tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74747088416112231732024-02-06T21:36:10.780-08:00Michael PearceMichael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-54212104326078284142015-08-21T17:06:00.000-07:002015-08-21T17:06:50.894-07:00A Commentray on Hiring the Best Salespeople
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Commentary<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 24pt; letter-spacing: 0.7pt; line-height: 120%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: .5pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hiring the
Best Salespeople</span></i></b><b><i><span style="color: #336600; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16pt; letter-spacing: 1.05pt; line-height: 120%; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-size: 36.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Hiring
salespeople that will be productive, effective, successful and committed to
doing their part to meet the firm’s revenue goals is a perplexing problem for
many. Yet it needn’t be! There are, much like the laws of sales, certain
fundamentals that remain constant even in the face of a rapidly changing economy,
and the corollary is just as true, there are certain decisions that will nearly
always lead to failure. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Far too
often salespeople are hired out of emotion; “I really like this guy” or “he hit
a homerun at his last place, let’s bet on him doing the same for us”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then emotion carries the day, while the
firm’s executive leadership hopes for the best, forgetting or ignoring how
expensive failure is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Let’s
examine some of the early indicators of sure failure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Hiring based
on the salespersons industry experience and success at his/her last firm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Offering a
compensation<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plan that looks like the
one they left or looks like what<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“everybody does”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Not having a
well thought thru “on-boarding “plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Borrowing a
bit from Steve Jobs on what made Apple great; the best hires are those that
come from the intersection of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Liberal
Arts Way, Technology Street and Character Avenue.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A Liberal
Arts undergraduate degree brings with it a host of advantages; the ability to
speak and write, and the ability to analyze and think creatively and
independently as</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">examples. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Next is
technical aptitude. Virtually all products require an ability to master their
design and function. And to a great degree in today’s marketplace, it will
often, if not always, have a technological component. So we must probe, test
for, and understand their technological aptitude.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Finally,
character matters. One executive I know hires only after he has played golf
with the prospect and he and his wife have had dinner with the prospect, their
spouse (or significant other to be correct in today’s politically correct
world).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He maintains he can quickly see
how the prospect handles success, competition, discernment, consideration,
honesty, focus and frustration. All key elements of a successful hire, yet
attributes that are either overlooked or under challenged during the interview
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Success at a
previous firm is among the least dependable predictors/indicators of success at
the next! It will be a different set of products, even if it’s in the same
industry. It’s a different culture. It’s a new set of policies and procedures. It’s
a lot of change that historical behavior can’t and won’t confirm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And it’s
likely a variation if not a totally different compensation plan, even if it
seems nearly the same; it’ll turn out to have nuances that will make it new and
different. Compensation plans need to be carefully and thoughtfully designed.
Often they are out of alignment with the culture, goals and the objectives of
the firm. It’s not enough to say the comp plan pays for sales performance. It
doesn’t and it shouldn’t. It rewards behavior! And that’s a concept many don’t
immediately get. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The right behavior will
result in the right revenue a lot more often than not! </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">These
critical elements of a successful hire can be uncovered by skilled interviews,
augmented by sophisticated scientific testing, which is far more likely to be
unbiased and accurate. I have used and recommended, as an example,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a firm that offers an electronic set of
questions which normally takes a candidate about 45 minutes to complete at
their leisure, yet it uncovers strengths and weaknesses, degree of </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">honesty,
skills, shortcomings and aptitudes, all of which then allows the firm to
consider and accept or reject the prospect based on these attributes. And if he
is hired, to then<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plan for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and anticipate his unique style, personality
and ability, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to plan around those limitations to assure
his success;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>along with recognizing
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leadership style they will respond
to most favorably , and to a degree, the type of compensation plan that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they will respond to most enthusiastically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also serves to help recognize, in advance,
the things we might do as a leader that surely won’t resonate with them. And
conversely, those comments and directions that they will respond to favorably.
It just saves months of trying to figure each other out with varying degrees of
success. It has proven to be amazingly accurate and a stunning success for
those who have tried and adopted it. Find one you like and trust and use it! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Once they
are hired, the work continues. Far too often firms take a “to the lions
Christian” view, offering little in the way of an on-boarding process and
expecting this new sales person to be an island of performance unto himself. He
won’t be! He’ll need a well thought thru, hopefully written plan that they know
they can rely on to learn how to function within the new culture they have
stepped into.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> And they’ll need to be
reminded of the vision, goals, objectives and direction the firm is pursuing
often… over and over! </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Finally, they’ll
need collaboration. To be “managed” is largely inefficient and ineffective. But
being lead is another matter altogether. Top down tiered management is a thing
of the past, commerce moves too quickly for it to work anymore. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Successful leadership requires
collaboration, involvement and engagement</b>. Using the results of the
profile, those who succeed at hiring plan to come alongside their new hires to
assure<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>success versus condemning them to
failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Adopting a
style and plan along this line will prove successful early and often!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #008040; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">Michael Pearce</span></span><span style="color: #008040; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #008040; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">|</span><span style="color: #008040; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">425
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Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-86178846876109847092015-01-21T20:34:00.002-08:002015-01-21T20:34:22.415-08:00Developing Exceptional Employees
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 4in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 22pt;">Developing </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 4in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 22pt;">Exceptional </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 22pt;">Employees</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">”Exceptional
leaders developing exceptional employees, <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">offering
quality products, will yield exceptional performance!”</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">On three recent trips to Venice, Budapest and Assisi
we had private tour guides. Each city is renowned for certain aspects of life
within the city and each is stunning in its own right. The guides proved
invaluable in guiding us through the hearts of each of these special places.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">While I was impressed with their knowledge and skill,
and thoroughly enjoyed learning from them, I was equally impressed with their
ability to lead and I saw qualities in each that reminded me of basic
leadership requirements necessary to achieve <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>corporate success. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In each case they clearly told us what to expect and
what we would be seeing. They followed it by letting us know our
responsibilities while under their tutelage. Finally they quickly assessed our
ability, skill and desires and modified their plans based on these perceptions.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In every case, their goals were to:</span></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Make
sure we finished our sightseeing (tasks) having gained the knowledge they
wanted to impart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 67.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -31.5pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Verify
we had learned from them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 67.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -31.5pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Confirm
we left better for having been with them and glad to have had their guidance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="margin: 1em 0px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Exactly what great leaders do!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">While management is important, primarily for assigning
tasks and holding people accountable, leadership is even more critical to
success because leadership is the foundation that allows managers to
successfully manage!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Leadership
has 3 clear components:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Clearly define the path/vision.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Clearly define expectations and
responsibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Assure employees are equipped for
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Clearly
defining the path/vision</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It is an unfortunate statistic that more than 70% of
the time, organizational leadership is a major cause of their employees’
unproductive behavior. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Far too often, the essence of leadership is overlooked
in favor of management dictates and criticism. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Leadership involves effective communication of the
vision and direction the leader sees for the firm including:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 38.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The
leader’s vison for the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
path he has chosen to accomplish the vision/goals of the firm. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: left;">
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<p class=MsoNormal>
<span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img align="left" height="52" hspace="12" src="file:///C:/Users/Michael/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png" v:shapes="Text_x0020_Box_x0020_7" width="321" /><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Devoting the effort necessary to know
that the vision has been received and adopted is a critical step in developing
exceptional employees. For the firm’s workers (like much of life itself) fear,
doubt and uncertainty comes naturally from:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 58.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not
fully understanding the path.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 58.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not
grasping the vision<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 58.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not
comprehending the metrics used to measure progress and determine course
corrections. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 58.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not
assimilating the process that will be used for the employee to enact
corrections <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 58.5pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Not
perceiving the degree of personal latitude each employee can exercise in
helping achieve the vision.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Defining Expectations and Responsibilities<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s equally as important to devote significant
organizational and personal time with direct reports to ensure employees understand
what their roles and responsibilities are; exactly how they will be measured
and compensated and what latitudes/freedom of individual expression they will
be allowed/expected to demonstrate in making decisions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Finally, they need to understand what communication
will be expected from them, at what frequency and for what reasons</span>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Equipping them for Success<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Equipping them for success, while it embraces each of
the above concepts, also requires significant engagement and collaboration. The
days of hiring a salesperson, for example, and saying, “you did it for the
other guys, that’s why we hired you, now go do it for us,” are long over. It
didn’t work well anyway. Each employee has strengths and weaknesses. Each
employee needs guidance and freedom to seek help. Understanding expectations is
critical to a firm’s success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Effective
Collaboration</span></b> <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There are several key methodologies for achieving
timely, effective collaboration, including:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Recognizing,
believing and expressing that the employee has worth;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Communicating
that each employee contributes intelligence, skill, and capabilities critical
to the firm’s success.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">They are the resources necessary to achieve and
maintain the top position in your industry. It is the firm’s workforce that
ultimately defines its success. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Only through effective
collaboration and communication can a workforce move forward with commitment
and passion. </i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">To do this it also requires effective time management
skills and processes. Leaders must focus on priorities, and resist yielding to
the tyranny of the urgent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 1em 0px 1em 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: -0.5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">FocusedOnRevenue is uniquely equipped to help our clients effectively deal
with the process transitions necessary for successful leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-35000789798108118412014-04-09T21:12:00.004-07:002014-04-09T21:12:56.056-07:00Transforming Sales TeamsFor all those who missed my live radio interview last week: the podcast can be heard at the following address - it was really enjoyable time--<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.excellentcultures.com/portfolios/transforming-sales-teams"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.excellentcultures.com/portfolios/transforming-sales-teams</span></a>
</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-86296238127425601582014-04-02T19:01:00.001-07:002014-04-02T19:02:54.137-07:00Time - The Secret Element in Success<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ35FhARhHQImXvpuB29VXqGmFlKiMRp-h4gUmcz-GTgQ9lA0Rni5Yiw4sy0PIdMseSlNeepnSTV7XQTFUELD1mg3Dt2Ls2c3cjPyNeJnktO8H6rAcT_K38rnnCzI-RMAEj1OMg3HkCU/s1600/Jaipur+088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZ35FhARhHQImXvpuB29VXqGmFlKiMRp-h4gUmcz-GTgQ9lA0Rni5Yiw4sy0PIdMseSlNeepnSTV7XQTFUELD1mg3Dt2Ls2c3cjPyNeJnktO8H6rAcT_K38rnnCzI-RMAEj1OMg3HkCU/s1600/Jaipur+088.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 18pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How the Power of Time can ensure corporate success<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 14pt;">Jantar Mantar, Jaipur, India</span></b><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> - During a recent
visit to Northern India covering <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Goa
north, we came across this little known sundial (observatory) park in Jaipur.
