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Julie HansenConsultant

OCTOBER 2011

ExcellenceS A L E S A N D S E R V I C E

T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T E A M L E A D E R S H I P

RobustInnovation

RobustInnovation

The TKOInterview

The TKOInterview

ACT Like aSales Pro

ACT Like aSales Pro

The Benefits of Role-PlayThe Benefits of Role-Play“Sales and Service Excellence is a phenomenalresource for sales professionals who want to grow andachieve more in their careers.”—TTOOMM HHOOPPKKIINNSS, AMERICA’S #1 SALES TRAINER

M A N A G E M E N T / H I R I N G

views help upgrade hiring from aninclusive process to an elimination process,thus saving your valuable time.

The knockout interview begins beforeyou ever meet a candidate face to face.In fact, your goal is to avoid face timewith as many applicants as possible. Assoon as you receive the first stack ofrésumés, start looking for reasons to cutindividuals. Identify undesirables beforethey land a position on your payroll.

Hiring hastily can be extremely ex-pensive. If you have to let someone go,you face numerous expenses, includingadministrative costs, possible severancepay, and possible unemployment com-pensation. Then you must pay forattracting new candidates and trainingnew hires. And, you might have to payothers overtime to complete essentialtasks. When you’re more discriminating,

by Dave Anderson

HIRING NEW EMPLOYEEScan be challenging, con-

fusing, and expensive. Butwhen you use knockout interviews, youhire the right person without wastingtime, energy, or resources. Hasty hiringbrings eventual firing. If your currenthiring process consists of putting out ajob posting, sifting through résumés,and hiring the first person who doesn’tthrow up a major red flag during aninterview, consider a new approach—one that will save you time and moneyand help you hire the best of the best.

Making poor hiring decisions costsyour coffers and your culture dearly.It’s better to be temporarily short-staffed than to lower your standards.Learn to use the interview process toknock out the candidates who aren’tthe right fit for you, and you’ll end upwith a new team member who will bean asset to your brand, your morale,your momentum, and your productivi-ty for a long time to come.

The purpose of a knockout inter-view is to eliminate candidates fromconsideration using smart, rigorous,values-shaped standards, and to do itwithout wasting time. Knockout inter-

ExcellenceVolume 11 Number 10 The Magazine of Team Leadership October 2011

The TKO InterviewF i v e w a y s t o f i r e b e f o r e y o u h i r e .

S a l e s a n d S e r v i c e

you’re a better steward of resources.I used to think that I needed to talk

to many people in order to find a greatjob candidate. I’ve changed my thinking.Frankly, it’s exhausting to speak to a lotof people if they are the wrong people!I now judge the strength of my inter-view process by how few folks I meetface to face. Because of the knockoutinterview process, I am assured thatthe handful of people who make thecut are likely to possess the right stuff.

When using the knockout interview,keep these five things in mind:

1. Look for an ability to be faithfulin the little things. When it comes tohiring a new person to be a member ofyour team, no detail is too small tooverlook. How well people perform on the little things indicates how wellthey’ll perform on the big things. Asrésumés land on your desk, evaluatethis capability and look for reasons toput some of those résumés in the“reject” pile. You want to uphold yourstandards of excellence. Look for use ofunprofessional language and incorrectspelling. That’s a definite knockout!You don’t want these sorts of slip-upsofficially representing your company.

2. Make sure the candidate has theability to do the job. After you’ve cutthe dead weight, start conducting phone

JULIE HANSENACT Like a Sales Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3MICHAEL MCINTYREFive-Point Close . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4DAVE REEDTeamwork Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4JULIE STEELMANSelling Shyness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5DAVID M. MASTOVICHMobile Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6KATHERINE GRAHAM-LEVISSTop Sales Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6JOHN SWINBURNMystery Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

RHONDA R. SAVAGEFollow the Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8RANDY SCHWANTZNumbers Game? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8ROWAN GIBSONRobust Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9DAVID P. JONESClosing Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10BRYAN FLANAGANAsk Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10KEN KISHTaking the Lead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11AMY SHOWALTERUpside of Under . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

BARBARA HEMPHILLManage Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12ROBERT H. BLOOMVelocity of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13GEORGE F. BROWN, JR.Strategic Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14BILL HUMBERTYou Got the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14DANIEL W. RASMUSScenario Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15RICK KIRSCHNERCustomer Concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16MARK STEVENSPride and Profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

C O N T E N T S

interviews. Ensure that candidates commu-nicate clearly and respectfully, and can fulfillthe non-negotiables of the position. If youneed someone to work certain days or hoursor perform certain tasks, you’ll want to askapplicants about whether they’re availableto work certain days or hours, or if they’recomfortable performing specific tasks.

3. Let them do the talking. When doingface-to-face interviews, many employers tryto put interviewees at ease by doing most ofthe talking. However, your job isn’t to havea friendly chat—it’s to assess an applicant’scharacter and competency. Avoid: talkingtoo much—you need to learn about the can-didate; having a time-wasting, good-old-boy,get-acquainted session; conducting the inter-view as though it were a casual conversation;and degrading the interview into a sales pitch.Your aim is to evaluate past accomplishments,since past performance is much more tellingthan past experience. Try to determine keycharacter traits, talents, atti-tude, energy, and drive. Thosethings will strengthen or weak-en your team, not how gliblyshe can carry on a conversa-tion. If you don’t hear the can-didate articulately expressingthese critical components, thenit’s time for another knockout.

4. Look at their journey, nottheir location. Don’t judge ajob candidate by his location onlife’s ladder or by the stationshe has reached in life. Digdeeper; determine what he overcame to getwhere he is. Some people are given a gener-ous head start in life, while others mustnegotiate potholes, obstacles, and stumblingblocks. People who have had an easier roadthrough life may not have faced certain chal-lenges that can forge strength of characterand develop persistence. To find out, you’llhave to dig deep. You can’t judge this strict-ly by the job titles on a résumé.

5. Share your core values before hiring. Theobjective of the knockout interview is to find areason to say no to a candidate. By sharingyour core values, you may find that theyknock themselves out. Share core values andbehavioral expectations before extending anoffer. Let applicants know that you have non-negotiable standards for integrity, teamwork,attitude, attention to detail. Then describewhat these behaviors look like in practice,and be honest about the consequences fornot living up to these standards. Some peo-ple are repelled by character-driven compa-nies with high ethical standards. They realizethat their selfishness and dishonesty will bediscovered. Let these folks turn away volun-tarily before they’re on your payroll, wherethey’ll infect attitudes, lower morale, andundermine your own credibility as a leader.

Knockout interviews force candidates to

Volume 11 Issue 10

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2 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 W W W . L E A D E R E X C E L . C O M

show through their actions that they haveinitiative, that they really want the job, andthat they would like to work for your organi-zation. And since these techniques revealwhether a candidate is prepared or not,they’ll prevent your team members fromhaving to bail out an unqualified newcomer.

Seven Character TraitsWhen evaluating candidates, appearances

can be deceiving, and trusting your gut can turnout to be a costly mistake. Ask questions thatwill give you a true glimpse of a person’scompetency, strengths, weaknesses, and helpyou to assess whether candidates possessseven key character traits (you can teachskills and knowledge, but not character).

Trait 1: Truthfulness. Is there anythingwrong with telling a caller, vendor, or some-one else that someone is not in, even if he orshe is? Has a former boss ever asked you totell a white lie? How did you handle it?

Trait 2: Work ethic. Definefor me what you believe doinga good job is. A great job? Inyour last position, what task orproject do you believe you dida great job with? Be specific. Ex-plain why you feel it was great.

Trait 3: Teachability. Whatbooks, CDs, or DVDs do youhave in your personal library?What is the last serious bookyou read? What did you likeabout it? What have you appliedor changed as a result?

Trait 4: Keeping commitments. Underwhat circumstances is it acceptable to notkeep a commitment or to not do what yousaid you would do? What is the last commit-ment you failed to keep? Why?

Trait 5: Forgiving spirit. What is the hard-est thing you have had to forgive in theworkplace? How did you handle it? Are youstill dealing with it?

Trait 6: Timeliness and meeting deadlines.When was the last time you were late to any-thing? Why? How late were you? How didyou handle it? Do you believe that being lateis a sign of arrogance? Have you ever misseda deadline? Tell me about it.

Trait 7: Acceptance of responsibility. Youhave accomplished much. What factors haveprevented you from achieving even more?Do they accept responsibility by blaming theirown decisions, or do they shift blame to outsideconditions? We expect anyone working for usto take some risks, seize initiative, and makemistakes from time to time. Describe for mesome of the bigger mistakes you have madein past jobs and what you learned from them. SSE

Dave Anderson is president of Dave Anderson’s Learn to Leadand author of How to Lead by THE BOOK (Wiley). Visitwww.learntolead.com.

ACTION: Use knockout interviews to hire smart.

he will have a better understanding ofhis role, but he must take it even further.

Character identification. The actorsearches for something in his own cir-cumstances or experience that will helphim identify with the character inorder to convert an intellectual conceptinto an emotional feeling. This is a criti-cal step as many buying decisions arebased on, or influenced by, our emo-tions. Without this insight, many sales-people are often surprised when clientsmake choices that don’t seem to makesense based on the facts. Ultimately, themore we feel, as opposed to know whatit’s like to sit in our client’s seat, themore we can accurately address theirneeds and provide optimal solutions.

One example of the power of rehearsal-based role-playing occurred in the film,Kiss of the Spider Woman. Duringrehearsals, actors, William Hurt andRaul Julia, were having trouble estab-lishing a relationship—a central ele-ment in the movie; Hurt’s character, asensitive, flamboyant homosexual,shared little in common with Julia’shomophobic revolutionary. They couldnot find a connection to make the rela-tionship work. To better understandeach other’s character, Hurt suggestedthey rehearse by switching roles. Theresult: An Oscar for Hurt and the film.

Steeping role-playing in the funda-mentals of rehearsal changes it from ananxiety-producing exercise to please man-agement into a creative problem-solvingtool, a real learning experience. There’smuch talk about teamwork in sales, butin the end, sales is an individual sport. Ona call, a seller may struggle with a chal-lenge, unaware that the person in thenext cubicle has a solution. Rehearsal-based role-playing allows sellers to ben-efit from the group experience.

Even experienced actors need directionwhen role-playing, so why expect sales-people to effectively role-play without

giving them adequate instruction? Hereis the cast of a typical role-playing scenein sales and guidelines for each:• The Director, played by the sales

manager or a facilitator: Good directorsfoster a safe environment of acceptanceand experimentation during rehearsal.There is no right or wrong in rehearsal,since judgment inhibits the creativityand spontaneity necessary to make dis-coveries about ourselves and others. Toexperiment and take risks, salespeople,like actors, need to know they are freeto explore without fear of being judged.• The Client, played by a salesperson or

actor: Choose an actual client or prospectthat you know something about per-sonally and professionally. Imagine youare a specific individual with a unique setof circumstances, feelings, and needs,not a composite of your client list.

