CRM may have become one of the Top 10 tools used by managers, according to a recent Bain and Co. global survey, but that cuts no ice with our higher education institutions. We are still producing streams of graduates and post-graduates who have little or no knowledge or understanding of CRM. Not only do they not know why it is important, but also they don't even know what it is. Indeed, they might join the world of business without even hearing the expression, "customer relationship management."

Of course, there are a few noble and notable exceptions that only go to prove the rule. Table 1 lists some of the schools that offer educational programs in CRM.

Most of these schools offer single or half-units dedicated to CRM, which can take between 15 and 40 hours to complete. Other institutions include some CRM subject-matter in courses on information technology, database marketing, e-business, strategic marketing, business-to-business marketing or relationship marketing. You can try your own Google search; you'll find there are very few opportunities to learn about CRM in institutions of learning.

So, what's going on? Why is a fundamental and widely applied business discipline—CRM—not being taught in our universities? I think there are three reasons: structure, networks and resources.

I think the answer lies mostly in the structure of business disciplines within universities. The tradition has been to organize academic departments on conventional business functional lines. We have marketing, accounting, operations, human resources, business strategy and finance faculty. These may be enhanced by some technocrats in economics, IT, statistics and law. There might be a few staff from business disciplines such as organizational behavior and leadership.

CRM, is, of course, a cross-functional business discipline. It sits nowhere, but it belongs everywhere. It could be claimed by marketing, IT, operations or strategy subject-matter experts, but it is generally owned by no one. Structure should follow strategy, the experts tell us. These rigid structural divisions—silos, stovepipes—in universities can only inhibit the development of cross-functional educational offerings.

Professional bodies Another reason for the lack of CRM offerings in our universities is the absence of professional bodies in the field. Marketing faculty are members of discipline-based professional associations such as the American Marketing Association or the Chartered Institute of Marketing. They attend conferences where they network with, and learn from, other marketers. Finance, operations and IT specialists have their own forums. Where is the equivalent association or network for CRM academics? It doesn't exist.

I'm sure that many people think of academics as earnest searchers after truth, doing original research, creating new knowledge and passing on the fruits of their experience and wisdom to their students. Isn't this what scholars do? In truth, most universities are midsize, bureaucratic enterprises that demand much of their people in terms of teaching, research and service. Faculty members often use the teaching resources that are readily available to them: books, case studies and interactive games, for example. There are several hundred books aimed at Marketing 101 students. It's the same for IT, finance, operations and HR.

The faculty's needs for a convenient, well-structured, proven solution to their teaching requirements are well met—as long as they sit within the conventional academic disciplines. There are few equivalent resources available to those who wish to teach CRM. Most of the books on CRM are produced by consultants and vendors whose readerships are not fee-paying students.

Adrian Payne, director of the Centre for CRM at Cranfield School of Management, noted when I spoke with him, "Until recently, no credible, academically researched models or frameworks encompassing all the diverse elements that comprise CRM have been available." That is, however, only a first step. Teaching resources that make it easy for faculty members to instruct the subject have to follow. That will allow the faculty with an interest in, but little knowledge of, CRM, to teach the subject with some degree of competence.

Merlin Stone, one of the most prolific CRM authors, reckons that all MBA-level students should have a clear understanding of what CRM is and what it can deliver. Beyond this, he suggests that, "All marketing students should understand direct marketing, database marketing, e-marketing and CRM—each one is inextricably tied to the others."

The lack of resources, networks and supportive structures means that the educational needs of those who lead and implement CRM programs are not being satisfied in the traditional way, through higher education. Is there a vacuum? Yes—but only a partial one. Online communities such as CRMGuru.com have filled the gap. Being a self-help community, it provides the resources and networks that leaders and managers need. Add to this the hands-on training offered by vendors to clients' users and the odd training program from professional bodies such as the Institute of Direct Marketing and Chartered Institute of Marketing, and you have pretty much covered the territory.

