2010 June Archive - Salespodder: because today’s salespeople should be tomorrow’s chief execs

Jun 22, 2010 0

How Do You Handle Pressure?

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A delicious commentary compares people currently failing to handle pressure that have been able to in the past with those that still can. It majors on sport stars from the Telegraph’s Jim White.

As a salesperson you are in the one group of employees typically swamped by pressure. By adapting a few juicy quotes, you can gauge whether you are handling it well or not. Any of these ring a bell?

lost all notion of how you might resolve a problem?

blundering and evasive, ducking questions?

unable to behave as if you know the solution?

suddenly faced with the ceiling of your aptitude?

applying the systems you’ve always applied and seeing them unravel before your eyes?

If so, pressure is clearly not your friend at the moment. To change this state, here are a few pointers provided:

regain nerveless confidence in your own ability to do the job

find such self-certainty

make pressure hold no fear

get the resources behind you to survive the ordeal

Easier said than done, I grant you, but if you need a plan, best to start crafting one now.

Jun 22, 2010 0

After just two matches each team, the World Cup is taking an ominously Latin route. I buck the ridiculous English tendency to suffer inferiority in the face of Brazilian aura. Mainly because they seldom deserve what they achieve. Yet this year they stand apart and if it leads to the championship then they will indeed be worthy on current evidence.

The reason is that they deploy the most innovative and potentially devastating tactics. I’ll call it their 6-6 formation.

Even those not disposed to follow football have probably heard talk of formations; 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 3-5-2, 4-5-1, Christmas Trees and Diamonds.

What Brazil are doing that is so fascinating starts with the approach to defence and attack. They have a standard back-four. Then they have four attacking players. These all seem to be largely interchangeable, playing anywhere upfront, constantly swapping around.

Their real breakthrough is with the two remaining outplayers. In this case, they are Felipe Melo (no.5) and Gilberto Silva (no.8). Watch out for them next time. They only operate in a 40-yard zone, either side of half-way. Yet they are always the extra two attackers when swarming on goal or extra two defenders when under pressure. The speed with which these pair enable the switch between six attackers and six defenders is frightening. Yes, I’ll admit they’ve only played N Korea and Ivorians so far and have at times looked as shaky as every other fancied side, but this building block appears uniquely theirs to go on and win the thing, given the extra man it seems to give them.

This tactic reminds me of when I’ve seen the most successful solution selling. Whether you yourself attain ultimate glory, there’s usually a team involved. Winning tends to repeat itself when you’ve a reliable technical head that can lend themselves just as adeptly to pre-sales and implementation situations. Have you got such resource mobilised?

Jun 22, 2010 0

Complaint-Compliment Balance

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The billions spent on ‘communications’ by huge multi-nationals are hardly far the the spotlight at any time. Right now, neither BP nor the American Government are providing a case study in how to conduct crisis management. And can there be any supposedly altruistic organisation that gets such a pasting in the press and general public conversations as FIFA?

In the middle of their quadrennial place in the sun, at every turn they seem to alienate, frustrate and distance themselves from their core constituents. Admittedly, much of this has to do with their gaffe-prone boss, yet the constant connections to at worst, corruption and malpractice and at best incompetence and foolishness could, in my opinion, be so easily avoided.

Locally in S Africa, media column inches that question FIFA run into miles. Most scathingly criticise. Whereas I’ve found only the occasional sentence in their favour. Unsurprising of course, but surely so avoidable. FIFA just aren’t doing enough to promote all the good that they purport to bring to grass roots initiatives. They need way less Miss World pageant at Soccer City photo opps and way more football-powering-social-change successes.

And so I myself was in Cape Town’s terrific new stadium the other day. It was cold and I quite fancied the look of an England t-shirt. The young lady at the official FIFA kiosk inside told me it was 250 rand. Against my better judgement, I paid. When I got back to my digs, I was appalled to see that the label (tucked into the garment at time of purchase) actually stated the price as just 200. FIFA had diddled me by 25%.

I have since managed to track down a possible way to complain direct online, after all I can’t exactly go back to the stadium and get my 50 back now, can I? My hopes are depressingly low. All FIFA will likely see is an addition to the mountain in negative reality of the low esteem in which they’re held on sites such as hellopeter. If even, they care.

Yet this unsavoury experience brings to light a conundrum for any solution seller involved in account management.

How do we deal with disgruntled clients?

Do you keep a kind of customer service log?

These are notoriously difficult to pull off.

