Small Business Leadership and Sales Blog

Hello Marvelous People!

Do you ever feel like you are running behind on technology or what's going on in the world?  If you're like most people, there just is not enough hours  in the day to do, see and learn all there is to know to keep you on the cutting edge.

Remember if you don't stay on the cutting edge, the edge will cut YOU!  

With that in mind, I strongly encourage you to pick up the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. I promise it's a fast read with great stories that will put you on the cutting edge.

Have you already read Blink?  Tell me what you thought!

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Small business leadership in any business must constantly communicate and connect all the players for success. How you communicate and connect will depend a lot upon what type of leader ship and communications style you operate under. Leadership styles include authoritarian, participative or free reign. The communication styles are assertive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, submissive and manipulative.

What is your leadership style?

The authoritarian leader communicates by telling their employees what they want done and how they want it done, and will not ask for any advice from the employee. This style does not allow the employee to connect with the leader or what he is working to accomplish. This style diminishes the constant communications and connection that is important for the business. These two styles, the leader is responsible for the final decision. Lastly, we have the participative leadership style involves the leader and some key employees. They will determine what and how to do it. The leader is communicating but is not connecting with all the players. The free reign style, the leader allows the employee to make a decision; however, he is responsible for the decisions that are made.

What is your communication style?

Communication is important for the small business leadership, because he needs to constantly communicate and connect with all the players. How the leader communicates is just as important. The assertive communicator is the most effective of the styles. It positions itself right between being too aggressive and too passive. The assertive communicator knows his/her limits and doesn’t allow him/her self to be pushed.

The aggressive style is all about winning and usually at the expense of others. This is the least effective style and will interfere is the message being delivered. The passive-aggressive communication style leader is usually acting out anger either directly or indirectly because they often feel powerless and resentful. He or she may even sabotage themselves with this type of communication behavior. They are communicating, but not connecting.

A submissive communicator is going to avoid conflict by trying to please everyone. He/she will constantly communicate but his connection will be shallow. Lastly, the manipulative communication style is working at influencing others for their own advantage. Their calculating ways will not provide connectivity with all the players. This would be detrimental, especially for the small business leadership role.

What determines the leadership style?

Basically, each leader will naturally go with what they are most comfortable with, but usually the style may be based on the knowledge of the leader and of the employee. If the leader has all the knowledge, then he is more likely to be authoritative. The more knowledge the employee has, and then the leader can be more free reign.This is especially true for small business leadership.

What makes a good communicative leader?

Small business leadership needs to constantly communicate and connect with all the players, especially in a small business enterprise. When the leader is able to get across his vision and engage all the players, then his company is headed in the right direction. This involvement of all the players, connects them to the company and will give them a sense of participation in the business and work as a team for the success of the business. So the most important aspect in a leader is his ability to employ knowledgeable people.

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How can I Build Quality Relationships with Each Customer?

No business establishment can make it far without quality relationships with each customer. However, establishing these quality relationships with each customer does not come easily. One is required to have specific attributes or techniques that will keep the customers always wanting to come back to your business.

Thoughts to Steer By

As a business a person, are you and your team passionate about what you are doing?

Is your team conveying that you are competent enough to handle their concerns?

In every aspect of your direct contact with the client, make sure that you bring out the professionalism that is in you. It is good that you show some “strictness” in your work.

Be purposeful. Be valuable. Follow a coherent system. Your system should put the client at ease. They want to know that “you” know where you are going.

For instance, keep working on avoiding “gabble” talks. (Keep the small talk, small. Short. The 2-hour appointment is becoming more and more rare. The attention span of my clients is very short. I suspect your clients can’t sit still and listen that long either.)

Another aspect of creating quality relationships with each customer is by being friendly with them. It is important that you put on a happy face. Your mood will influence the direction of the meeting or interaction. Be sure to shake their hand and look directly into their eyes while addressing them. This is a clear indication to your client that you are concerned about them and giving them all the attention that they require. This gives them confidence in you and they will be more willing to conduct future business with you.

Customers will always gravitate toward the person who is capable of resolving their problem. You must establish trust in the relationship and always ask open-ended probing questions. Allowing them to talk will help you to know what the client has in mind and how they feel about the product. After talking with them (oftentimes more than once) you should be in a position to come up with the best way of meeting their needs effectively and ensuring that the good relationship is maintained between the two of you.

You should not rush into having them trust you but rather let it grow. This takes patience and time. Simple things that some people tend to ignore can gain trust. For instance, you can choose to ignore or act upon your customer’s feedback or comments. Showing them that you care about their feedback and comments goes a long way toward building trust.

