Recently, I got a puzzling call from one of my favorite HR directors asking me what he should do with this group of engineers who just could not get along. The company’s product was behind because the engineers were arguing so much that they could not get any work done. One of the engineers worked from home because he refused to come in to the office. He was considering a “hostile workplace” claim. I dug into the situation and asked a lot of questions, but a particular question was incredibly revealing: “Who tells you about all the problems between the engineers?”
We all have to pass on bad news now and then. Most of us do not enjoy it. But a few people thrive on it. Call them drama queens or gossip-mongers, but no matter the name, they tend to follow the same pattern. The pattern, from your perspective, will look like this:
A person enters your office or cubicle and mentions some bad news. Possibly even asks you to check it out.
You go to investigate the scene or take it up with the other party.
You find the other party just as upset as you are and it certainly looks like something went wrong. You note that this is a dysfunctional person or group. You may even develop a slight headache.
What happened behind the scenes was your so-called “messenger” went to the other party first and told him something equally horrifying. Now you are all trying to figure out a situation sown with lies and exaggerations. Confusion, conflict and upset are the goals of the messenger.
It is possible you do not want to believe such "messengers of doom” exist. But they do. Here are a few ways to detect those who quietly stir the pot:
The “messengers of doom” show no remorse in telling you how bad people or situations are. The vast majority of people do not like to mention that something or someone is bad, but these messengers do not hesitate to pass on the bad news. The usual lines are that someone is (or you are) in trouble or in danger.
Such people also love gossip, critical remarks and any statement which reduces the reputation of others. “Mary said you were the worst bookkeeper she’s ever worked with. Can you believe she said that?” The criticisms often come in streams and can be about multiple people. The favorite tactic is to spread what others supposedly said about you. Note that it is very likely untrue.
These messengers often stir up conflict between two people intentionally. If you see two people fighting relentlessly, ask each person who else has told them bad things about the other. You might find both people have heard from the messenger.
Usually, the "messengers of doom" go about their business quietly. They do not shout from the rooftops; they slink casually into offices, close the door and gossip. Or they slide up to you while you type and say, “Did you hear that . . .”
"Messengers of doom" can be intelligent or dull, in high or low places. When in executive roles, they will often gravitate toward the most productive or creative areas and try to create conflict there.
Why do the "messengers of doom" behave this way? Basically, there are two impulses in any person. One impulse is to do well and succeed. The other impulse is to give up or give in or destroy things. The “messengers of doom” have stronger negative impulses than they do positive ones. While this is a subject of great curiosity, the more important point is to recognize it when you see it. The easiest way to start your investigation for "messengers of doom" in your office is to ask yourself who brings you the most bad news and criticism. Then, before you do anything else, watch for a time and look for other patterns of gossip and criticism from that person. Just pay attention, ask questions and observe. The next step is to go to HR or someone who can help with the situation.
Back to our engineers. As it happens, the "messenger of doom" was one of the engineers who was planting gossip about the other engineers all over the group. He was so busy at it that his own work was suffering. Once he was detected and watched, it became quite obvious that he was creating conflicts between the other engineers. He was fired a week later and now the group harmoniously codes away. The engineer who worked from home comes in four days a week.
If your office has too much conflict or you get stressed or tired from dealing with others in your group, start to look for an "MD". Maybe you need to shoot the messenger*.
*Warning: “shoot” is a figurative term!
Executive Coaching + Leadership Development + Teambuilding + Sales Training + CEO Course + Influence Course
Friday, September 30, 2011
Toughness
It all began in a blustery autumn about 8 years ago. I was coaching attorneys, doctors and other executives, and I was interested in understanding the traits of leadership. I had some natural leaders in the bunch and I was watching them and their behavior to see how they ran their offices and lives. I watched them give feedback, make project plans, and push for results. I did not use the scientific method, admittedly, but I started to shape some ideas about what made certain leaders stand out.
I formulated a hypothesis that good leaders were tough, meaning they were tenacious, hard-edged, persistent, and definitely on the unsympathetic side. Natural leaders who could get work done were hard on their people.
There was a leadership study released about the same time which showed that a “drive for results” was the most important determining factor in executive success. Drive is the operative word, right? I was getting somewhere. These are the “doers” in life, and if they have to take a few people out along the way, so be it. These natural leaders knew how to rant, stomp their feet, jump up and down, and GET RESULTS! Some of them were underhanded, sly, even a bit vicious, but I could never argue with those results.
I kept this viewpoint for a long time, coaching many people to be tough, to give difficult feedback with pitiless precision, to attack weak points in the organization with ardor. It worked to a great degree. Tough executives made names for themselves and sent their companies’ results into the stratosphere.
In the spring of 2009, after the economy was in full collapse, I noticed something that shook my stable data about executive competencies. These drivers, these “tough” executives were uniformly looking for work. Nearly all of them had been let go in the downturn. Interestingly, some others who had not taken the “toughness” route and had worked on other competencies were still around. I realized it might be time to reinvent my coaching style.
