Going Forward

Monday, December 27, 2010.

A couple of weeks ago I attended an International Convention in Miami followed by a special recognition and reward weekend given by Dale Carnegie and Associates, Inc. to the top producing businesses in its worldwide network.  I went into the convention concerned about the industry and some of my own recent business issues.   I came out inspired, more ready to do battle.  There are times when every business-wired person needs to let in thoughts that give you a feeling that a lot more success is possible, regardless of your situation.

A businessman from Mexico gave one of the most inspirational talks I've ever heard.  He explained how members of the cartel visited him in his office demanding a monthly piece off the top or his family would be hurt.  He responded by rushing his family across the border.  Then he dressed in workers clothes and last year crossed the boarder daily to work with his clients.  Despite all that his business grew 191%.  Who among us would have the courage, fortitude and drive to keep going under these circumstances?

He went on to say that one evening, after a long, tiring day, his young daughter was trying desperately to figure out where the number 100 fit in her counting.  Over and over they practiced one through 99 but she couldn't get that '100' was next.  He became exasperated and even more tired.  Finally she got it and was very pleased.  As he put her to bed, she began to make the endless bedtime requests that children make.  During one of them, she asked "Daddy, how big is 100?"  By now, he was a bit frazzled, he spread his arms as wide as he could and said, "It's big- this big."  As he left her room his daughter yelled out, "I love you 100 Daddy." 

This stopped him in his tracks.  Everything he had been battling came into perspective.  He realized his life was about having a '100 heart' in everything he does for his family, team and customers.  He explained to his incredibly intent audience that trying wasn't good enough.  You do things or you don't.  He added that working smarter, not harder just doesn't fit.  With his '100 heart' he had to show up very hard everyday.  He called it a working machine and no smarts alone would help him win.  (Sometimes we can outsmart ourselves)  He said too many clichés are a waste of time. 

I could go on and on about his presentation.  All I can say is that I and everyone else in the large meeting room could hardly catch our breath, let alone our tears.  It made us all realize how good we have it and caused us to ask ourselves if we were even close to having a '100 heart'.  How much more could we give - work - and achieve?

Business reality in these times can make us more cautious, cynical and can result in having less vision.  We have to seek out inspiration that tugs on our core, helps us to balance our perspectives, and become refreshed so we can see and feel what is possible.  We say in our Business Next coaching that current reality without vision can just make us frustrated.  Vision without current reality attached just makes us goofy.  We need to freshen up our vision or we will be burnt from reality.

In my work over 45 years, I have learned that inspiration is the source of our aspirations and values.  Values and aspirations are the source of commitment.  Commitment is the source of action.  And, as you have heard me say many times before, action is all there is.  The biggest producers in business do the things that most non-producers know about, but don't do.  It is that simple.   No magic.

At this time of year one of the best things we can do is to pay special attention to our team, our customers, our family and friends.  Peter Handal, International CEO of Dale Carnegie and Associates, and his team threw every accolade at us at the world-class Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.  Thank you, Peter.  I left feeling special and appreciated and I know this is what you wanted to accomplish.  Peter is a great example of how to lead by showing appreciation and recognition. Kevin Crone, your Monday Morning Mentor, is on the far right of this Croquet team. 

Actions:

·  Seek out an inspirational read, or a meeting with a very inspiring leader.  Something that could lead you to feel more committed to what you want to achieve and envision in your life and business.  Maybe bring in an inspirational business speaker for your team.

· Make a quick list of customers, team members, family members and friends that you need to make special.

·E-mail, call or write them.  Whatever.  Be "Peter Handal" like.You may never know when your inspirational act could cause them to pick up their commitment and action.

The New Year is approaching.  Let's prepare to win the battle in 2011.

Have a great week - and Have a wonderful holiday,

How to Create a Merry Christmas

December 20, 2010

Christmas is a Magical Time!

It's just what we need in these challenging economic times. Too often we, businesspeople need something to wake us up about its magic, and, when we do wake up, we focus on what is really important - making family, friends and employees happy. When we are focused enough on that goal, the tiring fuss of Christmas will not get to us. The best way to create merriness is by having meaningful conversations. We may even tell our family, friends and employees how much they mean to us, as well as buy them gifts. You and I know how special a gift of appreciation is.

The Big Secret of Dealing with People

The desire to be important and appreciated is the deepest urge in human nature said Dale Carnegie. William James called it a craving.