It was an amazing find!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I wandered
around looking at the truly amazing instruments they constructed, I began to
think about time in a much different way. I reflected on the many time
management seminars I’ve attended and books I have read that didn’t work for me
or anybody else I knew. </span></div>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img align="left" height="26" hspace="12" src="file:///C:/Users/Michael/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_12" width="5" /><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I still feel the
need to figure out how to effectively “stretch” my day. Some people seem to
have figured it out. We’ve all heard about people who are successful beyond the
levels others are able to realize. So, what’s the secret? We have all been taught
a variety of time management disciplines, yet few are successful. </span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I pondered the
ancient sundial, it occurred </span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to me that we have
been ignoring a basic wisdom.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We have been taught
to use time as a way of managing our own lives, which is exactly what we should
NOT do. Here’s what I discovered on that beautiful day in India. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Between 1727 and 1734 Maharajah Jai Singh II
built these “astronomical observatories” called "Jantar Mantars," incorporating
multiple designs, each with a unique form and purpose. These enormously large
structures, with their striking combinations of geometric forms, have
captivated the attention of architects, artists, and art historians worldwide,
yet remain largely unknown to the general public.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Passionately interested in mathematics and astronomy, Jai
Singh adapted and added to the designs of earlier sundials to create
architecture for astronomical measurement that is unsurpassed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Early Greek and Persian sundials contained
elements that Jai Singh incorporated into his designs, but the instruments of
the Jantar Mantar are more complex and built at much greater scale.</span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The site consists of 14 major geometric devices for
measuring time</span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">. They </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">predict
eclipses, track star </span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">locations,
ascertain the declinations of planets, and perform other astronomical
measurements. The Samrat Yantra, the largest instrument, is a sundial nearly 90
feet high. Its carefully plotted shadow is remarkably accurate, determining the
time within about two seconds. Its shadow moves visibly at 1/3 of an inch per
second, or roughly the width of a hand every minute. It’s stunning to behold.</span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Other
instruments include the Ram Yantra whose primary function is to measure the
altitude and azimuth of celestial objects, including the sun, and the
Shasthansa Yantra, which gives extremely accurate measurements of the zenith,
distance, declination, and diameter of the sun. The Mishra Yantra is another
surprising edifice as it is able to indicate when it is noon in various cities
all over the world. And this was done almost 300 years ago!</span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As I
spent the better part of the afternoon watching these amazing instruments work,
and considering how important time was even then, it reminded me of one of the
fundamental principles required for success that is too often overlooked: How
we<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> value time.</b> Not how we’ve been
taught to view time, but how we can effectively use time to make us far more
productive and proficient. </span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";">Learning
how to treat time can change the very way we think and act, and it dramatically
impacts culture. Collaboration, as an example, takes an investment of time but
it opens new opportunities to attain higher performance levels. A commitment to
a collaborative culture, and the time it requires, is one of the fundamental
differences between leaders and managers. Managers (in the traditional sense of
the word) are a function of a hierarchical management system that is largely
obsolete. Strict management hierarchy was developed by the military to ensure communication
throughout the organization. Today we have technology at our fingertips enabling
communication directly, without the filter each person might give it.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What would happen to an organization that began seeing executives as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">leaders</i> rather than managers, and
employees as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">producers</i> rather than
labor? Management implies authority while leadership implies truly enabling and
empowering employees. Labor implies strict adherence to policies and processes.
A <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">producer</i> implies ownership and
engagement.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A recent poll suggests that as many as 70% of all employees are
disengaged. Applying time differently can radically change the results of that
survey. It further suggests this awful result is a function of how we treat
time. When we treat time as “ours,” we can’t be as responsive to our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">producers</i> as they might need. We can’t
be as open to interruptions that allow good ideas to surface. However, when we
see our time as an opportunity to come along side our producers and compensate
for weaknesses they may have, we make them better employees. It reassures
employees that leadership is approachable. This method is a far better use of
time than the traditional performance review that takes too much time to
document and is not an effective motivator.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Moving toward a culture of collaboration provides a significant
opportunity to change our view of the organization. It allows us to view those
at the senior levels as leaders versus mangers, and to relegate the idea of
“labor” to the ash heap of obsolescence, replacing it with “producers.”
