Bob Schultek

Bob has more than 30 years of service as a senior sales and business development executive, CEO and business owner. His expertise includes customer-partnered business development, strategic planning, sales management, customer service, operational alignment, lean process analysis and improvement, quality assurance, and performance management. He has worked in the energy, medical device, bioscience & pharmaceutical, discrete and process manufacturing, packaging and distribution, communications and information technology, and business-to-business service industries.

3 Questions for Leaders in Crisis

May 20, 2015May 19, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Every leader faces a business crisis during his or her career. It’s the defining moment of adversity that tests that person’s leadership competency. What decisions must be made now? What vital actions must urgently be taken? Proven leaders consider 3 key questions when confronting a crisis. 1. What is the current real situation? Leaders first seek to gain a comprehensive understanding about the actual scope of the crisis. This is the diagnostic assessment. What caused …

Intimacy and Opportunity

May 13, 2015May 12, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Prospects have stated and unstated needs. Discovering the unstated ones results in getting the order. Intimacy is the key that unlocks these hidden unstated needs and begins to build the emotional connection with a prospect that leads to an order. What is the best way to foster intimacy with new prospects? Your first three minutes with a new prospect is your chance to put the person at ease and gain insights into his or her …

Preserving Balance

May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Leaders are increasingly challenged to preserve balance between their corporate responsibilities and their personal core values. The inability to sustain this balance can cause conflicts for the leader and confusion for those who depend on her or him. A prolonged imbalance can breed distrust in a team. One way to help leaders preserve balance is for them to measure the energy and skill invested in their key activities versus the benefits they receive back from …

Customers Are In Charge

April 29, 2015April 29, 2015 by Bob Schultek

The vast amount of information available via the web has radically altered the selling process. Potential customers can reference websites, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other web-based tools to gather volumes of data before they ever reach out to a salesperson. If you are not careful, when that inquiry arrives, your response will convince them that your product or service is just like the other commodities they see all over the web and they …

The Priority of Engagement

April 22, 2015April 19, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Leadership is the practice of influence. Inspiring people to follow your lead requires a commitment to personal engagement – an investment of precious time to be prioritized versus other stakeholder demands for your attention. Where does personal engagement fit into your priorities? People choose to follow you because they believe in you and where you are leading them. When they stop trusting you, your ability to continue as leader is over. This is why engaging …

Creating Value

April 16, 2015April 14, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Doing more than expected is time-consuming and expensive. Sustaining this level of effort is difficult. There’s always a shortcut available – why not take it? Creating value frequently involves this choice. Which path would you choose? Our world of connectivity provides access to reams of information and promotes instant gratification. Many folks are so addicted to their smart devices that it’s hard to have a cogent conversation with them…the phone rings and their focus is …

Why Removing a Customer’s Current Pain Is Not Enough

March 30, 2015March 29, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Experienced sales people know that their primary task is to identify and resolve a customer’s need. Look for pain points and propose solutions to remove the pain. Customers know this too which is why they often want to shortcut the selling process by quickly categorizing your proposal and focusing on the price for pain removal. How you react defines how seriously the customer will consider your proposal. This is the decisive moment. How will you …

3 Steps for Customer-Partnering with Distributors

March 29, 2015March 26, 2015 by Bob Schultek

If you rely on distributors to get your products to market, then your core challenge is managing your relationship to maximize your mutual benefit. The distributor is not your employee, but you must ensure that the integrity of your value proposition is sustained as if the distributor worked directly for you. The distributor is not your end customer, but you must help achieve the distributor’s and end user’s goals. Your distributor relationship is ideal for customer-partnering. The most …

3 Ways to Strengthen Leadership Engagement

March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Your people are your most sustainable competitive advantage. When they robustly and consistently demonstrate your company’s core Principles, they create experiences for your customers that cultivate enduring relationships. In addition, research confirms the direct linkage between high company performance and high employee engagement. Engagement infuses your company’s actions with vitality, strengthens your competitive advantage, and focuses energy to grow your business. It requires a consistent investment of your time and a regular infusion of new ideas to fuel your people’s …

Assessing the Value of “Free”

March 17, 2015March 16, 2015 by Bob Schultek

Everyone can be seduced by a zero price. But those who react most eagerly to the word “free” rarely pause to consider the value of your offering. Could they become customers who actually invest in your product or service? People reacting to a zero price rarely stop to consider if the offer is worth it. Because they don’t assess the value of your free offer, they will never be your customer. So why invest your precious resources …