If you want to energize your team to adapt to what's required in 2011, or if you want to watch others feel good about themselves and see greater opportunities, then give them sincere appreciation, especially at Christmas. Write a sincere appreciation message in their cards. Speak about it at the Christmas party, and watch them glow! Your words could make a big difference to them. And of course, give appreciation to your children, spouse, father, mother, in-laws and friends. Watch what happens to you and them. Sure there are a few things they are not good at, improvements they could make but it's that way for you too. Believe me, others know.
Appreciation arouses enthusiasm among your people. Better yet, call a customer, just to tell them sincerely how much you appreciate their business and add what you like about them. If you're a little nervous about doing it, that's good. That means it's very meaningful to you and your sincerity will show.
 

One of the wonderful traditions we have in our home office is a draw for gifts (called Secret Santa). Everyone brings in a modest gift, places it under our Christmas tree and after our catered, home-cooked lunch by Pam (a wonderful lady who has been cooking for us for many years), we gather around the tree (about 25 to 30 of us) to begin the "chaos". My son, Kevin Jr., begins by reading the list of rules which has been growing by the years (people try to invent ways to get around them). His speech is a hilarious beginning. Then we draw numbers. When your number comes up, you can either pick a gift from under the tree or pick someone else's gift that has already been unwrapped. You can't believe how grown men and women joust over $25.00 gifts. It's a lot of fun and a lot of laughs! We always look forward to this fun gift exchange.

What ever you do to get people laughing and enjoying the Christmas spirit says a lot about you and the team, the environment and the values of the organization. Make sure in some small funny way the Grinch doesn't live at your place.

Who will you be at Christmas?

ACTIONS:

1. Create the spirit of Christmas. Tell at least 3 employees, friends and family what you appreciate about them, why you say it and give an example. You'll be creating a Merry Christmas for you and others you care about. Better yet - make this your big secret of success in 2011. Continually apply appreciation to your customers and employees.
    
2. Create a wonderful time with your family, friends and loved ones over the next couple of weeks. It doesn't always require money to do that.
    
3. Make time to relax, recharge and laugh a lot.
    

Looking forward to talking to you in the New Year about kicking off a great 2011 by facing the challenges of building your business, your team and yourself.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

Have a wonderful holiday,

How to retire at 35

Do you remember having:

• A great vision of where your business was going 
• A mission and purpose that employees could feel
• People wanting to join your company so they could be rewarded for their performance
• Employees incredibly motivated and happy to work there
• Everything happening quickly and it is exciting

Many years ago we used a group warm-up that stated, "When you are green you are growing.  When you are ripe, you are rotting."  A weird saying but let's look at it.  When you are green- - hmmm- - that means you are beginning.  Maybe you're young, sprouting new leaves, new beginnings, new ideas, new actions, you are up for something you want to achieve, and you are learning.  A bunch of you are having conversations about what you want and where you are going.   Many are rewarded financially or with other incentives such as trips or what ever turns working families on.

When you are ripe...... maybe you are older and more cynical, more aware of what can't be done, have all kinds of self- imposed limits and just holding on and getting through until Friday.  The vision and mission is old too and you are not sure it is achieveable anymore.  You are thinking, this place isn't what it used to be!  The conversations are, as if everyone has given up and are accepting that success isn't going to happen.  Few are talking of a new vision.  You don't have it in the budget to give rewards.  As a matter of fact everything is about the budget.  Times are tougher, tighter.  What people really need around this business is a kick in the butt, not rewards!

I remember an article I used to send out called "How to Retire at35."  It described how people shut down at any age.  They show up, mouth the words, but don't care like they used to and mentally retire, even at 35.   They set our economies and businesses back.  No one can afford them.  It is tough to focus on two different things at once.  You are either building or coasting. 

So, "When you are green, you are growing."  I'll bet if you are reading Monday Morning Mentors, you are still looking for ideas.  You have some unrealized goals.  You are looking to build.  If that is the case, it is important that you focus on creating a picture of what you want your business, department or role to be.  It's a  picture of how you will have an engaged, performance- rewarded team.  You are daily engaging people in conversations around your plans and you create a culture of focus and profitable action.  You get everyone doing things they didn't think they could ever do and you praise, reward and excite them about any improvement and every improvement.

That's the magic of growing.  Small miracles can happen. Enthusiasm can grow, horizons are broadened, lessons are learned on the fly, and its' exciting.  Its' fun, and you can begin to grow anytime you decide to do so.

Actions: 

 How about you? 

Are you green, ready to grow, or ripe with a little rot settling in?

What is your vision/

What are you doing to engage your team?

How are you going to reward them for performance?

Have a great week.

Eugene's Secret Could Be Yours

  Last week I kicked off a conference for The Co-Operators Insurance Company at Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood.  My topic was "To Plan or Not To Plan".  Stephanie Collins a sharp, spirited District manager wanted to add some spice to the normal business talk-planning exercise.  If you have been around any company for a while, you know every meeting can begin to sound and be alike.  It's 'suits' giving the corporate data while the field brokers are thinking, "If you only knew what we are going through."

