For anyone who wants to become better in sales and become a better sales leader, the best seminar I’ve ever been to by far was earlier this year when I went to a Jack Daly seminar (www.jackdaly.net). You will walk away inspired, motivated, with a number of practical take away tools you can implement into your organisation immediately.
The biggest lessons I learned were: (cutting straight to the point here)
- In order to grow your organisation fast - you need to grow your people in quality and quantity (not focus on growing sales) - with a whole host of strategies and systems to make this happen i.e. regular one on one coaching, mentoring, group training etc even for top performers. Top performers still want to grow and earn more.
- The biggest mistakes companies make (which is why they cant grow are):
- Mistake #1. Most companies make their best sales guy into a sales leader. What happens is that they eventually work out that it is a different skill set, and their sales drop and their leadership skills suck. Best example is in sports, often the coach of the team isn’t necessarily the best player, but they are the best student of the game and best mentor.
- Mistake #2. Many companies make their sales managers also sell. What happens if you are running a team meeting and your phone rings? Selling and managing at the same time can counter productive and distraction of focus.
All of this relates to our game in recruitment. How many micro agencies out there simply can’t and won’t grow. Apart from a lack of resources, the owners won’t let go. Their leadership isn’t great. They must keep billing and managing etc. They haven’t got time to lead and manage with focus. With the larger agencies, how many leaders or managers are actually being coached and mentored to become better leaders?
Watch what happens when the leadership is right with full focus. Moral is at an all time high, you become an employer of choice, energy and performance levels are high, the quality of skills in your team improves, and the rest flows from there. How much easier is it then to grow from this solid foundation?
Then the question is how do you do all this?
Jack gives you a number of tips and strategies as to how, but here is one classic example. A new staff member starts on Monday (not the ideal day to start, by the way). The receptionist doesn’t know their name, asks them to wait at reception. Then, their desk, computer and business cards aren’t ready. No one’s around to help with training. The new starter then goes home at night and their partner asks ‘how was your first day?’ They reply, “nothing special”.
In our organisation, we have a “Welcome party”. The receptionist knows their name and knows who is turning up. Their desk, computer and business cards are ready. We have a surprise welcome party for the whole office with home baked muffins. Induction schedules are booked and planned. Training is ready. The new starter hopefully goes home ranting and raving to their partner about how amazing the organisation is and how nice all the people are. What an amazing first day. That’s my goal – to blow my new starters away on Day 1, and continue on from there with more surprises to come!
Jack is all about ‘systems and processes’, ‘systems and processes’. What are your leadership 'systems and processes'?
- Jonathan Weinstock
