Guiding Principles

 

How many of you are married with children or had brothers and sisters?  I’m sure you noticed the personality differences despite the almost identical upbringing.  Family life closely resembles a scientific experiment without the control factors.  Testing and research prove that certain aspects of our personality are inherited.  Gene research has proved how amazingly similar we all are, but how a little rearranging of the DNA makes us uniquely different.

 

We know by observation and previous studies that people often fall into four distinct personality styles. 

 

1.     Outgoing

2.     Domineering

3.     Perfectionists

4.     Low key

 Let’s accept as a premise that some people have a little leg up in our culture by personality style.  In the business culture that exists, the domineering types and perfectionists tend to do better than the fun loving/outgoing or low key personality types. And yes of course, there are exceptions!  Now let’s complicate the issue by revealing that the primary emotional and learning capabilities we have, are established between the ages of 1 and 5. The most revealing fact here is that you are emotionally established by your environment at a very early age.  

 

Remember the obligatory computer programming course you had to take in High School or College?  G. I. G. O., Garbage In Garbage Out.  It looks like our lifestyle has the same premise.

 

What if we changed the programming to E. I. E. O?   Excellence In Excellence Out.

 

Could that make a difference?          

 

Now we have established that we are pre-wired, but to a large extent we are like a brand-new computer.  The basic operating programs are installed, but the hard drive still has a tremendous capacity for more programs.

 

You may have some obstacles to overcome, or you may have had a tremendously nurturing, joyful childhood.  But the truth is as adults, we all have a choice about how we are going to act.  Some old negative programming can be overwritten with enough diligence.  The human mind has amazing capacity if it is stretched. All of us have a tremendous capability to change if the right energy and discipline is applied.

 

Here is a little tip to help you during a time of transition.  Remember the old remedy for controlling anger?  Count to 10 before you speak?  Think of life’s daily events as an A-B-C event sequence.  Instead of potentially explosive incident A leading to negative reaction C.  Insert the filter B into the thought process.  B is the filtering thought that allows us to consider the consequences of our actions.  That will be one small step in reprogramming our thinking.

 

If we want to develop an internal source of motivation, then I suggest we adopt a model used by many wise individuals and companies.

 

Establish 3-6 guiding principles for your life and develop a mission statement that addresses the goals you have set for yourself.  The principles should be the guiding beacons that direct the mission statement you develop.

 

The principles should be axioms that will not change due to circumstances or time.  Therefore, they are long term value statements on the way to run your life.  Principles should be statements such as:

 

1.     I will treat others with respect, dignity, and deep concern for their wellbeing. (Golden Rule Mentality)

2.     I will always practice truthfulness and integrity.

3.     I will not give my commitment to anything that I cannot or will not keep.

4.     I will give 100% to anything I commit to.

5.     I will practice the highest quality and fairness in all my endeavors.

6.     My primary motivation is a God centered relationship.

 

The principles guide the mission statement.  The mission statements can be short- or long-term goals.  Goals may be actions or activities such as:

 

•        I will earn my MBA within 3-4 years

•        I will lose 15 lbs by years end

•        My company will achieve the agreed upon sales and profitability goals for this fiscal year.

•        My company will earn an ISO 9001 rating within 10 months

•        I will learn enough Spanish to have a working vocabulary within the next 24 months

 

Does it sound too simple to be true, can it really be that easy?  How do you produce a habit, and eliminate old thinking styles?

 

Work hard to eliminate or reduce the old, ingrained thought patterns that had a negative impact on your personal and business life, realizing that they are punitive to you and others around you.  Replace the old self diminishing thoughts with your set of guiding principles.  Print out a copy or jot your principles on a note card and place it in your day timer or wallet.  Read that list of principles before you go to work in the morning, noon and night.  Review your daily conduct considering the principles you have set for yourself. 

 

Strive to correct any conduct deficiencies.

 

Your principles will direct the approach you take to achieve your goals.  Set logical, step by step approaches to the accomplishment of these goals in reasonable time periods.  Check your progress periodically and you will be pleasantly surprised at the accomplishments.

