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The Daly News Nov/Dec 2006 Issue 16

Jennifer & Family

In recognition of the year-end holidays, this issue of our newsletter will be a “double-issue” and with it we extend our warmest wishes to you and your families this holiday season. Thank you for your continued friendship and we look forward to providing you business building ideas throughout the NewYear.

Happy Holidays from both Jack and Jen.

Jack Running the Disney World Marathon

The BOSTON MARATHON(The importance of GOALS)

For those of you “non-runners” out there, the Boston Marathon is the equivalent of the World Series, Super Bowl, World Cup and Stanley Cup rolled into one for the long distance runner. The 111th running of the Boston Marathon will take place on April 16, 2007. As many of you know, I set a goal three years ago to run a marathon in each of the 50 states in the USA. I want to share with you a story of the power of sharing your goals with others.O n October 13 this year I delivered a full-day Sales Workshop in Boston. As a part of my presentation on goals, I shared my marathon goal. The group naturally inquired how many states I had completed (15 at that time) and then, “Have you done ‘The Boston?’”. Well, the Boston Marathon is what is known as a “qualifier”. You must run a sanctioned marathon at a minimum finish time for your age group – and I do not plan on investing the time necessary to post such a time. As such, I told the group I had reconciled myself to this reality and would eventually run somewhere else in the state. The group’s response was “no way!, I had to run the Boston.” Well, with several discussions on the breaks throughout the day, the resources of the group were marshaled.By October 20, I was in!! (A special thanks goes out to Peter Mckeon of Laticrete for his critical intros) I will be running in the 2007 Boston Marathon and I am thrilled. The big take-away from this story is to 1) know what your goals are and 2) share those goals with others and they will work to help you achieve them. I have accomplished so much in my life as a result of having a clear picture of my desired destination (goals in writing) and then enlisting others to help in the journey.

On April 16 I will be running in Boston for the benefit of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. What a great cause and one that touches everyone in some way. Speaking of goals, how about “a world without cancer”? If you’d like to support such a great cause and goal, I’d really appreciate your donation which can be made to my website;http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=186498&supId=152295090

Thanks for your consideration here. The Dana Farber Cancer Institute uses 100% of the funds raised directly for cancer research-lets find the cure and put them “out of business”!

2007 GOALS LET’S SET THEM!

With the previous article on goals, what a perfect lead-in to getting our business and personal goals in order for 2007and maybe beyond. A regular feature of this newsletter is CONTINUOUS SELF DEVELOPMENT , where I feature a recommended book or two. I’m combining this month’s book recommendations here, as they will provide an ideal guide for your goal setting adventure. Here are three solid books which will stimulate your thinking and help with your structure of your goals for 2007.

“Success Built to Last-Creating a life that matters” by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery and Mark Thompson. Leveraging conversations with hundreds of remarkable human beings from around the world, here’s your opportunity to learn from the masters. Discover what they have in common, distill it into simple practices and transform your business and your life. This book is nothing short of remarkable, and will challenge you to “raise the bar” and invoke your passion into something that matters!

“Visionary’s Handbook: Nine paradoxes that will shape the future of your business” by Watts Wacker and Jim Taylor. Throughout the book are exercises which will challenge you to visualize and outline success. This is a book that will take you “out of the box” and will push you in a provocative way.

“Your Best Year Yet”by Jinny Ditzler. I came across this work through a client’s recommendation. This book is a simple exercise tackling ten questions that will enable your 2007 to be your most successful ever. As Jinny says, “You’re never too old nor too young to make the coming year your best yet.”

If you were to read these three works, and then carve some time from the holidays to formulate your goals and game plans for 2007, you will be terrifically positioned for success as you define it. Here are a few “clips” from these solid guides:

After the initial spurt of growing up and becoming an adult, most of us don’t stop to think about goals in the same serious way we did when we carefully planned our education, our career, our first home away from our parents. We all too often give up on creating a life that is more meaningful and fulfilling and settle for what we have.

Here are ten Best Year Yet questions from Jinny:

• What did I accomplish?
• What were my biggest disappointments?
• What did I learn?
• How do I limit myself, and how can I stop.
• What are my personal values?
• What roles do I play in my life?
• Which role is my major focus for the next year?
• What are my goals for each role?
• What are my top ten goals for the next year?
• How can I make sure I achieve them? In order to have your best year yet, you must discover how you limit yourself and take responsibility for what’s happened so far. Successful people have a history of mistakes and they harvest their failures. The real definition of success is a life and work that brings personal fulfillment and lasting relationships and makes a difference in the world in which one lives. The question is why would anyone tolerate any other definition. Imagine yourself bailing out of your nice, safe, well-respected professional job to become the subject of ridicule and litigation by the industry you want to reinvent, and then bleeding red ink for years to accomplish the goal. That’s the story of Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines, and happens all the time to pioneers and people focused on “making something happen”.

