H.I.R.E.

Good morning everyone, 

I hope you are all well and enjoying the cooler temperatures and are save if you are in the area where the hurricane came through the other day.  I have never had to experience a hurricane and can only imagine what it would take to deal with the aftermath.

Prayers for your safety down in the Carolinas.

I was reflecting the other day on building rapport with others.  This topic is something that is a must in order to gain influence with anyone.  Whether you are a coach of a team, meeting with a client, or in an interview you need to be able to build rapport.  You also need to be able to build it quickly in times like interviews.  You are trying to connect with the person looking to hire you and typically they tend to hire people they like.  Sometimes they like the person so much that they do not care about how suited the candidate is for the position.  Take that last statement with a grain of salt, but unfortunately it is true.

So how do you build rapport?

I use the following four ways to do so:

Be Helpful

Be willing to help them with whatever they need help with.  Go the extra mile to help them when you think you have done enough, go one step further.  It could be helping a child with an assignment on the football field going through the play with them one on one and then helping them step through the steps in that process.  It could be jumping in to help unload something that the person you are meeting with is trying to unload from a truck.  It could also be helping sweep up a mess that has happened and sending follow up to the person that the task was complete

Be Intentional

By being intentional I mean really look to find common ground with those people you will be interacting with and needing to build rapport with.  This can be researching them on social media like linked in, facebook, local associations they are affiliated with, google etc.

Be Respectful

People want to feel valued and that they are important.  Why not make them feel that way.  Let them know that you have their back and are willing to do the work with them.  Call them sir or ma’am when they are older than you, use their name (sweetest sound to any person is their own name), use your manners. 

Be Enthusiastic

Show some enthusiasm with the person you are talking to.  Use humor, make them feel comfortable, and lower the tension.  People that smile and make people laugh are far more able to build rapport than someone that walks around like the Winnie the Pooh character Eeyore that moped around and never showed excitement.  People like to be around light hearted and fun people.  Show some enthusiasm and energy.  People will gravitate towards you.

There you have it, think of HIRE when you are looking to build rapport.  Focus on others and help them get to where they way to go and you will build all the rapport.  Use Hire when you are getting ready to meet someone new and needing to build rapport.  You want the person to like you so much that they would hire you.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

How Do You Watch Your Intake?

Good morning everyone,

Well it is staring to feel and smell like fall.  The nights are getting colder, football is in session, and tree leaves are filling up my gutters.

I did not have enough time to pull some pictures for this blog.  I wanted to do a this or that of different foods.  Today I want to talk about what are your habits and how do you work to stay healthy while traveling on the road.

For the first topic of what types of foods do you typically eat when on the road.  I try to eat as best I can while running hard, but default to trying to outwork my bad diet.  I also have an alter ego like Bruce Banner and the Hulk.  I have me and fat Kevin.  Fat Kevin says come on you work hard and that donut and those cookies will totally be burned off when you work out.  Just do it they taste amazing!  Then I am off to the store to buy a larger waist size in my dress pants…or work out harder to burn the calories off. 

This back and forth tug of war has been going on for years with me.  This year I have been doing better with what I eat.  It may also be that my body is rejecting all of the sugar from a sleeve of oreos as well kicking in my will do eat better.  Not to mention the fatigue that happens when I eat the junk food. 

I am curious how those that seem to have a residence in an airport or in a car how you prefer to eat and under indulge. 

The other item I want to touch on is staying healthy.  For some reason when I travel on an airplane I get sinus infections.  It never fails that I end up with one and feel like a snotty mess for a week or so.  This will hinder speaking as you can imagine.  Besides no one want to shake a hand of someone that is sick. 

This spring I started using extra vitamins and a nasal antihistamine and so far I have done better with this issue.  I have heard others take airborne just before they take off each time and they swear by it.  Others say they drink tons of water before take off which I can only imagine myself running to the bathroom as the plane takes off.  I can imagine the flight crew chasing me to tackle me as I run to relief.  

I guess I am here today asking you for your insights for when you are traveling to stay healthy and when you eat?  Do you follow a certain diet?  I have heard the Keto diet is the new one to jump on as well as fasting.  I am also looking at gaining better knowledge and taking a nutrition class or two to understand the effects and do better.  Lets hear it in the comments below what you do.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

What About Your Customer

Happy Saturday all my friends!

It smells like football and I am getting excited / nervous for the season to start.  I am a Michigan fan since I can remember with the famous coach “Bo” yelling and throwing his headsets.  It has been hard for me the past ten or so years seeing I grew up watching my team dominate the college football scene.  Hope seems to come alive every fall and then let down happens.  But I digress.  This is a blog on sales and leadership instead of my college football therapy!

I was listening to a podcast that was discussing how to help entrepreneurs to focus on their offerings.  The scope was based on the fact that you should not be everything to everyone, instead narrow down your offerings to be an expert.  This is something that I agree with, the only issue I have is that the tag line used was “What does your customer want?”  It’s great to get sales people to think about the customer, but I think that needs to be changed to a better question.  What does your customer need?

Have you ever been watching a commercial, infomercial, walked past something in the store and said something along of the lines of…I need that!  That thing will help me fix this issue, or if I get that I will gain efficiency?  Sometimes we stumble upon things that we look at and say wow that is needed.  We sometimes have emotional triggers that push us towards needing that widget, software, ski boat, etc. 

Knowing that we don’t always know all of the solutions which is why YouTube has been so huge with how to videos on fixing things.  The same thing applies to us always knowing what we need.  Sometimes the customer does not know what they need when they are searching for a product or service.  That is why we need to be the expert to help them. 

One of the things that I have always prided myself on is that I am there to advocate for the customer and help them any way I can.  I have even helped the customer procure something that I don’t sell.  This gained me trust and they call me to ask my opinion quite often on products and services to pick my brain.  Sometimes I tell them that what they are looking for works good for x, y, and z, but there may be something else out there that might help them hit this extra need that they informed me about.  Usually the response is wow I didn’t think of that and that they were glad that I was able to point them in the right direction.

When it comes to customers sales people should be there to serve them, not just take orders for the product that the sales person is representing.  Far too often that is the case and that is why the sales profession has received a bad rap.  Fortunately, there are far more good sales people than those bad ones wheeling and dealing to make a quick buck. 

When sales people go out and sell they need to be focused on what does the customer need.  They need to know the customer’s needs in depth so that they can be and expert to help them.  Having a servant mindset is a must to be a great sales person and leader.  You have to be focused on doing what is best for the customer.  To do that the sales person needs to know the customer extremely well.  This comes from time, interaction, rapport building, doing the right thing, and building trust by under committing and over producing!  The customer will not ask your opinion if they don’t trust you.

When they do trust you though you will have influence that you can help them.  If your product helps them move forward and doesn’t just move sales from another product or service they offer then you are on the right track.  Be there to help them grow their business and gain that influence they respect.  Then you can show them your product that they may never have thought would help them in a whole new light.  They will be grateful when that moment arrives as well. 

Make sure that your focus is on what does my customer need and you will do well in the long game. 

I hope this helps a bit.  If you have questions or would like to carry the conversation on please leave a comment below.

