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The Perennial Debate… is sales excellence science or art? Is it about personality or tools? Is it about the face to face chemistry or is it about documented needs and solutions?

It’s really a circular argument that sales professionals argue to their own strength.

It’s really both.

I was confronted with weather shock three times in the past few months.

In November we spent a week in The Dominican. Wonderful sun and sea, only to return home to a winter wonderland!

In December we were on stage at a leadership conference in beautiful San Diego. Return home to a winter wonderland! Sunny San Diego to wintery Hockley Valley.

A few weeks ago we were in Cuba, beautiful sun and sand. Smack into winter wonderland!

I lived for over 25 years in a prime urban neighborhood in Toronto. Walking to great markets, restaurants, schools kids all over and dog parks. And no space.

Three years ago we moved to Hockley Valley, it really is paradise. It is one of the most beautiful parts of Ontario. We have an amazing home with logs, timbers and modern construction… airy in summer and cozy in winter. In less than 500 meters’ walk, we can be with our dogs in thousands of acres of pristine forest.

What does this have to do with sales professionalism and excellence?

First off, it gives me 45 minutes each time to reflect. And to reflect on my 2011 priority to re-engage my blog.

Secondly, I thought that the tools I use in clearing snow are not unlike the tools a great professional uses in the sales and relationship processes.

Two tools I use in clearing the several thousand square feet of snow are below.

Power and Finesse

Power: A perfect boy toy: lots of horse power, power steering, noisy, smelly.

Finesse: there are lots of times I don’t need a fuel hungry blunt instrument. I saw this a few years ago, it’s called a “wovel”… wheeled shovel. Even when I use the power tool, the job needs finesse to clean up the roughness and the edges.

We left with satisfied appetites from an amazing meal by the shore, taking advantage of the ocean’s fruit, an amazing meal of seafood and shellfish in sunny, hot San Diego. Then we landed in Toronto on the red-eye.

We landed in significantly sub zero weather and as we approached our lane we wondered if our trusty BMW all wheel drive coupe would make it up.

We did.

Coffee then snowblower. I love being outdoors. When I was a kid, I took great pride in cleaning the sidewalk in front of my parents’ shop.

Now we are preparing our home for a family Christmas with our first grandbaby. She won’t remember it but we will! All my kids are home from Australia and Asia for the first time in years, and we have a newborn in the house!

How could cleaning up the snow remind me of the role of a “producing leader”?

Getting your hands dirty… (or cold)

Using tools and personality

Power… the heavy lifting, leveraging technology… and finesse… “fit and finish”, leveraging personality and style

High tech + high touch completes the experience

The role of science and nature and art to fulfill the promise of our creator(s)

It’s never done… there’s a point that “it’s good” and send it or come back to it

Got to adapt to changing conditions… the new relationship (like fluffy new powder, skiing in it waist deep or like feathers on your shovel… corn snow that you need technique to turn… icy and harsh when you need sharp precise edges and technique, the challenge and exhilaration of expanding to bring value to new decision makers, like a mogul field you’ve never been in…)

Call to action for professionals who sell and build relationships:

Tools provide you with the potential for amazing integration of ease (leverage) and efficiency (no fuel other than human power and load/input).

Producing leaders…

How do you leverage and integrate power (tools/process) and finesse (art/style)?

How do you maximize high tech and high touch?

Do you rely on “face to face” and ignore the use of tools that keep you present when you are not

How do you maximize the clients’ memory effect and show them you are not the typical selling professional who is all face-to-face flash and are a professional who sells and can keep their recall of the value-added business dialogue vital, front and center?

Now that the flood of new year’s messages and haranguing about resolutions and goals has died down, I wanted to weight in.

I haven’t been around my blog for a couple of years. I have been focused on “back to fundamentals” during the financial meltdown and the subsequent recession and harvesting residual income through my book and other income streams… Now I am semi-retired with more time.

One of my resolutions is to restart my blogging. I’m going to do it modestly so I don’t blow up my resolution.

A bigger resolution that I wanted to share is that I am committed to making 2011 my and my family’s best ever.

I also want to share some resources with you that I have found entertaining, thought provoking and inspiring.

One of them is The Art of Manliness. I know that the women in my audience appreciate a “good manly man” as much as anyone so I believe I have not excluded half of my readers. Here is the link: http://artofmanliness.com/

By coincidence as I was formulating ideas and draft entries over the holidays, The Art of Manliness sent a newsletter that appealed to my inner Batman fan:

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/01/02/becoming-superhuman-in-2011/

I think you’ll enjoy it!

Here’s to you maximizing your potential and your possibilities in 2011.

Batman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman

http://www.dccomics.com/dccomics/

http://www.dccomics.com/sites/batman/

At a recent corporate Sales event, the guest speaker was retired General Rick Hillier of the Canadian Forces. I must say that he is a very engaging speaker who truly cares for the men and women that he commanded during his tenure. His condensed biography can be found at: (http://www.canadaka.net/modules.php?name=Famous_Canadians&action=viewperson&person=218)

Canadian military is an interesting place for business to learn.

1. Big objectives
2. Few resources
3. Demanding much resourcefulness!
   

As General Hillier brought his soldiers on stage for us to meet and understand their stories, it was obvious to see the mutual respect and admiration and there was not a dry eye in the house and the feeling of patriotism filled the air.

What really struck me throughout his speech is how similar he was to the executives I most respect in the corporate world. General Hillier understood the value of the assets at his command and never missed an opportunity to share the spotlight with them.

Battle Plans

His view on a Battle Plan was that it was only good until you engaged the enemy and then it went out the window since the enemy hadn’t read the Battle Plan and didn’t always behave in the fashion that was expected. This sounded hauntingly familiar to the Strategic Plans put together by many organizations. Great plan that we all agree to, then we encounter the competition and our customers. Then we scramble to do mid-course corrections.

The Changing Rules of Engagement

General Hillier was explaining how the military is a hierarchical machine in that commands are passed down from the General, to the Colonel, to the Major, to the Lieutenant, and so on until the foot soldier must fulfill that command. It was this linear, directive type of order taking that caused significant casualties and injuries as soldiers followed the orders to the letter, even if they knew it was wrong.

In today’s military, according to General Hillier, they are practicing the art of “Leadership Intent”, whereby the orders still follow the same chain of command downward to the field. Yet the key difference is that the field is being asked to use their own decision-making skills and creativity- at each stage - to accomplish the desired goals. What they have discovered is that the foot soldiers are very creative and will generally accomplish what is being asked without the same number of casualties.

Similarities in the Business World

At the beginning I mentioned that General Hillier reminded me of my favorite bosses and I believe it is his strong endorsement of “Leadership Intent” that pulls at my memories. My most recent boss in the corporate world was a man a lot younger than me, but a smart savvy business man that I thoroughly respected. Each year he would lay out the challenges for us and we would determine the goals that we needed to achieve. Usually he had to pump the room full of oxygen as we always seemed to have growth targets that outpaced the industry. Once he had guided us to the desired targets, his philosophy was to get out of the way while our teams went about trying to deliver the targets. When we would hit a road block, he would step in to help us remove it by asking us enough questions to help us see the issue clearly or if it was political or required capital, he would pick up the phone and connect with his network within the company to get us back on the path again.

This is a learned skill that happens over time and as trust is built between the members of management.

What’s your style?

Will your team follow you into battle? Will they lead to success?

On behalf of Walmsley and Co. I’m pleased to announce my new partnership with Stan Tyo.

Stan has over two decades of applied leadership in high growth and transitional situations. He “gets” clients, he “gets” people and he has a remarkable breadth of insight into business. Stan’s experience as a senior executive will prove invaluable in shaping the practical counsel and execution that is the hallmark of the Walmsley & Co practice.

You may know Stan from his six and a half years as Vice President Contact Centre Solutions and Vice President Sales at TELUS Communications Inc. where he drove new sales processes and created the strategy and winning team to revitalize the Contact Centre practice.

You may have met Stan as he developed and spearheaded initiatives and operations at ICCI, CIBC, MDR Technologies, Telcost and Hudson’s Bay Company.

You may have listened to Stan at one of his numerous speaking appearances at industry conferences, universities/colleges and corporate functions to raise the awareness of Aquilium, CIBC and MDR Technologies or while he lectured for four years in Telecommunications and Management skills at Humber College.

You will be hearing about Stan and Walmsley & Co:
1. Broadening our reach into the technology and telecommunications sectors
2. Augmenting our results-driven and strengths-based approaches
3. Building distribution and licensing for our high impact sales, delivery and leadership workshops
4. Helping businesses integrate, measure and convert quality behavior into sustainable results

And if you haven’t yet met, heard or known Stan, you really should.
Drop me a line at steve@walmsleyandco.com or (416) 703-4563 – I would be pleased to make introductions.

Thoughts for challenging times

Lots of gloom.

Lots of financial advice.

Not much in the way of how-to’s about managing a positive mind-set.

Here are three quotes that I really appreciate – they anchor me and help me navigate choppy waters. After all aren’t challenging times the best time to learn new things and make new commitments?

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ghandi

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

E. B. White (1899-1985)

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”

Suzuki Roshi

And once you decide… COMMIT!

Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.

What do you use for guidance and focus in challenging situations?

We’d love to hear from you.