Category Archives: Leadership
70 Great Years For My Dad And Many More To Come!
Today marks the 70th birthday for the original “Moosh” and I wanted to share with my network how awesome he is.
Dad taught elementary and high school for well over 30 years, then finished his career running a co-operative education program at a local university. He also helped fine tune an “intro to university” course that all students had to take in their first year, and did an outstanding job preparing them for the real world of post secondary education.
But beyond that he has been a tremendous father/grandpa (Gigi)/brother/uncle, friend to many and has lit up every room that he has walked in to throughout his life.
Although we have lived in different cities for 13 years, we make the most of the time our families have together.
We laugh, joke and have fun as often as we can. Life can throw us curve balls, but dad always keeps things in perspective and sees the positive in every situation.
He loves his four grandchildren, my mom, and the rest of our family to pieces, and has been a very popular figure in his community for more than 45 years now!
We tend to put things off sometimes in life for whatever our reasons are. But I recently said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (thanks to my sister’s idea)!
Myself, Dad, my brother-in-law and his Dad are off to a boys weekend in Minneapolis over the 4th of July week. We will be seeing two Minnesota Twins baseball games against the New York Yankees.
What a thrill that will be to finally get away with him!
All the best dad for reaching this noteworthy milestone.
You are truly one of a kind!
Love Tim
The Five Star 5 – See, Leadership Can Be Simple!
Sometimes as leaders, coaches, or people of influence in general, we over think how to motivate teams.
Several times last year, my son’s hockey team of 4 and 5 year olds had one hour power skating lessons. I was amazed by the instructor’s ability to keep them interested the entire time, even with sessions as early as 6 am on weekends!
This list should seem obvious to us all, but how many of these simple points do we miss with those that we lead?
- Smile, encourage and be enthusiastic
- Have fun and make them laugh
- Know the audience, relate to them on their level
- Be engaging – ask great questions that they will be eager to answer
- Fully explain what you want them to do. Leave nothing to the imagination
Five Star 5 – You Are Not Alone!
I was attending my first trade show with a company many years ago. I had just committed to move to a new city and was very nervous. Everyone was friendly, but I felt alone, and was unsure if I had made the right decision.
A fellow sales rep then approached me unexpectedly late in the first day, and took me under his wing for the rest of the event. He made me feel welcomed, and instantly put me at ease! For the next four days I had somebody that I was comfortable around, and could ask them any questions, no matter how silly they seemed at the time.
That event inspired this list, and I have always remember my colleague fondly for helping me out!
#1 Ride-A-Longs With Top Performing Sales Reps – I was just there to observe, nothing more. I once flew across the country and spent one day each with the top two performers in an organization.
#2 Working With A Mentor – It was great to have somebody to go to when I needed them, and not feel like I was being a bother. Helping me when necessary was part of the “mentor-newbie deal”.
#3 Joints Calls With A Sales Manager or Senior Sales Rep – I may have taken the lead on a call, but it was comforting to have them there if I needed any “back-up”. In the event a call was more complex, they would take the lead, and I would be there for support
#4 Guaranteed Salary and/or Commission As A New Rep – This was a game changer for me! It took all the pressure off at the start of a new role, and I could focus on learning the complete job for the foreseeable future. I had a guaranteed salary in one role for the first year and my results far exceeded budget!
#5 I have several other thoughts, but wanted to leave this one up to you. In your experience in sales, or what you have witnessed being involved in business, what else has assisted new sales reps to get acclimatized in their role?
Is Your Team One-Dimensional?
One of the professional hockey teams that I follow closely have had consistency issues all year. It is hard to believe that they are still struggling considering they were awarded the #1 draft pick three years in a row!
It has become increasingly clear over the last while that there is one glaring issue that plagues the team. They have too many of the same players. The team is one-dimensional. The skilled players are very talented but are too small and don’t have grit. At least some players need to possess all of those characteristics.
This situation got me thinking about sales teams and corporations in general.
How effective is a sales team if there are too many hunters or farmers, or perhaps too many quiet reps or outspoken ones?
A good mix of players is an integral part to a healthy, vibrant team. The team needs to feed off each other’s strengths and support each other while improving their weaknesses.
What about for a corporation in general?
If the sales department is performing well, but manufacturing and accounting are a mess (as an example), there will still be struggles overall. If manufacturing is firing on all cylinders, but everything else is having issues, the company is still “broken”.
I have always been a huge proponent of “temporary job trading”.
Do the role of somebody in a different department for even a day to get a better understanding of what it takes to perform their job. Maybe you won’t get so annoyed with them, and have a new appreciation for what they actual do!
Work to cross-train employees so they aren’t so one-dimensional. There will be a greater chance of mutual respect within the team if they have a true understanding of what everyone else is doing each day.
Sports teams, sales teams, and companies as a whole thrive when everyone is working together. Diversity within a team is healthy, and understanding what everyone’s roles are reduces tension within the group.
