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సంఘము » సందేశాలు - పేజీ 3778
arrow right How to Maximize Account Penetration and Jump-Start Sales

Maximizing account penetration is one of the most critical functions in sales. Why? The depth of account penetration has an enormous impact on revenues and profitability.Think about it ? if every one of your company's salespeople sold every product and service in their portfolio to every business unit, department, and division of every account, what kind of number would they produce? Something huge, right?From a sales management perspective, few things are more frustrating than having a bunch of "one trick ponies" on a sales team. These are salespeople that have developed a comfort level with one product or service, and that product or service makes up 80% to 100% of their sales.I used to work for a computer distributor that had numerous salespeople that fit this mold. They would congratulate themselves for selling servers to an account, completely oblivious to the fact that the very same account was also buying storage, networking equipment, software, and professional services. The distributor's salespeople only scratched the surface of the total available opportunity in most accounts.Here is a second huge frustration for sales managers and executives -- salespeople that don't produce "traction" with new products and services.When your company introduces a new product or service, you make a pretty sizeable investment to train your salespeople to sell the new product or service, right? Doesn't it drive you crazy when only a fraction of your salespeople actually sell the new product or service? The return on your sales training investment stinks, and your company never sees the revenue boost it expected to receive from the new product or service.Why do I bring up lack of account penetration and lack of sales traction for new products and services in the same article? Because the same problem is often at the root of both issues! That problem is an excessive focus on technical details.Many managers and salespeople believe that salespeople need to become experts in order to sell a product or service effectively. To develop this understanding, companies invest enormous amounts of time and money in exhaustive training to educate salespeople on product features and benefits, performance characteristics, industry information, pricing guidelines, promotional activities, available collateral material, etc.Unfortunately, when salespeople leave these training sessions, they often have no idea how to find or qualify opportunities for the product or service they were just

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right Profitable Relationships: Is It Amateur Hour or King of the Hill?

"We're in the relationship business?...airplanes are what we use to provide a service." remarked Colleen Barrett, President and COO Southwest Airlines remarked,Are you in the relationship business? Of course you are. Everyone who has to work with, deal with, sell to, convince, etc. is! Unless you're on a deserted island, you must connect with, interact, and influence people every single day. Winning relationships result when people make a positive connection.However, strong relationships seldom happen overnight. It takes time to gain trust, to obtain information, and to demonstrate your integrity. Building strong relationships is a process. It's not magic; it's not chemistry; it's not luck. Because it is a process you can learn it and you can replicate it throughout your organization. The three steps in building winning workforce and business relationships are:What you think ? your mind set. Not surprisingly you must first believe in the value of building relationships. If you don't think relationships make a difference to your professional or personal success, why make the effort (and it is an effort) to learn how to build good ones? Smart leaders understand the ultimate power of relationships both inside and outside their organization.What you ask ? the information you gather. Smart leaders ask questions to identify shared interest, experiences and common ground. They show an interest in what others have to say; acknowledge their perspective and ideas. Are you making the time to really get to know your staff, co-workers, peers and customers?What you do ? the ability to effectively interact with people. Smart leaders are able to understand themselves and how their behavior impacts others; are approachable and create an environment of trust; have a sincere desire to assist others in the pursuit of goals; are able to 'tune in' accurately to the needs of others and then treat them accordingly; build networks and find common ground to minimize conflict and maximize rapport.Remember, profitable relationships are keys to business and professional success. Skill in building and maintaining relationships are valuable not only to sales people but to everyone from the shop floor to the top floor and everything in between.Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ­ to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ­ resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ­ fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right The Get Dangerous Quickly Approach to Product/Service Training

In 2000 a computer distributor hired me to help them build a software specialist sales team. The distributor had more than 100 "generalist" salespeople, but these salespeople were doing a poor job of selling software. The distributor's management felt a team of specialists could help jump-start growth in software sales.This was a very interesting project for several reasons. First, the distributor had sixteen software products in its portfolio. Second, they couldn't afford to hire experienced software salespeople. Instead, we needed to hire good consultative salespeople and train them to sell all sixteen software products. We also needed to write a business plan, get a budget approved, hire six salespeople, train them to sell sixteen software products, and have them working in the field?within 90 days.Sound impossible? It sure seemed that way at first glance; but, when I talked to the various software manufacturers, I came to an important realization. All of the software manufacturers were almost desperately eager for incremental opportunities. If the new software salespeople could identify qualified opportunities, the software manufacturers would be delighted to provide product experts to help turn the opportunities into sales. So, all the new software salespeople really needed to learn was how to find and qualify opportunities.I knew there was no way we could make our new salespeople experts in sixteen software products in any reasonable time frame. But, we could make them experts in the business problems that the software products addressed. And, we could provide them with tools they could use as

