06/17/09 08:31 Filed in:
Customer FocusCRM (Customer Relationship Management) at its best allows you to integrate the organization’s efforts in order for you to do a better job of serving your customers. At its worst, it contributes new weapons and ammunition to the war between sales and marketing. What can be done to ensure that you get the best outcome? Read More...Tags: CRM, Organizational Effectiveness
04/30/09 07:01 Filed in:
Customer Focus | PlanningI got to thinking about this post after hearing the word unilateralism during one of the news shows.
You’ll hear the term unilateralism used most often when people are talking about a foreign policy based upon one-sided action. It has its parallels in the business world, and we have all seen it. I prefer to call it something easier to remember -- breathing your own exhaust. This blog addresses some key questions we should be asking to ensure that we’re not breathing our own exhaust. when making important decisions that have an impact on others.
Read More...Tags: Organizational Effectiveness, leadership, Endurance
04/14/09 07:40 Filed in:
Testing | Innovation | EnduranceToday’s post, Part V of a series on continuous sales process improvement, was written by Marci Reynolds. Marci is a Sales & Operations Vice President and one of the strongest operational leaders I have had the opportunity to work with. She is particularly strong in performance planning, performance management and employee development.
View some of Marci’s recent work at The Sales Operations Blog or catch her tweets at marcireynolds12
Read More...Tags: CRM, project management, Status Quo
04/08/09 14:26 Filed in:
InnovationToday’s post was written by
Mark McCarthy. Mark is the best and most inspirational sales development and training leader I have had the pleasure to work with. His passion, caring and commitment are unmatched, as is his depth of understanding of what makes customers tick.
Mark provides advice and counsel in Sales, Marketing and Education for businesses and those who partner with them. I’m following him on twitter at
GrowTheBusiness Read More...Tags: Training, process, puzzles
04/03/09 07:06 Filed in:
Testing | PlanningHave you ever heard a sales manager refer to the 80/20 rule or the “thirds” rule when giving a performance assessment of their sales reps? The 80/20 is where 20% of the reps are going to deliver 80% of the sales. The “Thirds” rule is where 1/3 will exceed goal, 1/3 will meet it, and 1/3 will fail to meet it. This caused me to create the 100% rule. 100% of these sales organization have work to do.
Read More...Tags: Testing, Sales, Status Quo
03/31/09 07:56 Filed in:
Innovation | Testing”Make calls, not excuses” Jack Falvey
Makingthenumbers.com. This is the quote I got this morning in Jack’s daily sales update and it fits well in the context of continuous sales process improvement.
Read More...Tags: Testing, Innovation , sales, Status Quo
03/27/09 07:14 Filed in:
Innovation | TestingThe concepts of continuous improvement through process management & control are not just manufacturing concepts. Read More...Tags: Testing, Innovation , Sales
03/25/09 07:57 Filed in:
Planning | Endurance...the person that had took a bull by the tail once had learnt sixty or seventy times as much as a person that hadn't, and said a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn't ever going to grow dim or doubtful.
-Tom Sawyer Abroad
Today’s post is about experience and consequences : a reflection on a battle between me, armed with a sledge hammer and crowbar, and a kitchen floor.
Read More...Tags: Endurance, Hitting the wall, Organizational Effectiveness, planning
03/24/09 07:26 Filed in:
Customer Focus“When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.” Unsourced and often attribued to Lincoln.
Today’s post is a summary of a lecture I attended last night on the topic - Ethical Implications of the Current Financial Crisis. Read More...Tags: Ethics, Organizational Effectiveness
03/23/09 08:19 Filed in:
Testing | Customer FocusExperience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald. ~Belgian Proverb
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. ~Douglas Adams
Read More...Tags: principles, Organizational Effectiveness
03/20/09 10:36 Filed in:
Innovation | Testing | TechnologyMarket researchers need to be proactive in order to preserve the significant value that market research can bring to any organization. Alternatively, there is this image from Michael Bedard (www.mbedard.com)
Read More...Tags: market research, webcam
03/18/09 14:27 Filed in:
Innovation | TechnologyThe work of competing organizations is the same. What makes them competitively distinct is how the work is done which is ultimately driven by the organization’s principles, beliefs, and values. Read More...Tags: principles, CRM, IT, Organizational Effectiveness
03/16/09 18:08 Filed in:
Testing | EnduranceDissatisfied with the results you’re getting? Stuck on a performance plateau? Finding yourself unprepared for the surges of your competitors? Take a lesson from the training programs of endurance athletes like runners, swimmers, and cyclists. Read More...Tags: Endurance, Speedwork, Intervals
03/15/09 19:49 Filed in:
TestingSometimes we can get stuck in doing things as we’ve always done them, seeing the world through the same eyes. This is a lesson from the “Master of the Mechanical World” -- He who’s good with a hammer, tends to think of everything as a nail. Read More...Tags: Testing, Innovation
03/15/09 17:33 Filed in:
Innovation“Putting Lipstick on a Pig” is a phrase that came into the public spotlight during the campaign for the 2008 presidency. I first heard it about 10 years ago in reference to a business plan for ‘reviving’ an old product line. Since that time the phrase ‘polishing a turd’ has become a more popular descriptor for the practice of making superficial or cosmetic changes to something, hoping that it will make that something more attractive. This piece is about the value of taking off the lipstick and the polish. Read More...Tags: Organizational Effectiveness, Status Quo
What happens when the dull fog of sales training ends and your reps scatter? A corporate sales training colleague has taken to using Twitter to continue his proselytizing. Read More...