We wouldn't educate our finance or marketing people this way, let alone our engineers, doctors and lawyers. Must this remain the status of CRM education?

We talked quite a bit about important aspects of Social Business: ability to monitor web, respond and act on some content. We also talked about communities and types of people we need to manage different parts of Social Business… And yes, we touched upon time management and tools.

I’d like to go back to basics if you will and refresh our understanding on one of the key pieces of “social” strategy for any business: online content strategy.

In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. [Wikipedia]

Here is how I classify online content:

- Static [Web site; Press Release and alike];

- dynamic:

• Real-time [twitter and alike];
• Periodic [blogs, RSS feeds and alike].

Online content distribution channels:

- web site;

- Twitter;

- Facebook;

- LinkedIn;

- Google Buzz;

- Google Wave;

- Blog;

- New channels, etc..

Points to address:

- What online content distribution channels my business need to engage with?

- Will the same content be used across all of them?

- Sequence of content distribution;

- Dependencies;

- Frequency;

- Ownership;

- Workflows.

I am sure different businesses [and people] have deployed different content strategies.

Today, for example, Tim O’Reilly posted the following on Google Buzz:

Ok. I’ve stopped feeding my tweets into Buzz. Will use this site only for longer discussions. Adding comments to tweets didn’t really work because they take too long to show up here. Those of you who did read my tweets here, you should follow @timoreilly on twitter.

I may still post some of the same links to both places, when I want to make additional comments.

What is your content strategy? Does it work for you? How do you assess the quality of the content and the quality of online content distribution strategy?

Your war stories please!

Republished with author's permission from original post by admin .

Episode #3 – The Five Main Ingredients of Marketing Lagniappe and a trip to the first Purple Goldfish Hall of Fame Inductee the Doubletree Hotel

I’m joined by wingman Jack Campisi (a.k.a ‘Social Jack’ or ‘Maverick’) on the podcast.

Here is a rundown of the video podcast:

- We discuss the five main ingredients of marketing lagniappe: Relevant, Unexpected, Limited, Expressive and Sticky

- We take a road trip to a Doubletree Hotel

- We discuss the Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie (over 200 million served)

HELP me catch another 709 purple goldfish for a great cause.  FISHERMEN WANTED: Click here to send me your example.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Stan Phelps .

I’m sure consistency is valuable for building an audience for a podcast program, such as my Des Walsh & Friends program, but last week it was rather pleasant not to have to rise at 5 am as I usually do for my 6 am (Australian eastern time) show. The bit of indulgence was because my guest was fellow Australian, Canberra-based Stephen Collins, one of the most prolific thinkers and doers I know in the social media space.

It made sense, as well as being mutually convenient, to run the show in the early afternoon of our time zone.

To listen, click on the player below or download the episode from the link at the end of this post.

Living and working as he does in the Australian National Capital, Stephen has a special insight into and practical experience of how social media works in government, as well as in business.

Some comments:

• There are a lot of government agencies, federal, state and local, together with Australian businesses, now using social tools to be able to communicate more efficiently with their customers, constituents and other stakeholders.
• There is a recognition it’s about much more than marketing, or simply a better way of selling stuff.
• Marketing should be the least interesting thing you can do, in government or business

Among his many activities, Stephen is the founder of Social Media Club Canberra.  SMC Canberra operates as a breakfast, or coffee or lunch event, usually on a fortnightly basis. The style is casual.

He is also the licensed organiser of TEDx Canberra. We talked about TED, self-described on its website as “the nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading” and famous for its four day, now five day annual events held simultaneously in Long Beach and Palm Springs (TEDActive) California, and the local TEDx versions, one of which Stephen with a group of fellow volunteers, is organising for Canberra, October 23, 2010 – TEDx Canberra.

