By Gary Wiram
On two occasions in the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of attending meetings of the Executive Officers Club, at Portland’s Multnomah Athletic Club. There were numerous positive experiences associated with these events, that merit comment. However, the most notable experience, as it relates to this blog, came from The Keynote Speaker for the most recent meeting I attended. His name was Tim Gard and his topic was “Business Humor”. Before sharing my views on the noteworthiness of Mr. Gard and his presentation, relative to the SOL&D blog, let me tell you a bit about Tim and his perspective on “Business Humor”.
Tim Gard is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) who focuses on dealing with stressful circumstances in business, through humor. Most prominent in the multiple methods and techniques that Tim employs is his utilization of props. As an example, Tim has a nicely printed and bound booklet entitled “My Official Policy Manual”, that he carries with him. When he finds himself in a circumstance such as having a Flight Attendant tell him that “Its against the policy of the airline to upgrade a Coach Seat to First Class”, when Coach is oversold, he can pull out his “My Official Policy Manual”, to show them a differing policy, thus breaking any tension and often, getting himself a First Class upgrade. The prop that I think tells the most about Tim’s methodology, without giving you his whole presentation, is his Major Credit Card. Here are the basics on this:
- As a CSP, Tim travels a lot and he’s found that, often, he arrives at his destination hotel fairly late.
- In this circumstance, Tim will walk up to the Reception Desk and say, “Hi, I’m Tim Gard and I have a reservation.” He’s found that, consistently, the Reception Desk Clerk will look up and say, “What is your name sir? Do you have a reservation and do you have a major credit card?” Thus Tim’s development of a prop to help diffuse this annoying situation, that can become more and more stressful.
- Tim’s Major Credit Card is credit-card-sized but it doesn’t have raised, imprinted information. Its green with white printing that includes his own logo in the lower right corner. The rest of the printed information includes: “This is a MAJOR CREDIT CARD”, Tim’s 1 800 number + 0000 (in the place of the credit card number) and the name Ima Traveler.
- At first, being presented with Tim’s Major Credit Card can cause some bewilderment. So, typically, the clerk will ask for “Some other form of identification.” You guessed it, when you turn Tim’s Major Credit Card over, the backside is printed with the words “Here is SOME OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFICATION”, along with his Web site and other contact information. With this, usually any building anxiety is broken and often, Tim winds up with a room upgrade.
Hopefully, you now have a general understanding of Tim Gard’s approach to the topic of “Business Humor”. But the question remains, where does this fit in with Selling? For "the rest of the story", go to http://garywiram.wordpress.com/2009/02/23/selling-and-business-humor/
By Dave Brock
Yesterday, I was speaking to a colleague. He had a though provoking observation. One of the companies he is working with has adopted an interesting policy. They refuse to let their sales people use the economy as an excuse---their sales are up 10%.
I started thinking about other conversations and reviews I have been involved in and how so many are using the economy as an excuse for not performing. It's true, the economy may be making things tougher---we may finally have to work for a living.
However, the need for solutions to help most of our customers has never been greater! Over the past couple of weeks, I have written about secrets to success---making your customers money and saving them money. These needs have never been more obvious or more compelling. Many organizations have no choice, they have to do something--but many don't know what to do.
This is an opportunity for sales professionals to provide real leadership! It's an opportunity for us to demonstrate our value to our customers. It's an opportunity for us to really help them in ways that are meaningful--potentially their survival.
I fully realize this is not easy, but isn't this the time for real professionals to step up their performance and prove what they are made of.
I'm going to start challenging all of may clients not to use the economy as an excuse for non performance. Every business and sales executive should be doing the same. Imagine what might happen!
What are your suggestions on how we can overcome this excuse and move back into producing results?
By Steven Rosen
The day to day demands of business, emails, meetings and phone calls gets the best of us. This constant flow of “stuff” coming at us often interferes with that “good” feeling of achievement. The reality is, this is all busy work. What percentage of emails and voice messages actually impact our goals? I would say less than 10%. Why then, do we spend so much time responding and reading these emails?
Have you spent any time thinking about what your goals for 2009 either career or personal? How would you describe your personal grand slam? What would make you the MVP in your organization? Please take a couple minutes, close your eyes and think about what are the successes you would like to achieve in 2009. Visualize how you would feel achieving these successes. Now, commit to the process and write these successes down on a piece of paper.
You have now decided what success looks like for you in 2009! Next task…What is your motivation to achieve your success goals? What are the reasons, the burning desires that make these success goals important to you? You need to tap into why these goals are important to you. I am not talking about financial successes and what they can buy. I am talking about your psyche. What internal feelings or needs would be fulfilled by achieving your success goals? Is it recognition, sense of pride, praise, rewards for success, feelings of one’s own competence and effort, a desire to be effective or make a difference?
You are almost there. You know your success goals, why they are important to you and what motivates you to achieve them. The next question is the tough one. How are you going to achieve your goals? These are your tactics. What are the two or three things that will help you focus on to achieve this success? What are the most powerful actions that will lead to your success? When it comes to spending energy and effort which activities will provide you with the greatest return towards your success in 2009? The most important piece of this focus reflection exercise is to write down all your thoughts and communicate them to someone on your team. The act of writing turns your plan into action.
Congratulations on your efforts to focus on success in 2009. If you have taken the time to write down your successes, internal motivation and actions these will all contribute to your success and you will have a 50% chance of making it happen. To increase the likelihood of achieving your success goals in 2009 you should communicate and commit to your goals to a friend or colleague. If you are really motivated, hire a coach who will hold you accountable to the process of staying focused on achieving success in 2009.
