3 Secrets That Set The Context For Sales Success
In today’s competitive environment, every organization is trying to improve sales results. In every company, the most important – and vulnerable – link in the success chain is the performance of their people. As a sales management trainer and coach, I see that managers across every industry fail to take a hard look at the capacity of their people to provide the service — whether it’s to internal or external customers – that puts them in a league apart from the competition.
As a sales manager, you can set the context for your team to pull ahead, or ‘breakaway’ from the competition. Context sets the tone and often determines the meaning of events and actions. In business, context affects our vision, motivation, ambition, and follow through.
Some aspects of context are outside of our control. Things happen. Markets rise and fall. Yet some people thrive even in hard times. While these people are the masters of context, I would also argue that the ‘climate’ in which they work could contribute enormously to the difference between success and failure.
Here are three ways you can take charge of the context in which you create an environment where ‘breakaway’ results can happen:
ADOPT A ‘NO BULLIES HERE’ POLICY
Some people use much stronger language to describe the people I’ll politely call bullies. You may call them: tyrants, egomaniacs, jerks or unprintable. These are the people whose behaviour leaves you feeling badly about yourself, and feel free to use whatever profanity you want to describe them, because they are real trouble.
Many ’stars’ shout, belittle, and make unreasonable demands of support staff and colleagues, while ingratiating themselves with the higher-ups. How people treat both the powerless and powerful is a good measure of human character and the “bully” quotient.
One bully can destroy your team’s morale. You and your colleagues will spend inordinate amounts of time and energy dealing with this person, instead of focusing outward on breakaway performance.
HOT TIPS:
- Protect your people. If you are in a position to do so, aim to nourish a culture of decency in your organization. While you may not have a ‘no bullies here ‘ policy in writing, you can have it in spirit. If the superstar you’re about to hire has a reputation for being difficult, don’t hire!
- Set this ground rule for sales meetings: focus on the situation, issue, or behaviour, and not on the person. This rule translates into not placing blame on people. It safeguards the self-confidence and self-esteem of all meeting participants, and provides a process for regulating out-of-bounds behaviour.
PRACTICE ONGOING REGARD
We all do better at work if we regularly hear that what we do matters, that it is valuable, and that our presence makes a difference to others.
Nearly every organization or team I’ve been privileged to spend time with under-communicates the genuinely positive and admirable achievements of its members. I can understand wanting to avoid conflict, but avoiding praise is puzzling.
HOT TIP:
Make space at the beginning of a sales meeting for any expressions of appreciation or admiration that anyone may wish to deliver. I recommend that the leader not deliver any of these kudos during the first few meetings so team members get used to practicing ‘ongoing regard.’ If no one has anything to say, so be it (although I’ve never seen this happen).
You may find that sharpening your capacity to express genuine appreciation or admiration is vitalizing. It will remind you of why you want to be on your team, and why performing at your peak is important.
CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY
How many times have you said that you were going to do something and then not done it because nobody else would know the difference? Try spreading the word. Just the simple act of telling your plan to another person raises the stakes. Most of us place a high value on doing what we say we’ll do. There is something profound about taking our commitments seriously when we profess them to another person or when we join in a pact to reach a common goal.
HOT TIP:
If you are a sales manager, allow your people to tell you how they plan to reach their goals, rather than you telling them how to proceed. Create time, regularly, for them to report what they have been doing and learning. Useful questions to help the discussion are:
– What worked?
– What didn’t work?
– What happened?
– What would you do differently next time?
– What assumptions are you making?
– When will you do the tasks you propose?
– How will I know you have started the tasks?
If you are a team member, seek out someone you trust and check in regularly. Declare what you intend to do and watch what happens!
‘CREATE THE CONTEXT’ CHALLENGE
Establish the practice of ‘ongoing regard’ at the start of each sales meeting. The purpose is to recognize people whose performance and integrity helps the team achieve goals and objectives. Acknowledge that their specific behaviour, and the personal qualities that led to that behaviour, had a positive impact on you, on a customer, or on the team.
