A very good friend and ex-client of mine runs a highly successful information technology service in the South of England and his private-sector customers include many Times Top 100 companies.

We often exchange opinions and I recently asked his views on leadership, because I have always been impressed with his commitment to “people development”

He believes leadership is all about bringing out the best in the firm’s 1800 employees. “We have a very informal, non-hierarchical structure,” he says. “The task of our leaders is not simply to issue orders but to act as role models in providing our customers with what they want in terms of teamwork, friendliness, delivery and, in general, supplying a top-class service.” Many of those who join the company are former customers. “We first of all put them through a programme which helps them to understand what we are trying to do, then a management team shows them how our ideas are put into practice.”

When trying to identify future leaders, he and his management colleagues adopt the premise that anyone possessing sufficient motivation can become a leader. “But obviously some are better than others, and the best are likely to end up as managing directors,” he says.

“I believe that leadership is something that can be taught, but that’s not a reason for trying to teach everybody everything. We need good team players, and the leaders are those who enable them to give off their best.”

The ultimate test of a leader, he believes, is whether the individual can generate trust in others.

“We are not one of those companies where self-interest is dominant,” he says.

He would not comment on the general quality of British management, often portrayed in a negative light in the media. “I don’t know whether we are ahead of other firms in our thinking, but we are certainly doing something different. I don’t know anywhere else where the staff can talk to the boss in the frank and informal way that they do here. I go around meeting each member of the staff individually twice a year to brief them on what’s going on and on our plans for the future. Because they know they are not going to be shot for speaking their minds, they’ll all have a go at it. It’s not just one-way communication.”

I find it very difficult to comprehend reporting to a leader I couldn’t trust – it has to be one of the key characteristics – doesn’t it?

News: And staying on that theme, you might enjoy my article over at Top Sales Management today,  “Sales Leadership – The Changing Role” or “The Four Step Process I Use When Probing for Pain” over at Top Sales World – bit of a JF day then!

I first became seriously interested in objective sales team assessments in 1993 when I created my own consultancy. Up until that point, I had used various psychometric tests for recruitment purposes, and they were useful, but somehow, they always left me wanting more. In fact a couple of years ago, I wrote an article called “Psychometric Tests and Professional Salespeople – Happy Bedfellows?” and I said:

“You see, returning to my Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge formula, at what point does a psychometric finding have reliable relevance?

The attitude element is 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 more than 70.000 thousand front-line sales professionals and sales leaders since 1994, my question is a simple one:

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

All of this compelled me to begin work on my own set of highly relevant, sales specific assessments – ASP Profile.

ASP Profile is the most cost effective sales competence assessment tool available.

It represents the culmination of eighteen years ongoing research and experimentation. It has involved consultation with hundreds of individuals including, captains of industry, psychologists, professional buyers and front line salesmen and women from every industry sector.

The end result is that we are now able to recognize the three levels of selling that exists – four if you include sales management – and as a consequence, we have produced a model at each level that accurately profiles the characteristics and working styles of the very best performers.

It assesses existing strengths, limitations and ongoing development requirements in three specific areas: Attitude, Skills and Process.

ASP Profile is a unique concept which is rapidly gaining recognition as a world class product in the field of sales team performance assessment and has already been adopted in earlier and current forms by hundreds of forward thinking organizations around the globe including: – Autodesk, France Telecom, Global One, Computer 2000 Group, Northumbria Water, ISI Group plc, F.I. Scotland, CISCO, Platinum Technology, Computer Associates, Belle Systems, Allied Dunbar Assurance plc, Exodus, Mclaren Consulting, Domino UK Ltd and Parker Hannifin.

However, I would add that it is appropriate for organisations of all sizes from F.T.S.E. 100/Fortune 500 companies to the S.M.E sector and furthermore, it is not industry specific.

The sales team is our forward line, if they are not scoring regularly; we cannot possibly
achieve our overall commercial objectives i.e. nothing happens until somebody sells something and all of that investment in costly accounting systems, and new office equipment, expensive IT systems etc. will count for nothing.

