To read this series from the beginning, please go here.

In the previous five posts in this series we’ve taken a look at some of the challenges business leaders are facing in the New Normal business environment of today.  We’ve established that dynamic sales leaders, who are committed to winning more new accounts and keeping their companies on a sustainable, positive growth track, need to do things differently.  I think it might be helpful to summarize the key points of this series to assist you in staying focused, motivated, and clear in your vision when leading your company.

The New Rules for Sales Leaders

Do deliver candor

Don’t make empty promises

Do use the skills and talents of the entire team

Don’t try to do it all on your own

Selling in today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive, obstacle-ridden world can be daunting. I observe high performance sales teams that win, even against the most overwhelming odds, have sisu. Sisu is the Finnish word for unbending will, unwavering and unapologetic perseverance.  Sales Leaders who guide these growth teams know it takes extraordinary insight to stay on track. Fresh insights are born when we we’re open to new ideas.

Be a learner

 Don’t wait to be taught

Our bookshelves are filled with multiple formulas for leadership success.  Yet, is there something more foundational than the recent fad that provides insight into balancing the demands of daily decision-making?

Note: To start reading this Series from the beginning, please go here.

I observe that sales leadership is less about being taught – it’s more about being a learner. “Book-knowledge” that limits our ability to think out-of-the-box, is fast becoming an obstacle rather than an advantage.

Sales Leader, what is your first reaction when disaster strikes?  I don’t know about you, but I often panic. My heart races, my focus narrows and sometimes it sounds as if everyone around me can hear me breathe.  In his book, Great by Choice, Jim Collins examines the reasons why some companies thrive in uncertainty and others do not.  One of the important lessons I have learned in working with leaders and CEO’s of sales growth companies:  It is more important to focus on finding and developing new solutions than it is to dwell on failures of the past.

Note: To start reading this Series from the beginning, please go here.

Here’s another sales leadership insight to help inspire and motivate your sales teams, no matter what challenges they are facing.

Do interpret events

 Don’t try to control the uncontrollable

Leadership is less about controlling events – it’s more about interpreting them. Even the most courageous leaders face events they are unable to control.  Global financial collapses, wars and natural disasters may be extreme examples of these situations. It is important that we recognize and admit our inability to control the uncontrollable.

In our business situations we encounter our own earthquakes: out of the blue, your biggest client announces that he is leaving. You wake up one morning to realize a new venture that you have invested a substantial amount of time and money in is just not delivering the ROI you expected. Don’t panic.

 Foster a healthy culture of servant leadership

 Don’t focus on short-term results

Master motivator, Zig Ziglar, encourages his audiences towards Servant Leadership with these powerful words:  “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

SALES GROWTH QUESTION: What can you do to keep your sales team calm during times of chaos and uncertainty?

SALES GROWTH LESSON: When we receive bad news, our actions are often propelled by one overriding emotion: fear.  As sales leaders, it is up to us to keep ourselves and our teams calm and focused in times of turmoil.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye, Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved Bye

Note: To start reading this Series from the beginning, please go here.

Today, most CEOs, Presidents and sales leaders of growth companies realize they are much more effective when it comes to critical

issues such as: team turnover, morale, and profitability when they act as partners, supporters, coaches, and facilitators.  Gone are the days of the dictatorial, transactional leadership styles of the past.

My next tip on developing dynamic leadership strategies revolves around the concepts of teamwork and collaboration.

Use the skills and talents of the entire team

Don’t try to do it all on your own                 

 Leadership is less about solving problems – it’s more about framing the problem to help the sales and leadership team own the problem. When comparing transactional, command-and-control vs. transformational, interdependent leadership styles, today’s sales leaders know that it is a fatal strategy to try and do it all on their own.  Instead, they depend on the wisdom, insight and inspiration of their teams. They share their own resources with those they lead so everyone becomes stronger.

Successful sales leaders rally the talents and skills of their teams to develop new solutions for overwhelming challenges.

Leadership is not about the charisma or competence of one – it’s more about the collaborative effort of many. The old saying “two heads are better than one” is still true – and many heads are even better!  Use team sessions as a sounding board to streamline and perfect solutions.

SALES GROWTH QUESTION:  What can you do to ensure you harness the energy and skills of your entire team?

SALES GROWTH LESSON:  Gathering wisdom and inspiration from those around you will make you a better, stronger leader.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye, Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

Note: To start reading this Series from the beginning, please go here.

