S&MM SoundOff

Bringing Science to Sales

By Mike McCue, Editor-in-Chief, Sales and Marketing Managment

I recently made a road trip from Cleveland to Chicago to sit in on part of a strategic planning meeting for The University Sales Education Foundation. The USEF is a nonprofit organization created by the Dayton, Ohio-based HR Chally Group, an industry leader in sales force testing and development.

The goal of USEF is to establish and support effective university sales programs, as well as to manage funds raised for colleges and universities with verified sales education curriculums.

I have written before about the improvements that the profession of sales has made in recent years, from a public relations standpoint. The awkwardness that comes from “hard selling” is largely a thing of the past, with today’s top-performing salespeople serving as industry experts and advisors to their customers. And that’s a beautiful thing. Modern methodologies and technological developments have increased the development of selling as a measurable science--rather than a nebulous art form--and USEF is the kind of organization that can keep that momentum rolling.

Today’s salespeople are better educated than ever before (...another trend you’ll see in coming years). A handful of pioneering universities already have formal sales programs in place, and an internal survey of S&MM readers showed that 59% of respondents planned on one day moving into a non-sales position in the C-suite. The survey size was small, but that’s a hefty percentage, and those who have eyes on the corner office need to know more than closing, selling and forecasting. They need to perfect their selling skills, but they also to learn the language of finance, and formal university programs are giving them those skills.

Regardless of what career path future salespeople decide to take, they'll be better prepared to meet the challenges thanks to efforts like USEF. Howard Stevens, founder and CEO of HR Chally, points out that if salespeople can’t speak the language of finance, they’re going to have a difficult time serving as the trusted business advisors their clients need.

One of the key findings Chally has found over its years of research is that world-class salespeople consider themselves a kind of outsourced manager for a given segment of their customers’ businesses. To do that, they will need to rely on a broader base of business knowledge than can be gleaned from sales experience alone.

“Very few salespeople today can read and interpret a P&L,” Stevens says. “There are a lot more reasons than that to get a real education … but I think it’s an excellent starting point.” 

These programs deserve all of the support we can give them. Never forget that rising water lifts all of the boats, including your own!

Transitioning from Sales Rep to Sales Manager

By Dave Stein (CEO and Founder, ES Research Group, Inc.  www.ESResearch.com )

One of the big mistakes that some salespeople make is thinking that, since they have experience and success selling, they would be an effective sales manager.

The skills and personal traits required for sales management are very different than those required for selling.

Here is a list of the skills and traits for sales leadership that was developed by a team of 25 CEOs in Ireland:

Skills	Traits
Team building	Strategic thinking
Motivation	Leadership
Management	Emotional intelligence
Process	Decisiveness
Objectivity	Courage
Goal setting	Positivity
Hiring	Charisma
Forecasting	Flexibility
Planning	Ambition/Drive
Coaching	Sense of Urgency
Delegation	Courage
People Skills
Training/Development
Organization skills
Plus All the skills required for selling

If you’re a salesrep and you don’t have most of these skills and traits, you’re likely going to fail.

If I Only Had the Time I'd Answer You!

By Mona Piontkowski, www.SeminarInformation.com

We're all inundated with e-mails - what king of Nigeria died in a plane crash without a will leaving me millions of dollars? Who wants to give me free shipping on an item I really don't want or need? Who wants to improve my romantic life? Who the heck is bothering me now??????

Time management becomes even more important as we add this new element to our daily lives. How do we handle it all and not spend the whole day reading unimportant messages, poorly written sales pitches, jokes and chain emails we have to pass on or have bad luck for the next 99 years....

How am I supposed to read it all and still get any work done? In the old days, last month, time management seminars taught me to prioritize - even make piles of the things I was supposed to accomplish today - how do you make piles of emails? Print them I suppose - but hey, I want to be green and not waste all that paper.

Some seminar companies have addressed the problem and updated their time management seminars to include emails and dealing with the Internet. A few suggestions include:

Learning Tree International has two seminars that specifically address the problem of time management and prioritizing: "Managing Information Overload: Techniques for Working Smarter" and "Effective Time Management: Prioritizing for Success"

National Seminars  offers "Essential Time Management & Organization Skills" a seminar  that offers tips how not to drown in emails and how to avoid procrastination.


