Seriously. From abcnews.com’s Basic Training For Business Types: The most domineering boss has a way of melting in the presence of the drill instructor’s flush cheeks. And the royal waistline loses some of its cache when draped in mesh gym shorts “Yeah, we break down their egos real quick,” said Senior Drill Instructor Matt Terlop. Terlop is a former U.S. Border Patrol agent, and the lead drill instructor at CEO Boot Camp. This is almost surreal. I enjoy the concept and was hooked into reading the entire article when I read this line: “We want this to be an excuse-free environment,” Terlop warns. Amen to that. All sales departments should… Read More
Continue ReadingWhen a Raise is De-Motivating
We are asked from time to time about the best way to conduct an employee compensation review. I have to relay a story to you regarding a friend’s annual review. Here’s how it played out. She sat down with her manager and recieved a very positive review. She was told she was one of their better employees – recieving 3’s and 4’s out of 5 in all performance areas. In fact, my friend is the top person in her territory and the territory is ranked 2nd out of 8 in a large corporation. Everything was going well and she received a lot of verbal praise about her performance. Then the… Read More
Continue ReadingEspresso U
We are coffee house aficionados as I have mentioned in previous posts. One of my goals is to be a barista some day. Now a Pioneer Press article describes a coffee university – Enrollment grows at Espresso U. I now have a new motivator! In case you doubted the appeal of coffee: Nationally, the number of coffee houses has nearly doubled in the past six years. According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, there are almost 24,000 coffee houses in the U.S., up from 13,800 in 2001. The addition of wireless internet has made them a business hot spot. Yesterday the Rock Star and myself were working at Panera… Read More
Continue ReadingExtreme Makeover – Sales Edition
Seems like I am encountering many articles and posts regarding under-performing salespeople. Now SalesforceXP.com offers Move Bad Salespeople Up Or Out. The author offers 5 strong steps to get the mediocre salesperson performing. His first step is one we fully endorse: Never lose sight of the ABR principle: Always Be Recruiting. If you have five strong candidates in the pipeline, you don’t have to endure a low performer. But if you have no bench, you may opt to keep a warm body around €“ even if that body hasn’t sold anything in weeks. That is an area in which we can be of assistance. There is much truth in this… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Day Your New Employee Will Leave
In a recent article from Workforce Management on new employee retention, 7 months seems to be the magic number when it comes to retaining newly hired employees. Office Angels interviewed 1,400 new recruits on this subject. Here are some of their findings. In the first seven months the workplace is viewed as a trial period for: The boss – is he or she ‘lackluster?’ Are there mentoring opportunities available for them? Does the new job accommodate their lifestyle? Another important opportunity new employees look for is the camaraderie between the team. 77% of the respondents find it essential for the team to make a trip to the local pub. No,… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Balanced Decision Making
This week we look at a trait that is beneficial to both salespeople and sales managers. The ability to stay balanced in forming decisions is integral to sales success. Salespeople who can look at the entire opportunity and properly weight the pieces before pursuing it are the most successful. Salespeople who can’t often chase the proverbial rabbit down the hole. Balanced Decision Making This trait involves the ability to be objective and fairly evaluate the different aspects (people and other) of a situation. This ability includes making an ethical decision that takes into account all aspects and components. It is the ability to maintain a balance between the needs of… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Not To Deal With The Salary Question
From Foxnews.com’s How to Deal With the Salary-Expectations Question: Don Sutaria, president and founder of CareerQuest, a staffing and training firm, advises job seekers to avoid offering a solid figure. “Don’t answer the question. Say, ‘I’ll expect the fair market value. Make me an offer and we can discuss it.’ Or, ‘Maybe you can tell me what your range is?’” Sutaria adds that the best approach is to arm yourself with information. “It’s very easy to find now, based on the job title and industry, what your range is.” This is a pet peeve of mine. I don’t think candidates get anywhere by being coy about their salary expectations. Candidates… Read More
Continue ReadingResearching A Candidate Online
CNNMoney.com offers a fairly innocuous story: Survey: CEOs bullish on better economy. That is always good news and I am bullish along with them. Small and mid-sized companies are optimistic about the U.S. economy’s prospects in 2007 on the back of brisk first-quarter sales and increased revenue, according to a survey released Tuesday. But catch this little throw-away line from later in the article: Twenty-one percent of all executives surveyed report having conducted Internet searches via News Corporation-owned MySpace, Facebook or Google when researching job candidates, the survey showed. I found that number staggering – almost 1 in 4 executives are using social networking sites or search engines to research… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Board Convergence
Monster Pairs With Tech Company to Increase Newspaper Ties: Under the deal, newspapers using Adicio’s service will have several options to increase their ties with Monster, including having their own employment ads co-listed in Monster’s database and giving online advertisers an easy way to buy print ads in the paper. A good move by the fading newspapers for sure. The traditional newspaper help-wanted ad is just about toast, as it should be. Surprisingly, we still encounter companies that only advertise in the local newspaper (at confiscatory rates). The trend is clearly towards a handful of major online job boards and a myriad of niche online job boards serving specific industries… Read More
Continue ReadingDoes Your Website Help Your Salespeople?
Our website is a constant topic of discussion for us – one of the subjects is how much information should we be publishing. I came across a post relating to this topic on the B2B Lead Generation Blog. There are a number of very good points made in this entry, but a couple really stand out. People use the web for research; they are looking for fresh ideas, insight and actionable information. Intellectual property is difficult to protect and is quickly commoditized by the market. Why not leverage some of your IP to your advantage? Leverage it and demonstrate your thought leadership. I have read numerous articles in the past… Read More
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