Identify your client’s circumstances.What do you really know about them?Do they drive to work or take the bus?Are they satisfied or dissatisfied withtheir job? Are they motivated by ambi-tion, money or service? Seek to form acomplete picture of this character. Stepinto your client’s shoes. Ask yourself,“What would I do if I were in this situa-tion? What would concern me, chal-lenge or excite me? What might I like tohear from a salesperson? Discover howyou—and your client—might think,feel and act within their circumstances.• The Salesperson, played by a sales-

person: Assume the client knows nothingor has forgotten everything about yourproduct or service. You may have calledon them for a year and presented pro-posals, but decision makers are delugedwith facts and figures from many sales-people. If they remember 10 percent ofwhat you tell them, you are fortunate.By starting with a blank canvas, youmay discover you’re making some falseassumptions that are keeping you fromprogressing with a particular client.

Stay in the moment and react as youwould—not as you think you should. Youwill learn more about yourself and yourclient if you keep it real. Also, your peerswill likely share valuable insight that willhelp you with specific challenges. (A salesmanager’s ability to create a safe envi-ronment plays a huge part in a seller’swillingness to let his guard down.)

While this new understanding of yourclients, greater awareness of your behav-iors, and access to more solutions maynot win you an Oscar, it will improveyour chances of winning the business! SSE

Julie Hansen is a sales trainer, speaker, and the author ofACT Like a Sales Pro! (Career Press). Visitwww.actingforsales.com or Julie@actingforsales.com.

ACTION: Role play to improve sales performance.

by Julie Hansen

WITH THE EXCEPTION OFcold-calling, are there

two words salespeople dreadhearing more than role-playing? Andyet, role-playing can be a very valuablesales tool (just not the way it’s nowused). While positioned as a learningexperience, most salespeople know bet-ter: role-playing is a test. A test of theirknowledge and their ability to articu-late selling points, handle objectionsand move to close—under the closescrutiny of a manager noting each fum-bled sell line or mishandled objectionand a group of peers, happy to sit backand watch someone else in the hot seat.

Under these artificial, high-pressureconditions, most sellers resort to theiracting experience—perhaps dating backto the 3rd grade—and perform a rolethey think is expected of them—a rolethat has little resemblance to them onan actual sales call. This is like a newactor being thrust into the spotlightwithout knowing the play, his lines orhis scene partner while the director andaudience watch expectantly. This ishow sellers learn to hate role-playing!

Traditional role-playing is a missedopportunity to step into clients’ shoes tobetter understand their motivations,needs and challenges. In acting, role-playing is a rehearsal tool—not a perfor-mance. It’s a chance for the actor to getto know his character, explore relation-ships with his scene partner, uncoversubtext and clarify intentions—withoutfear of judgment. Applying a rehearsal-based model to role-playing in salesallows us to get in touch with the deep-er emotions, desires or fears that maybe driving buyers’ actions, allowing usto more accurately target our message.

The steps an actor takes to preparefor a role in a play or film offer greatapplication for sales role-playing:

Role analysis. First the actor ana-lyzes his role, looking for experiences,feelings or circumstances that make uphis character in order to deliver anauthentic three-dimensional perfor-mance. In the same way, getting a bettersense of our client’s world helps us todevelop empathy and establish authen-tic rapport. After the actor has fullyexplored his character’s circumstances

ACT Like a Sales ProR o l e - p l a y t o r e h e a r s e p e r f o r m a n c e .

S A L E S / P E R F O R M A N C E

S A L E S A N D S E R V I C E E X C E L L E N C E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 3

Point 3: Provide a selling point.After you get the objection, you mustagree with it, overcome it, and thenprovide a strong selling point. Thisgives your prospect a reason to buyfrom an agreeable, smart person. Knowwhat your product offers your prospect.

Point 4: Create a sense of urgency.From the time you get an appointment,you need to create a sense of urgency,but in a way that never makes theprospect feel rushed or hurried. Youcan do this in subtle and not-so-subtleways. If you hear, “We never make asnap decision,” you might respond, “Iagree with you—you shouldn’t makea snap decision. However, you mayneed to make an efficient decision.”Tell a story or example that illustratesan efficient decision—one that achievesthe desired result with the minimumuse of resource, time or effort.

Point 5: Ask for the order, withouthesitation. Remember: Your prospectgave you the appointment; he’s listen-ed to you; you’ve gone through yourwarm-up and presentation; you haveovercome their objection and givengreat selling points. They are waitingfor you to make the decision for them—so make it, and ask for the order.

If, after you close, you get anotherobjection, restart the Five-Point Close.You can do it again and again and notmake the prospect mad— because youare agreeing with them, and they get to beright. Learn these points and practice sothe technique will work and help youmake the money you want to make. SSE

Michael McIntyre is president and CEO of BenefitsAmerica, and author of The Authentic Salesman: Master-ing the Art of Transforming Real Objections into RealTransactions. Visit www.theauthenticsalesman.com.

ACTION: Use the five-point close to sell more.

by Michael McIntyre

YES, DOCTORS MUST HEAL,artists must draw, singers

must sing, and preachersmust preach. Still, in any occupation,you’re a part of the great world of sales.

In 2009, Don Draper—the fictionalcharacter in the TV series Mad Men—was named the most influential man inthe world by Ask Men magazine. Why?He understands the desires of othersand uses this knowledge to effectivelypitch and sell ideas.

Don and I share three key life expe-riences that have helped mold our suc-cess: service in the military, humble be-ginnings in entry-level sales, and beingrainmakers. You may not have hadthese same experiences, but the Five-Point Close is the road map to success.It will sell everyone as long as theyhave two things: need and money.

Point 1: Let them be right! Neverallow your ego to drive your actions.When you emotionally invest in thepresentation, your first rejection canpunish your ego, devastate you, andlead you to act in a way that kills thesale. Suppose, for example, that you’vebuilt a rapport with the prospect andmasterfully presented your sales pitch.Then the prospect declares his inten-tion to think on your proposal or consult atrusted advisor, or object to the expense ofthe product. Here is what you do: agreewith them—whatever their objection.If you think that your prospect needs tobe right to feel good about making apurchase, let him be right. You are thereto make a sale and improve their livesin some fashion. When your prospectwants to take time to think or get advicefrom someone else, respond by saying,“You’re right—you should think aboutit or talk to your advisor.” When youdo this, you’ll be listening and valuingthe prospect’s concerns and questions.

Point 2: Overcome the objection.Overcoming objections is fun and easyonce you practice it. For some people,it’s natural; for others, it takes moreeffort to make it work smoothly. Practicemakes perfect. You may not get it rightthe first time; but each time you miss asale, you’ll learn something that willhelp you get it right often. If you get ano, dig for the objection. Don’t let a pro-spect say no without an explanation.

by Dave Reed

ONE KEY TO CREATING Aculture of exceptional

customer service is having atrue team. Few organizations everreach the ultimate level of teamworkand cooperation. The Dallas Mavericksare one of those teams! Their perfor-mance in the 2011 playoffswas a constant display of self-less actions and looking outfor fellow teammates.

The Mavericks beat onesuperstar team after another,including the Lakers, in fourstraight games. Then elimi-nated the Miami Heat, anunbeatable team of superstars.

How did the Mavericks take a teamof players from different backgroundsand with average talent and win it all?It was through incredible teamwork.

Let’s look at four keys that con-tributed to the victory.

1. Spread the load. Even a talentedplayer like Dirk Nowitzki can have anoff night. When it appeared he was abit off on his shot, other players likeJason Terry stepped up and had careergames. Knowing he was off, Dirk shift-ed his game to assists and defense, let-ting his teammates grab the spotlight.

2. Celebrate success. The Maverickstars, when interviewed after a win,would deflect the credit to other mem-bers of their team. I never heard them

say, “I did this” or “I did that.” It wasalways about the team. Mark Cubaneven gave the honor of accepting thetrophy to former owner Don Carter!

3. Believe in each other. Unlike someother NBA teams who went down inthe playoffs, the Mavs are not full ofindividual egos who were only con-cerned about their stats and image.Every Mav respected the skill andcontribution of each other. They knewhow important the bench playerswould be to make their ultimate goal.

4. Keep focused on a common goal.Even after sweeping the defending

champion Lakers, the Mavslimited their celebration,knowing they were not done.The owner and coachesreminded them that every-thing they worked for from thepreseason was to win it all.They focused on that goal!

Mavericks coach RickCarlisle said: “They made a

statement. It’s not about our team butthe game. Playing it a certain way.Trusting the pass. Believing in eachother. Our team isn’t about individualability but collective will and collective grit.”

If you do well in customer service andleadership, you will ultimately be success-ful. Does your team have what it takesto win? As a leader, serve your peopleand communicate a vision or teamgoal. Hire employees who care abouteach other, foster teamwork, and giveteammates the freedom and creativityto assist each other when possible. SSE

David Reed is CEO of Client Centered ConsultingGroup. Visit www.cccginc.com.

ACTION: Create a winning sales/service team.

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S A L E S / C L O S E

M A N A G E M E N T / T E A M W O R K

Five-Point CloseYou sell, regardless job title.

Teamwork LessonsLearn from the NBA Mavericks.

have to. When pitching a service orproduct, make sure you include thesefive elements: 1) explain clearly andconcisely what you do best; 2) letthem know how what you offer willbenefit them; 3) make an honest state-ment about why you love what youdo; 4) ask a question that pulls theminto the conversation; and 5) talk tothem as if they are your ideal customer.

2. Don’t be pushy; be irresistible.There are three ways to add flair toyour pitch without having to be superoutgoing, wildly charismatic, oraggressive: 1) show them that you“get” them. Do this by listening care-fully and being empathetic;2) spice up your wordchoice so they’re intriguedabout how you canimprove their life; and 3)humanize your pitch byhelping them understandwhy you care so much.

3. Share your own “aha”moment. The fastest way toenchant and engage yourcustomer is to tell enoughof your own story so you earn theirtrust to take the next step. When asoft-spoken or introverted persontalks about that precise momentwhen she realized this product waslife changing for her, the impact canbe electrifying—much more so thanwhen the same type of information isloudly trumpeted.

4. Write it and rehearse it in frontof the mirror. Write, rewrite, and keeptweaking your pitch until you wantto pump your fists and exclaim,“Yes!” Once you think you have it,stand in front of the mirror and repeatit many times. Did you like it? Did itmake you feel great? Would you wantto hear more if you were a customer?If not, keep working on it and trustthe process; it will come to you. Agreat pitch will make even the shyestamong us feel exalted and energized.