Stephen on TED:

• It’s like spending a week in a classroom with the 500 smartest people you’ve ever met
• You bury yourself in big thinkers for a week and it’s crazy and it’s inspiring
• People for whom “No” or “not possible” isn’t an answer
• An amazing mix of people

On TEDx Canberra:

TEDx Canberra will feature a selection of Australia’s leading speakers, innovators and storytellers showcasing their Ideas Worth Spreading.

The organisers are still open for speaker suggestions and for sponsorships to defray costs – sponsorship in-kind preferred, including sponsorship of specific elements of the program (AV costs, refreshments etc).The expectation is for an attendance number around 300 and the aim is to make admission free.

We also spoke briefly about Barcamp, the unconference. Stephen and colleagues have now run three barcamps in Canberra.

Stephen explains what he does at his company acidlabs as: “I make websites not confusing to use”. We could all use more of that!

To find out more about this social media dynamo, including how he and his company acidlabs, could help your business or organization, check out his website, acidlabs and find him on Twitter at @trib.

[If the player above does not appear, use this link to hear the recording].

Image credit: Stephen Collins, from trib via Flickr, Creative Commons

Republished with author's permission from original post by Des Walsh .

One question I'm always asked is how to explain what social media strategy and participation looks like so senior executives can (at least) contextualise what this all means.

A simple approach that I've found has worked in the past is to take an actual business or (even better) an incident or event in the Australian business market and then retrospectively examine how social media might have helped manage a situation or led to a different outcome. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

One such situation has been playing out over the past few months and relates to a Australian Federal Government scheme to insulate homes. The scheme ran into issues as unscrupulous contractors flooded into the market installing foil insulation without proper training or safety measures. The issue has blown up because people are dying, houses are burning down, and thousands of homes are now unsafe.

Enter Master Electricians

A leading industry body, Master Electricians was the first to raise the alarm and has been in the mainstream media trying to draw attention to the very serious problems of laying foil insulation over wiring and using metal tacks to hold it in place (amongst other issues).

The issue has blown up and become a national topic with mainstream media initially running the story along the safety issue angle. However, their focus has shifted from the problem and what to do to resolve it to one of ‘can we get the Minister sacked’. So for Master Electricians, the issue has gone off topic.

Perspective

What can Master Electricians do to continue to communicate with their core communities and keep the focus on resolving the issue?

When I looked at this situation, I looked at what strategy would make sense. What tools make sense and how would I recommend or guide Master Electricians on their effective use

Most of us agree that, in simple terms, getting into the social space and building experience and capability involves:

1. Listen/monitor the debate
2. Have a footprint and contribute
3. Engage

Before we think about what tools might be useful, we need to consider at least:

1. Who are our core stakeholders and where are we likely to find them
2. Where do we need to position content
3. Who are the other key content generators and how do we engage with them
4. What search engine/key word considerations do we need to consider

With these initial questions in mind, I can see a need for Master Electricians to be using at least the following:

1. Social media monitoring
2. A blog or multiple blogs so as to talk to the technical and non-technical stakeholders
3. Social networking
4. Multi-media content
5. Micro-blogging – purely as a distribution mechanism

These tools can be used to deliver information out to the communities, encourage dialogue, and draw people back to the core Master Electricians site.

Let me drill into these 5 areas in more detail:

1. Social Media Monitoring

I view this as an early warning system for Master Electricians. Whilst tools like Google Alerts do a good job, in this situation, and given the industry leadership focus for Master Electricians, I would strongly recommend using a pro tool like Filtrbox.

The depth of information tools like Filtrbox provides is well worth the investment. Forget brand management or buzz measurement – these tools are strategic – the CEO Malcolm Richards and his leadership team should be looking at this data at least daily so as to keep their finger on the pulse of public and media discussion.

Social Media Monitoring becomes the strategic voice to guide most if not all of their engagement efforts.

2. Blog(s)

I’m surprised and somewhat disappointed that Master Electricians don’t have any blogs in place. From the data I’ve monitored CEO Richards was getting significant mainstream media coverage but this wasn’t backed up by any form of ongoing dialogue.