I started to take a different look at executives at that time. I dug into an objective look at the executives who survived the downturn, and I want to announce a new hypothesis. Executives who are tough with results but kind with people succeed longer and more often. Yes, I said it. Kindness matters.
A recent example gives us window into this. A CEO of a mid-sized company was down-sizing through all of 2009 and 2010, and he started to lose his hair rather rapidly. I asked him one day what was stressing him out so badly and he commented that firing people took an enormous toll. He never did stop thinking about how it affected the families and lives of those who had left. He was having trouble sleeping, and had seen his doctor for several stress tests. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but he looked and felt old and tired.
I decided to do an experiment with him and asked him to take several kind actions per week as his work allowed. I had him make a list of small kindnesses he could do that would have an impact on his workplace morale. One of his items was to institute a bagel breakfast for the administrative staff every other Friday. He paid for the bagels personally to keep the company budget stable. Then he made a point of complimenting the good work of his assistant on a more frequent basis. He listed 15 separate kind actions he could take over the coming months. Curiously, his hair stopped falling out. Even more curiously, his company started doing better too. A statistician could argue that the correlation is meaningless. That is fine by me. This is not a mathematical argument so much as a statement from the heart. Our experiment in kindness made a difference for everyone involved. Even me.
Perhaps you know an executive who is suffering personally for his own lack of kindness. He is not only hurting himself, but he is hurting his company. Being too “tough”, not having enough kindness, is no sign of strength. It is just a contributor to stress. The times we suffer most are the times we could have been just a bit nicer and we forever wonder why were weren’t.
After all, the last few years were not easy on anyone. We all had it rough. Consider this the next time you have a choice to make: what is the kind thing to do? The kind choice might just bring a smile to your face as well as the face of the person on the other end. After all, what are we doing here in this world anyway? Are we here to make it a miserable experience for others? Must we be hectic, texting-and-driving maniacs who only care about the next dollar? Are 10 more pallets delivered more important than the life and dignity of our fellow colleagues? It is about time we got our priorities straight in this country. Get results, certainly. Push hard for them. Hold high standards for your people. But hold them with kindness too. You might find it gets you further than you think.
I formulated a hypothesis that good leaders were tough, meaning they were tenacious, hard-edged, persistent, and definitely on the unsympathetic side. Natural leaders who could get work done were hard on their people.
There was a leadership study released about the same time which showed that a “drive for results” was the most important determining factor in executive success. Drive is the operative word, right? I was getting somewhere. These are the “doers” in life, and if they have to take a few people out along the way, so be it. These natural leaders knew how to rant, stomp their feet, jump up and down, and GET RESULTS! Some of them were underhanded, sly, even a bit vicious, but I could never argue with those results.
I kept this viewpoint for a long time, coaching many people to be tough, to give difficult feedback with pitiless precision, to attack weak points in the organization with ardor. It worked to a great degree. Tough executives made names for themselves and sent their companies’ results into the stratosphere.
In the spring of 2009, after the economy was in full collapse, I noticed something that shook my stable data about executive competencies. These drivers, these “tough” executives were uniformly looking for work. Nearly all of them had been let go in the downturn. Interestingly, some others who had not taken the “toughness” route and had worked on other competencies were still around. I realized it might be time to reinvent my coaching style.
I started to take a different look at executives at that time. I dug into an objective look at the executives who survived the downturn, and I want to announce a new hypothesis. Executives who are tough with results but kind with people succeed longer and more often. Yes, I said it. Kindness matters.
A recent example gives us window into this. A CEO of a mid-sized company was down-sizing through all of 2009 and 2010, and he started to lose his hair rather rapidly. I asked him one day what was stressing him out so badly and he commented that firing people took an enormous toll. He never did stop thinking about how it affected the families and lives of those who had left. He was having trouble sleeping, and had seen his doctor for several stress tests. There was nothing physically wrong with him, but he looked and felt old and tired.
I decided to do an experiment with him and asked him to take several kind actions per week as his work allowed. I had him make a list of small kindnesses he could do that would have an impact on his workplace morale. One of his items was to institute a bagel breakfast for the administrative staff every other Friday. He paid for the bagels personally to keep the company budget stable. Then he made a point of complimenting the good work of his assistant on a more frequent basis. He listed 15 separate kind actions he could take over the coming months. Curiously, his hair stopped falling out. Even more curiously, his company started doing better too. A statistician could argue that the correlation is meaningless. That is fine by me. This is not a mathematical argument so much as a statement from the heart. Our experiment in kindness made a difference for everyone involved. Even me.
Perhaps you know an executive who is suffering personally for his own lack of kindness. He is not only hurting himself, but he is hurting his company. Being too “tough”, not having enough kindness, is no sign of strength. It is just a contributor to stress. The times we suffer most are the times we could have been just a bit nicer and we forever wonder why were weren’t.