Sweetnam Communications Inc. offers an inhouse presentation "Email Efficiency" with tips and suggestions how to re-organize your email system, decrease volume as well as how to apply influence tactics so your emails won't get lost in someone's inbox.

Time management has become more of a problem as we become more technological - the innovations that were supposed to make our life all the easier have made our days even more full.

Imagine if all those emails were stuffed in your mailbox - you couldn't even get the door opened.

Oh No, Not Scrooge Again

By Mona Piontkowski (www.SeminarInformation.com)

It's that time of year again when we must deal with Scrooge. You know Scrooge, the negative, bah-humbug individual who works in your office - possibly in the next cubicle - the one who moans and groans at the idea of a holiday grab bag or holiday party. The one who tries to take all the fun out of the holiday season. Just how do you get through it all - the extra stress the holidays put on us all - when having to face scrooge every morning?

The problem is, that even when the holidays are over, the decorations taken down, the parties a mere memory, Scrooge still comes to work every morning - spreading joy and unhappiness throughout the office. Darn that report is due today,  why do I have to do it all, I think they pick on me...and so it goes from Scrooge.

Just how do you handle this type of individual - we've all met at least one along the way. How do we make lemonade out of this lemon we've been handed?

Dealing with Difficult People (http://www.seminarinformation.com/event/23178) might just be able to help. This seminar gives tips on how to handle someone who is just plain difficult to get along with. Learn some handy tips that just may make this individual tolerable.

Managers have a particularly difficult time dealing with the office Scrooge. Lots of times Scrooge turns out to be the best worker - but every little thing that Scrooge accomplishes has to be bemoaned and whined about.

How to Deal With Unacceptable Employee Behavior: A One Day Seminar for Managers and Supervisors (http://www.seminarinformation.com/event/15483/national-seminars) may provide some insight into how to diffuse unacceptable behavior and resolve it all so that everyone can get back to work.

And what if, oh no, it's Scrooge you see looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Moving Ahead: Breaking Destructive Behavior Patterns at Work (http://www.seminarinformation.com/event/19982) may offer tips on how to get back in the game and  might just save your job.

After all Scrooge comes in all shapes and sizes and more likely than not there's a Scrooge right around here somewhere!

Linked in, and the power of social networks

By Enrique Burgos

It’s absolutely known that Web 2.0 is changing the way we work, share information and connect with other people, but there is one place that has hypnotizes me: LinkedIn. The social network were you can find people, but with a great difference from the others…here you can share your professional connections with others, find possible business projects, career opportunities, expertise advice and more.

It’s based on the degrees away rule--you can connect with other connections through them--but always with professional aims.

In two months my connections grew from 3 to 185 (and still growing), and more than 3 million connections on the 3rd level (people connected to my 185). You have to spend some time searching for new people to include in your network, and accepting to enter into others, but not in a massive way. It’s better to have a small and selected network, rather than a huge one with people without any similar interest or activity with you.

Definitively, a great tool to increase your contacts network through the world, creating positive professional relationships that could help you today and in the future.

Enrique Burgos, is the relationship marketing manager of SEUR, a logistics company in Spain. Visit his blog at www.incentivesandrelationshipmarketing.blogspot.com.

Tag Lines Tell A Tale of One's Occupations

By Craig Harrison, Professional Speaker

"What do you do?"

In our society this is the first question we’re asked, after "What is your name?"  The real question is: “How do you answer this question?”

Do you tell people your title: clerk, programmer, driver, teacher, sales rep or receptionist — or do you answer more descriptively?

Too many people respond to this question with a bland, unimaginative job title or standard industry classification (SIC) code. B-O-R-I-N-G! To set yourself apart from the crowd, cast your profession in its most ennobling light and focus on the benefits of your work as they accrue to others!

