A strategically balanced performance management plan is the key to consistently effective leadership, especially when direct reports have responsibility for business development or organizational growth. The most successful approach not only enables managers to identify opportunities for execution and improvement based on analyzing past activities and outcomes, but to also identify preemptive action steps and […]
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Call a Lot of People?
Arthur “Red” Motley was known for his conciseness and, true to form, each section of his famous definition of the sales process says a great deal in only a few words: “Know your customer, know your product; call a lot of people, ask all to buy.” Today’s focus is on the third component of the […]
How am I Doing, Boss?
How important is it for leaders to provide regular feedback to team members? I think we all know the answer – it’s vitally important! Yet a surprising percentage of people say they don’t get enough feedback, negative or positive! Consider the following excerpt from an article published by thoughtLEADERS,LLC: “If you are a manager, the […]
An Often Overlooked Management Tool
If you serve in a leadership role and would like to have a positive impact on team members and also foster productive working relationships, scheduling regular one-on-one meetings is an often-overlooked best practice that can help! While many managers say they interact with their direct reports as a natural part of operating their business, experts […]
Connecting With Prospects Faster
In a recent article published by LinkedSelling, the question was posed, “How can you take a cold prospect, reach out to them, connect with them in a way that engages them, and offer them value so they see you as a resource & authority?” A good question for many of us… and, interestingly, the simple answer […]
Why Football Teams Practice
Football season is in full swing, so we thought we’d align this post by taking some advice about getting back to basics from the National Football League. We all know that football teams practice a lot – according to the NFL, six days per week. Activities include reviewing game tapes, playbooks, and on-field six-plus hour […]
The Power of Storytelling
While we have shared content on this topic in the past, we recently came across a most compelling article published by Forbes in which author Candice Georgiadis reaffirms our findings very nicely. “At its core, storytelling refers to the art of crafting narratives that capture the essence of your brand and appeal to your audience. It also […]
The Value of Team Meetings
Leaders can enjoy a range of benefits by conducting regular team meetings – if, of course, the meetings are well planned and value-added! The question is, how can we best make our meetings value-added and worthwhile so that team members look forward to them rather than dread them? Consider this perspective from Executive Coach Lolly Daskal, […]
Retaining Talent
We all know that unwanted workforce turnover is disruptive and costly*. In a recent article, fuse, a workforce management firm, shared four of the most common reasons employees opt to leave a job. It’s likely we know these reasons as well… In case you’d like a quick refresher, the article identified the following as the most […]
Leadership, Motivation, and an Army of Frogs
As you might know, just as a group of fish is called a school and just as a group of geese is called a gaggle, a group of frogs is called an army. One day, an army of twenty-two frogs was hoping through the woods. Two of the frogs were younger than the rest of […]
Could a Past Marketing Perspective Be the Secret to Success Today?
In a recent article published on LinkedIn, Bruce Bolger, President of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance, shares some interesting data and perspective on a past marketing strategy that he suggests is primarily overlooked today. “In the late 1990s, the concept of one-to-one and permission marketing were born with great promise,” Bolger writes. “Yet, the current dominant approach […]
Staying in Touch with Your Marketplace
Business development is a process rather than a one-time event. It requires a long-term perspective and the key activity for achieving success is follow-up – i.e., staying in regular contact with customers, prospects, and influencers/referral sources. We have observed that most people fail to follow-up with sufficient frequency or with a value-added purpose. Frequency guidelines:If […]