The Benefits Of Routine

A sales and marketing lifestyle means that you have quality time for building relationships with mavens and connectors, for content marketing, for helping team mates, and for taking the right actions to grow your business.  Routine enables your day-to-day basics to be performed well and on time so that you can allow your antenna to always be listening and your peripheral vision to always be watching.

An Effective Routine Will Enable You To Wisely Progress Towards Your Goals

Daily routines prevent knee jerk reactions and wasted time.  I produce my best results when I follow my routine in a heads down fashion.  But, I periodically look up to stay on track, adjust to new opportunities or threats, improve a process, acquire better tools and navigate unexpected surprises.

Routines Create Confidence, A Key To Success

A routine that spans goals, action plans and workdays builds self-confidence.  You become well rounded if it contains the right amount of time for work, passion, learning, and enjoyment.  You will become more friendly and interesting, and people will respect you for being consistent and dedicated.

How Much OF Your Time Is Freed Up By Routines?

Customer Facing Roles Need Powerful Routines

• CEO routines develop innovative and customer-centric cultures for achieving financial, customer and employee goals.
• Marketing routines ensure lead generation and nurturing to sales-ready status while existing segments are penetrated and new ones are developed through a well managed mix of products and services.
• Sales routines ensure that qualified opportunities are closed, while key accounts are nurtured and territories are developed.
• Call center routines enable you to delight customers and channel partners.

Routines Must Be Constantly Upgraded

As your routine becomes muscle memory, tweaking it with new ideas will enable you to rise to the next level.

By John Bernardi

What Is The Role Of Sales Commissions In Your Company?

What Is The Role Of Sales Commissions In Your Company?

If I Were a Customer and You Were My Sales Rep ...

... Here's How I'd Like You to be Paid

How do you feel when your sales rep earns a commission or wins a trip when you buy from them?

How does the customer win?

• Does the sales rep understand your needs and interests?
• Will they navigate your buying cycle so that you can do things at your pace?
• Are they concerned about your entire experience before, during and after the sale?
• How do you know what's behind their recommendation?  Is it truly your best interests, or an internal SPIF, or selling what's in stock, or inventory liquidation, etc.?  Do they need this sale in order to make quota?

I'd prefer to know that the sales rep is being compensated based [to a large degree] on my level of satisfaction.  If the entire team that is involved in designing and delivering my solution also shares in the rewards and recognition, then, I'll know they have a vested interest in my satisfaction and I'm not doing all the work.

Does anyone other than the sales rep win?

• How does the account team or project team win?
• Does their company win?

Companies can differentiate themselves by taking a fresh look at their compensation programs.  They need to be designed so that the degree of customer satisfaction and the degree to which their company wins determines the degree to which sales team members become eligible to win. Earned deal or project compensation can be shared among team members depending on individual roles and contribution.

By John Bernardi

Who Are You - Overhead Or Asset?

If you receive a salary and benefits, occupy office space, have a manager or file an expense report, you contribute to your company's overhead.

Have you committed to consistently add value that exceeds your expenses?  I believe that there are two sustainable ways to do this; namely, to innovate and to provide an excellent customer experience.

An excellent customer experience earns repeat business and referrals.  Innovation not only affects products and services but can also impact business efficiencies.

Each employee can become a valued resource by asking questions and probing the answers to learn what is feasible to help the business to meet its goals. So, develop the skills and motivate yourself to contribute on a consistent basis.  This habit will propel your career to its next level.

If you don't rise above your job description, be wary of the potential consequences since you are replaceable by another person or by an automated process.

By John Bernardi