Focused on your success,
Steven Rosen, MBA
Sales Management Guru
Coaching - Training - Consulting
www.starresults.com
By Dave Brock
There was an interesting thought posed in LinkedIn today: “Good sales people make good sales managers.” It went on to ask the characteristics of good sales managers. The question struck a chord, a dissonant one, provoking me to respond. I’m sure I have missed a lot of characteristics of great sales managers, and would ask for your addition, deletions, edits. Here’s my response and the list I started with:
Great sales people are sometimes the worst sales managers. Likewise, some mediocre sales people end up being stellar sales managers.
There is a long list of leadership skills/traits that are important for managers. I will stay away from repeating these.
Some specific areas that I think are often overlooked for sales managers:
1. Very process oriented. Today's sales manager cannot be involved in every deal, issue or transaction. They have to have a strong process in place, make certain their people understand and are executing the process. The sales manager has to continually monitor the process, taking deep dives in problem areas to help their people address them.
2. Disciplined and performance oriented. Closely tied to the previous point, the sales manager must have a strong focus on performance and performance improvement. This requires having the right metrics in place, making sure people understand what they are accountable for, giving them the opportunity to perform, being there to coach them when they have problems, and being prepared to take the appropriate actions if performance problems are not resolved.
3. Loyalty to the organization and their people. The sales manager is often caught between a rock and a hard place---the objectives of the organization sometimes come into conflict with what is best for the team. Effective sales managers are actively involved in setting organizational strategies and priorities (at least in terms of sales) and engage the sales people in executing them--though they may resist---which requires strong engagement and coaching. At the same time, sometimes the "organization" is insensitive to the sales people. The sales manager needs to defend the sales people to the organization, making sure they are heard.
3. Strong business orientation and focus. Make the right business decisions—both for the customer, for the sales organization, and for the business. Understanding how businesses work and what drives them.
4. Incessantly customer focused. If I have to say more, then we really don’t understand the point of professional selling.
5. Incessantly curious---driven to learn and improve. Incessantly curious about solving customer problems. Incessantly curious about the art and science of professional selling—driven to improve the performance of each individual in the organization, the organization as a whole, his own personal performance, and the business. This means they probably spend much more time asking questions and listening then they do talking.
6. Appropriately compassionate. Understand what drives people—customers, sales people, support people, others in the organization. Able to understand their points of view and what drives them. Able to communicate and work with them in a matter that demonstrates respect and trust. At the same time, able to make tough decisions—but with compassion based on the impact on individuals.
7. Able to sublimate their egos. Sales management is about leadership, growing and developing people, growing and developing the organization, growing and developing the business. It is not about how great you are and your past victories. It requires admitting you are wrong when you are. It requires being able to change your point of view.
8. Problem solvers. Driven by solving problems, finding ways to overcome obstacles, not being wed to the past. Creative and innovative in adapting new approaches to address issues and improve the business.
9. High energy. Constantly moving forward, setting strong examples for everyone around. Note, I am not saying high activity, high meeting orientation. High energy is different than meaningless activities.
10. Value, principle driven. Without a strong value system, a manager has no context in which to make decisions and drive the organization. Without sticking to the values and principles, the organization will wander and not produce results.
11. Thoughtful, reflective, good sense of humor. Self explanatory.
12. Able to leap tall buildings without tripping. Sales managers don’t need to have a big “S” on their chests, but they need to inspire and motivate others.
I’m sure I’ve missed some and could go into much more detail on each item. But I look for all of these in hiring great sales managers!
What would you add? Are there any you would eliminate?
By Steffi Paskow
Economic Downturn Creates Sales Opportunities
Let’s face it we all know that organizations are laying off employees and going out of business. Who will be left when the dust settles? YOU!
But FIRST you must START by leveraging & growing your database of contacts. That’s where it all began, right?
5 STEPS TO INCREASE YOUR PIPELINE OF LEADS
1. You MUST BELIEVE that you will always have a flow of qualified “Probable Buyers.” Think lead flow so you can ATTRACT lead flow!
2. Get CREATIVE! Leverage your *CRM database.
• Market to your contacts by creating mass mailings
• Target campaigns by segmenting your audience
• Conduct campaign analysis
• Export lists & hand-off to direct mail houses and partner agencies
• Contact the CRM manufacturer to learn about new marketing ideas
3. Read the Latest News about your probable buyers. Be sensitive to market conditions & be strategic with your approach. http://news.google.com
4. Prepare your Qualifying Questions in advance with the purpose of seeking to understand what’s happening in their industry and how your services and products will help them.
5. Create a “Probable Buyer” Feeder System ™:
• Identify & contact your Lead Influencer ™ - a person who understands what you’re offering and wants to help you succeed by giving you leads (Customers, Friends, Co-workers, Relatives, Past Customers, etc…)
• Join social networking groups:
o www.linkedin
o www.facebook.com
o www.twitter.com
• Start a Blog www.blogger.com
• Partner up with other professionals who target the same buyers
• Seek out Speaking Engagements
• Join a Trade Association
• Ask for referrals
What are you waiting for? Start Right Now!
***if interested...the Marketing & Sales Community has additional fresh new ideas..
http://marketingsmart.ning.com/
*Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term applied to processes implemented by a company to handle its contact with its customers. CRM software is used to support these processes, storing information on current and prospective customers. Information in the system can be accessed and entered by employees in different departments (www.wikipedia.org).
