3 Ways to Start Every Day Better

 BY Tom Searcy

Great athletes put the odds in their favor by having a routine that helps them start each day right. Why don't you? Here are three tips to do just that.

Most top athletes go through a preparation routine before every game which starts long before they get on the field. The best ones usually start the moment they awake. They follow this pattern with a fierce devotion because it activates all sorts of subconscious and autonomic systems that put that athlete "in the zone." "In the zone" describes a condition of readiness and awareness that helps prepare that person for success.
If you eliminate the quirky, (Tiger Woods makes his hotel bed for instance), the obsessive, (Michael Phelps' ritualistic warm-ups), and the bizarre, (Rocky Balboa's dozen raw eggs for breakfast), and you just look at patterns, putting yourself in the zone to have a great day is a solid idea.
As a business owner and leader, you set the pace for the rest of your organization. Your company, even if it has just a few employees, is a reflection of you. Sharpen your company by first sharpening yourself at the dawn of each day.
Start with awakening. Let's take the first 30 minutes to get you in the zone.
1. Body--Coming out of bed, your body needs three things for certain--water, protein and movement. Without being indelicate, your systems were all working through the night and they need to complete their cycles. Starting with 16 ounces of water gets you started on the eight glasses you already know you need to get anyway and begins the benefits that moving fluids through your body starts.
You need protein in your first food of the day, even if you are going for a run or a workout. A protein shake will do. The rest of the food pyramid is open, but even if you are a very light breakfast eater, protein is important.
Movement gets blood moving, clears the mind and releases energy. Workouts with weights or cardio are great--but sometimes ten minutes of stretching is all you have time or space for. Regardless, don't let the first 30 minutes of the day get started without moving.
2. Mind--Your mind needs focus or you will waste time and energy in your morning and in your day. The most effective business owners and CEOs that I know actually focus on very few things. Those that receive their focus, receive all of their focus. A billionaire I interviewed told me one of his keys to success--he tries to accomplish only one thing per day. A very big thing, of course, but from the moment he woke up until he finished his day, he threw every available effort at that one thing. Most of us measure our days in volume, not in scale. How many checks on our list, not how important one big check might be. Pick the one BIG thing to accomplish and let your morning open up with that as the focus for your first thoughts.
3. Spirit--Part of putting yourself in the zone is achieving alignment of your core energy and your positive emotions. A proven way to do this is through a simple reflection of gratitude. Being grateful, aware of all you have, is a centering action. It starts your day with energy and calm. When you greet your employees, clients, and suppliers throughout the day knowing that you included them in your reflections, they will feel that in your interaction and it will make for a better exchange regardless of the circumstances.
The top performers in most fields put the odds in their favor by putting themselves in the zone. Figure out your Body/Mind/Spirit routine and follow it for a better day every day.

Author, speaker and consultant TOM SEARCY is the foremost expert in large account sales. With Hunt Big Sales, he's helped clients land more than $5 billion in new sales. Click to get Tom's weekly tips, or to learn more about Hunt Big Sales.
@tomsearcy

All the work you do to hire, train, engage, coach, mentor & motivate your staff can go south in a single thoughtless comment... you know.. the ones that disclose what someone may truely be feeling... choose your words wisley and think of perceptions as reality in the minds of your               Co-Workers..without who you may not have a team to lead...

17 Things The Boss Should Never Say

 "Please, Sarah, you've got to be friendlier on the phones!"
As soon as I said it, several years ago to one of my employees, I felt horrible. It wasn't so much that I had said it- it was how I said it, in front of other employees. Sarah began to tear up, I pulled her aside and apologized, but the damage had been done.
Leaders must be sensitive to the fact that the whole team is looking up to them. Everything the boss says is magnified because it's the boss saying it. Two weeks ago, I shared 17 things you should never say to your boss, and over 700,000 of you read it, so this week, I turned the tables, asking 17 bosses from fast-growing companies in the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) what they thought the worst thing they could say to their staff is. Here are their answers- the 17 things the boss should never say- followed by mine:

1. "That Client Drives Me Nuts!"
We all experience crazy deadlines in a high-pressure environment. Passing along our feelings of stress to our staff can cause them to feel less motivated working for a particular client. Make sure they don't lose sight of the fact that every single client is equally important, even if you have an 80/20 portfolio.

