This is first in the series of several articles outlining how to grow your sales in the face of a turbulent economy. 

As daily stories of economic doom and gloom continue to dominate headlines, most companies have their own version of the current economy and its affect on them.   Some of your salespeople may be returning from calls with objections like:

• “there’s a spending freeze…”

• “it’s no longer a priority…:
• “they’re going out of business…”
• “they’re laying people off…”
• “they’re postponing the initiative…”
• “they’re only going to do half of what we spoke about…”
• “they’re too busy putting out fires…”

There are many more that we don’t need to list here.

If the doom-sayers are correct, excuse making, chronic mediocrity, under achievement, complacency and a selling skill set adequate only for wonderful times may collide head-on with a recession or possible depression.  What could be worse?  Lots could be worse.  You cannot control the global economy, but you do control the strength of your sales force.  Tremendous opportunity exists in today’s economy.

• This is the best time to evaluate and identify the real issues
• This is the best time to start training
• This is the best time to coach
• This is the best time for incentive and motivational programs
• This is an excellent time for new accountability initiatives
• This is the great time to evaluate and possibly adopt a more effective tracking system
• This is the perfect time to demand excellence and Upgrade Your Sales Force

The strong sales force in a weak economy is the dominant sales force in a strong economy.  There are so many more things you can be doing.  What are you doing to motivate your salespeople and make them more effective when it’s most important for them to be more effective?  If you’re not doing anything proactive to strengthen your sales right now, why not?

More to come…

Most of us have heard of the 80/20 Rule.  Few of us have considered its practical use.

Examples of the 80/20 Rule include:

• 80% of our business comes from 20% of our Customers.
• 80% of our revenue comes from 20% of our products or services.
• 80% of complaints come from 20% of our Customers.
• 80% of our Sales are generated by 20% of our salespeople.

It is important for entrepreneurs and executives to completely understand their 20% areas.  It is also vital that they help their employees define the areas in each of their respective departments.  These 20% areas ARE their key result areas.

Key result areas are those area where your greatest attention is required.  The majority of time and resources should be allocated to these areas.  They are also the areas where accountability metrics should be derived and driven.

Focus on your 20% areas and watch your business grow.

Most executives spend a large percentage of their time with their talking with employees and salespeople.  Whether face to face or on the phone, they believe they are developing these individuals by providing valuable coaching.  It may be likely that any time a teacher (executive) and student (employee) spend together is valuable.  If we are truly committed to developing our   people, let’s make sure that we spend the majority of time coaching and improving (versus chatting).

One of the sales professional I coached enjoyed providing me with the details of accounts, calls, pipeline and schedule.  He wanted me to know how busy he was and how much he had going on. I call this activity ‘purging’.  Some salespeople need to purge and want your validation or input. But let’s not fool each other.  This is not coaching.  It’s more like ineffective de-briefing.  It could become effective de-briefing if you were asking the questions and your employee/salesperson was answering them.  To spend time listening to the salesperson pontificate on details that are important only to him is not effective coaching or debriefing.

What should happen instead?  If your employee feels the need to purge (and you choose to spend the time as the receiver), it is vital that all purging remains separate from the coaching that takes place.  The coaching session qualifies as coaching only when you help the employee or salesperson grow, develop, become stronger and more effective.  Every session should culminate with a key takeaway—a lesson learned, an epiphany, and some specific action to be taken by the employee prior to the next coaching session.
Don’t allow valuable coaching time to be monopolized by purging. If you’re going to invest coaching time, make sure that coaching actually takes place.

Welcome to the Z/Three’s CEO Performance Blog.

This blog was created for YOU. It is a forum to help new business owners become strong and to help good owners become GREAT.

Z/Three has been helping CEOs in Central Texas build World Class Sales Teams for over a dozen years. The Alternative Board TAB® has helped thousands of private business owners grow strong businesses and achieve their personal visions since 1990. TAB is the premier peer-learning organization in the world. TAB-Austin members include many of the most successful business leaders in Texas.

Austin is the bloggiest place in the entire country (link to below) Since Z3/TAB members and clients are the most forward-thinking leaders on the planet, we are proud and excited to provide this gathering place for you. I certainly hope you’ll join us and your fellow Leaders of Leaders to share, learn, and create stronger businesses, more growth and happier lives.

