Tips & Traits Of Top Performers
Five Power Leadership
LEADERS SEEK RESPECT BEFORE APPROVAL OR FRIENDSHIP!
FIRST POWER...TRUST
Be accountable...Take responsibility
Create an open, positive, risk taking environment
Focus on solutions, not fault finding and assigning blame
See unwanted results as an opportunity to improve individuals and the organization
Don't be defensive...
You don't have to have all the answers...Just help people find them
SECOND POWER...HIGH STANDARDS
Raise the bar...The lowest form of behavior you allow is who you are as a leader
Blur the lines between job assignments...The mission is everyone's job
Don't allow average behavior
Assign and monitor all work to teach and coach using specifics
Hold people accountable
THIRD POWER...CARE
Manage people's attitudes before they become actions and poor results
Don't allow people to accept average behavior
Care enough to challenge people to get them to do what they don't want to do
Don't overreact...Make people more important than results and the results will improve
Teach, coach and mentor to help people grow
FOUTH POWER...VALIDATE PEOPLE
Make taking time for people a priority
Be respectful...Pay attention and listen
Ask people's opinions...Pay attention and listen
Reward extra effort...Pay attention
Make people feel important...Pay attention
Did I mention...Pay attention
FIFTH POWER...CHANGE
Be a change advocate...Lead the change
Encourage change...Ask people how they and the organization can improve
Question everything...Never except or settle for the status quo
Help people change to improve...When they don't, change your people
Be mindful that people will treat each other and your customers the way you treat them!
Buffet On The 'New Economy'
 |
| It hasn't been a recession...It's a transition to a whole new economic model. |
Here's what Warren Buffett suggested to cure the economy...During an interview on CNBC. If combined with PeopleFirst Leadership in business and the transition to value based capitalism it could be the start of a great opportunity for everyone.
Buffet told CNBC, "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,". "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking people to forward this as an email, to a minimum of twenty people on their address list and in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. The results would be increased opportunity and the possibility of a higher standard of living for people today and in the generations that follow.
Let's get this past...The Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present &future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
"Interesting thoughts...Could be game changer if combined with business leaders realizing that the selfish intentions of business damage their business and they begin to operate based on helping, serving and doing what's best for their employees and customers...PeopleFirst Leadership Is the best solution and path to a successful 'new economy'!" Mike Moore
New Economy, New Opportunities
Any business model that's central intention is selfish will eventually implode and that's what's happening to the economy today! There is no recovery coming only the opportunity for a 'value based new economy'!
It will require People First Leadership! Think Henry Ford, Herb Kelleher! It works but takes character, commitment and a firm belief in the true principals of capitalism not the perverted intentions we've experienced in this generation!
Value or service have to be the intended purpose of business with profit as a result...not the central purpose, No more manipulating results for selfish intentions.
The past few decades business leaders intentions have not been much deferent than a thief's...How can I give as little as possible and maximize profits! Any wonder we're on the brink of collapse.
A Sales Attraction Portion
What if you became aware that there was a ‘sales attraction potion’ you could take to prepare yourself to meet people when you’re selling. This ‘potion’, when taken, allowed people to relax, connect and communicate. Real dialogue happened and people could be helped and served. This connection allowed the engagement and dialogue that sales managers, salespeople and sales trainers have been trying to make happen for years. This ‘potion’ is real and the connection it allows, is necessary if consumers are to get what they want, increase sales and enable a business is to grow.What if I told you this ‘potion’ has been around for years and really works? You’d be first in line. “Sign me up”, and “Where do I get more?” are the most common responses. The cynical salesperson wants to know how much it costs. What if I told you it’s free and the supply is unlimited? Well, guess what, it’s real, you can take it all the time and it will not only increase your sales, it will change your life.
Most salespeople are infected with a ‘sales
repellent virus’ that their companies, sales managers and sales trainers
have handed out this ‘virus’ unknowingly, for free, for years. Even more
importantly, when a salesperson is left alone they catch this
‘sales repellent virus’ and even help spread it. What if I told
you when economic conditions get tougher the strength of the ‘sales repellent
virus’ increases and more is handed out? Most people in the profession of sales
think…’Not me, I’m couldn’t be infected with this virus’…but this virus has
been growing for several decades and if it isn’t treated with
the ‘sales attraction potion’ it’s will eventually make salespeople
extinct.
The result of the majority of
salespeople having the ‘sales repellent virus’ for many years now is that
selling has become more difficult and the relationship between salespeople and
consumers has become damaged. In fact this relationship is so dysfunctional
people don’t want to talk to salespeople and salespeople think ‘buyers are
liars’. With most salespeople infected with the ‘sales repellent virus’
consumers have become conditioned to avoid salespeople whenever possible and
only engage when they have to. The most common responses to becoming
aware of this ‘virus’ is, “What are you talking about?”, and “How can I make
sure I don’t have it or spread it?”
We’ll get to, how to avoid the ‘sales
repellent virus’ and how to get healed if you have it but it’s more important to
understand that there’s an antidote, ‘sales attraction potion’, that can
be used, and when used, will increase your sales, make customers and build your
business.
Remember, the supply of ‘sales
attraction potion’ is unlimited and free!
However, even when you know what it is
and how to use it, you’ll have to take it every day and you’ll have to keep
taking it every time you engage someone in a sales conversation. In short, the
‘sales attraction potion’ is simple to use but wear off easily because other
people will be trying to give you the ‘sales repellent virus’.
This usually happens unknowingly and if
you aren’t careful it’s easy to catch the ‘sales repellant virus’!
Let’s investigate the ingredients in the
potion and the virus that are the same. They include skills, attitudes and
actions that are necessary in the profession of sales but insufficient
without taking the ‘sales attraction potion’. These three ingredients are the
ones companies, sales managers and sales trainers have been teaching and
salespeople have been using for years while infected with the ‘sales repellent
virus’. Next, there is the active ingredient that attracts or repels
people. The ‘repellent virus’ makes people avoid and even lie to
salespeople while the ‘attraction potion’ connects and starts healing the
consumer and salesperson relationship.
By now, I know you’re ready for the
active ingredient…The ingredient that causes the ‘potion’ to attract and the
‘virus’ to repel, is a salespersons’ intention when engaging
consumers. Before a salesperson speaks and as they try to sell someone, their
intentions are felt intuitively by consumers and either attracts or repels them.
The consumer then decides unknowingly, preconscious, to connect or avoid the
salesperson. The salesperson’s intentions create their demeanor, presence and
attitudes and cannot be faked. What the consumer feels or reads is the genuine
intention from the salesperson.
The effects of the active ingredient in
the ‘virus’ the salesperson has is evident when consumers avoid talking to or
opening up even when salespeople ask good questions and genuinely cares about
the people they are trying to sell but is infected with the ‘virus’.
‘Trying to sell’ is the active ingredient in the ‘sales repellent virus’. The ‘virus’
even sabotages skilled salespeople who believe in their product and company,
care about the consumer, but unknowingly are infected! Even they will repel
people more often than they attract them. You can’t hide the virus from
people…it is always showing!
The best example of the effects of the
‘sales repellent virus’ or intention to sell, can be witnessed in a new home
sales office when watching the interaction between consumers and salespeople.
If there is a salesperson and a temp in the sales office and a consumer comes
in, they will most often engage the temp and avoid speaking to the salesperson.
I’ve personally witnessed this and over the years had many new home salespeople
confirm this behavior by consumers. It’s amazingly interesting that the
consumer is attracted by the ‘sales attraction potion’ the temp has taken or
repelled by the ‘virus’ salesperson is infected with. The consumer will engage
the person that is not infected with the ‘virus’ that contains the intention
‘to sell them something’.
Most companies, sales managers and sales
trainers want salespeople to say the right things to create a better
conversation with consumers. They want and teach salespeople to ask
better questions and be better listeners. The problem is, when salespeople try
to do this, while infected with the ‘sales repellent virus’, consumers won’t
engage them and the engagement or conversation stalls. As long as a
salesperson is infected with the ‘virus’, sales will continue to be difficult
and the relationship between consumers and salespeople will grow more
dysfunctional. In short, people will keep avoiding salespeople until they
become extinct.
The active ingredient in the ‘sales
attraction potion’ is the intention to help, serve and do what’s best
for the consumer. The intention to make customers, not sales,
is the missing ingredient and cannot co-exist with the intention to sell. In
fact, I’m convinced the intention to sell is the spoiled version of the
intention to make a customer. The ‘virus’ wasn’t and never has been anyone
intention to spread. It just mutated over the years from paying to much
attention to the desired results companies, sales managers, salespeople and
sales trainers wanted to create, instead of paying attention to what would
create the results. There is too much concern over what we want and not enough
concern over what customers want. It’s also obvious that in a difficult economy
we spend more time worrying and obsessing over the numbers and less time
concerned about the customers concerns so the effects of the ‘virus’ worsen and
spread.
When the ‘sales attraction potion’ is
taken, the missing link in the sales conversation happens…a connection between
the salesperson and the consumer. This connection causes or allows a
conversation or real dialogue to take place so a healthy relationship can
begin. This is the power of the ‘sales attraction potion’; it makes the
consumer/salesperson connection happen and allows the other ingredients in the
‘sales potion’ to be used to best serve the consumer.
The steps of a sale process, which have
been taught for many years in various forms, only happen when this connection
is made. Consumers only engage salespeople who have taken the ‘sales attraction
potion’. When the connection is made, people are served, customers are
made and sales increase while business grows.
Salespeople who regularly take the
‘sales attraction potion' are more energized because they enjoy their
profession more, adding to their success!
Sales Leadership Lessons
I have
been participating in a discussion on LinkedIn, with sales leaders about selling,
sales training and sales management. I'm very concerned and have been for years
that business and sales leaders have been sabotaging the relationship between
consumers and salespeople.
If you’re in a position of sales leadership, ask yourself, "What attitudes and actions do my messages create in my salespeople? Is your sales culture sabotaging your sales?
If you’re in a position of sales leadership, ask yourself, "What attitudes and actions do my messages create in my salespeople? Is your sales culture sabotaging your sales?
Just a few of the phrases being used in the discussion have been a 'hunter who can find 'em, stalk 'em, kill 'em and eat 'em" or "you have to know what you're hunting so you’ll now how to kill them".
These phrases create attitudes
and actions that turn people off. It's also left the consumer and salesperson, or buyer and seller, with a
dysfunctional relationship that's creating a whole ‘new economy’.
My
concern is that the majority of salespeople hear 'hunter' and "find 'em,
stalk 'em, kill 'em and eat 'em" and it creates attitudes and actions that
chase more buyers away than it creates sales.
The
salespeople that can improve a business are not the elite salespeople,
it's the majority, from low producers to average producers, and these attitudes
have sabotaged their ability to improve. It's also created a sales engagement
that has damaged the buyer and seller relationship to the point of sabotaging sales results.
No one
started out to create the dysfunction that exists today between buyers and
sellers but the message too may sales trainers, executives and sales managers
deliver is translated into the intention to sell and not serve and doesn't produce the best results.
The
intention to make a sale is what buyers and consumers 'feel' that chases them
away. Knowing how to put the customer first is an act of long term selfishness. It will produce the best results, highest sales and
customers that will grow your business.
The attitude
that new business is what matters most, is what's brought the economy down and it's still damaging salespeople's ability to succeed today.
Customers
create sales growth. Businesses and the economy are suffering from the business
focus of getting new subscribers, new sales, instead of making customers.
Years of
traditional sales engagements, demographics, multi-cultural issues, the access
to information on the internet, unprecedented economic pressures and social networks
have changed buying cycles along with buyers and consumers attitudes.
New sales
increase fastest when people are engage with the focus on making them a
customer, not a sale.
Start sending a message of service and help. Implement a culture of caring about customers more than sales. Beginning teaching and coaching salespeople to be 'servants on a mission’. When you do, sales will increase, your business will grow and everybody will win.
Look for "Traits of a Servant on a Mission" in my next blog.
By Mike Moore
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