snacks have disappeared and the office party is only a blur, the revenue goal will have been set and the expense budgets confirmed. The sales manager’s food for thought will be, “What can I do to hit my number this year?” The answer may well be the calculated and consistent avoidance of the top three mistakes sales managers make.
I hasten to add, I have made each of these mistakes myself more than once. I have observed them habitually being made by others. They creep back into the sales manager’s life like dessert into a diet. They are neither new nor surprising. They are simply the most common mistakes made. Because they are so common, the corrections are simple. A disciplined approach to correcting each is a sure ticket to a better revenue feast in the year ahead. Go ahead, help yourself.
1. Mistake: Feeding the weak: --Giving your weakest producers the biggest cut of you management time sandwich. Because your biggest producers are producing, you invest your time in the lowest producers. What would time and support for your best producers do to your overall revenue picture? Often a 10% increase from the biggest producers will be greater than a 20% increase by our weakest producers.
Correction: Feed the Strong first
2. Mistake: Ignoring the food you ordered --Sales people respect what you inspect not what you expect. Have in place and pay attention to a sales activity reporting system. Most companies have one, but do most sales managers check it daily? Asking sales people to report their activity and outcomes is basic to the sales management process. Reading their reports and examining their input daily is a primary management task. The fact is, as managers, we dislike reading the reports just as much as most salespeople dislike creating them. Writing and reading the reports, however, must be a non-negotiable element for everyone, including you.
Correction: Feed on the food you ordered
3. Mistake: Failure to feedback: -- If you ask sales people to do something and they do it, acknowledge it. If you ask them to do something and they don’t acknowledge that too. It goes to the heart of mutual respect and accountability. Reading sales reports is one thing, taking the time to let a sales person know you have done so, is another. A quick and specific note that indicates that you have read the report is not only courteous it is productive. It says you are paying attention, care, and take them seriously. Sales reports and feedback are a critical communications vehicle in the well run sales organization.
Correction: Feedback what you’ve been fed
Three steps to making next year better:
1. Feed the Strong first
2. Feed on the food you ordered
3. Feedback what you’ve been fed.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
How To Deliver More Next Year With Less!
I want you to deliver more:
- Profit
- Sales
- Productivity
- Customers
- Quality
And, by the way, you’ve got less:
- Money
- Staff
- Time
Sound familiar? Year on year, sales leaders are being asked to achieve improved results with fewer resources or, at least, more from the same. To most Sales Directors, the attainment of a permanent increase in sales revenues must seem like the search for eternal youth; unending and, ultimately, unavailing.
Unfortunately, the task of selling never becomes any easier and as competition continues to intensify, sales people will face issues that can be extremely difficult to deal with e.g. decreased product uniqueness, increased competition within ‘safe’ markets, longer sales cycles and shorter product life spans.
The reality is that whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there. A rapidly changing environment is the regular background against which organisations must develop.
Change is continuous and will become more rapid as we move forward over time. Sales management must be capable of reacting to those changes, be prepared to take advantage of them and yet stay within the overall framework of a formalised strategy.
The role of strategy is fundamental if the people within an organisation are to be enabled to make the level of contribution of which they are capable. Strategy, based on a good grasp of the core competencies of a business, is an essential precursor to achieving optimal shareholder value.
Getting more for less or more from the same level of resources, is my simple definition of efficiency.
Here then are six steps you can take in 2007 that will help you achieve those increased targets:
Step One: Understand your operation
- Do you know your operation well enough to improve it?
Step Two: Set the right objectives
- Do you have the right objectives to steer improvement?
Step Three: Check customer perception
- How can you identify non-value-added (wasteful) activity?
- How can you remove it?
Step Four: Increase capacity
- Are you meeting demand?
- What action(s) can you take?
- How efficient are your resources?
Step Five: Continuously improve
- Do you have a systematic approach to constant improvement?
Step Six: Check customer perception
- How effective have your efforts been?
- How can you tell?
And finally, when you review your performance in 2006, consider benchmarking yourself against the Sales Management Acid Test:
The Acid Test – When thinking about your own sales force,
- Did you understand their motivators – what was driving them?
- Did you always have visibility of their numbers – year to date, forecast vs. required performance?
- Activity levels – did they work hard and smart enough?
- Engagement – did they always meet with the right level in their prospects/accounts?
- Messaging – were they capable of delivering an appropriate message at the right level?
- Qualification – did they only spend time on deals where they could compete and ultimately win?
- Closing – did they construct successful campaigns and close enough business?
- Profit
- Sales
- Productivity
- Customers
- Quality
And, by the way, you’ve got less:
- Money
- Staff
- Time
Sound familiar? Year on year, sales leaders are being asked to achieve improved results with fewer resources or, at least, more from the same. To most Sales Directors, the attainment of a permanent increase in sales revenues must seem like the search for eternal youth; unending and, ultimately, unavailing.
Unfortunately, the task of selling never becomes any easier and as competition continues to intensify, sales people will face issues that can be extremely difficult to deal with e.g. decreased product uniqueness, increased competition within ‘safe’ markets, longer sales cycles and shorter product life spans.
The reality is that whatever got you where you are today will not be sufficient to keep you there. A rapidly changing environment is the regular background against which organisations must develop.
Change is continuous and will become more rapid as we move forward over time. Sales management must be capable of reacting to those changes, be prepared to take advantage of them and yet stay within the overall framework of a formalised strategy.
The role of strategy is fundamental if the people within an organisation are to be enabled to make the level of contribution of which they are capable. Strategy, based on a good grasp of the core competencies of a business, is an essential precursor to achieving optimal shareholder value.
Getting more for less or more from the same level of resources, is my simple definition of efficiency.
Here then are six steps you can take in 2007 that will help you achieve those increased targets:
Step One: Understand your operation
- Do you know your operation well enough to improve it?
Step Two: Set the right objectives
- Do you have the right objectives to steer improvement?
Step Three: Check customer perception
- How can you identify non-value-added (wasteful) activity?
- How can you remove it?
Step Four: Increase capacity
- Are you meeting demand?
- What action(s) can you take?
- How efficient are your resources?
Step Five: Continuously improve
- Do you have a systematic approach to constant improvement?
Step Six: Check customer perception
- How effective have your efforts been?
- How can you tell?
And finally, when you review your performance in 2006, consider benchmarking yourself against the Sales Management Acid Test:
The Acid Test – When thinking about your own sales force,
- Did you understand their motivators – what was driving them?
- Did you always have visibility of their numbers – year to date, forecast vs. required performance?
- Activity levels – did they work hard and smart enough?
- Engagement – did they always meet with the right level in their prospects/accounts?
- Messaging – were they capable of delivering an appropriate message at the right level?
- Qualification – did they only spend time on deals where they could compete and ultimately win?
- Closing – did they construct successful campaigns and close enough business?
Are You Fully Prepared For A Fresh Set Of Challenges? A Sales Management Checklist
Essentially, the task of the Sales Manager is to produce revenue for their company through the operations of the sales staff for whom they are responsible. The size of this revenue, and the profit (however defined) which it should show, are usually predetermined in order to achieve the aims of company policy. The objectives which they set for the various activities which are involved in carrying out this task should therefore be derived from, and be compatible with, company objectives, such as return on capital employed, cash flow, market position, growth.
Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration can usefully continue by regularly examining the nature and characteristics of their role.
As we near the end of the year, this is an excellent time to take stock and ask yourself some important questions to ensure that you are totally prepared for the fresh set of challenges that lay ahead next year
* What are the objectives of my department, function and company?
* Am I satisfied that I feel these can be achieved - that I have a plan for this?
* In what ways can my department/company be improved?
* Is the work in my area altering in nature, quantity or quality?
* Can the work be done it a better way?
* Have I the right equipment and facilities?
* Have I the right number of staff?
* Am I happy that all my subordinates are correctly placed and loaded?
* Is my staff doing what I want them to do?
* Do any of my staff need further training? Have I a training plan?
* What are the staffing trends?
* Are my staff happy? Do I spend enough time with them?
* Have I a trained deputy?
* Am I satisfied personally?
* Is my authority defined and adequate?
* Is my relationship with senior management satisfactory?
* Where is my next promotion coming from?
* Am I doing too much routine or administrative/clerical work?
* Have I enough time for thinking?
Summary:
For a group of people to remain “consciously competent” at optimum performance levels, they require frequent injections of stimulation, motivational guidance and prompting otherwise they can easily lapse into” unconsciously competent”, or worse, “unconsciously incompetent”
The primary objective of a professional Sales Manager has to be:
“To achieve consistently superior results, through the performance of every key individual.”
However, you can only achieve that objective if you, yourself, are fully committed and focussed on what will be required.
Since, like other managers, the Sales Manager depends on those who work for them to produce the results by which they are judged, consideration can usefully continue by regularly examining the nature and characteristics of their role.
As we near the end of the year, this is an excellent time to take stock and ask yourself some important questions to ensure that you are totally prepared for the fresh set of challenges that lay ahead next year
* What are the objectives of my department, function and company?
* Am I satisfied that I feel these can be achieved - that I have a plan for this?
* In what ways can my department/company be improved?
* Is the work in my area altering in nature, quantity or quality?
* Can the work be done it a better way?
* Have I the right equipment and facilities?
* Have I the right number of staff?
* Am I happy that all my subordinates are correctly placed and loaded?
* Is my staff doing what I want them to do?
* Do any of my staff need further training? Have I a training plan?
* What are the staffing trends?
* Are my staff happy? Do I spend enough time with them?
* Have I a trained deputy?
* Am I satisfied personally?
* Is my authority defined and adequate?
* Is my relationship with senior management satisfactory?
* Where is my next promotion coming from?
* Am I doing too much routine or administrative/clerical work?
* Have I enough time for thinking?
Summary:
For a group of people to remain “consciously competent” at optimum performance levels, they require frequent injections of stimulation, motivational guidance and prompting otherwise they can easily lapse into” unconsciously competent”, or worse, “unconsciously incompetent”
The primary objective of a professional Sales Manager has to be:
“To achieve consistently superior results, through the performance of every key individual.”
However, you can only achieve that objective if you, yourself, are fully committed and focussed on what will be required.
Getting The Right CRM Software Package
Learning how to use a complex software package is usually a daunting task, and trying to learn all the ins and outs within the time limits of a free trial is even harder. Not only do you need to find out how the CRM software package works, but you need also to learn if you can apply it to the specific needs of your business.
For the inexperienced person, choosing the best Customer Relationship Management system can be a difficult. Does your business need an on demand solution, meaning a hosted, accessible over the Internet platform, or can your organization use a real run-on-Windows application.
The basic acronyms CRM (Customer Relations Management), ERP (Enterprise resource planning, integrating all data and processes of an organization into a unified system), SFA (Sales Force Automation, automated, time saving systems that help the sales people) can be intimidating, but you should know them. A simple Google search will usually tell you what the acronym means.
To make the best of it, you should stick to a few simple rules that can show you what systems are worth looking into and what packages should be avoided. Having these pointers will let you quickly find a system that will work for you.
First, you should make sure the product can be customized to fit your needs. There are many systems out there but most likely none of them will work for your business right out of the box.
To make sure a system can be customized, look for companies that sell multiple editions of their product, this usually means they have tailored their products to other customers and that they will be willing to meet your needs, and make the product work for you.
Also, you should look for a road map for the product. Having a road map usually indicates that the company believes in their product and that they are here to stay. You want a product that stays in the market as you grow and grows with you.
A product that is usable for you entire company is desirable, paying for a fully hosted CRM you should make sure that it is backed by a Service Level Agreement as well.
Getting the right CRM software package is no easy task, but if you use the above rules as you research the field you should be able to find a system that works for you and your organization.
For the inexperienced person, choosing the best Customer Relationship Management system can be a difficult. Does your business need an on demand solution, meaning a hosted, accessible over the Internet platform, or can your organization use a real run-on-Windows application.
