who is really in charge?

A business owner this week told me that he was trying to get his wife to accept his decision. A CEO told me that he wanted to get buy-in from his team. Now I am certainly not opposed to business owners speaking with their wives nor CEO's talking to their teams provided of course that they remain in charge and do not end up abdicating the decision making process. While these members of a business are certainly "key players" their perspective is not always as clear nor as wide as the primary visionary of a company. That said, exercise caution.
In Russia their was a man, you probably heard of called Rasputin. He gained favor with the Czar and his Queen by curing their ailing son. We could say that in this role, Rasputin although weird, was doing no real harm. However it was not long before he was being consulted on almost every decision the Czar was making: unfortunately for the royal family Rasputin might have been a healer but his political prowess was sorely lacking and to cut along story short the entire family found themselves all up against a wall after the revolution.
So does your business have a clear leader. Do you know who it is and does everyone in your organization know who it is. Often we see large companies that cannot get out of their own way to get something done.
And if you are trying to sell into these companies beware of the Rasputin's that can sabotage even the greatest of ideas by removing any real decision making power from the Czar.

To Have a Dream

Today there are a lot of blurbs and quotes in the news from Martin Luther King. Here was a man that exuded qualities like courage, oratory , vision and the know more popular than ever - Change. (see both presidential nomination races)
I had a chance to hear Rob Kriegel (www.kriegel.com) speak today and the focus of his discussion involved the inherent resistance to change. In the case of Dr. King that resistance to an idea was so strong that it led to his death. It is fascinating this idea of resistance to change and as a salesperson understanding that is extremely helpful. The people you speak with are probably going to resist your sale because it involves change. You are going to resist adapting to their objections or developing your sales skills because of your own resistance to change.
The solution to this problem involves many things but the one that I took away was to challenge what you do now, if you normally hang up on salespeople try listening, if you normally call the CFO try the CEO for a change, if you normally start by saying ....change to...... (I think we get the point)
A old Chinese proverb says that "Change does not always involve progress, but progress always involves a change".

so few, so much, so many

Winston Churchill described the valiant efforts of the RAF thus in the summer of 1941. After all they had successfully fought of an onslaught from the German Luftwaffe that would have by all accounts spelled out their doom. Why were they winners?
Well the experts have debated the superiority of the ME109 compared to the Spitfire and the Hurricane but in reality the Germans were also ahead in experience and numbers as well. So we arrive at the statements of Mr. Churchill who placed credit for the victory firmly on the shoulders of the few - the pilots who defended the free world. Coincidentally these pilots had a very unique profile:-drinkers, crazy, daredevils. loud, boisterous and foolhardy and yet nobody resented this specialized skill set because their efforts meant victory!
Similarly the profile for the most productive and effective salesperson may not align with others in your organization but will you resent them. It is rumoured that RAF pilots never paid for a beer because the people of Britain recognized and respected their role.Does your company understand and respect the unique role your sales people play?Do you have a way of identifying those pilot like sales people during your recruiting process?