It seems that it is impossible for most corporate/field team be totally connected and aligned but that wonderful group can get very close.  The way most companies are designed typically doesn't cause or allow connection.  It is even worse with a franchiser/franchisee structure. The franchiser owns the ball, bat, gloves, the entire game and it usually has a one- sided contract that dictates everything.

It has been our experience that handing out goals works a little bit.  Mutually setting goals is better for obvious reasons.  Ideally, you really need to get to what everyone wants out there and many times you have to draw it out of them.  What they want should tie into the life they are creating so that it all fits.  Ideally, yes.  But come on..... who do you know that plans like that??  First, most people don't even realize they are the dominant, primary creative force in their own lives, and they have not thought much about what kind of life they want to create and few managers would ever consider tying business goals to life goals.

A couple of years ago we built a custom built home in Burlington.  My builder kept saying "keep at the design, make sure you get it right."  We took his advice and didn't rush into construction and as a result we love the home we created.  How many of us really design our life that way, or even believe we can have the life we want?  We rush into life every day and get caught up in every good or bad experience as if that is all it can ever be.

Doing this presentation made me think of how important it is for all of us to take breathers every now and then and just look at our quality of life.  We need to then to project into the future how we want it to be.  What outcomes do we want for family, friends, business, health, spiritual, recreational, community, and financial?  Maybe we could write out on separate cards what we want in each of these areas..  Study them for a while.  What do you notice about your wants?  If they don't feel good or present an obvious theme, then do it again.  Once you are happy with what you want your life to be, then set some goals.  Be very specific about outcomes.  "Be healthy" doesn't cut it. Having 120/80 blood pressure does. 

Now, describe the reality for each goal.  For example, right now the blood pressure is 135/90.  By looking at your wants in comparison to your reality you will see what steps you should take to get you where you want to go.  Make sure you goals don't compete with one another and go back over the steps and prioritize them.

This methodology was taught to our team by Robert Fritz.  (robertfritz.com)  What you are really doing is creating the life you want by putting in place all that has to happen for that quality of life to be there.  You can follow this method for a business or department plan as well.

According to a report in the Toronto Star, 3.8% of Canadians own 67% of Canada's wealth.  It also stated that those 3.8% were serious planners.  They knew where they were, where they are going, they going and always adjusted their actions according to current reality.

If having money is one of your big goals, then focus on your planning.  In business stakeholders have a money goal in common.  It's how we go about the planning process that can make the difference in your business.

Actions:  - my suggestion....

Get everyone talking about what they want personally, then tie in the business goals to their whole life plan.  My good, crazy newfie buddy, Eugene Walsh a VP from Investors Group was a star at his company because he did their company planning that way.  Most managers in his organization could not figure out his secret.  Eugene's team was always the best producers, won all the awards and had incredible spirit.  It is basically asking what the wants are for life and business and tying them together.  Give it a try.  Christmas is a good time to plan and to refocus.

Have A great Week!

Biggest Gap In The World

What is the biggest gap in the world?

It's like comparing a wave on an ocean to its mighty depth.  It is unseen, unrealized.  It is like comparing the 10% of the iceberg we see to the 90% below the water that we don't even realize is there.

What is it that allows for so much opportunity and is unseen and unrealized??

It is our potential!

William James, the father of modern psychology, stated that we are only half awake and that we use only a small portion of our abilities.  As I look back over the years I have seen thousands of individuals spread their wings, do things they didn't think they could do by expanding their comfort zone.  We all have things we are uncomfortable with whether it is managing people, delegating, selling, coaching for performance, speaking, presenting, dealing with difficult people, holding people accountable, and many other things that matter to us.  To grow again begins with admitting what the improvements are and having the courage to apply some fundamentals, and the discipline to practice them over and over again until we are effective and comfortable applying them. It helps to be under the guidance of a supporting coach who gives instant and relevant feedback; but if you are a disciplined 'do-it-yourselfer'...go for it.

At Chrysler I remember Lee Iaccoca always trying to expand his comfort zone from being a technical, smart engineer (he introduced the Mustang at Ford) to being a builder of people, a communicator.  This was not natural to him.  He became an icon.  He definitely tapped into his potential.

Warren Buffet recently said "the only diploma I have on the wall is my Dale Carnegie certificate."  It's because what he learned at Dale Carnegie gave him the ability to use his technical smarts and achieve the willing cooperation of his organization.  Being a people-focused leader did not come naturally to Warren Buffet.  It does now.  Technical and number driven people find it challenging to engage others in their ideas or knowledge, let alone get buy-in.

I also remember working with many leadership teams and their people who were instituting a change in their direction and they had to mobilize their troops to achieve it.  Here are some examples:

- Going from order- taking to being a sustaining resource for clients.

