Employees – Earn more – be worth more, break the rules

MN Employees: Do you want more money and a bigger salary or paycheck?

Teach yourself and your boss why you should be paid more.

The epic tale of the salesperson and the website that would not sell

I recently spoke to a salesperson for a global company.  His company still has not entered the Internet age.  They have a website, but they really don’t see the value in having people come to it, because they have no search engine optimization and no keywords – in other words, when you search for their service on google, they are NOWHERE to be found.  This means all the potential new customers go somewhere else.

Now, I told this salesperson that he needs to own responsibility to fix this problem.  He wasn’t convinced, so I asked him, how much would it be worth in additional sales?  He conservatively answered in the high 6 figures.  Needless to say if he made all these sales himself, it would mean a significant income boost for him also.

So then, the next question is, how much for search engine optimization?  Conservative estimates are in the three to four figure range.

So, um, let’s see, for thousands of dollars, he can receive a million dollar benefit? Or possibly more?

I told him that what he needs to do is own the responsibility for the website marketing in exchange for the leads.

Out of that, he could offer to give the additional sales to the other people on his sales force. Remember, we’re talking about him personally investing his own money in the marketing and promotion of the website for a 6 figure payoff.  If he wanted to, he could sell those leads to other sales people or take a percentage as a fee for managing the website.

But again, why not? Look at the math.  It’s worth it to him to start doing this immediately.

Will there be some challenges to convince his managers to let him take responsibility of the website? Probably. However, he’s a salesperson for pete’s sake. He needs to sell the benefits, which include the company no longer has to pay for a website that they really don’t care about and haven’t gotten results from.  They only care about sales, which is what his job is.  That’s what he offers.  “You give me control of the website, I’ll give you more sales.” Period.

It’s called aligning to common interests in sales-speak.

Now forget about him, let’s talk about you.  What do you bring that is of immediate value to yourself and to your company?  What do you bring to your customers?  Can you start bringing in more clients?  Would your company appreciate it? Would they appreciate it enough to pay you more?

If not, then would your company’s competition appreciate it more? IE would they appreciate it enough to pay you?  Maybe you’re working for the wrong company.

Never forget there’s more companies to work at than there are people like you who bring real value.

Learn more about leadership and value at http://srkinc.com and learn about making a difference at http://quantumcommonwealth.com

Alan Hill

(612) 819-1803

The Gift Of Adversity – Executive Leadership Trainer Shows You How

Business Leaders: Are you worried about the economic impact on your business?

Management Trainers: Is this your best opportunity to create value for your company?

“To whom much is given, much will be expected”

I always loved that verse in the bible.  But as you will see, I have a MUCH different take on it.

Most of us tend to think it implies those who have all the benefits of a wealthy income and lifestyle have an obligation to give back.  This is not a bad idea.  Trusting in someone to reach down to those who are disadvantaged is a great idea.

But what if you’ve not been given all the advantages?  What if you’ve only been given dis-advantages… what can be expected of you?

I have been given much adversity – how much will be expected of me?

Likewise, you may be experiencing some adversity in your business or work.  How much is going to be expected of you?

Here’s the point: What are you learning?  Some may learn “that which does not kill us, makes us stronger’.  That’s a great lesson, especially given some of the hubris of our last economic boom in America.

It’s also true that we learn a lot of value… real value… when challenged by adversity.  This might be expected of you to help your company during this economic downturn.

But what happens when you’re given more than just a little adversity?  Or perhaps more adversity than your peers?  What then will be expected of you?  How much more could be asked of someone in those circumstances?  Yet still, it rings out… “To whom much is given… much will be expected”

For me, a part of that answer is in teaching others to recognize the value of adversity.  To do more than just learn from challenge and change, but to go the extra mile and actively seek it out.  Welcome adversity and change.  A question I ask myself is: ‘How much a better person would I be if a little adversity is beneficial?”  And then “how much better would I be if there were more adversity?” and finally I ask myself “How much better would I be to others if I learned from THEIR mistakes and adversity, not just my own?”

Ultimately, “How much better would I be to the world if I taught this perspective to others… to learn from others mistakes and challenges as well as my own?”

What would the world be like in 10 years? 20 years? 50 years?

I have a lot to teach from my adversity.  What do you have to teach from yours?

Alan Hill

612) 819-1803

http://srkinc.com

http://quantumcommonwealth.com

Attention MN Inventors: Fastest Market Research Ever! FREE!

Entrepreneurs – do you have the Executive Coaching to know if your idea will sell?

How can market research uncover what your customers really want?

How can you do this BEFORE investing any money in a patent or business plan?

The best answer I ever received came from Margaret Thorpe from the Univ of St. Thomas Small Business Development Center. Took her longer to explain it to me than to do the research and find out the answer.

