Feedback…

My Daughter-in-Law has a plaque hanging on their patio that reads: 

If a man talks in the forest and no woman is around to hear him, is he still wrong? 

                   Unknown Sage 

Here’s one of my wife’s: 

Man is woman’s best friend.  He will reassure when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.  He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret.  He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires.  He will make sure she always feels that she’s the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible.  No wait… sorry… I’m thinking of wine.  It’s the wine that does all that.  Sorry. 

                   Unknown Sage  

It’s all good; our significant others mean well LoL!  But maybe I should stick to coaching salespeople. 

Are trends changing when it comes to giving feedback to salespeople?  “Feedback”; constructive criticism; critique; coaching; managing; inspecting; editing; testing…  how do you feel about receiving feedback at work? 

I’ve seen a lot of thought leadership online and in print these days suggesting that salespeople can only concentrate for mere minutes.  There is a lot being said and even more being written about how we must adjust to the varying learning styles of salespeople.  Four or five minute training boosters; just-in-time eLearning content; and who can leave out artificial intelligence?  My profession is surrounded with feedback about giving feedback. 

I have often said that sales is what we do when we can’t do anything else.  It is known as the unchosen profession.  Yet sales is still a profession and I believe we should be just as professional as any other profession, don’t you?  And I believe sales professionals get better by practicing their trade.  The best of the best leverage coaching. 

I like to make the comparison to Tiger Woods.  Many consider Tiger Woods the greatest golfer of all time.  Regardless of how you rank him, his commitment to his profession is world renown.  He is the first golf champion credited with treating his body like a world class athlete.  His workout regimen is certainly more grueling than sales training boosters of 4 or 5 minutes. 

What about “feedback”?  Well, when on the PGA Tour Tiger had three professionals coaching him.  One worked on his swing; one worked on his putting; and one was a sports psychologist who worked with him on his mind.  What do you think?  Was Tiger able to concentrate for more than mere minutes? Oh and by the way, he paid for these coaches out of his own pocket. 

Maybe it’s me; maybe I’m just a hard ass…  I try to coach salespeople very particularly: 

• Feedback starts with observation of their work.
• Then they self-assess.  They know what they were trying to do. 
• Next I ask how I can help.  They will set the blunt-gentle dial to their tolerance.
• Finally if they are open to it, I provide feedback.  Specific; objective; actionable; I try to show them their reflection in a mirror so they can “see” what they are doing. 

What if a salesperson is not open to feedback?  Well that’s OK, I suppose.  I’m not in the business of convincing the unwilling.  The marketplace is as brutal as the PGA Tour. IMHO, in the sales profession as in pro golf, only the skilled and well-coached survive. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Moms are special…

My Mom was special - I bet your Mom is (or was) special, too.  This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day.  In mind; in memory; or in person; be sure to make it a special day for your Mom.  Sending flowers is not enough.  Make her the center of your attention if only for one day. 

My wife is a special Mom.  She continues to lovingly mother our grown boys and our grandchildren even while their father worries, “How do I get all of these kids off the payroll?”  But I digress.  She keeps our entire, extended family together. 

Our Moms have a special sense of humor:  

A wife invited some people to dinner.  At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?”  I wouldn’t know what to say”, the girl replied.  “Just say what you hear Mommy say”, the wife answered.  The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”  

Unknown Sage                                  

Our Moms are special teachers.  Remember the life-long lessons you learned from your Mother?  Back to our Unknown Sage: 

What my Mother taught me: 

My Mother taught me logic;

“Because I said so, that's why.”

My Mother taught me irony;

“Keep laughing and I'll give you something to cry about.”

My Mother taught me about the science of osmosis:

“Shut your mouth and eat your supper!"  

Even Bill Gates has a take (including Mom and Dad in his reference to his parents - and ours): 

Excerpt from Bill Gates' speech to Mount Whitney High School, Visalia, CA: 

Rule 7 - Before you were born, your parents weren't

as boring as they are now.  They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were.  So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. 

Our Moms have a special and immeasurable reservoir of power, true?  My Mom did.  She was stricken with cancer when I was 6 years old.  In fact, I can no longer remember a time when she was not ill.  The last 15 years of her life were spent undergoing continuous treatments: 

I watched my Mom’s great power, which she needed in order to deal with a new cancer treatment in the late 1960’s that was so unimaginably harsh – that the administration of this treatment was solely based on the primitive science of trial and error – where the doctors’ routine consisted of observing how much of a dose could she tolerate without dying from the treatment. 

It was an experimental treatment back then; offered only as a last resort for terminally ill cancer patients. This wasn’t a cancer cure; just a radical option to extend one’s life another year or two.  It was due to her staying power (and that of many other patients like her) before she finally succumbed in 1974, that has helped pave the way to the development of the commonly used, life-saving cancer treatment we all know today as chemotherapy. 

How many special Moms have died fighting terrible diseases (and brutal treatments) so the rest of us can benefit from the exaggerated term, “modern medicine”? 

Mother’s Day - make it special for your Mom if she’s living; make it special for you through your memories of your Mom if she’s not. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Pay attention…

 

I was behind a driver at a stoplight when the arrow turned green the other day.  Because she wasn’t paying attention; I missed the light.  Sound familiar?  

It reminded me of my profession and the coaching I frequently provide my clients.  In the sales profession paying attention is important.  Paying attention starts with good listening skills.  And listening skills are key.  Why?  Because then we will hear the prospect’s specific details.  In the marketplace today, specificity is a killer application.  

I know specificity can be hard.  When things are hard some believe that leads to fatigue.  Have you noticed the buzz about “Zoom Fatigue”?  One great competitor offered this: 

… fatigue makes cowards of us all. 

                   Vince Lombardi 

I choose to believe that paying attention really isn’t that hard and the reasons behind Zoom Fatigue are different.  Another great mind put it this way: 

Fatigue is often caused not by work but by worry, frustration, and resentment.  We rarely get tired when we are doing something interesting and exciting.  

Dale Carnegie 

Sales is a profession that is interesting and exciting!  When we pay attention we listen specifically for the specificity in our prospect interactions.  Prospects prefer buying from the salesperson who is paying attention.  Yogi Berra put it another way: 

You can see a lot by observing.  

I was observing the subject line of another client’s sales-prospecting emails recently.  There are people much smarter than I on the subject of email subject line mastery.  Nonetheless, I mentioned to him that I didn’t think his subject line was very appealing. 

That prompted him to look it up and he agreed.  Reviewing all of his recent email campaigns the emails with that specific subject line were, in fact, the emails least opened.  What’s remarkable about this encounter (to me at least) is my client is actually paying attention to the facts! 

Now before we go any further let me state for the record, I have my own moments.  If my wife was here she would tell you that at home, I don’t “watch” TV; I “become” the TV!  Talk about not paying attention to her; guilty as charged! 

Our lack of attention-paying is obvious to our prospects and clients and spouses (and other drivers), true?  They can tell.  It reminds me of my former colleague who offered this response when it was revealed he wasn’t paying attention during a meeting: 

You only have to tell me twice, once. 

                   Adam Katzenmeyer 

And to Adam’s credit for the remainder of that meeting he kept his word and paid attention. 

I know the challenge is harder today because of technology.  Technology leads to using multiple devices… multiple devices leads to multi-tasking…  and multi-tasking leads to not paying attention.  It’s almost as if “multi-tasking” is some sort of badge of honor – which in the eye of our prospects and customers and spouses (and other drivers) - it is not.  

Never mind there is scientific evidence stating that the human brain cannot multi-task in the first place.  The fact is we are merely switching our attention back and forth really fast across multiple, single-tasks which means (according to the facts)… we’re not paying attention to any one task very long.  Funny thing about facts: 

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.                                 

Aldous Huxley 

Today, may we heed the facts and strive to pay attention at work - and more importantly perhaps – on the road and especially at home. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

April 20, 1999 never forgotten…

Twenty-two years ago today, my hometown experienced the terror that two teenagers, feeling a sense of desperation and isolation, can bring to their high school, their community and our nation.  It was considered a rare event back then – unfortunately, it has now become all too common:

 

Life is hard and can often seem hopeless for many young people.   If you have a son or daughter; grandchildren; nieces or nephews; or neighborhood kids; reach out to them today.  

Tell them today that you love them and will support them as they try to make their way in the world.  And if they are struggling to make ends meet – give them a few bucks, reassure them.  Today, help them feel they belong.  Give them hope. 

Let’s reverse our society’s violence.  Let’s use our power of compassion to increase the sunlight for those heading towards darkness: 

It takes the sun to create a shadow – accept that the dark and the light live side by side in all of us.  

Chellie Campbell 

It’s not just my hometown of Littleton, Colorado - We are all Columbine: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Seqhcq23M

May you feel peace - and share the power of peace with others - today - especially today - and then every day thereafter! 

GAP

Oh well…

Hey everyone – its income tax week!  Hooray! 

Actually, we’ve been given a Covid extension until May – but who’s counting?  (Other than the IRS!)  Do you think our elected officials are cheering on the sideline as our tax returns flow in?  Oh well.  

Does it ever seem to you that no matter how you complete your income tax return; no matter how much outside, expert advice you leverage; no matter what plans you put in place to lessen your tax impact next year, you still seem to be funding everything? 

On the one hand… 

I dislike the immense level of government spending that takes place today at the federal, state, county, city and even master association level.  The media reminds us of the tremendous waste that seems to occur every day; every way.  Today, with our anytime, anywhere, all-the-time, political action committees – they all have a position on the state of our federal, state, and local taxation, true?  Could it be some of our taxes are funding their messages?  Oh well. 

On the other hand… 

When there is a natural disaster; when we hear of a scientific breakthrough funded by a government grant; or when we simply have a friend or family member in need who receives financial or medical support from a social services program… well, I for one am happy I live in America. 

This time is one time during the year when we total it up.  Sometimes we like the resulting sum; other times we don’t.  Talk about “new math”! 

The Income Tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.

                        Will Rogers 

Question:  If I work from home and my dog barks when the FedEx driver arrives; does she qualify as my receptionist – and can I write-off the cost of her dog food?  No?  Oh well. 

All in all, when I reflect on my financial picture – I am blessed.  How about you?  I suppose it all depends.  Filing income taxes forces us to look at our W-2; our 401k; our IRA; our mortgage interest; our real estate taxes; and all of the other numbers the IRS wants us to look at; and report on.  That’s one way we measure; some years good - some, not so much.  

When we look in the mirror, often our not-so-much years are self-inflicted: 

More and more these days I find myself pondering on how to reconcile my net income with my gross habits.                               

John Kirk Nelson 

We heard growing up that, “Money isn’t everything”.  Does that perspective apply as adults?  Hopefully so.  Our top line income, even when reduced by taxes, still can be more than enough for a man that is easily contented.  Unfortunately, the itch of discontent rears its head all too often.  I mean, how many billions does it take to content our billionaires?  

Nevertheless, it’s not what we make that counts; it’s what we save.  Today, “line of credit” seems to have replaced the importance of savings.  Like our federal government, line of credit means “debt”.  Unlike the Fed, we can’t just print money.  Oh well. 

We are looking forward to 2021 – this will be our best year ever!  We can stay in control of how we define “best” by following the guidance of the world-renowned author and poet, Robert Lewis Stevenson: 

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.                                

And no – the seeds are not tax deductible.  Oh well. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

What do I know...

I was thinking about Anders Ericsson’s Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise © the other day.  I refer to his views often when speaking with senior, experienced, successful sales professionals.  Anders suggests that experience and success can actually lead to complacency.  IMHO, Complacency begets; over-confidence; over-confidence begets corner-cutting; corner-cutting begets getting our lunch handed to us in competitive situations. 

Anders went on to suggest that people in my profession are actually contributing to the problem: 

When you look at how people are trained in the professional and business world, you find a tendency to focus on knowledge at the expense of skills.  The main reasons are tradition and convenience:  It is much easier to present knowledge to a large group of people than it is to set up conditions under which individuals can develop skills through practice. 

I’ve noticed a more worrisome skill-development deficiency situation recently.  At the other end of the salesperson spectrum… our young and inexperienced salespeople. 

Many of our salespeople seem to just want "the answer".  I wonder if that’s what’s behind Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.... machines actually want to "learn"; our junior sales rep audience just wants the answer – is learning too hard? 

Today, my colleagues are continuously trying to come up with the next enablement tool; presentation; job aide.  Their effort and their creativity are awesome!  Unfortunately, I don’t believe creativity solves the problem.  (And I’m not alone). 

Our company has made a huge investment to develop a consistent, systematic selling motion and our leadership expects our salespeople to acquire the knowledge – and the skill – to leverage these tools, tactics, and techniques.  However, to accomplish that takes practice; repetition; and effort outside of their comfort zone. 

The trouble is, it’s painful to become skillful.  It’s also hard to suppress the creativity sales enablement professionals have when we want to come up with a new and different way of enabling.  That’s the creativity problem I mentioned above.  In the book Softwar ©, Larry Ellison put it this way: 

I wanted to get the 'creativity' out of the sales process.  If you want to be creative, go write a novel. 

I expressed my observation to my Manager this way; if our salespeople can’t read the answer is not to write more books.

Truth be told, I feel this gravitational pull of creativity, myself.  When trying to serve my audience; trying to help them sell; when they struggle and are feeling pain, I too want to offer them more of the “answer.”  Even though I know the answer lies in the effort: 

Mastery is a pain… Many characteristics once believed to reflect innate talent are actually the results of intense practice for a minimum of 10 years.  Mastery-of-sports, music, business - requires effort (difficult, painful, excruciating, all-consuming effort) over a long time (not a week or a month, but a decade). 

              Anders Ericsson 

I wonder if today’s salespeople are willing to perfect their profession through the lengthy, painful path Anders suggests.  I mean, if you were having eye surgery you’d expect your surgeon to have practiced the procedure over and over again before trusting them with your eyes, true?  Does that principle apply to the sales profession? 

I believe buyers prefer to buy from the salesperson who has done this before.  But what do I know?  Maybe our young sellers only need the answers to succeed.  Maybe Google’s machines have already done all the learning for them. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.

Flight #2021…

People are starting to travel again.  I hope it’s not too soon, but I understand the need for returning to normalcy.   I wonder if we are ready to alter our definition of “normalcy”? 

I saw this social media post a while back.  Maybe it will help us “re-set” what normalcy will be in 2021: 

Hello, Welcome to Flight #2021 We are prepared to take off into the New Year: 

Ø  Please make sure your ATTITUDE and BLESSINGS are SECURED    and LOCKED in an upright position.

Ø  ALL SELF-DESTRUCTIVE devices should be TURNED OFF at this time.

Ø  All NEGATIVITY, HURT, and DISCOURAGEMENT should be put    away.

Ø  Should we LOSE ALTITUDE under pressure during the flight, reach up and pull down a PRAYER.

Ø  PRAYERS will automatically be ACTIVATED by FAITH. Once your faith is activated, you can ASSIST other passengers.

Ø  There will be NO BAGGAGE allowed on this flight.

Ø  The Captain (GOD) has cleared us for takeoff.

Ø  Destination PEACE, GRACE, MERCY, SALVATION, and HEAVEN! 

I’d call that good coaching to get some altitude in our attitude.  Now is a good time to rise above the angst, anger, animosity, and antagonism permeating our daily lives.  

How’s your attitude holding up?  Are today’s calamities too much to handle?  I hope not.  Just when things seem to be the darkest I remind myself of the advice from our favorite, Unknown Sage: 

If you can keep your head while others around you are losing theirs… you will be a head taller than everyone. 

Seriously though, today’s challenges require a different level of personal commitment to address them don’t you think?  Every time a complaint or conflict arises, we don’t have to engage, do we?  We’ve witnessed complaints and conflicts before, like this story from the travel industry: 

            A famous Chairman of the Board of a national airline, uses self-deprecating humor, such as the story he told about a woman who wrote a letter complaining about his airline.  She didn't like anything: not the peanuts, not the color of the plane.  She didn’t even like the uniforms of the stewards.  She was just full of gripes.

The marketing division took it over, spent a week writing a 22-page letter trying to reason with her, and showed it to the Chairman before he signed it.  He read it, and tossed it into the wastebasket.  He asked for a piece of stationery and wrote; “Dear Madam, We're going to miss you.  

Sincerely,

Herb."   

Herb Kelleher 

I’m working to increase the altitude of my attitude at work.  I think I’m making progress because I had a colleague call me the other day and ask, “How do you do it?...”  He went on to say he has noticed how I’m staying calm and professionally appropriate in the face of meetings that focus on some nonsensical, internal procedure that frustrates others. 

I told him I get just as frustrated but rather than engaging in the fracas, I engage my mute button!  I don’t think adding my opinion would make things better – probably just the opposite.  And thankfully I have a patient boss. 

Today’s non-stop negative hype reminds me of Lawrence J. Peter’s perspective: 

What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.                                  

In 2021 I’m trying to avoid responding; retorting; or reacting to every conversation that I find irritating.  I’m trying to fly above it all – where calm air and bright sunshine warms my day.  How about you?                                   

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.