After all, the last few years were not easy on anyone. We all had it rough. Consider this the next time you have a choice to make: what is the kind thing to do? The kind choice might just bring a smile to your face as well as the face of the person on the other end. After all, what are we doing here in this world anyway? Are we here to make it a miserable experience for others? Must we be hectic, texting-and-driving maniacs who only care about the next dollar? Are 10 more pallets delivered more important than the life and dignity of our fellow colleagues? It is about time we got our priorities straight in this country. Get results, certainly. Push hard for them. Hold high standards for your people. But hold them with kindness too. You might find it gets you further than you think.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Execute
Recently, I attended a seminar on leadership development and a burly COO asserted to the group that “executives are born, not made”. I realized, as I sat there shocked at his assertion, that without the idea that people can learn, grow and change, then it is true that not much can be done to “make” an executive. But people can learn, grow and change.
In this article are some of the key areas a person has to perfect to become a GREAT executive (one who executes). Anyone who learns these simple areas well can become a great executive, beloved by her team and company.
If you ask the average person whether they would rather be an executive or an individual contributor, most will say “executive” because the pay is better. But what really makes an executive earn his or her pay? Why does he deserve the big bucks?
Below is a list of our non-negotiable attributes you have to have to take on an executive nameplate:
1. Risk-taking
2. Delegation
3. Strategic Thinking
4. Certainty
5. Organization
6. Inspiration and Motivation
Risk-taking. Where risk-taking is concerned, most executives will tell you it has been a bumpy road whether they own their own business or run a division of a company. Being responsible means being responsible, period. There isn’t anyone else to blame and it means your reputation, money and resources are on the line, every minute of every day. In case you haven’t seen the news in the past decade, some CEOs have even gone to jail for decisions their employees made. That’s no small risk.
Delegation. Probably the one attribute I see most new executives fail in is delegation. There are two things that stand in the way of good delegation. The first is the idea that it is “mean” to control someone else or ask them to do something and to follow up with them. This is just false information. Most people expect an executive to get things done and they respect the ones who make them work hard and get things done. The second barrier is not knowing what to delegate and therefore doing it all yourself. The solution to this is to write down all the things you do in an average week, group them into categories by similarity and then figure out how to delegate 50% of them and to whom. You might be surprised at the number of things you do in a week and how much more you could get done by delegating. If you think you can’t afford someone to delegate to, consider how long one of the small tasks takes you. Multiply it by your hourly rate. Now imagine someone else at a lower hourly rate was doing that task. That’s how much money you can save the company per hour. Find what you can most easily delegate and try it. You will never grow and expand if you don’t!
Strategic Thinking. You probably would never guess that strategic thinking is related to delegation, but it IS! Strategy comes from the Greek word for “general” and meant the person who decided which battles to fight. You have to do this in your business or division. Decide which battles to fight with the main purpose of overcoming your competitor! This means you have to have a big picture view. You will never have this if you aren’t delegating some of the detail work to someone else. So the delegation and strategic thinking are like peas in a pod. If you need help thinking strategically, read 60-minute Strategic Plan by John Johnson.
Certainty. No one likes a wishy-washy executive. Really. Decide what you are going to do and either do it or educate yourself more on how to and THEN do it! Be certain. Maybes are the stuff of which hell is made!
Organization. Remember, organization is knowing how tasks fit together to make a whole product and arranging them to increase flows and eliminate slows. Organized executives get more DONE. Period. Executives = those who execute. Read R U ORGNZED? on Biznik for more information.
Inspiration and Motivation. This is another area of downfall for new executives. Most people want to be inspired, to have purpose and interest in what they are doing. You, as the leader, have to provide a vision of where you are going and then use stories to make it interesting and fun. Throw in a sense of humor too. Not inspired yourself? Then start with you. As they say in sales, “The first close is you.” So sell yourself on how exciting your company is, and then communicate that to your team. Get them excited.
Inspire your team with certainty, a grand, strategic vision, then organize them and delegate to accomplish work and you have it! This is the winning formula for an executive who GETS THINGS DONE! Now go forth and execute.
In this article are some of the key areas a person has to perfect to become a GREAT executive (one who executes). Anyone who learns these simple areas well can become a great executive, beloved by her team and company.
If you ask the average person whether they would rather be an executive or an individual contributor, most will say “executive” because the pay is better. But what really makes an executive earn his or her pay? Why does he deserve the big bucks?
Below is a list of our non-negotiable attributes you have to have to take on an executive nameplate:
1. Risk-taking
2. Delegation
3. Strategic Thinking
4. Certainty
5. Organization
6. Inspiration and Motivation
Risk-taking. Where risk-taking is concerned, most executives will tell you it has been a bumpy road whether they own their own business or run a division of a company. Being responsible means being responsible, period. There isn’t anyone else to blame and it means your reputation, money and resources are on the line, every minute of every day. In case you haven’t seen the news in the past decade, some CEOs have even gone to jail for decisions their employees made. That’s no small risk.
Delegation. Probably the one attribute I see most new executives fail in is delegation. There are two things that stand in the way of good delegation. The first is the idea that it is “mean” to control someone else or ask them to do something and to follow up with them. This is just false information. Most people expect an executive to get things done and they respect the ones who make them work hard and get things done. The second barrier is not knowing what to delegate and therefore doing it all yourself. The solution to this is to write down all the things you do in an average week, group them into categories by similarity and then figure out how to delegate 50% of them and to whom. You might be surprised at the number of things you do in a week and how much more you could get done by delegating. If you think you can’t afford someone to delegate to, consider how long one of the small tasks takes you. Multiply it by your hourly rate. Now imagine someone else at a lower hourly rate was doing that task. That’s how much money you can save the company per hour. Find what you can most easily delegate and try it. You will never grow and expand if you don’t!
