The Executive Sales Coach: Keith Rosen’s Sales Blog and Business Blog On Selling, Leadership, Managing Your Team, Business and Life » Leadership Academy

Are you toxic? Take the toxic leadership assessment here.

Are you leading your team or slowly and unknowingly eroding it from the inside out? Do you still navigate your ship using old school motivational tactics? Do you have your people living in fear? Are complaints rampant, as well as turnover? Are you spending most of your days putting out fires? Are you oblivious to the role you’re playing in any of this?

Do you ever stop to think that some of the challenges you’re faced with now might have something to do with how you might be managing your people and your business? The rules of business have changed overnight and the areas most impacted – sales and leadership.

How good of a leader are you? Maybe it’s time for you to abandon your role as Chief Problem Solver. Here’s your chance to get real about the behaviors and strategies you need to abandon today in order to get yourself out of your own way of producing the results you need. Then, you’ll be able to experience what my clients do: A 30% gain in sales.

In this assessment, you will find a list of 27 toxic management strategies that need to be abandoned. And for those managers, executives and business owners who take this assessment and react with, “Wait, this isn’t me.” I applaud you. Either you’re really that good – or really that blind (clueless and disconnected also come into mind- well, then there are those egomaniacal megalomaniacs, but need I digress). And make sure you take the coaching assessment to ensure you’re most effectively leading and coaching your people.) However, just to make sure you don’t have your blinders on, feel free to share this assessment with your team and have them fill this assessment out this assessment on you, anonymously, of course. Can you handle the truth?

Finally, for those people who are reading this blog and feeling as if they’re being managed by this type of manager, I give you this warning. If you have any desire to share this assessment with your manager or boss, make sure you know how they’ll receive it – as a subtle gesture of good will and compassion or a threat and an insult? If the latter, consider doing it anonymously.

take the toxic leadership assessment here.

Take the Coaching Assessment Here.

The rules of business have changed overnight and the areas most impacted – sales and leadership. How do you lead your team differently today compared to the way you did just six months ago? Have you benchmarked the skills needed to lead your team through tough economic times?

After all, I hear many managers tell me how they’re coaching their people, yet in the same breath, report how they’re still experiencing the same problems they’ve always had, and worse today. Then, how effective can your coaching actually be?

If you’re still experiencing the same problems you did before you started coaching your team, then it’s time to recognize the sign; something’s not right. Is it you, the person you’re coaching or your coaching approach?

So, if you think you’re coaching your people, take this Self Awareness Assessment to gauge your coaching acumen.

How effectively are you coaching your team? Just look at the results. Here’s your chance to get real about the areas you need to firm up and develop in order to get the results my clients experience – a 30% gain in sales. This assessment will help you benchmark the areas you need to develop as well as the strategies you need to implement in order to lead your team during good and bad times and most important, get them to thrive today.

Click on this link to go to the assessment where you will find a list of 27 coaching skills, competencies and strategies that the world’s most successful sales coaches, sales leaders and sales organizations have in common.

Take The Coaching Assessment to measure your true coaching acumen. Click here.

For those managers and executives out there with a struggling sales force, here’s something you can do about it. Tap into this rich opportunity to get immediate solutions to your most pressing sales and leadership challenges from the experts.

Next Monday, October 6, 2008 I’ll be speaking at the Selling Power Sales Leadership Conference at the Four Seasons, Chicago. Below is the agenda. Click here for more information.

Agenda
7:30 AM REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:30 AM WELCOME KEYNOTE

9:15 AM TOTAL LEADERSHIP: BE A BETTER LEADER, HAVE A RICHER LIFE

Total Leadership is a proven method for producing sustainable change in all parts of life that can be learned and practiced by individuals, groups, or organizations. It is informed by decades of research and practical application by Stew Friedman, a veteran Wharton School faculty member.

Speaker: Stewart Friedman, Founding Director, Wharton Leadership Program

10:25 AM MORNING BREAK

10:45 AM HOW TO BUILD AN EXECUTION-ORIENTED SALES CULTURE

A sales-driven organization is one where the activities of the sales force are aligned with a company’s mission, vision and values and where salespeople deliver value every day with every customer. Each of the panelists has excelled in managing a sales-driven organization. Learn the winning strategies and tactics from these experts so you can get your entire executive team to support your guiding vision.

