Monday Mornings with Madison

Category Archives:
Staff Management

May 5, 2014

When to Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way

Issue #326

In every organization, business or department, there are times when a leader needs to step up and lead… chart a course, share a vision, give direction, motivate, encourage and guide. There are other times when a manager or director needs to listen to the wise counsel of one who knows more, hand the reigns over and follow his/her lead. And then there are times when management just needs to get out of the way and allow the company stakeholders to move forward… let a group function or allow a process to unfold.

It takes skill and talent to lead others. It takes earned trust and respect to follow someone else’s lead. And it takes faith to get out of the way and allow all the cogs in the machinery to turn as they should. The real challenge is to understand when to do each. That discernment is what differentiates great leaders from mediocre ones. So how does a team leader, department manager, division director or c-suite exec develop the discernment to know when to lead, follow or get out of the way? It takes practice, intuition, patience, trust and a sizeable measure of experience. Continue reading →

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March 17, 2014

Clean Data is the First Step to Effective Sales and Marketing

Issue #312

What is the biggest source of waste for many businesses? Few would guess that at many companies it is ineffectual sales and marketing efforts resulting from poor database management. If the contact information for prospects and customers in a company’s database or CRM system is muddy, missing or just plain wrong, it cannot be used effectively for sales or marketing. Bad contact data also makes it impossible to effectively service existing clients. Data quality is crucial to operational and transactional processes within every enterprise and to the reliability of business intelligence and reporting.

Yet, maintenance of contact information for both prospects and customers is one of the most neglected, mishandled and inconsistent processes at many companies… and for good reason. Managing such ever-changing information is a tedious, difficult, thankless and never-ending job. Database managers are seldom praised or promoted for maintaining impeccably accurate records. Yet, if neglected or even ignored completely, dirty data can be the biggest source of waste at any company. Think of the wads of money and time that go down the drain by sending emails, letters, mailers, catalogs, promotions or newsletters to bad addresses… year after year. An unmaintained database will significantly reduce the impact of most marketing efforts and waste the time of every salesperson and leader. It is a shame to implement sound business development strategies for cultivating relationships with people who are ‘unreachable.’ The question is: how can a company achieve consistently clean customer data?
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March 10, 2014

How Are Smartphones Revolutionizing Business? – 2

Issue #320

It is a bit hard to believe that the first mobile phone was invented only four decades ago and smartphones have been around for only 22 years. Considering that nearly 80% of all adults in the U.S. are expected to have a smartphone by the end of 2015, practically no other technology in the history of the world can boast such lightning-speed adoption. For that reason, the future of every business today resides squarely in the palm of the leadership’s hands – figuratively and literally — in how well they embrace and adapt to the world of smartphone users.

Smartphones are quickly and deeply influencing and changing people’s shopping and buying behavior. However, the high-speed advancement of smartphone technology has understandably left many companies scrambling to keep up with the new opportunities and realities that smartphones present. Companies that aren’t on the mobile bandwagon already need to jump on or risk being left behind. But how exactly does a business become not just more mobile-friendly, but specifically more smartphone-friendly? This can be a challenge, especially for companies that are not selling widgits. How can businesses make information, services and support accessible on a computer screen that is typically about 2” x 4” wide? More importantly, how can businesses leverage smartphone use to reach customers in a more timely and personal way? Continue reading →

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February 24, 2014

Sales 2014 – Part 2

Issue #318

There are four basic elements that impact whether a sale will close. First, a salesperson must connect with the prospective client and be able to step into his/her ‘shoes.’ Second, the salesperson must determine the prospect’s needs… the factors that will motivate or drive him/her to listen with the intent of purchasing. Third, the salesperson needs to understand how much weight the prospective client assigns to the product or service being sold or its benefits or time frame. Lastly, the salesperson needs to gain the potential client’s trust, projecting credibility while removing doubts.

It is the second factor which is often most important in driving the sale. The salesperson must identify the potential client’s needs and determine what is driving his/her underlying desire to purchase. In the sales process, a salesperson may discover that a potential customer has a long list of needs, but there is usually one factor that will get the person to buy. That is the customer’s ‘hot button.’ The hot button is the trigger that provokes action. It is often an emotional, rather than a practical, need. So how does a salesperson identify a potential customer’s hot button? Continue reading →

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February 17, 2014

Sales 2014 – Part One

Issue #317

It used to be that most people – even well-educated professionals — knew very little about technical subjects outside their own area of expertise. There was no easy way to get more information about specialized subjects quickly. Finance. Insurance. Taxes. Legal issues. Investments. Property. People relied on salespeople and trusted advisors (CPA, financial advisor, attorney, Realtor) for information and guidance on specific matters. Thanks to the Information Age, that has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Thanks to the Internet, mobile devices, tablets and laptops, abundant information is easily accessible about most any business, industry, product, or service at a moment’s notice. Potential customers can gather a great deal of information (at least the basics) about most anything… and thanks to Amazon, can order scholarly books on practically any topic within seconds. They can also shop around, find options and compare prices. Thanks to social media, they can also read reviews by others who have tried a product or service. Indeed, potential customers today have information. In fact, they have tons of it.
What people don’t have today is the ability to digest and analyze all that information quickly and easily, and figure out what is true and what is either false or misleading. They also may not be able to easily discern what information is most important or how to apply the information to their own situation. They may not be able to readily identify emerging market trends or discover true best practices. In going from an information desert to information overload, customers need guidance from experts in order to distill data and pinpoint creative applications for a given individual in a given situation. Enter today’s super savvy salesperson. Continue reading →

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January 27, 2014

Five Goals for Your Workplace in 2014

Issue #314

Beyond the normal competencies that every business seeks to improve year-over-year – such as growing sales leads and conversions, increasing efficiency, reducing costs and minimizing waste – forward-thinking companies should focus on the up-and-coming core values of today’s marketplace. Those include being more trustworthy, transparent, ethical, collaborative and mindful of its employee needs. Companies that improve these are destined to be more successful in 2014.

However, of those five goals, being mindful of employee needs is the one that is least likely to be addressed in any real, tangible way by most companies. While being mindful of employees’ needs is an honorable goal in theory, it is a tall order. What does it mean to be ‘mindful of employee needs’? What does that look like in practice? How does that translate into actual HR rules and practices? It can mean many different things to business owners and leaders, and even more to the employees themselves. That makes it hard to qualify or quantify, and even harder to achieve. But make no mistake that being mindful of employee needs does impact the bottom line. A company is only as good as its people. For businesses, keeping teams moving forward together in harmony is the difference between succeeding and failing. The most successful businesses are the ones that work the hardest to please their employees. So what should companies that want to be mindful of their employees do? Continue reading →

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December 30, 2013

The Power of Personal Involvement

Issue #310

As 2013 comes to an end and 2014 appears on the horizon, business leaders are thinking about how to take their company, division or department to the next level. Those leaders wanting to ‘kick it up a notch’ are thinking about processes, goals and objectives. They are looking at how to improve their staff performance, organizational structure and sales and marketing strategies. While that is all good, perhaps it is also time for some self-examination. The top brass might start by considering its own impact on the team.

After all, just how much impact does a leader or owner of a business have on the success of his or her team, staff and direct reports? Can the employees of a business or division be just as successful functioning on their own as with a leader interacting with them? Just how necessary and important is the top leadership to a team’s productivity? That depends on their involvement and presence. It turns out that one of the best ways an executive leader can help a department succeed is by being present and available. Continue reading →

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December 16, 2013

Choosing the Right Employee Performance Review Method… or Methods

Issue #308

Every so often, the business world rethinks its methods for evaluating employee performance. Old approaches are replaced with new ones. Then, in time, those are tossed aside for yet newer methods of assessing worker efficiency, output, creativity, and attitude. Because employee performance is – by its very nature – tied to a company’s productivity and thus its bottom line and long-term success, methods for evaluating employee performance are constantly being considered and reconsidered… a pendulum swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other.

At one end of the scale are harsh assessment methods, such as the stack ranking approach that General Electric CEO Jack Welch employed in the 1980s. On the other end of the continuum is the “no evaluation” method in which employees are never formally evaluated at all. Between one extreme and the other, of course, are many strategies with varying degrees of rigor and results. If you’re wondering which method of performance reviews helps motivate and improve employee performance most, it depends. It helps to start by looking at what methods have failed or succeeded for other companies.
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November 11, 2013

Skills for Success – Part 4

Issue #305

When some people think about ‘attitude’ as a employment skill, they might think about a person’s demeanor and general disposition. An employee with a cheerful, smiling upbeat temperament might be thought to have a ‘good attitude.’ However, ‘attitude’ as a workplace skill is about much more than having a pleasant personality. When it comes to success, a winning attitude is about an employee’s mindset toward work and willingness to work, no matter what the job entails. As a skill, attitude can be defined as one who has a strong work ethic… a ‘can do’ approach to every task and a ‘whatever it takes to get the job done’ posture.

Most employers talk about wanting employees with a ‘positive attitude’ at work. Indeed, it is considered one of the top 10 workplace skills. And many employees think they do have a good ‘attitude’ because they are friendly and cooperative. Yet, at every workplace, there are those who are unwilling to do certain jobs. The argument might be that the tasks are tedious, boring, or menial. Or that the work is beneath the person’s abilities. Or that the job is a poor use of the person’s time. But those are all copouts. So what does a roll-up-your-sleeves, do-whatever-it-takes-to-get-the-job-done attitude look like?
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November 4, 2013

Skills for Success – Part 3

Issue #304

If you ask ten colleagues what is the most important skill a person needs to be successful, you will likely get ten different answers. That’s neither unusual nor wrong. There are a myriad of skills that contribute to success. Communication. Teamwork and cooperation. Enthusiasm (for your work). Strong work ethic. Responsibility. Efficient planning. Positive Attitude. These skills are generally considered by most people to be very important for success.

Indeed, The Career Center at the University of South Florida conducted a survey to determine the skills and abilities students need to succeed in the workplace of the 21st century so they could then infuse the teaching of these skills and abilities into the University’s classroom experience. They surveyed 130 participants attending the USF Career Center’s Fall Job Fair. Eighty-three recruiters responded, representing a 64.6 percent response rate. Top-ranking skills were then grouped into three categories, according to the percentage of respondents that rated a particular skill as being “Extremely Important or Very Important” to success. The results showed that many of the most important skills for success are not hard skills, such as the ability to do mathematical computations, but rather soft skills such as effective problem-solving or curiosity. Interestingly, one skill that made the A list as considered “Extremely Important or Very Important” by over 90% of all respondents was the ability to adapt. Adaptability, or the ability to adjust to new conditions, is a viewed by nine out of 10 people to be a key skill for success. Continue reading →

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