Guide Bridge MOT

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Pete

Well, congratulations to Guide Bridge MOT  for inviting “The Fixer” Alex Polizzi in to their garage.  It must be very daunting and worrying that they, in the best traditions of “entertainment” are going to be made to look foolish on prime time T.V.  Congratulations too that they rose to the occasion and grasped the issues and really understood what Alex was getting at.

What I liked most about this programme was that it was just good basic stuff.  It must give heart to many independents that are worried about their futures. What do customers really want? Someone to trust! This is where the independent can really beat the “impersonal” dealer.

Most of what Alex was calling for was not new and I almost fell off my chair when she came up with the “Women at the wheel campaign” That takes me back to 1988 when we launched this in Halfords. One memory sticks with me and that is of Mark Mellor getting the Stoke on Trent Lady Mayoress dressed up in Halfords overalls and actually applying dirt to her face for a photo call!

The key messages last night were

  • Differentiate (what makes you special or stand out from the rest)
  • Be organised (have a process of some sort)
  • Be really friendly (you are in the entertainment industry)
  • You might as well enjoy it
  • Lead your people by getting them involved
  • Look at your business as a customer would  (compare yourself with other sectors)
  • You can make a difference to your future

I felt the pain and worry that Janet and many owners are feeling right now. It doesn’t have to be like that.  Our company has made positive change happen, just like this, in literally hundreds of garages all round the world. If you are genuinely interested in achieving a secure and exciting future, but would need a little bit of assistance please just contact me and I know a man who can help and it will not cost you a penny!

Quite inspiring really wasn’t it!

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Five Skills Every Leader Must Master

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Pete

By: Bill J. Bonnstetter

Talk about the importance of leadership abounds these days. But can leadership truly be defined? Moreover, are the qualities of leaders identifiable and measurable? Thankfully, the answer is yes.

Individuals who possess five vital skills can be identified as leaders, given that they first must possess a compelling vision. Without this, most people see no reason to follow a person.

1. Accountability: Now that they have a compelling vision, leaders must be personally accountable, or possess the capacity to be answerable for personal actions and avoid placing unnecessary blame on others. There is a great deal of evidence to support people stop following anyone who does not have nor demonstrates personal accountability.

Most importantly, people who have personal accountability will do what it takes to be successful in any endeavor. If they need to develop additional skills to accomplish things, they will take the initiative to do so.

2. Powers of Persuasion: Having a compelling vision without the ability to persuade people to follow that vision tends to lead nowhere. Leaders who have mastered persuasion get immediate feedback when communicating with others and, while respecting differences, they convince others to change the way they think – and behave.

3. Going for a Goal: Along with persuasion, being goal-oriented is a must. Persuading people of a compelling vision will go nowhere unless the leader has a goal in mind. The goal becomes a part of the vision and is one of the traits of defining a leader. Part of being goal-oriented is being able to identify and prioritize activities that lead to a goal that is relevant, realistic and attainable. Leaders are those who identify and implement plans and milestones to achieve specific business goals.

4. Pleasing the People: A leader is a master of interpersonal skills – otherwise known as people skills. Leaders must be capable of working with all types of people. Mastery in this skill gives the leader the ability to keep all the people on the team engaged and to avoid conflict, which may actually work against their vision.

5. Self-Management: Excellent self-managers walk the walk in order to reinforce their compelling vision and strengthen their persuasion. In addition to the ability to manage time and priorities, self-managers can also manage their emotions and impulses. Those who fail at self-management talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk. For example, if a leader believes it is OK for them to miss deadlines, it sends messages to their team missed deadlines are acceptable.

Leadership is much less ephemeral than one might believe. Spotting an individual who possesses these five skills will put organizations well on their way to identifying the leader in their midst.

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Success or failure? The difference is subtle

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Pete

So what’s the difference?  Why does one business succeed and another fail?  In my experience, success and failure can be determined by many variables but often, even the poorest of products can be made into a moderate success if everything else is right.  Who would have thought that a piece of plastic pipe could have sold so well during the World Cup?  Give it a name and the Vuvuzela was born!

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Do you have the Talent to Take Your Company to the Next Level?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Pete

The current recession has had a major impact on management’s decisions.  It starts with concerns for survival.  Now management is confronted with both good and bad information.  Some still talk about a double dip recession, while others see light at the end of the tunnel.  No one can truly predict when the current economic conditions will rebound and return to normalcy, however businesses MUST create a plan to implement soon upon recovery.  Without this plan they could get left behind.  The best way to develop a plan is to identify all the key jobs that impact your bottom line.  Once these positions have been identified, you need to identify the key accountabilities of each job.

Using each key accountability as your focus, discuss the following:

  1. What knowledge does one need to accomplish the key accountability?
  2. What specific skills (both hard and soft skills) are required for superior performance of this key accountability?
  3. What are the intrinsic rewards that people engaged in this job will receive upon successful completion? True motivation is experienced when the intrinsic rewards match a person’s motivations.
  4. What experiences are required for superior performance of this key accountability?  Most managers place too much value on experience.  If experience always led to superior performance, all experienced people would be superior performers.
  5. What behaviour is required to carry out the key accountability successfully?Repeat this process for each of the key accountabilities.