- Vinny Antonio, President, Victory Marketing Agency

2. "I'm the Boss!"

No one wants to work for an organization that doesn't respect their commitment level or humanity. If your co-workers wanted to take orders, they would have joined the army. Unless you are the military, avoid pulling rank. Every decision is a dialogue. Even if you do have the final say and aren't in full agreement (which is probable), don't make "I'm the boss" the ultimate reason for any decision.
- Geoffrey Stenrick, President, SimpleRay
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3. "I'm Too Busy"

This statement is terse and shows a lack of empathy to the needs of your staff. It also makes your employees feel that what they are doing is not that important. Instead of telling them you're too busy, try asking them to come back at a specific time when you do have availability. This gives them confidence that they have your ear, your respect, and your sincere care about the work they are doing.

- Joshua Konowe, Founder & CEO, Uppity

4. "What's the Latest Gossip?"

When you're running a company, you set the tone for the workplace culture. If you gossip about staff members, it tells your staff that it's okay to gossip, which ultimately sets up a toxic environment for team relationships. Leave the gossip at the door.

- Allie Siarto, Co-Founder, Director of Insights, Loudpixel

5. "What's Wrong With You?"

It's easy to get frustrated when your staff does something incorrectly but this question goes right to the heart of their competencies. It not only assumes that they have a fundamental flaw but it conveys that you've lost all trust in their abilities. It's only downhill from there.

- Kelly Azevedo, Founder, She's Got Systems

6. "You're the Only One Having a Problem"

This will only isolate your employees. It will break your staff down and make them feel alone. I believe that a majority of the time, if you were to google a question or problem, you will find many others have similar issues and concerns, and are truly seeking an answer.

- George Mavromaras, Founder and President, Mavro Inc. | Praetor Global LLC

7. "I Don't Care About That"

You need to care about every aspect of your business -- small or large. If you let you staff know that you don't care about something, why should they? Treat every aspect of your business the same and your staff will have more pride in their work.

- Josh Weiss, Founder and President, Bluegala

8. "Do What I Won't"

As business owners and bosses, we need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Never ask an employee to do something you wouldn't do yourself. If I'm assigning a somewhat overwhelming or complicated task, I always make sure to offer myself as a helper or resource. Follow the guideline of leading by example. Get in the trenches with your employees if need be.

- Laura Land, CFO / COO, Accessory Export, LLC

9. "Don't Argue With Me"

No boss should dissuade their staff from arguing or disagreeing with them. Sometimes you may be wrong, and it's important to get that insight from your staff. Hearing their thoughts and ideas is crucial to building a business.

- Ben Lang, Founder, Mapped In Israel

10. "We've Always Done it This Way"

Just because something's been done a certain way for months or years doesn't mean that it's the best way to approach a problem. Empower your staff to think of new solutions. Openness breeds creativity, which in turn breeds innovation. And startups need all the innovation they can get, regardless of whether it comes from the CEO or an intern.

- David Adelman, Founder and CEO, Reel Tributes

11. "Just Let Me Do It"

You can’t grow your company by doing everything yourself. If you feel you have to step in every time things get hard, your staff will never learn to be self-sufficient. Give everyone a chance to succeed and encourage management to do the same. You will build a stronger company.

- Robert Delossantos, CEO, Sky High Party Rentals

12. "You're Doing Okay"

When an employee asks for feedback, never tell them they're doing an okay or fine job. Asking for feedback is a sign of potential; a desire to grow, change and get better. We typically have a good sense of what we're good at, but we don't always know what we can do better. Telling someone "you're doing fine" without giving the gift of improvement is a hugely missed opportunity.

- Susan Strayer LaMotte, Founder, exaqueo

13. "This is MY Company"

That may very well be true on paper, but you won't be much of a leader if you don't have any willing "followers." Being "in charge" is like being "cool" -- if you have to say you are, you're not.

- Mary Ellen Slayter, Founder/Managing Director, Reputation Capital

14. "It's Your Problem"

Maintaining an attitude of shared responsibilities with your employees is important to order to create the best experience and generate the best work. If an employee knows you feel personally involved in all tasks, they view their own work as being a valued part of a larger effort.