Austin, TX; Portland, OR; San Francisco and Seattle are the Top Blogging Markets

Bloggers* are attracted to new technology; more likely to download media
and take interest in user generated content

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ — Scarborough Research, the leading
local market research firm for identifying consumer and retail behaviors in

the United States, finds that Austin, TX, Portland, OR, San Francisco and

Seattle are the top markets for people who read or contributed to blogs.

Fifteen percent of adults in Austin are bloggers*, and they are 78
percent more likely than the national average to be in this consumer group.
Fourteen percent of Portland adults are bloggers; followed by San Francisco
and Seattle, with 13 percent of adults blogging in these cities.
Nationally, eight percent of all consumers are bloggers.

The top cities for bloggers have tech savvy and youth in common.
Thirty- seven percent of Austin adults are between the ages of 18-34; they
are 20 percent more likely than the national average to be within this age
range. Adults in Austin and Portland are attracted to new technology.
Austin adults are 17 percent more likely than adults nationally to be a
part of a household that owns a DVR and 51 percent more likely to be a part
of a household that owns a PDA. Portland adults show signs of new
technology ownership and willingness to adopt other new tech items. Adults
in Portland are 13 percent more likely than the national average to be a
part of a household that subscribes to satellite TV, and 18 percent more
likely to be members of households that plan to subscribe to satellite TV
within the next year.

“Not surprisingly, the cities that rank highly for bloggers are also
prominent Internet-usage markets. Austin and San Francisco adults, for
example, are more likely than the average to have a broadband connection at
home,” said Gary Meo, senior vice president, print and digital media
services. “Additionally, Austin, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle are
markets with large high-tech economies.”

Other Internet behaviors of bloggers suggest an attraction to user
generated content. Bloggers are more than three times more likely than all
Internet users to download Podcasts, and more than twice as likely to
download/watch videos online. Twenty-Five percent of bloggers download or
listen to audio clips online as opposed to the 8 percent of all other
connected adults.

Bloggers are also adopters of new technology. They are 76 percent more
likely than all Internet users to be a part of household that owns a PDA,
54 percent more likely to have an MP3 player and 37 percent more likely to
have a satellite radio subscription.

“Bloggers tend to have a different relationship with the Internet than
the average user. They are more likely to advantage of its utility for
standard household and personal tasks, such as email, shopping and online
banking,” said Mr. Meo. “Given that they are contributing to the content of
the Internet itself, it’s not surprising that bloggers are more advanced
online than your average Internet user, and more tech savvy overall.”

Demographically, bloggers are young and hail from middle class
families. They are 66 percent more likely than the national average to be
between the ages of 18 and 34. Fifty percent of bloggers are part of a
household that has children under 17, as opposed to 41 percent of the total
population. Bloggers are 20 percent more likely than the national average
to have an annual household income between $50k and $100k per year.

Source: Study Scarborough USA+ 2007 Release 1 (Current Release). Based on
Total Adults. DMA or Designated Market Area is a trademark of Nielsen Media
Research

Scarborough Local Market Analysis:
Top Local Markets for Bloggers

About Scarborough Research

Scarborough Research, a Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited media and
marketing service, http://www.scarborough.com, info@scarborough.com measures the
lifestyle and shopping patterns, media behaviors, and demographics of
American consumers. Products and services include consumer insight studies
in 81 Top-Tier Markets, The Multi-Market Study, Scarborough USA+ (a
national database), Hispanic studies, and custom research solutions. With
more than 30 years of experience, Scarborough measures 2,000 consumer
categories and serves a broad client base that includes marketers,
advertising agencies, print and electronic media (broadcast and cable
television, radio stations) sports teams and leagues, and out-of-home media
companies. Surveying more than 220,000 adults annually, Scarborough is a
joint venture between Arbitron Inc. http://www.arbitron.com and The Nielsen
Company http://www.nielsen.com.

Blogger* — Adult who has read or contributed to a blog within the past
30 days

Internet Users** — Adults who have accessed the Internet within the
past 30 days