Cleveland Sales Talk

Recently I had been spending some time reading, well, actually listening to Jim Collins and two of his books, Good To Great and then Great by Choice. They are amazing looks at business and led me to believe that truly successful companies are surrounded by great individuals.

At my Toastmasters club, Towpath Talkers, I did a speech on one of the the concepts in Good to Great, the Hedgehog Concept, called "Good is the Enemy of Great". The concept is about taking three distinct areas to focus on and finding the sweet spot at the intersection of all three. The three core competencies are 1) be passionate about what you do, 2) find your key economic indicator and 3) find out what your company is best at in the world. You have to have all three to become great. You can get all of this and more in his books and I have links below for each.

What made me think about this once again was the article, Newbie leadership mistakes and the important lessons learned, on Smartblog for Leadership. The 8 specific tips are by promising young entrepreneurs. Read this great article here.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

Labels: Business, Good To Great, Hedgehog Concept, leadership, management, Sales

Have you read the Steve Jobs biography yet?? It is on my living room coffee table. Can't wait to dig into it as I have been a huge fan and supporter of Apple since 1995.

In the interim, I have read an article from the Wall Street Journal about utilizing the biography and applying some of Steve Jobs' principles. Bio as Bible: Managers Imitate Steve Jobs.

You can get the book at Amazon.com by clicking on this image.

Labels: Business, Innovation, leadership, management

This is very good information here from my favorite folks at Selling Power. 11 great questions get answered in this two-part article. Enjoy!!

Managing a sales team is a lot like coaching a sports team. In both cases, you've got to balance varying levels of skill among the team, put routine practices in place to help them achieve peak performance, and ultimately lead them to a winning season or quarter. Selling Power recently hosted a Webinar on the topic of sales management and sales coaching ("Accelerated Sales Success through Effective Coaching") featuring Selling Power CEO Gerhard Gschwandtner and Sales Readiness Group president David Jacoby. In this two-part Q&A, Jacoby provides answers to the top questions that were asked during the Webinar. (To listen to the full recording of the live Webinar, click here.)

This is Part 1 - http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article.php?a=9570

This is Part 2 - http://www.sellingpower.com/content/article.php?a=9572&nr=1

Labels: leadership, management, Sales, Self-Development, Training

I  just took an old cassette tape of the audiobook of the One-Minute Manager and recorded it onto my Mac and now was able to put it onto my iPod and had the opportunity to listen to this in the car. I have a print copy of this book by Spencer Johnson & Ken Blanchard and even though this book is now 30 years old it still resonates great leadership traits that can be used each and every day.

Here is a brief summary of the three specific areas on one-minute managing compiled by the editors at Selling Power. Great stuff. Apply it today.

The First Secret: One-Minute Goals

All good performance starts with clear goals. Ken Blanchard once had breakfast with Lou Holtz, the head coach of the Notre Dame football team. Holtz kept a little book for himself and one for each of his players in which everyone wrote individual and team goals for the season. Why did he use these books? He told Blanchard, "Of all my experiences in managing people, the power of goal setting is the most incredible."

Create a model for good behavior by agreeing on your goals up front. Make sure you write out each of your goals. Limit the number of goals to five. Write down what the present level of performance is on each goal and then what level you want. The discrepancy between the actual and desired goal becomes the area for improvement.

Give yourself a deadline for reaching that new level. Make several copies of your goals for home and work so you can refer to them daily. Look at your goals, then look at your behavior and see if it matches your goals.

The Second Secret: One-Minute Praisings

The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right, rather than blame them for doing something wrong. Yet most managers persist in basically leaving their people alone until they make a mistake that's noticeable. Then the manager criticizes. Blanchard called that a "leave-alone-zap" management style, or "seagull management." "Seagull managers" fly in, make a lot of noise, dump on everyone, and then fly out.

Tell people beforehand that you're going to let them know how they're doing. Then emphasize three main points with praisings. Be immediate. Don't save praisings for a holiday.