The basic acronyms CRM (Customer Relations Management), ERP (Enterprise resource planning, integrating all data and processes of an organization into a unified system), SFA (Sales Force Automation, automated, time saving systems that help the sales people) can be intimidating, but you should know them. A simple Google search will usually tell you what the acronym means.
To make the best of it, you should stick to a few simple rules that can show you what systems are worth looking into and what packages should be avoided. Having these pointers will let you quickly find a system that will work for you.
First, you should make sure the product can be customized to fit your needs. There are many systems out there but most likely none of them will work for your business right out of the box.
To make sure a system can be customized, look for companies that sell multiple editions of their product, this usually means they have tailored their products to other customers and that they will be willing to meet your needs, and make the product work for you.
Also, you should look for a road map for the product. Having a road map usually indicates that the company believes in their product and that they are here to stay. You want a product that stays in the market as you grow and grows with you.
A product that is usable for you entire company is desirable, paying for a fully hosted CRM you should make sure that it is backed by a Service Level Agreement as well.
Getting the right CRM software package is no easy task, but if you use the above rules as you research the field you should be able to find a system that works for you and your organization.
Five Reasons Why Business Development Is So Difficult To Get Right
Every conversation I have with a CEO of a middle-sized company eventually touches on the same conundrum … ‘How in the world does a company of our size get traction in new markets with new clients?’ This challenge seems to rank right up there with problems of arranging sufficient financial resources and getting top people to commit to a small but growing company.
This is often a challenge that did not limit growth in the early stages. During that early growth, the contacts and reputation of the founders and key executives drove the ‘top line’. Most often the client base came to resemble a silo in a corn field … one client dominating the business mix surrounded by other smaller clients that represent stunted attempts at broadening the base.
To be sure, this start up strategy is one of the preferred ways forward during the initial phase. In fact it is an early indicator if the management team has any business starting the business at all. If they don’t have ready clients for their product of service, they should get them before going forward.
But why, once the early growth phase is over, is it so difficult to get business development going? Why do the business development slots look so much like revolving doors? And, why is it that growing a company from nil to ten or fifteen million in annual revenues often does not seem to prepare management to take it to thirty or fifty million?
Here are some suggestions that might serve to channel discussions towards productive areas.
One: The senior management (particularly the CEO) is not really committed to making the journey. This is more common that you might think. Corporate growth requires significant self-reinvention among key members of the senior team. Often they are not prepared to give up control or manage a larger operation. Some prefer ‘writing code’ or whatever the company’s principal business happens to be. But whatever their ‘rationale’, they don’t want to or can’t become managers. In this case, expenditures on business development can just be a waste of resources. Better save the money and buy the new car.
Two: The structure pretty much guarantees failure. Business development is often an afterthought add-on to the evolved organizational structure. It seems to operate in a quasi-independent status with loose reporting arrangements to the CEO or COO. It is an appendage after the fact. Business development has to be integral to the company’s organizational structure and the CEO needs to be the senior business development member of the team. I once attended an all-hands retreat of a company where the COO gave the business development report. That spoke volumes on how the company saw the three business development employees standing in the wings. They were, of course, replaced by newer models by the next retreat and the revolving door was kept in good working order.
Three: Business development is seen as the province of middle-level people. Think of the message that such an approach gives potential new clients. “Talk to the ‘lessers’ and, if we deem you worthy, we will let you talk to the senior people.” New clients need/want to see the top person right off the get-go. It is the CEO that represents the Company’s commitment to client satisfaction, the ability of the company to commit as well as the ability of the client to find some person to rely on. Each time a decision-maker chooses to go with a new company they take a huge risk. If it goes wrong … how much faith do you think such a person would put in a middle level person with no real connection to the Company’s culture or senior management team?
Four: The wrong people for the job: A company often will bring in ‘business development’ types as a first attempt to attack the problem of widening the client base. These people are ‘specialists’ in chasing business … but frequently not specialists in the business of the company. Most often they are walled-off from the Company’s principal clients and are limited to higher risk longer cycle targets. What is most interesting about this approach is that it resource-starves functions that a company needs to provide in order to successfully grow its top line. Money is spent on business development types while the proposal development, capture team and red-teaming are radically under-resourced. In the end it is often the case of a middle level employee identifying a marginal piece of business that the company cannot properly pursue and capture.
Five: What is all this making us look like in the market place? The process is called branding … establishing the reputation of the company in the minds of actual and potential customers. It is by far the least understood and most dangerous threat to any company’s future. How is your company known … what is its reputation? How well do you understand why customers do business with you? Are you known as a group that knows how business is done? Or are you branded as a company that has ‘outsourced’ its future? These ‘costs’ are often overlooked as being less important than the business of the business. This mistake has probably killed more companies than any other. How you are known determines how seriously you are taken … and that largely determines what opportunities you will see and how successful you will become.
Business development is a tough nut to crack for any management team intent on growing a business out of the teens towards the ‘century’ mark. There are more dead bodies in that field than live travelers. Without careful planning and disciplined execution, the results are likely to be both disappointing and frustrating.
This is often a challenge that did not limit growth in the early stages. During that early growth, the contacts and reputation of the founders and key executives drove the ‘top line’. Most often the client base came to resemble a silo in a corn field … one client dominating the business mix surrounded by other smaller clients that represent stunted attempts at broadening the base.
To be sure, this start up strategy is one of the preferred ways forward during the initial phase. In fact it is an early indicator if the management team has any business starting the business at all. If they don’t have ready clients for their product of service, they should get them before going forward.
But why, once the early growth phase is over, is it so difficult to get business development going? Why do the business development slots look so much like revolving doors? And, why is it that growing a company from nil to ten or fifteen million in annual revenues often does not seem to prepare management to take it to thirty or fifty million?
Here are some suggestions that might serve to channel discussions towards productive areas.
One: The senior management (particularly the CEO) is not really committed to making the journey. This is more common that you might think. Corporate growth requires significant self-reinvention among key members of the senior team. Often they are not prepared to give up control or manage a larger operation. Some prefer ‘writing code’ or whatever the company’s principal business happens to be. But whatever their ‘rationale’, they don’t want to or can’t become managers. In this case, expenditures on business development can just be a waste of resources. Better save the money and buy the new car.
Two: The structure pretty much guarantees failure. Business development is often an afterthought add-on to the evolved organizational structure. It seems to operate in a quasi-independent status with loose reporting arrangements to the CEO or COO. It is an appendage after the fact. Business development has to be integral to the company’s organizational structure and the CEO needs to be the senior business development member of the team. I once attended an all-hands retreat of a company where the COO gave the business development report. That spoke volumes on how the company saw the three business development employees standing in the wings. They were, of course, replaced by newer models by the next retreat and the revolving door was kept in good working order.
Three: Business development is seen as the province of middle-level people. Think of the message that such an approach gives potential new clients. “Talk to the ‘lessers’ and, if we deem you worthy, we will let you talk to the senior people.” New clients need/want to see the top person right off the get-go. It is the CEO that represents the Company’s commitment to client satisfaction, the ability of the company to commit as well as the ability of the client to find some person to rely on. Each time a decision-maker chooses to go with a new company they take a huge risk. If it goes wrong … how much faith do you think such a person would put in a middle level person with no real connection to the Company’s culture or senior management team?
Four: The wrong people for the job: A company often will bring in ‘business development’ types as a first attempt to attack the problem of widening the client base. These people are ‘specialists’ in chasing business … but frequently not specialists in the business of the company. Most often they are walled-off from the Company’s principal clients and are limited to higher risk longer cycle targets. What is most interesting about this approach is that it resource-starves functions that a company needs to provide in order to successfully grow its top line. Money is spent on business development types while the proposal development, capture team and red-teaming are radically under-resourced. In the end it is often the case of a middle level employee identifying a marginal piece of business that the company cannot properly pursue and capture.
Five: What is all this making us look like in the market place? The process is called branding … establishing the reputation of the company in the minds of actual and potential customers. It is by far the least understood and most dangerous threat to any company’s future. How is your company known … what is its reputation? How well do you understand why customers do business with you? Are you known as a group that knows how business is done? Or are you branded as a company that has ‘outsourced’ its future? These ‘costs’ are often overlooked as being less important than the business of the business. This mistake has probably killed more companies than any other. How you are known determines how seriously you are taken … and that largely determines what opportunities you will see and how successful you will become.
Business development is a tough nut to crack for any management team intent on growing a business out of the teens towards the ‘century’ mark. There are more dead bodies in that field than live travelers. Without careful planning and disciplined execution, the results are likely to be both disappointing and frustrating.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Hot biz: online learning
Take online learning, mix in some video, audio and other off-line methods, and you have the latest wave in the booming Web-based instruction trend: blended learning. "Blended learning is better, faster and cheaper than traditional methods," says Tom Graunke, the 37 year-old co-founder of KnowledgeNet, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based provider of e-learning solutions.
He should know. Graunke and co-founder Mark Rukavina, 38, started KnowledgeNet in 1998 with the $2.5 million they earned from selling their previous company, Mastering Computers, a corporate training company they'd run for 10 years. Today, Graunke's company boasts more than 7,200 clients, including Cisco Systems Inc. and McDonald's.
According to research firm IDC, the training industry overall is estimated to bit $60 billion worldwide this year, with $6.6 billion coming from c-learning. The e-learning market is expected to reach $23.7 billion by 2006.
"Blended learning is the fastest-growing area of e-learning in the last 18 months," says Brandon Hall, CEO of www.brandon-hall.com, an e-learning consulting service in Sunnyvale, California. Hall says three segments in particular are moving to blended learning: IT training is the first, regulatory training and safety training is the second, and the soft-skills market--management training, sales training and other people skills--is going to see the next big wave.
John Alonso is the founder of Boston-based OutStart, makers of Evolution software, which allows the authoring, management and delivery of educational content. He has watched his company grow from four employees to 100 since launching in 1999, and he estimates 2003 sales will more than double 2002 sales, to be in excess of Sin million. Says Alonso, 36: "Blended training is the ability to create a training program that says 'We think this part of the training program is good with an instructor, but we're going to augment the classroom experience by having you watch a video before you come to class and continue learning online after you leave the classroom.'" For a growing number of entrepreneurs, this mix is obviously making the grade.
He should know. Graunke and co-founder Mark Rukavina, 38, started KnowledgeNet in 1998 with the $2.5 million they earned from selling their previous company, Mastering Computers, a corporate training company they'd run for 10 years. Today, Graunke's company boasts more than 7,200 clients, including Cisco Systems Inc. and McDonald's.
According to research firm IDC, the training industry overall is estimated to bit $60 billion worldwide this year, with $6.6 billion coming from c-learning. The e-learning market is expected to reach $23.7 billion by 2006.
"Blended learning is the fastest-growing area of e-learning in the last 18 months," says Brandon Hall, CEO of www.brandon-hall.com, an e-learning consulting service in Sunnyvale, California. Hall says three segments in particular are moving to blended learning: IT training is the first, regulatory training and safety training is the second, and the soft-skills market--management training, sales training and other people skills--is going to see the next big wave.
John Alonso is the founder of Boston-based OutStart, makers of Evolution software, which allows the authoring, management and delivery of educational content. He has watched his company grow from four employees to 100 since launching in 1999, and he estimates 2003 sales will more than double 2002 sales, to be in excess of Sin million. Says Alonso, 36: "Blended training is the ability to create a training program that says 'We think this part of the training program is good with an instructor, but we're going to augment the classroom experience by having you watch a video before you come to class and continue learning online after you leave the classroom.'" For a growing number of entrepreneurs, this mix is obviously making the grade.
Google Launches Online Payment System
Starting today, online shoppers in the U.S. will begin finding a second checkout icon at some Internet retailers. You can now not only search for products using Google or its other products like Froogle, but you can use the new Checkout online payment service. Think of it as an alternative to the traditional—and still present—checkout process you find at online retailers, in which you fill out your pertinent personal information, shipping address, and credit card.