5. Get them talking. If you’re a shyperson, you already know this tech-nique! But did you know that gettingyour customer to talk is the singlebest way for a salesperson to make agreat impression? Ask them questionsthat show you care and that demon-strate that you’re interested in helping

them. Create some preplanned ques-tions and memorize them. For exam-ple, you might ask: What’s yourbiggest challenge with XYZ? Do youcurrently use XYZ, and if so, are youhappy with it? In a perfect world, whatfeatures would you want in an XYZ?

6. Have conversation starters at theready. Sometimes shy people gettongue-tied and don’t know how toinitiate dialog. Once you’re in a con-versation, you’ll usually do fine. Findone or two conversation starters thatfeel natural for you.

Here are three examples:• Turn a compliment into a question:

Wow, I really like the way you saidthat, and it seems like you have a greatgrasp of your niche. Do you thinkyou’re getting the most out of yourXYZ, in terms of making money?• Use an observation: I notice you have

tons of loyal followers. How’s socialmedia working for you in terms of get-

ting new customers?• Ask them for advice: May

I ask you something? Itseems you’ve enjoyed greatsuccess with your local adsand have more customersthan you can handle. Howdo you choose which cus-tomers to work with?

Selling Is EasyThe selling relationship

starts with understanding a buyer’spain points—and then using a heart-led approach to selling. I developedthe easy-to-master Effortless YES!Selling System to help you overcomeyour aversion to selling in an honest,transformational and interactive style. Ideveloped this unique brand of sellingby combining my sales expertise withmy understanding of buyer psycholo-gy and seasoned it with street smarts.

I know that the Effortless YES!Selling System works. For example, inone instance, I unlocked a two-yearstalemate between a major movie stu-dio and a popular search engine, clos-ing a two-year, $3,500,000 deal. Inanother example, I turned an apologymeeting, with one of the biggestbrands, into a long-term multi-milliondollar deal leaving with the first$1,000,000 in hand. I offer these power-ful principles to assist you in gettingthe sales you want and to make all themoney you’ll ever need. SSE

Julie Steelman ($100 million in sales during a 30-yearcareer) is author of The Effortless Yes: Get the Sales YouWant and Make All You’ll Ever Need (Franklin-GreenPublishing). Visit www.juliesteelman.com.

ACTION: Overcome your sales shyness.

by Julie Steelman

WHAT IF THERE WAS A NEW,dignified definition of

selling that made it easy tosell with heart—and to naturally winclients over with enthusiasm and pas-sion? It would then be possible thatour businesses would not only suc-ceed, but flourish. We would joyfullyembrace selling, and have viable busi-nesses that earn us a lavish income.

We would overcome any aversionto selling and prosper for the longterm. And isn’t that why we take therisk to be in business—to gain lifelongfinancial freedom for ourselves? Afterall, the heart and soul of every busi-ness is the giving and receiving ofproducts or services in exchange forpayment. Without this cash flow, thereis no business. Instead, only a charityor expensive hobby would exist.

Here is my new definition of sellingthat will change your outlook forever:Selling is the ability to convert customerinterest into an opportunity to serve, helpor enhance another’s life by offering exper-tise and talent—in the form of productsand services—in exchange for payment.

Yes, selling is an opportunity toserve. I know that sounds radical andrevolutionary; that’s the point. In sales,it has long been thought that extro-verts outperform introverts. But a newstudy from Wharton found that intro-verted people outpace their extrovert-ed peers—when they are able to leadothers who are highly proactive.

As a salesperson, if you can turnyour customers into proactive buyersworking to achieve your objective—meaning, to help them solve a prob-lem—then being shy, quiet, orintroverted may have several advan-tages. For example, introverts are typi-cally good listeners, they’re humble,and they don’t oversell—all greatqualities in a salesperson.

Six Proven TechniquesHow can a shy salesperson engage

a customer? Here are six techniquesthat can work for you.

1. Craft a shyness-proof pitch. Ifyou’ve crafted a compelling pitch, itwill speak volumes and you won’t

Selling ShynessS i x w a y s t o o v e r c o m e i t .

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• Connect. Think in terms of healthand fitness apps. The user has anongoing, positive connection with thecompany. You can achieve regularmarketing touches in a non-marketingmanner through feel-good connections.• Trace and optimize. When custom-

ers use your app, you have informa-tion to track and trend. Plus, your apphelps with Search Engine Marketing(your company name is online more).

Before you jump on the mobile appbandwagon, consider your options.Since today’s smart phones have morecapabilities, you might achieve goalsmore cost-effectively by creating a mobileversion of your website. For example,Wikipedia’s mobile site is tailored to fitthe size of the screen it’s viewed on andseems more user friendly than the app.

If you decide to develop a mobileapp, make it about them—customers:

• Identify the target market for the appand why they would use or need it.• Provide fresh, updated content that

adds value for users. Announce spe-cials and provide new information.• Make it convenient. Build an app

for each mobile phone platform so it isavailable for anyone who wants to use it.• Ensure the app does something and

isn’t just a mobile website. Otherwise,why make the big investment?• Get the word out about the app. Tell

customers about it, and give them acompelling reason to use it, using e-mail,text, Twitter, and your website.

Assess the mobile app options andenhance your mobile presence now. SSE

David M. Mastovich is President of MASSolutions,integrated marketing, and author of Get Where YouWant to Go. Visit massolutions.biz.

ACTION: Explore your mobile app options.

by David M. Mastovich

SMART PHONES NOW ACCOUNTfor 27 percent of the mobile

phone market led by nearly50 million iPhone or Android users.These people want to communicatewhatever they want, whenever they want.Thus we see more than 500,000 mobileapps. Does your business need one now?

Many business apps exist.• When it comes to food, apps are a

natural fit. In its first three months, theDomino’s Pizza app generated morethan $2 million in orders. The appmade it easy and fast to order andengaged customers with chances towin prizes. Restaurants can featuremenus and allow users to make reser-vations. Other apps help people findrestaurants, and some even show pho-tos of dishes people have uploaded.• Nike Training Club is targeted at

women and designed to be a full-bodytraining app with workouts and drillsfocusing on strength, cardio and coretraining. Local fitness centers post theworkout of the day to motivate mem-bers. Health and fitness club “finderapps” help travelers locate a gym andget a workout in while on the road.• Entertainment, music, books, maga-

zines, and birthday, anniversary andholiday gift shopping are often donevia mobile. The value of digital andphysical goods people will buy withtheir mobile phones will reach $200 bil-lion globally by 2012. Amazon’s appcompares prices from local retailers fora million products sold on Amazon.com.

These examples and others showhow apps can help you achieve:• Brand. Many first-to-app companies

were ones with famous brands like Nike,Coke and Domino’s. Since Apple pret-ty much created the app space, there’sa cutting edge or coolness factor associat-ed with having an app. By creating anapp and marketing it via multiplechannels, you can enhance your brand.• Please. Consumers want convenience.

You can make or keep customers happyby making their lives easier. If they canlearn about and buy from your compa-ny quickly and easily, you can pleasethem. When you provide them withvaluable, timely information, you keepthem happy and your company (andapp) becomes a part of their routine.

by Katherine Graham-Leviss

IN TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES,companies could save a

lot of money if they only approachedtheir hiring in a more scientific way.

Often companies have their hiringmanagers looking at job candidates’technical skills and experi-ence. What they ignore arethe soft skills and problem-solving skills that are the dif-ference between a mediocreand a stellar worker.

An evidence-based assess-ment system would solve thisproblem. The expense of suchassessments pales in compar-ison to the time and money managerswaste on people who don’t produce.

Managers often find out too latethat new salespeople lack negotiationskills, can’t manage their work prop-erly, or can’t create a presentation:They can’t do the very things thatdefine their jobs! Managers shouldlook at several factors when hiring afirm to set up an assessment system:• Is there a benchmarking compo-

nent? The assessment system shouldinclude a benchmarking componentto help you define the skills and abili-ties most important to the job.• Is it validated and tested for selec-

tion and development? There shouldbe validation studies showing that the

tool is reliable and valid.• Does it comply with professional

and legal requirements in order to min-imize risk? The tool should be validat-ed according to American PsychologicalAssociation, Society for Industrial andOrganizational Psychology, and EqualEmployment Opportunity Commissionstandards.• Does it measure multiple areas? By

measuring one or two areas, you can’tget a complete picture of a candidate.• Does it include interview questions

for hiring managers? The benchmark-ing component should tailor interview

questions. An assessmentsystem needs to be part of theprocess, not the whole process.

• Can you compare multiplecandidates? Most good sys-tems should allow you topush a button to see compari-son charts.

• Does the data contain aretention and development

focus? The assessment system shouldallow you to set up a plan for improv-ing new workers once they are hired.

After years of consulting, I pio-neered a state-of-the-art approach tohelp companies hire, manage andretain valuable talent. Working withscientists and psychologists, I devel-oped XC InSight, a competency-basedselection and development systemmeasuring human performance. Use itas a tactical guide to hiring, develop-ing, and retaining top sales talent. SSE

Katherine Graham-Leviss is a speaker, trainer, coach,founder of XB Consulting, and author of The PerfectHire (Entrepreneur Press). For more information,visit www.xbconsulting.com.

ACTION: Hire the top sales talent.

M A R K E T I N G / M O B I L I T Y

M A N A G E M E N T / H I R I N G

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Top Sales TalentGet scientific in your hiring.

Mobile AppsConsider your options.

little while, the customer will followfor a much longer period of time later.

Your company likely devotes con-siderable costs to surveys, marketresearch and the like. Having that datais an invaluable first step in customerexperience management. Think of mys-tery shopping as the central lynchpinthat backs up that investment.

When evaluating the customer expe-rience management process, considerthis six-step sequence: 1) learn aboutcustomer needs, desires,and expectations—datamining, surveys, and focusgroups; 2) develop andimplement or adjustprocesses and policies tomeet or exceed their expec-tations—brand promise; 3)measure whether you areadhering to your brandpromise—mystery shop-ping; 4) adjust policies andprocesses to correct deficiencies, asidentified by the transparent mysteryshopping process; 5) measure whetheryou are satisfying customers—phonesurveys, comment cards, web surveys,IVR, phone surveys, and mail-out sur-veys; and 6) repeat, starting at Step 1.

While surveys, comment cards andother means of asking specific ques-tions of consumers generate valuabledata, they do not provide the completeand accurate picture of the customer expe-rience—taking into account issues andpolicies that are important to you, yourcompany and your brand promise. Thecollective data of mystery shoppingoften reveals revenue generatingopportunities for your organization.

Consider this example from one of ourmember companies, LRA Worldwide.LRA measures the customer experiencein hotels—where success rises and fallswith customer satisfaction. LRA enter-ed a contract with a Top 10 hotel brandthat had worked hard to restructure itsfront-desk protocol for its loyalty pro-gram members. LRA was tasked withmystery shopping each location to ensurestaff at the front desk was adhering tothe new protocol and policies. Hotelsare built around brand promises, andthis chain realized that measuring thatpromise by evaluating loyalty programcustomer experiences at each locationwas key to making them truly loyal.

