Ok, so you have just twenty four hours to close down third quarter numbers – and then what? You have a very limited amount of time to finish the year strongly.

One in two front-line sales professionals are going to miss quota – but even if you are one of them, don’t throw in the towel. The mindset that you finish the year with is the same mindset that you will take into 2011!

So you have had a disappointing year – next year is going to be so much better for you, if you choose to make it so. You have that choice.

Begin today by thinking about your pipeline activity – this is one of the real secrets, and over the next few weeks, I will reveal the others, which will determine your success or failure in 2011.

There are two escalating pressures in today’s marketplace that are creating a need for a more disciplined approach towards sales opportunities:

o The need to be more specialized and individualized in dealing with clients because we can no longer afford to treat all situations in the same way.
o The reality of competition – Often to increase market share, you must do so at the direct expense of the competition. The competitive intensity of the sales environment is escalating with the globalization of the economy.

These are the main “drivers” behind the demand that organizations adopt methodologies and processes to manage these issues.

By utilizing a rigorous and formal opportunity assessment, we are aiming to achieve two sets of objectives:

Business Objectives

o Determine which sales opportunities should be pursued at the direct expense of others
o Given resource limitations, decide where and on what basis resource should be allocated to a sales opportunity
o Determine whether our company is over-investing or under-investing in a sales opportunity
o Enhance forecast accuracy
o Use “proven” criteria to reduce the cost of sales

Sales Objectives

o Identify, quantify and categorize opportunity assessment criteria
o Increase “Hit-Rate” (Win – Loss ratios) by avoiding unsuitable business
o Discover where we and our competition stand with a customer
o Gain a complete and accurate view of a sales situation prior to writing a sales plan to win
o Calculate the probability of winning or losing a deal early in the sales process

All sales professionals claim to be permanently time constrained – we always have limited time and resources with which to achieve our targets.

We can be involved in only so many accounts or sales situations before we begin to lose our ability to manage what is taking place. At that point, we lose control and the competition takes control.

We can only control and manage what we understand and that is the real value of continuous and rigorous assessment of our pipelines.

More thoughts about your 2011 strategy soon.

Ahead of my FREE Masterclass next week: “The Dirty Secrets Of The World’s Best Negotiators” I wanted to give you a flavor of what I will be sharing:

Negotiation – Dealing With Price Objections And The Closing Stages

Price is an issue in most negotiations. We need to deal with the price issue confidently, but with an understanding of the needs of the other side. Here are some notes to help you.

•  Be specific – state the exact price, rather than “…well, it will be about  $50,000. “

•  Maintain eye contact – it makes you look confident

•  Ensure your tone of voice is confident and your body language is also  confident and relaxed

•  Use silence. Once you have stated your price, stop talking and wait for  the other side to speak. Give them time to think
 
•  Deal with price objections and defend your price, but don’t over  argue your case

•  Close down your body language

• Focus on price and benefit differences

•  Begin the bargaining phase

The Closing Stages

The closing stages of any negotiation are vital to the overall success of the final deal.

There will come a time when both parties can sense an outcome is possible and each negotiator needs to be careful not to be too eager to close – or else, the other party will be tempted to hold back for further concessions.

Once a likely outcome is seen, either party may define outstanding issues, compare arguments and objections, review the position to date and agree a deadline for agreement. If one side avoids making these decisions, the other must probe to find out the reason and deal with it effectively. Negotiators must be careful at this stage to identify tactical delay, which deliberately attempts to force further concessions.

The best solution to aim for always is one where both parties feel they have done well, despite having to concede on certain issues. This is called a “win-win” solution.

Once either side feels they have arrived at the final deal, it is important to signal this to the other party.

Body language can say as much about what you are thinking as speech. If you have made your final offer, look as if it is your final offer.
 
Simply gathering up your papers, looking at the other side directly in the eye and saying “That is my final offer” can do this, and silence can be a powerful tool in convincing them you mean what you say.

Be wary of splitting the difference. If you offer to split the difference, you have, in effect, given the other side a concession that is one-sided. You have said you are prepared to move without asking for commitment in return.

The final consideration is when you have done the deal and both parties are in agreement. Record the details and agree with the other parties involved that your interpretation of events matches theirs. That way there will be no unexpected comeback in the inevitable post-negotiation period when either side reviews how well or badly he has done. Again, this will be minimized if the solution you have arrived at benefits both parties.

