I'll just send a quick email...

How many times have you said, “I’ll just send a quick email” and it took twenty back and forth emails to where you finally picked up the phone to clear something up?

Have you ever gotten really upset with someone over email only to find out that they did not mean any harm when they sent it?

How about this one?  Have you ever been overwhelmed because you had so many emails to respond to?

I have experienced all three of these questions more time than I care to admit.  Over 124 billion emails are sent each day all over the world in hopes of resolving questions fast.  Email was created to make communication easier and efficient.  The issue is most people think that email is the save all be all when it comes to communicating to others.  They hide behind computer screens sending off their requests and responses in hopes that the issue will go away quickly, only to have the email come boomeranging back with more questions or requests for information.  Then we send responses and more questions of our own to the other person to which they respond, and the conversation keeps going on and on very slowly.

A few things to remember on emails are that in great communication the majority of communication is non-verbal (or written word), people tend to take written word in a negative point of view, and the person reading the words does not always know the context.  This makes it ever harder for you to communicate effectively through email.  Text messaging is also one of these messaging avenues that gets people into trouble.  People tend to use it also as a means to cover their butts in case something bad happens. 

Emails can be used also in harassment cases.  I have seen people twist words from emails into the ability to sue an organization for harassment.  Keep that in mind when you are upset and wanting to respond to someone to make yourself feel better.  The same can be said for text messages.  For more information on harassment check out Pam Pippin’s podcast episode titled “Well that was Awkward.”  Pam gives great insight on harassment.

Back to the main topic with emails…  Most questions are easily answered, but I bet the number of emails would greatly decrease if people used the old technology called a phone.  I have found that reaching out to others via conference calls, quick phone calls, or video meetings obtain faster results in less time than the flurry of emails that depending on workloads take days or weeks to have the responses come back to close the discussion.

New software such as Loom are being presented into the marketplace for people to record video messages in hopes to speed communication up greatly.  Most smart phones have the ability to video call now as well.  Let’s also not forget about walking up to the people we need to communicate in person if we are in the same office.   

People crave community and relationships so being present is a best way to communicate in my opinion.  The problem is that we as a society have focused so much on becoming efficient in communication that we tend to miss the mark when trying to communicate.  Communicating with others is vital to get our goals accomplished.  It is very rare for someone to complete a great task all on their own.  They need others to help them move forward. 

I have taken great pride in increasing my communication by helping others understand clearly what I am trying to accomplish.  Most of the time I try to do that with conversation rather than email.  Please be intentional when working through emails to be as clear as possible in communicating if you chose not to talk to the person and help them understand the complete setting.  

If you must write an email below is a process I work through when sending out emails:

1.      Write the email as though the person receiving the email has no idea what you are talking about and the scope of the situation.

2.      Focus on your audience and especially if they are in another country to not write your email in your slang as they may not understand it.

3.      Read the email through prior to sending to make sure the topics are clear and concise.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

How do you know you hit the mark?

Good morning everyone,

I hope my blogs I have been posting are helping you gain more sales success, staying financially secure, and gaining influence with those around you.

Today’s topic is about knowing if you hit the mark.  You have learned to ask great questions to pull out the customer’s needs.  You have used the needs bullseye and the question creation process to create these great questions.  The question today though is how do you know if those questions pulled out the largest needs of your customer?  How do you know you are on the right track with you customer?

Why not ask them?  Ask them if you fully understand their needs?  It’s okay to ask and double check.  Don’t you want someone to know all of your needs when you are buying something? Don’t you want them to help you answer those needs?  So does your customer.

Most people are too afraid to show vulnerability because they feel like they should know everything about their customer and they don’t want to seem like they do not have all of the answers.  Unfortunately, some sales people believe that no matter what the person needs, their product answers it.  I have not seen anything to date that meets all of my needs from a product or service standpoint.  Most people believe that everyone should like things they like, and understand fully what I understand.  Unfortunately, that is not how the world operates.  My wife rarely understands things the way I understand them.  I am also learning that I cannot assume that I understand what she is thinking.  When I do this, I end up making a fool of myself.  It takes constant questioning and verifying that we are in alignment.

It’s also okay to be vulnerable with the customer by asking if you are understanding them completely.  Vulnerability is a key component to building trust with people so verify that you understand the customer’s needs will go a long way with the customer.  Once the customer knows that you are really making an effort to understand them, the customer will share more details with you.  When I started in sales the language used was peeling the onion.  I’m not sure if you have ever peeled an onion, but there are many layers to an onion.  The more flavorful part of the onion is on the inner most layers.  Just like fruit that has a skin to it.  You must break through the skin to get to the juicy parts.  So must you get to the juicy needs of your customer.   They will have greater impact if your product or service can answer them.

Unfortunately, most people try so hard not to be vulnerable with those around them.  It is okay to not have all the answers and show that you are human and real with the customer.  I am not saying that you need to give them all of the things that keep you up at night verbally vomiting all over them your anxieties.  Save that for your therapy sessions.  What I am saying is that as long as you are open to the customer about being an advocate the customer will gain trust with you.  Trust is a huge component in influence and by gaining that trust by being vulnerable, the customer will also be more willing to share extra needs they have that they feel important if they believe you are truly there to help them. 

Take notes and ask for verification that you understand the customer completely.  Allow them to speak and correct any needs you might have recorded incorrectly.  Allow the customer to correct you and help you get to the more flavorful needs.  This will help you win the sale and gain your influence with the customer later in the sales process.

I am looking forward to hearing from you how this blog has helped you gain more sales.  Feel free to drop me a note on how you are doing with the sales process.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

The B-word... Yep I am going there!

