S&MM SoundOff

Let's Get Ready to Blog!

Back in August, the S&MM SoundOff started posting reader's blog posts -- now, we want more!  We want to hear more of what you have to say about today's current sales, marketing, and management topics. 

Have a fail-proof sales strategy, think management needs to change its focus, or is that new commercial really not hitting the mark in your opinion?  We want to know about it.  We’ll select one lucky reader’s submission each week to be posted.  It's time to sound off and start blogging today! 

Write. Submit. Be Heard.

(Submissions should be approximately 200-500 words in length.  Selections based on datedness of ideas and topic appropriateness. Personal contact information will be used for editorial purposes only. Please refrain from naming specific people and companies when relating personal experiences. Submissions promotional in nature will not be considered. Deadline for submissions each week is Friday at 5pm. Selected entries will be posted the following week.  Winners will be notified by email. ) 

Be sure to check out the topics others are sounding off on and share your comments on the blog, S&MM Sound Off.

Do You Hate Your Job?

I took this poll the other day which asked "Do you hate your job?" -- and the results of the 3,257 responses were unofficially:
   * 37 percent: yes
   * 22 percent: no
   * 30 percent: sometimes
   * 10 percent: I hate working in general
More than a third of all poll-takers hated their job--and nearly a third more aren’t far from it!

I have to admit I am one of the lucky ones who can’t complain--nice working environment, good company, reasonable flexibility, and something new every day. But unfortunately there are many people who hate their jobs--for many different reasons such as lack of autonomy and an incompatible company culture. But the number one reason workers hate their jobs is having a difficult boss, according to a recent article from Forbes.com on MSNBC. 

It’s not surprising to me that employee happiness runs from the top down.  If the management is motivating and encouraging, then the work gets done, employees feel accomplished and everyone is happy with the success.

It’s also not surprising to me that this is the number one reason for job hatred.  Good leaders can and do go bad.  Management runs our business, it makes sense that they also control whether employees are happy in their jobs. After all, there is a negative component to every good leadership characteristic, according to an article in our sister publication Training.  For example, a manager who is confident and straightforward can easily become narcissistic, overly critical, and treat others with contempt. 

Do you hate your job?  Here are some tips Forbes gives to change that:
- Articulate exactly what you don’t like to a supervisor.  Be specific and propose solutions.
- Ask for an intern if you are overwhelmed with work
- If you’re bored, ask your boss for some different responsibilities--it will be a change for you and make you look good for taking initiative
- Problem co-worker? Talk to your supervisor to see if you can avoid collaborating together on projects or if you can move your cube.
- Too little pay?  Discuss with your boss the expectations for your position and what you can do to exceed them, so you have a stellar review next time around.

For those managers out there, read Motivation Inspiration on ManageSmarter.com for some tips on keeping workers happy with incentives.

Reader's SoundOff -- When Does Networking Pay?

By Mark Hunter (Head Sales Hunter, TheSalesHunter.com)
Omaha, NE

In sales, we're all told how important it is to attend networking events. But oftentimes, the very events we've been told to attend wind up being a waste of time.   This problem only gets compounded when we look at the number of networking events there are available for us.  It seems at times as if they are the only thing on our calendar. 

The challenge is to figure out which events are worth participating in while keeping in mind that the whole objective of networking is to develop relationships that may pay out at a future point in time.  This means we won’t know the value of a particular one until long after it's occurred.

A rule of thumb I’ve found to be very effective is to attend only networking events where I know in advance if there will be people who can immediately buy from me or who can immediately refer me to people who can buy from me.  By applying this standard to every networking event that I'm invited to I’ve been able to cut the number of events I attend in half.  More importantly, I’ve found that I have more time to call on people I’ve met at other networking events who can buy from me.

Editor's Note:  For more on networking and events read these tips and tricks on Trade Show Presentations on ManageSmarter.com.  Also be sure to check out all the latest opportunities to refine your skills and network at these industry event listings.

*Get your post up on the blog - It's your turn to SoundOff!

Scare Tactics as Motivational Strategy?

Last week I caught an episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in which one of the guests was Jim Cramer, the adrenaline-fueled host of “Mad Money.” On his CNBC show Cramer dispenses stock advice as if it were an extreme sport, yelling out buy or sell recommendations to callers with all the fervor of a bull in a china shop.

Knowing his persona, it came as no surprise to me when he revealed some of his past management tactics. When Cramer ran his own hedge fund, he doled out an interesting punishment: When one of his employees would lose a lot of money, he would force him to undergo a form of public humiliation. This could mean sticking an index card on his forehead that read “Loser” or wearing his shirt inside out for an entire day, whether he was inside or outside the office. Cramer said no one was immune to the punishment, not even himself.