Committing to a collaborative environment serves to “stretch” time by
dramatically increasing productivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Consider the need for transformation versus the standard consultant
mantra that “all we need to do is improve a little each day.” To be sure, a
careful examination of every phase of our business is critical, and looking for
ways to improve is important, but even if you make the best buggy whip ever,
there is still no market for it. Buggy whip companies needed a new idea, a new
concept, a new direction. They had to transform or die.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Where will transformation in your company come from? Will it come from
the Executive Suite? Possibly, but more often the idea lies right there on the
factory floor or in the head of the sales people who are out in the market
every day. The discovery of the transformational idea normally requires acts of
faith and a willing ear by leadership.</span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 9pt;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, let’s get back to the time quotient! How do we view interruptions? Most
managers see them as impositions on an already busy day, so they either don’t
carve out the time to hear the idea or they give it less than full attention. I
remember my wife, as our girls were growing up, knowing far more about what
they thought and what they were doing than I did. When I asked how she knew so
much, she replied, “I was ready to listen when they were ready to talk.” Therein
lies a transformational thought! If we view interruptions as potential
opportunities, rather than impositions, we will treat our producers and our
time with more respect. The result will be a collaborative culture. Such a
transformational concept is rarely invoked because we just don’t take the time
to do it. Many great ideas are the result of leaders using time as opportunity:
the digital camera, the ATM, the post-it note, the internet and email for
instance. The list is impressive. These winners have learned to harness the
power of using time collaboratively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";">Additional articles can be found on my website
at </span><a href="http://www.focusedonrevenue.com/"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";"><span style="color: blue;">www.focusedonrevenue.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";">
or my blog at: </span><a href="http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";"><span style="color: blue;">http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/</span></span></a><span style="color: grey; font-family: "Minion Pro"; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 128;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";">If I can serve you or answer any questions, I
can be reached at </span><a href="mailto:pearce@focusedonrevenue.com"><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";"><span style="color: blue;">pearce@focusedonrevenue.com</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Minion Pro";">; or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>425-830-4156</span></div>
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Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-1247628200897516812013-10-23T21:22:00.002-07:002013-10-23T21:22:22.037-07:00Standing the Test of Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Standing</div>
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Article and photo by Michael Pearce</div>
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On a visit to southern France recently, I walked to and across the Pont du Gard. It’s a</div>
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phenomenal engineering feat built by the Romans around 19 BC that delivered an</div>
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estimated 52 million gallons of water to Nîmes every day. And it successfully did so until the</div>
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1950’s! As I walked across and thought about its astounding durability I was reminded that,</div>
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while we need to innovate and change our sales approach as technology and culture demands, there are still some fundamental “laws of sales” that, like the Pont Du Gard, have stood the test of time.</div>
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A Bit of Interesting History</div>
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The aqueduct was built to channel water from the springs of the Fontaine d'Eure near Uzès to the <i><span style="font-family: Georgia-Italic; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Italic; font-size: small;">castellum divisorum </span></span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">(a holding basin) in Nîmes. From there, it was distributed to fountains,baths and private homes around the city. The straight-line distance is only about 12 miles but the aqueduct takes a 31 mile winding route.</span></span></div>
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The Fontaine d'Eure, at 249 ft. above sea level, is only 56 ft. higher than the basin in Nîmes, but this provided a sufficient gradient to sustain a steady flow of water to the 50,000 inhabitants of the Roman city. The aqueduct's average gradient varies widely along its course, but is as little as 1 in 20,000 in some sections.</div>
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The reason for the disparity in gradients is that a uniform gradient would have meant that the Pont du Gard would have been unfeasibly high, given the limitations of technology of the time. One section, required an extraordinary degree of accuracy to allow for a fall of only <span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">¼ </span></span></div>
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of an inch in 330 ft.</div>
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The Pont du Gard was constructed largely without the use of mortar or clamps. It contains an estimated 50,400 tons of limestone extracted from a quarry located approximately 2,300 ft. downstream. The builders had the blocks precisely cut, numbered and inscribed with specific locations to fit perfectly together by friction alone.</div>
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The aqueduct is credited to Augustus’ son-in-law, Marcus Agrippa, the senior magistrate </div>
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responsible for the water supply of Rome and its colonies. It is believed to have taken 800 to 1,000 workers about fifteen years to build. </div>
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How does that connect to sales you ask? The sales laws that follow are every bit as durable as</div>
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this extraordinary engineering feat. They deserve to be regularly reviewed. Consider it performing necessary maintenance!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol;">• </span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;">The sale is “closed” when it can be referenced! </span></span></b></div>
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The times have imposed another change on us. While referrals have always been important, it has traditionally been a more one on one personal issue, but now referrals and references are a matter of public knowledge. It’s rather like throwing a rock in a pool. In the past, the rock just sank, now the ripple effect goes on for a long, long time. Social media has given everyone the ability to seek a “reference” and they do! The truly great know that receiving a purchase order isn’t the end of the sale, it’s merely the beginning. But too many believe the sale is official when the service/product has been delivered. That is still a bit pre-mature to celebrate. The sale that matters most is the sale that meets the customer’s requirements in a way that results in a referencable customer. References matter for more than just future</div>
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business and general favorable awareness, they also shorten the sales cycle, which is a</div>
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critical element in todays need for high performance and effectiveness. It is said that </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">80% of all commercial sales occur after the 5</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: xx-small;">th <span style="font-size: small;">contact. A meaningful reference can cut the time and sales expense by nearly 40%! Consider that 76% of all people who get a good personal reference buy.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;">• </span></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;">Don’t misinterpret “the customer is always right.” </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">The customer is </span></span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia-Italic; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Italic; font-size: small;">right </span></span></i></div>
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about his desires, perhaps even his requirements. But too often they really don’t know what they don’t know. The skilled and effective sales person knows and accepts that they have </div>
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come to have their salesperson add value to their purchase decision. An example is a</div>
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woman at a cosmetics counter - they’ve been applying their cosmetics for years, they</div>
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know exactly how they want to look, yet they ask question after question at the counter.</div>
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Why? Because the cosmetic sales person is experienced and trained with the latest</div>
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products and may have good ideas and greater knowledge. Customers want to be</div>
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educated. They want to be shown a better way and have their needs/requirements</div>
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refined to take advantage of current products/services and methods. They don’t want to</div>
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make a mistake and be “sold” what they asked for, when they could have done better</div>
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with some expert input and guidance. They need their sales people to listen, interpret</div>
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their comments, then offer a solution that adds value to the transaction. The truly skilled</div>
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salespeople know and practice this in every sale.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;">• </span></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;">Respect the buyer’s process</span></span></b></div>
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. Truly successful sales people know they have a superior ability to “take the customer out of the market.” In other words, they know that they have been successful in establishing the trust-bond, and in matching their services/products well with customer’s requirements, so that when the customer buys, they know the customer will buy from them. They accept that they cannot and should not try to materially alter the buyer’s process, for doing so will violate the trust-bond, and likely result in sacrificing margin. Far too often, those in desperate need to meet a quota deadline will offer a concession to win a deal earlier than the customer was prepared to authorize. In many cases the incentive comes in the form of a price reduction. “If I could get a lower price, would you order this month?” It’s a lose/lose question:</div>
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<span style="font-family: CourierNewPSMT; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: CourierNewPSMT; font-size: small;">o </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">The trust-bond has been broken. The customer now knows he didn’t get the best his sales person could have offered.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: CourierNewPSMT; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: CourierNewPSMT; font-size: small;">o </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">The sales person has sacrificed margin, making the transaction and his company less profitable.</span></span></div>
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o The customer must do abnormal things to make the sale happen, which he’ll </div>
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resent, but more importantly, he’ll learn from the experience and know exactly </div>
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how and when to buy in the future, reducing the value of all future sales as well!</div>
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It is much better to manage the pipeline better, spend more time developing prospects</div>
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and less time chasing deals that really aren't qualified deals. Developing enough</div>
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opportunities in the sales funnel insures the requisite number will materialize, without</div>
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adversely impacting the normal and natural course of events with any single customer.</div>
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• <strong>Value the importance of the trust bond,</strong> for it may equal all of the features and<br />
benefits of any product or service. People buy from people they trust and sales people who add value to the relationship. Notice I didn’t say a person they like, which is important too, but less so than the trust bond. Too many organizations teach their sales people all about the features and benefits of their products/services, but they fail to focus in either their coaching or their measurement standards on this key element of truth—the trust bond matters!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;">• </span></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;">Form, Feel and Fee. </span></span></b></div>
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When people buy, they emotionally rate these three areas every time they purchase. Violating any one of them can often be the reason for a lost sale: </div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><strong>Form: </strong>“Does it meet or exceed my requirements; has he listened to me and designed a solution that works for us?”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>Feel </strong>“Does this feel like a person and an organization I’d like to do business with, and do I believe they will deliver as promised?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong>Fee </strong>“Is it a fair price and within my ability to pay it?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: small;">• </span></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia-Bold; font-size: small;">Be wary of the “yes” that isn’t an order. </span></span></b></div>
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The great sales people over time have realized they must learn to be discerning enough to know when they haven't yet successfully matched their services/products with the customers’ requirements. Too often the customer is unable to “just say no,” so we continue to call on them hoping for a miraculous conversion. And they do occur! But the cost of the sale is nearly always too expensive, especially when you factor in the cost of lost opportunity. Other potential sales may have gone to competitors uncontested, as there was no time available to develop them. Customers can recognize the “yes” that comes from following the path of least resistance versus the path of a disciplined methodology. When the sales manager asks if an account closed and was the order placed, and the answer is, “not yet, but they said they’d like to meet again” we’ve potentially allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of </div>
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the “easiest yes.” This can be avoided by setting goals and objectives for each customer </div>
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contact that will advance the sale. It may not always go as hoped or expected, but at least </div>
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it will be a planned sales call with a defined objective against which we can measure the </div>
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success of the call. Avoid the “yes” that does not mean you’ve won the sale, but does</div>
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impose additional expensive time, effort and sales cost.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">Additional articles can be found on my website at </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">www.focusedonrevenue.com </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">or my</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">blog at: </span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/</span></span></span></div>
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If I can serve you or answer any questions, I can be reached at</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">pearce@focusedonrevenue.com</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: small;">; or on 425-830-4156</span></span></div>
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Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-32284277424435186552013-09-07T20:02:00.001-07:002013-09-07T20:02:19.578-07:00Why Aren't We Marching
Watching a press conference not long ago, The Pres Sec said a particular tyrant had to go because “thousands of people were marching in the street”—is that all it takes? Then why aren’t we marching? Let’s consider Syria: is there really any compelling reason to kill people in Syria; is there really any national interest? Cruise missiles aren’t for “sending a message” as Pres. Obama says he wants to do, that’s what Western Union is for- cruise missiles are for destroying their targets!
And let’s not accept the “domino theory” stuff, it’s never been true, wasn’t in Indochina, isn’t now! There is literally no strategic value in interfering in Syria!
