Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

There are two distinct levels of self-sufficiency in how people work:

• Involvement. This can be created in various ways such as: consultation, giving information and making it clear that suggestions are welcome and that experiment and change in how things are done are good. This provides the opportunity to contribute beyond the base job.

• Empowerment. Empowerment adds the authority to be self-sufficient (making your own decisions) and creates the basis for people to become self-sufficient on an ongoing basis. In sense, empowerment creates a culture of involvement and gives it momentum.

The Power Of Responsibility
Together, involvement and empowerment create an environment in which people can have responsibility for their own actions. But remember: Responsibility cannot be given – it can only be taken; thus only the opportunity to take it can be given.

Creating a situation in which people do take responsibility for their work demands:
• Clear objectives (people knowing exactly what they must do and why).
• Good communications.
• Motivation (to show the desirability, for the individual as well as for the organisation, or taking responsibility).
• Trust (having created such a situation, you have to let people get on with things).

A team enjoying involvement in what they do, and having the authority to make decisions and get the job done, is the best recipe for successful management.

A Management Catalyst
A successful team is one that:
• Is set up correctly.
• Responds to the responsibility it has for the task.
• Seeks constant improvement (and does not ever get stuck on the tramlines).
• Sees its manager as a fundamental support to its success.

A team in this situation will do well and is more likely to go on doing well than a group just told what to do.

Your role is one of catalyst – constantly helping the team to keep up with events, to change in the light of events and to succeed because it is always configured for success.

You will find some additional articles on Leadership here

Today’s News:

The final Top Sales Article Of The Week for August has been chosen and now the panel will be deciding which of the excellent five weekly winners will be Top Sales Article Of The Month - it’s a really tough call. Just click on the banner above, to update yourself. You will also notice the brand new ticker box in the left-hand column, announcing this week’s nominees.

We are on schedule to launch The JF Journal next Tuesday, so if you haven’t subscribed already, simply click on the banner at the bottom. You’ll not only receive a complimentary E-book - you will also receive another FREE E-book every month for the next twelve months!!

Tomorrow: On The JF Guest Author Spot, Wendy Weiss, the “Queen Of Cold Calling” makes a very welcome return.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Kevin Dwyer

Some leaders do all they can to appear to lead. Others lead.

Have you ever had a boss who had to go to all of the “important” meetings even though they did not understand the detail which was to be discussed in the meeting? Ever had the same boss then ask you for a briefing on the details so they could be “up-to-speed”, instead of just inviting you along to the meeting?

Ever had a boss determined to be always visible to senior management as part of a strategy to advance their career? One might even go so far as to call them the “Visibility Manager”, such is their passion to be seen to be doing.

Ever had a boss so self-absorbed that they neglect to develop their staff’s intellectual and emotional intelligence?

If you have worked for a while it is probable that you will have had a boss with some or all of these traits. They may well have been successful as well, measured by the results of their strategy, at least temporarily.

Their behaviour reminds me of Aesop’s fable of The Peacock and the Crane.

A PEACOCK spreading its gorgeous tail mocked a Crane that passed by, ridiculing the ashen hue of its plumage and saying, “I am robed, like a king, in gold and purple and all the colours of the rainbow; while you have not a bit of colour on your wings.”

“True,” replied the Crane; “but I soar to the heights of heaven and lift up my voice to the stars, while you walk below, like a cock, among the birds of the dunghill.”

Leaders who do what is necessary to get noticed rather than embolden their people to do what they thought they could not and achieve what seemed unreasonable, are not leaders. They are mere peacocks.

Leadership is about a leader and followers. Leaders model the behaviours they want from their followers. Leaders demonstrate what is possible.

Leaders are noticed. They do not need to manage their visibility.

They are noticed because of the clarity and power of an idea and the drive they demonstrate in enabling the idea.

They are noticed by the strength and the independence of the people who follow them.

They are noticed by what their teams achieve, not by what meetings they attend.

Careers may be built on political posturing and managing visibility. Self belief, self-satisfaction and true respect are built on leading yourself and leading others.

To lead well, one needs to be self-aware and self-regulate. How aware are you of any tendencies to be the peacock rather than the crane? Ask your colleagues and subordinates.