Strategic Thinking. You probably would never guess that strategic thinking is related to delegation, but it IS! Strategy comes from the Greek word for “general” and meant the person who decided which battles to fight. You have to do this in your business or division. Decide which battles to fight with the main purpose of overcoming your competitor! This means you have to have a big picture view. You will never have this if you aren’t delegating some of the detail work to someone else. So the delegation and strategic thinking are like peas in a pod. If you need help thinking strategically, read 60-minute Strategic Plan by John Johnson.
Certainty. No one likes a wishy-washy executive. Really. Decide what you are going to do and either do it or educate yourself more on how to and THEN do it! Be certain. Maybes are the stuff of which hell is made!
Organization. Remember, organization is knowing how tasks fit together to make a whole product and arranging them to increase flows and eliminate slows. Organized executives get more DONE. Period. Executives = those who execute. Read R U ORGNZED? on Biznik for more information.
Inspiration and Motivation. This is another area of downfall for new executives. Most people want to be inspired, to have purpose and interest in what they are doing. You, as the leader, have to provide a vision of where you are going and then use stories to make it interesting and fun. Throw in a sense of humor too. Not inspired yourself? Then start with you. As they say in sales, “The first close is you.” So sell yourself on how exciting your company is, and then communicate that to your team. Get them excited.
Inspire your team with certainty, a grand, strategic vision, then organize them and delegate to accomplish work and you have it! This is the winning formula for an executive who GETS THINGS DONE! Now go forth and execute.
Friday, July 22, 2011
R U Organized?
I walked into a start-up company the other day and no one even looked up when I came in the door. I went to the nearest desk and asked where James was. James was the person I was supposed to meet about a consulting project. The employee just shrugged and said he didn’t know. I asked the next person I could find who pointed to a table across the large, open room. I went over to the table where three people sat in a row with headphones on, not looking up at me at all. I got the attention of one of them and asked which person was James. He pointed to the guy on his left who looked up, finally, at that moment and stood up to shake my hand.
Later, I asked the CEO of this same company if he thought his company was organized. The question took him by surprise, and he stared at me for more than a few seconds. Finally, he spluttered out an answer something along the lines of “I guess so, but the thought had never honestly occurred to me.” He later added, “ I know we are pretty fast, and we have good people. I didn’t ever ask myself the question about whether we were organized. I guess I never really had that as a priority.”
Take the flip side of the coin, a VP of Operations I knew whose entire office space was pristine. I walked into his office, was greeted swiftly by his receptionist, routed to wait for him with coffee in my hand, and escorted in to see him within minutes of my on-time arrival. This guy knew how to control an environment. He also ran one of the most profitable operations in his field and had recently been featured in an article on efficient management.
Which example sounds more like your business? The disorganized mess? Or the pristine, orderly environment?
Why is organization so important for a business? Truthfully, it is because you will lose more revenue in what you SHOULD have produced than in problems with what you DID produce. Re-read that last line. The biggest source of lost revenue for a business is CAPACITY not used! And organization is the tool that makes it possible to utilize all of your resources effectively. The examples of above show two ends of the spectrum of organization in just one simple area, the greeting of incoming visitors.
Imagine if you could more effectively organize your entire business. Imagine the production you might be able to increase in the meantime. How much more could you achieve?
Let’s take an assessment of your business in a few key areas and see how organized you really are. To begin, let’s look at the definition of organization as it relates to a business. An organization is defined as an ORDERED whole. To BE organized is to arrange things into groups, sequences or types to increase flows and eliminate slows. So an organized business is one which is orderly and through which all types of people, communications and materials flow smoothly and rapidly.
ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS
Rank the following areas of your business on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being completely, perfectly organized:
Reception
Website
Hiring
Training
Marketing
Finance
Production/Operations
Quality Control
Sales
Legal
Office Space
Administration
Meetings
Time
Add any additional areas as you see fit. How did you do? Which is your lowest area? Your highest?
This week, as you plan out your to-do list, add an hour or two to get more organized. Spend some time in your weakest area and get it a little more arranged. Get help if you need it. If you are in a small business and cannot afford much help, the very least thing you can do is get an organizing expert to help you. These professionals are not usually very expensive and can make a huge difference in your outlook on your business and your desk!
If you can't do anything else, organize your time better. Commit to being on time for every meeting for a week. End on time as well. See how your productivity compares to the week prior.
Make a commitment to organize as you grow. Organization is an investment that pays off in greater productivity. If you don’t believe me, read this from a famous organizing expert:
"When it comes to organizing a workspace, relaxation and comfort aren't the primary goals. Work is about efficiency and productivity. The more neat and logically organized your workspace is, the better you will be at your job." — Peter Walsh
So GET ORGANIZED!
