Achieving Goals

Every year, millions of people will embark on a new journey to set New Year’s Resolutions.  Organizations will set new strategic goals.  Also, every year people and companies will both FAIL… again!

One key reason is that most people and organizations, have never established their core values, written a mission or vision statement.  As an individual, if you don’t know what your values are, then it is hard to get passionate about new goals.  As an organization, if your people don’t have a clue what your mission is then it is difficult for them to get engaged around your new company goals.  Consider reading a previous post titled, The 5 Stages of Performance Improvement.

It is important to re-visit your list of values, mission, vision and goals often.  If you don’t, it is easy to fall off track.  If you visit them too late, it may be difficult to achieve the goal.  Overtime, you and your people will lose confidence in themselves and in you as a leader.  Remember, at the end of the day, the success or failure of an organization depends on its leaders. 

Are you inspiring trust in the teams that you lead?  Are you executing your goals with precision year after year?  Are you unleashing the talent of the people that you have hired?  If the answer was “No” to any one of those questions, then consider making one of your goals to meet with your Client Partner in January of 2012.  I imagine you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how FranklinCovey can help you create Predictable Results the coming year and beyond.

To your success in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - Do you lead an organization of at least 150 people?  If so, consider being my guest at our upcoming showcase, Creating a Culture of Execution on Feb 7^th in Dallas.

Leading Generations in the Workplace

Today I bring you an article, written by my colleague, Senior FranklinCovey Leadership Consultant, Haydn Shaw.  Haydn is FranklinCovey’s top thought leader around the topic of Generations in the Workplace.  He is the author of Leading Across Generations FranklinCovey’s popular ½ day workshop and a book on the twelve generational sticking points coming out in early 2012. Here are a couple of comments from two business owners at an association convention in Vegas in March:

“I thought the session was about how to hand over your business to your kids.  So I was surprised when it was about how to lead an organization of different generations.  I’m not sure I would have come if I had known, but I’m glad I did.”

“It’s really made me rethink my attitudes toward the Gen Xers and Millennials.  And I realized I am running this business the way my dad did. No wonder my kids aren’t that interested in the business. I’m going to do things differently now.”

As you think about leading your teams differently in 2012, consider Haydn’s thoughts below.  Enjoy!

------------------------------

The People Challenge of the Next Decade - by Haydn Shaw

Why are people surprised at the impact the generational differences are making: because we’ve not faced this before.  For the first time in history we have four generations in the workplace and five generations of customers:

Too early to name the fifth generation but they influence discretionary spending of their parents and grandparents.  (Percentages in workforce developed from Bureau of Labor Statistics data)

With nearly a quarter of the baby boomers leaving the workplace in the next four years (the recession may push it back three or four years) and being replaced by the Millennials, figuring out how to resolve

the eleven main generational conflicts is the people challenge of the next decade . . . or two. “Ninety-six percent of Baby Boomer business owners say an exit strategy is crucial to their company, but eighty-seven percent don’t actually have one.” (BusinessWeek SMALLBIZ August/September 2008). According to The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), 76 million Americans will retire over the next two decades but only 46 million will replace them.  No wonder it’s called a war on talent. You can’t get predictable business results in these unpredictable times without dealing with the generational challenge.  It’s that simple.

Generational conflict is impacting everything we do, from how we communicate to when we want to work and how we respond to customers. If we don’t figure out generational conflict points, internally work slows down, and externally our sales and customer satisfaction scores drop.

To read the rest of Haydn’s article, click here to download the PDF file.

As Haydn mentions in his article, “Generational conflicts are inevitable and preventable. They are inevitable in all organizations, but real problems are preventable if you’ll apply these five approaches.”

Here are links to our 3 most popular Generational offerings:

·         Leading Across Generations  (½ day consultant/facilitator-led workshop)

·         Resolving Generational Conflict: Webinar (the 2-hour webinar)

·         Keynote Speech with Haydn Shaw

For more information, please contact me today.  I’ll be happy to set up a meeting with you and your regional Client Partner.

Wishing you better leadership and team synergy in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - if you want to meet Haydn in person, consider joining us in Dallas on January 17^th.  Haydn will be facilitating a condensed version of our flagship Leadership program.  Click here for details.

