Okay, so I think most folks are familiar with the idea that every person is an individual and that we all have personalities that are unique.  This is what makes the world great, but this also raises a number of things that we can clash over or miscommunicate on.

What I am saying is that we must keep this in mind when we are managing a team.  Each team member is an individual, each team member has their own personality, each team member has their communication style, each team member has strengths and weaknesses, each team member may learn differently – I think you probably get the picture.

An item that I find critical is that regardless of personality or trait – if we struggle to communicate and we meet resistance due to these differences – we as managers must take an approach that works for the individual we are addressing (remember each team member is unique).

I know that folks may read this and say “well that is common sense” – well it may be but in many cases we do not practice this and therefore we need to be reminded of this – so here is my reminder for us both .

“My 2 Cents”

It seems odd to say this – how can you have autonomy (??) inside a process that is expected to be followed without deviation?

Well I believe that it is quite simple – trust.  Huh?

If you trust in the individuals you are managing and their ability to think outside of the box in an attempt to be better, then giving them a level of “autonomy” on a daily basis is something that can not only lead to better performance and higher job satisfaction, but it could ultimately lead to a more efficient and effective process.

For example – we work with a call plan, or to elaborate, a call approach that we teach our reps and look for them to follow.  This call plan is not something that we just put together because it looks nice, but rather, it is a philosophy on cold calling and how to effectively and efficiently penetrate an account. 

A couple of years ago a rep on my team approached me with something that he had been working on – it was a definite deviation from the call plan he was taught.  My first knee jerk reaction was that he was trying to get out of making phone calls and perhaps was not aggressive enough to be successful – without divulging to much – this idea is something that we have adopted company wide and has lead to a dramatic increase in opportunities produced.

Just a quick snapshot of the value of affording a person some “autonomy” inside a rigid process.

“My 2 Cents”

That being said, a critical piece of my job is training a new employee on what my clients are looking for in a qualified sales opportunity and what we need to do to achieve this deliverable, while at the same time, make the opportunity extremely appealing to the client’s sales rep.  A concept  I have deleveloped, perhaps concept is not the right word, but approach that I take and find extremely valuable is to relate the process of uncovering that opportunity to the creation of a painting.

What do I mean?

Well frame it like this – my clients look for us to deliver qualified sales opportunities – what is a qualified sales opportunity?  This includes all the information that we think about that is relevant to any sales process – pain/need, current environment, budget, decision making process, and timeframe.

When I describe to a rep what I would like them to uncover while qualifying a prospect, I use my “painting” analogy:  imagine if I showed you a painting of a beach, a nice white sandy beach, with rolling waves, a bright clear blue sky, and warm sunshine – this is probably pretty appealing !  But I then ask the question – what if I showed you that same painting of the beach with a chair and umbrella, perhaps a cooler next to the chair, a surfboard, and a seagull flying.  How much more appealing is this painting – the answer is “much more.”

How does this tie to opportunity generation – the more details around an opportunity the more appealing it is to a client’s sales rep, the more excited they are to follow-up on it, and most importantly, the more likely that opportunity is going to become a piece of forcastable revenue.

“My 2 Cents”

If you know me, you know that the world of “social media” is not where you would expect to find me - I must restate that – I have an interest in what “social media” is, the role it plays, and a facination with its power -  but from a far!

Until now that that is – August 31st 2009

I sit here trying to capture for everyone – why now?

Well, I enjoy writing, I enjoy sharing my experiences, I enjoy sharing my ideas and thoughts, I enjoy hearing feedback on my ideas and thoughts, and I enjoy other peoples perspectives  - I think the majority of us all do and perhaps that is the key to the world of “social media”

It just seems like such a powerful medium – I am curious enough to give it a shot! 

So please join me in the experience and I look forward to sharing my thoughts/experiences/ideas  about sales prospecting with you and yours with me.

Is Facebook next – sorry no – that is just plain scary too me!