Moderator: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power
Panelists: Sanford Brown, CSO, Heartland Payment Systems

12:15 PM LUNCHEON

1:15 PM HOW TO SKYROCKET YOUR SALES TEAMS’ PERFORMANCE - CASE STUDY: DHL

Sales force success is driven by a continuous management system that links business objectives, benchmarking, focused planning, individual assessment, and hands-on coaching. In this in-depth case study, you will learn exactly how DHL uses a scientific Sales Improvement Process to maintain peak levels of sales performance. This approach was pioneered with DHL’s 1,500-person sales force in the Asia-Pacific region; however, it can be easily tailored to sales forces in any industry, of any size, and with missions ranging from making small ticket, transactional sales to much larger, relationship-based sales. At DHL, this Sales Improvement Process was employed with a 150-person sales force in China, as well as the 15-person sales force in the Philippines.

Speaker: Malcolm Rees, Global Head of Sales, DHL Express Global Management

2:30 PM BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Breakout A: Coaching Salespeople into Champions
Technology has not only changed the way companies sell but the way managers build and advance their team. There’s less face to face time between your customers and your salespeople. To maintain your competitive edge, sales leaders must know how to quickly and efficiently coach, develop, motivate and retain their top performers in order to drive positive, measurable change. You can create a world class team by developing your own coaching skills; the missing discipline among today’s leaders. Learn how a tactical coaching system can empower your sales force to realize their fullest potential.

Moderator: Mary Delaney, CSO, CareerBuilder.com
Panelists: Dave DiStefano, CEO, RIchardson

Breakout B: Reviving Sales with Creative Incentives During a Slow Economy
Many industries are suffering from a slowdown. To stimulate sales, sales leaders often resort to price-cutting, or offer special incentives to their customers and their sales force. What strategies work best when it comes to planning, promoting and executing a successful incentive program? What incentives motivate customers to buy and what incentives motivate salespeople to deploy the extra effort needed to drive up sales? Learn how industry leaders deploy Incentives to achieve a strategic competitive advantage.

Moderator: Matt Harris, Vice President, Marketing, American Express Incentive Services
Panelists: Richard Blabolil, President, Marketing Innovators

3:30 PM AFTERNOON BREAK

3:50 PM THE FUTURE OF THE SALES PROFESSION

With many baby boomers retiring, US companies are beginning to suffer from a shortage of sales talent. Every year over 1.5 million College graduates enter the field of sales, starting their careers with inadequate training, burdening their employers with a high business ramp up investment. There is a silver lining on the horizon with 35 visionary Colleges that offer a complete sales curriculum. Every year, these colleges graduate 1,600 sales professionals who know how to cold call, write a sales letter, handle objections, close a sale and ask for referrals. Engage in this session to help advance your profession. Together we can transform selling into a respectable and predictable science.

Speaker: Howard P. Stevens, Chairman and CEO, The HR Chally Group
Panelists: Pete Peterson, Director, Program for Sales Excellence, University of Connecticut

4:50 PM CONCLUDING REMARKS

Speaker: Gerhard Gschwandtner, Founder and Publisher, Selling Power

5:00 PM NETWORKING COCKTAIL RECEPTION

Post-Conference Workshop – Tuesday, October 7, 2008
This optional workshop will run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon in Ballroom A (8th floor) of the Four Seasons Chicago Hotel.

8:00 AM MANAGING THROUGH CURIOSITY

Click here for more information.

Now here’s an example of a presentation that grabs attention. It has all the elements of success. The right person, (Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar, Inc.), the right intention, focus, the visuals and measurable results.

Take a look and watch him, um, strip? And for the record, Tom lost, what, 71 lbs! No kidding.

Here’s the link to watch the video presentation!

And congratulations again, Tom, on an extraordinary achievement.

With technology advancements nearing the speed of light, there are no sustainable competitive advantages anymore…except for your people. Engaging the hearts and minds of your team is the only sustainable advantage left in today’s hyper-competitive, high-velocity world.

As a result, employee engagement has been a white hot topic. Lee J. Colan’s rapid-read book translates the concept of employee engagement into concrete actions leaders apply in real-time. Whether you lead a family, a project, or community volunteers, this a highly interactive book delivers “how to” strategies for igniting passionate performance – our teams willingly giving their time and energy to achieve our goals.

As a thank you for your support and readership, I have arranged with Lee to give you a free bonus tool (worth $99) when you pre-order his new book.

Take a quick read of a sample chapter. It offers actionable tips to fulfill the emotional need for purpose on your team… and ignite passionate performance – fast!

Who Do You Coach?

“Who should I be coaching?” I’ve been asked this question hundreds of times by both internal sales and corporate coaches as well as those looking to build a career as a coach and develop a sustainable coaching practice on their own.

The short answer is that not everyone is coachable.

You can determine if people are ready to be coached by who they are—the degree to which they are receptive to making positive, long-term change both in their thinking as well as in their behavior. This determination is less about what the people do or their position, age, industry, experience, education, knowledge, or intelligence. Remember, coaching is about building sales champions from the inside out.

The following six qualities need to be present in the person and the coaching relationship in order for your coaching to have a profound impact. I’ve identified these attributes by the acronym A. G.R.O.W.T.H.

A. G.R.O.W.T.H. Success Indicator to Determine Personal Coachability

1. Actionability. A combination of both action and ability. The word represents both the actions that will drive success as well as the person’s actual proficiency and aptitude. Without action, nothing happens. And without the person’s innate ability and intelligence to carry out the task as intended, the action becomes an exercise in futility. As I tell my clients, “If you’re only willing to do today what you did yesterday, then what do you need me for?” This holds true for both action in your thinking and in your doing. Coaching is based on forward movement by engaging in activities you either haven’t tried, haven’t done consistently, or haven’t modeled on established best practices. (You may have been engaging in the activity in a less than effective manner.) In addition, action is the effort you put forth to change your current beliefs, your attitude, and how you think.

2. Gap. Simply put, the gap is the space between where the person is now and where they want to be. It is the space where new resources, beliefs, skills, strategies, and dialogues are cocreated by you and them. This gap stands in the way of the person’s goal and where the magic and power of your coaching occur. We will spend some time later in this chapter discussing how to uncover and coach the gap.

3. Responsibility and Ownership. I connect these two characteristics because there is a symbiotic relationship between these traits: One cannot exist without the other. If the person you are coaching is unwilling to take full responsibility for her life, career, or for the outcomes produced throughout the coaching process, your coaching will be ineffective. The coaching sessions can quickly turn into an environment for excuses. What’s worse, coaching someone who is unwilling to take total ownership of her success creates a situation where the coach can easily become the scapegoat and validation for the salesperson’s lackluster results, failures, and inefficiencies.

4. Willingness. How badly does your salesperson want to achieve the goals she has laid out? Is this person willing to go above and beyond what her peers are doing to achieve what matters most to her? How has she demonstrated evidence of her commitment and desire to achieve the outlined objectives? Determination and drive are the fuel that propels the coaching forward. Without an unconditional willingness to forge ahead, even in the face of adversity and doubt, you may find that these meetings quickly turn into a prodding or pushing session. The danger is, you may start pushing harder than the person is ready for and then you are dictating the agenda rather than the salesperson.

5. Trust. Trust is the backbone of any relationship, especially a coaching relationship. The foundation of trust is even more essential if the person you are coaching is your employee, peer, or coworker. As with respect, trust is earned. What have you done to earn the trust of the person you are coaching? Or, what have you done to destroy the trust between you and a person you are coaching? Can it be repaired? Can you trust the person you are coaching? Do you have evidence that makes them untrustworthy? Listen to your instincts on this. If you can’t trust them, don’t coach them.

6. Honesty. Honesty is distinct from trust. Honesty refers to the ability of the person you’re coaching to be open and vulnerable with you, the coach. Honesty relates to the degree in which the salespeople not only share with you pertinent information about themselves, their situations, challenges, upsets, and inspirations but also their willingness to look inside themselves and embrace the truth in every situation, whether they like it or not. Part of the role of a coach is to hold up that proverbial mirror so that people can see the truth of what’s going on, what’s getting in their way, and what they need to do to achieve unprecedented results. A defensive attitude creates an unhealthy coaching environment.

A great partnership is like a great marriage – precious and rare. And like any marriage, after the honeymoon period ends and the realities of life kick in, a good partnership is always worth saving. Here are a few things you can do to ensure you’ve done everything to salvage your partnership.

1. Revisit the Company Goals: Are all partners still bought in?

2. Revisit Job Descriptions: is each person doing their best in the role that’s been designed for them? Or worse, is the lack of clarity around each person’s job position causing the dissention and conflict in the first place?

3. Revisit your Vision: Are all partners still in agreement regarding the end game and where they ultimately want to company to be?

4. Get a Coach. a coach can facilitate the difficult conversations that partners are reluctant to have. Whether it’s due to avoidance behavior (avoiding conflict and controversy) or a lack of skill in communicating a coach can uncover resentments be an unconditional third party and help facilitate solutions that the partners were unable to do or even see on their own.

5. What Has Changed? Life changes, people change, priorities change. Has there been any changes in the lives of the partners, either personally or professionally? Sometimes partners grow out of their roles or simply lose interest. Sometimes changes in a person’s personal life affect their decisions that relate to their business. So, is there still a fit?

6. Over-Communicate: Rather than talk honestly and openly quite often people seem to do the opposite; they shut down their communication, making the costly assumption that “This is a dead end. My partner doesn’t understand me.”

7. Facts or Assumptions? I can’t begin to count the number of times that the very problems that have destroyed the partnership were based more in assumptions rather than on the facts. Don’t react to what you think is happening but really isn’t. Instead, focus on getting the evidence that supports your feelings to avoid making decisions you may later regret.

8. Take the High Road. Like a good marriage no partnership is ever going to be an even 50-50 split of responsibility and effort all the time. If you’re playing the “That’s not fair, I’m working harder than my partner” game, this will only lead to greater resentment and ultimately a toxic relationship. Are you standing on your Ego Pedestal and your principles, or can you let some things go that really don’t make a difference in the long run. Stop majoring in the minor things that you can overlook, especially if your partner’s natural skills, talents and the value they bring to the company exceeds their minor hang ups or idiosyncrasies.

9. Regular Partner Meetings focused on You. I’ll never forget the first time going to the doctor after my first child was born. After the initial check up, the doctor turned to my wife and I and asked a question I have yet to hear from any doctor since. She actually asked, “So, how are the both of YOU doing?” When parents only focus on their children, they lose sight of focusing on each others personal needs which they need to continue to focus on in order to maintain the integrity and strength of their relationship. Schedule partner meetings more frequently. A partner meeting is different from a strategy meeting or a meeting to discuss employees or goals. This meeting is about YOU and making sure all your needs are being met and how the partners can work better together and support each other.

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions
A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives (Hardcover Edition)

Get my book 37% off and additional valuable materials here.

If you’re responsible for coaching or managing anyone, especially salespeople, my new book will help you make the transition from manager to coach by developing the missing discipline of leadership – executive sales coaching. Most managers have never been trained to manage, let alone coach effectively. I deliver to you a tactical coaching system for managers, business owners, coaches and executives – anyone who wants a proven and powerful method to coach and develop true champions.

