J I M D O Y L E & A S S O C I A T E S THE LEADERS EDGE Volume 12, Issue 20 January 15, 2015 Dear Leaders Edge Colleague, Do you make your AEs rehearse bigger presentations? If I were King, this is one of the things I would do that would immediately make your AEs closing percentages go higher. In fact, I d take a certain dollar amount and require AEs to rehearse presentations above that number. Why do they need to rehearse? Most presentations are WAY too long. Rehearsing points that out. After you rehearse, you realize that you need to start pulling slides from the presentation. They ll get smoother with the transitions. When I move from a discussion of the creative to the schedule, there s a transition. These are key moments in a presentation. The way your AEs will present their success stories will get way better, especially if the AE is (as they should be) presenting success stories they weren t personally part of. They will realize how and where to use the power of enthusiasm to really drive a point home. And, this is significant they ll practice the transition to their first attempt to close, which is a critical part of the presentation. AEs hate to rehearse. Well, that s not technically true. What they really hate is embarrassing themselves in front of their peers or bosses. Think of the absurdity of that. They d rather embarrass themselves in front of the client. We are two weeks away from our Boot Camp. Each year at Boot Camp we ll bring in three separate speakers, and each of them is in the Speakers Hall of Fame. These folks, quite literally, are the best of the best. What always impresses me about them is how prepared they are. Typically, they ll be in the meeting room 90 minutes before, adjusting the lights, checking their microphones, and going through any slides or audio they have. Frankly, these speakers have probably done their presentation hundreds of time. Yet, they ll be going over every piece again and again before they present to our boot camp group. They know the old adage is true you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If I asked people in our business who they thought the most successful speaker of the last 30 years was, most of us would say Zig Ziglar. Zig, who passed away two years ago, made more money selling CDs in the back of the room after a single presentation than 90% of the speakers make in their entire career. 1
Zig once told me that he practiced every single presentation he ever made for 20 minutes in his hotel room before he came downstairs. That s right. Zig, the best and most successful speaker on the planet, rehearsed every time. But an AE who will get a commission for the sale is too embarrassed? That s a big miss. If you re under pressure to grow new business this year (and aren t we all!!), get your people to rehearse and watch your closing percentage grow. I am very excited about the Leaders Edge tele-seminar next Thursday, Jan 21 st with the legendary Jason Jennings. As many of you know, Jason was the biggest sales trainer in the radio and TV business for many years. Then he moved in a different direction. In the last 10 years Jason has written four best-selling books, including Less is More and his current best seller, The High Speed Company Creating Urgency and Growth in a Nano Second Culture. He s been called one of the most significant thought leaders in corporate America and charges huge money for his keynote speeches. How he writes his books is interesting. He and his team spend hours researching the most successful companies in the world and figuring out what they re doing that makes them successful. I think the combination of someone who started in our business, knows it well, and now interacts daily with the most successful CEO s in the country will make for powerful and actionable insights about leadership in our business. Join us for A Conversation with Jason Jennings: Leadership Insights for a Time of Change. Thursday, Jan.21 at 12 Noon ET; 11 AM Central ; 9 AM PT. In This Week s Edition: 1. President, John Hannon gets us thinking with I Didn t Know What I Didn t Know 2. Senior Vice President, Pat Norris, offers listening advice in Two Ears And One Mouth 3. Vice President of Sales & Distribution, Anne Fowler, asks Are You Doing The Best You Can? 4. Street Beat from Executive Vice President, Tom Ray 5. You are NOT Powerless 6. Thoughts to end your week 1. I Didn t Know What I Didn t Know From President John Hannon It was a week before my 47 th birthday and Bridget and our three kids were dying laughing. We re a family that likes to share and have fun at our evening meal, so laughing wasn t out of the norm. But this time the family was laughing at me, not with me. Apparently, I had said something funny, and for the life of me, I couldn t get the table to settle down so I could ask them what they found so hilarious. 2
Finally, through the cackling, Bridget was able to get a question in, Do you really think that ponies grow into adult horses? The table went deadly silent in anticipation of my answer. Yes? I replied hesitantly, trying to save face and act as if I might be teasing in the wayoff chance I could be wrong. Everyone, including I m convinced, our dogs, burst into a loud shriek. For nearly 47 years I thought a pony was the name for a baby horse and, as a result, had always assumed that ponies grew into full-blown adult horses. Who knew that ponies and horses weren t one in the same? PONY FOAL I didn t know what I didn t know. In our industry, I unfortunately sometimes encounter managers who are close to having their own revelation similar to my pony and horse experience. Except in these instances, no one is laughing. These managers play everything safe or middle of the road, they don t value sales training or even meetings to organize a sales front, nor do they believe in investing in themselves through books, training or workshops. Many of these executives are stuck in a fearful what if gear and are quick to present a case for why something can not or will not happen. The word aggressive is not in their vocabulary, as it elevates thoughts of offending current clients. Accountablity escapes them and they re unable to inspire their sales teams to new performance levels. The bosses of these types of individuals become frustrated, pushing for higher than flat-tolow, single digit revenue increases, and the seller who works for this kind of manager is often wondering when the leader is going to show up and whether this person is really suited to be my manager. In the end, when the manager finally does gain clarity and admits, I didn t know what I didn t know, it s often too late. You can reach John Hannon at john@jimdoyle.com 3
2. Two Ears And One Mouth Senior Vice President, Pat Norris Every year our Jim Doyle & Associates Senior Marketing Consultant Team gathers in Sarasota for a group meeting. It s two amazing days of information sharing, learning, and great fun! We always try to sprinkle in a few relevant outside-the-business speakers or relevant entertainment. At this year s meeting, we welcomed the Improv Troupe from The Florida State Theatre. The most enjoyable skit included Jim Doyle as though he were being interviewed on a TV show. There was quite a correlation to what media sellers do and the sometimes stubborn responses from the interviewee. Jim was, as always, quick-witted and funny, but only provided basic and very direct answers, nothing more, to the questions. Remind you of any diagnosis calls when it seems like pulling teeth to try to get an answer out of a prospect? What was incredible is that this four-person improv troupe immediately went to work acting as though Mr. Doyle was now in his office setting. They began to turn around the few facts that he did share during the interview. It was incredibly creative and funny. Later, our group agreed that we are sometimes faced with the same type of task when the client shares only basic information and keeps their cards close to their chest. What the troupe did was listen closely and immediately processed the little information they were able to get in a meaningful way. They took it and made a creative presentation that was spot on and very relevant. When you have similar discussions with your AEs, the lesson here is to listen. Encourage them to listen closely to a client s answers, no matter how brief or short. Tell them to stop thinking about their next question, the To Do list on their desk, or the evening ball game. While the prospect is speaking, your seller should be absorbing every word. The best sellers get good at listening to unstated meanings in responses. They offer questions for confirmation, which often presents an opportunity for another exchange of a question and information, which helps drive the relationship to a done deal presentation. I had a sales manager in my young sales days (you saw Jurassic Park right) that said to me, Norris, God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you speak. Thank you, Tiho! Do something great today! You can reach Pat Norris at pat@jimdoyle.com 4
Jim Doyle & Associates Sales Manager s High Performance Boot Camp! Learn more 3. Are You Doing The Best You Can? Vice President of Sales & Distribution Anne Fowler I ran across a quote from Seth Godin, one of my favorite authors, and here s what he had to say regarding the question or statement, Are you doing the best that you can? : Doing the best you can, is actually not the same as doing everything you can When people tell you, We re doing the best we can, they re actually saying, I m doing the best I m comfortable doing! As you ve probably discovered, great works make us uncomfortable. Recently, I ve heard this phrase a lot in our industry, as acquisitions and mergers call for transition and copious amounts of change in both strategy and personnel. I, too, am embracing this phrase with regard to better managing my health with regard to exercise and food choices! In my presentations to a station s clients, one of the first things I say before I go into the explanation of the 3 elements for a successful marketing plan is Ask yourselves, and perhaps challenge yourselves, a minimum of twice a year: Are we still doing these 3 things? I think the same can be applied to Doing everything you can. You can reach Anne Fowler at anne@teamdoyleconsultants.com 4. Street Beat From Executive Vice President Tom Ray Botox For Migraines! Do you know someone who suffers from migraines? Migraine is an extraordinarily common disease that affects 36 million 5
men, women, and children in the United States. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. households includes someone who gets migraines. About 18% of American women and 6% of men suffer from migraines. Migraines are most common during the peak productive years, between the ages of 25 and 55 (Migraine Research Foundation). Jim Doyle & Associates Senior Consultant, Ana Breault, came across a very interesting category/opportunity Botox as prevention for migraines! We all know Botox as the injectable filler used to smooth wrinkles and re-capture a youthful appearance. But who knew that Botox is also an FDA-approved migraine preventative. From the website: www.botoxchronicmigraine.com: BOTOX is the only FDA-approved, preventive treatment that is injected by a doctor every 12 weeks for adults with Chronic Migraine (15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more). BOTOX prevents up to 9 headache days a month (vs. up to 7 for placebo). Visit the site and click on the Find a Botox Specialist tab, put in your zip code, and find out who is injecting Botox to prevent migraines in your market. Ana also discovered another migraine solution not a drug, but a headband. It s called the Cefaly device, manufactured by a small company in Belgium. It s been available in Europe and Canada, but was just recently approved by the FDA for use here in the United States for the treatment of migraines. The Cefaly device is for sale online, but you do need a prescription from your doctor to get it. It costs around $300. You can reach Tom Ray at tom@jimdoyle.com 5. You are NOT Powerless I ve heard it too often, and it s beginning to bug me. Corporate would NEVER let us do this. My GM wouldn t even listen to this idea. You are SO wrong. Here s what I believe. Only you can change your company. Since I spend a lot of time with 6
corporate, let me give you an insight. THEY WANT LEADERS TO STEP UP. I find that many corporate folks are strong people. After all, that s how they got their jobs. Sometimes, without knowing it, they act in a way that creates yes men (or women). But then, they HATE them when they arrive in their life. What do they respect? People who tell them the truth. Have you tried that? They also want four other things Solutions not problems Solutions where the impact on sales and profitability have been well-thought-out. No winging it here. And don t ever say, my gut says. They hate that. No whining. About anything. A track record of success. You have to earn the rope to hang yourself. I have a client whose corporate boss has some strong ideas about what elements should be in a sales plan. One of the managers hates some of what they want him to do, so he develops a plan to give them what they want (billing and profit) in a different way. Because he s been a successful manager for them, they fight a little (in a fair way), and then tell him to do it his way, but to of course, make the number. And he has. So he gets even more rope. Part and parcel of this is that you can t make everything a fight. (Re-read the no whining rule above.) The old saying is you have to pick your battles. Totally true. But I will get on a small soapbox. You are not powerless. In fact, this industry needs leaders more than ever. So step up and stop making excuses. 6. Thoughts to end your week - A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves. - Lao Tzu - I must follow the people. Am I not their leader? - Benjamin Disraeli - You manage things; you lead people. - Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper - The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. - Max DePree Have a great weekend! Sincerely, Jim Doyle PLEASE NOTE: LEADERS EDGE IS AN INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP. THIS DOCUMENT MAY NOT BE FORWARDED OUTSIDE OF YOUR IMMEDIATE OFFICE. THANK YOU. Copyright January 2016 Jim Doyle & Associates 7