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right How to Improve Your Management Procedures Usability

Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations lose thousands of dollars through common mistakes and lapses in usability. But what does that mean for business owners and executives?Ask yourself:Are your required actions described thoroughly and accurately, or are the details left open to interpretation?Is your content consistent and complete, or are your writers leaving gaps no one has noticed?Are revisions controlled, or are different people using different versions?Are your procedures compliant with regulations? Are you sure?Are all documents written to produce clear, measurable results?If you're unsure about any of the answers to these questions, there is good news: you can make your procedures clear and complete without combing through all of them yourself line by line. You have invested in your procedures; now ensure you are communicating clear expectations, and your professionalism, with the best tools possible.Strengthen Your Management Procedures' DocumentsWith a technical writing review, professional technical writers can review and edit your documents. Methodologies have been developed and used by experienced technical writers to strengthen policies and procedures, so you can put efficiency and expertise to work saving you time and hassle. You can eliminate the costly professional headache of poorly written management procedures.Get the Help and Reap the Rewards:Easy upgrades to your documentsIncreased clarity for your written proceduresExpert objective commentary on your documentsFast results to model other proceduresConvenient tech writers at your serviceDetailed grammar and language correctionIf your policies and procedures are incomplete, outdated or inconsistent, then you are probably not driving the performance improvement you intended. But no matter what your worst procedure headache is, you can eliminate your lapses in usability now and improve to "best practices" standards.About The AuthorChris Anderson has over 18 years of sales, marketing and business management experience producing the business process design, software and systems engineering - consulting with companies large and small. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation of the information to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc.Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right Project/Program Management Best Practices for Success in ANY Industry!

Where is our success? Although there have been improvements, over 60% of projects/programs failed and many were canceled in 2003 (ref:The Standish Report CHAOS)! Our goal for 2004 and beyond is to contribute to a 60% and better, project/program success rate! STOP THE MADNESS-MANAGE AND CONTROL PROJECTSWITH THE FOLLOWING:Best Practice Processes for Project/Program Success(Outline):Program/Project Management (and Business Management) (Integration)Use of Experience and Knowledge (Integration)Planning and Scheduling/WBS (Scope/Time/Cost)Communication Planning (Communication)Status & Earned Value Reporting (Communication)Performance (metrics) Reporting (Communication)Risks Identification and Management (Risks)Project Repository/DB (Communication/Lessons Learned/Knowledge Transfer)Change Management (Integration)Subcontractor/Vendor Control (Procurement)Team Building (Human Resource)Development Process (Integration/Solution/Scope)Selection of the appropriate model/technique (e.g., Interactive, Waterfall, Spiral, Evolutionary Object Oriented, Structured)Selection of the appropriate implementation methodology (e.g., MSF, RUP, GXP, DOD- STD 2167 and other standards)Selection, if required, to use Rapid DevelopmentRapid Application Development/Joint Application Development (RAD/JAD)Prototypes and MockupsInterviews and Facilitated SessionsCollaborationSelection of technical and project reviewsSelection of development and support tools and applicationsConfiguration Management (Integration/Scope/Control) (described in the book

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right Producing Premium Performance