Next, be specific. Just saying "good job" is nice but not very helpful.

Third, share your feelings about their work. Tell people how good you feel about the right things they've done and how it helps the organization and their co-workers. Stop for a moment to let them enjoy feeling how good you feel. End with a reaffirmation, and encourage them to keep up the good work.

The Third Secret: One-Minute Reprimands

What do you do when people don't perform well or make limited or no progress? You have to hold them accountable.

The first remedy for poor performance should be redirection, which means going back to goal setting, trying to find out what went wrong, and getting them back on track. Never reprimand or punish someone who's trying to learn, but if you're dealing with somebody who knows better (i.e., someone who has performed a similar task well in the past), then a "one-minute reprimand" might be appropriate.

Reprimand people immediately. Tell people exactly how you feel about what they did wrong. Then pause. This helps you transition to the most important part of a reprimand: reaffirmation. Reaffirm that you think well of them but not of their performance in this situation. You want to get them back on course, not try to make them feel bad. Remind them how much you value them. Realize that when the reprimand is over, it's over.

Labels: Business, leadership, management, Self-Development

Great blog post by Jeb Brooks from the Brooks Group.

4.25 Predictions for How Companies Will Change Sales Behavior in 2011.

Enjoy!

Labels: Business, management, Sales

Over the last several weeks there have been many planning sessions and discussions about the success of our 2011 budget forecast. We have the overall objective set with five definitive and measurable goals assigned. Those goals are supported by five strategies and a wealth of tactics to support those strategies. My budget binder is almost complete and I am feeling very organized heading into the new year.

I have all of my performance reviews scheduled with my team this coming week so that 2010 can be reviewed and of course have those individual plans presented so we can get those territories on the same page with the regions plan.

I have the reporting set up so that there can be items easily tracked, measured and bench-marked for the new year. Our marketing plan is well thought out and focused to accomplish our goals on many fronts. Our consultant incentive program is geared for achieving success in the budget goals as well as growing commissions and rewarding performance.

Now, with that being said, we can do all of the planning, organizing, strategizing, budgeting, team-building and cheerleading as possible and it stills comes down to a couple of key components to have a successful 2011. One is EXECUTE. Meaning, to carry out; accomplish or "execute the plan". Without execution the best laid plans can be thrown in the trash. Second is ACCOUNTABILITY. Meaning, responsible to someone or for some action; answerable or "being held accountable". There has to be some form of accountability to the execution of the plan and in the achievement of our goals for all parties involved.

The keys to a successful 2011 is to have a great plan (failing to plan is planning to fail) that you can execute (actions speak louder than words) and make sure everyone is accountable (about meeting the established expectations).

Have a great and successful 2011!

Labels: Business, leadership, management, Planning

Recently had the opportunity to read a manifesto that Robert Bloom wrote. It was called Looking Around The Corner and shatters some old-school thought processes of looking ahead every year. He comments that, "This fixation on an obsolete planning process guarantees that firms that use it will not keep pace with the rapid, substantive changes in our business world".

As I plan for the new year of 2011 and develop the strategies and tactics necessary to achieve our overall objective, this doc hits home and gets the creative juices flowing on how we will go to market in a multitude of areas.

Great stuff. Get it at Change This.

Labels: Business, Innovation, leadership, management, Performance, Planning, Productivity, Profit, Sales

Great article. Identifying these seven deadly habits that can affect an executives career. A little bit like a 'what not to do' article.


In the past two decades, 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs have lasted less than 3 years. Top executive failure rates as high as 75% and rarely less than 30%. Chief executives now are lasting 7.6 years on a global average down from 9.5 years in 1995. According to the Harvard Business Review, 2 out of 5 new CEOs fail in their first 18 months on the job. It appears that the major reason for the failure has nothing to do with competence, or knowledge, or experience, but rather with hubris and ego and a leadership style out of touch with modern times.