A Final Word Of Caution

The closing stages need to be approached with caution. It has been shown that the majority of concessions are given or traded in the last 5% of the time allocated for negotiation. That means if you negotiate for one hour, the last three minutes are when you are most vulnerable.

OK, here is where you go to register for FREE, and there are just 85 places left, so please be quick! Register now

PS: Everybody is talking about the “World” and everybody that is anybody in the sales space is talking on the “World” It’s FREE!!

I have said it before; I’ll say it again; I’ll keep saying it ….what is the point of having great running backs and outstanding wide-receivers if your QB cannot pass or throw?

According to H.R. Chally, around 50% of sales professionals globally are going to miss quota this year.

Whose responsibility is that?

It’s the sales leader’s responsibility.

Too many sales teams are being led by incompetent, unqualified and inadequately trained managers.

Here are some more staggering metrics for you:

Around 80% of sales managers arrive in that role because they were the most successful member – highest achieving – of the sales team when the vacancy arose.

82% of sales managers who were appointed under those circumstances fail within twelve months.

The average tenure of all sales managers is less than eighteen months.

Am I on a crusade? Yes, of course I am.

Whilst hundreds of millions of dollars are flushed down the toilet on irrelevant and inappropriate sales team training every year, and incompetent training companies, unable to identify the real cause of sales team under-achievement continue to prosper, I will remain so.

Amazingly, most companies today spend more on their CRM “solution” than they do on developing their sales leadership function!

My “Tougher At The Top“ campaign begins today, and runs until the end of 2011 – details of the book, the UK workshop tour, and the new website will appear shortly.

Let me begin by saying that there certainly isn’t any shortage of advice about sales management and how to be a good manager, but there is a shortage of quality advice.

Today, please allow me to introduce some fellow crusaders …… enter the people at Zenger Folkman who use hard science to determine what separates good managers from extraordinary leaders.

They’ve done studies and collected statistically sound data from 1,000′s of sales leaders around the world.

This week: a very special online event.

Based on the research they’ve done on more than 25,000 leaders over 4 years, they’ve decoded the six essential behaviors sales leaders must possess – not only to impact sales, but also to drive change, and ultimately organizational profitability.

And they will share what they’ve discovered on a free Webinar on September 29th at 1:00 EDT (6:00 GMT)

Sales Leaders face extraordinary pressures

Pressure has always been part of the job for a sales leader. But in today’s difficult business environment, how do great sales leaders deal with:

• the trend toward virtual teams
• increased customer sophistication
• a modern work environment that emphasizes a much more collaborative culture

The September 29th webinar will feature Scott Edinger. Scott personally works with hundreds of leaders to develop leadership talent and address the challenges of organizational change. He knows what he’s talking about.

Everyone is welcome to attend this FREE Webinar. Register here.

And when you have finished registering, check out their site for more great resources including their new podcast series on sales leadership.

Latest News: Where in the World have you been today?

Motivating is that leadership skill of developing other people to do a better job. Within every business, there are recognized criteria for people development.

What are those criteria for developing others (let’s call them “People Developers”):

• Achievement

• Recognition

• Participation

• Growth

These four factors are inter-related and overlap. One factor may be more important to one individual than another and it is your job, as a leader, to ascertain what others require in their development.

Let’s look at these motivators as they relate to the development of your team and your leadership.

Achievement

Satisfaction – a sense of personal accomplishment that a challenge has been met and the job has been well done. For most people, achievement is a reward in itself. It is the basic thing which spurs people to go and do a better job.

How do you, as a leader, use achievement as a developer? If someone knows that they have achieved something, they must first know what is expected of them – a set goal – if they are to realize later they have achieved it or exceeded it. Thus, if you intend to use achievement as a developer, you must be sure you clearly outline goals for your people to strive for.

Recognition

Closely related to achievement, it is meaningless unless earned. Recognition is an expression of approval, or appreciation, by others whose opinion and judgment is valued. Within the business world, you have many ways to show recognition.

Recognition and praise will show many unknown facets, like a diamond.

Recognition polishes it and allows latent talent to shine out.

Participation

People are more strongly motivated if they feel they have helped in the planning of their objectives, rather than being told. They should feel as part of not only their own work, but of the total group and Company.

Remember, inactivity is often caused by feelings of inadequacy. Participation can overcome this feeling of inadequacy.

Growth

The person who feels as if they are at a dead end, probably is. They must feel that there are the opportunities available for them to grow and that they are growing in experience, knowledge, skill and understanding. If we can help them start growing, the person will, in fact, exert more effort. Even the rewarding of others can achieve motivation, because it shows that opportunity is available for growth.