Consider Ruth Blumert Walker, longtime receptionist for the Oakland, California law firm of DONAHUE, GALLAGHER, WOODS AND WOOD. When asked her occupation, Blumert proudly proclaims “I’m the Director of First Impressions."  Indeed she is!

Walker knows that people dread going to a law firm.  They're usually there because of a problem and their visit is costly to boot. Walker understands the key role she plays in their experience, and her moniker showcases the power she possesses to make a difference.

Balancing Work and Parenthood

In honor of Father's Day, a survey by Adecco and Harris Interactive polled workers on their thoughts on the role of a father in the workplace.

The results?

Half of the women surveyed felt that working fathers are able to balance family and work more easily than women in the workplace. However, only 29 percent of men actually felt the same way. In spite of the discrepancy, most—70 percent to be exact—said that they felt that being a father improves their job performance. The reason might be that men may feel an additional sense of motivation when faced with the responsibility of caring for others.

What’s also interesting is that 59 percent of employed fathers would refuse to take a paid paternity leave if it was offered, citing reasons such as not being able to afford it and fearing that it could be detrimental to their career.

Parents, who do you think has it easier in the workplace? Men or women? Why? How about when it comes to upper management?

--Victor Van Valen

Whose Network Is It Anyway?

By Edgar Valdmanis

A few weeks ago there was an interestng discussion in a LinkedIn forum called MyLinkedInPowerForum(MLPF). One of the forum members posted a message saying a friend of his had had to give up his LinkedIn login details to his employer when resigning. I find this strange, and would like to see if the SoundOff readers can carry the discussion forward:

A) Of course the company can *legally* claim rights to what was acquired or built on company time with company resources (PC, Internet, etc.)

B) Inheriting a database with names has close to zero value for someone who doesn't have a relationship beyond the names. The database is then only a list of salesleads, and not even that.

C) A network built on LinkedIn, Ryze, Facebook, Xing or a similar site is not a CRM database. These networks consist of clients, friends, alumni etc., so they cannot be used  for any type of marketing effort by the company. It is actually a replica of what’s in my head, and only I know which of these I can suddenly put to good use for my company.

D) Most professional networkers network 24/7/365. Since they don't get paid 24/7/365, then parts of the database are built at no cost to the company

E) Part of my network that my current employer benefits from was built on some other employers time and cost, and my current employer benefits for free

F) Part of what I build today will not be ready for 'harvesting' before sometime in the future when I may have changed jobs again.

Would be interesting to hear other professionals views on this topic.

Edgar Valdmanis is the marketing director of the Norwegian Computer Society, and president of Meeting Professionals Norway Chapter.

The Job Market's on Fire Again. The Time to Cash in Is Now!

By Christine E. Lauzon

Are you ready to party like it is 1999? Well jump on in, because the job market is heating up again, and it is creating a path to superior career growth, a bigger paycheck, and overall more options to find a better work environment.

Simply put, the "law of supply and demand" is working in your favor—there are more jobs then qualified candidates to fill them. Hence, many companies need to stretch and loosen some of their requirements in order to fill the jobs.

For example, let's say a company wants a "business development executive" with 10 years experience in IT consulting focused on the telecommunications vertical. In a hot job market, there is a higher probability that the employer will have to bend on their criteria. This gives individuals who want to make a career move into this industry the opportunity to break in, even if they only have two of the three criteria required for the position.       

Designing a Meeting for Max Networking (Part II)

By Edgar Valdmanis

In my post a couple weeks ago, I gave a few tips about how to design a meeting for max networking, and thought I would follow up with some more today.

Before a break, the MC should again remind people to take the time to network with someone they have not met before, or at least not seen for a long time. Also, make sure that breaks are long enough for people to

a) go to the bathroom

b) get a coffee (or other beverage)

c) and network

This usually means that the break must be at least 15 minutes.

If there is an exhibition and you want the exhibitors to be happy about the investment they made in time and money, make sure the exhibition is in the break area, and allow another 5 minutes for attendees to visit the exhibitors' stands. Also, make sure that all exhibitors are mentioned on the same list as the other attendees, with company name, their own name and professional title.

After the break--if possible--ask attendees to sit with someone else than before the break.