Btb Guest Author

Jonathan Farrington

Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.

Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

However, the Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter update their page less than once every 74 days.

And most people only ever “tweet” once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

“Based on the numbers, Twitter is certainly not a service where everyone has seen it has instantly loved it,” said Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard Business School who carried out the work.

On a typical online social network, he said, the top 10% of users account for 30% of all production.

“This implies that Twitter’s resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network,” the team wrote in a blog post.

Silent crowds

Twitter is a social networking website where people can post messages of 140 up to characters - known as “tweets” - that can be seen by other users who subscribe to their feed.

Its growth has been described as “explosive” and has become the poster child of social networking sites, particularly amongst media companies.

Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends.

Recent figures from research firm Nielsen Online show that visitors to the site increased by 1,382%, from 475,000 to seven million, between February 2008 and February 2009. It is thought to have grown beyond 10 million in the last 4 months.

By comparison, Facebook - one of the most popular social networking sites by number of visitors - has 200 million active users and grew by 228% during the same period.

Research by Nielsen also suggests that many people give the service a try, but rarely or never return.

Earlier this year, the firm found that more than 60% of US Twitter users fail to return the following month.

“The Harvard data says very, very few people tweet and the Nielsen data says very, very few people listen consistently,” Mr Heil told BBC News.

‘Super user’

The Harvard study took a snapshot of 300,542 users in May 2009. As well as usage patterns it looked in detail at gender differences.

For example, it found that men have 15% more followers than women despite there being slightly more females users of Twitter than males.

It also showed that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman, despite the reverse being true on other social networks.

“The sort of content that drives men to look at women on other social networks does not exist on Twitter,” said Mr Heil. “By that I mean pictures, extended articles and biographical information.”

However, said Mr Heil, the most striking result was that so few people used the service to publish information, preferring instead to be passive consumers.

For example, the median number of lifetime tweets per user is one.

“Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than an intimate conversation with friends,” he said. “It looks like a few people are creating content for a few people to read and share.”

Some “super users” can have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers.

Currently, the most popular person to follow on Twitter is the movie star Ashton Kutcher who has over two million followers.

However, the service bills itself as a way to “communicate and stay connected” with “friends, family and co-workers”.

“The Twitter management need to decide if this is a problem,” said Mr Heil. “And if they decide it is, how they will tweak Twitter to become more acceptable to the average user?”

Very interesting!!

Thanks to BBC News.

Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant, who has guided hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels.  He has authored in excess of three hundred skills development programmes, designed a range of unique and innovative process tools and has been published extensively on a wide range of business topics including organizational and sales team development, leadership and the customer imperative.  Jonathan’s first book, “Tougher At The Top” will be published early in 2009.  Visit his website @ www.jonathanfarrington.com

In the News

Here is a second very interesting post from Jonathan called “Dear Customer, Meet Me On Twitter. Dear Vendor, Why Should I Do That? “

“We all know that a vitally important sales activity is that of managing existing customer accounts, to consolidate and grow the relationship. Yet unfortunately, when compared over time, the customers’ interest levels increase while salespeople’s interest levels tend to decrease. This creates a “relationship gap” and is due entirely to complacency. I happen to believe that “complacency levels” are increasing alarmingly, and this goes some way to explaining declining levels of sales achievement”

Jonathan highlights why increasing dependence on Sales 2.0 tools may end up decreasing the levels of time and activities spent managing existing accounts and relationships. I think he makes a very strong case why salespeople should proceed with caution.

Staying with the Twitter theme, Jordan McCollum tells us that to”Breathe into a paper bag. Put your head between your knees” because Twitter traffic is now at best flat or maybe even declining.I guess I may have to start looking for another replacement addiction

Over at TSE

TSE Masterclass Schedule

Today @ 6pm

“Engage More…Sell More” presented by Skip Anderson

Thursday @ 6pm

“Cold Calling in the 21st Century: The New Rules” presented by Wendy Weiss

Thursday June 25th

“Mom Was Right! Honesty is the best policy and, in today’s tough selling market, a very profitable one” presented by Colleen Francis

Tuesday June 30th

“The Incredible Value Of Sales Team Audits” presented by Kendra Lee and Jonathan Farrington

Remember each masterclass is $59.50 on it’s own, but if you join through my blog as a VIP member - you get all this and more, much MORE for $25 so why not:

Take the tour

Download a FREE copy of our summer eBook (normally $19.95)

Just click through on the two banners above.

I had intended that our interviews would happen once a month, however based on the amount of interest, I have decided to make it weekly for the foreseeable future. If you are interested - please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

The Btb Interview

Joseph Kelly is CEO of the Loopthing, the newly launched social business network, ww.loopthing.com The service provides any business or self employed person with the opportunity to create an interactive profile in addition to forming and joining networks that relate to their area of business. Together with the open application environment that is being created, Loopthing is starting to push the boundaries of business communication and interaction on the web.

