Fitness and Professional Goals

The age old challenge is - can you stay fit while traveling frequently and ensuring you over-achieve on your annual sales targets? In early April I threw out my back golfing in Palm Springs. The doctors all told me I needed to lose some weight. We were just at the start of our fiscal Q4, and faced a large quota with an intense travel schedule ahead.
On their recommendation, I decided to get serious about losing some pounds. I found an iPhone app called MyFitnessPal, and started tracking everything I ate. In addition, I averaged an hour of cardio a day over the past three months.
The result? My team had a terrific Q4, finishing well over plan, and my body fat now rivals what it was in my first year of college. It's not easy, but if you set your mind to your goals, good things can happen!
Good selling......

Customer Relationships

So we live in a busy world. Everyone has quotas to hit, goals to achieve, kids to take care of, etc... Have we gotten lazy about selling? How much time do we actually spend with our customers finding out about their priorities....? Recently we held an executive forum with our partners at The Lodge at Pebble Beach. It was great. We brought in some of the brightest minds from our company, in charge of R&D & product/technology marketing. We provided an update on some of the technology, but more than anything, we listened to what our partners had to say and what was important to them.

In the world of fax, smart phones, email, blogs, VOIP, etc... sometimes we need to slow down and take an important customer out to dinner and find out what is on their mind. Not meaning to date myself, but when I started selling we didn't have fax machines, cell phones, etc... We actually had to drive to our customer's offices and see them face to face. Funny how some of these early relationships are still standing, after all these years.

Dinner anyone?

Up in the Air?

Anyone seen the new movie Up in the Air with George Clooney? I haven't, but it looks like it could be interesting. Apparently there is a fair amount of the story that deals with frequent flyer tribulations as the characters travel around the country. I think of this as I sit in the airport waiting for a delayed flight to San Francisco. There is rain in SFO, so the flights are on air traffic control flight delay. This is just one mof many annoyances standing in the way of getting on our quarterly numbers to exceed quota.

Keep selling!!


Dan

Not Blogging Enough? Big Company Recap

OK, so I have gotten lazy about this blog and really need to post again. It is the day after Christmas and I am feeling large after eating my way through the past few days.

Last night I watched the movie Julie & Julia, a funny movie about a woman who blogs about cooking. Entertaining movie, but really highlights the power of blogging.

So after a few years working for a big company, I am sitting here reflecting on the outcome. Big companies put cost control measures in place on a grand scale. They don't react quickly like smaller companies to capture market opportunities. The complexity of getting approvals for individual deals at times can be staggering.

So why work for a big company? The lure generally centers on brand recognition, marketing support, benefits and the like. That is the balancing act - trading equity, contol and nimbleness for safety and security of a larger firm.

There is no right answer. Unfortunately you need to do your own Ben Franklin cost/benefit analysis and make your best choice. Good luck in the process and I guess the only advice I can give you is go with your intuition.

Happy Holidays and all the best in the coming new year.... Dan

Good News - Bad News

Having a Blog is good news/bad news. The good news is I get feedback from friends and it is a great way to stay in touch. The bad news is sometimes you forget about it and need to remind yourself to post new content. Well, here is some new stuff.... Recently I attended a couple of events sponsored by CONNECT. CONNECT is the "globally recognized public benefits organization fostering entrepreneurship in the San Diego region by catalyzing, accelerating, and supporting the growth of the most promising technology and life sciences businesses" (see www.connect.org). Attending events like these is refreshing. First, it was hosted at the Scripps aquarium, with an awesome view of Scripps pier and the Pacific ocean. Secondly, I met a number of very bright people that are passionate about their endeavors. There is something about entrepreneurs in the way they are excited about what they are doing, creating great business ideas that are unique and have great value. I recommend everyone at least once in their lifetime start a small business and gain full understanding of what it takes to start a successful business. As we are meandering down the path of our normal routines, think back on the people that started some of the companies that we work for and what it took for their ideas to take hold in very uncertain market conditions. Makes some of the things we do on a daily basis look easy, doesn't it? Good Selling!!

Dot Com Again?

Remember the madness around the year 2000, when the dot com explosion was in high gear? I remember going on sales calls (at Network Appliance) with my team, when we showed up the CEO and a gang of VP's greeted us. They would then show us slides about how big their boutique firm was going to become over time. The catch was always something like "this is a great opportunity for you Mr. Vendor. If you donate storage to our firm, we will give you warrants that will be worth many times the value of paying you cash today for your storage." There were tons of companies that played the game back them, the vast majority of which are out of business and never to be heard of again.

There seems to be a new breed of these companies surfacing again. The new term for dot com is web 2.0. And, there are a lot of them out there. Recently I got a call from a recruiter about an unusual company. This one was in the advertising space for cell phones. Their first application is a program to locate public restrooms in major cities across the US. The "interview" consisted of telling a story about how big they are going to be, then asking the vp of sales candidates to put together a market plan on how they are going to attack the market and present to the executive team on a future call.

Does this sound familiar? Want to bet if these guys are in business in three years? My advice, stick to real companies that have top talent in their executive teams and at least have an idea of where they are going. Good selling!

To Move or not to move... That is the question.

The other day a friend called me on the way back from a job interview. He was talking to a hot software/technology company that is growing rapidly. The interesting thing is he has been a top performer at his present company for eight years, and was conflicted about the possibility of leaving that firm for a new opportunity. His old firm just got acquired by a giant company and there is a common fear that their once lucrative compensation plans will become less leveraged in the coming year.

So this spawns an interesting question, when is a good time to move to a new company and what factors are critical to making that decision? In this persons' case, he is a top 5% performer and has been since just over ten years ago when we worked together. He builds great client relationships and has a solid work ethic. He is well respected in his current company and is well set for another good year. The big issue is the new company he is talking to is red hot, and there is a very real possibility he can make twice as much money this year and be well set for the future. Back to the question of when is a good time to move, I have always believed that the BEST time to move is when you are on top and have solid numbers and earnings behind you. You command more negotiating leverage on the package, and if the new job doesn't materialize, you are still well positioned with your current employer. Not to say change jobs all the time, but if there are compelling reasons to change, why not? There is a risk/reward decision that needs to be made, but top performers always seem to rise to the top, and I am certain that this individual can be a top performer again in this new organization.

The key factors in my mind revolve around making a decision to move for opportunity rather than out of need. The best interviewers are the salespersons that are on top of the world. They ask very pointed questions and are focused on the benefits of the company and position. They ask about upside and what the top achievers are doing in the new company. In short, they are focused on success and opportunity. Assuming the individual does not have too much turnover, looking at new opportunities once in a while has benefits. If you are on top of the world, you will see it when you compare your position to other companies. If the new opportunity is really hot and you see short and long term financial benefits, that should become glaringly apparent as you go through the interview process.

Outstanding sales professionals have a way of rising to the top and their income is a barometer of success. If they didn't have this burning desire to succeed, they would not do the things that they do to distance themselves from the competition. If the new opportunity has discernable advantages, I recommend moving forward with it. If the individual does not feel there are obvious benefits, staying in their present role is probably the best course of action. One last thought - you can always apply the rocking chair test to the decision. Is this move or stay decision significant enough that you can envision yourself in your rocking chair when you get older reflecting on the decision and recalling it as one of the best decisions you made during your career. If that is the case, the decision to move is undeniable.