With Google Checkout you'll follow this traditional process just once when you register for the service. Then when you are headed to a partnering retail outlet's checkout process, you'll simply click the blue Google Checkout icon (see our slideshow) and all the other stuff will be taken care of for you. One of the big selling points the folks at Google are hyping is that if you already have a Google or Gmail account (or some other Google account), you can easily add Checkout to it and then make use of the service with a single login. There are other perks, too. For example, Google will reimburse you for fraudulent purchases; you can keep your e-mail address(es) invisible to merchants to prevent getting unsolicited e-mails from them; and you're able to view a purchase history that includes all your online purchases and the shipping status of your orders.
Google has agreements in place with all the major credit card companies, including American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa, and also has a special promotion in the works with Citi customers.
While buy.com was the single largest online retailer mentioned during my interview with Google, a handful of other well-known brands were also disclosed, including Jockey, Starbucks, and Timberland. Google representatives hastened to add that there would be many more rolling out use of the service soon; in fact you should start immediately seeing Google Checkout logos on retailer advertisements that use Google's search advertising program AdWords.
That makes for a good segue into another component to all this that may be of less interest to consumers: online merchants that utilize AdWords will find they save a lot on the transaction processing if they in turn sign on as a Checkout partner. Specifically, Google will process $10 in sales free of charge for every dollar a merchant spends buying AdWords advertising. Google representatives explained that this represents an ongoing commitment as well.
The folks at Google have tried to make it easy to integrate Checkout into retail Web sites as well. There are cut-and-paste buy buttons , as well as an advanced API for building the service directly into existent merchant shopping carts and order-management systems.
With Google Checkout you'll follow this traditional process just once when you register for the service. Then when you are headed to a partnering retail outlet's checkout process, you'll simply click the blue Google Checkout icon (see our slideshow) and all the other stuff will be taken care of for you. One of the big selling points the folks at Google are hyping is that if you already have a Google or Gmail account (or some other Google account), you can easily add Checkout to it and then make use of the service with a single login. There are other perks, too. For example, Google will reimburse you for fraudulent purchases; you can keep your e-mail address(es) invisible to merchants to prevent getting unsolicited e-mails from them; and you're able to view a purchase history that includes all your online purchases and the shipping status of your orders.
Google has agreements in place with all the major credit card companies, including American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa, and also has a special promotion in the works with Citi customers.
While buy.com was the single largest online retailer mentioned during my interview with Google, a handful of other well-known brands were also disclosed, including Jockey, Starbucks, and Timberland. Google representatives hastened to add that there would be many more rolling out use of the service soon; in fact you should start immediately seeing Google Checkout logos on retailer advertisements that use Google's search advertising program AdWords.
That makes for a good segue into another component to all this that may be of less interest to consumers: online merchants that utilize AdWords will find they save a lot on the transaction processing if they in turn sign on as a Checkout partner. Specifically, Google will process $10 in sales free of charge for every dollar a merchant spends buying AdWords advertising. Google representatives explained that this represents an ongoing commitment as well.
The folks at Google have tried to make it easy to integrate Checkout into retail Web sites as well. There are cut-and-paste buy buttons , as well as an advanced API for building the service directly into existent merchant shopping carts and order-management systems.
Tower Records Sets Up Shop, Online
Tower Records is dancing its way into the digital music industry, and carefully around Apple's iTunes Music Store.
While Apple's iTunes could care less if a physical CD was ever manufactured again, the new Tower Records Digital was made to complement the physical CD market, which Tower claims is still very much alive and kicking.
Individual songs sold on the site will be priced at 99 cents and full albums will begin at $9.99 each, with bitrates beginning at 192-Kbits/s, rather than the industry-standard 128 Kbits/s. Apple's chief executive officer Steve Jobs seems to be the only person committed to this price structure, however; Tower Digital executives hinted that they expect prices to rise in digital music stores sooner than later.
Tower Records Digital, which launches on Tuesday, is a Web-based store rather than a downloadable application. Users can search for songs, artists, and albums on the substantial database of music, find recommendations, and purchase music to be played with Windows Media Player. They cannot however, create playlists, tag songs or receive recommendations from other users directly, like on social networking sites such as Last.fm.
"The majority of sales in music still [comes from] CDs but a lot of people who are buying CDs aren't really experiencing digital music," said Mike Jansta, vice president of marketing for Tower Records. "Being able to offer a digital music experience is very important. This store was created to give people a lot of flexibility with their content."
"This is a web-based application and this is the decision we made," said Jason Munyon, vice president of business development for Tower. "It's going to be a for-sale site so it's not going to manage your playlists or anything like that. It was never intended to have playlists, because that is what Windows Media Player is for."
The store was designed to work mainly with Internet Explorer. Although Tower executives say that it should work well with Firefox, they admit that testing still needs to be done with other browsers.
Tower was able to license all major record labels for the store using PureTracks, a third-party downloading store in Canada. Executives said it was a relatively easy process, although anyone who has tried to license and sell digital content knows better.
"We are looking to acquire content that is 100 percent tied to what we're known for, which is depth of selection," said Russ Eisenman, chief marketing officer for Tower. "We will have the categories of music [on which] music fans truly spend time and shop, and also developing artists, [which] is another great category for us that we're focusing on."
Eisenman hinted, however, that the 99-cent price point may eventually increase.
"The marketplace still has to adjust," Eisenman said. "The 99 cent price point is an established price point but the marketplace will adjust. I know that there are a lot of tracks available on iTunes and on Tower Records Digital that are not 99 cents but the marketplace will vary distribution company by distribution company."
Tower is particularly proud of the quality of music that will be sold in the digital store. Most download sites offer tracks at 128 kilobits per second. Tower's digital songs are sold at a bitrate of 192 kilobits per second.
"We waited until we could have better quality," Jansta said. "We don't encode at 128 because it just doesn't sound good so if you're listening to music in the car and your home stereo. It's flat and unexciting."
Music purchased on Tower Records Digital can be burned to a CD or played on any MP3 player other than the iPod, which is locked out to iTunes-only content.
Industry analysts did not give the online store very high marks last week. Paul Resnikoff, editor of Digital Music News , said that the program has "significant usability and setup issues." Munyon says that it is still very much a work in progress and that the number one design goal was simplicity.
"We're going to be constantly improving the site," he said. "We're trying to really bring users a unique experience so that we can target things that they like and target things to them. So we're going to constantly improve it and we hope to have innovations throughout the next few years."
While Apple's iTunes could care less if a physical CD was ever manufactured again, the new Tower Records Digital was made to complement the physical CD market, which Tower claims is still very much alive and kicking.
Individual songs sold on the site will be priced at 99 cents and full albums will begin at $9.99 each, with bitrates beginning at 192-Kbits/s, rather than the industry-standard 128 Kbits/s. Apple's chief executive officer Steve Jobs seems to be the only person committed to this price structure, however; Tower Digital executives hinted that they expect prices to rise in digital music stores sooner than later.
Tower Records Digital, which launches on Tuesday, is a Web-based store rather than a downloadable application. Users can search for songs, artists, and albums on the substantial database of music, find recommendations, and purchase music to be played with Windows Media Player. They cannot however, create playlists, tag songs or receive recommendations from other users directly, like on social networking sites such as Last.fm.
"The majority of sales in music still [comes from] CDs but a lot of people who are buying CDs aren't really experiencing digital music," said Mike Jansta, vice president of marketing for Tower Records. "Being able to offer a digital music experience is very important. This store was created to give people a lot of flexibility with their content."
"This is a web-based application and this is the decision we made," said Jason Munyon, vice president of business development for Tower. "It's going to be a for-sale site so it's not going to manage your playlists or anything like that. It was never intended to have playlists, because that is what Windows Media Player is for."
The store was designed to work mainly with Internet Explorer. Although Tower executives say that it should work well with Firefox, they admit that testing still needs to be done with other browsers.
Tower was able to license all major record labels for the store using PureTracks, a third-party downloading store in Canada. Executives said it was a relatively easy process, although anyone who has tried to license and sell digital content knows better.
"We are looking to acquire content that is 100 percent tied to what we're known for, which is depth of selection," said Russ Eisenman, chief marketing officer for Tower. "We will have the categories of music [on which] music fans truly spend time and shop, and also developing artists, [which] is another great category for us that we're focusing on."
Eisenman hinted, however, that the 99-cent price point may eventually increase.
"The marketplace still has to adjust," Eisenman said. "The 99 cent price point is an established price point but the marketplace will adjust. I know that there are a lot of tracks available on iTunes and on Tower Records Digital that are not 99 cents but the marketplace will vary distribution company by distribution company."
Tower is particularly proud of the quality of music that will be sold in the digital store. Most download sites offer tracks at 128 kilobits per second. Tower's digital songs are sold at a bitrate of 192 kilobits per second.
"We waited until we could have better quality," Jansta said. "We don't encode at 128 because it just doesn't sound good so if you're listening to music in the car and your home stereo. It's flat and unexciting."
Music purchased on Tower Records Digital can be burned to a CD or played on any MP3 player other than the iPod, which is locked out to iTunes-only content.
Industry analysts did not give the online store very high marks last week. Paul Resnikoff, editor of Digital Music News , said that the program has "significant usability and setup issues." Munyon says that it is still very much a work in progress and that the number one design goal was simplicity.
"We're going to be constantly improving the site," he said. "We're trying to really bring users a unique experience so that we can target things that they like and target things to them. So we're going to constantly improve it and we hope to have innovations throughout the next few years."
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
If You Want Your Employees To Improve, You Need To Keep Improving
It should be clear by now that if you think you are as good as you need to be, you need to think again. Let’s start with three quick questions:
1. Are you spending time consistently improving your management and people skills?
2. What have you invested so far this year in your own personal and career development?
3. What is your working philosophy of routinely investing time and resources in your personal and career development?
I am often amazed at how many managers are quick to send their employees to seminars and skill-development programs while they sit in their offices trying to figure out why sales are down, performance is marginal, profits are lagging, and organizational effectiveness is chaotic to some degree. If you have never attended my two-day management boot camp, let me share one of the critical premises from this program: Everything in your organization is a “top-down” issue.
1. If top-down communication is ineffective, bottom-up communication will be poor.
2. If top-down direction is unclear or confusing, bottom-up performance will be deficient.
3. If top-down trust is absent, bottom-up trust will be negligible.
4. If top-down ownership of projects or initiatives is inconsistent, bottom up actions will be timid.
5. If top-down leadership is lacking, bottom-up effectiveness will be missing.
6. If top-down messages are mixed, bottom-up morale will be inconsistent.
7. If top-down decision making is tentative, bottom-up performance will be faltering.
Is this enough incentive to keep improving yourself? As I’ve said before: If you have a problem in your organization, look up the ladder for the cause and down the ladder for the solution. Unfortunately, many organizations today act in the reverse. They look down for the cause and up for the solution.
The solution is to develop a game plan for your own on-going self development. There are many options at your disposal:
1. Hire a career or business coach.
2. Attend management classes on a routine basis.
3. Attend at least one personal development seminar or program per month.
4. Join a business Book of the Month Club.
5. Listen to audio programs on business areas that interest you and are of benefit to you.
6. Get a business mentor.
7. Attend a management forum.
8. Bring a professional trainer into your organization to conduct a custom management/leadership program.
9. Get active in your industry’s association.
10. Attend networking events in your industry or at your professional level.
11. Join a professional organization such as the CEO Clubs, Young Presidents’ Organization, or Executive
Committee.
If you are investing in your employees’ development so they can be better equipped to more effectively perform their job functions as the world changes, don’t you think it would make sense for you to do the same for yourself? Why not try a simple rule of thumb. For every dollar and hour you invest in your employees’ development as a group, invest ten percent of both in your own development.
1. Are you spending time consistently improving your management and people skills?
2. What have you invested so far this year in your own personal and career development?
3. What is your working philosophy of routinely investing time and resources in your personal and career development?
I am often amazed at how many managers are quick to send their employees to seminars and skill-development programs while they sit in their offices trying to figure out why sales are down, performance is marginal, profits are lagging, and organizational effectiveness is chaotic to some degree. If you have never attended my two-day management boot camp, let me share one of the critical premises from this program: Everything in your organization is a “top-down” issue.