Remember, confidence is built by achievement levels set along the way to one’s goals.

Leadership development begins with you. Leadership development starts at the top.

A true leader learns all facets of the business they are involved in.

Over on the “World” today, the featured article is: “Managing Customer Expectations” by Keith Rosen

Oh, and the Top Sales Podcast of the Week is “Client Retention” by Joanne Black

The JF Guest Author Spot

Kevin Eikenberry

We all have symbols in our lives. As nations our flags and landmarks are two examples; as organizations logos or specific stories or situations may be symbols; and as individuals perhaps a picture, award or collectable fits this description. These symbols can remind us of our beliefs, of our loyalties, of our accomplishments and much more. Whether physical like a flag, symbolic like a story, or memory-anchored like a picture these canp0o-p[‘; serve us in powerful ways.

None of this is new or revolutionary to you.

What may be revolutionary to you though is how we can use these symbols to our advantage as individuals and leaders.

Let me start with some examples.

The Rock. The Rainmakers organization in Indianapolis recently began a tradition at their events where the leader brings a rock, and writes on it “Be More, Serve More” (a part of their mission and purpose). Then during the meeting all participants sign the rock. At some point in the meeting that rock is presented to someone in the group who has made a difference, lived the Rainmaker’s ideals or is in some other way deserving of the recognition. Started as a way to reward and recognize without breaking their budget, it now is a powerful part of the organization’s culture. It also is a highly valued award, meaningful in many ways to each recipient.

The Bands. In anticipation of my new book Remarkable Leadership we had green rubber wristbands (ala the Lance Armstrong Livestrong bands) made that say “I am Remarkable!” We purchased these and give them to people because we believe in the message that people are remarkable and that they need to be reminded. I can tell you that, having worn one of these bands daily for nearly two months so far, it is a powerful reminder. While it isn’t a conscious reminder each time I look at it, I consciously notice multiple times a day and it reminds of that fact for myself and, perhaps for the point of this article, it reminds me in a tangible way of our mission at the Kevin Eikenberry Group – to help people reach their remarkable goals.

The Red Herring. Have you ever been to a meeting where the group got off topic? (Sorry for asking a silly question.) I had a client once who called those side topics red herrings – things that weren’t the real issue at hand. That phrase caught on within the team and soon someone showed up with a plastic red fish at a meeting – and dubbed it the red herring! The team decided to use the fish as a reminder of red herring topics – anyone could playfully toss the fish in the direction of someone if they thought a conversation was off topic. This gentle reminder has helped this team run more effective meetings for a long time – in large part because of a symbol.

The Stone. I carry a small stone in my pocket everyday to remind me of the importance and value my wife and family play in my life. Do I “know” that I love and value them? Of course I do. But this stone, this symbol, grounds me on a regular basis. I find myself holding the stone often when making a decision or thinking things through. This touchstone to the most important things in my life helps me make better decisions and think more clearly. It isn’t the stone itself that is helping; it is the meaning and message it signifies to me that makes all the difference.

We can draw much from these examples. First, notice how symbols can serve as a recognition or a reminder or both. As an individual if there is something that you want to be reminded of a symbol can be a powerful way to remind yourself. The symbol need not be elaborate or fancy (notice the stone example above), as long as the meaning and message attached to it is valuable.

The same is true in organizations – the physical representation doesn’t have to be glossy, shiny or valuable – a rubber fish or a retaining pond rock is certainly none of these. Again, the power comes from the meaning and message.

Does this mean that we no longer need to buy watches, plaques or awards? Not necessarily, but remember that the $100 or $500 plaque may mean nothing (or even be counterproductive to the intended goal). Have you ever or do you know anyone who received a plaque or recognition that didn’t value it for some reason? If so, the disconnect comes from a lack of meaning and/or sincerity and has little or nothing to do with the physical manifestation.

Symbols are powerful and can aid us personally and organizationally as we attempt to improve or move toward valuable goals. Use them wisely and sincerely and this underutilized tool could become instrumental in your future success.

Kevin Eikenberry is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company that provides a wide range of services, including training delivery and design, facilitation, performance coaching, organizational consulting, and speaking services. Web: www.KevinEikenberry.com

This article was chosen from the huge selection of articles over at Top Sales World and in fact, today’s Top Sales Article Of The Day is “17 Best Practices of Top Performing Salespeople” by Kelley Robertson.