Me: As an Irish based start-up looking to grow the Loopthing network both here and internationally how are you finding current market conditions?

Joseph: It is definitely fair to say that current conditions are by far more stable than Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. Towards the end of last year it was extremely difficult for organisations to see over the business horizon, which made forecasting future profitability and even basic inventory requirements very hard.

Within the ICT sector there are some very innovative products and services in development, and it is essential that we as an entrepreneurial nation capitalise upon opportunities that are being created in current market conditions, especially on an international level. Our only concern would be the support available to SME businesses in the current environment. Speaking from our company’s personal experience it has been very hard to gain any level of concrete support from the country’s enterprise support networks.

Me: “Increasing brand awareness through the web” – Discuss?

Joseph: We believe in today’s business environment every single business, no matter what industry they operate in should be in complete control of their web presence.  It’s basically all about communicating with the widest possible audience and if you’re missing a trick on the net, you’re basically ignoring a large potential customer base. Check out our blog on what steps you should take - http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=351

Me: What advice would you give to increase sales in the current market environment?

Joseph: To improve sales in any downswing is obviously a very hard task, but our belief is that if you can dramatically increase the information surrounding your products and services, your business will stand much more of a chance of attracting those vitally needed sales leads.  Given the product and service is satisfactory, improving the information and transparency associated with your business, in our view carries a high correlation with sales generation. http://blog.loopthing.com/?p=95

In the News

Hi Niall,

We just posted an article, Top 100 Blogs to Boost Your Sales Skills?. I thought I’d bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting. I am happy to let you know that your site has been included in this list.

Thanks for your time!

Suzane Smith

Top Sales Experts International have just released their very latest ebook.

It’s 147 pages, packed with articles from some of the foremost sales experts in the world. It will be on sale for $19.95, but you can grap a copy for free, that’s right for FREE here.

I haven’t got around to reading all the articles yet, but I have already found some gems in there:

Business Consultants, Strategic Orchestrators & Long-Term Allies
By Jonathan Farrington

A “Big Picture” View Blurs The Vision…..
By Christian Maurer

Don’t Get Referrals, Get Introductions
By Paul McCord

Are You Missing These Buying Signals?
By Skip Anderson

Recruiting A Sales Force That Sells
By Colly Graham

How To Successfully Cold Call For New Business
By Steve Martinez

Time Well Served!
By Tibor Shanto

Sociable! Selling Integrating Social Media Into Your Sales Process
By Shane Gibson

The Secret To Getting More Done And Making More Money
Aligning Your Activity With Your Objectives
By Karl Goldfield

Stop Blaming The Economy! Three Tough Questions
For Winning More Business In Today’s Soft Market
By Tim Wackel

To download this super ebook for FREE - just click on the widget below

Oh! and by the way, my own article is on page 109. Its called “Are You Selling Your L-Factor?” - Make sure to check it out

This is an new venture for us. Once every month I will attempt to talk to a person in the know about selling or business. If you are interested - please let me know @ nialldevitt[at]btbtraining.com

The Btb Monthly Interview

Anne Perret is a Psychologist, Marketeer, Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming and a director of Calyx Communications Limited, www.calyxcomms.co.uk, which provides specialist skills in bid management, sales management, bid writing, tender preparation, competitive tendering and responses to tenders

Me: Anne, is bidding selling?

Anne: You can tell what an organisation’s answer to this question is by how it manages its bids, tenders, proposals and responses to Invitations To Tender and Requests For Proposals (ITTs/RFPs). And by its win rate.

Those with a low win rate see bids as back office activity. Often bids are put together late because they are an add-on to the day job. Or it’s the job of a young graduate to write the bids. Sales people should be out on the road selling, not in the office writing. And a 20% win rate is the norm in their industry.

Me: How do the more successful organisations see things differently?

Anne: Organisations with high win rates see things differently. They regard responding to formal procurements as part of their sales function. And they take the business of bidding very seriously indeed.

Me: How involved should salespeople be in the process?

Anne: Their sales people are involved in bids, ensuring that every last piece of customer knowledge is fed into the bid strategy. And they are heavily involved in writing tender responses and presentations.

Me: Does the sales department always need to be involved in bidding or are there some exceptions?

Anne: Bidding brilliantly is part of a salesman’s job when that’s what customers require. It’s not an option or an add on – it’s an essential part of the selling toolkit.

Me: Thank you Anne, you re-confirmed what I have always believed.