------------------------------

Increasing Your Team's Productivity in 2012

Over the last 20 years, FranklinCovey has educated over 25 million people in the area of human productivity.  In today’s fast paced, technology-driven world, we are asserting that extraordinary productivity is no longer defined by time management alone, but also by decision management, attention management and energy management.

With 2011 coming to a close and 2012 on the near horizon, many leaders will be thinking about increasing their team’s productivity in the coming year.  We recently launched a new program, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity that answers the 21^st century productivity problems that are plaguing many organizations.  This week we will explore this content by interviewing 3 of my colleagues that are Client Partners for Texas and Oklahoma: Matt Jarmon, Will Smith and Kellie Edmundson.

Click here to download the PDF interview.

Are you intrigued?  Consider watching our new 5 Choices introductory video on You Tube now. 

Wishing you an extraordinary New Year!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

Roles

Last week I wrote a blog titled, What is low productivity costing you?  My goal of writing that blog was to get leaders thinking about their workforce and to determine if they are really getting the most out of their teams.  When individuals don’t perform at their highest levels, it actually costs the organization.

This week, I want to write this post for individuals and get them thinking about how they can contribute more in 2012, but not just for work, but in all the other areas of their lives.  So let’s take a moment to think about how we can do that.

So let me ask you a question, “Who are you?”  How did you answer that question?  My guess is that you responded from the context of a role.  You might have said, I am a spouse, a parent, an employee, etc.  In our newest program, The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity, Dean Collinwood, Ph.D., explains…. Even when people give a list of personality traits in response to that question, such as “I am shy,” or, “I am a fun-loving person,” those traits are always acted out in the context of roles.

Defining your roles with meaning is what makes all of the difference!

For example, I can call myself …

A.      a parent -  one that begets or brings forth offspring.

B.      a father - a man who raises a child.

C.      Asher’s Role Model - I will show Asher how to THINK to make good choices.  I will guide him to BE a leader and how to DO relationship.  I will show patience with him through love and guidance.

HOW I define my role will determine the actions I take towards that relationship.  Our society can label us: male or female, black or white, rich or poor, etc., but when we become intentional about  WHO we want to be, we can achieve extraordinary things. 

So, I am going to leave you with a challenge.  Before the new year arrives, take 30 minutes of time to reflect in a quiet environment.  I want you to come up with 4-6 roles you have in your life.  First, I want you to give them standard titles.  For example, I am a father, a husband, a servant leader, an employee, a family member and a friend.  Secondly, I want you to re-define those roles.  For father, I replaced it with Asher’s Role Model.  Once you have done that for each title, take some time to define them from the context of what it would be like to be extraordinary in that role.

If you do this exercise, and establish weekly goals for each of your roles, you can live an amazing life and have enduring relationships.  To wrap it all up, a wise man once told me that life is about choices and relationships.  So, be intentional and live a rich and full life!

To your victory in 2012!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

What is low productivity costing you?

At FranklinCovey, we’ve been studying individual productivity for over 25 years.  To date, we have sold over $1B in productivity training, so I guess you could say we are an authority on the subject.  We have had over 350,000 people respond to our “Time Matrix” survey.  As of 2011, we have found that the average employee spends about 70% of their time on urgencies and irrelevancies.  That means it’s possible for your employees to only be spending 30% of their time on important priorities.  Take a moment to do the math on what that is actually costing your organization.  With layoffs, cutbacks and a major focus on organizational spending, these statistics should get you thinking. 

Let’s take a look at an example of ABC Organization.  They have 500 employees earning an average of $20/hour.  If everyone gets 2 weeks of vacation a year, that leaves 50 weeks at 40 hours per week, so 2,000 hours of actual work per employee, per year.

In the example above, this means the company is spending $14,000,000 to pay employees to work on urgencies and irrelevancies.  Now you don’t have to be a CFO to understand that this is a problem.  What if you could improve productivity by 10, 20 or 30% or more?  This would have a dramatic effect on your organization's effectiveness and your bottom line!

Giving your employees the right “mindset, skillset and toolset” to become more productive is a worthy investment.  Not only will you see an immediate ROI in your first year of application, but over time, you Create a Culture of Productivity throughout your workforce where everyone is spending more time on important, meaningful work.  This allows for improved sales activities, better time spent on customer service, more time for collaboration between departments, time for creative thinking, planning and more.