Kevin Dwyer is a pragmatic change management advisor and founder of Change Factory. He comes from an old school that experienced and led change first and learnt the theory later.

Kevin’s interest in sales is in developing the reinforcing loops of corporate goal, strategy, marketing and sales tactics, KPIs, recruitment, career and competence development, coaching and counselling that influences more customers to move through their buying process with the selling organisation. You can learn more about Kevin and the Change Factory here

Today’s News: Unless your name is either Gustav or Obama, you will have felt pretty neglected when it comes to news headlines this week: I couldn’t find too many blog posts relating to the former and anyway interest will have blown over by next week; the latter seems destined to be with us for a while to come.

From Paul McCord: “Obama’s VP strategy…did drama overload America’s attention span?” and from Tibor Shanto: “Lessons for Sales from the Democratic Convention in Denver”

Tomorrow: It’s a tidy up w/e for me: Ten new E-books to edit and The JF Journal to finish. Rumour has it that after almost two weeks of grey skies, the sun will finally re-appear, just as most of Paris returns from it’s summer vacation in the south.

Have a great w/e yourself and be sure to make it back next week - JF

Successful modern leaders should be supportive of staff, but should also take decisive action to maintain standards of behaviour: The worst leaders are those who fail to support staff. These conclusions came from research by The Industrial Society, carried out among 3000 business people. The survey, “Liberating Leadership”, identified 38 key competencies for leadership, and exposed some myths about modern leadership, derided by some as ‘too soft’ and people-centred.

Highest rated among the qualities was the ability to deal effectively with breaches to standards of behaviour. The other main qualities were that the leaders did not take personal credit for other people’s work; listened to their staff; worked on their own learning; and were honest and truthful.

“Clearly”, the Industrial Society said, “those around successful leaders, or the observers in this research, do not have difficulty equating supportive leadership behaviour with decisive action to maintain standards… above all; they appear to admire the combination of the two”.

The five weakest areas of the less successful leaders were that they failed to be sensitive to people’s feelings; failed to recognise other people’s stress; failed to develop and guide their staff; failed to encourage feedback on their own performance, and failed to consult those affected before making decisions.

The top 100 leaders identified in the study were also more critical of their shortcomings and displayed more humility than the bottom 100, who tended to have an inflated sense of their own abilities. The Society reported: “What is clear is that the most admired leaders are highly skilled in the ‘modern’ areas of leadership, but importantly they are also able to set tough standards and achieve results.

Observers want leaders to combine ethical and inspirational behaviour with the ability to take tough business decisions”.

By identifying the highest competency as “dealing effectively with breaches of behaviour” observers are essentially saying that leaders should be decisive in tackling poor performance, the Society says. Tony Morgan, Chief Executive of the Society, commented: “Modern leadership can no longer be regarded as a soft option.

This research shows that it is integrity, honesty and decisive action that marks out the truly successful leaders. Their followers have no problem equating ethics and discipline and neither should we. Leaders in all fields – from business to sport to politics – cannot escape the need to adapt to this new ‘firm but fair’ style of leadership; not if they want to remain at the top”.

Today’s News:  

Clayton Shold’s guest this week is Mike Schultz who gives advice on selling professional services in a “down” economy; just click on the banner below to listen in.

Tomorrow: Will hopefully be leadership guru Kevin Dwyer on The JF Guest Author Spot

Creativity is problem solving. That’s the essence of successful selling.

The foremost function of the mind is problem solving; we solve problems with our imagination and imagination is a function of our creative ability. A creative salesperson is a problem-solver.

The basics of the selling process:
• Determine desire
• Present the product to satisfy desire
• Help the prospect find the right reasons for a favourable decision

Selling is nothing more than an exercise in problem solving. By constantly keeping your imagination and creativity at work, you will develop the best attitude for problem solving. You will build an unending source of ideas. You will become an idea producer and this will be your source of “value add” that will differentiate you from your competitor.

Differentiate Between Activity and Accomplishment
Activity relates to being busy but accomplishment equates to getting meaningful things done. It takes energy to fail. The successful salesperson channels their energy into creative, productive channels leading to pre-defined goals.