The JF Guest Author Spot

Diane Helbig

Once in a while I am asked the question, “How does someone sell themselves?” The simple answer is – Just be. Too many people get caught up in the idea of sales and forget the basics. It’s not their job to convince anyone of anything. It’s simply good enough to be out there, be knowledgeable, and be giving. If they remember – just be – they will always be on track to ‘sell’ themselves.

While you are now thinking ‘huh?’ allow me to explain. People buy the salesperson first, the product second and the company third. So, it is critically important that you be the kind of person who others want to buy from. You can’t do this by working at being someone you’re not. Nor by trying to sell.

There are 3 Be’s to adopt.

1. Be yourself

It takes less effort to be yourself than it does to create a persona. Besides, people can see the mask a hundred miles away. Their guard will be up before you realize it. Why? Because your focus is off. It’s on you (or I should say, on your creation of you) – not on them.

The ‘you’ who you really are is the one that will resonate with people. And aren’t you a great you?! You’re the best you there is! No one is a better you than you! So, do yourself a favor and embrace your genuine self.

2. Be a giver

a. Don’t focus on what you want to get. Focus on what you can give. ‘What goes around, comes around.’ ‘The smile you send out returns to you.’ Sound familiar?

b. Listen. Learn all you can about the person you are interacting with. Find out if there are ways you can help them; have a positive impact on their day. DON’T sell them. People don’t like being sold – do you? People DO like to feel respected. They want to know you have their best interest at heart. It’s something you can’t fake.

3. Be knowledgeable

Know what you are talking about and state it simply. Don’t try to wow someone with your ‘vast knowledge.’ That’s obnoxious. Once you’ve listened and learned, you are in a better position to share from your knowledge base and experience. What you have to say will resonate with others.

They’ll WANT to hear it because they know it is coming from your genuine self. They’ll know it’s coming from a position of giving, not getting. And they will know that what you are telling them is true – because you are.

So, you see, that selling yourself is easy – when you are yourself. Try it on for size and see how it fits! I have a feeling it’ll fit better than trying to be someone you’re not.

Diane Helbig is an internationally recognized business and leadership development coach, author, speaker, and radio show host. As a certified, professional coach and president of Seize This Day Coaching…….. read more

Latest News: Absoutely superb Top Sales Article of the Day over on the World today: Michael Griego’s “It’s All About The Customer“

OK it’s Friday - well at least it is here in Paris - so I wanted to share with you my thoughts about the “Law Of Effect”

We are of course all different. Our needs will vary in degree, in shape, and in the nature of our answers, but needs are common to all of us. As we are alert to them, as we understand them, so will our success with others be measured.

How do people seek to satisfy their needs? Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” supplies the answer:

“People tend to behave in a way to gain rewards and avoid punishment.”

Again, this varies with different people. Generally, people can be classified into three dominant types:

• The Achiever

• The Seeker of Social Recognition

• The Security-Minded

(But no one is likely to be a “pure” type)

The Achiever is most likely to be oriented toward gaining rewards.

The Security-Minded is likely to be dominated by the desire to avoid punishment.

The Social Type stands somewhere between the two.

These are the dominating factors. But in varying degrees, each has a little of the other two in them.

In terms of selling, whatever the dominant drive of your prospect, they are above all, buying benefits. Benefits are best defined, in this context, as the results of the product, which enable them to gain rewards and/or avoid punishment.

In making their decision, the buyer uses the “Minimax” principle – To minimize their losses; to maximize their gains.

This is true whatever the personality orientation. The emphasis depends again on their individual motivational drive.

The Law of Effect then – depending on specific motivation – relates directly to the Pyramid of Human Needs, and expands in this manner:

The benefits you have to offer are both negative and positive. The right emphasis, directed in the right way, offering both to determine preference is your shortest way to your objective.

In summary, according to Russell: “The essence of motivation is finding meaning in what we are doing. Motivation is an inner control of the individual.” Only you can motivate yourself.

All these concepts apply to you in all phases of your life and your work, as well as they apply to others. Finding the right meaning in what you do will be the great motivator for a more effective you.

Understanding the nature of what motivates each person you deal with will enable you to help them make a decision favorable to both of you.

News: Watch out for two great “JF Guest Author Posts” this weekend.

Have a good one!

Oh, and do remember that “The World” changes every day!

Think you know? Here is what I think ….

Many organizations 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, the arrival of Sales 2.0, and the impact of Social Media 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 organizational point of view however, the manner in which they all achieve their goals must be defined in order to identify what kind, and the quality of skills that are required.