How do we continue to make our clients feel special?

Answer: By learning about their likes, dislikes and preferences. Sending them a sample of a great coffee you found only works if they are coffee drinkers.

You should always remember that each client desires individualized attention. One size hardly ever “fits all”. Especially when you are doing business with someone. When people authentically feel special, they are more likely to do business with you and refer you to new people.

A referral is the highest compliment a customer can give you. And you are receiving that referral because you “EARNED” it! Be thankful and acknowledge the referral. It is a big deal!

Keep BUILDING!

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In your business, are you primarily grabbing just the low-hanging fruit?

Close your eyes and think with me for a moment. If you were hungry and standing at the bottom of an apple tree right now, are you immediately going to leave the apple tree to go look for a ladder? Of course you wouldn’t do that. You would simply and conveniently grab the low-hanging fruit -- the apples that are hanging the lowest to the ground and the easiest to grab.

Be careful with overusing this approach in your business. We might be spending so much time picking low-hanging fruit in our business that we no longer focus on the high-level, more profitable fruit. Why do we do this? Because it's easier; it's comfortable.

Many producers (and companies, too) stay in a certain market because they don't feel they're worth more. But take courage and stretch! Upwards! Higher!

Don't get confused. I am not saying that you shouldn't pick any of the low-hanging fruit.

I am saying pick the low hanging fruit and keep the ladder handy for other opportunities. Don't get lazy. Remember that picking low-hanging fruit is a complacent, low-energy, passive activity. Picking high-ladder fruit is a strategic, high-energy proactive activity.

The low-hanging fruit will not always be readily available. To prevent large slumps, another diversified strategy must be implemented that will allow you to bring in revenue and use sales volume from a different source.

- Consider identifying a niche market in your area, one that is either not being served by you at all or a competitor is currently serving that and you know you can do better than that competitor.

- Consider assigning some of your team members to picking the low-hanging fruit. Others may be specialized and held accountable to focus on harvesting "high fruit." If I spoke to all your team members separately, would they all clearly know who is responsible for what? That kind of clarity is a big part of gaining team focus. To sustain growth, your business model will need to have that type of balance and agility.

-Remember the Titanic. You remember that huge boat that no one ever thought would sink. Well it sunk. What sank the Titanic was not the ice they could see. It was the ice that they could not see, the ice they didn't anticipate or plan for. So many people died that day because they did not have enough ladders to get into the rescue boats. Plan to have your ladder with you and available at all times in your business. You and your company will die if you do not have other sustainable alternatives.

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 Is your attitude of helpfulness and willing to jump in noticeable by all?

What does your team think of your attitude?

"What does your team think of your attitude?" is kind of a personal issue since attitude is a person's choice in response to a situation or a thing. Every person is entitled to his or her opinion. But since teamwork calls for a quality attitude, then each team member has no choice. Or do they? A positive or negative attitude towards a person, thing, place, event, ideas, and others is a form of judgment. It is greatly influenced by the person's upbringing, environment, education and social interactions. Attitude is not permanent and it can be changed. Social influences can change a person's attitude and therefore, communication is vital.

A person's attitude may vary depending on what they are dealing with. This forms the individual's character traits. Self-esteem, experiences and principles in life can serve as a guide to be consistent and help you project a positive attitude towards people, work and their environment.

Attitude is one vital trait that can be formed but cannot be destroyed without your consent. You do have control over it. How you respond to the daily challenges and circumstances of life you are presented with is always your choice.

Teamwork will succeed if members among the team make it work. The team will benefit if everyone's willing to cooperate and share the same goal. Your attitude is important to your team and what they think about your attitude likewise is important. To avoid misunderstanding and disagreement, it is vital to know your own positive and negative attitudes when dealing with people while at work or at home. Inappropriate attitudes cause work & family rifts, party division and political faction.

Attitude can:
* project a kind of leadership
* hold and bind people together
* inspire people to work and execute together
* empower people plan and achieve together as a team
* influence, attract and lure people to communicate, respond and cooperate.

Memorize this quote. Tape it to your dashboard in your car or on your refrigerator. Do whatever it takes to allow these words to sink into your soul.

“Right attitude will always carry you to the right place, the right people and at the right time.” – Marvin LeBlanc (Author – Come Hell or High Water – Life Lessons from Hurricane Katrina)

Are you holding onto a team member because you have no monthly strategy to interview, scout, and attract new, energetic talent that has heart, character, and Windows based computer skills?

Great Employees Are Assets

Having a bunch of good and bright employees can be both gratifying and stressful. It is because efficient employees greatly contribute to the company’s productivity. It is stressful at the same time since it would be very disadvantageous if these employees suddenly leave the company. Not thinking about keeping these employees, and actually keeping the personnel resources intact with great people, could jeopardize the company’s continued success.

Ideal Employee Requirements

No one wants to work with lousy employees. Most business owners want their employees or work team members to be ideal as much as possible. Just like the requirements of American business magnate Warren Buffett on his employees:

• highly intelligent
• highly energetic
• have high integrity and
• have at least an intermediate skill in computers

Any company may not afford to take time in training new employees about computers. To have these employees is to scout for them, and continually do so. Even if they are already around the organization, they might leave someday for greener pastures, considering they, being of high demand.

Scouting for Ideal Employees

During the hiring process, the employer would get the vision and concept of the prospective employee about the business. The entrepreneur can also gauge the chemistry of the new employee and the management. Experts also said that in order to hire the right people, they rather convince them not to take the position. They explained the bad side of the company like work pressure, long working hours, etc. By being honest to the applicants, they already filtered who shall stay long or not. This minimizes turnover and waste of time. They do not want to train the employees only to see them leaving too soon and this is a way to eliminate prospective employees who wouldn’t have made it to the job anyway. Telling the applicants the truth is just being honest which would also do justice to both the applicants as well as to the employers.

Myths About Keeping Employees

Many believe that employers have multiple ways to keep their employees with them, even those who are on high demand. The following are some myths about keeping them:

• Key employees will stay especially when economy is tough as they are afraid of losing income. This is wrong because uneasiness caused by the tough economy can threaten security. When they are undervalued, employees would be unproductive and start looking for something better.

• Employees can be loyal when treated well. Even if treated well, employees would change jobs if they are not happy with the positions they are holding. They would only stay if they also have the feeling of fulfillment in their respective corporate roles.

To keep the talents happy and stay put is to determine the objectives of the company, and find individuals who are able to meet these objectives. Employees need to be motivated as well as engaged so they will stay long.

More Numbers Creates Stability

Sometimes, employers hold on to their employees because they stop scouting for more talents. Or do not have the right strategy to attract the right employees. As the main drive of the organization, employees are people; and people are the only ones capable of achieving the company’s goals by carrying out systems and perform deliveries. New ones can bring fresh vibe to the organization while keeping the balance in the human resource so as not to lose productivity. More numbers can create more stability and strength. To attract more talents, the recruitment process should be in itself strategic, interesting and exciting.

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Is your current team member compensation archaically still paying for time and effort or is it rewarding results?

Compensation is a key determinant when people are looking for any kind of job. Every person dreams of getting a job that enables them to practice their career and expertise and pays well enough to enable them to meet their daily needs. The greatest challenge for most businesses and companies is how to balance between compensating team members for results achieved by a team member and finally the balance that is the profit for the company.

In order for any person to achieve results, they both need experience in that particular field and skills. Experience is what a person has learned about a particular field that they cannot learn in any institution. No one can dispute the fact that senior people are very experienced in whatever they do since they may have earned an experience of probably twenty years and above. During this period, these people have also built relationships that are very important for the success of any business.

It is however important to note that the success of any business is not entirely dependent on experience and the relationships. A business needs to have a new perspective on things in order to be able to remain relevant in the current world. The new perspective may not come from people who have been doing the same job, the same way for the last twenty years. Sadly, leadership must embrace that “senior” team members may have skills that have become quite stale and outdated. And unless they are open to embracing different ways of doing things, they may become irrelevant in a very short period of time.

“Complacency kills.”

Results, skills, time, experience and effort are all essential ingredients for any organization to succeed. The question therefore is how to compensate each team member for the contributions they bring to the table. Senior people are likely to bring experience, time and effort to the team. However, the most important thing for any organization is results. It is very hard to produce any better results when a person has been working a certain way for many years and they do not know any other way of doing things. Additionally, one may also be very unwilling to embrace new ways that could lead to greater profits, if the old way of doing things has always worked.

The greatest challenge for the organization is how to determine the compensation plan. Do you compensate team members simply because of their time and effort or their results? Both people who are young in a career and the experienced senior individuals are likely to offer their time and effort. However, the time and effort for the young is likely to translate to better results owing to the new skills they may have acquired. For senior people on the other hand, they are likely to yield the same results they have been getting for the past twenty years since they are still working the same way they always have.  

Time and effort are essential for the success of an organization. However, these are not the only determinants. Results are essential for the survival of a company. Therefore, any business whether large or small has to ensure they get the best results from the team members. Any company that has been simply paying based on the time and effort contributed by the members versus results, might need to reevaluate their systems.

“Doing nothing will guarantee stagnation.”

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Hello Marvelous People: 

Some blogs can be short, but powerful.

This blog is one of those.

Short.

Profound.

To be shared with your group.

Over and Over and Over.

Peace, Love and Gumbo!
Marvin LeBlanc

From Glenn Shepard’s Rules of Work:

1. Raises are earned, not given
2. Leave your home life at home
3. Do NOT read your text messages when a customer is talking to you (my team keeps phones OFF)

4. You are the company
5. If you wouldn’t say it to their face, don’t say it to their back
6. When YOU cause the problem, YOU fix it (this is the way it works in my office)
7. If you can’t be on time, be early
8. Be Low Maintenance

Hello Marvelous People:

Let’s examine a recent selling dilemma that recently occurred with one of our students in our Sales Performance School.

Scenario: A hard working, excited salesperson has put a bunch of quotes/offers out in the marketplace since the beginning of the year.

Problem: While it is guaranteed that there can be no consistent, reliable results without “Activity” - “Activity” does not guarantee results, especially, if it’s the wrong activity.

Bigger Problem: if you are sincerely generating the right activities and you are not getting the desired result you want,(a sale) then your confidence will be destroyed.

No confidence = No fun. 

Possible Solutions:

“Now when you gave your prospect/client that quote/offer, was it over the phone or via email/fax?”

“When you shared your quote/offer, did you and the prospect/client agree to the next day/date you will see them or the next day & time you will call them?”

I mention this because so frequently, those new to the sales profession give up too early. And one of the reasons they are subjected to unnecessary rejection is because they don’t position themselves properly in the minds of the prospect from the very beginning.

I’m trying to help you avoid the emotional roller coaster one goes through when he/she really believes that a prospect/client is going to move forward with their quote/offer and the prospect/client was NEVER EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE to moving forward with the quote/offer.

Please understand - if someone is nice, respectful, courteous or amiable. That’s all it means. BUYING SIGNALS ARE SOMETHING entirely different. Don’t mistake the two. Know the difference.

Important Takeaways:

1. Maintain control of the dialog. Not because you are a control freak; but because your job is to deliver WORTHWHILE PRODUCTS/SERVICES to those that need them.

2. If you’re in an industry that allows you to see them face-to-face, then this appointment will yield more results than a phone appointment.

3. Don’t over talk "product"

4. Do talk in terms of the BENEFITS that your product/service will offer. Your clients only care about what’s in it for THEM! Would you please make it about them? It isn’t about you!!]

5. The more time passes, the faster they go from hot to lukewarm to cold.

6. Create the sense of urgency now or risk spending too much time making follow up calls to prospects that will never buy.

Your Homework:

Marvelous People, we need you to leave a comment on our feedback form or drop me your comments as Marvin@MarvinLeBlanc.com

What we are looking for are:
1. The actual things your prospects/clients say to you that indicate they are interested
2. The last 3 sales you made, what were the verbal or non-verbal buying signals you observed
3. Future topics that you would like to see us discuss

My future writings will include the cumulative insights of your comments and feedback.

The best gift is a referral!  If you or someone you know would like to know how to SELL smarter, work LESS and sell MORE please click here for more information on my coaching program. 

Keep thinking about being better and doing better. Keep planning for self-improvement. Remember, what we regularly and consistently affirm within us about ourselves and to ourselves has a way of becoming reality.

What is talent but originality robed in resourcefulness? 
What is achievement but a dream dressed in work clothes?
What is accomplishment but ability tripped of its doubts?
What is life but a series of opportunities masked as difficulties?
What is significance but effort that is draped in day to day self-improvement?

What I do want to constantly encourage is for you to think:

What did I do today?

What random act of kindness did I perform today?

Many of you have sales and business development roles. I promise if you spend time on the self-improvement habit, your business will grow. Keep this in mind:

There is no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there is no joy in merely doing things, which anyone can do; but there is some satisfaction that is mighty sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you thought you couldn’t make.

We love to hear from you! For more information about bringing Marvin in to motivate your group, team or conference, please email marvin@marvinleblanc.com.  Marvin is available for personal coaching, team building and keynote speaking.