And what are we saying in effect, we don’t care how they kill ‘em just don’t use gas. Is that the message? Its abhorrent!
And are we to decide who will be the winner and who will be the loser in every civil strife that occurs around the world? It’s just not our job, and we are hated around the world for assuming it is – all from the President who told us he would rebuild ourI international relationships and they’ve quite literally never been worse. So we’re now providing arms and training/supporting the rebels, over ½ of which are Al Queda! So we kill ’em sacrificing our precious young people to do it in one country and arm them in another—I ask, why aren’t we marching!
And there’s more to say, a lot more than just this short series of questions—this is a fight we don’t have a dog in—we need to be marching!!
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-56913004694858047402013-06-02T19:10:00.001-07:002013-06-02T19:10:40.747-07:00Petra- Lessons in Building Competitive Barriers-
We just finished visiting Israel and Jordan. The primary reason to go to Jordan, other than seeing the wonderful city of Amman, was to see Petra, long on my “bucket “list. It turned out to be one of a handful of places in the world that deserves to be on everyone’s “top 5” list.
Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and inhabited since prehistoric times, the rock-cut capital city of the Nabateans, became a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India. During Hellenistic and Roman times it was a crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into rock and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges.
The dramatic city, built in the first century AD features rock cut temple/tombs, an amphitheatre, homes, shops and crypts. We approached via a natural winding rocky clef called the Siq. The Siq is the gorge formed by torrents of flood water called the Musa, which the Nabataeans blocked with a dam and channeled to carry drinking water to the city. Once inside, the Siq narrows to little more than 12 feet wide, with walls towering up hundreds of feet on either side. It is a masterpiece of a lost city that has fascinated visitors since its “discovery” early in the 19th century.
The most recognizable building, The Khazneh el Faroun, or the Treasury, is an imposing facade standing some 120 feet tall, cut directly from the rock of the mountainside. It is an architectural and sculptural achievement of the highest caliber.
As I walked the mile plus through the winding Siq to the city, it occurred to me that this was an exceptional example of how these people built a competitive barrier. It’s an example we should incorporate into our sales efforts, because it is as important to create effective competitive barriers as it is to successfully present what needs to be a winning solution.
These barriers can and should include:
<b>A Solid Relationship</b>
This does not mean to make the prospect a friend. That may happen over time, but it’s a fallacy to believe people buy from people they like. People buy from people they trust who add value to the business relationship. An effective barrier includes reference accounts, customer endorsements and testimonials.
Competitive barriers also include a “listening” focus that is legitimate and sufficiently sharp to process the nuances of what the customer is saying. The ability to repeat accurately what the customer thinks he has said, and to design a solution that exceeds his expectations, must be incorporated into a sales professional’s process. An effective sales person contributes edifying ideas and concepts that are new to the customer. This represents value that makes the solution one that exceeds the customer’s requirements and makes it a unique proposal.
Recognize the importance of the trust- bond. That is the position reached when the prospect accepts that the salesperson is truly working to develop a solution that will exceed his requirements. Far too often salespeople focus nearly exclusively on the merits of the features and benefits of their product/service, largely because it’s all they are trained to do by their organizations. This key truth cannot and should not be overlooked. It is far more important to have established a relationship based on a differentiated solution that clearly matches the prospects articulated requirements than it is to be “liked.” It leads to the purchase criteria every prospect goes through which includes:
<b>Form, Feel and Fee</b>
When people buy, they emotionally rate these three areas every time they make a purchase. Violating one of them can often be the reason for a lost sale:
Form: “Does it meet or exceed my requirements; has he listened to me
and designed a solution that works for us?”
Feel: “Does this feel like a person and an organization I’d like to do
business with, and do I believe they will deliver as promised?”
Fee: “Is it a fair price and within my ability to pay it?”
<b>Respecting the buyer’s process.</b>
Truly successful sales people know that they have a superior ability to “take the customer out of the market.” They are successful in establishing the trust-bond and in matching their services/products well with a customer’s requirements. When the customer does buy, it will be from the one they trust. They accept that they cannot and should not try to materially alter the buyer’s process, for doing so will violate the trust-bond, and likely result in a number of adverse consequences not the least of which is sacrificing margin.
Far too often, those in desperate need to meet a quota deadline will offer a concession to win the deal earlier than the customer was prepared to authorize it. In a great many cases the incentive comes in the form of a price reduction—“if I could get a lower price, would you order this month?” It’s a lose/lose question because:
1. The trust-bond has been broken. The customer now knows he didn’t get the best price his sales person could have offered.
2. The sales person has sacrificed margin, making the transaction and his company less profitable.
3. The customer must do abnormal things to make the sale happen, which he’ll both learn from and resent.
It is much more effective to manage the pipeline better, spend more time developing prospects and less time trying to force a deal before its time.
<b>Don’t misinterpret “the customer is always right.”</b>
The customer is right about his desires, perhaps even his requirements. Often they really don’t know what they don’t know. They have come seeking advice and guidance in their purchase decision. Customers want to be educated, to be shown a better way, to have their needs/requirements refined. They don’t want to make a mistake and be “sold” what they asked for, when they can do better with some expert guidance. Listen, interpret their comments, and then offer a solution that adds value to the transaction.
Just like Petra, it’s imperative to build these competitive barriers, while building trust and offering a superior solution.
When this is successfully practiced, sales performance dramatically increases!
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-59551678297408915732013-02-18T20:02:00.006-08:002013-02-18T20:02:56.529-08:00Masada and what I learned about job descriptions A Commentary: Masada and Job Descriptions
History Sets the Stage
While walking around Masada recently, thinking of the events that transpired there, it occurred to me there was a lesson regarding job descriptions in that significant place of history.
Masada (Hebrew for fortress) is situated atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. It is a place of gaunt and majestic beauty.
On the east the rock falls in a sheer drop of nearly 1500 feet to the edge of the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point on earth, some 1500 feet below sea level. In the west it stands over 300 feet above the surrounding terrain. The natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult; it’s a long and arduous walk up the paths now in place!
According to Josephus Flavius, Herod the Great built the fortress of Masada between 37 and 31 BC. Herod had been made King of Judea by his Roman overlords and was hated by his Jewish subjects. Herod, the master builder, had palace residences in a number of locations for his own personal safety. He furnished this fortress as a refuge for himself. It included a casemate wall around the plateau, huge grain storehouses, large cisterns ingeniously filled with rainwater, barracks, palace residence and an armory.
Some 75 years after Herod’s death, at the beginning of the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 66 AD, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of Masada and took it as their own. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Jewish rebels who resided at Masada were joined by “zealots” and their families who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years. Then, in 73 AD, the Roman governor Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion. The Romans established camps at the base of Masada and laid siege to it. Their camps sites, which surrounded it completely, are still very evident today. They then constructed a “road” made up of thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth at the base of the western (lowest) approach. In the spring of the year 74 AD, they moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached the wall of the fortress.
Josephus Flavius dramatically recounts the story told him by two surviving women. The defenders numbered almost one thousand men, women and children. Led by Eleazar ben Ya’ir, they decided to burn the fortress and end their own lives, rather than be taken alive. The Zealots cast lots to choose 10 men to kill everyone else. They then chose among themselves the one man who would kill the last remaining survivors. That last Jew then killed himself, not realizing two women had successfully hidden and survived.
It’s an astonishing story I learned from our Jewish guide, but as I walked independently around the fortress, I also thought about the Roman soldiers, and that’s where the issue of successful job descriptions occurred to me.
I See Many Iterations of Job Descriptions
Over time I have surmised that the more detailed and comprehensive job descriptions are, the less effective they are. The more detailed they are, the more they tend to narrowly focus the job expected. Then critically important tasks or unexpected tasks are greeted with, “that’s not part of my job description.” So, many companies have quite successfully adopted much shorter “40,000 feet view” job descriptions. They leave out details that can be used as successful defense for anything asked beyond those included in the description.
I find myself encouraging firms to be as strategic as possible in the job descriptions they publish, leaving out all of the “tactical” tasks that can lead to a difference of whether one should do a task requested and whether or not it falls under the exact definition of the job description. It’s the old problem of the theatre unions in New York, where only a certain employee can screw in a light bulb. It seems ridiculous, but employers have been forced to accept these union negotiated terms. As a result they are in a very expensive box. They must hire many more people than tasks require.
Think of the Roman Legion. They were told they were marching across a huge desert to eliminate these Jewish “zealots” who were causing them all manner of trouble and were surely not subjecting themselves to Roman rule, so off they marched. But when they arrived, they discovered a fortress that they were unprepared and ill-equipped to attack.