Cramer didn’t mention whether these negative tactics worked. Some managers would consider the strategy crass and bad for morale. Others might consider it genius—hey, if it gets the job done, why shouldn’t it be a legitimate motivational tactic? These types of strategies might even work for the boiler room environments for which Wall Street is known. One recent study by German economists even concluded that punishment could be linked to profitability.

Their experiment had students play an investing game with tokens in which they could choose to participate in a group that doled out penalties or one that didn't. In the group with penalties, investors who made a lot of money for the group could choose to dock tokens from "free riders" at the cost of one of their own tokens. By the end of the game, almost every one chose to migrate to a group with penalties.

In the real world, however, most managers and experts would probably argue that motivational tactics meant to induce fear, rather than encourage positive reinforcement, are bad in the long run. They may bring about short-term results, but you should also expect high turnover and employee distrust if negative tactics remain your primary method of increasing sales. The notion here is that the price of losing good salespeople to bad management is far costlier than any immediate returns.

For more on best practices in incentive strategies, check out this month’s article, “Motivation Inspiration.”

Ah, the Mystery of the Bangtail Envelope

When you get your credit card statement, look at the return envelope.  See that extra flap that you have to tear off before you can or you can't seal the envelope?  It's called a bangtail.  And it it's been around since day one. I remember discussing it at a convention, back in the Stone Age. Like the alligator, shark or coelacanth, the bangtail has survived to the modern day largely intact.

In my experience, it's most often used to promote product, sometimes as a continuity program.  The bangtail copy calls to me:

• Sets Itself and Never Forgets
• Inviting Allure, Exciting Appeal
• No Bulbs to Change, Use Almost Anywhere
• Hear Your TV Clearly At An Increased Sound Level, Without Disturbing Anyone Else in the Room
• Collector's Tin Also Included

I have no idea as to the derivation of the word.  Answers.com suggests (with a slight clarification by me) that a bangtail might be either:

• A racehorse
• A detachable extension to the back of an envelope, having a perforated edge and special marketing information and/or an order form

One printer I found has a special version called the "inside" bangtail envelope, which "offers an additional panel that is hidden until the recipient employs a strategically placed pull-tab."

One printer's Web site devotes an entire article to the bangtail--its uses and place in history.

And its place in history is this--the little sucker continues to work.  Perhaps there's a lesson.  Maybe there are some things that are as old as the hills and still work just fine.  Maybe we can all learn from that.

Let's Get Ready to SoundOff!

It's time for you to blog!

Have your opinions on today's current sales and marketing topics heard with your very own blog entry on S&MM SoundOff. You too can now join the industry experts and Sales and Marketing Management editors on the Sound Off.  We will select one lucky blogger's submission each week to be posted.  It's time to shout out and share your opinions today! 

Email blog submissions to [email protected]. Include your name, email, location, company, and position. Be sure to title your post.

(Submissions should be 200-500 words in length.  Selections based on newness of ideas and topic appropriateness. Entries promotional in nature will not be considered.  Personal contact information will be used for editorial purposes only and personal or company websites will not be included. Please refrain from naming specific people and companies when relating personal experiences. Deadline for submissions each week is Friday at 5 pm. Selected entries will be posted the following week.)

Be sure to check out the topics others are sounding off on and share your comments on the blog now.

Reader's SoundOff -- The Logical Step to Validate Your Methods and Boost Your Career

By Dianna Booher, CSP, CPAE--Speakers Hall of Fame
Founder & CEO, Booher Consultants, Inc. (Grapevine, TX)

Now that the majority of sales and marketing professionals have at least a college degree, what do you do to distinguish yourself from your peers? Gain the next promotion? Further your revolutionary idea, product or service?  These days, the answer is to publish a book.  Seriously--publishing has become the new pastime for those who have already "arrived," and even those who are still building a career.  Prestige, money, new business, recognition—all are valuable and reasonable to expect as a result of publishing your marketing idea, sales process, procedure, or data.

How do I know?  I've published 42 books with major publishers (and more are in the works) and it has totally revolutionized my company and sales organization for 25 years.  And it will work for you.  Lee Iacocca, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Michael Eisner, Jack Welch, Queen Noor, Harvey Mackay--they have all  turned publishing into financial power. Publishing has added pizzazz to their already prestigious careers.

The mere mention of your company's name and product or service is now worth measurable dollars—dollars companies are willing to pay their employees in bonuses for their publishing efforts.  That third-party endorsement from a major publisher says to the world that "somebody out there," an objective editor, thinks that what you have to say is worthwhile and that people would pay money to read it. 

Nothing enhances your credibility or brings recognition—from colleagues, from your own management, from customers and clients––like publishing a book on your subject of expertise. In fact, this principle has even worked its way into our language. To establish someone's credibility, we say, "He/she wrote the book."