Until then have a great Labor Day weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Running Meetings and Follow Up

Happy Saturday everyone!

The mornings are cooler here in the mid-west which means two things.  Kids are heading back to school and college football is in the air. 

Today I’d like to talk about running meetings and follow up.  I know it is not the most fun topic, but it is one area if business that often goes overlooked and wastes money for organizations.  I hope to share some insight on keeping things in order and how to allow for action items to be taken to help promote movement.  This topic can be used for customer meetings as well as internal meetings. 

I have worked in multiple industries and one thing that has been true in all industries is that people tend to forget what was talked about and what they were supposed to do.  This tends to come up in the next meeting when the person is asked where they are at only to give an answer similar to this “ Oh yeah…I forgot.  I’ll work on that this week…”  It amazes me how much lost time there is in meetings with action items not moving forward. 

Most people have a million things flying at them all the time so its also very hard for them to remember all the items talked about in your meeting.  With the introduction of the internet and the ability to have a computer in the palm of your hand people are hit in the face with so much information that it becomes overwhelming at times.  Don’t get me wrong technology is great, but we are slowly becoming a society with attention deficit disorder.  I am not trying to be insensitive to those that have been diagnosed with this, but it is true for everyone that our attention span has been shrinking greatly over the years.  It is bad I literally finished that last sentence and picked up my phone for a few seconds.

While working with larger organizations that had multiple business units I learned the need for a way to track what was discussed as well as action items.  I was once told by a manager that the person that controls the meeting notes controls the conversation.  Take that as you will.  I truly like to keep everything discussed and agreed to out for everyone so that we can move forward on tasks and projects.  I often running a running log of meeting minutes so that anyone new can review topics and get caught up to speed quicker than walking around talking to others on the project or waiting for the next meeting to ask where we are at. 

I have used this format of note taking as well as action items with customers, suppliers, and internal for half a decade and found this to be the best way so far.  If you have a better option I am very open to having a discussion and learning about it.  One way that I have seen is people put the notes in a body of an email which to me gets lost quite often and there is no way to review past notes very well.  It is better than not doing notes all together, but I believe having a way to review easily is a plus. 

Keeping things moving forward is often hard to do and I have seen all sorts of ways people try to document items discussed and send out.  I have chosen the format that is attached to this blog at the beginning.  This has worked for me for years.  If you would like a free copy of it feel free to email me at info@kevinsidebottom.com and I can send it to you.  Hopefully it helps you.

Have a great weekend everyone!  As for me I need to get the college football swag out for the season so that I can help my team by yelling at the tv 😊

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

How Doing Business as B to B and B to C is the Same

Good morning everyone,

I hope that last week’s blog entry helped you with being intentional after the sale and not being the kind of sales person that rides off into the sunset never to be heard from again.

Today I want to talk about the reason why B to B and B to C are similar.  Now I know that some people are going to say they are not similar, but I want to focus on the selling process part.  Yes B to B is different in terms of cost structures, wholesale, and other items that people tend to say, but here is the thing.  We are still selling to people when we have both transactions. 

Granted its easier to get customers in Business to consumer to buy based off emotions as they want to fulfill a need, but I would challenge that business to business kind of customers are also looking to fulfill a need.  Emotions could be why you are sitting in front of them in the first place.  Their current supplier could have changed something that is driving the customer to look at other options for similar products.  I have had owners of companies contact me to meet with them due to being upset with their current supplier. 

When I worked deals for multi-million multi-year contracts with large corporations, I was working the sales process and identifying all of the key decision makers.  This did take a great deal longer than selling $30 hearing protection to an end user to keep them from losing their hearing at a young age, but I still used the same selling process of identifying the needs.  I just had to multiple key decision makers from engineering, purchasing, quality, etc.  Each one of these decisions makers walked through the sales process with me in order to make sure they were all on board with purchasing our product.  This took time to build all of the relationships, meeting with each of them individually as well as together. 

A side note, getting the people to meet individual is always a good way to see what they view as their needs.  When people are in groups some of the needs tend to get drowned out in conversation.  Make sure to make the customer know they are valued and their needs are important.

At the end of the day people buy from people.  That is why certain financial advisors and marketing agents can retain their large accounts as they move to other organizations.  Making sure that the customer feels valued and trusts you is extremely important.  By being intentional with the sales process you will be working the same principles that you would use with an end user as you will for large organizations. 

If you would like to discuss further reach out by commenting below, or by hitting me up through email.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

After the $ale

Good morning everyone,

I can not believe that we are already into August and soon the weather is going to start its decent into grey and cold.  We will still have a stop in fall for college football and apple orchards for cider and donuts!  I really need to not be so excited with food.  Well lets preface that with bad food such as donuts and cookies that bring relatively no nutritional value.

Enough about the weather and the some of my bad habits.  Let’s get into good habits.  Let’s talk about a habit that all sales people need to be thoughtful of when they make the sale.  It’s the habit of the next 100 days of life after the purchase that the sales person needs to be focused on.  The next 100 days after the sale is crucial to the effectiveness of your product and the success that the customer has.

The sales process does not end just with signing on the dotted line and never speaking to the customer again.  This is where the real hard work starts.  This is where all the words about how great your service, organization, and you are.  Unfortunately, most sales people do believe that once the customer signs on the dotted line then that is it and they can move on to the next conquest.

When I started out in sales I was under that assumption.  I would make the sale and believe that the internal ordering team would take over and I could move on to more sales activities.  One instance that comes to mind of the many was when I had just started out in sales and set up my first lawnmower shop with a new product line of stand on riding lawnmowers. 

It was in the Detroit area and the shop was smaller in comparison to some of the other shops in the Detroit area.  The people were good and they were generating pretty good sales with the product lines that they had.  They had a market for the stand on riding lawnmowers due to the properties in the area not having a great deal of room between them so the landscapers would be able to get between houses without having to use a push mower or weed trimmers. 

The issue came after I had worked for over a year getting the dealer convinced that this product would work well for them and they finally agreed.  I set up the date for them to receive their first shipment, confirmed that they would be well taken care of by the inside staff, and trained their staff on how to sell the product.  After that, I was off and running after new sales.  I was pumped and ready to take on the lawnmowing world.

After a few months I stopped back in and the original order of lawnmowers was still there meaning they had not sold any.  When I asked how it was going they said good.  When I asked how the sales of the new line of lawnmowers was going, they said, well not so good.  Evidentially, the equipment did not ship on time and they did not know how to maneuver the equipment like I was able to do, and customers wanted to sit while cutting. 

Months later I was back at the dealer picking up the equipment and having to find a new home for the it at another dealer for a discount.  I failed!  I felt like crap and was not looking forward to telling the owner of our organization that I lost my first new account.  How would you feel if you had to tell your boss that you lost an account and when probed to understand why it was because you did not follow up and help the customer.

I have since learned that 24 hours after someone learns something if it is not applied they forget about 50 percent of the new knowledge.  The next day another 50 percent of that 50 percent that they learned two days ago and so on and so forth.  Without follow up and reinforcing that decision someone makes to buy your product will not help them as well as advertised.