For example: “Lee, by delegating paperwork to the summer students and making more face-to-face sales calls you are helping us have a great second quarter. You are resourceful and creative.”
It may take a number of sales meetings for the practice to feel comfortable and meaningful. Stick with it.
This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section “About the Author”.
Nicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople.
Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca.
You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.
Are You Managing to Lead
For many people, the terms “manager” and “leader” are synonymous.
What Your Employees Want You to Know (But You Might Be Afraid to Ask)
This is a challenge for every company owner and manager. You have tremendous plans for growth and expect a lot of your employees. But do you know if the company is meeting your best employees’ expectations? Are you providing the type of environment that supports high productivity and high quality? Do you really want to know?
If you do, consider creating a Company Performance Review to find out what your company culture really is. Find out how employees feel about their environment and morale at your company. The Company Performance Review asks employees if they see certain behaviors occurring at your company – behaviors that could kill a company over time if left unchecked. It will help you determine if there are ethical issues you need to be concerned about in your company.
This review must be completed anonymously, or employees won’t be comfortable answering honestly. The object is to make all employees suddenly more aware that actions that are sometimes common in companies can do real and lasting damage. It takes effort to increase the recognition of ethical issues to make it easier to begin setting standards.
For instance, here are some questions you might consider asking employees – but only if you are ready to deal with the answers in the whole culture (don’t kill the messenger).
Do employees?
Give a full days work for a full days pay
Accept gifts or favors from suppliers
Falsify time sheets or other reports
Gossip about other employees
Do other work on company time or with company equipment
Do managers or supervisors?
Discriminate by gender or race
Allow unsafe or unhealthy work conditions
Discourage criticism
Forget or fail to give promised performance reviews or salary increases
Have unfair work performance expectations
Does top management?
Ignore long-term problems
Live up to our mission statement
Provide rewards such as promotions on a basis other than competence
Mismanage company funds
Really care about employees
When you get the answers tabulated consider these thoughts:
Are there ethical issues you uncovered with this survey that surprised and concerned you?
Are you setting the right example for employees?
Are you satisfied that the standards of behavior you have set are high enough?
Are there items that should be added to this list that are unique to your company or industry?
Do you have a policy and procedures manual or employee handbook that sets standards on these issues?
Should some of these behaviors be cause for termination of employment?
Honest feedback can be hard to hear. I suggest you work with an industrial psychologist or other professional to help you hear the positive message in the survey results and formulate a plan of action. The real reward will come later when you administer the survey a second time and the results have changed for the better.
About The Author
Jan B. King is the former President & CEO of Merritt Publishing, a top 50 woman-owned and run business in Los Angeles and the author of Business Plans to Game Plans: A Practical System for Turning Strategies into Action (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). She has helped hundreds of businesses with her book and her ebooks, The Do-It-Yourself Business Plan Workbook, and The Do-It-Yourself Game Plan Workbook. See www.janbking.com for more information.
You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the byline is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.
janbking0191@sbcglobal.net
How to Measure Innovation in Your Business
It may or may not have occurred to you how important it is to measure the innovation of your own business. However, if you do not look into the efficacy and processes within your company, there is no way for you to know how well your organization is truly running, and in which areas improvement is needed. Of course, if you want to measure the innovation of your business, you will need to have a technique to use to gauge the different elements to be considered.
Traditionally, these elements have consisted of counting defects, measuring costs, and tracking cycle times. Today, as we understand businesses processes better, it has become a bit more involved but no less achievable.
With improvement strategies such as Six Sigma – a set of techniques developed by Motorola that focuses on the process of improvement within a business – there are ample measures available to recognize if your business is achieving its potential, or if it is lacking on one or many levels.
There are primarily five areas of measure for innovation, which include:
1. Performance – your company’s ability to provide a total solution in relation to its requirements and its competition
2. Quality – the number of defects and the number and rate of delay
3. Timing – its speed to the market, including its schedule for internal development (also known as cycle time) and its external market timing.
