A radio program on NPR intrigued me recently when a guest was being interviewed on his opinion regarding Obama’s display of leadership and follow-through.  Motivating this and other discussions across the airways is disappointment by some democrats regarding Obama’s “soft style” and/or inability to take a firm stand on strongly-held democratic positions, arguing his actions do not line up with rhetoric used during his election and inaugural address. Similarly, Wisconsin Public Radio aired a discussion recently about the likelihood Obama can be reelected if unemployment remains high and his public approval ratings continue to decline.  In other words, if his leadership brand continues to sour.

All of this has me thinking about “walking the talk” and the importance that walking the talk plays in leadership branding.  Not only for the President of the United States, but also for the Presidents of High Technology Companies.  How we brand ourselves as leaders to our people is directly proportional to getting positive results.

Here’s what we can learn about corporate and personal leadership branding from Mr. President:

Principle #1: Be (and appear to be) fearless in times of difficult decision-making

Middle of the road is the road to nowhere. When we make “middle ground” decisions in an attempt to satisfy all people in our organization, we end up looking like losers (not leaders) to everyone in the company. Finding the middle ground in a difficult situation feels safe, but it will come back to haunt you as your once biggest fans (or loyal employees and customers) gradually turn against you.

Principle #2: It’s a wonderful thing to be loved by many and hated by many

To be loved AND hated is a solid indication you are living by your core values. If you are a great leader, it’s likely your core values lifted you to your position to begin with.  If you are not a great leader, your leadership brand is revealing your true colors to your employees and customers.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Principle #3: Give your customers what they want

By giving our customers what they want we can get what we want – loyalty. If you are not capable of giving your internal and external customers what they want, you should not be President or CEO or Mr. Executive.  You’d be a greater contributor doing something you’re good at.  Fearless, values-driven leadership gets results even amongst the strongest resistance and greatest challenges.  This is what your company wants!

So… how to appear and be fearless? How to be loved and hated by many?  Know your values and live by them always.  This is your leadership brand! Easier said than done?  Yes…if you are not a leader.

Tweet This Post

Nearly every company I work with has a fuzzy concept of WHO their target audiences are.  This is a big problem for obvious reasons.  First and foremost, if you’re not crystal clear about whom you’re talking to; you are not talking to anyone at all!  Your message is not being heard, and you’re wasting your precious time, money and effort.

Here are 3 easy steps to profiling your prospective customers so you can attract your ideal audience and deliver profitable solutions:

Step #1: Identify your target audiences

The object of this step is to identify up to 3 target audiences by title.  Your primary audience will have the highest potential for impacting your top line, followed by your secondary and tertiary audiences, if applicable.  And yes, some market research is always a good idea to identify these audiences with confidence.

Some of you will have a secondary audience that you coincidentally attract while you are marketing to your primary audience.  Who is that?  Write this audience down.  You will want to pay some attention to your secondary audience even though they’re not your bread and butter.  Others of you will have three very important audiences you will want to be attracting at all times.  Write them down by specific title and/or role.

Here’s an example…

An online kids’ sports coach locator targets (1) Parents with children in team and individual sports; (2) Coaches; (3) Sports-focused companies interested in advertisement opportunities

Notice the specificity of the audiences selected. Its not just parents, its parents with children in team and individual sports.  And not just team sports, but individual sports as well.  Also notice the secondary audience is not identified as sports coaches (as one might expect), but coaches in general.  That’s because this business owner has carefully reflected and recognized there may be leadership or physical performance coaches available through his service.  The tertiary audience, sports-focused companies, are important for additionally monetizing his website.  He will need to make a conscious and strategic effort to attract this tertiary audience as well.

Your turn…Who are your target audiences?  Are you being specific enough?  If you are not specific enough you won’t properly identify customer wants or position solutions in steps 2 and 3 below.

Step #2: Understand prospective customers’ pains and desires

Going back to the example in Step #1, the primary audience specified both team and individual sports into one audience, verses primary and secondary audiences for team sports and individual sports, respectively.   This is because the business owner understands that parents with kids in team sports and individual sports have very similar fears/frustrations/concerns.  This is what’s next…We cannot possibly understand what our customers want unless we first analyze their top pains/problems.

Ask yourself the following questions for each of your target audiences:

What is most frustrating to your primary audience?

Why is it frustrating to them?

