Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Management Time Woes - Managing your Return on Time Investment

70/20/10

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of General Electric from 1981-2001 has discussed his simple management strategy which served him well as he built GE into the success it became. According to Welch, all your employees fit into one of three categories, 70/20/10. Most fall in the middle 70%, employees that are generally meeting your expectations, neither flying above nor below the radar. About 20% fall into your most coveted employee category…those who are highly productive, highly motivated, and are a great cultural fit for your organization. The bottom 10% is just that, they either need to elevate into the middle 70, or they need to leave. Here are some strategies to consider in working with your people after you have identified where they fit.

Talent Strategies
Top 20 – Deepen the relationship
Most of these people are vocal when the need something, but otherwise go about their business quietly. Because they don’t demand very much management attention, they can be vulnerable to recruitment. Make sure that you are creating purposeful strategy for retaining your BEST employees while at the same time taking action to move out the bottom 10%.
  • Create challenges
  • Create participation in leadership direction
  • Reward performance
  • Connect personally
  • Create opportunity

Middle 70 – Accelerate performance
Many of these individuals need little to now management support to achieve mild success. Some of these people can blossom with the right support and mentorship and can become the next generation of Top 20’s in your organization. Pay attention to “influencers” in this group, and look for the leaders of tomorrow.

  • Create individual expectations
  • Formalize coaching/learning
  • Implement skills enhancement/practice
  • Specify growth progression
  • Communicate progress regularly
  • Praise successes

Bottom 10 – Upgrade
If you combine the mental energy you devote to these people, with the actual physical time and energy you have to commit to, these people take up an inordinate amount of your time, especially in relationship to their contributions. Simply, move up or move out...they can become “a cancer” in your organization.

  • Execute written Performance Improvement Plans
  • Require skills development
  • Closely monitor progress within defined timeframes
  • Terminate decisively

If you would like a talent scorecard that helps you identify and create action steps for your employees in these catagories please email us at info@rightnowconsulting.com

Also remember that the 70/20/10 rule can also directly to apply to our customers and prospects. Think about it... would love your comments and your stories.

Happy selling.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Coaching for Results


Coaching/Counseling


We have developed the coaching model here, for use with performers all along the spectrum. Depending on where someone is (70/20/10) your coaching may be more collaborative and less directive, or more directive and less collaborative.

Consistency is the key to successful coaching. In order to create a “culture of accountability” within your organization, you must communicate what you want, and then follow-through to assess progress and results.

For your Bottom 10, define desired outcomes, meet frequently, give support/training if need be, and then act decisively. If you allow your Bottom 10 to stay, you unwittingly communicate to everyone else that lackluster performance is acceptable.

Be prepared to deal with the following coaching challenges:

Salesperson “too busy” to be coached
• Politely insist
• Go to them
• Make it fun

Not being prepared
• Delay the meeting
• Ask when he or she will be ready

Talking too much:
• Reiterate time constraints
• Use a timer

Bringing other issues into the session:
• Make a follow up appointment to discuss

Not doing what he or she agreed to:
• Counseling

At the end of the day coaching is about helping your people to succeed and having real conversations with them that ENABLES them to do the right activities. Coaching is one of the most powerful ways to motivate and demonstrate thoughtful leadership.
Let me know how it goes.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Planning a Sales Meeting

Do you ever dread going to meetings? Those extremely long meetings where all you want to do is check your blackberry the whole time that leave you feeling why am I not in the field with my customers or better yet, in front of a new one. Yeah, I thought so.... Effective sales meetings are valuable for everyone involved, not just a venue to cover requisite housekeeping issues.

Here are a few tips for organizing your next sales meeting:


Determine a reason for your meeting...

Reasons for Sales Meetings:
· Train or retrain
· Communications
· Motivation/Recognition
· Solve Problems
· Introduce a new product or contest


Encourage Participation: Extremely important and helps get buy in
· Tap everyone’s creativity
· Create team spirit
· Stimulate interest
· Reward and recognize
· Hone skills
· Increase motivation for self-improvement
· Evaluate salespeople in-depth
· Receive feedback on effectiveness of training

Pitfalls to Avoid:
· Lack of form or content
· Overly administrative
· Generalizing problematic behavior/results
· Irrelevant topics

Some things to consider…
· Off-site meetings
· Guest speakers
· Duration and timing
· Monthly meetings for everyone…weekly meetings for non-performers

Meeting Topics…some examples: (don't try all of these)
· Industry updates
· Market/customer knowledge
· Cold Calling
· Setting Appointments
· Overcoming Objections
· Systematic and strategic follow-up
· Time Management
· Product knowledge/new product training
· Customer service
· Role-playing
· Building goodwill
· Contests and special promotions

Ways to Make Sales Meetings More Interesting and Lively
· Show films or video
· Update product knowledge
· Create a game show
· Case studies/role playing
· Increase competitor knowledge
· Allow “show off” time
· Conduct brainstorming sessions


Sample Agenda



  1. Icebreaker/Team Building activity

  2. Provide agenda and desired outcomes of meeting

  3. Representative reporting – Provide to sales reps (prior to meeting, ideally at least 1 week before) an outline for their 3-5 minute update. Include:
    a. Report on prior months production…new clients, total orders, revenue, etc
    b. 3 things that went well, and 3 things they need help on (take notes, because after the meeting, you can either pair people up to contact each other, or include in the meeting notes so some may take initiative and call each other)
    c. Territory update: competition, branch challenges, opportunities, etc.

  4. Overall report out for your profit center. Include all measurements including total new clients, total revenue compared with prior month, retention statistics, etc…

  5. General company announcements

  6. Training or Guest Speaker
    a. Consider having your reps take turns presenting their area of specialization
    b. Ask a top performer to prepare 15 minutes worth of training

  7. Exercise (tied into speaker or training)
    a. Role playing
    b. Group brainstorming
    c. Group Activity: Share best practices. (Getting interview, kicking off interviews, good interview questions, asking for business, prospecting). Have groups work together for 5-10 minutes, then have a report out so all the groups can hear what each other said.

  8. End the meeting with each representative giving their own personal goals related to revenue (orders), new clients, and interviews with Top 25 prospects. Have someone take notes. Compile notes, and send out updates monthly.