Opportunities Outside The Box
Hurricane Sandy brought much disruption and tragedy to many in the northeast USA, and our best thoughts and wishes for a positive rebound go out to all. While it can certainly be difficult to visualize opportunity here, at the height of the storm an interaction with my youngest sister lit such a thought. Let me share. My sister Valerie is a US Postal mail carrier in New Jersey, as is my sister Francine. They deliver the mail “the old fashion way- bag over shoulder and on foot”. While Hurricane Sandy was arriving and the transportation systems were cautiously shut early, and businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm’s onslaught, the USPS had it’s mail carriers report for work, as “the mail must be delivered”! Eventually they realized the foolishness of the original decision and declared the carriers to return home at 11am storm day. Both of my sisters deliver mail in south Jersey, with Valerie just 40 miles from Atlantic City.
As I discussed the ridiculousness of the above with others, several people stated that “missing a day’s mail would be no big deal”. Herein is the opportunity-watch: The USPS currently loses Billions of $ annually operating a system designed for days gone by long ago. Several people said that instead of 6 days a week of mail delivery we could all “live with 5″. But wait. Instead of viewing this situation in terms of dropping a day or so of mail delivery on a go forward basis, suppose we looked at home mail delivery with a “blank sheet of paper”. Recognizing that we now have the internet, Facebook, Twitter, email, direct deposit of paychecks, online bill payments, and next day delivery private sector companies, how many days of mail delivered to our homes/businesses do we really need. For example, what if it was one day delivery a week? How much interruption to our lives would that be? How much of what we need would be unavailable and if needed, could it be procured in another fashion? If we were to redesign the mail delivery system from scratch, imagine the cost savings? Imagine the USPS becoming a money making enterprise versus Billions $ in losses annually.
What this means to you, whether you are a business owner or sales professional, is as follows: Take a fresh look at your business. A “blank sheet of paper” as a starter. How could you be delivering value to your markets and customers in a more efficient and expense savings basis? If you weren’t saddled with the how you do it now, how could it be done better? Last month I spoke to the opportunity of “Leverage”- how could you better leverage your business such that you generate more business with less work? Don’t approach your business looking for a one day pickup as in the above example, but rather looking for an entire new approach to opportunities and problems. Therein the opportunities and the margins! Good hunting.
BOOK OF SALES QUESTIONS….AND, THE ANSWERS!
Last month we announced the writing of a new book on just that! And we asked for your questions. Here is a sampling of a few we have gotten. How should I be using email with prospects? A good client keeps asking for more and more added value. What should I do? What are some of the steps you can take to minimize the amount of time to get a prospect back on the phone after an initial call or meeting? Keep your questions coming and we will make it happen! Just send it my way, [email protected], and it will be considered for inclusion in the book. Thanks for taking the time to consider participating in this worthwhile project!
Q & A- Over the past couple years, I’ve produced a series of one hour webcasts, all of which you can access on our website at www.jackdaly.net. Despite our best intentions, we rarely get to answer questions posed by our viewers, so I will be doing so in this newsletter.
I find myself spending more time updating admin and database/ contact management systems and less time “selling”-advice?
Here are a few thoughts. “If you don’t have an assistant, you are one!” There are many tasks that I find sales people doing that could be handled by others in a more timely fashion and I suspect in a higher quality fashion. Then, the sales person could spend more time “selling” and the cost or expense of such an assistant would be more than covered in the increased income/profits from the added sales. The key is not to wait for the company to step up and supply such an assistant. If necessary, think about sharing an assistant with one or more other sales people in the company and sharing the cost accordingly. Can you use an assistant on a part-time basis, and maybe a younger student, which likely has more computer talent and will work for more reasonable rates? I’m asking you to “get out of the box” and find your solution there! What I also find effective is asking the question multiple times a day: “Is what I’m working on right now the highest payoff activity I could be working on?” All too often we get distracted from these high opportunity moments, and sometimes it’s a matter of us avoiding the “harder” work of knocking on doors and facing rejection! At the end of the day, companies reward salespeople that produce the numbers, not for admin excellence! (And remember, when all else fails, beg forgiveness!)
DALY DOUBLE– Here it is. All of my books audios and videos, not only in hard goods form but accessible on-line as well. This includes “Jack in a Box” and Jack Outside the Box”. Everything you need to take your business/company to the next level and then some! Retailing at more than $2,000 but through the end of the year (Dec 31), it’s yours for $995. Just call or email jennifer@jackdaly net, 888-298-6868 and ask for the Newsletter Daly Double special…and take your business on a rocket ride!
Would you use new business ideas if you KNEW they would work?
Proven techniques to grow your most profitable business today and tomorrow. Success leaves clues. I’ve built 6 companies to national status. All of them fast growth companies. The largest sales force I ran successfully was 2,600 sales people. Today I train companies all over the world how to grow their top line revenues and bottom line profits… regardless of the lagging economy! Real-world ideas to grow companies are working in nearly every industry, in nearly any situation.
Growing a profitable business today & tomorrow. Join me for this last valuable webcast of 2012 Lessons I’ve Learned as an Entrepreneur – “I wish someone had told me that!” on Tuesday, November 20 at 1:00 pm Pacific time.
If you want to turn ongoing “change” into greater opportunity, I can help you get focused on how to do it.
As a leader we need to do better finding new ways to build our business. Work smarter instead of just working harder. You CAN figure out a better way to grow results… and do it right.
What you’ll learn in this session:
- How to build your “best” business
- Do less and reap more.How to generate more business with less work
- Figuring out what needs to be doneto grow the business and do it right
- Best business decision making: Change = Opportunity.
- Decisions: Are you focused on the genuine deal-makersor deal-breakers?
Lessons I’ve Learned as an Entrepreneur – “I wish someone had told me that!” on Tuesday, November 20 at 1:00 pm Pacific time.
CEO’S AND SALES
On a number of occasions I have been very direct about the role of the CEO is NOT to be the Sales Manager, and I am unchanged in this regard. Growing your sales is not a part-time activity, and the path to growing your sales is growing your sales team in quantity and quality, which is the role of the Sales Manager. HOWEVER, that does not mean I want to see the CEO to disappear from the sales front! The best is when we can get the CEO active in the field with the sales team on joint calls. Having the CEO staying in touch with the market at the street level is the best! And, not only will the client be complimented, but the sales rep will as well. Additionally, there’s nothing like encountering real issues in the field to expedite change in operations and at corporate.
As a witness to this, I cite for you the new CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty. New in her role, since January she has been crisscrossing the globe. She set an early goal for herself of meeting 100 client CEO’s in her first two months, and she quickly surpassed it. C’mon folks, two months and 100+ client visits…the CEO of IBM!! And, how about this: She intends to spend a good deal of her time personally nursing along deals in growth markets, which are expected to provide up to 30% of IBM’s revenue by 2015. Kind of reminds me of when Lou Gerstner years ago arrived at IBM, and immediately set out to meet their 200 top clients and ask how can we win back your business? No power point presentations, just a blank pad and willingness to listen! Remember my sales mantra: Ask questions and listen! Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinkos, said it really well: the CEO’s job is not to run the company, it is to grow the company!
Educational Opportunities
In order for our readers to plan out their professional development plans, here is a look at our projected schedule through year-end 2013 of our Sales and Sales Management Workshops:
- November 28— Tampa, Fl
- November 29— Ft. Lauderdale
- November 30— Pittsburgh, PA
- December 4— Los Angeles, CA
- January 11— Nashville, TN
- January 15— Boston, MA
- January 17— Birmingham, AL
- February 14— Orange County, CA
Click here to see the full 2012-1013 Schedule…
We have added several end of the year and Q1 workshops to ensure 2013 is off to a fast solid start. Register Today!
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The Habit Factor by Martin Grunburg. My thanks to Facebook for bringing me together with Martin for lunch recently. Wow! For a guy like me who has been so goal oriented from a young age, and seeing so many others who have benefitted similarly, it was a real treat to be introduced to The Habit Factor. While I found the book a bit “rough going” for several chapters in the middle, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (which Martin called Application) was quite rich. This Habit application will surely help people achieve larger and more significant goals in a faster and easier fashion than you could otherwise achieve. On top of the book, Martin has gone on to answer “there’s an app for that”, and people are having tremendous success in their personal and business lives.
Take a look at www.thehabitfactor.com. Martin reminded me what Ben Franklin (playing to my Philly birthplace) said in 1778: ” Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones”.
Ps. Don’t overlook the middle of the book, despite my claims of struggling a bit- Martin inserted in there one of the finest interview questions I’ve ever seen for determining the best fit for you and your company in terms of new hires!
TAKING ACTION
I stopped on my way home today from our meeting and got my Thank You notes (already done and in the mailbox) and money bag. Grading my targets tonight and my goals will be in writing by the am! Thanks for helping me be more successful. I feel bad for my competition!
Very best regards,
Scott Arnold
I just wanted to thank you for your time today. I am leaving with an open mind and I am ready and excited to implement what I have learned. Starting with my three from page 39. Find my bad asses, Time mgmt. And creating my contact mgmt. system.
Have an AWESOME day!
Jill Rudzitis
EVERY BUSINESS WANTS TO GROW REVENUES. But most small to mid-sized companies stay small or go out of business because they’re committing one of the 3 sins of Sales Management.
1. The owner/CEO/entrepreneur is also Sales Mgr
2. The best sales person is Sales Mgr
3. The best sales person is Sales Mgr PLUS continues selling
Are you sinning? Both the owner/CEO and sales manager positions are full time work. Both require the right skill sets. If you’re sinning, simply put–you’re building your company with a part-time effort. Do you really want this most important job done part-time? Sales Mgmt Coaching can help you turn the sinning into winning.
Build results by leveraging your sales management position according to Jack Daly’s sales growth principles. Is it time to get an experienced Jack Daly sales coach helping you?
What clients are saying:
Dan,
We’ve far surpassed our original goals as a direct result of working with you. You focused us on the most important aspects of our business. We’ve thrived during major turmoil in our industry.
I was most impressed by your ability to quickly identify the weaknesses in our existing sales process and hold us accountable to improve our systems. Your expertise in sales is obvious, especially in the role-playing exercises to improve the skills of our sales team. Thanks for your superior coaching that moved us to the next level.
Dan Fabian
VP, Costa Mesa, CA
Get a Free Sales Strategy Session with Dan Larson
You’re invited to get a free Sales Strategy Session. We’ll discuss your current sales situation, what you want to accomplish and the main challenges standing in the way. I’ll share my thoughts on your best opportunities, sales strategies, and the best path to grow results, all based on the “Jack Daly way.”
visit www.leveragesalesmgmt.com.
Where in the World is Jack?
Here’s the schedule of cities I will be conducting programs in over the next few months (some for clients, others are open seat workshops.) I may have flexibility in my scheduling for lunch, dinner or more should someone have an interest. If you see I’m headed to your part of the world, feel free to email[email protected]
- November- Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Tampa, San Jose, Miami.
- December- Los Angeles, Boston
- January- Houston, Birmingham, Nashville, Mexico City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London
- February-London, Portland,Chicago, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Orlando and Los Angeles.
