Attention Presidential Candidates: Give Me Some Sexy Process

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A non-process guy like me rarely gets excited about the sexy topic of “process.”

But just once, I’d love it if I heard a candidate forget the lazy platitudes and opinions and get into some lovely process talk.

Process

Here’s what I mean:

Almost every candidate running for President loves the promises, platitudes and opinions. They love to tell you how they’re going to Make America Great, or how they’ll guarantee free college for all, or how they’ll stop illegal immigration, or my favorite, how they’ll create 7 million jobs.

I don’t want to hear them say they’ll “fight for me.” They won’t.

I want to hear HOW you solve problems.

Not how you’ll accomplish the goal from a policy or strategy standpoint.

There’s no disagreement that the country faces many problems. Therefore, I want to hear HOW you solve problems. 

Give Me Some Method to Your Madness  Read more

A Proven One Day Training Plan

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Well, it’s that time of year when we plan sales meetings and retreats. I’ve gotten a lot of calls recently from companies who want me to come in and speak to their groups but, unfortunately, my time is booked through February. I don’t remember getting a call from you. Hmmm. Oh well, maybe I did and just don’t recall.

Consequently, I wanted to give you CEO’s and Sales Leaders some ideas on how you can run an uber-effective sales training meeting to kick off 2016.
Here are the steps I take both for preparation and for execution of an event.

Step 1: Get Really Clear on Your Objectives. 

I find most leaders are a little fuzzy when it comes to specific objectives for a one-day training meeting. I suggest you write out 8 to 10 things you’d like to see as a result of this meeting and then build curriculum to achieve that. Don’t try to load it up too full. Leave breathing space so that people can absorb the content.

(That’s a major fault of sales leaders and CEOs. They think that since they have everyone in the room, they need to chock it full of content. Less is more. More becomes drivel.) Read more

How Do You Successfully Onboard New Sales People?

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As you bring on new sales people, the key question is always some form of: “How do we get new sales people up to speed quickly?”

New-Employees-Training

In my training and coaching practice, I’ve seen companies truly botch this up. Never intentionally, of course. But, here are a few thoughts on how to onboard new employees quicker and more successfully.

1. Complete a Thorough Job Responsibility Document. 

Yes, a document. Lots of firms refuse to commit anything to paper. It must be crystal clear on what the roles and functions of the job are… and what is expected of that person. Read more

Working Under Load. The Secret To Your Success.

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Charles Poliquin is a weight-lifting coach. He’s the guy your trainer looks to for advice on proper technique, cadences and exercises. He was on Tim Ferriss’s podcast (Click Here To Listen) last week and he said something I thought was fascinating. Simple, but fascinating.

IncreaseStrength-UnderLoad

He said if you really want to increase your strength, you must spend more time “under load.”

In his world, under load means to stress the muscle throughout the entire weight bearing exercise. In other words, do the reps slow, stopping at the top and bottom for a few seconds. So instead of doing 20 curls in 35 seconds, you do 20 in 2 minutes.

More time under load = more strength.

In our world, “under load” leads to strength as well. Read more

Becoming Your Best By Avoiding The Misses

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I am blessed to be able to interview top-notched authors and experts in the area of leadership as we launch The Sales Leadership Academy.

Steve Shallenberger

I spoke to a veteran of leadership coaching, Steve Shallenberger, last week. Steve has worked with Fortune 100 companies for the last 30 years and has a great pulse on the mistakes he sees leaders make. He’s also author of “Becoming Your Best.”

One of those has to do with “Vision.” The lesson is that just because your company has no declared vision, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

But the fact is that if you have a division…a team…a group…you MUST have a compelling, inspiring vision for your them or they’ll wander around with little focus, and little inspiration.

Here is an excerpt from a longer interview I did with Steve where he shared his thoughts.

Enjoy!

If you’re interested in learning more about The Sales Leadership Academy…and how it can help you create this type of inspiration in your team, go here. A little knowledge here could make a huge revenue difference in your team. It might be worth looking at.

LearnMore

Are You Using An Ancient Leadership Method?

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How tedious has it been in the last 20 years to try to keep up with all of the leadership theories and maxims put forth by experts? Leaves us all kind of confused, doesn’t it?

Alan Cutler

Alan Cutler has done an excellent job of sifting through all of the theories and get to what works. In this interview excerpt, I ask Alan some of those questions about the psychology of leadership, a topic on which he has written, “The Psychology of Leadership.” (Click Here To Learn More)

Enjoy the interview with Alan. Let me know your thoughts.

If you’re interested in learning more about The Sales Leadership Academy…and how it can help you create this type of inspiration in your team, go here. A little knowledge here could make a huge revenue difference in your team. It might be worth looking at.

LearnMore

What Percentage Of Your Team Is Truly Committed?

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In the lead up to the launch of The Sales Leadership Academy, I have the luxury of interviewing experts in the field of motivation, most specifically, “sales team motivation.”

DrJoeFolkman

As in, “What role does the leader play in the inspiration and motivation of their teams?”

It’s really easy to say (and I’ve said it, too), “Well, it’s not up to anyone to motivate the producer. They have to come to the table with their own motivation.”

That may be true. But does that mean you play no role at all in that? Of course not.

Dr. Folkman’s Take on Inspiring from a Leadership Position:

I had the privilege of speaking with an author, Dr. Joe Folkman. He’s written several books, most notably, The Inspiring Leader. In it, he reveals multiple studies of leaders and what makes them inspirational.

I sat down with Joe this week and I thought you’d be interested in a specific audio clip from that interview. In this clip, he addresses the idea of “commitment” and how you, yes YOU, have a role in creating commitment on your team.

If you’re interested in learning more about The Sales Leadership Academy…and how it can help you create this type of inspiration in your team, go here. A little knowledge here could make a huge revenue difference in your team. It might be worth looking at.

LearnMore

A Common Enemy

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Do you and your prospect share a common enemy? The enemy could be mediocrity, averageness, or even a competitor. But, when you figure out who that common enemy is, you’ll become a united force battling it together.

When To Coach In The Moment

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There are two philosophies of how to coach people’s behavior. One is to save up the counsel and dump it all on them at one time. (I use the word “dump” kindly). The other way, which I talk about in this audio clip, is to coach them at the moment of infraction. Hope you can learn from this.