What are the implications of trying to cope with this frustration?

What do your customers WANT as a result of having to deal with these problems?

Note:  I did not suggest you consider what your customers NEED.  Needs and wants are two different animals.  I need a new color printer, but I want an iPad.  Which one do you bet I put my available funds toward?  Your kids need to eat more vegetables but they want mac & cheese.  Which one do you suspect they’ll ask for when hungry?  The point…we buy based on what we want, not on what we need.  Although we try like hell to be rational, we are typically emotional buyers, not rational buyers.  This brings us to Step #3…

Step #3: Create solutions that match up with prospective customer “wants”

A lot of our solutions stem from what we believe our customers need.  And a lot of times, our customers don’t buy our solutions…go figure.  But now that we’ve identified our target audiences and have taken the time to understand their pains and desires, we are ready to create, tweak, and position our products and services according to what the customer knows he/she wants.

Can you see the importance of this difference?  We believing what they need verses them knowing what they want?  Given the choice, which solutions would you put your money behind creating?  How about that of your investors?  That’s right…the latter.  Your turn.

Go back to your pain analysis and look at each top fear, frustration, and worry and ask yourself the following important question…

Within the scope of my business and capabilities, what product or service can I create and launch that will specifically address this “pain” for my customer?

If you find you already have a solution for the particular pain in question, good for you!  You can rest assured you are on the right track.  However, if you find you have a bunch of preexisting solutions that don’t address your customers’ pains, have no worries. You now know what you need to do.  Tweak your existing solutions or eliminate them altogether.  Move on and move forward.  At least now your future can be bright.

It’s a huge error to assume we already know all there is about our prospects.  Revisit and really take time to analyze your target audiences and reflect on what they WANT.  What are their top pains/problems?  What are the implications of those pains? And, what do they want as a result?

Only when we know what our prospects/customers want can we truly speak their language, get them to notice us, and take a serious look at our solutions. Failing to do this will result in your start-up never getting off the ground, or your established business scrambling in a panic for survival.

Increase your attractiveness in the market…provide solutions your customers WANT!

Tweet This Post

Goal Setting.  Did I just hear you roll your eyes?  Yes, I believe I did

I can understand why some people moan at the thought of goal setting.  Whether we realize it or not, it’s usually tied to memories of failure or disappointment to achieve something important to us, or to someone else (our company, manager, CEO, spouse, etc…).  Some of us even convince ourselves that goal setting is a waste of time and, as I’ve heard it stated,  “actually limits me in achieving more than that stated in my goal” (what a joke!)

I’m convinced that it’s not necessarily goal-setting itself that is painful, as much as it is HOW one goes about it.  If done properly, goal setting will actually stimulate new ideas, solutions, and aspirations.  And this makes it (dare I say) fun!  Creating goals to achieve your dreams is exciting stuff.  No question.

So that you can successfully revel in goal achievement, here are 7 traps to avoid when setting your personal and professional goals:

Trap 1: Failing to dream

When I’ve asked clients, family, and friends to create a list of at least 50 dreams (things they want to do, become, achieve or attain), I often get a ‘deer in the headlights’ look followed by a list of about 5 things.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for many us to dream?  Dreaming is not only healthy; it is a necessary first step for setting goals.  Here is a tool that can help you think about the things you want to do/become/achieve/attain: Dream Inventory

Trap 2: Overlooking your starting point

With your dreams in hand, you’ve got to assess where you stand in key areas of your career and life.  Simply doing a personal/organizational S.L.O.T. (Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities, Threats) analysis can help you understand your starting point.  Clearly knowing your starting point helps in identifying the key areas you want to create goals.

Trap 3: “Storing” your goals in your brain

This simply is not going to work for you.  We have got to write our goals down onto a piece of paper.  I, too, have tried storing goals in my head only to forget, specifically, what the goal was until it morphed into something completely other than I originally intended.  This practice further allowed me to make excuses for why I didn’t get something done right, or not at all.  Sound familiar? Sorry…goals aren’t concrete unless they are written.

Trap 4: Adopting someone else’s goals as your own

If you did not create the goal you’re trying to achieve personally, you will not feel inspired toward achievement, nor will you likely achieve.  For example, your director may say to you “We need you performing in the top 15% of the company” (of course they do).  Your goal, in turn, should not be “I will perform in the top 15% of the company by Q1”.  You should have several personal goals that, once achieved, have you exceeding 15% naturally.