Later, I asked the CEO of this same company if he thought his company was organized. The question took him by surprise, and he stared at me for more than a few seconds. Finally, he spluttered out an answer something along the lines of “I guess so, but the thought had never honestly occurred to me.” He later added, “ I know we are pretty fast, and we have good people. I didn’t ever ask myself the question about whether we were organized. I guess I never really had that as a priority.”
Take the flip side of the coin, a VP of Operations I knew whose entire office space was pristine. I walked into his office, was greeted swiftly by his receptionist, routed to wait for him with coffee in my hand, and escorted in to see him within minutes of my on-time arrival. This guy knew how to control an environment. He also ran one of the most profitable operations in his field and had recently been featured in an article on efficient management.
Which example sounds more like your business? The disorganized mess? Or the pristine, orderly environment?
Why is organization so important for a business? Truthfully, it is because you will lose more revenue in what you SHOULD have produced than in problems with what you DID produce. Re-read that last line. The biggest source of lost revenue for a business is CAPACITY not used! And organization is the tool that makes it possible to utilize all of your resources effectively. The examples of above show two ends of the spectrum of organization in just one simple area, the greeting of incoming visitors.
Imagine if you could more effectively organize your entire business. Imagine the production you might be able to increase in the meantime. How much more could you achieve?
Let’s take an assessment of your business in a few key areas and see how organized you really are. To begin, let’s look at the definition of organization as it relates to a business. An organization is defined as an ORDERED whole. To BE organized is to arrange things into groups, sequences or types to increase flows and eliminate slows. So an organized business is one which is orderly and through which all types of people, communications and materials flow smoothly and rapidly.
ASSESS YOUR BUSINESS
Rank the following areas of your business on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being completely, perfectly organized:
Reception
Website
Hiring
Training
Marketing
Finance
Production/Operations
Quality Control
Sales
Legal
Office Space
Administration
Meetings
Time
Add any additional areas as you see fit. How did you do? Which is your lowest area? Your highest?
This week, as you plan out your to-do list, add an hour or two to get more organized. Spend some time in your weakest area and get it a little more arranged. Get help if you need it. If you are in a small business and cannot afford much help, the very least thing you can do is get an organizing expert to help you. These professionals are not usually very expensive and can make a huge difference in your outlook on your business and your desk!
If you can't do anything else, organize your time better. Commit to being on time for every meeting for a week. End on time as well. See how your productivity compares to the week prior.
Make a commitment to organize as you grow. Organization is an investment that pays off in greater productivity. If you don’t believe me, read this from a famous organizing expert:
"When it comes to organizing a workspace, relaxation and comfort aren't the primary goals. Work is about efficiency and productivity. The more neat and logically organized your workspace is, the better you will be at your job." — Peter Walsh
So GET ORGANIZED!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Sword of Influence
Perhaps you would like to wield some influence in your organization. You want someone to believe you, follow your plan, take your suggestion, promote you. You want someone else TO DO something! You have to convince that person that you are right, that he should listen to you. The first thing you need to know is how he is going to react to you.
There is one fundamental human reaction to all attempts to persuade, influence or sell. It is FEAR.
Why does the person experience fear in reaction to your persuasion? He is afraid of failing or making a mistake or buying the wrong product, getting ripped off, or getting blamed for messing up. He has been burned before and vowed not to do it again. The more experienced the person, the more likely you are to encounter these fear reactions. You are dealing with an intelligent person who intends to make good decisions, and he has promised himself not to make poor decisions. So, as you start to persuade, he develops anxiety, agitation and apprehension about the pitch. He wraps himself in a “brick coat” to defend himself. The coat is made up of all the arguments you must overcome to persuade him.
The Stages of Fear
1. When you first approach the person, the truth is he has no idea what you are approaching about. The first brick in his coat, therefore, is fear of the unknown. What do you want? What are you asking? What might you make him do? You will notice the person, especially if you approach enthusiastically, will instinctively back off until he knows what you are talking about. Even after that, he might not move toward you or join your enthusiasm for quite some time.
2. As soon as you have described your purpose in talking to him, the next set of reactions are called prevention or inhibition reactions. These reactions add time, prevent or prohibit your actions from happening. He is trying to hold you off, stop you, prevent you. “Let’s talk next week.” “I need to check with my wife.” “I’m not sure I have enough information; I’ll have my associate start some due diligence for us.” These are all prevention reactions. The most common of these is the “delay” reaction. As the persuader, you need to know that the biggest enemy you have is time. The more time he adds, the more likely he is to say no. Just know that these delay tactics are simply irrational fears and proceed with the conversation. Do not allow the person to “think about it” (thinking doesn’t take any time) or to take time off from the conversation. Just keep pushing ahead. While he wants time to work against you, you need to make it work for you by staying interested.
3. The next fear reaction is a bit tougher to take: enforcement. If you push through the delay tactic, he might even get a bit angry or frustrated that you called his bluff. He might (in extreme cases) yell or call you names. Don’t worry; you have simply arrived at the third (and final) fear stage. Congratulate yourself (silently) and proceed. Despite all the reasons, objections and arguments and doubts he expresses, just know they are all based in fear.