So their leaders figured out a way to turn their highly skilled soldiers into rock carriers, building a ramp day after day, requiring literally hundreds of thousands of tons of rock and dirt to get into a position from which they could penetrate the fortress walls with battering rams.
Their “job description” surely didn’t include carrying rocks day after day, but it was the task required for the successful conclusion of their mission. So they did it, and they did it well. They didn't object to it, likely because they had no leverage, but there was no job description that excluded the effort required.
When compensation plans are aligned correctly with the goals and objectives of the firm, the plans are enough to motivate and direct each employee’s activities. They need leadership, vision and encouragement, but lengthy detailed job descriptions often serve as vehicles employees can use to object to tasks that are out of the ordinary. Why give them a defense for not complying? Wouldn’t it be far better if a salesman who had a critical shipment due out that day, was willing to help solve a problem threatening on-time shipment? The salesman’s willingness to provide assistance with a non-routine effort, may mean the difference between repeat sales with a happy customer and losing money. The answer “not in my job description” doesn’t help the firm, its responsiveness, its customers, nor the salesman’s success. It hurts everyone.
I encourage firms to be far more general, using the job description to provide a "path” for normal focus, allowing each employee to be “drafted” for the occasional “road building” project that demands their skills and experience even though it’s not a normal part of their daily routine.
Creating fewer artificial fences through a strategic approach to job descriptions will prove far more beneficial to the firm than a carefully crafted detailed (and self-limiting!) job description.
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-75399468748679815102012-10-13T15:04:00.006-07:002012-10-13T15:04:54.297-07:00A Conclusion I'd like to shareAfter watching, listening and researching as carefully as I can, I have come to a conclusion I’d like to share with you. I will be voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket when the ballots arrive in the not too distant future. While there are a number of issues and areas that have convinced me, among them, while in no special order are:
• Philosophy: I believe one candidate believes strongly in a centrally controlled government while the other believes decisions should be made at the local level as often a possible. An example is President Obama’s call, both in 2008 and 2012, for the federal government to hire teachers. I believe this should be left to the local community. I cannot see any reason why this effort would be at all improved by being controlled by another large central bureaucracy.
• Acumen: I see them both a venture capitalists. One raised private money, invested it in away that created jobs, created wealth and had success north of 80% of the time, often enough his firm was called the “best” in the industry. The other took tax payer money and selected an emerging industry to invest in and far too may failed, Solyndra as an example, where the investors (taxpayers) lost all their money and every employee lost their job.
• Experience: One has a short time as a Community Organizer, a truly brief stint as a US Senator and nearly four years as President. The other has a long and public track record in private industry, community leadership and public service and in each category he can point to significant success, while the former never talks about his “organizer’ experience, missed nearly every vote while a senator and ha failed to deliver on nearly every commitment he made while he was running for office.
• Wisdom: while one views those who don’t share his ideas as opposition, the other views them as”enemies” as he has said a number of times. So, while one reaches out to forge agreements with a legislature that t is 87% populated by the other party and has significant success doing so, the other refuses to even meet, has developed few if any relationships even within his own party, delivers three budgets in a row that can’t get even a single vote from anyone in his own a party. His apparent view of himself is that he is able to govern without input, as we saw when he told us if we allowed him to spend about a trillion dollars we would see major improvement, and as it turned out it affected unemployment not an iota, he was unable to identify any “shovel ready” jobs and the money spent served only to deepen our mounting federal debt burden.
• Respect and Civil Rights: passing an executive order that gives the President, for the first time, the right to arrest and hold indefinitely without charge and/or to eliminate (kill!) US citizens without receiving the constitutional protection (or so we thought!) of the right of due process just scares me to death. It’s an ugly slippery slope and one we should recoil from. And we need to decide as a country, will we be a country that strives to give every person an opportunity or will we be a country largely controlled thru dependency? It’s a valid question, and either choice won't be perfect, but the underlying philosophy is a critically important decision.
• Discernment: while one inarticulately commented on why 47% of the people who will not vote for him “no matter what” the other looks out at a large audience in Cleveland Ohio and comments that he only sees “hard working people.” Anyone who looks at the population in Cleveland and sees people who haven’t had a job for too long and see no prospect for one in the future is too out of touch with our current reality. And just giving away free “Obama Phones” won’t fix the problem, it’s just another small attempt o create more dependency in my view.
• Libya: we use to call events like this another SNAFU, a WWII military term. But losing an Ambassador and several other key fellow citizens, seeing that loss as “a bump in the road” and failing to recognize the true enemy is an enormous and unforgivable catastrophe. And the inept follow up is frightening. Listening to VP Biden describe it as a failure of the intelligence community, not a single department, but the whole darn community and then he says immediately thereafter that he is relying on the very same community to decide there is “absolutely no atomic bomb risk in Iran” is beyond imagination.
It is truly time for a change, and I hope each of us will take this election seriously, think carefully about the choice each of us will make, and I’m hopeful that you will arrive a the same conclusion and give the Romey/Ryan ticket your vote.
Although these are humorous, they also have elements of truth to them, and you may find these short videos entertaining yet insightful.
http://thehayride.com/2012/09/maybe-the-best-ad-of-the-political-season-so-far/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnY8r7_fLw&feature=player_embedded
Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-9403136856547133682012-07-02T08:53:00.000-07:002012-07-02T08:53:51.676-07:00An Emerging Metric in New Hire ConsiderationMany firms rely on historical performance and interviewing ability as their primary vetting criteria. The dominate considerations for many seem to be, “did everybody they interviewed with like them and did they do well at their last firm.”
While these may play a role, they rarely by themselves, accurately determine future performance.
Employing available sophisticated assessments that show aptitudes, capabilities and behavioral traits are additional critically important elements of any decision process, and can dramatically lower the “failure” rate so many experience.
And there is a new element that may play a role as large as any of these other critical elements. The ability to demonstrate effective networking skills! It may rank right up there with IQ. <b>NS, (networking skills)</b> includes demonstrating the ability to meet, bond, form non-organizational teams, be visible in the marketplace, adept at social media applications, and maintain and grow an ever larger set of connections. This should likely be an important part of any hiring consideration.Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-17188554158784339782012-06-06T07:14:00.004-07:002012-06-06T07:14:54.789-07:00Marketing at its BestMarketing at Its Best
We recently spent about a month touring India, our first visit to this exotic country. At the wonderful Taj Hotel on the beach in Goa we witnessed a wedding -- quite an event in the Indian culture and Hindu religion!
These weddings can last three days. Inviting many hundreds, even thousands, to a sit down reception dinner is common. One person we spent a fair amount of time with told us he had 3,000 at his wedding reception dinner! We were told these extraordinary events, at least by American standards, occur for several reasons. In the Hindu tradition, as it was explained to us, there is no formal marriage document, so they want as many to witness the union as possible. The Indian government outlawed dowries, so families now spend an extraordinary amount on the wedding and wedding gifts, which replaces what they have historically gave as a dowry.
Upon our return to the states I had an occasion to book an event for about 600 people and I chose the Hyatt Regency Bellevue as our venue. While talking with my terrific sales person, she told me they had just hosted an Indian wedding the evening before our meeting. Remembering our experience in India, I asked her about it.
She explained that Hyatt corporate marketing realized this could be a valuable market niche. They surmised that it could be good for many of their hotels that are located where many people of Indian heritage live. They researched and documented carefully. The Hyatt staff learned details like what kind of alcoholic beverages Indians tend to favor and what kinds of foods are traditionally served at weddings. They event researched special things
brides and their parents would expect. After Hyatt did a thorough research job, they developed presentation materials, brochures and all of the “marketing” materials you might expect from a quality marketing department.
What is particularly interesting is that they went even further. They organized webinars for the sales staff to learn the language and discuss the nuances of what their target audience would expect and respond to favorably. They even found local chefs who specialized in Indian food and could prepare a traditional Indian wedding feast! They literally left “no stone unturned” as they prepared their sales people to be knowledgeable “experts” and pursue what they thought might be a viable market. Notice that they did not focus on expertise in the features and benefits of their hotel chain, but rather developed their own expertise in how to successfully talk to this market segment in a way that would give their prospects confidence in their ability to deliver a quality event.
The result? They dominate the market in the Pacific Northwest and I assume many other markets as well. They’ve created a highly differentiated product, although it’s just their normal capability re-defined for a unique audience! And they have an annuity that comes from a strong personal referral base!