Trap 5: Blowing off S.M.A.R.T. Criteria

You’ve heard of SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistically High, Trackable (time bound).  A goal missing any one of these criteria will lack direction.  The purpose of a goal is to provide direction so achievement can be realized. Ask yourself, is my goal specific or is it vague?  Is it attainable or is it out of reach for me? Is it high enough and/or am I pushing myself enough? And finally, by what month, day, and year will I have achieved my goal?  Be real with yourself.

Trap 6: Not planning for obstacles

Obstacles are inevitable.  Whatever your SMART goal, there will be at a minimum one or two obstacles for which you must acknowledge as real, and 100% coming for you.  What are they?  Brainstorm all the possible obstacles that will destroy your goal achievement.  Then ask yourself, what action steps do I need to take to overcome these obstacles when and as they occur?  You may even find your action step becomes a goal in and of itself.

Trap 7: Failing to implement your action steps

Just like we need to write our SMART goals down on paper, we need to implement our actions steps toward achieving our goals and overcoming our obstacles.  I keep my action steps on my Astrid TO/DO Application on my smart phone.  You may have some other way.  Whatever it is, keep track of your action steps.  Prioritize them; give them deadlines.

We are often so busy we want to bypass writing down goals, thinking about goals, etc…the anxiety of today’s chaotic business environment provides a nice adrenaline rush, amongst other things. Remember to slow down for a few moments each day and remember your dreams, what you want, and why.

I love the phrase, “just do it!”  But first we must ask ourselves, “just do what?”  What is my aim?  How long will it take me?  How will I get there?  Where will I start?  When will I start?  When will I finish?  Why do I want to do this?  Then…just do it!

Tweet This Post

I’m about to tell you a story about my friend, Will, who recently paid a visit to a Verizon Wireless store to learn if he wanted to switch his cellular service from Sprint.  Something we can all relate too…

But before I begin, quickly review these basic stages of the buying/selling process*:

1. Introduction: Make a favorable first impression
2. Gain favorable attention: Two-way communication/sell the prospect on you
3. Discover wants and needs: Discover what the prospect wants, needs, and why
4. Presentation: Present your product or service in terms of benefits to the prospec
5. Commitment: Ask for the order/Advance to the next step
6. Follow-up: Over deliver

Keep these stages in mind as you follow along with this story:

Will was intrigued by my Motorola Droid and wondered if maybe he should switch from Sprint to Verizon Wireless so that he, too, could benefit from all the features that the droid, per Verizon Wireless, has to offer.  However, he didn’t want to switch providers just for the product alone.  He also wanted to make sure that Verizon was the best solution for him overall (price, service, products).

When Will arrived at his local Verizon store a representative who I’ll refer to as Cathy greeted him.

Will told Cathy that he was a Sprint customer but he wanted to compare and contrast Verizon’s phones and plans before signing another contract with Sprint.  He also asked one question: “Do you match Sprint’s pricing on phone plans?”

In response, Cathy boasted, “Well…we invest millions of dollars in R&D; wouldn’t you want to go with the best?” (This must’ve been her way of saying ‘no’; they don’t match Sprint’s pricing on phone plans.)

Will was completely turned off by Cathy’s response but kindly told her, “thank you…I’ll think about it. I’m going to compare Sprint’s products and prices, and possibly come back.”

To which Cathy objected, “So you’re going with Sprint then?”  Will never said that; however, he renewed his contract with Sprint later that day as a result of comparing and contrasting his customer experience!

Where in the buying selling/process did “cocky Cathy” lose “willing to switch Will”?

If you ask me, Cathy didn’t get past Stage 2 with Will: Gaining favorable attention.  Will was taken back by her response about being the best because of R&D investment dollars.  Cathy assumed that investing more money into R&D automatically makes you the superior company/provider, and she expected Will to believe her.

What could Cathy have done to save the sale?

Well, as this headline suggests, Cathy could have kept Will involved in the buying/selling process.  Here’s how a better conversation would have looked:

Will: “Does Verizon match Sprint’s prices on phone plans?”