The problem is that it shifts focus onto the bad, always away from the good. if you track every time a query is raised then, even if alongside each is its resolution, a audit is created of mistakes. Whether or not they’re justified, perception is that they are errors. At contract renewal time, these could kill any re-sign, how ever unmerited.

SLAs increasingly demand such traceability. In such case, you absolutely balance out realities. In a similar fashion to how FIFA could. Each time something good happens, diligently log it. Remember that something good could actually be something bad not happening. Actively seek out the good stuff, get clients to express their thirtieth successive uninterrupted day of usage, the hours your service continues to save them, the hassle-free update just complete, the helpful help-desk, the pleasure at the new upgrade. Anything and everything to ensure that sometime in the future, no-one can say that working with you is a constant litany of problems and errors.

Jun 20, 2010 0

Dress Rehearsals

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I saw Aussie Bill Granger cooking for a small Summer evening private dinner party hosted by a couple of girls that design in Sydney’s high-fashion world. Scallops to start, chicken salad then meringue.

Having recently delivered a presentation as part of a team where I constantly reminded all participants of the need for a dress rehearsal, I was comforted by how for even someone as accomplished in his field as our Bill seems to be considered, he conducted a full run-through well in advance of his delivery.

Only cooking for himself rather than the eventual half-dozen diners, it was clear even given the ubiquitous fuzzy close-ups and shaky camera work so prevalent in such shows these days, that he was working through all the timings and presentation of his efforts in full effect. This was even confirmed when you saw that what he cooked was slightly different to how he’d done it at home.

Another winning piece of preparation was knowing the client’s kitchen beforehand. He made a point of how you really don’t want any nasty late surprises in form or function.

Dress rehearsals are essential yet so often overlooked. I get so frustrated when people think that they can simply ‘wing it’. It doesn’t matter how experienced or expert you think you are. You always need to rehearse your final key presentation.

Jun 17, 2010 0

Mistake Management

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Here’s a phrase I learned after watching a sports psychologist on Sky News explain how Robert Green could recover from his goalkeeping howler against America, which helped prevent England starting well in the World Cup.

Mistake Management is where you come to terms with the error and quickly move on, mainly by focusing on what you did that was good, either side of your costly blunder.

In a protracted sales campaign, sometimes the vendor that makes the least mistakes can end up winning. Mistakes are traps at every turn. Misunderstanding a key instruction, personality clashes, a meeting going unhelpfully off-topic, late completion of promised tasks, misinterpretation of requirements. There’s plenty of scope for set backs.

The issue often, is that each one can create a crisis management mentality. This has the twinfold negative impact of amplifying what happened, usually out of all proportion, and removing any confidence, as what is good is forgotten, almost snubbed out completely and unable to be built on.

One difference between Green and many a salesperson, is that at least he held his hand up straight away and wasn’t blamed by his compadres, nor boss. Although in this case, he was not given a chance to atone in the next match, his road back still depends, according to the psychologist, on how quickly he can learn from his mistake and rectify it.

Jun 15, 2010 0

Know Your Realm Of Expertise

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I just had recounted to me a pearl of wisdom attributed to a Dr Peter Asquith. Apparently a surgeon, this sage once saw a colleague completely taken apart on the stand by a silk in a legal case. The lesson he had confirmed to him was,

“never go beyond your realm of expertise”.

It seemed that the other doctor entered an arena in which they were not an authority, and mistakenly tried to present themselves as being knowledgeable therein.

It was a mistake. A disaster, even.

It reminded me of how many times I’ve seen someone pitching, only for their credibility to disappear when they too ill-advisedly go beyond their own area of expertise.

It is of course ingrained into a salesperson’s psyche to often ’wing it’. Thinking on your feet is an essential skill. But when this transgresses a line, well, you’re usually in all sorts of irretrievable trouble.

The answer is clear; don’t do it. There’s no shame in pausing, asking further questions and even going away if necessary to get the answers or more from an expert back at base. It’s a simple method of stopping you from being derailed.

When even esteemed surgeons can come a cropper, especially in the jaws of expert cross-examination, then what chance have you got in the prospect furnace of your presentation?

Jun 15, 2010 0

Never Waste A Crisis

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The world seems to be coming round to the opinion that Obama is in a job too far. There appears a pretty much universal view that his response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is both inappropriate and ineffective.

One such talking head I saw referred to the mantra of Obama’s close colleague, Rahm Emanuel, as delivered to a pow-wow of business leaders,

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste”

I was struck by how similar his idea is to that so disparaged by what is surely a political bedfellow in Naomi Klein throughout her over lengthy Shock Doctrine tome. He continues in tones remarkably reminiscent of shock and awe neocon hawks,

“[a] crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before”

For the solution seller, spotting or uncovering a crisis prospect-side is a surefire way to improve the odds of a sale. The credit crunch precipitated all sorts of potential crises. How can you help do more with less?

