My comments today continue from yesterday’s post, so if you missed it, do please scroll down to update yourself.

One of the points I made yesterday was that in my experience, in the critical area of sales team development, most H.R. departments are about as useful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. Harsh words? I don’t think so.

I really do strongly believe that they should stick to what they are good at, like looking after employee welfare; ensuring that the company adheres to the maze which is today’s employment laws, and spending as much time as possible at conferences and on training courses, to add another qualification to their CV. Not in your company? You are very lucky!

Going back to my examination of why so many salespeople are failing today, you see, unlike most other professions, there are no qualifications required to become a professional salesman or woman: I find that very disappointing, and I am also deeply concerned that even the super-rich corporations who used to put their latest intakes on a solid two year program before letting them loose on an unsuspecting audience, now believe that around two weeks of product training is quite sufficient.

Why the change? In a word, “cost” Since the financial meltdown that began almost five years ago, investors have been crawling all over balance sheets, and any investment in staff development always appears as cost — for which there is never any tangible evidence of a return.

Whereas replacing non-performing heads is always seen as an unavoidable investment. This in turn has led to a new “hire and fire” mentality, which actually is incredibly short-sighted, and usually proves far more costly. It is a total cop-out, and simply highlights the fact that so many poor hiring decisions have been made in the first place.

Make no mistake, as a sales leader, when one of our team fails, we fail.

The real answer, as I alluded to yesterday, is the decline in the quality of sales leadership. This is a role which is now pivotal in every organization, whatever the size: I liken their importance to that of the QB on a football team — yes, that important. Which is why it is alarming to note that the average tenure of a sales manager today is just eighteen months.

Today, I read the transcript of an interview Linda Richardson has just conducted with Dave Kurlan of Objective Management Group — the world’s leading authority on sales team and sales leadership assessments. Dave’s comments were damning, and you’ll have the opportunity to read the entire interview when July’s Top Sales magazine is published next week.

So are there any companies out there still willing to invest to accumulate?

Very much so; those companies who have implemented their own “academies” — including most of my clients — are reaping rich rewards. Turnover has been reduced to virtually nil; teams are happy, and feel valued; staff typically work longer hours, but are also working smarter, and they are totally committed.

None of that should come as a surprise to any of us. When a company demonstrates its commitment to its employees by investing back into them, those employees are anxious to repay that faith — it is a “no-brainer” and definitely “win-win”

How about you, are you really valued by your company? Or are you one of the at least 80% of sales professionals who remain unqualified to do your job properly?

News: I do hope you have a great w/e: I want to find the motivation to write about the latest “Libor” banking scandal in the UK, which has followed the News Corp press scandal, which followed the British MP’s expenses scandal. Frankly, I am just staggered by it all, and actually quite depressed — which is not like me at all. But when I view the evident corruption which is unfolding in front of me day by day, I do feel like a “glass-half-empty” personality.

When I was growing up, my parents took great pride in introducing me to their friends; the bank manager, the estate agent, and even the local MP. These were pillars of our society; we went to them to counter-sign and endorse our passport applications, and driving-license forms. Today, we no longer know who we can trust. It seems that everyone is trying to deceive us in some way or other, and we are all spending so much time trying to figure out who the good guys are — if indeed there are any, anymore.

I am reminded of a quote from Drucker… “The most effective way to manage change is to create it” So, rather than sitting around, I am going to close my personal account with Barclays tomorrow, and I am also going to close the company’s accounts. It is one small gesture, but I doubt I will be ploughing this particular furrow alone.

Bon weekend a tous!

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

After you’ve met new potential  clients and established rapport with them is the time to qualify them not only as to their needs, but as to their expectations regarding making a financial commitment to their futures. When you establish early on what investment range they would be comfortable with, you can eliminate the stall that move [...] Related posts:

1. Financial Services Selling Skills – Guidelines for Asking Questions
2. The Advantages of a Career in Financial Services
3. The Financial Services Presentation

Source: Tom Hopkins’ Sales Training Blog

This past Monday I had dinner with Misty Lown, owner and CEO of Misty’s Dance Unlimited (and come to find out SEVEN other successful companies). More about Misty below.

