Information Stagnation
This guest blog is from Brad Stimmel. Brad Stimmel is the retired CEO of Ascendum Machinery. He was also the President of the Volvo Dealer Advisory Council for 10 years. In addition, he was a 15 year member of the Executive Forum group that provided updates twice per year for studies in Executive Management led by the International Negotiation & Management Co. (INM). His rich experience and expertise brought about this writing on information stagnation.
Prior to this, Brad worked with 4 other dealers that represented major OEM’s such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Ingersoll Rand. During his career he has served in various roles – Sales Representative, Service and Parts Manager, Remanufacturing Center Manager, Branch Manager, Regional Manager, and VP & General Manager. He has been in the construction and industrial equipment business for over 43 years serving always at the dealership level.
Brad Stimmel holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University and an International Negotiation and Marketing degree from the Executive Management Institute.
Information Stagnation
Today’s “Digital Information Transition” is well underway for all equipment dealers willing to take the big step. Once dealer leadership has embraced it, all operations have more current information than ever before. Many forward planning dealers have made great use of current technology to make better decisions that can leapfrog the past costly mistakes caused by delays in data collection and reports. Most of the time, in the past the mistakes were identified long after the time to correct them had passed by. If you have been around the business for a long length of time, then you know in the past that some reports or even financials were created monthly, quarterly, annually, or not available at all. The ERP systems of today have evolved rapidly. More information is available on a real time basis. Drilling down into data is instantaneous. Dashboards are available by individual responsibility level. Let us name this “Digital Awareness”.
Congratulations if your top management has embraced Digital Awareness. Sadly, many have yet to make the move. In some cases, this procrastination is appropriate. This paper is written for those that are already making the digital transition and may be working to make the best use of this new powerhouse of current information.
Many of us remember the past times when the cliche “Analysis Paralysis” was used to describe spreadsheets of data that were historical in nature and caused a pause in action but no real current impactful corrective change at the operational level.
So, what are the pitfalls of Digital Awareness. Sometimes the free and easy access to real-time reports create an avalanche of graphs, comparisons, complex information communication, unrelatable information, misunderstandings, and false reports due to wrongly organized analysis. This will now occur at all levels of the organization. Sometimes the reports are created by the finance department and delivered to operational managers with not clear expectation of the decision needed to avoid mistakes or worse, no training as to what the graph even represents.
Now enters “Information Stagnation”. The typical manager is faced with daily tasks that occupy most of his time and thoughts. They have years of experience with real-time solutions that create customer and employee satisfaction, and these events happen every hour. After all this has always been their primary objective. There is little time left to work on improving company efficiency by acting on the new current information. This will require strategic planning and complete understanding of what is indicated by the data presented. The data is available with high accuracy and floods the computer daily. Top managers of the company are likewise flooded with reports covering possibly all stores, or all departments, all inventories, all employee performance measure, or all financial metrics. This overload is eventually eliminated by the employees who ignore the redundant or misunderstood report and send it to the digital basement. Not because of complacency but just a self-defense mechanism. The skilled employee goes back to what is familiar and comfortable based on the many years of experience they have collected over their career.
Is there a solution? Yes, but they are not easy steps to take.
First, do not let the CEO, CFO, or CIO embrace the temptation creating reports and force feeding the departments with an avalanche of data analysis. I recently learned of a CFO that was exuberant about the capabilities of the new digital transition and created hundreds of graphical reports that were sent out to the managers. That CFO quickly realized that she had created information stagnation and set about ways to start correcting her mistake.