- From being a know-it-all engineer to truly partnering with clients.

- From autocratic-no involvement manufacturing structures to self directed, engaged, work teams.

- From indifference to genuine helpful service.

The transitions they went through were probably never seen as achieving more of their untapped potential; but, in reality, that's what it was.  Companies have all kinds of untapped possibilities.  It is amazing how wonderful our organizations and our lives are.  And we only tap into 10% or so of our potential.

How can we be disillusioned about how great we are today? You would think every business person is trying to wake up by examining what is needed to be better and to develop the structures, systems and/or behaviors required to grow again.

What happened in the 30's?  The depression spawned new visions and people with a hunger to make lives better and to achieve what appeared impossible at the time.  It could happen again.  Don't you just love the enthusiasm of the "want more" millennials?  They are educated, want meaning, love team challenge and above all, action.  They have been loved, hugged and told they are perfect.  Nothing is in their way.  You could say their orientation is all about possibilities.  Their attitude is great. 

Now they have to develop the savvy and skills, like any generation, in order to make their attitudes turn into results.  Are all the generations spoiled today?  Are we as good as we think we are?  Don't we think we have to change?  The millenials will probably drag all of those over 29 into possibility conversations. Then we'll drag them into reality conversations.  They are both good perspectives.  We can cower and hide because it is tough out there and be a laid- back, coasting under-achiever with no improvement goals, and reject new directions, changes and accountability. Or, we can say, "why can't we have that, be that, do that, and get busy putting in place all that's required, including higher level skills?"

It all depends on our willingness to see what we want in comparison to what it is now and determine the actions and skills that are required to make the transition. It is all up to us, whether you are 30 or 70. There is a lot more potential to realize.  Don't get bluffed out thinking it is too fast or complicated out there.  Your perspective will change as you improve yourself.

Actions:

- What is it that if it were possible, would improve your career, your team, your business?

- What behavior, attitude or skill do you need improvement in because you aren't comfortable or skilled enough?

- What learning, coaching or training are you going to engage in?

Come on everyone, accept the challenge of reaching more of your untapped potential.  Let's wake up and live - achieve and succeed!!  As my good buddy from Chicago, Don Adams says, "It is about turning potential into performance."

Turning Points

Monday, November 22, 2010.

As I reflect back over the last 45 years, I feel that we have built a successful organization, have helped thousands upon thousands of people and companies, I have a great family, good friends and lots of toys.  A good life but, it almost didn't turn out that way.

I remember very clearly.  I was 23 years old.  I advertised the Dale Carnegie program in the Windsor Star for three weeks.  I created a plan around how to have a successful fall season for my little business which included holding a Preview meeting to showcase my services.  I thought this would get a lot of people interested but on the evening of the Preview meeting only a few people showed up.  I was crushed. All my planning, enthusiasm, and actions came to a stop.  I was done!  No hope for me in this business!

Just two days earlier a client gave me a book by Dorothea Brande called "Wake Up and Live."  It sat on the passenger seat staring at me as I drove to Leamington, Ontario to do my last speaking engagement.  Along Hwy. #3, my emotions got away from me.  I stopped the car and cried. (remember, I was 23)  My dreams, my vision, were a bust.   I looked over at the book, picked it up, and sat there and read half of the book.  It caused me to experience every emotion imaginable and made me sick to my stomach.  Never was I as close to reality as I was then.  A real punch in the gut!  Dorothea had described her life, always waiting to succeed, putting off actions; dreaming with no action attached to the dream.  She was a writer who couldn't get going.  I totally related.

I decided right then that I would rush to that last speaking engagement, get it over, finish reading the book... and then I would re-start my life.  And this time I would take action on all the things I needed to do to succeed.  What a surprise!  I guess I was an inspired speaker that day.  I talked of reality and did not know how many would identify with my story or what it took to succeed, but I didn't care.  I left it all out there after all, I was leaving this business.

The applause was thundering, a standing ovation.  Afterwards a man walked up to me who appeared to be emotional.  He handed me his card and said "Could you come over to see me?  I am the President of H.J. Heinz Company and I would like you to talk to my team."  Instead of leaving the business, I went on to fill my project, struck up a great, long term relationship with a big client, and most of all I learned to talk real about life, success and business.   I learned that most people are hurting and are only half awake.  They have either lost their way, are coasting, or haven't pushed their start button.

Thanks to Dorothea I understand the meaning of the phrase 'action is all there is.'  All of us 'mail it in' at times or try to dream our way to success, or have the focus of a ninny. And up to that day, I was a ninny.  I was naïve and impractical.  I learned that we have to decide to be the dominant force in our lives and create our success.  Our mommies and daddies have their own issues.  No boss, no organization and especially, no government will take care of us.  We need to motivate ourselves, do the things we need to (whether we like them or not) and invent the life we want.

