Managers and executives fall into the dangerous trap of assumed knowledge. Given very little or no information at all, they assume and clearly know what is going on in a department; with a customer; or on the factory floor when in fact they are in the fog. Nevertheless, they create some version of the events because they must know- they are the boss and bosses are supposed to know everything. Read more

TEMAC Sales Rep Management Effectiveness Tip Read more

Do you get trapped fighting the fires of daily business crises? Your day starts out with hopes of working on that big, important project. Then you look at your email inbox and there are forty messages, ten of which have the dreaded “!”. Your voicemail has eight messages you don’t even want to bother with after being already overwhelmed by your email. You get a 9-1-1 text from a sales rep. You haven’t even had your first cup of coffee.  Read more

We’ve all had special people influence our thinking that stamped our souls with virtues, principles, beliefs, and life lessons. Teachers, coaches, parents, ministers, bosses, and neighbors. When I was in high school some thirty-plus years ago I had one of those experiences with my sophomore high school basketball coach. His name was Eugene Zuccarini. Everyone called him “Zook”. At seventy-plus years old he’s still teaching golf. Mentors never cease their passion, do they? Read more

First, a caveat: This is not a political column, this is a business column. The meaning of Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts is a great metaphor for corporations. Given a “Massachusetts Shock Message” to a corporation (like snowballing employee turnover or customer defections), how many corporate executive teams and organizational leaders go into spin cycle- or worse yet- denial mode? Let’s face it: leadership isn’t just about giving a directional message (“I haven’t explained the message well. They don’t get it”.) That’s top-down management-by-directive, and the problem is the executive is in denial about which way the real message is being sent: it’s not coming from headquarters; it’s coming from the pickup truck- the street. Read more

Where do you find good salespeople? First, you have to define “a good salesperson”. With no college curriculum or extensive certification process for someone to be called a salesperson, a “good” salesperson is a highly subjective definition. Here’s the acid test for executives as to whether or not they know a person is a “good” salesperson or not: Can the executive make an accurate evaluation without looking at the sales numbers or track record- and will the sales numbers verify the executive’s decision to hire? Would an executive of a prominent electrical wholesaler hire a food server at a restaurant with the intent of making him an outside salesperson? John Walter of Walter’s Wholesale Electric did that very thing about twelve years ago. Read more

The following is a memo sent in January, 1965, from J.A. Sexauer to his 75 field salespeople. Interesting how some of his thoughts and philosophies are somewhat timeless: Read more

On Sep 24-25, 2009, Peter Zafiro and I ran a workshop on behalf of Manufacturers Agents National Association (MANA) in Chicago. The workshop is called Building A Successful (Independent) Representative Network. Typically companies attending the program are companies that are growing and need more sales; are entering a new market; or are not growing and have had to lay off their direct sales force in lieu of hiring an independent, straight commission sales force.  Read more

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 7, Winners Are Driven
(Bobby Unser, Paul Pease, Wiley, copyright by Mi-5, 2003). It seems that some stories are timeless, but we can't seem to get the lessons to stick:

"People fundamentally know that trust is a good thing. Why do so many good, trustworthy people sway off course? How can you avoid their mistakes? With all of the problems going on with some major corporate executives destroying trust in the executive ranks, how do you avoid their traps? I’ll talk about the temptations that can take you off the path and crash an honest reputation. Then I’ll tell you how to avoid these potential crashes that kill careers…….
…….In this day and age of constant bombardment of material wants and wealth and instant gratification, some people need to understand why it’s so important to pave a path to success with trust, instead of greed and impatience. That’s why you need to know how trust benefits you. By knowing the benefits of trust, you won’t likely sway off the path when instant gratification or greed tempts you… Read more

NOTE: Following is a letter written from a 33-year straight commission salesman to his daughter as she embarked on her sales career- note the last sentence. Read more