So, follow some simple steps. The first step is to create a brief and simple set of measurable objectives for each main area of the company at the executive level. Then communicate these to each employee that has the responsibility to impact or improve these objectives. Of course, they should be broken down by department. Next, create an orientation presentation that fosters trust in the new digital awareness data. TRUST is the key word here. The data must be clear, easy to read and pertinent to each person’s role. Since communication at this point is critical, ask for follow up written confirmation of understanding of the objectives and the reports, dashboards, or graphs. Most of the time this can be best completed with a task force of current experienced employees. A team discussion is best and can be a good use of virtual meeting technology. But if the company is large, a senior Digital Implementation Manager might be appropriate. The new position will need to be a person that possesses good people skills and strong technical knowledge of the operations and the software. This should come from within the company. The primary objective will be how to best facilitate the transition and engagement.
The next step is leadership. To prevent future “information stagnation” ongoing, executive leadership should create robust follow up communication measures with all levels to identify and celebrate successful objective completion. This is the most difficult step because it requires the executive dedication of time and resources to accomplish. Also, the intestinal fortitude to be continuously adapting and communicating the objectives and its measurable results as they are continuously evolving. This is the step that will cause meaningful results improvement short and long term. But each company will have to create its own methods to do this based on the organization circumstances. Each executive manager should analyze the company’s true culture and then act. Not doing this will cause the company to fall back to information stagnation in the future.
I spoke recently to a CEO of a large dealer that has been doing this for over three years with success but exclaimed to me that it is an ongoing evolution of subtle change and reinforcement.
Best of luck as you venture on this journey.
For more information on our classes and assessments, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Motivation
Motivation
I grew up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and during that time Montreal got a baseball franchise called the Montreal Expos. The Manager of the team was a man named Gene Mauch. He had a storied career and was instrumental in selling baseball to the Montreal community. Montreal has a bit of baseball history as Jackie Robinson started his professional baseball career playing for the Montreal Royals. In the early years the Expo’s made a trade with the New York Mets and obtained a shortstop named Tim Foley. He was a real talent but he was also very aggressive. He fought with his teammates at practice. A reporter asked Mauch about this “why do you keep him; he is such a disruptive force?” In his response he said “I would rather tone down his attitude than try to create the right attitude in someone who doesn’t have it.”
I couldn’t agree with that comment more. I have always said “I can’t motivate anyone. If you don’t come to the job self-motivated, I can’t give it to you. But…I can easily demotivate everyone.” So, my approach to most everything is to ask, “what stands in the way from you being able to do a better job?” or, “what is the part of the job you like the least?” And then we get to work to get rid of the obstacles.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams.
So how do we get every employee driven to dream more, learn more, do more and become more? I believe it is helping each individual person to become more than they thought they could be. Creating expectations. I have been involved in this aspect of life since I was a teenager. My sport was swimming growing up. I swam a lot, some five hours a day for many years. But swimming is an interesting athletic pursuit. You are not competing with the other swimmers in the race with you. You are competing against yourself. The clock is your competitor. The only way you win that race, against the clock, is by changing your strokes, by adapting how your body sits in the water. In other words, you make changes. I grew up understanding that to progress you had to embrace change.
Within Learning Without Scars using our job function assessments and integrating them within an annual performance review as a standard within your company you start too can this process of embracing change. You can talk with each individual employee about their assessment scores. That allows you to discuss where the employees think they can do better. What do they need to do or have happen in the systems or procedures to get better results? You can arrive at a specific learning plan to fill in the skills and competency gaps. What we call a “Learning Path.” When you look at the classes in our Learning Without Scars business you will see four skill levels for each job function; Basic (0-25), Intermediate (26-50), Advanced (51-75) and Expert (76–100). Please Note: we have recently adjusted these skill levels to more accurately reflect the latest results of the employees taking our assessments.
Through this process each employee has the opportunity to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. Shouldn’t that be the goal for all of us?
The time is now.
Avoiding a Mutiny
Avoiding a Mutiny
Don Buttrey is the president of Sales Professional Training Inc., a company that offers in-depth skill development for sales professionals and sales support. He has trained thousands of salespeople over 25 years and clearly understands the selling environment of equipment dealers and manufacturers. His curriculum is comprehensive and proven! Don is also the author of “The SELL Process”, a foundational how-to book on effective sales interactions. He is able to negotiate restructuring while avoiding a mutiny.