One of the major issues that arises in managing a small or medium size business is in the area of employee performance. Many business owners are frustrated with the poor performance of their team or some individuals within their team. No matter how hard they try, they don't seem to be able to create a sustainable improvement in performance. The tendency is to blame the employees for poor performance. However, more often than not, the problem stems from not establishing an effective performance management framework.There are a number of elements that create a framework for producing premium performance.The most important element is to establish a clear description of the required outcome of the job. This may be in terms of a position description if the job is broad and covers a number of responsibilities. Or it may simply be providing a sample or a picture of an article that should be produced by the work. When there is a clear understanding of the output required, it is much more likely that result will be produced.The second element requires establishing a best practice approach to doing the work. Often there are many ways a job can be done, but usually only one way is the most efficient. A best practice approach involves determining the best way to do the job and then requiring everyone to do the job the same way to maximise efficiency.The third element is to establish a timeframe or deadline for the completion of the work. The employee will know if they are on track if they know how long the job should take.When you use a best practice approach and establish a timeframe for the work, you can also provide a target for output over time. In other words, if you work so many hours you should produce x amount of product. This allows us to establish a productivity target.When an employee starts a new job, it is best to teach or train the person in how to do the work. This may involve showing the new employee what is done for the first time or two and then watching while the employee tries it a time or two, or until you are satisfied they can do it without help. This is one of the most frustrating parts of the delegation process. The time it takes to complete this element puts a lot of people off. They need to realise that some short term pain leads to much long term gain, rather than allow the loss of some short term productivity to keep them from ever delegating their difficult tasks.A very important element that many forget in the delegation process is to establish a process to measure and monitor results. One of the greatest dangers in business growth is that of losing control because growth means we can no longer physically see everything that goes on. Losing control leads to poor productivity and quality and escalating costs, all of which will destroy your business if left unchecked. Control comes from knowing the results of particular actions and being able to provide feedback or make changes if the results are outside the parameters required.The results achieved in a job over an extended period of time can be influenced positively by developing an appraisal process. The appraisal process should provide feedback to the employee about how they are performing in the job relative to expectations, how their performance affects the success of the organisation and how they interact with the components of the organisation around them. The appraisal approach that gets best results is to adopt a coaching role with your employees, rather than an examiner role. Too often, performance appraisal meetings are set up for failure because the two parties come to the meeting with different objectives. The manager wants to highlight areas of poor performance and take steps to improve these areas, but the employee wants to be told how well they have done. This often occurs when appraisals are held annually or six monthly and conflict is created when the judgments are subjective. The result usually is disappointment and demotivation on the part of the employee and frustration from the manager. Both people hate the process and no effective outcome is achieved. It is much better to conduct appraisal meetings frequently, to compare actual results with targets, using objective rather than subjective measures. The coaching meetings then can be used as a discussion focused on performance improvement, instead of a confrontation about how the employee felt they had performed.The final element of the performance management framework is the reward process. Every positive outcome should result in a reward for the employee. This can be tangible or intangible and dependent on the level of maturity and experience of the employee. For some positions, it is appropriate for rewards to be small, frequent and immediate, where for other positions, more long term and cumulative rewards are appropriate. However, this element is often a neglected or an ill thought out part of the process and as such, has the potential to undermine results. A good reward process supports and enhances the management process and increases motivation for achieving premium performance.The important lesson to learn is that results can be influenced through establishing an effective performance management framework which requires all elements to work together effectively. Poor performance often results if any elements are either missing from the process or are poorly designed and become a negative influence on performance. But a well designed and coordinated framework means that all elements work together systematically to produce premium performance.© 2004 Greg RoworthGreg Roworth is a business consultant and author of "The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential." With over 25 years practical experience in business ownership and management, Greg has, over the last 12 years, worked with hundreds of small and medium size enterprises, assisting the owners to grow their business profitably and at the same time reduce their stress levels. His successful business development program results in development of a business that works so well that the owner doesn't have to.Discover more business success tips at http://www.progressivebusinesssolutions.co.nz