 

In addition to your repetitive review of the guiding principles, try these things to assist with your new internal motivation goal.

 

•        Read books that provide insight into admirable character

•        Sign up for a course in your area of interest

•        Memorize your principles and focus on them to guide your plans

•        Develop a positive, can-do attitude

•        Develop and conduct action-oriented objectives

•        Be aware, your self-value is secure in God’s love, failures are learning events

•        Focus on the important, leave the trivial behind

•        Deeply value relationships 

•        Be other centered

•        Surround yourself with can do people

•        Avoid anger and judgmental thinking

•        Seek out positive personal growth

•        Get a proper diet, rest, and exercise

•        Enjoy life

 

In conclusion, success has three important components:

 

1.     Drive: The internal desire to obtain a goal

2.     Personal focus: The ability to focus on your goals and avoid trivial activities

3.     Discipline: Working through difficult issues that will help us obtain our goals

 

  

 

Apply these principles to build the motivation that will carry you to success in your life. Replace the old with the new and positive.  Remember; you determine your attitude, not life’s circumstances.  Focus on the things within your control and don’t let those outside your control bother you.  Utilize your principles and goals to direct your life to new levels of achievement.

 

Gary D. Seale - MBA

The Trucon Consulting Group

www.truconbd.com

 

Persuasion Power

 

Persuasion Power

 

Statistical research has proven that salespeople have a higher probability of closing business if they:

 

1.     State an overt benefit, specifically and obviously.

This benefit should answer the question; What’s in it for me?  If for no other reason than to know that the competition is fierce for business. Then you must have a differentiating factor to articulate.

When I was in the safety equipment business (A commodity world) the differentiating factor was inventory availability, aid by a computer managed software system. The challenge is for you to brainstorm verifiable differences that separate you from your competitors.

 

2.     Provide a reason to believe that you will deliver on your promises.

Do your research and be able to verify product capabilities, adherence to engineering standards, and provide third party reference, conduct live demonstrations and conduct facility visits. Do not forget to have a quality website, excellent quote packages, technical papers by outside experts, and monitor the trust factor established by the outside sales team.

 

3.     A dramatic difference. How revolutionary and new to the world is your reason to believe?

This may be a point of contention between management and engineering compared to the sales and marketing team. The sales team will frequently be open to full performance revelation in contrast to senior management, engineering, and the legal staff. The management team may be very sensitive to what they have to lose by setting a poor precedent. Whereas sales and marketing tend to see more opportunities in correlation with more openness.

It is important to walk a mile in the shoes of your prospect. Is the information presented going to make a significant difference in performance and cost. What period of time must elapse before a pay back is recognized. What aspects of performance, productivity, and cost reduction can be presented that may not be obvious to the prospect?

These items may separate you as a subject matter expert and seal the agreement. Do not hesitate to write and verbalize your features, advantages and benefits. Continue to repeat them to drive home your differentiating message and for the sake of clarity and closing the business.

 

Gary D. Seale – MBA

Principal – The Trucon Consulting Group, LLC

September 3, 2022

 

 

 

 

Sales Motivation

Purpose - Product - Customer Benefit - Dopamine Hit

When I first got into the selling profession, I made the move based on all surface motivations. My wife and I wanted a geographic relocation, no eight to five office routine, a move to a Fortune 500 company, and more money. None of these reasons were necessarily bad in their own right, however none of them had any long term deep motivational aspects.

Employers can set the table to create an atmosphere of motivation by job design and placing the salesperson in a position to succeed.  But ultimately it is the individual who develops a purpose for their life, believes strongly in their products, clearly sees the benefits that the customer receives, and personally gets a dopamine hit in their brain based on that experience. 

According to author James Clear, who wrote the book Atomic Habits, the neurotransmitter dopamine is a key factor in not only developing good habits, but establishing an action as a source of pleasure or the anticipation of that action, which also becomes a source of pleasure.

Please allow me to amplify on these points to provide more clarification. 