1. If top-down communication is ineffective, bottom-up communication will be poor.
2. If top-down direction is unclear or confusing, bottom-up performance will be deficient.
3. If top-down trust is absent, bottom-up trust will be negligible.
4. If top-down ownership of projects or initiatives is inconsistent, bottom up actions will be timid.
5. If top-down leadership is lacking, bottom-up effectiveness will be missing.
6. If top-down messages are mixed, bottom-up morale will be inconsistent.
7. If top-down decision making is tentative, bottom-up performance will be faltering.
Is this enough incentive to keep improving yourself? As I’ve said before: If you have a problem in your organization, look up the ladder for the cause and down the ladder for the solution. Unfortunately, many organizations today act in the reverse. They look down for the cause and up for the solution.
The solution is to develop a game plan for your own on-going self development. There are many options at your disposal:
1. Hire a career or business coach.
2. Attend management classes on a routine basis.
3. Attend at least one personal development seminar or program per month.
4. Join a business Book of the Month Club.
5. Listen to audio programs on business areas that interest you and are of benefit to you.
6. Get a business mentor.
7. Attend a management forum.
8. Bring a professional trainer into your organization to conduct a custom management/leadership program.
9. Get active in your industry’s association.
10. Attend networking events in your industry or at your professional level.
11. Join a professional organization such as the CEO Clubs, Young Presidents’ Organization, or Executive
Committee.
If you are investing in your employees’ development so they can be better equipped to more effectively perform their job functions as the world changes, don’t you think it would make sense for you to do the same for yourself? Why not try a simple rule of thumb. For every dollar and hour you invest in your employees’ development as a group, invest ten percent of both in your own development.
In Management, Your Ego Is The Performance Killer
One of the biggest contributors to poor management performance, bad decisions, hiring mistakes, and a whole host of other problems is ego.
Everyone has an ego. It is a natural part of everyone’s psyche and vital for success. The problem occurs when a manager’s ego is given too much control of their behavior, attitudes, and management style.
The ego wants to look good, be right, not make mistakes, not admit failure, manipulate, and control or appear in control at all times. It would be nice if organizations and their strategies, objectives, goals, purpose, mission, and performance were always predictable and operating at peak efficiency and optimum results.
However, in the real world, change is the mantra and norm. Uncertainty prevails. And there are forces at work that would sabotage your ideal world. They include: the government, the weather, unpredictable employees, technology, competitors, customer attitudes and expectations, just to mention a few. If all of these could be harnessed for optimum control, we would never have business failures, lost customers, unhappy and poor-performing employees, disgruntled suppliers, and frustrated accountants.
Ego has cost Corporate America more money than any other single factor. It has resulted in poor decisions, thwarted initiatives, products that have out-lived their life cycle, and acquisitions gone bad. Want more?
· New products that should never have hit the street
· Bad products that were left on the street too long
· Poor hiring decisions
· The decision to terminate a good employee for no other reason than they have an ego, too
· The unwillingness to let go of control of anything
· Keeping decision-making at the top of the corporate ladder
· Unwillingness to delegate difficult or critical tasks
· The desire to look good to the rest of the corporate world, regardless of whether you are making money or not
I believe by now I should have your attention. So why is ego such a big problem in business? After all, Donald Trump has one, and he is successful.
If you were to ask an out-of-control-ego executive or manager if their ego is out of control, guess what you will hear. Believe it or not: No. Why is this? Denial? Arrogance? Insecurity? Or some other psychological or emotional need that has not been or is not being met?
During my career, I have watched clients make acquisitions (against my recommendations) for no other reason than ego. In almost every case, these cost their organization dearly in focus and reputation, not to mention profits. And, ultimately they were shut down or sold off again to some other executive with a big ego, maybe this time to someone who prides him- or herself as a business savior or turn-around master!
Before I lose you, I don’t want you to get the impression that ego is only an issue in the big decisions or choices made at the top. Its impact can be found day-to-day in many of the small and often less significant parts of an enterprise, in the actions and decisions made by mid-level managers and supervisors. I see the results of this every day and everywhere I go in my travels as a speaker and trainer.
As a manager, how do you know if your ego is out of control?
Just pay close attention to a number of critical factors. I guarantee that if you are aware of your circumstances, honest with your self-appraisal, and in touch with reality, it will become crystal clear whether your ego is in control or is running rampant in your organization or department. Some of these factors are:
· consistently poor morale
· constant communication breakdowns
· bad hiring decisions
· consistently poor decisions
· acquisitions or mergers that go sour
· high employee turnover
· consistently poor quality
· outdated policies, products, services, and/or procedures
· loss of market share
· vulnerability to competitors
· poor sales results
· decreasing profits from year to year
· the negative consequences of your decisions
Carefully observe early warning signs for these factors and determine their cause and any relationship between them and your ego, and then respond to them and manage them ego-free and effectively before they become embedded in your corporate culture, employee attitudes, and customer attitudes. You could ask yourself:
1. Can I ever be wrong?
2. Can an employee be smarter than I am?
3. Do I trust my employees?
4. Can I reverse myself after a bad decision or do I die by it?
5. Can I give up control?
6. Do I have pet projects or activities that I can’t let go of?
7. Can I freely give credit where someone else was responsible for the positive outcome?
8. Can I discard old products, services, or ideas that I was responsible for?
9. Can I share the limelight with others?
10. Do I give adequate appreciation and recognition to others?
11. Can I admit failure?
12. Can I admit to not having an answer?
13. Do I procrastinate on simple or important tasks, decisions, or initiatives?
These questions should get you started. Honest answers will help you clearly identify if your ego is a problem in your position.
In his classic book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, Jim Collins states:
Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for their institution and not herself or himself.
If you can rise to the challenge of channeling your ego in this way, be encouraged by the following:
1. Your ego is not part of your DNA or genes. It is man-made and can be un-made or controlled if you choose.
2. It is better to succeed and enjoy your success with a controlled ego than it is to go down in flames with an ego that is out of control.
3. You will never “win them all,” no matter how good you think you are. So get used to losing once in a while, if you aren’t already.
4. Hire a personal coach. What it costs you will be peanuts compared to the time and money you could save your organization. I accept ten new coaching clients every year. If you want to be considered for one of the slots, give me a call.
5. Business is not about winning or looking good, but serving others well.
Everyone has an ego. It is a natural part of everyone’s psyche and vital for success. The problem occurs when a manager’s ego is given too much control of their behavior, attitudes, and management style.
The ego wants to look good, be right, not make mistakes, not admit failure, manipulate, and control or appear in control at all times. It would be nice if organizations and their strategies, objectives, goals, purpose, mission, and performance were always predictable and operating at peak efficiency and optimum results.
However, in the real world, change is the mantra and norm. Uncertainty prevails. And there are forces at work that would sabotage your ideal world. They include: the government, the weather, unpredictable employees, technology, competitors, customer attitudes and expectations, just to mention a few. If all of these could be harnessed for optimum control, we would never have business failures, lost customers, unhappy and poor-performing employees, disgruntled suppliers, and frustrated accountants.
Ego has cost Corporate America more money than any other single factor. It has resulted in poor decisions, thwarted initiatives, products that have out-lived their life cycle, and acquisitions gone bad. Want more?
· New products that should never have hit the street
· Bad products that were left on the street too long
· Poor hiring decisions
· The decision to terminate a good employee for no other reason than they have an ego, too
· The unwillingness to let go of control of anything
· Keeping decision-making at the top of the corporate ladder
· Unwillingness to delegate difficult or critical tasks
· The desire to look good to the rest of the corporate world, regardless of whether you are making money or not
I believe by now I should have your attention. So why is ego such a big problem in business? After all, Donald Trump has one, and he is successful.
If you were to ask an out-of-control-ego executive or manager if their ego is out of control, guess what you will hear. Believe it or not: No. Why is this? Denial? Arrogance? Insecurity? Or some other psychological or emotional need that has not been or is not being met?
During my career, I have watched clients make acquisitions (against my recommendations) for no other reason than ego. In almost every case, these cost their organization dearly in focus and reputation, not to mention profits. And, ultimately they were shut down or sold off again to some other executive with a big ego, maybe this time to someone who prides him- or herself as a business savior or turn-around master!
Before I lose you, I don’t want you to get the impression that ego is only an issue in the big decisions or choices made at the top. Its impact can be found day-to-day in many of the small and often less significant parts of an enterprise, in the actions and decisions made by mid-level managers and supervisors. I see the results of this every day and everywhere I go in my travels as a speaker and trainer.
As a manager, how do you know if your ego is out of control?
Just pay close attention to a number of critical factors. I guarantee that if you are aware of your circumstances, honest with your self-appraisal, and in touch with reality, it will become crystal clear whether your ego is in control or is running rampant in your organization or department. Some of these factors are:
· consistently poor morale
· constant communication breakdowns
· bad hiring decisions
· consistently poor decisions
· acquisitions or mergers that go sour
· high employee turnover
· consistently poor quality
· outdated policies, products, services, and/or procedures
· loss of market share
· vulnerability to competitors
· poor sales results
· decreasing profits from year to year
· the negative consequences of your decisions
Carefully observe early warning signs for these factors and determine their cause and any relationship between them and your ego, and then respond to them and manage them ego-free and effectively before they become embedded in your corporate culture, employee attitudes, and customer attitudes. You could ask yourself:
1. Can I ever be wrong?
2. Can an employee be smarter than I am?
3. Do I trust my employees?
4. Can I reverse myself after a bad decision or do I die by it?
5. Can I give up control?
6. Do I have pet projects or activities that I can’t let go of?
7. Can I freely give credit where someone else was responsible for the positive outcome?
8. Can I discard old products, services, or ideas that I was responsible for?
9. Can I share the limelight with others?
10. Do I give adequate appreciation and recognition to others?
11. Can I admit failure?
12. Can I admit to not having an answer?
13. Do I procrastinate on simple or important tasks, decisions, or initiatives?
These questions should get you started. Honest answers will help you clearly identify if your ego is a problem in your position.
In his classic book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t, Jim Collins states:
Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It’s not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for their institution and not herself or himself.
If you can rise to the challenge of channeling your ego in this way, be encouraged by the following:
1. Your ego is not part of your DNA or genes. It is man-made and can be un-made or controlled if you choose.
2. It is better to succeed and enjoy your success with a controlled ego than it is to go down in flames with an ego that is out of control.
3. You will never “win them all,” no matter how good you think you are. So get used to losing once in a while, if you aren’t already.
4. Hire a personal coach. What it costs you will be peanuts compared to the time and money you could save your organization. I accept ten new coaching clients every year. If you want to be considered for one of the slots, give me a call.
5. Business is not about winning or looking good, but serving others well.
You Are Responsible To Employees, Not For Them
Although you are responsible for your employees’ output, productivity, and results, you are responsible to people and not for them.
The mistake of being responsible for people is like having sympathy for them. You feel that if they fail, you have failed. Sympathy keeps people dependant. Being responsible to people requires empathy: You understand what they are going through, but it is their stuff, not yours. You are there to help them, support them, and give them the tools and training they need to be effective. But if they fail to perform, it is clearly their choice. Now, if you haven’t done your part, then you should feel responsible for them.
How can managers be responsible for their employees rather than to them?
1.Make no excuses for poor employee performance.
2.Apply empathy when employees have personal issues that may get in the way of their
effectiveness.
3.Permit no negative attitudes from top performers.
4.Permit no employees to break the rules that others must follow.
5.Play no favorites with certain likeable employees.
Personal responsibility is an absolute requirement if people are to succeed and contribute their share to the overall success of your department or organization. Tolerating less than the acceptable standards from certain employees, for whatever reason, sends a message to other employees that the rules and expectations vary, depending on who you are, your age, gender, race, experience, personal challenges, tenure, performance, or relationship with the manager.