Cathy: “What Sprint plans are you referring to?” (Cathy clears up any ambiguities before proceeding)

Will:  “Well I happen to be looking for the cheapest plan for my personal phone plan since my company already pays for my business phone plan.” (Will reveals he didn’t have a specific Sprint plan in mind, but is looking for the best deal.  He thinks the best deal is the cheapest price; its Cathy’s job to help him discover the best deal is going to be the best return on his investment, without insulting him!)

Cathy: “OK, what are the top 3-5 things you want to be able to do with your phone?” (Cathy makes it to stage 3: Discovering wants and needs!)

Will: “Well, I’m interested in a smart phone. I want to be able to text quickly and easily, take/share photos, and access the Internet if I want to.”

Cathy: “What smart phones, if any, are you familiar with?” (Cathy is learning the prospect’s level of knowledge with smart phones, as well as selecting a benchmark product from which she could upsell/downsell, if necessary).

Will: “Not too many, but my friend has the Motorola Droid and I’m really impressed with the technology.”

At this point Cathy can bring out the Motorola Droid and proceed with Stage 4 (Present the product in terms of benefits to the customer).  Will may be so dazzled with the Droid’s features and benefits that he is sold on the spot and forgets about plan pricing (the Droid will make life more fun and the things Will wants and likes to do easier); Cathy has successfully brought him to this place.

On the other hand, if Cathy failed to emotionally hook Will during this presentation stage, he may still be wondering if he could get a different smart phone for a cheaper plan at Sprint.  Based on Will’s reaction to her presentation, Cathy would have the opportunity to sell ROI with a less expensive smart phone paired with a family plan, for example, or some other strategy that Cathy has rehearsed as a possible scenario.

Always keep your prospect involved:

• Don’t ever be cocky about your product or service.

• You can’t effectively sell your product/service unless you first ask open-ended questions to discover wants and needs.

• Take the time to understand WHY your prospect has his/her particular wants/needs/desires.

• Pay attention to your prospect’s reaction and body language through each stage of the buying/selling process; earn the right to proceed to each successive stage.

• Be prepared to up-sell or down-sell your prospects based on their reaction to your product/service presentation.

What particular buying/selling lesson can you share?

*Stages of The Buying/Selling Process adapted from Resource Associates Corporation’s Sales Development Process

Tweet This Post

Lately I find myself telling people I care about to be prepared.

Prepared for what?  Oh…just a few critical circumstances.

How about losing your job when you least expect it?  You thought it would never happen to you…

How about the special moment in time when you’re courageous enough to walk out on your job because, quite frankly, you can’t take it (or your manager/director/company culture) anymore?  It happens.

How about the time you admit to yourself you want to do something different, but you can’t quite put a finger on what it is?  It nags at you every day and you learn to live with it.  Or do you?

Or, how about living the rest of your entire life doing what you don’t love to do just so you can feel “secure”?

Ugh.

The following 3 steps are for you if you’re:

1) A CEO who doesn’t want to spend the rest of your career working for the company you’re working for right now.

2) An employee who is a leader, and you’re yearning for something more in your career and life.

3) A human being who wants to do more to achieve your full potential before you make your exit in this world.

Step 1: Discover your passion

I know…I make it sound like it’s easy.  What I’ve learned is that it’s our selves who make discovering our passion difficult.  All we need to do is observe.  Consider these 3 questions based on observing your behaviors:

1) In the last 1-2 years, what is it that you’ve been doing such that while you were doing it, the time seemed to fly by?

2) In the last 1-2 years, what was it you were doing such that afterward, you found yourself smiling?

3) In all of your lifetime, what are the top 3 things that, while you were doing it, you absolutely kicked ass?  And still do?  Of those three, which do you love?

Note: Questions 1 and 2 I give props to Robert K. Cooper, Author of The Other 90%.  These two questions literally woke me up in my late 20’s and helped prepare me for the rest of my life.  Thank you Mr. Cooper!

These are not easy questions for everyone (I’m still going over these questions with my mother of 56 years!).  I suggest thinking about it over the next week or so.  Do not force your answers (you’re only reporting to yourself on this one!)

Step 2: Create a powerful web presence based on your passion

This step involves reserving your own domain name (your name) at GoDaddy or some other web hosting platform, then selecting a blog platform such as Quansite, Weebly or blogger and creating articles, podcasts, or video posts about intel and topics involving your passion, followed by driving traffic to your blog via social networking.

For example, I have a friend who’s passionate about relationship building.  I have another friend who’s passionate about DIY home projects for women.  I know a CPA who wishes he were involved with the Theater!  All of these people are less than happy in their “other” careers right now, and would be ill prepared for a job loss or transition to boot.

It is a new day and the Internet is your tool for YOU, Inc.  Go there!

Step 3: Enjoy the ride

When you brand yourself on the internet by blogging about your passion and/or passionate cause, people will take notice of you before they even consider asking you for a resume. This is how opportunities – in tune with who you are – find you and ask you for a meeting, offer partnerships, new roles, etc…

When you do steps 1 and 2 you’ll be delighted to find that you’ve never been happier in your entire life, followed by only a brief moment of anger that you didn’t do this years ago.

This step is where you get the satisfaction of being prepared for an unexpected job loss, career transition, or other life-changing event involving your career and job security.

Why?  Because your brand has provided you credibility, thought leadership, and confidence.

You’re prepared for anything, AND you’re happy!  Fearless leadership at its finest.

Tweet This Post

“We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.” ~ Charles Kettering

What do you think is the number one thing a CEO can do to inspire and motivate an entire organization of people?

Create and share a compelling vision for the future.

So…do you have a compelling vision for your organization?  What is it?  Does everyone know what it is?

No vision…no direction…no inspiration…no results

Many organizations forge ahead into their future without a clear direction, or a vision for success.  In some cases, the CEO and executive team are aware of where they want to see the organization go, but those beneath them are clueless.

And in still other cases, members of an executive team may have different ideas of where they see the organization in 5-10 years (in other words, many different directions!).

When the workforce as a whole doesn’t clearly understand the company’s vision, they encounter many difficulties with day-to-day operations, problem solving and decision-making.  Not good.  This all comes back to bottom-line results.

Executive Leadership is typically the root of the problem

There are several ways the executive team can create a lack of vision, and thus, a lack of motivation and results, in the organization:

1. The CEO doesn’t value creating a visionary goal, and therefore doesn’t uphold creating one with her executive team (This may sound harsh, but how such persons get to the top is disturbing.)
2. The executive team refuses to collaborate on a shared vision, and therefore a clear vision isn’t upheld amongst them (and they wonder why sales are down.)
3. The executive team creates a shared vision, but doesn’t communicate it with the entire workforce (this means no one in the company understands what, exactly, they should be doing so they’ll draw inferences along the way and cross their fingers.)
4. The executive team communicates the shared vision a few times to the workforce, but lack a mechanism for upholding the consistent communication of the vision (the workforce wonders if the vision is to be taken seriously.)

How to create an inspirational force in your organization

Step 1: The Executive Team defines their 5-year Goal (as a guideline for thought, you can download the main types of BHAG’s, or Big Hairy Audacious Goals, here)

Step 2: The Executive Team describes their Vision for success – what it will look like when they achieve the 5-year Goal.

Simply describe your vision for success in bullet phrases.  Once members of the team state their ideas for success out loud, you will be a part of a team discussion like none other!  This is such an important discovery step toward learning if the members of your team should even be in business together.

Step 3: The Executive Team creates a communication system for upholding the visionary goal.

The communication system will be successful if it accounts for repetitious communication of the visionary goal by the executives, management, and supervisors.  If this does not happen, your workforce will not be inspired toward getting company results.  You’ve wasted your time.

Bonus Step For Leadership Organizations: Truly excellent organizations will roll out a strategy and/or strategy map for the workforce to follow and align their daily activities.  No matter how chaotic our business environment, your people will always know what they are to be doing!

In accordance with Kaplan and Norton in their research-based book, Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets Into Tangible Outcomes, a strategy map clearly identifies the critical few objectives necessary for achieving the mission/vision of the organization from the perspective of the customer, internal processes, and organizational learning & growth.

Instead of tracking and measuring 100+ objectives, you have only to track core objectives for achieving results.  I highly recommend following this book!  If you’re not big on reading or implementing this sort of thing, work with someone who is.

A few more important thoughts about creating a vision…

Let’s be clear: I’m not talking about a run-of-the-mill vision.  An “apparently we should have a vision of where we’re going to go, so let’s just take about 5 or 10 minutes or so and figure this out so we can move on” vision.  No…I’m talking about a real, exciting vision…a compelling vision.   A vision that gets you out of bed every day excited to see how much butt your are going to kick on the way up to achieving the vision.