In the News

Jonathan Farrington, our captain at TSE is confused, he thinks it’s Christmas and is giving away free places to TSE Masterclasses at his blog. - Make sure to keep an eye out, it’s on a first come first serve basis.

SLI (linkedIn)

We had our first Sales Leadership Ireland meet up yesterday in the Burlington. By all accounts, it was a success and the feedback has been excellent.  What surprised me, was not just the number of people that showed up - but the quality of these same people. I will be publishing a report of what transpired shortly.

We will be running another event soon, To join click here.

This is a meet event organised by the Sales Leadership Ireland LinkedIn Group. This is a not-for-profit initiative.

When: Wed, 03 Jun, 2009, Start time: 07:00 - End time: 09:00      Cost: 15 Euro

Where: Burlington Hotel, Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4 ireland. View on Map.

Des: A practical look at how companies and sales people might respond to the current challenges and opportunities in the market.

SECTION 1: Interactive sessions with Speakers (45 minutes)

1) Introduction to Sales Leadership Ireland
- Niall Devitt, Beyond the Boardroom Training

2) “Removing the New Bottlenecks in today’s Sales Processes” – 10 minutes
Niall Devitt will lead a discussion on how sales challenges are always changing with changing markets, how to identify these changes and how to respond.

3) “Partnering into New Markets” – 10 minutes
Donagh Kiernan of Maidsfield Associates will present a case study of how corporate partnering is an effective method of entering new sectoral or regional markets.

4) “Engaging with Customers through New Media” – 20 minutes
Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications will discuss how new media can be used to communicate with your market and gain new business.

SECTION 2: Key Challenges Roundtables (1 hour)

Maximum attendees 30 – 3 round tables of 10

A number of identified Key Challenges in the industry today will be discussed and debated to share insights on how challenges can and are be met by members. The key challenges will be collected from the Sales Leadership Ireland - Linked-In Discussion Group.

Structure:
a) Introduce identified “Key Challenges” – (5 Minutes)

b) One “Key Challenge” will be assigned to each roundtable. Each table will select a spokesperson to chair a discussion and collect suggested actions to meet these challenges, taking notes on a flipchart page (30 Minutes)

c) Each table’s spokesperson will present their findings to the whole group (30 Minutes)

d) Session Summary and Close

COFFEE & NETWORKING

A session report will be submitted to the Sales Leadership Ireland LinkedIn Group Discussion

SIGN UP FOR THIS EVENT HERE

In case you haven’t been tuning in recently, the whole question of sales ineffectiveness was brilliantly raised by Dave Stein. It’s not just a great question for sales professionals; it’s frankly the ONLY question.

Dave rightly asks “The root causes of sales ineffectiveness are clear. There is plenty of sound advice about how to fix the problem. There is a proven path.  The answers are there for everyone to see. There are companies you can read about and observe that have achieved sales excellence.

So, recession aside, why is sales as a profession and function, losing ground?”

In three follow up posts, Sales Force Ineffectiveness, Conjecture of the Future of the Profession, parts one, two and three; Dave Brock does an excellent job in teasing out the issues.

In Part One, he talks about why “for too long, we have treated sales as a “black art”, that now “Customers can be more informed and less knowledgeable” and how “Consultative selling is difficult—it is disciplined, process based, and requires commitment and follow through on a sustained basis”.

In two, he observes that this is not just a sales problem” “Some of it is “business culture”—in general, some of it is “regional culture”—that is North American, European, Asian, and so forth. Some of it is “industry culture.”

Finally in part three, He resolves that these same difficulties also provide for “people who are or who are committed to becoming the highest levels of performance” - “opportunity for real progress and growth for sales professionals”.

He asks “how can we improve” “what can we do”. Dave believes that “each of us can take ownership in driving change”

“Whether you are a leader or individual contributor, becoming disciplined and process focused, committing to follow through on these, exploiting the tools produce results. Leverage these processes and tools, not because your management tells you to, but because they help you become more effective”

Collectively, these four posts are a MUST read, if you don’t have the time, MAKE the time – the reasons WHY are in the TEXT.

Now it’s not often, I take anything remotely resembled an issue with what Dave Brock says.

“To be honest—at least from an organizational point of view, I am tempted to point the finger at management—not just sales management, but corporate management”

Perhaps, it’s inexperience, or my youthful exuberance, but I am inclined to not just point my finger at senior management, but my entire hand, in fact right down to the tips of my toes. My entire being points in that general vicinity. Here why:

For too long, salespeople have been getting in the neck from management.

Yes, we may have a bad reputation and yes some of it may be deserved, buy ultimately the system is set up so that we always end up taking the heat. If the results don’t happen, who invariably gets the blame?

