It’s time for you to go shopping. But instead of going to the mall, shop your company.
Haven’t you been frustrated when you called a vendor and their voice mail was too long creating undo aggravation on your part? Or how about when it takes what seems like an eternity to have a technical representative finally get on the phone?

Or how about this scenario? My wife and I went to a furniture store and bought her a complete office set-up for the home. We arranged for a friend to come over and help assemble the stuff only to find that the wrong stuff was sent, the goods were damaged and we were left with no functional office. When we called the store to complain, we were connected to the customer service voice mail to leave a message. This store had the gall to make me leave a message in my heightened state of agitation. In calling back and seeking a manager, the result was the same-voice mail. Can you believe a reputable company provided this lousy service (names will be withheld to protect the innocent)?

While I am confident that your company does not perform as poorly as the furniture store described above, the fact is there may be some things going on in the customer interaction process that is sabotaging your efforts to provide quality service and products. It may even jeopardize your proclaimed mission and the large sums of money you are investing in advertising your differentiated advantage.

Many times we are not even aware of the problems because many customers simply fail to call us and complain. They let us know by not coming back again and spreading the word of their misfortune, such as what I am doing here.

So do yourself a favor. Shop your company. Don’t let your employees know it is you. They will act differently in speaking to the boss than others. See how easy it is to use your technology and conduct business. Ask if the service and quality you are getting is equal to what you want your customers to receive? Are you in fact backing up what you preach?

Go on this shopping trip often. You never know when those pesky little problems will come up and derail your efforts.

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Slap me silly! I never thought in a million years I would refer to the Survivor show in my E Reports. But this is too good to pass up. Richard Hatch, the $1 Million winner, stated “I think I managed to win by planning early, and by early, I mean before I get there…. There was no question that I was the only person playing the game for quite a while”.

Richard went into this endeavor with only one thing in mind, winning the prize. He crafted a plan on how to create the necessary alliances to seal his fate. Now, you may disagree with his approach and resent his scheming, but the fact of the matter was he always focused on the end result. Other participants were into the experience and developing relationships. There is nothing wrong with that. However, if you really want to win at something, you must plan for it ahead of time and always keep focused on that end result. Hopefully, doing right by others at the same time.

The desire to win without planning for the success will many times result in your organization falling short of the grand prize.

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As a sales executive, are you more concerned with the number of calls your sales people are making or the quality of their calls? If you are more concerned with the number of calls, then you are a task-oriented leader. If you are more concerned with making quality calls, you are a purpose-oriented leader. If your sales people are making calls simply for the sake of making calls, they may be considered to be master prospectors. But they will be below average in first impressions and qualifying accounts. They tend to start the sales call with lots of features, functions and benefits; simply going through the script hoping that what they have to say is going to catch someone’s interest. Task oriented sales people tend to have lots of customers who in fact produce below average market share for the sales executive. Purpose oriented sales people are just the opposite. Obviously they prospect to keep the funnel full. Where they differ is they do not lead with features, functions and benefits. Instead, they excel in first impressions and qualifying. They ask enough of the right questions to find out what’s important to the customer, a technique that automatically starts to position them as an invaluable resource to the customer. Titans are purpose oriented sales people who are there to make a difference in the lives of their customers. This way of selling generates higher revenues per sale, higher profit margins and increased market share.

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In the late 70’s I remember making a sales call on Wall Street and taking a break for lunch on the steps of Federal Hall (Intersection Broad and Wall Street, site where George Washington was inaugurated as our first President). Around the corner from Wall Street comes a man who introduces himself as Congressman Ed Koch. Mr. Koch tells the crowd he is running for Mayor and then he asks, so how am I doing?

This question became a trademark of his. I am reminded of this question every time I run into workers who often wonder how they are doing. Tradition has it that managers routinely answer this question at the annual or bi-annual employee review. While this is a process that needs to take place, answering the question of how I am doing should occur more often. It should take place at anytime there is a communication between a manager and employee.

It is crucial to congratulate people when appropriate. It is also crucial to communicate what is not working for the employee with appropriate suggestions on how to improve the situation. Oh, if you are going to have one of those “we need to talk meetings”, don’t go in with the idea that you need to fix the employee. I don’t know about you, but when I talk with someone who wants to fix me, I run. After all, who wants to be fixed? People do not respond to the concept of fixing. But they do respond to ideas on how to reach their goals and dreams faster. People do not respond well to criticism that is negatively communicated, but they do actively partake in conversations on what they need to do to reach the next desired level.

If you are going to have one of these meetings, don’t concentrate on what went wrong. This drains out all of the creativity and forces people to bunker down and protect themselves. Simply ask the person on a scale of 1-10, how well do you think you are doing in this area. After both of you come to an agreeable number, decide on where the person should be. If the answer is greater than the number of current performance, then use the rest of the time to creatively identify ways on how the employee can attain the desired level of performance. You will find the employee to be more open in this conversation and a willing participant to identify solutions. And more importantly, he will more than likely carry them out since he assisted in the development of the solutions.

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Our booming economy is providing all executives with a key challenge—-where to find good help. While I would love to have the answer for all of you (would be worth more than winning this week’s NJ Power Lottery of $300 Million- wish me luck), I do have some insights that you should use for guidance.

The biggest mistake manager’s make is not knowing what to look for. Over and over again I have Sales VP’s wondering why their industry experts are not breaking down doors and uncovering new opportunities. When I was in computer sales management in the early 80’s, many of my colleagues thought the software guru’s would make great sales people because of their technical skills. Not so! The behavior and values one needs to excel in software development are completely different than what’s needed to succeed in opening new territories and expanding existing ones. While technical experience does help sales people, it is not the driver for their success.

If you were to ask me what I would look for in a salesperson, it would be a polished, hard charging individual who doesn’t live by the words it can’t be done. I want someone who will break down doors and sniff out new opportunities. Someone who is secure in their ability to communicate with senior executives, which most sales people do not do today because of their insecurity and lack of experience. Calling at high levels is crucial in most cases for achieving
long-term partnerships.

Oh, as for the technical experience, no problem. The person I just described is secure in the knowledge that if she needs assistance, there is a technical expert who can assist her. She is being paid not because of her technical Ph.D. She is being paid to uncover and close deals.

Now each sales position in each industry is different. Some sales positions are more sophisticated than others. Whatever the scenario is, each sales position has a model of what it takes to succeed. Before you choose your next hire, make sure you know the behaviors, values and skills that are critical for the new hire’s success. Then use the interview to see how well they fit the model you are looking for.

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