Good morning everyone,

Today is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.  Today we talk about the B-word.  That’s right…Budgets.

Corporations use budgets to make sure they do not run out of money.  This is how they are able to invest and grow, well unless their name is Enron… Using budgets corporations are able to apply income to certain business units in order to fund develop products, marketing, employee growth, legal services, etc.  The reason is that corporations can not just fly by the seat of their pants and hope for the best.  They need to show profits for investors, pay their employees, and out maneuver the competition.  The point here is that they are very intentional to make sure they are on budget to make money work for them.  I should also point out that they are pretty good at budgeting which is why their buildings are a great deal larger than our houses…

Dave Ramsey offers an amazing course called Financial Peace University that I took over a decade ago.  I have applied his principals ever since taking that class.  The main principal is the Budget!  The budget is the foundational part about becoming a millionaire.  Of all the people doing their debt free screams and the millionaire half hours 99% run off of a budget.  These people are truly winning with money.

The majority of people however have a belief that budgeting as the equivalent of torture device that they don’t have time to mess with.  People believe the B-word as a taboo discussion topic when it comes to family resources.  I get it.  I fought against using budgets until I took the class.  When I learned how freeing budgets can be I was pissed at myself that I didn’t do this when I graduated college.  I would have had so much more money at the end of the pay period and would have a great deal more in my retirement account.  Had I started earlier on investing into retirement I would have a millions more when I retired.  More on how time and compound interest works in the future.  I have now been budgeting for over a decade for personal and business.

My wife and I started out our marriage with the monthly budget meeting and it has helped our communication greatly as a by-product.    Communication is huge in relationships.  We go through all of the line items including clothing budgets.  What has been nice is that my wife gets a set amount of money that she can use to buy whatever clothes (shoes) she wants whenever she wants.  It is freeing.  She can use her money to buy whatever she wants with it.  If she decides to buy a whole bunch of coffee, she is free to do so without me condemning her because it is her money to budget for whatever she wants!  Have you ever had a fight over your significant other buying something that you haven’t agreed on?  It sucks having those fights and ending up on the couch for the night, or worse the cold shoulder!

Budgeting has been one of the single most effective ways for my wife and I to prepare for emergencies, taking vacations, and date nights.  Recently we had to pay for the foundation our our house to be fixed which cost thousands of dollars which we were able to pay cash for because we budgeted for.  It has brought us closer as we talk about our future dreams and actually budget to make it a reality.  That is right budgeting gives you HOPE for a better future. 

We give the kids a budget for clothing and after school activities that they can manage how they choose.  They just need make sure they can afford it.  If they don’t have enough money, then they can’t do the activity.  Now the emotion is taken out of the discussion and the focus is on saving up so they can do that activity in the future.  My hope is that they will keep budgeting for the rest of their life so they can retire with even more money that my wife and me.

What is keeping you from sitting down and doing a budget? 

Do you not have the time? 

Does it seem like you don’t know where to start? 

What if I told you that if you emailed me, I would send you a FREE excel file that you could budget. 

Would that be helpful for you? 

Email me at info@kevinsidebottom.com and put “Free Budget Worksheet” in the subject line. Don’t worry i will not add you to a mailing list for doing this. I am here to help you get to a better place in your journey.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Why focus on Needs When Selling?

Good morning everyone,

I hope last week’s blog helped you to start deriving great questions.  Today’s let’s talk about the philosophy of why creating questions that answer needs is so important for you and your customer.

Customers do not make changes in the supply base unless their needs are not being met.  Needs are the “WHY” customers make the change.  The benefits are the “HOW” features of your product affect the customer.  The features are the “WHAT” things that help the customer.  Unless needs change, suppliers fall short on agreements, or the customer is introduced to a new product or service that is full of mind-blowing awesomeness, the customer is more than likely happy where they.  The customer will need a great deal of momentum to make a change unless any of those three items are happening.  That is our job to influence the customer or potential customer to make a change. Knowing the “why” the customer needs to change is huge.  Features and benefits are nice, but they do not make change.  Only helping answer the “Why” for the customer will net you business.

To further understand the focus of questions during the sales process, let’s look at how your questions might mirror what Simon Sinek refers to as the “Golden Circle.” Simon is widely known for his TED Talk on the “Golden Circle.” He focuses in on how ultra-successful organizations don’t focus on what they sell. They go past the “how” and straight to “why” they are in business. He uses Apple as one of his examples of an ultra-successful company that focuses on why they exist.  I use this example because these corporations are selling to people products and services where people are lining up for hours to get the latest product or service.  Would'n’t you like to have that kind of influence with your customers? 

Take a few minutes and watch his talk if you have not seen it yet.  This will give you context to the mindset.  Link -> https://youtu.be/l5Tw0PGcyN0

I have included the “Needs Bullseye” in the graphic below to help you visualize.

Simon’s Golden Circle                                                         Needs Bullseye

The “Needs Bullseye” makes it easier to visualize how you will hit the target in the bullseye.  Just like on the archery range where you are trying to send an arrow from a distance away at the target, you should be focusing your questions to hit the heart of the customer.  If you are asking questions for features and benefits instead of “NEEDS” you are not going to make as big of an impact when you present your solution later in the sales process.  If you hit the bullseye with your customer, then you will likely make a connection with their emotion.  Emotion is a huge driver in decisions to purchase solutions.