Accomplishment is measured by the amount of creativity involved.

And Finally: Value Added Asks:
“What service or benefit can I add to what I give my customer, other than my product?”

Not just service in the sense of speedy delivery, prompt follow-up and personal attention, which are normal adjuncts of any real sale…but a real plus idea, something extra of value to him beyond the immediate transaction…that goes beyond the nine dots of your job…

Value Add, through idea giving, is the ingredient that earns you the right to ask for the order, and to expect it!

Today’s News: Good blog posts? You will find this very interesting: “The viral spiral… people buy based on info from other people”  and this from Christian Maurer: “Can sales 3.5 capture the “self directed buyer?”

Tomorrow: It’s Kevin Dwyer on The JF Guest Author Spot - one of the foremost leadership experts in the world.  

The JF Guest Author Spot

Jeb Blount

I love the Olympics. I’ve been glued to my tv and computer for the last week trying to take in as much as I can. I enjoy the drama, the razor thin finishes, new world records, and watching obscure sports that are only covered on the sports networks once every four years. However, what I really live for is watching people of all ages capture their dreams. 

But while the tv anchors and interviewers are focusing on the gold medal winners, who we admire and applaud, I’ve been thinking about the hundreds of Olympians from countries across the globe who came to the Olympics with no chance to win a medal at all. My son even asked me, after one of the announcers made a comment that a competitor had no chance of winning, why people who knew they couldn’t win would even show up. It was a great question and one that I am sure has been asked time and time again.

The answer to this question is important for all of us because it is the basis for effective goal setting, personal success, happiness, and contentment. You see, each competitor comes to the Olympics with their own set of goals and their own vision which drives them to train, fight, run, swim, ump, and win for their own reasons in their own way.

Look at it this way: There is only one Michael Phelps, one LaShawn Merritt, one Nastia Liuken, one Misty May, and one Kobe Bryant. These individuals were given amazing talent which they have taken advantage of to do things that the rest of the planet holds up as a gold standard for achievement - phenoms that emerge one in a generation. Through their achievements they inspire legions of athletes and non-athletes alike to reach for new heights. However most people, no matter how hard they try, will never reach this level of success. And the danger for many is by holding themselves to these unachievable standards they eventually give up, quit setting goals, and fail to meet their own potential. 

Not the Olympians though. At the Olympics each athlete has their own set of personal goals. True, many come with their sights on the Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal. But most have goals like finishing the race, hitting a new personal best, being the youngest or the oldest, breaking a record, or just making it to the Olympics in the first place. In other words, they run their own race designed around their talent and potential. Instead of worrying about others they use their personal goals to stoke their desire and motivate them perform at their personal best.

I believe in setting goals. In fact I’m passionate about it. Goals are essential to success and happiness. Goals are critical for motivation. Goals help us develop passion for our lives and careers. And sadly most people never take the time to set and write down goals. As a student of goal setting I’ve discovered that a major reason many people never set goals is because they are afraid to fail. Using unrealistic standards for success they give up before even starting the race. They allow others to define what success means for them instead of looking into their heart and creating a unique vision for their own lives.

In every race there are people in the front, people in the middle, and people in the back. It will always be that way. Real success though is not defined by where you are in the pack. Instead, true contentment and happiness is derived from setting personal goals, based on what you want, and running your own race.

Jeb Blount is the author of the best selling sales motivation book, PowerPrinciples the host of the Sales Guy podcast , the #1 ranked sales podcast in the world. He is also the founder and CEO of the popular sales portal, SalesGravy.com.

If you would like some assistance with creating a plan and setting objectives for yourself, you will find this very helpful: “Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People”

Today’s News: In his post - “Satisfied With Your Job - Not If You Are A Sales Executive” Dave Stein discusses a recent survey by Execunet, which suggests that only 54% of sales professionals are happy in their current job - so that’s 46% who are not! This is broadly in line with my perception that globally, turnover is running at around 40% per annum. I am delighted to say that the figure is much, much lower within my clients, and the survey will probably give you the clues to just why that is.

