See new people, places and things. Stimulus rules regarding your brain and creativity!
Stimulus can come from many areas. The best ones are the areas that give you the most energy, drive and ambition. Make it a point this week to do something different. Try one of the items below or leave us a comment on your suggestion:
-Drive a new route to work
-Eat a foreign meal
-Read a new book
-Meet a new person each day
At the office, we have about 10-15 projects in our pipeline that have to do with growth, business opportunities, and new clients. These are not tasks or goals. This pipeline for growth is all about discovery and research, then testing to see how fast and cheap you can fail or win. The average business has no pipeline, but has ideas on how to grow that aren’t in writing. This can be dangerous for a company and for the country. It has has already proven to be fatal for many businesses, such as the American automotive industry, as well as many other manufacturing companies.
What is the right number for projects in the pipeline? Well, it turns out about 15. The most important part is that you have a system that isn’t just in your head. A real system for when a project (idea for growth) consists of the following steps: researching, reporting on findings, revising the idea, and then deciding to move forward, change direction, or stop.
We have one owner of the pipeline - Nan. He does not necessarily have to do anything with it, except to make sure the people who are researching or working on elements of our pipeline know their jobs. Great sales and marketers have a pipeline in writing, not in their heads! Thoughts are in your head, goals are in writing!
What is your pipeline for growth?
We’ve recently been interviewing students and new graduates for our coveted summer internship position. You might be shocked at what you see. We would ask questions and get a response like “yeah” or “uh-huh.” Some were chewing gum, had no eye contact and exuded entitlement, while others had sub-par email skills. Today, we got what may be our winner, Bobby. He was well dressed, had a great (one page) resume that gave us more depth into his life, spoke clearly and had a well written introductory email.
We have a very special culture and guard it highly. What if he doesn’t speak to a client respectfully? What if he drops the ball? What if an email of his unsells? We realized, though, that the culture of the organization is not only something to be defended, but it is also provides protection. The culture doesn’t allow for these things to happen. Every new person is directed to the brand promise, core values and purpose of Salesby5. Additionally, questions are welcomed hourly!
So, if communication is sub-par, a team member is on it to clean it up and explain how to avoid this in the future. If a customer is not receiving the proper attention, someone else helps give them the right touch. Everyone is concerned about keeping our quality at an extremely high level in communication and service.
Now, let’s say you start getting used to this and then you go to a doctor’s office or a business who still thinks it is 1980. They believe they are special, when they are really a commodity. It makes us appreciate what we do, how we do it, and how we’ll never go back. Our culture and attitude is the salt and pepper of 2020. Call us and see!
Jack Daly rocked the house yesterday in Orlando at the Fortune Small Business Sales and Marketing Growth Summit. One of the great points was that it’s the culture that matters. As he stated, Microsoft has great benefits and great pay. They have a market share the is enviable. Guess what? People are leaving to Google. Why? It’s the culture! People want to be part of a winning team AND enjoy the adventure. Microsoft is holding tight to their products and services, Google is here to try and change the world (just how Microsoft USED to be). Google has captured their people’s hearts, hence the cult-like following.
We experienced a great culture to and from Orlando - Southwest Airlines. The chatter from the cabin went something like this. “This is your captain speaking. It seems that most of you made it on this plane alive… If you are needing a bit more light, press the button above you that looks like my haircut. I think they should add a smiley face on it. Now that I think about it, if you have a smiley face sticker, please place it on the button… Just want to let you know that the bathrooms have cameras. They only activate if you smoke, though. Maybe that’s why the bathrooms are so small. If you find the camera in there, will you let me know where it is please? Thank you.” Have you ever heard this banter on a Continental or American flight? Even now, when the domestic airlines are doing terribly, Southwest Airlines still has over 80 people apply per job. I think I know why. Do you have a culture that fires people up to work at your company?
Before coming to work at SalesBy5, I worked in an insurance office. It was the agent and myself. Having gone to school, I had learned about corporate culture. Interestingly, I had never considered us having a culture, because it was just the two of us. Now, looking back, we DID have a culture and it was wonderful. Our culture was one of trust, fun, openness and respect. I learned how to communicate well via phone and email with a positive touch. I am often tapped now to help write a difficult email or help others professionally deal with sticky situations. SalesBy5 is the same. In hindsight, I went from one phenomenal culture to another. Now, while helping companies grow and teaching strengths, I see that not everyone is as fortunate. It makes me work that much harder to help others feel excellence in their culture.
Culture is the predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization. Core values are what you would hire, fire and promote by. They are the guide for behavior! Attitude is what we hire for and only a positive one is acceptable.
Whether you put your core values on the wall, talk about them all the time or never, you have a culture. It is a living and breathing element of your company. The decision is up to you to embrace it and shape it into what you want it to be or ignore it and let the chips fall where they may.
We have yet to meet a company that doesn’t need more sales. More sales can mean more services sold, more people attending your church, more cell phones pushed out the door. Here’s the million dollar question: Does everyone in your organization realize that they are in sales? That’s right – everyone! We worked with an insurance company that wanted to increase sales to new customers, which you know is the best and most profitable way of growing the company other than loyalty (loyalty is salt and pepper). After a bit of probing and some pushback from Accounting and IT, we found that this 60 person company touches an average of 3,000 people per day. With this many touches to clients and vendors, each person in the company has the opportunity to create remarkable experiences. Think of a pleasant response to a less than friendly email, the creation of a client concierge department or maybe something as easy as a Thanksgiving card – a nontraditional touch. How could your company grow and change if they looked at these touch points as opportunities to inspire customers and vendors? How do you move people to become raving fanatics of yours? Check out Keith Ferrazzi’s blog, he talks about it too!
photo by cougar-studio
