Fast-forward 12 months.  The year is winding down and you’re reflecting on 2012.  The presidential election recently concluded and you are wondering if the new knuckleheads in Washington will continue to spin wheels and create even more chaos and uncertainty than the previous ones.   Who knows?

How quickly the year has flown.  You’re company has done OK, but there are several important objectives, including several important personal ones, that you just didn’t have time to achieve.  And you were SO busy.  You may even be exhausted.  You’re thinking to yourself, NEXT year will be different.  But will it?

During the last several months, I’ve visited with over one hundred of the most successful business owners in Texas.  I interviewed them about their success.  These are the private business CEOs that consistently win performance awards for rapid revenue growth, profitability, leadership, best workplaces, superior entrepreneurship, etc.  You’ve probably read about many of them in your local business journal or the pages of Inc. or Forbes.

When surveyed, the vast majority of these outstanding company builders reported a RECORD year in 2011, despite a lackluster economy.  Interestingly, most also reported a much LOWER level of stress than last year and said that they spent a much LARGER percentage of time doing things that they really loved, all while increasing their company valuation.   More profit, more vacation, more peace of mind…

Will this be YOUR story next year?

All of these successful CEOs and Presidents have unique businesses.   So how did they do it?

Instead of blaming the economy and worrying about things outside of their control, each took proactive responsibility for the beliefs and activities they could control, leading to remarkable results and personal freedom. 

Following is a summary of five simple Choices – Each of these outstanding owners chose to make UnConditional Commitments prior to starting their year:

They Committed to start with the End in Mind.   They developed a clear, inspirational Personal Vision.  They then developed a clear vision for their business (including a Succession Plan or Exit Strategy) that aligned perfectly with their Personal Vision.

They Committed to allocate sufficient Time for Themselves.  No matter how many fires were burning.

They Committed to Eliminate Mediocrity and Entitlement Mentality.  They raised their expectations and then raised everyone else’s expectations.  They insisted that their company would have the right people on the right seats on the bus.  Then they held everyone accountable to the new higher standards.

They Committed to have enough Capital to operate their business and execute their plans.

They Committed to use their time in the MOST effective way and used Delegation was a critical element of highly leveraged successful leadership.   They committed to proactively use a process to focus their precious time and energy on the true priorities, executing the essential, non-negotiable components of an effective CEO Job Description, described below:

They planned using an effective, flexible Private Business Operational Planning Tool.

They recurrently and consistently analyzed & improved Operational Health.

They recurrently and consistently analyzed & improved Financial Health.

They recurrently and consistently analyzed & improved Executive and Communication Blindspots.

They recurrently and consistently analyzed & improved Stakeholder Satisfaction, the leading indicator of future results.

They recurrently and consistently met with a professionally facilitated Board of CEO Peers.

They recurrently and consistently met with an experienced Accountability Partner, to ensure effective execution on the commitments above.

If you think all of this is time consuming, think again.  These decisions are all massive time savers and stress removers.  Choosing to take responsibility for behaving like an effective business owner will help to generate improved results for your company and more freedom to spend time doing the things you love most.  

No magic, just choices. 

If you decide to model the Best of the Best business owners in Texas, but can use some help getting started, email me at joe@zthree.com and write FREEDOM in the subject line.    I’d love to hear from you.

Best Wishes for your Abundant Success and Prosperity in 2012.

Joe

Most of you have heard the adage, “The definition of insanity is to keep on doing the same things over and over, but expecting different results.”

Most people believe that if you continue to behave in the same way, you will continue to produce similar results.   20 years ago, this statement may have been true.  Today, it simply isn’t.  In today’s world of business, those who continue to do what they’ve always done will NOT maintain their position.  They will lose ground.  FAST. 

In 2012, Status Quo can land you six feet under.  There is simply too much innovation and rapid information flow to rest on your laurels.  If you snooze, you’ll lose.

With this in mind, I’ve got a few questions for you:

• In ten words or less, why would I choose to do business with you versus your competitors?

• If I asked your competition the same question, what would THEY say?

• In considering the two questions above, how are you feeling?

• Do you have specific plans for 2012 with regard to revenue, profit, market share, competitive positioning? 

• Do you have specific plans to improve your Work-life Balance or PERSONAL Satisfaction?

• If you are really looking for different or better results in 2012, will you unconditionally commit to do anything differently, starting today, to improve your business or your life, or are you going to keep on planning and behaving in the same way you always have and hoping for improved results?

• Are you the kind of person who typically keeps their personal commitments?

Winners know how to make, and keep, their commitments, and they love to associate with other Winners.  If you are committed to winning in 2012, are prepared to run with the best of the best, and would like to join the most successful business leaders in Texas, please contact me.  I’d love to hear from you.

We hope you will join us.

Every day I speak with CEOs and Sales Managers who are frustrated.

Most of these executives have well-developed strategies.   Many have invested big bucks in recruiters and/or employees with big credentials.   Lots have read the most popular books and articles.

To their credit, these execs have worked hard to build organizations with great knowledge, great people, and great plans.  Although a good percentage of them are outperforming their competitors, the great results they are generating fall far below their expectations.

There is a huge Execution Gap. 

Their employees KNOW better, they simply do not DO better.

Nowhere is this statement more apparent than with salespeople.  Most salespeople understand that if they knock on twice as many doors or make twice as many calls, they will generate at least twice as many sales.  Most salespeople know they can easily identify a large portion of time they spend in NON-selling activities every week.  They KNOW these activities do not contribute to higher sales.  Yet, they do little or nothing about it.  

Just ask them.   The majority of salespeople can tell you things they should do, starting TODAY, to improve their chances of exceeding their sales goals.  They can and will TELL you.  But they will likely not DO it.   This is the main reason they will fall into the majority of salespeople who will fall short of their annual quota.  Again.

They Know better, but they will not Behave differently.

There are many reasons for this, including, but not limited to:

• Lack of Incentive
• Laziness
• Self-Talk
• Fear of Leaving their Comfort Zone (aka:  Good is the Enemy of Great)
• Lack of Accountability
• Self-Limiting Records
• Fear of Rejection
• Ineffective Sales Management

Then there are the two biggest reasons– Lack of Desire and Lack of Commitment.

How do Your Salespeople measure up in these areas?

How much will the Execution Gap cost you this year?

There are proven methods to both identify these problems and to Close the Execution Gap.

If you believe you have an Execution Gap that requires repair, feel free to email me at GrowMySales@zthree.com.

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

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At a recent TAB Conference in Colorado, I had the pleasure of attending a fantastic presentation and spending some time with Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers – How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter.

Multipliers outlines the fundamental differences between two dramatically different types of leaders.  The first type of leader, referred to as a “Diminisher”, feels the need to always be the smartest person in the room.   These “leaders” are loaded with “brilliant” ideas and like to defend the reasons they are great.  As a consequence, they tend to drain intelligence, energy, talent and commitment from their employees.

The second group of leaders are “Multipliers”.  These leaders inspire the flow of ideas, create energy, and amplify the capabilities of the people on their team.   They get more done with fewer resources, attract better talent, solve the most difficult problems and create world class innovation and productivity.

In listening to Liz speak, I was struck by the incredible parallels between leaders who deploy the philosophies and principles of Multipliers and salespeople who deploy the philosophies and principles of UnCommon Sense^© Buyer Facilitation.

Here are just a few examples:

Diminishers and Traditional Salespeople:

• Believe they are the experts

• Spend the majority of their time talking, explaining and convincing

• Make lots of assumptions

• Squelch disagreement

• May win at the expense of others

• Often accept mediocre results/lost margins

Multiplier Leaders and UnCommon Sense^© Salespeople:

• Facilitate expertise and discovery

• Embrace healthy disagreement

• Unleash the genius of others

• Spend little time talking, but ask great, inspiring questions

• Understand Human Psychology and Principles of Communication

• Try to never make assumptions or convince

• Do not need to feel smart

• Inspire others to feel smarter, be experts and multiply results        

If you have ever worked for a multiplier, they probably inspired you to produce much greater results than any diminisher.  Whether in business, in their community or in their home, Multiplier leaders consistently outperform their diminisher peers.  Similarly, UnCommon Sense salespeople consistently blow their traditional, expert, smooth-talking sales peers out of the water.

I encourage you to learn more about Liz and Multipliers at

http://thewisemangroup.com/research/book/

For more about how to Multiply your Sales, check out

http://zthree.com/blog/sales/your-salespeople’s-great-loves-why-premature-satisfaction-is-costing-you-a-fortune-2/

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

 

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Are you BUSY???

Whenever I present to or facilitate groups of CEOs or other business leaders, I love to ask this question.  Typically, a minimum of 80% of the executives will raise their hand.  Most believe they are really busy.

“Busy” is an interesting word.  The concept of busy-ness inspires all sorts of interesting conversation.

• Is it good to be busy?

• If so, why?

• How does busy-ness affect your energy level?

• What would you do with your time if you were not busy?  Would you be bored, or would you become more productive?

• How does busy-ness relate to effectiveness?

• If you are busy, are you in control?

• How does busy-ness relate to happiness?

We know that in selling, self-talk has a huge effect on a salesperson’s ability to be productive.  Great salespeople have empowering self-dialogue.  Weak ones have all sorts of limiting self-talk. 

In training and coaching sales executives, we dramatically affect sales results by helping them identify and eliminate their head-trash.  They quickly realize that the conversation that they have with themselves is MORE important than the conversation they are about to have with their prospects.

The same goes for business leaders.

If you are a CEO who feels you are always really “busy”, I suspect you spend a good portion of your day reacting to urgencies, chasing deadlines (many of which are self-imposed), solving problems, and spending a good portion of your day doing things you wish you didn’t need to do.  In other words, you’d probably rather be doing something else.

This does NOT need to be the case.   If you currently feel “busy”, and if you’d like to improve your situation, here are few tips to gain control, improve effectiveness, and feel better:

• Start by removing the word “busy” from your vocabulary, especially from your self-dialogue.  Whenever you are feeling busy, tell yourself that you are “in demand”. 

• Evaluate other limiting self-talk, mind-warping words, and dis-empowering beliefs and phrases you carry today.   They are likely sucking your energy and creating ineffective behaviors.

• Ask yourself if you have an Addiction to Urgency (for a survey to learn how addicted you might be, email me and write “Urgency Addition” in the subject line).  Remember, Urgent does NOT mean Important. 

• Get out of the weeds and review any activities that you consider to be “busy-work”.  You will likely learn that many of these items can be delegated, outsourced, or perhaps even eliminated. 

• Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle.  On the top right side place a plus sign, on the other a minus sign.  On the minus side, list all of your recurrent activities that suck your energy.  On the plus side, list those wonderful activities that GIVE you energy.  Then get to work on spending 100% of your time where it belongs.

Limiting self-talk and urgency addictions are serious.  On a business level, they can have huge effect on your top and bottom line.  On a personal level, they will not only harm your efficiency and productivity, but can also have a detrimental effect on your happiness and your health.

Copyright © Joe Zente 2010. All Rights Reserved.

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