Every day, there are moments when you can choose to lead. Most of the time, leadership is more about these moments than it is about accomplishing grand initiatives. Making a difference is all about these moments. When I accepted my first management role, my superior and mentor guided me to the realization that most of my time would now be spent working with people rather than with things. He wanted me to appreciate that success, …
The probability that you will earn a customer’s business increases significantly when you’ve discovered why their stated need is important to them. Does your proposal resolve a problem that helps the customer grow sales or reduce cost? These two alternative goals are really the fundamental choices faced by every business. Whether you provide a product or a service, its value to your customer depends on their goals, and their strategies to achieve them. So what …
If you’re an experienced leader, then you’re already aware of this reality. You’ve learned how it feels to be squeezed between grand expectations and constraints you cannot overcome. Sometimes, despite your best intentions and efforts, you don’t succeed. But failure is a better teacher than success, and when you stumble as a leader, there’s one most important lesson to recall. Negative experiences are humbling. Failure resets your attitude, opening your mind to change and to …
Customers care only about the value you offer them. They ask about your products or services because it’s easier for them to evaluate your offering versus others in terms of features, functions and price. But what they’re really assessing is the value your offering could produce for them. How easy you make it for them to discover this value determines your success in earning their business. Before responding in detail to product and service inquiries, …
New growth opportunities rarely pronounce themselves. Most organizations have their heads down, focused on increasing sales of current products or services. You probably recall a time when you failed to act quickly enough to take advantage of an opportunity. Promptly evaluating and responding to new opportunities is a key growth driver. Here are 3 steps to help ensure that you don’t miss a discovery or fail to develop a novel concept that can fuel your …
When I served in senior leadership roles, it was a constant struggle to break away from current challenges so I could focus on the future. Everyday problems relentlessly seek to attract your attention, and it’s easier to deal with these – you’ve seen them all before. Contemplating what’s next for your business is the bigger challenge, and a great opportunity. It forces you to get your head up, to look outward and to assess the …
In this dynamic marketplace, how can you move faster? How can you accelerate your time to market? How can you react faster to opportunities? How can moving faster help you grow, or save you time and money? Moving faster primarily involves your decision-making process. Here are 3 ways to move faster: Accelerate decision-making. First, you must choose to decide. Ask yourself if waiting to decide will generate any more useful information. If the answer is …
When working with sales teams, three excuses are often cited as obstacles to earning new business. Ask yourself “why” you think it is an issue when you are tempted to mention one of these excuses and try a different approach 1. “If we don’t offer the lowest price, we don’t get the order.” If you make no effort to learn about your customers’ business, and offer nothing novel or compelling to help them achieve success, …
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 …
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 …