Confidently and calmly, continue to reassure him of you and your idea or plan. Stay upbeat and positive and INTEREST him in it by being interested in him and his ideas. If you can push through these fear reactions, he will eventually move through the fear and doubts and upsets. Your confidence and positive energy and INTEREST will win the day and he will agree with you. The best part is that you have both won. You used your impeccable influence skills and he made the right choice. It’s a win-win situation.
There is one fundamental human reaction to all attempts to persuade, influence or sell. It is FEAR.
Why does the person experience fear in reaction to your persuasion? He is afraid of failing or making a mistake or buying the wrong product, getting ripped off, or getting blamed for messing up. He has been burned before and vowed not to do it again. The more experienced the person, the more likely you are to encounter these fear reactions. You are dealing with an intelligent person who intends to make good decisions, and he has promised himself not to make poor decisions. So, as you start to persuade, he develops anxiety, agitation and apprehension about the pitch. He wraps himself in a “brick coat” to defend himself. The coat is made up of all the arguments you must overcome to persuade him.
The Stages of Fear
1. When you first approach the person, the truth is he has no idea what you are approaching about. The first brick in his coat, therefore, is fear of the unknown. What do you want? What are you asking? What might you make him do? You will notice the person, especially if you approach enthusiastically, will instinctively back off until he knows what you are talking about. Even after that, he might not move toward you or join your enthusiasm for quite some time.
2. As soon as you have described your purpose in talking to him, the next set of reactions are called prevention or inhibition reactions. These reactions add time, prevent or prohibit your actions from happening. He is trying to hold you off, stop you, prevent you. “Let’s talk next week.” “I need to check with my wife.” “I’m not sure I have enough information; I’ll have my associate start some due diligence for us.” These are all prevention reactions. The most common of these is the “delay” reaction. As the persuader, you need to know that the biggest enemy you have is time. The more time he adds, the more likely he is to say no. Just know that these delay tactics are simply irrational fears and proceed with the conversation. Do not allow the person to “think about it” (thinking doesn’t take any time) or to take time off from the conversation. Just keep pushing ahead. While he wants time to work against you, you need to make it work for you by staying interested.
3. The next fear reaction is a bit tougher to take: enforcement. If you push through the delay tactic, he might even get a bit angry or frustrated that you called his bluff. He might (in extreme cases) yell or call you names. Don’t worry; you have simply arrived at the third (and final) fear stage. Congratulate yourself (silently) and proceed. Despite all the reasons, objections and arguments and doubts he expresses, just know they are all based in fear.
Confidently and calmly, continue to reassure him of you and your idea or plan. Stay upbeat and positive and INTEREST him in it by being interested in him and his ideas. If you can push through these fear reactions, he will eventually move through the fear and doubts and upsets. Your confidence and positive energy and INTEREST will win the day and he will agree with you. The best part is that you have both won. You used your impeccable influence skills and he made the right choice. It’s a win-win situation.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
No Close, No Money
So you want your business to generate revenue? Money? Be cash positive? Join the club. Your business won't get very far without an excellent sales strategy. Below are some basic tips on setting up and closing deals.
The Three Functions of a Sales Department
Every sales department (or even a lone salesperson) has at least three main functions. The first is to contact new leads (create the funnel), the second is to move the prospects through their objections, and the third is to close prospects. The deliverable of the sales department is, of course, closed sales.
Although closing is 10% of the sales cycle, it delivers 100% of your revenue, and therefore its importance cannot be overstated.
Most sophisticated sales departments use a blue sheet to analyze the sales cycle for each customer. You can search the internet for "blue sheet sales strategy" for a template. These are an excellent tool for setting up and examining the sales funnel and keeping the funnel flowing towards the close.
A good blue sheet should include an analysis of the main objections each prospect has and the handlings for each, as well as a strategy for closing. The key to the funnel is MOVEMENT. The funnel must be active and constantly worked to achieve qualified prospects and convert them to customers by closing.
The Importance of the Close
Closing strategies are a separate and voluminous subject. The main point of agreement about closing strategies is that planning and coordination on handling the objections is key. Every objection must be qualified for accuracy. This qualification step basically involves checking with the prospect whether, if the objection were handled, would he proceed with the process. If he says yes, the objection is real, but if he states some other objection, this objection must now be checked.
When the full list of objections is coordinated amongst the sales team, the objections must be systematically handled by a sales “battle plan”, a strategy for overcoming all of the relevant objections to the degree possible. If some objections cannot be overcome, a different strategy can be formulated depending on the importance of the objection. Only about 10% of objections are insurmountable. Remember that the prospect would not have continued communication with you if he did not have some level of interest.
A closer must be a courageous soul indeed, for he must confront and handle all objections, despite any emotion and reaction on the part of the prospect. He must also tolerate the possible “no” which, with further communication, will turn into a yes. This is not for the faint of heart. The key to closing is continual motion, continual communication, and continual interest. The closer is never discouraged. He is persistent, upbeat, truthful and highly communicative, but not unreal, disingenuous (not genuine) or rude. The best closers are skillful communicators, not overbearing brutes.