Read the article now.

Labels: Business, leadership, management, Personal Development

5 Steps to Better Ride-Alongs By Heather Baldwin

Through the one-on-one connection of a ride-along, you can learn firsthand about your reps' strengths and weaknesses, what excites them, what makes them uncomfortable, and their goals and aspirations - knowledge that is essential to good management.


Article | SellingPower.com

Labels: management, Planning, Sales, Training

The Performance Review. I have been doing performance reviews of sales people since 1997 and I conduct them every quarter. For the longest time is was associated with taking a look at the most recent quarter and spending upwards of an hour or more in finding all of the substandard results and benchmarks not achieved by that particular sales person. There were moments where you could extend some praises about their performance, but, this review process was not about feeling good all the time. This was supposed to be used to point out the shortcomings and to continue the training of the individual being reviewed. It always ended up being about the numbers and what was not getting done.

My initial goals about these reviews revolved around three basic principles. One was taking a brief look at the past, the most recent quarter, and possibly further back if there were some trends happening that needed further conversation. The second principle was about the present and what was being done to move towards achieving all of the stated performance standards. The last principle  is basically the future and focused on activities and tasks to accomplish the annual and/or long term goals.

The most recent quarter that just ended I decided to take a new approach to the reviews that I was conducting. With everything that is going on in the industry, i.e., customers are buying less, customers are shopping, the competition getting a bit creative and no real business growth overall, I found that I didn’t spend as much time on the past quarter and pounding the reps about the numbers. As I said in all my reviews, “I can’t change or fix these numbers”. I probably spent 15%-20% of the review looking at the numbers versus the old average of 75%-80%. It was refreshing to just highlight some numbers and discuss where they were at and get some feedback from them on the numbers.

Where I spent the majority of the  time was on creating new ideas, bringing support to the rep, looking at ways to enhance commissions and more time engaging the rep in conversation and active listening to provide support. We spent time on the following key areas:

• Reviewing each account and where we were at with them and if needed what support can be given to enhance that particular account.
• Finding ways to enhance their income.
• Removing challenges and obstacles.
• Using technology to help with their sales.
• Providing tools/resources to assist them in their sales.

I know that this new and updated way that I am doing performance reviews is not cutting edge. I do find that these latest reviews would sometimes go 2 hours or more and it would be me having to work at ending the review. These were positive and the two-way discussions we energetic and rewarding. I can’t wait until the next quarter!!

Labels: Business, management, Performance

As your organization gears up for 2010, here are 50 ways to ensure that it's culture is conducive to innovation.

This is a great list and as you do some digging around through the links throughout the list, which I recommend doing, there are some very good and more in-depth info.

Enjoy this list as you head into the new year.

http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2009/12/50_ways_to_fost_1.shtml

Labels: Business, Innovation, management, Productivity

This months newsletter had a couple of great topics. Enjoy!

THE 10 "DON'TS" OF PRESENTING PRICE

SALES MANAGEMENT: NOT FOR THE TIMID OR FAINT OF HEART

Labels: management, Sales, Self-Development

Tough Times Call for Solid Leadership

Whether uncertain times are specific to the region you lead, your company, your industry or a broader scenario like today, all sales leaders will need to lead their team through a difficult and challenging economic environment at some point in their careers. And when it's here, you can count on increased pressure to produce top-line results. So regardless of how things are looking for you today, here are some common pitfalls and insights that you’d do well to be aware of.

Read the entire article here.

Labels: Business, leadership, management, Sales

The best TV show ever created about leadership and management starts a new season Tuesday night.

It's Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. If you don't know DC, it follows several crab-fishing boats through the Bering Sea as their crews risk life and limb (literally) and work like mules (figuratively) so that you can have bisque.

I have never been a huge fan of the show but after reading this article I may just have to check it out. I have sold product to restaurants that came from this show thru the Crab Broker.

Read the entire article at Harvard Business.