I have since made it a matter of discipline to make sure that I become intentional for the next 100 days and longer if they sales is in the millions of dollars to reinforce everything that I have advertised.  I train the operators, sales team, learn more about their customers, find new ways to help the customer use the product efficiently, etc.  I have become so intentional that if I have any kind of doubt that I may not have set the customer on the best footing I keep going back to them to make sure they feel like they have got this and the product or service is second nature.

Do not be afraid to ask the customer to tell you where they are being hung up or not seeing the improvements that they were expecting.  At a bare minimum it will help you refine your sales process in the future to address such issues.  Most of the time it will enable you to grow your relationship with the customer because you are coming along side of them to help them grow and you are not like most of the sales people that they have dealt with in the past that are no where to be found. 

Focus on being intentional with the customer no matter what product or service you offer to them after they have made the purchase.  Follow up and make sure the product ships on time and that you can be there for set up.  Get dirty with them if needed running wiring for new internet routers, grab a prybar and open up the crates with them, run them through the new software package, and sit with them and ask more questions about what they may not understand.  You may also share a few items from your blooper reels so that they are more comfortable sharing what they do not understand.  Be intentional after the sale and help your customer.  You never know what will happen after.  One thing that happened for me is that I had more customers calling me to meet with them because of the value that I brought not just in selling product, but helping my customers in any area of their business that I could from the knowledge and no fear of getting dirty with them to help.

I hope that this blog had helped you and if you have any questions know that I am here to help in any way that I can. 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

How Gritty Are You?

Good Morning Everyone

I apologize for being a little late as I usually try to have the blog up by 7 a.m.  I slept in after driving to my sister’s house this weekend so that we could spent the weekend on the lake with them.  We are in Amish country Ohio on a small lake.  Big enough that it allows for water skiing though so I will have the opportunity to decompress this weekend!

On our drive over with the kids my wife had picked up a book called Grit by Angela Duckworth.  I am all about growth books so we loaded it in.  After a few minutes she was putting on her headphones for music and the kids were saying this is boring.  To that end they were released to use their tablets.  I pressed on listening to the book.

It is a pretty good book basically figuring out why people can preserver and why some can do not.  It also discusses how just because someone has talent does not mean they always stick out and win.  Most people that have been successful are not just talent, but people that have a grittiness and keep going after it through set-backs.  They get back in the fight and practice every time they get knocked down. 

The book also has a pdf or you can log on to the website to see how gritty you are.  It is a good book and I am enjoying it.  I am hoping that I will hear what I have not heard as it finishes.  So far in the book it talks about people that are just determined and that they are just motivated by goals.  I feel that it should align with Simon Sinek’s golden circle.  Simon talks about the super successful companies start with “why.” 

I believe that perseverance and grit will be affected by your Why.  If you have a small why you are doing something when pushed by an obstacle you may give up.  Strong Why’s not just goals and determination will keep you coming back for more of the crap sandwiches that you will have to eat to get better and better.  Sit back and think about the times that you have made it through a tough time and what was driving you.  Was it just a strong goal, or were you empowered by a “why” that was your compass?

I hear all the time people on Dave Ramsey’s radio show knocking out 100’s of thousands of dollars making less than a 100 thousand dollars a year all the time.  They are empowered and driven from a why to get out of debt once and for all.  Simply putting a goal to get out of debt on a wall is not going to be enough.  They get angry at the debt and work second and third jobs, drive junk cars, and get after it.  They have set backs and keep going after it.  They have a strong “why” keeping their feet moving. 

For this weekend I will be reflecting on my future endeavors as to what my guiding “why” is.  If my “why” is not strong enough and there is not a strong enough purpose then I will not be moving after the goal.  That is after I get out on the lake for some water skiing!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

What Your Buyer Is Thinking?

Good morning everyone!

Today I want to share a secret with you. That is if you are alright with that?  If you are not up for a secret to be revealed, then I would tune out this morning.

The secret that I am going to share is the fact that I have worked in purchasing for a year and a half to make sure that my sales process would actually work for the sales person.  I decided to take the sabbatical from sales to learn exactly what purchasing organizations are thinking when they are trying to source business.  The sourcing tends to be for millions of spend annually with the organization.

I chose a well-known organization in order to learn from large scale business sourcing and what all goes into the decision.  I have sat in “sourcing councils” where groups of individuals review the strategy for sourcing components and suppliers, meetings with manufacturing plants and engineering to validate suppliers, Supply Chain Industrial Certification Training, and quote comparisons.   I have also been the one leading some of the projects to completion once the decision has been made on who to source business to.  I have been in meetings with the buyers and the suppliers and quietly analyzed the discussions as well as picked the buyer’s brains as to how and why they make certain decisions.

I have quite a few fun stories from this time as well as what happens when the cheapest price is the sole decision for sourcing and how that decision has failed miserably…

Buyers are so busy putting out fires every day that their time is very limited.  They are actually involved in a great deal of responsibilities for supply chain.  They need to make sure that suppliers scorecards are accurate including, part defect rejections (PPM), incidents, financials, site evaluations, cost savings initiatives, shortages, etc.   The manufacturing plants call them constantly about the supplier that are failing.  Legislation changes mean that the buyers have to mitigate extra costs to the organization.  Finally, they have to make sourcing decisions on new program launches.  There are quite a few other responsibilities, but you should get the point that buyers are extremely busy.  So, don’t waste their time!

Before we get started on a few things the buyers are quietly thinking I want to highlight a couple things.  First, yes they intentionally make you wait in the lobby for a few minutes and yes they intentionally have your competitor arrive for a meeting after yours to keep you off balance.  Also, just because the buyer is late does not mean that you are allowed to be late to the meetings.  You need to be prompt and ready to discuss whatever topic has been agreed to on the agenda.  Buyers hate sales people that are unorganized, unprepared, and not on time.

So now on to three things your buyer is thinking:

1.      Your Product Is A Commodity

As a sales person I know that all product offerings differ a bit, but the buyers believe that 99 percent of the products are the exact same.  Have you ever wondered why the buyer has gone silent and won’t return your calls after you’ve submitted a proposal?  That is because they are busy studying the cost to them with all of your incentives.  What the value is to them and what your competition is offering up to them.  They study a few things and compare thinking that your product that you offer is the same thing that everyone else is suppling.  Now, as a sales professional we know how to differentiate our product from everyone else and using our engineering teams to assist will benefit you greatly.  Make sure you know your competition’s processes and offerings better than your own so that you can position your offering that allows it to stand apart from the competition.

As a follow up make sure you are ready for the last time nibble that purchasing organizations actually have figured into their sourcing time lines.  Make sure you have that extra benefit in your back pocket.

2.      You Are Going to Let Them Down Like Everyone Else

Your Promises that you have provided are going to fall short which is why they lean on price as the differentiator at the beginning.  Either your tooling will not be ready in time, your product will fail testing, your team will not ship on time, your low price will actually increase when you are in production, etc.  It should go without saying that you need to under commit and over produce always!  Make sure you are aligned with your teams when committing with your customer.  

Make sure that you follow up and make sure that the products are hitting the milestones.  This is where you get to babysit adults or “project manage” for your company.  Nothing irritates the buyer than missing their date of a project.  If you are at risk make sure you are finding alternatives to mitigate the risk for the buyer.

