NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS DON'T WORK . . .

So let me ask you, have you made your “New Year’s Resolutions”?  I have a recommendation for you– STOP IT.  But why, for you make new resolutions every year.  There is part of the problem, it becomes a vicious cycle. So stop making New Year’s Resolutions that just don’t work.

A former client that owned several health club facilities, said that he sells more memberships in the months of December and January than the rest of the year.  Why is this?  This is due to our human desire to get in shape and change our body image.  He said is that you will find his facility packed to capacity during the month of January and February- with long lines at the machines and the classes full of people.  But, wait until March or April– 70% of the people that started working-out in January just QUIT!!

The problem with making New Year’s Resolution is that it sets you up for failure.  The best test for you is to determine if have S.M.A.R.T goals.  S.M.A.R.T. refers to goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Framed.

Specific: Goals need to be specific. Often we set goals that are so loose, therefore it's nearly impossible to judge whether you achieve these goals or not. For example, a statement like "I wish I will lose weight" is too vague. How will you know if and when you've reached your goal? Setting a goal like, “I will lose two pounds each and every week for this year" is more specific. At the end of each week and month it will be a simple matter of weights and measures: take your measurements and get on the scale.

Measurable: Goals need to be measurable. For example, many of us want to increase our number of contacts. But, "meeting new clients" is an ambiguous statement. A clearer objective is "I will meet three new prospects each week, and at least one of each of these prospects will become a client.”  It's a simple, concrete goal. This makes it easy to see if you hit your target.

Achievable: Goals need to be reasonable and achievable. Nearly everyone has tried to drop a few pounds at one time or another. Often their success or failure depends on setting practical goals. Losing 15 pounds in 30 days is unrealistic (unless you're planning a medical procedure). Losing two pounds per week is reasonable and achievable. So in order to lose just two pounds per week, you decrease your caloric intake by 7000 calories per week (a reduction of 3500 calories equals one pound of weigh loss) and you can do this by reducing your daily intake by just 1000 calories and increasing your activity. Make it easy, enjoyable, and achievable; however don't set yourself up for failure by setting goals that are out of reach.

Realistic: Goals need to be realistic. Guess what, we are not 18 years old anymore, so stop thinking you can still do everything as you once did. As adults, we learn that while we can achieve a great deal, you can’t have it all at once– the point here is to reasonably pace yourself.  It's important to honestly assess yourself and your personal and physical limitations. Also, do you have the ability and commitment to make your dream come true?  For example, you may love to play tennis, but do you have the time, ability, talent and commitment to become a pro? So be honest with yourself.

Time Framed: Goals need to have a specific time frame. Having a set amount of time will give your goals structure. For example, many of us want to find a new job or start their own business. Some people spend a lot of time talking about what they want to do, someday. But, without an specific goal and date there is no sense of urgency, no reason to take any action today. Having a specific time frame gives you the motivation to start today.  It also helps you monitor your progress during the process.

I devised a quick and simple 2013 Personal Goal Setting Exercise . . . .

1-  Write down your ‘magical’ and memorable moments for the past year.  Identify those moments that will live with you the rest of your life.  It may be something simple as having a ‘belly laugh’ with an old friend.  Seeing your newborn grandson or granddaughter for the first time.  It might be getting that promotion you worked so hard the past 5 years.

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2-   So what didn’t work in 2012?  Now this is a tough one.  What will you do differently?  What will you NEVER do again?  What do you need to change?

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3-   So what are you committed to changing this year?  This is a tough one.  You need to get very specific and detailed- remember these must be S.M.A.R.T. goals.   The bigger the goal, the more commitment and measurement needs to take place.  So, break these goals into smaller manageable goals, or KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators).  But also clearly identify the consequences if you don’t achieve your goal and ultimate cost in your life?  Put these goals in front of your ‘nose’, so they are seen on a daily basis.  One client puts the S.M.A.R.T. goals above the bathroom toilet, so they are seen each and every day.

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4-   Set up a Daily Ritual.  An example of a Daily Ritual is, “When I wake up every morning, the first thing I will do is go for a 45 minute run”.  Another might be, “I set 5 hours every weekend that I can read one book per week”.  What you need to do is clearly identify what you need to change, and make the change.  Changes start with Your Daily Ritual. 

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5-   Make a list of every person that you will share your S.M.A.R.T. goals with, including key persons within your organization, your spouse or partner, your friends, and your Business Mentor.  Keep in mind that your ’accountability partner’ will agree to hold you to the goal, and ask that you supply regular accountability, and also keep you accountable to making the necessary changes in your life or business to attain these  S.M.A.R.T. goals

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ADD AN HOUR TO YOUR DAY

What the heck . . . . you are probably working more hours than ever, and now another hour is added to your day!  First, let me ask you a question . . .  So what would you do with an extra hour? An extra hour that you could you what you WANT to do. Sounds like the plot from a comedy — but in truth it's an opportunity that many world residents receive around this time every year. I'm talking about the change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time when we turn back our clocks and repeat one hour.

