Tag Archives: Managers

How Do You Make Sales “Farmers” More like “Hunters”? Three Approaches

Situation: A CEO finds that his sales team are relationship managers who are excellent at growing business in existing customers, but not as skilled at either developing new business opportunities with current customers or bringing in new customers. In sales parlance, they are more like “farmers” than “hunters”. To meet revenue goals, the company needs additional business. How do you make sales “farmers” more like “hunters”?
Advice from the CEOs:
• When working with the team be sure to considering what’s in it for them, not what’s in it for you. Communicate with and coach them so that they are inspired to try and adopt new behavior that will help them in their jobs.
• Create a low pressure script for your relationship managers. Build this around easy questions that they can ask both current and prospective clients:
 How are we doing?
 What are your most pressing needs?
 What more could we do for you?
 Can you see other ways that our services could benefit you?
 We have a new offering. May I tell you about it?
 Do you know other companies that can utilize our product or service?
• For training, pair the relationship managers in teams of their choosing. Have them rehearse and coach each other. As they learn or develop new techniques, have them coach the rest of the team.

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How Do You Maximize Company Value & Strategic Positioning? Five Points

Situation: A CEO has a young company in a very favorable strategic position. The Founders have bootstrapped the company and it is currently on the “blade” of the growth hockey stick. How can the Founders maximize the value of the company as they grow it? How do you maximize company value and strategic positioning?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • What are company’s principal challenges and goals?
    • Over time, as the market begins to mature, there will be more competition and margins will drop.
    • Before this happens organize the company for maximum value, and build additional products and/or services that will maximize company value.
  • Hire managers to manage on-going business while devoting top management time to strategic market expansion and building new products and/or accompanying services.
  • Perform a strategic analysis focused on the long-term plan and building equity value. Plan a future that will optimize the company’s strategic position while increasing cash flow and equity value.
  • Anticipate, plan and organize for the he most likely coming changes to the market.
  • Consider starting a second company to compliment the value and products of the current company. For example, if he company is best at a key technology, start a second company to provide accompanying services that will enhance the value of the technology. Having done this, future options open up to either combine the two companies or to let them grow on complimentary paths.

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How Do You Sell an Onsite Business? Five Perspectives

Situation: A company has several locations for its operations. One is onsite at one of their principal customers where they perform services for the customer. The rest of the business is pursuing a different direction, so the CEO wants to sell the onsite business and focus all efforts on the main business. How do you sell an onsite business?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Do onsite business (OS) personnel identify themselves as part of the company or the customer’s company?
    • The older personnel themselves as part of the parent company; the new engineers see themselves as tied to the customer which is far larger and enjoys broad and positive brand recognition.
  • Now may be the time to sell from a price perspective. Companies are hungry for revenue sources and experienced personnel. The price that they would pay for the OS business is small change for them.
  • The decision comes down to price – can the company get the right price at the right terms?
  • Consider this alternative – break the OS off into an independent entity. Make it a separate company with own managers.
    • This allows the sale of the OS to be set up with its own operating rules and incentives, independent of the company’s other operations.
    • This move queues the company up for whatever is possible – ongoing operation or possible sale to a buyer. It also simplifies the sale scenario as OS would be a stand-alone unit, with its own personnel and management structure. There may be some shared infrastructure services with the company’s other locations, but these are services that would be taken on by the buyer using their own systems.
    • An option is to give stock to the managers of the OS – a piece of the pie to encourage them to stay on.
  • Given the company’s strategy and direction, investing additional funds in the OS doesn’t make sense. Selling and keeping the money makes more sense if the company is ready for this and feels that there is little or only a limited future for the OS business.

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How Will Your Personal Plans Impact the Company? Six Points

Situation: A CEO, for personal reasons, is planning to move to another state. While he will remain CEO, he is concerned about the potential impact of this decision on the company, particularly the fact that he will not be present personally to handle matters that arise. What can he do to alleviate this concern? How will your personal plans impact the company?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Put a stake in the ground. Set a date for the move and work backwards to see whether this is attainable.
  • Have a discussion with the company’s key managers.
    • Empower them to challenge the date.
    • Discuss this as a brainstorm to plan the future and what must be done to get there. Once a plan is established retest the timing.
  • Consider this as a gradual transition. Start 3 weeks here / 1 week there, and gradually transition to 1/3. This will help you to determine how the company performs absent the CEO’s daily presence.
    • Move family but keep a small place here. Start the transition now and figure out balance. Do what is necessary.
  • Have the key managers transition their roles before initiating the move.
    • This will provide confidence that they can handle this transition.
  • As part of the process, look at areas where the company can use more support. For example, is HR up to snuff? What about information services or financial management? Prior to initiating the transition take steps to fill any gaps.
  • Does the company have a formal metrics structure?
    • If not, establish one and in preparation for the transition see how the two managers manage this.