How she is implementing breakthrough ideas in her business is awe-inspiring. I know you would benefit from her ideas, so I am passing them along to you.

To set the proper stage (no pun intended… dance joke, get it?), Misty is in her mid-thirties, has FIVE children, has built a $1,000,000+ business in an industry where the average studio does $50,000-$60,000 in revenue… and she does it by spending less than 4 hours a week IN her business. How’s that for ‘WOW’ already, right?

Okay, with all that in mind, I forward you the strategy that is having a big impact on raising her game even further with her dance studio.

From Misty:
“Here is the one thing transforming my business since HPF: “Darren Hardy says there is no competitive advantage in a satisfied customer: no word of mouth, no buzz, no loyalty. Customers have to be loved. To love is to ‘WOW’!

“I own a dance studio with over 700 students. After I came home from HPF, I made it my goal to turn every interaction into a ‘WOW’ experience! After HPF, I went through my organization from top to bottom looking for ways to elevate our client experience.”

‘WOW’ the client. ”We evaluated every client (parent’s) touch point and every process they engaged in. We have made leagues of improvements to all of our processes, including online ticketing for recitals, automating all client accounts with software, online booking of private lessons, and adding a new enrollment management office. The leadership team was challenged to take every client interaction as an opportunity to make things right, better, or exceptional for students and their families.”

‘WOW’ the end user (student). ”To our elevated systems and customer service, we added ‘WOW’ opportunities for our students for the upcoming school year, including new performing groups, a guest choreographer from the hit TV show ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ the opportunity to perform ‘Nutcracker’ live with our local Symphony (first time ever in our city!), hosting a regional dance competition featuring studios from three states, a free 15th Anniversary Celebration and Alumni Event, and a trip to NYC for our high school students so they can study with the best of the best!”

‘WOW’ the entire brand experience. ”Even the physical building, which is only five years old, didn’t escape the microscope. We repainted the entire building, remodeled the dressing rooms, filled the children’s lobby with the best in children’s literature, got new tables and chairs for our cafe, updated the stock and fixtures in our store, resealed the parking lot, and added a snack bar.”

‘WOW’ the community. “And, we didn’t stop with our clients. We included the community by starting a non-profit foundation called ‘A Chance to Dance Foundation,’ which will provide scholarships for financial need, talent, and diversity so every child in our community will have ‘a chance to dance’!

“The event has raised over $280,000 for the local chapter of the Red Cross in the first six years ($95,000 of it was raised last year). The results have been phenomenal! Last month we had over 4,700 people come to our Spring Recitals, and at our recent Fall Registration, we had people CAMPING OUT overnight to secure a premium spot in line. My daughter and I went out at 6:30 a.m. in white aprons to serve our families fresh pastries and coffee while they waited. The first person in line was surprised with balloons and a free registration, and everyone walked out with a free geranium that day. People ate it up…they love to be loved on!”

‘WOW’ Life. “Best of all, I just spent 10 days with my family in Florida, and am not due back in the office for two and half more weeks. Since attending the HPF, I have found that I can run my dance business remotely on about 4 hours per week of staff contact/communication for the times I want to travel or spend at home with kids. This kind of ‘time wealth’ is not only giving me precious memories with my family, but also the ability to pursue the new licensing business with vigor.

“Our motto at Misty’s Dance Unlimited has always been ‘More Than Just Great Dancing!’ Thanks, Darren, for helping me make it so!”

Okay, now it’s your turn… How can you add “WOW” to every one of your client touch points, throughout the entire client experience, with your brand and business? The answer to that question is what will allow you to have a “WOW” life, too. CLICK HERE TO COMMENT ON BLOG

http://www.mistysdance.com. The new site for Misty’s Dance Unlimited, which is under development, can be found here.