4. Finances – revenue expectations, costs, margins
5. Development costs – for specific projects
Additionally, there are a number of sub-categories for measuring innovation within your business. These include:
Turnover of personnel
Percentage of product and/or service tests passed
Percentage of reuse (the number of tested items that were borrowed)
Number of specification or requirement changes needed
Percentage of new parts (the number of items that are untested)
Percentage of unique parts (potential areas for difficulty in integration)
Percentage of new vendors
Percentage of staffed to plan (including times of over-staffing and under-staffing)
Percentage of designated time lost to undesignated projects
As you can see, there is quite a bit to consider when you wish to measure the innovation of your business. This often explains the inclination for businesspeople to put off such measurements. However, by doing so, you are only holding back from the ideas, changes, and potential that you could be offered from the result of these measurements. The best time for you to measure the innovation your business is today.
Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions – Six Sigma Online (http://www.sixsigmaonline.org) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.
Giving Effective Feedback
If there is one area that gives both managers and employees difficulty it is the need to give and accept effective feedback. It is one of the most crucial elements in assisting employees to improve their performance. It establishes a connection between what employees are doing and how their actions are perceived by others. Although receiving feedback is often under appreciated, those on the receiving end must occasionally be reminded that no feedback could be much worse.
Most managers consider themselves to be high achievers. Out of this mindset comes the need to want to move right into problem solving by directing staff to fix a problem in a specific way. This quick fix solution shouts loudly of their inexperience. More seasoned managers know the importance of effective communication and begin the feedback process by listening to their people. They encourage input into the situation in order to determine what may be interfering with getting the job done in the most effective way. Only after they have received input can they can gain a broader perspective of the situation and make appropriate recommendations for action.
Giving feedback is not about dishing out criticism; however, this often proves to be the case when managers find themselves under pressure. It is at these times that emotions get in the way of effective management and much is lost in the process.
Let’s put this on a personal level. As a manager, you want to be liked by your employees. You have always resented those who misjudge you and who find fault without knowing the full story. You vowed that when you became a manager that you would not follow this course of action because you know this type of behavior does nothing to improve your performance but rather makes you mistrust people and devalue their capabilities.
“The young carry-out boy was asked, “How long have you been working here?” He replied, “Ever since they threatened to fire me.” –Anonymous
Although numerous books have been written about the essential qualities of good leaders, in my opinion, four qualities stand out: communication, trust, competence, and caring.
Effective leaders communicate clearly and inspire others to want to take action. Good leaders are good listeners. They pause often, and acknowledge the presence of others. Most importantly, they stop talking and listen attentively. They build trust through what is said and done. Their competence is judged on how they make decisions and lead people. And, lastly they are people savvy. They are genuinely interested in others and get the job done through collaboration. Good leaders are not Lone Rangers. They do not expect others to be “just like them.” But rather, they recognize and leverage the talents of others for the benefit of the entire organization.
Remember, even though you, as a manager, may dislike giving feedback, your employees expect and need it from you. The complaints are not usually about the necessity to improve, but how the situation was inappropriately handled.
Feedback should NOT be limited to the times you do Performance Evaluations but should be an ongoing process between a manager and her or his team. The results are good grades in the four qualities of effective leadership mentioned above.
TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK
Rule of 3 x 3
effective feedbackBert Decker is his book, You’ve Got To Be Believed to be Heard, talks about his 3 x 3 Rule when giving feedback. His method forces the manager to give balanced feedback by focusing on three strengths and three areas of development when analyzing performance and behavior. Capping it to three keeps the information succinct and easily remembered. Decker says, “Receiving three bits of feedback at a time allows people to make course corrections, like a guided missile, as they keep moving onward and upward. The goal is not to flatten someone’s ego but rather to give them encouragement and to challenge them to improve.