Now, let me acknowledge that it's not really an "extra" hour. You have to give it back in the spring, and it doesn't really affect your lifespan. However, it's important to consider what to do with extra time — since one of the most frequent concerns of managers is not having enough.

In an article by Robert H. Schaffer about why managers waste time. In the article, he shared a question that had been posed to dozens of managers: “Imagine if the president of your company personally asked you to take on a special assignment — working directly for him/her. The project would take one day per week but you would have to continue your regular job in the remaining time. Would you take the assignment?”

By now we've asked this question to hundreds of managers — most who complain about not having enough time already — and 99% say they would take the assignment.

The reality is that we all have "extra" hours available, without having to turn back the clock. Sometimes it takes a presidential request or a customer crisis to find them; and sometimes it takes a personal incentive such as clearing the decks before a vacation.

But we all know that those hidden hours exist, buried in unnecessary meetings, inefficient work processes, interruptions, false starts, PowerPoint perfection, misplaced files, and a host of other time-wasters. We may assume that these patterns are part of the normal rhythm of imperfect organizational life — but unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) we know that these inefficiencies give us a cushion in case we have to suddenly step up the pace.

It is still likely that most managers have more cushion than they actually need — and some of that time could be applied to reducing today's feeling of overload, instead of waiting for a crisis or special event. If that applies to you, then here are a couple of ideas for identifying and capturing a few additional hours:

 
1-    Do a quick calendar analysis. Go back through the last few months of your Outlook calendar, your Blackberry, or handwritten diary. Grade every activity by assigning a dollar value to each.  So for example, opening and reading your email would generate a value of $10 per hour.  In each of the nine boxes below, assign a value for each activity you perform during the day. Which activities generated no revenue, nor add value to you or your business?  Do you start seeing a pattern?  Finally, look forward at your next couple of months and see if there are meetings or activities that you could bypass or eliminate without any consequence. 
 
Where would you grade yourself in the nine boxes below? Remember that an owner of a $1 million annual revenue company, is responsible for the company’s revenue at the rate of $500 per hour (times 2,000 hours per year).  Much like a stop light, spend a much time in the 'green' areas and avoiding the 'red' areas a much as possible.

 

2. Ask for feedback. Our time-wasting patterns are often invisible to us — but apparent to those around us. So a second useful step is to ask your subordinates or colleagues if they could identify some activities that you could do less often, do in less time, or stop doing altogether. For example, one manager who did this was told that he didn't need to attend a weekly operations meeting that was run by one of his people — a meeting that had no value.

A one great mentor once said to me, “No employee is more motivated, efficient and focused than the week before they take vacation”.   How do you find extra time, you don’t– you simply make the necessary time?

So, make every day count– just like you are taking vacation tomorrow.

STOP WASTING TIME IN MEETINGS

When was the last time you looked at your calendar and realized that every working minute of your day was going to be spent in meetings? Probably not that long ago. When you looked at that schedule what was your reaction? Excitement? Anticipation? More likely you thought “How am I ever going to get anything done if I’m in meetings all day?”

According to a Microsoft survey of 38,000 people in 200 countries, on average, people spend 5.6 hours each week in meetings and 69 percent of those surveyed feel meetings aren't productive. That's a lot of wasted time.

Here's the thing: with the right intention and structure, meetings can be highly productive. Really, they can! They are an integral part of how you can infuse effective communication throughout your business, and how you can ensure employee cooperation, buy-in, and focus toward your business goals.

Here is an outline of some basic points about how to conduct productive and inspiring staff meetings at all levels of your organization.

Types of Meetings

What kind of meetings should you have in your business? How often should meetings take place? Who should be involved in the staff meetings? Some basic staff meetings include:

- Employee Development Meetings

These meetings occur between a manager and their direct reports. They can help managers address employee issues such as inadequate performance or negative attitudes. They can also help facilitate the growth and success of individual employees.

- Department Meetings

These meetings take place between all members of a given department. They help maintain a coherent team atmosphere and keep everyone on track and on the same page moving forward.

- Company Meetings

These involve every member of an organization. They help the business owner ensure that everyone in the organization gets essential information in the same forum. They are similar to Department Meetings but on a larger scale.

- Strategic Planning Meetings

These meetings can occur within or between departments, can involve managers and/or employees, and are generally geared for the purpose of working on specific business development goals and strategies.

- Financial Review and Analysis Meetings

These meetings might involve a business owner, CEO and CFO (and possibly an outside accountant and Coach) who carefully review key financial reports to direct and inform their management decisions in the business.

The same Microsoft study we mentioned above found that the most common productivity pitfalls in the workplace are unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings. Regardless of what kind of staff meetings you choose to incorporate into your business, if you follow a basic set of guidelines and standards, you can turn them into extremely effective and productive activities.

 

Effective Meetings:

1-    Have a clear purpose. Everyone in the meeting should know what result the meeting is supposed to produce, and why their participation is necessary. Whenever possible, the purpose of the meeting should be connected to the overall goal of the business, which can help keep everyone connected to that vision and how they fit into it.

