Posts Tagged ‘Business Ethics’

Sales leadership in the 21st century is very much about you and your behaviors.

Do you fear your competitors?

Do you speak ill of them?

Do you bring then up in the conversation with a potential customer, potential client or prospect?

Do you ignore them and hope they will go away?

Maybe you view them as Lori Richardson calls them industry counterparts?

How you view them and what you do speaks not only to your own values (business ethics), but more importantly to your own sales leadership, your self confidence and your self esteem.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to sit in a roundtable discussion with 20 small business owners who all offer different aspects of sales training, sales coaching, and sales consulting.  What was interesting to learn that no one had exactly the same business seeking exactly the same customers providing exactly the same services.

Imagine  that!

What everyone shared was a unified goal to use this strategic alliance to everyone’s benefit.

How novel!

Later participants continued the relationship building over dinner.  Conversation flowed and everyone learned about each other from a personal perspective.

One of my colleagues once said “We drive by more business than we will ever have.”

Wise words and this speaks volumes about one’s perspective when it comes to a competitor or an industry counterpart.

So the choice is as always yours.

You can cower in fear of your competitors, challenge them head on or possibly we rethink of them as being industry counterparts. How you view these competitors or industry counterparts will ultimately determine your ability to increase sales not to mention your overall sales leadership behaviors.

Relationship selling is a great sales strategy when combined with this element – gratitude or  what my colleague Dan Waldschmidt calls a giving mindset. However many small business owners and sales professionals truly miss the boat when it comes to being giving, being grateful for their relationships be them clients, customers or business to business ones.

Yesterday, I received a text (and I do not text) from a business colleague who wanted me to go to one of the local paper’s websites and vote for his/her business as one of the best in the region. Now, I am not a fan of interruption marketing. However, if someone does text me, my attitude is this should be important because if not he or she could have sent me an email or even made post on one of his or her social media sites.

However, the main problem I had with this request was this individual had already received a personal (unsolicited)  recommendation from me on LinkedIn. He or she did accept the recommendation within 48 hours.  Then, drum roll,  responded  with silence.

• No thank you.

• No by your leave.

• No behavior acknowledging the recommendation.

The failure to demonstrate some gratitude to show high business ethics reaffirmed in my mind’s eye this person was truly, down deep inside all about herself or himself. Relationship selling was indeed a one way street for him or her.

And as a side note, this individual had in the past stated the importance of high business ethics and personal ethics. I guess being grateful was not part of his or her business ethics.

For me in my reality,  the recommendation was  taken for granted and not appreciated. A simple thank you would have sufficed. I was not looking for a quid pro quo action on his or her part.

So why would this next action my voting for her or her business  generate any different behavior?

Relationship selling is a two way street not a one way street.  Always asking without having a giving mindset, an attitude of gratitude to those who may not be your customers, but who may make referrals, turns one’s professional associations be them from chamber’s, business to business networking or other associations OFF!  This turn off may leave these individuals even negatively jaded.

People buy from people they know and trust. At this point in time, my trust factor has been greatly diminished and I am indeed negatively jaded.

Relationship selling is a two way street with many intersections. Those who drive their businesses on the way one street may find fewer intersections and eventually less and less traffic or in real world terms will not increase sales.

So the next time you ask other small business owners to take some action, such as Vote for Me, make sure you are truly authentic in your business ethics as reflected through your behaviors.

P.S. Your business connections at this point in time are not mind readers.  You may have the best intentions, but all they can see are your behaviors.

The AIDA marketing concept or AIDA model begins with the idea of Attraction through positive Attention. However through social media to business to business networking, this A of attraction has morphed into the A of Annoyance.

Each day sales starved businesses to sales people spew billions of emails into cyber space with the end result of annoying people.  Occasionally, some one may respond due to the sheer volume, but my sense is most people hit delete or actually may send back a terse, “remove my name from your mailing list, idiot” (insert some other not so pleasant description).

How is that AIDA marketing model working for you?

Even in social media, posts are made to discussion groups such as LinkedIn and the discussion is not a discussion but a landing page to sell another solution be it a product or service.  Again many of these discussions are ignored or some are actually marked Promotion and the sender may get his or her hands slapped from the group moderator. What is worse when the excuse is issued “Oh, I didn’t see that Promotions tab.”  Now you even annoyed me more.

Sales Professionalism (think Business Ethics) Is Demonstrated Through Your Behaviors as Observed by Others.

With all the information available on how to attract positive attention within the marketing phase of the sales process, I still cannot believe these so called professionals engage in this type of behavior that contradicts good business ethics.

Who gets customers or clients by being annoying?

How many times at business to business networking events do you encounter the guy or gal who could care less about you as a person, but just wants your business card, your time so he or she can spew what I call the 3Ps virus:  Price, Product or Proposal?

Through positive attraction as suggested by the AIDA marketing concept (leave the negative attraction for celebrities and the like), authentic and mutually beneficial relationships can be built.  This must happen before any salesperson worth his or her salt can proceed into the selling phase of the sales process. Remember, the first sales buying rule:

People buy from people they know and trust.

Yes, the AIDA marketing concept or AIDA marketing model is a proven process to ensure the marketing phase of the sales process is well executed and will lead to the goal to increase sales. Remember, negative press travels far faster than positive press. If your goal is to increase sales, be honest with yourself and ask yourself:

Am I being annoying in my marketing?

P.S. Listen for how many times you write or speak the word “I” and this may suggest where the focus currently is and it is not on your potential clients or current customers.

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“To give or not to give” may become as famous as Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be that is the question” quotation. For crazy busy small business owners to sales professionals to even C Suite executives who truly want to consistently demonstrate high business ethics, yet find themselves at the crossroads of “Giving” and “Being Used” to give or not to give is a daily dilemma.

After just completing my second read of the Go Giver, conducting a small experiment using LinkedIn recommendations and investing in some time to consistently reflect at the conclusion of each day as recommended by Harry Kraemer in his book From Values to Action,  I find myself personally struggling with this issue, to give or not to give, now more so than ever before. Let me explain.

First, almost 6 years ago I abandoned my rather scattered marketing plan called Pray and Spray and adopted an education based marketing approach focusing strongly on article marketing.  Adoption of an education based marketing approach is fundamentally about giving your knowledge or expertise to others.

Then I restructured my small business coaching schedule and fees to reflect current market trends of less time and budget constraints.

Finally through my book, Be the Red jacket, I established this sales blog to reflect how to increase sales along with always wearing a red Jacket at business to business networking events or speaking engagements.

Through this process there have been many “giving conversations” to “giving actions” without any expectations to receive something back. Incredible relationships have been developed and strengthened.  And yes, in some cases, this has lead to increase sales.

My personal challenge and probably one face by others is when to stop giving.  Human nature being what human nature is there are people who take advantage of those who give. With the economy for many in the doldrums, this desire to receive, to be the “to give” recipient appears to be more prominent than even before.  When we add into this mix, any religious convictions, this personal challenge can become quite enormous.

For example, several years ago after listening to a local social media expert in the Chicago area give an excellent presentation, I connected with him on LinkedIn and then wrote a recommendation because he deserved it.  When we first  met, I gave him my book, Be the Red jacket. I did asked him when he had time to read it and if  he found it of value, to write a positive recommendation over at Amazon.  We have connected several times since then and he still hasn’t found the time to read the book, but he has found the time to regularly ask me to promote his event here or there or even himself. Hmm

Locally, another social media expert was attempting to get known and I connected her with numerous people some of which actually hired her. She still has made ongoing requests to help her without any return giving of her own.  The biggest challenge is her lack of follow through and that affects my local credibility.  I no longer made recommendations specific to this person and now make recommendations to another local social media expert who is more responsive.

I remember another colleague who asked for a LinkedIn recommendation to complete his profile as three recommendations are required. Within several hours I honored his request. However he did not say thank you.

Then there are your business colleagues, business to business networking connections who will pick your brain over lunch, coffee or even a telephone conversation.  In most cases, they appear to be grateful of the giving. Over in a LinkedIn discussion group, the topic of free (giving) was intensely discussed with a variety of opinions.

To gather greater clarity around this to give or not to give, I conducted my own experiment using LinkedIn and actually determining the authenticity of colleagues’ business ethics. I gave  seven (7) LinkedIn recommendations to people who share the foll0wing criteria:

1. Known them for over two years
2. Interacted with them at least once a month
3. All personally expressed to me they had high business ethics
4. None had recommended me (to avoid quid pro quo)

All seven accepted the LinkedIn recommendations within 48 hours. One person sent an email and called me within 24 hours after receiving the LinkedIn recommendation and another emailed me within 96 hours. The other five even after several weeks have passed failed to acknowledge the LinkedIn recommendations.  Hmmm

High business ethics in my opinion suggest or even require a “giving mindset” as my giving colleague Dan Waldschmidt discusses in his EDGY conversations.  Dan is one of those folks who regularly gives. In our conversations he indicated this lack of a giving mindset is just as prevalent in larger organizations as it appears to be in small businesses.He further believes it is an obstacle to individual success, business success or organizational success call it what you will.

Maybe everyone is to be busy. Yet I am reminded of the giving attitude of one of my coaches and colleagues, David Herdlinger. When my book was first published, I sent out copies to friends and colleagues. David called me upon receiving the book, wrote a great review over at Amazon.com, all without being asked.

Now David is a very busy person with an extremely active and dynamic executive coaching practice along with being involved in a coaching academy. So my little brain goes if David can find the time to be giving, why is it so hard for others who tell me they have high business ethics and are “giving” individual?  Hmmm

After rereading the words I have shared with you, I am no closer to reconciling this personal dilemma to give or not to give.  My sense is I will continue to give while staying away from those business people and other individuals who consistently do not give and expect to be the recipients of a “giving mindset.”

Please feel free to share your thoughts below. Do you feel that you have been continually used?  Do you feel business referrals or recommendations appear to be a one way street?  What have been your experiences?

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Sunday is a time to reflect regrading the work life balance of the past week and the forthcoming week. Yesterday after reading a discussion about integrity within a LinkedIn group, I wrote this comment on my Facebook wall.

“People who say they are ethical in many cases are ‘situationally’ ethical.

They are ethical in appearance and name only.

Look to their behaviors to determine how ethical they really are.

This is where authenticity and situational ethics truly collide.”

Authenticity is visually for me the shadow behind integrity. Years ago, I remember the cartoons where the character would walk in one direction and his or her shadow would stay still or walk in the other direction. When people are authentic, the shadow stays with the person. Note:  People can be authentically good or authentically not so good.

Recently I underwent an experiment regarding business ethics and experienced this collision between authenticity and situational ethics. The results were quite surprising in that over 70% of the people in the experiment actually displayed situational ethics even though all professed the demonstration of high business ethics (behaviors) was part of who they were.

In another example, a group of individuals who also said they demonstrated  high business ethics made a commitment to each other.  Again, approximately 50% of those involved have not honored that commitment.  Once again a collision between authenticity and situational ethics has happened.

One of my colleagues, Dan Waldshmidt, shared a post about “47 EDGY Perspectives for Unstoppable Business Success.” Many of these perspectives apply to life success and more so to work life balance. These perspectives also support how to stay authentic even during troubling times when it is much easier to engage in situational ethics.

Maintaining a work life balance is not easy. 

No one promised life to be easy.

Even our founding fathers recognized in forming this country, the opportunity for “the pursuit of happiness” does not guarantee happiness.

As leaders of our own businesses, as community members, as parents, as partners, as friends, as citizens, maintaining personal authenticity and therefore integrity (the shadow behind business ethics and personal values) is critical to grow ourselves and our businesses.  Through reflection we can change the course of our behaviors and ensure our authenticity shadows (think business ethics and personal values) stay with us instead of abandoning us.

Yesterday over on my Facebook wall, I posted a comment about business ethics and self promotion specific to LinkedIn and how LinkedIn members post events, jobs or their solutions (products or services) under the discussion tab.  I shared how frustrating this unethical behavior is because it is disrespectful to other members who are actually seeking a for real discussion.

The first several comments in response to my frustration were on target and then the discussion wandered off topic.  A couple of individuals raised the point about self promotion and how self promotion is evident in many interactions.

If marketing is about attracting attention and building relationships, then I agree wholeheartedly that self promotion is evident in every single interaction especially within social media. As business people we are continually seeking new potential customers (prospects), sales leads, strategic partners, centers of influence and maybe even a few new friends. To accomplish these goals requires us to self promote through personal one on one interactions to posting through social media to paying for advertisements. The ultimate desired end result is to make a friend and to be asked back for that coveted first time meeting.

However, when there are rules or policies in place as in the case of LinkedIn requesting that self promotion specific to events, jobs or solutions be placed under the promotions or jobs tabs, then the rules should be followed. By following the rules, demonstrates you are an individual with high business ethics.  Additionally, from my perspective, this includes speaking and even writing articles. Sales Coaching Tip:  The question is not one of “Do they know it?” but rather “Do they want to do it?”

No one wants to be “sold from the stage” as the expression goes. If you provide value through relevant sharing of information based upon your own expertise and experiences, people will come up to you and ask to learn more.

When engaged in content marketing under the education based marketing approach, again providing additional value through past articles you have written via hyper links to other external links from other resources is very common and expected. In this posting I have linked to sites connected to me as well as to sites not connected with me.  The goal is to build a loyal following by what you have to write and how you write.

Maybe upon ongoing reflection my biggest problem with self promotion is that for some it has turned into shameless self promotion and more importantly seems to be a one way street all leading to the interaction of “My Ego and More Dollars.”  These individuals are not interested in establishing any “mutually beneficial relationships” as Lillian Bjorseth of Breakthrough Networking defines networking.

One thing I do believe, social media does require vigilance and imposes some business ethics on us as subscribers, readers and participants.  To ignore blatant violation of the policies is one way for apathy to evolve. Then we potentially become a society where the emperor is naked and it takes a child to say “He doesn’t have any clothes on.”

Content marketing begins with relevant value which emanates from strategic planning as demonstrated through market research.  Potential customers, prospects, centers of influence or strategic partners are seeking new information.  Your goal is to become one of the top resources in this quest for this endless flow of information. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  To engage in content marketing without having a strategic plan has you in the role of Captain Wing It where you spray your efforts all over the place and then pray something will stick.

Of course there is a problem with all you can eat information, there is just too much of it. This is why relevant value is so critical.

Value as Marc Miller writes in his book A Seat at the Table truly comes from the client or prospect’s viewpoint.  In other words, people buy on value unique to them. This is my sales buying rule #3.

Yes, there may be some generic value in specific industries or specific roles, however each organization has a culture of decision making based upon certain usually unknown values. The challenge for those in sales is not to have their perception of value supersede the potential customer’s reality of value.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Miller’s book is probably one of the best books on how to increase sales in today’s market place as well as to how to understand value.

Relevancy specific to value is what is most critical at this point in time and works with the two sales buying criteria of commitment and urgency. For example, if the organization  is looking at compliance costs even though they also believe in building customer loyalty, what is more important to them right now?  For whatever is more relevant will also be where there is greater urgency and a greater commitment to take action.

Writing numerous postings on this sales blog as well as a weekly column for the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, regular contributor for NBiz Magazine based out of Houston, Texas, not to mention thousands of other articles, I am continually reviewing what the readers are seeking based upon metrics such as reads, retweets, etc. Even though I sincerely believe in strategic planning, leadership, business ethics and consistent goal setting, those articles do not receive as much attention as ones on:

7 Top Tips to Car Salesmen’s or Car Saleswomen’s Success – 52,583 reads published April 25, 2007

7 Tips to Real Estate Agent’s Success – 41,978 reads published May 16, 2006

What is Passion? – 17,630 reads published May 29, 2005

Content Marketing a Competitive B2B Advantage – 307 tweets since January 8, 2012

Uniting See Level with Sea Level to Reinforce an Engaged Workforce of Thinkers and Doers – 31% click through rate since August 1, 2011

Can Your Business Ethics Stand the Newest Wave of Bombardment, Social Media? – 7 reposts through EzineArticles since August 17, 2010

The challenge even though relevant value may work in tandem with two of the 5 sales buying criteria, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a sale.  Returning to the example of the first two articles about car sales people and real estate, many of these  sales people do not have the allocated dollars to hire a sales coach. However the article still gives provides the opportunity to attract more attention and build more relationships.  Yes I have earned dollars through these articles. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Determine your niche in content marketing.

To determine relevant value begins by listening to what your customers are saying; by listening to what others are saying; by listening to what is happening within your market place, your community and even the world. Also engaging in keyword research supports relevant value in content marketing.  Keyword research can be your secret weapon to Be the Red Jacket, to stand out in the crowd with your blog postings to articles to even keynote speeches.

In today’s very crowded market place, does demand that you do stand out if you wish to increase sales. Content marketing based upon relevant value just may help you stand out a little quicker, may increase sales and may expand your market influence.

During a brief  podcast with Dave Woodson, the conversation of selfish small business owners, sales referrals and giving mindset surfaced.  There appears to be an influx of a selfish mindset, a one way street where the goal to increase sales is all about me as the small business owner (salesperson)  and the heck with everyone else. And worse yet the rationale is “I’m just too busy.”

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This past week I conducted my own personal experiment.  I made seven recommendations (think sales referrals) on LinkedIn with people I interact with at least two times per month. All have accepted the recommendations and yet only one person has personally thanked me.

What does this say? 

For me, my take-a-way is there exists a very real lack of a  giving mindset.  I was not looking for quid pro quo sales referral or recommendation, but rather confirmation these individuals who tell me they have strong business ethics truly not only talked the talk, but walked  the walk. One one person has confirmed he “walks his talk.”

In writing this blog posting this morning, I was interrupted by a telephone call from Dan Waldschmidt. He was calling me about a Facebook posting that he liked. Dan wanted to personally thank me for my acknowledgement and ongoing support specific to a posting about his EDGY acronym.

• Extreme
• Disciplined
• Giving Mindset
• Y – Human with a Y

Dan shared with me that each day he attempts to acknowledge others as well as to write one personal note. Dave Woodson also shared a similar daily action of  a giving mindset  I also have a daily goal to send out one hand written note.

What is interesting is that very few people acknowledge those notes, those actions.  Yet when someone does say, “Hey thanks for the note, it made my day” or something else to that effect, you as the sender know it is a worthwhile endeavor.

To grow the local  economy, to increase sales for your business begins with your giving mindset.  Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, talks and writes about giver’s gain.

Your actions beyond the handwritten note also keep you “Human with a Y.”  They can extend to other interactions from Likes on Facebook, to RT on Twitter to comments on other blogs.  Additionally all these social media interactions include going beyond the keyboard to actually meeting some of your social media fans, friends or colleagues be it face to face, the telephone or through Skype.

Each Monday morning through my weekly business column at the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, I provide two shout outs to local small businesses.  Also when possible I interview local business leaders to get their perspectives on leadership.  The rationale behind this is to:

• Stay connected to people
• Maintain that human touch
• Provide some PR to local small businesses
• Be part of the solution to make my community, my world a better place
• Be a better person

Now some of my crazy busy small business owners tell me they are just too busy to take those actions. They don’t have time.

My response is “Get up earlier” and make time!

However, these same just too busy small business owners have complained about not receiving sales referrals or sales leads and continue to expect to receive sales referrals or sales leads.

How can you expect referrals when you fail to give referrals or personally acknowledge others?

How can you be of a giving mindset when you have a one way attitude about sales leads?

How can you say you want to see local business grow when your actions are just the opposite?

This posting is not about showcasing the business ethics of  Dan, Dave or I nor that we are better than others, but rather calling attention to this “selfish mindset” that is creating  incredible gap in business today from the professional salespersons to the small business owners to even the big businesses or corporations. If we want to grow the economy, we must take actions to show we mean business.  Those actions require a higher degree of business ethics meaning actually taking action.

The question is truly very simple.

Are you of a giving mindset with the behaviors (think business ethics) to demonstrate that attitude of gratitude?

Social media is very much about the keyboard.  Connecting with people happens with a few strokes of the key and sometimes just by one stroke when you indicate you like a post. Yet, many crazy busy small business owners fail to understand that social media is not a substitution for face to face meetings.

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People buy from people they know and trust (sales buying rule).  By meeting them, you as a potential vendor, strategic partner or even center of influence have an incredible opportunity.

Reach out and touch someone extends in the social media environments to an actual handshake.

Now with social media being a global event, it is difficult to reach out across the world, but with Skype and video cams you can connect with others and truly interact with them.  Since there is still a lot of local business, meeting others face to face over a beverage or meal is a great way to truly get to know them and continue to build that trust. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Do not confuse a business to business networking event with having a one on one meeting with someone.

This morning I had an early meeting with two local Facebook friends over at another local business here in Northwest Indiana, The Uptown Cafe.  Over the past year, we had interacted, but never had met each other face to face.  What a pleasant opportunity to spend 60 minutes to physically meet these two individuals.  One is a local realtor, Valarie Kucaki and the other Eric Wignall had a marketing firm. Sales Training Coaching Tip: Marketing is not selling, but the goal to increase sales can be achieved through effective marketing.

Discussion never once was about what each other did, but rather about points in common. From the conversation, I was able to gain a sense about the individuality of each person as well as their business ethics and values. The time invested was well worth it and I am glad that I scheduled and made time.

In fact, Eric shared one of his marketing goals is to have more of these face to face meetings with other small business owners in 2012. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Business is conducted locally as well as globally.

So as you continue to stroke the keyboard to keep connecting with others be it through LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter or some other social media site, remember to invest some time to go beyond those keys.

Emotional intelligence will increase in its acceptance, relevance and use in business during the forthcoming year of 2012. Yet, there will be many folks who still just don’t get it and will even fight it.

I was reminded of this after reading a response over at Google+.  The individual who responded is not an entrepreneur, small business owner or even a professional salesperson.  Yet, he felt compelled to offer his opinion from a less than positive perspective including the use of what some still considered to be inappropriate language.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Emotional intelligence can be reflective of one’s business ethics.

Then over at a Facebook group, there was additional discussion among the members about specific marketing strategies used in Twitter and where it was a good practice or just plain bad manners.  The majority of responses so far (100%) sided with bad manners. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  The use of Socrates’ 3 Filters is a great way to ensure you are demonstrating high emotional intelligence. Is what you say kind? Is what you say truthful?  Is what you say necessary?

Each day we have the opportunity to demonstrate emotional intelligence.  For some individuals this is a high demonstration and for others sadly they are clueless. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  When people respond with negativity this may also be an indication of dissatisfaction with their own life and consequently must take that translate that dissatisfaction into anger directed at others. Responding back in anger will be useless.

With the explosion of technology and its impact of social media from LinkedIn to Facebook to blogs, those who are truly emotionally intelligent will have strategic advantage over those who are not. This strategic advantage will become a competitive one and bottom line will increase sales.

Today as I continue to work on improving my own emotional intelligence, I invited numerous colleagues to consider becoming a guest blogger on this blog.  Yes some are competitors, but as one of my colleagues has often said “We drive by more business than we will ever have.” My sense is this marketing strategy will be very beneficial to all concerned.

Having right shorts (a phrase borrowed from my husband) about your competition is quite ridiculous given that we all share the same number one competitor – The Status Quo.  Sales Training Coaching Tip: Tight shorts is another way of defining a lack of emotional intelligence.

Here are three quick resources if you are seeking to expand your own emotional inellgence:

• Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• Six Seconds – a website with great information
• Daniel Waldschmidt – a You Tube video that provides some common sense explanation

To increase sales in today’s every socially connected world will be directly connected to your ability to be an emotional intelligent individual and business professional.