More information about Darren’s private CEO HIGH-PERFORMANCE FORUM can be found here.

Source: Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine

Search software sales jobs by state #salesgravy #jobs – http://t.co/FQsrZ8KW # How to Be a Rock Star Sales Manager in 5 Days – http://t.co/m467JrMt # Join the world’s largest sales talent community – http://t.co/Ero3YaZ2 # SalesGravy # Job Seeker – Career Resources http://t.co/9lOCYlEt # Women in Sales – Selling Success http://t.co/t4g0OwZV # Enterprise is hiring [...]

Source: Jeb Blount| Sales Gravy Blog

That’s not really a question one expects to be confronted with at a private dinner party is it? Unfortunately, like those poor medical practitioners who are regaled with requests for advice on everything from ingrowing toenails to hemorrhoids, I have kind of accepted that if any of my fellow guests have a beef about sales-related issues, then I am going to be in the firing line.

I usually begin by trying to explain that everybody, everywhere, sells every day: Then I have to elaborate, and eventually, I find myself defending this fine profession, which actually, after a couple of glasses of a decent Burgundy I can do all evening — even with my eyes closed.

But let’s take a more pragmatic approach to the question: Are there too many salespeople in the world?

What we do know is that there are too many under-performing salespeople on the planet — about 52% of the current sales population according to Aberdeen’s recent report, which I am about to digest in full — I’ll report back on the findings shortly.

Why?

That is a far more complex question to answer — that is to say, there are several answers.

To begin with, most companies, in most industries, find it easier to keep hiring new salespeople, instead of investing in those that they have already: Rather than stopping and taking stock of their current assets, and thinking about what it would take to get that team operating at optimum performance levels, they play the numbers game, which of course is a complete nonsense, and totally unjustifiable financially.

Let me give you an example: What % of sales leaders do you think could accurately answer the following questions about their own team?

- If you benchmarked your team on an individual basis against the best in your industry/sector how would they fare?

-  What would it take for them to become the very best?

-  Are you able to measure the impact of any investment you have made in training and developing the team in recent years? — I.e. what return have you seen on that investment?

- What further development is required in order for them to achieve optimum performance levels?

-  If any members of the team are currently underachieving do you know why and do you understand what will be required to get them back on track?

- Who in your team is capable of much higher levels of achievement, if they were to receive appropriate coaching?

And then follow that up with:

When thinking about your own sales force, and their performance in the first two quarters this year :

- Do you understand their motivators — what is driving them?
– Do you have visibility of their numbers — year to date, forecast vs. required performance?
– Activity levels — are they working hard and smart enough?
– Engagement — are they talking to the right level in their prospects/accounts?
– Messaging — are they capable of delivering an appropriate message at the right level?
– Qualification — are they only spending time on deals where they can compete and ultimately that they can win?
– Closing — are they constructing successful campaigns and closing business?

I’ll repeat the question — what % of sales leaders could accurately answer those questions?

Let me give you a clue, it is more than 1% but less than 5%.

That is pretty frightening isn’t it?

Secondly, H.R. are getting in the way: They don’t mean to, but particularly in the corporate space, they have far too much authority and far too little experience to make the decisions about sales team development that they are making.

In my experience, in this critical area, most H.R. departments are about as useful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest — but more on that tomorrow. And I also intend to illustrate why — in my humble opinion — more than 80% of sales professionals are currently under-qualified to perform the job they are being asked to do.

Do join me?

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

Image by mattzor (license).

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
Maria Robinson

“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
Karen Lamb

I didn’t really try to improve my life very much until I was 25. Before that I mostly just moved along in the same old rut.

Since then (I’m 32 now) I have tripled my effectiveness, lost more than 30 pounds, adopted a more optimistic view of my life and raised my own self-esteem greatly. I have learned to simplify my life and to inject a lot more happiness into my days and years.

Why am telling you this? Well, the point here is not to brag. My point is that you are not stuck permanently in the life you have now. Even if it may feel that way.

