Waterboarding Your Sales Team

First off my blog and podcast site is usually relegated to positive stories of empowerment, connecting with clients and staff at a deep human level, and the importance of continually investing in our personal development. With that said, sometimes contrast is good. This is a story about how wrong, and how out of touch sales organizations can be.

This is about a sales executive suing his employer for Waterboarding him at a sales conference as some medieval method of motivating him (Waterboarding was first made popular during the Spanish Inquisition). He also described his work environment as follows:

“Hudgens’s lawsuit, filed Jan. 17 in Provo, suggests the testosterone-poisoned setting of the David Mamet play “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Hudgens alleged that if the 10-person sales team went a day without a sale, members had to work the next day standing up; Christopherson took away their chairs. The team leader also threatened to draw a mustache in permanent marker on the face of sales people for “negativity,” Hudgens said. Christopherson kept on his desk a piece of wood, “the 2-by-4 of motivation,” he said. “

Wow, I first read about this on Digg.com and did a quick Google search to see if it was for real. Fox news and Washington Post both posted this story back in April.

Now here’s a great quote:

“We’re not the mean waterboarding company that people think we are,” said George Brunt, general counsel for the firm, which sells a combination of online and personalized instruction — packaged as “coaching” and running $3,000 to $15,000 — to customers who are solicited by telephone.”

I love that “We’re not the mean waterboarding company that people think we are,” so if that’s not mean than what is?

You can read the entire article on the Washington Post Website. As sales managers and executives our customers, our first customers are the people on our team. If we serve them well and give them the tools to succeed then that treatment will trickle down and into the marketplace. Our team will treat our customers as humans, not numbers or quotas. Where was the humanity in this?

April 3, 2008 · Filed Under Leadership, Sales Articles |

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Closing Bigger Sales Podcast Entry on Managing Worry and FEAR - by Shane Gibson

Today’s podcast is about managing worry and fear. Too many of us are overwhelmed by our worry and immobilized by our fear in selling and in the rest of our life.

Download Shane Gibson’s Podcast Here


Subscribe in iTunes to this Sales Podcast

 
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Get focused, think bigger, and close bigger!

Shane Gibson

This sales podcast is presented by Shane Gibson.

Shane Gibson is the author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. a leading sales performance and leadership development organization. Shane divides his time between his entrepreneurial projects, speaking at major conferences and mentoring salespeople and entrepreneurs.

Quick Links:

Sales Training Canada
Sales
Training South Africa
Sales Training Boot Camps Vancouver
Complete Sales Action System
Managing Complex Business
Relationships System

March 20, 2007 · Filed Under * Sales Podcast, Leadership |

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Sales Blog Entry on Free Leadership Self Assessments

I have put together a series of self assessments on coaching and leadership which are provided free (not-for-profit use and distribution only.) Here are the assessments:

Five levels of leadership self assessment
Coaching skills assessment
Enabling versus equiping self assessment

I would appreciate any feedback and comments on the usefulness of these tools and how we may improve upon them.

Shane Gibson

Shane Gibson is the author of Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and President of Knowledge Brokers International Systems Ltd. a leading sales performance and leadership development organization. Shane divides his time between his entrepreneurial projects, speaking at major conferences and mentoring salespeople and entrepreneurs.

Quick Links:

Sales Training Canada
Sales
Training South Africa
Sales Training Boot Camps Vancouver
Complete Sales Action System
Managing Complex Business
Relationships System

Subscribe in iTunes to this Sales Podcast

November 13, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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Sales Blog and Podcast Entry - PSI - Personality Style Indicators

I am certified facilator of the assessment tools developed and produced by the Consulting Resource Group. At times I struggle a bit communicating how critical it is to understand our own unique sales and personality style when dealing with other people. Ken Keis president of CRG put it well in his last e-zine article so I cut and paste a good portion of it into this blog entry as a follow-up to yesterday’s sales podcast on selling to the different styles:

How can you ever be intentional with your decisions and actions in
life, if you are not completely clear about your own personal style and its
related strengths, preferences, and challenges.