Two more excellent blog posts that I can share with you: From Dave Brock - “Stop Wishful Thinking - Focus On Executing Your Strategies And Business Plans!“ and this from Charles H Green “Misconceptions about Trust-based Selling: It Doesn’t Work”

Tomorrow: “Value Add, Creativity & Problem Solving”

The traditional customer call once seemed indispensable to the selling process; the time and expense involved were just a basic cost of doing business. In recent years, however, the business community has come to regard the sales call as an expenditure for which there are substitutes. For many companies telemarketing and direct mail have made the sales call a choice not an inevitability. This is not surprising when various studies suggest that getting one sales person in front of one customer now costs $1000 - this cost has trebled since 1983. As a consequence professional salespeople have to be more effective than ever to justify the investment in a face to face effort.

In essence, we can draw several conclusions and when taken together, these findings paint a picture of the current state of the sales environment.

Customer Focus Creates Competitive Advantage:
• The one term that sets top performers apart - customer focus

• Outstanding sales results depend on:
- The ability to think from the customer’s point of view
- Understanding the customer’s agenda, buying cycle and best interests

• Beyond a superficial reading of immediate customer needs, salespeople must gain a deeper understanding of both the buyer’s long-term goals and the overall business climate

• At the heart of customer focus is the art of listening constructively - the best salespeople are masters at capturing information

• Customer focus means taking the customer seriously - to-day the salesperson who clings to the product orientation of a decade ago is losing ground

• As client companies branch into new markets and unfamiliar territories, they are demanding unique, flexible solutions from their vendors - customised to support specific goals

• Another myth which can be exploded is that whilst customers value flexibility, being too flexible can undermine the sales relationship. On the whole salespeople imagine that customers value a vendor’s responsiveness above all. However recent research shows that their primary concern is reliability.

In summary, in order to maintain customer focus the best salespeople become facilitators, creating a partnership that extends the selling relationship within the customer’s company. The motivation to achieve this should be strong - it costs five times as much to attract and sell to a new customer as it does to an existing one!

The right to do business has to be earned and never assumed:
Rather than doggedly asking for the business, the very best sales people work to keep the relationship moving towards a sale. They realise the need to identify how to turn their company’s products into real solutions, which must meet specific needs.

Unfortunately, our surveys confirm that the average salesperson drags the customer over old ground as much as 52% of the time - they are unable to provide continuous stimulation and never know when to treat an existing customer like a new one.

Conversely, exceptional salespeople only make such ‘return’ calls for 10% of the time. Above all, earning the right to proceed requires gaining the customer’s trust and top salespeople work diligently to establish a climate in which the customer is willing to share information and feels comfortable doing so. The key here is integrity.

Customers are persuaded when they are part of the process and not part of the audience:
Sales success to-day demands a radical shift from the ‘peddler’ mentality of merely demonstrating products and expanding on their features. It requires treating the customer as a participant. More often than not, a ‘flashy’ sales presentation alone alienates rather than persuades.

The best salespeople regard the sales call as a two-way conversation - not a one sided pitch. They have developed active listening skills. Average salespeople score fairly well in their ability to provide customers with facts and figures, but top performers dramatically outscore the rest when it comes to gathering information. In addition, how a salesperson collects information still distinguishes exceptional achievers from the rest of the pack. I.e. top performers ask better questions and as a result gain much better information. Essentially, they aim to engage customers in the buying process with questions that require thoughtful answers, that stimulate curiosity and that reveal the customers underlying needs.

Businesses need to re-define selling and what constitutes basic selling skills:
In to-day’s world of selling, there is less and less room for apprenticeship. Selling has become an exclusive club of highly skilled professionals where product knowledge and time management skills, for instance, are the cost of membership not leadership.

Ongoing research demonstrates that to-day’s ‘average’ salesperson is just as effective as the high performer in explaining features and benefits effectively, relating a service or product to customer needs and closing a sale. But, above this Level 1 plateau of competence, the exceptional salesperson is busy defining the “basic skills of tomorrow”.

Building an up-to-date foundation in sales competence does mean sacrificing some old notions of what it takes to succeed in a competitive marketplace. For example, a salesperson can no longer just “win by knowing”.

Every company needs to test their assumptions about what skills really contribute to sales success. Too often operating on old sales theories means training and rewarding people to do the wrong things.