Planning for Success
Planning out the sales cycle from lead through close is the key tool for making the revenue your company needs. The sales division may just be the most valuable division in your company, so do not shortchange them with weak or non-existent planning.
When they win, you all win!
The Three Functions of a Sales Department
Every sales department (or even a lone salesperson) has at least three main functions. The first is to contact new leads (create the funnel), the second is to move the prospects through their objections, and the third is to close prospects. The deliverable of the sales department is, of course, closed sales.
Although closing is 10% of the sales cycle, it delivers 100% of your revenue, and therefore its importance cannot be overstated.
Most sophisticated sales departments use a blue sheet to analyze the sales cycle for each customer. You can search the internet for "blue sheet sales strategy" for a template. These are an excellent tool for setting up and examining the sales funnel and keeping the funnel flowing towards the close.
A good blue sheet should include an analysis of the main objections each prospect has and the handlings for each, as well as a strategy for closing. The key to the funnel is MOVEMENT. The funnel must be active and constantly worked to achieve qualified prospects and convert them to customers by closing.
The Importance of the Close
Closing strategies are a separate and voluminous subject. The main point of agreement about closing strategies is that planning and coordination on handling the objections is key. Every objection must be qualified for accuracy. This qualification step basically involves checking with the prospect whether, if the objection were handled, would he proceed with the process. If he says yes, the objection is real, but if he states some other objection, this objection must now be checked.
When the full list of objections is coordinated amongst the sales team, the objections must be systematically handled by a sales “battle plan”, a strategy for overcoming all of the relevant objections to the degree possible. If some objections cannot be overcome, a different strategy can be formulated depending on the importance of the objection. Only about 10% of objections are insurmountable. Remember that the prospect would not have continued communication with you if he did not have some level of interest.
A closer must be a courageous soul indeed, for he must confront and handle all objections, despite any emotion and reaction on the part of the prospect. He must also tolerate the possible “no” which, with further communication, will turn into a yes. This is not for the faint of heart. The key to closing is continual motion, continual communication, and continual interest. The closer is never discouraged. He is persistent, upbeat, truthful and highly communicative, but not unreal, disingenuous (not genuine) or rude. The best closers are skillful communicators, not overbearing brutes.
Planning for Success
Planning out the sales cycle from lead through close is the key tool for making the revenue your company needs. The sales division may just be the most valuable division in your company, so do not shortchange them with weak or non-existent planning.
When they win, you all win!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Up and to the Right
Take a moment and tally up how many people work in and for your business. What if every one of those people were suddenly 25% better at their jobs? What if they were each 50% better? How would this impact your business? Leadership studies have shown that a “feedback culture” improves team member performance faster than any other organizational change. Don’t miss out on what could be your chance to have a high-performing team.
It’s long been a part of business culture to have regular performance reviews and the purpose has, supposedly, been the improvement of the employees and, therefore, the improvement of the business. The idea is that if you give someone a review of his performance, he can improve it. Sounds simple. Unfortunately, few times of the year are less productive and more stressful for managers than “performance review” time. Perhaps you too have dreaded the performance review of your employees, knowing it might be contentious or upsetting, or, at the worst, a nightmare of legal vulnerability. Sometimes the reviews are a surprise. Other times they are a boring, repetitive exercise in paperwork.
A new trend has been sweeping American companies over the last few years that is intended to end this once-a-year feedback-fest which is usually littered with half-baked opinions and squishy goals. Many companies are now working to create “feedback cultures”, cultures where open communication about job performance occur on a daily or weekly basis, sometimes even minute-to-minute, to increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses and to take the pressure off of the yearly performance review.
If you have decided that you want to up-level your team in a hurry, nothing is better than creating an instant feedback loop for your team. Follow these simple steps to get started.
Creating a Feedback Culture:
1. Set expectations for the entire team. Have a meeting to let your team know that you intend to improve performance by trying new feedback methods. Tell them not to roll their eyes yet. Explain the feedback method will include metrics as well as individual feedback to each person. The idea is to get everyone used to feedback so when it comes along, it isn’t so bothersome.
2. Get agreement. Get the team’s agreement that feedback is not only a good idea, but that it will be accepted routinely. Next, have each person work out one major metric that measures his job performance and graph it on a line graph. For example, if the person is a receptionist, have him track the number of incoming calls, packages or visitors that are correctly routed. Make it a game to get this number higher and higher. The game is UP and TO THE RIGHT on his graph. Next, work on "soft skills" such as tighter communications, better grammar, a more pleasant tone of voice. Make it a game to improve these things, rather than focusing on them being "poor" right now.
3. Educate about feedback. Help the team distinguish between performance feedback and useless or harmful opinions. Example: “You need to be more organized. I suggest a schedule including each client, time of appointment and outcome” [performance feedback] VERSUS “You are so disorganized!” [useless/harmful opinion]. Good feedback is specific and actionable. Make sure all your feedback meets these criteria. Realize you may need to give a piece of feedback in several ways, over several conversations. Also educate the team about metrics, how to track them and how often you will be reviewing them. Start with weekly metrics and review them at a short, end-of-week meeting. Push everyone for an "up and to the right" graph.