Businesses need to redefine selling and what constitutes basic selling skills

Furthermore, I must emphasize that in today’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 today’s ‘average’ salesperson is just as effective as the high performer in explaining features and benefits, relating a service or product to customer needs and closing a sale. But above this elementary 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”.

In my view, every company needs to urgently 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.

Latest News:

It’s the 23rd, so Paul McCord’s new book must have launched. Here is a message from the great man himself …

“Are you or your sales team finding it difficult to bring in business?  If so, I suggest you take a look at my newest book, Bust Your Slump: A Dozen Slump Busting Strategies to Fill Your Pipeline in 30 Days, which has just been released.

Bust Your Slump isn’t another book that promises easy eternal success and delivers nothing but a bunch of fluff and hype with no substance.

My only purpose in Bust Your Slump is to lay out in detail 12 proven, effective, real strategies that will generate business for you fast.  Each chapter not only gives you the concept, it gives you a step by step process for implementing it, and then demonstrates what it can do by relating how one of his clients used.

Whether you sell B2B or B2C, are involved in a one-time close process or a long sales cycle, sell a commodity or a sophisticated product or service, you’ll find strategies that will work for you.

If you buy the book at Amazon during the next couple of days, you’ll get several hundred dollars of great bonus gifts from some of the top minds in sales such as Jill Konrath, Keith Rosen, Jonathan Farrington, Dave Kurlan, Wendy Weiss, Dave Brock and many others.  Head over to see all of the great bonuses you get for simply buying a book that will fill your pipeline.

There’s also a special bonus for 5 sales managers or executives offered by Dave Brock.  On Friday Dave will draw the names of 5 sales managers or executives who have bought the book and registered to win a sales process health check, a $1,500 product.  We’ve all seen the crappy fake $1,000 or 1,500 bonuses on book launches.  This isn’t a fake bonus value.  If you want you can head over to Dave’s company’s website and pay your $1,500 for the checkup right now.  Or you can buy the book and register to win one.  Dave can’t give away an unlimited number of them—but he will give away $7,500 of product on Friday.  Make sure you’re in the running for one.

Bust Your Slump is top notch.  The strategies are real and they work.  You’ll have to invest the time and effort to implement them.  These aren’t magic bullets.  But they are the real deal.

I encourage you to head over to Amazon  and pick up your copy then head over and grab your bonuses.  Would you rather have the Kindle version?  Get it here. Maybe you’d like an autographed copy?  Go here.

Are you a sales leader who’d like multiple copies for your team?  Shoot me an email at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com and I can fill you in on the special multiple copy rates that can save you a ton of money when buying 25 or more copies.”

JF: Yes, of course I fully endorse Bust Your Slump, (and I have only endorsed three books in 2010) it is an excellent book, and you will enjoy it very much.

It is said that 91% of people don’t complain ( I am very proud to count myself part of the other 9%.) They prefer to obtain their revenge by not buying from a business that has given them an inferior product or a poor service. They have a passive power and they know it!

The following is a true story – only the name of the business has been changed.

Blooming Buds was a well established garden centre on the outskirts of a growing town. Two years before it closed, it had expanded to include a café, a gift shop and an organic fruit and vegetable outlet. As well as employing a core staff of ten, it took on a number of seasonal and part-time staff. The company didn’t have a customer service policy, nor did it believe in wasting money on training. Customers seemed happy enough. After all, they hardly got any complaints. No, ‘everything in the garden was rosy’.

The manager should have been a bit suspicious. No complaints doesn’t mean that all customers are happy. Most of us don’t bother complaining. We just walk away and don’t go back – we vote with our feet!

The expansion, unsurprisingly, led to a variety of organizational and logistical problems. There were staffing shortages, managerial inexperience, reduction in quality, etc. Gradually, business dropped off but still, nothing was done about it.

The staff stopped telling the manager about some of the problems they had encountered, because he wouldn’t listen. He invested heavily on advertising and making sizeable capital changes. He never once thought of getting some feedback from the customers. Eventually, the inevitable happened – the business had to close.

Complaints Are Opportunities

Opportunities to do what?

• Evaluate how well you are doing
• Identify weak points in your system and processes and put them right
• See situations from the customer’s point of view
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Create long-term loyalty – handling disgruntled customers well often leaves them feeling more positive about your organization than before

Are you receiving enough customer complaints? If you aren’t, it’s maybe time to start worrying?

