How to treat children and employees

“Treat a child as though he already is the person he’s capable of becoming.” – Haim Ginott, School Teacher, Child Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Parent Educator

Also great advice for Leaders on how to treat the folks they are leading.

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How do you treat your current clients?

“If you don’t treat current clients like new clients, they will become former clients.” – Mahan Khalsa, Author of Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play

Start with Why

The Benefits of External Focus in Business

“If you focus on solving your customer’s needs first, they tend to help meet (or exceed) your needs.” – Richard Elmes

How Jim Estill’s business went Zero to $2 Billion

Jim Estill,  Author (Time Leadership) and Blogger(CEO Blog-Time Leadership), and CEO and President of Danby, The Leader in Refrigeration and Specialty Appliances based out of my home town of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, has been in the local news a lot lately for his generous funding (personal donation of over one million dollars) and efforts to help over 50 Syrian refugee families settle in Guelph.

But what some may not realize is that Jim started a computer business EMJ Data Systems and later Synnex which he took from 0 – 2 billion dollars.

I have had the pleasure to meeting, connectng and being mentored by Jim on several occasions (as well as following his career from Guelph to New York and back to Guelph).

He shares several of his secrets and insights in this efficient and effective (just like Jim) Ted Talk.

If you own a business, run a business or even work in a business, and want to learn at the feet of one of the masters, it will be well worth the time investment.

How to set your new Sales Rep up for failure

Imagine you are a new salesperson and on your first day after a brief orientation, your Sales Manager gives you a little pep talk that goes something like this:

“The customers are out there… all you need to do is go out and find them.”

Then after he loads you up with product literature and business cards, he finishes his pep talk with,

“Go get ’em tiger.”

Sounds silly doesn’t it.

Unfortunately, many companies orientation program for new sales reps is not much different.

Sure they may spend a little time on product knowledge training. And maybe a little on how to write up and enter an order into the company’s computer system. But for many companies a formal sales training program designed to help their sales professionals succeed is not existent.

Or worse, it is so old and boring that nobody uses it.

The number one concern organizations have when investing in sales training is the cost. They think that developing a new program or revamping an existing one is going to be expensive.

What they don’t consider is the cost of having an untrained salesperson in the field.

• The high cost of the negative marketing: The negative impression that the customer has of not only the sales representative, but your company. Untrained sales person tends to make a lot of mistakes and often a fool of them self, because they don’t know what they are doing or talking about.
• The high cost of turnover: Salespeople will only struggle so long, getting rejected over and over again, before they will seek out easier challenges. Turnover costs can range anywhere from 30-150% of an employees annual compensation.
• The high cost of loss sales: The difference between winning and losing in business (especially sales) can be extremely small, but the compensation is significant. An untrained sales person will lose out to the trained professional more often than not. This can be the difference between sales growth or sales decline. Between having a positive cash flow or going into debt. Between having a to expand, or laying off employees.

Effective sales training can be help your organization bridge that gap by:

• Improving Credibility with your customer base: Customers love to work with professionals who are trying to help them succeed, not amateurs who are looking at them as a car payment.
• Reducing Turnover of staff: Long-term employees have the opportunity to build a relationship and get to know what they need. This is attractive to customers who like to buy from people they trust.

Trust = Credibility  and Credibility = Sales

• Improving Sales: Increasing the credibility of your sales professionals (and your company) will open the door for more opportunities, which will lead to more sales, which will lead to more revenue.

Just think of difference it would make to a new sales professional, when they enter the field confident that they know what they are doing, what they are talking about and how they can help their customers.

Armed with this knowledge and skills skill you will be motivated and prepared for success.

Then you really will be able to; “Go get’em tiger.”

Response: Student’s are not customers; Are they?

A LinkedIn post by Santiago Iniguez, Dean of IE Business School in Spain,  asked the question, Student’s are not customers; Are they? You can view the post here.

Here is my response:

Absolutely. Teachers / Trainers are Salespeople selling the ideas and concepts that they want their Students to buy into and learn. The primary role of the teacher / trainer is to convey the information to their student’s in an easy-to-digest manner (aka Don’t be boring). Even though students are interested in the topic (because they invest their time and money to attend the class), they will not effectively grasp the information taught if they can’t understand it, or can’t stay awake in class.

I know that my favorite (and most effective) teachers / trainers have sold me on their ideas and concepts. So, I believe that Students are definitely Customers.