Yahoo.com offers up a unique article titled Five Myths of Managing Up that purports to help employees communicate more clearly with their boss. I don’t know – many of the suggestions seem like sucking up to me. For instance: Conventional wisdom: If you’re even five minutes late, the boss will think you’re a slacker. Why it’s a myth: In an age of flex time, telecommuting, Blackberries, and instant messages, bosses care more about whether you’re getting the job done than whether you’re warming your seat. Try this instead: Make sure the boss knows you’re putting in extra hours at home or on the road, both by maintaining a rapid-response email… Read More
Continue ReadingDo Your Salespeople Talk The Talk?
I was talking to references for one of our clients last night and the reference kept telling me the candidate was excellent at solution selling. To sum up what he was telling me – the candidate is excellent at speaking the customer’s language instead of using company jargon or convoluted questions. The candidate ran a selling process to find out what business problems the company was facing and then articulated his company’s value proposition in regards to resolving their issue. Interestingly enough, I then caught up to an article in my RSS reader titled 5 Quick Tips for Creating Conversations Salespeople Will Use from ManageSmarter.com. The tips can help your… Read More
Continue ReadingA State Of The Industry Speech – Mobile Devices
CareerJournal.com pens an article titled Mobile Workers Tie In With Hand-Held Devices. I hope most of the information in the article is familiar to you since mobile PDA phones are more than a passing fancy. The article reads like a state of the industry address with a couple of notable points. First, the sheer size of this industry (my emphasis): There are an estimated 50 million “mobile” workers in the U.S., those who have no desk or spend more than 25% of their time outside the office, according to Frost & Sullivan, a business-research and consultancy firm. Catch that? No desk – totally mobile. This new format is more than… Read More
Continue ReadingText Messaging In The Car
As in driving the car! From Yahoo News’ Shd u txt, chat n drive? Young drivers say OK (my emphasis): A survey by the Zogby International polling firm released on Wednesday found 66 percent of U.S. drivers aged between 18 and 24 send text messages while driving and 93 percent talk on their cell phone behind the wheel. I have no problems with people talking on their cell phone while driving, but text messaging? I may be too old to appreciate this ability, but I have a hard enough time text messaging on my phone when I am sitting in a restaurant undisturbed. Unbelievable.
Continue ReadingDisproving Gen Y Myths
Steven Rothberg at CollegeRecruiter.com knows about Gen Y hiring and managing so it is worth listening to him when he expounds on this topic. His post – Three Myths About Gen Y Employees – debunks 3 common myths about Gen Y. I have to admit, I believed all 3 of the myths . . . I don’t any more. Just to give you a taste: Gen Y’ers are disloyal. Myth. They’re loyal but not blindly loyal as were their Baby Boomer parents when their parents were in the twenties. Gen Y’ers are loyal but expect to be fairly compensated for the work they put in. If employers aren’t willing to… Read More
Continue ReadingDealing With The High D
Much of the emotional writing around Bob Nardelli (former CEO of Home Depot) involves his pay package and the implication that he was incompetent. But what is the actual transgression he committed? You’ll notice that many of the articles attack his severance package without listing the reason why he was ousted by the board. Home Depot’s profits doubled in his 6 years as CEO. The new housing market was quite strong during this period, but he still deserves credit as being the leader during this time. Today I found a Pioneer Planet article titled Home Depot looks to move past missteps under ex-CEO that finally discusses Nardelli’s “missteps.” The new chief… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Boss Doesn’t Believe You
Funny article here from Inc.com about a CareerBuilder.com survey – Survey: Late Employees Lie. As many as one in four employees admit to making up fake excuses for arriving late to work, a new study reveals. Amazing that they invested the resources in running a survey on this topic. I always wonder about surveys regarding lies – maybe the respondents are lying in the survey? At any rate, a good closing line from the article: While hiring managers said they typically don’t question an employee’s excuse for being late, 27 percent said they usually don’t believe them when they do.
Continue ReadingChange Your Sales Language
We are all familiar with common sales terms like “cold call,” “closing” and “overcoming objections.” These terms are engrained in the common sales vernacular. But think of the implications of these mechanistic terms. SellingPower.com has a most interesting article titled Watch Your Language! Here’s the hook: Who taught you to talk like you do? When it comes to your sales language; chances are good it was your sales manager€“your first one. For generations now we have been talking about selling from the viewpoint of the Industrial Era. We have seen businesses as machines and accordingly we have “re-engineered” them, “systematized” them, and more. Our premise has been that businesses are… Read More
Continue ReadingAnnoying Aspects Of Meetings
Inc.com offers a quick article about annoying meeting items – New Study Reveals Why Meetings Are So Unbearable. From the article: Of 1,037 full- or part-time workers polled, 27 percent ranked disorganized, rambling meetings as their top frustration, followed by 17 percent who said they were annoyed by peers who interrupt and try to dominate meetings. Surprisingly, respondents considered BlackBerry use less intrusive than people falling asleep during a meeting €” 9 percent of respondents were bothered by co-workers nodding off, compared to just 5 percent who said they get frustrated by others checking e-mail. Checking email? That makes me laugh since a certain someone in our company Rock Star has… Read More
Continue ReadingWho Needs A Landline?
From our local Pioneer Press: More than a quarter of young adults have only cell phones, making them the leading edge of a strengthening move away from traditional landline telephones, a federal survey showed Monday. Overall, the portion of adults with only cell phones grew by more than 2 percentage points in the latter half of last year to nearly 12 percent, an expansion rate that began in the first part of 2006 and was double earlier rates of growth. One in four people age 18 to 24 had only cell phones, as did 29 percent of those age 25 to 29, the study showed. The percentages declined with age… Read More
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