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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Fresh-squeezed Sales Juice

by Rick Baker
On Nov 25, 2015
What do you need to do to get your sales people juiced up about the amazing opportunities you see everywhere you look?
 
First, does that question resonate with you?
 
Specifically - Do you see amazing opportunities everywhere you look?
 
I hear entrepreneurs say that all the time. Entrepreneurs see lots of opportunities. And, entrepreneurs are often puzzled because people who follow them do not see the opportunities or have trouble ‘capturing’ them. I hear that often…not necessarily as complaints…just statements of the facts as entrepreneurs see them.
 
Entrepreneurs and other business leaders want to capture opportunities. These people are builders and opportunities enable growth. So, it is important to find ways to juice up sales activities to capture the amazing opportunities. Yet, many entrepreneurs struggle with this. Entrepreneurs know they need to juice up sales activities but they have trouble figuring out how to get it done.
 
Here are some suggestions on how to juice up sales activities:
  1. Complete a down-deep-and-personal assessment of your sales staff. Spend a little time on assessments. Spend more time on assessments. Understand personal strengths and personal weaknesses. This is the key. Really Understand Your Sales People Personality.
  2. Skip the formalities. Use few words. Use simple words. Remember the …address the 20% that impacts 80%, forget the rest. Just cover the most-important things…with clarity. Create a Bare-Bones Marketing Plan 80/20 Rule.
  3. Engage People Strengths: Each of your sales people has specific strengths. Make sure each person understands his/her individual, specific strengths and how those strengths mesh with role activities and sales success. Adjust work activities to fit the people strengths. Each sales person must be allowed to engage his/her individual strengths. Do not force sales people to conform to a fixed set of sales activities…allow your unique people to succeed uniquely.
  4. Plan Around or Over the Gaps…Not Through Them: Accept the fact there will be gaps. Your people will not be able to do things the way you do things so do not use yourself as the performance benchmark. There will be individual gaps [each sales person will have personal weaknesses] and there will be group gaps [overall weak areas, ie, activities where no one on your sales team is strong]. Do not fight those gaps. Do not attempt to change sales people so they fill the gaps. Just engage people strengths to fill gaps. Apply the 80/20 Rule…work on no more than 20% of the gaps. If your people do not have the necessary strengths then hire people with the strengths required to fill the gaps. Often, you will find yourself wanting to hire hunters. Again, that 80/20 Rule applies…at best 20% of sales people are hunters.
  5. Set Some Rules…Carefully: Be careful. You should have just enough rules to make sure sales people understand the game. Don’t spoil the game. Do not micro-manage.
  6. Lead By Example…Discuss Carefully: Do deals. Provide ideas. Be careful. Make sure you convey the fact your sales activity works for you but it will not necessarily work for others. In fact, it is unlikely it will work for others. Every sales person needs to understand how to put his/her strengths to best use. That is a key message. Repeat it often. Work to help people make it happen.

 
Footnote:
 
80/20 Rule: The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 Rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. 

Tags:

80/20 Rule | Entrepreneur Thinking | Sales

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How to convert Talents into Strengths...at Work

by Rick Baker
On Nov 10, 2014

 

Talents:  

  1. Do some self-analysis...be as objective as you can be...the things you enjoy at work are 'talent signals'
  2. Obtain some 3rd-party feedback...consider your boss's input...and seek fully-objective help
Opportunities:
  1. Give yourself opportunities...keep your mind open to consider changes...understand opportunities often come in problem disguises
  2. Ensure you associate with other people who are willing to provide opportunities for you...your mentor...your boss...your family members
Specialized Knowledge:
  1. Study your industry with a view to coming up with insights of value to your clients
  2. Study other industries with a view to coming up with insights of value to your clients [borrow brilliance]
Practise Skills:
  1. As Malcolm Gladwell taught - people need much practise to become skilled...dedicate 10,000 hours...then do more
  2. Mistakes and shortfalls are a necessary part of learning...repeat the Act-Err-Adjust cycle until you succeed
Routine & not-Routine Work-Tasks:
  1. The 80/20 Rule: 20% of the causes yield 80% of the results...not-Routine work is the place where innovations yield the greatest returns
  2. Routine work-tasks should be systematized and automated to the full extent possible, freeing up time for doing not-Routine work

Tags:

80/20 Rule | Solutions & Opportunities | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

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How much thought do you invest in training your people?

by Rick Baker
On Oct 25, 2013

There are many ways to construct a training and staff-development plan for the people in your business.

Here is one way to start.

Think about how the 80/20 Rule applies to the tasks performed by your people.

Create a list of the 20% of tasks that contribute 80% of the results you desire.

Then, for each task, answer two questions:

  1. "Is this a routine Task or is it a not-Routine task?"
  2. "Is it a Technical task [specific to your business & industry] or is it an Interpersonal task [people influencing people]?"
Create a 1-page picture [like below] and insert your Top 20% tasks into the 4 quadrants.
 
 
When this is done you will have a picture of the Top 20% of the work-tasks you want your people to perform.
 
This picture can be used to 'troubleshoot' your training and development programs...just ask,
 
"What stands out?"
  • Not sure whether a task is Routine or not-Routine? [Better figure that out!]
  • Too much emphasis on Technical tasks, at the expense of developing Interpersonal strengths? [Better balance that out!]
When you sort these things out and are comfortable you have the right balance, do a double-check: apply the 80/20 Rule again, then ask,
 
"What stands out?"
  • Are you balancing your training and development programs across your Top 4% tasks?
  • Are you balancing your training and development programs at all reporting levels?
 

***

 

Why do this Routine/not-Routine/Technical/Interpersonal quadrant picture of your 80/20 Rule tasks?

Here's an introductory answer...

Business consists of 3 things: People, Process, & Situations. People create the Process. The Process consists of series of tasks. The People find themselves in various situations. Often, when problems arise, Situations appear more complicated. Often, simple solutions are missed and time, effort, and money are wasted. For this reason, it is important to ensure Routine tasks are not ignored and are supported by simple tools, including checklists. Much time, effort, and money is dedicated to R&D, invention, & innovation. That covers a very important area of tasks. However, when these not-Routine Technical tasks and processes are ruined because Routine Technical tasks were not performed properly...well, the lessons can be very painful. Consider, for example the crashing of the Flying Fortress during its highly-touted test flight.

Similarly, many businesses invest heavily in training and development for not-Routine Interpersonal tasks such as media training and handling crucial conversations while they fail to train people how to make decisions and listen to one another. These basic Routine Interpersonal tasks, when covered well, pave the path for top-notch business performance.

And NOTE: time has a way of eroding and changing memories. So, we must repeat, repeat, repeat if we want to ensure our people have the training and development they need to possess desirable business strengths. And to inspire...let's inject some creativity into it and make training and development experiences enjoyable. Failure to Repeat: Well, that's a fatal flaw!

Tags:

80/20 Rule | Delegation & Decisions | I'm too busy! - I don't have time! | Influencing | Seeking Simple! | STRENGTHS: People-Focused for Success

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Thought Tweet #845

by Rick Baker
On Oct 11, 2013

Thought Tweet #845 Do you know the actions that will cause your company to succeed?

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Do you know the actions you need to do in your role for your company to succeed?

Are you volunteering and committing yourself to take those actions?

Are you volunteering and committing to resist taking other actions that have no clear connection with your company's success?

Do you have the tools you need to do what needs to be done?

Do you have the people-support you need to do what needs to be done?

Do you have the self-support you need to bolster the internal drive that will energize you to do what needs to be done? 

Tags:

1-Page Tools | 80/20 Rule | Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Thought Tweets

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Thought Tweet #840.5

by Rick Baker
On Oct 4, 2013

Thought Tweet #840.5 "I'm too busy". That's a real good way not to be thinking.


The Thinking Behind The Tweet

I favour abundance thinking over scarcity mindsets. 

If I think "I'm too busy" then I have a scarcity mindset with respect to time, the most-precious commodity...or darned close to it.

So - I must not think "I'm too busy."

And - I must leave "I'm too busy" to the people who embrace those scarcity mindsets. 


Tags:

80/20 Rule | Abundance | Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Beyond Business | I'm too busy! - I don't have time! | Thought Tweets

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Saying "No" & Seeking Simple

by Rick Baker
On Sep 27, 2013

Many big businesses are struggling with downsizing, rightsizing, and other kinds of sizing activities that are aimed at reducing costs and building efficiencies. As big companies do these sizing things they regularly use strategies that foist work on smaller businesses. Sometimes the big businesses insist their suppliers do the extra work...the auto sector and Walmart have embraced this strategy for decades. Sometimes the big businesses insist their customers do the extra work...perhaps that's what the insurance companies are doing right now.

In any event, much work is off-loaded from the backs of big businesses onto the backs of small businesses.

In many instances, the small business people accept this as a fact of life. Small businesses who serve as suppliers to the auto sector have informed me in no uncertain terms, "We must accept this as a cost of doing business." And, I've let them know just how fragile their business model is and always will be if they accept that way of thinking.

Why are these people more-or-less oblivious to the fact they have choices?

Have any of these people taken the time to understand the 80/20 Rule?

Why don't these people perform cost/benefit analyses or some other analyses that will help them understand saying "Yes" is killing their businesses?

Why are these people so hungry for volume they bite off huge chunks of extra work then choke on them?

Why don't these small-business people at least make an attempt to simplify or, better still, automate the work that gets dumped on them by the big businesses?

I know how they'd answer those questions.

"We're too busy to figure out stuff like that."

  • Too busy to seek out 3rd Alternatives
  • Too busy to borrow brilliance from other business sectors
  • Too busy to negotiate
  • Too busy to learn better ways

No kidding...

Of course they're too busy!

They're too busy doing work that has been discarded by other folks who know they cannot afford to do it.

***

True entrepreneurs don't let their businesses get caught in these sorts of traps.

True entrepreneurs see the problem coming at them.

As the problem approaches they make a quick decision: does this Problem contain the seeds of an Opportunity?

'Yes' or 'No'?

Quickly now, 'Yes' or 'No'?

If 'No' then simply don't accept the off-loaded work.

If 'Yes' then figure out how - innovate how - to take on the extra work and gain profit from it.

And - sometimes 'Yes' means the creation of a new service or product.

And sometimes 'Yes' means the creation of a new small business.

And, on occasion 'Yes' means the discovery of a gold mine.

And... Regularly, people think or say - "Why didn't I think of that?"

...Exactly!

Tags:

80/20 Rule | Entrepreneur Thinking | I'm too busy! - I don't have time! | Questions?: The Art of Asking Good Questions | Seeking Simple! | Solutions & Opportunities

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