S&MM SoundOff

What salespeople can learn from Brett Favre

by Greg Krauska, President, The Change Agent Group

Brett Favre retired this week after 17 years in the National Football League and 16 years as a Green Bay Packer.  Even if you are not a lifelong Packer fan as I am, you almost certainly have a high level of respect for Brett Favre as a competitor and as a person.  As I watched his press conference announcing his retirement today, it was clear that what makes Brett Favre so appealing to so many can make salespeople stand out, too.

So here are five ways that Brett Favre approached the game that you can use to make you a hall-of-famer in sales.

1. Play like you mean it.  Favre is proud of the fact that in 17 years of professional football, he has never held back for even one play.  Don't do your best because someone else is watching.  Do it because each moment is valuable.  Choose to do your best because it is the right thing to do.  If you are lucky, you can look back on your career with no regrets.
2. Make everyone around you better.  During his years with the Packers, Brett was not always surrounded by the most talented players.  Yet, by his example, Brett inspired others to elevate their commitment and results.  He said that one of the things he will really miss is being around his teammates.  He will miss preparing for each game with his receivers, challenging each other in a good-natured way to figure out how to play at a high level and win.  Don't complain that your marketing team is not on message or that your delivery team is dropping the ball.  Who would you need to be to make them better - and have fun in the process?
3. It's not about you.  During his press conference today, Brett stated that while the quarterback gets the most attention, for him, it has always been about the team and the fans.  Although the strategic account manager or the Regional VP of Sales get to take their spouses on the club trip for making quota, remember that your entire organization is responsible for helping you win.  Brett also talked about commitment to the fans (also known as the customer).  Express gratitude.  You cannot succeed alone.  If you don't want the customer booing you, figure out how to get them on your side.
4. Celebrate your success.  One of the reasons Brett says he decided to retire was because he reached a point where he was not celebrating the way he used to.  Even on Sunday nights after a win, Brett said that he began to study game film instead of enjoying the victory or spending time with his family.  Brett said that he could remember nearly every play of every game he had every played, but could not say that about experiences off the field.  What price are you willing to pay for your success?  Find a way to create balance and give yourself a chance to recover after big campaigns.
5. Be real.  Brett said that as he prepared for the press conference, he thought of wearing a suit and tie and thought of writing down some prepared comments.  Instead, he wore jeans and a shirt and spoke from the heart.   "What you see is what you get," said Brett.  Customers don't care about how carefully you have crafted your presentation or how much homework you have done to understand their needs if you are not authentic.  Trust is more and more valuable as a currency.  Earn it by being real.

From the outside, we see Brett Favre as a fun-loving gunslinger who loved to show up on Sundays and give his best.  We see him as a quarterback who holds nearly every NFL record at his position.  But as you listen to Brett speak about his passion for the game, his teammates, his fans and his family, it is clear that what makes him so special is the character that lies within.

We are all fortunate to have careers where we can have tremendous impact on customers and the people that they serve.  Use that privilege well - and have some fun along the way!

Greg Krauska is President of The Change Agent Group, where he helps organizations innovate and create a winning sales culture.  Find out more at www.changeagentgroup.com

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.

Got Clutter?

Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not a neat person by nature. Sure, I try: I wash my dishes as soon as I'm done eating so they don't sit, I sweep the floor daily and I even have designated piles in my room for 'clean,' 'still wearable,' and 'dirty' clothes. But no matter what I do to stay organized and neat, my office space always takes the brunt.

My true pigpen colors always push through by the end of the week. Every Friday like clockwork, my desk is ultimately devoured by an overflow of folders, edit copy and notes scribbled on anything from magazine covers to napkins (I always say 'My desk reflects my week'). And while it's an organized chaos (somehow I always manage to find that random Post-It note I need), it would leave anyone like hit TV-show character Monk gawking.

Think your office mess could rival anyone’s? Then start off the work week on a fun note, and monetize your clutter. MyFax is hosting their Messy Office Contest until February 25. Just send them a photo or a video of your messy office and you could win the grand prize of $10,000 or up to $5,000 in their additional weekly prizes.

