Keith Rosen's Executive Sales Coaching Blog on Selling, Leadership, Management

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions Wins 2008 Sales Leadership Book of The Year

Dec 30, 2008 All About Selling, Books, Books by Keith Rosen, Career Advice, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, coaching for managers, management tips, training for managers

(Special offer below to celebrate this achievement. Get the book 37% off, my coaching playbooks for free and hundreds of dollars worth of additional materials here. )

I just found out that my latest book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions has won the prestigious Book of the Year gold medal for the best Sales Leadership book of 2008. Thirty-five judges reviewed these books over a sixty-day period, utilizing a common scoring process to make their decisions. I’m humbly appreciative of this award and look forward to continuing my quest to deliver rich content and value through my writing and coaching.

The rules of success in the new economy certainly apply to how you manage and develop your team of fearless prospectors and rainmakers. There’s a new technology of leadership needed to build a team of sales champions today. To drive positive, measurable change and keep your competitive edge, managers must learn how to quickly and effectively coach, motivate and retain their top performers.

I was recently asked by author Lee Salz, what managers need to do to most effectively impact their team. Here was my response:

“To have a profound impact on the success of your team, the leader must change first. After all, avalanches roll downhill. It’s a new economy and the rules of business have changed overnight, The areas most impacted – sales and leadership. Now more than ever our society is consumed with fear. We are living in a period of intense fear and leadership in many organizations is fear based. Managers need to shift away from fear based management and develop more of a collaborative coaching culture. You cannot inspire others when you are afraid and you can’t be inspired when you’re full of fear and worry. Conduct more frequent one-to-one meetings, build greater accountability by relinquishing your role as Chief Problem Solver and have less tolerance for mediocrity.”

“How do you lead your team differently today compared to the way you did just six months ago? Have you benchmarked the most effective sales and leadership practices? Are you coaching the right people or are you still being seduced by potential and attempting to coach the uncoachable? Ultimately, management needs to adapt, innovate and evolve or suffer from corporate inefficiency, rigidity and declining profits.”

Back in May of this year, this book made Amazon’s Best Seller list and was the #1 Best Selling management book. Still holding strong in the top 10 I’m grateful for all of my partners, bloggers and readers who helped contribute to this book’s success as well as those thought leaders who supported this project, such as Dr. Denis Waitley, author of The Seeds of Greatness and The Psychology of Winning and Anthony Parinello, author of Selling to VITO.

Brian Tracy had this to say about my book. “There is no other single activity to boost sales that works better than sales coaching and this book is the best ever written on how to do it well.”

Tom Hopkins wrote, “Few management books are specific to salespeople. Keith Rosen’s book is a great one to study and apply or pick up here and there when you have a special need. His coaching ideas are clearly explained and easily executed.”

And Dr. Tony Alessandra said, “Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions is a well written, easily readable, practical book for anyone who manages salespeople. Excellent content is combined with real case studies, coaching templates and action steps that make this book a must read and a desktop reference for every sales manager, executive or business owner.”

You can read more about the incredible consortium of thought leaders who have endorsed my book on this page. In addition, they have generously contributed hundreds of dollars of their own content which you can access for free when you purchase just one copy of this book.

Which brings me to something you’ll be interested in. In addition to all of these resources you’ll get, I’m also giving away my suite of Coaching Playbooks absolutely free when you place an order for Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions. (John Wiley & Sons, Hardcover) Learn More Here.

The book by itself is a great value, even if you can get it for 34% off. Additionally you can get hundreds of dollars worth of valuable materials from some of the greatest business minds around such as Dr. Tony Alessandra, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jim Cathcart, Jill Konrath, Jonathan Farrington, Michael Nick, Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., Lee Salz, CanDoGo.com, SalesDog.com, Landslide, Salesopedia.com, Salesconx, SalesGravy.com and more.

Look at the resources you get here.

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions provides you with a proven, systematic process that creates world class teams and gets your people selling more than ever before. Don’t wait any longer for a miraculous turnaround. Doing more of what you did yesterday is going to keep you stuck where you’ve already been. Develop the missing discipline you need to coach your salespeople into sales champions. Learn More at the official site for Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions.

You can also order the book here.

Start the New Year off strong. Wishing you a prosperous, spectacular and healthy 2009!

CanDoGo.com Access to Top Sales Training, Executive Coaching and More is Now Free!

Dec 22, 2008 All About Selling, Business Advice, Business Tools, Career Advice, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, Videos, coaching for managers, management tips

I have great news to share with you. It could very well be the most valuable holiday gift you get all season. As you may know, I am one of the exclusive authors/coaches for a company called CanDoGo that delivers concise advice for sales, personal development, leadership and motivation online via print, audio and video. CanDoGo has just launched a brand-new site with thousands of free pieces of advice that you can access immediately.

With the New Economy and new rules for running and growing a business that have evolved in its wake, now is a critical time to hone your skills and CanDoGo’s advice can help you adapt and thrive.

I am proud to be part of CanDoGo’s world-renowned experts and I encourage you to check out candogo.com. If you’re interested in accessing some of my videos, simply type in my name in the search box and enjoy dozens of my videos that will contribute to your success in 2009.

Need Your Vote to Make My Article the #1 Sales Article of 2008!

Dec 19, 2008 All About Selling, Sales Training, sales articles, sales tips, sales tools

Earlier this year, I was approached by the folks over at Top10SalesArticles.com about an article I had written which they were interested in republishing on their site entitled, While You Have Their Attention, Opt-In which initially appeared on Salesopedia.com.

Out of several hundred articles on www.top10salesarticles.com, this article won Article of the Month for November and now it’s up to possibly win the Sales Article of the Year for 2008. Thanks to your help, I won this award last year and hope for a repeat but I can only do it with your help.

If you go to this page www.top10salesarticles.com, on the upper left corner under the page header, you’ll see the poll box. Simply click on “NOVEMBER Keith Rosen” (second from the bottom) and click ‘vote.’ No registering, no entering any of your info, just click and vote in just three seconds.

Your vote counts! The poll closes very soon so cast your vote today. The winner will be announced here at midnight GMT (7pm EST) on New Year’s Eve. (At least that’s when they did it last year.)

Thanks in advance for your support! Enjoy my article as well as the additional sales tips you’ll find there from a variety of writers sharing their perspectives on selling, cold calling, closing the sale and becoming a top salesperson. Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season and I look forward to further contributing to your success in 2009. So, keep your eye out for some more great tools that I’ll be sharing with you soon.

Demonstrate What You Want For Your Staff With This Powerful Communication Strategy

Dec 11, 2008 Communication, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, accountability, articles on leadership, coaching tips, management articles

Sure there are those things we want for ourselves and then there are the things we want for other people as well; our friends, our children, family and of course our co-workers and salespeople. We want them to be happy, fulfilled, successful and satisfied in their career.

The “Wanting for” statement is an independent, self containing strategy you can use at any time during normal conversation. A wanting for statement can be used in a variety of situations.

Once you start using the wanting for statement more consistently in your communication, you will notice how much more open people will be to hearing and digesting your message, especially the ones they may have a natural inclination to resist. They are the perfect precursor to softening a difficult message by first opening up the person’s listening; which starts with the authentic commitment you have to supporting them by articulating specifically what it is you want most for them. Wanting for statements are a powerful tool to reinforce the stand you have chosen to take for your salespeople, while doing so in a quick and efficient way and simultaneously challenging them to bring out their best, as well as yours.

I’ve listed several different examples below where it would be appropriate to use this coaching tool.

Managers, Communicate from Abundance Rather Than From Scarcity

Dec 8, 2008 Communication, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, accountability, coaching articles, coaching for managers, management articles

To pick off from my last blog entitled, Motivate Through Pleasure Rather Than Consequence, I mentioned that in order to shift from consequence to pleasure it not only requires a change in your beliefs around how to motivate people but also in your communication strategy and the language you are using.

For example, if you listen to children talk, they often talk about what is present or what was pleasurable for them. If you ask a child, “How was the park?” You’ll hear things like, “It was great! It was so much fun!” Children communicate from a place of pleasure, from abundance from what is present for them. Now ask an adult how dinner or a movie was and you’ll hear, “Not bad.” If you ask someone to do something for you or for a favor, a typical response might be, “No problem” or “No worries.” Adults often communicate from the point of view of what isn’t there, what is lacking or missing, what will not be present or scarce or the consequence and fear that’s being avoided by their action rather than what will be present as a result of their efforts.

Instead of focusing on what is not present or focusing on the potential consequence, talk about what benefit will be present; that is, coming more from the mindset of abundance. For example, the following statement implies fear and consequence. “If you don’t make your quota this quarter, then you won’t have a job” or “If you can’t get this project completed within the time frame we discussed, then you won’t be able to take that vacation you wanted to at the end of the month.” These statements are consequence driven statements which focus on what will be missing or what they will not be able to do or have in their life if they don’t do what is expected of them.

Your communication style tells a lot about you, and where you are coming from. So if you’re communicating from scarcity, then where do you think your focus is when it comes to managing your mindset? Chances are driven by fear and consequence instead of your own goals and vision. And if that’s where your focus is, what exactly, do you think it is you are going to create? If there’s one universal law worth driving home it’s this: “How you think is exactly what you are going to get.”

Now, listen to this statement. “If you reach your quota this month, then you will be eligible for the quarterly bonus, or “Once you complete that project, then the only thing I want you to focus on the following week would be planning your vacation and the fun you’re going to have during the week off, especially knowing that this is a paid vacation week.” Notice how these statements imply the benefit or pleasure that will be present in their life rather than what will be missing.

Here’s another example of communicating from scarcity. “If you don’t get more organized, your stress level as well as your workload will continue to pile up to become even more unmanageable and overwhelming.”

Now, here’s the same message but this time it’s being delivered from a place of abundance. “If you keep following through and honoring your daily routine, then you will eliminate the overwhelming workload on your plate that’s been weighing you down. This way, your stress level as well as your workload will diminish and become more manageable so that you can feel in control and start enjoying your job again.”

And just to be real clear. When speaking from a place of pleasure or abundance, I am not suggesting you say things like, “If you just do your job, then you will get paid.” This statement is still implying a consequence and as we discussed, we want people to be motivated by a pleasure. (Similar to the strategy of utilizing positive, solution oriented questions rather than problem focused questions.)

Now, is it possible that some people will actually hear the consequence more and as such, change their behavior accordingly? Of course, and uncovering the pain or the cost of not making a change is a selling strategy I certainly endorse when it comes to motivating your prospects and customers to make a purchasing decision. However, it’s not the typical method of communication you want to use in the office and here’s why. Closing a sale for the most part is a one time event. And even if you are constantly selling or upselling to existing clients, it’s still not something that typically happens on a day to day basis with the same customer.

On the other hand, developing a positive atmosphere within the workplace is something that requires daily reinforcement, often more than once a day. Since we do not want to breed a negative culture from the continued reinforcement of this selling strategy, consider this instead. If a consequence needs to be driven home, then you are better off asking questions that focus on the cost or pain they will realize as a result of not changing their ways which, they, in turn can articulate. (For example, “What is it going to cost you if you don’t make any changes?”)

It is this subtle yet powerful change in the language you are using which can set the tone and atmosphere of not only every meeting you have but of the culture of your company. After all, think about how you feel after having a conversation with certain people. Why is it that some conversations with people leave you drained and some energize you? Because how you come across is created in the language you use. The language you use creates and reinforces the environment within your company as well as the experience people leave with from every conversation they have with you.

Motivate Through Pleasure Rather Than Consequence

Dec 4, 2008 Communication, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, accountability, articles on leadership, coaching for managers, management tips

Motivating through fear and intimidation or pushing someone to avoid a loss, a cost or a consequence results in the other person pushing to avoid something they don’t want rather than gravitating towards something they really do want. One example of the push structure would be to motivate someone by pushing them into action through threats, such as the loss of their job or a punishment associated with a measurable cost to them if they are not performing up to your expectations.

If people are governed by a fear of being punished or losing their job if they don’t perform, how do you think this affects them, their attitude and their performance? How about the morale of your team? And ultimately, how does this affect your clients? I think it’s safe to say that there’s clearly a measurable cost associated when using these motivational tactics.

Now more than ever our society is consumed with fear and the threats from others. We are living in a period of intense fear and leadership in many organizations is fear based. Here’s a key point. You cannot inspire others when you are afraid and you can’t be inspired when your mind and your soul are full of fear and worry.

Now, imagine what it would be like if you and your staff came to work every day feeling happy, fulfilled, committed and supported? How much would your bottom line increase? I promise substantially.

The good news is that you have the power to create this environment by taking full responsibility for the moral and for the culture that you have bred within your team. After all, if we are all responsible for our communication, which also includes the message being received, then we can conclude that we are then responsible for the barriers, breakdowns and problems that are a result of faulty communication. And if we are responsible for these problems that stem from poor communication, then we must also be responsible for the culture or moral within our company because ultimately, a corporate culture is manifested through communication.

The threat of a consequence is a very effective push structure, given that we humans have been taught to fight or flee when threatened. So, consequence works, unfortunately at a great expense to our bodies, minds and hearts.

Other than using or being used by potential negative consequences to get the job done, the more effective and less costly fuel to drive performance is called pleasure.

Imagine what would your day be like if it was motivated by pleasures instead of avoiding or attempting to stay one step ahead of a consequence? We’re pulled by pleasures; we’re pushed by consequences. Pushing requires effort to continue the momentum. Being pulled towards something happens as a byproduct of natural attraction and magnetism. As I had alluded to earlier, an example of a pull structure would be to motivate employees by offering to support them in creating work they were proud of which centered around their personal vision, natural talents and goals.

In order to shift from consequence to pleasure it not only requires a change in your beliefs around how to motivate people but also in your communication strategy and the language you are using.

This is what I’m going to cover in my next blog. So tune in over the next few days!

People Do What Makes Them Comfortable. So Get Uncomfortable (Even If You Puke)

Dec 1, 2008 American Entitlement, Career Advice, Life Coaching and Career Coaching, Live Responsibly: Life Tips, Great Living, accountability

Here’s an experience I had that reinforces the central theme that needs to be adopted in order to make these positive changes that are going to lead to greater measurable results while getting you out of your comfort zone in order to do so.

I remember when my oldest daughter was about four years old. She wasn’t feeling well the other day, so we decided to take her over to the doctor. It was a chilly morning and as we walked out side towards the car, my daughter, Jessica said, “Daddy my stomach hurts, I don’t feel well.” I told her we were going to the doctor to get her better.

Well, as I opened the door to my car Jessie ran around me jumped into the car and puked in her seat.

And then on the floor.

And on the rest of the interior she missed.

Of course, my first reaction was to get her safe and clean and to let her know it’s totally okay – after all she was sick. When I made sure Jessica was okay, I proceeded on cleaning the car. Afterwards, I turned to my daughter and just had to ask her the question.

“Jessie, I’m just a little confused; we were outside when you told me your tummy hurt. You could have puked anywhere outside. On the stairs, in the bushes, on the lawn and that would have been totally fine. So, why did you wait until you got into the car to throw everything up?

My four old daughter, in her infinite wisdom, turned to me very seriously, looked at my face and said, “Oh daddy, it was cold outside, and it was warm in the car. So it was much more comfortable for me to make pukie in the car.” I smiled, because her logic did make some sense.

This story reinforces the critical lesson.

That is, people do what makes them comfortable. However, that is the very thing which put us in the position many of us are in today, where we’re struggling just to survive. Which is why, in order to generate worthwhile results, you must get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

We are all creatures of habit. We like to do things that produce a degree of certainty in the results, even when they may not serve us best. At the same time, we want better results but resist anything new, so we recoil back into what is safe and comfortable.

The paradox is, change is the only constant. To grow and evolve, we must change and stretch beyond our comfort zone.

Consider this. If you are comfortable with the activities you engage in, then you are simply doing what you’ve already been doing, which will produce the same results as before.

However, if you are willing to do the things that make you uncomfortable – a new activity, strategy, or developing a new skill – then you will create new results.

The lesson? If it’s uncomfortable, it’s probably the right thing to do and the quickest path to greater success. So, get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

You may be familiar with the definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” Consider my definition of futility: “Knowing the definition of insanity, and still not doing anything about it.”