- Michael Mayernick, Co-founder, Spinnakr

15. "This is Just a Small Client / Sale"

Teaching your staff to treat the high-paying clients or the big sales differently than smaller ones is a huge mistake. This sets up your company not only for bad customer service but also for arguments amongst your staff over who gets to work on which accounts.

- Caitlin McCabe, Founder & CEO, Real Bullets Branding

16. "We Just Need PR"

Although PR is important, the staff should always be working to improve the product. Placing the focus on only needing PR insinuates that the product is complete and success is out of everyone's control. Never make your staff feel like anything is out of their control.

- Phil Chen, Co-Founder / Principle Systems Architect, Givit

17. "I Don't Care What You Think"

This sentence can end many different ways. It could be "I don't care what you think," or "I don't care if that's what XX does." Regardless of how the sentence ends, "I don't care" is a phrase that shuts down conversations rather than encouraging dialogue. It suggests you aren't open to considering others or their ideas. Exercising your role of power unnecessarily leads to a negative workplace.

- Andrew Angus, CEO, Switch Video

These 17 things may not be the best things a boss can say to their team, but to me, the most important factor is tone, and the circumstances under which the boss is speaking. I'm a huge support of positive public praise: the more public praise I can give to individuals on our teams, the better. But if I ever have anything critical to say, or even anything that could possible be seen as critical by anyone in the room, I've learned the importance of making that conversation private. Because when the boss speaks, good, bad or ugly, people do pay attention.

Dave Kerpen is a student of all things Likeable. He is the founder and CEO of Likeable Local. He is also the cofounder and Chairman of Likeable Media, and the New York Times bestselling author of Likeable Social Media, Likeable Business, and Likeable Leadership (coming October 30!)
To read more from Dave on LinkedIn, please click the FOLLOW button above or below.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Seven Types of Sales Managers...

Seven Types of Sales Managers

Harvard Business Review Network - Steve W. Martin,  September 6, 2013

Over the past decade, I've worked closely with hundreds of vice presidents of sales, and like all of people, each has a unique personality. Some are gregarious. Some are assertive. Some are action-oriented. But even as I observe their individual differences, I have recognized patterns of behavior, which have allowed me to catalog their styles of sales management.

I have found that seven management styles are most prevalent: mentor, expressive, sergeant, Teflon, micromanager, overconfident and amateur. Most likely, a sales leader will use several different management styles and move from one style to another depending on the situation.
To better understand these sales management styles, I asked more than 60 top vice presidents of sales from leading high technology and business services companies to estimate what percentage of their time they used a particular management style, and then to rank the applicability of the style to the success in their role on a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important). Below, you will find a description of each style and the average results for the study group.

Mentors
Mentors are charismatic leaders and sales experts who measure their success using three criteria: exceeding revenue goals, creating an environment where the entire team can succeed, and helping all team members realize their individual potential. Mentors are confident in their own abilities and possess the business insight to know what needs to be done and how to do it. On average, study participants reported they used the mentor management style 26 percent of the time. In terms of importance as a driver of success, they gave mentor management style the highest ranking of all the styles at 4.3.

Expressives
Expressive managers are people-oriented with a flair for sharing their emotions and amplifying the emotions of those around them. They have a natural ability to put people at ease but are also quite comfortable extolling or admonishing the team. Expressive managers create an environment where a considerable amount of energy is focused on how their organization is thought of and perceived within the company. Study participants indicated they used the expressive management style 30 percent of the time on average and ranked the style's importance at 4.

Sergeants
The sergeant is named after the field sergeant in a military organization. Sergeants develop an intense loyalty to their team, perhaps even greater than their personal loyalty to their company. They are hard workers who are constantly worrying about their "troops." They will even sacrifice their own best interests and tolerate personal hardships if they feel it will benefit their team. The sergeant management style is used 18 percent of the time on average and its importance was ranked at 3.2.

Teflons
Teflon managers are pleasant, agreeable, and polite people. However, unlike sergeants, they tend not to have deep personal relationships with their sales team members. Another characteristic of Teflon managers is their ability to stay above the daily fray of politics. Regardless of the situation, Teflon managers are even keeled and rarely frazzled. The Teflon management style is used 10 percent of the time on average and its importance was ranked at 2.

Micromanagers
Micromanagers are the most organized and methodical of all the management types. They have a strong sense of responsibility to their company and they pride themselves on achieving their revenue goals. They tend to be all-or-nothing thinkers who want things done their way. The micromanager style is used 7 percent of the time on average and its importance was ranked 3.3.

