Motivational Speaker | Dean Lindsay

Posts Tagged ‘management’

Quick Time Management Tip – Delegate Right

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

We can accomplish a lot more with help.  We shouldn’t just delegate to full-time employees.  Delegating can also include others whom we turn to so that we can progress in other ways.  Outsourcing is delegating.  I outsource my lawn care, bookkeeping, and pizza baking. (Thanks, Pizza Hut.)

Delegation is not dumping.  As leaders, if something we assign doesn’t get done right, it is on us.  Either WE:

            A.)  did not communicate the task clearly enough,  and/or provide the right tools; or we 

            B.)  delegated the task to the wrong person.

 Delegating to wrong person with wrong info leads to change. 

Delegating to right person with wrong info leads to change.

Delegating to wrong person with right info leads to change.

Delegating to right person with right info leads to progress.

The right info means providing:

-         Clear goals (Objectives must be clear, but allow attendant procedures to vary.  Guard against any tendency you may have to micro-manage.)

-         Training (classroom and/or on the job)

-          Realistic deadlines (Make sure those you delegate to know the relative importance of the task.)

-          Rewards/Consequences

What on your To-Do List can be handled by someone else?

What are some things you are doing daily that others could do, so that you would have the time to do the things YOU want to do?   

 “In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.” – Sir John Lubbock

(an excerpt from The Progress Challenge by Dean Lindsay)

Be Progress.

You can’t achieve your best in these challenging business times without learning the all-important art of connecting. As William Allman, the author of Stone Age Present, states, “The key to our species’ success is our great skill in making close alliances with others.” True enough. There are many benefits to harnessing the power of building priceless business relationships and Cracking the Networking CODE. These benefits become even more priceless in times of economic uncertainty. Here are the Top Ten benefits of sales training that addresses the power of business networking:

The Top Ten Benefits of Business Networking

1. Friendships and support

2. Advice and access to different points of view

3. New career paths, employment, and business opportunities

4. Referrals and introductions to professionals and quality prospects

5. Important information
(Market/organizational shifts, upcoming events, etc.)

6. Promotions or lateral moves within your organization

7. Unique sales ideas from sales professionals in other fields

8. Introductions to quality vendors and resources

9. Advocates within related organizations and industries

10. More sales

“You have to accept that no matter where you work, you are not an employee; you are in a business with one employee – yourself.”  – Andrew S. Grove

I am honored to share that my book, Cracking the Networking CODE: Steps to Priceless Business Relationships is Recommended Reading by the United Professional Sales Association, Networking Times and Profit magazine.

Even cooler that it has been endorsed Ken Blanchard – author of The One Minute Manager and Brian Tracy along with many others. Jay Conrad Levinson – the author of Guerrilla Marketing, thought so much of the CODE that he wrote the book’s foreword.

Please contact me to discuss our customized sales training programs and our business networking training programs.

Let’s Connect:

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Dean-Lindsay/1018367929?sid=0

Twitter Link:  http://twitter.com/deanlindsay
LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/deanlindsay
Video clips of me in action at YouTube:   http://www.youtube.com/user/TheProgressAgent (more videos posting shortly)

Be Progress.

Selling in the ZONE

The old adage- People hate to be sold, but they love to buy – is truer than ever. The days of the ‘ Sure Fire Closing Statement’ and the ‘Glad Handing Slick Salesman’ are thankfully things of the past. Today it is imperative for sales professionals to truly get to know prospects and help prospects get to know them.

Selling today is about relationships. It is about attraction. It is about Trust. The customer has a need- a step they need to take. They must trust we can meet that need- help them take that step. They need to trust our belief in ourselves, in our companies and in our products / services. Trust comes easy when we sell (and live) in the ZONE

ZEST – Emerson said, “ Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, without it nothing great was ever accomplished.” As sales professionals, we must have authentic enthusiasm for our work. If we want prospects to get excited about our products and services, we need to have that excitement first. We need an air of gusto. Likewise, if we want people to believe in our products and services, we must believe in our products and services first. This shows in the way we hold ourselves and in the passion we have for our jobs and our lives.

Whenever possible, people do business with people they like. Passion for our lives and our work makes us attractive. It draws people to us. We must be continually offering people our best attitude. Ask yourself: Would you want to talk to, much less do business with you?

ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS – Structure is vital for the sales professional. Solid self-management (formally known as time management) leads to higher productivity and reduced stress. Our desks need to be workstations, not storage space or shrines to past accomplishments. We must be able to quickly find important information. Being well organized show respect for time (the prospect’s and ours).