For years and years, salespeople get cast aside, replaced and cast aside again by companies. Rarely if ever, is it asked did this person get the right training? Did this person get the right support? And why did we hire this person again? Oh and by the way “who hired this person?

Dave says “I don’t believe change only comes from the top. I believe change comes from committed, passionate people at all levels of the organization” If a collective ownership of the result existed within organisations, I think Dave would be very right.

If some of the people entrusted with the sales leadership function in many organisations didn’t do their best to dodge and pass the buck, I think he would be right.

If salespeople weren’t forced to knock out huge numbers of calls and put in vast amounts of meaningless activities by ill-advised and badly trained sales mangers, I think he would be right.

If the wider business community and business leaders respected sales and salespeople, I think he would be right.

The point is this; the problem is in the way that the system is set up particularly with regards to responsibility. It makes it extremely difficult for salespeople to change the “science of selling” from within.

In my opinion, the buck stops and it STOPS squarely at the feet of some of our so called sales leaders.

In case, you missed my point - take a little inspiration from this recent article about HP

Btb Guest Author

Maureen Blandford

Perhaps you’ve heard about Merrill Lynch’s John Thain’s $1.22M office renovation, including $87K for an area rug? Preceded, of course, by AIG’s spending part of their bailout on spa treatments for execs. Nice. And then there was the Big Three auto execs flying corporate jets to Washington to plead for their share of the bailout. Next up: Citigroup. Led by an exec team that the NY Post calls “Citiboobs.”

In this Wednesday’s New York Times, Maureen Dowd asks:

“How could Citigroup be so dumb as to go ahead with plans to get a new $50 million corporate jet, the exclusive Dassault Falcon 7X seating 12, after losing $28.5 billion in the past 15 months and receiving $345 billion in government investments and guarantees?”

“Citiboobs,” indeed.

While I am appalled by story after story detailing greed, stupidity, and obtuseness in corporate leadership, and applaud the world’s righteous indignation over the executive termites who have caused irreparable damage to our many fine organizations, there’s a part of my business psyche that is pleased such horrid behavior is seeing the light of day.

For years (actually two decades), I have often felt horror at how the B2B version of Fat Cats (Marketers and the executives who support them) burn through $s on truly ridiculous marketing tactics, while the Working Poor (Sales orgs) struggle to do more with less.

An $8K shower curtain or an $87K area rug look like wise investments next to spending in Marketing I’ve witnessed over the years. At the same time that sales organizations have seen their training & coaching budgets shrink to next to nothing, marketers think nothing of dropping $100K on new logo development or color consultation. They produce brochures that are rarely read by target audiences. A few years ago, I witnessed a tech client approve a $200K photo shoot (in NYC, of course) for photos that easily could’ve been obtained for a fraction of the cost from one of many fine stock photo agencies.

Why are our field sales folks so often building their own sales tools (wasting valuable sales time), when their corp HQ folks are spending millions on marketing materials? Because much of the corp-produced stuff doesn’t meet real selling needs. Have you ever seen the garage of a pharmaceutical rep? Packed with marketing materials they don’t use.

Very briefly, corporate marketers have been trained solely in consumer marketing, not B2B. They’ve rarely actually carried a bag and consequently don’t understand that today’s great sellers are more about asking great questions rather than selling stuff.  Our marketing materials, if you’ve noticed, are packed with selling stuff. That’s not the kind of sales support we need today.

The dark side to this story is that many B2B Marketers have much in common with our ego-centric execs. They love to be wined and dined by Madison Avenue types and spend hours talking about things like shades of color and the emotions one shade or another evokes. And, this drives me crazy, marketers disdain sellers and sales organizations. Consequently, when a sales org tries to help a marketing org better meet their needs…well, they might as be talking to the hand.

Now, more than ever, responsible leadership will be open to a little righteous indignation over the imbalance in marketing and true sales support spend. If Starbucks is halting decaf brewing after noon in the hopes of saving $400M by the end of the year, I’m thinking leadership will be open to considering many cost-saving options.

Sellers and Sales Leadership: if you happen to have an internal marketing organization who supports your needs – Bravo! You can count yourselves lucky.

If, however, you’re not getting the support you need from your marketing organization, speak up. Consultative/Relationship/Collaborative selling is precisely what we need our sales orgs to be executing. But, it’s not easy. Features/Functions/Benefits selling is part of our DNA, having evolved over thousands of years.

To be effective in transitioning our sales folks over to great selling and ridding ourselves of bad habits takes time.  A sustainable sales support plan must include on-going mentoring, coaching, & training. For both sellers and sales leadership.