It’s a biological fact that we are born with a natural predisposition to a
distinct personal style. It’s not something we can choose to avoid. We take our
personal style with us, everywhere we go

After conducting over 2000 programs and writing on the subject for more than 16
years, I am absolutely convinced that without a full understanding of your
personal style—and the personal style of everyone with whom you interact on a
personal or professional level—you are missing critical knowledge that can
contribute to fulfillment for all the individuals involved.

It’s like flying a plane in a dense fogbank. Without training in aircraft
instrumentation, you are living by a hope and a prayer that you can make it to a
safe landing site. That is the way most people live their lives—but that need
not be true for you!

CRG is unique in that we teach a holistic development model wherein your
personal style and your personality are two separate concepts.

Your personality—the totality of who you are—is composed primarily of six
Personal Development Factors™ that contribute to your personhood. 

  1. Your Personal Style
    You were born with it and it stays consistent throughout your lifetime.
     

  2. Biophysical Factors
    They include your gender and any illnesses (and wellness levels),
    addictions, or injuries that affect your engagement of life.
     

  3. Self-Worth Levels
    They affect how and when you engage your life and the various challenges
    that life brings to you.
     

  4. Environmental Systems
    Your country, your local area, geography, and your culture all highly
    influence your perspective on life.
     

  5. Social Teachers
    These include people who have shaped your viewpoint during your life—
    parents, teachers, mentors, friends, family, etc.
     

  6. Emotional Anchors
    They include events in your life—both positive and negative—that leave an
    emotional imprint.

The CRG model acknowledges that who we are is based on
both nature and
nurture.

Research confirms that we each have unique and specific style preferences at
birth. From that moment, our personal style starts to play a powerful role in
our lives. Here are some of the things that are influenced by personal style.

  • Choosing supportive child-care environments
  • Parenting style
  • Learning and instructional styles that meet your specific needs
  • Selecting the right job and understanding job-style fit
  • Accepting the differences in yourself and others
  • Getting along better with your life partner
  • Coaching others
  • Customer service, sales, and leadership
  • Designing a life that plays to your strengths
  • Having the confidence to reject feelings of guilt and the pressures to
    change from those who are different than you are. That includes peer
    pressure, parents, and teachers.
  • Building teams that complement your business needs
  • Starting a business
  • Hiring and promoting
  • Resolving conflict

And much more!

If you really want to succeed in life, knowledge of personal style is
non-negotiable. 

Recently, I facilitated a team development process for a billion-dollar
organization. Even though some team members had been through our

Personal Style Indicator in the past, they identified the

PSI as the single-most-important element to take participants to the next
level. 

October 26, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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Sales Blog Entry - From My Mentor Fred Shadian - “Imagine life being………”

My mentor Fred Shadian sent this to me…I thought it was great…

Imagine life being exactly the way you would like for it to be. Imagine working easily and naturally through the challenges that each day presents.
Imagine creating real and lasting value as the result of your efforts. Imagine moving steadily in the direction of your most treasured dream.

Imagine reaching that dream and then building an even more magnificent dream to take its place. Imagine the sense of fulfillment and purpose that comes from living true to the authentic person you are.

Imagine spending each day making a positive contribution****ion to the world in which you live. Imagine making a difference in the lives of those around you.

Imagine the beauty and richness of a life fully lived. Imagine a world in which that fulfillment spreads quickly and easily from one person to another.

Imagine life at its best, and in your imagining experience every detail, every sound, every color, every texture, every feeling. Then take a deep breath, hold your head up, step forward and truly make it happen.

– Ralph Marston

July 10, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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Tips on Building Strong Transformational Mentorship Relationships

As one can imagine depending on the
personality styles and values of the individuals involved the mentoring
relationship can take many forms and follow many processes.  As long as the
people within the relationship find it rewarding and effective we really can’t
say that any one process or format is more effective but it is important that
both people fully understand and are agreeable and committed to it.