Talk about a reward! And with that money, you might just be able to hire a maid to help you keep the chaos under control.

Baby Boomers and Training

By Mona Piontkowski (www.SeminarInformation.com)

Well it finally happened - I actually took a vacation - sure I've taken off the occasional Friday and Monday and called a long weekend my vacation. But this year - determined to relax - I decided to take two full weeks away from the office - not even check my email and being in Europe my cell phone was useless! What a joy!!!!

Being the typical baby boomer I have been chained to my desk for the last oh so many years. How could the company function if I were away - who would do my job? Obviously since I'm writing this from work - the company survived without me. Who'd have thunk?

I decided to go to Tuscany to a cooking school - Tuscan Women Cook - for a whole week of learning to cook Italian at the elbow of some cute little Italian women. This cooking school seemed perfect - a week in the Tuscan countryside staying at a medieval hotel with morning cooking classes and afternoon trips to surrounding cities. I'd relax, sightsee and learn - being a baby boomer it seems we can't get away from learning. In our lifetimes we have had to learn and unlearn so many new technologies it boggles the mind. We are a generation of learners - we have never really left school - OK now they call it continuing education and seminars - but every few months, it seems, we are required to learn some new technology just to keep up. Our younger contemporaries, the Gen X, Y and Z are easier adapters - they have always just accepted the latest technology without question - eager in fact, to explore new territory. We boomers, on the other hand, don't give up the past without a fight.

Most of my fellow classmates were contemporaries - boomers looking to learn something new. It has become a trend - the boomer generation - still the largest percentage of the population - seems to be unwilling to go quietly into retirement. Those of us still actively working are taking seminars in record numbers - not only work related, but fun-related - like my Tuscan cooking class. We are refusing to let our skills atrophy - we constantly are in search of new challenges. Most of us, the reports say, aren't prepared to retire in the near future - what would we do with the free time - we've never quite learned how to handle that. Training companies should look into this segment of the marketplace and create seminars for those boomers still working as well as those looking to retire and keep their minds active. I, for one, have marked down on my calendar - yes I still use a calendar - a return trip to Tuscan Women Cook in two years for the advanced course. You really didn't expect me to take another vacation next year - did you?

Excuses, Excuses

We've all had it happen--the alarm doesn't go off; you spill an entire gallon milk trying to make your morning coffee; you drop ketchup-covered eggs all over your new shirt and have to change; and your car runs out of gas...all in the same morning! On those occasional incidences when life happens, your employees sometimes can't help being late for work, and--as their manager--you understand that the unexpected can throw even the best of us off our normal routine.

But what about those times your employees don't have a reason for their tardiness? Here is a list--provided by sales hiring managers--of the most unusual excuses--just short of "my dog at my sales report"--that sales reps offered for arriving late to work. And don't be afraid to chuckle at these eccentric (and hopefully fabricated) excuses.

1. Called in "sad."
2. Super-glued eye thinking it was contact solution.
3. Accidentally put diesel fuel in car.
4. Hair dryer caught on fire.
5. Mistakenly flushed keys down the toilet.
6. Detained by the FBI.
7. Thought it was Sunday.
8. Clock ran backwards.
9. Cat got sprayed by a skunk
10. Ran into chickens that fell from a chicken truck that turned over in the road.

What outrageous excuses have your employees given for being late--real or otherwise?

Your Online Web Summary

Web networking has become hugely popular in the last several years and it seems that everyone has a profile, a blog, or even a photo album online somewhere. But while Web networking helps connect both people and businesses, these sites have also caused a problem for professionals.  Being online means continuously being open to public review, and anyone in the world can see your personal life on the Web (For more on this topic read “You’ve Been Googled” on ManageSmarter.com.

So far the challenge has been to make sure you’re representing yourself in the best way on the Web. For example, you don’t post photos of you and your buddies on beer night anymore because you don’t want recruiters to get the wrong impression of you. But today I stumbled across a Web networking site that can help you make sure others aren’t finding those embarrassing pics.