When the buyer and seller act as partners, they are building a bridge to profitability:
Successful selling is definitely not about the “hit and run” sale. Sales achievers regard their relationships with key customers as a partnership and cultivate it as such. When customers face tough business challenges and complex technological choice, they rely on sales people who can assist them in making the right decisions.

The primary objective of a sales partnership has to be, to create and sustain a mutually productive relationship, which serves the needs of both parties, now and in the future. The key word here is symbiotic.

Partnership does not mean eliminating the tension between buyer and seller; it means that top-performing salespeople know how to strike a balance between achieving immediate results and developing the relationship fully.

In Summary: Why Do We Need A Fresh Approach To Selling?
Many organisations have developed without objective analysis of their purpose and structure. The buying power in many industries is no longer evenly distributed - in a large number of markets a few big firms control the majority of purchases.

The development of new marketing techniques has meant that some tasks traditionally performed by the sales team can be more effectively handled by other methods. The prime objective of all sales staff is to gain business. From an organisational point of view, however, how they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind and the quality of skills that are required.

You will, in all probability, also enjoy: “What Are The Characteristics Of The Very Best Sales Performers?”

Today’s News: I haven’t mentioned Top 10 Sales Articles for what seems like ages, and yet everyone keeps telling me that the standard of articles that are being nominated each week, just gets better and better.

Only five more monthly winners to announce and then it’s Top Sales Article Of The Year time again!

Do check out this week’s superb nominations and last week’s winner by simply clicking on the banner below:

I recently mentioned that this blog had been chosen by Alltop and last week I learned that my Sales Manager’s Mentor Blog had also been selected - that’s a real honour! Have you been over there recently? It’s just a banner click away again - see the cool avatar below:

Tomorrow: This week’s “Featured Expert” over at Top Sales Experts is good buddy Jeb Blount, which means he also fills The JF Guest Author Spot, with something very topical tomorrow.

Just how important is the “Induction Process”? Well, frankly, it is incredibly important – I was prompted to write this article after hearing of the experiences of an ex-student of mine last week.

Suffice to say, I was disappointed for her, but not surprised. My perception is that far too little thought is given to “inducting” new recruits and what she endured is commonplace.

Annabelle Deardon (name changed for obvious reasons) arrived at her new job as an Accounts Manager in a medium-sized advertising agency with great expectations and enthusiasm. After a long recruitment process - and after rejecting several other offers - she was sure this was the perfect job for her.

This was her experience:

* Arrived at 9.00 a.m. on Monday as informed (actually she arrived at 8.50); receptionist did not know who she was.

* Waited 30 minutes for her new manager to come and get her.

* 10 minutes into her meeting with him, he was called away and Annabelle was left with his colleague, who was not prepared for this.

* Colleague quickly showed Annabelle around and then left her with documents to read.

* An hour and a half and six glasses of water later, Annabelle was taken by her boss to a rushed lunch.

* The afternoon was much the same as the morning and finally, Annabelle was allowed to go home early.

Stresses Of A New Job:

Think back to the first day of your current job and the kinds of questions you asked yourself?

Some of them may have been:

* What will I be expected to do?
* Who will I be working with?
* Where will I be situated?
* What procedures will I have to follow?
* Will I fit in?

A good induction will help relieve some of the stress by answering these questions.

New Beginnings:

Facing a new job makes everyone feel anxious, some people more than others. The way in which you welcome, inform and integrate your new staff will have an effect on the rest of their stay in your company. Therefore, the better the introduction, the easier it is for newcomers to settle in and identify the appropriate behaviour for success.

You are looking for a swift return on the considerable investment you have made in hiring this new member of a staff – so surely it makes sense for you to do everything you possibly can to accelerate the induction process.

You may also enjoy several other articles that I have written on this subject, which you can find here

Today’s News: So, we all know that we are heading for some difficult times and the “global” recession is already beginning to bite - but in fact, there are some economies that are thriving and rather than allow ourselves to drown in a pool of financial self-pity, we should be looking outside the square or should I say geographical boundaries.