3.      Your Company Is At Risk Of Going Out Of Business

With the competitive market and the fact that most organizations run on smaller margins these days, there is constant sensitivity that suppliers will go out of business.  Buyers are subject to reprimand if their supplier suddenly sends notice that they are closing their doors.  Adding fuel to the fire of scarcity with the just in time supply chains and longer payment terms elevates the risk.  Make sure that you are transparent and helping them know that you are around for the long haul.

Conclusion

Buyers want to know that when they source a supplier that they are not going to regret the decision in a few months.  I have had to lead projects that the decision of cheapest price has come back to haunt the team and a new decision has to be made with a secondary source.  Don’t get discouraged if you don’t initially win, because most of the time the cheapest price supplier falls flat on their face and they will come calling on your trying to disguise this fact.  Please do not rub it in their face.  Save the victory dance until after you meet with them and you are added the extra margin into your new quote.

Serve your buyers and help them.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Who Are Your Advisors?

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday morning in your quietness and coffee (if you are a coffee drinker)

Today I wanted to write a bit more about the mentor group I am in.  I think I should call it more of an advisory board.  They are mentoring me on different areas of business, but more importantly they are there to listen to my questions, comments, concerns, ideas, etc.  Where I get the most bang for my buck is the fact that they are there to speak into me in areas that I need.

This week I met with the group and was discussion a few items and where I felt like I was lacking.  They in turn were nice enough to speak into a few of those areas and hold my feet to the fire.  One of the areas was where my yearly goal was to cook with my step daughter once a month and that I had yet to do it.  I guess I should have said once a quarter.  When I was going over my next months goals with the group, one of the members was able to stop me and tell me that instead of further missing the goal I had set out to do, that I make an effort to do the cooking with my step daughter this month and to catch up.  Keep in mind that we have to pay when we miss goals so now I am on the hook for cooking twice with my step daughter this month.  Keep in mind that I am not an award winning chef so the meals will probably be pancakes and grilled chees sandwiches.  We are not setting out to do four course meals neither she nor I have the attention span for that.  Well maybe she does…

When I left the group, I was frustrated by the discussions and was needing to sit and reflect as well as cool off!  Once I did cool off and reflect I noticed that my friends and family typically don’t do this service for me.  I would guess that most of your friends and family do not as well.  During a message at Cedar Creek church the lead pastor stated that need for having spiritual advisors that ability to speak into your life and that everyone especially lead pastors must have them.  People that will speak into you and call out areas that need to be called out.  These people also cheer you on, but more importantly help you up and tell you how it is. 

Even though I was not very happy when I walked out of the meeting and felt more emotionally beat up than anything, but it was good for me to hear.  These people are there to help me without any gain for themselves and yet they are fine with that.  Most people in this world only want something in return.  These people are there to help if they can any way they think will help.  It is great to have that group there.  I just hope that I am also giving back to them and helping them like they are helping me. 

My family is one that calls it like it is and then states that you need to do this and that… instead of encouraging me to look inside and find the answer.  They give their insight like I do, but most of the time it is how they would handle the issue and not how I would.  On the flip side, the advisors get me digging deeper into the area to find the answer.  They bounce questions off of me about the idea to understand where I am at.  These advisors also suggest others that might specialize in an area that I am having an issue with.

I have had advisors in the past for various personal and social aspects of my life, but it has been this year that I have also asked to have advisors in my business.  When I ask for help on items they are there to help.  Most of them I only see once a month, but they are there outside as well.  It has been great growth for me, mostly from them asking me questions that I never would have thought of which gets my brain working the way it should to grow whereas in the past I would have gone from my own questions that I typically ask. 

This week I would challenge you to start thinking about who you have in your life that can act as advisors that can speak into you personally as well as in your business.   If you do not have one there are a great wealth of opportunities to gain some.  John Maxwell has the JMT certification and they have groups, Dave Ramsey offers Financial Peace University which ends up with groups of people that you can use as advisors for finances.  Truth at work is a group that I am in of business professionals.  There are also meet up groups where you can meet others as well as different clubs one can join to expand their network and advisory board. 

There are groups everywhere, but I would also preface that just getting into a group will not likely net you the affect you are looking for.  Having a couple people that will help you in your relationships, one or two people for your fitness goals, a few for your professional career goals, etc.  The key is to develop a group of advisors that you can turn to and get help.  This will take time to develop and some people will enter and leave your group of advisors at different times of your life.  They may even come back into your group of advisors in the future.

No one is perfect and can always use others to bounce ideas off of as well as be open without fear of rejection.  I have yet to see someone that is successful that has not had a coach, mentor, or advisors helping them grow.  While you are sitting this morning scrolling through Facebook or Instagram set the phone down and make a list of people that you typically go to and who might also be able to help you in areas you don’t currently have represented.  Maybe it is even an old boss, colleague, favorite professor, or someone else that you may have lost contact with.  The key is to be intentional about this group and constantly review to see how you can get better.

That should be enough for now, but if you would like to discuss further comment below and we can start the conversation!

Time to get the griddle out and start preparing for pancakes!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

How Are You Tending To Your Network?

Good morning everyone,

First I want to apologize for this blog getting out a little later than usual.  I was in need of extra sleep apparently.  Something about staying up late two days ago and then working out at 4:30 a.m. yesterday has made me a little tired.  Something to be said for keeping on a schedule.  Again I apologize for this late blog.

Yesterday I was thinking about something that we all do in our daily lives.  We don’t typically think about it in social interactions with friends and family, but it is one that we tend to do professionally a great deal.  Today’s topic is Networking.

When we are in the professional setting most of the time we are focused on networking with other people in our field to grow out circle of influence.  With the invention of LinkedIn, it has made business networking seem easier.  I get tons of people asking for me to link up with them from all across the world that I have never met.  Typically, my rule of thumb is unless I have met you, I don’t send out an invite.  This is just my rule of thumb because it seems more valuable.  I did not start out that way when I first got on LinkedIn however and I had to change my thinking about it a while back to what I was trying to do with LinkedIn as opposed to Facebook. 

Facebook has been revised by me to only be for my close friends and relatives.  I also have a couple Facebook groups, but I tend to keep that as only friends and family.  So lets talk about the different kinds of networks to gain a little perspective on why I do what I do.

I believe there are three main types of networks:

Operational – current company / organization someone works for.

Personal – friends and family

Strategic – network for opportunities in the future

Let’s start with Operational networks first.  This is the network of those you engage most days with projects that are paying you your current salary.  Your coworkers that you have to engage in order to make things happen at work.  Those you talk to at the coffee station, grab lunch with, the other functional groups at your organization that you interact with on a daily basis.  In most cases these are the individuals that you keep at arms length and work for the greater good of getting things accomplished.  You want to keep the interactions as positive as possible so that you can get things done in the future and possibly notified of new positions in the organization that open up that you might like to try.  Every now and then one or two make it into the “friend zone” as well.

