Scripts Can be Hazardous to Your Sales Career
One of the negotiating points in the recent Verizon (formerly Bell Atlantic) phone strike revolved around the stress endured by customer service representatives (CSR) in following their scripts to the letter. According to a NY Times article, if there is any deviation from the script, the CSR could have points deducted from her performance score. In one case, an irate customer called and after having his problem resolved, told the CSR 'I hate Bell Atlantic, but you're the nicest rep...
Stinking Thinking Leads to Lousy Results
Did you ever hear of Stinking Thinking? I'm talking about all of the thoughts we are prone to have that pollute our minds and prevent us from achieving our goals. Here is an example: If I said to you don't think about Pink Elephants, what are you now thinking about? That's right! You are now consumed with the thought of Pink Elephants. The mind does not filter out our negative thoughts. Instead, when we think negatively by using the words...
Task vs. Purpose?
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...
John Chambers- CEO Cisco Systems
John Chambers-CEO of Cisco Systems Who leads the fastest growing company in the history of the computer industry? Answer: John Chambers. For the past 21 consecutive quarters, Cisco Systems reached it's profit expectations and has grown from annual revenues of $1.2 billion to $14 billion. According to Selling Power Magazine, Cisco enjoys the Titan position of controlling more than three quarters of the global market for products that link networks and form the hardware foundation for the internet. What's John...
Hello Pampered Chef
Last night, my wife hosted a Pampered Chef party. Basically this is an excuse to get your friends together under the guise of learning new recipes and discovering new gadgets to assist your culinary efforts. The party is actually run by an individual whose job is to present a cooking program and sell the culinary tools/utensils (gadgets). As the husband who felt totally out of place, I did the only thing I could; watch the presentation and critique the selling...
Houston, We Have A Problem
When a problem comes your way, what's your response? Many of us see problems as threats to our success and existence. We tend to spend a lot of time and energy worrying about them and the impacts they have on our business. When we look at problems in this light, we are not performing at peak levels. Problems are not threats. They are opportunities to do something different and create better results. Fact is most of us are paid to...
What— You Don’t Understand?
There are quite a few people who profess they don't speak foreign languages. Yet all of us have been in a situation where we felt we have clearly communicated our thoughts but might has well have communicated them in another language because the recipient was oblivious to what we said. You understand? The truth is many times we are speaking in a different language than what the listener is tuned into. It all has to do with how we listen....
So, How am I Doing?
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...
Charles Bernard Shaw
"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." Charles Bernard Shaw Translation- Titans know to succeed they must embrace the concept of change. If they want to do more than last year, then they must increase the level of their current actions or change their actions. If they are going to maintain their leadership role, they must be flexible and be willing to change with the markets.