The customer has needs that need to be met in order for them to make the purchase.  The larger the purchase the greater the need is going to be.   The customer will really need to have a great sense of security and trust with the salesperson and that is done by meeting the needs of the customer.  I will also state that meeting the needs is not completed by talk either.  That is how the sales profession has gotten a bad wrap saying whatever is needed to get the customer to sign a purchase order.  Do the work and prove yourself to the customer.  Let’s change the persona of the sales profession! 

Focus on the needs that you will answer with your benefits and features.  What needs the customer has and how it will allow them to do whatever they want better.  If you use a life insurance example.  The need is security in the event something happens your husband or wife.  If you passed away tomorrow how will they be able to pay the bills, pay for your funeral, taking care of the children, and be able to live under a roof going forward on one income.  You want to take care of your family if something happens to you.  Security is a huge need in this situation.  Position your questions to ask the customer how your benefits of your policies offered will address that great need for security. 

Keep in mind that you most likely are not in a blue ocean environment and your competition is also working to win over your customers with similar products.  Think of questions that will differentiate you from your competition.  You should be studying the competition and what they offer so that you can know their features, benefits, and needs answered in order to steer the customer to your product if it is truly a better fit for the customer.   Please do this ethically and help the customer so there are no ramifications later.  Even if you believe your product to be better, make sure the customer believes it as well.  Otherwise you are a commodity and the only difference in commodities is price.  No one wants to be the first in the race to lose margin.

Don’t get down on yourself if you don’t hit it out of the park right away with all of your questions.  No one gets it perfect right away.  It takes practice, a lot of practice.  I recommend working with your teammates to derive questions.  When two or more people come together for the same purpose great things happen!  Trial and error will also help you refine your questions.  As you get better you will be able to impact greater with your customers. You can do it! You have all the answers, now you just need to learn the right questions to answer the “WHY”.

If you have questions with this concept feel free to reach out.  My mission is to help you sales professionals get better at selling so you become the most desired sales professionals in your industry. 

If you have more questions about the entire sales process, pick up my book “The Sales Process Uncovered” price just reduced today for a limited time on Amazon.

Have a great weekend and I will see you next week!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

How Do I Create Best Questions To Ask Customers?

What questions help me position my product or service better than the competition? 

What is the best question to ask my customers to help them? 

Above are a couple questions I have been asked in the past about asking the right questions.  The truth is that the is no one or two questions that will be able to be used in every industry. The questions will change a bit for each industry and situation. It is up to you to figure out which ones will work for you best. So let’s get to work on helping you!

Last week we talked about S.I.R. types of questions and what each one of these were.  I reviewed what each of the these types of questions addresses.  Today we focus on helping you derive your own questions to ask.

You are very familiar with your product or service and most likely know where they shine and where they do not.  You want the customer to be focused on the why they need your product.  Today we derive those questions with the simple road map. This process involves tying back benefits to form questions. The stronger the question, the better the benefit is highlighted when it is uncovered with the customer later in the sales process.

I’ll use a graphic to illustrate this process of creating questions to pull out benefits from your product or service’s features:

Take out a sheet of paper and a pen and start listing features of your product. List the features across the top of the sheet of paper from left to right, making each feature into a column. Below each feature, list a benefit that each feature creates. For example, when doing trainings with slides, I use my clicker that has a little button that makes the slide I am on turn completely blank. The feature is the button that I can push to make the slide go blank. The benefit is that I can then draw attention back to me and keep people from trying to read ahead on the slide. Feature = button, benefit = gaining attention.

Below the benefit, write down the needs that the benefit answers. The graphic is extended into the next step of the question creating process.

Using the same example, the magical button that makes the screen go blank and offers me the benefit of gaining attention, ask: what need is answered by the benefit? For me, I use the fact that I need to draw back the attention of the audience to expand on a point I am trying to make. I may also want to share a personal story of how I screwed up something in the past, so they don’t do the same thing in the future. The need that is being answered is how do I refocus the attendees’ attention back to me.

Now we have to figure out the question that we can ask that both answers the need and highlights the benefit that the feature addresses. List below the needs answered, in the same column, a few questions that you could ask. Here are a couple I would use: Would it be beneficial if you had a way during your presentation to refocus the group back to you so that you could enhance the point you want to get across? How much greater influence do you think you would have when training people if you could pause the presentation to highlight a point that needs to be addressed in more detail?

Below is the complete process of creating the questions that tie back your features and benefits:

When I used to sell stand-on riding lawnmowers that held inclines and fit in tighter areas than traditional lawnmowers, I would ask questions about whether the customer had ever had any employees trapped upside down when a mower flipped over, had read about some of these incidents in Florida around retention ponds (most resulting in death), or about the areas they had to maneuver around. I would follow up with questions about how they currently handle those areas, and so on and so forth. I was aligning them with the fact that my product could move around, and if the operator got into a bad spot, they could simply step off the back and be safe.

When asking the questions that tie back to your features and benefits you are able to ask questions and find out if your product is truly going to help the customer.  If they are saying yes to what you are asking you know you are on the right track to finding points to make when you present your solution to the customer later in the sales process.  Asking the right questions that pull out huge needs for the customers is the way to start getting them to draw in to you and confide in you more as well.  They will start sharing more and more to help you hopefully answer the question they started asking when you first approached.  How can this person help me?

It’s that easy to derive questions to ask that pull out the needs the customer would have that your product or service can answer.  Remember to create your S.I.R. questions using this process so that you are pulling together all the different types of questions to ask your customers.  Practice this week and then next week, I will show you why needs are so important to answer.  This will help you increase your influence with customers.  Start working on your questions and I’ll see you next week!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

What Do I Ask My Customer?

Good morning everyone,

I hope you have had a great week and increasing your sales with your customers.  If not, reach out and I will be glad to help you.  I do not charge on the first call and am here for you!  That is why I do these blogs.  To help you win!

