First off, I decided to change the name of this series based on the previous posts. We speak aptitudes but what we are referring to are traits. We’ll use a blend of both words in this series. Our last installment defined an important aptitude for sales success – Handling Stress. Today we’re going to tie into that aptitude with a complementary aptitude – Self Confidence. First, an interesting point from an Os Hillman daily devotional: In my younger days I played sports. I came to observe that we fail under pressure usually because we reach a point where our ability to focus on execution yields to concern about outcome. This… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat We Are Capable of Doing…
A rather timely quote from the justsell.com guys in regards to my earlier post. “We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
Continue ReadingTalent, Talent, Talent
Another marketing article with overall hiring implications – Marketing Challenge: Hire Experience or Potential? The article is from the MarketingProfs.com website and is basically an open question to their readers looking for their input. A manager interviews employees and narrows down the candidates to two: one with experience and one with potential, intelligence, and high motivation. Which one would you choose? The experienced employee may ramp up faster and bring in knowledge that will help make the process better. But he or she may also have baggage that could interfere with the work. The employee with potential may bring enthusiasm and energy into the job and go the extra mile… Read More
Continue ReadingIf You’re Talking, You’re Not Selling
We seem to have a theme today regarding underhanded hiring schemes. Now CareerJournal offers this beauty – When They Don’t Hire You, But Steal Your Ideas. Clearly this article focuses on marketing positions, but it does have a sales side to it also. Why in the world would you do this?: While jobless in spring 2004, the Cleveland resident pursued a middle-management position at an Ohio insurer. The concern asked him to create a marketing strategy focused on its independent field agents. He spent about 50 hours drafting a 25-page plan, then presented his detailed proposal to 20 officials over two days.He didn’t get the job. Mr. Gaglione soon found… Read More
Continue ReadingFrom Email Scams To Fake Job Ads
Victims Still Falling Prey to Nigerian E-Mail Scam. Is it me, or is this story almost unbelievable? I use that hoax as a punchline not as a storyline. To show you how out of touch I am: The number of people falling for the scam is steadily increasing, with 55,419 lodging complaints in 2005 of at least receiving an e-mail that appeared to be a scam, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s almost three times the amount received in 2002, which was 21,616. It gets worse: But Audri Lanford, co-director of Scambusters.org, a service that helps fight Internet fraud, estimates that $200 million a year is lost to the… Read More
Continue ReadingNo Email Fridays
I am an email junkie so I wasn’t aware of any “problems” until I read this BusinessWeek article – *!#@ The E-Mail. Can We Talk? The problem isn’t the distraction of spam or stuffed inboxes. Nor is it the potential for legal liability. The concern, say academics and management thinkers, is misinterpreted messages, as well as the degree to which e-mail has become a substitute for the nuanced conversations that are critical in the workplace. I think almost all of us have experienced the misinterpreted email issue. I have sent them and ignited a thermonuclear response and I have received what was supposed to be an innocuous email and found… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Time-Wasters
Sales & Marketing Management has a short article about what holds back sales reps – Companies Hamper Their Sales Reps. Some of the findings from the study: * Salespeople spend just 8 percent of their time prospecting and qualifying new customers. Yet they spend 23 percent of their time dealing with problems and mistakes, searching for information and expediting orders. * Salespeople spend 62 percent of their time on non-revenue-generating activities and 38 percent of their time selling. I don’t doubt these numbers. In fact, we have seen entire salesforces that subscribe to these percentages (and sales managers who allow it). But my initial thought was this – how much… Read More
Continue ReadingWork/Work Balance and Money
And now for a brief follow up to my previous post. From foxnews.com’s business section – Money Might Buy At Least a Little Happiness, Study Shows. A strange survey for sure, but one that illustrates that there is some happiness to having money. That I don’t doubt. But two excerpts from the article are quite fascinating. First: Does money make you happier? Or does being happier in the first place allow you to earn more money later, maybe by way of greater creativity or energy? Or does some other factor produce both money and happiness? There’s evidence for all three interpretations, Lucas says. I am partial to his second question… Read More
Continue ReadingWork/Work Balance
I hope this isn’t a trend – Extreme Jobs Mean Long Hours, Little Sleep — A Lot of Money. The example in the article is a trial lawyer working to make partner (reminds me of John Grisham’s book The Firm). How about this (my emphasis): A new study in the upcoming issue of the Harvard Business Review estimates that 1.7 million Americans now hold extreme jobs. The study defined “extreme” as any job that requires more than 60 work hours per week and fits various parameters regarding work flow, travel, responsibilities away from the office and outside commitments. A further description of Mr Shontz (the trial lawyer): Shontz is almost… Read More
Continue ReadingCEO’s and Shareholder Value
A quick story from the Pioneer Press – Early exit cuts Stroucken pay package. The departing CEO of H.B. Fuller located north of St. Paul is taking a compensation package with him worth $18.5 million. The article simply states: The news release noted Stroucken is receiving $4 million less than he would have had if he had stayed through the March 31, 2007, the end of his contract. There is something you don’t see too often in today’s world – a CEO who could have made much more had he completed his contract that ends in 6 months. Obviously, he is leaving with a lucrative compensation package, but here is… Read More
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