2-    Follow a defined agenda. This includes (at a minimum) the time and duration of the meeting, the specific issues or ideas to be addressed, and any required resources or documents to bring to the meeting. Make sure that this information is shared with all attendees well in advance to ensure everyone is prepared and can get right to the heart of the matter at hand.

3-    Be action oriented. If you walk away from a meeting without clearly defined next steps, you haven’t done it right. Make sure your meetings include a follow-up plan that makes it very clear how each of you and/or the project will move forward, along with due dates for each step in the plan. Having a meeting just for the sake of having a meeting might be acceptable when getting together with an old college buddy or a group of friends for a sporting event, but staff meetings in your business must help drive the business forward.

4-    Have a facilitator for each meeting (not the meeting organizer or speaker), someone who assumes accountability for keeping the meeting focused, on-track and on-time. This person could also be the note taker who can disseminate the key points of the meeting and keep track of carry over items for follow up. You might also have the meeting recorded so that others can listen in as needed after the event.

Staff meetings should essentially be a collaborative effort and should invoke the participation of everyone involved. The best meetings at all levels of an organization are energizing and motivating, as well as informative.

When conducted properly, staff meetings will support your progress toward your goals and be an important part of your company culture. Our clients who direct their attention and intention into creating effective staff meetings in their business experience increased levels of communication, productivity, accountability and cooperation. They really can serve as a catalyst to move your business forward; it’s all in how you approach them.

STRATEGIES TO DOUBLE YOUR REVENUE

1.) Dramatically Reduce Sales Cycle Time

The first is from Dr. Victoria Medvec, negotiations expert from Northwestern University and author of the series Nothing Improves Cash Flow and Revenue More Than Reducing Your Sales Cycle Time. And an important technique to dramatically reducing it is to use synchronous communication throughout the sales process.

“This starts with NEVER presenting a sales proposal to a customer without being on the phone or meeting them in person,” notes Medvec. Emailing a proposal to a customer ahead of a meeting doesn’t give you the opportunity to react immediately to potential concerns and objections that might arise as they read through your proposal.

It has been found that the more time the customer has to ponder an objection and potentially pollute their colleagues with negative reactions (or spouse if it’s a business to consumer sale), the more difficult it will be to move the sales process forward.

Even if the customer is adamant about receiving a proposal ahead of a physical meeting, suggest it will save them time if you can review the proposal over the phone and that you’ll email it to them a few minutes before a scheduled phone call. What you and your sales people want is the opportunity to see, hear, or at least sense specific objections, as you review the proposal, so you can react immediately. And then you want to continue to utilize various communications for the rest of the sales negotiation process i.e. if a customer emails back a question, pick up the phone and discuss with them vs. simply emailing an answer back – it gains you more clarity, builds the relationship, and avoids misunderstandings that come with email.

“I’ve seen this single technique reduce sales cycles from months to weeks and even to days,” concludes Medvec. Fred Crosetto, CEO of Seattle Ammex, who has seen his company achieve record revenues the first part of 2009, is so convinced of the power of this technique that he’s driving it across his entire company using Medvec’s series.

 

2.) Pricing with Confidence

Of the four P’s of marketing (Price, Product, Promotion, and Place), Price is the only one which directly puts money to your bottom line and into your pocket. Yet I continually find companies setting price with little or no strategy behind their decisions. And panicked decisions about pricing in troubled times can be costly in both the short and long run. For answers, read Reed Holden and Mark Burton blog. Pay particular attention to Rule Three in their book where they outline three simple pricing strategies all firms can use.

Noted Burton in a recent conversation, “too many firms have gotten caught flat-footed and are using price discounts in a panic to try to keep demand that is going away no matter what they do. The firms that do this are creating two very significant long-term problems. First, they are destroying the integrity of their pricing and the value of their brands. Second, they are training their customers to negotiate for every last penny thus undermining their most valuable asset – trusting customer relationships.”

Both of these forces will make it extraordinarily difficult to bring prices back up when the economy finally does turn. In addition, it will take much longer to bring prices back up to a level that reflects the true value of the goods and services being sold.

Burton suggests the way around this is to look objectively at pricing as a strategic tool that must be managed systematically based on value, market demand, cost structure, product lifecycle, and firm capabilities. This view leads one to make decisions on the basis of preserving and gaining pricing power be it through reducing capacity to match demand, introducing low price – low value offerings, or making systematic adjustments to price lists so that list and street prices are more in line.

 

3.) Multiple Channels

“Place” is one of the other four P’s of marketing. And research by Neil Rackham, modern sales management techniques, reveals that companies with more sales channels trump competing firms with less. This means setting aside all the debate about protecting various territories and giving your customers as many options for purchasing your product as you can. In the end, you can’t dictate from whom and how your customers will purchase your products and services. They all have different preferences and will find competitors who give them these options.