From an employer's perspective, it is important to take extreme care when hiring new people, regardless of their position. For the outside sales job, I recommend two in depth interviews and a battery of personality tests to determine energy, focus, decision making skills, communication abilities and human relations skills just to name a few. Their past history should be investigated and they should be required to submit an essay explaining why they will be the best choice for the job.   

Structure the salesperson's job to match their skillset with a detailed job description and expectations. Do your best to not burden the salesperson down with unnecessary admin chores. As the rep shows more productivity and maturity, give them the latitude to manage their job responsibilities with less oversight.

Be aware that all sales rep's skillsets are not a universal fit for every job opening. Personality types and experience will indicate the best fit for the open positions. For example, some applicants will make great new account development specialists, however they would fail in an pure account management role. There could be multiple role matching scenarios. It will be wise to thoroughly investigate the maximum return on investment assignment for each open position.

For the individual salesperson, it is important to understand yourself so well that you find your purpose in life. Then match some aspects of your purpose with your job responsibilities. I highly recommend that you take the test included with the book, Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. The test results does a very good job of uncovering your God given personality strengths. Those talent strengths can then be applied in the sales job where you have a high probability of success. The better you match your job responsibilities and skill sets, the more dopamine your brain will create and the motivation you experience will drive you to higher levels of success. (Success being described as meeting or exceeding your capabilities)  

Every salesperson must be convinced that their job involves a win-win-win situation. This means a win for the employer, a win for the customer, and a win for the salesperson. The employer must remain competitive in their field, and produce enough profit to compensate themselves adequately, and the salesperson. Over my career, I found this to be a difficult task to achieve. A poorly planned compensation program can penalize a higher achiever or hurt the employer.     

In summary, we all can understand that a compelling level of motivation and action levels are a responsibility of both the employer and the individual salesperson. The employer must select the best people and structure the job to allow for individual success. The employee must choose the right job, and be aware of their skill sets. Once they are aware of these variables, then internal motivation can be a consistent factor in the success of the  salesperson, and ultimately the customer as well.

For the employer, here is three straightforward questions to ask about each of your salespeople.

1. Do they believe there is value for all three parties in the selling equation?
2. Is work its own reward for your salesperson?
3. Does your salesperson lose track of time and forget outside pursuits?

Score your answers with this scale.

1. Strongly disagree

2. Disagree

3. Neutral

4. Agree

5. Strongly agree

Author: Gary D. Seale - MBA

Principal at The Trucon Consulting Group, LLC

www.truconbd.com

 

Nine Skills You Should Learn That Pay Dividends Forever

·        Published on July 23, 2019 Travis Bradberry - Phd

Coauthor EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 2.0 &President at TalentSmart

The further along you are in your career, the easier it is to fall back on the mistaken assumption that you’ve made it and have all the skills you need to succeed. The tendency is to focus all your energy on getting the job done, assuming that the rest will take care of itself. Big mistake.

Recent research from Stanford tells the story. Carol Dweck and her colleagues conducted a study with people who were struggling with their performance. One group was taught to perform better on a task that they performed poorly in. The other group received a completely different intervention: for the task that they performed badly in, they were taught that they weren’t stuck and that improving their performance was a choice. They discovered that learning produces physiological changes in the brain, just like exercise changes muscles. All they had to do was believe in themselves and make it happen.

When the groups’ performance was reassessed a few months later, the group that was taught to perform the task better did even worse. The group that was taught that they had the power to change their brains and improve their performance themselves improved dramatically.

The primary takeaway from Dweck’s research is that we should never stop learning. The moment we think that we are who we are is the moment we give away our unrealized potential.

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

The act of learning is every bit as important as what you learn. Believing that you can improve yourself and do things in the future that are beyond your current possibilities is exciting and fulfilling.

Still, your time is finite, and you should dedicate yourself to learning skills that will yield the greatest benefit. There are nine skills that I believe fit the bill because they never stop paying dividends. These are the skills that deliver the biggest payoff, both in terms of what they teach you and their tendency to keep the learning alive.

Emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions that achieve positive results. EQ is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships. Decades of research now point to EQ as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. It’s a powerful way to focus your energy in one direction, with tremendous results.

TalentSmart tested EQ alongside 33 other important workplace skills and found that EQ is the strongest predictor of performance, explaining a full 58% of success in all types of jobs. Of all the people we’ve studied at work, we've found that 90% of top performers are also high in EQ. On the flip side, just 20% of bottom performers are high in EQ. You can be a top performer without EQ, but the chances are slim. Naturally, people with a high degree of EQ make more money, an average of $29,000 more per year than people with a low degree of emotional intelligence. The link between EQ and earnings is so direct that every point increase in EQ adds $1,300 to an annual salary. Increasing your EQ won’t just pad your bank account, it’ll make you happier and less stressed as well.

Time management. One of the biggest things that gets in the way of effective time management is the “tyranny of the urgent.” This refers to the tendency of little things that have to be done right now to get in the way of what really matters. When you succumb to it, you spend so much time putting out fires that you never get any real work done. How many times have you left work at the end of the day, only to realize that you didn’t move the important things along even one inch? Learning to manage your time effectively frees you up to perform at your absolute highest level, and it does so every single day of your life.

Listening. This one should be easy. If we’re not talking, we’re listening, right? Well, not exactly. A lot of times, we think we’re listening, but we’re actually planning what we’re going to say next. True listening means focusing solely on what the other person is saying. It’s about understanding, not rebuttal or input. Learning how to suspend judgment and focus on understanding the other person’s input is one of the most important skills you can develop.

Listening is a bit like intelligence—most everyone thinks they’re above average (even though that’s impossible). A study at Wright State University surveyed more than 8,000 people from different verticals, and almost all rated themselves as listening as well as or better than their co-workers. We know intuitively that many of them were wrong.

There’s so much talking happening at work that opportunities to listen abound. We talk to provide feedback, explain instructions, and communicate deadlines. Beyond the spoken words, there’s invaluable information to be deciphered through tone of voice, body language, and what isn’t said. In other words, failing to keep your ears (and eyes) open could leave you out of the game.

Saying No. Research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, showed that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Saying no is indeed a major challenge for many people. No is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, avoid phrases such as I don’t think I can or I’m not certain. Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them. When you learn to say no, you free yourself from unnecessary constraints and free up your time and energy for the important things in life.

Asking for help. It might seem counterintuitive to suggest that asking for help is a skill, but it is. It takes a tremendous amount of confidence and humility to admit that you need assistance. This skill is critical because the last thing a leader wants are employees who keep on trucking down the wrong path because they are too embarrassed or proud to admit that they don’t know what they’re doing. The ability to recognize when you need help, summon up the courage to ask for it, and follow through on that help is an extremely valuable skill.

Getting high-quality sleep. We've always known that quality sleep is good for your brain, but recent research from the University of Rochester demonstrated exactly how so. The study found that when you sleep, your brain removes toxic proteins, which are by-products of neural activity when you're awake, from its neurons. The catch here is that your brain can only adequately remove these toxic proteins when you have sufficient quality sleep. When you don’t get high-quality deep sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc and ultimately impairing your ability to think—something no amount of caffeine can fix. This slows your ability to process information and solve problems, kills your creativity, and increases your emotional reactivity. Learning to get high-quality sleep on a regular basis is a difficult skill to master, but it pays massive dividends the next day.

Knowing when to shut up. Sure, it can feel so good to unload on somebody and let them know what you really think, but that good feeling is temporary. What happens the next day, the next week, or the next year? It’s human nature to want to prove that you’re right, but it’s rarely effective. In conflict, unchecked emotion makes you dig your heels in and fight the kind of battle that can leave you and the relationship severely damaged. When you read and respond to your emotions, you’re able to choose your battles wisely and only stand your ground when the time is right. The vast majority of the time, that means biting your tongue.