North America and Europe may well be our usual stamping grounds but you know, they are not the only stamping grounds. With this in mind, we have opened dialogue with some extremely professional and technically competent translation companies in order to widen the scope of this blog, JF Consultancy, Top Sales Experts and of course Top 10 - more soon.

I can give you another scoop - imagine all the very best sales blogs in the world, available to you on just one site? Coming soon to a PC near you, courtesy of The Sales Corporation

The long awaited first edition of The JF Journal, will be issued at the beginning of September and then monthly thereafter: We have a very special offer for subscribers (including all of you who have already signed up) and I will be announcing this next Friday.

Guest contributors for this inaugral edition include: Dave Stein, Nigel Edelshein, Christian Maurer, Jill Konrath and Paul McCord - there is some extremely powerful content in there, be assured.

Tomorrow: I have ten new E-books to edit which are part of a new series - you will be able to feast on them shortly - I promise.

You have a great w/e wherever you are and, if like me, you are a sportsaholic, enjoy the last two days of the most sensational and successful Olympics ever - did you see Team GB’s medal haul? Not bad for a country of 55m!!! But be sure to make it back next week to join me and my very special guests - JF

The JF Guest Author Spot

Paul McCord

Musically, I live in the distant past.  If an archeologist found my iPod they’d be sure I died sometime in the early to mid 70’s.  My taste in music hasn’t evolved past The Beatles, the Stones, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Who, ZZ Top, and Jethro Tull.  I take great pride in being one of the few who can actually understand lyrics when sung by Bob Dylan. 

But living in Texas, I have been exposed all my life to Country music and especially to one of the most mysterious, unexplainable religious experiences of the Country and Western crowd—the line dance.  The line dance is supposed to be a highly choreographed, disciplined, synchronized dance where each move is replicated in perfect harmony be each dancer.  When performed well, the line dance is like seeing one person in multiple forms (I told you it was a religious experience) stretched out in several lines moving effortlessly to music.

That, of course, is what is supposed to happen.  It seldom does. 

The failure of the line dance to live up to its promise starts at the very beginning—at the moment of conception of the line dancer so to speak.  Watching line dancing being taught is the perfect analogy to sales being taught as the exact same process happens in both cases.

Many Country and Western bars have nights when an instructor tries valiantly to teach newbies how to line dance.  The process—and the outcome—are always the same.  The instructor lines the soon to be dancers up in nice neat lines and walks them through the steps of the dance to be learned.  The instructor goes slowly waiting for each student to follow along at their own pace. 

After a couple of ‘dry’ runs through the steps without music, the instructor moves the class along, adding music and stepping up the moves into real time.  That is where the whole process breaks down.

Each group always has a couple of good dancers who catch on quickly and within a walk-through or two have the dance down pat.  Most are struggling to catch on, to make sense of and master the moves.  The instructor will go through the dance several times, each time leading the group, showing them by example exactly how do the dance. 

But what are most of the students doing during these practice runs?  Are they paying careful attention to the instructor and mimicking the correct moves?  Not at all.  Most are watching the feet of the student next to them, trying to mimic their moves, not the instructors.  Not surprisingly, most are not learning the dance but are rather learning—and perfecting–the mistakes the person next to them are committing. 

Usually at this point the instructor moves into personal coaching mode, taking one then another of the students and working with each individually to help them unlearn the wrong steps they’ve copied from their neighbor and replace them with the correct steps.  Eventually the instructor manages to get most of the students to perform a somewhat reasonable semblance of the dance, although there are always a few who insist on having their own unique religious experience to the music.

The exact process is played out daily in thousands upon thousands of sales offices.  Sales team members are given instruction in various aspects of selling with an instructor who is not only willing and able to demonstrate the correct steps, but who tries in the short time they have to work with individuals to help them master the moves.  Yet the majority of salespeople instead of paying attention to the instructor are watching the feet of their neighbor, learning and mastering the mistakes they make.

Most of those who learn the line dance eventually–after a good deal of practice in the real world of the dance floor–gain a basic competence in the dance they learned.  Strangely the same thing doesn’t happen with salespeople.  Unlike the dancers who are constantly surrounded by other dancers who have developed some competence in the dance, many salespeople are left with either only themselves to self-teach the correct moves or are surrounded by others who are struggling to correct the wrong moves they’ve learned.