It may sometimes feel like you should have started to change your life earlier, when you were a kid or in your teens or early tweenties. Or that you should have been born into those right circumstances right away as you came to this earth. It may feel like it is too late now.

You may look to your past and tell yourself: “if only had done this or that then things would have been different and better now”. That may be true but you cannot really change the past unless you got a time-machine. And reliving the past in your mind does not change today and this week and month. It just has you hooked on mental reruns that keep you in your regretfilled rut.

It isn’t too late for you to improve something in your life that you really want to change. No matter what age you are at. Over the past 5+ years I have received thousands of emails from readers of all ages – between 14 and 72 – that have told me about how they have changed their life in a positive way.

I understand that you may not be able to change your life in any way you want right now. There are real limits in most people’s lives and personal development isn’t magic that can fix just about anything quickly and easily.

But you can do what you can with what you have where you are right now. Start there.

Make a small change if that is what is possible. From that small change and success you will gain confidence and you can build upon that to make more and perhaps even bigger changes.

4 steps that will make it easier for you to get started

1. Think about what you really want to change.

Maybe you already know it. It could be your social life, your confidence, your health or money situation. Or take a few days to think about it. Take time to focus on this because if you really want something then it becomes a whole lot easier to keep going.

Or let your curiousness guide you. Ask yourself: what would I like to explore in life now? Find one or a few areas to improve or habits you would like to incorporate into your life. Write them down.

2. Choose one thing or habit to focus on for now.

If you have found several things or habits you would like to focus on then choose to focus on just one at a time. Spreading yourself too thin pretty much always leads to failure because life tends to get in the way. If you have a regular life then you’ll probably won’t have the time and energy to change three things at once even though you really hope and think you can.

If you like, choose a theme for a year and focus just on that. I have chosen themes in the past like health and social skills. Then put most of your efforts for 365 days into creating new habits and routines in just that one area.

3. Take small steps.

This is very important. The feeling that something is too big or scary or difficult is one of the most common things to hold people back from taking action at all.

On the other hand, people also tend to overestimate their own willpower. The plan sounds so good in your head but when you execute it then you can’t really take as much action or move as fast as you thought.

Focusing on just one thing at a time and doing it in small steps may feel kind of like something a child would do. I have thought that was the case – like so many other people have  in the past – and then fallen flat on my nose after a few days or weeks of trying to change too many things too quickly.

Instead, ask yourself: what is one small step I can take to move forward in this situation?

I use that question pretty much every day in some way and it has been immensely helpful over the last couple of years.

4. Ask yourself: What is one small step I can take right now to get ball rolling ?

Don’t get stuck in planning. Or thinking that you will get started tomorrow or next week. Get the ball rolling instead. Do that today by just taking one small and practical step towards what you want.

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The Positivity Blog Courses and Guides:

- Stop feeling lousy about yourself and start living a life of self-happiness where you live up to your potential and dare to follow your dreams – with The Self-Esteem Course.

- Simplify and start living a more focused, peaceful and meaningful life – with the Simplicity Course.

- How get more done, minimize stress and free up more time for yourself starting today – with The Art of Relaxed Productivity.

- How to become a more mindful, motivated, action-taking optimist – with The Power of Positivity.

Copyright 2006-2012 Henrik Edberg.

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Source: The Positivity Blog

Tom was the keynote speaker at the Annual Managers Convention in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. If you’d like to get the PPT for the event, it is posted here:

Annual Managers Convention, Tel Aviv

Source: The Tom Peters Weblog

Because procrastination is such a major concern of so many people, tips to help people stop procrastinating have been developed over the years. Here are eight of the most powerful task management tips ever devised to help you get things done and stop procrastinating in your work and personal life. Think about which one of these ideas could be most helpful to you right now, in your current situation.

Task Management Tip #1: Get things done by thinking on paper

Prepare thoroughly if you want to get things done. List every step of the job in advance. Break the job down into its constituent parts before you begin. Simply writing out every detail and thoroughly preparing in advance will help you to stop procrastinating and get things done.