Endorsed by thought leaders such as Dr. Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Dr. Tony Alessandra, Anthony Parinello and more, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions fills the void between what great managers need to know and do as a great coach in order to:

<li>Turn underperformers into super-achievers, fast. (Under 30 days.)</li>

<li>    Attract and retain top talent.</li>

<li>Motivate their team through the Art of Enrollment&#8482;, the new language of leadership.</li>
<li>Empower their people to solve their own problems and become fully accountable using the L.E.A.D.S. Coaching System&#8482; - rather than being dependent on you.</li>
    <li>Handle difficult people without conflict and determine when to let them go without collateral damage.</li>

Since the success or failure of any organization leads back to the actions and behavior of one person; the leader, it’s critical for every manger to upgrade their leadership style and approach. You’ll discover how to facilitate a coaching conversation that fits your management style, as well as the strategies of the world’s greatest coaches through dozens of case studies spanning over 15 different industries and professions, a 30-Day Turnaround Strategy, coaching and communication templates, a library of masterful coaching questions and an easy-to-follow coaching process to leverage each person’s fullest potential and develop a team of winners.

* 72 HOUR BOOK EVENT ENDS THURSDAY*

Purchase Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions by April 17 and enjoy access to hundreds of dollars worth of additional materials from Dr. Tony Alessandra, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jim Cathcart, Jill Konrath, Dave Lakhani, Bob Kantin, Dr. Rick Kirschner, CanDoGo.com, AllBusiness.com, SalesDog.com and more. You can spend hundreds of dollars separately or you can invest about $20.00, order one copy of the book today and spend not one penny more. Look at the resources you get here.

Plenty of books espouse new management and leadership theories for managers, but few show you how to actually coach your people on a daily basis in a way that creates measurable change. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions provides a proven methodology and tactical strategy for coaching that bridges the gap between theory and execution so that you can achieve unprecedented results -today.

Remember, this time sensitive event ends April 17 at midnight.

Get the book 37% off and hundreds of dollars worth of additional materials here.

72 Hour Special Book Event April 15 – 17

5. Develop Your Personal Style of Coaching
When people ask me what my style of coaching is, I say, “Direct yet light, exploratory, action-oriented, comprehensive, easily adaptable, conversational, enjoyable, tactical, and results-oriented. I’m your safe sounding board, your advisor, accountability partner, cheerleader, personal trainer, and consultant.”

Building off the attribute we discussed under number 4, developing your own coaching style is something that doesn’t happen immediately but as an organic process as you coach more and more people. The most effective coaches have learned to trust their heart and, in turn, trust their personality. Their style of coaching complements who they are naturally. These are the coaches who reign supreme, for they know that the very thing that their salespeople or clients find attractive in them is who they are, not simply what they do. Give yourself permission to be the authentic you and let your gifts radiate throughout the coaching you deliver.

It is perfectly normal and natural to have resistance to making the transformational shift from sales manager to sales coach. Considering what is required of you, it is a tall order. Much more is expected from the sales coach than the sales manager. However, imagine what would be possible for you and for your sales team once you make this transformation. For those managers who are willing to do so, the rewards are abundant.

** 72 Hour Special Book Event April 15 – 17

Purchase my new book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions on these specific days only, April 15, 16 and 17 and enjoy access to hundreds of dollars worth of additional materials from Dr. Tony Alessandra, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jim Cathcart, Jill Konrath, Dave Lakhani, Bob Kantin, Dr. Rick Kirschner, CanDoGo.com, AllBusiness.com, SalesDog.com and more. Look at the resources you get here.

72 Hour Special Book Event April 15 – 17

Here’s the third of five characteristics that the world’s greatest coaches share.

3. Sometimes they really need the answer!
So, give it to them rather than throwing another question at them, which does nothing more than frustrate the person you are coaching. The sad truth is, most coaches can’t give the answer. Why? Go back to the first quality. You can’t get the answers from a coach who hasn’t been where you want to be.

Interestingly, most people need more than just a coach to reach their goals. They also need someone who can give them the best solutions, sometimes the answers, and reduce their learning curve (via training, advising, and consulting). Only an experienced coach who possesses great business acumen and experience in the real world can do this.

** 72 Hour Special Book Event April 15 – 17

Purchase my new book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions on these specific days only, April 15, 16 and 17 and enjoy access to hundreds of dollars worth of additional materials from Dr. Tony Alessandra, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jim Cathcart, Jill Konrath, Dave Lakhani, Bob Kantin, Dr. Rick Kirschner, CanDoGo.com, AllBusiness.com, SalesDog.com and more. Look at the resources you get here.