Focus on Performance, Not Personality
The most effective way to discuss areas requiring improvement is to focus on observable actions, not attitudes. By limiting your criticism to what you see with your own two eyes, it will help you refrain from judgments that can trigger a defensive reaction. An example might be, “I have heard you making a number of personal telephone calls lately, is there something going on that you need our support for?” That is better than saying, “You seem to be making a number of personal calls lately, and this has become very disruptive.”
Certain Words Create Problems
Words that are dangerous when evaluating performance are always, never, and worst. If you let slip any of these words, you are overstating your case and not focusing on actual performance. Far better to say, “I’ve seen you do this three times this week.”
New managers who are not accustomed to providing feedback will often sound accusatory when they are trying to assert their authority. If this is you, you will know you are on shaky ground if you find yourself using the word “you” followed by a negative comment. An example might be, “You didn’t meet the deadline we agreed to.” With this language, tensions will be inflamed and the result will be a resentful employee. Better to say, “We agreed to a Friday deadline. Can you tell me what problems you encountered?” This moves the employee into analyzing the situation rather than becoming defensive.
Use Questions to Give You Leverage
It is often helpful to let employees discover for themselves what could be improved. This tactic works especially well with high-ego performers who automatically resist any input they get as negative. Many new managers make the mistake of talking so much that employees feel like they are being scolded as a preschooler.
It is more beneficial to ask questions to flush out the situation. Prod the employee, in a non-threatening way, into evaluating his or her own performance in an area where you have concern. Stay totally involved in the process by allowing the employee to make recommendations for their own improvement. Learning “questioning skills” is a valuable tool and one that can be taught in the coaching process. Questioning helps you get a broader perspective on a situation and helps you avoid lapsing into the lecture mode.
Be Supportive
There is a fine line between advice and support. Advice involves telling someone how to solve a problem. Support on the other hand, makes the other person feel valued. It is well intentioned and shows a willingness to share observations and seek information to help the employee to succeed. It does not assert superiority or position. Like a friendly but curious detective, you want to investigate behavior rather than take a position that assigns right-wrong labels to a person.
Leaders are Always in Training
Just as professional athletes are in year-round training because they desire continuous improvement, so too should managers be in continuous training. Personal Executive Coaching has proven long-term benefits because executives learn to integrate the skills and apply them on the job. If you expect the best from your people then setting high expectations for yourself is both natural and positive. Set up your Free 30-minute Coaching Session by clicking the appropriate box on the right-hand panel.
Author
Barb McEwen is a well-known Master Executive Coach and Organizational Development Consultant who works with senior executives from around the world to help identify and assess developmental opportunities for both organizations and individuals.
Reprints
You are welcome to reprint these articles. The following quotation must be printed at the conclusion of each reprinted article.
Copyright Barb McEwen and 20/20 Executive Coaching, Inc. Barb McEwen is a well known, thought-provoking and inspirational speaker. You can reach her at: Barb.McEwen@2020ExecutiveCoaching.com. Learn how to be a more effective manager and leader. Check out her website at http://www.2020executivecoaching.com.
Have We Learned Nothing About Managing Change
Patrick, the baby of my extended family, started kindergarten this year. As a
graduate of pre-school, we thought he’d be right at home in his new class. But after
the very first day, he firmly announced that he wouldn’t be going back to school.
When questioned about this decision, he admitted that the teacher was nice enough,
and all his friends were glad to see him, but (and to Patrick, this was the deal
breaker) there was no naptime.
No naptime! In Patrick’s school, 5-year olds are being asked to “pay attention” from
8 am to 3 pm without an opportunity to rest and recharge. Have we learned nothing
about educating young children?
Which started me thinking about my work . . .
I’ve spent the past twenty years helping individuals and organizations thrive on
change. Yet, recently, I’ve seen leaders making some of the same mistakes I noticed
two decades ago. Have we learned nothing about managing change?