The primary aim of ASP Profile is to assist management in making effective human resource decisions objectively; the decisions made about people, their recruitment, ongoing development
and promotion. This will enable organisations to minimise the cost of recruitment and selection and also improve the overall quality and therefore productivity of their existing staff.

In summary, I believe that this initiative is an essential first step towards developing
‘Optimum Performance’ levels.

As you will have probably already seen somewhere, my new consultancy, JFA (Jonathan Farrington & Associates) is launching on April 17th - and more about that soon – so as a pre-launch “taster,” we are offering you the opportunity to sample ASP Profile for a massively discounted price.

If you are serious about becoming the best you can possibly be – or, as a sales leader, you wish to benchmark your team against the best in your industry, then I urge you to learn more HERE – it might just be one of the smartest decisions you make in 2012!

News: It’s changeover day at Top Sales Management, which means a fresh set of resources – for example, today’s article comes from Dave Kurlan “Are Your Salespeople Still Cold Calling? The Ugly Truth” HERE

Regular visitors here will know that over the past couple of weeks, I have been talking to some great fellow thought leaders and I am really enthused about all that is in store for 2012 – and the years to come!

But today, I have some exciting news that you don’t have to wait for ..

I am pleased to announce that Smartr Contacts for iPhone is now available in the iPhone App Store.

Many of you, like me, have been using Xobni’s products on Android, Gmail, Outlook and BlackBerry and have been waiting patiently for the iPhone version of Smartr Contacts.  The wait is over, it is available to you today!

Download Smartr Contacts for iPhone

What this means to you is that if you already use Smartr or Xobni on Gmail, Outlook, Android or BlackBerry, you can now access all those contacts on your iPhone.

In case you don’t already know, Smartr Contacts is a free app that makes it easy to search all your contacts, even those who aren’t in your iPhone address book – Automatically. See photos, job title, company info, message history, and social updates for anyone you’ve ever communicated with. Instantly know who your contacts are, how you know them, when you last talked, and who you have in common.

If I’ve sold you, click here to get started with Smartr Contacts for iPhone.

You can also check out this video to see the app in action.

If you like the app as much as I do, please share it with your friends - they really will thank you!

Full Disclosure: I am receiving no financial – or any other form of compensation - for this post, but Xobni are one of our sponsors over at Top Sales World and Top Sales Management. I am a big fan, and I want to share them with you! – JF

In recent weeks, I have been discussing the future of professional selling, and amongst other predictions, I have suggested that in my humble view, within five years, just 5% of external salespeople will remain.

It will therefore come as no surprise that I have received a number of emails asking if I will clarify what these survivors will look like, what will be their characteristics, and what will differentiate them.

Over the past twenty years I have trained, developed and mentored almost one hundred  thousand sales professionals - from foundation right up to “master craftsman” level -and I think this has given me a unique opportunity to formulate an accurate profile of a “Top 5% Achiever.”

So What Is It That Top 5% Players Do?

They:

o Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without ‘approval power’. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit – right up to “C-Level” where most of the decisions are being made these days.

o Not only get the order but a satisfied customer, repeat sales, enthusiastic reference sites and constantly increase sales penetration within their accounts.

o Know how to minimise the uncertainties of a cold call on a new account, by careful planning and rigorous opportunity assessment. They concentrate solely on opportunities that they can win – and that they want to win!

o Recognise when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability.

o Never entertain business they do not want because they recognise that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does a profitable one. They trust their own judgement but also rely heavily on objective assessment.

o Readily identify and know how to deal with the three different buying influences present in every sale and they also develop strong allies.

o Understand how to prevent sales from being sabotaged by an internal enemy. They insulate themselves by using those allies.

o Are able to recognise fail-safe signals that indicate when a sale is in jeopardy. This comes from experience but also information supplied by their allies.

o Are rigorous in tracking account progress and are able to accurately forecast future sales because they use proven methodology, which allows them to weight every opportunity in the pipeline

o Avoid ‘dry-months’ by allocating time wisely to their critical selling tasks i.e. Prospecting for new business, covering the bases with existing opportunities and finally closing the best few.

