INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Leading Change: Staying in Control 2Managing Change –Motivating People 43 Sales Leadership Challenges that PreventSales Force Success 5

Onward & Upward!There is an old saying that if we aren’t growing we’re dying. Clearly, this sayingrelates to each of our companies and markets. Companies that have beenretreating from the market for the past few years are discovering significantmarket share losses and key accounts that have switched alliances.

Of course it’s easy to say ‘don’t spend’ but when historical revenue streamsstart to ‘dry up’ it is understandable that many companies choose to freeze allspending and ride out the storm. The danger, of course, is that the landscapewill have changed during this storm and you may find many of your accounts nolonger looking to you for business.

So – what to do? The answer is implement change! Look for the myriad number of ways you canimprove your products, your distribution, your relationships; your training and your marketing. Even if fundshave been reduced, there are dozens of ‘guerilla marketing’ tactics you can implement that provide highreturn at low cost.

In particular, re-invest in your people! These are your company’s critical assets and you need themaround as the economy rebounds. Re-recruit your key players and reach out to everyone that is sharingthe company’s pain. Most of all, don’t forget the high touch stuff like public praise; shoring upcompensation plans and sales meetings and conferences.

In the spirit of improvement and change, you may notice wehave upgraded our Q NEWS™ format. As our subscription listgrows into the thousands, we have elected to create a simplepdf format of the newsletter and will send it to you with ourwebsite link so all you need do is click on the link and get thefull letter. We will have 3-4 articles/month from the globe’s topsales gurus that focus on a particular theme and topic. We arealso in process of creating the Quota® BLOG™ so that you canpersonally tap into the thousands of other sale professionalsout there for their input to whichever topic your are tackling.

Finally, we are very pleased to welcome Mr. Venkat Subramanyan to the Quota® team as our newDistributor for SE Asia. Based in Delhi, Venkat has close to 20 years of business experience drivingExcellence in Execution with many individuals, teams and subsidiaries in Multi-national Corporations.Venkat was formerly a Senior Director for Microsoft and was the COO for their Enterprise and PartnerBusiness division. His 14 year career with Microsoft spanned many roles, including frontline sales andsales management, Industry management, Sales strategy and Operations, and Business Planning. Hisspan of operations included India and all Asia Pacific countries, which brings out his rich understanding ofdifferent cultures, and appreciation for diversity. Prior to Microsoft, Venkat was with Wipro InfoTech in afrontline sales capacity. Venkat is a First Class graduate in Computer Engineering from the University ofPune. Today, Venkat and his wife live in New Delhi and enjoy discovering the world together. •

Quota® Distributors, Mr. Venkat Subramanyan

(SE Asia) and Mr. BobBowes (New York, USA)

Guest Lecturers at theUniversity of Toronto

Professional SalesManagement class

QNEWS • April 2012 • 1

Volume 9, Issue 4 • April 2012

QNEWS • April 2012 • 2

By Kevin DwyerWhen leading a change programme, the bare minimum requirement of a leader is tobe seen to be in control.

The people you are leading will have a range of anxieties about the changewhich different individuals will feel to a different depth. The nature of the anxiety andthe depth of the anxiety will change over time, sometimes precipitously.

The leader, however, must be seen to be in control. More than that, except forthe odd private lapse of confidence which bedevils the best leaders, the leader ofchange must be in control.

My observations from being affected by and leading change are that there are afew guiding principles for maintaining control.

Principle One: Focus on the goalDay-to-day, leaders will receive good news and bad about the activities which makeup the programme of change. Some activities will be ahead of where you thoughtthey should be, some will be falling behind, or under seemingly impossible challenge to actually becompleted.

Getting excited about activities which are ahead of progress and getting despondent or activating areactionary process about activities which are not going well is sure way ofcommunicating a lack of control.

Celebrating progress in a change programme is an important part of a changeprogramme communication strategy. However, the celebration should be for progresstowards the goal. The progress should always be measured as a balance of good andpoor progress against the goal, where we have come from and the challenges whichlie ahead of us.

Keeping a calm focus on the goal whilst encouraging overall progress andproviding specific resources and guidance to fix problematic activities will give theteam involved in the change increased courage and determination.

Reacting positively to good news and negatively to bad news only increases anxiety.Of course, this principle assumes that the goal is clear and well understood. If it is

not, take urgent action to clarify the goal of the change, its delivery date and ensure itis communicated in the languages and styles that the recipients will be mostcomfortable with and the mediums they have easiest access to.

Principle Two: Understand the building blocks of the changeAny change will have some key building blocks without which the change will not beaffected. Building blocks will include items, for example, such as changing thecompetence of people, building infrastructure, purchasing equipment, implementingsoftware changes, changing processes, developing products or gaining marketunderstanding.

As a leader, focus a heavier proportion of your time ensuring the key buildingblocks of change are given the resources and management thinking time necessaryto make sure they are completed.

Ensure more effort is spent on planning the building blocks. Demand morerigorous understanding of the critical path to completing the building blocks on time.Be prepared to spend more budget to compete the elements when problems arise

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which require more resources. Insist on a detailed risk management strategy being developed andexecuted.