Overconfidents
Overconfident managers tend to be more self-centered. They are charming and gregarious in public, excellent on sales calls. They tend not to be open to feedback and will get the job done their way and succeed at any cost. The overconfident management style is used 6 percent of the time on average and its importance was ranked at 1.8.

Amateurs
The amateur management style should not necessarily be equated to someone who is new to sales management. Rather, the style reflects that the person is outside of their comfort zone in a new management role, working with an unfamiliar product at a new company, or in a new industry. As a result, their management style may suffer an identity crisis until they are able to build back their practical sales experience. Study participants indicated they experienced the amateur management style 3 percent of the time on average and ranked the style's importance at 1.
The structure and effectiveness of the sales department will mirror the sales management style of its leaders. This is because sales leaders naturally imprint themselves on their organization. Therefore, it can be argued that the vice president of sales is the most important person within a company because this person is in charge of an organization's most critical assets: customers and the revenue they generate.

How & Why do I need to Develop New Business?

Have you ever heard of the 80-20 rule?

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. Consequently the 80-20 Rule or Pareto Principle was born. The distribution shows up in several different aspects relevant to business. For example in business: 80% of sales come from 20% of products or services - 80% of complaints come from 20% of customers - 80% of your profits come from 20% of time spent (for us that means time actually selling) - 80% of all sales are made by 20% of sales staff & - 80% of your income comes from 20% of your customers.

Why is that important to New Business? Let me tell you a story… A number of  years ago I had a conversation with a sales rep with a company outside of Metroland & media; He was a highly successful consistent performer with an excellent history of year over year growth for the preceding 8 – 10 years. He had built his book of business on solid sales principals with clients who grew to large accounts over time. They trusted him and because of his solid reputation of meeting and exceeding client expectations his accounts recommended him to family and friends. One family who owned the majority of businesses in that area eventually all became his accounts. So much so that they represented 60% of his total income… yes that’s right one group of affiliated businesses made up 60% of his six figure income… then the unthinkable happened… He began dealing with one of the grandsons from the family on a new business venture. Everything was fine until a misunderstanding with a new business office employee threatened to send the young entrepreneur to collection over a disputed bill… His response of fix this problem or we will pull all our business went unheeded and unfortunately a small in discrepancy led to ALL their businesses choosing not to deal with the reps company over the disrespectful way one of their own had been treated. Overnight his income plummeted by 60%...

We have all lost accounts over the years due to closures, new ownership or to competitive raiding. We also know how tough it is to replace lost revenue. Most of our large accounts started out as smaller ones and they developed over time into the major accounts that make up the biggest part of our book of business…The 20% that make up 80% of our income.

The best sales consultants are constantly aware of new business opportunities. How they can find new customers or ways to develop existing accounts through new product lines and services. They have a plan for developing their New Business Pipeline (Setting up a database of prospects, Identifying their target customer, Know their Unique Selling Proposition & what they are selling, How to create a communications plan & How to automate the process) and understand the importance of cold calling on new prospects and the length of time it takes to develop successful business relationships. They truly understand their businesses USP and can vocalize it instantaneously when meeting a prospect as a succinct positioning statement about what they can do for them.

They are constantly growing their account lists by asking themselves the tough questions…

How solid are their "A" accounts (the accounts you Always call first…these are the 20% of your accounts that represent 80% of your business)? If they stopped advertising tomorrow would they be able to replace that revenue?

Do their "B" accounts (the accounts that will Buy if you make the call… but have the potential for more - if you develop them) have the potential to become A accounts? How well do they know this group of clients?

Are their "C" accounts (the accounts you Can sell but are occasional, seasonal or sporadic customers at best) maximising their penetration in their market? Are they helping these accounts brand in the off season so that they can increase market share during peak times. Are there other products or services that their more sporadic customers might be interested in?

Are their "D" accounts (the accounts that Don’t advertise because they are never called on) representing untapped potential?

New Business Development isn’t just about chasing new accounts… it’s a mindset where we capitalize on all new business opportunities. It solidifies client relationships with our constant assessment of how we can do more for existing clients at every level of engagement and identifies the potential for new clients at every corner... and with all the opportunities digital and our new products affords us what a fantastic chance to start a NEW business conversation with both existing and potential clients

For more conversation on New Business Development principals check out our New Business Development webinar on http://www.mymetroland.com..