I don’t mean to minimize the complexity and chaos that leaders are facing. Rapidly
changing technologies make yesterday’s choices obsolete. The turbulent economy
increases pressure to “do more with less.” Companies rely on a shifting stream of
alliances – competitors one day and partners the next – and sometimes both at the
same time. Corporate reorganizing is becoming an annual affair. Mergers and
acquisitions are on the rise. Customers are demanding “better, faster, cheaper”
everything. Competition is fierce. The pace of change is accelerating. And
employees are increasingly skeptical about committing to business strategies that
are constantly being redefined.
Yet this is our reality – and in this world, leadership success belongs to those who
can keep a work force resilient, positive, and engaged while dealing with the
tsunami of change that is turning our organizations upside down. Here are the most
common mistakes leaders make managing large-scale organizational change and
the lessons we need to reinforce.
Mistake: Not understanding the importance of people. As high as 75 percent of all
major restructuring fails, not because of faulty strategy, but because of problems
with the “human dimension.” After years of research studies and statistics, we know
this for a fact. And yet, as recent as last month, a vice president facing the
transformation of her department asked me if she really had to include her
employees in planning for the change.
Lesson: Organizations don’t change. People do . . . or they don’t. If employees don’t
trust leadership, don’t share the organization’s vision, don’t understand the reason
for change, and aren’t included in the planning, there will be no successful change
regardless of how valid the need or how brilliant the strategy.
Mistake: Neglecting the emotional side of change. Transformation requires a
redefinition of who we are and what we do. It’s often unpredictable (responding to
unforeseen circumstance) and unnerving (requiring employees and businesses to
reinvent themselves while they are at the top of their game). It can twist people’s
past success into their greatest obstacle for the future. It’s highly emotional.
Lesson: To lead an organization (or a department or a team) through
transformation, it is not enough just to appeal to people’s logic, you also have to
touch them emotionally. Change leadership is about creating meaning. Employees
need to be engaged by a vision of the future, and to be inspired to execute that
vision. This takes leaders with a deep understanding of human emotion, who can
see the power of intangibles and can capture the imagination of an entire work force
in the pictures they paint and the stories they tell.
Mistake: Not being candid. Under the rationale of protecting people, leaders present
change with a too positive “spin.” And the more they “sugar-coat” the truth, the
wider the trust gap grows between management and workers. Organizational
communicators, perceived as the purveyors of corporate propaganda, lose
credibility as well.
Lesson: Honest communication goes beyond simply telling the truth when it’s
advantageous. It requires an unprecedented openness and transparency: a
proactive, even aggressive, sharing of everything – financials, strategy, business
opportunities, risks, failures. People need pertinent information about demographic,
global, economic, technological, competitive, and industry trends. They need to
understand the economic reality of the business and how their actions impact that
reality.
Mistake: Defining “change communication” as what employees hear or read from
officially sanctioned sources. Reflecting this belief, leaders focus most of their
attention on traditional communication vehicles — speeches, newsletters, videos,
intranets, email, etc. Yet, from the employees’ perspective, traditional
communication accounts for only ten percent of what convinces them to change.
Lesson: The most powerful change communication, accounting for 90 percent of
what impacts a work force, is divided evenly between organizational structure
(whatever punishes or rewards) and leadership behavior. Rhetoric without congruent
action quickly disintegrates into empty slogans. A communication strategy that is
not aligned with organizational systems and the actions of leaders is useless.
Mistake: Trying to lead change with command and control tactics. In a command
and control culture, only top executives are expected to solve problems, make
decisions, and set the change agenda. Such a limited view not only places an
enormous burden on senior management to come up with all the answers, it also
restricts the contributions of the rest of the organization and widens the division
between them and us.
Lesson: A company’s competitive advantage is a combination of the potential of its
people, the quality of the information that people possess, and the ability to share
that knowledge with others in the organization. During transformation, leadership’s
primary challenge is to link these components as tightly as possible. The most
successful change strategies are highly collaborative. Developed in participative
sessions, these strategies capitalize on the wisdom, experience, and creativity of
employees throughout the organization.