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How Do You Create Consistency in a Business? Six Suggestions

Situation: A CEO feels like he is on a roller coaster ride with unpredictable revenue and processes month to month. His ideal outcome will be to be able to go on vacation for 4-6 weeks, and have the business running better when he returns than when he left. Have you managed to achieve this? How do you create consistency in a business?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Make your managers live up to their titles.
    • Insist that they go to each other to solve problems first, instead of always asking you.
    • When they ask a question, answer how to solve it – but don’t give them the solution.
    • Require them to present solutions rather than problems.
    • Be willing to spend money on their solutions.
  • Answer all questions with questions.
    • Ask them for their recommendation.
    • Keep asking until they come up with the answer.
  • You should not be doing jobs or tasks that are really your employees’ responsibilities.
  • When you start to delegate, it hurts for a while but it will work itself out.
  • What has been the impact on other companies when they’ve made these changes?
    • Businesses have become more diversified.
    • CEOs are focused strategically vs. tactically.
    • Businesses are more successful and profitable.
    • CEOs enjoy coming to work again.
  • How do you work with younger workers, millennials?
    • Allow flexibility – where appropriate – on hours and how they do their jobs.
    • Responsibility will vary by pay level – with the understanding that higher pay equals more responsibility and most likely longer hours.

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How Do You Deal with Management Infighting? Five Points

Situation: A company has two key managers who battle constantly. Recently these battles have escalated. Both people are valuable, but this has become a significant distraction. What’s the best way to handle this situation? How do you deal with management infighting?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Talk to the two people individually. Acknowledge company awareness of the situation and ask what’s going on.
    • Listen – make sure you understand what’s going on.
    • After you listen, coach. The message: I need you to step up. The company counts on you.
  • Both parties must feel empowered by the conversation.
    • Focus on behavior only, not the person.
    • Make sure that each feels validated but with clear direction to change behavior.
      • Acknowledge each individual’s value. Point out the problem, but make it clear that nobody is indispensable.
      • At the same time, be firm as to what is expected of individual behavior as well as individual performance. Set the expectation: either you act in a way which does not harm the company environment, or I will take your notice in 30 days.
      • If either individual can’t agree to this, then that individual is the problem.
    • Revert to guiding principles and values of the company. Raise the conversation to a higher level.
    • Establish what the individual wants from the company. Are their needs currently being met? What can be changed to better meet their needs?
    • An important end point of the conversation – because both are key players – is for each of them to value the other.
    • If, after providing time for the two to resolve their difference, they still can’t make peace with each other, you may have to make a hard decision.
  • Be careful – it may be necessary to take a different approach with each individual.
  • It may turn out that one individual is the instigator and the other is simply reacting to the first’s provocation. In this case, get a 3rd party to coach each of them.
  • Another company recently had this same problem.
    • The CEO sat each person down – talked about impact, big picture and what this does to their image in company.
    • This worked!

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How Do You Align Expectations Across the Company? Five Suggestions

Situation: A company is doing well, but the CEO is concerned about emerging hurdles that may stall momentum. The key issue from a systems development perspective is changing a “one-off” project based focus towards a modular mindset – essentially shifting a short-term to a long-term view. How do you align expectations across the company and transition to a broader focus?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Start by clearly communicating your expectations. Work with your managers so that they communicate a consistent message to developers. Look for organizational changes to better align talents of individuals to roles taking advantage of these talents. You may want to refresh the gene pool by bringing on additional people.
    • One company with multiple teams creates healthy competition against performance objectives between teams with recognition and rewards to the top team.
    • If the change involves creating greater alignment between functions, create opportunities for individuals from different functional areas to work together. For example, have an engineer accompany a sales person on a critical call to close a deal. If the deal meets spec objectives, is closed, and the project completed on schedule and on budget, the engineer is bonused on the sale.
    • One company rents a lake cabin every year. Use of the cabin goes to teams recognized for meeting objectives, deadlines or other outstanding performance. An added benefit is that on the way to and from the cabin as well as while they are there, teams spend time talking about the next performance coup that will get them the next use of the cabin.
  • Look at your organization – both your Org Chart and the physical space. One CEO found that his engineering organization was stove-piped both in terms of reporting and incentives, and physical barriers prevented groups from easily interacting with one-another. To create better coordination between design engineering and manufacturing engineering, the teams were relocated to a new shared space, without physical barriers. Also, the Org Chart was adjusted to increase incentives for collaboration between the functions.

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What are Best Practices to Develop your Staff? Seven Thoughts

Situation:  The CEO wants to build the team, identify leaders within the company, and develop managers. What are best practices to develop your staff?

Advice of the CEOs:

  • A great resource is “First Break All the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham. Among the key findings:
    • Great leaders are not the same as great managers. Good leaders are outgoing and goal-oriented whereas good managers are people-oriented.
    • Expecting good leaders to be good managers and vice versa is not effective. Only the exceptional individual exhibits both sets of talents.
    • The traditional business structure assumes that talented people will want to “move up” the organizational chart. The reality is that some people are very good at a particular level of responsibility, and are happiest with this responsibility.
  • How do to enhance your team’s leadership and management capabilities?
    • Evaluate your team for candidates who possess the qualities of leadership or management. Tailor your training to enhance the natural strengths of your candidates.
    • Draft agreed upon written responsibilities and performance objectives.
    • Regularly follow up and provide feedback.
    • Establish trial projects for new candidates that will allow them experience additional responsibility, and allow you to see how well they perform. Make the steps small at first. If they show talent, make successive steps more challenging.
  • Look at your organizational chart. Does it provide room for both leaders and managers? Does it provide room for the skilled role player who thrives in a particular role? If not, how will you fix it?

Key Words: Leaders, Managers, Staff Development, Advancement, Evaluation, Training, Objectives, Feedback, Organizational Chart

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