After answering these five questions, you are now ready to evaluate what talents are required.  To do this use a tool such as the Success Insights TriMetrix benchmarking process which removes any personal bias and empirically assesses the talents required.

Each employee then needs to be objectively compared to the now identified behaviours. motivators and skills.  From this process, you can identify the talent gap and what action to take to move your organization to the next level.

Don’t be left behind.  Have the plan ready to implement as soon as your numbers indicate your business is on the upswing.  Advertising, screening and hiring new staff are simplified by your plan.
*Taken from the Success Insights Blog

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A better way of selling?

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Pete

Is it just me, or are we all becoming more discerning in the way we are buying?  I’m not sure but it could be the effect of the Internet or rather the effect of real choice.  Lets face it sales people of the old type who try to manipulate you into their routine or way of selling are becoming quite annoying.

It is just an observation but we have noticed that having a good website is as bad as having an awful website.  Nowadays your website has to have content.  Your products or services have to have depth in their descriptions.  Your customers have to be certain before they pick up the phone.

The power once again rests with the customer.  Cold calling?  A waste of time! Salesey offers?  White noise!  Unsubstantiated special deals?  Old hat!

These techniques used to work (and occasionally still do, but much less frequently) so why the change?

I think the answer is becoming more clear.  I feel that people like to buy and not to be sold to and I am sure this trend is increasing.  People are becoming very “easy” or comfortable with the internet transaction.  It used to be quite a chore and certainly tested the bounds of technology and I for one became very impatient and annoyed with the whole process. However, slowly but surely better designed and intuitive websites, better shopping carts and perhaps better trained users has meant that the experience has become quite educational.  For example- we can actually read some of the books as a trial on Amazon.  At the same time, the delivery of product to our doorstep has become very sophisticated and inexpensive.  So the internet purchase has become the standard.

A glib sales pitch from a talking parrot (a sales person who has one script) is unlikely to impress a modern customer who is used to comparing prices and making decisions in their own time based upon factual information.  In fact its a real switch off.

The new sales process that works is not a process at all.  To even get in the door of a prospective client you must be trusted not to try and “sell”.  They have to TRUST you.

So how do you gain trust?  Recomendation, positioning, reputation, openness and honesty, engagement and no sales-process.  The salesperson has to come with the ability to be flexible,  the ability to flex!  Who cares if the demonstration comes before or after the trial close.  All Old Hat!

Trust is earned.  It is earned by being open, so every salesperson needs to express themselves somehow so that people understand them, understand their position, understand their motives and can trust them.

A big tip for me was reading a report of a comment Zig Ziglar made when asked where to get started in sales.  He said: “Throw a stone and where it lands start there… and stay there”.

Yep, that’s certainly a trust-builder!

 

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The Value of Workplace Motivators.

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Pete

While it is very useful to know the preferred behavioural style of an individual and fascinating to understand that individual’s talents or skills, the real predictor of long term success is to ensure that a member of the team is working in an environment that they feel motivated by.

Fortunately Eduard Spranger noticed that similar beliefs tended to cluster together.  For example: someone who is interested in art is also likely to be interested in the theatre.  He identified that it wasn’t the art itself that was appealing but the feeling or emotions that were triggered by the appreciation of that or any other media of that type.  He identified six clusters of motivators,  these being:-

Utilitarian, the thirst for a return on investment or more accurately the good things that return brings.

Social, the desire to help others at the detriment of yourself.

Individualistic, the need to promote oneself

Theoretical, the thirst for the truth and knowledge

Traditional, the need to follow a particular way of life

and

Aesthetic, the appreciation of beauty and surroundings.

We all have each of these clusters however the ratios are different.  This allows us to measure the interaction of these values between themselves (a utilitarian, individualistic person is motivated by power and money), between people, people get on better with people with similar beliefs (interest groups) and between the job and an individual.

Whilst we can all adapt our behaviour  to suit a situation, we find it difficult to keep making a sale if we are highly social and want to help others – especially if we find it difficult to value goods ourselves.

So, if you want to maintain high levels of performance over a relatively long term, say six months or more, ensure that the roles your team members carry out and the way that you reward them matches their own personal motivators!!

Fortunately we have an assessment for that!

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Is the economy changing our behavioural style?

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Pete

We all recognise that we are able to adapt our behaviour according to the situation we find ourselves in. This not a new observation but one that “The Father of Medicine” Hippocrates observed at around 440BC. He knew that the environment changes the way in which we behave, especially in the short term.  We also know that our deeper subconscious behavioural traits don’t seem to change much at all, which is why under pressure we “revert back to type,”  however statistical observations at Success Insights International are showing some interesting changes in both the European and the North American populations.

This change (as shown above) is a statistically significant shift and probably comes about by the change in the work environment.  Many old industrial factory or production based (high S type) jobs have disappeared and been replaced by many more communicative/ talking type roles such as call centres etc.  Perhaps this is leading humans to make this change.  Clearly more work will need to be done to clarify this but it is a very interesting development.

 

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Identifying Sales Talent

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Pete

You are a successful business and naturally, you have already recognised that you  need the best sales talent possible. Of course the future of your company depends upon your organisations ability to create/ secure profitable business.

You also probably know from experience how difficult it can be to consistently hire a top performing sales representative – After all, the person you met at the sales interview has not always the sales person you got in the past.

The secret to hiring a top performing salesperson is understanding the unique traits and characteristics that are commonly shared by successful sales people.  Over the last decade, we have identified and perfected the most powerful pre-employment sales personality assessment model possible – TriMetrix

Every sales position has a unique set of behaviors,Motivators and personal skills that are needed for optimal performance. The outside sales representative position is no exception.

Fortunately the behaviors, values, and personal skills necessary for success in an outside sales position can be identified and measured using a validated set of personality assessments during the hiring process which will dramatically increase the likelihood of selecting the best sales candidate.

These traits are measured by TriMetrix through a combination of behavioral profile assessment tool (DISC), a values based assessment, and a personal skills assessment using the Hartman Value Profile (HVP)based on the science of Axiology and the Nobel Prize winning work of Dr. Robert Hartman.

Over thew last 15 years we have benchmarked sales positions and have identified the following talents that make up top performers

Behaviors

  • Frequent Interaction with Others - It is critical that an outside sales representative love people and feel natural interacting with strangers
  • Versatility - an outside sales rep should be well versed at adapting to the variety of different situations, challenges, and different personalities an outside sales is likely to encounter
  • Frequent Change - Change is constant in the world of sales and a successful sales representative must embrace change and handle it in stride

Motivators

  • Utilitarian/Economic - A desire for money, efficiency, and return on one’s investment
  • Theoretical - An interest in knowledge, learning new things, and continued education
  • Individualistic/Political - The desire to control one’s own destiny

Personal Skills

  • Customer Focus - A successful outside sales representative always puts the Customer first and provides impeccable service at all times
  • Self Management - Outside sales people spend much of their time under their own direction and must possess effective self management skills
  • Resiliency - Outside sales representatives face adversity and rejection on a daily basis. For this reason it is imperative that a sales rep be resilient and not be easily discouraged
  • Personal Accountability - This trait is critical in all positions, but especially so in sales positions. A Top performer takes personal responsibility for his or her results and does not make excuses.

Understanding the make-up of successful sales rep is only one part of hiring the best possible sales candidate. To recruit the right sales people who truly maximize your organization’s bottom line these traits must be measured in a candidate before a hiring decision is made.

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So simple, so easy, but very rare

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Pete

Checking in at a Hotel near to Dublin last night we were met by a very professional receptionist (one of 4) who whilst we were doing the paperwork asked what we were there for.  We told her the book launch of “Be not afraid… for I will go before you” and she asked if I had contributed to it and I said yes.

Now this is a very busy 500 room hotel quite upmarket golf course that had several events running at the same time so the fact that she knew of the event and the type of book was impressive.  However nothing as impressive as when we came to checkout this morning. The same receptionist asked how the book launch went! She had remembered! She also said it looked very busy.

Its very simple to take an interest in your place of work and easiness itself to treat your customers as your friends, but also such a rare thing that when it happens it brightens your day up and makes you want to return.

So if you are ever travelling in Ireland can I recommend City West Hotel in Saggart.

Posted in Automotive Sector, General, SI Associate | Leave a comment

Generating Loyalty

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Pete

Sometimes, occasionally, you could just go up to and give a delegate a massive cuddle (I’d probably get arrested but)  you know what I mean? Today it’s a marketing course and we were talking about the difference between advertising and marketing etc and how marketing is about looking at the total offer.  Now some service advisers think marketing is for marketeers but not Lesley Ford, she really gets it.

Today she said “I had a great customer last week, he said he wouldn’t deal with anyone else except me.”

So I said “Why is that?

The answer was sublime.

“Well this customer came in a couple of weeks ago and he wanted to have his heated front seats replaced which would have costed about £2K. I knew he didn’t have money to waste and that he had a problem with the engine management light coming on every now and then and I thought he might need that job doing first so I told him  ”I will get your seats done only if the engine management light stayed off for a week”. Five days later he broke down and needed he needed a catalytic converter and a couple of sensors.  He was amazed that I refused the sale of the seats and took the decision to “care for his wallet”  The result is that he has told everyone that he wont deal with anyone else”

So what long term value has Lesley created?

Demonstrating you care and understand is the way to increase value in a transaction so that customers want to purchase as opposed to have to purchase.   I need water but want beer!  You pay more willingly for things you desire and resent paying for things you need to or have to!

Reflect on this, are your customers always asking for discount and more worryingly you feeling you have to give it?  This is clearly an inability to create value  it is also the slippery slope to bankruptcy!

So think long term.  Think how can I create value?  Think of  ways in which you can create desire in a customer for your products, and if you can’t then employ staff like Lesley who can!

 

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