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right Pointless Targets

I recall a heated discussion with a sales director some time ago where I proposed that the long-term effect of setting activity targets for salespeople would eventually lead to failure. He vehemently made the point that he had systematically imposed activity targets on his sales force and that the result had been to treble average income per salesperson within 18 months.What he didn't say, something which I found out when I investigated further was that he had at the same time:? reduced his sales force from 450 to 300 ? letting the bottom 150 hundred producers go, and? the average income per salesperson at the time he took over was one quarter of the industry averageThere are two types of targets most often associated with selling and sales coaching:? Financial targets ? results, and? Activity targetsGiven the choice between buying activity management systems and implementing a performance coaching system to bring out the best in salespeople, my unfortunate experience is that many senior management teams will inevitably choose activity management. The reason? It's easy. OK, so you have to push people around a little; you might have to dismiss a few non-achievers; there will tears before bedtime; but it's a relatively easy thing to implement and to control. Yet my firm conviction is that it is easy because it doesn't work. It works in the short term ? granted, and there's even a place for it during field induction and as a mechanism for performers to appraise themselves, but as a coaching tool it is a non-starter.I believe that you teach salespeople about activity, not tell them about it. If you teach people, by example, that activity is important ?that's quite different from demanding levels of activity. The danger with the latter is that you will have your salespeople deliver the activity without a corresponding increase in business. I have numerous examples of salespeople forging activity levels simply to keep the manager happy. In the meantime the cuckolded manager sinks into a quicksand of statistics trying to work out where it going wrong.I recently visited an area sales manager who was having problems with a non-performing salesman:When I entered his (the manager's) office there was a mountain of paper on his desk. He proceeded to tell me about Jack Newton who was under performing and had been doing so for some while. He told me that he had insisted that Jack increase his customer interviews from 8 per week to twenty per week. The manager showed me the charts he had put together showing the pattern of calls and results. When he opened it up it filled the surface of the desk in front of me. It was very impressive. It must have taken him quite some time to put together. Jack was now calling on an average of 21 customers per week. His results had not increased. I arranged to meet Jack, with his manager present and I asked him to bring his. When we met I opened Jack's diary and I pointed to the first name entered on Monday morning. I said ? Jack. If I ring this person up, will he know who you are? Jack looked in pain. Yes of course, he said. I said ? Jack if I ring all of these people up, will they all confirm they know you? Jack paused ? Yes. I said ? Jack. I'm going to ask you one more time, just to save me the trouble of telephoning all of these people, which is what I intend to do, how many of the names in this week of your diary will confirm that they have met you? Jack paused longer than he had before ? most of them he said. But not all of them I said. No he replied. Out of the corner of my eye the manger was sinking into the furnishing of his chair. Jack, I said slowly, this is now really the last time I'm going to ask you, when I ring these people up, how many will confirm that you have been to see them; that you attempted to sell them your service; that they were not a personal friend?Over a couple of months Jack had falsified 80% of his activity. It wasn't his fault. He was responsible, but it wasn't his entire fault. The manager had forced him to achieve an arbitrary activity target. The manager had abdicated his personal responsibility of spending a few days with Jack showing him that activity mattered but that it isn't the only thing that matters. See more people is too easy a remedy.There's a distinction between what your role has to be a) with new starters, and b) with experienced salespeople ? whether they are overachieving or not. The principle is that you train and manage people up to the line, and you coach people after the line. Up to the line is where you set your benchmark ? the basic minimum requirement; above the line is where you seek to help people excel at the job. You cannot help people to excel at the job until they reach the line. Below the line are your minimum expectations. The elements which are below the line could include the requirement to learn a sales structure. It could include knowledge levels. It could include procedures. Below the line is where you apply the rules. There is no negotiation below the line. You make it clear what is expected and you implement it. These are the rules which are spelt out at recruitment. You make it clear what will happen when someone starts in your team. You do this before they join the company ? not after. All too often I've met salespeople on an induction training courses where their idea of what the job entailed and reality were miles apart. You make it absolutely clear what you expect them to do, and how you expect them to do it.You may produce figures which show that from a particular level of activity that a particular financial outcome is being achieved within the sales force. You may produce figures to show that the relationship between activity and income leads you to believe that the more people that you see, the higher the potential results. You may choose to ignore the fact that top salespeople see fewer customers than their lower performing colleagues. But you need to ask yourself the question ? what is it you want from the salesperson? Activity or results? Forget the relationship between activity and performance ? what is you want ? activity or results? If it's results then apply the rationale I have laid out in detail above. If it's activity, then perhaps you have lost the plot. The most important thing to you as a sales manager and a sales coach is results and your job as a coach and a trainer is to improve on performance. Anybody can increase activity. Activity is but a measure of performance. If performance is low one of the elements of increasing it can be increased activity. It is the easiest way in which to increase performance. It involves playing the numbers game.That's not to say that you can't influence activity ? but it's not coaching, it's training. Part of the central training programme could and should contain basic training on the activities that go towards making up the prospecting part of the sales job. It right to expect that people work hard in return for what you pay them, but that's a philosophy that new people will learn from what they see about them. The greatest influence on that will be you, and the rest of the sales team. The greatest influence on the rest of your sales team is you.You influence people about activity by making sure that you reinforce the central training by meeting the new starter immediately after the training programme. You job is to check that they have accepted the philosophy of the company (which could include work ethic); that they have acquired whatever level of knowledge was expected (so you test it); and that you check that they have acquired the expected skill level, which means that you test it in role-play. These are three important tests before you allow the salesperson in front of a customer. As a precursor to his you have to be 100% confident that the central training process works and that the format of the central training programme delivers to you exactly what was agreed, otherwise, when someone starts with you in the field and they either don't accept the company's philosophy about work ethics; or haven't acquired the level of knowledge and skill you expected; then you will not be able to decide whether it's the new starter's fault or the central training department's fault. I suggest you sort of all this out long before you start employing salespeople. You and the training department much have complete faith in other's ability to deliver exactly what has been specified. The last part of this phase is that you must accompany the new salesperson on a live customer call. It is the only way in which to ensure the transfer of theory from the recruitment stage and the training of basic training on the central programme to where it really counts and that's in front of the customer. There isn't a professional coach alive that doesn't sit on the touchline; stand in the wings; sit in the auditorium; watch the actual performance as part of their coaching responsibilities. There's nothing you can do about the performance, except learn.It's important to give the performer emotional strength through your support and your expectation of success. You need to transfer your positive expectations about the potential of the performer to them ? I know that you can performer higher. I know that you can be even more successful. But be careful about expectations that are too high too quick. One step at a time is enough.Frank Salisbury is a highly experience motivational speaker, and inspiring business coach, particularly to the sales profession. Frank is recognised as a leading authority in the field of sales - including sales process design, sales performance, and sales coaching.He strongly believes that whether we work in the public or private sector; whether our organisation is commercial or non-commercial; that we are all in sales. His favourite quote, which has become his maxim, is from Robert Louis Stevenson ? 'Everything in live is selling'. He has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars where his style has received popular acclaim for a speaker with a passion for life, and achievement.He is Managing Director of Business & Training Solutions Ltd ? a sales consultancy based in Ireland and the UK. He can be contacted at frank@btsolutions.ie. 28 Rye Close, Banbury, Oxfordshire. 0044 (0)1295250247