Everything you do as a manager sends subtle signals to everyone. Be vigilant to ensure that the signals you are sending are uniform and consistent. Sure, there may be situations when exceptions can and should be made, due to personal issues or challenges. Just be careful that these don’t set precedents that you are unwilling to apply organization-wide.
Do you treat all employees the same yet differently?
This topic, at first glance, might seem to contradict the previous one we just discussed. But if you will carefully observe, you will see some very subtle differences.
Every employee has special needs and desires that are uniquely theirs. They have dreams and hopes and the desire to feel valuable. Some may express them openly, while others may keep them hidden in the safety zone of their own minds. Or they may communicate them to their peers rather than to the higher-ups. But each employee is uniquely individual.
Treating employees without regard for these personal needs sends a clear message that they are not special, but just another employee, a cog in the machine. If you want the labor of a person’s heart and not just their hands or mind, it is critical that you treat people with respect. This would seem to be a simple task, but you would be amazed at how frequently managers show disrespect for their employees in subtle as well as blatant ways. For example:
· Disciplining an employee in front of their peers
· Interrupting them while they are sharing an idea or solution to a problem
· Being late for a meeting with an employee
· Not copying them in correspondence or emails that impact their position
· Ignoring their suggestions
· Not listening to them
It is impossible to know every employee’s needs and desires from moment to moment. But you can learn to see every employee as special and unique in their own way. This takes time, willingness, letting go of prejudices and judgments, and learning to see each and every employee as a valuable contributor to the organization’s success, well-being, and future growth – and to invest in them accordingly.
The mistake of being responsible for people is like having sympathy for them. You feel that if they fail, you have failed. Sympathy keeps people dependant. Being responsible to people requires empathy: You understand what they are going through, but it is their stuff, not yours. You are there to help them, support them, and give them the tools and training they need to be effective. But if they fail to perform, it is clearly their choice. Now, if you haven’t done your part, then you should feel responsible for them.
How can managers be responsible for their employees rather than to them?
1.Make no excuses for poor employee performance.
2.Apply empathy when employees have personal issues that may get in the way of their
effectiveness.
3.Permit no negative attitudes from top performers.
4.Permit no employees to break the rules that others must follow.
5.Play no favorites with certain likeable employees.
Personal responsibility is an absolute requirement if people are to succeed and contribute their share to the overall success of your department or organization. Tolerating less than the acceptable standards from certain employees, for whatever reason, sends a message to other employees that the rules and expectations vary, depending on who you are, your age, gender, race, experience, personal challenges, tenure, performance, or relationship with the manager.
Everything you do as a manager sends subtle signals to everyone. Be vigilant to ensure that the signals you are sending are uniform and consistent. Sure, there may be situations when exceptions can and should be made, due to personal issues or challenges. Just be careful that these don’t set precedents that you are unwilling to apply organization-wide.
Do you treat all employees the same yet differently?
This topic, at first glance, might seem to contradict the previous one we just discussed. But if you will carefully observe, you will see some very subtle differences.
Every employee has special needs and desires that are uniquely theirs. They have dreams and hopes and the desire to feel valuable. Some may express them openly, while others may keep them hidden in the safety zone of their own minds. Or they may communicate them to their peers rather than to the higher-ups. But each employee is uniquely individual.
Treating employees without regard for these personal needs sends a clear message that they are not special, but just another employee, a cog in the machine. If you want the labor of a person’s heart and not just their hands or mind, it is critical that you treat people with respect. This would seem to be a simple task, but you would be amazed at how frequently managers show disrespect for their employees in subtle as well as blatant ways. For example:
· Disciplining an employee in front of their peers
· Interrupting them while they are sharing an idea or solution to a problem
· Being late for a meeting with an employee
· Not copying them in correspondence or emails that impact their position
· Ignoring their suggestions
· Not listening to them
It is impossible to know every employee’s needs and desires from moment to moment. But you can learn to see every employee as special and unique in their own way. This takes time, willingness, letting go of prejudices and judgments, and learning to see each and every employee as a valuable contributor to the organization’s success, well-being, and future growth – and to invest in them accordingly.
Monday, August 20, 2007
On the Job Training: How to say "Keep up the Good Work!"
Don’t wait until the holidays or retirement offers you the occasion, take the time to recognize your employees’ diligent work ethic today! Whether you’re a corporate CEO or a small business entrepreneur with a staff of three, showing day to day employee appreciation will be worth your time and effort: such recognition serves to reinforce employee accountability as well as enhance work-place motivation overall. Here are some surefire methods for both showing your employees that you appreciate their hard work and improving work-place motivation:
1) Recognize your Employees with Fruit or Wine Baskets
Giving industrious employees gift baskets sends them the message that you recognize and appreciate their hard work. Due to the great variety of gift baskets available online, gift baskets are also a very convenient and time-efficient way of showing your appreciation. Some generous employers arrange for the regular delivery of fresh fruit baskets to the work place or their employees’ homes. In addition, a wine and cheese basket is a wonderful way to say to your staff, “job well done!”
2) Offer Health Club Memberships to Your Employees
A productive work place is dependent upon happy, healthy employees. Daily exercise not only provides great stress release, but also boosts the immune system. In providing your employees with health club memberships, you will not only be increasing their on the job satisfaction and productivity, but also reducing the number of employee sick days your business must pay for each month.
3) Create an “Employee of the Month” Program
The best way to develop an Employee of the Month program is to ask all levels of staff to work together to choose the monthly awardee. This important measure will prevent the Employee of the Month Club from becoming a way of selecting “favorites” and will keep it from becoming a point of ridicule by employees. In fact, Employee of the Month selection can be a valuable collaborative exercise for your employees as they work together to select the most worthy recipient; it will also add an element of social pressure for high work performance. Employees are often eager to recognize colleagues who are sincerely doing their part to make the work place run efficiently and productively, and such recognition will be a source of reinforcement and motivation for the recipient and others. You might produce a certificate to present to the awardee and also display the employee’s name, photo, and a brief bio in a prominent place in the workplace.
1) Recognize your Employees with Fruit or Wine Baskets
Giving industrious employees gift baskets sends them the message that you recognize and appreciate their hard work. Due to the great variety of gift baskets available online, gift baskets are also a very convenient and time-efficient way of showing your appreciation. Some generous employers arrange for the regular delivery of fresh fruit baskets to the work place or their employees’ homes. In addition, a wine and cheese basket is a wonderful way to say to your staff, “job well done!”
2) Offer Health Club Memberships to Your Employees
A productive work place is dependent upon happy, healthy employees. Daily exercise not only provides great stress release, but also boosts the immune system. In providing your employees with health club memberships, you will not only be increasing their on the job satisfaction and productivity, but also reducing the number of employee sick days your business must pay for each month.
3) Create an “Employee of the Month” Program
The best way to develop an Employee of the Month program is to ask all levels of staff to work together to choose the monthly awardee. This important measure will prevent the Employee of the Month Club from becoming a way of selecting “favorites” and will keep it from becoming a point of ridicule by employees. In fact, Employee of the Month selection can be a valuable collaborative exercise for your employees as they work together to select the most worthy recipient; it will also add an element of social pressure for high work performance. Employees are often eager to recognize colleagues who are sincerely doing their part to make the work place run efficiently and productively, and such recognition will be a source of reinforcement and motivation for the recipient and others. You might produce a certificate to present to the awardee and also display the employee’s name, photo, and a brief bio in a prominent place in the workplace.
Reaching Star Status in Sales
Being number one on your sales team just isn’t that difficult. Salesmanship is a learned skill. You can perfect that skill. Yes, it does help to have an outgoing personality, high self-esteem and an ego. But, these attributes alone won’t make you successful. Confidence in yourself, confidence in your products and confidence in your company is a key ingredient. The only way to gain this kind of ultimate confidence is by attaining knowledge. Study your products, understand your value propositions and understand what your competitive advantage is.
Value Propositions
Don’t blow this concept off as some sales training jargon. Value propositions are extremely important. You have one, your company has one and your products have them. What is it about you that creates value for your customer? What is it about your company that creates value for your customer? What is it about your product that creates value for your customer? It’s not features and benefits.
“Perceived Value drives customer expectations” “Performance value drives customer satisfaction”
Understanding is the Key
Understand yourself first. Determine your strengths. Recognize your weaknesses. Make a vow to work on improving those areas where you are weak. To excel at anything you must have confidence and confidence comes from experience and knowledge. Recognizing your weakness puts you in a position of strength because you become familiar with your limitations and what you need to do to overcome them. Personal understanding is critical to understanding your customers. And, if you don’t understand your customers it is extremely difficult to discover their pain.
Be Honest with Yourself
The road to success in sales requires a kind of personal honesty that not everyone is capable of exercising. That specifically is why we all can’t be superstars. Part of becoming a superstar in sales is understanding people so well that building relationship equity is almost automatic. A skill that becomes inherent to your personification. This can’t happen unless you understand yourself first. People grow and change, you grow and change so this concept of knowing yourself and really knowing your customers is a living changing thing that you must always be conscious of. The more your customers change, the more you must change and adjust. This requires a certain amount of intuitive judgment and a perspective on helping the customer solve their problems to such an extent that you can see the forest in spite of the trees.
You Can Change Yourself but You Can’t Change Your Customer
Selling is all about understanding your customers. Accepting your customers as they are while understanding their specific wants, needs and desires for what they are and not what you would like them to be. This puts you in a position of strength in building a personal relationship with the customer. Don’t succumb to the common trait called impatience if your customer has trouble identifying his real pain. Often times it is up to you to help him discover that pain and in turn recognize the value you and your company provide by eliminating that pain.
Sales is a Profession to be Proud Of
Learning your product, making a clear presentation to qualified prospects, and closing more sales will take a lot less time once you know your own capabilities and failings, and understand and care about the prospects you are calling upon. You must become a total solution provider regardless of the circumstance or situation. Sometimes solving a customer’s problem will have nothing to do with your product or your company. That doesn’t matter. Solving the problem builds relationship equity and relationships are still extremely important even in this century when a relationship is required to even get into the game. Selling occurs all around us all day long. Our mere existence is predicated upon selling something all the time. That something can be anything from a product to an idea, a concept or even a philosophy.
Anybody can sell to some degree and we all do it without exception. However, to be a professional sales person that reaches star status, accepting these concepts as truths is the starting point. Accepting the concepts described in this article will enable you to understand that salesmanship is not a born trait. Agreed, there are some personality traits that may help you create success quicker but true professional sales skills are learned.
An old sales buddy of mine once said;
“You can send a gorilla out on the road and if he calls on enough people, if he doesn’t give up, sooner or later someone will pin an order to his chest and send him home.” --------Brian Williamson
Maybe you know some sales people like that. If you do rest assured they aren’t the professionals we are talking about. Sales is a profession that requires professionals. It’s a profession to be proud of. It requires persistence, tenacity, confidence and understanding. Study yourself, study people, do your homework and never forget the basics. Targeting, goal setting, action planning and follow-up never go out of fashion no matter how much of a star you become. Never forget where you came from and how you created the success you create.
Getting up out of bed in the morning; doing what has to be done to excel in sales; keeping records, updating your materials; planning the direction of further sales efforts; and all the while increasing your own knowledge – all this definitely requires personal motivation, discipline, and energy. Being a professional sales person is not easy. It demands creativity and innovative thinking.
So when you become a superstar in sales, use this list of basic reminders to help coach and mentor some of your peers so you can create the most dynamic sales team in your industry.
Sales Basics
• Meet and qualify all the accounts in your territory before you begin to focus on a few.
• Do your homework. Know your company first; the strong points, the weak points. Know who and what your internal resources are. What is your company’s sweet spot?
• Do your homework. Know your customers. What do they buy? How do they buy? Who are their five largest customers? Research your customer and their industry on the web. Become an industry expert for your customer. Meet people and cultivate relationships beyond your customers purchasing department.
• Create a call plan prior to every call. The objective can be as simple as getting an appointment with someone higher up in management to meet with your management on a subject as complex as a full-blown PowerPoint presentation designed to secure a contract.