The good news here is that the investment needed for GREAT, sustainable sales support is a fraction of the budget that’s being wasted in B2B marketing today. For instance, marketing organizations executing a marketing plan that truly supports B2B selling could do a great job with about 60% of their current budget. I’d recommend redirecting some of the remaining 40% to on-going sales training needs (yippee!). And either saving the rest, or redirecting to HR efforts to hire and retain great sales people.

I’m giddy thinking about this: Sales folks supported by great training and marketing materials that help them move the ball down the field. Now – isn’t that worth some righteous indignation?

Maureen Blandford is CEO of the MindTime Group. Maureen helps her clients break through ineffective marketing strategies to develop tactics that work. Blandford combines her 20 years of practical expertise with her ground breaking theories to alert B2B decision makers to reallocate marketing dollars to a consultative selling motion. AT&T, NCR, The Iams Company, McAfee, Health Plus Technologies, PSC, are just a few of the many clients she’s worked with. Regarding her first book, Branding Doesn’t Work in B2B, Blandford says, “I’m doggedly determined to help B2Bs with a direct sales force understand that in B2B it’s people, and how they perform in the sales and delivery processes that have the greatest impact on current and future customers. Not Branding.

In the News

Paul McCord reviews (or should that be rightly pans a new book)

“The “what would Jesus do” close.  You use this close when your customer “is a Sunday go to meeting” type (throughout the book this level of respect for customers is demonstrated).  You acknowledge that you know he is a fine Christian and state that you understand that he wants to be like Jesus, just as every good Christian does.  You then tell the customer that you’ll give him your product or service free if he can show you anywhere in the Bible where Jesus said, “let me first ask my friend,” or “let me first ask my accountant,” or “I have to think about it.”  You point out that Jesus never had to hesitate to make a decision on his own.  According to the authors, after delivering this close, “The customer is stunned.  The master closer has made such a strong and truthful point, the customer doesn’t know what to say.”

HILARIOUS!!…….Can you believe this sales advice, this is not a joke - read Paul’s review here

This is a three-part post. Parts 2 and 3 are directly related.

Part 1 - Listen To

Last Thursday, after rushed home from a meeting and grabbing a quick cuppa, I settled down in front of my PC and signed into a TSE webinar called “The Sales Leadership Imperative”

I knew that this webinar was going to be good, because of the quality of the presenters.

Jonathan Farrington is Chairman of The Sales Corporation, based in London & Paris, and is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, and consultant.

Keith Rosen is the president of Profit Builders and is the Executive Sales Coach™ that top salespeople and managers call first to attract more prospects, close more sales and develop a team of top-performing sales champions.

Just over an hour later, I took off my head-set. My own knowledge bank had increased substantially. That wasn’t good, I thought – That was great.

Now, this is what self-directed learning is all about. As an established sales trainer, I consider myself to know a lot about selling, sales management and sales leadership. Yet, during this hour, I had learnt so much – there were simply some stunning insights.

The guys dealt with a range of sales leadership issues including:

• Identifying and leveraging the uniqueness of each member of the sales team.
• Connecting with and motivating your team during each interaction
• Recruit, retain and motivate top salespeople and turnaround under-performers inside 30 days

I would like to take this opportunity to recommend this webinar to you, in the strongest possible terms - it is simply TOP CLASS.

To join TSE, click here

To register for upcoming webinars, or to hear achieved webinars - simply click on the link below.

On Thursday April 30th 2009 at 6pm GMT, join TSE expert Christian Maurer for “Where is Your Revenue Growth to Come From?”

Part 2 – Join Up

Sales Leadership Ireland is a new LinkedIn group set up especially for Irish sales community. The focus of this new group is simple, to help sales professionals and sales leaders sell more.

We intend to network both off and on-line, we now have 124 members, and we want more; so if you are involved in sales and business development - please join us.

Part 3 – And Contribute

We have just put up our suggestions for our first SLI meet-up, The Changing World in Sales - “Buyers are not buying”

A practical look at how companies and sales people might respond to the current challenges and opportunities in the market.

SECTION 1: Interactive sessions with Speakers (1 hour)

Structure: 2 to 3 speakers on Key Topics providing practical information that can be applied quickly. 15 minutes each, generating interaction with the group with questions and discussion.

Some Suggested Key Topics:

- Removing the New Bottlenecks in today’s Sales Processes

- Bigger Pipelines, More Prospects, Better Qualification, Meeting Customer Needs

- Building New Channels to the Customer

- Engaging with Customers through New Media

SECTION 2: Key Challenges Roundtables (1 hour)

Structure:

A chaired session to identify the key challenges in today’s markets, assigning selected challenges to groups and to respond with potential solutions.