The first results were extremely poor.As frequently can be the case with newprocesses, the employees were not per-forming at an optimal level. Since themystery shopping program revealed the need for additional training, moreextensive training was implemented bythe hotel chain. With each new round of mystery shops, the service level atthe front-desk improved. But evenwhen they were performing at high-levels, the mystery shopping revealed a critical oversight: associates, whileproviding excellent service, includingfree upgrades and other rewards, didnot indicate that those rewards were aresult of a guest’s membership in theloyalty program. For example, anemployee might say, “Mr. Smith, I hope

you enjoy your stay with us.Because we value your busi-ness, we’re upgrading youto a suite and hope you findit to your liking.”

While creating goodwill,this communication fails toconnect the benefits of beinga loyalty club member withactual membership. A sim-ple change in wording cre-ates that bond: “Mr. Smith,

because you are a platinum member in ourguest loyalty program, I can offer you afree upgrade to a suite for your stay.”This is a small, but distinct, differencethat reminds the guest that his or hermembership in that loyalty programearned the rewards that other guests,or repeat customers, would not enjoy.

Through that simple word change, thehotel’s brand promise to its loyalty mem-bers was bolstered. But it required manyrounds of evaluation and adjustments.

Mystery shopping enables managersto have eyes and ears beyond typicalcustomer tools. Surveys often promise a chance to win a prize or a discount on a future purchase. Those incentivesboost the odds that the survey taker willspeed through the process, not providingthe insight you hope to receive. Expertmystery shoppers know what they arelooking for before they begin the trans-action and have customer service top of mind.

Remember: The customer always hasthe right of way—follow them and seewhere they are taking you. Only thenwill you know what they prefer and whatmakes them take action, and whetheryou are delivering those factors. SSE

John Swinburn is Executive Director of the MysteryShopping Providers Association. Visit www.tommcfee-ley.com or email tom@tommcfeeley.com.

ACTION: Engage in some mystery shopping.

by John Swinburn

THE PHRASE—the customeris always right—is all too

familiar; in fact, even callingit a cliché might qualify as a cliché. Thepoint is the customer’s voice—particu-larly the collective customer voice—can-not, and should not, be ignored. In fact,most organizations tailor their customer-facing policies and training programs large-ly on what they believe the customer expects,or would respond to, in the sales and serviceprocesses. Companies also make a brandpromise to customers. If you don’t knowwhat your brand promise is, you have alot of work to do. Once you clearlyarticulate the brand promise, you mustmeasure how effectively it’s being met.

Often organizations do not measurethe actual customer experience. Only by un-derstanding what customers face wheninteracting with your salespeople orother reps can you make critical adjust-ments (or complete overhauls) to customerservice delivery. If you shift your think-ing from “The customer is always right” to“The customer always has the right of way,”you’ll have a complete roadmap to keep-ing truly satisfied and loyal customers.And, your bottom line will benefit.

Mystery shopping is the clearest andcleanest way to get a true measure ofwhat’s happening on the transactionallevel. It’s a management tool that veri-fies whether operational policies arecarried out in practice. It measures theextent to which the company’s brandidentity is reinforced at the customerlevel. Mystery shopping can uncovermisalignments in corporate policies thatactually degrade customer service.

While you might think mysteryshopping is as simple as identifyingwhether an associate is wearing a name tagor whether a sales person asked about buy-ing the extended warranty, it can digmore deeply into the customer experi-ence and reveal big improvements notconsidered when putting a mysteryshopping program together. If customerexperience management is a continualpriority in your organization ratherthan simply providing occasional snap-shots in time, you will logically followthe customer to an improved process.In other words, the customer alwayshas the right of way; if you follow for a

Mystery ShoppingC u s t o m e r s h a v e t h e r i g h t o f w a y .

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you don’t recognize a check, questionit. A different staff person should stuffthe envelopes and mail the payments.

5. Establish office policies. Makedeposits daily, close and balance eachday, bill as services as rendered, andsend periodic statements if purchas-ing extends over time. Review monthlyreports. Each month should be closedbefore running the reports to preventchanges. Write pre-numbered receiptsfor all cash payments and monitorpetty cash. Do not allow employees towork extended hours and establishpassword control for areas like payroll.

6. Watch your overhead numbers.Learn to read financial statements andknow the basic overhead numbers.Common fraud/embezzlement schemesinvolve: double payment for supplies,creation of fake vendors, obtainingpreauthorized credit cards in your

name, using them to pay personal bills,and developing ways to pay the creditcard. Run periodic credit checks onyourself and watch open lines of credit.

7. Be fair, consistent, and honest.You can expect your staff to modelyour behavior. Don’t take office sup-plies home. If you take personal calls,surf the Internet, or run a side businessyour team will do the same.

8. Stop time embezzlement. Set a pol-icy regarding cell phone and Internet use,and abide by it. People who embezzletime hurt your bottom line, and impactthe business. Productive members ofthe team resent loafers, and moraleplummets, along with productivity.

Take these steps to reduce risk. SSE

Rhonda Savage, Ph.D., is a speaker and CEO for aconsulting business. Visit www.MilesGlobal.net oremail Rhonda@MilesandAssociates.net.

ACTION: Take these preventative measures.

by Rhonda R. Savage

WITH THE ECONOMY IM-proving, you may be

so busy training new staffmembers that you delegate the book-keeping. As time passes, you noticediscrepancies and discover that yourtrusted bookkeeper has been embez-zling money from the company.

Embezzlement is common, and oftendifficult to detect. It’s a crime of trustand opportunity. A person who is trust-ed is placed in a position that allowsaccess to the financial data, typicallywith minimal oversight. To preventembezzlement, first be honest yourselfand lead by example. Pay employeeswell and treat them well. And, hire theright people. Check references and crim-inal backgrounds. Consider obtainingfidelity bond insurance coverage on peo-ple before having them handle money.

Here eight wise practices:1. Assign designated duties. Do not

have only one person handle incomingmail, deposits, balance the checkbookand send statements. The owner needsto handle or outsource payroll, taxpreparation, balancing the checkbookand management of the accounts pay-able. If the owner outsources this workto a bookkeeping company, he needsto practice the same due diligence ofinspecting the bookkeeper’s work.

2. Review reports. Every day, youshould have an end-of-day report, anadjustment report, a history of pay-ment that breaks down cash receipts,credit card payments, checks and out-side financing for services on yourdesk. Compare the deposit slip receiptto the deposit. Do an occasional mini-audit of the books. Ask questions toshow employees you keep a watchfuleye. These checks take 10 minutes.

3. Review the bank statement.Inform your staff that they are not toopen any mail from a bank. Scan thechecks that were written. Your signa-ture should be on each check.

4. Know where your money is going.If an employee is processing accountspayable, develop a system for yourmail. Put the incoming mail in one loca-tion. Review the bills and put them inan in-basket for accounting to process.Have them print the checks and attachthem to the invoice, then sign them. If

by Randy Schwantz

MOST SALES MANAGERSmanage their sales-

people (producers) basedstrictly on the numbers. It takes Xcalls to quote, and Y quotes to get asale. Simple enough. So when salesperformance is lacking, what do youdo? You tell them to makemore calls. After all, if salesis a numbers game, thendoubling your number ofcalls will certainly yieldmore sales results, right?

This doesn’t work. Why?Sales is not just a simple num-bers game. Effective sales pro-ducers are efficient with theirtime. They focus on calls that are like-ly to produce sales. They don’t wastetime on dead ends. People buy becausethey have a problem that needs to besolved. Effective producers expose theproblem and provide the solution.

If you want your sales producersto be effective, you have to look firstat what’s motivating them. With eachsalesperson, sit down and create afuture. Where do they see themselvesin one, two, and five years? What dothey really want? What is the pathwayto get there? Usually it will involvegrowth. If you can start to quantifythat growth and show them how toachieve that growth and make it real,that’s motivating. When you make it

crystal clear, your sales producers arenow looking at the goal that they want.

Once you have your sales producersmotivated, ask: Who are they calling?How are they qualifying them? Whatare they selling? How are they selling?Ask! Don’t assume that They are profes-sionals—they should know how to sell.Assume nothing! They might bristle.That’s okay. Your job is to train them.

Are your sales producers sellingwhat you want them to sell? Sometimesproducers get caught in the trap ofselling anything and everything. Thisdoesn’t work—it just leads to someone

blaming someone else.Are your producers compet-

ing on price? If so, is thatwhere you want to compete?Price selling is not sustainable.Help your producers to devel-op a strategy to win the busi-ness. Ask them why theprospect needs them. If theycan’t answer this question,

they are likely just quoting and hop-ing. Each account requires its ownstrategy and preparation. Developeach strategy so that you clearly differ-entiate yourself from the incumbent onproactive service rather than on price.

Then what? You can probablyguess—practice. Rehearse. Role play-ing here is critical; once your sales pro-ducers practice it a few times, that’swhen the real performance occurs.

Try these tips in your sales organi-zation—you will see that it soon makesa difference in the bottom line. SSE

Randy Schwantz is CEO of The Wedge Group. Call214-446-3209. Email Randy@thewedge.net.

ACTION: Help your salespeople be productive.

M A N A G E M E N T / M O N E Y

S A L E S / N U M B E R S

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Numbers Game?If you think so, think again!

Follow the MoneyPrevent fraud and embezzlement.

the responsibility for generating newideas—and developing new businessstrategies. One useful tool is DiscoverySuite— based on my systematic FourLenses of Innovation methodology.

3. Rewards and recognition. I don’tnecessarily mean financial incentives,although these may play a role. Formost people, the biggest reward frominnovation has nothing to do withmoney. It has to do with the sheer joy ofcreating something new, of followingtheir exciting idea. Beyond giving peo-ple an incentive to generate ideas,give them the chance to make theirideas happen, and recognize them fortheir contribution—perhapsat an annual innovationawards ceremony—even iftheir idea doesn’t pan out.

4. Coaching and mentor-ing. Would-be innovatorsneed to know where they cango to get coaching and advicefrom an impartial mentor—not their boss—who canhelp them build their idea,qualify it, and get it into asystem where it can be funded, nur-tured, and developed.

When these four enablers becomepart of a system for innovation, theycreate a culture of breakthrough ideas.

Drive Innovation DemandWhat about the demand side of inno-

vation? To drive innovation demand,observe these five guidelines:

1. Make your senior leadersresponsible and accountable for inno-vation. Create incentives for them tomentor and nurture prospective inno-vators within their ranks. Jeff Immelt,CEO of GE, makes it clear that heexpects his divisional presidents toown the innovation agenda in theirarea of responsibility, and he takesthem to task on this when they meetwith him every quarter. He has evenchanged their compensation pack-ages, tying remuneration to their abil-ity to spur innovation inside theirbusinesses. The pressure to innovatemust be real and tangible to man-agers (much like the pressure to meetthe numbers). Senior executives mustbe held directly accountable for theinnovation processes.