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. coaches executives, facilitates management retreats,
helps change teams develop strategies, and delivers keynote speeches and seminars
to association and business audiences around the world. Carol is the author of nine
books, including “This Isn’t the Company I Joined” – How to Lead in a Business
Turned Upside Down. She can be reached by phone: 510-526-1727, email:
CGoman@CKG.com, or through her website: http://www.CKG.com.
Managing Your Small Business
Most small businesses fail within the first three years because of a lack of management on the part of the owner. Most people who start a business love the excitement of the start-up phase but don’t understand that you must have a plan and provide direction for the business.
The success of any business depends on people. You can’t build and grow a business without people. You have to take the time to hire good people and help them set goals. You have to be able to manage, motivate, and lead employees, which is something most business owners don’t know how to do. Employees today are more educated, experienced, and knowledgeable than ever before and they won’t work for a business that has a hardball style of management.
One of the first important keys to building a successful business is to put in a system that is flexibile. You cannot keep people pigeonholed in organizational boxes. Your business will succeed or fail based on how you manipulate and sometimes circumvent cut-and-dried rules and regulations. The success of your business will depend on how flexible you are in managing people.
If you’re flexible, your management system won’t be a system. Rules and regulations won’t be set in stone. They’ll be guidelines. You need this freedom to provide excellent customer service. For example, if you’ve promised to ship a customer’s order the same day but the new order system won’t let you ship it until tomorrow, you circumvent the system and ship it today.
There are two types of employees, those who care and those who don’t. Break the rules for those who care. For example, if your employee policy calls for two week paid vacation and one of your good employees has a family emergency, you give him or her the time they need and not charge it to their vacation time.
On the other hand it is important to be inflexible when it comes to ethics and principles. And especially on things such as expense controls, quality, working hours, and substance abuse.
Today’s employees are complex, frustrating, unpredictable, and potentially rewarding in a big way. They are your number one asset in today’s highly competitive business world. A flexible management style and flexible employees, then, are strengths that can help your business grow and prosper.
The best framework is only as good as the people that oversee it which is why to be successful you must have good people. You must constantly search for the best people. But once you have good people it’s important that you’re patient. Even the best people don’t become superstars overnight. They require time to develop, mature, and learn.
When you’re looking for a good employee, you can get a good indication of how he or she will perform based on how he or she performed in the past. Trust yesterday’s actions, not today’s words. And always look for those people who embrace change. Resistance in the ranks of top management impedes growth and destroys opportunity.
Once you have assembled a team for you business make sure they are compatible. They must agree on the company’s goals and that a cohesive team is worth working for. Your employees must be able to work in a group and leverage their skills by working with others. Always look for team spirit.
If your business is growing slowly, find and develop superstars from within your business. If you’re growing rapidly, find them outside. And always pay your best people extraordinarily well and help them solve their problems.
As the business owner it is your responsibility to provide the vision, mission, and goals for the business. Your vision needs to be broad and say where the company will be in five or ten years. And not just in sales of product, but in distribution, markets, manufacturing capability, and anything else you think will ensure your company’s survival and growth.
Put your vision in writing for your employees. They deserve to know where they’re headed.
The mission for your business is what gives direction to your vision. It’s a plan of action that has to be understood and implemented by the entire team. That is why you need to involve every person in your business to help develop the mission. Involvement paves the way for commitment.
A good mission provides focus, defines direction, differentiates you from the competition, and communicates your niche. Put the mission on the walls of your business, in manuals, and memos. Then set company, department, and performance goals that will achieve your company’s mission.
Empowerment by itself isn’t enough, you must establish a culture that encourages accountability, allows for mistakes, and welcomes change. But you need the right employees for this culture to work. Empowerment won’t turn inferior employees into superior ones, but it can turn good ones into great ones. Besides, you’ll find that the best people like empowerment because it allows them to contribute to their fullest.
Empowerment starts with your own heart. If you don’t truly feel that employees can or should be empowered, they won’t be. Begin by letting people help make decisions, set goals, define roles, and assist in setting missions and strategies. People need to be given a voice before they’ll accept the responsibility of empowerment.