In turn, it’s up to your various sales channels to earn their right to distribute your services. If the customer wants high-touch, value-added consultative help in purchasing your product, they’ll utilize that channel. If instead, they prefer to “do-it-themselves” then give them that option as well. Read Michael Masterson and Mary Ellen Tribby book as they detail how to utilize a dozen different marketing channels for your business.  She said, I’ve been visiting with a Sydney-based entrepreneur who has seen his revenue jump 70%. One key is a website he’s launched that allows his do-it-yourself customers to purchase products direct from his factory versus through his normal channels. To smooth over what could be contentious channel conflict discussions with his agents, the website does offer a slightly different product line and it trades under a different name. However, he’s utilizing multiple channels nevertheless and it’s driving revenue.

4.) Half the Customers; Twice the Attention

Though a repetition of Neil Rackham’s advice, more than ever you need to identify your best customers and shower them with twice the attention.

Chet Holmes, author of Mega-Hit, drives home this point in Chapter 4 of his book. Holmes, who doubled sales three years in a row for nine divisions of Charlie Munger’s firm (Munger is Warren Buffett’s partner), encourages firms to focus on their Best Buyer or Best Neighborhood and then create a nurturing marketing campaign that touches these customers 10 to 15 times with educational information. If you’re not familiar with nurturing marketing, also read Jim Cecil’s book it starts with doing a thorough job of researching the benefits of your product or service. For one major roofing company, Holmes’ market research firm found that a large percentage of the time a roof is replaced when it only needs repaired. In turn, greater than half of all building maintenance problems emanate from problems with the roof.  Armed with this research, the company structured an educational campaign that reached out to the owners of large facilities every two weeks over a period of months, which dramatically increased warm leads for the sales team to close.

 

5.) Web 2.0

 

The third P of marketing “Promotion” has taken on a new twist given the power of the Web to reach customers. Given the confusing array of terminology and options, read David Meerman Scott’s best-selling book. The title itself gives you a flavor for the array of inexpensive promotional opportunities available to a growth firm. And his book is the first to explain the options in a way that non-tech growth company executives can understand and implement.

USE THE SAME BUSINESS MODEL AS FORD

Quarter after quarter for almost two years, the news out of Ford Motor was astonishingly good. Under Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, who'd joined the company from Boeing in 2006, Ford had not simply avoided bankruptcy and a federal bail-out, it had turned itself into the world's most profitable automaker. It beat analyst estimates for seven consecutive quarters and drove its stock to a nine-year high of $18.79 on Jan. 27, up from $1.26 on Nov. 19, 2008. Last year, hits such as the Fusion family car and Fiesta subcompact propelled sales of Ford models upward at twice the rate of the overall market. And the 65-year-old Mulally, a gifted and relentlessly upbeat salesman, wasted no opportunity to look into the eyes of analysts and reporters, squeeze their forearms, and remind them how "fabulous" Ford had become.

Late in 2009, Mulally began to see some new signs of trouble. Inside the Thunderbird Room on the 11th floor of Ford's Dearborn (Mich.) headquarters, the windowless conference chamber where Mulally meets around a circular table with his 15 top executives every Thursday at 7 a.m., some of the news suddenly wasn't good. At these 2 1/2-hour meetings, known as BPR (Business Plan Review), he requires his direct reports to post more than 300 charts, each of them color-coded red, yellow, or green to indicate problems, caution, or progress.

At the BPR, Ford Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth might give an update on debt reduction, or Americas chief Mark Fields might go over the mix of red, yellow, and green on new model launches. (Fields is famous for being the first Ford executive to put up a red light four years ago when he delayed the launch of an SUV because of a balky tailgate, earning him applause from Mulally for his honesty.) Afterward, the adjoining Taurus and Continental rooms are papered with these charts so Mulally can study them. As the CEO likes to say, "You can't manage a secret. When you do this every week, you can't hide."

The Ford executive who couldn't hide in December and January was European chief Stephen Odell. His slides told Mulally that heavy discounting was going on in the European Union, a market where there were too many car factories and too few buyers. Mulally had assured analysts that Ford would make money in Europe, but the risk of a fourth-quarter loss was rising. As the rectangles on Odell's slides turned from green to yellow to red, Mulally decided not to follow his competitors into the bargain basement. He was trying to elevate Ford's reputation; unloading cars at just above cost might have helped his quarterly return, but he was certain it would hurt his brand.”

The Rockefeller Habits

Interestingly enough, Ford adopted the Dashboard concept of Red, Yellow Green in the prioritization of their reporting systems.  This concept was originally authored by Verne Harnish, in the book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.  Here is the simple explanation . . .

   Green = Define Your Goal

 

   Red = Decide on the Minimum level of acceptable performance

 

   Yellow = Between Minimum and Goal

 

   Super Green =  Exceed Goal by a Significant Margin

 

Every business owner can adapt this reporting method, with minimal time investment and resources.  When you take a quick glance of your Dashboards, each category tracks critical areas of your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators).  From this, you get a 5 second visual check of the critical areas of your business. 

Much like your car, when the Oil light is flashing Red, you know that something is happening in your engine (or in the case of your business) that needs your undivided attention and immediate action.

When you have a Dashboard, which tracks all of your KPI’s  . . . . "You can't manage a secret. When you do this every week, you can't hide." 

THE FOUR D's OF EXITING YOUR BUSINESS

Death:

The issue of the death of a business owner should be considered during the start-up of a business. Unfortunately, during the creation of many buy/sell agreements the issue of death is only addressed at the urging of a life insurance agent. At the meeting, you arbitrarily decide how much insurance you can afford and how much your company is worth, when in fact you do not know.

 

Disability:

Death is not as likely to end the business relationship as disability. The business survival will often take prescient over paying a disabled partner. If the person is important to the business, the financial strain impacts the business and the family who depends on the income.

Divorce:

You can imagine the torn feelings if a disability occurs, but what if the partners cannot get along? How do we split a partnership without financially ruining each other? It may be complicated by many personalities, some may not even be a part of the dispute, yet may be affected financially.

 

Departure:

You may all be happy working together, but your partner or you may decide to leave for another opportunity or simply to take life easier. Who is going to do the work? What is owed the leaving partner? Where is the money coming from? All important considerations for your business exit strategy.

 

A Fair Buy/Sell Agreement

For the business owner, each one of the four D’s has special demands on: family, income, taxes, and transfer of control of assets. An agreement, commonly called buy/sell agreements, can be used to handle the four D's. The concern of the family or income can conflict with the business. The business exists as a separate entity. Reduce conflict by developing mutual fair agreements and the desired level of income.

 

Creating a Business Exit Strategy

- Find a method of determining the value of the corporation that can be done at least annually and will qualify under IRS standards.

- Develop an employee benefit plan that will assist with the departure of each partner in case of death, disability, or retirement.

- Plan for who retains company ownership and who gets paid off.

The great American dream is to: build a business of your own; bring it to life; and make it successful. How you plan your business exit strategy will determine your financial success. Just as building a successful business takes planning, hard work, and a little luck, so does leaving it.

THE 21 IRREFUTABLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership guru John Maxwell offers twenty-one “laws”distilled from his experience as an “Expert Leader”.

1. The Law of the Lid.

Your leadership is like a lid or a ceiling on your organization. Your business will not rise beyond the level your leadership allows it to grow. That’s why when a corporation or team needs to be fixed, they fire the leader first.

2. The Law of Influence.

Leadership is about influencing people, nothing more, and nothing less. The true test of a leader is to ask him or her to create positive change in an organization. If you cannot create change, you cannot lead. Being a leader is not about being first, being an entrepreneur, being the most knowledgeable, or even being a great manager. It’s not the position that makes a leader, but the leader who makes a position. The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate (or buy-in). “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.”

3. The Law of Process.

Leadership is learned over time. People skills, emotional strength, vision, momentum, and timing are all areas that can and should be learned. Leaders continually learn and grow to become improve their role as a great leader.

4. The Law of Navigation.

Anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course. Vision is defined as the ability to see the whole trip before leaving the dock. A leader sees more, sees farther, and sees before others. Preparation is the key to good navigation. “It’s not the size of the project, it’s the size of the leader that counts.”

5. The Law of E.F. Hutton.

Hutton was America’s most influential stock market analyst, so when he spoke everyone listened. When real leaders speak, people automatically listen. Factors involved in being accepted as a new real leader include character, building key relationships, information, intuition, experience, past success, and ability. According to Margaret Thatcher, “being in power is like being a lady –if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

6. The Law of Solid Ground.

Trust is the foundation for all effective leadership roles. When it comes to leadership, there are no shortcuts. Building trust requires competence, connection and real character.

7. The Law of Respect.

People naturally follow people stronger than themselves. Even natural leaders tend to fall in behind those who they sense have a higher“leadership quotient” than themselves.

8. The Law of Intuition.

Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias. Leaders see trends, resources and problems, and can read people.

9. The Law of Magnetism.

Leaders attract people like themselves. Who you are, is who you attract and surround yourself with. So “staff” your acknowledged weaknesses with the best available talent, and never sacrifice your standards for talent excellence. If you only attract followers, your organization will be weak. Work to attract leaders rather than followers if you want to build a truly strong organization.

10. The Law of Connection.

You must touch the heart before you ask people to follow. Communicate on the level of emotion first to make a personal connection.

11. The Law of the Inner Circle.

A leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him.“The leader finds greatness in the group, and helps the members find it in themselves.”

12. The Law of Empowerment.

Only secure leaders give power to others. Mark Twain said,“Great things can happen when you don’t care who gets the credit.” … “Great leaders gain authority by giving it away.”

13. The Law of Reproduction.

It takes a leader to grow another leader- followers can’t do it. The potential of an organization depends on the growth of its leadership. “It takes one to know one, to show one, to grow one.”

14. The Law of Buy-In.

People buy-in to the leader first, then the Vision. If they don’t like the leader but like the Vision, they get a new leader. If they don’t like the leader or the Vision, they get a new leader. If they don’t like the Vision but like the leader, they get a new Vision.

15. The Law of Victory.

Leaders find a way for the team to win. Unity of vision, diversity of skills, plus a leader, are all needed to win. “You can’t win WITHOUT good athletes, but you CAN lose with them.”

16. The Law of Momentum.

You can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving forward. It takes a leader to create forward motion.

17. The Law of Priorities.

Activity is not accomplishment; so learn the difference. “A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells “Wrong Jungle!” A leader has learned and executes the three R’s: a) what’s Required; b) what gives the greatest Return; and, c) what brings the greatest Reward.

18. The Law of Sacrifice.

A leader must give up to go up. Successful leaders maintain an attitude of sacrifice to turn around an organization. As he worked to turn around the Chrysler Corporation, Lee Iacocca slashed his own salary to $1 per year. ”When you become a leader, you lose the right to think about yourself.”

19. The Law of Timing.

When to lead, is as important as what to do and where to go. Only the right action at the right time brings success.

20. The Law of Explosive Growth.

To add growth, learn to lead followers. To multiply growth, lead leaders. “It is the job of a leader to build the people who are going to build the company.”

21. The Law of Legacy.

A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.“Leadership is the one thing you can’t delegate. You either exercise it – or abdicate it.”

TIPS ON HIRING THE 'RIGHT' SALES PERSON

Hiring new employees is always challenging; but recruiting and hiring salespeople is even more challenging. The process is rife with great rewards along with potential pitfalls. What follows is both an introduction to the process involved in hiring high performing sales staff, but also a leaping off point for you to explore this area more thoroughly so you can make the most informed decisions possible.

In our Mentoring Sessions, we talk about building a systematized, integrated business that includes a hiring process/system. Part of that process/ system includes a marketing strategy with clear positioning and differentiation, a quality review and control system, a lead generation system, a sales process, a flexible CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System, all of which leverages your salespeople to reach their greatest potential. Yes, I know; it’s a lot more work than simply hiring a rainmaker; but you want all the necessary pieces in place to best support your salespeople.

Next, you must clearly define the position with all responsibilities and capabilities and then decide on the exact KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) you expect the salesperson to reach. If you don’t have these fundamentals in place it’s much more difficult for a new salespeople to succeed.

To a certain extent, we all have experience in sales and most likely fulfilled the salesperson position yourself. This is extremely helpful information when you finally achieve a production level necessary to hire a salesperson.  This is because you know the “how” of creating sales and building excellent client relationships. You can now translate that knowledge into a systematic path so that others can get the same result you have.

First, be aware there are no shortcuts in this process. It takes time to find the right people, acclimate them to the culture and to train them in your systems. Sure, you can try to find “Super Stars” that start selling the moment they walk through the door, but this often results in pain later on. The best candidates aren’t necessarily the ones that can deliver the most sales in the shortest amount of time. In fact, top achieving salespeople often think about only one thing: closing sales. “Super Stars” tend to do and say anything to get a customer and in the long run they get you into trouble, by not being adaptable, trainable, controllable or willing to follow a system. We all know the ‘pain’ associated with this kind of salesperson.

Therefore, we strive to hire are sales professionals that can generate long-term relationships with customers, and who can convert and nourish those relationships.

The interview for salespeople is crucial. Most great sales people are great interviewers. However, you determine immediately they can’t sell themselves, nor do they fit with your company and culture, they probably won’t fit with your customers.  If they don’t pass the first interview, bring in the next candidate.

Salespeople often break out into two categories. One type will eventually go into business for themselves; the other will always work for someone else. Though both can fit for a while, the second type typically makes the best hire, if you want to reduce turnover in your sales force. Most business owners, want a long term relationships and to keep them producing year after year.

When you hire salespeople, you’re not just hiring an employee. You’re also choosing customers, since your salespeople play a major role in determining the types of customers you have and the relationship you have with them. You want to get it right and hire the salespeople that will bring you the kind of customers you desire.

Great salespeople are always in demand. Mediocre salespeople are fantastic sales people only when it comes to selling themselves (or interviewing).  Always dig deep in your questioning process. Find out whether they hit quotas and meet plans (how, what, when, how, where and why). Past results, awards and behaviors are the best indicators of future success. Believe it or not, the sales profession is one of the easier professions to objectively quantifiable results, with commission reports, production records and W-2’s.

So, the next decision in the hiring process is how you will structure the commission structure. Each type of payment structure attracts a different type of sales person.  For example: there is pure commission, draw plus commission, base salary plus commission, salary and incentives, or salary alone. But the first question you need to answer is, “Which structure fits YOU best?

There are definite opinions relating to each of these;

First, hiring solely commissioned salespeople because they’re the only ones truly invested in results, to hiring salaried employees, which are the best people to create teamwork and an overall investment in the company’s goals and not the individual's.          

Second, the wrong commission structure can potentially alienate the salespeople from the rest of the company. Your employees may view that salespeople work more for themselves than for the company. There are three things to consider:

Commissions typically account for a larger portion of pay when there is a short sales cycle  with high profitability, which is usually quite dependent on the salesperson’s abilities. Commissions play a smaller role when the sale requires greater technical knowledge with a longer sales cycle.  How does each plan best ‘fit’ your Cash Flow?

Third, the wrong commission structure can potentially alienate the salespeople from the rest of the company. Your employees may view that salespeople work more for themselves than for the company.