1. Identify the industry you are targeting as your customer.
2. Find out the big trade assocation(s) in that industry.
3. Research their annual convention keynote speech (web or trade magazine).
4. In that speech there is always 2 slides…
A. What are our top challenges this coming year
B. What are our top solutions for these challenges
5. If your product or service fits in with B. you have a winning product or service. if not, try another industry.

As a business development specialist in Minnesota, I’ve used this to help lots of entrepreneurs know if they have a winning idea before they invest any money. I advise them to do this quick study first before they even apply for patent protection because it’s so quick to do.

If you want to discuss further, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My website has my contact information.

Leaders can be made. What roadblocks are you creating as a leader?

How do leaders make ‘it’ happen?

Hard way: do it yourself (not a leader)

Easy way: Through others.

What to do? Show them what you are doing and why. Leaders have sincerely told me that ‘you can’t teach people to ‘get it’”. It is often defined as the capability of ownership or initiative. Often called the essence of leadership. Once we explore what ‘it’ is, invariably we find out there’s a process for helping people ‘get it’ and it’s quite simple. Tell them what they don’t ‘get’.

I call the leaders attention to the process of simply telling others what they see and inviting everyone else to see it makes the entire process easier.

Does this work for everyone all the time? Of course not. Underneath this all requires a willingness on the part of the leader and the followers. If someone is unwilling to ‘get it’ or if a leader is unwilling to share what they ‘get’ then there’s not much chance of success, if any.

How exactly do people get it? The process of asking ‘why?” ‘Why would they say that?” “Why would they do that?” “What did he mean by that?” “Why is that important to them?” This defines context, creating purpose and meaning to the actions. The benefit of this is the ability to create leaders out of employees, regardless of their role in the organization.

Sometimes leaders ask how something so simple could be so effective. I invite them to notice that this is the exact internal process they use to spot challenges and opportunities. This makes ‘leadership’ much less of a mystery and art. It becomes a skill that can be transferred and taught.

If you are willing to experiment, try inviting your team to ask ‘why’ for 30 days. Before you do this, assess their current level of initiative on a scale of 1 to 5. Look for evidence of increased initiative during the 30 day period and then re-assess. You will notice that this simple technique is an effective way to make leaders in your organization.

Alan Hill is a business and executive leadership coach in Minneapolis, Minnesota with ActionCOACH, the world’s number one coaching company. If you would like to learn more about him or to contact him for a private consultation, check out his website at http://actioncoach.com/alanhill

Minneapolis Business Leaders, Become a Transformational Leader

Labor Dimensions

Leadership Dimensions

Multi-Dimensional Thinking

Develop instant leadership skills by asking great questions

Use the Transformation Matrix and become a transformational leader

 

Transforming from a manager or technician to a leader requires changing from having great answers to having great questions.  Questions designed to make your team think and inspire them to reach beyond the obvious answers.

 

I remember working with a CEO of a national construction firm.  During an initial meeting with a consulting group discussing ways to transform the company, the consultants made the mistake of stating ‘cheaper faster or better, you get control of your choice of two, we control the other one’.  The CEO ended the meeting rather abruptly by emphatically stating that in order to compete in his marketplace, his customer was demanding cheaper, faster, better AND more – and in order for him to be competitive he needed consultants ready to help him achieve improvements in all areas.

 

The simple solution for this CEO was to challenge his team to change how they perform their work to achieve gains in all areas – Cost (cheaper), Productivity (faster), Quality (better) and Capability (more).  These dimensions are the focus of technicians, engineers and skilled labor.  By creating trade-offs in these dimensions they create a balance of speed, performance, quality and capability.  What labor can’t do is achieve gains in all dimensions.

 

Leaders focus their attention in other dimensions.  Referred to as the ‘5 W’s of a leader; Who, What, When, Where, Why and how are the key dimensions great leaders relate to when considering any challenge or opportunity (see chart).  A transformational leader is able to combine these dimensions together to get powerful results.

 

Let’s say your team shows you a competitor’s new product that is significantly cheaper than yours.  Your team advises you that in order to match this, you’ll need to either decrease the quality or features or both and are asking for your decision.  What do you do?

 

Look at the combined chart.  Now you can ask transformation-based questions that cause your team’s thinking to expand.  Can you change ‘who” your customers are?  Can you change ‘where’ you get the raw materials in order to decrease your costs?  “What” additions can you incorporate into the product to increase the value?  “What” other uses are available for your product?  Can you change ‘how’ you manufacture the product by using different materials (plastic instead of steel)?  Can you change ‘where’ you manufacture the product – producing it on the customers premises – eliminating shipping and packaging costs? 

 

Using this matrix will allow you to lead your team to greater achievement in your marketplace.  Teaching this matrix to your employees and systematizing it’s use throughout your company will create a sustainable competitive advantage through continued innovation, which will turn your company into a transformational company.

 

Alan Hill is a business and executive coach in Minneapolis, Minnesota with ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching company.  If you would like to learn more about him or to contact him for a private consultation, check out his website at http://actioncoach.com/alanhill