The Sales Leader Blog

On two trips to China (Last year in Hong Kong and Macau) and this year to shanghai I have been delighted by the excellent service. Nowhere else I have traveled has the attention to detail been so high, and the willing to make your experience a great one so overwhelming!

Here are a few observations and your lessons:

1. Each night the hotel left me a different tea as my turn down service amenity. The one pictured here is a bamboo tea. Each tea had a unique story and healing property designed to promote sleep, health and or longevity and was presented in a thermos with a nice china cup and the details of the tea itself.  Sure beats the usual cheap chocolate left by hotels in North America!

Your lesson - Most hotels offer something at turn down service, and it’s generally it’s all the same. This hotel (The Jumeirah) stood out with tea – unique and different. What can you do to stand out from your competition? What are they not willing to do, that you are?

2. If you have ever traveled to a foreign country you know how frustrating taxis can be. How do you know you are going to the right place if you can’t communicate?! In China they have a solution. The hotel concierge prints directions for you in the local language and hands them to the driver. At the same time, when you leave the hotel they offer you a hotel business card with directions, address, and a phone number to present  to the driver. I always felt relaxed that I was going to get to my destination and back with no confusion.

Your Lesson - How are you making the experience of doing business with you more relaxing? How can you take the stress away from your clients? Do you communicate the next steps and lay out a plan of action or are you letting them fumble around wondering what is coming next?

3. People love to complain about poor airline service. I like to expect the best and I was rewarded with it on Air Canada this trip. Flights 075 and 088 were exceptional. Service was lovely. Food and champagne delicious. And those lay flat beds….WOW – I must have slept 7 hours each way! Just look at this appetizer and try to tell me that airline food and service has declined! Sure, my flight to Billings MT this week was not quite as glamorous but it was very good, and on time.

My point is this: I have high expectations and I expect them to be met. That being said, they almost always are. My experience is that those who expect the worst, get the worst. Likewise in sales. I ALWAYS expect to have the best year yet. I plan for it. And in 12 years of business, I have only been wrong once. What are you expecting?

Dedicated to making 2012 your best year yet,

Colleen

It can be difficult to think of anything growing at this time of year. Most of us are knee deep in snow, are facing a bleak grey landscape or rallying behind the motivational cry of “at least it’s a dry cold!” Despite the lack of growth outside, its is a great time for growth inside. Specifically a time to reflect on past goals, stretch into new goals and review our accomplishments over the past years. What are your growth goals for 2012?

When my brother and I were kids we used to stare at the sky and ask ourselves how high we thought it could go. Paul thought it was endless, I was not so sure. I remember him being particularly devastated at school one day when we learned that the sky actually ended and deep dark space began. I am still intrigued by the thought that the universe is endless and often catch myself wondering  “What else in our lives are endless?”. How big, how high can we grow our lives?

As a sales professional, did you start out in your business with a “how high can I go?” question and an “opportunities for my expertise are endless” attitude? Most of us did, but where is that attitude now? Has it been replaced with the “sky is falling!” cry as you face the grim reality of all the “other” tasks we need to accomplish in order to run a successful business? While many think that this more cynical outlook is a realistic attempt to balance over the top goals with the day to day operations of our businesses,  I’m not so sure it is helpful to our growth.

I would argue that imposing a “sky is falling” mentality limits your potential growth. And, in a year where I have set a goal to help your best year yet – as well as mine – I take issue with the “sky is falling” attitude.

During my 12 years as a consultant I have talked to many successful companies who lament the loss of the excitement and energy they once had as a business or seller in the market place. Sure they are successful and enjoying it, but it seams to me that they have lost some of the thrill associated to what we do.

What are your goals? Have you reached them? Do you have a 3 year or 5 year plan? What is your exit strategy? Or, are you settling?

Many you reading this are already living your dream having grown to a place you could have never imagined. Congratulations! But is it the dream you had at the beginning, when nothing could hold you back? It’s easy to to get lured into complacency because you are earning what you want to earn this month, quarter or year. But if you take a moment to assess your current position and how you got there, its easier to set your heights on growing even more. In my opinion, everybody is capable of achieving more this year than they did last.

2012 is a leap year. That means a whole extra day to do something profitable with, and to boot, it’s a Friday. Here is my challenge for you this month. Find a way to get one more sale in February to grow your revenue over 2011 February results, or use the day for assessment, reflection and planning. Find a warm, nurturing environment and think about where you wanted to be when you started, and how you are going to get their this year.

Dedicated to making 2012 your best year yet!

Colleen

It’s always interesting to observe how other countries operate when I am traveling on business. Shanghai has been eye opening!  Here are a few noteworthy items from the last 24 hours with my thoughts on how these observations apply to our businesses in italics:

1. Shanghai airport is the model of efficiency. Quiet, well laid out, quick. Our bags were at the carousel before we passed through Immigration.  - All business can be improved!
2. Immigration offered the chance to rate their service after the officer was finished with your passport. 4 buttons were offered each depicting a “smiley” or “not so smiley” face. The officer’s score showed prominently on the device. (I’m not sure what happens if you picked the “very not smiley” face  so I ranked my officer as the best!) - Always ask for feedback.
3. Canada was used as the example of how to fill out your arrivals form and there is a Montreal Garden at Century park. Feels a bit like I am home. – Use real examples and stories to make your point
4. After getting in my limo and leaving the airport the first non taxi / limo car I saw was a bright orange Lamborghini. 2 men boarded my flight from Vancouver with Hermes bags too big to fit down the aisles. – There is money in Shanghai and always money for what people want
5. The hotel employs door men, elevator men, and entrance greeters at each of the doorways on every floor at the hotel.  I had a gym attendant personally bring me bottled water while on my morning treadmill run.  – Personalized service makes people feel special
   
6. My laundry arrived back in my room 5 hours after they picked it up. Wrapped beautifully with an orchid.  - How are you WOWing your clients?
7. Many local stores only take cash, or a local china only credit card. No Visa, Amex Dc or MC. – Are you limiting your chance to capture all sales?
8. Cars uses their horns like we use indicator signals/lights. - I guess sometimes you have to do things different to be heard above the noise!
9. Facebook, twitter, and hootsuite are all blocked. Even as eye pad aps. I can send pictures to my Facebook account via email only. - Don’t count on what you do in your market to be the accepted norm everywhere. This also got me thinking… what would I do if there was no more social media anywhere?
10. I was able to get the CBC.ca news online until I clicked on a link regarding Syria opening fire on citizens. Suddenly… no more CBC!  – Are you limiting access or making yourself available to receive and transmit freely?
11. The Chinese love French pastries! 9I noticed this in Hong Kong too) And dare I say…..they do them better than many French patisseries I have been to! - Sadly I sense they will be seeing me a lot in the gym this week….

Have you done business in Shanghai – or visited for pleasure/ I would love to hear your stories!

February 17, 2012

For Immediate Release

Details:

Alan Weiss

401/884-42353

Alan@summitconsulting.com

Four Named to Million Dollar Consulting® Mentor Hall of Fame

Four outstanding consultants from diverse disciplines and three countries have been inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame, as announced at a ceremony at the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach conducted by Alan Weiss, PhD, the globally-acclaimed “consultant’s consultant.” Criteria for membership in this elite group are:

• Serving as an exemplar to others in the profession.

• Manifesting the highest levels of integrity, ethics, and accountability.

• Achieving significant annual revenue and profit improvement.

• Contributing intellectual capital to the consulting profession.

• Engaging in continuing, challenging, personal and professional development.

• Taking prudent risk and demonstrating resilience.

The inductees and an excerpt of their citations are:

Patrick Daly, Managing Director of Alba Consulting in Dublin, Ireland is an expert in supply chain management and rapid, profitable growth. He has worked with top companies Europe, Asia, and the Americas, helping to improve return on capital while reducing risk and complexity. He has consistently presented profound case studies to colleagues to assist in their learning as he acquires new clients and challenges.

Colleen Francis is the founder of Engage Selling Solutions, a global leader in sales improvement with offices in the U.S. and Canada. A superb speaker and trainer, she implements internal accountability systems to perpetuate growth and sustain improvement. She has researched the successful habits of the top ten percent of sales professionals in a wide diversity of fields and has synthesized those techniques into powerful results for her clients.

Alex Goldfayn, founder of the Chicago-based Evangelist Marketing Institute, and known as “the technology tailor,” is the author of the new book, Evangelist Marketing. A former Chicago Tribune columnist and Fox television personality, he creates exponential growth through compelling language, mining customer insights, and targeted marketing. He enables clients to rapidly create loyal, passionate, and “evergreen” customers, who in turn attract more customers. He builds brands from scratch and turbocharges current brands.

Wayne McKinnon of Ottawa has constantly reinvented his business in the same way that he does for his clients. By modifying his client’s corporate DNA he dramatically alters their evolutionary course. He focuses on improving service delivery and operational effectiveness, rapidly deploying change, and eliminating internecine strife. His clients cite him for fast, profound work, and he is known for aligning corporate resources in a strategic manner to further corporate goals. His approaches are non-conventional and immediately effective.

The announcement was made in front of a capacity crowd during a three-day event, where Dr. Weiss noted, “These people are readily acknowledged by their world-class peers to be fitting inductees. I’m proud to have been associated with all of these people.” The award inscription included the notation of “…the distinction of being regarded by peers as one of the world leaders in consulting, as evidenced by empirical accomplishments in client results, professional contributions, and intellectual property.”

Honorees are chosen from the global participants in the Private Roster Mentor Program. The Hall of Fame and all members can be found here:

http://summitconsulting.com/hall_of_fame.html.

More details can be found on the Summit Consulting Group, Inc. web site: http://www.summitconsulting.com.

End End End

I’ve had my i-pad for a year now and it constantly exceeds my expectations. Here are some of the aps I can’t live with out:

• Tripit for managing my travel
• Aroundme for finding places to eat / drink / get gas while I am travelling
• World clock to mange client meetings in various time zones
• Currency for managing foreign currency transactions.
• Notibility for taking notes in meetings
• Hipmunk for finding flights
• All the major airlines aps
• WSJ
• CBC
• Huffington Post
• drop box
• SpeakerClock (for keeping me on time)
• Kindle
• Wikipanion (quick reference)

In my ongoing quest to reduce paper and limit my tools to my lap top, i-pad i-phone what else do you recommend?  I’m curious to know….What aps do you use in your sales business?

Colleen