I’m reading an article written by Ian Davis, managing director of McKinsey Quarterly. He wrote this article about two years ago, but the words jump off the page with prophetic precision.  He writes:  “It has become increasingly clear that the current downturn (in the economy) is fundamentally different from recessions of recent decades. We are experiencing not merely another turn of the business cycle, but a restructuring of the economic order.”  He carries on by saying some people are already planning how they will position themselves once the crisis has passed and things return to normal. He also poses the question:  “What will this new normal look like?”

Here are a few “do’s” and “don’ts” to help you develop dynamic sales leadership strategies :

Deliver candor (An open and honest expression of facts)

Don’t make empty promises

Leadership is less about promising results – it’s more about delivering candor – not only to your sales and leadership teams, but also yourself.  Three words that are used to describe the opposite of candor are: deception, fraud and lie.

So how do you deliver the reality about the current conditions to your sales teams without sending them into a state of panic and depression?  I believe dynamic leaders balance realism with hope.  In my e-book, Leadership Shift, I discuss the need for this continuous balancing act.  Something I learned, growing up on a ranch in North Dakota, is the concept of hopeful realism:

While it is important for sales leaders to know their limitations, the concept of hopeful realism leads to the creation of realistic solutions.

Watch this space for more ideas on developing leadership strategies for doing New Normal Business.

SALES GROWTH QUESTION:  What are you doing to create an atmosphere of hopeful realism in your workplace?

SALES GROWTH LESSON:  Instill hopeful realism in order to harness all the talent of your sales teams.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

On June 2nd I’m graduating from Bethel University with a master’s degree in Transformational Leadership. Yes, I’m excited about finally graduating!

Dynamic Sales Leaders grasp the New Normal

Plus, I’m enthused about my last class; it’s about something that’s important to me – ethics.  So watch this space; I’m sure there will be insights I’ll be sharing on this topic.

One of the more inspiring recent class discussions revolved around The New Normal, a concept that resonates with everything I’m hearing and seeing in today’s business world.

With the right mindset, you can turn seemingly risky business ventures, into exciting business opportunities. 

In The New Normal: Great Opportunities in a Time of Great Risk, Roger McNamee provides insight into which qualities business leaders need to grasp during these times. In addition, he discusses which new skills we may need to acquire to leverage the abundant array of new opportunities. According to McNamee, global economies are up for grabs at an unprecedented scale.  That raises the question – what’s required from leaders to capitalize on these extraordinary conditions?

Business leaders committed to triumphing over the challenges they face today need to look at what they’ve always done in new ways. They need to “always be in beta” and be willing to turn their assumptions over, realizing they’ll have to forsake them altogether and start from scratch.

In this series, I’ll share some “Do’s and Don’ts” to build into your sales leadership strategies in order to keep your sales teams focused, motivated and ready to capture market share by winning new accounts.

 SALES GROWTH QUESTION: How are you dealing with the changing circumstances of the ‘New Normal’ business environment?

 SALES GROWTH LESSON: As Business and Sales Leaders, we have to take responsibility for guiding our teams to capitalize on the ‘New Normal’ way of doing business.

 © Copyright 2012, Danita Bye, Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

To read article (1 of 5) please click here

How often are you hearing these excuses from your salespeople?

Sales Coaching Opportunities

• Prospects don’t have enough money available for this project.
• Prospects are still sitting tight because of the credit crunch.
• The competition is cutting prices; there’s no way we can get the business.

Regardless of the state of the economy and/or markets, there’s a certain group of salespeople who are always complaining about the difficult circumstances they encounter.

Poet Rudyard Kipling said: “We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” Truth is, today’s business conditions present a new set of obstacles for sales people to conquer. To be successful, sales professionals need to be even more attuned to the business needs of the client while being smarter than the competition – all this while working with increasingly savvy buyers.

Given the challenge, you as the sales leader must recognize and stop the excuses your sales people are making. This is a foundational area of sales coaching. Without an accountability mindset shift, your coaching efforts will not reap the ROI you need. You won’t grow your margins, fend off the competition, and win more new accounts, like your strategic business plan outlines.

60% of all salespeople make excuses. However, really great sales people don’t make excuses – they find solutions and they close deals. The 2012 SGS Strategic Sales Survey reveals that 54% of participants don’t have a process to hold their sales staff accountable for their sales results.

CSO Insights 2012 reports that sales people need to increase both sales capacity and capability to exceed 2012 sales performance targets. Sounds like a daunting task. However, that’s exactly why we created SalesGPS Coaching, a comprehensive plan to expand sales capacity and capabilities.. No more excuses.

As can be seen from the chart below, SalesGPS Coaching focuses on long-term, consistent change and development.

In my next post, I’ll share my views on why you should hold your sales people accountable for their sales results.

Sales Growth Question: What are doing to build the capacity and capabilities of your sales team?