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arrow right How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Performance -- Part 1

Business executives and sales managers frequently bemoan "80/20" performance on their sales teams, where approximately 80 percent of sales are produced by approximately 20 percent of salespeople. Why do salespeople perform so differently? What is it about top sales performers that enables them to achieve such vastly superior results?Certainly there are some sales skills that anyone can learn. For example, it is easy to learn how to ask reflective questions. These questions begin with the words

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Performance -- Part 2

Another key reason why companies suffer from 80/20 performance is their processes for hiring, training and managing salespeople rely almost entirely upon subjective information. Think about it: What are resumes? They are an individual's subjective portrayal of their capabilities and experiences. What occurs during an interview? Interviewees attempt to package their responses to questions in a manner that will make the best impression. Meanwhile, interviewers are forming personal opinions about candidates' qualifications for the position. I'm not suggesting that subjective information is useless. Subjective information is a valid and valuable component of any

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right All Small Businesses Need to Gather Community Intel

How well do you know your community? As business owners it is essential that we know our communities intimately. Have you ever made the effort to learn more about your town; Do you even know where to look. Lets discuss some ways to gather intel for your community based marketing efforts.First you need to put on a fresh perspective. You need to think like a person who knows nothing about your town to be able to see it from a totally unbiased perspective. Think of yourself a scout. Here are some of the first areas the scout will hit:Chamber Of CommerceCity HallPublic or County LibraryThe Chamber of Commerce is a great source of information. In their directory of membership you will find lists of board members and directors. Usually these people are the movers and shakers of the town. The Chamber of Commerce will also give you information with regard to civic organizations such as:Rotary ClubKiwanis ClubSoroptimists ClubOptimists ClubElks ClubLions ClubBoys And Girls ClubsAYSOLittle LeagueBoy ScoutsRoller HockeyHigh School ASB ClubsThese clubs and groups consist of most all the people who care and love their city. You can come to club meetings as a guest and perhaps a door prize. Maybe donate a coupon for a wash and wax as a raffle prize. This promotes good will for your small business. Youth clubs are great for public relations. When approaching a Chamber of Commerce of a given city, we should remember to offer assistance to help them with membership, public relations or advertising. You as a business also have the personal contacts a chamber needs to succeed and potentially new members for them as well.You need to be thinking here as you develop a community based marketing strategy. It must be a win/win for you and your community. Community based marketing is important because it means more dollars are spent within the community maintaining the flow and circulation. It also helps customers and potential customer know you care. This invites more referrals and more loyalty to your small business. Think about it.

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right Disclosure Laws Favor International Terrorists