2. Budgeting—tell your operationsmanagers to set aside a certain percent-age of their capital or budget for pro-jects that are radically innovative,without relaxing their normal perfor-mance objectives. Tell them they needto develop a dual focus—both on short-term performance and long-term growth.While difficult, this is key to makingmanagers accountable for innovation.

3. Tie management compensation(remuneration and reward) to innova-tion performance. Unless compensationis linked to innovation, you can’t expectbusiness unit leaders to make innovation apriority. By changing performance met-rics and management compensationpackages to make them pro-innovation,you measurably improve your capacityto create new business opportunities.

4. Set bold growth targets. Companiesdon’t usually outperform their aspirations.The beliefs of your employees set theupper limit on what’s possible. If your

expectation for top-linegrowth is pinned to theindustry average, all youwill get is average perfor-mance—people will contin-ue to do things the sameway, perhaps tweaking abit. If you give your divi-sional executives unreason-able growth targets—irrespective of the intrinsicgrowth rates of the mar-

kets—they’ll likely find innovativeways to dramatically outperform theaverage. They’ll be forced to think differ-ently and do things differently.

5. Create meaningful challenges thatspeak to employees’ hearts and heads.For example, a challenge like How canwe increase our earnings per share by 20percent? won’t inspire as much innova-tion as the challenge you regularlyhear at Apple: How can we change theworld? Driving innovation demand isnot purely about the numbers.

Once employees get the feeling thatthey are part of a vibrant, innovative com-pany that is out to make history, and notjust profits; once they get hooked on theexcitement and energy of innovation,they begin to demand more innovationfrom themselves and their peers. Thus,the demand for innovation ceases to bethe sole province of the C-Suite. Allemployees begin to drive innovation,because they believe that their compa-ny can make a dent in the universe. SSE

Rowan Gibson is a speaker, strategist, and bestsellingauthor of Innovation to the Core (Harvard BusinessSchool Press) and an expert on radical innovation. Visitwww.rowangibson.com, or email rg@rowangibson.com.

ACTION: Boost your innovation capacity.

by Rowan Gibson

TO BUILD AND SUSTAIN Arobust innovation capa-

bility, you need to carefullymanage both the supply side and thedemand side of innovation. By supply Imean the sheer flow—and the quali-ty—of new ideas entering your inno-vation pipeline and moving through itsvarious stages. By demand I mean thenatural, reflexive pull for those ideaswithin and across the businesses.

When supply is low, you tend to seea kind of idea inflation. Opportunitiesare presented (often unintentionally)with an inflated sense of their value,since there are few other viable growthopportunities in the portfolio to pur-sue. The inherent risk is that you investheavily in mediocre ideas—onesunlikely to drive revenue growth.

When demand is low—when you’reunable to naturally and reflexively res-pond to, nurture, and act on potentialgame-changing opportunities—innova-tion withers. Innovators become cynicaland discouraged as they watch theirprojects go nowhere. This dries up theflow of new ideas entering the pipeline.

Managing the supply and demandside of innovation is a critical balanc-ing act—one that must be mastered todramatically boost innovation outputs.Here are some helpful principles.

Maximize the Supply SideFirst, you maximize the supply side

of innovation by ensuring that a surfeitof new ideas and opportunities isbeing sourced inside the organizationas well as beyond its borders. Outline aset of actions your company can initi-ate to boost the quantity and quality ofideas entering the pipeline. In addition,enlist four innovation enablers.

1. Innovation training. Often employ-ees are asked to submit creative ideas,but not trained to think like radicalinnovators. By contrast, appliance giantWhirlpool has trained tens of thousandsof its people in the skills and the toolsof innovation—employing e-learning.

2. IT infrastructure. Several tools andtechnologies can help create a sharedspace for connection, conversation, andcollaboration around innovation. Ideamanagement systems help distribute

Robust InnovationB a l a n c e s u p p l y a n d d e m a n d .

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undermines hitting the sales quota.Most hiring managers get a sense of

the Dark Side qualities after they makea hiring decision and see people on thejob. The payoff comes in measuringthese tendencies before making a hiringdecision, reducing the risk of failure.

I designed assessment-based hiring toolsfor sales professionals and accountmanagers with a client who trackedthe tools’ results over two years. Newhires were tracked to evaluate theirsales performance. Salespeople withan extreme inclination toward buildingrelationships and pleasing others actuallysold 20 percent less. Too much time wasdevoted to pleasing rather than selling.

Salespeople with Dark Side tenden-cies—bold, colorful, mischievousness—exceeded their sales targets at the highestrate, beating those low on these quali-ties by more than 30 percent. These em-

ployees take on their sales prospects,drive at changing their views, and chal-lenge them. However, those too high onboldness also turn over at a higher rate.Do you want to hire those who producefar higher sales, but turn over at a high-er rate, or give up sales gains in orderto lower the rate of turnover?

Being bold leads to more sales andlower turnover, if employees are smarterthan they are bold.

Those who focus on the relationshipside of the sale produce less. Those whochallenge, drive, and take center stagewin more. But the trick is not lettingboldness outshine smartness. It takesboth to find real winners; the payoff islarger than most managers imagine. SSE

David P. Jones, Ph.D., is founder of HRStrategies andpresident of Growth Ventures, a human capital adviso-ry firm, and author of Million Dollar Hire (Jossey Bass).

ACTION: Hire the best talent to close more sales.

by David P. Jones

THE QUALITY OF THE SALESforce makes or breaks the

business. Salesperson successdefines company success (and failures cankill business). Hence, many companiesspend more money attracting salescandidates, evaluating their qualifica-tions, and deciding who to hire thanthey do with management positions.

But ask managers what qualitiesdrive sales success and you hear manyopinions. Some say it takes deep prod-uct or service knowledge; some say it’sdrive; others look for people who buildrelationships; a few say it’s all thesethings. Lots of opinion, but few facts.

Sales and hiring managers tend tofocus only on the Bright Side of thecandidate, on positive characteristicssuch as intelligence, drive, boldness,achievement—areas where more is better.

To improve the odds of finding thebest sales talent, you need to captureinformation about the candidate’sDark Side—where more can be worse.This reduces the rate of failure, turn-over, and derailment that comes withmaking the wrong hiring decision.

By measuring a candidate’s DarkSide, you can identify tendencies thatflower when people come under stress,pressure, or new demands—part of asalesperson’s everyday life. Candidatesinclined toward perfectionism and a nearobsession with pleasing their sales targetsactually sell less. And those too high onthe boldness and mischievousness dimen-sions turn over at a far higher rate.

Measuring Dark Side characteristicshelps identify three types of tendenciesthat flower when people come understress, pressure, or new demands:• High excitability, aloofness, and skepti-

cism produce people who move awayfrom others when under stress. Theydiscount others, abandon trust, andbecome overly cautious.• High boldness, mischievousness, and

colorfulness produce people who moveagainst others when under pressure,trying to win them over and manipu-late them (resulting in turnover).• Perfectionism and diligence produce

people who move toward others whenunder tough demands, seeking theirendorsement and waiting for someoneelse to make the hard decisions. This

by Bryan Flanagan

WHEN ONE SALESPERSONwas asked why she

always asked questions, shereplied, “Why not?” Questions are theanswer to successful selling. Questionsenable you to gain insights into the needs,issues, and concerns of prospects. Byasking questions, you gaininformation and influence withthe prospect. The answersalso enable you to build yoursales presentation and solvethe prospect’s problem.

So, start asking high-gain,high-impact questions to gainenough information to clearlyidentify and understand thoseneeds. Sell by design, not by chance.Have a strategy when asking questions.

Remember these three sales princi-ples: 1) whoever has the most informa-tion has the most influence; 2) you areonly as good as your information; 3)you make more money by solving prob-lems than you do by selling productsor services. Each of these principles isfulfilled by asking questions.

Before you create questions, firstdetermine what information you seek.

Answer these questions: At the end ofthis interaction, what do I want to know?What information would be valuable to me?What challenges do prospects face, and howdo they address those challenges? Whatcompany is the prospect presently using?

Who’s the ultimate decision-maker? Howdoes the company/person make decisions?Who has influence in the decision? Howprice-sensitive is the prospect? What is thesense of urgency? Based on my knowledgeof the prospect, what are the possible needs,issues, and concerns?

Once you’ve determined needs, cre-ate questions to uncover those needs.

Selling vs. VisitingThe prospect buys you before he or

she buys your plan. Become skilled atbuilding relationships of trust and rap-port with prospects. You then earn the

right to ask questions, makerecommendations, and offersolutions to problems. Thekey is to focus the attention offyourself and on the prospect.

Build business relationships,not friendships, so you canuncover problems, solve themwith your products or ser-vices, and ask the prospect to

buy your solutions. Don’t build rap-port—only to have prospects look toyou as a buddy, not a problem-solver.

Follow three ground rules: 1) takethe prospect and his problems serious-ly, but not yourself so seriously; 2) real-ize that your prospect doesn’t expectyou to be perfect—she wants you to bean effective listener, questioner, andproblem-solver; and 3) give yourselfpermission to be less than perfect, butnever less than professional. Ensureyou are not the obstacle in building trustand rapport. Create an amiable relation-ship that leads to a profitable one. SSE

Bryan Flanagan is Premiere Sales Trainer at Ziglar, Inc.,and author of So, You’re New to Sales. www.Ziglar.com

ACTION: Ask the right questions to sell more.

Ask QuestionsThey’re the answer to sales.

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Closing SalesF i n d t h e b e s t t a l e n t .

capacity to move their freight. Anotherlink would be sustainability and regula-tory issues. Customers want to know ifyou have clean trucks, are a Smart-Way partner and C-TPAT certified.

Step 2: Gauge your perception. Peo-ple don’t buy products and servicesper sé—they seek to acquire benefits,solve problems and achieve satisfac-tion. People will buy what they perceivewill give them what they want to satisfy aneed. The secret to effective marketingis creating that perception for yourproduct or service—from the customer’spoint of view and through messagingand design that differentiates yourbusiness from competitors.

In your messaging,address negative perceptionsthat may linger about yourproduct or service. In thetransportation industry, forexample, domestic intermodaltransportation (moving largecontainers via rail) had theperception of having unreli-able transits and higher dam-age claims compared to ship-ments by truck. Innovations in double-stack technology and rail investmentsas well as being more fuel efficientthan truck, helped change that percep-tion. And domestic intermodal serviceis gaining market share in both thelong haul and short haul marketsthrough conversion from truck.

Step 3: Remember “What’s in it forme?” People sometimes ask us whatwe look for, as consumers, in effectivemarketing tactics. In fact, the best mar-ket tactics and messages will look for us.Effective marketing communicationsstrategically selects and immediatelyflags down the target audience withthe promise of information, products,or services they can use to respond totheir interests, needs, challenges, orperceived opportunities. Again, thecustomer’s point of view, not the compa-ny’s, drives messaging and design.Brag-and-boast marketing flauntingthe company instead of focusing onuser benefits communicates self-absorption rather than customer-focus.