You run the risk when hiring salespeople that you sacrifice loyalty.  Seemingly with salespeople the sole motivation is money. You need to decide what is most effective in your environment to motivate your salespeople- don’t always assume it is money, nor should you negatively impact your culture or core values.

So, you’re ready to hire. Prior to making an offer follow your checklist of essential steps. (If you don’t have a checklist, create one). Ideas of what to include are:

- Commission Reports, Pipeline status, and W-2’s (past 3 years)

- References from past sales managers about their performance, and customer service levels.

- References from present/ past clients. Talk to the clients they lost.

- Who do you know that they know?  Get an unbiased testimonial from someone you know.

- Put them through a Psychometric Evaluation. (for example DiSC)

- Develop a real training program, over the next 90 days with materials/tests/manual.

- Lastly, have ‘key’ staff members interview them– other can see issues you cannot.

WHAT IS THE RITZ-CARLTON GOLDEN STANDARD?

When comparing your level of Commitment to Excellent Service, how do your Standards compare to the Ritz-Carlton’s?

Start by comparing your written Commitment to Client Fulfillment as compared to the Ritz-Carlton Gold Standard . . .

Empowerment

The now-popular term “empowerment” originated with the Ritz-Carlton. Ritz-Carlton put a dollar figure on the employee’s resources for solving a problem immediately, without checking with a supervisor.  Even a new employee can commit up to $2,000 of the hotel’s funds to bring instant resolution to a guest’s problem.   Clearly, an employee cannot evade difficult situations by uttering, “That’s not my job.”  Job descriptions become irrelevant when guest satisfaction is at risk.

The Credo

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.  We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

The Motto

At The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen." This motto exemplifies the anticipatory service provided by all staff members.

Three Steps Of Service

1-    A warm and sincere greeting, using the guest's name.

2-    Anticipation and fulfillment of each guest's needs.

3-    Fond farewell. Give a warm good-bye and use the guest's name.

Service Values

I Am Proud To Be Ritz-Carlton

I build strong relationships and create Ritz-Carlton guests for life.

I am always responsive to the expressed and unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

I am empowered to create unique, memorable and personal experiences for our guests.

I understand my role in achieving the Key Success Factors, embracing Community Footprints and creating The Ritz-Carlton Mystique.

I continuously seek opportunities to innovate and improve The Ritz-Carlton experience.

I own and immediately resolve guest problems.

I create a work environment of teamwork and lateral service so that the needs of our guests and each other are met.

I have the opportunity to continuously learn and grow.

I am involved in the planning of the work that affects me.

I am proud of my professional appearance, language and behavior.

I protect the privacy and security of our guests, my fellow employees and the company's confidential information and assets.

I am responsible for uncompromising levels of cleanliness and creating a safe and accident-free environment.

The Employee Promise

At The Ritz-Carlton, our Ladies and Gentlemen are the most important resource in our service commitment to our guests.  By applying the principles of trust, honesty, respect, integrity and commitment, we nurture and maximize talent to the benefit of each individual and the company. The Ritz-Carlton fosters a work environment where diversity is valued, quality of life is enhanced, individual aspirations are fulfilled, and The Ritz-Carlton Mystique is strengthened.

So let me ask the question one more time . . .  So how does your Commitment to Client Fulfillment compare to the Ritz-Carlton Gold Standard?  Maybe, yours might need some improvement.

WHAT IS THE LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT?

All of us that own a business know that owning and operating a business is not something that one undertakes lightly. It requires a huge leap of faith, time and money. It is both exciting to live your entrepreneurial dream and at the same time scary because there is no guarantee you'll succeed- for there is no safety net

As the leader of your business, you are the one with the ultimate accountability for the business’ success. That is a heavy responsibility to bear. When you get into business, you make two significant and serious leadership commitments:

1- To yourself

You've given up the security of working for others (perhaps even a steady pay check) to follow your passion and vision. Stepping away from the familiar requires a great deal of courage, and you owe it to yourself to put your absolute best foot forward to achieve your vision. Nobody else will do it for you.

2- To everyone else

You have made a commitment to all of the people who are impacted by your business: your family, your partners, your investors, your employees... Just to name a few. All of these people rely on your business to various degrees and all have a vested interest in your business succeeding.

For many of us, it is easier to focus on the commitments we make to others than to those we make to ourselves. We cannot stress enough however, how important it is to honor the commitment you have made to yourself.

Leadership Takes Self-Knowledge

If you’re feeling as though you’ve lost touch with your own motivation and commitment; consider what James Kouzes and Barry Posner said in their book, The Leadership Challenge:

“Leadership is an art, a performing art. And in the art of leadership, the artist’s instrument is the self. The mastery of the art of leadership comes with the mastery of the self. Ultimately, leadership development is a process of self-development. The quest for leadership is first an inner quest to discover who you are. Through self-development comes the confidence needed to lead. Self-confidence is really awareness of and faith in your own powers. These powers become clear and strong only as you work to identify and develop them.”

Knowing yourself well—really and truly well—is central to your ability to lead and to realize the commitment you made to making your business dream a reality. Self-knowledge will give you the insight, the strength and the confidence you need to lead because to lead others, you must first lead yourself. And to lead yourself, you must know yourself.