Over the course of this issue (say 6 to 9 months) Master Electricians could have (easily) published 80 to 100 posts on this issue. The value for the business in terms of profile and SEO links back to their site is immeasurable (this will be the subject of a follow up post including some thoughts from Australia’s leading digital marketer Tim Martin)

I’d take the idea of a blog even further and recommend they publish a blog for the general public and media, and a technical blog that is aimed at their members and technical people out in the field (i.e. electricians, builders, roofers etc).

3. Social Networking

I’m taking a really simple approach here. This is an emotional issue and would have many home owners, parents etc very worried and looking for a reliable, credible source of information. In my opinion, the most effective way to do this online is to have a Facebook presence and be actively using it through the integration of content and the advertising module.

4. Multi-Media Content

Video, video, and more video.

CEO Malcolm Richards knows this topic and is clearly a very strong media performer. He also projects empathy. I know a sound bite on the 6pm news is important but lasting value is delivered by having video content that is available on their core site and then distributed through Facebook, YouTube etc.

Again, I’d go further and produce some technical content to help their members – for example - video content that a young apprentice could access from his iPhone - pull up a YouTube video that has technical information that he and his boss can then watch on site!

5. Micro-Blogging

Twitter has a very important role to play here.

One thing I've noticed in Australia is the prolific use of Twitter by mainstream media. Again, it can be used to (a) engage the media and alert them to new content, and (b) engage the public and direct them to the Master Electricians site.

Summary

This is a quick run through of how Master Electricians could use the social channel to augment their traditional public/media engagement.

One way I like to represent this is as follows.

This is a simple model, but it shows the business how to focus on the core goal of bringing people into an engagement with Master Electricians.

On the outer ring, we’re using Google and Filtrbox to listen and develop an understanding of the discussion. This knowledge then guides the inner ring - how and what we contribute to the stakeholders through a blog, Facebook, and multi-media channels. The ultimate goal is to get users to the Master Electricians site.

In summary, this is a simple, high level overview of how social media could be used to augment a traditional approach to PR and marketing. It's by no means comprehensive and a lot of work would need to be done to turn this into an actionable plan.

The North American BBB has released its 2009 compilation of which industries drew the most complaints and how well they resolved them. Of course, “resolved” is a relative term for BBB complaints. It can mean “customer gave up,” but the majority of resolutions indicate at least partial satisfaction of customer claims. While you have to discount some high “resolution” numbers, you can reasonably use them to differentiate addressing complaints among industries.

Here’s the list – from “least worst” (10) to “worst.” The number sequence represents: # of complaints / % “resolved”

 10. Retail furniture: 12,313 / 76%

Having worked with clients in this sector, my educated guess is that going out of business without returning deposits triggered lots of these.

9.  Auto repair:  12,410 / 65%

Hey, these blokes finish lower than used car dealer. Again, based on with a client providing technical back-up not knowing what they’re going and ginning up problems Click & Clack have never heard of are the primary culprits.

 8.  Wireline telcos:  13,166 / 96%

They answer to state regulators, so they can’t afford to just stick it to customers outside of what they’re allowed to do.

 7.  Used auto dealers:  13,235 / 69%

Most (but not all) new car dealerships have cleaned up their act here, so likely a high % of “used only” sellers.

6.  Collection agencies:  15,628 / 85%

There is no more predatory and less ethical industry out there, but state regulators are final;ly clamping down.

 5.  Internet merchants:  21,154 / 69%

I cannot believe the ads some consumers take seriously. Want to inherit a fortune from a dying Nigerian? Hong Kong’s really getting in the act now, too. Most legitimate web merchants are actually very responsible, but far from all are legit. A little trick. If you don’t see an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the ad, get the hell out of there.

 4.  New car dealers:  26,019 / 83%

Thank you, Toyota. A number of dealer networks have really cleaned up their act. But obviously lots haven’t.