A message that says We can help meetyour sustainability goals by moving yourshipments in our clean truck fleet is morepowerful than We’ve deployed the

largest fleet of clean trucks in the industryand are proud to be a SmartWay Partner.

Step 4: Keep a singular focus. Re-member the old Chinese proverb: Hewho tries to hunt two hares leaves one andloses the other. Whether it is direct mail,an ad or an e-blast, loading up a singlecommunication with too many salespoints dilutes the overall impact so thatno single message stands out and res-onates. If you have several strong cus-tomer benefits, do a multi-piece campaign.Moreover, customers and prospectsmust be given a promise, a reason—andquickly—to expect that if they continuereading, listening, looking or interact-ing with a communication, somethingof value and usefulness to their needswill be discovered. The communicationmust deliver on that expectation and notbe cluttered with too many calls to action.

Be targeted with specific messageson specific services or products. Sellone thing at a time or offer a compre-

hensive solution thatincludes multiple servicesor products. Engage thecustomer with a key serviceneed and then work toexpand your offerings ismore successful than tryingto sell all your services andproducts at once.

In a post-recession worldwhere everyone is forced todo more with less, it’s

tempting to use a “one size fits all”approach to lead generation throughmarketing. Follow these steps whilealso ensuring a meaningful message toyour target audience and hone in onthe most effective strategies for growth.

Since lead generation can mean manydifferent things to different people, finda supplier who understands yourrequirements. Define quality checkingprocedures. Flag the problems early.Follow up your leads, and ensure accu-rate tracking of conversions.

The transportation industry, amongothers, is increasing investments towardgrowth. TMSA member companies gen-erate about $300 billion in revenue andmore than $190 million in sales, market-ing and communications budgets. TMSAmembers—executive leaders of market-ing, sales or communications for high-way carriers—are seeing a 54 percentincrease this year in their marketing bud-gets. The industry is starting to seegrowth, showing great promise. SSE

Ken Kish is AVP, Marketing and Communications, atPacer International, and Communications Chair ofTMSA. Email Kaitlin kfriedmann@TMCAToday.org.

ACTION: Generate leads for growth.

by Ken Kish

AN EFFECTIVE MARKETINGprogram is not just

about eye-grabbing graph-ics, brilliant headlines, cleverness, pro-motional offers, or entertainment value.These are important, but not solelyresponsible for making marketing pro-grams work and produce desired ROI.

Successful marketing lead genera-tion campaigns must link—in a memo-rable and sustainable way—yourproduct or service as the solution tothe target audience’s needs or wants.The customer’s needs, wants, chal-lenges, or aspirations have more to dowith their buying behavior than mar-keting brilliance or product superiority.

Customers need to understand thevalue proposition of what’s being offeredbeyond the claim that your product orservice is better, new, or improved. Yourcampaign needs to communicate thatyou have the remedy to a pain they cur-rently have. You must provide a stimu-lus in your leads campaign that willget a potential customer to respond.

To generate leads in your integratedmarketing campaign, take four steps.

Step 1: Identify the links. Determin-ing the memorable link between yourcompany and the prospect involvesdoing some homework on the state ofyour customer’s industry. In the trans-portation industry, we’ve experiencedmany ups and downs in recent years;hence, many companies are going backto the strategic drawing board toensure their campaigns and messagingis still resonating with their clients.

When strategizing, examine the thingsyou can control—product, place, promo-tion and price—for adjustments lead-ing to competitive or customer opportuni-ties. Also, determine the challengesyour target audiences face resultingfrom factors you can’t control such aschanges in the socio-economic, com-petitive, technological, legal/regulatory,and political environments.

For example, in the transportationmarket, having vessel, container, railand/or truck capacity to offer a poten-tial customer would be a key link toengaging that customer. You have theremedy to their pain of needing more

Taking the LeadE f f e c t i v e l y g e n e r a t e l e a d s .

S A L E S A N D S E R V I C E E X C E L L E N C E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 11

M A R K E T I N G / G R O W T H

People Buy from UnderdogsSince underdog positioning influences

consumer behavior, we see an increase inunderdog branding as a marketing strate-gy. Even if a company is now large, if itstruggled to survive in the early days(Apple, Southwest Airlines, Oprah Win-frey), it has an appeal because underdogstories about overcoming great odds throughpassion and determination resonate, espe-cially in hard times. Such stories inspireus and help us see that if you work hard,have some grit, and play by the rules, suc-cess is still possible.

While underdogs have persuasiveappeal, why do some underdogs getwhat they want and others don’t? Fivecharacteristics are required before theunderdog formula is persuasive: 1) Fewresources (don’t promote your wealth

and resources before your hard work andgrit—the more resources you have, thegreater the loss of underdog positioning);2) don’t squander the resources youhave, and show that you worked hardfor them; 3) keep other’s expectations ofyou low; 4) don’t call yourself the under-dog—the label must come from a third partyto be credible; and 5) use unconventionaltactics—not those of a Goliath adversary.

The next time you find yourself withan upward influence situation, try posi-tioning yourself as the underdog. Thepowerful person you are trying to per-suade has a need to help true under-dogs, and you can meet that need. SSE

Amy Showalter is a speaker, consultant, and author ofThe Underdog Edge. Visit www.showaltergroup.com orwww.underdogedge.com.

ACTION: Gain the underdog advantage.

by Amy Showalter

THINK OF A PROBLEM YOU’REtrying to solve—get a

raise, win a dispute with theIRS, sell more, get a plum job, or expandinto new markets. In these situations,no matter your title or reputation,you’re the underdog; hence, you haveno power or advantage. You hold noneof the cards, while the person you wantto persuade holds all of them. You areengaged in upward influence—you needto influence up the food chain manytimes to get what you want.

People tend to see individuals of highstatus as more influential, competent, andworthy than low-status underdogs. Low-status individuals and groups are morelikely to be targets of prejudice andstereotyping, and more likely to be seenas unworthy and incompetent. A key partof our self-worth derives from identify-ing with successful, high-status organi-zations and teams. The achievementsof the groups with which we affiliateare vital sources of our self-esteem. Weare better people (or we think we are)when we’re aligned with winners.

Upside to Being an UnderdogHowever, there is an upside to being

the underdog. Do you remember cheer-ing for singing sensation Susan Boyle,the Butler U. men’s basketball teamagainst Duke in the 2010 NCAA cham-pionship game, the Chicago Cubs?Many of us root for these individualsor teams. We love the underdog.

Powerful people often suffer fromthe imposter syndrome, where they feellike they don’t deserve the fruits oftheir labors. They doubt whether theyare smart and accomplished. This is theunderdog’s edge. The powerful peoplewho feel this way now have, with anunderdog request, the chance to say,“Look, I help others; I’m not the badguy.” And, since underdogs have a lotof heart and grit, we see them as goodand moral people. It makes us feel moremoral to help other moral people.

So, when you are an underdog in ex-treme influence situations, you gain anenormous advantage. Most of us havean innate desire to live in a world ofequality; we want a level playing field,or at least a level field of opportunity.And powerful people have a strongerneed for equality than the rest of us.

by Barbara Hemphill

DOES YOUR ORGANIZATIONhave offices, file cabi-

nets, storage rooms, and off-site facilities full of unidentified paperfiles and electronic documents? Arethere files that you’ve never openedand probably can’t identify the con-tents? Have you ever come across apiece of information you didn’t knowwhether to save or throwaway, so you saved it, just incase? If so, you are working inan information toxic dump!

About 80 percent of theinformation kept in offices isnever used. And, the moreinformation that is kept, the lessit is used, simply because it’stoo difficult to find.

Your ability to accomplish any taskor goal is directly related to your abili-ty to find the information you needwhen you need it. Finding informa-tion—whether it is in paper or electron-ic format—is a challenge. The inabilityto find information causes many prob-lems—wasted time looking for informa-tion or recreating existing information,missed opportunities, and more stress.

To create and maintain an effectiveIM program, answer six questions:1) What information should we keep?2) In what form? 3) For how long? 4) Who is responsible for maintainingthe information? 5) Who needs accessto it? and 6) How can everyone whoneeds the information find it?

Creating an Effective IM SystemUse the Productive Environment

process to implement a new IM system.1. State your vision. If your IM pro-

gram is successful, what will you beable to do that you can’t do now?

2. Eliminate obstacles. What preventsyou from having a successful system?

3. Commit resources. How much time,money, and HR power will you invest?

4. Create a system. What tools (soft-ware, filing systems) will help? Whatprocesses do you need to apply? Applywastebasketry to trash unneeded records.

5. Maintain your success. What pro-cedures need to be developed and imple-mented to ensure the IM system works

long after its creators leave?A successful IM program

requires people, processes, andtechnology. It must be sup-ported by management, cus-tomized, and executed byeveryone. Designing, imple-menting, and maintaining aneffective IM program createsan organized office in which

everyone can find what they need whenthey need it so they can do their workand enjoy their lives. You’ll have morespace to work, stop wasting time andenergy searching for paperwork, andget more accomplished.

When faced with too much paper, ask:Does this require action? Can I identify aspecific use? Is it difficult to obtain again?Is it recent enough to be useful? Are theretax or legal implications? If not, ask: Whatis the worst thing that will happen if I tossthis? If you can live with your answer,toss or recycle it—and work happily! SSE

Barbara Hemphill is a productivity expert, speaker,consultant, and author of the best-selling Taming thePaper Tiger. Visit www.barbarahemphill.com.

ACTION: Organize your office.

12 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 W W W . L E A D E R E X C E L . C O M

M A R K E T I N G / S T R AT E G Y

M A N A G E M E N T / I N F O R M AT I O N

Manage InformationIs your office a toxic dump?

Upside of UnderStart using the underdog edge.

This contemporary methodology willfacilitate your look around the corner:

1. Define the major external factorsthat will influence your business: theworld situation; your nation’s situation;the categories in which you now mar-ket and may want to enter; your directrivals for customers; and the purchas-ing behavior of your customers andprospects. Put these factors on flipcharts in as few, simple words as possi-ble, place them on a wall, and agree ona meaningful short list of factors thatwill likely impact your business most.

2. Define the major internal factorsthat will influence your business: yourcompany’s strengths, weaknesses, andgaps: staffing strengths, weaknesses, andgaps; customer performance strengths

and weaknesses; prospect-to-customerconversion and customer retention per-formance vs. competition; infrastruc-ture and technology issues; growthbarriers and opportunities. Place themon the wall and get consensus for thosethat need to be changed, enhanced, ordiscontinued as well as those that willpositively influence your growth initia-tive by looking around the corner.