o They understand that the old saying “People buy from people first” no longer applies to personality, but rather to professionalism, commercial bandwidth and superior knowledge

We can then go further and identify eighteen core competencies in which Top 5% achievers generally excel:

o Organisational Skills

o Communication

o Presentation Skills

o Business Development

o Opportunity Assessment

o Interpersonal Skills

o Creative Thinking

o Critical Thinking

o People Awareness

o Integration Skills

o Resilience

o Strategic Approach

o Pro-Activity

o Negotiation

o Key Account Management

o Team Membership

o Process & Methodology

o Political Awareness

If you then add into this mix an understanding of, and familiarisation of the importance that social media now plays, you begin to see just how different these Top 5% achievers really are.

In Summary:

Be assured, the very best sales performers do not achieve that status overnight. They work tirelessly to develop and hone their skills-sets, insist on regular top-up coaching and seek out those who are outperforming them, so that they may learn and improve still further.

They have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of their industry and sector. Finally, they concentrate on eliminating any weaknesses and are anxious to be assessed and receive feedback on a regular basis.

This post is not meant to be a “commercial” but if you are a front-line sales professional and you would like to receive an accurate and objective assessment of how you stack up against Top 5% achievers, or if you are a manager, and you are wondering which of your current team measure up – or indeed could become a Top 5% player, you will be very interested in reading my post on Monday.

News: Over at Top Sales World, we have announced the top ten sales articles for January, and you can check them out HERE

Meanwhile, over at Top Sales Management, you might enjoy my recorded conversation with Ken Thoreson “Sales Leadership – The Changing Role” HERE

Do look out for an exclusive post tomorrow, and be sure to have a great w/e – JF

Old ways of doing business no longer work: the increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy challenge everyone, everywhere, to adapt in order to prosper under new rules.

In the old economy, hierarchies pitted labour against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change accelerates.

Hierarchies are being replaced by networks; labour and management are uniting into teams; wages are coming in new mixtures of options, incentives and ownership; fixed jobs melt into fluid careers.

As business changes, so do the traits needed to survive, let alone excel. All these transitions put increased value on emotional intelligence. Competitive pressures put a new value on people who are self-motivated, show initiative, have the inner drive for outdoing themselves, and are optimistic enough to take reversals and setbacks in their stride. The ever-pressing need to serve customers and clients well and to work smoothly and creatively with an ever more diverse range of people makes the ability to empathize all the more essential.

At the same time, the meltdown of old hierarchies increases the importance of traditional people skills such as building bonds, influence and collaboration. And that is as true for employers as it is for employees. The task of the leader draws on a wide range of personal skills.

Research has shown that emotional competence makes the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best. Indeed, emotional competence makes up about two thirds of the ingredients of star performance in general, but for outstanding leaders emotional competencies – as opposed to technical or cognitive cues – make up 80 to 100% of those listed by companies as crucial for success.

Star performers show significantly greater strengths in a range of emotional competencies, such as the skills of persuasion, team leadership, political awareness, self-confidence, and achievement drive.

Empathy, one of the key elements of emotional intelligence, is central to good management; it is difficult to have a positive impact on others without first sensing how they feel and understanding their position. People who are poor at reading emotional cues and inept at social interactions are very poor at influencing others in the workplace.

Empathy has become more relevant as the whole world of work changes. These are troubled times for workers – it seems that no one is guaranteed a job anywhere any more. The creeping sense that no one’s job is safe, even as the companies they work for are thriving, means the spread of fear, apprehension and confusion.

An attitude of self-interest is, understandably, growing more common for employees confronting downsizing and other changes that make them feel their organisation is no longer loyal to them. This sense of betrayal or distrust erodes allegiance and encourages cynicism. And once lost, trust – and the commitment that stems from it – is hard to rebuild.

