Continuous Self Development-Books of the Month
Two recommendations this month, both hitting in the critical area of “Marketing”. Reality Marketing Revolution by Lieberman & Keiles is simple, basic, on point, action oriented and provides follow-thru suggestions with a Resources Directory. I loved the identified five questions the authors use with their clients to craft an effective marketing strategy:
- What are the company’s revenue goals over the next 12-18 months?
- Who is the exact target audience that will purchase your service?
- What pains and problems does this target market have when they purchase services like yours.
- What solution does your company provide to cure those pains?
- How are those solutions remarkable enough to start a buzz and set you apart from the competition?
This is a great, marketing guide for small to medium sized businesses.
My second pick is Inbound Marketing By Halligan, this is a must read and guaranteed to kick up your effectiveness at leveraging social media and blogs. This book is all about getting found online and driving business in to you! I’ve yet to read anything better out there on this critical topic to every business. Short on theory and long on action, that’s how I like it and that’s what Inbound marketing delivers. It will not only tell you why you should be more active in this relatively new frontier, but more importantly “HOW”. Ever since reading it, my mind continues to race with ideas, we’ve put several things in place and know we have a long way to go before we have tapped the potential. I suspect Inbound Marketing will be used like a reference manual for us, and you, for at least the next year in order to leverage so many of the actions that Halligan shares. The internet has the potential to be a game changer for our companies and our sales forces. Once you’ve read just 30 pages of Inbound Marketing, you will be salivating over the potential and begin putting in place action items to get business coming to you!
The Daly News March 2010 Volume 37
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
WIN WITH CULTURE
On several occasions I have spoken and written about the importance of designing and implementing a“Winning Culture” at your respective business. The evidence continues to mount that “culture” can make all the difference between so-so performance and dramatic positive results in any market. One CEO/Owner recently said it best: “If we get the culture right, Jack, all the other things you speak to in Sales and Sales Management will be easier. If we don’t get the culture right, everything you speak to will be hard.” Wow, how right this is!
When I think about culture, it’s creating an environment in our company, where the people who work there don’t get up and say “Oh, I gotta go to work today”, but rather “Hey, I get to go to work there!’ and actually recognize the positive differences of working in our company and look forward to going in. If we can create such an environment, we then would have a competitive, sustainable advantage. Unfortunately, few companies are spending the efforts needed here, and in a tightened economy, even less effort is being expended!
John Kotter spent 10 years studying and comparing companies with a focus and effort on culture to those companies that didn’t and he discovered four significant take-away’s:
- Revenues increased 682 % vs. 166%
- Stock prices increased 901% vs. 74%
- Net income increased 756% vs. 1%
- Job growth increased 282% vs. 36%
Pretty compelling data! Key to a winning culture are the systems and processes that reinforce communication, recognition and empowerment, amongst a number of other areas. Someone needs to “own” this effort and make it an ongoing lifeblood of the company. The fad of the quarter would arguably be worse than doing nothing at all. So, the first thing we must wrestle down is “who is responsible for this effort?”
FUN-that seems to be a recurring theme amongst so many of the companies that are exhibiting a winning culture while delivering above average results in performance. Well known companies “getting it right” include Southwest Airlines, Zappos, Netflix and Virgin companies. When you think about these companies, FUN surely comes to mind. Beyond that, though, are eye-opening results! SW Air delivering 37 years of consecutive profits in an industry that is financially decimated (and the employees of SWA appear to enjoy what they are doing, as compared with so many of the other airlines). Check out the YouTube video for the rapper safety announcement and the book NUTS by Freiberg for ideas of how they do it.
If you haven’t taken the free tour of Zappos just outside of Vegas, schedule your one hour visit to see their winning craziness! Bring a camera and witness how a company in ten years goes from startup to sold to Amazon for $1.2 Billion! At the end of the tour, be sure to get the Culture Book to see how much heart exists in the company and compare it to the feelings of the people in your company. Heck, all new hires in Zappos get a $2,000 offer to go work somewhere else and last year there were only 3 takers. Included here are some photos of my most recent tour to Zappos. Then there is Netflix, coming on the rental video scene way after Blockbuster, outperforming Blockbuster in a huge way, and forcing Blockbuster into changing their business model. Go to your search engine and type in “Netflix Culture” and review for 15 minutes their power point summary of how the culture works there-be prepared for some seriously challenging stuff-but, stuff that is working in a very profitable way. Sir Richard Branson has been consistent all along the way to building his Virgin collection of 100+ companies as to how important culture has been to their success-it all comes down to people and making it FUN!