Doing the job
the way it should be done
It’s exactly what all marketing departments should do, but so few rise to this level of excellence. It wasn’t a huge investment on their part. They just did good, solid research and a thorough job of adapting their materials to a special market segment. Then they equipped their sales people by identifying resources their sales people could leverage, and followed up with an excellent job of educating/arming their sales people for the task.
It’s a model anybody can adopt, from the largest firms to sole proprietors, and it’ll work wonders!Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-50067160195308014382012-03-13T19:47:00.001-07:002012-03-13T19:50:56.391-07:00The India AnalogyThe India Analogy <br /> Effective Sales Compensation Plans<br /><br />On a recent trip to India, which some say stands for “I’ll Never Do It Again” I was struck by the confusion that was on the first road we drove. The drive was from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer, which is just a few miles from the Pakistani border. I discovered that there are very few street signs in all of India. People navigate by asking another “local” and receive directions based on landmarks and monuments. Many of the roads connecting cities and villages are little more than one lane, making driving a constant challenge, and passing a breathtaking experience! On this drive of about 2½ hours, we shared the road with dogs, sheep, goats, monkeys, donkeys, camels, elephants, tuk-tuks, cars, buses, trucks and people walking with major loads on their heads.<br /><br />As I thought about this unique day, it reminded me of the sales plan compensation confusion that many firms face.<br /><br />First, many companies also navigate by inquiry rather than available empirical knowledge. They ask friends and associates what they do, just like we asked directions in India. And they proceed to develop plans based on what they think they heard.<br /> <br />Occasionally they think to ask a professional organization that samples incomes, but this isn’t the same as a compensation plan, it’s in the “expected earnings” category and serves to help recruit versus designing a plan that is optimally effective for their firm.<br /><br />Like the roads in India, there are myriad confusing variables to be taken into consideration, including:<br />• Does the firm have a transaction or an annuity model?<br />• If it’s an annuity, what is the trigger that causes the next purchase?<br />• Is it a direct sale or a channel sale?<br />• What actual influence does the sales rep have?<br />• How are leads developed and distributed?<br />• Is it a geographical sale or a market sale?<br />• If it’s market, is it also vertically oriented?<br />• What does the competition do?<br />• What kind of sales person is the best recruit?<br />• Is longevity in the position important?<br />• What is a reasonable time to become proficient in the company’s products?<br />• Does the “on-boarding” process work, and result in quickly effective sales people?<br />• Is there an expected performance level, and is it defendable/rational?<br />• Is income tied to an expected quota?<br />• Is the quota “seasonalized” so it matters periodically, not just at year-end?<br />• What is the right mix of base and incentive compensation?<br />• Does the incentive actually motivate desired performance?<br />• Does the sale typically require additional support people to conclude it?<br />• Is there a personal connection with the customer developed during the sales process?<br /><br />These are typical questions I ask when I review and/or develop a compensation plan for sales teams. The answers aren’t always easy to discern but, they do matter!Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-44141175448461246402012-02-19T15:05:00.000-08:002012-02-19T15:07:13.840-08:00Visiting IndiaWe just returned from a month in India. We visited a number of cities and towns including Jodhpur, Jaiselmer, Jaipur, Udaipur, Agra, Goa, Rathanborgh, Delhi and Mumbai. It was an amazing “bucket list” trip. I was told India stands for “I’ll Never Do It Again.” I’m not sure I totally agree although it was among the most “exotic” places we’ve ever been. There are fascinating issues to explore and stories to tell, which I intend to do, but I thought I’d comment on a few of the lighter surprises today. There are really no street signs in India; they navigate by monuments and landmarks and by asking nearly anyone and everyone for directions. “Go to the clock tower and take the second turn after that” kind of thing! Interestingly enough, everyone was willing to stop what they were doing to give directions, every time we asked. We had a driver for the four of us, but few people venture far enough away to be comfortable and familiar with each of the locations so they just stop and ask, and invariably get accurate directions willingly given. On one stretch of road, from Jodhpur to Jaiselmer, which is on the historically significant “silk road” and close the Pakistani border (close meaning about 15 miles) we drove on the typically slightly expanded one lane road, which is predominant in the country with only a few exceptions. On the several hour drive we shared the road with: goats, sheep, dogs, donkey’s, monkey’s, cows, water buffaloes, camels, elephants, camels pulling carts, people walking , tuk-tuk’s, other cars, buses and trucks. Wow! There was no discernable speed limit although we rarely went very fast because we’d honk at a cow who was largely disinterested in moving at all, so we’d steer around him and continue on--Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-28765766187915029412012-01-04T21:45:00.000-08:002012-01-04T21:49:23.400-08:00Open Water Cruising and SalesOpen Water Cruising and Sales<br />Do They Share Attributes <br /><br />I had the privilege of piloting my friends 60' Ocean Alexander again recently, and it reminded me of many of the fundamental tenants of successful selling!<br /><br />1. We discussed our trip and knew where we hoped and wanted to go, what we wanted to see, how long we expected it would take, and then planned the details necessary to support those “trip” goals.<br />a. We all need an “account plan” which reminds us of our goal, timeframe, expected mileposts in the process and the like so our “call” plans reflect the strategy documented in the account plan which, of course, can be changed as it needs to be, just as we’d change the cruise plan for adverse weather.<br /> <br />2. Before leaving the dock we checked each system, made sure the boat was ready for the large body of water we were about to undertake<br />a. Exactly as all truly great salespeople do—review everything they’ll need on a sales call before the sales call to be sure they are prepared and ready<br /><br />3. Then we checked our planned routing and developed an alternative<br />a. precisely as we should all know where we expect/want the call to go, and be ready for the deviations that might get thrown at us<br /><br />4. As we navigated the waters, one was the pilot and one stayed steadfastly on lookout for deadheads and other “flotsam and jetsam” that can cause havoc with a boat/rudder/propeller, ruining what could be a great day or worse.<br />a. It takes a team to effectively sell. All too often we either expect sales people to be entirely independent and /or they choose to be “lone rangers.” Neither works. Smart successful salespeople know when and how to engage others with skills and experience that can help avoid those “deadheads” that can derail the sale. Just as important, while the sale is progressing nicely, it’s wise to stay ever vigilant; is competition just around the corner; will they surprise us when they show up; are we ready for them; have we anticipated they might present themselves and have we planned for that occasion?<br /><br />5. When we arrived we carefully and thoroughly documented the trip in the log book including comments on interesting things we saw, how the boat preformed, things we wanted to remember about that days cruise, maintenance issues, etc<br />a. The great salespeople know to immediately log the call in their CRM for ready reference and for using to help plan the next call. They include the results of the call versus their plan for the call, issues they want to recall, subtleties that occurred they want to remember and account for, like a new person of influence they hadn't met before, or how involved/distracted the prospect was and how to manage/account for unique behaviors in the next call. They don’t rely on their memory!<br /><br />6. And the next day we started over again, invoking the same disciplines and to the same level of detail<br />a. Too often we all fall victim to believing we know the customer/prospect well and don’t really need the same attention to detail we might use with another, but when we do, we put the sale at risk!<br /><br />I wondered how we can successfully transfer the need for a disciplined approach when we’re cruising the open water, to the sales process, and why it seems so hard for so many. Those that get it, are wildly successful and we refer to them as “natural” salespeople—not the case at all—we can all be “naturally” great if we adopt and stick to the same disciplines necessary to have a safe and enjoyable cruise!Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-28864227390151304472011-09-28T17:12:00.000-07:002012-06-06T07:14:56.427-07:00Creating Jobs and Fixing Social SecurityWe are in the midst of great debates and profound changes to the very fabric of our nation. While I rarely write regarding political issues, this one seems to strike at the very heart of who we are as a nation so I thought I’d share my suggestion for stabilizing the Social Security system, stimulating the economy, and reducing the general angst that exits.<br /><br />It’s a four-part program with the following attributes:<br /><br />• Immediately enroll all workers in the system that means everybody including Congress and anybody else who is exempted today!<br />• Immediately raise the age needed to begin benefits to 67 for everyone under the age of 50. Then begin to add one month every three months until we reach 70.<br />• Change the system of payroll deductions immediately. Rather then contributing until one reaches a predetermined level, today I believe around $106,000 in wages, take the contribution level today and consider it the base line. Then everyone earning less than $25,000 is exempted, they are fully part of the system, but not required to contribute. They need every dime just to live and every dime goes immediately back into the economy! From $25,000 to $75,000 they pay ½ of today’s base line; from $75,000 to $200,000 they pay today’s base line, and from $200,000 and over they pay 2X today’s base rate, and there is no upper limit any more. This is a “fair share” approach and it’ll work!