To learn more about FranklinCovey’s NEW Productivity Solution, give me a call to set up a meeting with your client partner.  We’ll be happy to help you achieve your top strategic goals in 2012 and beyond!

To your success in the coming year!

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

Sales Effectiveness 104 - Closing the Sale

A few weeks ago, I started a four-week blog series about the 4 key factors that determine a salesperson’s success.  The first 3 aspects include: Intrinsic Motivation, Disciplined Work Style and Building Relationships.  In our last post today, we will explore the Ability to Close the Sale.

You might have heard that selling is an art form.  Well, I’d like to challenge that thinking and say it is also a science.  It takes a few key aspects to be a good closer.  One trait is to have a good balance of IQ and EQ.  A salesperson must be able to ask effective questions that are thought provoking for the client which add value throughout the process, yet asking them in a way that helps the salesperson learn to find out how they can help their client with their solution and eventually close the sale.

At FranklinCovey we use a sales process called Helping Clients Succeed.  We put our opportunities IN ORDER (see below):

The first part of selling is Opportunity Creation.  This includes Initiating New Opportunities, discovering the Opportunity itself with the client, determining the Resources available and then enabling the Decision Process.  Once this has happened, we determine whether we should proceed or not.  If the answer is YES, then we move to Opportunity Conversion and build an Exact Solution that meets the client’s needs and make sure we help them get the Results they are trying to achieve.  By being client focused and results oriented, our clients not only like working with us, they come back for more.  In sales, it’s not just about the initial sale, it’s about the relationship and sustainability that makes the difference between a good sales person and a great salesperson.

If your sales force is spending very little time on inquiry and a lot of time on writing proposals, etc., then they are going to have a lower conversion rate if they would simply do the opposite.  It’s natural to want to talk about the features and benefits of the products that they sell.  If that is all they do well, then they are dead in the water.  After they tell your clients all about your products, the next thing the client is going to ask is about your price.  In today’s economy, pricing will always be a factor.  If your sales force isn’t focused on results and selling value, then they won’t be closing as many sales as you would like.

Our Helping Clients Succeed sales training balances the realities of solid business thinking and a desire to build capacity for short-term as well as long-term success. This methodology is based on the work of Mahan Khalsa and his book titled Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play: Transforming the Buyer/Seller Relationship. 

Learn more about the results we are helping our clients achieve by downloading this whitepaper to learn more about The Key to Sustained Superior Sales Performance.  If you want to achieve new results, then you have to do things differently.  Contact me today to set up a 15-minute call to see how we may be a resource to you and help you close more sales in 2012 and beyond!

Until next time,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com



Sales Effectiveness 103 - Relationships

Two weeks ago, I started a 4 part blog series about four key factors that determine a salesperson’s success.  In case you are a new reader to this blog, below are the first two links:

Post #1: Intrinsic Motivation

Post#2:  Disciplined Work Style

This week, we will explore Building Relationships…

A mentor of mine once told me that being successful in life is about 2 things: Choices and Relationships.  I think he nailed it on the head!  If you are conscious about the choices you make and the outcomes you want to see, then you might think more before you act.  Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of one the best-selling business books of all time, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, referred to that choice between stimulus and response as Being Proactive.  

When it comes to relationships, there is one key factor that is the foundation to all great relationships and that factor is Trust!  There are several aspects that clients are looking for when looking for a new vendor or partner.  They want a salesman who knows their product line, they want to make sure they are receiving a fair value, but if they don’t trust you, then you will rarely get their business.

In Stephen M.R. Covey’s best-selling book, The Speed of Trust, he writes about The 4 Cores to Trust:

·         Integrity

·         Intent

·         Capabilities

·         Results

Integrity

Your client wants to see that you are humble.  They want to see you keep your commitments.  They also want to see that you stand for something… that you work to enable your mission.

Intent

This is one of the first things clients will notice.  Are you working with them to enable their agenda or are you looking out for your own.  People want to see that your motive is to help them.  If it is to help yourself or your company, it will be apparent quickly and people will see right through you. 