Employees also need to understand the business. They must share your vision, responsibilities, and even your financial statements. And consider sharing equity. You may have heard the old story that people don’t want the reins if they don’t know the horse.
Most business owners have problem focusing. Many of them waste time focusing on jobs that someone else in the business can do better. Many businesses offer too many products and services. They often try to provide the fastest delivery and the best quality at the lowest prices. Just as the owner can’t be all things to the business, the business can’t be all things to the marketplace.
To manage your business successfully you must learn to give your undivided attention to tasks, meetings, and conversations. You must make good choices for yourself and for your company and limit activities to those you can and have time to achieve. You must be able to prioritize long and short-term projects and learn to say no. You must understand that concentration is a cultural issue. If you can’t focus neither will your employees.
It is important to understand that it doesn’t matter what you think or believe. What matters is what your employees perceive you think or believe. If they perceive you don’t care about their problems, then they won’t care about yours. If they perceive that quality is not important to you, it won’t be important to them. If they perceive you believe customers are trouble, they’ll treat them poorly.
Anytime you communicate with your employees, prepare your words carefully. Always hear your words from their perspective.
Business owners cannot escape the 80-20 rule which shows how hard it is to avoid putting in so much time for meager results. This rule states that 80 percent of your profits come from 20 percent of your customers. 80 percent of your output comes from 20 percent of your employees. 80 percent of your people problems come from 20 percent of the people. 80 percent of the sales come from 20 percent of the sales force. 80 percent of the headaches come from 20 percent of the responsibilities. And 80 percent of the your success comes from 20 percent of your efforts.
The 80-20 rule both helps and reveals problem areas. On the one hand, you know to take good care of your top 20 percent of your customers or employees. On the other hand, it means you must work to improve the productivity of the rest of the work force. Or cater to the other 80 percent of customers more efficiently.
There is never just one reason for success or failure. If your business is a success, it’s because you’ve hired right, focused, made a good product, provided excellent service, and planned well.
Plan, prioritize, and pay attention to detail. Hold people accountable. Refuse to be satisfied. Everything matters, big things, little things, and in-between things. Knowing this, “rule of many reasons” is the key to managing your business successfully.
Copyright©2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. He is the founder and CEO of JLM & Associates, a consulting and training organization, specializing in personal and business development. Through his seminars and lectures, Joe Love addresses thousands of men and women each year, including the executives and staffs of many of America’s largest corporations, on the subjects of leadership, self-esteem, goals, achievement, and success psychology.
Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com
Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com
Managing Your Major Sales – 7 Steps That Could Change The Way You Pursue Business
Ever lost a sale you thought was in the bag? Not an unfamiliar feeling for many businesses large and small. No matter how good you think your product or service is, everything finally boils down to your ability to convince others that it is good for them. It is all about getting the decision makers who matter to say “Yes”.
In major sales the whole approach is fundamentally different to small scale selling and requires a very different set of skills and techniques. Being competent in the small, simple sale is no guarantee of success in larger scale selling. The traditional techniques and “tricks of the trade” such as closing don’t seem to work in quite the same way in the more complex large scale sale. They are replaced by precise planning, information gathering and behavioural skills that build trust in the minds of the decision makers. Fundamental to this is the development of a detailed understanding of how decisions are made in your target customer and who the key players are.
So what constitutes a major sale? For most businesses they have a number of characteristics:
1. A lengthy sales cycle. This can vary from a few days to a few months or more depending on the industry.
2. Multiple decision makers. Any decision becomes complex as soon as more than one person is involved in making it. Understanding who these people are and their role in the process is vital if you are to improve your chances of success.
3. High potential value/importance. This varies from business to business. If your turnover is
Managing Yo-Yo Style
Does being managed by others smack more of “Survivor” than Stephen Covey for you? Could there BE any more management styles out therehave you gotten to experience all of them yet? And what kind of manager are youor should you try to be?