Task Management Tip #2: Be fully prepared

When you sit down to work or to begin a task, make sure that you have everything at hand so that you won’t have to get up or move until the task is done. Being fully prepared is a powerful motivator for staying with the task until it is finished.

Task Management Tip #3: Do one small thing to get started

There is an 80/20 rule that says that the first 20 percent of the task often accounts for 80 percent of the value of that task. This is probably what Confucius meant when he said that, ”A journey of 1,000 leagues begins with a single step.” Once you have taken even one small step to start the job, you will stop procrastinating and often find yourself continuing on with the task to completion.

Task Management Tip #4: ‘Salami slice” the task

Just as you would never try to eat a whole loaf of salami at once, don’t try to take on all of a job from the start. Sometimes the best way to stop procrastinating and complete a major job is to take a small slice and complete just that piece, just as you would take a single slice of salami and eat it.

When you select a small piece of the task and then discipline yourself to do it and get it behind you, it will often give you the momentum you need to counter inertia, stop procrastinating, and get things done.

Task Management Tip #5: Practice the Swiss cheese technique

Just as a block of Swiss cheese is full of holes, you treat your task like a block of cheese and you punch holes in it. Select a five-minute part of the job and do only that. Don’t worry about the whole job. For example, if you want to write an article or a book, break the task down into small pieces that take an identifiable amount of time to complete and do just one small piece at a time whenever you get a chance.

Many authors begin by writing one page a day. If you are doing research, you can read one article per sitting. Many people write complete books on airplanes, or complete their college degrees with snatches of time between other activities. If you wrote one page a day for a year, you would have a 365-page book by the end of the year.

Task Management Tip #6: Do the task that causes you the most fear or anxiety

Often, it has to do with overcoming the fear of failure or rejection by someone else. In sales, it may be associated with prospecting. In management, it may be associated with disciplining or firing an employee. In relationships, this may have to do with confronting an unhappy personal situation.

In every case, you will be more effective if you deal first with whatever is causing you the greatest emotional distress or fear. Often this will break the logjam in your work and free you up mentally and emotionally to get things done.

Task Management Tip #7: Start your day with the most unpleasant task first

Get it over with and behind you. Everything else for the rest of the day will seem easier in comparison.

A recent study compared two groups of people. One group started an exercise program in the morning. The second group started an exercise program in the evenings after work. The researchers found that the morning exercisers were much more likely to still be in the program six months later. Starting the day with exercise was much more likely to lead to the habit of regular exercise than putting it off until the end of the day when it was easier to make excuses and procrastinate.

Task Management Tip #8: Think about the negative consequences

What will happen to you if this job is not done on schedule? Both fear and desire are great motivators of human behavior. Sometimes you can motivate yourself by the desire for the rewards ofof task management completion. Sometimes you can motivate yourself into action by thinking about the negative consequences and what will happen to you do not get things done as promised.

What do you think about these time management tips? If you know other effective ways to stop procrastinating and get things done, please share and comment below!

Source: Brian Tracy’s Blog

Yesterday, I exposed the considerable “relationship-gap” that apparently exists between customer/client expectation, and what most selling companies believe is necessary to retain them. (If you missed that post, please simply scroll down)

That statement sounds terribly arrogant doesn’t it? “What most selling companies believe is necessary to retain them” But is that not the point?

I think most frontline sales professionals believe that they are providing their existing clients with excellent service – but then they are only usually viewing the relationship one dimensionally, from where they are standing.

The brutal reality is that customers and clients are rarely asked: Oh yes, they might be persuaded to occasionally complete an online satisfaction survey, consisting of carefully crafted questions designed by a third-party who has as much knowledge of your industry and sector as they do about the sexual shenanigans of a platypus. And have you noticed that we all celebrate and congratulate ourselves when we see the positive feedback, and yet convince ourselves that anything negative must have come from a terminal whiner?