<br />• Finally, immediately begin means testing. It is ridiculous to pay someone with millions of retirement $2000 a month in Social Security —they don’t even know what to do with the money. Believe me, I know some of them! And they won’t revolt if they lose their $2000 a month, they’ll applaud our rational thinking!<br />Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-58193246788045064922011-08-22T20:07:00.000-07:002012-06-06T07:14:56.429-07:00<strong>5 Common Barriers Inhibiting Revenue Performance</strong><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNTopX90HZaCQBmRu2OqoM9x6TIYbDWseDmP0GjEsIMbSGsvrlQuL_XK-TT5u8YtXhwBQSdbhcBCxaJpOXcpaY3JP7RUDBxkPVlMxh5VKxfHO5slfknCRq6tenglG4S8wuk9fonLA-5Q/s1600/IMG_3360.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNTopX90HZaCQBmRu2OqoM9x6TIYbDWseDmP0GjEsIMbSGsvrlQuL_XK-TT5u8YtXhwBQSdbhcBCxaJpOXcpaY3JP7RUDBxkPVlMxh5VKxfHO5slfknCRq6tenglG4S8wuk9fonLA-5Q/s200/IMG_3360.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5643883457635025202" /></a><br /> <br /><br /><br />I was playing golf recently at Bandon Dunes with the CEO of a major Chicago based firm. During our match, he asked me if I could name a few of the common issues I see in my engagements. Maybe he was just trying to distract me, it was match play after all, but I thought he was truly interested, so I told him I had seen barriers that seemed to be present frequently, usually fixable but all causing many issues for many firms, Among them were:<br /><br />1.<strong> The Alignment Problem:</strong><br />The alignment between the goals/expectations and compensation plans. Often CEO’s tell me their sales force just isn’t firing on all eight cylinders, and could I help them by replacing them with better, more capable people, or maybe get them on track with more focused training or perhaps more discipline. When I get engaged I see a significant misalignment between what the sales force is being asked to do and how they are being paid. Compensation plan design is not often a core competency for senior management for a number of reasons, but infrequently do those without the experience and ability to design a good plan call on those who have the skill for guidance. It’s not an especially difficult issue to solve, but far more often than not it needs solving!<br /><br />2. <strong>The Collaborative Model:</strong><br />The failure of management to lead, thinking they need to manage and often confusing the two. Far too many salespeople feel like they’re in the vast blue ocean of competition all by themselves and have nobody to turn to for collaboration. Sales meetings are “account reviews” with a senior manager whose perceived goal is to ask all the tough questions and uncover their failures and shortcomings. It’s rarely a pretty sight nor is it an especially productive session. Management needs to contribute their skills, experience and position, forming a team with the sales staff, who have an obligation to keep the rest of the organization informed and involved. This collaborative model has a much better chance of success then the hierarchical model so many of us grew up under. Management needs to accept the responsibility of helping move the account forward to a close, rather than just passing judgment on performance.<br /><br />3. <strong>The “Like” Factor:</strong><br /> People have for too long espoused the theory that people buy from those they “like” -- little could be further from the truth. People buy from people they have confidence in and in whose judgment they trust and in whom<br />they believe can add value to their requirements, offering them a solution that is better than they originally expected. It’s the real role of an expert salesperson -- to deliver a solution that exceeds the customers’ expectations and provides them with a solution better then they knew existed. It really doesn’t matter if it’s a retail environment or a sophisticated commercial transaction, the goal of sales should be the same, to provide a solution that exceeds the customers’ expectations/requirements .The “like” thing may very well happen, but a professional is what the customer wants, not a friend! Salespeople get the “like” message that their organization is delivering and begins focusing on getting the customer to like them, and then the lunches and golfing and all those activities that have little to do with closing the deal start. <br />The corollary is true as well, the customer finally comes to believe he has a special “friendship” with the salesperson, and when the rules change for whatever reason, he feels he’s been abandoned or worse, and that creates even more issues. I see this frequently in the banking world, as an example, and when the terms of the loan are changed, or new covenants are imposed, the customer can’t figure out why his “good friends” bank did that to him.<br /><br />4. <strong>Much Too Focused On Features & Benefits:</strong><br />Another common problem is organizations that focus nearly entirely on training on the features and benefits of their products, with a smattering of competitive reviews. The result is salespeople who are automatons when it comes to reciting the attributes of their products, what they haven’t done is learn how to listen, develop and solution that surpasses the customers’ expectations, build a plan that serves the customer and wins the deal. It’s really rarely about features, they are important, to be sure, but important only as one component in meeting the customers’ needs.<br /><br />5. <strong>The Failure of Technology:</strong><br />And finally, I mention the failure of technology. People who have experience, and with it a bit of age, seem to rely on their “tried and true” methods, not realizing the world has largely passed them by and they can no longer win business on the sheer force of their personality. They seem to take a perverse pleasure in rejecting the advantage technology brings them. They are staring at their own obsolesce and don’t even know it. Just is bad is the younger salespeople who rely too heavily on technology, thinking an email is all that is necessary. Largely, it seems, using available technology to “put the ball in somebody else’s court” as they say. Apparently thinking that once they’ve launched an email, their task is essentially done. Both are failing because of their perception of the value of technology. One undervalues it; one places too much value on it.<br /><br />So, there you have it, the five most common hurdles I see that act as barriers to achieving great performance. All can be fixed, but they must first be recognized, and then dealt with. <br />Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-7023102736838392802011-07-20T21:45:00.000-07:002012-06-06T07:14:56.430-07:00Approaching SELLING like we do a VACATION!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScH0K5o31hgI8PitD0heAz28Nv70IdE3IX7Sp3QLmNMG19BEEu3LssaftmL90IZumR34gt0Jgxz-PX7RhXdWs0__y38wcnsB1I8GMjyvZ01Ngq_qSbDG82DzEpigMojKPMcGbvX5DSKU/s1600/Turks+106.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScH0K5o31hgI8PitD0heAz28Nv70IdE3IX7Sp3QLmNMG19BEEu3LssaftmL90IZumR34gt0Jgxz-PX7RhXdWs0__y38wcnsB1I8GMjyvZ01Ngq_qSbDG82DzEpigMojKPMcGbvX5DSKU/s200/Turks+106.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631665380293045074" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8KqerXjtexKliU1fHq2rmXUkCyExkoc374B7VVevyH8NAqHc29lGFbEPf0BAAjXUbzA2CJSbrVT7QUyq2_L0kx1IWfIiHuJhax5NT4sYTyFsrLjByrPRYF84cED6iz789mqYIQT7QxU/s1600/006_6.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8KqerXjtexKliU1fHq2rmXUkCyExkoc374B7VVevyH8NAqHc29lGFbEPf0BAAjXUbzA2CJSbrVT7QUyq2_L0kx1IWfIiHuJhax5NT4sYTyFsrLjByrPRYF84cED6iz789mqYIQT7QxU/s200/006_6.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631665206646599794" /></a><br />We recently took our grown children and their families on a vacation to the Turks & Caicos Islands. It occurred to me as we had the time of our lives with them, that a vacation is a great model for effective selling!! <br /><br />Here’s the 12-step analogy I realized:<br />1. Vacation: Our first step was to determine a place all three generations would enjoy<br />Selling:Much like thinking thru the profile of a good prospect<br /><br />2. Vacation: Then we asked everybody what they’d most like to do<br />Selling: Along the lines of determining the customer’s needs<br /><br />3. Vacation: We used the internet to research all the places that seemed to fit<br />Selling: Matching the prospects requirements/needs with our ability to deliver<br /><br />4. Vacation: We determined our budget<br />Selling: Deciding how much were willing to invest in the deal<br /><br />5. Vacation: As we approached the departure day we carefully planned what to pack<br />Selling: Reminding me of the importance of being sure the presentation was ready and customized for the prospect<br /><br />6. Vacation: We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to make our flights<br />Selling: Just as we should arrive a few minutes early on any sales call<br /><br />7. Vacation: We took small “emergency” bags on board in case our luggage didn’t arrive with us<br />Selling: As we should be sure the technology, handouts etc. are ready with backups available<br /><br />8. Vacation: When we arrived we immediately walked around the lovely resort to get a sense of how it all worked<br />Selling: Reminding me of the importance visiting with the reception people and any others to get a sense of the culture and how we might modify our presentation style to fit with their business culture<br /><br />9. Vacation: While we were there we immersed ourselves in all there was to do; diving often, swimming, hiking, learning about a new and different culture<br />Selling: Just like we need to show a real and sincere interest in learning all we can about our prospect and how they operate, make decisions <br />and buy<br /><br />10. Vacation: We took photos and kept diaries of our events so we wouldn’t forget them<br />Selling: Just as we should all take careful notes to remind us of the details and nuances of the potential sale<br /><br />11. Vacation: When we got home we made photo albums for each to have as a memory of the trip<br />Selling: As we should commemorate and share with our team the results of significant meetings and communications<br /><br />12. Vacation: We took a family poll to see what we liked best and what we’ll do differently on our next one<br />Selling: Just as we should seek feedback and adjust accordingly <br /><br /><br /><strong>“If we could just inspire our salespeople to plan their day like they plan their vacation— performance would increase dramatically!”