Shock and awe proponents go farther, by seeking to exploit the disarray which engulf those in the maelstrom of crisis through quick, decisive and irreversible action.

Whichever your political leaning, the inference is clear. Both sides recommend, to adapt an ill-used topical phrase, going for the throat.

Jun 14, 2010 0

Leadership Radar Process

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I gained a fascinating glimpse into leadership from a rolling news talking head. The professor concerned was familiar name to me as many years ago, just after graduation, I had a friend that went to work for him in Oxford.

I was taken with his analysis of UK political party leader capability. Upon further surfing, I came across this thought provoking quote that any sales person that wishes to be seen as a leader ought take on board.

“Leaders have to display many qualities, but the great ones are able to combine all three of Thought, Task and People leadership”

He terms this trio of traits his “Leadership Radar Process”:

Thought Leadership (eg. ideas, vision)

Task Leadership (eg. setting objectives, delivery)

People Leadership (eg. motivating others, empathy)

In the interview I saw, Prof Binna Kandola interestingly seemed to present these in an order of priority. Task Leadership (the capability to get the job done) was talked about first, followed by People Leadership (how they interact with others and manage a team) and Thought Leadership (their vision and ideas) third.

His framework struck me as a wonderful way to triangulate your own performance. Whether you lead a particular client account, sales campaign, or salesforce, working on these three axes appears to be a winning policy.

For those interested, he felt the ranking of current political leaders was Cameron, Clegg, Brown, and even set out Blair as being troublesome too.

Former PM Blair was negatively exposed as being excitement seeking, lacking in empathy, having an over-reliance on charm and persuasion, too calculating, and focused too much solely on his personal aims to exclusion of others.

In the Professor’s view, outgoing PM Brown was pleasingly a conscientious and long-term thinker, but was held back by (almost paranoid) suspicion, an inability to collaborate and in general terms not really cut out to be a leader at all. In a telling line, Prof Kandola thinks Brown to be too negative, “You don’t inspire by generating negative emotions in your followers”.

New Deputy PM Clegg was seen as genuinely charming and having the best visionary qualities, yet exhibits downsides of needing to be centre of attention and liking to dominate others.

And incoming PM Cameron had the pluses of resilience, optimism and being a good team leader and partnership player. Less attractively, he could be inclined to arrogance and short-termism.

A more in-depth assessment is offered on one of his blog posts.

Jun 14, 2010 0

Seek Little Disruptions

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With the World Cup party bouncing along in South Africa, I caught a documentary on the Beeb about how their 70s and 80s overseas rugby tours were disrupted by anti-apartheid activists in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. Their achievement was to hasten the fall of the oppressive system.

What was startling was whilst the headline grabbing events were the mass pitch invasions by several hundred people, such as Hamilton’s ‘Operation Everest’ which successfully stopped one tour’s first match, the protagonists thought the smaller, unpublicised disruption caused greater problems for the tour organisers.

My favourite example was sneaking a girl into a hotel to glue up all the doors of the players rooms. Another, more sinister tactic was to have one person run onto a pitch scattering glass on the grass.

When we’re faced with dominant competition on a campaign, the tendency can often be to think of the big event that’ll swing the initiative our way. Yet following these hardy souls example would suggest a few carefully thought out ploys on a tiny scale could end up being more effective.

Jun 10, 2010 0

Tips For Waitrons

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An airport lounge Reader’s Digest led me to Michael Lynn. He’s a psychologist and professor at New York’s Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration who majors on studying why people tip. One outcome of his work is to deduce how servers in restaurants can increase end of meal gratuities received. His top five tips for boosting tips?

introduce yourself at the start with your firstname
crouch next to table to take order
lightly touch customer (on arm/shoulder)
draw a smiley face on the bill
give a couple of sweets with the bill

These are interesting in terms of how naked the pursuit of tips is relative to selling oneself. One of my underlying themes when solution selling is to sell myself first, my company second, and then only the product itself a distant third.

Prof Lynn’s findings seem to back this up. The quality of food is only weakly related to the size of tip, for instance.

The last pair are intriguing too aren’t they? What do you do when you deliver your bill? If your equivalent of ‘bill’ is emailing the invoice for client sign-off before forwarding it on to a purchase ledger clerk, then what’s your ’smiley face’ and how can you add your sweetie?

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