Think back to the controversies that are often made public when certain superstar players don’t make an olympic or other highly competitive teams. On the surface it looks like a glaring omission. In reality it is a strategic move by the management team to put other role players in that position. A team cannot be made up of only superstars. It rarely works, and the odds are against from the get-go.
The Five Star 5 – Music I Am Loving Right Now!
Music is a big part of many of our lives, and I am no exception! I listen to it whenever I can, and think the Ipod is one of the greatest inventions of our generation. I can’t imagine still walking around with a “walkman” and a big stack of tapes!
Here are the five songs that are keeping me pumped up right now:
Will.I.Am & Britney Spears – Scream & Shout http://bit.ly/Z0nYIs
Fun – Carry On http://bit.ly/RgIrbC
Bon Jovi – What About Now http://bit.ly/13PY55I
M83 – Midnight City http://bit.ly/oUWVJf
Matchbox Twenty – Overjoyed http://bit.ly/QZhA2r
What music are you loving right now?
Wanna talk music whenever your busy schedule permits?
Stop by our new LinkedIn discussion group called the Daily Music Sanctuary. If you like what you see, click “join” and we will accept you at: http://linkd.in/OeKGgr
We are always open to “chat”, and there is no cover charge!
Come share your opinions on music and have fun meeting a fantastic group of people!
Do You Have “It”?
All I wanted to do early in my sales career was manage the team that I was working on. I was young, I was new to the industry and I thought I knew it all! I was confident that some day I could handle the role. Unfortunately changes happened within the company, and I turned down my dream Sales Manager role when it was finally offered to me. Even with that setback, I have continued to follow sales and executive management throughout my career.
I did have some experience managing a team before I was ever interested in Sales Management. I was a Branch Manager in the car rental industry straight out of university. It was a great experience, and certainly taught me a lot about managing a diverse group of associates at a young age. Some of the employees were more than ten years my senior, and I learned very quickly how difficult being in charge could be.
The Sales Manager is arguably the most important person within the organization. They have a direct line of communication with the sales force; the associates who drive most of the front line revenue.
It can be very easy to get in to a rut with your day-to-day role. Sales reps certainly do, and it happens to managers as well. It is valuable to take a step back and think outside the box sometimes, from how you typically manage.
Great sales managers use enthusiasm and excitement to their advantage. They celebrate their team’s wins, while proudly announcing personal and team achievements. They may high-five team members in the office, or keep it simple and just pat everyone on the back when there are reasons to celebrate. The positive energy does wonders for everyone.
I have always been keenly aware of my manager’s actions, and I focus on a few areas:
- how they lead the team
- how they treat me
- how they treat other reps
- how they handle adversity within the team
- the relationship they have with their immediate supervisor and others on the executive management team
If they excel in all the above areas, they probably have “it” with their team. “It” is hard to explain, but it can be summarized as the group is firing on all cylinders, and no issue is too great to break the cohesiveness within the group.
I have reported to a total of 16 assistant managers, sales managers and branch managers during my career. I have also had close working relationships with 12-13 executive managers. This has provided me a rich foundation of experiences.
- As a manager what is it like to have “it”with the group of reps that you lead every day?
- If you have “it”, you can probably describe “it” in general terms, but it may be hard to explain overall.
- If you have never had “it” with your team, would you not like to know how to get “it”?
As I continue to discuss Sales Management in the future, I will build on the theme of having “it”. I will leave you with one other thought to ponder….
Are you just a boss to a group of employees, or is their much more depth to your relationship with the team?
Are We Expecting Too Much Too Soon?
My son played his first season of baseball this past spring. For many other kids on the team, it was their first season playing as well. It was a much different experience for everyone as compared to the kid’s first go-around with other team sports like soccer or hockey.
With those other sports, the concepts were pretty simple in theory as the kids could get out and chase the puck or ball and just spend time familiarizing themselves with the games and being part of a team.
Baseball was a totally different story. Batting was mostly straight forward for them, but fielding was an adventure! All of the parents and coaches were doing their best to help out, but the poor kids were always very confused from the moment the ball was hit. Although quite funny on the surface, you had to feel for them when they all froze in place. Their “memories seemed to erase” and never knew what to do when the ball came their way. At one point or another, most of the parents wished they could get out on the field and make plays themselves!
As I reflected back after the season, our expectations for the kid’s performance on the field was way too high, especially early on. We were asking them to complete very difficult tasks with many people trying to give them directions in pressure packed situations. I did not even start playing competitive baseball until I was 9 or 10 years old.
The first coach was unable to handle the anxiety of helping the kids get up to speed. The second coach was awesome! They stepped right up and said that the kids needed “one voice” to listen to. From that moment on, things ran much smoother for the rest of the year, and the team won a bronze medal at the year-end tournament.
That story inspired this post, as I related it to being new to a sales role or the profession in general. Most of the parents were guilty of expecting more from the kids then they were able to give early in the baseball season. Many sales managers and executives are guilty of doing the same with new reps.
I am a firm believer that the pressure to perform should be minimal for new reps as long as possible. Three months should be the bare minimum that a rep focuses on learning everything about their new role, and not have a manager looking over their shoulder and expecting immediate results.
The “learning/training phase” should be even longer for new reps to the profession. Sales can be generalized as an easy job where you can make a lot of money, but new recruits need to understand that a lot goes on behind the scenes to be able to do “fun stuff” like take customers out golfing, or have long lunch meetings!
Product knowledge is typically the focus for new reps, but there are many more aspects of being a territory manager that need to be analyzed before being “thrown into the wild” and expected to come back with orders. It is not realistic, not fair, and is one of the biggest reasons that new reps quit in such a short time.
Most companies are continually under pressure to put up numbers, and that unfortunately comes at the cost of giving new reps the training and support that they need from the day they start the role.
I would rather sacrifice sales results in the field while new reps gets their feet wet, and properly equip them and held grow their confidence so when they hit the road, they are ready.
The most common words coming out of a sales manager’s mouth should not be,
“How can I help you close that order?”
That makes them a one-dimensional leader.
If a manager wants a rep to prosper and succeed long-term, they will help them dig deep in to all aspects of the role, understand their territory, customers, support staff and company. Then, AND ONLY THEN can they start talking about getting in to the field and securing business.
- What training have you received for a new role (other than product knowledge)?
- Have you ever quit a sales role and realized later that you did not give it enough of a chance?
- When should new reps start focusing on actually closing business?
Healthy Leaders Are Great Leaders
Eve reached out to me a few weeks ago interested in guest posting on leadership. I was more than happy to oblige. Check out her incredible take on health and productivity!
The modern world is increasingly doing studies on the link between health and productivity. That is hardly a new concept. The phrase “A sound mind in a sound body” is quite old. In general, we all know that if you are sick, in pain, or under the weather, you will not be at your most productive. But what seems to not sink in is the idea that if you really want to excel at sales or in leadership, you really need to be working towards optimal health, not merely avoiding sickness.
Instead of talking in generalities, let’s take one person as an example. Let’s talk about actor, producer, and businessman Will Smith. He has made Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list. He is the first actor to have eight movies in a row bring in more than $100 million. He came from nothing and is now worth millions. He is viewed by many as an inspiration and role model for minorities. His list of personal accomplishments is quite long.
Focus on Will Smith
Will Smith has said “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be out-worked, period. You might be more talented than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first, or I’m going to die. It’s really that simple, right? You’re not going to out-work me. It’s such a simple, basic concept. The guy who is willing to hustle the most is going to be the guy who just gets that loose ball. The majority of people who aren’t getting the places they want or aren’t achieving the things that they want in this business is strictly based on hustle. It’s strictly based on being out-worked; it’s strictly based on missing crucial opportunities. I say all the time if you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready.”
More than an actor
As indicated above, everyone likely realizes that Will Smith is not just an actor but he is a leader in many ways: A producer, founder of I’m more than one company, community leader and so on. If you have ever seen him work the crowd at a red carpet event, you should realize he is also a consummate salesman. That is part of why his movies make so much money. So when he talks about hustle, he doesn’t just mean “work hard.” He also means you need to sell yourself. Constantly.
What may not be obvious is that in order to have the attitude he has, the first thing he needs is the physical stamina necessary to run you into the ground or die trying. If you have seen him in “I am Legend”, a movie filmed in his late thirties, you have seen with your own eyes the kind of phenomenal fitness he has. Similarly, he trained for months to put on the muscle necessary to portray legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. People who are not super healthy don’t do things like that. They simply can’t.
Health and fitness
So if you want to be a great sales person or leader, you first need to be the best that you can be. And that starts with being as healthy and fit as possible so you have the physical energy and mental focus to out-work others, to recognize opportunity when it presents itself and quickly take action, and to be as presentable and attractive as possible. The reality is that both sales and leadership are about influencing other people. Someone who is healthy and fit is far more personable than someone who is not.
Think about this: Shaking hands is a basic symbol of both friendliness and deal-making. People have to touch you to shake your hand. No one wants that if you are ill. Even if you are in good health generally but know there is room for improvement it can be a good idea to take a medical test to highlight where best to prioritize, be it diet or fitness levels. A routine lab test can highlight any problems or deficiencies you may have meaning you can take measures to address these under the advice of a medical professional.
So get cracking. Watch what you eat. Take your vitamins. Hit the gym. Get on that treadmill. Make sure you are healthy enough to be the last one to get off it when you are up against the competition. In other words: Every day.
If you are interested in having Eve guest post on your blog or website she can be emailed at: epearce@andalemono.com
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 