Last week we talked about what is going through the customer’s head when they are meeting with you and the three main questions they are asking:

1.       Do I like you? 

2.       Do I trust you?   

3.       How can you help me?

Today we are going to answer how you the professional sales person will answer these questions.  You do this by uncovering needs.  Yep, you are going to ask them questions.  There has been a great deal of study on what questions to ask and old sales techniques always told you to ask open ended questions that are not answered with simple answers like “yes”, or “no”.  What I have found is that there is no correlation to success with asking all open-ended questions as opposed to closed ended questions.  Obviously if you ask all closed ended questions you will lose interest from the customer and they will move along. 

I chose to use a mixture of open-ended questions and close ended questions.  I let the conversation flow well and make the customer feel relaxed.  Keep in mind when you are asking questions, the customer is likely to have their guard up.  Making the customer feel more relaxed is key at the beginning.  Pay attention to the colors you wear when meeting with a customer.  Wearing a presidential power suit will likely turn them off.  Choose relaxing colors.  I tend to wear white and light blue tones when meeting with the customer the first few times.  These are colors that people relate to with honesty.  There is a great deal of study on this and one great resource is a book called “Influence,” but I warn it is a very dry book to work through so have something to keep your energy levels up if you read it.

In the Uncover Needs of the sales process you are looking to draw out information from the customer so that you can sell them the best solution.  You need to find out their needs.  Needs are grouped into three areas and I use the acronym SIR:

1.      Situational

2.      Issues

3.      Ramifications

Next week I will show you how to create questions to ask that align with your features and benefits to make you more successful, but for today we need to focus on the types of needs that you need to be focused on.  Today we will focus on the three main types of questions.

Situational needs are questions you use to draw out where the customer is.  This is where they are at in the buying process, where they want to get to in the future, who is the decision maker, what is their process for making a decision, what is driving their need for looking at options, etc.  These are very probing questions and customers are usually not wanting to discuss for hours on end.  The more questions you ask that are situational the more risk you have of the customer losing interest. You will want to limit the amount of situational questions that you ask so make sure you are asking the best ones. 

The larger the transaction there are likely more than one decision maker.  I have had to address large teams of decision makers for deals in the multi-million range.  When I was selling outdoor power equipment to landscapers it was usually one or two people.  Keep that in perspective when you are in the situational questions to understand if you are speaking to the correct decision makers.

Issues are the needs you really need to focus on.  They are the limiting factors for organizations that want to move forward, or the reasons why organizations may fail.  These are highly motivating needs that you need to address with your product or service.  Pain is a large driver in making changes so find out what pain they are experiencing and why.  You also need to understand why these issues are causing them limits or pain.  Asking what success would look like to the customer here would help them think in depth and confide in you a little more.  They may also bring in the people that are actually experiencing the pain to help describe to you the issue not just the symptom of the issue. The key is to find the issues that you can resolve with your product or service. 

Ramifications are also highly motivating needs that you will want to know.  If the customer is unsuccessful in finding an option to mitigate the issue they have, what does that look like?  Does the organization have to close its doors, does it lose a large contract, or is it smaller to where the customer can not find a special gift for someone special?  When the stakes are high people are very motivated to find a solution and are more open to options.  Make sure when asking ramification questions that you are building up the problem in the customer’s mind to drive a sense of urgency so they open up, bring in others that can help provide information, and help you find more information to drive the best solution.  The more you elevate the issue the better influence you can have on helping your customer.  Understanding the ramifications well will strengthen your sales presentation later and can move the customer to action. 

Be careful not to jump into your presentation just yet.  If you do not uncover all of the needs prior to presenting they you will miss the target and then you risk devaluing your solution.  When I do half and full day training on the sales process I walk teams through the entire process including developing the questions that will derive larger impact with their customers.  We really take time to develop great questions for the sales teams to make greater impact which results in better profits.

That is all for this week just remember to use SIR when remembering the types of questions to ask customers.  Next week I will show you the road map for pulling out great questions that will make you successful for asking questions to pull out these needs. 

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

What Does Your Customer Need From You?

When you are building rapport with your customers how are you answering these questions the customer has for you? 

Do I like you? 

Do I trust you?   

How can you help me?

Lately I have been going deeper and understanding the psychology of people and understanding habits and motivational filters people have.  This will be something I will share in the future.  For Today I want to focus on developing questions as well as focus for you to use when engaging your customers.

The customer is asking themselves the questions above from the moment they meet you until you leave. By the time you leave they have forgotten much of what you have talked about.  Want to make a larger impact with them?

Pull out a sheet of paper and take notes.  I know it sounds simple, but people really feel like you are there for them when you are taking notes.  You are showing interest in them.  Ask them if they are okay with you taking notes for review.  They are likely to say yes because you are focusing on them and paying attention, not just selling a product that might not fit their needs.  I have an example of an Account Profile sheet in my book “The Sales Process Uncovered”, but will send you a copy if you email me at info@kevinsidebottom.com if you would like a free copy.  Put in the subject “Account Profile Sheet” and I’ll send it out to you.

I have used an account profile sheet since I have started in sales to make sure I truly understand my customer.  I want them to feel that I am their advocate and that I truly am there to help them.  I also can not remember all the topics that came up in conversation and retain it mentally.  Let’s face it I am getting older.  Writing something down will imprint on your brain and stick with you longer.  You will also be able to review all of your notes outside of the meeting to derive the best solution for your follow up meeting. 

Now you are answering the first two questions Do I like you? and Do I trust you?  Now let’s focus on How can you help me?

Let’s pull out some of the better questions to ask someone that will provoke them to be thoughtful past the cost impact and features.  For this we want to ask very open questions that make the person think deep.

What would success look like for you in this decision? 

Whether you are selling insurance, lawnmowers, cars, bathroom remodels, the customer has a vision of what they believe success looks like.  Helping them articulate this into a mental picture is giving you the ability to understand the customer.  You can follow up with specific questions about what they reply with such as why is this perfect for you? when would you want this to happen? What is your budget for this? (most of the time the budget does not align with the perfect picture, so don’t be shocked)

What does the perfect solution for you look like and what does this solution do for you?

By asking this question the person if focusing on the positive future for them and is going to tell you what they believe will help them.  Try not to cut them off with better solutions.  This is the phase where you are learning about them.  If they are having trouble coming up with solutions you can use the “needs answered” questions road map in “The Sales Process Uncovered” to help you with deriving some questions.

Keep affirming them that what they give you is good and ask them if there are any more thoughts of how the solution works best for them.  We’ll get into the delivery of how your product meets their needs, but for now keep asking them these and more questions to pull out all of their needs. 

Using life insurance as an example you might ask the following questions as follow up questions:

1.       How much insurance do you believe will cover the loss of your loved one for you and your family to survive without the extra income?

2.       What do you want your future to look like?

3.       Would you be able to survive today if your spouse passed away unexpectantly?

4.       Do you have your budget filled out and know all of your expenses?  (have an easy budget file for them to use if they do not have one)

Always be willing to help and educate people.  Don’t talk down to them, instead focus on helping them.  Be the customer’s advocate and help them for a better future.  If you do this then you will answer the questions below.  Do this and you will greatly up your chances for obtaining the sale. 

Do I like you? 

Do I trust you?   

How can you help me?

Thoughts for yourself this week.

Think about how you are also enabling yourself to get better. 

Whether it be managing finances, reading some new books on a particular topic that is relevant to you, or training to invest in your growth.

Next week we will keep the momentum going to develop more questions that will draw out your product benefits to meet their needs.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

The Best Way To Lead

Good morning everyone,

I was going to post on customer’s needs, but thought that this weekend would be better suited if we talked about Leadership.  More importantly, the type of leadership that will be lasting.

When most people think about leadership, they think about being at the top of the organization running things and commanding the employees to do what needs to be done.  Leadership is more about how you can serve your organization and not about how the organization can serve you.  It seems weird to think about that, but it is true.  Great leaders serve their organization.  They serve by the stand point of helping others get to a point where they can truly succeed. 

Dave Ramsey’s Entreleadership summit and podcast has a great following and one that I participate in.  John Maxwell also is a large proponent on leaders serving their organization.  There are other servant leadership proponents as well, but I want to talk about one individual that truly was the example of leadership.

Today I want to focus on Jesus Christ’s leadership.  I am not going to get into a faith discussion today.  I am not here to push my faith on you’re the reader, but I do want to focus on what Jesus did as a leader.  I want to show you what his leadership was about and what happened as a result.  

Jesus Christ was known as a leader of the Christian church movement.  Jesus Christ has been written about for over 2000 years and was a servant leader.  His ministry lasted only a few years, but had great impact especially after his death on the cross.  He inspired a great deal of people to change their ways of thinking, not to mention the many miracles he performed.  Jesus poured into his disciples and those that he lead.  He used stories to communicate his message and asked a great deal of questions to provoke thought in those that heard him. 

He also did something most leaders wouldn’t do.  He humbled himself as a leader to serve those that followed him.  The story that I want to zero in on is the story of the last supper.  This was the last meal that Jesus would have with his disciples in preparation for what was going to happen in the next few days.

Jesus and his disciples gathered in an upstairs room to have a meal together.  They had traveled many miles in the hot desert preaching to all those that came out to see and hear them.  Jesus’s disciples I am sure were worn out from traveling and preaching so I’m sure they were looking forward to a great meal and time together after their journey.  This is when Jesus took leadership to a whole different level in my opinion.  During the last supper with his disciples instead of sitting at the head of the table and being waited on, he tied a towel around his waist and grabbed a bowl with water and began washing his disciple’s feet. 

Those that were following Jesus were getting their feet washed by their leader.  This was not something that happened by leaders back then and I’m sure it does not happen today that much either.  I can’t imagine what those feet must have looked or smelled like.  They walked around on dirt all day traveling in the hot sun.  They had to smell and be layered with sweat and dirt.  I am not sure I could have done this.  I mean I may have gotten a bowl of water, soap, and a towel for people to wash their feet, but I am so OCD about my hands, I am not sure how long it would take for me to wash my hands after washing other’s feet.  I would probably have had to put on rubber gloves to do this.   He used his bare hands to wash their feet.

Jesus humbled himself to serve his followers and inspire them with a message about what leadership looks like.  It looks like doing acts of service and making decisions each day that will benefit those that follow leaders.  He knelt down and served his disciples in preparation for a meal they would be enjoying.  He did not have to do this.  He could have ordered one of the disciples to do this, but he decided to serve them.  After the meal Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life being beaten and hung on a cross for his mission.  He was all in and was willing to do what he believed was necessary to help the people that believed in the mission. 

By doing these things and serving those that followed him, Jesus showed what leadership looks like.  After his day on the cross his disciples were so bought into the mission that the Christian church grew at an unmatched pace.  Some of his followers were put to death for the cause as they were so bought in to.  He is now known as a symbol of hope of what is to come and the best example of leadership that I can think of. 