It may come across with a bit of a "new age" or "self help" spin, but the truth is that the role of the leader is the role of the Self. Think about it, the word “leader” carries no connotation of the work or tasks involved, like the words “plumber” or “programmer,” “teacher” or “engineer,” or even “manager” do. Rather, “leader” evokes personal qualities like vision, strength, integrity, honesty, confidence- or whatever your particular definition is.

So if leadership is about the person, and not about the work, to become a powerful leader you must work on yourself as a person. You need to know yourself, and continually develop yourself to be more and more of the person you want to be.

Take a Look in the Mirror

Often, under the pressure to do right by others, you end up ignoring that first and vitally important commitment: the one you made to yourself.  Many small business owners cite “not letting others down” as the main reason for persevering in a barely surviving business long after it’s stopped giving them the personal satisfaction or the financial rewards they wanted for themselves. Do not let it get to that point for you.

Remember to honor the commitment you made to yourself when you started your business and the commitment to create an extraordinary business. Furthermore, is the commitment to lead your company to success with clarity, purpose and enthusiasm. Whenever you are feeling lost, just take a look in the mirror and re-acquaint yourself with the entrepreneur, the business owner, and the leader who got you where you are today. They may all need some nurturing, some support, some guidance, but they are there.

WHAT IS THE POWER OF MARKETING?

A Case Study about GE:

Believe it or not 10 years ago General Electric had no substantial marketing organization. For decades the company believed the products could market themselves. Therefore, people designated as ‘marketers’ were assigned to sales support (lead generation and trade shows, for example) or communications (advertising and promotional materials).

Internal skeptics did not see how marketing as a function could help GE grow its businesses. Take for example GE Aviation, the multibillion-dollar division that develops and manufactures jet engines for commercial and military aircraft.  There were only a handful of aircraft manufacturers, two GE competitors (Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney), and about 300 airlines. You could put the entire industry in a conference room—it’s that compact.

But things were changing and GE was learning that it could not win simply by launching increasingly sophisticated technologies or by taking existing technologies to new markets. Some of its best-thought-out new offerings became commodities. Even executives within a business like Aviation were having trouble making sense of a rapidly changing industry. How could the business remain competitive and also prosper?

CEO Jeff Immelt issued a mandate that marketing should be a vital operating function in GE. Therefore, the solution was to focus on growth from within, across all businesses—a shift from the past, in which the top line was grown primarily by acquisition and the bottom line by seeking out efficiencies. This required a new strategy fueled by technology, innovation, global markets, and stronger customer ties. To succeed, GE would need a marketing engine that drove more-direct collaboration with customers and led to new markets.

Recognizing that marketing was vital to all GE units was one-thing, acting on that recognition was an entirely different matter. We had to define what success would look like and describe how we would measure results. At the time, GE had no ready or consistent way of calibrating marketing efforts across units, markets, or business models, and we couldn’t find one in any textbook. Perhaps most challenging, we had to identify and develop leadership capabilities in our team, whose track record was uneven at best. In the process of creating what we believed would be the definitive marketing function, we arrived at new ways of thinking about marketing and about how to compose a first-rate marketing team.

The result was a marketing framework for the entire company along three dimensions:

1- Principles (creating a common language and standards)

GE created standard procedures and central expertise for functions like finance and HR, but marketing practices varied by product line, unit, or region. From late 2008 through mid-2009 we had 30 of our best marketers to develop new standards for this function. We learned that regardless of industry or region, they were struggling with the same issues. So we assigned teams of like-minded experts to define the skills we needed to master. They organized eight disciplines into two groups: go-to-market activities (such as segmentation) and commercial essentials (such as branding and communications). To our knowledge, no other company had pulled these disciplines into one framework along with detailed definitions of success. We set out to make sure that at least one business could be considered an expert in each category.

2- People (getting the right leaders in place)

We found that successful marketers play four roles, some of them unusual in marketing: Instigators challenge the status quo and look for new and better ways of doing things. Innovators turn marketplace insights into untested products, services, or solutions. Integrators build bridges across silos and functions and between the company and the market. Implementers execute on ideas.

3- Process (including very specific measures for grading performance)

Once we knew what we wanted from marketing, we developed metrics for evaluating our teams on the skills defined by our principles. How would we know we were making progress and delivering results? That question led us to a process we call the Maturity Evaluation. Our framework centered on giving marketing a revenue-generating role in its own right. If GE could no longer rely solely on technology breakthroughs for hefty margins, we’d have to find both innovative ways of serving customers based on investments we’d already made and opportunities in new markets, new segments, and new products.

Today, marketers take their place alongside technologists and had a voice earlier in the process, to ensure that GE’s offerings were differentiated and aimed at the right customer segments. As Immelt saw it, marketing would have a “line” role instead of its historical “staff” role at GE, and would be held responsible for such as pricing and quantifying value for customers. GE’s global growth with “more products at more price points,” meant that GE must not only target high-end users but also apply “just what’s needed” technology to better meet customer needs.