Latest World Headlines:

Today’s Top Sales Article: “Sitting Next To X” By Diane Helbig -it’s very good piece.

Today’s Top Contributor: Nigel Edelshain - Mr Sales 2.0 himself.

Leadership was once about hard skills such as planning, finance and business analysis. When command and control ruled the corporate world, the leaders were heroic rationalists who moved people around like pawns and fought like stags. When they spoke, the company employees jumped.

Now, if the gurus and experts are right, leadership is increasingly concerned with soft skills – teamwork, communication and motivation. The trouble is that for many executives, the soft skills remain the hardest to understand, let alone master. After all, hard skills have traditionally been the ones which enabled you to climb to the top of the corporate ladder, aren’t they?

The entire career system in some organizations is based on using hard functional skills to progress. But when executives reach the top of the organization, many different skills are required – I speak from personal experience here.

Corporate leaders may find that although they can do the financial analysis and the strategic planning, they are poor at communicating ideas to employees or colleagues, or have little insight into how to motivate people. The modern CEO requires an array of skills.

Some suggest that we expect too much of leaders. Indeed, “renaissance” men and women are rare. Leadership in a modern organization is highly complex and it is increasingly difficult – sometimes impossible – to find all the necessary traits in a single person. Among the most crucial skills is the ability to capture your audience – you will be competing with lots of other people for their attention.

Leaders of the future will also have to be emotionally efficient. They will promote variation rather than promoting people in their own likeness. They will encourage experimentation and enable people to learn from failure. They will build and develop people.

Is it too much to expect of one person? I think it probably is. In the future we will see leadership groups, rather than individual leaders. This change in emphasis from individuals towards groups has been charted by the leadership guru Warren Bennis. His work “Organizing Genius” concentrates on famous ground-breaking groups rather than individual leaders. It focuses for example, on the achievements of Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre, the group behind the Clinton campaigns, and the Manhattan Project which delivered the atomic bomb. “None of us is as smart as all of us” says Professor Bennis.

“The Lone Ranger is dead. Instead of the individual problem-solver, we have a new model for creative achievement. People like Steve Jobs or Walt Disney headed groups and found their own greatness in them.” Professor Bennis provides a blueprint for the new model leader. “He or she is a pragmatic dreamer, a person with an original but attainable vision. Inevitably, the leader has to invent a style that suits the group. The standard models, especially command and control, simply don’t work. The heads of groups have to act decisively, but never arbitrarily.  They have to make decisions without limiting the perceived autonomy of the other participants. Devising an atmosphere, in which others can put a dent in the universe, is the leader’s creative act.”

However, the role of the new model leader is ridden with contradictions. Robert Sharrock of YSC, psychologists who cater to senior business personnel, says: “Paradox and uncertainty are increasingly at the heart of leading organizations. A lot of leaders don’t like ambiguity, so they try to shape the environment to resolve the ambiguity. This might involve collecting more data or narrowing things down. These may not be the best things to do. The most effective leaders are flexible, responsive to new situations. If they are adept at hard skills, they surround themselves with people who are proficient with soft skills. They strike a balance.”

While flexibility is important in this new leadership model, it should not be interpreted as weakness. The two most lauded corporate chiefs of the past decade, Percy Barnevik of Asea Brown Boveri, and Jack Welch of General Electric, dismantled bureaucratic structures using both soft and hard skills. They coach and cajole, as well as command and control.

The “leader as coach” is yet another phrase more often seen in business books than in the real world. Acting as a coach to a colleague is not something that comes easily to many executives. It is increasingly common for executives to need mentoring. They need to talk through decisions and to think through the impact of their behavior on others in the organization.

In the macho era, support was for failures, but now there is a growing realization that leaders are human after all, and that leadership is as much a human art as a rational science.

Today’s leaders don’t follow rigid role models, but prefer to nurture their own leadership style. They do not do people’s jobs for them, or put their faith in developing a personality cult. They regard leadership as drawing people and disparate parts of the organization together in ways that makes individuals and the organization more effective.

Latest World Headlines:

If you are not a “Top 5% Player” in sales and you would like to discover what it takes to become one, you still have time to register for Dr. Tony Alessandra’s upcoming Masterclass – “What Exactly is Collaborative Selling”

Today at 1:00PM Eastern (6:00PM GMT) Only 100 places.. so do hurry and register for FREE

Today’s Top Sales Article is: “Please Make Your Phone System Even Less Responsive, I Might Be A Customer” By Dave Brock

and finally, Today’s Top Sales Contributor is Terri Dunevant