Assertive Teams Keep the Sales Ball Moving Forward

“Are You Assertive—or Aggressive?”, a recent Inc.com article tells us that high pressure sales may not be effective.  As revolutionary as that may sound, the article goes on to offers some effective techniques to incorporate and move a sale forward.

The author gives specific examples of passive, aggressive and assertive conversations that are typical of sales approach.  If you are not sure what assertive sounds like as opposed to aggressive check out the full article.

What intrigued us is the summation that:

“The assertive approach is neither pushy nor flaccid, but instead creates a discussion that helps you and the customer better understand what’s going on, and what you can do to help the decision-making process along.”

This is they type of approach that a team can learn and that will lead to great success. Pushy versus strong is a big leap that can cause great effects. If your team is too passive or too aggressive, now might be a great time to consider a team building activity that will coach your team on the assertive sales approach. All of our team adventures, at Workshop, the Creative Workplace are custom designed to fit individual group goals.

Stephanie Ringer, May 22, 2012

Sales Tools that Reach Beyond Management to Clear Presentation of Content Leads to Team Success

Occasionally we come across a tool or resource that we want to share. Today, as I was browsing my feed reader I came a cross a sales tool that warranted a closer inspection. Gigaom alerted me to the tool in, “ClearSlide Offers Painless Pitching for Sales Pros, Achieve Impressive Growth.”

In today’s connected, cloud computing world, there is still difficulty for sales teams to share information with their clients. ClearSlide seems to be designed to combine slide decks, videos and other presentation material in a single location.

As described by the article:

“Teams upload all their decks, videos and other content to ClearSlide (the product doesn’t include authoring), which generates a branded link that a prospect can click to view the material in a quick, clean environment, no downloading required. Reps can also lead prospects through the material, interacting with rich media such as calculators or live web pages within it and pulling up additional materials to answer prospects’ objections.”

This tool moves well outside the customer relations manager that seems to be the pet project for sales forces and actually focuses on communicating the message with the prospect rather than telling the sales team member when the prospect’s birthday is.

At Workshop, the Creative Workplace we love finding new ways to building strong sales teams that focus them on growing the entire business. Sharing information that reiterates the brand and having a team committed to get beyond the boiling point for a full 212 degree effort is a great thing to see and ClearSlide just might be a contributing factor to that success.

Constance Ard, May 21, 2012

Leverage Your Network with a Smile and Conversation: Get the Business Later

Inc.com’s recent article, “Master Networking: Tips for Introverts” really hit home for us. Workshop, the Creative Workplace has bought the licensing rights for the Louisville Rainmakers group and we spend a lot of time networking within that group and elsewhere. In fact, we count our coverage in the recent CNN Money “Buying a Business after 50” article as a direct result of our network.

A few weeks ago we commented on another “Networking for Introverts” article and this most recent one updates that offering with comments from Inc.com readers. The tips from this article center on being genuine and listening.

The article offers some insight from Beth Buelow, founder of Introvert Entrepreneur that may be just the tip you need if you are an introvert that networks to grow your business. Some are simple, such as smile and remember that others may be nervous too.

As the article points out:

“…the first goal of any conversation is to earn the right to the next conversation! Networking is not about "winning the sale" in any individual conversation, it is about continuing the conversation over time and building a productive and mutually profitable relationship. Make friends first, do business later!”

We appreciate these great tips for introverts as they network. We have seen the power of smiling, making a friend and then continuing the conversation. We will be talking about how we “leverage” our network at a Seed 2020 event on Wednesday evening. So if you are in Louisville, stop over, make a new friend and grow your network.

Stephanie Ringer, May 21, 2012

Humility Inspires Respect in Business

In a recent Inc.com article, “Inspire People to Follow: Practice Humility” we are reminded that people like to follow leaders who value humility.

According to the author he learned this from the Hungarian national water polo team head coach Denes Kemény. The history of Hungary reminds us that distributive decision-making is not the way things are done there so when Kemény encourages humility, people pay attention.

Team leaders have to earn trust and humility is integral to earning that trust.  This value is not one that is common in the world of business.

As the author explains,

“What is important to understand is that very often leaders fear humility. I find this is especially true in autocracies where a leaders is expected to “know it all and do it all.””

Asking for help when needed is a true sign up an humble leader. This type of leadership builds strong teams who take ownership of the success for each project and the overall work of the company. Humility and respect build stronger trust in their teams.

Stephanie Ringer, May 18, 2012

Virtual Work from Mexico Embraces Creative Abilities

In a recent Burlington Free Press article, “Creative Corner: Virtually in Vermont” introduces us to a creative work environment that brightens up the long Vermont winter.

The article begins a discussion of telecommuting with a marketing director that wanted to spend his winter in Mexico. IGG is a high-tech company that is virtual in nature.

The company grew from a farm based one man show to a small group of capable virtual workers. The personality of the company is demonstrated succinctly.

“What could have been a clash of conflicting interests –IGG’s need for a dependable employee vs. my wanderlust – was a complete non-issue”

Technology allows companies to run operations easily in a virtual environment. For creative companies such as IGG this set up can be very good but the article explains:

“While a virtual team requires real trust and engenders new management practices, we’re fortunate to be in an industry that allow us to “phone it in.””

Many times, these virtual teams do better independently when they come together for a team building activity such as the Adventures in the ‘Ville that we use to bond teams and contribute to the community.

Stephanie Ringer, May 18, 2012

Team Management Requires Two Things to Lead to Team Success

In a recent Small Business Trends article, Team Building: Getting the Message Across Without Micromanaging we get some good reminders about why communication is important, especially in small businesses.

The article discusses the fact that business owners need a team to execute the running of the entire business. It also iterates the need for the team to be managed. Managing your working team does not translate to micromanagement.

Even the smartest group requires clear standards and leadership (and micro-managing is not the same thing as leadership). Managing your people takes time on the front end, but it creates momentum on the back end.

With a well-chosen and well-trained team you can move faster, be in more places at once and serve more people.

According to the article what matters is the clear communication and reiteration of expectations and motivation. Sometimes new teams have a difficult time getting started. That’s a great time to participate in a team adventure that can be custom designed to communicate your desires for the team and bond them to a common purpose.

We have found that many of our team adventures at Workshop, the Creative Workplace result in a committed team that plays the song they write together at the start of each meeting.  Many times teams that have done something special for one of our community causes continue to give more and be more long after the team has bonded.

The result is a strong team committed to common purpose who are working towards common goals that have been clearly communicated.

Stephanie Ringer, May 17, 2012

Good Business Centers on Asking the Right Questions and Getting the Best Answers

In a recent Inc.com article, “How to Ask Better Questions” we are encouraged to take the next best idea and put it to the test. Often times its difficult to find the most creative way to ascertain whether a new idea will really fly.

The article discusses a new marketing campaign that could have truly caused some problems for the retail establishment mentioned.  So it seems a good idea could turn into a bad idea if the right questions are not asked.

The article does a great job explaining why good questions are important.

The impulse to want to innovate and run the organization more effectively is a good one. However, it can break down early on if no one is asking good questions. Unless you ask the right questions, based on what you’re really trying to achieve, the results may be a waste of money, time, and, worst of all, the "willingness" capital of employees to work hard and make something new a success.

Sometimes asking the questions needs the inspiration of not only a great team, but also a great space that encourages the creative process. These types of earth moving questions do not always come out in the corporate conference room.  Alternative meeting spaces can relax, inspire and create.

Stephanie Ringer, May 17, 2012