 3.  Banks:  29,824 / 95%

BBB acknowledges the “resolution” rate is inflated, probably because the FDIC satisfied lots of claims. If left to the banks own devices, and especially to credit card departments, the 95% would probably drop lots.

 2.  Cable & Satellite Television:  32,158 / 98%

Comcast for one is trying to straighten up a little, but basically we’re talking about two packs of liars caught in a life or death competitive struggle. A whole lotta these folks would qualify as politicians. But, they’re regulated, at least in part, which forces lots of make-goods.

1.  Cellular providers:  36,086 / 95%

Verizon wireless is a pretty straight shooter, but watching AT&T defend its “Swiss cheese” coverage and lack of bandwidth to handle iPhones tells us just how low the industry can go. Sprint used to a service nightmare. Now they’re just a bad dream. Viral attacks have hit some so hard that all of them tend to roll over and make good rather than risk bad PR. Yeah, angry customers!

 Two lessons here: 1.) If a company screws you, consider going to the BBB. No half-way sane (and legitimate) company wants to be on the black list; 2.) All those BBB window stickers you see at used car dealers and repair shops come from auto-supply distributors.

Republished with author's permission from original post by h-ymcom .

Ola! Granola developed out of a marketing lagniappe

Ken and Dina Houser are principals of DK Design Partners. The husband and wife team have run their design agency for over a decade. After many years of the usual client gift fare, they decided to do something special for DK’s customers

Dina’s mother had made granola for years and Dina followed in her footsteps. The light bulb went off and they decided to pack up jars of the granola as gifts. Developing a unique added value for customers gets them nominated as #291 in the Purple Goldfish Project.

Dina’s secret oat concoction garnered rave reviews and has since spawned a new business.  Over the last two years they’ve developed a business selling Ola! Granola.  They are off to a fantastic start.  You won’t get shortchanged on nuts and fruit, plus they only use maple syrup as a natural sweetener.  Look for their granola in a store near you.

Today’s Lagniappe (a little something extra) – Here is a video of Dina on TV showcasing all the wonderful ways you can use Ola! Granola.

Where is the lagniappe in your marketing? What’s Your Purple Goldfish?Download the FREE eBook here

Republished with author's permission from original post by Stan Phelps .

There are a lot of great thinkers and practitioners in the Enterprise 2.0 space whom I follow for ideas, information, and advice. The space as a whole is still fairly new and there really aren’t THAT many folks involved in Enterprise 2.0 initiatives, especially when you compare that to the number of “social media experts.” Why? Well, quite frankly Enterprise 2.0 is a more challenging and strategic space which is precisely why I am so interested in it. In fact, at the tender age of 26, I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest person in the Enterprise 2.0 space. Once the Chess Media Group site is re-designed, visitors will see that we have partnered with some of the leading companies and individuals in the Enterprise 2.0 space (to help us with client projects and strategy). So having said all of that, here is part one of my list of the top 10 people to follow in the Enterprise 2.0 space and why you should follow them. You can also check out this list put together by Cloud Ave on the most influential Enterprise 2.0 bloggers (of which yours truly is a part of).

Susan Scrupski

Susan writes the ITSinsider blog and is also the founder of the 2.0 Adoption Council. Susan is definitely one of the forward thinkers in the space who is always trying to move the industry forward. She doesn’t blog as often as some of the other folks listed below but you should definitely be paying attention to her community sites. In fact, I highly recommend you go to the 2.0 Adoption Community site and browse through their blogroll for some great E2.0 bloggers and analysts. Susan has done an awesome job of bringing together the E2.0 industry and has a lot of exciting things planned for 2010. Susan also puts together events and webinars (along with leading companies/individuals) to help guide and educate the industry. You can also find Susan on Twitter.

