Does your company maintain a culture open enough to lead upward? Leading upward means that the people above you, whether in actual or perceived rank, allow you to lead them as well. Not only does your culture need to be in proper form to allow this, but the leaders above you need to be at a stable enough level to allow you to speak freely. This can often be a scary proposition, but if it is done with respect and compassion, both parties get stretched to a higher leadership level overall. What would it take for this to be acceptable in your organization? If you are at the top, are you allowing this type of leadership? What is stopping you? Please share with us in the comments.
Core values serve the purpose of defining who we hire, fire, promote, de-mote, etc. They are behaviors and tell your employees, managers, and leaders how to behave.
When we are unsure about what next steps to take, looking to our core values leads us in the right path. A few of ours are:
• Always deal with fact. Never assume.
• Do what is best for the customer.
• If you do not know, ask.
• Follow your heart, but… if you are ever in doubt, shout it out.
• Deliver more than what is promised.
These values guide any of us in the right direction with clients and each other. They are the guide – a roadmap for action that lives every day in your organization. If your company has not identified your core values, let us know. We can help you identify them and bring them to life in your company.
Today at 5pm, there will be a rehearsal dinner for the wedding of our CIO (Chief inspiration officer) and Co-Author of the SalesBy5 blog, Nan Palmero. He earned his title long ago, long before I met him. His friends will also attest to his incredible ability to help, lead, and inspire. When I met him, he was looking for a new career with 2 requirements; he did not want to be in sales and he did not want to be in accounting. Today, he writes for Blackberrycool.com, Salesby5, his own blog, and is a contributory writer for some of north Americas top growth gurus. Nan sells everyday! He sells our customers on the best technology to help communicate better with customers and employees and he sells our team on working smarter and not harder. There are actually too many things that he sells to mention in this blog. This man is special to us and many others. My point: Sometimes you may think you do not want to do something that is actually a real strength of yours. Pay close attention to what activity you feel strongest doing, and to those that make you feel drained. Nan uses his strengths to help our team and our customers win better and faster than their competition!
Nan, Thank you for being in our lives and congratulations on your new life with Ashley!
Yesterday, we ate at Red Robin. They have an amazing culture and really go above and beyond to make you feel welcome and make your dinner experience great. My favorite part is the Unbridled Acts of Kindness stories on the back of the bill holder. The Unbridled Acts talk about how Red Robin teams from around the country have gone above and beyond during the course of their days. At Sales by 5, we do the same. We celebrate our “Love Letters” from our clients during our morning huddles and weekly meetings. Then, we post them on our Wall of Fame to further recognize how our team has done amazing things, ready for review by the team, our clients and visitors. Red Robin, like Sales by 5, takes the time to do this because the culture is crucially important and visitors can feel it. Unfortunately, most companies do not experience this. You have a culture whether you realize it or not, is it one that you want to celebrate?
So how can you start? Develop your set of core values, so that the team knows what’s important to the team. Integrate compliments into your daily huddles and celebrate them - large and small. Develop quarterly themes that support these compliments. Once you’ve done this, come back and tell us how your company was transformed! Need help? Check out Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish for more details.
We discuss inspiration, strengths, and motivation vs. de-motivation. We blog about many other topics, but the common thread is that it all has enormous amounts to do with sales - internally and externally! Yesterday we had a customer visit from 400 miles away and tell us all how much we have helped them and have made a giant difference! At the same time several team members sent me emails that completely inspired me as they complimented my ideas and strategy in numerous meetings. Everything matters and yesterday was exceptional. Use this as stimulus to see how your team is inspiring customers and, of course, one another! One last thought: our goal is to inspire 2008 people in 2008. Why? It fuels our soul! photo by coolmitch
It was June 16th, another big day in our company’s history, when Bobby the Intern started. He was a new St. Mary’s grad with a major in General Business. It has been less than two months and he is leaving us for a MBA with a Greehey Scholarship.
We interviewed about 14 candidates for this position. Most interviews were 10 minutes, as we knew they were not the right fit for our culture and clients. Bobby’s interview was unique. I, Erik, came in late on purpose because I wanted my team to be sold versus me. They were sending me instant messages during the interview on my BlackBerry that we had a winner. This team is beyond hard to satisfy, but finally they were sold. Over the last 50 days, I have gotten to see his natural strengths and his ability to give the team his best attitude and talents. We keep getting interns that change us and we change them. Bobby, thank you for your talent this summer and may your future be as bright as the sun!
P.S. We promise to give you an update on our past Salesby5 interns, Greg and Carlton, soon!
You may or may not be familiar with Twitter. If not, check out the video below. The basic premise is that you answer one simple question - “What are you doing?” and you only have 140 characters to do so. Here are 3 great ways that companies and organizations are building value in their brand by using Twitter in unconventional ways.
1. Zappos.com, the amazing online shoe store, uses Twitter as a method to communicate with people talking about them. They made the decision to actively engage with folks on Twitter and they are gaining steam in doing so. They get to tell their story and people are growing personally attached. Even Tony, the CEO, is in on it. At present, there are 439 Zappos.com employees on Twitter. Last night, 10 lucky followers of Tony were invited to join the Zappos gang at The Palms hotel for a 3,000 person party - with penguins!
2. Church can be many different things - fun, boring, insightful, etc. Interactive isn’t usually an adjective that is used to describe church, though. Imagine Fellowship, here in San Antonio, is doing things a bit differently. They are using Twitter during the message in church on Sunday morning, where people can comment on the music, message and anything else they experience. The use of Twitter has expanded the relationships throughout the week and people are connecting that may not have otherwise connected on Sundays.
3. BlackBerryCool.com is a world class blog that frequently travels throughout North America attending conferences for BlackBerry and other mobile devices. Many BlackBerryCool.com readers are known to visit the site numerous times throughout the day searching for the latest updates and product releases, especially during these conferences. Twitter allows BlackBerryCool.com to constantly inform their readers throughout a conference with minute-by-minute updates without the need of a laptop to create an entire blog post. It is a great filler between larger written pieces.
What amazing way can you use Twitter to better build engagement with your brand?
Yesterday was a special day for me (Kya). My team threw a pink themed Happy Birthday week celebration for me. It started with pink balloons in the parking garage when I arrived in the morning. There were pink signs along the entire path that I walked from the garage into the building, up the stairs, and down the halls. I was so surprised and laughing the whole way to the office, while everyone in the building was watching me stroll along. I walked into the office to find the entire team dressed in pink, gathered around in the front of the office to wish me a happy day. The LCD monitors were personalized, there were pink balloons, string, ribbon, and table cloths all over the office. As I walked over to my desk, my favorite beverage was wrapped in pink with a singing card signed by every team member. The fun continued throughout the day; it was absolutely remarkable!The Sales by 5 team pulled together to make this a very special day for me.
This speaks volumes about the culture of our company, the level of respect that we maintain for each other, and the fun it is to work with people who care about you. Is the culture in your company great enough to be written about? If clients, the media, or your friends walked into your place of business, would it feel like Starbucks (an escape) or the dentist’s office (a requirement)?
Saturday I went to get a hair cut. If you are following me on twitter, you already know the story. Halfway through, an employee walks in (late, I was told) and she had an angry look on her face. She walked past all of the people and her co-workers and said nothing. I remarked “it looks like someone is in a bad mood”. Moments later, she looked more angry as she motioned for the next person to come sit down for a cut. She said nothing, and as I left, the scowl on her face was making its mark on the mother of the child who was getting his hair cut. Everyone else who could see her face in all the mirrors. Moments later, I called her boss to let him know he had an employee un-selling his customers. This has never been acceptable, but today, it is harder to get away with it. Cell phones, BlackBerry e-mail, texting, twitter, and blogs make it harder for the de-motivators to do their job. Get your game on this week and remember, you are on the new Candid Camera!
Today we had an interesting discussion about our culture and how it has dramatically changed. We used to allow the unacceptable and in my previous business it got to the point of ridiculousness. So if you want to change it so that your people are not de-motivating (un-selling) each other, you, your customers, what do you do? Remember the flywheel Jim Collins referenced in Good to Great. Imagine a giant, heavy wheel that moves an inch after much pushing. With continuously dedicated pushing in a consistent direction you start seeing it speed up. Finally it is spinning.
Once you have your purpose, core values, brand promise and goals and BHAG in place and the leaders are living them, the flywheel starts to move! It is not over a week, but the movement in one month can inspire. The movement in six months will make you shudder at where you were six months ago and in a year, it is all clarity so you can focus on the vision (BHAG). It can be fun if you have a great coach or a great team pulling, pushing and providing the inspiration. Once you get to this stage, you do not get to rest or relax, you then get to make sure that everyone is realizing how each person is living that brand promise and living the company’s purpose. How cool would it be if everyone is moving in the same direction with enthusiasm? This is similar to a rowing team. What if one person did not row in the same direction once? What if they did not row the same direction two of five days? The rowing team would not allow it, why should you?
Summary: Selling starts with an attitude and reaches success with momentum. Selling on the inside gets sales on the outside and keeps the flywheel moving. When were things the best? Who is rowing against the team now and how fast can you fix it?
photo by timabbott
photo by coolmitch