Steps:

a) Whiteboard / FlipChart suggestions from the entire group

b) Select top 4 or 5– allocate to groups, depending on numbers in attendance

c) 4/5 Roundtables/Groups decide on chairs/spokesperson

d) Discuss and FlipChart the suggested actions to meet the challenges

e) Spokesperson shares with the whole group

A session report could then be issued to the Linked Group Discussion.

So again, please join us on Linkedin, we would love to have you. Get stuck in and come along to our first meet up

Btb Guest Author

Frances Neeson

As a daily DART commuter I’m an avid reader of the Metro that is handed out every morning. Reading it last Wednesday on the way into work I came across an article reporting on the results of a survey done by Monster.ie about flexi-time. Monster found that just 1 in 5 employees in Ireland have full access to flexi-time with 62 % of respondents claiming they have no access to flexi-time at all.

I’ve been working in my present job since September and one of the things I enjoy most is the relaxed atmosphere in the office and the flexi-time policy in place. I’m an early bird so I prefer to come into the office early in the morning and leave early in the afternoon. The majority of the staff come in later and work later. There are core hours when we all have to be in the office which are between 11 and 3, but we can work our other hours however we like around this.

The main reason that I appreciate this arrangement is that in my previous job even coming in 5 minutes late or leaving 5 minutes early was a huge no in the eyes of management. Asking to work flexi-time most likely would have resulted with a resounding shout of laughter and two words which I won’t write here! From the results of the survey mentioned earlier it seems that this is the case for many employees in Ireland, despite all the benefits a flexi-time policy can bring to the workplace.

Personally I think the option to work flexi-time is a huge incentive and motivation for employees and a great morale booster. I believe the benefits of flexi-time far outweigh any negatives, the most common of which are the organization and logistics needed for it to work properly and the fear that staff members may abuse the privilege or could falsify records of hours worked if they are not supervised properly. However my own feeling is that employees are usually grateful for a flexi-time policy and will not engage in behaviour that could result in a return to “normal” working hours.

Here are a few of my favourite things about flexi-time:

• I actually get a seat on the train both coming and going to work and no longer have to spend 30 minutes squashed up against a complete stranger while people fight for any available space in the carriage.
• Coming in early in the morning allows me a couple of hours to do any needed work on my client accounts or prospect for new leads without feeling guilty that I’m sacrificing phone time.
• If I need to go to the doctor or run an errand I don’t have to ask my boss for time off or worry about squeezing it in after work.
• I have plenty of time to see my friends, my family and do all the hobbies I love.

There are also many benefits for employers and companies such as:

• Improved staff morale and job satisfaction. Most companies that offer flexitime report improvements in recruitment, absenteeism and productivity.
• Decreased levels of stress and tiredness in staff members.
• Increased staff retention and reduced turnover rates.

Having worked in both a company with no flexi-time policy and one that does offer flexi-time; I can whole heartedly say that for me flexi-time gets big thumbs up. Although I do see that for some companies, larger ones especially, it might be more difficult to implement, once managed and overseen correctly the benefits will very quickly become apparent. My experiences are all from the employees’ side and it would be interesting to know if employers and senior managers view it in the same way or if they have a completely different opinion on the topic. But for me, my answer to the question of flexi-time is a resounding yay!

Frances Neeson is a sales consultant with OfficeMetrics, leaders in office productivity. OfficeMetrics provides companies with the tools to increase productivity and performance and enable flexi-time and home-working. For more information go to the website: www.officemetrics.com or email frances.neeson@officemetrics.com

Over at TSE

Our Webinar series are well and truly rocking and rolling, and the response so far has been incredible. The great thing is that if time constraints mean you can’t listen in live, you can of course listen to the recording over and over.

Up next, “The Sales Leadership Imperative” with Jonathan Farrington and Keith Rosen

When it comes to these two gents - You know you really can’t afford to miss it!

Remember, readers of this blog qualify for discounted membership to TSE - Just click here.

I have being tuning in and out to a lively and very interesting discussion about sales incentives on TSE’s new LinkedIn group.

Tibor Shanto who started the dialogue, points out that “In sales it is a given that revenue is the ultimate measure of success. In general no one takes issue to paying commissions for realised revenues.

At the same time most people we talk to agree that revenue is achieved as a result of specific actions and behaviours executed by the sales professional; making revenue a ‘result’ of these actions and therefore making revenue a lagging indicator.

Add to this the fact that most people adhere to the view that incentives and incentive programs should drive behaviour. Putting aside MBO rewords, and PM based on scorecards and KPI’s, does it make sense to only pay commissions on revenue or is it time to examine paying a portuin of incentive on specific behaviour?”

The resulting dialogue, raised a number of very interesting questions; not least of which is a more general question. How effective is plain old money in motivating salespeople?

I for one, have always questioned its effectiveness and have thought that more has to do with what money provides rather than the money itself.

Several psychological studies would seem to back this up, with a very interesting body of evidence now claiming that traditional rewards (and punishment) - are actually counter productive in promoting behaviours.

Jim Micklos weights in with “top performers do not reach and remain at that level solely for the money itself. They’re in it for what the money gives them – security, luxury, status – all of which are psychological and emotional rewards (applause), not monetary.”

He goes on to say “When exceptional performance is required, it is most effectively driven by exceptional reward. Several studies have shown conclusively that, dollar for dollar, non-cash incentive programs (praise, recognition, merchandise and travel awards) are far more effective than cash”

I know that something that employers often fail to grasp is that a badly designed compensation plan can as easily act to de-motivate salespeople. From my own interviews with salespeople, this is much more common than companies would like to think.

One area that unfortunately gets overlooked by employers when designing incentive schemes, is personal and career development programmes and training. Rewarding salespeople in this way, demonstrates that the company truly values the salesperson on a personal level. In my own experience, providing salespeople with additional skills and expertise is one of the very best and most effective ways of motivating them.

Putting together a successful incentive structure is a big challenge for businesses because of the complexities involved. Getting it right can drive sales and revenues where as getting it wrong can cause big problems.

The nature of the economic situation that we now find ourselves in makes getting it right even more important. What do you think? I would love to hear from others about sales incentives. In your experience, what works and what doesn’t?

Btb Guest Author

Paul McCord

I’m hearing more and more frustration from both salespeople and sales leaders as the slow economy increases the panic on the part of senior management. Sales are slowing dramatically, profits are down or have completely evaporated, and the pressure is increasing on all levels to produce, produce, produce.

Along with the pressure to produce comes the micro managing of the sales team and its leadership. Managers are having daily pipeline meetings with the members of their team. Increasingly these meetings are getting uglier and uglier with increased threats if sales don’t increase.

Middle managers are having daily calls–in some instances two or more calls per day–with the managers under them as they want an accounting for each team member’s activities, including reviewing the sales status of each and every prospect.

Management is demanding detailed reports for each prospect. If a salesperson deems a contact to be a non-prospect, managers are demanding the salesperson continue to pursue the contact in hopes of turning them into a prospect.

Each minute of the day must be accounted for. Management is accepting no excuses for not closing a sale–bad credit, not a reason, get them pay cash; no need, not a reason, create a need for them; want to wait to see what the market will do, not a reason, convince them that now’s the time to buy; cash flow issues, not a reason, get them to factor their receivables to get the cash to make the purchase.

As salespeople get bombarded with threats and each second of their day is micro managed, they resort to discounting and trying to include as many incentives to purchase as they can in an effort to get sales to get management off their back.

They quickly discover that even if that creates a sale, it creates a new set of problems as they get a lecture about how the company doesn’t discount and their job is to maintain gross and if they can’t, the company will find someone who will. Many managers resort to writing all proposals for their sales team to insure that they control every aspect of the sale.

As morale declines and sales lag even further, senior management gives more and more directives, demanding greater control and more ‘accountability’ on each employee’s part.

When today’s demands don’t create the desired result, they’re added to or changed tomorrow, spiraling in a seemingly never-ending series of demands and threats, each more ominous than the last.

And sales plunge even faster than before.

Once management panics it seems impossible to stop the downhill flow of negative consequences. The more pressure management feels, the more they try to spread the pressure downward, believing they can demand production via force.

The process inevitably produces nothing other than a bigger hole from which the company must emerge.

If micro managing is such a negative force, why do managers resort to it? The root cause may be panic, but the belief they need to micro manage their team is based squarely in a distrust of their employees–a belief that their salespeople and managers aren’t working hard enough, that the sales team doesn’t care enough, that their team is intrinsically lazy and is only looking for the low hanging fruit, not willing to get dirty and dig for the hard to find business.

If sheer force and threats don’t work, what can the management team do to stabilize–or maybe even increase–sales during this time of economic stress?

1. Don’t panic.
Of course, this is easier said than done. But panic leads to overreacting and bad decisions.  We need look no further than the US government over the past 6 months to see the consequences of panic–squandered opportunities, a diarrhea of ineffective spending in an effort to ‘do something now’ with little regard to the future, and a massive list of decisions that upon reflection many–even those involved in the initial decision making process–wish had never been made.

2. Make an honest evaluation of the situation and communicate it to the entire team.
Employees are not stupid. They are aware of the economic situation and they not only wonder what impact it has on the company, they speculate–and most often their speculation is far worse than the truth of the actual situation.

