I recently attended my son’s 8th grade “Gold N” ceremony.  To brag a little, the “Gold N” is awarded to those students who maintained an “A” average throughout their middle school career.  One of the keynote speakers was the district’s Teacher of the Year.

Now, this particular teacher is one of those rare individuals who knew what she wanted to do from a very early age.  She knew from the time she was still in elementary school that she would be a teacher.  Obviously, given her recent award, she was right.  Not only did she know what she wanted to do with her life, but she had a passion and conviction that blinded her to any possible obstacles.

She shared a story from when she was 11 years old.

She had managed to collect outdated textbooks from which she would use her spare time to create lesson plans.  She also went around to the teachers requesting their excess “Weekly Readers”.  Of course, the teachers were more than happy to oblige her request. 

So, now, she has textbooks, lesson plans and an abundant supply of “Weekly Readers”.  The next obvious step was to build a classroom.  She managed to talk her dad into converting part of the basement into a classroom complete with a chalkboard, pencil sharpener, and desks (for any of you dads with daughters, you know there wasn’t much resistance).

So, now she has textbooks, lesson plans, “Weekly Readers”, chalkboard, pencil sharpener, and desks.  However, there was one critical piece missing.  You guessed it – students.  So, this 11 year-old girl with a passion for teaching decided it was time to troll the neighborhood recruiting students.  It took a while, but she enrolled her first student, a 6 year-old neighbor girl.

Evidently, her new student thought that her new teacher was the greatest thing ever.  That doesn’t surprise me.  Think about it.  With as much obvious passion as this 11 year-old had, how could you not get caught up in it?!

Anyway, they spent the next few weeks working on subtraction, cursive writing, and I’m sure discussing the most recent “Weekly Reader” article. After many lessons and a fair amount of progress, the young teacher decided it was time to report on the progress.  You might think that she wrote up a cute little report card to send home with the student.

Well, you would only be partially right.

She also invited the student’s parents in for a parent-teacher conference.  And guess what?!  They showed up!!  They sat there at the little desks in the basement classroom and listened to an 11 year old “teacher” discuss the progress of their 6 year-old daughter.

How awesome is all of that?! I mean really, think about it.  There was every legitimate reason in the world why none of this would have happened, but you know why all of it did?  Passion, confidence, and determination.

It was this young girl’s passion to be a teacher, her unwavering confidence in her ability, and her determination to make it happen that caused her teachers to supply her with the necessary teaching materials, her dad to build her a classroom, her 6 year-old neighbor to enroll, and the neighbor’s parents to show up for a conference!  Wow!

That was an 11 year old. What about you?

Now, think about what you can do when you can tap into your passion, find your own level of confidence and decide you won’t stop until you succeed.  I’m guessing you would be able to attract the resources you need to help your clients, I bet your organization would be more than willing to create the environment for you execute successfully, I’m guessing you would have no problem in getting prospects/clients to listen to what you have to share, and I bet you would be more than anxious to report on what you accomplished.

The right resources, organizational support, prospects/clients, and accountability for what you accomplished added to your own passion, confidence, and determination, and it sounds like a pretty powerful formula to me.  If it worked for an 11 year-old little girl, why wouldn’t it work for you?

Photo by misskprimary.

@kevintrokey

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Do you remember how empowering it was to get a permission slip or a hall pass when you were in school?  Those little pieces of paper, as simple as they were, seemed to hold such great promise.

Permission slips

A couple of weeks ago we held a sales training session in Phoenix and as we were debriefing afterwards, the idea of permission slips surfaced.  Many of the ideas we presented and challenges we made were around practices and behaviors many in the room already knew they should be doing.  The unbelievably simple reason they hadn’t done so already?  Nobody (including themselves) had given them permission to do so.

One example in particular stands out.  It involved a young producer who has already developed a relatively large book of business, but hasn’t built that book in an ideal manner.  His book is made up of several hundred accounts and generates about $800,000 in revenue, which means his average revenue per account is about $2,000.  The eye opening exercise for him was when we had him profile his book of business and he had to face the reality that the bottom 80% of his book only generated 17% of revenue and the bottom 50% was only about 5%.