Sales Growth Lesson: Stop excuse making in order to maximize performance.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

To read article (1 of 5) please click here

You’re invited to the SalesGPS Sneak Preview on March 29th – have a look.

I often hear frustration from presidents, CEOS and business owners because traditional sales training isn’t delivering bankable results. It feels like their investment is wasted. Instead, they want an approach which drives long-term behavioral change; not a motivational event focusing on the rah-rah. Yet, according to the 2012 SGS Strategic Sales Survey, 82% of sales leaders in flat or slow growth companies admit they don’t have a process for coaching their sales staff.

In an article about the differences between sales training and sales coaching, Anthony Iannarino, a faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership, supports my view that one of the core differences between the two methods is this – coaching isn’t a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires frequent communication and the building of a relationship of understanding and trust between the coach and the salesperson.

Here are some of the reasons why this relationship is so important:

	To pinpoint what a salesperson really needs to succeed, a coach must gain knowledge about the salesperson’s world – their strengths, weaknesses, and obstacles.
	A good coach acts as a sounding board to give the salesperson the opportunity to talk through ideas and possible solutions.
	The coach brings an outside perspective to the coaching process so the salesperson gets a clearer picture of what they require to eliminate mistakes and improve sales results.
	The third party approach can help identify where some of the Hidden Major Weaknesses such as Need for Approval, Money Weakness and Unsupportive Buy Cycle are stalling out sales performance.

SalesGPS coaching develops the essential skills and mindsets for winning new accounts by using a comprehensive, data-driven, and customized approach. It addresses the development needs of each sales person with highly interactive and collaborative workshops, webinars, one-on-one sessions, and self-paced online learning programs.

Selling is challenging – that’s true. However, these opportunities are the stepping stones that build long-term sales capacity that is bankable.

To follow (5 of 5) in this series go here

Sales Growth Question: What Hidden Major Weaknesses are preventing your sales staff from getting even more sales?
Sales Growth Lesson: Effective coaching programs will help you win more new accounts.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights

To read article (1 of 5) please click here

I’m noticing key differences between high growth companies and those reporting flat or declining sales in the 2012 SGS Strategic Sales Survey. High growth companies are 60% more likely to score their sales culture high on valuing sales coaching.

Here are some of the comments I hear when talking with business owners, presidents and CEOs that indicate there may be a lack of skill sets needed to grow market share.  I hear comments like the following:

• “I’m disappointed that sales performance/revenue is lagging behind.”
• “I’m concerned about the effectiveness of my sales management team.”
• “I’m discouraged that my sales staff doesn’t hunt for new business.”
• “I’m frustrated; my sales team seems to be underperforming.”

Business leaders more focused on growth ask questions like:

• “What do I need to do to scale my sales force?”
• “How do I conduct sales due diligence prior to a merger/acquisition?”
• “To maximize results, I need salespeople in the right roles. How do I know if I have the right people in the right roles in order to maximize results?”
• “How much growth can I get from my existing sales team? How much better can they be?”

You’re invited to the SalesGPS Sneak Preview on March 29th – have a look.

If you are asking any of these questions too, it’s probably a good indication that it’s time to objectively analyze your sales force to get accurate data and insights on where to invest time, talent and resources. Without insights, it may be difficult to exceed your growth goals.

CSO Insights reports that almost 93% of companies are raising the performance bar for 2012. They also ask: “What is going to enable salespeople to hit these higher revenue targets?”

A comprehensive coaching program, like SalesGPS Coaching, starts with assessing and identifying your team’s strengths and weaknesses in executing your selling strategy.  Based on this accurate assessment, we customize a development plan that involves highly interactive and collaborative workshops, webinars, one-on-one sessions, and self-paced online learning programs. By surgically focusing coaching, sales reps can increase performance by 10-50%, depending on which Hidden Major Performance Factors have been sabotaging their sales efforts.   They begin to raise the bar on their own performance, winning more new accounts.

To follow (4 of 5) go here

Sales Growth Question: How are you helping your sales team to identify and overcome the obstacles that are keeping them from reaching their full potential?

Sales Growth Lesson: As your sales people get stronger, your results will be stronger.

© Copyright 2011, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

To read article (1 of 5) please click here

You’re invited to the SalesGPS Sneak Preview on March 29th – have a look.

Your sales manager is responsible to recruit, coach, mentor, and motivate your sales teams so they will consistently Win More New Accounts. Their role is to “hit the number” and to grow market share.

Unfortunately, few sales managers receive more than generic management training.  According to the results of our 2012 SGS Strategic Sales Survey:

• 48% of leaders rate their managers as weak coaches
• 78% of leaders report that the managers lack a process to develop talent

So what are some processes to develop the capacity of your sales teams? Here are some trends that we’re seeing with today’s work force:

Traditional Sales Training – The trainee sits and listens to a lecturer.

GPS Coaching – The trainee is actively involved; no lecture.

Traditional Sales Training – Delivered in a concentrated session with little follow-up

GPS Coaching – Delivered over a period of time with continuous reinforcing, follow-through and accountability sessions

Traditional Sales Training – Focuses on the high level to ensure that the participants are entertained

GPS Coaching – Focuses on a deep dive of tools, skills and processes to ensure the sales professional can execute when they are face to face with the decision maker.

18% of salespeople aren’t coachable or trainable. They are happy with status quo.

50% is the improvement in results from coaching a salesperson to effectively handle stalls and putoffs, especially in a hyper competitive sale.

It’s been said that impact one-day training events are compared to going to see a very good movie – high in entertainment value but not a good vehicle for creating long-lasting behavioral change. With the development of the SalesGPS Coaching program, we are committed to ensure that sales teams have all they need to grow market share – regardless of the state of the markets and economy.

In our next posting I’ll tell you more about the importance of good coaching and how it can be a growth strategy for your business.

Sales Coaching ClaritySales managers are typically promoted from sales positions but then given no instruction on how to manage and coach asales staff. This e-book outlines important questions to ask your sales staff, how to create a culture of accountability, how to manage different personalities and how to motivate staff. If you’re a sales manager you can’t afford to pass up this free sales coaching ebook now.

To follow (3 of 5) in this series go here

Sales Growth Question: How might coaching improve the ability of your sales teams to exceed your growth targets?

Sales Growth Lesson: Today’s sales people respond to a more collaborative, interactive approach to sales skill development.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

There’s a common frustration I find when working with business owners and presidents of small to mid-sized businesses who are committed to Winning More New Accounts. What’s the frustration? They’re finding that traditional sales training efforts aren’t delivering the new business pipeline needed in an increasingly challenging economy. The rules are changing – almost on a daily basis. As sales leaders, it’s critical to focus our time, effort, and resources in places where we’re assured of results.

83% of sales people lack goals or plans

In our 2012 Strategic Sales Survey, we asked leaders how they rate their sales teams on the ten core sales skills required for revenue growth. The results indicated that leaders thought over 50% of the sales skills needed are deficient; yet only 17% of the companies had a coaching process in place.

That’s why we developed SalesGPS Coaching. Sales people participate in highly interactive and collaborative workshops, webinars, one-on-one sessions, and self-paced online learning programs. With this integrated approach, we achieve more impactful, long-term results

But what exactly is the difference between traditional sales training and Sales GPS coaching? In my next post I’ll explain some of the important differences and share how you can implement this development strategy in your company?

Smart Sales CoachingSales coaching is essential to create a sales team that is performing at their best. But how do you know what to coach them on? Smart Sales Coaching helps you make use of assessment data to pinpoint your sales team’s weaknesses and gives you the tools to quickly and effectively get them on track. Quit accepting mediocre results and start coaching your sales staff to high-performance. Get this sales coaching e-book now

To  follow (2 of 5) in this series go here

Sales Growth Question: What can you do to ensure that your training and coaching programs deliver sustainable results?

Sales Growth Lesson: To be even more agile and competitive in today’s changing world, it’s critical to be committed to growing the capacities of your sales teams.

You’re invited to the SalesGPS Sneak Preview on March 29th – have a look.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

When I’m faced with a situation that requires me to raise the bar– as my friend suggested many years ago – I often refer to the 4R Model of Transformational Leadership taught by Dr. Mark McCloskey of Bethel University. I came upon this concept as part of my studies for my masters in Transformational Leadership.

The four R’s are Relationships, Roles, Responsibilities, and Results.  The core thesis is that we get the Results we’re looking for by focusing first on the other three R’s.

At the core of this model is the heart qualities of the leader. If the heart isn’t strong, the leader will be unable to do the right thing at the right time. The leader must have these internal characteristics in order to do the right thing at the right time with the right people. These DICE virtues typify a leader who can collaboratively lead anytime forward given even dire circumstances.

-       DYNAMIC DETERMINATION
A powerful, forward-moving resolution to be ethical, regardless of the consequences.

-       INTELLECTUAL FLEXIBILITY
The mental ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

-       CHARACTER STRENGTH
A solid, virtuous, and morally strong set of values to stand firm on truth.

-       EMOTIONAL MATURITY
The ability to accept responsibility for our actions.

With this model, doing business ethically, even under today’s chaotic conditions, is still possible.

As leaders we get to continually “raise the bar” for our teams and ourselves. We find ways to do business ethically and profitably. I’m sure you’ll to find someone in your business environment you can look up to for inspiration – just as I have found in Ron James, CEO of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures.

Sales Growth Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), how would you rate your DICE virtues?

Sales Growth Lesson: The cry for first-class leadership, sales management, and selling ethics has never been stronger than today. Take the first step today.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

In the previous posting, I listed some guidelines for leaders and sales teams committed to doing business and selling ethically.

As I read these guidelines, I’m thinking, “Easy enough, isn’t it?”

But according to Objective Management Group (OMG), in an assessment of over 500,000 people, the need for approval is the second most powerful and most common weakness affecting the way we do business and how we lead. It’s the belief that we must get approval from the significant people in our lives, including bosses and clients. Shockingly, it affects 45% of us in leadership and sales.

This blind spot has a disastrous impact on our ability to respond wisely and ethically to the myriad of critical leadership decisions. We end up making decisions based on the approval of others versus doing what’s right and earning their respect.

For example, according to author Daryl Green, some of the telltale signs that you are allowing your need for approval to negatively influence your capacity to lead in an ethical way are:

• Twisting critical information so people won’t be upset with you
• Taking personal credit for group accomplishments
• Not focusing on the common good of the organization
• Failing to get to the root of a situation for fear that you’ll hear bad news
• Fearful of taking personal accountability for the behaviors & results of your teams

Dr. Bill Lawrence of Leader Formation International examines the broad impact of the Need for Approval blind spot on leadership. He writes that this blind spot causes people to forfeit the purpose of the organization for fleeting things like position, people, and peace.  Long-term respect is traded for short-term results.

How do you handle your need for approval?  Where might it be impacting your purpose, your team’s purpose or your company’s purpose?

And what about those on your teams? Are there situations where they might need strengthening to be more energized by respect than approval?

Sales Growth Question: Where are some other places where the need for approval blind spot might be hiding?

Sales Growth Lesson: Focus on the purpose.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

To understand why people go off the track, I thought it would be a good idea to be clear on the right track for ethical business.

These are some guidelines that are applicable to all spheres of leadership, management, and selling.

Ethical Sales Leaders will:

• lead in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of all role players;
• demonstrate a level of integrity that will clearly establish them as trustworthy;
• be sensitive as to how their decisions affect others;
• use their social power to not be self-serving, but to take care of the needs of those around them;
• motivate their teams to put the needs or interests of the group ahead of their own;
• define a path for others to follow, and;
• inspire their teams to believe ethics is profitable

Interestingly, as I’m reworking Leadership Shift for launch later this year, I’m challenging myself to articulate what I learned about business values and ethics while growing up on the TTT Ranch. This “Code of the Old West” ties directly to today’s leadership:

• Respect yourself and others
• Accept responsibility for your life
• Be positive and cheerful
• Be a person of your word
• Be fair in all your dealings
• Be a good friend and neighbor

Sales Growth Question: What are the guidelines that help you lead and sell ethically?
Sales Growth Lesson: Leaders take responsibility for nurturing a culture of ethical business processes.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.

I recently had the honor of having lunch with Ron James, president and CEO of the Center for Ethical Business Cultures (CEBC).  This world-leading nonprofit organization is committed to helping business and sales leaders create ethical, values-based, and profitable business cultures.

As we’re talking, I realized that here is a man who’s truly committed to doing things the right way.  Ron is intentional about pursuing ethics, both personally and professionally. In fact, he was recently honored by Twin Cities Business Award Ceremony  as an Outstanding Director 2011. The passion and commitment that I saw in Ron caused me to question my own purposefulness in responding to the challenge from my business colleague to ‘raise the bar’ – to inspire people to lead, manage, and sell profitably – and to do it with integrity.

Ron also moderated the Twin Cities Ethical Leadership Forum with three veteran business executives, Marc Belton, Marti Morfitt and Kevin Rhein. Here are some of the important life lessons from their personal experiences that they shared with the audience:

• Be clear on your personal values before the storms come. Otherwise, the storms will dictate your response.
• Create alignment between your personal and organizational values.
• Serve all stakeholders of the business.
• Good guys can finish first.

What are some of your life lessons on the importance of ethical selling and leadership?

In our next posting I will tell you about a model for ethical sales business processes

Sales Growth Question: How are you inspiring your team to do ethical business, even under challenging financial conditions?

Sales Growth Lesson: Your example influences those you lead.

© Copyright 2012, Danita Bye Sales Growth Specialists, All Rights Reserved.