That day on Highway #3 around Essex, Ontario, I turned my life around.

Business has never been easy.  Selling takes tremendous optimism, organization and focus.  Operations is filled with day to day problems.  And money....everyone seems to know how to take it from you.  Most circumstances are unfair.  There are bullies, politics, and bureaucrats everywhere.  Recessions come and go. SO WHAT!  You don't have to choose to be a victim of circumstance.  You can choose to create the life and business you want. The age old statement is true.  It's not what happens to you but what you do about it. 

Actions: 

Questions this week.

• How do you relate to my story?
• How about you?  What realities do you need to face?
• What are those things you have to do to create the business and life you want?
• What is your first step?

In some small way, I hope today's e-mail will inspire you to have one of those days that will be a turning point for you.

Have a great week!

How Do You Boost Performance?

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 Monday, November 15, 2010.

A couple of weeks ago a general manager asked me if my organization could support him in developing a couple of his young tigers to help him run his expanding business since he cannot handle it all on his own.   I told him of course we could do that but I needed him to answer a couple of questions to ensure it is the best use of his resources.  Here are the questions.  Maybe they will help you determine how to boost performance through the development of your people.

Are they the right people to take the business forward?  For example:

A)  Have they been involved in thinking out what the business needs to grow in these dynamic times?  Do they inquire, listen, inquire again, listen?  In other words, can they learn when given the chance? 

B) Do they apply the new thinking and attitudes they developed? 

C) Are they taking formal or informal programs to improve their skills, habits and attitudes? When they engage in training, do they learn how to manage change, motivate people, and create team alignment?  Do they have a career plan?

D) What does your performance management system tell you about their ability to lead and get results?  Can they increase revenue, customer retention or productivity?

If the new leaders fit, would you schedule time to help them align the coaching and training they get from us to the business goals and strategies of the business?  For example, would you sit them down and explain, "Here is how we make money today" "Here is what our customers want."  "Here is how we match up with their wants."  "Here are the most important things we need to focus on to help our customers."  "Here is how our organization needs to be mobilized to grow."  

I told him that our business coaches always ask those being coached to go back and ask these questions of their managers but too often, their managers don't take the time or have the interest to answer them.  Because of this, learning and development doesn't directly fit the strategies and goals of the business.  This is a management issue.   Where is the mentoring and coaching commitment?  Without it all training and development turns out to be personal development and out of business context.

Research shows the best way to support top performers and boost performance is to reward them by involving them in strategic thinking involvement, engage them with timely, constant and relevant performance feedback; help them develop a career plan and build their leadership and other business skills, thinking, and attitudes to prepare them for "next level" opportunities on behalf of succession planning.  Offer them actionable development coaching, mentoring and training.

Today, more than ever, you need to align your talent management processes to your changing business objectives.  For example, when a company's business objectives change in the middle of the year due to the emergence of new market opportunities or issues, you need to adjust, align, prepare and build your people so they can help you capitalize on what needs to be done. 

Here is data from Aberdeen Research about the best-in-class companies on how they make learning initiatives work.  Best-in-class companies:

Are 48% more likely to integrate learning with both talent and business strategy
and business results.

Are 47% more likely to support learning before and after formal training.

Up to 51% of them include customers and partners in their training processes. 
(and see a 9% increase in revenue)

Still use formal learning programs (58%) and (44%) cross- functional team learning.

Have determined that the most important skills are:

• Leadership Skills (people management, business strategy etc)
• Communications skills
• People development skills (ie - coaching)
• Critical thinking, strategic thinking
• Change management - collaboration

Have a payoff of ... 93% customer retention; 77% employee engagement; 56% bench strength.

Are more likely to use social learning within their learning strategy. (37%)

Hold managers accountable for the development progress of their teams and are over twice as likely to achieve best in class results.

Have visible leadership support for learning and development efforts. (73%)

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, explains how "great" companies paid a lot of attention to people processes where "good" companies did not.  "Good" companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people and creating alignment.

Summary:

People and learning processes are the answer to organizational performance, talent management and business strategy success yet what we have noticed over the last couple of years is that in our turbulent business environment everyone seems to wonder where they are going.  Strategic thinking, employee goals, development plans, training, learning and development, compensation plans, are all on hold or in chaos.  All of this creates a lack of strategic direction, misalignment, talent turnover and mediocre performance.  This is not a pretty picture, so wake up your business and increase its capacity to hit bigger goals by offering your people actionable development.

ACTIONS: 

Questions to ponder:

• Do your performance management systems result in having the right people in the right positions to face today's challenges?
  