If employees are not treated fairly and respectfully, no organisation will gain their emotional allegiance. Sensing others’ development needs and bolstering their abilities is emerging as second only to team leadership among superior managers.

For leaders, developing others’ abilities is even more important – indeed, it’s the emotional competence most frequently found among those at the top of the field. This is a person-to-person art, and the effectiveness of counseling hinges on empathy and the ability to focus on our own feelings and share them.

Research suggests the best ‘coaches’ show a genuine personal interest in those they guide, and have empathy for and an understanding of their employees. Trust is crucial – when there is little trust in the coach, advice goes unheeded. This also happens when the coach is impersonal and cold, or the relationship seems too one-sided or self-serving. Coaches who show respect, trustworthiness and empathy are the best.

One way to encourage people to perform better is to let others take the lead in setting their own goals rather than dictating the terms and manner of their development. This communicates the belief that employees have the capacity to be the pilot of their own destiny.

Another technique is to point to the problems without offering a solution: this implies the employees can find the solution themselves. And people hunger for feedback, yet too many managers, supervisors and executives are inept at giving it or are simply disinclined to provide any.

Virtually everyone who has a superior is part of at least one vertical ‘couple’ in the workplace; every boss forms such a bond with each subordinate. Such vertical couples are a basic unit of organisational life.

Therein lays the blessing or the curse: This interdependence ties a subordinate and superior together in a way that can become highly charged. If both do well emotionally – if they form a relationship of trust and rapport, understanding and inspired effort – their performance will shine. But if things go emotionally awry, the relationship can become a nightmare and their performance a series of minor and major disasters.

While vertical couples have the entire emotional overlay that power and compliance bring to a relationship, peer couples – our relationships with co-workers – have a parallel emotional component, something akin to the pleasures, jealousies and rivalries of siblings.

If there is anywhere emotional intelligence needs to enter an organisation, it is at this most basic level. Building collaborative and fruitful relationships begins with the couples we are a part of at work. Bringing emotional intelligence to a working relationship can pitch it towards the evolving, creative, mutually engaging end of the continuum; failing to do so heightens the risk of a downward drift towards rigidity, stalemate and failure.

I believe we are witnessing that new dawn, and we have to embrace it with open arms.

News: You can catch Michael Griego’s Top Sales Tip of the Day – “5 Principles for Success” HERE and a great article from Colleen Francis – “Yes, No, Maybe .. What’s Worth the Most?” HERE

Yes, me too. Nobody – well hardly anybody – is talking about “Sales 2.0″ anymore, and yet less than twelve months ago, you couldn’t hear yourself speak above the incredibly loud din that rose to a deafening crescendo.

So what happened? Has it gone away? Have we moved on to “Sales 3.0″ and everyone forgot to tell me? Was it all a figment of my imagination, or perhaps a bad dream?

It is now more than five years since Nigel Edelshain first coined the term, on a balmy Sunday afternoon way back in 2006, and perhaps we all now accept that actually, it was just the next phase in a continuous cycle of change in the way we all sell.

But the silence we are witnessing now is almost as loud as the silence I experienced when I posed the question – frequently – “So, What is Sales 2.0? … Anyone?”

I didn’t just ask the question here on my blog: I asked during keynotes that I was delivering; I asked during training workshops that I was leading; I asked all my learned chums … and still no definitive answer or explanation.

However, let me be very clear here, the “sales space” has witnessed the birth of some superb new solutions; highly successful conferences; a plethora of books/articles/webinars etc. over the past five years, and if that was Sales 2.0, then bravo.

But did it need to be called anything? Wasn’t it simply a natural evolvement? Is it still with us?

Maybe it was like “Web 2.0?”

I remember a few years back, a very good chum writing a recommendation on LinkedIn, praised me for for “fully embracing” Web 2.0 tools: I didn’t really understand the significance of her compliment, but again, I do hope someone will alert me when and if I fully embrace Web 3.0

And what about our customers – the buyers – do you think they noticed the arrival of Sales 2.0? Mine didn’t, and to this day my perception is that they remain blissfully unaware.