Capabilities

People need to feel confident that your product or solution will solve their problem or enable their mission.  If they don’t feel that you or your products/services are capable to help them, it’s going to be difficult to win them over.

Results

As Stephen M.R. Covey said, “Results matter!”  People evaluate you and your company based on past performance, current performance and expected performance.  At the end of the day, if you don’t deliver results, you will lose the deal and the client!

If you want to make sales quickly, close bigger deals and build lasting relationships, then start with trust!  In our last blog, we will explore Closing the Sale. 

Until next week,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - Do you want to learn more about The Speed of Trust?  If so, consider joining us in Dallas for an upcoming keynote with the author on February 16, 2012.  Early bird pricing good through 12/31/11!  Click here for details.

Sales Effectiveness 102 - Disciplined Work Style

In last week’s post we explored four key factors that determine a salesperson’s success and I elaborated on point number 1: intrinsic motivation.  This week we will dive into point #2: a disciplined work style.

The Greek philosopher, Plato, once said, “The first and best victory is to conquer self."  This quote is fairly profound.  Notice some of the words Plato carefully chose to use.  “First and best victory” implies that having discipline should be top-of-mind and doing so in itself is a great accomplishment.  He also mentions that we are “to conquer self.”  Receiving discipline is one thing.  Having it radiate from within as “self-discipline” is a unique characteristic.

In sales, we make lots of choices like which clients to call on, which activities to prioritize, how to handle a customer service issue and so on.  It takes a (self-) disciplined work style to be truly effective.  To be effective, it means that you were able to produce the expected result.  When a sales leader hires a new rep, they expect them to be effective … make their quota, etc.  If a sales person is not achieving expected results, then they are not effective and need to look inward to determine what it is they are lacking.  Is it motivation, self-discipline or something else?

Discipline in sales can be found in a variety of areas.  For example, it can be found in adhering to the sales methodology that the company believes in.  It can be found in the choices that we make to be productive.  It can be seen in adherence to company policies or even something as simple as turning in your expense reports on time.  Regardless of where it shows up, it is usually a consistent behavior of top performers.  Most people that choose to be disciplined are consistent with this habit in almost all areas of their lives.  And for those that choose not to be disciplined, it is usually evident to all.

To wrap it up, I’m going to quote business philosopher, Jim Rohn, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”  Start building your bridge of discipline one brick (choice) at a time.  Before you know it, you’ll find it easier to get to your destination each and every time.

Until next week,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

Sales Effectiveness 101 - Intrinsic Motivation

According to Gallup, after interviewing hundreds of thousands of salespeople, research suggests that there are 4 key factors that determine a salesperson’s success.  They are:

1.       Intrinsic motivation

2.       Disciplined work style

3.       Ability to build relationships with customers

4.       Ability to close a sale

I’ve been in sales for nearly 20 years and I’ve worked with a lot of sales colleagues (some good and some great).  I would suggest that a good salesperson typically exhibits one, two or maybe three of these aspects, but a great salesperson demonstrates ALL of these traits and over time, they continually work to improve.

Over the next few weeks, we will take a look at each of these aspects in more depth.  We will discover key principles behind each aspect.  While some people are just “born with the gift of sales” others can learn these aspects.  This week, while dive into Intrinsic Motivation.

Almost all of the organizations I’ve worked for in a sales role have implemented SPIFFs at some point during my tenure in the organization.  Salespeople who are motivated by money and prizes are typically excited when these come along.  SPIFFs can come in a variety of forms: cash, vacations, TV’s and FREE products from the manufacturer, etc.  While this type of motivation is great for the organization for a short period of time, it’s not feasible to offer SPIFFs year round.

As the Gallup research suggests, being motivated from within is key to a great salesperson.  If an individual is internally driven and new to a sales organization, their leaders will typically see the following things happen over the course of the first year of tenure:

·         Heavily engaged during initial sales training

·         Proactively builds relationships with key stakeholders inside and outside the organization

·         In the beginning, they come to work early or stay late.  Their motto is “Whatever it takes.”

·         Stays committed to the sales process

·         Doesn’t need to be managed to work recommended sales activities

·         Understands their leader’s agenda and achieves their first year’s sales goal

On the other hand, if salespeople aren’t motivated at their core, they are probably going to need to be managed vs. led.  A leader will share a vision with others and those that have that internal “fire” will understand and enable that vision.  A manager will dictate what needs to happen, when it should happen and tell you how to do it.  Salespeople can choose if they are led or managed simply through their behaviors and attitude.