Zoominfo.com is a networking site that has the potential to grow as big as LinkedIn or MySpace. But unlike the other sites, Zoominfo.com is not centered on building a private profile and making friends—it’s an like an online Whitepages for the business world. The site is a Web-data-collection database that lets you search for summaries on both colleagues and companies alike. You can easily find a person’s business history, education, association networks, Web mentions and more. 

I originally came across the site while performing a Google search on myself—I like to periodically check to make sure nothing too personal is available for the entire world to see.  The link brought me to a page that already listed my basic business information—my name, my company and my job title.  But what I was amazed to see was a list of links (all to ManageSmarter.com) where my Web mentions, in my case, articles I had written, appeared. Zoominfo.com did the work of searching Google for me.

Monday Night Fever

The common cold is running amok and  last week I was a victim.

I woke one morning feeling more than "under the weather" and I disgruntledly stayed in bed for two work days. While doctors and moms alike say that putting your health first is the right decision, I couldn’t help but feel guilty for missing even a small amount of work, knowing my daily responsibilities were being forced onto someone else in my absence. I couldn’t go to work but I compromised and compulsively checked the ManageSmarter.com Website every fifteen minutes to make sure everything was in order. I was afraid something would go wrong. My needed days of rest were not the most relaxing. 

It turns out that my dilemma is not rare. According to a 2006 survey conducted by LifeCare, Inc., a surprising majority of employees believe that it is too risky--or that others depend on them too greatly--to take time off from work.  In fact, only six percent of respondents actually take a sick day when feeling sick. A question of work/life balance comes into play: How sick do you have to be to take a day for yourself?

Listen to Mother

This article in the Wall Street Journal perfectly exemplifies the correlation between employee satisfaction and profits. A small U.K. ad agency called Mother attributes much of its success to its egalitarian culture and employee perks. Its worker loyalty results in stable teams that have helped build solid customer relationships, to the point that clients arrive early for meetings just so they can hang out with the agency’s team members.

How can you boast the same type of relationships with your clients? When times are tight, many companies cut down on what they view as expendable spending on employees. Benefits are cut, holiday parties are scaled down, and bonuses fall by the wayside. Mother, on the other hand, has spared no expense to offer unusual perks like weekly massages, free hot lunches, a winter ski trip, three-month sabbaticals and days off for birthdays (and the day after Mother's Day, naturally). The result?

Making Good Impressions

Many factors come into play when determining a salesperson's level of success: There's strategy, networking ability, and experience to name a few.  But this weekend, I discovered the key to a successful sale has nothing to do with skill.

I visited a local mattress retailer this weekend in hopes of buying a new bed. Upon walking into the store, I was appalled at the appearance of the salesman who came up to assist me with my selection.  He was disheveled--wearing an old, faded suit that looked as if it were bought 30 years ago and never dry cleaned and scuffed worn-out shoes.  The hair on his head was muttled and greasy--I couldn't tell if he had too much gel or needed a good shower--and he smelled of stale cigar smoke that made my stomach queasy.

The entire time he spoke I was so busy focusing on how bad he looked I couldn’t even listen to what he had to say about the products.  I just wanted to get out of there, and  I left before he finished his spiel.  If the salesman had put more effort into his appearance, I could have been a sold customer--the bad first impression was enough to ruin any chance he had in making a sale.

Butt Out, Employers!

Fired for smoking?!  Sounds like fiction but it's true.  It happened to Anita Epolito, at Weyco Inc., an insuance benefits administator company, according to a previous news story from this year. 

Many states allow companies to legally hire and fire based on your life outside of work. Now with the push for health conscious staffers, companies have expanded the list of taboo off-hours endeavors to include smoking.  Weyco started testing its employees for nicotine last year and stopped hiring smokers entirely.  Employees who test positive are suspended without pay for a month and could lose their jobs with repeated violations. Weyco also recently expanded its regulations to include employee spouses, making the employee pay a fine if their spouse tests positive.

This “at-will” law is imposed in 20 states (the other 30 limit an employer's judgment to inside the office), but it's 20 too many.  How is that legal? I'm an adamant non-smoker and I am all for companies encouraging employees to be healthier--we all need a little push in that area. But to base someone’s job and livelihood on a non-work related habit is utterly preposterous.