• Are top performers leaving because their performance wasn't noticed through coaching? 
• Do people have a career development plan?  How many?
  
• Are they offered a chance to grow their leadership for next level readiness and/or succession plans through actionable development, coaching and mentoring?
  
• How many of your people demonstrate that they are completing formal or informal learning projects?
  
• Are the results achieved in learning projects aligned with company strategies and goals?

What is one action you will take this week to improve your talent, performance and learning processes?

Have a great week.

The Goal of Business

Monday, November 8, 2010.

The Goal . .

 - - is to grow your customer base, keep your clients happy and loyal and to make 'gobs' of money doing it. 

Here are two questions:

1. How do you do that today when the internet is dominating business?  Too few of us know how, let alone execute with all the expertise required.  Instead, we tend to default to improving efficiencies only with technical solutions that improve internal systems. Although efficiencies are important in driving out costs, they'd better help you with the goal in the long term.

2. How do you break into new markets and offer great value that matches the market's motives, give adequate service and engage the market with fun, exciting fresh approaches?  Are you counting on waking up with fresh thinking every day or could you engage a team to develop and implement new strategies? 

Most of the managers we have been coaching for the last 30 or 40 years are not involved or empowered to do the thinking it takes to figure out all the above.  They either work for a big company that owns a lot of their market, competes by hiring very bright people who aren't allowed to bet a blade of grass let alone the farm.  Or, they are in a small to medium size company that is niching its way to success or having trouble figuring anything out because they think survival is the game.  Now, this is an over-generalized view, but it sure seems that it is this way to me.

You can hire the next new MBA to help you figure things out, and/or you can apply some leadership to go with your management formulas for success.   For over 50 years we have been asking managers to distinguish the difference between leadership and management in our Leadership for Managers coaching and training programs.  These managers are not in universities learning theory.  They are faced with an internet dominated market, competition issues, people issues, departments competing for resources and companies who don't involve them much in innovative strategic solutions. 

We, in the early stages of our work, usually get all the right, theoretical or academic answers but these answers don't always hit home because most managers only see what's in their way, and one of the barriers they face is usually their boss, or the owner who typically don't lead by example.

Genuine leadership growth can come when one of your smart people, focused on making the company grow, passionate about the business, gets out of the way and lets people think, invent and get organized to do what is required in the marketplace.  Henry Ford used to become frustrated because when he hired a pair of hands he had to take the whole person.  What would his blood pressure be like today with the well educated, "want more" generations in our companies??

Peter Drucker, the father of management theory and practice, claimed since the 70's management and leadership are equally important.  There is no other leadership group but managers.  As a manager unless you are going to do everything yourself you are going to have to accept that you don't know everything and cannot control everything, You need to lead,  listen and involve others, allow them to think, invent, and coach for improved performance.  Visionary leaders who are market centric need to manage as well.  They need to plan, organize direct policies, watch what is measurable, and get systems working together for the strategic direction of the business.

People can be good managers but fail to see what is really going on outside their spreadsheets and can't take a business forward.  Some leaders can be great at seeing what's going on in the market and driven by vision, but have a hard time getting things done through others and struggle growing the business.  In today's world, very few of us can afford to do one or the other.  What I have found is that there is an abundance of management-oriented people and fewer leader types.

All of us can grow in leadership and management.  No excuses.  Nothing works all the time, all processes eventually stop working.  Many things we try fail so it is even more important to be skilled, trained, and disciplined at good management and leadership skills so we can adapt and pick up the team and ourselves when required.  Where we see a need is that few management teams become strategic leaders, let alone organization or people leaders.  It is possible that management teams can be guided in figuring out what next best opportunities are out there and how they can connect and engage their people in figuring out and executing what needs to be done to make the opportunities real.  Leadership and effective management to find and keep customers is needed now.

Another element is coaching for performance.  It's almost impossible to grow without managers directly improving the performance of people.  Too few managers get connected at this level.

ACTIONS

to ponder this week:

1. Are you connected to where the business is going?  Do you even know where it is going?  If not and you aren't a C-Level executive or owner, find out.  How are you planning to make money - to find customers and keep them?   

2.  As management, are you getting out of the way and allowing people to think through what has to be done?  Are you allowing them to innovate, improve the business strategically or operationally?  If you aren't, set up a meeting.  Give the business outcomes desired and ask them to figure out what has to be done.

3. What is your plan to coach for performance improvement?

Incidentally, last week a terrific group of business people who are Monday Morning Mentor subscribers got together for a few hours at our office. We focused on ways to wake up our businesses for more growth, our team to innovation and our own leadership.  We engage in good dialogue and commitment.  We unanimously decided to meet monthly to keep the dialogue and commitment going so we can learn and grow. 