My conclusion is that it is our secret – us sellers – and probably best to keep it that way.

These are just a few of the questions that keep me awake at night – or not!

News: Bit of a treat for you today: You can catch my recorded conversation with Dave Brock over at Top Sales World - “The Latest Sales Inflection Point” HERE

Today’s top sales tip is from Kendra Lee – “3 Reasons Prospects Ignore Your Emails” HERE

People have been debating the nature of leadership for as long as records have been kept – certainly as far back as Homer and his peers: The topic continues to fascinate and enthral us today, but the way in which we assess leadership roles is changing.

Where once we looked to military and political leaders for inspiration and insight, now it is increasingly business leaders who hold our attention and provide role models.

Ask someone to name a leader whom they have admired and they are just as likely to name Richard Branson as Winston Churchill; Bill Gates as Margaret Thatcher. This focus is reflected in the growing number of books and articles about business and the main players.

Most writing on good management and what it takes to get to the top focus on leadership. It is regarded as one of the most important areas of personal development. This also explains the growing interest in leadership courses.

Defining just what makes a leader effective, however, remains as difficult today as it ever was. But that does not prevent us from seeking to distil their secrets – quite the reverse.

Of course, there must be almost as many theories on leadership as there are leaders themselves and models for the best kind of leadership change with the times.

In the 15th century, Niccolo Machiavelli advocated a combination of cunning and intimidation as a way to more effective leadership. His philosophy, if not his practices became unfashionable some time ago. – thank goodness.

“Great Man” theories, popular in the 19th century and early this century, are based on the notion of the ‘born leader’ who has innate talents that cannot be taught.

An alternative approach that is still in vogue is based on trying to identify the key traits of effective leaders. Behaviourist theory prefers to see leadership in terms of what leaders do rather than their individual characteristics, and it tries to identify the different roles they fulfil.

More recently, attention has moved away from the individual in the leadership role to embrace a more holistic view and investing less in what some commentators refer to as the ‘myth of the heroic leader’.

Much recent work in this area has concentrated on trying to understand why some leaders are more effective than others by looking at their environment and the context in which their acts have been carried out.

Situational theory views leadership as specific to the situation, for example, rather than to the personality of the leader. It is based on the idea that different situations require a different style of leader.

The basis of Situational Leadership - which I have been working with for more than twenty years – is to provide a means of effective leadership by adopting different leadership styles in different situations with different people.

Situational Leadership is a model, not a theory. The difference is that a theory attempts to explain why things happen, whereas a model is a pattern of existing events which can be learnt and therefore repeated.

Requirements of a Leader:
An effective leader – in my humble opinion - needs to be:

o A good diagnostician, who can sense and appreciate differences in people and situations.

o Adaptable, in having the ability to adapt the leadership style to circumstances.

A leader must realize there is no one best way to influence people.

The Basis of Situational Leadership:

Situational Leadership is a way of describing and analysing leadership styles. It is a combination of directive and supportive behaviours.

Directive behaviour involves telling people what to do, how to do it, where to do it, when to do it and then closely supervising this performance.

Supportive behaviour involves listening to people, providing support and encouragement for their efforts and then facilitating their involvement in problem solving and decision-making.

There are four leadership styles: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating.

Each style is appropriate in certain circumstances. They can be shown as follows:

o Delegating i.e. Low Supportive & Low Directive

o Directing i.e. Low Supportive & High Directive

o Supporting i.e. High Supportive & High Directive

o Coaching i.e. High Supportive & Low Directive

In Summary:
To those who would suggest that great leaders are born not made, I would say this: We can examine all of the great leaders in history and identify some common characteristics but we cannot say they were “Born Leaders.” They all developed into their leadership roles over a period of time, learning the skills along the way – they served their apprenticeship.

I do believe that leaders can be developed – I have to believe that because currently we have far too few of them in the world!

News: Two very interesting reads for you over at Top Sales Management today: The latest “How to” guide is “How to Become an Action Centred Leader” and I think you will also enjoy “Sales Management – The Essential Core Competencies” – you’ll find them HERE

I am often asked just what it is that makes a highly successful and effective sales team – what differentiates them from an average one?