Dion Hinchcliffe

I first met Dion in person during the E2.0 expo in San Francisco and then had some time to chat with him at a party hosted by Crowdcast and Andrew McAfee (I wonder if Dion remembers this). Dion writes in several places but his most prominent blog is on Zdnet. Dion has been around for a while and has a strong background in both technology and in dealing with enterprise size companies. His posts are always in depth and thought provoking, not to mention the fact that his visuals are fantastic and clearly explain concepts that can be a bit gray at times. I’ve learned a lot from Dion’s writings and from the content he shares. Although he does have a Twitter account, he reserves it primarily for posting links to quality content that he either creates or finds on the web. His Twitter stream alone is enough to educate you on Enterprise 2.0.

Dennis Howlett

Dennis is another Zdnet blogger and he’s one of the guys out there that will tell you like it is. He’s been called the referee of the Enterprise 2.0 space, not because he is a skeptic but because he is a realist and a pragmatic analyst. He questions thoughts, assumptions, and actions that are taken by companies and vendors in the E2.0 space. Is he always right? Probably not. Do I always agree with him? No. However, Dennis think about issues in a critical way and usually asks some thought provoking questions. Dennis is also on Twitter so be sure to say hello to him.

Mike Gotta

Mike writes quite extensively on collaborative thinking and his posts are usually pretty comprehensive and in depth. I find out about a lot of my E2.0 news from his blog. Mike provides everything from commentary on E2.0 issues to product and tool reviews and strategic analysis of the space. Mike is currently an analyst over at the Burton Group (Gartner) where he works on content and collaborative strategies with clients. If you’re looking for some great insight into the E2.0 space, then Mike is definitely one of the folks that you need be following and yes, he is also on Twitter.

Gil Yehuda

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Gil quite a bit over the past few months and I definitely believe he is one of the leaders in the E2.0 space (otherwise I wouldn’t be interested in working/partnering with him). Gil worked for Forrester as a senior analyst and also spent time work at Fidelity investments where he helped develop and implement various E2.0 initiatives. Currently is employed by Yahoo! as the Director of Open Source. Gil also wrote a framework for Enterprise 2.0 adoption which is worth a read. Gil explores several issues in the E2.0 space and has diverse interests in E2.0 so one day you might be reading about how to get started with E2.0 and the next day measuring community strength. This makes for a great set of topics so there is plenty to learn from Gil. Gil is also on Twitter.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Jacob Morgan .

I’ve noticed recently that CIGNA is making a lot of noise about their Customer Experience, and when I spotted the press release about ’shattering industry stereotypes with crystal clear customer communications’ I knew I had to share.

Before I begin, I have to admit I don’t quite see the triggering need CIGNA uniquely solves for its members. If we asked them “What problem are you solving that’s unique to CIGNA?” I wonder what the answer might be. Since the success of any customer experience lies in if – and how well – you solve a need, problem or desire for your customers, knowing what you solve is the first step of any customer experience.

However, that being said, I DO think they’ve laid out a terrific approach to strengthening the communication and service elements of the experience they provide to patients/customers.

CIGNA set up a Customer Experience team whose mission is:

To help individuals enrolled in CIGNA plans achieve their health goals with helpful information, trusted support and excellent service. To do that we must: communicate simply, consistently, and in ways they find personally relevant, compelling and easy to understand.

It’s a great idea. They’ve started to tackle is the insurance-ese we’ve all fought with (remember how we talked about making customers jump through linguistic hoops?), and they’ve redesigned their Explanation of Benefits to help their customers understand where the money’s going.

What I like so much about the CIGNA approach is that they’ve articulated why they’re changing, what the plan is, and what’s been done so far. I like that the changes they’re working on should strengthen their experience while improving financial performance – fewer questions and problems will drive down the cost to serve customers.  And I imagine there was some candid fact sharing in the conversation that triggered this effort, about how they got to where they are.

Of course, what really matters here is how these new policies impact CIGNA customers and CIGNA performace. I did a few Twitter searches to see if any CIGNA members were talking about these new changes. Most of what I found was other PR people tweeting about the press release that caught my eye. So it remains to be seen how customers will react to these changes. What do you think? Are you a CIGNA customer have you been helped by the new customer experience mission?

Republished with author's permission from original post by Linda Ireland .

There is much debate about what makes a good sales person, or indeed whether you can actually ‘make’ a good sales person. The debate of selling as a science or art continues to elicit much passionate discourse. What’s the role of sales training?  Does how the sales person is compensated make a big difference? Does marketing drive sales or sales guide marketing? Why are there no (or few) professional qualifications for sales people? How come there are no standard measures? How can I get the most out of the sales team I have?

Sales fuels growth – and many reports have been commissioned on how to identify, hire, fire, coach or motivate a sales team to produce that growth. Depending on the audience, the answer to ‘What motivates a sales person?’ varies. Well, the survey results are in, and the answer is clear.  But the important action for you to take right now is not to sit back and go “Hmm, that’s interesting”, but rather to think about what it means to your organization.

But first, the background …

I conducted a simple poll of the LinkedIn membership to answer a simple question:

What motivates sales people?

• Compensation or Incentives
• The thrill of the chase
• Making progress or winning
• Recognition

As I write this, there were 129 respondents, and though that is not a huge sample size, my experience with these kind of surveys would suggest that the percentages don’t change much after the first 50 or so respondents – assuming you’re targeting a fairly homogeneous group.  So, I’m pretty confident that the responses here are sufficiently representative.

As you can see from the chart below, the overall results from the survey would suggest that what keeps the sales professional fired up and motivated is tangible evidence of making progress (40% of respondents).  ‘Compensation or Incentives’ is strong second (at 35% of respondents) , but you will see that the gap increases when you look a little more closely.

Overall Results

Now, stop for a minute and think about how your organization provides you, or your sales team, with tangible evidence of progress. As the sales person progresses a sale, does sales management coaching measure progress against evidence of customer actions?  Is it all about activity?  Does the CRM system provide feedback to the user on the progress they are making – or is is just used for data entry to supply management with whatever reports they need.

When you further analyze the data, and look at if from the perspective of different job functions, you will see that from the sales professionals’ perspective, ‘Making progress or winning’ (at 67%) is the clear leader in the motivation stakes.  It’s interesting to note that Consultants have it so wrong.  Remember the old adage that says “Those who can, do; and those who can’t consult.”  Be afraid – be very afraid.

Results by Job Function

As one of the respondents to the survey commented “So, maybe we’re not just money grabbing leaches after all.” Sales people, like everyone else, need to feel good about the job they do every day.  Not every day is going to be a day where you close a deal.  Sales is a profession peppered with rejection and disappointment, and it’s only those who have planned out their path to success, and have put in place a mechanism to measure progress against that plan, who can exhibit the necessary resilience to make success a pattern.

When we (The TAS Group) ask our existing customers what they like about the Dealmaker Sales Performance Automation platform, one of the most common answers we get from individual contributors and sales management alike is “We can always see when we are making headway.  It’s not just like the CRM black-hole.”

One of the most interesting findings from this poll was the variances in response across age groups.  Is this representative of an evolving shift in values?  It is a sign of the impetuosity or impatience of youth – in this increasingly interrupt-driven environment? As you can see in the chart here, younger respondents want feedback – and they want to see progress, and they want to see it now.

Results by age categories

I found the results of this survey to be at once interesting and uplifting.  For those who are open to interpreting it this way – it removes, or at least dilutes, the stereo-type of the snake-oil salesman. Sales people, like everyone else, want to feel good about themselves, every day, one small win at a time.

We shouldn’t  ignore this when we think about how we manage, and might perhaps consider what one thing we can change to leverage this inherent attribute to accelerate revenue growth.

I’d welcome your thoughts.

Republished with author's permission from original post by Donal Daly .