The Federal Trade Commission has rule that are supposedly in place to protect franchise buyers from fraud from franchisors who might attempt to mislead them into purchasing a franchise. Part of the franchise rules are addressing required disclosure paperwork. In this disclosure document, which is required to be given to franchisees 10 days before any purchase is made are the names, addresses, phone numbers of all franchisees in the system. For smaller home based franchises this means home numbers, addresses and personal information.I am very concerned about our company, The Car Wash Guys and the possibility that International terrorists might use our mobile car wash trucks as tools to distribute biological weapons. We use trucks and trailer units that have capacities in excess of 600 gallons and low volume, high-pressure sprayers. Our team has washed cars at office buildings, military bases, mass transit districts, rent a car companies, airports, malls, QSRs, grocery stores, shipping and distribution yards, truck stops, parking structures, golf courses, media buildings, etc, etc. We wash things like shopping carts, wheelchairs, school buses, trucks, aircraft, boats, awnings, concrete, decks, playground equipment, etc, etc. In a single day our crews may be at 10-20 locations, in a week each truck/crew maybe as many as 120 locations, throughout a given city. And we have set up franchises in 23 states so far and that means in a lot of cities. What concerns me here is this:In our UFOC (Uniform Franchise Offering Circular) there is a list of franchisees, with names, addresses, phones numbers, and areas. It contains the perfect information of everything an evil-doer needs, except a map of how to get to the franchisees location. Even of more concern. Many of our franchisees own multiple trucks (units) and many park such units at their homes. They are not guarded they are just parked there. Someone could easily walk up and put something inside of the tank and walk away and our franchisees would then be spraying chemicals of mass destruction all over the city the next day. That would be bad. Not only from a franchisor's stand point and damage of brand name, but also from a stand point of what damage it could do to America. I am not alone in this problem. Think about TrueGreen ChemLawn, Pest control franchises, etc. We are all at risk, yet nobody is thinking there.We have set up special precautions to protect our Water Supply Tanks, have other franchisors? I believe it is up to each franchise system to do a RISK EVALUTION of such things, put it in writing and protect ourselves and our franchises. The franchising community, together can do our part. Think about the idea of a direct mail franchise company, there are many like Money Mailer, Coupon Clipper, etc. Additionally; I propose a simple idea. Delete the section of the UFOC with listings of franchisees, names, areas and addresses. Until a more final phase of the sale and after the franchisor receives a ten-year background check from the prospect. Or perhaps only if it is asked for from the prospect in writing later. Putting out a list of everyone who owns a ChemLawn truck in the country is just stupid right now. How about the name brands which are American icons, like McDonalds. After all last time they went after AMERICAN AIRLINES and UNITED AIRLINES. I have already had competitors who pretended to be a prospect, later dump hydrofluoric acid in the tanks of one of my franchisees a couple of years ago to cause him to damage the paint on customers car so he could pick up an account from an auto dealer our franchisee washed for. We did not figure out what happened for quite a while and only learned of it after the damage and an employee of the competitor became disgruntled and told us. What if that were anthrax?Even more scary is the fact that I had several former franchisees who were Muslim, who often discussed their despise of our government. Which I guess was probably them exercising their free speech, which is allowed of course, yet now it does not seem so innocent. There are so many franchises out their that have free access to facilities, such as; Shred It, AmeriSpec, American Leak Detector, Environmental Biotech, Merry Maids, Service Master, Terminex, ChemDry. I have personally seen the ease at which our company transverses through airport fencing, security gates, etc. They see the truck and the uniformed employee and wave us forward. Now think about this problem, our team without knowing it could deliver a bio weapon simply by an evil-doer dumping something in a tank. Very few lawn companies or termite pest control companies lock their tanks, I know this because our company washes these trucks, and rarely are their any locks on the tanks. The smaller the franchisee the more unaware they might be. Are all these companies sure they have trustworthy employees, and even if they are, do they secure and lock tanks and vehicles? Not just parked behind a fence, anyone can scale a fence. If an evil-doer is willing to die for his cause, I doubt if a fence will slow down or stop him/her. An evil-doer could also order services and hijack the truck or unit. Remember in San Francisco when Thieves would order a pizza from Dominos and then shoot and kill the delivery driver for the $50.00 in cash on him? There are so many ways to use a franchised unit to do these things. We must protect the franchise model, reputation of brand name and the American people. We should not make it easy by giving away all this information freely for no real reason. That would only hurt all franchisees of any system all over the country. The American Federation of Scientists announced that it deleted 500 pages of sensitive information on their initial review, and this is one of the most pro-freedom of speech supporters in the country.These are our most brilliant minds. We are smart enough to follow their lead. With all this said, I wonder why we are putting these UFOCs on the Internet at FranData, why state agencies copy them for mere copy fees to anyone who asks and why anyone expresses an interest to buy a franchise can get one, with lists of all franchisees, addresses and phones numbers. Since franchisors cannot discriminate based on ethnic sympathies, we must give out this information freely. WHY? Some information is dangerous in times of such threats. We should make this a new policy today, not tomorrow, there is no time for committees, no time to talk about it. Just do it. If a franchisee wants to call on other franchisees they are certainly allowed to do so after things have checked out and after they submit a written request along with a background check.