Actually, the answer is more simple than you might imagine – all roads lead back to the leader!

The role of a sales leader is to translate the organisation’s vision, mission and values into a meaningful context that sales teams can relate to and feel excited by. If this is achieved then the sales leader will have created a sales team with a shared mental model. This transforms an ordinary sales team into a high performing one.

For clarity, here is a brief description of the following terms:

An organization’s vision is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a huge goal. It is a description in words that conjures up a picture of the organization’s destination. A compelling vision will stretch expectations, aspirations, and performance. Without that powerful, attractive, valuable vision, why bother?

A mission statement communicates the essence of an organisation to its stakeholders and customers, and failure to clearly state and communicate an organisation’s mission can have harmful consequences around its purpose.

As Lewis Caroll, through the words of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland says, “If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Guiding principles are the consequence of a mission statement that are intended to inform or shape all subsequent decision-making, which also provides normative criteria allowing policy-makers to accept, reject or modify policy interventions and activities. They are a guiding set of ideas that are articulated, understood and supported by the organisation’s workforce.

Values are beliefs which the organization’s workforce hold in common and endeavor to put into practice. The values guide their performance and the decisions that are taken. Ideally, an individual’s personal values will align with the spoken and unspoken values of the organization. By developing a written statement of the values of the organization, individuals have a chance to contribute to the articulation of these values, as well as to evaluate how well their personal values and motivation match those of the organization.

The “Human Capital Development Model,” created by Krauthammer International, is a logical process that can take top management concepts, and translate them into a context that has real meaning for staff at all levels.

The key to bringing this model to life is to answer the following questions:

o Do my team understand the organization’s vision and how their role moves the organization closer to achieving it?

o How can my sales team translate the organization’s mission into one that is relevant to them?

o How do the organization’s guiding principles impact on the day-to-day responsibilities of sales people?

o Which of the organization’s values does my sales team relate to?

o How can we interpret these values so they become compelling for each sales person?

An effective sales team understands the big picture and the context of their team’s work to the greatest degree possible. That includes understanding the relevance of their job and how it impacts the effectiveness of others and the overall team effort.

Too often, sales people are asked to work on an activity without being told how their role contributes to organization’s vision, much less how their efforts are impacting the ability of others to do their work. Understanding the organization’s vision promotes collaboration, increases commitment and improves quality.

An effective team works collaboratively and with a keen awareness of interdependency.

Collaboration and a solid sense of interdependency in a team will defuse blaming behavior and stimulate opportunities for learning and improvement.

Without this sense of interdependency in responsibility and reward, blaming behaviors can occur which will quickly erode team effectiveness and morale.

News: Today’s Top Sales Tip over at Top Sales World is from the doyenne of referral selling, Joanne Black - “Book Your 2012 Sales Calendar – Four Breakfasts and Five Lunches”

In conversation with one of my learned chums this week, the subject of success came up – or more precisely, just what makes some people more successful than others, and I have very strong views about this.

I believe that one of the defining and most significant qualities of the most successful people we know is confidence. It is their inner belief that they can achieve anything they want to achieve, and enjoy as much success as they wish – however they personally define success.

Success is different for all of us; some people use obvious material signs to show the rest of us that they have made it … large houses, fast cars, ostentatious life styles, with a deliberate “Look at me, I am better than you” statement.

Certainly, post-Thatcher, the British tend to judge each other based on the house they live in, the quality of their car, and most recently, how exclusive their children’s school is. It doesn’t seem to matter that the house may be heavily mortgaged or that the car belongs to the company.

But let’s get back to my assertion that successful people – genuinely successful people – have considerable inner confidence and self-belief.

If you think about it, it is quite obvious. Success is not an easy thing to obtain – if it was, everyone would be successful, and the word “unsuccessful” would not appear in our dictionaries.

Did young Tom Edison ever lose his self-belief – even after 10.000 “failures”?

