Building a Winning Business

An Intertech Course

Building a Winning Business

Intertech Open House 2012


Copyright © Intertech, Inc. • www.Intertech.com • 800-866-9884 Slide 2

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Building a Winning Sales

Team

Agenda

Hiring

Leadership

Projects

Negotiation

Communication



Tom Salonek

• Intertech Founder

• Past instructor, UST Management Center

• Executive education at Harvard and MIT, undergrad UST



HIRING





Recruiting

• Always be hiring

• Solid performers are never desperate

• Build a virtual bench



Interviewing

• Candidates on best behavior

• Consistent process

• Consistent questions



Recruiting

• Market to your talent like customers

• Walk them thru why you’re the choice

• Complete Guide to a Career with Intertech



Recruiting



Poor Performer Resume

• Short employment (12-18 months)

• Math doesn’t work (Top 3%)

• Previous bosses are not reference-able

S: Top 3%



Top Performer Resume

• Long employment

• Leaves job because recruited by former manager

• The math on comp works and happy to verify with W2’s



Interviewing

• Examples of bad reasons someone for joining a new firm:

• Vacation time

• Dental plan

• Commute



Outside Assessment

• Three places you don’t see someone’s real personality: First date, church, a job interview

• Use an assessment

• Create a benchmark



Outside Assessment



Interviewing

• Be picky

• Do the math

• Employed without gaps

• Get succinct answers

• Give specifics when asked

• Direct

• All bosses reference-able (except current)

• Check out the book: TopGrading



LEADERSHIP





Leadership, A Way of Thinking

• How we think and what we do

• “We become what we think about.” –Earl Nightingale

• “Adversity doesn’t build character. It reveals it.”

S: SW



Leadership, A Way of Acting

• Take blame for mistakes

• “Great leaders look in a mirror when there is a mistake and look out a window when there is a success.” –Jim Collins

• Give away credit

• Create an environment where mistakes are O.K.

• “If you do nothing, you’ll make no mistakes.” –Ted Salonek

S: Truck



Leadership, The 7 Roles of a Leader

1. Plan organizational goals

2. Align individuals with the goals of the firm and hold them accountable

3. Solve problems

4. Delegate

5. Give praise

6. Give corrective feedback

7. Treat people with care

Check out Dale Carnegie’s books on management.



Vision

• What’s your long-term plan?

• How do your people fit into your plan?

• If you can’t answer this, don’t expect your people to



Values and Culture

• Culture is defined by your values

• They should be points of difference

• If you don’t know it, don’t expect others to know it…



Values and Culture



Brand

• How are you different in a way that matters to your customers

• There’s a lot of noise

• Clear differentiation

• If you can’t explain it, don’t expect them to



PROJECTS



27



Projects: Define the Problem

• An IBM study found well-defined objectives are the #1 factor in successful projects.

• Good project definition includes:

• A project plan defining the vision, Critical Success Factors, and areas of responsibility.

• Clear requirements

• A sprint plan stating who, when, what, and related interdependencies

• A risk plan defining what might go wrong and what to do if it does



Projects: Huddles

• Keeps communication consistent

• Stand, limit to 15 minutes max

• Each team member shares an update and “stuck items”

• A “daily number” measures the overall health

• Six consecutive data points in any direction are a trend

• Encouraging sharing stuck items, enables the slaying of monsters while they’re small

• Huddles should cascade



Projects: Think First to Work Smart

• Ask, “What could be done today that would have the greatest impact on the future of the project?”

• Keep meetings, including daily huddles, focused

• In meetings, encouraging decision makers to make decisions if all are in the room

• Don’t have “crunch time” = “business as usual.”

• There is no silver bullet



Projects: The End Game

• Keep the team focused: turn off e-/v-mail notifications

• Beyond huddles, cancel all nonessential meetings

• Keep the work in a known state (in software, daily builds)

• As you near completion, “Does this problem need to be fixed?”

• If a date slip, don’t exchange one bad date for another

• Celebrate success… “A soldier will fight long and hard for a piece of colored ribbon." –Napoleon



NEGOTIATION



33



Good Negotiators

• Always ask for something in return if they give a concession

• Have concessions get smaller as deal gets closer

• Define their outcome before starting



Good Negotiators

• Start higher (or lower, depending on your side)

• Focus on value

• Give concessions that are not just $$$’s



Good Negotiators

• Follow thru on consequences

• Don’t paint themselves into corners



COMMUNICATION



38



Giving Praise

• Let them relive the win… “How’d you do that?”

• Hand-written note > Praising in person > Sending an email



Giving Praise

1. Be specific

2. Acknowledge they went out of their way

3. Stay what it personally means to you



Communicating Touchy Subjects

• A study by Harris/Osborne in the 1970s found:

• 7% of communication happens with words

• 38% of messages are gleaned through perceptions of voice, including tone, rate, and inflection;

• 55% of communication happens through face and body language.

• Email is read using the tone of the reader not the writer

• Discuss sensitive things face-to-face



Communicating Bad News

• Giving someone a choice when there’s bad news to communicate

• Even if the choice is between two equally disagreeable scenarios

• Choice gives a sense of control



Extend Wins, Cut Losses

• A study on human behavior gave participants the option to:

Win $10 once — or— Win $5 twice

• They overwhelmingly preferred to win $5 twice. In the same study, participants were given the choice to:

Lose $10 once — or— Lose $5 twice

• They preferred losing $10 once



Summary

• Be selective in hiring

• Leading is how we think and what we do

• Negotiate win/win

• In projects, clearly define the problemand focus on focus

• Communicate strategically



FREE BOOK: BUILDING A WINNING BUSINESS

http://www.intertech.com/Offers/?oid=138188FD-12AA-E311-802F-6C3BE5BDCA28

http://www.intertech.com/Offers/?oid=138188FD-12AA-E311-802F-6C3BE5BDCA28



Building a Winning Sales

Team

Thank You!

Tom Salonek

Intertech, Inc.

651-288-7000

[email protected]

Technology

Building a Winning Business