If you’re reading this, you’re probably familiar with too many types of management and leadership stylesmore flavors than months, for the most part. On the leadership, not so much. I offer to you now an additional insight into a newly designated style that you will recognize, and may even find funny. Or not, depending on life at work.
And speaking of life at work, what could be more fun than children’s toys at work? How about just the thought of them? No, waithow about BEING them?
Before I go on, I must tell you I am at work on a book on management styles, because we definitely need more fun at work, but this type of “leadership” stands alone, and was recognized and developed by a colleague and myself, with one disclaimer only: No alcoholic beverages were consumed in the making of this theory!
Now back to our theory, which shall be forever called The Yo-Yo Style of Management
Building the Trust in Your Employees – 12 Easy Tips
In Stephen Covey’s great book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, he talks about the ‘emotional bank account’, where you have to build a credit in your relationship with the individuals who you work with (and everyone else as well!).
If what you do isn’t ‘trustworthy’, then all you have done in your gentle listening and asking great and interested questions to build, is to ‘debit’ your account. And if you do more of this than the credit you build, then you will never get your folks on your side. But what is trust?
You can’t invest more wisely than by listening fully to what interests the person you are in conversation with. So, ask more questions about what they tell you. Easy as that – it’s a simple tool, but really builds trust too.
Here are a few other things which generate their trust in you:-
- Tell the truth
Sounds simple, yet often it is done without thinking. On busy days what you say does get taken in, yet you forget. Don’t! People hang on what you say – so it must be the truth!
- Keep promises (or don’t make them)
A biggy this. What you say holds a far greater importance to the person you say it to than maybe you, who say so much stuff all day long. If you say you will do something for someone, then do it – or don’t say you will.
- Follow through on what you say you will do
And separate from promises. Actions. Your people look on you to facilitate their delivery of the business. You can smooth things out, make things happen, provide resources. So if you say you are going to fix things, then please do it! Hey, even more, do a little more!
- Don’t be interrupted – give yourself fully in a conversation
When you are talking with your people make sure you give them full attention and the courtesy of enough time. Put them first not second (or even third). Switch your phone or pager off. Put off other interruptions.
- Be fair to all
By ensuring that you treat all of your people the same, you will build their trust hugely. It is a sense of sharing and caring that comes from everyone, even you, being equal in an emotional sense, so building a common bond.
- Have no favourites
You need to be disciplined enough that you have no closer ‘friends’ than everyone. If you treat some people more ‘equally’ than others, it sure gets noticed, creates divisions and loses that pulling together which you need.
- Be consistent
Your folks get twitchy if you are erratic in your behaviour and attitudes. By modifying your behaviours to be consistent (and if you aren’t have someone tell you).
- Stick to your own rules – model behaviours
And in the thing about consistency and fairness and no favourites, remember you. You cannot be different. You cannot afford to behave in a way that shows favouritism to yourself.
- Understand mistakes and help others learn and not be afraid
Your people who you want onside need to be nurtured and cared for. Encouraged and engaged. It needs you to be able to relieve their fear of getting things wrong. Your people can make mistakes. It’s OK! Then you will get them experimenting and trying stuff – all of which will be generating great solutions. Let them!
- Realise what’s important to others may not be apparent
People always have things which are important to them – and it isn’t always their work! So find out what it is and honour that – it builds their trust in you, because you value them.
- Face people with issues rather than tell others
If you have issues or problems with people, be honest with them and let them know. It’s about what they do and not about them as people – but be honest enough to work with them and not talk about them behind their back
- Let go sometimes – trust them to do their best
Your people try their best – by acknowledging them for this, they will trust you more and more.
Building trust is not only the most valuable thing that you can do with your people, but it is the most important thing that you must do.
© 2005 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide,
mainly by phone, with small business owners, executives and corporate leaders. He
has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website,
http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.
(Note to editors. Feel free to use this article, wherever you think it might be of value – it would be good if you could include a live link)
…helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow…