Burning bright!

I walked into a bustling Software Training Institute in my neighbourhood – the two Computer labs at this branch of a popular franchise were packed, students sat in front of every available computer and the theory classes were in session too. At the Reception Area I had to wade through a crowd of chirpy college students who were waiting for their turn. It seemed to me that business was flourishing – in the months ahead these kids would be knocking on the doors of Infosys, TCS, Wipro and other Software Companies in India.

Soon I saw the owner of the Institute hurrying down the corridor to greet me – I was there on invitation.

The call had come a week back – a bright voice said – “Hi, Jayadev! This is Roshni from Kollam. Remember me?” Before I could respond she added “I used to work for the Kollam franchise of …” She mentioned the name of a company I had worked with in the past.

I said “Yes. I know you. We are connected on Facebook too, right?”

She said – “That’s why I called. I have been reading your articles at Sales Coach Blog and wanted to say they were interesting and useful.”

We had not met for more than a decade now – from her Facebook profile I had learnt that she is married to Engineer who works in the Oil Refining business and they have a daughter who is attending kindergarten school. We exchanged news about mutual friends and soon discovered that my residence is just couple of kilometers away from where her business is located. So she invited me to drop by and see her workplace – I gladly agreed.

Roshni Binu had mentioned on the phone that she ran a small computer training centre and walking in I realized it was anything but that. The place was crackling with energy.

Roshni saw me sizing up the place and said – “I know this place needs refurnishing; we had last done the interiors more than 5 years back.”

I said it’s not the decor but what was happening inside that mattered to me. And everyone seemed to know their job. Roshni hardly had to intervene and nobody poked the head in to ask what needs to be done next.

She said the team is 22 strong and classes were scheduled for all seven days of the week. She has a family to run too and could be present only between 9 and 6; however the institute started functioning at 7:30 a.m. and closed only after 8:30 p.m. – her team managed the show while she was away.

I asked for details on her journey as an entrepreneur.  Roshni had moved to Cochin immediately after the marriage and decided to work as a teacher (she has a Masters degree in Computer Applications) at a computer centre not far from where she lived. Less than two years into the job the market crashed when the dotcom bubble burst and the centre ran into bad times. The partners who owned the business decided to sell out. Roshni pursued them to hang on and personally took on the task of marketing – with her in-depth knowledge of the computer software industry she went on a selling spree – all the schools, colleges and institutions in the catchment area were visited and  presentation made on the latest trends in computing and the job opportunities available in the industry.

Business did not pick up immediately and the owners were getting impatient – some of them had moved on to other businesses. Roshni took a bold step – she decided to buy a stake in the venture. One by one she bought the shares from the partners. At the same time she worked day and night to promote the business. Roshni said her husband was extremely cooperative and gave her courage to handle the stressful early phase.

Such efforts cannot go waste and soon business started looking up – Roshni wanted more support from the franchise owners – and when that did not come she took the lead to organize the other franchise owners in the state to push for more promotional campaigns and innovative training packages.

I soon realized that this lady would not work at anything less than 110% capacity – because now her institute was also conducting classes in fashion designing and beauty treatment –when the computer software business stabilized she had to do something in the spare time. The new courses run by her institute even have IGNOU accreditation.

She had not finished – there is a unit in her team for web designing and portal development work for clients and she would soon be adding courses in mobile applications too.

Roshni’s progress is an inspiration to me and the energy and enthusiasm she displays all the time must be rubbing off on her team too – they all seemed eager to work. She took me around  to see the labs and classrooms and I encountered beaming faces everywhere.

When I started out for the visit my plan was to say hello and make a speedy departure after the courtesies. But checking the watch while saying goodbye I realized that a full two hours had passed and I had left only because her work was being held up by my presence.

Roshni means light and energy and I could see ample amounts of that in the owner and the institution she is building.

Kerala needs a lot more of such bright spots.

Reading the signs!

I can say what time of the day it is by checking the readership trend at my blog – I can even say that it’s Saturday Night without looking at a clock or calendar!

Ha! Ha! Wish I could, but the readership trend during the day and in the course of a week helps me derive some useful conclusions. Data and trends can tell you a lot.

How critically do you study your data … and how often?

I am reminded of a quote from Dr. Spenser Johnson’s masterpiece “Who moved my cheese?”

-          Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old!

Trends can be favourable or worrisome but either way you can take action only if you are reading it right and reading it often. Thanks to smart devices and ubiquitous wireless networks you can be connected to the sources of data at all times.

If things are going your way have you found out why? If you have studied the data in depth the next steps should be clear.

-          Which products are moving?

-          Who is buying?

-          What are the reasons for success?

-          Where should you place your product?

Although readership or visits at my blog are yet to reach stable or strong numbers I know what articles can generate interest, who reads my articles, how the readership fluctuates during the weekdays and weekends, the impact of holidays, even the rise and fall in hourly numbers during the day. There are analytics data at the blog that help me derive a lot of information.

Are you studying your numbers that closely?

Market-wise trends, time of the year linkage to sales, seasonality in product demand, correlation to other products, trends across geographies and age-groups, impact of promotional activities, relative merits of retention and acquisition strategies. The list is endless and industry specific.

Having too much information also may not be a good idea – that can cause clutter and dilution; you might waste your energy doing too many things or you probably may not arrive at the right conclusion. The idea is to throw weight behind a few activities that can give you the best results.

But how do we know what is right? A good place to look is the customer feedback to Service Department or enquiries made by clients. Another smart thing to do would be to look around and spot a trend – what’s hot in your industry or is there an unfilled niche where a lot of demand is locked up. I often read the popular Sales Blogs to spot trends and my readers have been kind enough to suggest many interesting ideas.

If things aren’t quite going your way the data should be telling you the reasons – and the earlier you sense the situation the better; should we wait for the lake to dry up before getting worried about the water situation?

Each new day is like a clean slate for me – it’s back to the drawing board time. A new article has to be planned, researched, structured and presented; graphics have to be created and added to improve appeal.

Yesterday success won’t guarantee repeat visits today. I have to present fresh material each day to keep my reader interested. There is a lot more that can be done and some innovations are on the anvil, but that’s for later.

You have to meet more customers, your pitch needs to be modified to suit the requirement of each new client, you need to find prospects of the right profile and your lead generation activity has to keep pace with the latest trends. The list is endless but the trick is to choose the best few.

Remember the old Cowboy Westerns where the hero would have a Native American friend who could read signs – he would look at the hoof marks, the footprints, note how the grass or the twigs have been disturbed or feel the wood in the fire – each bit of information helps to construct the picture. The tracker can say how many people have gone by, how long back and whether there are any injured members in the party.

You should be able to read your business the same way …. And if you spot an interesting / useful trend take action.

And, before you rush off to read the signs, let me say thanks for being a reader of the Sales Coach Blog!

Shout it out … Softly?

A friend wrote on his Facebook Wall last evening:  

– Stating my goal to anyone is the best way of ensuring it won’t happen!

A few of his other friends ‘Like’d it and wrote comments such as “”we so agree with it!” – you get the drift.

It set me thinking – is that true? And why would it be so? How can sharing one’s goals or dreams reduce the chance of success – it seemed as if the voicing of such a dear wish unleashed negative forces that would guarantee its demise.

Extending the same argument I wondered “Can we then have negative forces that will guarantee success?” …. I only need to say that “My dream is ‘Not to be the Most Influential Blogger in the world’” … and Voilà!

If only life were as easy as that.

I thought the opposite was true – declaring our goal boldly to the world meant the following:

- We are setting a challenge for ourselves.

- We are committed to work on it.

- Proves our level of confidence.

- Increases chances of receiving support from others.

Then I Googled for some help on the subject and found suppporters for both sides of the argument – some said it’s best to be tight-lipped about our goals because sharing them reduces commitment while others claimed that making it public increases our resolve!

There are a lot of the Motivational and Self-help Gurus who propounded the “Declare it” Theory and a bunch of psychologists who insisted “Say it and you kill it!”

And I thought one of the best ways of achieving ones dreams was to boldly state what it is, maybe even create a smart poster or wallpaper of that statement and remind oneself about it all the time. But I guess reminding self about the goal is different from telling the world about it.

The contrarians believe that by saying it the following happens:

- You become less committed to achieving the goal.

- The mind fantasises that just by stating you have taken a huge step.

- You talk more about it and do less than required.

I still have not made up my mind because there are some great examples of the opposite being true:

- “I have a dream”, that speech and the accompanying agitation/movement launched by Martin Luther King was symbolic of the African American community’s commitment to fight for equality. They have come a long way, haven’t they? Barrack Obama can answer that one for you.

- Most listed companies state their revenue and expansion goals routinely – they are expected to do so!

- Sportsmen often declare their dream of winning an Olympic Medal or the top honour in their sport and do it too.

I still am swayed towards stating my goals than hiding it. What do you think?

Share the loot fairly!

I am aware that the title has a negative connotation, but so has the thinking behind decisions that are unfair to one’s own high-performers.

Sales Teams work all year to achieve targets, to win accolades and to earn that extra slice of income called Sales Incentives.

Companies announce Incentive Schemes with great fanfare – there are posters, buntings, handouts and communiqués from the Top Brass and regular reminders from the managers on the booty awaiting the winners. At the end of the year, when it’s time to hand out the goodies clauses and conditions appear out of nowhere saying why the award cannot be given as expected.

I remember an incentive dispute involving a friend who got a huge order in March and since the required products were not in stock billing was not possible; the order was not included in his performance because bills would be raised only in the next financial year – and in the year that followed the incentive scheme announced was for Orders Closed and Billed during the year. My friend was gutted – he sent representations to the Top Management through his Sales Manager but was refused his reward because the organisation made clever use of the term “need to be fair & just” – they said that many employees will have to be given the privilege and such additional payments have not been provisioned.

What the Heads did not realise was that there was a mutiny brewing in the ranks and many disappointed achievers left the organisation soon after the unfair treatment meted out to them.

Haven’t we seen Pirate / Bank Heist movies in which the partners in crime change colour after they lay hands on the money and gang-up among themselves to eliminate a few in order increase own share?

That comparison is a bit stretched – but organisations need to be aware of the harm they can do by refusing the promised dues.

- Incentive Schemes have to be defined well.

The targets, the benefits and conditions should be clearly spelt out and informed as soon as the new performance period begins, in order to give the team the whole year to achieve their goals and goodies.

- Targets should be set after thorough analysis of market and opportunity

Business Objectives, Markets Conditions, Previous Performance, Size of Opportunity, Product availability and Government Policies that impact the market need to be studied to set a fair target for the year.

- Targets should be challenging but shouldn’t discourage pursuit

Targets are usually set keeping companies business objectives in mind – but they should not be such that the team gets demotivated rather than being excited to go for it.

- Reset targets when market conditions change,  but only for the remaining period

Often markets conditions improve due to internal or external factors and it provides a huge boost to sales; companies then reset targets for the entire financial ignoring the difficult period that prevailed earlier.  Such ad hoc ramping up of numbers can be a disincentive.

Downward reset of target is not recommended because there is no room for incentive if the company is unable to achieve business objectives

Some questions that Leadership often ask when it’s time to pay-up:

-          Has the Sales Executive really worked to earn so much?

-           Does the person deserve such a large sum of money?

-          Can we afford to pay so much?

If they felt that the employee has not worked why was he not informed about it earlier; how come they become aware of this while calculating incentives? Deserving or not deserving is an emotional question lacking any logic. The Scheme has conditions and if they are met there is no need for further questions.

The matter of affordance was to be worked out when the scheme was created – if the organisation has a policy on what can be spent to acquire a sale the same can be used as the guiding principle for setting incentive amounts and budgets. Employees can be told in advance that if deep discounts are given for acquiring a sale it can impact their incentive payout – if such details are spelt out at the very beginning there is no room for ambiguity or disputes.

Blaming or penalizing an employee for poor planning by Management can be counter-productive. Let the Incentive Scheme not become a disincentive!

Don’t refuse the carrot and get the stick!

Incentives Schemes are created to drive performance – they motivate employees to go for more. When the good work is down the goodies need to be handed over with a lot of fanfare and appreciation. Fair treatment will promote further improvement in performance.

The Talent Conundrum!

A few years back my son, Nikhil, like many smart boys his age, got a thought stuck in his head which said that results would come without much effort; he had scored 98 in Math in Std–X and a fairly high score in the Sciences too. Hence, it appeared to his teenage mind that his talent would ensure that the marks come automatically; he did not put in a huge effort to study for the Std-XII examinations. When the results were announced he got a huge shock! He had only managed to score what can be called a fair score – there were no numbers in the late eighties or nineties. That was five years back – since then he has graduated from college and works now for a leading Indian organisation.

The reason for providing this anecdote here is to tell the millions of youngsters out there that talent is not enough to make them succeed – talent just ensures that you get there, to stay on you need to perform and that happens only when you are on a planned program of activities. There are dozens of examples in sport, business and the entertainment business to show how while a few succeed many fall by the wayside.

What was / is the differentiator?

Young professionals who join the workplace after achieving excellent grades in college and even seasoned professionals who have seen a consistently good set of results soon get the wrong notion planted in their head – that they just need to turn up and things just happen.

I have to disappoint you, Folks! That is a myth!

Talented people sometimes convince themselves on the following:

• They believe that there is nothing more to learn – they know it all!
• They are convinced that effort is for lesser mortals, people without talent.
• They don’t commit to do any work because it is boring and a waste of time

Remember, it wasn’t your presence that got the results, but it’s more about what you did!

To all the talented people I have this to say – Congratulations! You have qualified to stand on Step-1. Now it is time to put in the efforts that in due course would slowly, yet steadily, take you to the top step.

Here are a few things you could do:

-          Define / Decide, where you want to go or what you wish to achieve!

-          Understand what can get you there!

-          Put in the effort to improve – persistently and in a planned manner.

-          Find the weapons needed to make you invincible.

-          Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

-          Don’t be afraid to accept failure – stay motivated!

-          Get feedback on your performance – get a coach.

-          Iron out the kinks!

-          Be committed to the plan – don’t give up!

-          Accept criticism that is useful! (I know, it is a bitter pill to swallow.)

-          Believe you are good but don’t let it go to your head!

An example easily recognised in India comes for cricket, the national madness – a hugely talented cricketer named Vinod Kambli shone for a short while and faded away while his classmate, Sachin Tendulkar, went on to achieve glory. Many experts said that Kambli was more talented of the two, and that went to his head. While he frittered away his chances Tendulkar stuck to a plan and the rest they say is history.

The challenge for employers who have a bunch of talented people in their ranks is to create a program to utilize their energy and brilliance – if they are put on routine work that can be done at half-steam frustration and restlessness would set in. Managers leading talented team members need to be keep creating challenges that keep them busy and using their potential. Their results need to be recognised and rewarded suitably.

All talent people need to realise early in life that recognition comes after performance and not prior to it. Results need effort and only constant learning can keep them at the top. While they need to be encouraged and nurtured by the people around them, but both sides need to get real and work on shaping the talent into something useful.

Goals win matches, not the ability to score goals!

P.S: In the book “Outliers” Malcolm Gladwell provides some amazing insights on how Champions are created – be they scientists, cricketers, guitarists or businessmen – each put herself or himself through the grind and went through a painful process of failure, disappointments and learning before appearing as the awe-inspiring wonders on the world stage.

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Don’t botch it, Coach!

A friend and regular reader, Paul, read the article I had presented just this morning and said – “Jayadev, wouldn’t feedback be an important tool to overcome resistance”. He is right! My article spoke about the need for Sales Managers to consider a change in their attitude and behavior to make reportees more receptive to their ideas.

I kept thinking about what Paul had said and decided to address it right away, because that’s one of the tricks to overcome resistance. Face it and deal with it right away!

Quite often the talk among Sales Executives is directed at the person who rules their professional life – the Boss! And when things aren’t going fine some of the statements uttered would be on the following lines:

“If he is so good at selling, why doesn’t he go there and sell by himself?”

“He just has to sit in the cabin and give targets, we have to run around and do the hard bits.”

“This guy does not know the situation in the market today; he is trying to convince me to use his ancient methods”.

Sales Managers never have this addressed directly to them unless it’s a team-member who has decided to call it quits – the information reaches the Manager indirectly, usually from a peer who happens to be in good terms with one of his tam-members; or maybe from a team-member who decided to do his Boss a favour.

Managers shouldn’t leave such issues unattended because it not only drives down morale, but it can also impact Sales and increase customer dissatisfaction. So the rot has to be removed before it goes deep into the system.

The first thing the Manager must do, as suggested earlier, is to face it head-on. Ask the person what is the concern? Try to get to the specifics. If the team-member is not ready to talk you can provide him/her breathing space but get them to commit to a timeline to come clean on the matter. Tell them it is mission critical and hence can’t be delayed.

People avoid responding for a variety of reasons – anger, frustration, fear, embarrassment, worry, a feeling that it’s of no use, past experience tells them it’s a waste talking to the Manager, and team-member feels that it can be dealt with on his/her own.

The Manager has to get the person talking on the subject and he has to be considerate enough to give the person a fair hearing – if the person thinks that the methods suggested by the manager have been of no use the manager needs to be ready with facts to show that things are improving or be ready with an alternate approach after analyzing why the first suggestion did not work. Here the need is for the Coachee to understand that because an idea failed the Coach is not ineffective – things take time and may not always go as per plan. It’s for the Coach to take his team-member into confidence and help the person rework the plan in a non-confrontational way.

Usually Coachees distance themselves from Coaches who are not present in the arena – someone who is seated in an office, far removed from the action would obviously not understand market realities. So it’s is important for the Coaches (there is enough evidence of this in Sports) to be present where the team is performing; but it is equally important that he or she does not directly get involved, the role is to observe the team-member in action to provide coaching inputs later.

Evidence and facts are essential for any conversation between Coach and Coachee – guesses and hypotheticals can only make things worse.

It is critical that one focuses on just a few tasks at a time and they mutually arrive at timelines for implementation and assessment. If a huge number of changes are to be implemented at one go nothing would get done. It just can’t be rushed.

If the issue is emotional and attitudinal it is important for the Manager to remind the team-member of the key tasks that are to be completed – the idea is to get them focused on things that matter; express in clear terms the need for performance and limit reviews to just discussing data and facts. If some support is needed to overcome worries and stress the Manager can co-opt a support team into action to help the person tide over the issue or even get an intermediary to work on this; however things rarely deteriorate to the level of needing a mediator for resolutions.

Always use performance and results as the guiding principle and support and guidance the enablers. Of course, there is need for setting aside bias or notions and recognise achievements – celebrate victories, big and small and build confidence in the team – member.

Strictures and punishment should be the last resort – give the person opportunities to perform and during the assessment period the Manager needs to be present as a supportive and positive influence.

Managers need to use the benefits of feedback and coaching to bring the best out of the team … you need to see performers all around!

The Reset Button!

Sales Managers often face situations at the workplace where “errant” team-members aren’t performing as expected. They fall short of target, do not report on time, they are not even communicating – at such times it’s convenient to adopt an “I am right, he is wrong!” stance. The problem has got to be with the other person always, right?

Wrong!

I teach a Business Communications Course at a local college – the authorities have not imposed attendance norms and the students come and go pretty much as they please – they would turn up on one day and not be present on another. It’s tough for a trainer because he would have to explain the same material more than once to bring everyone up to speed. It can be tough on some students too because they are listening to some stuff a second time.

Having led large teams in the past I had learnt, mostly through a stumbling and standing up process, how to handle such situations. There was one young person seated in front of the class, nose in the air and disdainful of what was being discussed – his thoughts were elsewhere.

I asked: “Rupee for your thoughts! Do you wish to say anything?”

He smiled slightly and said – “No! It’s okay.”

My next question surprised him – “Can you tell all of us a little about your interests and aspirations!” It was a class on communication after all and this was my way of getting him back into the session without having to say “Pay attention!”

After the initial surprise the young man gathered his wits and said – “I wish to make a significant contribution towards the improvement of this country and its poor people. I am writing a paper in economies and am actively involved in social work.”

I was impressed and immediately applauded his zeal and enthusiasm. The other students in the class had not spoken in this manner. He was willing to show me the paper he’d written, so it wasn’t just talk.

But I did not want him to stop there: “Go on! What else?”

This young man also has an active and well presented blog (I visited it after the class); unlike the other kids he was well read too and mentioned the names of half a dozen books he had read in recent times – his blog has book reviews too.

Impressive! Especially in a class where 90% of the kids had not read even a single book in the last few years and didn’t know what a blog was!

Had I not asked him that question and appreciated his efforts I would have had a reluctant participant in my sessions, who resists any new information – he probably wouldn’t have turned up for another class. Now I know what he is capable of, at least from the communication perspective, and it can be harnessed as and when required.  He has the makings of a good leader.

Sales Managers, members of your team may not respond the way you expect them to for one or more of the following:

-          You as Manager have not built  rapport

-          You have not been acknowledging or utilizing your team’s capability

-          You have lost credibility for some reason

-          The team member is probably undergoing some personal strife

-          Maybe your expectation needs to be reset

-          Team member is unable to express herself

-          The way you speak makes the team member think it’s a personal attack

Often it’s a change in perception and response that’s needed for the Manager to see things differently. The world will be a boring place if everyone worked like you and the world does not exist to fulfill your needs – celebrate the diversity and accommodate for deviations.

Try seeing it from your team-member’s point of view:

-          Have you been communicating well?

-          Have you provided all the support needed, at the right time?

-          How much time do you spend with each team member?

-          Have you visited enough customers in recent times to sense how things are going out there?

-          Have you given team members a fair chance to express themselves?

-          Have you led the way at all times to prove your worth?

If the team member refuses to come around in spite of repeated attempts try another route – it may be tempting to throw the book at them or to pull them up for non-compliance. But their apparent “misbehavior” or “insubordination” may be because you had closed the door on them:

-          Get another team-member to speak with him/her

-          Get another Manager to have a chat

-          Speak with H.R. and get a breakthrough

There are no magic wands and don’t expect overnight results, but what’s needed may be an erasure of some of our behaviour and attitude ….

Hit the Reset button – that seems to work with Windows, it could be the one of opportunity for you!