Communication and Leadership from the Top by Cindy Stradling CSP, CPC

I was reviewing the statistics from the Athena Alliance blogtalk radio show and noticed that the shows that had the most listens were those that had to do with communication and leadership. I have captured some of the key points from these shows in this week’s blog.

Often leadership teams consist of between 7 – 9 executives, depending on the size of the organization.  One thing is very clear, it the attitudes and actions of this team that can impact the overall culture and performance of an organization.  There is often a common thread with people at the top, they are very similar in nature.  Qualities such as driven, outcome focused and competitive are what contributed to their success. There is a challenge with teams when the top people are too much alike.  They might be missing some important components such as creativity, heart or imagination.

The most successful teams have members who operate at a level of personal awareness.  They who they are and what their triggers are.  Awareness is key.  In order to build a high functioning team, it needs to be built on a strong foundation of trust.  Without trust nothing else works.  Leaders need to clearly define what trust looks like for their team and what are values they will living by.

Clear honest and open communication is paramount to success.  If there is conflict with the members of the senior team, it will be reflected throughout the rest of the company.  Having a solid foundation of trust will allow the members to challenge each other’s perspective with no negative impact on the culture or results. 

They big takeaway for me from reviewing these shows is the importance in knowing yourself and what drives you.  Knowing whether you lead through people, vision, drive or process will help you create a team to compliment your strengths.  No leader can be all things, and trying to be all things can only lead to stress.  We often hear the phrase “play to your strengths.”  Powerful teams have a balance of personality, preferences and strengths.

Another challenge a leadership team can face is when the members are operating with their departmental goals as top priority.  Often a shift has to take place to operate with the focus on the overall organizational goals.

Over the years leadership has changed; it used to be a top down model, then it moved to a flatter structure to now it is almost circular – where various departments and customers are included.  Having the four generations in the workplace and more social media connections has changed the corporate landscape for sure.  It offers new and exciting opportunities as well as challenges, but one this is the same: building trust in communication and leaders is timeless.

12 Top Best Practices for Successful Sales Professionals – Week 4

For the month of June, I thought I do something a little different for my blog.  During my sales training programs I am often asked about the best practices I have adopted for myself over the years.  I have distilled them into twelve and will share three per week for the month of June.

I have always believed that we are all in sales in one form or another so these best practices do not only apply to those in the selling profession and can be applied to many situations.

Continued from Week 3

10) Recap for Understanding – During a sales call I am always taking notes. I want to remember and document the pertinent information from each of my sales calls.  This is particularly important when I am doing a needs assessment.  I make a habit of recapping my understanding of what there need is, the timing of the project and any other particulars that are relevant to the proposal.  I find when I read back the notes from our discussion there is often additional information and ideas that the client will add to our original discussion.  It also saves me from going off and preparing a proposal with any misinformation.

11) Know Values/Benefits –  To me this is a critical to a salesperson’s success.  I am sometimes surprised to see how many of the participants in my sessions sell features.  I learned very early in my career that people buy benefits.  What can your product or service do for me?  The WIIFM for everyone is critical.  I like to take it a step further and make sure that how you communicate the values and benefits be authentic to you.  Companies spend millions of dollars every year coming up with branding and slogans to let the world know who they are.  I think a salesperson should also infuse their own personality and values to any value proposition.  This goes a long way to deliver a truly authentic message from the sales person making the presentation.

12) Matching Styles – As humans we have a tendency to get along with and trust people who are much like ourselves.  I have found if I match pace and tonality when I am speaking with people on the phone, leaving voice messages or meeting face-to-face helps to connect more quickly.  I have been in meetings where I simply didn’t connect with the person initially, and once I consciously started to match their pace and tonality I seemed to be able to develop rapport.  The key here is to be subtle and natural, otherwise the prospect will sense you are not being genuine.

Let’s make this a baker’s dozen…

13) Tell the Truth – Like most salespeople, I have been faced with delivering some not so good news to clients.  I have found that even bad news can be delivered professionally.  If I don’t know something, I simply take great notes and tell my prospects and clients that I will find out and get back to them.  I make sure I follow up in a timely manner.  Customers have told me that they appreciate my honesty.  This just makes good business sense to me if you want your clients to trust you, you have to be trustworthy.

12 Top Best Practices for Successful Sales Professionals – Week 3

For the month of June, I thought I do something a little different for my blog.  During my sales training programs I am often asked about the best practices I have adopted for myself over the years.  I have distilled them into twelve and will share three per week for the month of June.

I have always believed that we are all in sales in one form or another so these best practices do not only apply to those in the selling profession and can be applied to many situations.

Continued from Week 2

7) Talk to the Decision Maker – I know this sounds obvious but it can be tricky at times to get to speak with the senior person who ultimately makes the decision.  Decision makers are busy people and have people to support them in a variety of duties, including screening incoming calls.  It has been my experience to make friends with the assistant as a first step.  If you can’t speak to the decision maker first hand, I will start to develop a relationship with their assistant.  I recently confirmed an account with a large financial institution because I did just that.  It was over a year before I was able to get in front of the decision maker.  The VP said she admired my persistence.

8) Pleasant Persistence Pays – if there is one best practice that has yielded me the most results, it is being pleasantly persistent.  I have a system of staying in touch with people that helps them keep me top of mind.  I know that often when I am cold calling there is very little chance that the prospect would have a need for training when I call.  In fact, I read recently it was a 3% chance that the person I was calling would have a need at the exact time I placed my call.   I have a very soft approach and because I am so lit up about the value we deliver and the benefits of working with me.   Often the prospect is curious about how Athena Training and Consulting could help them and are willing to meet with me.  My introduction meetings are very short and people are so pleased that I called them.  I provide them with a unique one-stop solution that simplifies their process.  I simply love sharing what we offer and I know what a difference it can make.