Taking initiative. Initiative is a skill that will take you far in life. In theory, initiative is easy—the desire to take action is always there—but in the real world, other things get in the way. There’s a big difference between knowing what to do and being too scared or lazy to actually do it. That requires initiative. You have to take risks and push yourself out of your comfort zone, until taking initiative is second nature.

Staying positive. We've all received the well-meaning advice to "stay positive." The greater the challenge, the more this glass-half-full wisdom can come across as Pollyannaish and unrealistic. It's hard to find the motivation to focus on the positive when positivity seems like nothing more than wishful thinking. The real obstacle to positivity is that our brains are hard-wired to look for and focus on threats. This survival mechanism served humankind well, back when we were hunters and gatherers and living each day with the very real threat of being killed by someone or something in our immediate surroundings.

That was eons ago. Today, this mechanism breeds pessimism and negativity through the mind's tendency to wander until it finds a threat. These "threats" magnify the perceived likelihood that things are going—and/or are going to go—poorly. When the threat is real and lurking in the bushes down the path, this mechanism serves you well. When the threat is imagined and you spend two months convinced that the project you're working on is going to flop, this mechanism leaves you with a soured view of reality that wreaks havoc in your life. Maintaining positivity is a daily challenge that requires focus and attention. You must be intentional about staying positive if you're going to overcome the brain's tendency to focus on threats.

Bringing It All Together

Research shows that lifelong learning pays dividends beyond the skills you acquire. Never stop learning.

How do you keep the learning alive? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world's leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.

 

Confidence - Your Selling Platform

As a professional salesperson, it is almost entirely taken for granted that you will have the confidence to present your products and services in a manner that demonstrates your deep belief in their value to the customer. Isn’t that the definition of being a professional?

This belief in your company, their support systems, their competitiveness, and the actual product itself are some of the keys to your ability to display the personal confidence required to win new business in the marketplace. (There may be more issues related to a personal self-image that would require an entirely separate discourse to discuss.)

Unless you have a badly scarred conscience, your confidence can be destroyed by your lack of faith that the products and services offered by your employer are substandard and consequently not competitive in the marketplace.

Please be aware that you can set your standard far to high. There will not be perfection in everything you promote. However, it does need to perform and compete very well in the class of products where you contend.

My first experience in a professional selling job was with a major industrial and consumer products company that everyone would immediately recognize. The division that I was hired to sell for was out of their area of expertise. There were some poor decisions made regarding placing the company name on an inferior imported product.

 Even as a rookie salesperson, it did not take long to discover that not only were we not competitive from a features standpoint, but we were also badly overpriced as well. My confidence and morale were damaged to the point of draining energy from my selling efforts. I left for another sales position as soon as possible and learned a few years later that the division was sold to someone in the primary business we were attempting to enter. This new salesperson came very close to getting out of the selling profession based on my experiences and lack of faith in the products.

Here are some recommended steps to insure your “product confidence” stays high.

§  Know your products and your competition very well 

§  Keep a competitive file so you can objectively evaluate your competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and performance claims 

§  Keep a record of your wins in the marketplace

§  Capture third party references for your own sake and your prospect’s possible review

§  Practice your presentation with a mentor or manager and video the demonstration for evaluation’s sake

§  Seek constant improvement in your sales presentation and your product confidence

§  Personally use your own product if possible or watch it perform in person

And the last comment on this topic is; There is no excuse for bending the truth in your sales role. Falsehood and cover ups will not last in the marketplace.

Good Selling

 

Salesperson Effectiveness

 

A common concern of many sales managers is the return on investment for the comp and expenses required to have a salesperson in the field. Of course, this is not universal, however for startup companies, and companies that compete in low margin industries, it is a very real concern.

This brings to mind the concept of preparation, experience, focus, human relations skills, organization and product knowledge just to name a few foundational aspects for an effective salesperson.

There are six components that every small to medium size enterprise salesperson should have acquired to be considered a master in their craft.