 

Coaching for Success...

 

Nearly 90% of organizations will train sales managers to improve their coaching skills this year, according to a recent study by the Corporate Executive Board of more than 160 leading sales executives. While the link between effective sales coaching and better sales performance is widely known, the majority of sales organizations fail to realize the full potential of sales coaching.

First... Selling is hard work.  Even though the economy is showing signs of turning around, there are still significant challenges to overcome. Sales representatives are taking on more, facing new challenges, and making more customer contacts than ever -- but according to studies fewer than 55% of sales representatives make quota.

Dont push products, solve problems... dont talk, listen...

The days of Paid, Owned and Earned are upon us... Understand customers’ challenges to maximize our opportunity to lead the discussion...

People Are the New Channel

by Mark Bonchek and Cara France  |  11:00 AM April 15, 2013

In the past, channels delivered messages to audiences. You either owned the pipe or paid to use someone else's. You controlled the message all the way through that pipe.

In a digital and social age, pipes are less important. People are the channel. You don't own or rent them. You can't control them. You can only serve and support them.

This new world is disorienting because pipes and people work very differently as channels. Pipes flow out; people flow in. Content is pushed out through pipes, but pulled in through people.

This reversal is shifting the balance of power. Individuals have access to information, tools, and resources once reserved for institutions. Externally, this means a shift in the relationship between customers and brands. Internally, this means breaking down the silos that once divided functions and departments. What used to be a hierarchy with the company at the top is now a network with the customer at the center.

For marketers, this of course changes everything. As part of an awards program that one of us (Cara) created and the other (Mark) helped judge, we had the opportunity to see how hundreds of top marketers in Silicon Valley are engaging customers and growing revenue in this new era. The two most important principles that emerged are that customers make the best brand advocates, and entire organizations make for the best marketing teams.

• Externally, empower your customers to be brand advocates. Laura Messerschmidt, Vice President of Marketing at Outright (a GoDaddy company), discovered through extensive customer research a new tax law that would significantly affect millions of customers and prospects. Instead of creating a campaign, Laura created a movement. She developed compelling content to educate customers, prospects, advocates, and influencers on the new law. She organized a roadshow meeting with local small business groups in ten cities. She reached out to 5,000 top customer advocates and invited them to share the content on social networks. The results? Monthly sign up rates went up over 225% in just two months and the cost to acquire customers decreased by over 40%.
• Internally, treat your entire organization as your marketing team. Chris Borr, former Vice President of Marketing at McKesson, was responsible for launching a major new campaign for one of McKesson's divisions. On the belief that everyone in the division would need to support the campaign to make it successful, he spent as much energy cultivating internal ownership as external engagement. Focusing on the division's 7,500 employees, from the night shift workers to the executives, he looked at every customer touchpoint and ensured everyone understood their new role as it pertained to the brand. The results? $600 million in new business the first year the program launched.
Some key skills and strategies accelerate the shift from pipes to people:
1) Don't talk, listen. Brent Remai, CMO at FireEye, was hired into a small, venture- funded company with several years of moderate results. His first task was to spend significant time with dozens of customers to understand their problems and the language they use to talk about the issues. He used this information to formulate a marketing strategy that spoke to the customers in a language they understood. He then tested his strategy repeatedly with customers until it truly resonated. The result? In 2012, they were ranked as the 4th fastest-growing tech company by Technology Fast 500.
2) Don't push products, solve problems. Laura Fay, Vice President Integrated Campaigns and Strategy at Cisco, has helped the global marketing organization rethink the way it approaches marketing. For years, the company had been focused on product launches to create splash, buzz, and engagement. Instead, she implemented an integrated planning process that started with the top customer issue and then created an integrated solution that crossed business divisions. The results? The integrated campaign resulted in Cisco's share of voice for Cloud computing going from No. 5 to No. 1.
3) Don't stop at 1-to-1, think many-to-many. Antonio Lucio, Chief Brand Officer at Visa, created a customer engagement strategy for the 2012 Olympics. Instead of pushing out messages, the company used social media to connect fans with each other and with the athletes they were cheering for. In exchange, fans got exclusive behind-the-scenes stories. The results? The most successful campaign in the company's 26 year history of Olympic sponsorship, resulting in significant brand equity lifts, 13% claimed product usage and 470 million earned impressions in 26 markets.
Ironically, the shift from pipes to people is made possible by intensive use of technology and data — not only to automate but to analyze, personalize, and socialize. Technology brings speed and scale to what previously was impractical or unaffordable. Many of the most innovative marketers cited how social media monitoring enables them to listen and respond on a global scale. In addition, customer and employee communities enable them to identify real problems in real-time. Finally, relationship and content management tools enable them to make connections and capture user-generated content achieving both reach and relevance.

