My mom told us often, “A little appreciation goes a long way.”  How true that is!  And many people think it takes a LOT of  money and fanfare to show appreciation.  Not true! 

 Leaders, does this sound like you?

“This year has been tight, I have no budget to do the ‘extras’ to show my people I value them.”

Throughout 2009 I have had discussions with leaders thinking the same thing. I have encouraged and suggested that they find non-cash ways to appreciate and recognize their top performers. We discussed hand written notes, a small gift card for no reason, a lunch, a phone call to discuss them, not business, etc. 

Now, along comes the PERFECT way to show appreciation! Nominate your top performers to be a Sales All Star!!

AllBusiness.com has a monthly contest that you can use to publicly acknowledge your sales all stars. Details here:   

AllBusiness will honor the top-performing salespeople working hard in today’s competitive market. Just tell them about a salesperson in your network who deserves the limelight.

The panel of sales coaches and experts will select one salesperson each monthfrom among the nominees. That person will be profiled in a feature article for AllBusiness and our sister site, Hoover’s, and will receive free membership in a sales networking and coaching program. One annual winner will get a package of sales training and coaching programs, membership in Top Sales Experts, and additional tools and resources to continue developing their expertise and talent.

Think about it – how will they feel to know you nominated the for an international award?  GREAT! 

Want your meetings to stick?  Listen to Sales Meeting Best Practices, podcast on Salesopedia.com.  Clayton Shold interviews Alice Kemper and me on why sales meeting effectiveness is important today.  And some tips to make them helpful!

Listen for Sales Meeting Best Practices

While you are on the Salesopedia site, look around!  There is a lot of wisdom and sales tool ideas to help you end 2009 with a BANG!

In the sales, leadership and coaching courses I facilitate, I often hear that the participants want to do increase sales, be a better leader, and more but there is no time to _______ .  You can fill in the blank with a lot of things.  Most have to do with proactive activities or development – for themselves and their associates.

Throughout the course we discuss the need to empower and equip your associates and those around you for the long-term good of the company. Again and again I hear professionals express that they WANT to delegate more but they can’t because:

1. It takes too much time and I can get it done faster myself.
2. I don’t have anyone to delegate to.
3. My team isn’t ready to do some of the things I do.

Sound familiar?  (I think this occurs at work and home for many of us…) But what are we doing when we don’t give others the opportunity to grow, try something and succeed?  We rob them of the opportunities that these experiences provide.  We also rob ourselves of precious time.

I’m not just talking delegation to subordinates (though that term makes me cringe) I’m talking delegation to the RIGHT person for the job.  This may be a colleague, your boss. an assistant, another department, etc.   It’s getting the right things in the right person’s hands.

Whenever I think about time management, delegation and responsibility I immediately think of the great Harvard Business Review article called Who’s Got the Monkey?  It is a great visual of what happens when a “to do” is seen as a monkey that is crawling on your back, and how in the course of a conversation the monkey moves from shoulder to shoulder depending on who is taking or owning that responsibility.  It brings a great awareness of how easy it is to take a monkey that doesn’t rightfully belong to you. 

The monkey is something that can be robbed from others needlessly. When you keep the monkey on your shoulders, you are robbing yourself and them as I already mentioned.  The question then becomes, how to remove some things from your To Do and get them to the right people?  Well, TA DA!  My dear colleague, Jonathan Farrington of Top Sales Experts, put together a wonderful one-page “assessment” for you to assess your time robbers. 

If you are looking at your list for this week and wondering how it will all be accomplished, this assessment might be the place to start.  Look at what there is to do and then who should be doing it.  Of course getting rid of it might take some time and effort.   You might need to build a case on why that monkey belongs with someone else, and then teach them how to care for it before you can truly take that weight off your shoulders.

But who knows, in the long run you might just foil a monkey robbery…and get rewarded for it with time and appreciation.

What monkeys get stuck on your back? 

I highly encourage you to purchase the article…it’s timeless.

I firmly believe we only achieve our best when we have people around us who help us become better.  Sometimes that means these people need to give us information that we don’t want to hear.  Yet, it is just what we need.

I heard a speaker last week – Dr. John C. Maxwell – who summed up my experiences about this topic as he talked about the inner circle leaders need to succeed.  He went through several points of what it meant to have this inner circle lift instead of  only lean on you.  His examples were very good about surrounding yourself with the right people.  And part of having the right people is making sure that they are people who will tell you the truth.

I’ve been mulling over Dr. Maxwell’s lift vs. lean idea for days now and yesterday was reminded how important this is.  I’m in the process of finalizing a very short video to explain our exciting new launch next month.  The video process has been painful to say the least and I thought I was finally done.  Many who looked at it said it was just right…but I knew that something was off.

Never one to take the easy road, I decided to send it to someone who would give me the hard truth.  She reviewed the video…and gave all the positives everyone else did, but she took a step further  to point out an observation that brought my concern to the front.  It’s not what I wanted to hear, but it’s just WHAT I needed to hear.  The end result will be better for her honest feedback.

Of course I am not thrilled about going back to the drawing board, but I will…the outcome is that important!  You see, lifting someone doesn’t mean just agreeing with them or only pointing out the positive.  We can’t get better without hard truths or reflective questions. 

I have a strong personality, and some people shy away from telling me those hard truths…yet those are the people I respect the most. 