Looking sharp is also part of organization. We must always be presentable. If we can’t even get ourselves together enough to look presentable how is someone going to see us as together enough to handle their challenge. Plus, how we present ourselves shouts volumes about how we feel about ourselves and our work.

NETWORKING SKILLS – It is not just who we know, or who knows us. It is also, what we know about who we know and more importantly who TRUSTS us. Being known as a reliable (and likable) resource is the ultimate goal. The more we can present ourselves -in person- in a positive light the better. First impressions are powerful so turn someone on to you by tuning into them. When you meet a new person, show genuine interest in them and invest the majority of the time asking questions about them and their business. Powerful networking is totally linked to the other terms in the ZONE acronym. People are drawn to our enthusiasm, our respect for their time and our…

EMPATHY – Empathy is sympathy without pity. Empathy means understanding that people make decisions for their reasons not ours. Empathy is always thinking “ What that means to you, Mrs./ Mr. Prospect, is…” Empathy is focusing on benefits not features. Empathy is truly committing to doing what is best for the customer and working to help provide the right product or service to meet their needs.

The most powerful way to understand the prospect’s need is to ask questions. In the medical profession, it is known that prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. The same is true in the sales profession. We must ask a variety of open and closed ended questions to diagnosis the situation, so our recommendation (prescription) will meet the need.

Solid listening goes hand in hand with asking powerful questions. We must LISTEN to prospects. I don’t mean listen. I mean LISTEN. Calvin Coolidge said “ No man ever listened himself out of a job.” We must listen as if our life(style) depended on it – because in a large way it does.

Get in the ZONE, and try to help someone.

Be Progress.

“Our answer must consist not in talk and medication, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answers to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”
- Viktor Frankl

Exchange the word “Life” with “Business” in this opening quote and you have a powerful truism for business.
Viktor Frankel (1905-1997) really knew what he was talking about. He had this ‘being human thing’ figured out. He was one of the greatest European philosophers and psychiatrists of the Twentieth Century. The U.S. Library of Congress named, Dr. Frankel’s enlightening book, Man’s Search for Meaning as one of the 10 books that “made the most difference in people’s lives.”

Frankel lectured in over 40 countries and even fulfilled a visiting professorship at Southern Methodist University. He developed his philosophy known as Logotherapy in the 1930s (Logos is “meaning” in Greek). I recently had the privilege of participating in the thirteenth World Congress of Viktor Frankel’s Logotherapy. In this challenging time for businesses, we can benefit greatly from a look into his teachings. Here is some wisdom from Dr. Frankel and how it relates to business.

We have the Freedom of Choice. Dr. Frankel’s pregnant wife, his parents and brother were all killed during their incarceration in Nazi prison camps. It was in these camps that Dr. Frankel validated his theories. He lost everything, he said, that could be taken from a prisoner, except one thing; “the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” As the markets continue to fluctuate and business challenges mount, you have the freedom to choose your reaction. A resourceful attitude towards a challenge is paramount if the challenge is to be met.

Our Responses Count. According to Frankel, it is not what happens to you that matters. It is how you respond to what happens that is significant. Same with business. You can not control all the elements of business. Trucks breakdown. Greenspan sleeps. Things happen. How will you respond to unforeseen events? What will you DO? The only things you can control are your responses, your decisions, your actions.

We Must Fight. Standing up to adversity ( i.e. business challenges, the slowing economy) is something Dr. Frankel believed in . Frankel was an ACTION man. In the face of inescapable uncertainty, you must have unwavering determination to overcome the challenges that face you daily in the business world.

Focus on Fulfilling Unique Potential. We not only have a right, but a responsibility, to fulfill our individual potential, according to Frankel. He stressed the using of one’s inner resources to achieve personal goals and find personal truth. The same truth applies to every corporation or business. Each employee, no matter the position or responsibility, has unique strengths, that when utilized, prove to be vital in creating the future of the organization.

Behavior is Driven by Internal Purpose. Great managers know this. It is imperative to understand what the employee is about. Why are they working for the organization? What drives them? Gaining insight into a person’s reasons for working goes a long way in helping the employee reach their full potential.
Responsible-ness -is the center of Frankel’s work. Each of us must take responsibility for where we are in our relationships, financial situation, job situation and businesses because of our decisions that put us there.

Being Responsible, Finding and Making the Most of Individual Strengths, Overcoming Adversity, the Freedom and Power of Choice, ACTION – Frankel would have been the ultimate sales manager or at least a world class CEO.