This is a producer who can obviously sell.  However, when you are dealing with almost 40 renewals a month, there isn’t much time left to sell new business.  He simply needed permission to transition those accounts that were holding him back.  When he realized that this was okay, you could visibly see the change in his attitude.

Hall passes

And hall passes, how cool was it to get a hall pass?  In some ways, hall passes are even better than permission slips.  Everyone received a permission slip for a field trip, but a hall pass was usually given out specifically to you.  Remember how it felt to be the only one walking down the hall while everyone else was still in class?

I give myself a hall pass on occasion.  Sometimes I sit here trying to work through a problem or find creative inspiration and it just isn’t there.  The harder I try, the further away from an answer I get.  So, I “take a walk in the hall”.  To be more specific it usually involves taking an afternoon run, but the point is I get away for a bit.  Inevitably, I solve the problem or find the creative inspiration while “walking the hall”.

Write it down

So, here’s my challenge to you.  Permission slips and hall passes still hold all of the power they did when we were kids.  So, why not use them?!

Sometimes this is just the thing we need to get unstuck. We might not even know what it is that’s holding us back, but maybe someone else knows. Or maybe you see someone else in a situation from which they need to get un-stuck. Talk about it, then give yourselves permission to make the change.

Need Permission?
What is it that you want or need to do, but just can’t seem to take the necessary action?  Whatever it is, write it down and formally give yourself permission.

Need a Pass?
And, the next time you are stuck on a problem or not finding needed inspiration, give yourself a hall pass.  This doesn’t mean surfing the web or gossiping with a co-worker.  Hall passes are for you and you alone.  Leave the office and take a walk by yourself with nothing other than your thoughts.

Permission granted!

@kevintrokey

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This is the fourth of 10 challenges for you to consider embracing to create a new year that is more productive for yourself as well as for those around you.  I have borrowed ideas from a book I read last year, The First 90 Days: Critical Success Stories for New Leaders by Michael Watkins.

Read previous challenge articles:
First Challenge – Promote yourself

Second Challenge – Accelerate Your Learning

Third Challenge – Match Strategy to Situation

Fourth Challenge – Secure Early Wins

Whether you are in a new role or simply looking to perform your current role at a higher level, it’s a given that your desired future will look different than your present situation.  As important as it is to keep an eye to your desired future, know that your (and your team’s) ability to maintain a belief in achieving a future vision depends on your immediate ability build confidence and create momentum. 

Confidence and momentum can only come with wins.  However, as important as those wins are, you also need to be very purposeful in how you define and achieve those early wins.

Some things to consider:

Focus – With everything you want to accomplish, it’s easy to fall into the trap of creating endless “to do” lists.  The problem with this is that the longer the list, the more paralyzing it becomes.  Secondly, with a long list, it is too easy to just pick the easy wins and allow the resulting adrenaline rush of checking things off fool you into believing you are making progress. 

Instead, focus on no more than the 3 or 4 most critical wins to be secured.  As you secure these early wins, move on to the next most critical.

Clarity – An essential part of focus, ensure that you are properly identifying what constitutes a critical win. 

When evaluating the areas on which to focus, ask yourself:

• Does this build momentum?
• Is it meaningful to other team members?
• Is it important to leadership?
• Is this something on which I can build future wins?

Behaviors – If a win requires you to behave in a way that will be seen negatively, it isn’t really a win.  In fact, your early win may be something as “simple” as changing behaviors.  It is a given that your ability to achieve the longer term goals are dependent on making behavioral changes today.  Successfully adapting a new behavior will definitely build confidence and create momentum.  Behaviors become habits and habits drive results.

Accountability – Don’t be secretive about your long-term goals or your short-term focus.  Be very public about what you are going to do and why you are doing it.  Give permission (and set the expectation) for those around you to check in on your progress.  Of course, if you are truly committed, you won’t make them ask, you will self-report.  I would challenge you to be just as public about your progress and setbacks as you were about your original commitment.

There is a lady with whom I am connected on LinkedIn.  She made a very public commitment to becoming fit by her 40th birthday.  She reports just as publicly about her progress (including weight loss) every single week.  Now, that’s accountability!