4. Practice. Start right in the first meeting to give on-the-spot feedback. Get the team members used to it. The only way to do that is to practice. Remember to balance positive feedback and “improvement” feedback.
5. Prepare for reactions. The most important thing to do is to be committed to your feedback process. Don’t change simply because you hear some grumbling. Those who are good performers will like the new feedback because their graphs and their feedback will set them apart. The winners will be very obvious. You can call them the “up and to the right” crew.
If you are already skeptical about whether this can work for your organization, consider the story of a small team at a major technology company that decided to jump headfirst into trying this new method of feedback. The first thing that happened was a bunch of noise. “I don’t like it. It’s cruel.” “Is this what they call ‘thickening our skins’?” “Seems like an excuse to be mean.” Yes, the adjustment was rough at first. After a week or two, the whole crew was used to sporting graphs for every team meeting, looking for “up and to the right” curves. They started making feedback, the specific and actionable kind, a part of the daily routine. The team became a study in high performance with some of their best-performing members being promoted within the year. This same team was responsible for creating the laptop on which you might be typing your email.
And of course, you can always remember the words that came from the same person who threw away his performance review: “All that matters is graphs that go up and to the right.”
And, in the end, it’s true isn’t it?
It’s long been a part of business culture to have regular performance reviews and the purpose has, supposedly, been the improvement of the employees and, therefore, the improvement of the business. The idea is that if you give someone a review of his performance, he can improve it. Sounds simple. Unfortunately, few times of the year are less productive and more stressful for managers than “performance review” time. Perhaps you too have dreaded the performance review of your employees, knowing it might be contentious or upsetting, or, at the worst, a nightmare of legal vulnerability. Sometimes the reviews are a surprise. Other times they are a boring, repetitive exercise in paperwork.
A new trend has been sweeping American companies over the last few years that is intended to end this once-a-year feedback-fest which is usually littered with half-baked opinions and squishy goals. Many companies are now working to create “feedback cultures”, cultures where open communication about job performance occur on a daily or weekly basis, sometimes even minute-to-minute, to increase awareness of strengths and weaknesses and to take the pressure off of the yearly performance review.
If you have decided that you want to up-level your team in a hurry, nothing is better than creating an instant feedback loop for your team. Follow these simple steps to get started.
Creating a Feedback Culture:
1. Set expectations for the entire team. Have a meeting to let your team know that you intend to improve performance by trying new feedback methods. Tell them not to roll their eyes yet. Explain the feedback method will include metrics as well as individual feedback to each person. The idea is to get everyone used to feedback so when it comes along, it isn’t so bothersome.
2. Get agreement. Get the team’s agreement that feedback is not only a good idea, but that it will be accepted routinely. Next, have each person work out one major metric that measures his job performance and graph it on a line graph. For example, if the person is a receptionist, have him track the number of incoming calls, packages or visitors that are correctly routed. Make it a game to get this number higher and higher. The game is UP and TO THE RIGHT on his graph. Next, work on "soft skills" such as tighter communications, better grammar, a more pleasant tone of voice. Make it a game to improve these things, rather than focusing on them being "poor" right now.
3. Educate about feedback. Help the team distinguish between performance feedback and useless or harmful opinions. Example: “You need to be more organized. I suggest a schedule including each client, time of appointment and outcome” [performance feedback] VERSUS “You are so disorganized!” [useless/harmful opinion]. Good feedback is specific and actionable. Make sure all your feedback meets these criteria. Realize you may need to give a piece of feedback in several ways, over several conversations. Also educate the team about metrics, how to track them and how often you will be reviewing them. Start with weekly metrics and review them at a short, end-of-week meeting. Push everyone for an "up and to the right" graph.
4. Practice. Start right in the first meeting to give on-the-spot feedback. Get the team members used to it. The only way to do that is to practice. Remember to balance positive feedback and “improvement” feedback.
5. Prepare for reactions. The most important thing to do is to be committed to your feedback process. Don’t change simply because you hear some grumbling. Those who are good performers will like the new feedback because their graphs and their feedback will set them apart. The winners will be very obvious. You can call them the “up and to the right” crew.
If you are already skeptical about whether this can work for your organization, consider the story of a small team at a major technology company that decided to jump headfirst into trying this new method of feedback. The first thing that happened was a bunch of noise. “I don’t like it. It’s cruel.” “Is this what they call ‘thickening our skins’?” “Seems like an excuse to be mean.” Yes, the adjustment was rough at first. After a week or two, the whole crew was used to sporting graphs for every team meeting, looking for “up and to the right” curves. They started making feedback, the specific and actionable kind, a part of the daily routine. The team became a study in high performance with some of their best-performing members being promoted within the year. This same team was responsible for creating the laptop on which you might be typing your email.
And of course, you can always remember the words that came from the same person who threw away his performance review: “All that matters is graphs that go up and to the right.”
And, in the end, it’s true isn’t it?
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