From Justsell.com’s daily newsletter:

Looking to build long-term wealth? According to a recent salary.com survey*, the best American cities in which to build wealth include:

• Plano, Texas
• Aurora, Colorado
• Omaha, Nebraska
• Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Albuquerque, New Mexico

I don’t know about that fourth one.  The way they tax up here makes me think otherwise.  New York City came in last place out of 69 major cities so maybe this information is accurate.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Economy | | Comments(0)

Saleshq.com provides a simple list of suggestions for building rapport and connecting with others at networking events.  I’m not certain the list is all that remarkable, but I was struck by a couple of tips:

5. Show interest in your conversational partner by actively listening and giving verbal feedback. Maintain eye contact. Never glance around the room while they are talking to you.

6. Listen more than you talk.

Clearly you have to talk to build rapport, but the actual bonding occurs when your mouth is closed.  I especially enjoyed the suggestion to “never” look around the room when someone is speaking to you.  I have a friend who does this and I instantly know he has checked out of the conversation.

Why is it so hard to simply listen?  I know there are times when I struggle with it too.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Communication, Networking, Sales Techniques | | Comments(0)

Justsell.com offers up a reminder about a critical sales skill that is often overlooked - attentiveness.  This skill is less frequent in salespeople who lack empathetic abilities or are overly task-oriented.  I have seen this first-hand on a number of occasions.

What happens is the salesperson tends to something else during a discussion.  Typically, the actions seems fairly innocuous - a cell phone alarm, looking through some notes, checking a text message, even adjusting the height of an office chair.  All of these tasks seem inconspicuous, but they are an immediate tell that you are not fully attentive to the speaker.  The better approach is to ignore the task if possible or, at a minimum, wait until it is your turn to speak and pardon yourself for attending to the task.

If I am starting to sound like Miss Manners, let me reference the Justsell.com article:

Anything less than your full attention sends a message of arrogance – a message of condescension – a message of which no one (including ourselves) enjoys being on the receiving end (and certainly not when we’re the prospect or customer).

Again, most salespeople are not consciously attempting to appear arrogant, but their actions belie their intent.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Communication, Sales Techniques | | Comments(1)

There is always difficulty when you try to paint an entire generation with one broad stroke.  This fact is prominently on display in two different articles from RecruitingTrends.com.  The topic is Gen Y.

Here is an excerpt from the first one (my emphasis):

The millennials share a generational personality that is highly misunderstood by preceding generations, who often misinterpret their motivation as impatience and their enthusiasm as narcissism. Employers who manage millennials need to understand their generational footprint in order to keep this tech-savvy, plugged-in group of employees engaged in their work.

Here is an excerpt from the second one (my emphasis):

So how do you supervise, lead, and approach this next generation of high potentials? In our experience, many are particularly bright and ambitious, but also have a “spoiled brat” mentality. Technology is very much in their DNA. They seek instant gratification and thrive on challenging much of what their older peers believe to be best practices.

A particularly unique characteristic of this group is their command of technology and the fundamental belief that anyone who doesn’t embrace the absolute bleeding edge of technology will simply be left behind.

I’m probably splitting hairs here, but those two takes caught my fancy when I read the articles back-to-back.  Gen Y gets categorized many ways and most of them are accurate, at least in terms of generational descriptions.  However, this enthusiasm vs. spoiled categorization appears often.  I’m not sure which one is more accurate, I simply see this topic frequently.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Generations, Team Management | | Comments(0)

You have probably read many “how to” articles that provide tips for jobseekers.  One tip that almost always makes the list is to have a professional email address.  Unfortunately, I was looking through resumes today and found one person who may not have read any of those articles.

His email address:  rednecktrucker@domain.com

Next.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Anecdotes, Resumes, Sourcing | | Comments(0)

How about this from the Herman Trend Alert - Use IM to Reduce Interruption (sorry, no link).

Most people believe using “instant messaging” (IM) software to chat at work leads to an increase in disruption. In fact, a study published recently by researchers at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine found that workers who used IM on the job reported fewer interruptions than their colleagues who did not.

The research showed that IM is often used as a substitute for other, more disruptive forms of communication such as the telephone, email, and face-to-face conversations and thus it actually leads to an increase in productivity. Dr. R. Kelly Garrett of Ohio State and James N. Danziger of UCLA, Irvine co-authored the study.

Those results just seem like a stretch to me, but I am not an IM guy.  When I do use it, I feel more obligated to respond quickly - even more so than with email.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Communication, Team Management, Trends | | Comments(3)

Something to make you think, from today’s JustSell.com enewsletter (sorry, no link):

Just five minutes a day…

What if you came to work five minutes early and left five minutes late every day for a year?

(5) x (twice a day) x (roughly 250 sales days in the year) = 41.6 hours a year.
That’s a whole extra work week. And possibly…

• Another project successfully completed
• Another deal closed

Another prospect turned into a customer.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Sales Techniques, Work/Life Balance | | Comments(0)

I have been used as a reference and I have called to talk to references - at times it can be awkward.  I am extremely careful with what I say when I am the reference as I sense legal danger everywhere.  When I am calling a reference, I truly enjoy the people who just roll and I only have to direct them a bit.

Now our local paper runs this short Q&A article about a liability waiver.  I have never encountered such a document:

Q: One company I interviewed with asked me to sign a waiver saying my former supervisor would not be liable for anything he said about me. Is that legal?

A: Yes, the waiver is legal. But with or without the waiver, your former supervisor is free to talk about you and your performance. “Legally, an ex-employer or representative of an ex-employer can say anything about the employee as long as it’s truthful and isn’t confidential, like medication information,” said Bill Egan, an employment attorney at Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly in Minneapolis who advises companies. “Nothing prohibits them from providing truthful information about a former employee.”

Despite this fact, many references are still reluctant to speak openly about a former employee.  Over time, you learn to hear the things they don’t say.  In the end, that becomes the basis for learning the most information on the call.  Perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way?

Posted By Derrick Moe | Hiring, Interview | | Comments(1)

This abcnews.com article will tweak every Utilitarian out there (my editing):

The federal government has 2.6 million civilian workers, making it the nation’s largest employer. But, it turns out a growing number of these workers are not working.

Coburn commissioned the report “Missing in Action: AWOL in the Federal Government,” which tracked the number of absent workers without leave, AWOL workers, across 18 government agencies from 2001 to 2007.

It found that federal workers missed nearly 20 million hours of work in the last six years, not including vacation time or sick leave. On average, 2.8 million hours of work are lost per year because of AWOL absences.

Can you imagine this trend in a private-sector business?  Me either.  Then comes this howler:

The union that represents many federal employees doesn’t blame its workers, but rather the Bush administration.

“To me it’s a scathing indictment of the Bush administration, their total incompetence and mismanagement and disdain for government and running government,” said Mark Roth, general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees/AFL-CIO. “Apparently, they are so asleep at the wheel that they’re letting people go for months without any consequences.”

Right.

Posted By Derrick Moe | Anecdotes, Team Management, Trends | | Comments(0)