Today it’s not uncommon for some people to stretch the truth in order to get a job, get a sale, get ahead or just get noticed, but this behaviour raises some important issues about the good, the bad and the ugly of self-promotion.

We have all had an experience with someone, a sales person, a manager, an acquaintence, who didn’t seem to have our interests at heart. Something was telling you not to trust them but you couldn’t put your finger on it. They seem to be after VICTIMS not a viable prospect or a genuine contact.

Proactive self promotion is essential in sales today because good work does not speak for itself anymore – You DO.

So are your self-promotion tactics ethical or not?

There has been significant research undertaken over the last 30 years in the area of Self Promotion and its impact on earning capacity, image and credibility of people and businesses. The basic aim of self-promotion is sound: you’re communicating your abilities to people who can make use of them. A vital skill needed in today’s busy, cluttered world.

In its simplest terms, self-promotion becomes unethical when you’re promoting something you can’t (or don’t intend to) deliver. Some questions I have asked myself when examining my own (or someone else’s) behaviour:

· Do other people stand to gain from my actions?

· Do my actions have a positive influence on my own well-being and self-esteem?

· Do my actions move me closer to my short- and long-term goals?

· Would most people approve of how I prospect for new business or self promote?

If I can honestly answer “yes” to these questions… fine. But then I test them out by asking those who know me well to give me feedback on my self promotion activities by answering the questions above. You might like to try these too – if you get agreement that your activities are ethical then continue to use them.

In short … you work hard and perform your job well – you can and should, take pride in that. But if you want to be recognised and financially rewarded for your contributions, you must first make those contributions visible. The research also reveals that visibility precedes recognition, and it’s much too important to be left to chance. Only when your contributions are recognised can you be rewarded. Not until

I was out on my daily morning walk yesterday and found myself reflecting on the value of relationships – personal and professional. Due to the growth spurts of my 2 boys I often find my daily walk includes a stop at a well known bakery and our newly adopted local fruit shop. This is where my story about the power of substantial relationships has its anchor point.

For the past year I have been trying to find a new greengrocer. You see my old green grocer, Sam retired last year after 44 years in the same shop much to my and others dismay. Many of us who shopped there were happy for Sam to finally retire but bereft at the loss of a fabulous weekly / daily relationship. I mean (being very selfish) who was going to replace the 21year relationship I had with Sam. I loved seeing him and talking to him – I saw his children grow up and he saw me become a parent amongst other things and we even barracked for the same footy team. Upon reflection we shared a deep and long-standing relationship based on something of real value and substance. It wasn’t just me being a customer or him being a greengrocer, it was so much more than that.

So back to my walk. In the last 12 months I have shopped at another greengrocer shop near the bakery but it just wasn’t the same. They were not interested in me in any way. No eye contact, just gruff grunts and empty words – it felt like they had a ‘empathy bypass’.

About 2 months ago I had had enough. I decided to walk up to another Greengrocer shop not too far away and to my absolute pleasant surprise found that the new owners and their staff knew about the value of relationships, not just selling fruit and veg. I love going there and building new friendships. And how’s this for coincidence, they know my Sam and his brother (who also had a fruit shop). Sam’s brother has recently retired too and many of his customers now go to this fruit shop. And the new owner of my current greengrocer is called SAM. HOORAY!

But wait there is more.

In the past 2 weeks who turns up working there 3 half days a week? My SAM. He was bored and needed something to do. When I saw him we hugged and were so happy to see each other. It was a great reunion.

I cannot speak for all people, however a number of my friends and colleagues are voicing the same views. We want to deal with real people who not only give us good quality at reasonable prices but people who value us as human beings in an integrated relational world. Not just in the retail world but in business relationships too. Have a look at www.cluetrain.com.au and see what I mean.

It got me thinking about any business and how we cannot have a business without some form of relationship with others. Here are some questions you might like I consider:

• How does your business value relationships with its customers and suppliers?
• How genuinely do you and your team connect with people who come into contact with you?
• What do they remember you for?
• What do your customers say about you when you can’t hear them?

I don’t know if your feel like me but for what it is worth I really don’t like going to large shopping centres and I am sick and tired of having to explain my entire banking and business history to the NEWEST business banking person each time I want to speak to the bank about my business needs. There is no relationship to speak of. No value creation and no value communication. The big banks and the large shopping centres might as well just be big warehouses full of stuff now.