The second is pretty obvious to us as our friends and family for our personal network.  This sometimes does open up into new possibilities in careers, but for the most part these are the people we like getting out emotional support from.  They help us with our spiritual walks, ideas on how to raise our kids, letting us know that we are not horrible parents when we do something wrong according to the parent code of discipline.  They are the people that bring us up when we are down.  We need these individuals in our lives because they are the ones that can speak into our lives when we are not seeing areas that need to be improved. 

The third network is our strategic network that most of the time is not thought about.  This is the strategic network.  This is the network that we need to make sure we are intentional about for future opportunities.  This network of individuals is kind of like the five degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon if you grew up in the 90’s.  Kevin Bacon can be tied to just about anyone in movies because he was in almost all of the major movies back then. 

This group is the group that you have feelers out to for new business ventures, career changes, but are not as close as our friends and families for the most part.  This is your LinkedIn groups, people you volunteer with, professional seminar contacts you meet, venture capitalists, etc.  I started really thinking about this group back in 2016 as I was looking to start my speaking career.  One connection was to a guy names Josh Schneider who I didn’t know it at the time would be my first connection to help me move forward.  He has become a periodic mentor in the speaking world.

The funny thing is that I didn’t know who he was when I signed up to become certified as a John Maxwell coach and speaker.  When you sign up they ask you what group you would like to attend for learning your curriculum before the certification event.  I picked a group that was lead by two individuals, one being an ex-police officer from Detroit, MI and the other…some guy named Josh.  While talking through some of the calls Josh had mentioned that there was a speaking event he would be doing in a few weeks that sounded like one that I was attending.  As luck would turn out we were both at the same event and the contact started there. 

We met and hung out at the certification event that I went to for John Maxwell and since then have hung out, had mentoring calls, bounced ideas off of each other, and he has was at my wedding a year ago.  Josh Schneider is one of the upcoming speakers on Engagement as of late and kicking but.  Check out his Youtube videos titled “The Josh Schneider Experience.”  Check him out if you are looking for a keynote speaker on the topic of engagement.  He also does not know that I am writing this, but that is how the strategic network that you are developing works. 

These strategic people that you network with are the ones that when an opportunity comes up think of you and send the potential opportunity your way.  The thing is though you need to be intentional about this group of people.  To better develop this group of individuals I suggest the following three questions to ask yourself when searching out these individuals.

What do I want the new opportunities / skills to look like?

What do I want to be known for in the future?

What is your narrative?

The key to the strategic network is to be intentional and put a good deal of thought behind this group. For me I have gotten into a mentor group of other business owners called “Truth at Work” to bounce ideas off of and to help them as well.  I will also be attending more National Speakers Association events in the future to grow that network and growing my speaking career this fall when my book is finished.  Just a side note I found my editor through another author / speaker in my “Truth at Work” group a few months ago.  Chances are I would never have found this individual had I not been in the right place to ask the person while attending a group function for all individuals in the group.

Today was a lot of information, but I hope you have found it enlightening and a way to either keep you focused on your networks, or to ask more questions on where you want to go.  If you have questions about this blog feel free to reach out.  I would be glad to help you with diving further into this topic.

See you next time!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Why Are You More Important Than Your Customer?”

Good morning everyone,

I hope you all have had a good fourth of July celebration here in the states and are enjoying the last weekend of it.  People say that it is horrible when the 4th falls in the middle of the week, but I beg to differ.  It allows you to take off a few days either before or after and have a nice long weekend.  The issue is that some people take the beginning half of the week off while others take the later part of the week so no work will get done.  Some might like that though…

Today I want to talk about the first meeting with your potential customer.  I want to focus on the fact that most sales people focus on telling people why they are so great, their history, how they have done awesome, and why the potential customer needs to do business with them.  If you are presenting to a large organization it typically starts with a slide deck of your company’s overview, locations, number of employees, etc.  This is all well and good, except that the potential customer is dreading this and counting the seconds until you hopefully get to a good point that they can take away from the interaction, so they don’t find it a total loss of their time.

Have you ever been there when listening to a sales person ramble on about how they are so important that you need to do business with them?  If not, I dare you to call in a potential supplier and listen.  Chances are they will launch into why they are so great that you will get the picture.  I have been apart of organizations that started with this and it drove me crazy when the management said, “No this is how you do it.  You need to show them that you are creditable” when I challenged their thought process.  I would then ask how many business deals have you won because of how big you are and those slides?  They would look confused and then I would say look in the mirror because that is the face your potential customer makes when they see another slide deck like this.  They are wondering why they said yes to another boring meeting that will put them further behind in their daily grind.

When I created the steps of the sales process I started by asking questions.  Not using a shot gun saying I was great and hoping something would stick.  So why do so many organizations and sales people start into why they are so great?  Is it because they believe that they are just supposed to do it this way?  Is it how its always been done?  Do they believe that customer needs to hear this?  If it is a returning customer, they do not!

When I first meet with a potential customer, or existing for a new project I like to ask them questions about their needs and show them the market data of where their competition is going.  Here is the trend and where the business is going.  Then I ask them where they would like to be going.  With the competition or in a different direction.  I ask them questions that will allow me to narrow in on if I can help them or if I need to offer them someone else that can help them on their needs.  I do not want to waste either of our time just to make a small amount of money. 

I would rather spend more energy with a smaller list of customers that I can help more with more products that align with their needs than tons of customers that only need small items and take up more time.  I focus on the fact that 80 percent of the business is done on 20 percent of the customer base.  That way I can give them the full attention they need and not have to worry about returning multiple phone calls and emails to the customers that do not need my services.

To reiterate the question, why do so many sales people immediately jump into details about why they are so great and show off who they do business with?  Do they think that creditability is why they need to do this?  Chances are if you are creditable the potential customer already knows it because the truth is they are investigating you before they meet with you.  With the internet, it is very easy for someone to investigate you.  Why launch into why you are so great o and why not focus on learning about their needs first?

Have a good weekend and enjoy the weather.  Winter will be here before we know it 😊

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Independence Day what does it mean to you?

Good Evening Everyone!

I hope you are enjoying a warm summer and all the outdoor activities that you can.  By activities I am referring to being out on the water, grilling flesh on hot grates of grills, smores by camp fires, and being outdoors in general.

I wanted to take some time to reflect on Independence Day.  Unfortunately, when I searched up for the history of this day, the first few things that come up are links to the Will Smith movie.  Don’t get me wrong I am a fan of Will Smith dating back to his song “Summertime” with DJ Jazzy Jeff and was known as The Fresh Prince.  It is just disappointing that our culture in America focuses more on what is next instead of why we have the opportunity to think about what is next.  In some countries the common people do not get to make decision for their life and are selected as youth for their careers by governments.  Some people do not have the opportunity to make it past a few years of life due to lack of food and water.

In America we celebrate the 4th of July every year with fireworks, days off from the grind, and hanging out with friends / family.  This is all great, but why do we get to do all of this.  Was it because the government decided simply that we should have a day off?

It is interesting when I read about how Independence Day arrived and that even the lack of support when some of the original colonies wanted to separate from Great Britain.  Prior to that the Day was set up to celebrate the King George III’s birthday with bonfires and the ringing of bells.  Then the first few celebrations after the Revolutionary War were kind of morbid with mock funerals held for the King.  There was also some debate on if it should have been on July 2nd or on the 4th.  We now know which date won out.

The thing that really sticks out to me is the fact that some individuals were willing to risk their lives for a cause and fought hard for that cause.  If America would not have fought off Great Britain and many other battles, there would not be the democracy that we have today here.  I am not going to get political on which party is right or anything.  I want to focus on the fact that because of a cause people got behind it and fought for it.  Much like some of us do when launching our own companies.  Working hard for that cause to make life better.  Let us not forget those that have fought and currently fight for our freedom’s that we have today.

Whether you believe in the battles or not we should make sure that we take time in America to remember and thank those that put their life on the line to protect our freedom to live how we want to.  These individuals leave their friends and families and enter into some of the harshest environments to protect that freedom.  Some also pay the ultimate sacrifice for that freedom with their lives.  Just to point out that I have never served in our military and I am thankful for those that stand up and say yes, I will.

Maybe it is just me getting older which is why I sit back and reflect on these holidays more, or maybe it is because I am a father and am glad that our kids have this freedom.  We can get all bent out of shape about how the military isn’t perfect, how war is not the answer, or any other aspect that is negative.  I chose to write this and reflect of the freedom that I have and how thankful I am to have it. 

So, this 4th of July when there are parades all over the country, ceremonies, BBQ’s, etc. let us be thankful for the freedom that we have and thank those that sacrifice for us.  The ask that I have is that when you see a veteran or someone active in our military that we smile and thank them for their service.  Heck why not offer to pay for a meal or an ice cream if they are in line behind us. 

These people don’t do the service because of the pay.  I can tell you that.  They have a great “Why” and for me that is an awesome reason to thank them.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Conflict Modes

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are enjoying your morning and relaxing from the grind of the business week.  I also want to thank you for taking the time to walk with me on my blogs.  I enjoy helping others as well as talking about areas that I am developing in.  If you have suggestions on areas that you are struggling with or would like to challenge some of my thoughts by all means reach out or comment on the blogs and lets discuss.  I am glad to help.

I recently was a part of a group that was able to work on a workshop of conflict modes.  Being that I like learning and growing I found this interesting.  Mainly due to the fact that when we deal with groups of people there usually is some kind of disagreement in business decisions, as well as others that want their ideas heard.

The workshop that I was a part of dealt with the five conflict handling modes that Thoms – Kilman has an instrument for calculating yours.  After I took the question assessment from Thomas Kilman I quickly learned that my main conflict mode that I fall into is a collaborator followed up by competing, then compromising, avoiding, and last accommodating.  This makes sense as whenever I have launched a project with groups of people I am always searching for others input to make sure everyone feels heard.  This is great if you have time to work together although if we were in a building fire and in a basement, I am not sure collaborating would be the best options.  I think we would all want to get to safety and as soon as possible.

This workshop gave me insight when dealing with others on how to identify their conflict modes and how to work with them to the best outcome possible.  It was great to learn about each conflict mode.  It also helped me to identify if I am overusing a conflict mode in a discussion.  If I were to use the competing conflict mode when in a discussion with my wife she may feel slighted and disengage with me by avoiding the discussion. 

The major key to this workshop was the fact that when you identify which mode you and those you are in conflict are in, you can then understand if they are working toward cooperativeness or not.  Knowing how cooperative they are will allow you to understand if you can work to come to a solution quicker.  If not you may have to punt for a short time and come back together later.  There is also an assertiveness scale that follows the modes which helps you identify how pointed the discussion could get. 

Each conflict handling mode has its pluses and minuses associated with them.  Understanding them well allow you to know how to work more efficient.

Have you ever been in a conflict that went south quick and tension was so great that it was just awkward being in the same room with the person?  I know I have.  To which point I usually use humor if I can to see if I can get the mood to lighten a bit.  If not, then it is time to just walk away and come back.  I have also made jokes that ended up blowing up the situation at times.  I warn that unless you know the person really well not to use humor.  It can end up blowing up in your face.  I have made many of these mistakes in the past.  I haven’t had a great conflict in the past few days to try out the new approach.  I’ll try not to pick a fight with my wife just to see either.  I do believe that saying “Happy wife, happy life” 😊

I am also working through some studies on emotional intelligence that will also aid in working through conflicts with customers, coworkers, and family.  After I learn this I may work to include it in my keynotes and training.  We’ll have to see how it grows. 

I recommend learning about the conflict handling modes so that you get a better understanding of when stress gets high in situations how you and those around you are functioning.  It will help to resolve the situation quickly and move forward together towards a solution.  Let’s be honest that no one really wants to be in conflict with others.  It is draining strategizing on how to win an argument or how you will get the other side to the table. 

I hope that is enough for now to get you interested in the topic.  Please leave feedback if you’d like to know more about this topic, or if you have some more insight on it as well.  All comments are welcome.

Well have a great weekend, now it is off to negotiate with my wife if it is time for us to eat healthy this morning or if I can negotiate for pancakes 😊   

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Stress

Good morning everyone,

How are you doing this morning?  Have you had an stressful situations this week?  If you are like me you find yourself in stressful situations quite often.  When we deal with people there are going to be times when we are in situations that become stressful.

How we handle the stress is up to us.  At this point I need to confess that I don’t always handle stress well.  I also lack patience at times.  I can say that I have gotten better, but that does not mean that I am a super hero.  I get stressed out from situations and people quite often.  It used to wear me down and put me in a tail spin.  I used to cope with running, stress eating, and shopping.

I have spent that last five years learning ways to mitigate stress.  It has also meant that I had to revisit the situations much like the end of the sales process where we analyze.  What and where I get triggered needs to be reviewed about how I felt and what was said.  The triggering gets my heart rate up and my fight or flight kicks in where my voice gets louder.  Unfortunately, that is not acceptable and unconstructive.

It does take more for me to get triggered these days, but I still do get triggered and stressed out at times.  Typically, I use fitness to mitigate my stress levels and a lot of prayer to understand the situation.  Every now and then I will go for bad food like ice cream and pizza. 

I have also read that taking walks, doing remedial things like folding laundry, and mowing the lawn are also ways to destress. They seem weird, but still function as outlets to work through your thoughts. 

With that said, lets here your thoughts about how you mitigate stress.  What do you do when you are having bad days, or are stressed out?  Maybe what you use will help some of us. 

Thank you for your support and looking forward to hearing your ideas.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Burn Out

Good morning everyone,

We have made it to the weekend yet again.  I hope you have all been able to take a little extra time this morning to relax and refresh.  I slept in a little bit today past my normal time, so I apologize if I got my blog out to you too late today.  I needed a little refreshment.

Today I want to talk about burn out.  In sales they say there are periods where all you hear is no and you are not seeing the results of your hard work.  It could be a funk, competitor flanking you, a defect that has come up with your product, etc.  It can also come from working hard and burning the candle at both ends as my mom used to tell me.

Ten years ago, I was on the road roughly 110 nights a year for sales and was a single father as well as a volunteer fire fighter.  I was working a ton of hours to hit my sales goals to generate more revenue.  My mother told me to be careful as that I was burning the candle at both ends and was showing on my face evidentially. At this time, I was also starting a new workout called P90X to get back in shape.