Employees–and in particular the sales team–perform best when they know and understand the company’s goals and objectives and the obstacles standing in the way of reaching those goals and objectives.

The more clearly each sales team member understands the company’s needs and concerns, the more clearly they can not only understand where they fit in, but what they can–what they must –do to help address those needs and concerns. If team members sense that the company isn’t communicating honestly with them, they begin to retreat into themselves, resisting the company’s entreaties and even the most dire threat falls on deaf ears.

3. Formulate a comprehensive and workable plan that includes participation by all parties to address market conditions.
History is replete with examples of monarchs and generals who when faced with tough opposition retreat into a bunker mentality. They become increasingly overwhelmed with circumstances, they become delusional, they begin to distrust even their closest friends and companions. In short order they are totally isolated. Their plans and orders have little to do with reality.

This same phenomenon happens in the executive suite. When faced with potential crisis, senior management will often retreat to their own mental concrete bunker.  Rather than seeking the wisdom and cooperation of their employees, they barricade themselves in, shouting orders through the barred door.

In our current economy where quality prospects are difficult to find and sales must be fought for, gaining the cooperation and commitment from staff is critical.  Senior management cannot survive on their own.

If they and the company are to survive, it will take the active participation of all the work force.  Consequently, the more ownership in the solution to overcoming the company’s obstacles each member of the team feels, the more committed to the solution–and to their individual contributions to the solution–each will be.

4.  Commit the company to giving the needed support to accomplish the goals and overcome the obstacles.
When panic sets in, the cost cutting butcher knife comes out.  Management looks at every expense as a waste.  Can we use a shorter, less expensive screw here; can we make that piece of metal a little thinner?  Do we really need that much money in our marketing budget?  Slash sales training, it’s never done any good anyway.

As the butcher of the executive office is in the midst of a budget-cutting orgy, critical resources for sales stability–much less sales growth–are apt to be gutted also.  While belt tightening is necessary when business slows, a finely honed scalpel is necessary, not a meat clever.

Creating sales takes money. Salespeople need the same resources in slow times to create sales as they do during hot markets. Certainly gratuitous expenses such as client dinners and games of golf may be legitimate areas for trimming, but training, travel, clerical support, and other expenses that lead directly to or support the closing of business are not to be cut indiscriminately. In fact, when it comes to training, prospecting, lead generation, and client retention expenses, the slower the economy, the more funds should be directed to those areas.

Times are tough. That doesn’t mean that it is time for a management meltdown.

There are solutions to slowing sales.

Resorting to micro management and threats won’t produce anything other than disgruntled employees and slower sales.

However, gaining the trust, cooperation, and commitment of your team to address the issues facing the company–and by extension, themselves–can give your company the coordinated effort by all to weather this economic downturn.

Paul McCord is a leading authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing.  He is president of McCord Training, a Midland, Texas based sales training, coaching, and consulting company.  His first book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), is an Amazon and Barnes and Noble best-seller and is quickly becoming recognized as the authoritative work on referral selling. His second book, SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar has just been released.  He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or visit his sales training website at www.mccordtraining.com or his highly popular blog www.salesandmanagementblog.com

I first came across this super article from Paul through Jill Konrath’s blog

This is timely advice for us all, micro management is a really easy trap to fall into and something we have all got to wary of.

Over at Top Sales Experts

I have always thought that PowerPoint is a limiting sales tool.

Here is a recent TSE daily interview with Mark Hunter on this very subject.

Listen as Mark tells us why PowerPoint is not nearly as important as we might like to think.

As I have already mentioned on this blog, I am now a member of the Top Sales Experts team. TSE is a collection of the world finest sales gurus, all under one roof.

TSE has many truly excellent resources with more on the way. Rather than take you through the full list, I thought I would pick one at a time and give a little more detail.

The TSE Daily Interviews

Maureen Blandford, founder of the MindTime Group and author of “Branding Doesn’t Work in B2B interviews a different expert, Monday through Friday.

As you put the key in the ignition of your day, tune in to a power-packed interview with one of our experts.

This tool is designed to be an easy add-on to your morning office routine. And, all interviews will be archived, if you miss one or you want to share with your team.

Although free to everybody, subscribers to TSE have the unique opportunity to request topics they would like to hear covered.

Yesterday was my first day in the hot seat, all feedback welcome.

Post Updated 05/03/09

Chairman of the Sales Corporation, CEO of Top Sales Associates, based in London & Paris, and our own Captain at Top Sales Experts (when does he sleep!?!), Jonathan Farrington says the best word to describe TSE 2.0 is Comprehensive. For more information on Jonathan and the myriad ways he helps sales organizations, you may find him at www.jonathanfarrington.com and www.jfblogit.co.uk