A couple of tough questions for you today:

1. Who do you have in your inner circle that will tell you the hard truth? 
2. Do you surround yourself with  “yes” people?
3. What does lifting mean to you?  Is it superficial or meaningful?
4.  How do you lift those closest to you – at work and home?

I heard a statement years ago that puts this all in perspective….”You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  Are you spending time with people that will help raise your “average?”

In sales, there are a lot of opportunities to turn negative, to make excuses and blame others – but the most successful pros don’t let their energy get zapped in those directions.   It does mean we need to carefully choose those to spend time with.  

We can choose to spend time with those that are lifters and not leaners.  Can’t find them at work?   Then turn to some of the social media or networking groups in your area to find professional, forward thinking and positive people .

The energy you gain from the time you spend with the right inner circle will help lift you to higher levels!

Click for a great article about the Inner Circle by Dr. John C Maxwell.

A Sales Builder Webinar – FREE for you!  If you are in a role where you need to coax the most productivity of salespeople you know it’s not easy.  Helping others succeed may be the toughest job there is! 

The question is, how do we increase sales through others?    

1. Set higher goals?
2. Tell them its a “do or die” year?
3. Buy them better tools like a Blackberry or faster laptop?
4. Help them discover their personal barriers to higher success?
5. Give them a u-rah-rah speech?
6. Help them build their success habits?

Our FREE webinar for anyone in the position to impact others’ sales results will provide you with tips that will allow your sales team to succeed.  This is for sales managers, presidents, business owners, HR managers and anyone who is ready to help others’ succeed this year!

We will share the “inside” secrets to help you:          

1. Increase the sales results of your team
2. Decrease your turnover and recruiting expenses
3. Maximize each person’s talents and abilities

February 3, 2009

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Central Time

Click here to register and reserve your spot!

And please share this FREE opportunity with other professionals that could use a boost in building their sales team!

Questions? call Nancy Bleeke at 414.422.1689. 

How does today impact what it takes to be a great manager?  The makeup of the labor force, the economy, and the culture are constantly changing.  What worked well 10 years ago (or even yesterday) might not be the best approach for today.  Great managers flex, they adapt, and are in tune with what is going on in business and their associates. 

In a meeting with a Fortune 100 Leader last week I was asked a great question: 

“From what you see in today’s economy, what do managers need to do for their associates to be successful?”

What a great question!  She knows that the world has changed and to be most valuable within her firm, she has to help managers with skills that matter TODAY!

4 WAYS to be a GREAT manager today:

• Be strategic.  Great managers survey the current landscape, look at what this means for the future and communicate how the associates can best contribute with their role.  They help their associates make the connection between where the company or department is going and what they need to do as an individual contributor along the way.
• Make the time for ongoing discussions (coaching) to help associates stay or become engaged.  There seems to be a lot of fear and apprehension in the workplace today about what is going on in business AND in everyday life.  To help associates stay productive and not let that fear derail them, great managers connect with individuals on a regular basis to find out what is important to them, review goal and activity progress and help them move forward.
• Show Flexibility.  One-size does not fit all.  Flexibility in all approaches are extremely important in our diverse workforce.  Schedules, responsibilities, expectations all need to flex to pull the most out of each person.  Great managers review current processes and rules to make sure that they are not barriers to future success – for the team and its’ members.
• Communicate.  Amazing how the same message to a group of people is “heard” so differently.  For each audience (whether 1 or 10) great managers carefully plan and practice to capture the right tone and words.  The Corporate Memo is overdone.  Today great managers utilize a variety of media when possible, teleconference,web-conference, live meetings, small groups, or a mixture  – to fit the needs of their group.  

These four approaches work no matter what the economy is doing…if you believe that the best way for YOU to succeed is to help your associates succeed.  The great managers of today help others be ready to contribute tomorrow. 

Yes, you read that right!  Increase the sales results and performance of your sales team in 2009 as you join sales experts, Nancy Bleeke and Lynn Zimmer for a FREE webinar.  An economic recession does not have to to spell doom and gloom for your sales results.

We will share the “inside” secrets to help Sales Managers:          

1. Increase the sales results of your team
2. Decrease your turnover and recruiting expenses
3. Maximize each person’s talents and abilities

Want to know how valuable this information is?  An attendee in November, Mark Friberg, said:

I would definitely recommend your business to friends and fellow workers. Both you and Lynn did a professional job and gave us valuable information that anyone in the business could use. Thanks for holding this quality seminar, I hope there are more to come! -        I will bring a friend.

Make a note on the details:

Thursday, January 22nd   

10:30-11:30 a.m. Central Time

And then click here to Register to ensure your spot!

Help your colleagues – forward this information so they can increase their team’s sales results too!

A powerful question isn’t it? What would happen if you reflected on this question before any interaction?

It’s exciting to start this blog for sales and service professionals to discuss and discover ideas and tools to help us be more productive, create stronger customer and employee loyalty and feel good about what we are doing! This blog will be successful with your comments, opinions and suggestions.

Our first topic is one of the foundational components of What’s in it for Them? – communication!

As the sender of any message, consider that the message sent is filtered by the receiver’s past experiences, style, mood and many other individual factors. As we identify the message we need to send, we should also consider how to best communicate it so that the filters will not distort it and our message is mis-read or mis-heard.

A phrase that I use to keep this focus is Communicate with people the way THEY want to be communicated with. It may not be grammatically perfect, but it works!

Consider your customer interactions – whether they are internal or external – what do you do so that your message is best heard by THEM?

Post a comment, share your knowledge, and let’s get the discussion started!