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Archive for the ‘Surveys and Polls’ Category

Today’s Sales Champions Deserve Recognition. Nominate Your Top Salesperson Today and Win!

Nov 10, 2009 Live Events, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, Surveys and Polls, sales tips


For more details or to nominate one visit this page: Here’s The Link

Do you know a true sales star? One who closes more deals and brings in business for your company or a company you know?

It’s time to pay tribute to those sales professionals out there who are the ones that are driving the success within today’s companies. AllBusiness.com wants to honor the top-performing salespeople who are working hard to make a difference in this competitive market. Tell us about the salesperson in your network or company who you feel deserves the limelight.

Nominate Your Top Sales Star!

We’ve put together a panel of sales coaches and experts who will select one salesperson each month from among the nominees and I’m personally excited about being a member of this panel. We need your nomination.

That person nominated will be profiled in a feature article for AllBusiness.com and our sister site, Hoover’s, and will receive free membership in a sales networking and coaching program. Every nominee will receive a FREE six month VIP Membership over at Top Sales Experts.

One annual winner will get a package of sales training and coaching programs, membership in Top Sales Experts, and additional tools and resources to continue developing their expertise and talent.

Lets honor the top-performing salespeople who deliver results in today’s competitive market. They deserve it and you can help make that happen.

For more details or to nominate one visit this page: Here’s the link.

Also note, there is no deadline for entries each month; all nominations received are carried forward.

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“Reduce Expenses or Increase Sales?” If You Want To Drive Growth, It’s All How You Think About It

Mar 2, 2009 All About Selling, Business Coaching, Executive Coaching, HR issues, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, Surveys and Polls, management tips


The San Francisco Chronicle reported the other day that if they can’t reduce expenses significantly, they will have to close or sell the business. Interesting choice of words. Why didn’t the ticker on CNN read, “The San Francisco Chronicle reported the other day that if they can’t increase sales significantly they will have to close or sell the business.”

A subtle yet critical distinction and more evidence that supports how desperately our thinking in every area needs to evolve from scarcity to abundance. Companies need to realign their focus on what really matters to drive growth and sustainability.

“Reduce Expenses or Increase Sales?” I’d go for the latter. After all, what you focus on grows. If every employee is more consumed with the survival based, scarcity and fear driven thinking that sounds like, “What can I do to cut costs?” then they are not simultaneously focusing on the more important question. That is, “What can I do to increase sales and the value delivered to our customers in order to increase retention?” Every person in your company needs to be mindful of what is needed to search out, identify and uncover new selling opportunities. But first, they need to be informed of this new line item in their job description, enrolled in it’s level of importance and then given the tools to execute on this. This is the priority today. Otherwise, the fundamental misallocation of effort which is a byproduct of this misaligned thinking within many organizations today will continue to leave more failed businesses in its wake.

Management must turn your binoculars around. Instead of looking at what you can take away to lighten your load, make each person an integral part of customer retention and acquisition. You’ll soon notice a positive change. Otherwise, the next load that is lightened can be you.

Here’s a quick survey that you can take and then check the poll results immediately. How has your company measured up? Are their efforts aligned with all of their good intentions? Are they allocating budget where it can have the greatest impact? Or, are they more caught up in searching for another place they can cut costs rather than focusing on what they need to do to boost sales? Take this poll and see how you compare against other companies. If you don’t see the poll below, go to the poll page here.

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CEO’s Need to Get Their Head Out Of Their Assets. Check out This Layoff Tracking Scorecard

Feb 15, 2009 American Entitlement, Business Advice, Business Coaching, Business Tools, Executive Coaching, Sales Management, Surveys and Polls, accountability, articles on leadership, coaching for managers


I want to share a conversation I had recently with a CEO of a fairly large company. He was telling me how they’ve done as much fat cutting, expense reduction, budget freezing and overhead trimming as they can.

They’re on their second rounds of layoffs and it’s still not looking good, as another layoff is lurking. With sales down and their pipeline drying up rapidly, I asked him what he’s doing to better market and sell his core product line, as well as what the company is doing to better train and develop their people, especially their salespeople. As I surmised, he responded, “Well, regarding advertising and training, those were two of the first things we cut out of our budget.”

He then continued by saying, “We’re doing everything we can to cut costs wherever possible, just doing the absolute minimum in spending to ride this storm out. We’re running pretty lean right now and really, the only things we’re spending money on today are the bare necessities to keep this ship afloat and to keep the lights on.” The tone in his voice almost suggested that he was proud of the way he’s handled this.

My response to him was simple. And it’s the same message I’d deliver to every CEO and business owner out there who thinks this is what they need to do to navigate through these challenging times and come out on top. I said, “You can continue to cut costs and do what you can to keep the lights on but keep this in mind. In the end, you’re still selling and managing in the dark.”

In today’s marketplace, you can’t incentivize a company through a recession, freeze enough spending or cut enough overhead to survive, let alone thrive. There are enough companies out there that have proven this already who are no longer here today and more that adhere to this philosophy as a survival strategy (Circuit City, Steve & Barry’s, Linens ‘n Things, Macy’s, Citibank, Sharper Image, Washington Mutual, Home Expo, Ebay, AT&T, KB Toys, Panasonic, IBM, Microsoft and the list goes on and on. Here’s one scorecard on CNET that lists the companies that fall victim to this line of thinking and how many people they’ve laid off to date).

There are dozens of case studies and statistics out there demonstrating that those companies who continually market, advertise and invest in the growth of their people during tougher times are the ones who eventually rise to the top and thrive, positioning themselves to win more business when things turn around. Those companies who are thriving today are the ones who have the most important question in focus and in their line of sight. What is top of mind for them is, “How can I make my salespeople even more valuable and effective?” These are the companies who are investing in advertising and more so in sales coaching, sales training and in further developing their core asset, the one that can make the greatest impact in their bottom line; their people.

CEO’s and leaders of these top corporations are more transparent than ever, and most of us don’t like what we see. In fact, the words “clueless,” “disconnected” and the phrase, “out of touch with reality” come to mind. Maybe it’s because they’ve been sitting in their ivory tower far too long or maybe it’s because they’re spending far too much time traveling in their private jets.

Sure, we can’t control many of the things going on in the economy. However, what these CEO’s and companies can do is realign their thinking around the things they can control and the importance of continually developing their people, which begins with how these executives develop themselves into the leaders they can be in this new age.

It’s evident that many organizations have lost sight of the primary objective of management and leadership, which is simply this: To make your people more valuable.

So until my next rant, learn something new, hone your skills and have a great selling week!

“Oh, So This Is Somehow My Fault?” Managers, Time To Get Real. Use This 27 Point Assessment To Look in The Mirror And Identify Your Toxic Leadership Behavior

Oct 26, 2008 American Entitlement, Business Advice, Business Coaching, Business Tools, Executive Coaching, Leadership Academy, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Surveys and Polls, Technology and Software, accountability, articles on leadership, coaching for managers, management articles, management tips, sales tools, training for managers


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.

Managers and Business Owners, What Consumes Your Time? Take The Poll

Sep 5, 2008 Business Advice, Career Advice, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, Surveys and Polls, management tips, training for managers


Curious to know what your peers spend most of their day doing? Managers, executives and business owners, here’s a poll I encourage you to cast your vote on. Once you cast your vote, you’ll be able to view the current poll results.