 

Expectations

 

It is important in the beginning for the
mentor and mentee to explicitly confirm what one another’s expectations of the
relationship will be.  How do they personally define mentorship? What goals or
outcomes would they like to achieve?  How involved will they be in each others
life professionally or otherwise?

 

Structure and Process

 

Do you meet in person? On the phone? Mentor
while golfing or skiing? How often do you meet?  For how long are the meetings?
All of these questions should be agreed upon early on.

 

Some of the foundations of the mentoring
process are important are:

 

r    
To identify each person’s values, style and
preferred method of communication

r    
Set SMART regularly to focus the
relationship

r    
Remember that mentoring is transformational
and that most of the goals should be focused on building the mentee’s talents
into strengths

r    
Have a way of recording and checking on
commitments made

r    
Set a regular time or frequency of time to
check in; you may not need to meet every three weeks but at least check-in with
each other to keep the relationship strong and current

 

Commitments & Rules

 

It is vital to confirm and agree upon what
commitments we require from one another.  Some mentors have no problem working
through in-action or continually broken promises by the mentee while others will
end the relationship if the advice they give isn’t heeded.  Neither of these
mentors is wrong, it’s a values thing.  The key to ensure that both parties are
aware of each other’s personal rules and that commitments are firmly put into
place and recorded.

 

Shane Gibson is President
of Knowledge Brokers International
Systems Ltd. and author of

Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals and High Impact
Mentorship - The Transformational Mentor’s Field Guide. e-mail
shane@kbitraining.com or call
604-331-4471

January 25, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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The characteristics of an effective M.E.N.T.O.R.


 

Models success

Expands Vision

Navigates  

Truth seeker

Optimizes

Relationship Building

 

M

Great mentors model success.  Authenticity and transparency are much
sought after but rarely found characteristics in today’s society.  People listen
to what we say as mentors but we have to be cognizant of the fact that we tell a
story about what we truly value by our actions and daily disciplines. 
Mentorship provides a pillar and a model of possibility for those who follow us.
Our example of success and constant movement forward is what makes us credible
and creates an environment of faith where the mentee feels safe to take risks
and move outside of their comfort zone.  Another important trait of modeling
success is that we too need mentors to help us continue to grow.  After all,
it’s pretty difficult to follow our lead if we’re no longer moving.

 

E

 

Effective mentors constantly expand their mentee in
all areas possible.  When I look back at some of the business and personal goals
that I have achieved there where a number of times where when I began the
process I personally lacked the vision or belief that it was actually possible. 
I was actually working on faith, and borrowed vision and belief from a mentor.

Respondents in a survey done by Robert Half Technology were asked to name the
single greatest benefit of mentorship relationships they had been in and:

  • 37% said that a mentor provided insight into a
    particular field or industry
  • 32% said that the mentor served as a confidant or
    advisor
  • 16% said the mentor provided encouragement and boosted
    morale

 

As a mentor we have already ascended to a place of insight
and vision, because of the distance we have traveled we can naturally see
further and more than our mentees.  Great mentors often help formulate and paint
a bigger picture than people can conceive on their own.  The mentor’s conviction
in the vision and belief in the mentee fuels the faith and conviction that the
mentee needs for spurn them forward.  Great mentors expand their mentees,
vision, self concept, and standards consistently.  Spend time teaching people
how to think bigger and set goals that are slightly out of their grasp.

 

N

 

The ability to navigate and provide a proven
strategy for success is what people look for in a great mentor.  The feeling as
a mentor to be able to give this gift is fantastic.  Navigation has three
components, a destination, a place to start and as a mentor we provide the third
ingredient – the path in between.  People will always have unexpected obstacles
during their journey but it’s the fork in the road that shows the true value of
a mentor.

 

T

 

 

Truth seeker.  A mentor isn’t there to coach or
counsel someone.  There is no fee, rarely a contract, and the only reward is
often the reward of legacy, contribution, and mentee transformation.  The
mentorship relationship is a transformational one where we focus on helping
someone reach and become their full potential.  In navigation we talk about
needing a starting point.  Great mentors through relationship development can
peel away the layers of persona to find the person, and the truth of the
situation.  The truth of any situation is where we can begin to map a path
forward.  They also help the mentee develop clarity and evaluate murky
situations to find the real truth and reality to build life strategies that are
based upon accurate assumptions and wise choices.  Transformation can only truly
begin with a truthful beginning.  Seek and insist on the truth.

 

O

 

Optimizing is about taking something that is already
effective and improving it significantly by making a series of subtle calculated
shifts.  Transformation rarely happens all at once.  It usually occurs through a
series of smaller changes and shifts in focus.  As a mentor when we work and
develop others we can see a hundred things they could improve.  Optimization is
about prioritizing based upon strengths and talents.  Help your mentee delegate
or remove the activities and behaviors outside of their core talents and
values.  Get them to focus on what they are truly good at and what they truly
enjoy doing. (if there ever was a place for a coach this is it, investing in a
coach who can help them turn their talents and passions into strengths will pay
dividends)  On purpose people have more energy, hardly feel stressed, and are
more productive.

 

R

 

Relationship building is the key to having real
impact and leverage in the mentorship relationship.  Through relationships we
gain the trust of the person, once they trust us deep truths, fears, and goals
are shared.  We gain permission to give them much needed feedback and
direction.  We have all been in the situation where someone offers advice to us
when uninvited, we can feel that this person is assumptive and pushy and more
often than that we don’t feel that the advice is credible… after all we hardly
know the person. 

 

Bill Gibson founder of Knowledge Brokers International
developed a very straight forward formula for relationship development.  Time +
Genuine Assistance = Relationship = a commitment from both parties.  There is no
shortcut here, the more time we put in and the greater the assistance and
positive intent the stronger the relationship and ultimately the better the
results.

 

We can genuinely assist people in many ways; we can:

 

  • Believe in them
  • Help pick them up when they have failed
  • Commend them when they have succeeded
  • Help expand their network
  • Make them part of a project you are working on
  • Recognize them publicly
  • Keep commitments

 

Another critical component of building relationships and
effective mentorship is listening.  Listening seems simple enough but most
people don’t really listen, they just wait for their turn to talk.  People spend
a good portion of their day being talked at and competing for air time.  People
can tell when we truly care about them and what they have to say.  Authentically
listen to people, be totally present and sincerely interested and the
relationship will flourish.

 

Shane Gibson


shane@kbitraining.com

January 19, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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Mentorship – Sales Blog Entry

“To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world”
-anonymous

Now more than ever our society needs mentors. We have an aging population and fewer qualified people to fill much needed leadership positions in our community and corporations. Having a strong mentorship process and strategy will be paramount to North America remaining competitive in the next decade.

Many street smart skills and attitudes within major corporations are retiring with the senior executives. As a mentor we have an opportunity to leave a legacy behind.

I recently sat down with a former student of mine. Seven years after my team and I graduated him from our entrepreneur development program he now has 47 employees and has a much business as he can handle in the commercial cleaning business.

He was underemployed and cash strapped when I met him, but his willingness to learn, grow and do was massive.

Flavio, one of the other program leaders invested a lot of time with him. Although he only spent 16 weeks with us, seven years later he still refers to the principles he learned in the program. Investing in this person led to the creation of an enterprise that will do $1 million in revenues and has created 47 jobs.

The biggest message he got from the program was the importance of investing in and maintaining strong client relationships. This is a simple concept but one that has become foundational to his business.

We didn’t want a piece of his business, but we contributed to a stronger local economy and made a big difference in the founder’s life.

I guess for this blog entry I want to pose these questions:

What if senior executives (all of them) in our communities gave an hour a week to mentoring a young executive or entrepreneur? What impact on our economy would this have in seven years from today?

This doesn’t just apply to business but the arts, sciences, and the public sector as well. Mentors make a difference.

Shane Gibson
Author of: Closing Bigger the Field Guide to Closing Bigger Deals
shane@closingbigger.com

January 5, 2006 · Filed Under Leadership |

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