An article on Six Sigma in Selling Power’s newsletter caught my interest. We are all quite familiar with Six Sigma in manufacturing and engineering, but Six Sigma and sales? It seems a little far fetched. The article is based on Michael Webb’s (founder of Sales Performance Consultants) sales process which is broken down into 5 steps. Webb contends that Six Sigma “applies science to the art of sales to consistently improve results.” The 5 steps are: Step #1: Define Step #2: Measure Step #3: Analyze Step #4: Improve Step #5: Control Interesting. There was a link to his website so naturally I clicked on it and poked around a bit.… Read More
Continue ReadingFakin’ It
We can’t stress this enough, if your first pass on applicants is to sort resumes, you are making a big mistake. Granted, you have to look at their history, but odds are you are looking at an embellished document. From workforce.com: ResumeDoctor.com says nearly 43 percent of people in a new study fibbed about their qualifications. The South Burlington, Vermont-based company scoured 1,000 résumés for factual errors on seemingly insignificant items such as dates of employment, educational and professional credentials, and job titles. The résumé-counseling company found that many people intentionally misstate or exaggerate these details in an effort to get better jobs–a tactic it says usually backfires. The study… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 50 Sales Websites
Selling Power’s September issue has a compilation of the Top 50 Sales Websites. They have it broken down into the following categories; Sales Training, Lead Management, Sales Meetings, CRM, Sales Technology and Hiring & Testing. It’s a great resource for anyone in sales to add to their tool box. Selling Power provides the website, a link to get to their site and a quick summary of the service they provide. However, the thoroughness of their list must be called into question. Select Metrix did not make the list. Hopefully they will have this oversight corrected by next year. 😉
Continue ReadingJob Seekers On Your Payroll
This article – MORE AMERICANS FED UP AT WORK (you have to love the capitalization) – is a throw away propaganda piece but it does contain an interesting set of statistics: Fifty-eight percent of workers may leave their employer if the economy continues to improve that’s up 12 percentage points from the 2005 study. Meanwhile, 74 percent say they are actively or passively looking for a new job, and 41 percent of those fessed up to looking for a new job while at work, up from 39 percent last year. We have beat this drum for some time but it is always worth revisiting. The modern worker is easily connected… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing to Baby-Boomers Part 2
From this week’s SHRM Newsletter: EEOC Backs Targeted Recruitment of Older Workers. We have written several posts related to this subject (Marketing to Baby-Boomers, 76 and 44). The article contains several points of valuable information. EEOC’s Aug. 11 proposed rule change is in response to a Supreme Court decision two years ago (General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. v. Cline, 540 U.S. 581 (2004)), which concluded that there is no such thing under the ADEA as reverse age discrimination. While the current rule prohibits job advertisements favoring older persons, the proposed rule would make it permissible to encourage older people to apply. Employers may post help wanted notices or advertisements expressing… Read More
Continue ReadingHP’s Internal Fireworks
Typically, I am not a fan of Newsweek but I was drawn to this story from the Drudge Report link – Intrigue In High Places. This long article discusses HP’s chairwoman Patricia Dunn’s use of data mining to catch a leaker from the HP board of directors. The whole sordid affair sounds like a movie plot. According to an internal HP e-mail, Dunn then took the extraordinary step of authorizing a team of independent electronic-security experts to spy on the January 2006 communications of the other 10 directors – not the records of calls (or e-mails) from HP itself, but the records of phone calls made from personal accounts. That… Read More
Continue ReadingPerformance-Based Compensation
As a lifelong salesperson, I have always contended that all employees should be on some variable, performance-based pay. This article from CareerJournal indicates that a trend is forming in this direction. Employers are making employees work harder for their money.Most workers will receive modest raises this year and next, as employers reward employees with performance-linked bonuses rather than broad salary increases, according to a survey by consulting company Hewitt Associates Inc. That first sentence is bunk. I’m guessing the author has not worked in sales. The better lead would be to state Employees now have a chance to earn far more money for their efforts. “More companies are relying on… Read More
Continue ReadingEmployees Leaving Through the Back Door
Good post here from MN Headhunter regarding hiring and retaining top-level talent. There is nothing I can add so here is a tease: Let me bust this down to the simplest of levels: If you are bringing employees in the front door make sure you have the back door blocked with proper pay, work conditions, and job satisfaction. Retain your current talent and recruit your hard drive off and you can have one of the best staffs around. Fail to do so and you will be lucky to maintain staffing levels and at best average talent.
Continue ReadingEffective Communication for Managers
Uncommon to most of our Labor Day weekends, we relaxed and visited with family instead of the usual getting kids ready to start school on Tuesday. So with that enjoyable break, I am finally catching up on my reading. One of my RSS feeds is from Keith Rosen, author of Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cold Calling. His post on The Best Managers Are Fully Accountable For Their Communication is definitely worth reading, but let me share his 7 Tips to Strengthen Communication with you. Am I taking full responsibility for the message being heard by the other person? (Remember that it doesn’t matter what you say, it only matters what… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 50 Employers of Boomers
If you have read us for any length of time, you know we are suckers for lists. I just caught up to this one from the CareerJournal website: The following are the top 50 employers for workers over age 50, according to AARP. Mercy Health System, Janesville, Wis. Lee Memorial Health System, Fort Myers, Fla. Bon Secours Richmond Health System, Richmond, Va. Leesburg Regional Medical Center and The Villages Regional Hospital, Leesburg, Fla. Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn. Volkswagen of America Inc., Auburn Hills, Mich. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Oakwood Healthcare System Inc., Dearborn, Mich. First Horizon National Corp., Memphis, Tenn. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche), Nutley, N.J.… Read More
Continue Reading