3. Identify five to 10 business leaderswho look around the corner. Figure outwhat they discovered when they lookedaround the corner and what strategies theyemployed to capitalize on their find-ings. Determine commonalities in theirdiscoveries and strategies, place them onthe wall, analyze them, agree on thosethat are relevant, and consider adopt-ing, modifying, or enhancing their con-ceptual value to benefit your business inyour effort to look around the corner.• Break into two groups and task each one

with role-playing one of your two mostchallenging competitors. This role play-ing can be fun and useful if the twoteams portray the manner and style ofthese competitors and identify the

strategies they might employ to assault,damage, or destroy your company.Reassemble, so each team can describeits strategies. Abbreviate the competi-tive strategies, avoid duplication, andplace them on the wall. Let them frightenyou! Then determine what changes youmust introduce to prevail over yourcompetitors, especially in your effort togrow by looking around the corner.• Break into two new groups of different

composition. Task each group with reexam-ining all of the charts on the wall beforeendeavoring to look “around the corner” toidentify the most relevant, highest poten-tial, and greatest impact developments,trends, and occurrences that will likelyaffect your company. Reassemble toreview and gain consensus for the com-bined short list of influences the compa-ny must consider as it creates strategiesto capitalize on its future vision.• Keeping all the charts, especially your

view around the corner, on the wall, createan imaginative, and ambitious strategicframework for your firm. Don’t fill pageand page with prose, data, assignedresponsibilities, and timelines—just cre-ate a thoughtful, meaningful, craftedstrategic framework. This is the momentfor thinking, debating, and imagining—and the moment that demands consen-sus. Your strategic framework mustdescribe the solid foundation and inno-vative spirit of a thriving company that,in this challenging era of new experts,will be your customers’ first choice.• Task a group of C-level executives to

draft a comprehensive strategic plan thatmirrors and magnifies your strategicframework and includes a preliminaryestimate of the financial investmentrequired to realize your look around thecorner strategy. Task a second groupthat operates independently to draft afinancial plan that incorporates a rangeof investments in your look around thecorner strategy. Each group must com-plete its draft within two weeks afteryour off-site and, working together,craft a preliminary merged documentwithin another two weeks. Using thisdraft as a template, then create a finalintegrated plan and gain internal consen-sus for it within two more weeks. Thefinal plan must incorporate the ambi-tious look around the corner within thecontext of prudent fiscal governance.Align your enterprise behind yourfuture-oriented, integrated strategy.

To anticipate and benefit from the veloc-ity of change, look around the corner. SSE

Robert H. Bloom is an authority on business growth, CEOof Publicis Worldwide, and author of The New Experts andThe Inside Advantage. Visit www.thenewexperts.com.

ACTION: Plan to benefit from rapid change.

by Robert H. Bloom

YOUR COMPANY IS NOT IM-mune from today’s fast

rate of change. This has theforce to destabilize your business.

This high velocity of change is drivenby two factors: 1) globalization, whichhas expanded at a slow pace—migra-tion-by-migration, discovery-by-discov-ery, and century-by-century; and 2)technology, which arrived recently, butimmediately fueled the pace of global-ization as each new technology con-nects more people around our planet.The search engine connects businessesand links customers worldwide (Googlewas launched just eight years after thefirst version of a search engine).

The break-neck speed of technologi-cal change routinely destroys firms.Here are three examples of the negativeand positive effects of rapid change:• Blockbuster didn’t anticipate that

technologic change would obsolete itsubiquitous brick and mortar stores;Amazon recognized that publishingwould be revolutionized by technology andprofited from introducing the Kindle.• Kodak didn’t anticipate that digital

technology would make its once-iconicbrand a dinosaur; Apple realized thattechnology would enable PCs to morph intonew forms and thrived with the iPad.• Lehman Brothers didn’t anticipate

the imminent danger of excessive leveragingin the global sub-prime mortgage market;Goldman Sachs limited its exposure andrebounded as the markets improved.

The accelerating velocity of changeraises two critical questions: 1) Howcan you try to anticipate tomorrow’schange? and 2) What actions can youtake to try to benefit from tomorrow’schange, rather than suffer from it?

Planning ProtocolAcknowledge that rapid change is a

reality and demand that it be a vital partof your strategic planning. Stop tryingto look ahead, since when you look ahead,you see and learn little or nothing. Stoptrying to plan the future by using previ-ous years’ financial results as a baseline.This fixation on an obsolete planningprocess guarantees that you won’t keeppace with the substantive changes.

Velocity of ChangeA n t i c i p a t e a n d b e n e f i t f r o m c h a n g e .

M A R K E T I N G / P L A N N I N G

S A L E S A N D S E R V I C E E X C E L L E N C E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 13

cuss options, the more likely they areto identify collaborative action plansthat can create value for both firms.• Action 3: Define a formal plan for

managing the relationship. Don’t relyon informal processes and interactions.Develop a relationship management planwith what, who, and when dimensions.The who roster should include indi-viduals who are the point persons inmanaging the relationship, executivechampions, and individuals acrossfunctional and geographic segmentsof the companies that are relevant tothe transactions and priorities. Thewhat and when elements of the planwill be driven by the performancemanagement dashboard and the spe-cific future-oriented priorities. Holdmeetings quarterly, have a formalagenda, and review progress relative tothe goals. Involve the point persons,

the executive sponsors, and the keyparticipants who are involved in therelationship or are central to the topicson the meeting agenda. Discuss thehealth of the relationship and progresseach firm is making to realize the goals.Ask: In terms of your expectations andpriorities, what has changed since we lastmet? and This is what we’re hearing fromothers in your organization in terms ofpriorities, and this is how we plan to reactto it. Are we all on the same page?

Strong business relationships can yieldgreat rewards. When relationships arerecognized as strategic, managers mustensure that the value created is sustained,despite inevitable changes. Taking thethree actions creates shared successes. SSE

George F. Brown, Jr. is CEO of Blue Canyon Partners and coauthor of CoDestiny (Greenleaf). VisitCoDestinyBook.com or www.bluecanyonpartners.com.

ACTION: Sustain strategic relationships.

by George F. Brown, Jr.

MOST COMPANIES INVEST INactivities designed to

identify business partners andsecure a relationship with them. Sales lea-ders typically identify the strategic tar-gets that they want to win over in eachyear’s annual plan. Strategic sourcingleaders seek suppliers to enhance theirsuccess. Executives responsible forfunctions such as R&D, HR, logistics,and IT seek partners who can helpthem solve their challenging problems.Often, these firms think that they’veachieved success once contracts aresigned. That’s when the real work begins.• After two firms had entered into a

strategic supplier-customer relationship,an executive in the supplier firm said:“There is always tension when we meet.We value having them as a customer, butnothing feels strategic to me.”• His counterpart on the customer

side said: “There is no sense of urgencyto our discussions. Everyone is waitingfor someone else to take the first step. Wewere excited about the possibilities withthis supplier, but they aren’t performing.”

These comments reflect a failure totake three actions to ensure the strate-gic relationship delivers on its promise:•Action 1: define key performance

metrics, along with explicit (quantita-tive) goals for each metric. Businessrelationships that operate withoutexplicit performance goals and metrics gosour. Think of two categories of per-formance metrics: 1) basic operationsmetrics—relating to quality, on-timedelivery, and support levels; and 2)metrics that are unique to the relation-ship and contribute to shared success.• Action 2: Define the future-oriented

topics on which to collaborate. In weakor troubled relationships, most discus-sions are about past problems or near-term transactions; the best businessrelationships focus on the future. Thepotential roster of future-oriented top-ics is almost endless. Some choices areobvious—a new product release, theneed to meet a new regulatory stan-dard. Others may have been definedby actions taken by one or both of thefirms: expanding the relationship intoa new market, incorporating a newtechnology into the product line. Butmany other options exist, and the moreeffectively the two can creatively dis-

by Bill Humbert

ARE YOU BEING PAID WHATyou want? In a tough

job market recovery, manypeople are so happy just to get a jobthat they accept a lower salary. Andsome employers feel that they can getaway with a lowball offer.

There are ways to get thejob and still get the salaryyou want. Having served as arecruiting consultant, I knowhow companies calculatesalary. Here are some tips:• Don’t offer salary require-

ments. When asked to includesalary requirements with yourresume, that’s often a firstscreen—and can be used against you.Don’t agonize over what to reveal. Ifyou don’t want to price yourself out ofa good job, put Open. If your qualifica-tions are on target, they’ll call you. Ifyou’re asked what you made at yourlast job, ask about the range for this job.Most managers or HR reps will tell you.• Don’t give away too much. In many

job applications, an employer will askfor your salary history. It’s acceptable towrite, Willing to discuss in an interview.Writing numbers pigeonholes you, andreduces negotiation power.• Don’t negotiate salary in the inter-

view. Instead, negotiate when you givethem your salary requirements. Whenthey ask you for that figure, tell them

you don’t know what you’d require untilyou have a clear picture of the job require-ments and potential for advancement.When asked again for that number, askto go through your impacts—areas ofyour job that directly impact the compa-ny’s bottom line. This discussion willallow you to demonstrate what youbring to the table. Then, simply tellthem that you are very interested inthe position, and that you’d seriouslyconsider any offer they’d like to make.• Keep networking. Until you accept a

job offer, keep networking and lookingfor jobs. It may give you valuable data

about the position or be asafety net in case somethinggoes awry between the timeyou receive an offer and thetime you accept it.

• Accepting the offer. Oncean offer is given, ask if there isany flexibility in the offer toopen a discussion of increas-ing the offer. Don’t expect a

large boost in base pay, but seek anextra week of paid vacation, a signingbonus, or other such perks.

Salary negotiation is more art thanscience. Remember: you don’t have togive them a salary range that wouldjeopardize your earning potential, andyou don’t have to accept their first offermost of the time. They are interview-ing you because they need to fill thatposition. And while they are consider-ing you, they aren’t doing you a favor.They need what you have to offer, soyou should get the best offer possible. SSE

Bill Humbert, aka RecruiterGuy, is a professionalrecruiter and author of RecruiterGuy’s Guide toFinding a Job. Visit www.recruiterguy.com.

ACTION: Negotiate your salary and benefits.

You Got the JobNow negotiate your salary.

14 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 W W W . L E A D E R E X C E L . C O M

P R / R E L A T I O N S H I P S

S A L E S / C O M P E N S A T I O N

Strategic RelationshipsTake three actions to sustain them.

1. Challenging assumptions. You canplan and create visions, but you won’tshare your vision if you think, “whatdo I know?” Yet your behavior, choices,and decisions are based on your person-al views of the future. Unchallenged per-sonal visions leave little room to acceptradically different views; and whenthey are presented, you recoil becausethey present features you find incon-gruous and threatening.Scenarios help create aconsensus set of plausiblefutures that enable you tosafely explore possibleoutcomes. Because eachfuture explicitly docu-ments a well-defined logic,when immersed in thatfuture, personal andorganizational bias canbe ameliorated.