Did the visionary Walt Disney ever question his theme park plans, even though more than one hundred banks rejected his requests for finance?

Did any of the most successful authors you have ever read, give up after their manuscripts were rejected time after time? – JK Rowling had Harry Potter turned back more than eighty times I am told!

No, none of them did, because they had such strong self-belief.

Closely aligned with self-belief is courage, commitment, durability, resilience, patience, and vision. That last one is very important, because it is our ability to vizualise what success will feel like that drives us on, and often keeps us going in times of adversity.

Can anyone be successful?

Yes, of course they can…… if they want it badly enough.

If one person can be successful, then we all can, but “most people” never work out what it is they really want. They talk in vague terms about more security, more disposable income, more holidays, but never quite make it.

“Most people” spend their twilight years looking back in total frustration – “I wish I had  …” “If only I had …” but by then, it is usually too late.

In professional selling, cultivated sales skills; the use of a clearly defined sales process; in-depth knowledge, for example, will only take us so far. Without that strong inner-belief and confidence, we will never, ever, over-achieve.

My advice – based on my own personal experiences, is always question … but never doubt your ability to succeed.

When doubt enters our minds, confidence slips out via the back door – they can never co-exist. Be assured, confidence really is the key to success.

News: Today’s Top Sales Tip is from Jill Konrath “Disastrous Prospecting Tips You May Be Making” over at Top Sales World, and whilst you are there, you ought really to listen in on my taped conversation with Jill – if you haven’t already done so of course. It’s all HERE

Meanwhile, if you are the boss, you will really enjoy a “feast” of resources over at Top Sales Management – today for example, Steven Rosen gives advice on how to stay inspired – HERE

Finally, “Here we go Giants, here we go!” A weekend packed with sporting delights. Have a great w/e, wherever you are, and be sure to make it back on Monday? – JF

In days gone by – in fact, not so very long ago – people in my position were judged by the number of books they had written. Sales “spokespeople” churned out volume after volume, and were held in very high esteem - and quite rightly so. Without them, my world would have been a much less interesting place; it was a big part of my education, and I am certain that holds true for hundreds of thousands of others in the sales space.

Then came sales articles sites and blogs – all in the last five years – and this offered us an alternative route to gain recognition; to educate; to hopefully inspire and motivate. At this point, book sales began to plummet, and today I am told by several well known publishers that a highly successful book is one that sells around just ten thousand copies. There are of course exceptions, like Linda Richardson, Jill Konrath and co, but 10k is the new benchmark. And yet, I have articles that have been read by more than sixty thousand people on one site alone, and I am not an exception.

Of course there is a huge difference between persuading someone to buy a book, and reading a free article, but it does beg the question where are people going to educate themselves these days?

And I would argue that now, we have a new measurement of one’s standing - or importance -and it is called “Social Value”

Our social value is made up of a number of factors, and whilst this list is not exhaustive, it is a very good starting point:

•Your Google presence and ranking.
•Your online reputation.
•Your business social media presence.
•Your personal website (present or absent).
•Your blog (present or absent).
•Your Facebook presence.
•Your LinkedIn connections and recommendations.
•Your Twitter followers.
•Your tweets.
•Your YouTube channel

When you look at that list, how do you think you measure up?

I fall short on Facebook, because I only pop over there to see what my children are up to, and I know I won’t find my clients/prospects there. I also do not have a great YouTube presence, but apart from that, I am doing OK.

I think what is really important is that we decide which of all of these are most significant to our own business prospects: For example, I know that my potential clients typically read my blog, check me out on LinkedIn, and do a Google search on me - I know this because I ask them after they have converted into clients.

I am not sure if I am totally tuned-in to it all yet, but it appears that I have been doing many things right without even thinking about it – “Social Value” is definitely here to stay, so we may as well make the most of it!

News: Excellent sales tip today over at Top Sales World from John Doerr “Your Six-Step Guide to Setting and Achieving Goals” HERE And I have to ask, have you downloaded this month’s magazine yet?