Cautionary note: Of course the vision must first inspire the executive team.  If the executive team isn’t inspired by the vision, no one will be.  No one.

Here’s to the future!

Tweet This Post

Can you recall the kid you used to hang out with as a child who seemed to have ridiculously strict parents? Maybe you were that child. Either way, maybe you also can recall some of the rebellious behaviors in turn.

Being overly authoritative with your direct reports works much the same way. Using your title to try to motivate people to action will rarely produce desired results. Sure…the task may get done (no one necessarily wants to be disciplined for not listening to you), but the token CYA mentality inherent to many organizations today will run its course through your organization.

Your reports will easily resort, in kind, to childlike behaviors reminiscent to being in grade school. Gossiping, false rumors, lying, not caring about personal performance all that much, saying what you want to hear, being fake, etc…Sounds like a formula for getting things done right

The killer here is most of these people could make excellent employees. But the authoritative manager has no respect. The authoritative manager deserves none.

So… why, then, do many managers and leaders still resort to authority as a major tool to influence others?

The answer is clear: Managers who use authority as a major tool to influence others have little to no power.

Power and authority are easily confused as interchangeable. But to be clear, power refers to one’s “personal power”, or the ability to influence others because he/she is respected, demonstrates empathy, and possesses personal leadership (regardless of corporate title), to name just a few characteristics.

Authority, on the other hand, is based on nothing more than a title granted to an individual to demonstrate rank and reporting rules within the organization. A manager who uses authority to get results will take the, “Because I’m the manager, so just do it” approach to getting things done, piggy backed with fear-based leadership and sometimes emotional blackmail. Not necessary! Really. This manager will only hurt him/herself.

Reflection: Do you use authority as a major tool for getting results from others?

If you answered “yes” OR “sometimes”, here’s what you can do to improve: start being yourself, create a trusting environment, and SERVE your reports.

Managerial leadership requires serving your people. If, as a manager, it bothers you to be a “servant” to your direct reports (providing what they need to get the results you need), you should pursue other responsibilities in your company because you likely will not generate excellent results from others. Why should you? Remember, this is how you produce value for your organization: getting positive results from others so the company can achieve its goals.

Are you producing value for your organization? Good for you if you are! Corporate America needs more leaders like you!

Tweet This Post

“We’ve been in sales a long time, so we don’t really need any help with sales.”

This is what I heard from a member of a sales team I was hired to help develop sales knowledge and skills.  This team of 7 had never had any formal sales training at this particular company, they didn’t operate under an incentive program, and most of them really didn’t care about growth  (What was in it for them, anyway?)  What some of them had grown was comfortable with their less than mediocre performance and never wanting to change.

So I began by creating an incentive structure to help motivate the sales team toward caring about their sales performance (step 1).  Then I had to convince their sales manager why incentive pay is a basic tenet to sales performance (true story and sadly this felt like pulling teeth!).  Once the incentive pay was negotiated it was time to role this puppy out to the sales team (I was starting to feel the love…more money if we do well?!  Imagine that.) Finally I scheduled our team meeting for Q&A.

If you were sitting next to me in that meeting room you would’ve heard a mixture of fear, frustration, and excitement.  Some people were already anticipating their future performance and felt uneasy about tracking their sales results. 

“So we’re going to compare our sales results to that of our previous month’s performance and with those on our team?”

“Yes”, I replied. 

“What if my territory has more Medicaid payers than anyone else on the team, is that really fair?”

“Fair or not, you will need to create a unique strategy plan – you all will”, I told them.  Then followed numerous hypothetical scenarios about performance and the bonus plan.

Can you hear the cogs of this business starting to turn? There is movement and change on the horizon.  Measurable results!

Suddenly spreadsheets were being created and the team began analyzing their performance through numbers.  We had weekly meetings where they shared case studies and participated in problem solving with one another.  They wanted to know how other people were being successful (or not).  They were talking about sales.  They wanted to be better.

Whether you are a seasoned sales professional or a complete newbie, the road to excellence is always under construction. This means that successful sales professionals expect more from life and more from themselves.  Always.

Some of the people on this sales team I told you about wanted to be better.  They looked forward to learning new information they could apply to their daily performance.  But a few others initially didn’t like the idea of learning something new.  They preferred to think they “had arrived”; that they “knew sales” and their was nothing more to learn.  Really?

Reflection: How much do you want to succeed?  Do you expect to get from life without giving of your self?  Or, do you excel simply for the excitement of being better than you, and naturally reap rewards along the way?

If you are the sort who is interested in improving your personal sales performance, download this sales performance checklist and rate your self accordingly on a scale of 1-10.  Consider making copies for your sales team or share with your manager to show him or her where you are great and where/how you plan on improving.  Talk about being proactive and in control of your situation.  A leader!

I suggest picking no more than 3 things to improve at a time.  Give yourself 2-6 weeks to fully develop your new and improved selling skill!  Reward yourself when you’ve achieved success and then pick your next three areas.

As a sales professional you can readily guess the benefits for taking this advice: increased sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  What can you lose if you don’t?  Sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  Got that? 

Tweet This Post

How would you finish this statement: Your Company Will Only Be As Great As…………..

I’ll get to how I believe the statement should be completed at the end of this article, but if you’re not sure, maybe you’ll pick up a few obvious hints along the way

Part 5 of this article series brings to light three important things a CEO must do for his/her workforce: (1) Communicate one concise and transcendent goal; (2) Communicate an inspiring, visionary description of what success looks like when the company achieves it’s transcendent goal; and (3) Align the entire workforce (whether 3 people small or 5,000+ employees big) with the strategic business plan for achieving that one transcendent goal so that the vision for success will be truly realized via measurable results.

As a student of Collins & Porras’ book, Built To Last, I would argue the above three items represent the CEO’s ultimate role and responsibility to the organization everyday, all the time.  Put simply, its called providing direction, so that everyone can point in the same direction.  And thus, avoid confusion, cynicism, replication of efforts, the classic CYA mentality, fear to make decisions, and so on and so forth.

1) Communicate one concise and transcendent goal

Consider, as an example, the following 5-year goal and subsequent visionary description for my clean technologies venture:

Green Axis, Inc. is the world leader in providing cost-effective, green energy solutions.

• Our products are zero fuel; zero emission energy systems
• We offer a breadth of solutions that can accommodate commercial and industrial businesses, data centers, homeowners, and government agencies
• Our technologies integrate wind and solar energy, enabling homes and businesses to obtain on-demand power from renewable sources, while generating revenue from the utility company
• We eliminate customers’ recurring costs for their electrical power needs
• We have created hundreds of new green jobs
• We have become a model “leadership, growth and people company”

Now consider the following feedback Green Axis received about the “Company Vision” from a judge in a recent business plan competition:

“Overall vision comes across way to broad – sounds like you want to be everyone’s solution, which just doesn’t sound practical for a business long term objective.  Would help to see you pitch more as a proof of concept than as a business.”

Notice how the judge would’ve been more comfortable with a short-sighted vision of simply achieving a company milestone!  As the CEO of your company, you should not be comfortable with such shortsightedness.  Although “proof of concepts” and milestones may be critical, they’re only pieces of a bigger picture…your vision for success.

That said, here’s a tip for creating a transcendent goal.  Consider a simple statement of who the company is or what the company wants to become in 5 years.  Not 6 months, but 5 years.  And yes, it should absolutely be great and emotionally hook your workforce.  No doubt about it!

2) Communicate an inspiring visionary description of what success looks like when the company achieves it’s transcendent goal

What does it look like when you become the company you want to become, or achieve the revenue number you want to achieve, in 5 years?  Describing what achievement looks like will help people visualize success and their specific role in helping to achieve it.

And don’t just discuss your company’s goal and visionary description at the beginning of the year, but discuss it every day of every week to the very best of your ability.  Imagine how inspiring this could be to your workforce at an economic time like this.

If as leaders we are hesitant to speak transcendentally and uphold a vision of success for our company because we are fearful of failure, only one thought comes to mind: self-fulfilling prophecy.

3) Align the entire workforce with the strategic business plan for achieving the transcendent goal so that the vision for success will be truly realized via measurable results

I know this sounds like a mouthful, but its important to remember why aligning a workforce is so critical: So that results can actually be measured and achieved.

Once the 5-year goal and vision for success has been formally communicated, all personnel and departments must tailor their daily work activities toward achieving that goal.

Everyone should know what the 5-year goal is.  Test them…randomly ask your teams and employees throughout the year what the company’s goal is.  Further ask them what some of their personal goals for helping to achieve the larger, transcendent goal is as it pertains to their unique roles and responsibilities.

Everyone must have goals – and a clear path for achieving their goals – if they are going to get the company to the place you need and want it to be in 5 years.  No ifs, ands, or buts, about it.

Here’s a friendly reminder: this is what your management team is for.  Are they doing their job overseeing the clarification and achievement of goals in your workforce?  Furthermore, do you empower management to do this job well?

OK…so here’s my final thought on the question I posed earlier:

Your company will only be as great as your vision for success!

What’s yours??

Tweet This Post

Do you know the very first place to begin earning customer loyalty?

The first place leadership and management can begin to earn customer loyalty is from within their own organizations – with their own people, or their “internal customers”.  You must be healthy inside, if you are to look exceptional on the outside.

Part 4 of this article series serves to provide an enhanced appreciation for the internal components that help drive and sustain customer loyalty externally: Being a visionary, Leading with personal power, and Praising your employees.

Be a Visionary

Have you ever worked for a company and asked yourself, “Doesn’t anybody know what in the he** is going on around here?”  Me too.

I have experience with an organization in which the president of the company (a holier than thou sort) changed the direction and focus of the company literally every 2 weeks!

If you could’ve witnessed the impact of that sort of leadership on the workforce, you would’ve seen some very talented employees feeling and behaving confused, frustrated, and fearful.  Confused because they didn’t know which way was up (at work), frustrated because they often felt like they were stupid, and fearful because they were consistently yelled at for the decisions of their inadequate leader.

Now let me ask you, what impact does such a lack of vision and focus have on an organization’s effectiveness for achieving company growth?  Customer Loyalty?

Executives, managers and leaders: If you haven’t yet provided your workforce/direct reports with a vision for success (where the company wants to go, be, etc.), you may want to consider taking some time and reflect on what that vision is, and then share it, many, many times!

If you provide your people with a vision, you’ve provided them with an inspirational purpose that will guide their daily activities for achieving company goals.

If you choose not to be a visionary, I guarantee a majority of your workforce/reports are confused and they don’t know what you want.  How does this look from the outside?  What will be your external customers’ experience?

Lead with Personal Power

Sometimes executives and managers believe if they yell or speak aggressively their employees will know what they want.  A few weeks ago I had the unexpected “pleasure” of overhearing a business owner yelling at one of his employees. It sounded like he was yelling at a misbehaving child or pet.  The employee stiffened up, zipped his lips, and took orders just as he was treated – an obedient child or scared puppy with his tail between his legs.

Why? – Probably because he was afraid of the consequences if he chose to behave otherwise.  Imagine, on a daily basis this employee performs out of fear, not inspiration, to achieve company goals (although this sort of leadership isn’t quite exemplary for goal setting).

What is your method of leading?  Do you lead others with personal power (others perform for you based on your personal leadership and the value you provide others), or, do you choose instead to lead with fear-based authority (you are insecure and misguided about how to get results)?

Sometime today, take a few moments to reflect on how you’ve been getting results from others at work.  On a scale of 1-5, 5 being high for personal power, note your score so you can either keep up the good work, or strive for improvement.

If you lead with personal power, people will do what you ask them to do because you’ve consistently shown them that you are a resource, you listen, empathize, inspire and understand them, and you take the time to help them with their problems.  People will respect you, and take pride in using the best of their abilities to meet your expectations.

If you lead with fear, your commands are a drone, and your results will reflect accordingly.  Again, how does this look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience upon interacting with your fearful employees?

Praise your employees (often!)

Your employees are internal “customers”!  Just as your external customers possess wants/needs/desires that they seek to have fulfilled (hopefully via your product/service), so to do your employees have wants/needs/desires they seek to have fulfilled by their employers. If your internal and external customers’ wants/needs aren’t being met, they will not be satisfied, and they will not be loyal to you or your organization.

What is it that you do to help keep your internal customers satisfied and loyal?

The almighty thing you can do better this week (and the many that follow) to boost employee satisfaction is to seek out opportunities to praise them often. Something to the degree of, “Hey…awesome job on that analysis yesterday.  You really have a keen ability for sifting through details.  Thank you so much!”

When you praise your employees, notice the emotion in their face, their sense of pride for pleasing you, and the increase in positive behaviors and performance.

How does THAT look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience?

Tweet This Post