Counterbalancing this use of technology and data is a shared mindset that emphasizes reciprocity in the relationship between a brand and its customers. Top marketers know that they can't put one over on the customer, nor can they control the message or their customer's behavior. It takes humility, appreciation, and an orientation towards openness and inclusion.

So what's the recipe for results in marketing today? Choose people over pipes, and mix one part technology with an equal part humanity.
http://blogs.hbr.org/

The (New) Skills You Need to Succeed…

If there is one thing for certain… change happens. What we sell today and how differs greatly even from a few short years ago. Yes.. . Sales & Sales Management Fundamentals stay the same but the requirements of the market and the challenges sales managers and professional sales people face have changed… clients are more demanding, product offerings may be  more complex , and there are more choices in the marketplace… we have to constantly improve our skill sets just to keep up let alone achieve sustained success.

On top of that… research has shown that traditional sales methods are increasingly unproductive. In fact, aggressive sales styles and product only  (one product at a time ) focused selling are now so outdated that some customers are simply refusing to buy from or even meet with salespeople using these techniques.

In fact, there is plenty of evidence that high-performing sales people are those who listen and respond, who are flexible, and who think in terms of developing a solution to an emerging customer problem in the real world of ever-increasing customer expectations and more emphasis on return on investment and value.

Harvard University conducted a study with thought leaders in sales and sales management internationally. These included top sales leaders in major corporations, leading academics who have published in the sales field, and senior practitioners within sales associations or research-oriented sales consultancies.

What they found was that today’s Professional Sales People and Sales Managers need a distinct set of skills and abilities.

Business Acumen and Customer Insight - specifically, beyond what the customer has articulated.  In complex relational sales, customers expect sales people to act as Business Consultants and demonstrate a broad strategic understanding of their business and how our solutions will Impact Bottom Line.

Relational Skills - across all the research in sales and key account management, Trust is repeatedly cited by customers as important in their selection of a supplier.

Managerial & People Management Skills - ethical standards and integrity, adaptability, & openness to change, and strong influencing skills.

Cognitive Skills - innovative problem solving; mental toughness, resilience and the ability to work under pressure and Identify Sales Opportunities with both Existing Customers, as well as with New Business.

Sales Managers and Leaders face the same challenges… to win in today’s market, they need to: improve & drive performance in others; develop and maintain relationships with key customers; rapidly grow sales from existing customers and develop new business opportunities; manage high-level sales calls; develop & implement new product offerings in both print & online and, with their team, successfully negotiate and close deals. All this with increased pace & urgency in the face of stiff competition… no small task.
Our recently researched and developed SM series has been designed to provide Sales Managers with the skills, processes and motivation to drive individual, team and business performance to face today’s challenges.
With a focus on learning from both each other and thought leaders in sales and sales management, these sessions concentrate on improving skills through a combination of highly practical exercises, work based activities and group discussions. Designed to develop skills in managing oneself, managing and motivating others and, ultimately, managing the business as a whole, managers will leave with a specific action plan in relation to their own individual and team development, as well as the confidence to really maximize performance. The SM series is structured to ensure that each session is built upon in the next, thereby providing a comprehensive, highly interactive, motivational and practical experience.

SM021 - The Art of Sales Management Friday, May 31, 9:30 am – 1 pm, VPC,

SM022 – Coaching Salespeople Friday, August 16, 9:30 am – 1 pm, VPC

SM023 – Managing Sales Behavior & Motivating Sales Success Friday, October 11, 9:30 am – 1 pm, VPC     

For more information on how our SM series and how to join our Sales & Sales Management discussion email me at bcrawley@metroland.com.           

 

If You Could Solve One Challenge in the Advertising Business, What Would It Be?