In my travels, I ran across an amazing story of success in East Hartford, CT at Goodwin College, where founder/President Mark Scheinberg is building a success on so many fronts it’s mind-boggling. If you are in the area, be sure to drop in very a real eye-opening tour! Here are a couple photos from my visit, one with Mark trying to copy my answers(?) and the latest in working on a computer, on a treadmill! FUN!
More photos, more FUN, and another visit with client Jackson Healthcare just outside of Atlanta. Similar to Zappos, the staff at Jackson Healthcare walk their values, as opposed to some platitudes hanging on a plaque. Things like “others first, strives for excellence, maximize potential, do the right thing and esteem the team” are for real. The organization has a strong work/life balance, and you can see that in photos of the company health center on site as well as a room to unwind with video games, billiards and the like. The culture was described to me by one associate as “energetic, conscientious and intelligent”. Another stated, “We don’t just have employees; we have ambassadors.”
The biggest challenge with regard to taking action in this critical culture area seems to me to be the difference between “urgent and important”. The things that typically fall under the banner called culture tend to not be urgent, but when you look at the Kotter stats and these business examples of success, they are critically important.
So, who has the ball in your company, and what is the culture game plan?
WAITING LIST HAS BEGUN- GPS -”GROWING PROFITABLE SALES”
In order to assist our clients with implementation of the “Jack Daly” Sales & Management Systems/Processes taught for years in a live presentation, we anticipate releasing an online tool named GPS-Growing Profitable Sales. Online demos will begin within the next 60 days and if you would like to “take a ride” to see what we have, call Jennifer at 888-298-6868 or email her at jennifer@jackdaly.net and we will be taking those who respond in the order in which they expressed interest. Jeannifer@jackdaly.net or call her at 888-298-6868.
The system will focus on Productive Accountability, providing a coaching vehicle between the sales person and sales manager. Additionally, the system will provide Sales Professional Development Tools, building and monitoring sales competencies, along with a talent development toolkit.
GPS will focus on Key Activities, Pipeline Management, Touch System, Success Guide, Goal Tracker and many other key concepts of “Jack Daly” Training. The GPS System is built so that each client can customize it easily to their business particulars, working within the proven “Jack Daly” processes. To get on the First Alert List for a “test drive” of GPS, simply email
TAKING ACTION– As a catalyst to encouraging others to “take action”, we feature what others are doing and experiencing with their initiatives following our training sessions. Hopefully these will prompt each of us to take action!
Jack
I just thought I would share some brief news with you!
A while back you came to Holland Michigan and I had the pleasure of hearing you speak and break bread with you. I have been so impressed with what I learned, I have had all my reps around the country enroll in your sessions. The feed back has all been the same. AMAZING!! Thank you for helping me turn my business around. We have implemented many of the items we have heard in fact our “9″ touch system has worked. Our group has been able to diversify our business from a majority 90% auto business to now a 60% auto business. We have not lost any market share, in fact we have gained. This exploding growth has allowed us to maintain great profitability through a tough economic time. Our pipeline and development around pipeline has never been greater than what it is today. We have a great deal of work to do, but we are moving this ship in the right direction!!
I will get with you and the end of the year to show our progress. Continued success on your goals for 2010!!!
Best regards,
Craig J. Zezima
Hi Jack!
We have been implementing your suggestions and have experienced great success. We have grown almost 40 FTE’s (full time equivalent’s) since January 1. We still have lots of work to do and can’t wait to see the future results, we will keep you updated. Changing our focus from “selling” to helping people buy and advocating for children to receive the BEST early education has been a huge paradigm shift for our entire team!
In deepest gratitude for your inspiration and direction! I will be seeing you soon at one of your next trainings and look forward to your webinar next week!
All my best,
Krysta O’Neill
Beating Call Reluctance – Getting Thru the Gatekeeper
THIS THURSDAY-MARCH 25
To make the sale – you’ve got to get in the door before you can get in the game. How well are you getting thru to your decision makers? Join me tomor row – we’re just one day away from some very important sales boosting ideas.
Decision makers have never been better shielded. About 80% of all sales phone calls end up in some sort of electronic gatekeeper and the rest are screened by caller ID or live assistants. Learn to get thru these gatekeepers more effectively.
Have you ever had any real training or a solid plan on HOW to deal with gatekeepers effectively? Learn the correct mindset and 50 proven tactics that work to greatly increase your opportunities and results. Join us for my webinar Beating Call Reluctance – Getting Thru the Gatekeeper tomorrow, March 25. It’s loaded with ideas you can put to work right away…
- Essential Gatekeeper insights and preparation to succeed
- Gatekeeper Myths & Tactics
- How to Beat Call Reluctance for greater success and more FUN!
Beating Call Reluctance – Getting Thru the Gatekeeper
Thu, Mar 2 1:00 pm Pacific time
If you want to grow more new business, click hereto learn more or to register! This session is $99 and includes 5 great training tools to help you use the ideas, plus a special offer. I guarantee you’ll get rock-solid ideas to get thru to more buyer opportunities.
Onward and upward,
Jack
Jack Daly Enterprises, LLC
OTHER UPCOMING WEBINARS:
- May 4-Getting the Most from our Sales Teams
- July 13 –Managing Objections, Asking the Best Questions, and Improved Listening Skills
- August 17-Compensation, Rewards, and Recognition for Sales People
- November 16-Sales Rx: Sales Systems & Process Checklist
CONTINUOUS SELF DEVELOPMENT
wo recommendations this month, both hitting in the critical area of “Marketing”. Reality Marketing Revolution by Lieberman & Keiles is simple, basic, on point, action oriented and provides follow-thru suggestions with a Resources Directory. I loved the identified five questions the authors use with their clients to craft an effective marketing strategy:
- What are the company’s revenue goals over the next 12-18 months?
- Who is the exact target audience that will purchase your service?
- What pains and problems does this target market have when they purchase services like yours.
- What solution does your company provide to cure those pains?
- How are those solutions remarkable enough to start a buzz and set you apart from the competition?
This is a great, marketing guide for small to medium sized businesses.
My second pick is Inbound Marketing By Halligan, this is a must read and guaranteed to kick up your effectiveness at leveraging social media and blogs. This book is all about getting found online and driving business in to you! I’ve yet to read anything better out there on this critical topic to every business. Short on theory and long on action, that’s how I like it and that’s what Inbound marketing delivers. It will not only tell you why you should be more active in this relatively new frontier, but more importantly “HOW”. Ever since reading it, my mind continues to race with ideas, we’ve put several things in place and know we have a long way to go before we have tapped the potential. I suspect Inbound Marketing will be used like a reference manual for us, and you, for at least the next year in order to leverage so many of the actions that Halligan shares. The internet has the potential to be a game changer for our companies and our sales forces. Once you’ve read just 30 pages of Inbound Marketing, you will be salivating over the potential and begin putting in place action items to get business coming to you!
Here’s the schedule of cities I will be conducting programs in over the next 3 months (some for clients, others are open seat workshops). I may have flexibility in my scheduling for lunch, dinner or more should someone have an interest. If you see I’m headed to your part of the world, feel free to email jennifer@jackdaly.net with your interest and Jen will do her best to accommodate any requests.
April-Orange County-CA, Winnipeg, Boston, Whistler & Las Vegas
May-Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, Orange County,CA, Brazil
June-Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Green Bay, Philadelphia,
**Jack is also traveling the world in 2010 and would love to hear from you if you have an interest in working with him while he is in town. Here is his international schedule:
July 2010- Australia & New Zealand
September 2010- London
November 2010-Toronto & Vancouver, Canada
NEW TOOLS FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Keeping with the lead story of this month’s newsletter, our special this month is CULTURE BY DESIGN. Here I share ideas on communication, recognition, empowerment and rewards tactics to be considered when designing and implementing a winning sales culture in our companies. This 3 hour program is in a DVD/Audio CD combo. Normal pricing is $225 for the combo but through April 30, call Jennifer at 888-298-686 or jennifer@jackdaly.net and it for $150. One idea implemented toward a winning culture will deliver a huge return on your investment!
If any article in this newsletter would be of interest to your co-workers, customers or clients we would appreciate having you forward it along.