Leaders who do understand the building blocks of the change they initiated ensure not only that theorganisation as a whole is seeing the wood for the trees, but will coach others to act similarly in theirsphere of influence almost without knowing it.

Principle Three: Develop and execute a risk management strategyIf we all had a crystal ball that worked, we would not need to develop a risk management strategy.Unfortunately, for leaders of major change programmes, a working crystal ball has yet to be found. Further,change programmes, more so than any other project, are full of uncertainties and ambiguities.

The main reason for the uncertainty and ambiguity is that change programmes always involve orimpact people. They impact one or more of customers, shareholders, employees including team leadingthe change, public servants, governments, suppliers and the general public.

How all, or one of these groups of people will react, is not everreally known until the change programme starts to play out as it is notjust the change that causes reactions nor what people do, butimportantly, what people say about the change and elements in it andhow they say it.

Completing a risk analysis is moderately easy. Every changeprogramme has its nay sayers. Utilise them and a good range ofexperienced, inexperienced, intellectual and practical people todetermine what the risks are for the change programme. Developing arobust and actionable (in time) contingency plan for those risks whichare considered to be high impact, whether high or low probability, ismore difficult but must be done.

Knowing your risks, building contingency plans and making thosecontingency plans part of the change programme is buying insurancefor a leader’s ability to stay in control.

Principle Four: Communicate early and oftenThe simplest way for a leader to lose control of a change programmeis to allow the rumour mill to develop and then run. The leader and their team are inevitably caught up inreacting to rumours, reducing the time they can spend on the key building blocks of change. Additionally,and fatally if it is allowed to happen, the concentration of the leader, the change programme team and theorganisation as a whole drops away from focusing on the goal to the minutiae of the day.

Leaders must develop a communication strategy that encompasses all stakeholders and what it is thatthey want communications with them to make them feel, think and do. The communication strategy mustbe built on what messages, through what mediums, at what frequency, delivered by which person, will helpthe stakeholders feel, think and do what will be helpful for the success of the change programme.

The communication strategy must take into account the different filters of experience, upbringing,emotional state and thinking styles that people in the organisation will apply to the receipt ofcommunication. The filters will change over time.

Communications, therefore, need to be plural and frequent to allow people to assimilate the messagesat their own speed.

If people are not told what is happening in a major change programme, their anxiety leads to themmaking their own conclusions based on past history, snippets of information heard in corridors, tea roomsand read in newspapers. The leaders of the change programme and their team then have to react to whatis not real rather than what is real.

Staying in control and being seen to stay in control is a paramount behaviour for a leader of majorchange. It is what they are paid for. It is difficult at times. Staying true, however, to a few key principlesmakes it much easier than it otherwise would have been. •

Quota® COACH™Champions Mr. Trevor

Sonstelie and Mr. RossKendall with Quota®

Director of Distributors, Mr. George Anastasopoulos

QNEWS • April 2012 • 4

By Kevin Dwyer Motivating people is a myth. People cannot be motivated by others. They are motivated from within.Leaders can however, set up an environment in which people are able to motivate themselves.

To set up an environment that enables employees to be motivated, leaders need to understand whatthe motivational needs of individuals and groups are. Determining the “what’s in it for me”for individual employees and workgroups that is consistent with goals and strategies ofthe organisation is the key to improving motivation for individuals and groups ofemployees.

A base for understanding what motivates human beings is found in the theories byMaslow and Herzberg.

Maslow’s theory is that people are motivated by a hierarchy of needs: that hierarchybeing physiological needs, safety needs, belonging needs, esteem needs and selfactualisation needs.

Physiological needs are the very basic needs such as air, water, food, sleep, shelter,etc. Safety needs have to do with personal safety and security including job security.Belongingness is the desire to belong to groups: clubs, work groups, religious groups,family, gangs, etc. There are two types of esteem needs. First is self-esteem whichresults from competence or mastery of a task. Second, there’s the attention andrecognition that comes from others. The need for self-actualization is "the desire tobecome everything that one is capable of becoming."

Maslow’s theory postulates that humans are motivated by the needs above theminimum set of needs which are fulfilled. People who have fulfilled a particular set ofneeds are not likely to be motivated by an environment which fulfils needs at lowerlevels. Conversely, people are also unlikely to be motivated by an environment whichfulfils needs at a much higher level when their lower level needs have not been fulfilled.

For example, people who are struggling to cope with the basic physiological needsof sufficient water, food and shelter are unlikely to be motivated by self actualisation,characterised by seeking knowledge and “inner peace”. Similarly, people who have asafe home, a secure family and a healthy ego fuelled by the accumulation of materialgoods are not going to be motivated by the provision of financial rewards.

Herzberg’s theory is about the hygiene factors needed to stop employees frombeing demotivated and the factors which, if the hygiene factors are taken care of, willprovide an environment to motivate people.

The hygiene factors included in the job environment encompass the company, its policies and itsadministration, the kind of supervision which people receive while on the job, working conditionsinterpersonal relations, salary, status and security. These factors do not lead to higher levels of motivationbut without them there is dissatisfaction.

Herzberg’s motivation theory involves what people actually do on the job. The motivators areachievement, recognition, growth or advancement and interest in the job.

When applying these theories, leaders must understand some of the personal circumstances of theindividuals and groups to develop the environment that allows individuals and groups to motivatethemselves and provide an overall approach that reinforces the desired motivation.

Understanding what employees consider to be the basic physiological needs is a starting point. Doemployees consider the basic needs to be a roof over their head and food for their family or a house theyown and a car? Is it different from one workgroup to another? Be careful, the definition of these needs will

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change over time for individuals and groups and they will not necessarily match your own definition.In my own experience, the removal of a bonus for not hitting targets de-motivated staff well beyond

that which might be expected. In 20:20 hindsight the bonus had, over the years, become a means bywhich the employees provided their basic needs of a home. It hadbecome part of their mortgage payments.

For employees whose basic needs are fulfilled, it may benecessary to understand whether delegation of responsibility andauthority will cater to their self esteem needs. For example, givingthem projects for which they are accountable and have the resourcesand competence to complete.

Care has to be taken with processes and policies. Processes andpolicies which are in contradiction of people’s motivators will depressmotivation. A study of Herzberg dis-satisfiers reveals thatadministration and policy has the highest impact on motivation being adis-satisfier on 36% of occasions. However, processes and policieswhich motivate individuals may not be aligned to an organisation’sstrategy and objectives.

Further, a robust performance management system thatrecognises and rewards people in a way that fits their motivators is necessary for developing anenvironment that allows individuals and groups to motivate themselves.

Developing an environment that improves employee’s motivation is hard work. There is no one size fitsall solution, as motivation is driven by “what’s in it for me”. •

By Jeff Thull When was the last time you…• Received an account update full of glaring generalities?• Gave into a salesperson, lowered the price and still lost the business?• Counted on the ‘superstar’ to hit a home run and found out he struck out?Most of us have experienced these frustrating situations and have had to deal with the consequences.

In today’s marketplace of increased complexity, constant pressure is placed on the sales team to deliverthe numbers, but too often sales managers are expected to select, shape and coach their team toexcellence with few tools and they often fall short of giving the quality support that is required to develop ateam of top performing professionals.

There are many challenges in leading a winning sales team. Our research has identified 3 keychallenges that sales managers most commonly face. How are you currently approaching these situationsand are you getting the results you are looking for?

1. Reversing the 80/20 Rule“The sales results of my top performers run significantly higher than those of my average producers. Ourteam pretty much reflects the ‘80/20’ rule.”

It may be a challenge to build a sales force of all “20 percenters” but doubling this group is certainlywithin reason. The good news is that the top 20% are not doing anything superhuman and their behaviorpatterns that impact their success can be defined and replicated. Accepting that 20% of your salespeoplebring in 80% of your revenue is like accepting that 80% of your manufacturing machines are, on the

3 Sales Leadership Challengesthat Prevent Sales Force Success

Summerhill Group Quota®

Champions: RebeccaFiissel; Colin Campbell

and Naomi Resnick

QNEWS • April 2012 • 6

average, producing one-fourth of your most productive machines. That output level would never beacceptable; it would be absurd.

Building a uniform selling system is required to define the quantity and quality of activities forindividuals to produce at top performing levels. This system will enable managers to monitor and measureimprovements in the team’s performance.

2. Severe Pricing Pressure“Even though we provide a highly technical and complex solution, we find that our prospects, and even ourmost knowledgeable customers, are forcing us to compete as a commodity with severe pricing pressures.”

The more complex the situation becomes, the morecustomers and salespeople alike try to simplify things. Tothe customer, the simplest differentiator is price, and in theabsence of a quality decision process to help themunderstand the value of your products and services, theywill tend to focus on it and use it as the criterion whenmaking their decision. Your customers should be looking attheir situation in ways they have not thought throughbefore and quantifying the consequences of not havingyour solution. Your role is to guide them through acollaborative decision process, much like a doctor would doas they diagnose a patient. For example, if you help yourcustomer/patient come to an understanding of the severityof their situation, they will be willing to invest in resolving their problem.

3. Resistance to Changing Behavior“I realize I’m supposed to be the coach, but even after repeated coaching sessions, my salespeople keepbringing issues to my desk that should have been easily handled without me. They just don’t get it!”

They get it, but if you keep doing it for them, they have no incentive to change. Go beyond proactive tointer-active. A proactive manager gives the salesperson direction and a plan, assumes the salesperson willexecute effectively, and waits for the results to roll in…management by assumption. By the time theresults are reported, it’s too late to provide productive guidance. It’s like an athletic coach handing out thegame plan, asking if there are any questions, and then heading back to their office to work onadministrative details as the team takes the field.

To use an interactive approach, first, reach agreement with the salesperson on an action plan thatdefines specific behaviors, in terms of the quantity and quality of their sales activity. Then interact with thesalesperson regularly and “course correct” as you move forward. •

Telephone: +1 (905) 601-2880Fax: +1 (905) 828-7890E-mail: inquiry@quotagame.comWebsite: www.quotagame.com

UK Hermes Champions –March, 2012