• Keep a data record on every buyer at your major accounts. Get to know him as well as his family knows him.
• Create an itinerary for each week. Know what you are going to do. Set at least two base appointments in the morning and afternoon with major accounts. Fill in around these appointments as appropriate.
• Know your customers’ personality. People buy from people so develop a relationship with each of your customers. PIMS (Personal Information Managers) or sales programs such as TeleMagic and Goldmine have a place for this information. Use it, or put it in your spiral binder. Nothing is more important to Jennifer than her daughter’s ballet or to Bill than his golf or his son’s little league, BUT do not waste your time or theirs. Some people will reject you as a time waster if you talk about this, others will keep you on the phone for hours with trivia. Know your customer and control the conversation. Your job is to sell and move on but do it in the most productive and effective manner and only you know what that is for your customer.
• Create a territory plan. Establish goals, identify milestones, create a time line and engage all your resources including upper management.
• Create an action plan for every major account. Know your customers’ “Rules of Engagement.” What keeps them up at night? Create a strategy that involves your entire team including the President of your company if appropriate.
• Set specific goals and objectives. Write them down.
• Maintain a positive attitude. Don’t procrastinate on anything.
• Keep your promises. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
• Sell yourself first. Develop a trusted relationship, and then sell your company.
• Know your competitive advantages and your company’s core competencies.
• Think creatively. Think outside the box.
• If voicemail is blocking your contact, call someone else’s extension as if by mistake and ask them to transfer you. Voicemail has become the “gate keeper.” Call early before business hours or later after business hours.
• Listen more – speak less. Get your customer to talk about himself/herself. If your customer spends most of the time in a sales call talking about them, they can’t help but like you. Apply the 80/20 rule – listen 80% of the time.
Value Propositions
Don’t blow this concept off as some sales training jargon. Value propositions are extremely important. You have one, your company has one and your products have them. What is it about you that creates value for your customer? What is it about your company that creates value for your customer? What is it about your product that creates value for your customer? It’s not features and benefits.
“Perceived Value drives customer expectations” “Performance value drives customer satisfaction”
Understanding is the Key
Understand yourself first. Determine your strengths. Recognize your weaknesses. Make a vow to work on improving those areas where you are weak. To excel at anything you must have confidence and confidence comes from experience and knowledge. Recognizing your weakness puts you in a position of strength because you become familiar with your limitations and what you need to do to overcome them. Personal understanding is critical to understanding your customers. And, if you don’t understand your customers it is extremely difficult to discover their pain.
Be Honest with Yourself
The road to success in sales requires a kind of personal honesty that not everyone is capable of exercising. That specifically is why we all can’t be superstars. Part of becoming a superstar in sales is understanding people so well that building relationship equity is almost automatic. A skill that becomes inherent to your personification. This can’t happen unless you understand yourself first. People grow and change, you grow and change so this concept of knowing yourself and really knowing your customers is a living changing thing that you must always be conscious of. The more your customers change, the more you must change and adjust. This requires a certain amount of intuitive judgment and a perspective on helping the customer solve their problems to such an extent that you can see the forest in spite of the trees.
You Can Change Yourself but You Can’t Change Your Customer
Selling is all about understanding your customers. Accepting your customers as they are while understanding their specific wants, needs and desires for what they are and not what you would like them to be. This puts you in a position of strength in building a personal relationship with the customer. Don’t succumb to the common trait called impatience if your customer has trouble identifying his real pain. Often times it is up to you to help him discover that pain and in turn recognize the value you and your company provide by eliminating that pain.
Sales is a Profession to be Proud Of
Learning your product, making a clear presentation to qualified prospects, and closing more sales will take a lot less time once you know your own capabilities and failings, and understand and care about the prospects you are calling upon. You must become a total solution provider regardless of the circumstance or situation. Sometimes solving a customer’s problem will have nothing to do with your product or your company. That doesn’t matter. Solving the problem builds relationship equity and relationships are still extremely important even in this century when a relationship is required to even get into the game. Selling occurs all around us all day long. Our mere existence is predicated upon selling something all the time. That something can be anything from a product to an idea, a concept or even a philosophy.
Anybody can sell to some degree and we all do it without exception. However, to be a professional sales person that reaches star status, accepting these concepts as truths is the starting point. Accepting the concepts described in this article will enable you to understand that salesmanship is not a born trait. Agreed, there are some personality traits that may help you create success quicker but true professional sales skills are learned.
An old sales buddy of mine once said;
“You can send a gorilla out on the road and if he calls on enough people, if he doesn’t give up, sooner or later someone will pin an order to his chest and send him home.” --------Brian Williamson
Maybe you know some sales people like that. If you do rest assured they aren’t the professionals we are talking about. Sales is a profession that requires professionals. It’s a profession to be proud of. It requires persistence, tenacity, confidence and understanding. Study yourself, study people, do your homework and never forget the basics. Targeting, goal setting, action planning and follow-up never go out of fashion no matter how much of a star you become. Never forget where you came from and how you created the success you create.
Getting up out of bed in the morning; doing what has to be done to excel in sales; keeping records, updating your materials; planning the direction of further sales efforts; and all the while increasing your own knowledge – all this definitely requires personal motivation, discipline, and energy. Being a professional sales person is not easy. It demands creativity and innovative thinking.
So when you become a superstar in sales, use this list of basic reminders to help coach and mentor some of your peers so you can create the most dynamic sales team in your industry.
Sales Basics
• Meet and qualify all the accounts in your territory before you begin to focus on a few.
• Do your homework. Know your company first; the strong points, the weak points. Know who and what your internal resources are. What is your company’s sweet spot?
• Do your homework. Know your customers. What do they buy? How do they buy? Who are their five largest customers? Research your customer and their industry on the web. Become an industry expert for your customer. Meet people and cultivate relationships beyond your customers purchasing department.
• Create a call plan prior to every call. The objective can be as simple as getting an appointment with someone higher up in management to meet with your management on a subject as complex as a full-blown PowerPoint presentation designed to secure a contract.
• Keep a data record on every buyer at your major accounts. Get to know him as well as his family knows him.
• Create an itinerary for each week. Know what you are going to do. Set at least two base appointments in the morning and afternoon with major accounts. Fill in around these appointments as appropriate.
• Know your customers’ personality. People buy from people so develop a relationship with each of your customers. PIMS (Personal Information Managers) or sales programs such as TeleMagic and Goldmine have a place for this information. Use it, or put it in your spiral binder. Nothing is more important to Jennifer than her daughter’s ballet or to Bill than his golf or his son’s little league, BUT do not waste your time or theirs. Some people will reject you as a time waster if you talk about this, others will keep you on the phone for hours with trivia. Know your customer and control the conversation. Your job is to sell and move on but do it in the most productive and effective manner and only you know what that is for your customer.
• Create a territory plan. Establish goals, identify milestones, create a time line and engage all your resources including upper management.
• Create an action plan for every major account. Know your customers’ “Rules of Engagement.” What keeps them up at night? Create a strategy that involves your entire team including the President of your company if appropriate.
• Set specific goals and objectives. Write them down.
• Maintain a positive attitude. Don’t procrastinate on anything.
• Keep your promises. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
• Sell yourself first. Develop a trusted relationship, and then sell your company.
• Know your competitive advantages and your company’s core competencies.
• Think creatively. Think outside the box.
• If voicemail is blocking your contact, call someone else’s extension as if by mistake and ask them to transfer you. Voicemail has become the “gate keeper.” Call early before business hours or later after business hours.
• Listen more – speak less. Get your customer to talk about himself/herself. If your customer spends most of the time in a sales call talking about them, they can’t help but like you. Apply the 80/20 rule – listen 80% of the time.
Does Anyone Really Manage Sales
In my humble opinion, the term sales manager is extremely misleading yet most companies continue to use this description for one of their most important positions. Let's think for a moment how sales are actually made. Do we as sales people create the sale through our dynamic personalities and outgoing demeanor. Hardly; we make the sale through our continued activity with the client. I will go out on a limb and boldly say we never manager sales, rather we manage activity. Should you disagree with this please read on.
Nothing happens until a sale is made! The truth in this age old comment sometimes amazes those new to the filed of sales. In a prior life I would always begin a sales meeting with this statement and always begin my interviews with potential employees with the same comment.
So, if we have to manage activity and nothing happens until a sale is made, how do we accomplish both tasks in order to be successful at the science of sales? The answer is rather simple. As the "Sales Manager" one must put into place some very simple but effective methods of managing activity. Some very successful and seasoned professionals will disagree with my suggestions and that is OK. If you are satisfied with the performance of your sales team and are making as much money as you want to make then stop reading now. Otherwise read on for some proven tactics.
The plan is very simple as one activity leads to another and eventually to a sale. Regardless of the amount of money being spent on the sale, the steps to making the sale are always the same and must be orchestrated if you are to be successful. We will discuss sales training another day so let's concentrate on the activity required and how to track it properly.
As elementary as it may seem, you must require each salesperson to make a predetermined number of sales calls per day or week but this number must be specific and rigid.
Second you should set a goal each week for number of demonstrations or proposals or both. Naturally the product will determine if you need demonstrations or presentations prior to the actual proposal. A good rule of thumb is to expect 5 personal contacts before a presentation can be expected and possibly more for the proposal. This varies from industry to industry.
Third, you should determine a closing ratio for each member of the sales team. Naturally you can use one of your successful salespeople as a benchmark but each salesperson has to have their own closing ratio. This an excellent method for forecasting sales and for modifying commission plans.
Fourth, each sales person has to keep a list of their top prospects and the sales dollars forecasted for the account.
Fifth, where is the account in the process? i.e. are they ready to make a decision or are they still kicking tires?
And sixth, every salesperson should keep a record, either electronically or written regarding personal information of every person involved in the process from maintenance person to executive Vice President.
There are always more steps that may be added or perhaps you might reduce some step but the key is to keep sales people from wasting time on non-productive accounts or individuals.
We all spend money on countless items each day and in my case I like to purchase costly items from someone I know. The individual who has sold me over 100K in automobiles during the last two years realizes the value of everything listed above especially step six. He knows a lot about my and my wife because he took time to ask the questions and was rewarded with us purchasing another vehicle from him recently.
Nothing happens until a sale is made! The truth in this age old comment sometimes amazes those new to the filed of sales. In a prior life I would always begin a sales meeting with this statement and always begin my interviews with potential employees with the same comment.
So, if we have to manage activity and nothing happens until a sale is made, how do we accomplish both tasks in order to be successful at the science of sales? The answer is rather simple. As the "Sales Manager" one must put into place some very simple but effective methods of managing activity. Some very successful and seasoned professionals will disagree with my suggestions and that is OK. If you are satisfied with the performance of your sales team and are making as much money as you want to make then stop reading now. Otherwise read on for some proven tactics.
The plan is very simple as one activity leads to another and eventually to a sale. Regardless of the amount of money being spent on the sale, the steps to making the sale are always the same and must be orchestrated if you are to be successful. We will discuss sales training another day so let's concentrate on the activity required and how to track it properly.
As elementary as it may seem, you must require each salesperson to make a predetermined number of sales calls per day or week but this number must be specific and rigid.
Second you should set a goal each week for number of demonstrations or proposals or both. Naturally the product will determine if you need demonstrations or presentations prior to the actual proposal. A good rule of thumb is to expect 5 personal contacts before a presentation can be expected and possibly more for the proposal. This varies from industry to industry.
Third, you should determine a closing ratio for each member of the sales team. Naturally you can use one of your successful salespeople as a benchmark but each salesperson has to have their own closing ratio. This an excellent method for forecasting sales and for modifying commission plans.
Fourth, each sales person has to keep a list of their top prospects and the sales dollars forecasted for the account.
Fifth, where is the account in the process? i.e. are they ready to make a decision or are they still kicking tires?
And sixth, every salesperson should keep a record, either electronically or written regarding personal information of every person involved in the process from maintenance person to executive Vice President.
There are always more steps that may be added or perhaps you might reduce some step but the key is to keep sales people from wasting time on non-productive accounts or individuals.
We all spend money on countless items each day and in my case I like to purchase costly items from someone I know. The individual who has sold me over 100K in automobiles during the last two years realizes the value of everything listed above especially step six. He knows a lot about my and my wife because he took time to ask the questions and was rewarded with us purchasing another vehicle from him recently.
Friday, August 10, 2007
New Trade Globalization
Old globalization was marked by the quest of colonial powers such as France and the Netherlands for more raw materials, cheap labor and new markets, conditions that translate into an ultimate objective for more profits. Countries such as Malaya and Vietnam were transformed into markets and suppliers of people and products via combinations of military conquest and cultural subjugation. The old globalization was carried out through direct colonial rule or a government composed of compliant local elite ultimately responsible and accountable to the colonial power. After World War II a concerted effort was made to revive international trade and investment.
Liberalization of international trade and liberalization of international investment are the objectives of globalization advocates. Liberalization is considered as the answer to the marked decrease in the rate of corporate profits particularly in the US in the past two decades.
Neo-liberals have praised free trade as the way to promote the interest of small agricultural and industrial producers. Through free trade, the logic goes, these people will be able to offer their products to a wider market, increase their sales and therefore their income, and help wipe out global poverty.
Unfortunately, in real life, liberalization seems to work more for multinational corporations than small agricultural producers and workers. The problem is today’s free trade is really not free trade. There is no level playing field when their governments give subsidies to multinational corporations, enabling the latter to sell their products below cost of production in the international market, a practice aptly called dumping. It is understandable, in this context, why globalization and liberalization have become increasingly unpopular concepts and programs among the global poor.
Liberalization of international trade and liberalization of international investment are the objectives of globalization advocates. Liberalization is considered as the answer to the marked decrease in the rate of corporate profits particularly in the US in the past two decades.
Neo-liberals have praised free trade as the way to promote the interest of small agricultural and industrial producers. Through free trade, the logic goes, these people will be able to offer their products to a wider market, increase their sales and therefore their income, and help wipe out global poverty.
Unfortunately, in real life, liberalization seems to work more for multinational corporations than small agricultural producers and workers. The problem is today’s free trade is really not free trade. There is no level playing field when their governments give subsidies to multinational corporations, enabling the latter to sell their products below cost of production in the international market, a practice aptly called dumping. It is understandable, in this context, why globalization and liberalization have become increasingly unpopular concepts and programs among the global poor.
Hiring and Training of New Sales Staff
How do you train your sales personnel? Perhaps a better question would be…Do you train your sales personnel? As silly as this may sound a lot of organizations hire a salesperson and tell them to go get it. I have personally dealt with such an organization and this was considered the norm. Why? Because they have always done it this way! I suspect a lot of individuals have heard this comment from other organizations.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
During the recruitment and hiring phase I strongly recommend the owner and sales manager be left out of the initial interviews. This is important because the easiest person to sell is another salesperson and in the case of a lot of small companies, the owner and sales manager have usually carried most of the water with which to prime the pump of prosperity. Con artists and hucksters know exactly what buttons to push when dealing with this type of personality. More on recruiting and interviewing in the next installment.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
During the recruitment and hiring phase I strongly recommend the owner and sales manager be left out of the initial interviews. This is important because the easiest person to sell is another salesperson and in the case of a lot of small companies, the owner and sales manager have usually carried most of the water with which to prime the pump of prosperity. Con artists and hucksters know exactly what buttons to push when dealing with this type of personality. More on recruiting and interviewing in the next installment.
Xerox Business Systems
Xerox is known all over the world as being the # 1 photocopier manufacturer. The Xerox Corporation is a company that has definitely proved thought its practice that the “right management” and the ability to be flexible can lead to a great success no matter how stiff the competition is. The history of its outstanding management starts in the 1980’s, when the company changed its market strategy and introduced a new kind of management that lately transformed into their fantastic quality management practice.
Their program “Leadership through quality” against the Japanese competitors set new quality standards for the market and opened their way to success. The program established the manage-for-results as the primary goal for all of the operations within the company. The expected results were improved productivity and increased revenue growth achieved through the quality-oriented strategy. After experiencing difficulties on market before the company opened a new era in management and created a model that will lately be followed by almost every single one company.
The quality philosophy of the company- the customer-demands orientation- is one of the most remarkable traits that makes Xerox an upstart company. The customer-based orientation was the first one at that time, due to the major orientation of the companies on the quantity, not quality of manufacturing. This philosophy is completely based on the quality of every aspect of the company’s activity, including the final product. It starts with the employee’s management and ends up in the final result of their work – Xerox products. This final result started being evaluated from the objective point of view of a customer. The three factors that are taken into account the most are: the customer, the process and the people. The goal of the company was, is and will be “Total customer satisfaction”.
Basically saying the customer was to become the “quality controlling team” of the company. This philosophy is reflected in their introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM). The main change that this management philosophy brought to the Xerox Corporation was moving from a production-based over to a customer-based company. The Total Quality Management of the Xerox Corporation includes principles that are used by the company’s employees and directors: strong customer focus, entrepreneurial spirit of the employees, integrations through market focus and quality control. Nowadays, owing to this philosophy the company is eager and able to meet all the requirements that the customer has. The satisfaction of the customers became the criterion of evaluation of the company’s work.
Their program “Leadership through quality” against the Japanese competitors set new quality standards for the market and opened their way to success. The program established the manage-for-results as the primary goal for all of the operations within the company. The expected results were improved productivity and increased revenue growth achieved through the quality-oriented strategy. After experiencing difficulties on market before the company opened a new era in management and created a model that will lately be followed by almost every single one company.
The quality philosophy of the company- the customer-demands orientation- is one of the most remarkable traits that makes Xerox an upstart company. The customer-based orientation was the first one at that time, due to the major orientation of the companies on the quantity, not quality of manufacturing. This philosophy is completely based on the quality of every aspect of the company’s activity, including the final product. It starts with the employee’s management and ends up in the final result of their work – Xerox products. This final result started being evaluated from the objective point of view of a customer. The three factors that are taken into account the most are: the customer, the process and the people. The goal of the company was, is and will be “Total customer satisfaction”.
Basically saying the customer was to become the “quality controlling team” of the company. This philosophy is reflected in their introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM). The main change that this management philosophy brought to the Xerox Corporation was moving from a production-based over to a customer-based company. The Total Quality Management of the Xerox Corporation includes principles that are used by the company’s employees and directors: strong customer focus, entrepreneurial spirit of the employees, integrations through market focus and quality control. Nowadays, owing to this philosophy the company is eager and able to meet all the requirements that the customer has. The satisfaction of the customers became the criterion of evaluation of the company’s work.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
New Trade Globalization
Old globalization was marked by the quest of colonial powers such as France and the Netherlands for more raw materials, cheap labor and new markets, conditions that translate into an ultimate objective for more profits. Countries such as Malaya and Vietnam were transformed into markets and suppliers of people and products via combinations of military conquest and cultural subjugation. The old globalization was carried out through direct colonial rule or a government composed of compliant local elite ultimately responsible and accountable to the colonial power. After World War II a concerted effort was made to revive international trade and investment.
Liberalization of international trade and liberalization of international investment are the objectives of globalization advocates. Liberalization is considered as the answer to the marked decrease in the rate of corporate profits particularly in the US in the past two decades.
Neo-liberals have praised free trade as the way to promote the interest of small agricultural and industrial producers. Through free trade, the logic goes, these people will be able to offer their products to a wider market, increase their sales and therefore their income, and help wipe out global poverty.
Unfortunately, in real life, liberalization seems to work more for multinational corporations than small agricultural producers and workers. The problem is today’s free trade is really not free trade. There is no level playing field when their governments give subsidies to multinational corporations, enabling the latter to sell their products below cost of production in the international market, a practice aptly called dumping. It is understandable, in this context, why globalization and liberalization have become increasingly unpopular concepts and programs among the global poor.
Liberalization of international trade and liberalization of international investment are the objectives of globalization advocates. Liberalization is considered as the answer to the marked decrease in the rate of corporate profits particularly in the US in the past two decades.
Neo-liberals have praised free trade as the way to promote the interest of small agricultural and industrial producers. Through free trade, the logic goes, these people will be able to offer their products to a wider market, increase their sales and therefore their income, and help wipe out global poverty.
Unfortunately, in real life, liberalization seems to work more for multinational corporations than small agricultural producers and workers. The problem is today’s free trade is really not free trade. There is no level playing field when their governments give subsidies to multinational corporations, enabling the latter to sell their products below cost of production in the international market, a practice aptly called dumping. It is understandable, in this context, why globalization and liberalization have become increasingly unpopular concepts and programs among the global poor.
Hiring and Training of New Sales Staff
How do you train your sales personnel? Perhaps a better question would be…Do you train your sales personnel? As silly as this may sound a lot of organizations hire a salesperson and tell them to go get it. I have personally dealt with such an organization and this was considered the norm. Why? Because they have always done it this way! I suspect a lot of individuals have heard this comment from other organizations.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
During the recruitment and hiring phase I strongly recommend the owner and sales manager be left out of the initial interviews. This is important because the easiest person to sell is another salesperson and in the case of a lot of small companies, the owner and sales manager have usually carried most of the water with which to prime the pump of prosperity. Con artists and hucksters know exactly what buttons to push when dealing with this type of personality. More on recruiting and interviewing in the next installment.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
During the recruitment and hiring phase I strongly recommend the owner and sales manager be left out of the initial interviews. This is important because the easiest person to sell is another salesperson and in the case of a lot of small companies, the owner and sales manager have usually carried most of the water with which to prime the pump of prosperity. Con artists and hucksters know exactly what buttons to push when dealing with this type of personality. More on recruiting and interviewing in the next installment.
Xerox Business Systems
Xerox is known all over the world as being the # 1 photocopier manufacturer. The Xerox Corporation is a company that has definitely proved thought its practice that the “right management” and the ability to be flexible can lead to a great success no matter how stiff the competition is. The history of its outstanding management starts in the 1980’s, when the company changed its market strategy and introduced a new kind of management that lately transformed into their fantastic quality management practice.
Their program “Leadership through quality” against the Japanese competitors set new quality standards for the market and opened their way to success. The program established the manage-for-results as the primary goal for all of the operations within the company. The expected results were improved productivity and increased revenue growth achieved through the quality-oriented strategy. After experiencing difficulties on market before the company opened a new era in management and created a model that will lately be followed by almost every single one company.
The quality philosophy of the company- the customer-demands orientation- is one of the most remarkable traits that makes Xerox an upstart company. The customer-based orientation was the first one at that time, due to the major orientation of the companies on the quantity, not quality of manufacturing. This philosophy is completely based on the quality of every aspect of the company’s activity, including the final product. It starts with the employee’s management and ends up in the final result of their work – Xerox products. This final result started being evaluated from the objective point of view of a customer. The three factors that are taken into account the most are: the customer, the process and the people. The goal of the company was, is and will be “Total customer satisfaction”.
Basically saying the customer was to become the “quality controlling team” of the company. This philosophy is reflected in their introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM). The main change that this management philosophy brought to the Xerox Corporation was moving from a production-based over to a customer-based company. The Total Quality Management of the Xerox Corporation includes principles that are used by the company’s employees and directors: strong customer focus, entrepreneurial spirit of the employees, integrations through market focus and quality control. Nowadays, owing to this philosophy the company is eager and able to meet all the requirements that the customer has. The satisfaction of the customers became the criterion of evaluation of the company’s work.
Their program “Leadership through quality” against the Japanese competitors set new quality standards for the market and opened their way to success. The program established the manage-for-results as the primary goal for all of the operations within the company. The expected results were improved productivity and increased revenue growth achieved through the quality-oriented strategy. After experiencing difficulties on market before the company opened a new era in management and created a model that will lately be followed by almost every single one company.
The quality philosophy of the company- the customer-demands orientation- is one of the most remarkable traits that makes Xerox an upstart company. The customer-based orientation was the first one at that time, due to the major orientation of the companies on the quantity, not quality of manufacturing. This philosophy is completely based on the quality of every aspect of the company’s activity, including the final product. It starts with the employee’s management and ends up in the final result of their work – Xerox products. This final result started being evaluated from the objective point of view of a customer. The three factors that are taken into account the most are: the customer, the process and the people. The goal of the company was, is and will be “Total customer satisfaction”.
Basically saying the customer was to become the “quality controlling team” of the company. This philosophy is reflected in their introduction of Total Quality Management (TQM). The main change that this management philosophy brought to the Xerox Corporation was moving from a production-based over to a customer-based company. The Total Quality Management of the Xerox Corporation includes principles that are used by the company’s employees and directors: strong customer focus, entrepreneurial spirit of the employees, integrations through market focus and quality control. Nowadays, owing to this philosophy the company is eager and able to meet all the requirements that the customer has. The satisfaction of the customers became the criterion of evaluation of the company’s work.
Real Estate Its Easier, In Marketing Field
than ever. There's so much to learn and so little time to do it. And the process is made longer because there are few credible sites that provide the information in an affordable and straightforward manner. The real estate strategy also needs to utilize both online and offline methods of advertising.
Here you'll find information about some of the best Real Estate Marketing Products and Services available on the Internet today! So, take your time, explore and discover the business building secrets in store for you! Also, please be sure to sign up for my FREE Newsletter! It contains lots of tips, tools, strategies and resources to boost your listings, sales closings prospects and leads. Key to the success of your marketing strategy is "baiting" the potential client with pertinent information that they are seeking. Online you can capture your leads by supplying them with information on buying or selling their house, finding the value of their property, or giving them a report on what to do to prepare their property for sale. This is supplied in downloadable form after they give you their contact information.
Everything in your real estate marketing plan should be centered around the prospect. You must build confidence that you can aid them with their wants and desires. You have to show them that you can do this quickly and with the least amount of hassle on their part. The process has to be simple and easy for them to accomplish.
Agency can be a confusing subject for both consumers and real estate practitioners. Basically, there are three types of agents – the seller’s agent (or listing agent), the buyer’s agent and an agent who represents both seller and buyer (called a dual agent). The agent represents the client (the principal) in transactions involving third parties. California law requires licensed real estate agents to present an agency disclosure form to all potential clients.
Here you'll find information about some of the best Real Estate Marketing Products and Services available on the Internet today! So, take your time, explore and discover the business building secrets in store for you! Also, please be sure to sign up for my FREE Newsletter! It contains lots of tips, tools, strategies and resources to boost your listings, sales closings prospects and leads. Key to the success of your marketing strategy is "baiting" the potential client with pertinent information that they are seeking. Online you can capture your leads by supplying them with information on buying or selling their house, finding the value of their property, or giving them a report on what to do to prepare their property for sale. This is supplied in downloadable form after they give you their contact information.
Everything in your real estate marketing plan should be centered around the prospect. You must build confidence that you can aid them with their wants and desires. You have to show them that you can do this quickly and with the least amount of hassle on their part. The process has to be simple and easy for them to accomplish.
Agency can be a confusing subject for both consumers and real estate practitioners. Basically, there are three types of agents – the seller’s agent (or listing agent), the buyer’s agent and an agent who represents both seller and buyer (called a dual agent). The agent represents the client (the principal) in transactions involving third parties. California law requires licensed real estate agents to present an agency disclosure form to all potential clients.
Is Your Pride Costing You Money?
Have you ever let pride sabotage your career? "Robert," was a successful TV news anchor who worked in a good-sized TV market. Robert had the classic anchor looks as well as deep booming voice. But he was frustrated that he was unable to move up a better job, which would involve working in a larger city for a much larger paycheck.
Robert’s problem was that he didn’t work much on the craft of anchoring. His delivery could be a bit flat and robotic. Imagine how someone with a good voice would sound reading something dull like a phone book. Robert was good at his job but not great enough to go to the next level.
Station management wanted to help him and his co-anchors improve their delivery, which in turn could help boost ratings, so they brought in an anchoring coach. The coaching wouldn’t cost Robert anything and it was understood that if he improved at his craft, he might get a job elsewhere.
At the first coaching session, all of the anchors watched a recent newscast with the coach. After seeing one of Robert’s snooze inducing segments, he asked him a question. “Can you see how some people may think that your delivery is a little dry?”
Robert was visibly shaken by the comment and replied, “I’m not one of those people who watches tapes of myself anchoring.” He pointed at some of his younger colleagues and said, “That’s something they do.”
The coach paused a moment and in a quiet voice said, “Then how do you think you’re going to get better if you don’t see what you need to improve. The reason why some of your former colleagues aren’t here is because they did what they needed to do to improve their technique.”
Robert was silent for the rest of the meeting. He never took the coach’s advice. Robert stayed at his same job for a few more years until he retired from the TV business and went to work in a different field. Although he continued to apply for bigger and better positions, he never could separate himself from the other applicants.
Here’s what Robert taught me:
- Raw talent can only take you so far. Talent plus hard work equals excellence.
- Criticism can hurt the ego but it may be right.
- It’s important to frequently evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and improve on both.
- Remember, if you’re not working to improve yourself, someone else out there is and they’ll get the job.
Successful Innovation - How to Manage Product "Misses" to Maximize "Hits"
Most companies in the innovation game can proudly point to their winners--those new products/services that launched successfully and exceeded expectations for revenue/profit/market share. However, those same companies often express frustration or dissatisfaction with their overall return on innovation investment.
"We see three common issues that create dissatisfaction," says Vice President and Principal of Frank Lynn & Associates Inc., "metrics, project initiation and the innovation process."
Smart Business asked to share some lessons learned from the firm's experience.
Why do even the leading innovators express frustration with the process?
Inappropriate metrics result in misplaced expectations. Even the most successful innovators should expect fewer "hits" than "misses." Misguided project initiation clogs the development pipeline with so many low-probability projects that the winners can't be funded properly. And poor process management sustains the ultimate losing bets in the pipeline for too long.
You mentioned metrics. What are the most appropriate metrics for the development process?
Most companies measure innovation based on the outputs. For example, a common benchmark demands that 20 percent of company revenues are generated from products/services launched in the last three to five years. This does not measure the effectiveness of the innovation process. (Even the poorest process can meet this revenue goal if enough resources are thrown at it.)
The most effective metrics provide actionable insights to the process of innovation.
Revenue return/dollars invested. This measure provides an indicator as to how well you are allocating resources. Actions derived from this metric could include a change in the project staffing model or changes to the timing of the hard costs (patent application, field tests, etc.) to help lower overall project costs without affecting positive outcomes.
Average number of projects/innovation employee. Often, so many development projects are started that the staff cannot devote sufficient resources to any to effectively move them forward. "Addition by subtraction" can result by limiting, or even capping, the number of development projects allowed in the pipeline at any time.
Average project duration. Companies that struggle with innovation have trouble saying no. The pipeline is clogged with too many projects, and the best-bet opportunities cannot receive the critical mass of resources they require to move forward. Even a goal to decrease average project duration by 10 percent will result in quicker go/no-go decisions and better overall resource utilization.
What is the best way to initiate projects?
Historically, companies tended to take an inside-out approach to innovation (i.e., "let the inventors invent"). The result was that the vast majority of projects had little direct relation to a market need. As the "market driven" buzzword took hold, many companies moved to the other extreme. Every development project had to have justification from the marketplace. This approach lost the "quantum-leap" advances; too many projects resulted in small incremental improvements in features/benefits.
The most appropriate approach is a combination of the above extremes. We use a benchmark of 75/25: 75 percent of the projects initiated should be market driven, targeted from the outset to deliver a specific benefit to a specific market segment. The remaining 25 percent are less constrained. The inventors are allowed to invent and look for those quantum-leap advances.
What improvements to the innovation process itself would you suggest?
A world-class innovation process requires disciplined management by using the stagegate process. Development projects are managed through a series of stages. Each stage culminates in a review and go/no-go decision. Only those projects that pass through this gate are funded to the next stage.
While the concept of a stage-gate process is easy to envision, what separates the successful innovators from the rest is the set of inputs used at each stage. Assessment of both technical and market feasibility are intertwined. At each review, a progressively tougher set of criteria assure the product/service can be scaled up to support commercialization, and the market opportunity is there to profitably launch and commercialize the innovation.
What does it mean for the company trying to improve its return on the innovation dollar?
If we look at the big picture, we find that the most successful innovators understand the importance of managing the process. These companies understand the importance of process-oriented metrics. They are driven to initiate projects primarily from the "outside in." And they are disciplined in managing the low probability opportunities out of the pipeline as soon as possible.
"We see three common issues that create dissatisfaction," says Vice President and Principal of Frank Lynn & Associates Inc., "metrics, project initiation and the innovation process."
Smart Business asked to share some lessons learned from the firm's experience.
Why do even the leading innovators express frustration with the process?
Inappropriate metrics result in misplaced expectations. Even the most successful innovators should expect fewer "hits" than "misses." Misguided project initiation clogs the development pipeline with so many low-probability projects that the winners can't be funded properly. And poor process management sustains the ultimate losing bets in the pipeline for too long.
You mentioned metrics. What are the most appropriate metrics for the development process?
Most companies measure innovation based on the outputs. For example, a common benchmark demands that 20 percent of company revenues are generated from products/services launched in the last three to five years. This does not measure the effectiveness of the innovation process. (Even the poorest process can meet this revenue goal if enough resources are thrown at it.)
The most effective metrics provide actionable insights to the process of innovation.
Revenue return/dollars invested. This measure provides an indicator as to how well you are allocating resources. Actions derived from this metric could include a change in the project staffing model or changes to the timing of the hard costs (patent application, field tests, etc.) to help lower overall project costs without affecting positive outcomes.
Average number of projects/innovation employee. Often, so many development projects are started that the staff cannot devote sufficient resources to any to effectively move them forward. "Addition by subtraction" can result by limiting, or even capping, the number of development projects allowed in the pipeline at any time.
Average project duration. Companies that struggle with innovation have trouble saying no. The pipeline is clogged with too many projects, and the best-bet opportunities cannot receive the critical mass of resources they require to move forward. Even a goal to decrease average project duration by 10 percent will result in quicker go/no-go decisions and better overall resource utilization.
What is the best way to initiate projects?
Historically, companies tended to take an inside-out approach to innovation (i.e., "let the inventors invent"). The result was that the vast majority of projects had little direct relation to a market need. As the "market driven" buzzword took hold, many companies moved to the other extreme. Every development project had to have justification from the marketplace. This approach lost the "quantum-leap" advances; too many projects resulted in small incremental improvements in features/benefits.
The most appropriate approach is a combination of the above extremes. We use a benchmark of 75/25: 75 percent of the projects initiated should be market driven, targeted from the outset to deliver a specific benefit to a specific market segment. The remaining 25 percent are less constrained. The inventors are allowed to invent and look for those quantum-leap advances.
What improvements to the innovation process itself would you suggest?
A world-class innovation process requires disciplined management by using the stagegate process. Development projects are managed through a series of stages. Each stage culminates in a review and go/no-go decision. Only those projects that pass through this gate are funded to the next stage.
While the concept of a stage-gate process is easy to envision, what separates the successful innovators from the rest is the set of inputs used at each stage. Assessment of both technical and market feasibility are intertwined. At each review, a progressively tougher set of criteria assure the product/service can be scaled up to support commercialization, and the market opportunity is there to profitably launch and commercialize the innovation.
What does it mean for the company trying to improve its return on the innovation dollar?
If we look at the big picture, we find that the most successful innovators understand the importance of managing the process. These companies understand the importance of process-oriented metrics. They are driven to initiate projects primarily from the "outside in." And they are disciplined in managing the low probability opportunities out of the pipeline as soon as possible.
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