Acceleration Checklist as suggested in The First 90 Days (paraphrased in places)

1. Given your situation, what should be the timing and extent of your desired early wins?
2. Based on what you know now, what are your top priorities?  Given these priorities, what do you need to do during your transition to lay the groundwork for achieving them?
3. What behavioral changes would you like to see (in yourself and in those around you)?  Describe as clearly as possible the behaviors you would like to encourage and those you would like to discourage.
4. What can you begin to do to change behaviors during your transition?
5. To whom are you going to make yourself accountable for achieving these early wins?
6. Given the changes you want to make, in what areas do you need to engage in new learning?

Nothing leads to success like success itself.  Taking the time to define and celebrate the smaller wins will provide you the confidence and momentum to take on ever increasing challenges.

Photo by RVWithTito.

@kevintrokey

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Changes - they're generally things we’re either excited about and committed to accomplishing, or they’re things we feel we should do and only put forth a modicum of effort to attempt the changes.

One way will likely include planning and commitment to the end goal, a lot of hard work, reality checks along the way, plan adjustments, and hopefully an end result that is somewhat in line with the original vision.

The other will likely include a half-hearted attempt to describe “an ideal scenario”. This will be more wishful thinking than an actual goal. The effort will lack commitment and will eventually be abandoned in favor of the status quo because it’s just easier, and the other is a potentially painful path of hard work and consequences you may not want to encounter.

By not setting a firm end goal and going all-in with your commitment, what happens is you just see flickerings of the new way, but not enough to sustain it and turn it into a fully burning flame. 

For example, if you’re trying to change a child’s behavior and get them to stop whining, you might draw the line in the sand and say, “No more whining. Find a different way to communicate your feelings.” Of course this might work once or twice, but the child will continue to whine because it’s ingrained. If you find this process exhausting to constantly remind him of the new expectation and you give in during a moment (or a few) of weakness, you’ve not only not established a new behavior pattern, but you’ve actually reinforced that whining is, in fact, the best way to get what he wants.

It’s the same at work with a new process. If you give in to the demands of complaints that the new way is “hard” and make an exception, again, you’ve reinforced that the new way isn’t really expected; it’s just a suggestion, and apparently not one that you’re really committed to making happen. Plus, you’ve just let everyone know that you don’t follow through on what you say you’re going to do, and you’ve taught them to not follow your directions because “this, too, shall pass.”

So, without a firm commitment to that end goal and steely nerves to sustain all of the attacks you’re sure to receive along the way, you shouldn’t even get started. You’re better off maintaining the status quo until you’re really, really ready to stand up and fight for what you believe is the best course of action for everyone.

Photo by Christine Szeto.

@wendykeneipp

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When undergoing a major change in your business model, the way you introduce the model, and make the necessary cultural changes, has to be done with very direct messages communicated and acted on repeatedly. Major initiatives are not best accomplished by incremental changes.

Price Pritchett & Ron Pound wrote a hard-hitting guide about managing the cultural change process, “High Velocity Culture Change, A Handbook for Managers”. I’ve read this book a few times, and each time I find myself nodding and agreeing at the premise of their arguments about how best to make those changes and make them stick.

I’ve read a pile of reviews on Amazon.com that say it is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad book. Here are a few of the highlights:

• “Helped destroy the company I was working for”
• “unethical style, unworthy "insights", unscientific results that promote unstable behaviors.”
• “promotes such ineffective methods of employee development”

However I disagree.

I think Pritchett & Pound have taken a stand about a very direct approach to culture change. While you may not like some of the words they use to describe their ideas such as destroy, disregard, flout, and destabilize, they are definitive and descriptive of what needs to happen when it’s time to radically change behaviors.

They also talk about caring, commitment, vision, and communication. All of the effort is working toward results that will benefit the whole.

Leaders have to make difficult decisions – that’s why they have the positions and the titles. If they’re not willing to make those difficult calls in support of the whole vs. the comfort of a few, then it might be time to bring in someone who can.

If you take an easy approach to make a few changes here and there in hopes of totally changing the organization – you’re fooling yourself.

It's not all black & white

Kevin tells people that when learning something new, we start from a black and white perspective and then learn it well enough to find our own shade of gray. That’s the approach you need to take with culture change, and that’s why Pritchett & Pound’s harsh approach makes sense.

As Gary Vaynerchuck takes time in his recent book, “The Thank You Economy” to explain “why I speak in absolutes”, it’s

“because if I give you an inch, you’ll run a mile with it…I’d rather shock you into paying attention, and admit later that business rarely requires an all-or-nothing approach, than take the chance that you won’t take the situation seriously enough.”

Leadership = respecting others

I just expect leaders to be smart enough to know that being mean, antagonizing, and demoralizing to their team is not going to get the positive and sustainable results they are likely trying to achieve. For those “leaders” who do believe that approach is good management, then shame on them and they deserve the results they get.

The rest of us can read between the lines to find the ideas that best fit our organizations and move ahead with our own shade of gray.

If you’re facing a shift in your business model, you’re also facing a shift in culture. In order for the culture to take root and deliver the results you want to see, I recommend you start from that black and white perspective. And read the controversial book by Pritchett & Pound.

@wendykeneipp

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Are you ever guilty of complaining about what’s not going well in your business?  Do you look for solutions or instead spend time thinking about the problem?  Dwelling on things gives them a level of importance in our minds and sometimes a very unintended importance resulting in further expansion of the negative situation.

How about dwelling on the positive – the “what’s going well”? – do you spend time appreciating what’s working and putting further emphasis on those positives?  I think it’s an important part of creating consistently great results.  By focusing on what is working, we’re able to give ourselves the motivation to repeat those same positive behaviors or processes, which then leads to consistency.

In preparation for our annual networking event, BGNLive!, we asked each agency to come prepared with a brief (10 minute) presentation to share with the group.  The topic was pretty open:  Share something with the group that your agency does well.  Of course, there are some additional descriptions and suggestions, but that’s the gist of it.

I was really surprised at how difficult an exercise this was for some.  It really made me think about the value of self-reflection for a business.  Sure, we do annual planning and talk about what we want to achieve and then run off to focus on how we’re going to get there and what new systems and processes we can create to make it happen.  But during that planning process or at other times, do you take time to look at your business and ask yourself and your team,

"What do we do well? What are our selling points of differentiation that we share with clients & prospects? What do we brag about to our clients, spouses, friends, or family that we’re really doing well?”

If you don’t immediately have answers to these questions or your answer is something along the lines of “Nothing”, then it might be time to call a group meeting.

Ask Your Team

Pose these questions and see what kinds of answers the group has.

• Brainstorm a list of company culture and processes, sales efforts, and team dynamics that work well.  Think about what things team members appreciate, what clients appreciate, what generates great results, what makes people say “Thank you!” or “Wow! That’s totally different!”– no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
• Look for the areas that really seem to make a difference, and focus on doing more of that!

Ask Your Clients

You might also try incorporating a couple of questions into regular client meetings and collecting feedback & ideas year round:

• What is the one thing we are doing or providing that adds the most value to your business?  This should be something other than a standard product or service offering.
• What is the one greatest need you currently have for which you would like a solution?

Your team will feel the energy generated from the positive and will be motivated to continue the behaviors to ensure those feelings of energy.  Another great outcome of this exercise is that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel – or your processes – to develop a great action plan.  You’re already halfway there – tweaking is much easier that starting over.

Do you make “What’s going well?” a part of your review process?  Tell us about the results.

@wendykeneipp

At the end of the day, it’s all about results. It then stands to reason that, as a producer, it is all about sales results. Unfortunately, when results don’t meet expectations, we are often at a loss as to why.

When you really look at why sales goals are missed, it is usually because behaviors are not in alignment with the goal. If you are behind on your goal, or would just like to improve your results, honestly answer the following questions to determine if your behaviors and goals are in alignment.

Do you...

1. ...stay out of service activities, or any other activity that doesn’t generate revenue?

If you don’t...you will be busy, but you won’t be productive. There are some service issues in which the producer needs to be involved, but these should be limited to those emergency issues that could be relationship threatening.

The producer’s job is to produce new revenue; it isn’t to take care of the day-to-day service issues of the existing book of business. In fact, taking care of the day-to-day service issues is part of what you “pay the agency to do” for their share of the commission split. The producer gets paid to generate the business; the agency gets paid to service the business. It’s pretty simple, really.

2. ...keep a pipeline filled with the right kind of opportunities?

If you don’t...you will lose control of your sales process and find yourself building a book too slowly and with the wrong type of clients. For whatever reason, producers don’t find a sense of prospecting urgency until the pipeline is empty. At that point, it’s too late and they will be sucking air for the next three to six months (or whatever their particular sales cycle happens to be).

Consistent prospecting is the key to keeping the pipeline full. If producers aren’t blocking out time for effective prospecting each and every day/week, there will be too few opportunities to pursue.

3. ...practice your presentations in the office, not in front of the prospect?

If you don’t...your performance will suffer. Despite what you may think, every producer practices. The best producers practice in the office with their sales manager, account manager and other producers. Unfortunately, most producers practice in front of their prospects. I don’t think I have to spell out how dangerous and foolish it is to practice in front of your prospects. Can you imagine Payton Manning showing up for the first game of the season not having practiced or prepared for the game? Of course not! As good as he is at what he does, it would be a sure recipe for a loss. 

Your efforts aren’t any different. As good as you are at what you do, winging your presentation will produce inconsistent results at best. And, I’m not only talking about practicing the presentation itself, but also, and maybe more importantly, how to answer the inevitable objections that will come.

The only way you can approach a sales opportunity with a deserved level of confidence is if you have anticipated and practiced for every conceivable situation the opportunity will bring.

4. ...know the prospects business, how they make money, and how you can help them make more?

If you don’t...the prospect will struggle to ever see you as more than another vendor selling a product. While knowing insurance and employee benefits is critical, it is also expected that you have this knowledge. Because it is expected, chances are vey slim that you will earn a prospect’s confidence just by meeting their minimum expectations.

What they are really looking for is help in becoming better at what they do. I will challenge that it is impossible if you haven’t developed the business acumen and done the research to understand how you can make that happen.

5. ...never lose because the competition was better prepared for the opportunity?

If you don’t...well, I think this one speaks for itself. Just know that being better prepared doesn’t mean having a better spreadsheet, it means having a better business solution.

6. ...work every day to be smarter and more informed than you were yesterday?

If you don’t...you start losing ground the very day you stop pushing yourself. What was exceptional yesterday, is acceptable today, but will be completely inadequate tomorrow. You have to work every day at remaining exceptional. 

7. ...use the strength of the entire team and not try to play the role of Lone Ranger?

If you don’t...you will find yourself spread too thin and increasingly ineffective. Specialists are always more in demand and able to deliver more value than generalists. If you don’t leverage the support and expertise of an entire team, you are relegating yourself to the role of generalist. Besides, your prospects and clients are going to find much more confidence in knowing you bring an entire team to support their needs.

This goes back full circle to question 1. If you don’t use the strength of your entire team, you will allow yourself to be pulled into service issues, out of sales activities and find your book of business prematurely plateaued.

You owe it to yourself, your clients and your team to ensure that you are getting sales results. If you couldn’t answer “yes” to every question, your results are either lagging behind your goals, aren’t predictable – or both. If that’s the case, something will need to change. You will either need to change your current behaviors, or you will need to change your goal. I hope you choose the former.

Originally published on agencyfuel.zywave.com © Copyright 2010 Zywave, Inc.

Photo by Grotuk.

The people with whom we choose to surround ourselves can have a strong influence on how we behave.  We pick up habits we often don’t even realize. If it’s a good habit, that’s great!  It’s the not-so-good, lazy ones which can be quite detrimental.

Punctuality is a difficult one for many people, and I think this one is particularly influenced by those around us.

Early in my career, I had this message driven home from a seasoned boss who grew tired of the attitude our team displayed through our young, arrogant ways.  One afternoon he hauled us all into the conference room and chewed on us about our attitudes and behavior that were demonstrating a lack of respect for the business.  He schooled us on proper business behaviors, and punctuality was his key message. Individually, I’m sure each of us was perfectly respectable and probably punctual, but group-think can drag down even the best-intentioned.

Being chronically late impacts trust in relationships.  People know that they can’t count on you, and they’ll begin treating you accordingly. When you show up late, you’re not only disruptive, but you’re sending the message that you respect your time more than everyone else’s – which is definitely not a relationship-builder!

If you’re stressed and flustered when you arrive, you’ve lost focus and really aren’t at your best for either sharing or receiving information.  You’re probably only getting a fraction of the information being discussed when you’re in this mindset.

For some, timeliness is just a given.  For others, it’s a nice surprise if it happens – as if being on time is something that happens to us rather that us being the ones responsible for the timeliness of our actions.

I am no exception.  I hate tardiness, but in being surrounded by it, it’s something I got used to and adopted the tendency myself.  I know it’s not a good habit, and I have to work consciously to make sure I leave and arrive on time. In deciding to make it a priority, it’s changed my behavior and my focus; I’m more relaxed and present in the moment when a meeting/appointment/event starts.  I’m also acutely aware of those wandering in late and being disruptive with their apologies of tardiness – which gives me more incentive to be on time!

Do you or someone you know need help kicking the tardiness habit?  Check out the article from MedicineNet.com about common reasons for tardiness and suggestions to help change those behaviors:  “Help for the Chronically Late.” It’s interesting information and definitely worth a read.

Do you have circumstances that influence your promptness?  Perhaps a company or family culture?  Do you have any stories about tardiness that influenced a client situation?

@wendykeneipp

Photo by Alan Cleaver.

In our professions we’re given a lot of things that we don’t necessarily get to choose – colleagues, systems, materials, company visions – but the one thing we are totally and completely in charge of every day is our thoughts.  Every day we get to choose what thoughts we have that lead to our actions and ultimately our results.  We can choose to be in charge of those thoughts, actions, and results or we can choose to be a victim of our circumstances.  I prefer being in charge, but I find that it takes constant reminders to generate the right thoughts.

Our minds are so powerful, and I’m amazed at what we can talk ourselves into or out of thinking or doing.  I am the master of talking myself into or out of things – good or bad.  When I run, the results of my thinking are instantaneous, and the success of the run often hinges on my thoughts.  Changing the quality of the run is often as simple as changing the focus of my thoughts.

• “I’m so sluggish today” reinforces the negative and results in tired legs and labored breathing.

• “I’m proud of myself for getting out on the run today and for all of the running I’ve been consistently doing because it makes me feel better and more energized,” changes the focus to the progress I’ve made and results in refreshed energy and better performance.

I do a lot of thinking when running, so you can imagine how this idea leads me to think about how that change of focus relates to other areas of life.

Positive vs. Productively Positive

Setting up the right type of positive thinking is the key to generating our desired results.  I’m not talking about a discussion of positive thinking just to be optimistic:

“I will get the business.”  This type of thinking only provides your mind with a wish and no action plan for making it happen.

What I’m talking about is thinking about the actions you take which will lead to a desired outcome.

“I am prepared for this call.  I’ve done the research, I’ve practiced through role playing, I know my business very well, and I’m going into the meeting genuinely curious to learn about their business.”  This type of thinking gives your mind positive productive thoughts on which you can take action and build confidence.

If you find that you’re intimidated by certain types of clients, try changing your thinking about the situation to set yourself up for a successful meeting by building a foundation of confidence.  If you are meeting with a C-level executive and you think “I don’t know how to sell to CEOs; they intimidate me,” you’re setting yourself up for near certain failure.

Yet, if you take that same scenario and think about what you need for a successful meeting and focus on the skills and resources you have which will be beneficial to the client, you’ve given your mind something of real quality on which to focus.  “I am familiar with this business, and I know they have areas for improvement which will make them more productive/profitable.  I have solutions which could help them.” This thinking puts you in a place of being a peer and a problem solver – a genuine help to the bottom line of the business rather than being a vendor of a commodity product.

Creating the Thoughts

Aligning our thoughts with the actions we want which will produce the results we want is the key.  In order to create the right types of thoughts, start by asking yourself, “What will have to have happened in order for this [situation] to be successful?” Begin with the end in mind:

• see the successful outcome

• see the actions that lead to the outcome

• create the thoughts that will lead you to those actions

Let’s be Realistic

With all the proper preparation, positive productive thoughts, and all the right actions, it doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed success.  Circumstances and mis-matched needs don’t always play in your favor, but in the end, you know you were prepared, and you performed your best.  Which means you can repeat it again under different circumstances, and strive for success with a better match of needs.

What are some thought patterns you have that set you up for success or failure?  Share your stories in the comments below.

@wendykeneipp

Photo by Brian Snelson.