1.     Product knowledge

2.     Company knowledge

3.     Selling skills

4.     Industry knowledge

5.     Customer knowledge

6.     The customer’s industry knowledge

For the majority of the SMBE salespeople, a knowledge of digital marketing skills will be considered an essential element of their selling skills. Simply because the smaller firms may lack the resources to fund a complete digital marketing effort. And, let’s face it, the salesperson should know more about their customers and prospects. Consequently, it is the salesperson who should be able to draft the most persuasive appeal to those prospects.

For the new company, new territory expansion, or new product launch, the need will be to focus primarily on prospecting to gain a foothold in the marketplace.

Since no one competes as a monopoly, the strategy must include a powerful message of interruption that draws a prospect to listen to the message and take it seriously. And by seriously, that means to make a change in products or suppliers. It’s not a total dog eat dog, winner take all world, but eventually someone must come in behind the winner.  

One of the best ways to develop a powerful message of interruption is to understand your customer’s deepest concerns. Research their industry and your capabilities to understand their anxiety, fears, frustration, stress or what may provide a peace of mind for them.

Once you get a firm grasp on their concerns, you have better opportunity to reach those prospects on an emotional level. And as we all know there is an element of emotion in every decision. Do not ignore the fact that your product must compete on a functional level. There is no getting around that fact. Have a viable product or go back to square one and start over.

Allow me to give you a couple of examples to illustrate how this would play out.

When I was in the safety equipment industry there were several factors in play at all times. Number one was the basic concept of concern for the well being and productivity of the individual workers. Injuries that resulted in lost time incidents meant pain, suffering and income loss for the employee. It also included lost productivity and higher cost for the company. If the lost time incident rate was too high, it meant higher insurance costs for the employer.

Violation of OSHA laws could mean fines and negative publicity for the employer as well. These factors could be used to generate a strong emotional interruption for our prospects. New OSHA laws were particularly impactful because that opened the door for providing new standards training and promoted the sales team as subject matter experts.

In the hard drive industry, there was a high susceptibility to product loss due to an electro-static discharge event during the manufacturing phase. Consequently, the concern over low percentage production yields drove a mandatory interest in the ionization equipment that my company manufactured. It was relatively easy to gain access to those decision makers. This was very true if there was a technical innovation in the ionization tool that made it more effective.   

This concept should allow you to think about the deepest concerns of your prospects as it relates to the products you sell. Take some time to brainstorm your approach.

As you take time to draft a new version of your approach, ask yourself how I would feel if I was in my customer’s shoes.

What would create worry and stress for them?

What happens when they don’t have funding to properly run their organization?

What do they think when they become aware of a knowledge shortage to maintain competitiveness?

What happens to them personally and professionally when they fail to hit their goals?

What really makes them angry?

What unknown causes them to worry?

What are competitors doing to eat away at their business?

What weak habits are causing them to lose productivity?

As you review these questions, I’m sure you can come up with your own questions specifically pertaining to your industry.

Consider how your overall presentation produces a solution to their frustrations, anxiety, and stresses. Then use this emotional appeal to transition into the statistics and science that proves your product is a “best fit” solution to their concerns.

When you create your best interruption message, then it is important to decide how to get it front of your prospects. Every marketer and sales guru will tell you their way is best. And they may have some valid points, however, keep in mind that they also have a strong profit motive that drives them to be biased for their method.

Keep in mind that your initial efforts are going to fall into the marketing category. It is your responsibility to get that message in front of the correct target market with multiple methods. Tools like your website, social media campaigns, webinars, newsletters, and live events are viable ways to approach your market.

In my opinion, if you are breaking the ice with your product, then nothing exceeds direct phone calls. An exception might be if you are in a situation to afford extensive click per pay ad campaigns.

Phone calls yield multiple benefits to the seller. They deliver an interruption message. They provide immediate competitive feedback, and they help refine your target market faster than most other methods. The key to this method is repetitive calls.

Obviously, this article did not address every aspect of a salesperson’s effectiveness. That could take volumes of insight and instruction. However, it does address a very important facet of the sales approach. Walk a mile in your customer’s shoes and craft your best approach.

Gary D. Seale – MBA

Principal at Trucon Communications and Consulting