If you want to bring this model in-house, or if you want to engage with us, let me know.

 (kdcrone@dalecarnegie.ca 905-826-7300)

Have a great week.

Selling Doesn't Work.... Like it used to

Monday, November 1, 2010.

Selling Doesn't Work.... Like it used to.

 This is from a guy whose company has, since the 40's, been coaching and training salespeople as part of their offering.

The role of sales has changed.  You're thinking, 'no kidding'.  I remember when our world was stable and all a company had to do was add a better person to the team to make more calls and see more people.  The result was increased sales.  Nothing much is stable anymore and thinking from old sales assumptions just does not work like it did. 

Today, salespeople feel overworked, underpaid and under appreciated and their work environment can be more abusive and tense than it used to be.  In fact, over the last 5 - 7 years, the entire sales profession has gone through a transformation.  It used to be that the only way prospects learned about a company's products and services was to have a sales person call on them.  They were info rmation-providers for product specs and service offerings.  The focus of the salesperson was to close leads that marketing created.  They had to convince a prospect to buy by having a great sales presentation, interviewing skills, and communicating the features and benefits of their product or service.

Things have changed.

1. Customers/prospects can now perform extensive internet research on their own.  It used to be the salesperson's job to prove the product was good.  Now, blogs and consumer websites are abundant and the information they provide go beyond what most sales professionals can or, in some cases, want to provide.

2. Today's customers want simple solutions.  They do not like having products pushed on them.  They want quarterbacks who connect with everyone involved and pull the pieces together.  Sales professionals today need to be business advisers rather than information providers.  They need to uncover the client's real needs.  Business has become so complex due to the constant changing of markets needs, the global structure of business, and the incredible access to information that it can boggle the mind of any business person.  As a result, most prospects do not know their needs because they are too caught up in the details of the business to see what is really going on.  Many buyers have narrowed down their solutions in a simplistic way, rather than see how all the parts effect the whole.  If sales pros just let the buyer dominate the actions or sales process, both the buyer and the salesperson could lose.  You can no longer assume that prospects even know what their problems are.  They know their businesses should be better, but don't quite know how to change it.  The business adviser's wisdom becomes the springboard for a continual relationship.

The old paradigm of selling was biased toward your product's features and benefits.  The new model is about habitually using tools  that get at the real problems of your prospects and presenting offerings that solve these problems while matching the buyer's motives.

3. The sales reps need to be impactful in all their interactions because a prospect's  time is limited.  Sales professionals have less time to prove themselves.  New sales people have to perform quickly.  To succeed quickly salespeople need:

·  To be fearless

·  To be open to coaching and training.

·  To use analytical tools to uncover the customers real problems.

·  To be a sector expert by reading and studying daily.

·  To know their market, their customer and all aspects of a customers
   business.

·  To be clear as to what to say to C- level executives.  If they are not
   clear, they probably won't make the call.

·  To give a unique or at least adequate sales proposition quickly that
   closely matches a prospects motives and needs.

·  To profile what a good qualified prospect looks like so they can hunt
   down  opportunities and qualify more effectively.

4. Sales managers and business owners need to be serious about using business advisory sales training and coaching rather than trying to hire rainmakers who bring their client list with them.  Many companies still do this because they don't support their people enough. Sales managers need to go over their new hires time management to ensure they are in activities that uncover qualified prospect's needs.  Also, they need to spend time going over their salespeople's proposals and deals to ensure their potential client wins. They don't want to compete by just price cutting.  They should hire outside coaches and trainers to help people deal with reality and develop the habits and skills required. If coaches and trainers start with abstract concepts, dump them quickly. It's tough out there.  We need to be real and practical.  In the past, sales training was conceptual and it worked.  Today sales training companies are forced to teach how to uncover the genuine problems, finding opportunities and presenting offerings that match the markets and customers motives.

Management needs to play a bigger role in the sales process. Only management can create new offerings that match the market's motivation to buy by studying customer's buying motives. If the sales process is not based on this kind of sound strategic thinking, making more calls will make very little difference.

In summary, the sales force needs to be a strategic weapon in the company's arsenal.  Sales professionals need and deserve highly specialized training and sales management that teaches and coaches them to provide winning solutions to their prospects and customers that expose the competition's weaknesses and allow them to take sales away from them. Managers need to be market-centric and ensure that the organization's offering matches buyer's motives.

Actions:

Assess the following:

1) Do you have a unique, compelling sales proposition on your website or is it just a bunch of features and benefits of your company and/or products?

2) How well do your sales people understand their prospects, clients, and competition?  Do they have the skills to uncover the real problems and needs of their prospects?  Can they package their offering to match the customer's motive to buy?

3) Are you investing money to train and coach your strategic sales team?  What training can you give them that will bring out their potential?