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right 6 Steps to Avoid Losing Summer Sales

It's a fact - the online world dies down in the summer time. Kids are out of school, families are on vacation, there's fairs to attend to, and many are just spending too much time outside to be online. For those that market mostly online, the summer months could be eating your profit. The good news is, it's easy to take your product to where your market is - offline.While some of you may moan and groan about leaving the comfort of your home to make money, if you don't want to loose out on sales it's the only way. Also you will get a chance to meet some local people in your area, and getting out can be good for you!So what is there to do offline in the summer time? PLENTY! There are hundreds of events going on right under your nose, just waiting for you to be a part of. State fair, county fairs, town celebrations, music events, craft fairs, expos - all renting tables and spaces for you to sell. The hard part of marketing the events has been done for you, all you have to do is show up!Use the following 6 steps to make your offline event a success:1. Locate the events This isn't as hard as some make it out to be. There are many different ways to get in touch with those in charge of organizing events. Check with your local City Hall or Chamber of Commerse first.2. Get Ready for the Event Make a list of items you will need to take, plus take inventory of the products you have in stock. You'll need a good variety and some eye catching items to take with you3. Set Up Your Table Your table should be neat, but eye catching. Table clothes are a must! Don't forget to have a drawing box on the table as well, to catch leads.4. Attend the Event You will need to have someone at the table at all times. Don't leave - not even for a second - unless there is someone there to cover you.5. Take Notes Was there something you could have done differently? Take notes and do better next time!6. Follow Up As they always say, the money is in the follow up! Be sure to stay in touch with all those contacts you made at the event.Avoid losing sales this summer and get involved offline!More information and help on staying organized while attending local events can be found at: http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com/offline-events.htmlAbout the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. Learn how you can be successful in your company by visiting: http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right 3 Secrets That Set The Context For Sales Success

In today's competitive environment, every organization is trying to improve sales results. In every company, the most important ? and vulnerable ? link in the success chain is the performance of their people. As a sales management trainer and coach, I see that managers across every industry fail to take a hard look at the capacity of their people to provide the service -- whether it's to internal or external customers ? that puts them in a league apart from the competition.As a sales manager, you can set the context for your team to pull ahead, or 'breakaway' from the competition. Context sets the tone and often determines the meaning of events and actions. In business, context affects our vision, motivation, ambition, and follow through.Some aspects of context are outside of our control. Things happen. Markets rise and fall. Yet some people thrive even in hard times. While these people are the masters of context, I would also argue that the 'climate' in which they work could contribute enormously to the difference between success and failure.Here are three ways you can take charge of the context in which you create an environment where 'breakaway' results can happen:ADOPT A 'NO BULLIES HERE' POLICYSome people use much stronger language to describe the people I'll politely call bullies. You may call them: tyrants, egomaniacs, jerks or unprintable. These are the people whose behaviour leaves you feeling badly about yourself, and feel free to use whatever profanity you want to describe them, because they are real trouble.Many 'stars' shout, belittle, and make unreasonable demands of support staff and colleagues, while ingratiating themselves with the higher-ups. How people treat both the powerless and powerful is a good measure of human character and the "bully" quotient.One bully can destroy your team's morale. You and your colleagues will spend inordinate amounts of time and energy dealing with this person, instead of focusing outward on breakaway performance.HOT TIPS:- Protect your people. If you are in a position to do so, aim to nourish a culture of decency in your organization. While you may not have a 'no bullies here ' policy in writing, you can have it in spirit. If the superstar you're about to hire has a reputation for being difficult, don't hire!- Set this ground rule for sales meetings: focus on the situation, issue, or behaviour, and not on the person. This rule translates into not placing blame on people. It safeguards the self-confidence and self-esteem of all meeting participants, and provides a process for regulating out-of-bounds behaviour.PRACTICE ONGOING REGARDWe all do better at work if we regularly hear that what we do matters, that it is valuable, and that our presence makes a difference to others.Nearly every organization or team I've been privileged to spend time with under-communicates the genuinely positive and admirable achievements of its members. I can understand wanting to avoid conflict, but avoiding praise is puzzling.HOT TIP:Make space at the beginning of a sales meeting for any expressions of appreciation or admiration that anyone may wish to deliver. I recommend that the leader not deliver any of these kudos during the first few meetings so team members get used to practicing 'ongoing regard.' If no one has anything to say, so be it (although I've never seen this happen).You may find that sharpening your capacity to express genuine appreciation or admiration is vitalizing. It will remind you of why you want to be on your team, and why performing at your peak is important.CREATE ACCOUNTABILITYHow many times have you said that you were going to do something and then not done it because nobody else would know the difference? Try spreading the word. Just the simple act of telling your plan to another person raises the stakes. Most of us place a high value on doing what we say we'll do. There is something profound about taking our commitments seriously when we profess them to another person or when we join in a pact to reach a common goal.HOT TIP:If you are a sales manager, allow your people to tell you how they plan to reach their goals, rather than you telling them how to proceed. Create time, regularly, for them to report what they have been doing and learning. Useful questions to help the discussion are: - What worked? - What didn't work? - What happened? - What would you do differently next time? - What assumptions are you making? - When will you do the tasks you propose? - How will I know you have started the tasks?If you are a team member, seek out someone you trust and check in regularly. Declare what you intend to do and watch what happens!'CREATE THE CONTEXT' CHALLENGEEstablish the practice of 'ongoing regard' at the start of each sales meeting. The purpose is to recognize people whose performance and integrity helps the team achieve goals and objectives. Acknowledge that their specific behaviour, and the personal qualities that led to that behaviour, had a positive impact on you, on a customer, or on the team.For example: "Lee, by delegating paperwork to the summer students and making more face-to-face sales calls you are helping us have a great second quarter. You are resourceful and creative."It may take a number of sales meetings for the practice to feel comfortable and meaningful. Stick with it.This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section "About the Author".Nicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople.Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca.You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right The Boss from Hell: Quick to Criticize, Slow to Praise