</strong>Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-32843227658544599802011-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:002011-04-19T21:08:18.842-07:00Herding SheepI often hear clients refer to “herding cats” meaning it’s nearly impossible to get everyone on the same page, which for anyone having a cat, is just too obvious. Or “herding sheep” as a reflection of how hard it is to get everyone moving at roughly the same pace. It occurs to me that many may not really understand the comment at the level needed to successfully address the issue.<br /><br /> I was raised on a ranch in Wyoming (I still own our brand, the /\7, the “open a seven”) and we had both sheep and cattle. Cattle were very independent and tended to roam at will, knowing where the food and the shelter was to be found, a t least right up to winter when we needed to bring them in to a central headquarters location where we could care for them during the worst weather when little or no food and surely no salt was available on the range. <br /><br />Sheep were another issue. First there were three levels of “leadership” needed. The sheep dogs, indispensible, served to nip at their heels to get their attention and keep them moving together as a group, rather like many sales managers; then we has a lead goat, its job was to lead the flock to the next green pasture where feeding was plentiful; rather like the marketing manager who needs to discover and present new and innovative ways to help the salespeople thrive; and finally we had a sheepherder, who’s primary, really only job, was to protect the herd from predators. I’ve seen sheepherders walking for miles over difficult terrain carrying a new lamb on their shoulders, bringing it back to a willing nursing mother. I see this role rather like senior management, who can protect the sales people from those that would detract from their focus, causing them to become wayward and lost, well, less productive then they could and should be for sure.<br /><br /> It’s interesting to me how often life is imitated in different ways and different places. Perhaps we should re-think our sales management roles using the “herding sheep” example. <br /> <br />Hope you enjoyed another of my analogies!Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-70122222766075687432011-04-10T21:21:00.000-07:002011-04-10T21:22:56.385-07:00the 6th Law of Sales• Don’t misinterpret “the customer is always right.” The customer is right about his desires, perhaps even his requirements. But all too often they really don’t know what they don’t know. They have come to you to add value to their purchase decision. An example is a woman at a cosmetics counter - they’ve been applying their cosmetics for years, they know exactly how they want to look, yet they ask question after question at the counter. Why? Because they know the person they are talking to is experienced and trained with all products including the latest and may have ideas and knowledge they don‘t. Customers want to be educated, to be shown a better way, to have their needs/requirements refined to take advantage of current products/services and methodologies. They don’t want to make a mistake and be “sold” what they asked for, when they could’ve done better with some expert input and guidance. Listen, interpret their comments, and then offer a solution that adds value to the transaction.Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-38690472365840258262011-03-13T12:45:00.000-07:002011-03-13T12:46:31.678-07:00<strong>5th Law of Sales</strong>:•The sale is “closed” when it’s referencable. The truly great know that receiving a purchase order isn’t the end of the sale, it’s merely the beginning. But too many believe the sale is official when the service/product has been delivered. That is still a bit pre-mature to celebrate. The sale that matters most is the sale that meets the customer’s requirements in a way that results in a referencable customer. It is said that 80% of all sales occur after the 5th contact. A meaningful reference can reduce that number by a many as two, cutting the time and sale expense by nearly 40%! And 76% of all people who get a good personal reference, buy.Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-66587612125426517642010-12-18T21:05:00.000-08:002010-12-18T21:06:22.904-08:00A 4th Key Law of Sales:Respect the buyer’s process. The truly successful sales people know that they have a superior ability to “take the customer out of the market,” in other words, they know that they have been successful in establishing the trust-bond, and in matching their services/products well with customer’s requirements so that when the customer does buy, he knows they will buy from him. He accepts that he cannot and should not try to materially alter the buyer’s process, for doing so will violate the trust-bond, and likely result in sacrificing margin. Far too often those in desperate need to meet a quota deadline will offer a concession to win the deal earlier then the customer was prepared to authorize it, and in a great many cases the incentive comes in the form of a price reduction—“if I could get a lower price, would you order this month?” It’s a lose/lose question:<br />o The trust-bond has been broken. The customer now knows he didn’t get the best his sales person could’ve offered<br />o The sales person has sacrificed margin, making the transaction and his company less profitable<br />o The customer must do abnormal things to make the sale happen, which he’ll both learn from and resent<br />Far better to have managed the pipeline better, spent more time developing prospects, less time chasing deals that really weren't qualified deals, and knowing that there are enough opportunities in the sales funnel that the requisite number will materialize, without adversely impacting the normal and natural course of events at any one customer.Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-67429669784873936522010-11-29T16:27:00.000-08:002010-11-29T16:28:42.130-08:00More on the Immutable Laws of SalesThe great sales people recognize the “yes” that isn’t an order, but is the “yes” that comes from following the path of least resistance versus the path of a disciplined methodology. When the sales manager asks if an account closed and was the order placed, and the answer is, “not yet, but they said they’d like to meet again” we’ve potentially allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of the “easiest yes”. This can be avoided by setting goals and objectives for each customer contact that will advance the sale—not that it will always go as hoped or expected, but at least it was a planned sales call with a defined objective against which we can measure the success of the call and avoid the “yes” that does not mean we’ve won the sale, but does impose additional expensive time, effort and sales cost.<br />Additional ideas can be found on my web site at www.focusedonrevenue.com <br />or my blog at: http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-91863431576594771022010-11-14T19:20:00.001-08:002010-11-14T19:20:26.982-08:00Another in my short series of the Immutable Laws of Sales:<br />The importance of the trust- bond, it outweighs all of the features and benefits of any product or service. People buy from people they trust and salespeople who add value to the relationship. Notice I didn’t say a person they like, which is important too, but less so than the trust-bond. Too many organizations teach their sales people all about the features and benefits of their products/services, but they fail to focus in either their coaching or the measurement standards on this key element of truth—the trust-bond matters!<br />Additional information may be found on my web site at www.focusedonrevenue.com or my blog at: http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-86544775606560182892010-11-08T09:48:00.001-08:002010-11-08T09:48:35.584-08:00An Immutable Law of Sales: one of a series<br />A "slow" maybe is extraordinarily expensive. The great sales people over time have realized they must learn to be discerning enough to know when they haven't yet successfully matched their services/products with the customers’ requirements. Too often the customer is unable to “just say “no”” so we continue to call on them hoping for a miraculous conversion. And they do occur! But the cost of the sale is nearly always too expensive, not even counting the opportunity lost cost since other potential sales went uncontested to the competition as there was no time available to develop them. <br />See more on my web site at: www.focusedonrevenue.comMichael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7474708841611223173.post-5604257087532488422010-09-07T20:16:00.001-07:002010-09-07T20:16:35.558-07:00Selling by "Instinct"<br />I got my pilot’s license in 1972, and as they say, there are no old, bold pilots. I’ve thought about what it takes to be a proficient pilot, and I’ve recognized a commonality with successful selling. Changing the revenue trajectory for firms is what I do, so I admit I’m thinking about it a lot, and it occurred to me that flying is an apt model. Far too often I work with sales teams who manage by “feel.” They have a “feel” for their customers and prospects, when they’ll buy and how much. They rely on instincts, often tuned over a long experience base. These are the guys who don’t last long in an airplane! Pilots are taught from the very first day not to rely on their instincts – but to trust the gauges. Pilots will tell of the times they felt they were flying right side up, while the gauges told them they were upside down. The gauges are always right, instincts aren’t. We need to help our salespeople understand and rely on the metrics of sales. They need to KNOW they are making progress, it needs to be quantitative. They need to have a clear and defendable account plan overlaid with the account map. I’m not trying to imply that good instincts aren’t important, that having a “second sense” isn’t worthwhile, they are! They should recognize the feeling in the stomach that reminds one something may be going on that deserves a check of the “gauges”—is the effort progressing as planned and is the progress concrete, and verifiable. Those who adopt this approach will find their close rate increasing and the sales cycle shortening!<br />Visit me on my website: focusedonrevenue.com; or my Blog at http://michaelbpearce.blogspot.com/; or you can reach me at 425-830-4156.Michael Pearcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16668724964799711461noreply@blogger.com0