Take time to read about what Jesus was willing to do especially during the Easter timeframe.  Read about how he served all those that followed him.  Remember what Jesus went through for his followers during his time of sacrifice.  See how Jesus humbly served his followers to be the example of leadership. 

The question I have for you is, how far are you willing to go for those that you lead, or will lead in the future?   

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

www.kevinsidebottom.com

Buy In

Good morning everyone,

I am writing this blog this tonight while traveling because tomorrow I will be driving up to Ann Arbor, Michigan for the National Speakers Association meeting when I am usually writing by blog. 

By now you have been following the sales process for the past few weeks to build influence with your team.  You have build rapport with them, asked them questions about their needs for an organization, to feel like they are doing something great with their works, and making sure they are inline with what your group does for an organization.  You have sat down with them to discuss what it is that your group is doing and why you are doing it.  

You should now know who is in it to the end with you and who is just trying to collect a paycheck.  You are focused on helping them get where they need to go and who is going to be standing next to you through the tough times.  Now you need to make sure they are ready to commit to you long term and buy in. 

Some people will say they buy in, but may have hidden the fact that they are not aligned fully.  This is kind of like dealing with my kids where I have to be a detective.  I have to ask more questions to find the truth.  I’m not saying not to trust your team and those that have said they are buying in, but you should have ongoing conversations with them to really find out how involved they are.  Time will also tell you how bought in they are to you and your team. 

Keep the conversation going with them and make sure they their actions align with their words they tell you is what I am saying here.  Keep the conversation ongoing with them also.  Give them the opportunity to come in and follow up as well.  Communication and asking great questions will allow you to have powerful influence with your team and enable them to stick with you. 

Also don’t worry about some of the team if they eventually leave after a few years to take a promotion.  That is a reflection of you and how well you have grown them.  Enough people leave and do that and people will take notice of you and how well you are growing teams.  They will start coming to you for help and advice instead of you searching for team members.

Keep fighting the good fight to influence and lead and not just manage what you have.  Encourage growth with your team and get to know them well.  Build that trust and let them know you care. 

That is it, use the sales process to build influence!  Looking forward to getting back into sales discussions next week.  Until then have a great weekend!

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

What is Their Cost?

Good morning everyone,

I think the ground hog was lying again with this being a short winter.  We are about to dip down into the below freezing for a high temperatures again here in the Midwest.  This is also the time where my wife is saying, the south would be a little warmer… Enough with the winter blues, lets get to the post!

This morning I wanted to refresh on the fact that you have used the sales process to really see if you are meeting the needs of those that work for you with what you do.  It can be again IT, building a product, performing a service, etc.  You are trying to make sure what you are doing aligns with where the people on your team.  So far you have been asking questions to learn insight from them and make sure that you are answering those needs with our vision and your products.

Today is the uncomfortable topic of asking for their commitment.  Are they willing to go all in with you, or are they just there for a paycheck?  Do they truly believe in what the organization is trying to accomplish, or is this just a landing spot for them to jump at the next opportunity that comes there way. 

People always have a decision to make when it comes to commitment.  Is the cost worth the benefit.  Too many people get into thinking a higher paying salary is the only way to measure benefit.  The issue is that they will most likely miss out on better opportunities because they chased a paycheck.  I stayed in the outdoor power equipment industry longer than I planned because I had a great mentor that I learned a great deal from and he also invested quite a bit in me.  Had I jumped back out too quick I would not be as smart as I am today about influence and people.  I chose to keep a smaller income while I learned as much as I could from a business owner.

When it comes to asking for commitment I tend not to beat around the bush and ask directly for commitment.  I want to know where the person stands and if they are going to have my back for the long haul.  I would rather know now than wait until I have spent hours training them and have them leave just for a larger paycheck.  I sit them down and ask them where they are at.  Is this something you can see yourself doing for a while? 

I also set up monthly check points with them to make sure they are doing well as well as getting to know their dreams and aspirations more.  I am not afraid of someone leaving, I just want to know where to invest the majority of my time.  See time is something we only have a limited resource of and we need to invest it properly.  I am not saying that I am going to just toss that person to the side, but I am also not going to poor into them with all that I can if they are going to leave in a month or two. 

I do care about them and want to help them get to where they want to go if they are not in it for the long haul with me.  I will help them get to where they can function and be on the look out for something that might suit them better.  I’ll also talk to them about it.  Saying I am not here to push you out, but I want to make sure that I do help you get to where you want to go to the best of my ability.

It is rare that the people leave me actually with this approach.  They usually stick around and want to be around me more.  I have used this approach in personal as well as in business.  Whether I was helping launch a men’s ministry, or leading engineers to quote new business with our customer.  I usually gain influence with them just by asking for their buy in and not beating around the bush.  Step out and ask for the order just like in sales to your team and see where they stand.  You’ll gain respect and possibly someone that will have your back when the going gets tough.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Does the Product Align?

Good morning everyone!

I hope this building influence is helping each of your where you are at.  If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments or reach out to me directly.  No question is too small when we lead others.

Last week we made sure that we have sold the team on the organization as its vision aligns with the core values of the team.  For Apple their core value is making great products that makes its users lives easier.  Their employees are committed to that value and vision to make them ready to fight to the death for their organization.  How is your organization’s vision as well as your vision doing?  You can usually see how well by the change over that your organization is seeing.  I apologize if that was kind of a punch in the gut to some of you.  It is not to hurt, but to make sure you are gauging how you are doing and if you are communicating to your teams to make sure they are aligned and that that vision is striking a cord with them to want to stick by your side.

Today is making sure the product is also doing this with your team.  Does the product that you are producing have a purpose to help society get better, or is it some widget that is cheaper than the competition?  When I first got into sales it was to learn how to sell so I could become a better manager in the future.  Now my vision is to eliminate bad sales tactics and bring about a positive outlook on sales professionals from society.  My products are set forth to teach people how to focus on those around us and to focus on answering needs.  If the product does not answer the needs, then it does not need to be sold to the customer.  Something I am teaching my son while he is trying to earn money to buy a Nintendo switch. 

What product / service does your organization produce?  How does it benefit society?  How can your team understand thier impact on this product / service?  These are the questions that should be floating around in your head to make sure you are able to answer your team’s needs.  If you are the IT team that is bringing about security for the organization, the product you produce is security to the organization.  Every day you team is showing up to protect valuable information from the forces of evil that would love to exploit your intellectual property. 

If your team is a bunch of sales people, what are they selling and why are they selling it.  Is it just to make money, or is it to do something bigger than themselves?  I like using Apple because if you walk into one of their stores you see energetic people that feel a sense of purpose when they help customers buy, fix, and learn about their product.  I have witnessed tech services work for over an hour with an elderly person to help them with their new iwatch and iphone without frustration.  Not to say that elderly people are the only ones bad with technology.  I am thinking about going back to a flip phone currently.  That person willing to sit for long periods of time to help a customer knows why they are doing what they are doing and they are able to do it.

So, what does your team produce and how does it help them buy into the vision by meeting their needs as well?  That is the question that you need to be answering so that you can be selling the impact that your group has to society and the organization so they are willing to go the extra mile and stick it out with you for years to come.  This takes time, and thought.  You will go back to the needs analysis to make sure that you are answering those needs from the team just like you did for yourself and your organization.  Do this right and watch you because those loaded water pistols are ready for action!

P.S. If you have any input or would like to write on a topic feel free to reach out, I would be more than happy to discuss your interest and let you be a part of this blog.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

How Does the Organization Benefit Me?“

Good morning everyone!

I hope spring is coming early this year.  I am ready for the summer to get back at it.  If you didn’t catch the podcast interview feel free to head over to www.pampippin.com/podcast It was a great interview about my book the sales process uncovered and discussion about everyone is selling something.  Just like following those steps, we are working through the same steps here for building influence.

The past few weeks we have been asking questions to pull out the needs that those around us have to make sure we are influencing them correctly.  We want to make sure that we are also aligned so that we have individuals working with us so that we can all row in the same direction.  Have you ever seen people in a canoe rowing in opposite directions?  It is a great deal of fun to watch, but not be apart of unless you like getting wet.

By now we should know if we are on the right track, or not for building influence with those around us. We have found the needs that those around us have and we have addressed them to make sure our vision of where we want to go has them saying I believe in you and am wanting to get on this bus to move forward with you.  Influence is kind of like a train in that aspect.  It takes a great bit of inertia to get influence moving, but once you have it, watch out because there is no quick stop to it unless you go off the rails.

You have answered the needs from the aspect of your group and how you are meeting those needs, but the question we have to ask is the organization aligning with and meeting the needs with those around us.  What is the organization’s core beliefs that those following will feel compelled to continue to follow?  This contributes to why so many people have jumped from job to job, company to company to find that one place where they feel like they totally fit in. 

Make sure you are following the same processes to make sure the organization meets the needs of those around us.  If the organization does not enable the people to say YES!!! I align with this vision and my needs are being met, they will surely look for other places for employment.  Fun bean bag chairs, slides, and free cereal only works for a short time.  When the people start getting worn out by the not so fun parts of their job, they will start looking for other places to meet their needs.  They will then have about three to six months of pain getting acclimated in the new organization, but that is a different topic for another time. 

For today, make the focus on making sure the organization meets the needs of those around us, under our leadership, and our families.  If you have followed the process from the past few weeks you will be able to figure out the needs that the organization meets and be able to sell them on the ideas and values from the organization.    If the vision and needs are aligned with the organization you’ll start noticing your team pouring water into their squirt guns and getting prepared to charge the pits of hell with you!  Sell your team on the organization meeting their needs and you will have a solid team willing to communicate and stick it out with you.

Next week we will discuss how what your organization produces can also affect whether your team is engaged, or just there for a paycheck.  Again, we are following the similar steps for influence.  Because there will be a time when they will need to make the decision to buy-in, or step out.

P.S. If you have any input, or would like to write on a topic feel free to reach out I would be more than happy to discuss your interest and let you be a part of this blog.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

The Interview!

Hey Everyone,

Just a quick post this morning to share with you the podcast interview from the Pam Pippin podcast that went live this week.

Head over to https://www.pampippin.com/podcast and give episode 6 it a listen. Actually, listen to all of them!

Pam is a great person that I had the honor of meeting in late 2016 at an event and her passion is to help HR teams become equipped to help the organization thrive.

Have a great Valentines Day!

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Let's SEE

Good morning everyone,

I hope you are still following along from the first few steps to building influence and that those that we are working on influence buy off on us.

Let’s review the steps:

C.I.A – stands for being curious, intentional, and asking questions.

Developing questions to pull out the needs from those we are building influence with

Today we are going to SEE if we are on the right track to building influence.

We want to make sure that what we believe the needs are resonate with those around us.  If we are trying to gain influence with direct reports based off organizational title to keep the team following our lead we will fail.  We don’t simply want to use a title as leverage to make people do what we want.  We want them going the extra distance and having our back and eagerly wanting to learn and grow under us. 

If they chose to leave at some point better than they were when they were under our influence that is something I can live with.  Don’t be afraid if you are raising up leaders that are influencing others and doing good.  That is better than keeping people under you that do nothing to grow and just push the ball so they can collect their paycheck and go home.

Let’s Set up a meeting or a time to review with those that we are working on influence with.  Don’t do a drive buy ambush to validate you understand their needs.  Let them know that you value their time and respect.  Look at their calendars and set up a meeting with the purpose in the title, or go one step further and walk up to them asking for a good time to meet.  I know some introverts will say, but I don’t like engaging people…stop whining and grow yourself by stepping out of your comfort zone.  I am an introvert by nature and I speak to groups of people because I took small steps each day to grow. 

Show them respect and they will typically respect you as well to be prepared for the meeting.  You can also give them a few details you would like to go over so they have time to prepare for the discussion.

When you have the meeting set up make sure you are Engaged.  Shut off emails, close doors, and pay attention. Be engaging with this meeting as best you can.  Ask them questions to pull out their needs as you have drafted from last week’s blog.  Use the template in the blog post title.  Let them do most of the talking like a 70/30 ratio with you mainly asking questions and them answering.  Find out deeper needs than just a paycheck and insurance benefits.  Find their why they are doing what they are doing.

Last Encourage those that you are working on influence to come to you with questions, help, ideas for their growth, and to keep an open dialogue.  Let them know you truly care by encouraging them not to the point of forced encouragement like “Richard Simons in his 1980’s workouts”, but genuine encouragement.  You don’t need to have parties for them, but showing them that you care and encouraging them to take steps for growth and reaching out will help you gain influence.

Now if they have needs that you have not already identified from your prep work, then this is your homework to review and make sure that you can answer those needs.  It is better to know that you are not meeting needs now so that you can either work on being able to meet those needs, or help those that report to you find somewhere in your organization, or another organization that will allow them to find their place best suited for them.  Keeping someone that limits them is not a long-term play.

Helping those that you are influencing know that you care will build a great foundation to help you in the future.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises

Keep Working On The Foundation

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are all warming back up after the deep freeze that hit the majority of the United States this week.  I know you people in Florida are saying, it was cold, but in the Midwest it was -11 before the windchill.  This is why we don’t have alligators and fire ants here.  Maybe they are on to something…

Last week we talked about C.I.A. and how using these three things are essential in growing influence.  Today we are going to really grow your influence with those around you.  Today you are going to find out the needs. 

Whether it is a customer, a team you lead, or the nonprofit you are in charge of.  You need to truly understand all of the needs of those around you.  Needs that go deeper than just food, water, clothing, and a paycheck.   People have many different levels of needs.  Some of my therapist friends refer to the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs pyramid for personal needs that addresses these needs.  It is a great diagram to understand need levels.

There are also business needs that have to be addressed.  If you can help people with both of these, you are going to be generating so much influence that you will be sought out after a while for wisdom.  Now that is the influence I love to have.  Not for the power aspect, but that I am truly helping people.  That is why I wrote my book and write this blog.  To help people understand sales and influence so they can be more effective with those around them.  I want to help as many people as I can get better and serve those around them by helping them get to where they need to go. 

So…where do we begin with that level of influence you ask?  You ask deep questions to really understand what people need.  Most people do not think too deeply that is why when you ask them how they are doing most people instantly say good and ask you how you are doing.  Going deeper with those people you want to address some of the deep-rooted needs they truly have.

For a salesperson they are trying to make sure their product truly answers the needs of the customer.  Yes, most sales people miss this concept, but that is why I am in business to help with that.  For an employee that you are managing, they may need to feel a sense of belonging and that they are doing something meaningful.  Especially with Millennials!  Millennials align with a purpose for their work.  They greatly want to feel a sense of doing something with great purpose for the world.  Help them understand how they are making an impact and then watch out.  They will be on fire and work with you till death, or…until another purpose that is even greater to them shows up.

Take time to understand the needs that your organization addresses to help society, the need your product addresses, the need that your team’s role addresses to help the organization grow stronger.  Build up a list of needs that are addressed.  The graphic associated with this blog post is the roadmap to figuring out the needs and questions to ask.

Let’s say you are an IT group, that is tasked with monitoring organization computers against cyber-attacks. The features are the software and team members in your group.  The benefits your group provides the organization is protection from attacks, support if someone is attacked to fix the computer, and people there for users to contact.  These benefits are good and you could probably come up with a few more.

After we have understood the benefits, then we need to understand the needs that are answered by these benefits.  Using the above example, the benefit creates a sense of security and peace of mind for the users of the computers which are powerful.  The users of the computers typically do not understand all of the code used to create a virus and how to remedy.  Your team does and your providing security and peace of mind for the organization.  Your team is also enabling the rest of the organization to function efficiently and safe.  You are like super heroes flying around helping those regular people.  Just don’t act like you are superior to anyone.  No one likes that…

Cascading what you are doing for others and how you are helping others is very motivating to your teams.  Take time to think of some of the needs that you and your teams answer.  The larger the need the more you can impact.

Now that you have the needs figured out, structure questions to ask so that you can start finding out if you are answering the needs of these individuals.  If you are asking the individuals their needs and you are answering their needs your influence will skyrocket!  Keep in mind that everyone is different, so being intentional and sitting down with individuals to make sure you are understanding their needs and if you are identifying them on a deep level, you will have deep rooted influence.

Have a great week everyone! 

P.S. If you have any input, or would like to write on a topic feel free to reach out I would be more than happy to discuss your interest and let you be a part of this blog.

Sincerely,

Kevin Sidebottom

Sales and Leadership Enterprises