So you have a boss who dumps all over you the moment things go wrong, but never seems to notice when things go right. Ouch.Jamie is a hard-working, cheery, full-of-ideas kind of manager. She leads two high-functioning teams who support each other very well. So why does Jamie come to work with a stomachache every day? Why does her staff often feel paralyzed? It's because Jamie's boss, VP of Client Services, finds fault every day with Jamie and her team members. He seems to go out of his way to criticize. When the VP is away, the group functions like a well-oiled machine. When he is there, they gossip, avoid tough problems, and try to make themselves invisible.As a defensive strategy, Jamie visits her boss every morning to take a reading of his mood and pre-empt any explosions. She tells him first thing what she and her team accomplished the day before, what issues they face, and how they are handling them. Sometimes the strategy works, sometimes it doesn't and the explosions come anyway. The constant stomachache is the price Jamie pays for trying to figure out how to please this overly critical boss.Most of us can take a little criticism from our bosses from time to time when we've messed up, or haven't quite done something right. It can be tremendously demotivating, however, when criticism seems to be the only type of feedback we get, and we don't receive recognition for our positive contributions.Chances are your boss isn't intentionally trying to demotivate you. It's doubtful that he has some master plan to make your life miserable. More likely, she has fallen into the all-too-common management trap of looking for things that are wrong instead of things that are right. Of course, this particular behaviour is not unique to managers. Many parents, coaches and peers (perhaps even you and me), fall into this trap.If you have to deal with overly critical behaviour, there's a technique worth trying. The next few times your boss criticizes you, follow this three-step process:1. Apologize2. Let your boss know that you'll correct the problem3. Finish off with a comment that gently reminds her that you do, occasionally, get things right. For example:"Gee, and here I thought you were coming over to tell me what a good job I did on that last project." Say it with a smile, then go about the business of fixing your mistake.It may take a few repetitions, but your boss should eventually get the message that you might like some positive encouragement.Now, here's the part for the really courageous and truthful among you. You can actually tell your boss what you want. If you don't say anything, don't expect your boss to read your mind, or to be aware of how the constant criticism affects you. Say something like:"I do appreciate feedback. It helps me improve. In addition to criticism, I also appreciate hearing about what I do well. It helps me know what to keep doing."While you can't control how your boss talks to you, you can control the quality of your own communication, and how you respond. Good luck.About the AuthorNicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople.Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.

Bandu2 - Herit.gif  వర్గం: సంఘము   »   0 పుస్తకాలు   »   తేదీ: 02/01/2012 05:46   »   ద్వారా: Mouhamadou-bamb ...

arrow right A Coachs Handbook For Sales Managers

This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section "About the Author".Quote of the month: "A leader is the relentless architect of the possibility that others can be." Benjamin Zander, Conductor of the Boston PhilharmonicSales organizations have access to more or less the same resources. They can draw from the same pool of salespeople in their niche or geographic area, and they can all learn the same sales or management tools and techniques.Yet some organizations perform at a high level and other stay at the bottom of the heap. What accounts for these gaps? I believe two words answer the question: effective leadership.Too many sales managers are bosses, technicians or even bullies. They kill team spirit, arouse mediocrity and suck the energy out of companies. The results are poor morale, loss of talented people and low performance.Effective leaders, by contrast, define themselves as coaches and teachers. Rather than constantly dealing with problems and telling people what to do, strong leaders empower and enable others to solve problems on their own, take risks, make decisions, tackle new challenges, and learn from their experiences. They don't just see their salespeople as who they are today, but who they could be in the future.Here are the best practices of sales managers who lead through coaching and teaching:CLARIFY GOALS Research shows that only about 20% of managers write down their goals. If you don't have any written goals, how do you know if you have accomplished what you set out to do? Telling team members, 'Okay everyone, go make the numbers' doesn't provide guidance and support.A more effective goal for the sales manager/coach would be along the lines of:

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