We are all guilty of taking our customers and clients for granted – some of us regularly, all of us occasionally: We are all culpable when it comes to failing to continually strive to ”earn the right” to their business. After all, if they want anything, they will call us, won’t they? Maybe once upon a time, when they had less choices, and when they were less “educated” but not anymore. Like those platypus, we are only as good as our last performance!

So, as you stir from your slumbers next Monday, and the awful truth dawns on you – you are currently underachieving by more than 50% against quota - do not, under any circumstance, take any solace from the fact that so are more than 50% of the global sales population; there is nothing to celebrate in being a member of the “Loser’s Club” unless you enjoy safety in numbers.

What I am suggesting you do in the next two weeks may well fly in the face of advice you will receive from your manager, who has possibly been conditioned to believe that harder is smarter – it isn’t, so you might want to tell him/her that in the book Emerson’s Essays, there is a section on “Law of Compensation.” It can be summarized simply as “give more, get more.” This is what most salespeople try to do, so they end up working harder when they could be working smarter. This begs the question, are your sales activities deciding your strategy or is your strategy deciding your sales activities?

My advice is to focus – just for a couple of weeks - on all your existing clients: Call them, go visit – even better, conduct a formal mid-year account review – give them some attention, and let them know that you really want their business this year. You will be amazed at the response. Why? Because it is not something your competitors will be doing – unless they read this post, or have been on one of my training workshops. And just hope that you don’t come up against one of my clients, because they will have completed this exercise last week!

The next time you drive out into the countryside, particularly this time of the year, take time to notice the crops in the fields: Notice the hedges around the fields, and how well maintained – or not - they are. I can assure you that the best maintained fields are yielding the best harvests. The work that those farmers put in during the Spring is now paying dividends – it hasn’t all happened magically.

The better you maintain your relationships with your best accounts, the higher your yield will be, and maybe, just maybe, you can make it into the “Winners Enclosure” come the end of December.

We always have choices, and this is your choice.

News: The July Top Sales magazine is shaping up nicely – we have articles from a host of “big-hitters” like Jeffrey Gitomer, Keith Rosen, Joanne Black and Jill Konrath, plus a great Linda Richardson interview … more soon.

Source: Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

Loud and obnoxious interrupt marketing and advertising practices of things such as TV and radio commercials are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Today in order to gain a customer, keep that customer and turn that customer into a positive advocate it requires cultivating a meaningful relationship.

The companies that are winning big and will dramatically breakaway from the competitive herd going forward will be those that learn how to master the tools, platform and relational skills of social media (among other contemporary innovations in marketing and communication).

This is such an important issue for the budding entrepreneur and small business owner that I searched the country over to try and bring you the very best to address this topic and bring them to the SUCCESS table in our July issue of SUCCESS. I’m NOT talking about just social media for socializing sakes, but social media done effectively for moving the needle in entrepreneurial and small business customer and revenue growth. 

If you are a subscriber to SUCCESS (gasp! if you aren’t!) you heard me interview Paul Slack, the President of one of the largest social media agencies in the country (www.SplashMedia.com) on the CD bound into the issue. Paul employs over 80 people who manage the social media accounts for over 200 companies. They have put in 60,000 man and woman hours watching, monitoring, measuring and driving social media engagements. For this young and budding industry there is probably not another company with more street level experience, data and intelligence.

At the end of the CD I promised I would go back through the interview and capture each action step and develop a summary document for you. It bullet points:

• The 3 biggest mistakes people make in social media marketing.
• The 5.5 Point plan for getting started
• The 5 steps to execution success
• Tips on community building and 7 points on building a winning business blog
• Also, after the interview I also arm wrestled some of the key documents Paul’s company uses to fully initialize each new social media account and the very checklist they use to manage the individual social media communities of over 200 companies. What to do daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly and exactly what actions to take in those periods to drive social media community building, engagement and conversion on Facebook, twitter, linkedin, youtube and your blog.

Here are those documents I created for you: CLICK HERE TO READ REST AND ACCESS DOCUMENTS

Source: Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine