Share Ideas, Not Expectations
Sep 28, 2009 How to Manage Your Team, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, training for managers
When it comes to exemplifying poor leadership tactics, here’s one situation that took place at a recent company retreat. The purpose of this retreat was for the partners to discuss the corporate vision, new ideas, and growth strategies as well as year-end goals. It was an opportunity for all of them to get together, removed from the daily stresses of the office. This year’s two-day retreat was at a resort built around a majestic 30-square-mile lake.
The first day and a half consisted of meetings, outings, and exercises, all of which were going well. Ken, the managing partner who helped coordinate the event, was pleased to see that people were enjoying themselves and benefiting from the experience. That afternoon, he was on his way to a small, invitation-only breakout group with several of the senior partners in the firm.
The meeting was going smoothly, given the diversity and dynamics of the group. Ken was doing a great job facilitating the conversation and moving from one topic to the next, all of which had been approved by the senior partners and placed on the agenda prior to this afternoon event—all except one person. It seemed that Buck, the founder of the firm, a gray-haired, well-respected, sharp elderly gentleman, never saw the e-mail that contained the agenda.
Although Buck is no longer involved in the day-to-day operation of the firm, something on the agenda not only caught his eye but stirred up quite a strong reaction in him. Even though Buck had been carefully directed by Ken to be more of an observer or facilitator, Buck delivered an edgy opinion on this particular topic. It was a line item listed in the meeting’s agenda that dealt with new business development initiatives. Specifically, the firm was considering hiring an outside marketing firm to assist with their public relations and advertising campaign. “After all these years of sustained double-digit growth, you think we now need to go out and hire someone to do what we’ve always done naturally and quite successfully on our own?” asked Buck. “I remember about 10 years ago, we retained the services of a PR firm with very poor results. Since when are we no longer competent enough to handle this internally?”
After Buck shared his thoughts on the matter, the conversation just stopped. No more open forum. No more safe, open sharing, no more flowing dialogue. An issue that, less than 10 minutes ago, had full buy in and consensus from the team regarding the direction to go had now gone full circle, right back to the beginning. It was as if a new topic had just been introduced, which had no current buy in or solution. No one said a word until Ken redirected the conversation to the next item on the agenda.
A possibility or an idea from the boss opens up further conversation.
An expectation shuts it down.
It is a fact that if you’re a boss, manager, or executive responsible for managing people, you are their superior. And, therefore, you have a certain degree of influence over how your staff feels about certain subjects. Buck didn’t make any decisions. He basically said, “This isn’t the way it used to be. Why is it different now? Agree with me or experience my wrath.”
Managers and executives have the power to shut down a conversation or open up a dialogue. Quite often, they don’t realize how much of an influence they have over their staff and how influential they can be without even trying. When a manager takes a strong stand or position and makes a statement like, “Here’s the solution” or “Here’s how it is,” it removes any opportunity for others to contribute a different and potentially better idea.
There’s a difference between sharing an opinion or idea and sharing an expectation. It’s one thing if the manager or boss shares an opinion that allows the dialogue and flow of the conversation to continue moving in a positive, collaborative direction. It’s entirely different when the manager shares an expectation with a strong agenda or ultimatum behind it. An opinion or idea from the boss opens up further conversation. An expectation shuts it down.
Buck could have kept the collective conversation moving forward with an approach like this. “Here’s one thought that I want to put on the table. It still has some wet paint on it and needs some further development. I would love to hear your responses and how you feel about it so that we can incorporate everyone’s ideas and create something even better.”
With an approach like this, it is likely that managers will get a response that encourages unfiltered collaboration and multiple contributions.
Tags: coaching salespeople, Executive Coaching, management coach training, management training, managing a team, managing salespeople, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, training for managers
Smarter Selling: Tips for Today. Part Two of My Interview With Vince Thompson For Smart Planet
Sep 24, 2009 Interviews, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, sales tips
Managers: Get the new strategy that creates sales champions and wins more sales. Special event ending soon. Bonus materials you receive are still available! Find out here.
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Here’s part two of the interview I did with author and columnist Vince Thompson.
Read part two of the interview here.
Excerpt:
“Yesterday we debuted the first of this two part series on Smarter Selling with Keith Rosen. Rosen is a sales coach, author, speaker and has been recognized by Inc. magazine and Fast Company as one of the five most influential executive coaches. In part one of our interview Keith taught us about the power of questioning and going deep to close business. Today Keith takes us farther down the path of value creation while reminding us of the skills that really matter.
What are your tips for a tough economy?
I’ve decided (and many of my clients are on board with this as well) that it’s no longer as tough as it was out there. That’s right. Strip away what you hear in the media, and look objectively at what you can control; this one telltale sign that something in your selling formula needs to be developed, modified or redefined:
If there are people in your organization, even in your industry or profession who are currently performing like rock stars, that should provide you with one very critical insight. That is, it can be done because it is currently being done by someone else!
Here’s a very clear insight into one example of some general statistical information about the selling profession that will help you begin the process of fine tuning and developing your own data driven solution to increasing your sales.”
Read part two of the interview here.
Tags: Executive Coaching, Interviews, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, selling, training for salespeople
Fewer Customers? Sell Smarter. My Interview On Smart Planet With Vince Thompson
Sep 23, 2009 How To Sell and Sales Tips, Interviews, Sales Coaching, sales tips
Read the full interview here.
BOOK EVENT EXTENDED! Due to my book selling out and making #1 on Amazon, we’re extending this event! You can still get the book 34% off and the hundreds of dollars worth of bonus materials. More here.
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Here’s part one of the interview I did with author and columnist Vince Thompson.
Excerpt:
“Let’s face it. When the economy was rocking we had it pretty easy. They we’re buying. We were selling like crazy and so it went. Until it went. Now getting consumers to part with cash is like trying to pull the hood ornament off the new Dodge Challenger….while it’s driving!
Keith, tell us about your business?
Most of my time is spent working with sales and management teams or working one to one coaching, training and strategizing with sales leaders and executives. Whether that means helping managers develop the missing discipline of leadership and become better coaches through a management coach training program, or helping sales teams and salespeople reinvent and re-engineer their selling process and methodology. Most companies are leveraging me to support their two most important business initiatives today, which are acquiring and retaining customers.
To achieve this, organizations are recognizing the need to make their sales and management team more valuable than ever before. This is accomplished through better sales training and executive coaching. Businesses are finally realizing that in order for their people to sell more, it all starts with the way they’re managed. And the simple fact is, you cannot grow with what you already know.
How has selling changed?
Read the full interview here.
Tags: close more sales, interview, sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, selling
72 Hr. Book Event EXTENDED: Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions is #1 Best Selling Book on Amazon
Sep 22, 2009 Books by Keith Rosen, Sales Coaching, Sales Management, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, training for managers
First, I want to thank all the partners who supported this book event. Your support is deeply appreciated.
The good news, Coaching Salespeople Into Champions sells out on Amazon & breaks a new sales record, becoming the #1 Best Selling Sales Management Book last week. The bad news, they sold out of stock. The good news, the book supply has since been replenished and as such, I wanted to extend this book event for another 72 Hours to those people who wanted to order the book but emailed me about this out of stock issue. You still have an opportunity to take advantage of this event for the next 72 hours and get all the bonus materials from dozens of thought leaders that you get with your purchase. Click here to find out more.
I’ve confirmed that Amazon shipping status has been revised from sold out status and the book will now ships within 1 week. Below are the details of this extended event.
Get Your Playbook For Winning More Sales-Today
BOOK SELLS OUT AND MAKES #1 SPOT ON AMAZON.COM. IN RESPONSE, WE’RE EXTENDING THIS 72 HOUR BOOK EVENT THROUGH THIS WEEK!
FACT: There has never been a more critical time for managers to impact performance in a way that brings in more sales and revenue & motivates teams to achieve greater success.
FACT: The majority of managers are simply not equipped with the right skills, tools and a tactical process they can follow to do so.
To win more sales today, you need to play by the new rules. Micromanagement and doing more of what you did yesterday doesn’t work. Learn what the world’s top sales organizations are doing to create sales champions by developing the new discipline of leadership.
“This is the best book ever written on sales coaching.” – Brian Tracy
Named Best Sales Leadership Book of the Year and one of the World’s Best Business Books of 2009, in Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions you’ll get a step by step, award winning process you can follow to coach your sales team to bring in more sales today.
You’ll discover how to:
- Blow your quota away and get your salespeople selling more today. (Most companies increase sales between 12-20%.)
- Turn underperformers into super-achievers in less than 30 days!
- Attract and retain top sales talent.
- Avoid the mistakes that lead to coaching failure.
- Coach your team to become accountable and self-motivated. Stop wasting your time continually pushing for results.
- Empower your people to solve their own problems and lessen their dependence on you.
- Eliminate time consuming distractions, fires and costly staffing problems that shouldn’t be there in the first place.
- Plus much more!
72 HOUR EVENT EXTENDED: Receive hundreds of dollars worth of bonus gifts from the world’s top sales and business leaders. Click Here To Learn More About This Book and Special Event.
Tags: book event, Books, coaching for sales managers, coaching salespeople, Executive Coaching, free bonus, sales management coaching
VIDEO: Developing a Compelling Opening Statement When Cold Calling and Prospecting.
Sep 21, 2009 Cold Calling Tips, Prospecting, Cold Calling and Networking, Sales Coaching, Videos, cold calling, tele-sales
BOOK EVENT EXTENDED THROUGH THIS WEEK! Due to Keith’s book selling out and making #1 on Amazon, we’re extending this event through this week! You can still get the book 34% off and the hundreds of dollars worth of bonus materials. More here.
Here’s one example of the type of opening statement and cold calling approach you can create that’s sure to generate more qualified prospects for you than ever before. This example was one that a cost reduction company used when calling on the C suite of prospects, such as the controller or CFO. Once you listen to the opening statement, I’ll then dissect this approach so you can see the strategy behind it.
Tags: cold calling, Cold Calling Tips, opening statement, prospecting, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, video
VIDEO: Deeper Interviewing Strategies to Identify Top Sales Champions and Avoid Mis-Hires
Sep 18, 2009 Executive Coaching, HR issues, How to Manage Your Team, Interviews, Sales Management, Videos
Watch the Video Here.
72 HOUR EVENT: To win wore sales today, you need to play by the new rules. Order Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions and Get hundreds of dollars worth of Bonus Gifts from The World’s Top Business Thought Leaders FREE! Book event ending soon! Learn more here.
“I know how to interview. I’ve been doing it for years.” I hear this from practically every manager or HR executive I’ve ever had the privilege of coaching or training. And the other day, when speaking to one of my favorite clients, a VP of HR, this statement was echoed once again. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: career coaching, Executive Coaching, hiring and recruiting salespeople, hiring top salespeople, how to hire, how to interview, HR, human resource, interview, interviewing questions, recruiting salespeople
New Facebook Page Launched – More Goodies and Pictures I’m Sharing With You
Sep 17, 2009 Books, Business Tools, Career Advice, Sales Management, Videos, career coaching, podcast, sales tools
Keith Rosen | Create Your Badge
We just launched a new Facebook page and I’m excited to invite you to connect with me here. The plan is to offer some additional resources, videos, pictures and materials that you can find exclusively on this new Facebook page. I look forward to connecting with you here! Here’s the link:
One thing this Facebook page already has that you can’t find anywhere else are all of the pictures I’m taking documenting my eight country tour, of which you can already find pictures from Ireland and Prague.
It’s been an incredible journey filled with new experiences which I can’t wait to write on. While I’ve certainly built in the additional time to explore the richness and culture each country has to offer, the primary objective is to deliver my management coach training program to CEO’s, Directors, VP’s and managers, especially sales managers; based on my last book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions. (Currently we’re also doing a huge book event this week which you can find more about here and how you can get additional Bonus Gifts from The World’s Top Thought Leaders.)
The result so far? My peripheral vision has been expanded exponentially, as I continue to be fascinated by the subtleties and nuances in cultural differences, in management style and in organizations across the globe.
However, one thing has been consistent: People are people; wherever you go. People share the same core needs, same dreams; our core values still remain. And one thing is for sure; coaching is a UNIVERSAL language. (Maybe this can be a conduit to world peace? No, I haven’t lost my mind fully as of yet!)
Next stops, Dubai, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Columbia! A few more countries to be added shortly. Looking forward to connecting and sharing this amazing and ongoing journey with you!
Tags: Books, coaching, facebook, podcasts, social media, training, Videos
Mismanaging Expectations: Are You Preparing Your Sales Team for Change?
Sep 16, 2009 Books by Keith Rosen, Executive Coaching, Hiring and recruiting, How to Manage Your Team, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople
72 HOUR EVENT: To win more sales today, you need to play by the new rules. Click Here To Learn More About This Book and Special Event.
Maria was a new sales manager hired by Media Pros, Inc., a sports management consulting firm. She was recently introduced to the coaching model at a seminar for senior managers in her company.
Maria went back to her team pumped up and ready to begin implementing some of the coaching methods. However, it seems that Maria missed the section of the seminar on how critical it is to prepare your team for coaching by managing their expectations.
Compound this with the fact that Maria has only been in her position for less than five weeks. It’s difficult enough for a sales team to adjust to a new boss, but further changes without proper preparation and communication will cause a rebellion.
Maria’s boss set up a meeting with her and an outside executive coach to discuss the resistance Maria was running up against when attempting to manage and coach her team. Maria told the executive coach that she felt she had assimilated herself into her team and prepared them for any changes she was making. Since Maria’s sales team worked remotely, she introduced herself to the team via a conference call and let them all know she was there to support them and help them become even more successful in their careers. Sounds pretty good so far, right? However, after further exploration, the executive coach uncovered the breakdown in Maria’s new manager orientation process.
The executive coach asked Maria the following questions to help discover why Maria failed to manage her team’s expectations as well as develop a strategy to communicate her objectives in a way her team would understand and embrace.
1.Did you conduct one-to-one meetings with each salesperson on your team?
2. Did you ask each of them how they like to be managed? Are they coachable?
3. Did you inquire about their prior experience with their past manager? Was it positive or negative?
4. Did you set the expectations of your relationship with them? Did you ask them what they needed and expected from their manager? What changes do they want to see?
5. Did you inform them about how you like to manage and your style of management? This would open up the space for a discussion regarding how you may manage differently from your predecessor.
6. Did you let them know you just completed a coaching course that would enable you to support them even further and maximize their talents?
7. Did you explain to them the difference between coaching and traditional management?
8. Did you enroll them in the benefits of coaching? That is, what would be in it for them?
9. Did you let them know about your intentions, goals, expectations, and aspirations for each of them and for the team as a whole?
10. How have you gone about learning the ins and outs of the company? Are you familiar with the internal workings, culture, leadership team, and subtleties that make the company unique? Have you considered that your team may be the best source of knowledge and intelligence for this? Did you communicate your willingness and desire to learn from them as well, so that the learning and development process can be mutually reciprocated?
With each question, it became more evident that Maria did not plan or prepare her staff for change. She did not prepare her team for a new boss or for her new approach to management.
At the end of the conversation, it was clear to Maria what she had to do. She would start with a team meeting to address many of the questions posed to her by the executive coach. Maria would use this meeting to explain the changes she wanted to make and the benefits each person on the sales team would realize. Maria also knew that she needed to address any gossip, rumors, or negativity that could poison the team. She would acknowledge that with any change in management there is an adjustment period. Maria wants her team to know that she is sensitive to what they are going through during this transition, as well as to each of their individual needs. She needs to reinforce her role and the fact that even though her style, personality, and approach may be different from what they are used to, she is there to help them thrive in their careers.
Once Maria finished facilitating this team meeting, she scheduled one-on-one calls with each salesperson on her team to discuss these questions. More specifically, the questions that relate to their specific needs and goals and how they want to be managed and coached. This experience was a huge lesson for Maria and would be for any manager. If you fail to inform your salespeople of your good intentions, they have no idea what they are, thus leaving it up to each salesperson to form his or her own opinion.
A situation where a salesperson had a less than favorable experience with the old manager can be made worse and repeated if the new manager does not take the steps to create a new experience between her and her salespeople.
If management does not break the cycle, they may encounter situations where their salespeople are not engaged at all, especially in the coaching process. New managers would then have to form their own conclusions, thinking that either the coaching doesn’t work or it just may be the salesperson who doesn’t work. In truth, what isn’t working is the exchange of communication and as such, a critical message goes undelivered perpetuating conflicts, communication breakdowns, distrust, and underperformance.
Ironically, you may be doing everything else right when managing your team. That is, your heart is in the right place, your intentions are pure and sound, and you truly want to be the best coach you can be for your team. But without defusing any faulty assumptions, gossip, or beliefs, resistance from your staff will be imminent and your coaching will be unsuccessful.
Whether you’re a new manager or a manager who’s a new coach, informing your team about any new initiatives or changes you plan on making and the enrollment process you will use to initiate buy in needs to happen prior to actually implementing the change.
To recap, first take that step back and assess your team’s needs as well as the unique needs of each individual on your team. Let them know how you plan on supporting them. Then manage these expectations with surgical precision. This will foster a strong, healthy relationship which you can build on right from the start, creating the nurturing and open environment that will enable you to earn your salespeople’s deeper respect, trust and commitment to their objectives, even in the face of change.
72 HOUR EVENT: Learn what the world’s top sales organizations are doing to create sales champions by developing the new discipline of leadership. Receive hundreds of dollars worth of bonus gifts from the world’s top sales and business leaders. Click Here To Learn More About This Book and Special Event.
Tags: coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, Executive Coaching, management coach training, management training, Sales Coaching, Sales Management
Video: Building Accountability: Let Your Underperformers Declare The Cost Of Not Changing
Sep 16, 2009 Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, Videos, training for managers
72 HOUR EVENT: Learn what the world’s top sales organizations are doing to create sales champions by developing the new discipline of leadership. Receive hundreds of dollars worth of bonus gifts from the world’s top sales and business leaders. Click Here To Learn More About This Book and Special Event.
I’ve coached thousands of managers over the years and out of all of my years doing this I’ve noticed many common themes. One of them is that practically every manager I’ve ever worked with does not have a strategy when dealing with an underperformer.
Sure, they have reviews and consequences but don’t have a defined process to turn someone around.
And I think the big part of that especially today is that managers are continually being seduced by the ether of potential.
They have an underperformer, and either buy into their excuses or they themselves are hoping that in time they’ll miraculously turn their performance around. The last time I checked, hope is still not a strategy!
What is needed is a detailed strategy to turn an underperformer around and I have proven that regardless of your industry or sales cycle, you can either turn someone around in 30 days or make the decision that the person simply does not belong on your team so you no longer have to waste your precious time coaching them.
In short; over a four week period with at least one meeting each week, work closely with that person and have them declare and commit to the short term goals, activities or changes they are going to make. At the end of four weeks, there are three basic outcomes.
1: They did what they committed to or did part of it.
2: They showed promise and demonstrated evidence that justifies continually working with them.
3: They didn’t do what you had outlined with them at all.
Sure, we can’t control many of the things going on in the economy. However, what these managers 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.
Now, there are several issues at work here that inhibit the manager’s ability to get their people to be more accountable around their goals.
1: Is there a consequence associated to their actions or lack of action? And that consequence can come from you (i.e. affect on their salary, position, job, bonus, etc.) or from a personal cost they would feel themselves by not changing.
2: Building off number 1 above, it’s all about how you position this conversation. This is always a tough job for managers because most of the time, they get on their soapbox and preach the consequences to their people. For example: “You can be more successful if….” “You can make more money if only you would …...” or “If you don’t turn this around you’re going to (be out of a job, get fired, fail, etc.).” This falls on deaf ears because for them to internalize it, they must hear the consequence in their own words, through their own voice and arrive at the consequence on their own. They need to recognize it, say it and declare it.
And the only way to do this is by asking them better consequential questions. Here are the steps to coaching someone to be more accountable.
1: Gauge where they are at regarding the process to achieve their goals. Are they engaging in the right activities? Are they on track? What is the evidence? There’s a big difference between people’s good intentions and their actions.
2: Let them declare the consequence of inaction or doing things that aren’t working.
3: Let them come up with the solution.
4: Let them articulate their commitments and deadlines to the task or for making the changes necessary.
5: Confirm specific action steps.
When dealing with conflict, most people do not like confrontation and tend to avoid at all costs. However, when you’re asking questions, you can never be the bad guy! Here are some examples of questions that are meant to uncover how you can hold someone accountable and the management style that they respond best to:
Tags: coach training, coaching salespeople, Executive Coaching, management training, training for managers
Video: Coach the Process Not the Result
Sep 15, 2009 Books by Keith Rosen, Executive Coaching, How to Manage Your Team, Sales Management, Videos, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, training for managers
Watch the video here.
72 HOUR EVENT: Get Your Playbook for Winning More Sales Today
Receive hundreds of dollars worth of bonus gifts from the world’s top sales and business leaders. Click Here To Learn More About This Book and Special Event.
The result is the process. A timely paradox and critical mind shift that every salesperson and manager must make if they want to transcend the mediocre performance they may be experiencing today.
Even before you can engage in the type of sales benchmarking activities or even take the time to refine your selling skills, you will come head to head with resistance to selling by the numbers if this change in attitude around how we approach selling is not fully embraced beforehand.
I was reminded how important this was during a seminar I delivered last week in NYC. At the end of the seminar, one manager raised his hand and posed this question to me. He said, “Our sales cycle has changed dramatically. Our salespeople can no longer make a call and take an order. Our product offering has been modified and as a result, the average cost of our product has increased, which has all contributed to a longer sales cycle. However, my salespeople are still reluctant to change. They’re still stuck in that transactional way of selling. They’re getting more frustrated and discouraged because sales aren’t happening fast enough, all because they’re unsure how to manage this longer selling cycle. I’ve told them many times over, that our sales cycle is no longer the way it used to be, and we need to be more patient with the process and more consultative with our customers. I’ve explained to them over and over again, that we need to modify and re-engineer our selling process in response to these new challenges, the changes we’re up against and how our customers make a purchasing decision and buy from us. What else can I do?”
As this sales manager was explaining his challenge, I was thinking to myself how important it is today, more than ever, to become process driven. Without this change in our thinking, salespeople will be unable to honor the process needed to convert more conversations into sales, let alone build out a more robust process and selling strategy that will enable them to do so. As such, the eternal conflict between our tactical strategy and our thinking will continue to rage on.
The fact is, companies will fail to invest the time in order to eliminate process oriented and measurable oversights and embed these necessary changes into their process if the sales culture is too focused on getting to the result by forging ahead in an attempt to close more sales. Managers can continually push their people to become more mindful of these numbers, however, it’s the process driven questions managers need to be more sensitive to rather than the result driven questions that managers obsess over that continue to perpetuate this toxic way of thinking. Those questions sound like, “Are you hitting your numbers? How many follow-up calls did you make today? How much good volume did you book this month? How many leads did you run this week?” While important, these questions only focus on half of the equation. What is missing is the “How,” that is, the questions that focus on the process the salesperson needs to engage in to achieve the desired end result.
Managers need to stop coaching to the result and start coaching to the process, instead.
Become more mindful of the process that will drive the results you seek. Without the change in your result driven attitude that’s keeping you stuck in the first place, all efforts to better manage your selling strategy by a numeric formula are certain to be short lived.
For salespeople and sales leaders, the fundamental shift in our attitude that needs to occur is this; move away from being so result driven and instead, become more process driven.
We must honor this paradox and break free of the limiting thinking that confines us to the current level of performance we’re experiencing. If we truly want to excel today, realize the result is truly the process.
Watch the video here.
Tags: book, coach training, coaching for managers, coaching salespeople, executive coach, management training
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