Labels: Business, leadership, management

Reading an article this morning at the Wall Street Journal Online about workplace productivity and motivating your staff. They listed five must-read books on ways to increase productivity. Here were the top five:

"The Human Side of Enterprise" by Douglas McGregor
"Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
"The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action" by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton
"Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge" by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus
"Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball" by Vincent Gennaro

I haven't read any of these personally, but, most likely in these current times may just get some of these. If you have ever read any of these books I would appreciate hearing from you and your comments.

Labels: Business, Education, management, Productivity

A great article from Politico.com. Take a situation that needs some quick, level headed decision making and this article hits a home run. Read on!

An economy that’s shedding nearly 600,000 jobs per month is in complete free fall – just like an airplane that’s lost both its engines. So in this time of economic crisis, it’s worth looking for lessons from the one man who really knows how to handle a crash: Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.

It turns out, Sully’s crash landing was more than just a miracle on the Hudson. It was a case study of leadership in a crisis. Washington politicians would do well to ask themselves one question: What would Sully do?

Here are the top five lessons from the crash of flight 1549.

Labels: Business, leadership, management, Personal Development

In starting with my reading challenge for 2009, I have started a hardcover book, but, I also started on an audiobook since I am traveling often. My first choice was Jim Collins. His book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't was a great first choice and it didn't take that long to get it listened to. It is only a tad over 6 hours of audio and I knocked that out in roughly 5 trips to my office.

In this current economic environment I was looking for some insight into creating and sustaining great fundamental principles. This book outlined some great concepts that I have already found myself digging into and getting my arms (and head) around. The first concept is the Hedgehog Concept and I find that I love the idea about focusing on the understanding of what you can be versus the goals, strategies or intentions. What are your three circles? The other concept was the Flywheel or the Doom Loop. This gets my thoughts going about momentum, consistency, leading, discipline and initiative. I fully recommend getting this book or audiobook. At the very least visit Jim's web site where there is a wealth of information to help you go from Good to Great!!

Labels: Business, Economy, leadership, management

I have been hearing about this 'perfect storm' theory for quite a while now and have come to the realization that, this is not about the state of things, but, about what should have or at the very least could have been done prior to all of this mess. If we continue to wallow in the moment of 'woe is me', then there is no chance for us to lead into a brighter day tomorrow. Stop complaining, be happy and do something. Here is an article in the Washington Post that has got me thinking about how I am managing and leading in this current economy.

A Perfect Storm? No, a Failure of Leadership By Steven Pearlstein

A bit of unsolicited advice to business executives trying to explain why their company or their industry is suddenly in the soup: Please spare us the "perfect storm" metaphor. It's hackneyed, for starters. It doesn't square with the facts. And for people who fancy themselves leaders, it's downright unbecoming.

Labels: Economy, leadership, management

Getting ready for the new year? If you're like me you're sitting there thinking of all the new ways you want to do things differently in 2008. One way that I am tackling this is to revisit some great resources and tools that I have used (and continue to use) to help me with the multitude of things that we all have to deal with. These deal with leadership skills, management skills, selling skills, productivity and business. So in no particular order here are 10 books that I have used in the past year to help me.

Jeffrey Gitomer - Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness
Earl Nightingale - Earl Nightingale's The Strangest Secret
Ken Blanchard - Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager
Ken Blanchard - The One Minute Manager
Spencer Johnson - Who Moved My Cheese?
Jim Collins - Good to Great
Thomas Friedman - The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
Rudy Guliani - Leadership
David Allen - Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Earl Nightingale - Creative Thinking (Audio CD)

Now I know there are hundreds of books out there to utilize and these are just a small sampling. You will also notice that I have three books that I feature on this site and they are by Guy Kawasaki, Sun Tzu and Jeffrey Gitomer. These I highly recommend for creativity, marketing, management strategies and customer service and customer loyalty. Enjoy!

Labels: leadership, management, Personal Development, Sales