What's in a Name?

OK, I get it.  The name of my company, Connext Nation, may not be the easiest to pronounce at a first glance.  But really if you take the time to look at it, it is very easy.

Think Connect and then put a "next" in as the last syllable.

Con-Next Nation.  Easy peasy, right?

Well I guess not!

Two times in the past couple weeks, the name has been murdered.  Not just mispronounced, but stabbed again and again.

Each time I wanted to correct the person, but  I also wanted that person to save face.

One time I was being introduced as the speaker.  Please, Please, PLEASE,
those who are introducing people, make sure you know how to pronounce both company name and their personal name.  Especially if that person is speaking gratis, they need your help with marketing.  If you give the mispronunciation then the marketing falls flat.

I have learned my lesson and now I am going to have a pronunciation guide immediately after Connext Nation in my written introduction.

Have you ever had your name or company name twisted and what did you do about it?

What Do I Need to Practice?

Here is our monthly column from our guest book reporter, Don Kardux, owner of Business Navigators.  If you'd like to send Don a comment, please send an email to Don@busnav.com.

Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin

I wish I had the innate talent “the natural ability to do something better than most people can do” like Tiger Woods, Warren Buffet, Mozart or Itzhak Perlman.

If I had ‘talent’ like that I could be a ‘world class performer.'

“Wrong,” says Geoff Colvin, formally a senior editor at large for Fortune magazine.
 

There are other elements that Colvin believes are the real definers of ‘World Class Performance.”

•          Well designed practice activities

•        Coaching

• ·        Repetition

• ·        Feedback

• ·        Self-regulation

• ·        Building knowledge

• ·        Mental Models

In the first six chapters he defines and illustrates these elements. Scientific research coupled with delightful stories help to clarify and validate his point of view. 

Chapter seven and eight focus on applying these principles in our lives and organizations.

He finishes the book looking at Innovation, Age and Passion.

In the afterword he mentions some of the effects the book has had on those who read it.

“After I presented this material in a seminar for managers, one of them experiencing a sudden epiphany, raised his hand and exclaimed, ‘I’ve got chess players, but I’m training them like musicians’ “.  (You’d have to read the book to get it)

A medical products firm applied his principles to a product roll out with their sales training approach and increased from average sales of 1.5% to a 10.5% and from an average prospect conversion rate of 25% to 95%.

This is a steak dinner and a four course read.

In short, what separate World-Class Performers from everybody else? Practice in using the elements. Practice does not make perfect. Well designed practice does!

Natural Sleep Aid

I was in a meeting the other day where my goal was to stay awake!  You see, the leaders of the meeting were determined to use lingo and obtuse language.  One such phrase was "utilized methodology." 

Now I bring my sleepy problem to you to ask you if you are using words that may be off-putting to the very people you want to connect with.  Think about recent conversations with prospects.  Did their eyes glaze over because of the stilted conversation.  And I use that term loosely, because when industry specific words are being used, it is not really a conversation but more a monologue.

Did you utilize methodology to determine the necessities of your prospect.....

OR

Did you ask a few questions to find out how you can help to solve your prospect's needs?

Who Makes You Think?

Yesterday, I met with Marc Hustek, a Realtor with Howard Hanna in Rocky River, Ohio.  He is on the executive committee of the Rocky River Chamber.  I am a new member of this chamber and so far I have been extremely impressed with everything about this organization.

Marc, explained it to me.  He said that they are committed to paying attention to the details so that no matter what event members attend they have a GREAT experience.  He shared how their annual golf outing is a well-oiled process starting immediately when the chamber member drives up to the club.  Everything is choreographed to have no waiting in line.  (Think about the golf outings you've been to.)  To make it continue to stay fresh, instead of the same old, same old games, last year one member who sells windows, donated a few.  Those windows became targets on a green for golfers to try to break.  Another member set up a camera behind the windows so they could catch them being broken.  Now is that cool or what?

While I don't set up golf outings, what I learned from Marc, was to look at everything that I am doing to see if there is another way to make it even better or more fun.  For me, Marc is a thought-leader and I think we all need to listen to such people to help us remain fresh.

Don't be Alike

Two great things about the direct sales world are standardization and the training most companies provide. 

I would also like to challenge that!  Of course, I would.

Standardization of the process is great, but standardization of the person is not so.  Think of any person who sells a multi-level product.  Are they just like the last person who talked with you about the very same product?  If so, they don't realize that they need to be unique.  They haven't given you any reason to buy from them over the other person.

When my friend, Jenn Wenzke, sold Mary Kay cosmetics, she set herself apart by helping others first and then by letting them know about her MK offers.  And she gave a lot of stuff away too.  She also started her own networking group.  It is designed to help everyone else, but you can bet that in the end it also helps Jenn. That's because she was willing to do the work that made her different from everyone else.

John Tarpy, is a representative for CruiseOne.  He loves the company.  The training is great.  But he also reached outside the company to further open his mind.  He took our course last year and now he is even more successful.  One thing he does when he goes to local networking events is that he wears a shirt that looks like a boat captain's shirt.  He stands out from the crowd.

For those in direct sales, what makes you different from all your sisters and brothers in your company.  When you go to your annual conference, do you stand out enough that others want to know about your success?

Tell us about it!

Give a Tithe to Yourself

A thousand years ago (OK, so maybe it was only 500 years) I went to a sales seminar put on by Tom Hopkins.  It was a full day event and while some of his stuff is a little old

-fashioned now, he had lots of good information.  But from the full day, there is one item he mentioned that has stayed with me forever.

Of course, Tom was selling product from the stage.  He had both video and audio cassettes available and was making the deal sound irresistible. He stopped his sales process, (although now that I look at it, it was probably a step in the process!) walked to the other side of the stage and said, "You know, if you're not spending 10% of your net income on becoming better at what you do, you're just fooling yourself."


I remember sitting there thinking about what I had earned the previous year and realizing what that number would be.  It made me easily decide to purchase his audio set, which I listened to over and over again in my car.  My W-2 the next year showed immense progress in my selling career.


Today, I still go by that rule.  While I may not spend 10%, I probably get close to it.  I like to learn so it is not a chore, but investing in myself also makes very good sense.

What are you doing this year to get better at what you do?

He Lied to Me

Lesson remembered #2

As a sales manager, I assumed that my team members would act in every way to make themselves successful

What a dunce I was.

One person proved me wrong.

He lied to me for weeks.

And he was a referral from a trusted CPA firm.  We did work for their clients and so wouldn't they refer good people to us????

To make this a short story, the sales person (we'll call him Joe) managed to get his license suspended by having a DUI.  Joe had a license when he came to work for us, but evidently lost it soon after.  Now in our office the sales people were in and out.  They did not have to appear each morning before heading to their territories, because some were far out.  So it was not usual for me to miss seeing a sales person all week because I was also out selling while managing, too.  Joe managed somehow to show up for the required Monday sales meeting.  It took me at least two months to figure out what was going on.  Obviously without a license, Joe was  not out working in the field. If Joe had communicated with me sooner, maybe, just maybe, we would have figured out a way for him to work inside during his time without a license.  But since he was devious, he was out the door.
As a result of this experience I learned to communicate with my sales people on a regular basis and know where they were and what they needed from me.  I stopped thinking that they would do everything they could to be successful.  I feel badly about that attitude, but I think for the people who were great, it just made them greater.  They liked me helping them.

What help does your sales team need?