9) Objection Handling – Accepting that objections are simply part of the sales process.  Knowing your top three or four objectives and preparing to handle them is one of the keys to ongoing success.  Often people’s objections are a signal that they either don’t fully understand how your solution will solve their problem or they want more information.  With some people their automatic first response is no.  Years ago I lost a big opportunity because I wasn’t fully prepared to handle the objections that came up in a sales presentation.  I learned from that experience and now I do my best to assess any possible objections and I put them right up front in the presentation.  I deal with them before they even come up.

12 Top Best Practices for Successful Sales Professionals – Week 2

For the month of June, I thought I do something a little different for my blog.  During my sales training programs I am often asked about the best practices I have adopted for myself over the years.  I have distilled them into twelve and will share three per week for the month of June.

I have always believed that we are all in sales in one form or another so these best practices do not only apply to those in the selling profession and can be applied to many situations.

Continued from Week 1

4) Listening – Often people think that the sales people who have the “Gift of the Gab” are the most successful in sales.  I used to think that many years ago when I first went into sales.  I learned very quickly that this is not the case at all.  Sales people who have the ability to listen to what is being said, as well as what is not being said, often report a much deeper connection with their customers.  I have found it very helpful to not only listen to the words a prospect or customers says but also to listen to the non verbal communication.  Sometimes listening to the tone of someone’s voice can reveal their level of commitment or enthusiasm about what you are offering.  Observing body language during a meeting is also another way to observe the level of interest.  It is one of the greatest gifts we can give to someone, the opportunity to be heard.

5) Questioning – It has been my experience that when I go into a meeting, whether a prospect or a client I have more success when I come to the meeting with some relevant questions to ask.  It is not so much about telling a customer what I can do for them but more about finding out what they need and then I can fit the solution to their specific need. I personally use the SPIN model for questioning and I find it works very well. When I am training other sales people I find that most of them don’t ask the tough “I” questions.

S– situation questions – solicits data and facts in the form of background information and descriptions of the buyer’s existing situation.  These questions are used early in the sales call and can provide sales people with leads to fully develop the buyer’s needs and expectations.  Situation questions are essential and should be used in moderation.  i.e. Who are you currently dealing with?  Who is involved in the purchasing decision?

P- problem questions – used to further probe for specific difficulties or areas of dissatisfaction.  Problem questions more actively involve the buyer and help them better understand their own problems and needs.  i.e.  What kind of reliability problems are you experiencing with your current supplier?

I- implication questions – the purpose of these questions is assist the buyer into thinking about the possible consequences of the problem and understand the urgency of resolving the problem in a way that motivates them to seek a solution. i.e.  How does this affect your profitability?

N- need-Payoff questions – these questions propose a solution and develop commitment from the customer.  These questions refocus the buyer’s attention to the solutions rather than the problems.

i.e. If we could provide you with increased reliability, would that be of interest to you?

6) Qualifying – I agree with Zig Ziglar – there are suspects, prospects and customers and everyone is a suspect until they are qualified.  I have many customers in many different sectors but they all have some common criteria.  I have found that once I identified the most relevant information that I need to qualify a potential customer, it helps me to move past the ones that most likely won’t do business with my organization anyway.  It is worth the time to identify what companies meet your qualifying criteria.

12 Top Best Practices for Successful Sales Professionals – Week 1

For the month of June, I thought I do something a little different for my blog.  During my sales training programs I am often asked about the best practices I have adopted for myself over the years.  I have distilled them into twelve and will share three per week for the month of June.

I have always believed that we are all in sales in one form or another so these best practices do not only apply to those in the selling profession and can be applied to many situations.

1)      Attitude is everything – this may not sound like a best practice, but believe me it is.  How we do anything is how we do everything.  If your attitude is negative or cynical before you undertake any task it will definitely affect not only your results, but the experience of everyone who interacts with you.  Before you pick up the phone, go on a sales call or interact with others in your organization, do a personal check in.  Do an attitude check and ask yourself “Am I present and focused right now.  Is my intention positive or negative?”  When I do this I ask myself “Am I working in Mediocrity or Mastery today?”  I always choose Mastery and it sets the tone and my results for the day.

2)      Goal, objective and targets – setting BIG goals and high targets has always been the way I go about setting my objectives for the year.  I set annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily goals.  I find by keeping the BIG goals in sight, broken down as daily actionable items really helps me stay on track.  Monthly I review my activities to see where I am on or off target and take any necessary actions.  I have a call sheet that I created so I can track my daily activities such as calls, proposals submitted or connections made, again a simple visible tool to let me know how I am doing.  There is a saying I heard years ago “Inch by Inch Success is a Cinch” and it sounds simple but it really does come down to what you do with your minutes to achieve your desired outcomes.

3)      Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan – this is the Intel slogan that I am in total agreement with.  In addition to setting my goals and targets for the year, I also create an annual plan for marketing, new program offerings, newsletters and sources for new prospects.  There are 5 questions that I learned from a Landmark Education leadership program to ask myself when I am creating my plan that really help:

1. What do I know to do? (what’s obvious)
2. What am I saying I will do? (get present to what you say)
3. What do others expect me to do even though I haven’t said I would do it?
4. What do I have to do to have my work complete?
5. What do I have to do to do this as it was meant to be done?

I find when I ask these questions it gives me a deeper connection and commitment to my plans, yielding me greater results.