I have always said that “tenacity” is one of the key factors of determining a great salesperson.  Tenacity is that inner drive within us that keeps us motivated, even when times are tough.  I think Louis Pasteur would have made a great salesperson.  He once said, “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

If you are a leader over a sales team, and are looking to motivate your staff from within, consider taking a look at our 7 Habits Solutions.  Getting your team to understand vision, mission and values is extremely powerful.  When people understand their purpose, they can easily find all the motivation that they need to be successful.

Next week, we will explore the concepts of a disciplined work style. 

Until next time,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

The 5 Stages of Performance Improvement

One of the world’s top business consultants is Ram Charan.  He has personally coached leaders from several top 100 Fortune Companies for many years.   He is probably best known for his work around Strategic Goal Execution.  Ram once said, “To understand execution, you have to keep three key points in mind: (1) Execution is a discipline, and integral to strategy; (2) Execution is the major job of the business leader; (3) Execution must be a core element of an organization’s culture.”

We are going to explore this today because Execution is probably the biggest challenge a leader will ever face.  In the beginning, it sounds easy.  You’re the leader, you have a team, you have shared your strategy and now, all they have to do is execute, right?  Wrong!  It’s much more difficult than that.

First of all, only half of the people will claim they understood what you said.  In reality, only 15% of people can articulate the strategy back to you and only half of those people probably know what to do.  If 7-8% of your staff knows how to execute your plan, do you think you will make it?

Having the capability to execute is probably one of the most important aspects a leader can instill in their culture.  While the statistics above are more of a picture of most businesses, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.  Some organizations get it right year after year, and yours can too!

Please take a moment to review the photo below of The 5 Stages of Performance Improvement. 

Let’s review each of these stages, so you can see HOW a culture is developed and strategy shifts towards execution. 

1.)    Drive to improve - Obviously, this is the first step.  If you don’t change what you are currently doing in your business, you will not improve what you are doing now.  So, the leaders must have this “drive” in order to begin making a shift in the culture.

2.)    Leadership Emphasis - This is when the executive team picks something.  It is best, to pick one or two top strategic imperatives.  When you start adding goals to the list, The Law of Diminishing Return will kick your tail!  It is also important that leaders don’t change this emphasis on a regular basis.  If they do, their teams will never start to accept accountability because they know a new strategy will be developed soon.

3.)    Team Accountability - Once the teams take ownership of the goal is when you begin to see a momentum building towards creating your culture.  Division leaders now understand the goal; they know how they contribute to executing the strategy.  Now they are communicating to their teams regularly and holding individuals accountable for measurable activity towards the goal.

4.)    Individual Ownership - It’s one thing for a leader to tell you what to do, but when your individual contributors hold themselves accountable and start behaving in new proactive ways to take new steps towards implementation, this is when the wheels start moving. 

5.)    Habits - When individuals start putting new practices into place and do them consistently, you’ve got something!  This is when the rubber is beginning to hit the road.  Now leaders can predict outcomes based on a large group of individual behaviors or habits. 

To sum it all up, our Regional Execution Practice Leader Scott Thele, recently said, "Your organization's culture is nothing more or less than the collection of habits of the majority of people most of the time."  You can have a culture that executes or one that doesn’t.  It’s all a result of your culture and people’s habits. 

The goal is get your middle performers to behave like your top performers.  Whether you have one location and you want most of the people performing at peak performance or whether you have multiple locations and you most of them performing like your top sites, the challenge is getting the large group to behave well, consistently.  We call it Moving the Middle.  How would your bottom line be affected if you could shift performance by 20% of your middle 60% of your organization?  Do the math! 

If you are a leader and are looking to execute a strategy that is going to take a substantial change in human behavior, then I highly encourage you to take a serious look at our proven process known as, The 4 Disciplines of Execution.  We are helping clients across the globe achieve some pretty amazing results. 

For more information or to join us for one of our upcoming sessions, Creating a Culture of Execution, please give me a call.  We would like to be your strategic partner in 2012 and beyond!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis
Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey
214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com