As always, if you want more help with any of the above, give me a call or email me your questions.

Have a great week.

What destroys possibilities

Monday, October 25, 2010.

Why possibilities aren't possible

As business coaches we begin our work with organizations and individuals by helping them create a vision.  For a team, it is a picture of the desired state of the business.  For an individual it is a picture of how a person will be, what they will be doing, and what they will have within a practical period of time.  It is an expression of results achieved; behaviors routinely demonstrated; relationships in place; and a life lived around what they truly aspire in relationship to their values.

Why is having a vision critical to growth and achievement and to living the life we want?  Does it work?  Here is what I have learned.

1)    You can be good at fixing problems as you go through life and still never get to where you want to be especially if where you want to go is unclear.  The context is missing for your actions.  Only a vision around what you want can give you the proper direction.

2)    Operating from long- held assessments, memories, and psychological stumbling blocks creates habits that keep you feeling a sense of hopelessness.  Operating from a vision can give you a sense of what is possible.  We need to grant ourselves that what we want is possible.  How we measured up to others or our own expectations in the past doesn't matter much.  These self- imposed or outside assessments were made in a different context at a different time.  Some were made by us as a child and they still hold us back.  What is a possibility is still a possibility.

3)    A well thought through, specific vision of that possibility creates clarity.  People can't do vague, fuzzy things. Whatever you see, believe, and act on, you can achieve.  I remember reading this quote in "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill when I was 21 years old.  Every 21 year old should read it.  Heck, all of us should read it again.  Once the vision is clear, we can look at our current reality and actions/initiatives should become obvious.

Who knows how all this vision stuff works.  I know for sure in my life that when I had a clear vision of what I wanted for my life (family, spiritual, financial, physical, social, recreational, travel, business) and I set up a plan and acted on goals, my life took on a structure.  How I saw my life was framed in a story in my head and I acted it out with passion.  As I look back, most of what I envisioned happened.  Sometimes it took longer than I thought, but I eventually realized the possibility.  In the desk in my home office, I still have seven files.  One big vision and six connecting files with plans, goals and measurements.  But these measurements are not some psychological limitations set on me from the past.  They are about what is happening now and what's next.  Every year, on the beach in Mexico, I update those plans by updating the current reality and set new goals and actions I will take.  So, vision works.

One of the readings in "Think and Grow Rich" was a poem titled "I bargained with life for a Penny".  As I look back, I should have asked for more because the possibilities were invented and limited by me.  So, vision is the place to begin and is the place to act from in the present.  It is always amazing to me how easy it is for people to tell you their problems, their story from the past, yet stumble and mumble when trying to articulate where they are going in their business or life.  How come?  Don't they see what is possible?  Is it that they just don't think about it?  

A vision is a powerful framework to take the operations of any size from a lack luster or downward spiral into the arena of possibility.  If done right, a vision releases us from the weight and confusion of local problems and concerns and allows us to see the long clear line.  A vision answers to the market and it's people... what about me?  It doesn't fix anything.  It is just desired.  Speaking it, planning from it, begins the transformation of people.  Every time you do, the world becomes a universe of possibility and the barriers to the realization of the vision disappear.  Playing the business game from a vision is relevant to the manifestation of the possibility.  How else does someone play so well, so freely, so passionately?  So successfully?

ACTIONS

1.   I suggest there is nothing more important than getting a piece of paper and writing down (you can still do this without a computer, right?) what is the desired state of your business or department and/or your desired state of your life.  (family, business, spiritual, physical, recreational,  hobbies, social, financial).  Begin the transition by writing out the factual, (not your past opinionated story) about your current reality in relationship to what you want.  Then put in place goals, plans, initiatives, actions to get you there.  Now get six or so files going around connected mini visions/current realities that will guide your goals and actions.  I wouldn't let the weekend pass without doing this.   This is your ticket to a better business and better life.

2.While doing this, grant yourself this possible future.  Write, speak, plan as if you actually deserve it.

3.  Grant that you are a contribution to others.  Grant everyone else around you to be one as well.  We are not a hopeless cog in the wheel of business.

4.  Grant that you are a genuine player.  Someone who is not judging, watching or measuring how things are from the stands but someone on the court focusing on hitting the ball as it comes to you, in the moment, doing whatever it takes with whatever is being served to you.  (you can tell I am an old tennis player)  You can be a player or an observer.  It's your choice.

Incidentally I am leading a small group "Wake Up Your Business" coffee strategy huddle at my office on October 28^th from 8:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. at 2121 Argentia Road. It is filling so enroll now. It will be done in a workshop fashion, but we will have some dialogue. We will review the most important actions to take to prepare us for the rebound and to boost performance - now.  No cost.

To Enroll: Click Here