A colleague and friend of mine, Debra Templar, has written a book on ‘How women like to buy�? and according to her research:

• over 85% of retail buying decisions (including cars, mortgages, homes, etc.) made in Australia are made by women.
• In the USA and Europe approximately 41-47cents in the dollar is spent in independent retailers and in Australia only 21 cents in every dollar goes to the independants with 79 cents going to the big corporates.

In my opinion many big corporations have become so systemic in their way of thinking and acting that they have stripped out the intrinsic qualities so essential for value creation and communication and building of longstanding loyal relationships.

And what do many of us value? For one thing we rate authentic relationships very high on the agenda. I don’t know how much money Sam made a result of our relationship – I don’t care really because I got much than I paid for.

Many of my friends are voting with their feet, wallets, hearts and minds by going back to local shops and businesses where they can, not only get what they want and need, but can also develop real relationships based on something of value and substance.

By the way the latest medical research says that good relationships are not just good for our wallets they are very good for our health too. Here’s a link you might like to read as well.

www.cardioresearcher.com/Importance_of_Relationships

Relationship Dos and Don’ts

Table from http://www.infoworld.com/articles/su/xml/01/06/18/010618supartners.html

I am constantly appalled at the lack of effective sales management in companies these days. Not a week goes by in which I don’t see a company make the mistake of focusing exclusively on salespeople in trying to improve sales performance.

Experience has shown that sales managers are even more critical than sales people for creating durable performance change. Really proficient sales supervision can do wonders to improve the skills, strategies and competencies of average salespeople.

Myth: The best sales person makes the best sales manager.

Fact: Selling and managing are two very different positions with different demands and expectations.

Most exceptional sales people do not make great sales managers. On the contrary, they usually make the worst. Too many organisations promote people to sales management from within, and usually the best sales performer.

They assume that successful selling automatically translates into successful sales management, and there is usually no training to go along with that promotion. If there is training it is usually in-house with no links to current or best practice.

In my experience this is a big mistake.

Businesses will never be any stronger than the sales people they select and train to be a part of it. Sales people need to be trained or educated about those demands and expectations along with exactly how to fulfil them.

In appointing a sales manager there are a few things you need to keep in mind. I find that the best sales managers are leaders and coaches rather than administrators and organisers. They cannot lead from behind a desk.

Good sales management consists of the following:

• Planning: Developing and owning the sales operating plan for the business unit in concert with marketing, service, and all other parts of the business.
• People development: Establishing the people resources needed to successfully execute the operating plan by hiring, coaching, developing, measuring and leading the “right” people.
• Proactive review: Managing revenue and profit by monitoring, controlling and reviewing sales, business, customer and competitor activity. Proactively reviewing the sales plan and consolidating this plan into the business forecast for the organisation.

Sadly, this is not how most sales managers are spending their time. A survey of European field managers by Siebel MultiChannel Services in 1999 found most sales managers do understand their roles very well.

But most were prevented from performing their optimal role. The study found that only 37% of the sales manager’s day is spent in planning, people development and proactive review. The rest of their time was spent with administration, reporting, reacting and handling customer issues.

What is your sales manager spending their time on? If it’s not the important stuff, maybe you need to work out a way to make that change.

What impact does attending a sales training program have on change?

It all depends on what type of training format your sales people attend. Too many companies look for quick fixes and waste heaps of money in the process.

Firstly forget Event Style training – you know those one day RAH RAH sessions that promise the world and deliver nothing in the long run. They DON’T work! They have the effect of a hot bath – nice whilst you are in it but it soon gets cold.

I am not saying all the content of these programs is wrong (although some of them just plain are) its just that one-day-only of anything just don’t bring about any real permanent change.

And even if the sales training is relevant, incremental and delivered in bite size chunks over time, if the salespeople are returned to the same environment (same metrics, same rewards, same supervision, same culture) as before then training, no matter how excellent it is, has no lasting impact either.

Ask yourself these questions: What are you trying to change by offering sales training? Do you want change to occur as a result of the training if so can it be defined and measured? What is the point of doing the training? What am I trying to achieve with training?

Don’t laugh most people don’t ask themselves these questions.

Sales Training needs to be an integrated process involving role clarity, clear sales competencies, sales plans, sales metrics, regular infield coaching, etc. all linked to a strategy – not some after thought or isolated event.

No wonder if you walked into your sales staff work area right now and told them they need some sales training you’d get the following responses.

“Not another sales training seminar�? they say. or “It’s so boring, we know all that already�?.

Who can blame them? They’ve been there done that. And even if they know it all, the trouble is, many of them have not been given the right support to effectively apply what they know.

A study conducted a number of years ago found that within one week of leaving any sales skills training program salespeople had lost 87% of the new skills they had learned during the training program.

Recent research by ES Research Group shows that 90% of all sales training programs result in a 90 – 120 day increase in productivity – but after that, nothing. It was only a temporary blip! Fewer than 20% of companies show sustainable productivity gains that last a year or more.

What I have found is that sales training only works if it is carefully matched to and directly supporting the use of your sales model, methodology & sales force profile. It really is the last 10%

Then it needs the role of infield coaching to provide the reinforcement needed to maintain and enhance skills and behaviours. In fact, a well-designed combination of training and coaching is by far the most effective and economical way to develop the ‘right’ skills, behaviours and knowledge and see a change in sales performance

Effective sales training can be defined as a planned program within the organisation that endeavours to bring about relatively permanent changes in employee knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours. Behaviour modelling training has been found to be most effective.

To make sure that you are not wasting your money on sales training, I always suggest that you run through a checklist. Check your ongoing sales training agenda, does it include the following?

• Company knowledge especially current strategy
• The promise-expectation-experience proposition delivered to your clients
• Product knowledge, value propositions, competitive edge, marketing tactics & tools
• Market, industry & competitor awareness
• Prospecting strategies & plans
• The ‘right’ selling communication process & techniques
• Human relations; self awareness; salespeople motivations; values, behaviours & attitudes; problem solving & decision making; self management, planning, etc.
• Clear Performance Expectations & Rewards
• Levels of Authority & Responsibility
• Sales management support

To give a long term benefit, the training needs to give your sales staff the opportunity to apply what they learn in real life situations out in the field and have regular reviews as to effectiveness and efficiency of application.

However try as we might you can’t improve sales and salespeople without improving sales management – now that’s another blog for another time.

Have you ever looked at who most company brochures are written for?

Every sales person or manager I have posed this question to looks at me sheepishly. Their gaze is averted and they appear embarrassed. They know exactly what I am talking about.

What they are embarrassed to admit is that most of the brochures or advertising material that we come across is written for the company — glorifying the company and its products, its commitment to customers, its founders or CEOs and so on, rather than speaking directly to the customer about the customers’ issues, concerns or aspirations and how the company is best suited to help them solve their problems or realise their goals.

Or at worst, it can get really out of hand where the company puts itself on such a pedestal about how holy and pious it is and how the customer will be welcomed with open arms and bathed in something esoteric and will be changed forever. What will change — well that wasn’t stated and we have no idea what will really happen to us if we talk to them — in short, lacking in fact and substance but very long on effect.

The book The Cluetrain Manifesto (a resulting force that rose out of the discontentment people are having with businesses and how they fail to communicate with people) really nails it when it says:

“Most corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies.

“No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do. But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about ‘listening to customers’.

“They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf. While many such people already work for companies today, most companies ignore their ability to deliver genuine knowledge, opting instead to crank out sterile happytalk that insults the intelligence of markets literally too smart to buy it.�?

Get the message? All I want is someone to communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and even shocking if need be.

All I want is for someone to do what they say they will do in the time frame required for a price that is fair and I can trust them to deliver something of substance that I can benefit from.

All I reckon you need to do is write a brochure or ad campaign or marketing communications piece that says just that.

That’s all that most sales people want as well. We are sick of apologising for our businesses not being able to live up to false expecations and promises too frequently splashed about with gay abandon in the marketing materials, annual report, PR hype et al that we are required to use.

In a sea of spin, it is quite refreshing to have an honest, open and uncluttered approach that speaks in plain language I can understand — as the customer and as a sales person.