The other day we held a series of offsite meetings to discuss sales tactics and techniques as well as reinforcing our corporate messaging and corporate sales cycle.  As it turned out, in addition to a training exercise for staff about the best ways to sell, close, and introduce new business opportunities, we had a great thing happen in the company.  We changed the way we talked about sales opoprtunities and we got everyone speaking the same language.

While it sounds simplistic, what I have found since that meeting is a tremendous change in the culture of the organization, a bonding of sorts, and a share thinking that is critical to an organization.  For us, it is about talking about “features” versus “benefits” and “different tactics for close” and “the sales pyramid versus the sales funnel”.  For other companies, the language of choice might be different.  You might have your own language you want everyone speaking, I am not negating that at all here.  Instead, I am suggesting that it is imperative for every CEO to instill a language in the organization that he / she leads and to make sure that language is shared and believed by all people in the organization. 

We had that for a long time but recently fell into the trap of thinking that we needed to allow people to speak in their own language and to have their own unique way of doing things.  What it led to was a sense of different factions, groups, and a clear disconnect in the conversations that people were having.  Instead of a Shared Mindset we had a Team of Individuals.  In some businesses a team of individuals might be the preferred model, but I suggest that every organization think long and hard about this and consider instead instilling a shared mindset and a same language phenomenon.  For me, there is no question that the benefits of this shared thinking and language are clear and measurable.

I found myself twice in management meetings have similar conversations about problem solving as it relates to organizational structure.  I should start by admitting that I am notorious for over-estimating the amount of work that can be accomplished and underestimating what it will take to accomplish this work.  But – that having been said – what I often find is that it is hard for managers to break what appears to be a large and overwhelming issue into a series of manageable chunks and then attacking each chunk independently.  I think – maybe because of my background focus on math and analytics – that for me everything seems to form itself in the form of manageable chunks.  But all too often it is hard to see those chunks because the group of problems appears to be so large in comparison.

Think for a minute about the following analogy.  I am not a chef and cannot even begin to think that I can put together a great meal.  However, I have found myself watching and mystified as I see people who can put together the most amazing meal – piece by piece.  They do not come into it looking at the overwhelming challenge of creating and over the top meal.  Instead, they approach each part of what needs to be made independently – while acknowledging and understanding how they fit together.  Think about it – they make the salad, the soup, the dinner, the side, the sauce, and the dessert.  Each of these pieces in and of itself it a lot of work and needs to be looked at and completed by itself.  And independently, it is not much.  But when put together and combined together, it solves the larger dsire of creating a great meal – one piece at a time – cooking in manageable chunks.

Is there a better analogy?  Probably.  But the bigger question is – as a business leader – are you helping your manager to see the manageable chunks?

I found myself in a meeting the other day having a very interesting conversation with a senior executive from a major media company. I was explaining to him the focus of our organization – that of assisting companies in the process of Customer Acquistion.   His response to me was “that is very interesting and intriguing.  We tell customers that we focus on ‘bringing buyers and sellers together‘ - while similar – the difference is actually very vast.”

I sat back and thought for a while about this conversation.  So often people (including myself) get frustrated in taking time to come up with the right word tracks and messaging.  The nuance in the above two messages seems small in some ways – companies would say – “we do that too”.  And yet – the message conveyed in the two instances is so different and the impact on the prospect is so much greater that I would suggest that time taken is potentially the most critical time a CEO can take in formulating a message.  Frustrating – yes.  Valuable – no question.

Do you spend enough time thinking about your message?  Is it really telling your story?

Below is a link to my weekly interview on The Pulse Network (www.thepulsenetwork.com) with Mike Nahass of NMS Capital (www.nmscapital.com). In this episode we discuss the oil price increase and how it impacts companies and busienss planning. Like the last it starts a little slow and the engagement will surely pick up as we get more comfortable with the dialogue, but the topic is an interesting one.
We cover -

• How the oil crisis will affect future business planning
• How the up-stream affect of a financial hit will ultimately impact jobs and job creation
• How a smart business plan turns into a problem for a company because of a change in world policy that affects the economic climate

Let me know your thoughts.  Also – let me know if you have topics you would think are interesting for Mike and I to explore.

If you have a few moments, please take a few minutes and watch this video.  I am going to be doing weekly interviews on The Pulse Networks (www.thepulsenetwork.com) with Mike Nahass of NMS Capital (www.nmscapital.com).  In this episode we discuss whether a CEO should take the time to establish themself as a personality championing the products and services of the company.  It starts a little slow but I think you will find it an interesting conversation.  Let me know.  Also – let me know if you have topics you would think are interesting for Mike and I to explore.

Recently I had to be reminded the most important lesson in sales, if you are not working a database you are not working! 

Let me explain.  Recently I have joined forces withh Jason Chudnofsky, someone I respect on many levels and probably the best sales leader i have ever meet, to grow our CtrossTech Media business.  After two weeks with us Jason came to me asking me the most basic question – “Why are you / we not working your / our databases better?”  And it got me thinking – here I am preaching about data, databases, analytics, and tracking and yet in my own organization we are not doing it like we should.  Thankfully, we are fixing it.  And fast!

So what is working your database?  Well, it is simple in many ways.  Sales, no matter how it is done, is all about managing the process of tracking prospects through the funnel.  Yes – social media and digital meda have changed the landscape.  But the principals of selling are the same – you need to work a database and take prospects through the process from Awareness to Prospects to Leads to Sales.  How you do it might be diffferent.  But it all starts with the same principle – have a database and work it through the funnel.

Are you working your database?  Are you tracking it like you should?  Trust me – stick to the basics.  It does work.

Someone once asked me what made Cambridge Technology spawn off so many people that went off to start their own businesses (some of which went on to be extremely successful).  I thoguht the question was very interesting and while I answered it quickly, in looking back I think the answer was right on and something I have tried to learn from and am now trying to recreate here at CrossTech.  The answer was – “We were taught to see no boundaries and know no boundaries”.

What does that mean?

Well – one example was – I recall being 23 years old and sitting in a board room at a very large investment bank at the time with 15 executive with an average age of 40 and probably earning an average salary of $400,000.  And here they were – asking me questions and treating me as the expert.  And yet – for some reason – it felt natural and obvious and I felt that there were no boundaries to the conversation and no limits to my ability to control the room and the conversation.  While this is a small example – it is meant to show that all we were exposed to was this idea – not that anything was possible but that everything was possible.  They used to say – “if you can dream it you can do it”.  In other words – let nothing stand in your way.  And here we were – young, ambitious, energetic, excited, and uninhibited.  We were not held back by fear or a belief system or an “understanding” of what was possible.

Think about it… People often say the best sales people are fearless and will break through a steel door if that is what it takes.  Why will they do this?  Because they see no boundary to making the sale.  This is what we need to teach our young employees and our old employees and all of our employees.  If we can create an organization where everyone knows no boundaries then we will be successful in creating an organization that has no boundaries.

Easy?  No.  Possible?  Yes.