Selling is a far more difficult skill to learn than a line dance, yet companies are content to have their training department, management team, or an outside trainer float in, present a strategy or two, maybe have time to spend a few minutes working with individual salespeople, and then they’re gone, leaving the team members to figure out on their own what moves they mis-learned and how to correct them. 

Rather than teaching their salespeople a new line dance, companies should be investing their time and their money in helping their sales team members perfect the dances they’ve mis-learned through concentrated coaching.  If left to learn from one another, they’ll learn and perfect the wrong moves—guaranteed. 

Paul McCord is the president of McCord and Associates, a Houston, Texas based international sales training, coaching, and consulting company. He is the author of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble best-selling book on referral generation, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), and SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar www.powerreferralselling.com

Today’s News: Over at Salesopedia, Clayton Shold is in conversation with Vince Poscente - just click on the banner below to listen in.

And here are a couple of really good blog posts you will enjoy: From Kevin Eikenberry “Are You A Positician?”  and “Social Media: lipstick on a pig or a total makeover?” from Greg Verdino

You’ll no doubt be delighted to hear that from September, I will be providing you with the JF Review, every Wednesday, where I will begin reviewing the mountain of books I currently have stacked up in my study, craving my attention - and still they keep coming!

Tomorrow: I will share with you an horrific story of negligence and incompetence, experienced by an ex-student of mine recently - think back to your first day in a new job.

Psychometrics evolved from the need to examine ability. At the end of the 19th century, French psychologist Alfred Binet worked on some of the first tests to measure children’s ability.

The US army developed its own tests to help recruit fresh troops for the first World War, the so-called Alpha tests, designed to work quickly through the hundreds of thousands of applicants and work out who had the required education and background.

More notoriously, the tests went through a period of popularity with eugenicists – something psychologists are still trying to live down – with the invention of IQ and aptitude tests.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of psychometric tests. The first measures ability – verbal or numerical reasoning for example. The second measures personality traits such as how a person might behave in a given situation or what motivates them. In the world of work, tests are increasingly tailored to the jobs they are used for.

The choice of test is absolutely crucial: In order to decide to use a test, you must first analyse a job in terms of what makes one person more successful at it than another. You must be absolutely clear that what you’re measuring is relevant to the job performance

So why my scepticism and why do I believe that psychometric testing and professional salespeople are uncomfortable bedfellows?

Pick up a typical company report and what words do you find? Verbs like analyse, forecast, plan, assess and schedule, are used by organisations that are efficient, productive and predictable. What set of people are required? Obviously, people who are efficient, effective, proficient, competent, productive and co-operative. These traits we can measure and predict using psychometric testing.

But I believe we need to go beyond – as business captains, we need to be inspired, motivated, creators who are enthusiastic and able to consistently deliver against our key objectives. We should be developing individuals who are not afraid to challenge paradigms, who are prepared to go that extra yard in search of excellence and who understand that success is 80% attitude and only 20% aptitude.

And this where my sceptism has its roots because the “personality” element or the “attitude” in my Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success selling formula, cannot be accurately benchmarked.

Witness the admission of John Rust, professor of psychometrics at City University and director of the Cambridge Assessment Centre, “Some skills such as numeracy or language are easy to test. Others – creativity, for example – are more nebulous. Lots of people criticise creativity tests because they are very hard to do.”

The question is, are any of these assessments reliable or valid? Rust does believe creativity can be tested. He cites the example now used more often in psychology lectures than HR departments, of giving a candidate a brick and asking them to come up with as many uses for it as possible. (The mind boggles) Here psychometrics enter a grey area.

“Using personality tests for personnel selection is sometimes regarded as controversial.The difficulty is that people can often perceive what characteristics are desirable – you’re unlikely to admit to having hallucinations. People who answer honestly might be at a disadvantage and this tends to show up if you look at the relationship between test scores and performance.”

“Correlations between personality test scores and job performance are often weaker than a similar comparison with ability-based tests”, he adds. “Ultimately, psychometrics can only ever used by companies in the context of a wider selection process, the test will only inform the decision – it won’t make the decision.”