2. Avoiding surprises.Because of bias, you’reoften surprised. You’re sointent on achieving your vision thatyou don’t look at the forces in play thatmay derail your future. But paying toomuch attention to details is not theonly reason for surprise. You shouldexpect the unexpected. Using scenar-ios, you can actively identify the unex-pected by naming uncertainties. Youare less likely to be surprised by some-thing you have named, and that youactively monitor, than if you simplyconsider threats in the abstract.

3. Adaptation and navigating change.Momentum makes it easy for you to keepdoing what you do. Change requires re-thinking, reinventing, shifting perspec-tives, and other activities that are uncom-fortable because you don’t practice them.Scenarios purposefully place you into new,uncomfortable situations, and ask you toimagine how your business, product, processor consumer, even yourself, might behaveunder different social, political, economic,environmental and political circumstances.Scenarios force you to exercise musclesrequired to adapt and navigate change.

4. Driving innovation. If your orga-nization professes a single, all-encom-passing vision, or if you, as a person,stay tied to your assumptions aboutthe future, all innovation will derivefrom that locus. If, as scenario planningdemands, you admit you can’t foretellthe future, then why not unshackle

minds from these preconceived limita-tions and allow imaginations to engagein alternative futures. Such scenario plan-ning can creatively remove constraints,enabling you to discover new synergies,and see new possible applications orrelationships against different backdrops.

5. Listening to the future. When sce-nario planning is used to complementstrategic planning, it can help refinevision and challenge the assumptions ofthe planning, resulting in a better plan.Scenarios are more powerful when theybecome part of the execution, a tool forlistening to the future. Social media offerseveral ways to help retain knowledge,retain people, and help the business

remain viable. By namingthis uncertainty, you canactively engage in self-examination: what isworking, what isn’t anddiscover the why for both.And you can monitor howcompetitors are dealingwith their generationalissues. Wouldn’t the com-petition’s failure to recog-nize and plan for braindrain be a compelling pieceof competitive intelligence?Wouldn’t the early adoption

of a breakthrough method of capturingknowledge through passive social interplaybe a valuable addition to a technology port-folio? If you don’t recognize the uncer-tainty, don’t name it, and don’t monitorit, you won’t discover either of these twoitems or hundreds more like them.

Scenario planning requires a deep com-mitment to consider the future. You maybelieve your strategic value is to executewell, to be the process innovator, or tolead in customer service. I would chal-lenge any near-term thinking by asking:what informs the choices you make? Do yousimply react to markets or customers, ordoes a higher order context inform thosechoices? Do you have a backdrop againstwhich to hold the new input, to step backand examine its implications, not throughthe lens of what you know, but through theprism of what you don’t know, and howuncertainty might play out against differentbackdrops? When you think about thecosts of making poor choices, is it worththe risk to guess, to assume, to forge onblindly, or is it worth the investment toreason robustly, even about uncertainties,and by doing so, make decisions today thathelp ensure more resiliency tomorrow. SSE

Daniel W. Rasmus is author of Management by Designand Listening to the Future. Email: dwrasmus@daniel-wrasmus.com, visit www.danielwrasmus.com.

ACTION: Engage in scenario thinking.

by Daniel W. Rasmus

FOR YEARS WE HAVE BELIEVEDthe myth that the forces

shaping the world have coa-lesced into a stable form, resulting in aperiod of predictable lock-in. Marketsrise, employment and wages are steady,the government creates right policies,and inflation is low. History tells a differ-ent story. As we spend time executingbased on our plans, and planningbased on our assumptions, the worldchanges, and we end up scrambling torealign with the new reality, rather thananticipating it and being prepared.

Since we can’t predict the future, wemust employ management techniquesthat enable us to think about the futurein reasonable, but creative ways. Scen-ario planning helps you exercise your fore-sight, to flex the muscles of imaginationwhich often atrophy while muscles ofexecution and performance over-develop.

Scenario planning starts with theassumption that we can’t foretell manythings about the future. In fact, eventhe things that we can accurately fore-cast may not result in the outcomes weexpect because of uncertainty cloudingthe forces that act upon them.

A typical scenario planning sessionwould yield dozens of such uncertain-ties. For example, demographics, eco-nomics, materials markets, consumerbehavior and the regulatory environ-ment are good candidate uncertainties,whereas when another division is goingto ship a product or the stability of sup-plier or competitor is too narrow. Teamsnegotiate toward those items that areboth uncertain and critical to the busi-ness, leading to a set of uncertaintiesand forces that drive the scenarios. Thematrix derived from overlapping thetwo most critical and uncertain forcesbecomes the canvas upon which richstories of plausible futures are written.

Five Ways to Add ValueScenario planning requires a dedica-

tion of purpose to get people to movebeyond their day-to-day concentrationon execution, and to engage in a some-times playful exploration of what theiruncertainties could mean five or tenyears in the future. Here are five waysscenario planning can add value:

S A L E S A N D S E R V I C E E X C E L L E N C E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 15

Scenario ThinkingTr y f i v e w a y s t o c o n s i d e r t h e f u t u re .

M A N A G E M E N T / S C E N A R I O S

ions may only limit your ability to dealeffectively with the situation. Limitingassumptions hold you back and trapyou into self-defeating behavior. Usefulassumptions help you break the chainsof reaction to provide quality service.

Replace limiting opinions with usefulones to reduce your stress.• After: Recharge and re-energize. Deal-

ing with stressed-out customers doesnot have to drain you! Recharge bothafter the challenge and during the day!

1. Take your break, get outside andtake a hike! Regain your perspective,put the past behind you, and channelyour frustration into positive action!

2. Keep your perspective with aFunny First Aid support system! Whenyou are down after a problem with acustomer, find a way to laugh about it.

3. Give yourself the reward of a men-tal vacation! Keep a postcard or photo-graph of a place you’ve visited or dreamedof visiting. Look at it and then imaginegoing there, letting go and having fun!

4. Review your successes at the endof the day. The good almost always out-weighs the bad. A person who smilesmakes up for the one who screams.

5. Change history! Relax, and thenrevisit the day’s challenges, imaginingyour responses as you wish they had been.

Follow these five steps in your deal-ings with challenging customers. Bykeeping your perspective, you give cus-tomers a reason to keep coming back. SSE

Rick Kirschner, N.D., is author of How to Click WithPeople (Hyperion) and co-author of Dealing with PeopleYou Can’t Stand (McGraw-Hill). Visit theartofchange.com.

ACTION: Turn stress into service success.

by Rick Kirschner

SINCE YOU CAN’T PLEASE ALLthe people all the time, your

negative experiences with cus-tomers concern you. Customer stress is aleading cause of employee stress in salesand service! How can you strengthenand protect yourself from stress whilesatisfying your challenging customersand winning their loyalty?

Stress begins with a threat to some-thing deemed important—meeting aquota, living within a budget, return-ing a call on time, getting support whenyou need help, or keeping a promise.

Poorly managed stress can causeheadaches, ulcers, depression, alcoholand drug abuse, back pain, stomachproblems, and insomnia. Worse, stresscan create a domino effect in your rela-tionships, where one stressful momentleads to another in a chain reaction.

The good news is that you can learnto manage stress effectively! When yourchallenge is to deliver exceptional serviceto customers who are caught up in thechains of reaction, you need a way toshift gears and turn things around—before, during and after the event!• Before: Anticipate the inevitable.

Yes, an ounce of prevention is worth apound of cure! When you put off deal-ing with a known problem until youhave no choice, you force yourself intocrisis management mode—the most stress-ful and least effective way to solve pro-blems. Instead, walk yourself throughpredictable customer scenarios in yourmind, and practice dealing constructive-ly with challenging situations. Whenyou prepare yourself for the chal-lenges ahead, you reduce the surprisefactor and shorten your response time!• During: Replace limiting assump-

tions with useful ones. Whatever youassume to be true, you’ll act as if it istrue, and then look for proof that you’reright! When customers think some-thing is wrong with the service, or thatyou’ve missed an appointment, or thatthey’ve been overcharged, they lookfor evidence that something is wronguntil they find it. Likewise, if you thinka customer is unreasonable, you’ll talkand listen to them as if that’s what theyare! And if you decide a customer isoverly demanding, your reactions willbe based on your opinion. Such opin-

by Mark Stevens

EVERY BUSINESS CAN RE-bound from its lows and

regain its momentum, thrillits customers, and once again be asource of pride and profit.

All business that fails, fails for thesame reasons—the first and mostimportant reason is bad leadership andmanagement. Rudderless leadership (orfollowership) means thatmanagement has lost controlof the business—the compa-ny has become a group ofpeople working under thesame roof but rarely, if ever,rowing the same boat.

How do you regain con-trol of your team? Become abetter manager or leader?Start by knowing that what’s wrongwith your company is not the economy.It’s not accounts receivable. It’s You. It’stime to declare war on Yourself.

1. Take the buck stops here test.When something goes wrong, do youshift blame? Blame your team? Yourcustomer? The economy? You failed theBuck Stops Here test. You are refusingto admit that you set (or should haveset) the policies and proceduresdesigned to prevent these mishaps. It’stime to declare war on yourself.

2. Ask Why? The most importanttime of the day for any manager, leaderor owner is few minutes before sleep.All the whys creep in. Why are wedoing a poor job of marketing? Why do

we think it’s so important to be general-ists/specialists? Why do we make ithard for customers to do business withus? Set aside time then or in the morn-ing to address all of the whys.

3. Culture can be a cancer. Corporateculture is a nebulous term. I define cul-ture as what the employees do when theboss isn’t watching. A great culturestems from the leader’s commitmentand ability to: establish a thrilling goal;demonstrate how everyone can play animportant role; work harder thaneveryone else; be willing to help at anylevel in the company; make certain thewealth of the company is shared; andfire those who are cancers to the culture.

4. Turn on the human igni-tion switch. Be the leaderwho, through his actionsmore than words, provides astandard for the team toemulate. (The general man-ager at the Bristol Hotel inParis carries bags; the CEOand founder of Revlon testednail polish on his own nails).

5. Forget tenure—it is a euphemism.Tenure is an intellectual way of camou-flaging the truth by saying you can stayon the job, protected by the rules, evenif your performance is as original andcaptivating as muzak. Lead a meritocra-cy-driven organization—no exceptions.

Again, every business can rebound fromits lows and regain its momentum, thrillits customers, and once again be asource of pride and profit. All business-es succeed for the same reasons—thefirst and most important reason is goodleadership and management. SSE

Mark Stevens is author of Your Company Sucks (BenBellaBooks) and Your Marketing Sucks. Visit www.msco.com.

ACTION: Regain your momentum this quarter.

Customer ConcernsTurn stress into service success.

16 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 1 W W W . L E A D E R E X C E L . C O M

S E R V I C E / S U C C E S S

M A N A G E M E N T / T E A M

Pride and ProfitRegain your momentum.

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