Not only do you receive nice royalty checks from the book sales, but if you play your cards right, you'll often find that sub-rights sales fatten the pot: software, video, and audio rights; fees for excerpts reprinted in national magazines and journals; premium sales; Internet licensing fees;  sales of spin-off products such as T-shirts, buttons, posters, calendars, and other paraphernalia; and fees for consulting and speaking engagements.

Prestige, money, new business, recognition—all are valuable and reasonable to expect as a result of publishing and promoting your nonfiction book.  Like Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki,  Brian Tracy, Phil McGraw, John Gray, Ken Blanchard, Tony Robbins, Ann Coulter, and Stephen Covey, you, too, may find that the recognition and credibility gained through publishing translates into a more powerful platform that increases your sales exponentially.

Editor's note: Speaking of publishing, make sure to read the reviews on recent business and industry books in our resources section on ManageSmarter.com. 

Want to see your blog on the S&MM SoundOff? Click here for details--our next featured reader could be you!

I Have Good News and Bad News ...

The good news: Information is free. The bad news: You have to pay for expert advice.

Having been in sales for a while, I was told early on that when you give something away for free there is often no perceived value.  I've tried hard to overcome that, or at least to modify the word "free."

For example, I've done dozens of promotional Web seminars.  I started doing them before they were fashionable.  The attendees could always join in free of charge, but we insisted on legitimate contact information and an explicit opt-in to my mailing list in order to register.  Of course the attendee could immediately opt-out, but he typically didn't--that was the value for me. In this case, I wasn't giving anything away for free. I was getting compensated through building a list of what became loyal followers.

Now I run ES Research Group (ESR), a business advisory firm that helps companies evaluate, select, implement and measure sales performance improvement programs.  Our members and clients tell us we produce very valuable content.  That content is fee-based.  So we have a challenge: Pretty much everyone who can log onto the Internet expects to receive free information and advice, but my company charges for its services.  And to compound the problem, we have to offer some free content in order for people to see the quality of the content we produce.  (I admit we are sending mixed messages, but that's the way it is right now.)

So why should ESR members, Gartner, Wall Street Journal Online or Consumer Reports subscribers or any fee-based source users pay for content when 99 percent of what you find is free?  It's the quality of the content.  Generally, if you want trustworthy sources conducting methodical research and analysis and issuing conclusions, recommendations or advice about subjects that require interpretation, you have to pay for it. If that's what you need to run your operation, take out your credit card.  Or hope that the site posting the content is making enough money from paid advertisements to support a staff of real experts.

By the way, now that I'm on the other side of the fence, I look very skeptically at information that's free.  Some of it is terrific.  A lot isn't.  And I can't afford to make decisions based upon what someone thinks is the right thing rather than someone who has proven it.  I need answers.  I need the truth.

I Got Out of Jail Free & Put a Starbucks on Park Place!

I know what's "in-style" when it comes to products.  I buy coffee from Starbucks, take calls on a Razr, strut in Abercrombie & Fitch -- so when I play monopoly, I have to be the McDonald's fries token. Wait, What?

Last week, Hasbro introduced the latest updated version of its all-time favorite Monopoly game.  This “Here & Now” edition will embrace pop culture and modernize, rather commercialize, the beloved family game.  Eight new tokens will be replaced to better “represent” today —the airplane, laptop, dog, McDonald’s fries, Toyota Prius Hybrid car, New Balance shoe, Motorola Razr, and Starbuck’s coffee cup tokens—five of which are branded.

My reaction was flabbergasted amazement—a shake of the head and a muttered “oh god. Are they serious?! But Monopoly’s Top Hat’s a classic!”  I apparently wasn’t the only one who was less than enthused.  Atlantic City’s CVA is miffed at having their much coveted Atlantic City Board Walk space replaced by New York’s Times Square, just one of the entirely revamped board locations.

But what can we do? Even though the game is a one-time limited edition, pop culture is everywhere and brands are a large part of it. Goodbye to the mom and pop shops—product brands are what represent American culture. While bestowing loyal buyers with a sense of status, brands have also aroused a kind of obsession, a craving to have the popular brand they know—and nothing else. 

But when does brand loyalty turn-in brand obsession? Are we too commercialized? What do you think? 

For more on how branding influences, read this article from our sister publication Incentive on ManageSmarter.com –and be sure to enter the weekly ManageSmarter Sweepstakes where you could win a digital camera, a Movado watch, or any number of prizes.

** Have an opinion or strategy you want to share? Click here to find out how you can get your post up on the SoundOff. **

News You Can Use

Are you always looking for a deal? A new study by Smart Money reveals the best time to buy everything from wedding dresses (between Thanksgiving and Christmas) to groceries (Sunday evenings). The list is a great way to use market trends to your advantage.

For more ways to save, check out this article on how a small bank used larger companies' training techniques to stay on budget from our  S&MM Archives.