You see, returning to my ASP + K formula, at what point does a psychometric finding have reliable relevance?

The attitude element is apparently uncertain and for me this is critical, as it drives the motivation of all the other elements: Skills, including; negotiation, presentation, account management, relationship building, opportunity assessment etc, cannot be assessed. The individual’s commitment to appropriate sales process which might include; forecasting, pipeline development, activity analysis etc, cannot be assessed. And finally, knowledge, that includes industry knowledge, sector knowledge, company knowledge, product knowledge and even self-knowledge, cannot be assessed.

Having recruited, trained, mentored, coached and developed literally thousands of front-line sales professionals, my question is a simple one:

In the field of professional selling, have we been seduced into allowing psychometric testing to become our bedfellows?

So what we did was to design a range of sales team assessments that are wholly relevant, wholly appropriate and significantly, wholly accurate: ASP Profile

Today’s News: Ahead of THE sales event of the year, Jill Konrath is providing some FREE Sales SheBang Teleseminars, featuring some of the star-studded line up of speakers:Just click on the banner below to get connected but hurry, the first one is today!

A couple of extremely good blog posts for you:

From Dave Stein: “Web 2.0 Adoption Stats: Disappointing Or A Call To Action?”

and “How Should Your Business Start Using Social Media? Start by Listening, Says Chris Brogan.” from Mike Volpe

Tomorrow: Well, it’s a bit of a surprise on The JF Guest Author Spot, as my invitation didn’t reach it’s intended recipient, but you can be assured that my “call to arms” will result in a very “heavy weight” response

The JF Guest Author Spot

Cheryl Clausen

What’s one challenge most producers from beginners to veterans share? A lack of quality leads. It’s down-right frustrating.

You’ve probably tried any number of opportunities from out-and-out buying leads lists to buying out-of-the-box solutions all in an effort to get people to sell to. Some of those opportunities may have provided a few quality leads, and some probably didn’t get you even one quality person to talk to. And that’s maddening.

It makes you gun shy. But you also know there has to be something you can do to get quality prospects reaching out to you. The good news is there is.

The better news is it can be done at no cost to you other than your time investment. I already know you’re not afraid of doing the work, or you wouldn’t be a producer. So what is this ultra-secret way you can get noticed and generate leads at the same time?

It’s a press release. Yes, you can draft and submit your own press release and have your information shared with the right audience all at no financial cost to you. There are just 3 objectives to keep in mind before you draft your press release.

The first objective is to get your press release placed in the right publication or broadcasted over the right stations. You may think the right mediums are the ones with the largest audience. However, the right choice is the publication or broadcast that your best prospects pay attention to. You’re better off reaching an audience of 100 prime prospects than an audience of millions. Why? Because placement is only the first objective, but it directly relates to the second objective.

Your second objective is to get your message read, heard, or seen. To make that happen you have to have the right message. The right message is one that grabs the attention and interest of your desired audience.

Once you’ve got their attention you want to get them to act. Action is the third objective. Give them a way to respond to your press release so they’re, in effect, raising their hand telling you they’re a good prospect for you.

With these three objectives in mind you’re ready to draft your press release and send it off for placement in the venues you’ve chosen. You’ll get noticed, and you’ll trigger a first step action that identifies quality leads from that audience. Who said getting quality leads has to be hard?

Discover the 7 Steps to Turning Your Business into a Top Producer

Get the book “7 Secrets to All the Highly Qualified Leads You Want”

Increase Sales Coach Cheryl A. Clausen gets results sales training can’t BECAUSE it’s never just a sales issue

Cheryl A. Clausen has been recognized by her peers for her outstanding coaching proficiency and she is a Certified Business Coach. In addition to coaching others to success, Cheryl is an active public speaker, speaking for local area associations.

She writes: a column “Coaching Excellence” in the Heartland Messenger; a free monthly ezine “Short Notes” and is a preferred author for many ezines.

Visit Cheryl’s website: increasesalescoach.com

Today’s News: I am travelling today, so no significant news, other than to say that my second blog - Sales Manager’s Mentor Blog has also made it onto Alltop I’ll provide an expansive news section tomorrow.

Tomorrow:Psychometrics, Salespeople and the ASP + K formula.