Don can be reached at (937) 427-1717 or email do********@***********************ng.com.
Check out this website link salesprofessionaltraining.com for more information – or to purchase online sales training.
Avoiding a Mutiny
QUESTION 3: How can I make some necessary territory changes and restructure the sales department without a mutiny? Also, how can we implement technology such as CRM when it seems to be resisted for numerous reasons?
Don Buttrey: Believe it or not, I suggest laying tough issues like this out on the table with your salespeople. Teach them the realities and the issues that you see and face as a leader – with a larger perspective. Sell to them the importance of changing. You are not the enemy – the competition is! I am a believer in getting the solution, buy-in and ownership from the salespeople themselves. If you jam it down their throat – they will not do it anyway – at least not with the heart that would be needed to succeed. My training is effective at showing them the disciplines and the activities that they must be doing as professionals. I am confident that once they see and learn the stuff of professional selling – they will be convicted about how far they are missing the mark. From there a ground level of support can help you restructure your sales department and make needed changes.
Then, to implement, it requires top leadership commitment with firm execution of necessary strategic changes. Change your system! Otherwise, if you show the slightest lack of authority or conviction – it will get overturned, ignored or “waited out”. Michael Gerber put it this way, “If you tell people to do the right things and your system tells them otherwise…the system will win every time.”
Leadership with a clear mission—along with persuasive “selling” (versus “telling”) of the required changes—are the keys to necessary restructuring.
For more information on avoiding a mutiny, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Information Stagnation
Information Stagnation
This guest blog is from Brad Stimmel. Brad Stimmel is the retired CEO of Ascendum Machinery. He was also the President of the Volvo Dealer Advisory Council for 10 years. In addition, he was a 15 year member of the Executive Forum group that provided updates twice per year for studies in Executive Management led by the International Negotiation & Management Co. (INM). His rich experience and expertise brought about this writing on information stagnation.
Prior to this, Brad worked with 4 other dealers that represented major OEM’s such as Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Ingersoll Rand. During his career he has served in various roles – Sales Representative, Service and Parts Manager, Remanufacturing Center Manager, Branch Manager, Regional Manager, and VP & General Manager. He has been in the construction and industrial equipment business for over 43 years serving always at the dealership level.
Brad Stimmel holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University and an International Negotiation and Marketing degree from the Executive Management Institute.
Information Stagnation
Today’s “Digital Information Transition” is well underway for all equipment dealers willing to take the big step. Once dealer leadership has embraced it, all operations have more current information than ever before. Many forward planning dealers have made great use of current technology to make better decisions that can leapfrog the past costly mistakes caused by delays in data collection and reports. Most of the time, in the past the mistakes were identified long after the time to correct them had passed by. If you have been around the business for a long length of time, then you know in the past that some reports or even financials were created monthly, quarterly, annually, or not available at all. The ERP systems of today have evolved rapidly. More information is available on a real time basis. Drilling down into data is instantaneous. Dashboards are available by individual responsibility level. Let us name this “Digital Awareness”.
Congratulations if your top management has embraced Digital Awareness. Sadly, many have yet to make the move. In some cases, this procrastination is appropriate. This paper is written for those that are already making the digital transition and may be working to make the best use of this new powerhouse of current information.
Many of us remember the past times when the cliche “Analysis Paralysis” was used to describe spreadsheets of data that were historical in nature and caused a pause in action but no real current impactful corrective change at the operational level.
So, what are the pitfalls of Digital Awareness. Sometimes the free and easy access to real-time reports create an avalanche of graphs, comparisons, complex information communication, unrelatable information, misunderstandings, and false reports due to wrongly organized analysis. This will now occur at all levels of the organization. Sometimes the reports are created by the finance department and delivered to operational managers with not clear expectation of the decision needed to avoid mistakes or worse, no training as to what the graph even represents.
Now enters “Information Stagnation”. The typical manager is faced with daily tasks that occupy most of his time and thoughts. They have years of experience with real-time solutions that create customer and employee satisfaction, and these events happen every hour. After all this has always been their primary objective. There is little time left to work on improving company efficiency by acting on the new current information. This will require strategic planning and complete understanding of what is indicated by the data presented. The data is available with high accuracy and floods the computer daily. Top managers of the company are likewise flooded with reports covering possibly all stores, or all departments, all inventories, all employee performance measure, or all financial metrics. This overload is eventually eliminated by the employees who ignore the redundant or misunderstood report and send it to the digital basement. Not because of complacency but just a self-defense mechanism. The skilled employee goes back to what is familiar and comfortable based on the many years of experience they have collected over their career.
Is there a solution? Yes, but they are not easy steps to take.
First, do not let the CEO, CFO, or CIO embrace the temptation creating reports and force feeding the departments with an avalanche of data analysis. I recently learned of a CFO that was exuberant about the capabilities of the new digital transition and created hundreds of graphical reports that were sent out to the managers. That CFO quickly realized that she had created information stagnation and set about ways to start correcting her mistake.
So, follow some simple steps. The first step is to create a brief and simple set of measurable objectives for each main area of the company at the executive level. Then communicate these to each employee that has the responsibility to impact or improve these objectives. Of course, they should be broken down by department. Next, create an orientation presentation that fosters trust in the new digital awareness data. TRUST is the key word here. The data must be clear, easy to read and pertinent to each person’s role. Since communication at this point is critical, ask for follow up written confirmation of understanding of the objectives and the reports, dashboards, or graphs. Most of the time this can be best completed with a task force of current experienced employees. A team discussion is best and can be a good use of virtual meeting technology. But if the company is large, a senior Digital Implementation Manager might be appropriate. The new position will need to be a person that possesses good people skills and strong technical knowledge of the operations and the software. This should come from within the company. The primary objective will be how to best facilitate the transition and engagement.
The next step is leadership. To prevent future “information stagnation” ongoing, executive leadership should create robust follow up communication measures with all levels to identify and celebrate successful objective completion. This is the most difficult step because it requires the executive dedication of time and resources to accomplish. Also, the intestinal fortitude to be continuously adapting and communicating the objectives and its measurable results as they are continuously evolving. This is the step that will cause meaningful results improvement short and long term. But each company will have to create its own methods to do this based on the organization circumstances. Each executive manager should analyze the company’s true culture and then act. Not doing this will cause the company to fall back to information stagnation in the future.
I spoke recently to a CEO of a large dealer that has been doing this for over three years with success but exclaimed to me that it is an ongoing evolution of subtle change and reinforcement.
Best of luck as you venture on this journey.
For more information on our classes and assessments, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Parts Inventory Management
Parts Inventory Management
Today we continue with another guest blog from Steve Day.
In the next several blogs we are going to be discussing inventory management. Please try to stay awake. There are thousands of books on this topic and I am not going to write another one. I am not going to go into excruciating detail since most of those books do a pretty good job of causing pain. Instead I am going to focus on a few areas that a Product Support GM or a Distributor Principal should focus on to drive customer support and profit.
I have managed Parts Operations at both a manufacturer and a distributor. I am going to be focused on distribution for purposes of this blog.
Manufacturers and Distributors have similar goals for their parts operations. We both want to take great care of our customers, provide real value, sell lots of parts and make lots of money. We also have very different areas we need to focus our efforts on.
I will start with a personal anecdote. When I moved from a manufacturer to a distributor, I decided to take a very aggressive inventory position to provide the best level of support I could. If we sold a part in the company twice a year, we were going to stock it. My over the counter fill immediately moved up a couple of points. Then it just sat there barely moving a tenth of a point year after year. What was going on?
I decided to run reports to see how parts that met the two sales in a year criterion fared in the years following them being put into the system. I didn’t see what I wanted to see so I went back another year and then another year and I kept seeing the same thing. Almost ninety percent of the time a part that sold twice (and only twice) in a year did not sell at all in the following year. I looked at parts that sold three times next. More then seventy five percent of the time it did not sell at all the following year. To make matters worse, when the parts did sell the customer was often the manufacturer or another dealer who couldn’t find it at the manufacturer. I was trying to take on the role of the manufacturer. I was also stocking a whole bunch of inventories I didn’t need, couldn’t sell and didn’t help either my distributorship or my customer.
We changed our focus on stocking criteria, expediting, weeks on hand, branch levels, logistics and targets. We changed management in the department and our focus. We went from a bit over two turns a year to eight turns a year and our branch over the counter fill rates and company fill rates improved. It happened in less than 6 months. I didn’t feel proud. I felt very foolish.
For more information about Parts Inventory Management, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Grow Your Own
Grow Your Own
This week brings our third guest post from Don Shilling. Now it is time to talk about how to “grow your own” workforce.
I grew up in a construction family and worked for my Dad several summers during and after high school. Then while working on my degree at North Dakota State University I was hired by a construction equipment dealership. I started in their service department part time until I finished college. Then full-time service employment for a couple of years then transitioned into sales management. During the recession of the early 1980’s myself and three other managers started General Equipment & Supplies, Inc.
First as Sales Manager and eventually as President we grew our business from one location and 20 employees to 10 locations in four states and two Canadian Provinces and over 250 employees. Along the way we developed relationships with area Technical Colleges and created a College Tuition Reimbursement Program where today we Recruit a handful of new technicians annually into that program. Our company has also developed two Department of Labor Certified Apprenticeship Programs to fill hard to find skilled positions. I am currently semi-retired as Chairman of the Board.
In my previous blog I talked about “High Demand Jobs” and the need to Grow Our Own by recruiting for skilled positions we need filled. It is possible to use the Local, State and Federal Programs that exist today to help underwrite part of the cost of educating our new workforce and/or developing our workforce. . .. That is quite a mouthful but if you break it down it is fairly simple.
Our Federal, State and Local governments are really beginning to understand how the shortages of skilled workforce is impacting our economy. They are all scrambling to help find solutions and frankly they are also looking for your guidance and input.
Because of Covid 19 we are hearing a lot of talk about “re-tooling” our workforce so that people who were employed found themselves suddenly unemployed by what became an unstable and perhaps unskilled career path. These workers are looking to make a change and find a new career that will add stability to their families and futures. Our Adult Learning Centers are going to become busy places as these programs expand and flourish.
Business and Industry are being called on to help support these expanding programs and if you think your business can benefit then you better be seeking out these opportunities. In many cases State or Local dollars are being matched with private sector dollars to bring these programs to life.
What does that mean for you and your organization? It means you might end up hiring or supporting an older than average person(s) who wants and needs a new career. You will help develop this person, first with initial training and inevitably additional continuous training until you have a strong and highly competent employee. That is: Growing Your Own.
This initial Education coupled with Continuous Training builds your staff in a very positive way. The training starts with a comprehensive On Boarding process as they first report to work. Then things like safety training and specific work center orientation. These new employees don’t know what they don’t know so don’t skip steps. These Employees that you have Grown on Your Own will recognize their new skill sets which creates positive attitudes for all and at the end of the day the customers you serve will see this positive influence. There is no real down side to Growing Your Own!
For help in growing your own workforce, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Are Salespeople Born or Made?
Are salespeople born or made?
This week’s blog post is a continuation of last week’s series Answers to Four Tough Sales Questions. The second question in the series asks us: are salespeople born or made?
Don Buttrey is the president of Sales Professional Training Inc., a company that offers in-depth skill development for sales professionals and sales support. He has trained thousands of salespeople over 25 years and clearly understands the selling environment of equipment dealers and manufacturers. His curriculum is comprehensive and proven! Don is also the author of “The SELL Process”, a foundational how-to book on effective sales interactions.