Marketing today is about content - Paid (Traditional Advertising as we know it) - Owned (Websites, catalogs, brochures, Facebook, custom content, loyalty programs, direct mail & outbound calling) &  -  Earned (Social media and traditionally earned PR).

For businesses it is also about finding trusted, respected partners with in depth of business knowledge and cross-platform skills and abilities that deliver measurable results by telling their brand story in an effective cost (Investment) efficient way…

Who is better positioned today to deliver on this complex set of needs and requirements with innovative & creative cross platform ideas for our clients brand than local media… it’s hard wired in our DNA to develop partnerships that yield mutual success for our clients… answering the toughest challenges the experts identify in the advertising & marketing today… 

Harvard Business Review Blog Network

HBR Blog Network

We Asked, Marketing Execs Answered: If You Could Solve One Challenge in the Advertising Business, What Would It Be?

by Maureen Hoch  |   9:00 AM March 18, 2013

The creation of a successful advertising or marketing campaign requires a tricky formula. In a multi-platform world, it includes inventiveness, risk-taking, and luck. And the decision-makers often face a myriad of choices, as we've been exploring in the Future of Advertising Insight Center.

To shed a little light on what it takes to manage this process, we asked a group of top CMOs and advertising executives — from Xerox, Leo Burnett USA, Cleveland Clinic, Adobe, and Nike — a question: If you could solve one challenge in the advertising business, what would it be?

Read on for their answers:


Christa Carone - Chief Marketing Officer, Xerox Corporation
The challenge we're seeing is that "paid" is no longer the hero in the marketing mix. "Earned and owned" are playing more prominent roles than ever before. To really engage in conversations with stakeholders, brands are developing and curating quality content that cuts through the clutter. The spots and dots only work if they're tightly woven into a consistent and ongoing narrative from and about the brand.
No doubt, advertising agencies can produce the smartest creative, but their businesses were not built to deliver within the speed and cost parameters required for "always-on" content marketing. Brands like ours need highly creative content — lots of it. Advertising agencies have highly creative people — lots of them. But does the Madison Avenue business model survive their clients' demands for content at scale delivered in much more nimble and efficient ways?

Susan Credle - Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett USA
Let's reverse the trend of advertising agencies becoming vendors and get back to the business of being trusted, respected partners. We give away brilliant thinking because it does not come with hard costs. How do you put a price on a set of words that defines a company or a brand? Creative ideas often appear cheap, even free, and yet, the best ones are priceless. Therein lies the tension.
Unlike a lawyer who charges by the minute, or the FTE (a tragic acronym for full-time employee that has crept into our business), a great idea can happen in a flash. Time spent solving a problem does not define the value of the solution.
Project-based assignments force agencies into the vendor business. But a valued partnership embraces long-term growth and thinking. A partnership doesn't come down to math. A partnership is not just a transaction between two companies. A partnership is about mutual support and success. The global economy, not just advertising, would be far better off if we would get back to truly embracing partnerships for mutual success.

Paul Matsen - Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Cleveland Clinic
The business of advertising is fundamentally changing as digital and mobile platforms become the primary way of connecting with consumers. Content marketing expressed through social media, apps, search, and e-mail marketing must be integrated with mature platforms such as print media, television, and digital display advertising. The challenge facing the advertising business and marketers is how to effectively and efficiently organize for this new, nimble era of content creation.

Traditional agency models often lack the depth of business knowledge and cross-platform skills to address this need. Internal marketing and communications departments are also poorly equipped to move with the speed and teamwork required. To be successful in the digital, content marketing era, marketers and agency teams are going to need team members who can create and shape a narrative and be part of an agile, multi-platform team that executes in real time. While this may sound like a huge challenge to overcome, we witnessed during the Super Bowl how smart marketers are responding to events in real-time to build their brands.

Ann Lewnes, Chief Marketing Officer, Adobe

Advertising has long had an accountability issue. There's that old adage: "I know half my advertising works, I just don't know which half." This cliché is obsolete...or at least it should be. The answer is digital. As more advertising has moved to digital, and with the tools and technology we've got at our disposal, advertisers are well positioned to tackle this challenge. We now have critical data and insights about how our campaigns are performing and we know more about our customers than ever before.