Stress was extremely high and energy levels were dropping.  When I would have a night off I would relax up until the county pager went off for a house fire and we had to respond to help a family in need in the middle of the night.  I was hitting the bottom of the barrel when it came to my energy levels.  I had to push myself out of bed to get to work, didn’t want to run fire calls, and when I had time with my son I didn’t view it as quality time. 

I pushed through and then had after three years analyzed what I needed to do to get my push back.  That is when I heard about burn out and why so many people feel it.  Fire fighters and police have highly stressful careers and they often get burned out of the careers.  Some even move to alcohol, anti-depressants, etc to cope with the stress.  They become numb to the stress and just simply show up. 

Studies show that when someone is focused on a why instead of what, they will have more joy and fulfillment in their careers.  For firefighters and police officers when they focus on the impact they have and how they are helping people rather than a paycheck they are able to maintain fulfillment in their careers.  Similarly, for a sales position if we are focused on the why instead of the environment we will find joy.

One project that I took on was to work in a purchasing division at an organization to learn how they make decisions.  I studied their tactics, how they made sourcing decisions, and why they seem to go silent at times.  I also took on a role as project management of purchasing for resourcing supply chain in cost savings initiatives so that I could better my influence skills.  I had to work with multiple groups from multiple regions to validate the new supply chain and product before launch while saving money for the organization.  My first project did not go so well as one could imagine.  Obsolescence is a curse work in the purchasing world.

This position was no in my sweet spot like sales.  I have had to remind myself of my why am I doing this many times.  Especially when I had strong opposition from other functional groups to perform a change.  I’m sure my wife became very tired of hearing me complain as well.  I got up each day and got back to work to find the road blocks and help move the savings projects forward. 

The interesting part of purchasing is their strategy of how they resource.  What I learned is that many projects that I have worked on show a savings on the front side, but there are costs associated with the supply change that are not always recognized.  What a sales person must show even after the signing of an agreement to supply a product is the value that out-weighs a piece price savings in the future.  This is something that most sales people are missing.  Once you make the sale it is not over.  You need to make sure you are helping your customer see how this product benefits them well beyond the signing of a contract. 

This is my why that I kept me focused on when I came home drained from dealing with difficult situations.  To keep from burn out the why must be strong.  I am also not saying that as a cheesy marketing slogan that your why must make others cry either.  Your why must been one that is not focused on just making money, fame, or anything simplistic.   It needs to be something that will carry us through the tough times and keep us motivated to get back up when we are knocked down by Goliath.  For instance fire fighters and police that focus on their societal impact have more fulfilled lives and can push through the tough times and have a fulfilled career.

Take time to focus on your why and if you run into road blocks ask others what they see as a value you bring to your organization.  The why will help you fend off burn out which tends to lead to people starting over in new careers in search of happiness. 

Feel free to reach out to discuss further especially if I have not made myself clear on some of the topics in this or other blogs.  I am here to help others.  That is my why.  Maybe you even have a why to help me with my grammar as I am sure there are typos in my blogs sometimes.  If so I would greatly appreciate it 😊 

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

No Need For Perfection… Start and Refine

Good morning everyone,

I hope all of you had a great Memorial Weekend and short week this week.

I recently started on a new project and was sitting back thinking about when I could hit the street and start letting others know about this project.  The issue is that a small voice in the back of my head started speaking loud saying that I need to wait and make it perfect.  Wait on launching and wait on getting excited.  This unfortunately brings about its friends worry and doubt.  Will I totally suck, and will people just sit back and laugh at me.

This feeling of doubt and worry about if I will do good enough tripped me up for a few weeks.  I was starting to get to the point of giving up on the project.  Then I realized where I was at and stated that it is okay to suck.  What is the worst that can happen to me?  Will the people throw old vegetables at me, will they call me names, will they throw me off of their roof of their office?   I while back I was watching a tv show with my wife called “This is us” and I noticed that one of the couples would speak about the worst possible outcomes of a situation and then they would feel better.  They would verbalize the worst of everything and then say, if that is the worst then I can now understand the bottom and work to better the situation.  It’s a little weird, but it is actually has merit.

When you verbalize the worst outcomes, you have now given name to them and set a boundary.  Usually they are funny like who is going to throw someone off a roof of a building for giving bad sales advice.  I’m pretty sure no one really wants to go to jail for murdering a sales person that gave them a bad idea.  Most likely they will smile and say that was great, please leave…

With that I got to work and got out speaking to individuals and the best part was while I was talking they were taking notes.  No, not the kind of notes with doodles and visualizations of throwing me off a roof, but of items I was speaking on.  They were asking great questions on how they could get better and talking to each other on how they could work together to strategize.  Seeing that happen is why I do what I do.  That is the fuel that makes me want to work harder to help people get to a better place.

Navy Seals call a process of failing forward fast.  They do not worry about failing, they actually embrace it.  They expect to fail and regroup to improve on their process.  Navy seals will work on a mission over and over again until they perfect it.  When they get bogged down they go back, analyze what happened, and come back to do a better job.  That way when they hit the mission in real time they execute at a high rate of success.  Henry Ford is quoted as saying that “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”  When we start riding bikes we start going, fall, get back up, and continue riding.  Sure, there is a few moments of analyzing what went wrong and how we could do better.  Then we need to get back up and move forward.  The key is to start and embrace that it won’t be perfect the first few attempts and that is okay.

The problem is that as a child I was always pushed to not fail.  If something was hard to just go sit back on the sidelines.  Today with the social media all we see is the posts from people celebrating the wins they are having.  We then compare their highlight reels to our blooper reels and get down on ourselves.  This also plays to the voice in our heads that say, you can’t, you won’t, and you will fail. 

Typically, when you hear the voice it is the time you are about to experience growth.  You are going to get some bumps and bruises, but why not accept it as part of the cycle of learning.  Just start and refine.   No successful business person just fell into success, they took their lumps and got back after it.

I was teaching the sales process and the final step is analyze.  When you get through something always analyze what went well, what went not so well, and how you can improve in those areas that need improvement.  The first step is stepping out.  Disclaimer: I am not saying that just jump without looking first.  There is some preparation that is needed, but don’t get to the analysis paralysis that keeps you from doing anything. 

I am willing to bet we all struggle with not wanting to look bad in front of others, but we are human.  The goal is to start and move forward rather than park it on the bench and watch life go buy.  We were meant to live life in participation and not meant to watch life as a movie screen.  Put yourselves out there and be vulnerable you will be glad you did.

One last thing:  True failure is having a set back and giving up entirely, when we should refine and move forward.

Have a great weekend everyone!

As always if you have questions, want to dig deeper, or if you would like to ask about other topics feel free to reach out to me at info@kevinsidebottom.com.  Also, you can comment to the blog to keep the conversation going with other readers. 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Making The Buying Experience Easier Even with Groceries

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather now that we have skipped spring and jumped into summer.  Our trees are just starting to bud for leaves which is funny to have warm weather and no shade.  I am not complaining because I am so ready for water skiing!

Last weekend I was nominated to head to the grocery store at after I posted the last blog.  On went the base ball hat and jeans to do the hunt for food.  I can only imagine what the cave men would say to us guys shopping at a grocery store.  Would they be pointing and laughing as they watched us push the shopping cart?

On to the point of this blog post. 

With the advent of Amazon trying to get into the grocery scene the other chains are investing in different options on how to compete.  Some have ordering online so you do not have to get out of your car with three screaming kids in the rain after not sleeping more than two hours.  That is not me, but I imagine those people are truly grateful for that option.

When I walked into the Kroger I noticed a sign that stated I would get $5 off of my grocery bill for trying a new scanning device.  Being I am a Dave Ramsey disciple and use cash envelopes when I go shopping.  I even use the white envelopes for mailing for my envelopes.  My wife has decorative ones that I pull the cash out of so I don’t look extra dorky.  After a quick tutorial on how to scan and get started I was off to the running.

The individual that was helping people get started showed me how to get the Kroger ID entered to start and gave me some bags for bagging the groceries as I scanned.  A time saver I’m sure when it comes time for check out. 

As usual I didn’t listen long enough so when it came time to scan the vegetables I was wondering around looking for the scales.  Guess I may have burned my savings by how long I was walking around holding this scanner.  Either way I found the scales and was fine.  I also used the scanner to get the rest of my groceries and bag them as I walked through the store.

One thing that was nice was that I could see the running total as I shopped.  Being I only had so much cash to spend it was a nice thing to know so I wasn’t trying to count as I walked around the store.  Typically when someone goes to the store they are just grabbing everything and then swiping a credit card at check out which the stores know that you typically spend 25% more with a credit card because it actually registers less pain than when you use cash and uncle Ben leaves your hand, so have a plan when you shop is the message here.

Back to the fact that Kroger is looking at options for making shopping easier.  I was finally finished and walked up to the self-check out and simply scanned the bar code on the touch pad and only had to click pay with cash, slide in cash, and walk out. 

I have always said that the easier you make it for people to do business with you the more they will do business with you.  Giving them options is also a nice touch.  The incentive of $5 off to use the tool will be hopefully enough to get them testing it out.   Now Only time will tell if the running total causes Kroger to lose some sales because people can figure out how much they are spending in real time.  I know I passed up on some items that probably would have made me have to work out harder to burn off had I not seen the running total.

Amazon has really forced the old-style shopping business plan to be flipped on its head and those that have cash can invest in options.  Sorry Toys R Them…  Those that have the ability to make experiences easier for their customers will stay alive in this new buying world.  Amazon does a great job, but there are just some things that I can not get on board with buying online.  There will always be items that need brick and mortar locations that the customer can physically touch the item before they make the decision to buy. 

Please keep in mind that the easier you can make your customers’ lives the more they will buy from you.  Whether you are offering online shopping, delivery, seminars, blogs, one on one coaching, etc.  Make sure you are taking care of them and thinking about how you can make their life easier.  Check out the latest technology, ask them to give you ideas, but don’t stop finding ways to differentiate yourself from the competition and make the customer experience better.

Attached is a picture of the scanning tool on the top of this blog.  Yes, I bought waffles for the kids and no I don’t care that they were not a certain brand.  The retailers have the same waffles come off the same line as the more expensive brand these days.   

Final thought I do make the kids run around and I exercise extremely hard so we can eat waffles if we choose to so stop judging 😊 

Have a good weekend everyone!

As always if you have questions, want to dig deeper, or if you would like to ask about other topics feel free to reach out to me at info@kevinsidebottom.com.  Also, you can comment to the blog to keep the conversation going with other readers.  I have recently noticed that I had comments turned off and have since fixed…I hope :)

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Work / Life Balance Typical Day

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are finally thawing out for spring.  This has been one of the longest winters I have ever experienced.  It snowed on the 17th all day which I am hoping is for the last time until December!

Today I wanted to start the discussion on the topic of work / life balance.  This may go for a few blogs as we hit on different areas, or if we feel it only needs to go to one blog topic then I will keep it at that. 

So, lets start with the fact that there never seems like there is enough time in the day to get everything done.  With the smart phone it seems you can constantly check emails all day and night.  Not to mention the social media aspect of the phone that can take me down rabbit holes that when I come out it is February again. 

When launching my company while working for another company it is a constant battle to manage all of the emails, to do items, projects, launches, writing a sales book, managing the finances, and staying in shape.  It has been a crazy few months already balancing both and being present with family. It really seems like there is never enough time to do everything.  Stress has been at an all time high and I have been running around like my hair is on fire. 

Building momentum on my company as well as managing all of my other obligations has been quite taxing.  I have noticed quite a few grey hairs showing up recently as well.  Clothes are fitting a little tighter than usual and quality time with my wife / kids takes a back seat at times.  I try to do my best, but even on spring break I was on conference calls, checking emails, making sure everything was up in the air and not crashing on the ground.

With that I have had to manage better and put up rules for myself.  When I am home I have had to make sure to place my phone down and walk away for at least an hour so that I can have relationships with my family and have quality time with them.  I am still working to get better at this, but it has made me physically stay away for the first part of the evening. 

Next, I have been making time to work out so that I can keep from having to buy more clothes.  I really don’t have time to go clothes buying so if I can do more working out in order to slim down I am good with that.  Currently I am starting P90X 2.  If you have done this work out feel free to respond and let me know your thoughts.  It seems like more stretching and less active working out.  I try to work out five to six days a week if I can and the beach body on demand streaming is quite nice to use any device to work out with. Now I just need to stop finding all of the extra snacks in between. 

After the workout I do check my emails to see if there is anything I have missed or can answer quickly.  Then I close the laptop and grab a quick shower and sit down to have dinner with the family.  I say quick because it seems like I shovel everything down and then head on to something else.  Something I have been working on is to have more in depth conversations instead of chowing down and walking away.  I guess I am males and that is why I tend to eat quickly to move on to the next task.

From there it is usually working on a project that I need to finish or read some books which I try to do quite regularly.  I am a slow reader so about 10 – 15 pages is about all I can really manage.  Not to mention my attention span is quite small and if a squirrel attention has just left. 

I try to make the last hour to not do anything except spend time with my wife hopefully watching a show together and not falling asleep on her.  She likes quality time and conversation so I need to make sure I leave a little energy to make sure she feels not left out.  The problem is that I often will find myself thinking of another task or project that I need to spend time on.  I have really had to back off and think about priorities.

That is a typical day after working all day. 

With all that said, I have been reading on best practices to figure out a better work / life balance.  I want my family to always know that I care about them and that I want to give them the best of my abilities.  I read that some people will actually post a note on their dash on the car so when they are heading home they see the phrase “You are about to do your best work of the day when you arrive” to keep focus on family and spending time investing in those relationships.  I am really contemplating that or putting a sign above the door so when I walk in I can see it.  Something like the football players hit on their way into the stadium.

What are some of your hacks for work / life balance, or what are some of your struggles that you would like help on?  Would love to hear what you guys are experiencing and your wins!

Next, week I’ll talk about a small win during a weekend away without laptops.

As always if you have questions, want to dig deeper, or if you would like to ask about other topics feel free to reach out to me at info@kevinsidebottom.com.  Also, you can comment to the blog to keep the conversation going with other readers. 

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises