Category Archives: Leadership
I came across this insightful post by Cathy Berggren yesterday and I wanted to share it now. I am always looking for posts that grab my attention, and what better way to make me stop in my tracks then a bowl full of M&Ms! The cool part is there is a wonderful message here as well for all leaders. Now I have to run to the store đ Enjoy…
Ever pick out your favorite colors in M&Mâs when you eat them? Are you drawn to a particular color? Statistically, the company puts the highest number of blue in each containerâŚin fact 24% in each bag. Can you guess the least amount? Yep, brown, an average of 13%. Any guesses as to why blue is favored over brown? I donât have the answers, but have my own theory.
Blue stands out
We are drawn to people for the same reason. We are often drawn to those people who stand out. It may not be because they are loud or outgoing, or because they are some great leader by position, or because of their following or even their money. It might be because of their gentle quiet spirit, or maybe it is how they consistently love people. They may stand out because of their guidance and leadership toâŚ
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The Five Star 5 – A Collaborative Leadership List
There is an incredible amount of content available on leadership, and I made sure to research none of it for this post!
I wanted to share five key points of what leadership means to me, but I also wanted your comments to compile a longer list. Don’t research, just share what you feel! I will post the full list on my blog next week.
- Motivate, inspire and most importantly have fun
- Give an enthusiastic thank you when things go well, and a supportive ear when things go wrong
- Be a positive example with your work ethic, and have a desire to succeed that others are proud to follow
- Understand that all your employees are unique people and need to be managed accordingly
- As often as possible smile, laugh and have a bounce in your step!
Just an awesome read this morning via Doug Dickerson’s blog! I had not heard of this story yet, and I encourage you to take a few minutes to read it today. Have an awesome Sunday…
A good measure of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. â Jim Rohn
Chronicled in countless newspapers across the country including ESPN, we were all inspired by the recent act of kindness of high school junior Meghan Vogel. At the recent Division III girls state track meet at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, a high school junior by the name of Meghan Vogel captured the hearts thousands around the country.
In the finals Meghan had won the girls 1,600 meters race. In a personal best, she posted a time of 4:58:31, the first time she had broken the five minute mark. Â After an awards ceremony Meghan had time to take a short break to rest and get ready for the 3,200 in which she was seeded seventh.
Three laps into theâŚ
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Great Sales Team – Yep They Still Exist!
Coming together is a beginning
Keeping together is progress
Working together is success – Henry Ford
As I reflect back on my sales career with 13+ years behind me now, so many people have played an integral part in getting me to where I am today. Without their leadership, mentorship, and most importantly friendship, I have no idea what would have become of me. I had the good fortune to work with a team for many years which was as close to perfect as I could have ever imagined.
The team members:
- Celebrated each otherâs wins without jealousy. They were also sympathetic to their associates losses or challenges
- Helped each other as required, without hesitation
- Were not afraid to share selling success stories, or how they overcame challenges and defeats. It was not uncommon to share presentations that were successful, or bulletins for promotions.
- Identified the âit is all about meâ behaviour within the group (on the rare occasion), and assisted in addressing it with management as soon as possible. This reduced negativity and problems within the team
- Valued time away together as a team to bond, to get to know each other better, and just have fun
- Had a great leader who motivated, inspired, coached and mentored everyone
- WE HAD FUN TOGETHER! (I may do a post some day about all the great stories that came from working with this group!)
The one point that I really have to stress about the people on this team is:
If any of the team members called me today asking for help, no matter where in the country they were living at the time, my response would be,
âWhat do you need, and do you need me to come to where you are?â
I think I would get the same response from them if I asked for help. We were not only colleagues, but also friends. We battled at work every day to be the best that we could be, and had a lot of fun along the way too.
It has been close to five years since I left that organization, and am I lucky to be as good friends with many of them today, as the day I left in 2007!
- What great teams have you been fortunate enough to be a part of?
- What was it about those teams that made them âa cut above the restâ?
6 Categories of Sales Reps – Which One Are You?
It is easy to say that a ârep is a repâ, but when I dug deeper over the years, there are many “personas” that they could take on. True performers typically elevate their game from âjust a repâ to “sales professionalâ and ultimately “superstar” over a shorter period of time.
IÂ compiled a list of the six categories of reps after being part of several sales teams over the years:
- Raw rookies
- Future superstars
- Superstars
- Steady Eddies
- âWhat have you done for me latelys?â
- UnderachieversÂ
Raw Rookies
Raw rookies may be new to a role, or brand new to the sales profession. They are hopefully eager to learn, and make every attempt to work well with their team mates and managers as soon as possible. The first three months tend to be a little rough on raw rookies, as they are inundated with a barrage of product training and possibly other teachings. If they are not given the necessary support to become successful early in their time with a company, they are probably âthrown to the wildâ and asked to fend for themselves. The first three months tends to decide a raw rookiesâ fate, and management can quickly tell if the interview process was a true indicator of what was to come.
Future Superstars
Future Superstars can show signs early on if they are going to be successful. Typical signs are how they carry themselves, how eager they are to learn the role, and how engaging they are with coworkers, management and customers. They realize that it is going to take some time to understand the organization, and their products and/or services. But they know as long as they make the customer their #1 priority, things will eventually fall in to place. Future superstars will put the team before themselves, and never lose site of the fact that their day-to-day goal is to sell stuff and exceed budget.
Superstars
Superstars show a lot of the characteristics that I have described under âFuture Superstarsâ, but have achieved above average results for a longer time. Can somebody be characterized as a superstar after 3-12 months on the job? Probably not.  Any rep can fluke out and have a great few months, and then come back down to earth soon after. But if they have successfully achieved for 12 â 24 months in the same role, I would deduce that is it not a coincidence. Superstars just get the job done and continue to raise the bar to the next level. They are never satisfied, and are always looking for their next challenge to grow and succeed.
Steady Eddies
Steady Eddies can be relatively new sales reps, or seasoned veterans who have been around years. Their results do not fluctuate much from month to month, or year to year. Their consistent results make them a very dependable and reliable group that can always be counted on. They typically turn down promotions, especially for managerial roles, because they are comfortable working their territories as individuals, and like to be left alone to do their jobs.
What have you done for me latelys?
If you are a child of the â80âs like me, you may realize that this category was inspired by the classic 1986 Janet Jackson song of a similar name!
âWhat have you done for me latelys?â are very similar to sports stars that are past their prime, but are still being rewarded for what they have done before. They could be described as âlame duckâ employees, who should be fired, but are not for many reasons. It has become public knowledge that they are not performing their job duties up to the standards that they set for themselves in the past, but some business is still coming in based on their reputation in the market place. In many cases they are counting the days until retirement; or for those not of retirement age, they are counting the days until they get fired.
Underachievers
Underachievers are not getting the job done. They never have. There could be many reasons for this, and the list is too long to assess in this post! At the end of the day, it will result in termination; it is only a matter of time. Some tend to have ânine livesâ and dodge being fired longer than many expect. But in the end, they will be looking for another job, possibly even in a different profession!
- If you are not in the sales profession yet, do you have what it takes to become a Superstar in this exciting line of work?
- If you are in sales, what type of rep are you now, and what type should you be?
- What changes to you have to make ASAP if it does not say âSuperstarâ on your business card?
The 5 Star Five – Quotes Submitted By Readers
As promised earlier in the week, here are the best quotes submitted by my readers. This is a follow-up post to “My Favourite Sales Quotes”. Have a great Saturday!
“I ain’t never learned nothin’ while talkin” – President Lyndon Johnson (submitted by Jack Pyle)
“If you can’t then you must” – Tony Robbins (submitted by Murray Osborne)
“Prepare to win, or lose to somebody else who is” – Jeffrey Gitomer (submitted by Michael S. Rickert)
“âBe and act as if it is inevitable to succeed” – unknown (submitted by Norm Tashe)
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky (my favourite)Â
My Best Sales Manager
One Sales Manager in my career was a cut above the rest. As I think back to our first meeting close to 11 years ago, I realize that it took about 5 seconds for us to click. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not in a business relationship. But I knew right away that I had made the right decision to move and start a new life in Edmonton.
Everything between him and the team worked. There was limited drama in the office, and the focus was always growing the business, and having fun along the way. He never made it feel like he was our boss, more of a team captain. He was a leader who supported us in every way. He was there for us when we succeeded, and when we failed. He assisted in our personal development, and often commented on how lucky he was to have a team like us to support. It was never âbelow himâ to help us with whatever we needed assistance with. He was a manager, but he was more than willing to get âdirty with us in the trenchesâ.
He was the consummate mentor, and was always thinking about succession plans for those who were interested in moving up within the organization. He was an ear for everyone with respect to business or personal problems.
I had often thought about what would happen to the team if he ever decided to move on. I have to be honest; it worried me  a bit, more than it should have. When he finally did move on, as expected, things were never the same again with our sales division.
I called him out of the blue when I was in his city a few months ago and we had a last-minute coffee. Before I knew it, more than an hour had passed. We picked up right where we left off from the last time we saw each other! I had to pinch myself to realize that we were not between sales calls working for the same company anymore. I will always credit him for being the most influential person who assisted in getting my sales career to the next level as quickly as it did.
- Who has been influential in getting you to where you are today?
- What awesome things have they done that really stand out in your mind?
I really enjoyed this post by Carol Dougherty this morning. It is a thought-provoking look at teams generating ideas (or lack thereof). Enjoy!
Does your team generate great ideas? Are you open to all ideas? Do you encourage even seemingly off the wall thoughts? Does each of your team members feel they will be heard? Do they all come up with unique ideas or concepts?
If you can answer yes to all of these your team is rolling along well and is open to any and all input. Great!  Unfortunately most teams arenât operating in this well. There are several reasons this may be the case.
- Lacking Diversity â If the team all has the same job functions/ background you may not get unique ideas. When everyone does the same thing or has the same background they tend to see things the same way.
Solution â Bring in people who are outside of the area of expertise of the team. Open it up to internal or external customers and suppliers, or people fromâŚ
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Inside Sales â Your âPersonal Assistantsâ or Valued Members of the Team?
Within the sales function of organizations, an individual or group of people go about their business day after day, and in many cases, without a lot of respect from their colleagues. It is the Inside Sales team.
If you havenât taken the time recently to think about how much easier your job is because of them, take some today. When was the last time you bought them a coffee, took them out for lunch, or phoned/emailed to say thanks?
Our team always pitched in to get inside sales Christmas gifts with one company that I worked for. The group knew how much we appreciated them, and always loved the surprise!
Have you been guilty of using inside sales as your personal assistant?
Be honest with yourself!
Inside Salesâ role is typically clearly defined, and if you consistently dump tasks on them that you did not feel like doing yourself, you are just being lazy! Work with them on moving activities towards closing sales like quoting price and delivery, handling customer questions etc.
One concept that really helped me get on to the same page with one of my Inside Sales teams was establishing âRules of Communicationâ.
The goal was to communicate on their terms as much as possible, not mine.
- Currently, are you calling or emailing inside sales for every situation that arises during the day?
- Do you even know if they prefer to be phoned or emailed?
Our agreement included the following clauses:
- If something was an emergency or crisis, I called immediately
- If something needed to be completed as soon as possible a detailed email was sent. They were always monitoring their inbox, and would respond as soon as possible
- For non urgent requests – follow-up notes, general questions and other important items were put on a Daily To Do List. It was sent to Inside Sales at the end of the day. In my case, there was a two-hour time difference, and I typically had my answers waiting for me by the time I got to my computer the next morning!
The less nagging, disruptive phone calls the support team handles internally, the more they can focus on booking business. Call when needed, but always take a moment to think, âDoes this have to be dealt with immediately?â
The more you strategize with them as teammates, and respect the job that they do, the smoother the sales function should run in general. Who do you think they will give priority service to when they are in a time crunch? The rep that treats them like gold and respects them as people and colleagues of course!
And always remember, they are not your personal assistants!
Every time I see a post about the National Hockey League (NHL) and business, I have to check it out! This was the case recently with Anna Caraveli’s post on the Washington Capitals with respect to mental toughness in your leadership and organization. If you are not a hockey fan, that is ok. The message still comes across loud and clear!
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 