This will only happen if marketers accelerate the shift to digital. Gartner estimates that today most marketers are spending, on average, 25% of their budgets on digital. We spend 74% at Adobe. And we invest heavily in digital marketing technology. This has enabled us to determine the budget we need to hit our revenue goals as well as model the ideal media mix. Throughout a campaign, we measure the impact of every element of the mix and optimize the campaign based on what we learn. There are no excuses anymore for not knowing how your advertising is working.

Davide Grasso, Vice President of Global Brand Marketing, Nike

Brand storytelling is both an art and a science. As marketers, we need to make things simpler and remember to romance the story along the way.

When communicating a brand's story, it's important not to complicate the storytelling by adding friction through unnecessary layers. To avoid this, it's critical to ask the following: What's the best way to unleash strong ideas and engage consumers in your story with a relevant and authentic experience? And why should they care? If you've satisfied these answers honestly, your story can end up being the one people love and, more importantly, remember.

Just Call Someone Already - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review

Just Call Someone Already - Dan Pallotta - Harvard Business Review

The most misused tool to overcome our fear of selling... email... what many deem efficiency really is enabling us in avoiding authentic or persuasive communication… ironically the key to consultative selling…

When is it okay to ask for help?

Sustaining superior performance…

Whether you have been selling for two months or twenty years we all remember our first sale or the first objection we had to overcome. We also remember the times we struggled to sustain our level of performance and effectiveness, trying to rise above a plateau or break through to an even higher level of success.

I remember when I first started; trying to learn everything I could about media & advertising, striving to understand my products strengths & weaknesses and more importantly those of my competition. I was prepared, confident in my products ability to produce a return for my advertiser’s investment. With a briefcase full of layouts I was eager to show my accounts everything that my newspaper could do for their businesses. Looking back I now realize the most important asset I had was my first ad manager… right there with me making calls. Dennis was a long time newspaperman who told me once I got ink in my blood I would be hooked… I guess he was right. He was old (he must have been in his late forties… gee how time flies), spoke with a thick Scottish accent, (which somehow added to his air of confidence), and seemed to know everything about advertising. He explained that confidence comes from experience and experience comes from time… “You can’t rush it but you can learn something every day from your interactions with your accounts”.

Our sales calls together were coaching calls, although I didn’t know to call them that at the time. I did know enough to recognize that this was an opportunity not to be missed. The simple lessons learned from his “experience” are still with me today.

Experts tell us superior performance occurs because when we are committed to doing our very best. As sales professionals our willingness to be coached, or mentored, increases our effectiveness by allowing us to see our actions through someone else’s objective perspective. Giving us the feedback we need to continue learning and improving.

Coaching consists of two main components - Responding to Needs and Initiating Alternatives.

Responding to needs - Counseling, mentoring, and tutoring are coaching conversations that respond to needs…  help with a current project or task, clarification about conflicting priorities, or help with a personal work issue. Needs may also address career or developmental goals or long-term learning projects. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. Remember, the person you may ask for help, regardless how successful they may be, once faced the same challenges you now face. You have the opportunity to gain perspective and learn from their “experience”. That is the true definition of a Mentor… an experienced and trusted counsel or teacher.

Initiating alternatives - Your manager may perceive that you are ready to move on to more difficult challenges and take the initiative to present you with such a possibility. Or they may see that you need assistance and discuss the situation with you in order to “coach” you through your challenges. You may also identify a challenge or an area for improvement and choose to discuss it with your manager or coach.

Coaching establishes the major factors that lead to success: it clarifies and prioritizes; it helps us understand what is important and what is not; it invites us to demonstrate influence over our own performance and career by improving the knowledge skills and abilities we need to do our best. Coaching helps us to focus our energy, exercise self-control, and commit to excelling in our performance.

It takes a confident sales person to know when they can use the assistance of their manager and be open to assistance when it is being offered. Being open to being coached not only helps us improve our performance; it also assists in challenging us to reach for even higher goals.

I’ve learned a lot from all the great coaching managers and sales staff I have been fortunate enough to work with over the years and from Dennis’s coaching I remember to… strive to learn from my experiences every day.

Seek out your coach or mentor… whether your current manager or someone else where you work. Their experience will assist you in reaching your true potential. Then, when the opportunity presents itself you too can share your experience with others to create a never ending system of support for sustaining superior performance for yourself and your team.