300

When Leonidas king of Sparta decided to try holding an army of almost 1,000,000 Persians at bay, with only 300 men what was he thinking? Although ultimately betrayed and defeated by the Persians the events at Thermopylae are generally regarded as a victory for the Spartans.
I would have to assume that he understood true leadership and had built an organization that when called upon to produce - produced!
Too often in business we come across CEO's that have a clear understanding of their "logo" and their "mission statement" and their " building lease" and their "office equipment and furniture" and yet they have no "300" to call upon when it comes to their Sales Force.
Who can they call on to bring in the sales, revenues and profits when they need to? Who will go and defeat the Persians?
The 300 men that served Leonidas were

1. better trained than any of their opponents
2. better physical condition
3. had no fear and no hidden weaknesses that would let the group down
4. a clear understanding of the mission and big picture
5. love and loyalty for their leader
6. a lean and fast moving unit

Does this describe your sales organization?

Are We Rome?

That was the title of a book I heard about earlier today. It posed the question in analyzing the final days of the Roman empire and comparing it to our times: Over extended Military, Crumbling of Society, Distrust of political leaders etc, etc, etc.
There certainly are many parallels and I would argue that history is full of such parallels.

I also heard something interesting regarding Dyslexia and entrepreneurs. Apparently a very high percentage, higher than the general population, of entrepreneurs suffer from Dyslexia. Why is that the case. Well there were a number of reasons given that were a result of their inadequacy with the written word.

• they develop better verbal skills
• they learn to delegate
• they learn to trust others to do their jobs

Napoleon was rumoured to have suffered from a mild form of dyslexia, however we all can appreciate his prowess on the field of battle. Wellington said that he was worth 40,000 men. His greatness as a general was in large part due to his being willing to delegate and trust his officers. So often in business we see CEO's who claim to be delegators but in reality they are not. Others delegate nothing and are proud of that. Then there are those who are actually shirking their own job and relabelling it "delegation".

Succeeding in business is becoming a greater challenge every day. Learning to delegate and trust your team will enable you to compete and avoid "being Rome" as it were.

If Not Now....When?

For the most part great leaders throughout history have identified themselves through certain attributes, one of the foremost of this is the ability to make decisions. Now we all make decisions every day - but usually these are relatively simple like selecting a sandwich for lunch. Needless to say the great leaders of history have had to make far weightier decisions and in the same amount of time it takes some people to choose tuna over turkey.
Maybe you don't like to be "rushed" into important decisions and therefore the solution involves thinking things over & over & over & over. Perhaps you can point to times in your life when you have "rushed" a decision and things didn't work out? But can't you also point to a time when even though you weighed everything out and thought it over you were foiled. In fact the percentage of failure to success is probably equal in both cases.
Abraham Lincoln had given General McClellan as much time to think things over as he could. Thinking things over was followed by "preparation" and "meetings" and "reviews" and who knows what else. The facts were that the Army of the Potomac was wasting valuable time doing nothing. Can you understand Lincolns frustration.....better Army, more soldiers, more supplies, more everything and rather than attack Lee one excuse after another.
In contrast General Lee though outnumbered, out supplied and with fewer men would often decide and attack so quickly (as would his main man Jackson) that the speed alone was enough to throw off the enemy.
Churchill, Julius Ceasar, Hannibal, Napoleon and even someone as recent as General Patton had the inate ability to assess and decide.
In business why has that process so often become simply to "assess" without a decision. To "think over" without finally making a move. What a waste of time and energy. Could your business run more effectively if the process of decision making was accelerated?

A tale of two Harolds

Several postings ago we spoke about the events of 1066 and I mentioned that we would come back to that date again, all be it from a different perspective.
The opponent that William the Conqueror had defeated at Hastings was Harold. The most powerful Saxon in all of England at the time. Harold was quite a formidable enemy and truth be told certainly had the "ability" to defeat William but failed. Why?
Many would attribute this loss to another Harald, this one spelled differently and from a different place - Norway. He had invaded England just a short time before William and Harold decided to march his army all the way up to York to fight him first - he won this fight. But then he had to immediately march down to Hastings and secure the "best position" on the hill at Hastings - all be it with an exhausted Army.
Quite often in sales and business we can find ourselves in the "best position"- you know, best product, best people, best service or whatever and still losing to a competitor. Harolds problem was not his positioning or his skill but his timing. If you are not in control or at least have an understanding of the customers timing then you might be closing at the wrong time and hurting the process.
Quite often sales people allow the competitor to set the pace, establish the terms and determine the need. When that happens, like Harold, your William is now in control and regardless of ability or your product you stand a very high chance of losing.

The Emporers new and improved clothes

In 498B.C, Tarquin who had appointed himself the King of Rome was killed at Lake Regillus. He had lived a life fraught with murder and distrust. All opposing views were snuffed out, he trusted no one, he lived in fear and being surrounded by a legion of "yes men" made him weak and ultimately led to his defeat and death. He had created a culture where he would be told what he wanted to hear and nothing else.
Much like the famous children's story - the emperors new clothes - Tarquin enjoyed being told how good he looked and nice his new outfit was. Finally, like the child in the story, someone showed up and said No! All of a sudden everything crumbled.
The other side of that coin is this.....
I was amazed by something I noticed in the recent political debates. Time and again the candidates were asked for a simple yes or no answer and time and again they managed to talk around the answer and never really say "yes" or "no". (the only two possible answers)I found this avoidance to be really irritating and I couldn't help thinking how nice it would have been to hear someone say "No! And this is why......." or "Yes! Because......" That would have been refreshing and it certainly would have caught my interest. How you might ask are these two points connected. (Tarquin and Modern Day Politicians)

1. People like, no people need honest answers and offering them is refreshing to prospects.
2. People are tired of feeling like they are being told what they want to hear instead of what is true.
3. If being surrounded by "Yes Men" is a sure sign of weakness then surrounding yourself with differing views is a sign of strength ( a practice by the way of men like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill)
4. Business people that surround themselves with yes men will be weak and eventually the culture they have created will result in their demise.
5. Learning to like the No and trying to uncover the reasons for the No will only lead to better understanding of the yes and the reasons for that.

Rome ultimately adopted a senate style republic and the very notion of having a King was distasteful to them. Ironically when the Roman Emperors became "king like" the empire crumbled as a result.

Great ideas come in humble packages

In the early 1300's Robert the Bruce found him self fleeing once again from the English. If they were to catch him then death would certainly be his fate. The weather was good for Scotland and the long days of summer would afford the English plenty of daylight to track him.
Robert stopped at a Blacksmith and requested a fresh horse, he was in a hurry, no time! He knew exactly what he wanted and he just wanted the Blacksmith to meet this request. But this Blacksmith wanted to do more, he had an idea, he had an understanding of the issue and a unique solution to it. Would this heir to the Scottish throne listen or would he simply say "I am the King, do as you are told, stop bothering me,etc,etc.....
In the world of business I am amazed by the astounding number of Presidents, CEO's and Owners that will not take advice from others. Let me clarify that, they will take advice when they decide they want it, when they ask for it, they seek it out, they determine who and when the advice is given, however they will not listen to "unsolicited" advice. Why not?
Many times the "unsolicited" advice is the best because you are getting clued in on something before the competitors. You might be able to get a better understanding of how a new technology will change the way your industry does business and thereby make plans to adjust early. You might be able to keep your current vendors honest or validate their performance. You might discover a way to cut costs, increase performance or customer satisfaction. You will have a more objective view of what is presented because you are not considering the option in a time of crisis with a "have to do something" mentality. With all these benefits one might ask, why the resistance?
The resistance has to do with fact that most often "unsolicited" advice comes from salespeople(blacksmiths) and business leaders set themselves up as "Kings". The results of this from my perspective are quite amazing. I often come in contact with a growing, thriving and forward moving company with great people and high margins and I know that getting to speak with a CEO here will be easier than other companies, the people are not rude and secretive ("we don't give out names") there are no "No Soliciting" signs ( an albatross that so many business's think will somehow protect them from advice but of course does nothing- more on that in an upcoming post)
This is because true leaders know that business is bi-directional and learning to accept that is half the battle of moving into a more accepting and progressive leadership position. (think about it, would you ever put up a sign that said "no customers!"how stupid would that look)
The Blacksmith in our story did not simply give the King what he asked for, he proposed something else, something more risky, something that came at an additional cost.......Robert the Bruce waited patiently while the Blacksmith Re-shoed the horse and put the horse shoes on backwards! When he left it took only a few hours for the English to loose him. They couldn't tell if he was coming or going.
Could it be that taking just a few minutes to meet with a sales person could provide you with some tool that will help you get miles ahead of your competition. I believe that true business leaders would simply set aside a few blocks of time per month for just that purpose.

Please excuse the excuse circa 328B.C.

In 328B.C Alexander the Greats army had reached the mountain top fortress at Sogdia. It had never been conquered and was thus described as impenetrable, impossible and a waste of time to even attempt....but Alexander was an overachiever (more on that another time) and these descriptions only pushed him to want to defeat this city even more. Coincidentally, this was not the first time Alexander had run into these words, the Phoenician city of Tyre was also described this way and he conquered that, the enemy at Gaugamela had been described thus and he routed it....Alexander had a track record of overcoming the impossible.
Often customers will ask about the difference between reasons and excuses. My mentor and boss Dave Kurlan encourages companies and leaders to develop and adhere to a no excuse policy....but some ask how do I know if something is a reason and not an excuse? Simple look at the context of the conversation.
If Alexander had said " it is too high and rocky, it is too cold, we have never done this before, the men are tired, we will have to climb in dark, by the time we get to the top we will be more tired and they will be waiting for us....so for all of those reasons we cannot do it" he would have been offering an excuse.
An excuse is simply a "reason" presented to justify failure or lack of execution. Instead Alexander took all of those reasons into consideration (he was not an idiot, idiots don't conquer half of the civilized world in ten years) and after considering them all said "but we can do it in spite of those circumstances".
What about your business, company and sales people. We all face factors that might prevent us from accomplishing our objective, if you acknowledge those and then press on in spite of them and succeed then those obstacles remain reasons (often things we would prefer didn't exist and are working on eliminating). An overachiever will find a way to leverage and compensate and work around a weakness. If however you let those reasons become the "why we lost, why I failed, what stopped me performing etc....." then in an instant those reasons have become excuses.
In order to implement and enforce a no excuses mantra in your business you will need to be prepared for a few things.
1. A No excuses policy is not an excuse for management or supervisors to not fix any inadequacies or problems and neither is it an excuse for them to push all responsibility down stream.
2. Honesty and these expectations enforced across the board is a must!
3. Be ready to set the example.

When Alexanders men reached the summit the people were so shocked that the city surrendered. The inhabitants said "these men have wings". Wouldn't it be great to have a culture at your business that forces your competition to think that you and your people have wings?

Lessons from 1066

From early childhood children all across the U.K have this date pounded into their heads, the notorious battle of Hastings. This was when William of Normandy, later to be known as William the Conqueror (only once proven to be an over achiever of course) defeated Harold, at this point his only rival for the throne of Great Britain(more on that later)
So what lessons can we as business people, as sales professionals gather from something that happened almost 1000 years ago? Here are a few......
#1 Goals - William had his eye on the prize so to speak, for years he had focused on a promise made to him regarding his being the next King and because he had those goals he made -
#2 Preparations - In the years leading up to 1066 this relatively small feudal player built up an army of well trained knights (a new concept in 1066) and also built the ships to get them there and bought the horses for them to ride when they arrived. In addition to his mounted knights his army included Archers, just in case they came in handy - guess what they did!
#3 Compensation - William was not able to fund all of this on his own so interestingly he paid his knights in futures, he promised them different "fiefdoms" on the other side, once the battle was won. This really allowed him to stretch his budget and go into hostile territory with a group of soldiers that were "emotionally vested" and had heard "positive affirmations" regarding their being "duly compensated" for their hard fighting.

So as a Sales Manager, Representative, VP , Director etc.....are your Goals clearly stated? Have you shared those Goals with your people? Have you taken the necessary steps to ensure that those goals can be met? Are you embracing new methods and getting yourself and your team up to speed where necessary?
As a CEO, Owner, President, etc.....Have you accepted the fact that your top performing salespeople will only "fight" if they are duly compensated? Will you "risk a success weighted compensation plan" in order to win the business that will make the payout well worth it? In order to do that you have to be the first to believe in your business! Oh yeah, you also need to build some ships and buy some horses (more on that later)