I first began to recognise the need to be able to benchmark sales performance more objectively and more rigorously over twenty five years ago. The motivation to do this was strong, because I knew I was wasting thousands,if not hundreds of thousands of pounds on sales skills training programmes which were not providing me with a proper return on my considerable investment. But I needed to prove my theory, because without an accurate analysis of my requirements, I would continue to abdicate that responsibility to the training providers, most of whom had only their own interests at heart.
So, with this quote from Drucker, "The most effective way to manage change is to create it" firmly in my mind, I set about my task - a task that became a journey, which began in 1981 and is still ongoing...
By taking an analytical approach, I arrived at the following equation:
Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success
My initial reasoning was this: Attitude is fundamental to any achievement, because individuals with the right attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential Skills, recognise the control that Process brings and have the desire to continually expand their Knowledge.
Skills are the 'tools of the trade' and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.
Process brings organisation, efficiency and control - both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators, which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.
Then, there is of course a need to build in Knowledge - and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self!
Attitude:
Let's then begin by looking at Attitude. I was fortunate enough to have discovered the "Hertzberg Theory "- Professor Frederick Hertzberg has promoted a theory of motivation, which goes a long way forward from the original theory of "Carrot and Stick", or indeed its extension 'The Reward Theory' still used by many managers and companies to try and exhort greater efforts from their staff.
It stems from two statements:
What makes people happy and motivated at work, is what they do.
What makes people unhappy and de-motivated at work, is the situation in which they do it.
Hertzberg suggested that managers needed to become familiar with three new letters that would become increasingly important in the management of people in the future. The three letters are.................
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Today's News:A message from fellow Top Sales Expert, Kendra Lee:
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Tomorrow: Lee Salz is in the JF Guest Author hot-seat - "The Unprecedented Sales Management Challenge for 2009″
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