So, here is your recommended format and action items:

• Put your goals in writing.
• Build a written plan to achieve those goals.
• Implement a system of measurement and tracking.
• Instill a system of accountability. A goal is a specific and measurable result you want to achieve within a specific time frame. Identifying the key activities necessary to achieving the goal will further enhance your getting the job done.

Lets look at the power of goals. The results of a study of business school graduates who had been out of school for at least ten years underscores this power. Upon graduation, 83 percent had no goals, while 14 percent had vague goals in their minds but no written goals. When their level of accomplishment was compared ten years later, those with some sense of their goals earned three times more than the ones with no goals, and the 3 percent with written goals earned ten times more than those with none at all. The choice is left to each of us as to which outcome we desire.

2006 SALES WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Toronto, Ontario- December 12, 2006.
Smart Selling Workshop
The Westin- One Harbour Square
9am-4pm $445.00 US

2007 SALES WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

• Australia/New Zealand- March 20073/8-Auckland3/13-Perth3/15-Adelaide3/21-Melbourne3/22-Sydney3/26-Brisbane
• April 18-Long Island, New York
  Full Daly Smart Selling
• June 15-Orange County, CA
  1/2 Day Smart Selling
• August 24-Scotland
  Full Daly Smart Selling
• October 19-Toronto,ON Full Daly Smart Selling
• November 9-Washington DCFull Day Smart Selling
• December 7-Vancouver, BCFull Daly Smart Selling

*To register please visit our website at www.jackdaly.net

2007 MANAGEMENT & SALES SUMMIT SCHEDULE

We found tremendous success this year with our two day Management and Sales Summits. Our clients asked for a full day of management training and we responded by offering our Summits. As we expand internationally this year, we have fewer single day sales workshops so we have added an additional Summit as a win-win for everyone! It’s best if your management attends the first day and your sales staff joins you on the second but you can attend either the management or sales day individually. Register early. They will sell out quickly! www.jackdaly.net .

• February 15 & 16-Southern California
• June 21 & 22-St. Louis, Missouri
• October 4 & 5-Cleveland, Ohio

SUCCESS STORY MARKETING

In my travels I run into people and resources that can help our readers ratchet up their personal performances as well as that of their companies. Alan Peterson, CEO of The Peterson Group, has developed a web based set of tools that do just that and I’ve asked him to provide me some examples to share in this newsletter. This month, it’s “Success Story Marketing”.

Success Story Marketing: Selling Experience

By Alan M. Peterson, Jr.
It’s true that nothing succeeds like success. We naturally gravitate toward companies and relationships we know succeed. Every business should leverage new sales through systematic Success Story Marketing.

What is Success Story Marketing? Simply put, it is a program by which a company creates, distributes and archives stories that demonstrate their experience solving customer problems. Success Story development begins with understanding your customer’s initial challenges, the solutions you brought to the table, the results of the solution and finally, a customer testimonial affirming the success. The Success Story is then designed into a professional marketing “case study,” supported by graphics and custom or stock photography. Success Stories can be used in proposals, introductory packages or any situation in which you need to establish your credentials.

For more information or to see first-hand how Fortune companies use TPG’s online Success Story Marketing Program, which supports thousands of sales representatives across North America, call Alan Peterson at 949-721-8686 for an online demo.

BE MEMORABLE!

There are many components that go in to differentiating you from your competition. At the end of the day, the desire is for you to “be memorable”. Often times, it’s the little things that stand out. Opportunities to do so don’t go screaming for attention, you need to learn to listen for them. But for those who do, great things are forthcoming. Witness such an example. On a lengthy road trip recently, I experienced a travel day from hell. I won’t go through all the gory details, but suffice to say this was the second time the airlines (thank you Air Canada!) misplaced my luggage. After a 15 hour day, I arrived for my scheduled dinner with 7 entrepreneurs. Naturally, my day from hell became a point of discussion.

Well, the following morning, I had a sizeable box delivered to my hotel room. In the box was a brief note that this was my “survival kit”, complete with underwear, socks, pants, shirts, sweater, hat, gloves, and toiletries. Thank you JODY STEINHAUER, CEO of THE BARGAINS GROUP ! It’s little wonder Jody has been named to Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in 2001 and Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. Jody had family/kids at home, three businesses to lead and so many reasons to 1)dismiss the incident to casual dinner conversation and 2)deal with the urgencies of the day. It’s my bet that this is a behavior that Jody exhibits regularly- proactive listening and then taking the initiative to make a difference. Check out Jody’s company at www.bargainsgroup.com. I will ensure you of one thing- she has cemented herself with me as “memorable” and I will look for opportunities to help her in her business/life quests. Thank you Jody, for the thoughtfulness and the lesson!

WORDS OF WISDOM

Smart Business Magazine is a management journal providing insight and advice for CEOs of companies with 50 or more employees. Recent issues have featured interviews with Michael Johnson, CEO of Herbalife and Steve Carley, CEO of El Pollo Loco, which I felt were loaded with “words of wisdom”. Here’s a sampling of takeaways, then I encourage you to pursue the publication in your own right.

From Carley: -Don’t be complacent.

-Create alignment through results and momentum.

-Hire passionate people instead of trying to create them.

-Know your business.

-Create learning experiences out of failures.

-Clearly define your performance criteria.

-Continually upgrade your team.

From Johnson: -Develop your vision.

-Trust your gut.

-Don’t mistake charisma for leadership.

-Deal with your weaknesses.

-Know the rules.

-Give back to the community.

OLDIES but GOODIES

For the past 6 years we have historically produced a newsletter from Professional Sales Coach, Inc. With this Daly News newsletter as replacement, we wanted to remind our readers of a feature each month pulled from the archives which continues to be content rich. Professionalism requires life long learning.

THE SALES EFFORT PLAN TO WIN

As Sales Leaders, we have the unique opportunity every day to coach and lead our associates to new heights. Are we continually gaining peak performance from our teammates? Remember that any inadequacy in our teams is a reflection of our proactive coaching efforts. So ask yourself, are you committed to building a world class sales organization?

D epending on where you are now and the size of your sales force, this worthwhile goal may take years to achieve. If you are ready to lead, join your teammates in the ongoing challenge. “World Class” is attainable if you have a passion to achieve it, if you allocate the budget and other resources to devote to this purpose, and the support of your CEO/owner.

FIRST HOW DO YOU MEASURE UP?

Sales Leaders interested in team success have two choices today: either we can wait for the market to improve – or we can become more effective sales leaders. Each of us has the tools to forge his or her own destiny. Increasing the skills of salespeople is the most direct way to build a sales team. Just as we train sales professionals to focus on building relationships rather than chasing deals and transactions, we encourage managers to strengthen their mentoring abilities, instead of pursuing numbers.

Sales & Marketing Management magazine surveyed more than 200 sales managers, to discover what it takes to be a great Sales Leader. Despite the different industries represented, there was strong agreement on what makes a sales manager stand out. Here’s your chance to bench mark yourself against what others say it takes to lead and manage successfully in today’s business environment.

Rate your proficiency at the top eight management skills identified in the survey: Excellent=E, Good=G, Average=A, Poor=P

____Listening ____Communication ____Leadership ____Coaching

____Empathy ____Ability to Motivate

____Integrity ____Goal SettingListening was cited as the most important of these skills. “You can’t decide or lead without the knowledge,” explains Bernie Steiner, Vice President of GPS transportation. Suggestions for listening and on improvement include:

-Prepare and commit yourself to active listening. -Look for your prospect to reveal his or Highest Value Needs when listening.

-Concentrate and try not to let your thoughts wander.

-Plan to report the general essence of what you are hearing to someone else later.

-Take notes – but adapt your note taking to be appropriate with the speaker and the situation.In the Lamalle Report on top executives, the top five factors cited in achieving success by those earning over $250,000 annually were:

• Communication (cited by 71%) 2. Intelligence (64%)
• Integrity (54%)
• Experience (50%)
• Enthusiasm and positive attitude (46%)

Our associates look to us to be active communicators and inspirational leaders. But remember: people will listen to what you say, but their behavior will be shaped by what you do. As leaders, we must lead the charge to take advantage of today’s changes. Fast emerging technologies, combined with a reconfiguration of many businesses and industries, are working both within and around our companies. Peter Drucker probably said it best: “Every organization has to prepare for the abandonment of everything it does.” We’re seeing this more and more in our roles as business consultants.

NEW CULTURE A cording to research conducted by John Kotter in Corporate Culture and Performance, over a ten-year period, companies that intentionally “managed their cultures well” outperformed similar organizations that didn’t. According to Kotter’s research, within those companies that managed their culture:

• Revenues increased 682 percent vs. 166 percent 2. Stock prices increased 901 percent vs. 74 percent
• Net income increased 756 percent vs. 1 percent
• Job growth increased 282 percent vs.36 percent

It may be difficult to identify your own culture because you have become so much a part of it. However, every organization has one, and it’s vital to identify the key factors in yours and intentionally manage that culture.

Part Two of this article will key in on ideas to build the winning culture for our sales teams, ideas on recognition and rewards, and ideas on holding more effective sales meetings…all necessary to the winning sales culture.

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. Thank you!