Don can be reached at (937) 427-1717
or email do********@***********************ng.com.
Check out this website link salesprofessionaltraining.com for more information – or to purchase online sales training.
Are salespeople born or made?
Don Buttrey: Neither. It really takes both. Granted, some individuals are born with great gifts. They have contagious personalities, persuasive ability, the gift of talking, or technical/mechanical aptitude. These are all excellent talents that can be good starting points. However, I am of the firm belief that these are not enough. For sales success in today’s tough market it will also require training and practice on fundamental selling skills. The skills and disciplines of sales professionals are what take those innate gifts and make them produce with maximum effectiveness.
On the other side of this issue it must be noted that training and practice alone will not make a great salesperson. All the training in the world will not fix a salesperson who refuses to grow or who has the wrong attitude. Plus, it is very important that we begin with and invest training into people who want to be in sales and who have some of the raw talent and aptitude for daily interactions, communication and self-management.
My conclusion is; attract and find good people with some (or a lot) of the basic talents and aptitudes needed for selling. Confirm that they have a drive to succeed and a teachable mind-set. Then direct, train and coach them. This is a formula for a winning team.
For more information on our sales training programs, visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Skilled & Knowledgeable Employees Pay for Themselves
Skilled and Knowledgeable Employees Pay for Themselves.
During this difficult time, the ability to restrict discretionary expenses has been quite easy. Stop it. Go back to 2019 and you will also find an attitude of restricting the investment in employee development other than for technicians. We forget that skilled & knowledgeable employees pay for themselves. This with many OEMs is encouraged as they affect the reimbursement of warranty expenses. What about all of the other employees in the company? Do their jobs stay the same from year to year? Do what customer’s need and want remain static or do they also evolve?
As a general rule that might be a reasonable choice. It was clearly the truth at most dealerships. Technicians yes everyone else we should hire the skills and that is that.
There could be nothing worse in my opinion.
I will explore inventory management as an example. The traditional world looks at inventory from the perspective of parts availability and asset turnover. I agree. The standards we teach have asset turnover greater than 5 times a year with parts availability greater than 98% for stock items. How do you stack up to those standards?
Today with stock order replenishment for the major OEMs less than a week the turnover should exceed 12 times a year and still hold 98% availability.
Do you know how to do that?
There is a financial measure called Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). If we look at that financial measure from a gross profit perspective then the calculation is gross profit times parts inventory turnover.
Start with a turnover of 5.0 and a gross margin of 35%. The ROCE is 175%. That is a very good number. You receive back in a year 175% of the capital you employed. Now take the turnover to 10.0 and hold the gross margin at 35%, The ROCE is 350%. Or look at it another way a gross margin of 17.5% delivers a ROCE of 175%. Let’s think about this from a different direction – your parts pricing can be influenced by your asset turnover. Lower the fast movers parts pricing from a 35% gross margin to 20% gross margin. Will that give you the opportunity to increase market share of the fast-moving parts. Of course, it will.
The time is now.
A New Value Proposition for Leaders
A New Value Proposition for Leaders
Tonight’s blog is courtesy of Ed Wallace, in a continuation of his last blog post: How Do We Measure Success?
Most executives and managers will tell you that strong human relationships are critical to their success. They say they also need their team members and employees to be great at developing and maintaining relationships, collaborating, innovating, advocating for company goals and keeping the organization functioning effectively. Whether it’s external or internal business relationships, we need to understand how people think and act, what it takes for someone to want to listen to you, help you, work for you, work with you, and even buy from you.
The challenge we face during the pandemic is that proximate relationships are difficult to foster let alone to launch new ones. A recent McKinsey survey indicated that most companies are going to behave like they are as of this writing for another 12 months after the pandemic is over. This leads to what I call the need to become a hybrid relational leader. However, very few leaders take any kind of structural, systematic approach to doing this.
Intentionality
I find it paradoxical that if relationships are so important, then why are leaders unable to display ‘intentionality’ toward them? The answer is due to the fluid, unpredictable nature of business relationships that makes companies struggle with just how to capitalize on their potential. In fact, many business leaders view developing business relationships as an instinctive mind-set rather than as an approach based on beliefs, new skills, and a repeatable process. I’ve heard the phrase, “We focus on hiring and growing people with the most magic,” hoping that magic will rub off on everyone else. The common result is a haphazard, almost accidental process of relationship development. How risky is that now that we can’t meet with people in person as often?
What’s Missing?
So, why are leaders missing the relational mark? My experience, through many years of research into business relationships and working with over 28,000 business professionals and 300 companies, has shown me that there are five identifiable principles that lead to intentional relationship development whether it be proximate or digital and, not surprisingly, superior performance. They are at the very heart of the practice of the most successful leaders at all levels in organizations and life. The Five Principles of the Relational Leader are:
The Five Principles of the Relational Leader
Relational Agility: A New Competency
These principles form a system of beliefs for high performers that Relational Leaders follow and apply intentionally. I define this intentionality as the way Relational Leaders coordinate a principled, purposeful and practical relational approach. This results in a competency that I call relational agility that allows them to bridge the generational, cultural, and yes, the pandemic gaps, that exist today. Through my experiences and research, I know they can be learned, practiced and improved bringing a surprising level of precision to relationships in organizations.
This begins with the first principle, known as Display Worthy Intent- putting the other person’s goals and values at the forefront of each business relationship, creating an exceptional experience for others. Relational Leaders then apply the remaining principles to create relationships that immunize them against all competitors both within and outside their organizations.
We all create plans and strategies for many aspects of life – education, careers, building a home, retirement, and even playing games with our children. So why leave the development of important business relationships largely to improvisation or magic when even magicians have a disciplined process to accomplish their illusions. Relational Leaders deliver on the new value proposition for leadership through a strategic, intentional focus on their business relationships using the five principles and process that I shared in this article. Companies that ‘invest in relational capital’ will be the long-term winners in today’s complex business environment.
The margin for error in business today is razor thin, so why takes chances on your relationships!
Ed Wallace, President, AchieveNEXT Human Capital.
Ed consults with and speaks for corporations and associations across the globe with a client list that is a Who’s Who of Fortune 500 companies. He is the author of Fares to Friends, Creating Relational Capital, Business Relationships That Last, and his most recent the #1 best seller, The Relationship Engine. In addition, Ed is currently on the Executive Education faculty of Drexel’s LeBow College of Business and Villanova University’s Human Resources Master’s program. https://www.linkedin.com/in/relcapgroup/
Four Tough Sales Questions
Answers to Four Tough Sales Management Questions
Don Buttrey is the president of Sales Professional Training Inc., a company that offers in-depth skill development for sales professionals and sales support. He has trained thousands of salespeople over 25 years and clearly understands the selling environment of equipment dealers and manufacturers. He has given answers to these four tough sales management questions over the course of his career. His curriculum is comprehensive and proven! Don is also the author of “The SELL Process”, a foundational how-to book on effective sales interactions.
Don can be reached at (937) 427-1717
or email do********@***********************ng.com.
Check out this website link salesprofessionaltraining.com for more information – or to purchase online sales training.
Four Tough Sales Management Questions
As a sales trainer I get to work with heavy equipment dealers all across North America. In this 4-part series I will provide some answers to four tough questions that sales managers often ask me. I hope they give you some clarity and direction as a sales leader!
QUESTION 1: What preparation should I expect my salespeople to do before picking up the phone or meeting with a customer?
Don Buttrey: Most of the time salespeople do the typical prep such as considering the situation, doing some research, or reviewing notes on the customer such as past sales, problems, internal politics, personal facts, previous calls etc. That is important – but it is not enough. Often, at that point they just charge in or pick up the phone and “see how it goes”. I call this, “showing up and throwing up”.
I accept the reality that selling is very dynamic and that anything could happen. However, one of the most important disciplines and skills I teach is, tactical pre-call planning. When salespeople make proactive calls, they are on the “offense” and they should prepare their offense! What will they say to start? What questions will they ask and how will they word them for maximum effectiveness? What benefits of product or distributor value will they leverage? What is their action-oriented objective and how will they ask for commitment or action?
My short answer to this question is that before every call salespeople should pre-call plan using the SELL Process tool. SELL stands for Start, Evaluate, Leverage, Lock: and each of these steps should be prepared in order to maximize every precious customer interaction. Preparation and ongoing practice are essential. You play like you practice—and salespeople just don’t practice enough.
For more information on preparation, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.
Adult Learning & Dealership Development
Adult Learning & Dealership Development
By Floyd Jerkins
With over 35 years in business, Floyd Jerkins is an accomplished senior executive in business development with more than twenty-five years of successful consulting and training experience across various industries. He’s well known for offering specialized services for business development. His is an important voice on the topic of adult learning and dealership development.
Through lifelong learning and having a host of practical experience from a career of developing his own company’s and leading people, his background and passions serve his customers with personalization and excellence. He’s coached and worked intimately with hundreds of business owners and executives to help them achieve more success. Floyd has led large scale project development and execution on an international platform. Today, he’s providing executive coaching services.
www.floydjerkinsexecutivecoaching.com
fl****@**.com
618.218.1763
Adult Learning & Dealership Development
I’ve often heard that it’s easier to teach a 5th grader than an adult. I’ve never taught a 5th grader other than my kids, but what I’ve experienced first-hand teaching adults isn’t always the easiest.
As a child, we have this interest in nearly everything and are naturally curious. Then we become teenagers and have all the answers. As adults, there is a point where many stop learning about themselves and the ingredients for creating a prosperous career and lifestyle.
Education Creates Predictability
I’ve employed a lot of people in my career. Through my consulting practice, we helped hundreds of businesses with various employee development issues. Nearly every business segment requires knowledge-based workers. These skilled men and women have to learn more because the business and customers are evolving. Each week and year, they accumulate this knowledge through experience and education.
An equipment dealership evolution is relatively predictable. Consolidation is well documented that the volume owners are shrinking, and the size of complexes are getting larger. As you move from a two-store to a 20 store complex, specific policies or procedures change with the organization’s size and scope.
The knowledge and skills required to operate the business at a corporate level are different, but still predictable, based on the roles and responsibilities. Location management and key production roles like sales and parts and service management are easily duplicatable. Well, easy is not always the case. If these folks need to learn more, where do you get this knowledge?
Typically, OEM’s offer training on various topics. When the notice comes in, key managers look across the room to see who they will send. A few training companies in the industry offer workshops for a couple of days on selected subjects. None of these offer a holistic curriculum-based education model similar to what you find at a local college or university. Why not?
Developing Talent and Bench Strength With Holistic Curriculum
Teaching adults always requires the teacher to develop methods to undo past learning experiences. Adults have a way to tune out things they think they already know or are uncomfortable to learn. That’s why at a college standardized testing is used to create reliable comparisons across all the test takers.
As the organization grows in size and scope, developing talent and bench strength should become as predictable as knowing when the next sale will happen. Growing this talent requires planned approaches to measuring what they learn by their roles and responsibilities in the organization.
Learning Without Scars has developed a holistic curriculum pathway for dealership personnel that measures learning. I don’t see this type of “behavioral education” anywhere in the industry. Here are just a few thoughts to consider:
Many people today want the magic potion to succeed. You can’t take a class and become effective if the teacher or the class material isn’t relevant. It takes real experience and a proven background of success. Ron Slee and Learning Without Scars has been successfully coaching and developing leaders and businesses for 40 years. That’s the facts, and I approve of this message.