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"Progress!"
(Progress-U Leadership & Coaching) - Issue No7 / November 03
Contents
of this "Progress!" Issue
0. Opinion
Buying FacilitationŽ
1. Leadership
Serial: Successful
Habits of Outstanding Organisms (Part I)
2. Career Development
Answer the basic questions!
3. Coaching
Serial: Focus
of Progress-U (2): Coaching through Career Transition
4. News
Seminars, New Articles, ...
5. Management Tip
Sales & Marketing Management:
Excerpt from the ebook "Buying Facilitation" by Sharon
Drew Morgen
0. Opinion
Dear Reader in "Progress!",
Everybody does it, very
few like it: Selling. What is selling actually? I personally like
the following definition;
Selling
= helping the other party buy [my product]
And I am not talking only about products
and/or services. Everyday we have to sell much more: ideas, concepts,
strategies, visions, etc. We want the other party, be it the boss,
the shareholders, the media or whoever to "buy" what we
have to "sell". Going even further, the same is also true
in our personal relationships. For example, we want our partner to
buy our idea of going to a certain place for a vacation. Sometimes
we even have to sell the idea of buying a certain product.
What is the conventional approach to
selling? We, as sellers believe that we have a good if not the best
solution to a certain problem of the buyer. We believe that if enough
awareness of the problem is provided and sufficient information about
the solution delivered, the buyer has no choice but to buy from us,
since we believe that we have the best solution.
Unfortunately, more often than we want,
the buyer does not do what we think he/she should. Then we start to
think that this buyer is not rational, doesn't understand our solution,
etc.
Sharon Drew Morgen, a well-known sales
consultant and trainer in the US who has worked with companies such
as Intuit, IBM, Bose, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Eastman Kodak, Merrill
Lynch, British Telecom, KLM and GE, realized that there is a deeper
reason behind these seemingly irrational decisions. It is the internal
agenda behind every decision-making process. It is not only different
for every organization but for every single decision.
The good news is that we can help the
other party to get all important factors lined up by using the "Buying
Facilitation Method®" developed by Sharon Drew Morgen. What
was stunning for me when I studied this method is the fact that it
uses a very similar approach as coaches do, i.e. it is not about the
"seller" (coach) telling the "buyer" (client)
what to do, but helping them to find out faster what is the best decision,
all relevant factors considered.
If you are interested to learn the Buying
Facilitation Method®, then don't miss this unique opportunity:
Sharon Drew Morgen will be holding a one-day-workshop "Acceleration
of the Sales Cycle" in Hong Kong on December 17, 2003.
Hope to see you there!
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Lang
Executive Coach and Founder of Progress-U Ltd.
1. Leadership
Serial:
Successful Habits of Outstanding Organisms
(Part I)
CONTENTS
0) Introduction
1) Definition of Organisms - individuals vs. organizations
2) Common habits and traits of outstanding individuals and organizations
2.1) Establish a Vision which is simple, clear and straightforward
- keep communicating it
2.2) Develop a Mission aligned to your Values - take it seriously
2.3) Create a Culture of Progress and Growth… relentlessly
2.4) Leave the beaten track - those who copy, lose
2.5) Be prepared to fail - learn from it rapidly
2.6) Keep reviewing and aligning - stay flexible
3) Reflection on yourself and your organization - how to find and
define your successful habits
4) From Reflection to Action -> Progress-Urself and your organization
5) Evaluation of Support Systems for organisms
6) Outlook for Success
0) Introduction
What are the secrets of success? This
is an often-asked question and there are thousands of scientists and
uncountable publications that tried to answer this. In the meantime
it is clear that there are countless ways to reach success and among
these there are certain habits and traits common to successful people
as well as successful organizations.
Since organizations consist of people,
usually highly influenced by one or several leaders, i.e. people,
one may wonder, are there certain success habits common to both people
and organizations? My research and experience clearly say, yes, there
are! In fact, more than that, alignment of these common success habits
of top leaders and their organizations assure their continuous outstanding
results.
1) Definition of Organisms
Organisms is a term widely used in biology,
for example defined as
An individual form of life, such
as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up
of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry
on the various processes of life. 1)
Another definition is:
A system regarded as analogous in
its structure or functions to a living body: the social organism.
2)
I decided to use the term Organism for
both individuals and organizations in order to highlight that both
are "living bodies" and that certain "natural rules"
are applicable not only to individuals but also to organizations consisting
of people.
2) The common habits and traits of outstanding individuals and
organizations
The success (and failure) of any organization
is most influenced by the leader(s) of the organization, hence when
talking about successful organisms, I relate more to the leaders of
the organization, bearing in mind that of course, all members of any
organization influence its success to a certain extent. Every sensible
leader knows that without his/her people the leader is nothing and
the art of leading is to influence people in a way that the individuals
effectively and efficiently contribute to the success of the organization.
1), 2)
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition
Parts II,
III and IV will follow in the next Progress! issues.
Back
2. Career Development
Answer the basic questions!
""I purposely don't provide
all info with my application documents in order to create some curiosity
on the reader's side, thus increasing my chances of being invited
to an interview." Nice thought and it certainly makes sense to
cause the potential employer to be curious.
However, there is a very thin line between
creating curiosity and annoying the reader. Consider that companies
often receive 10's and sometimes even way over 100 applications for
one position. Each application needs to be pre-evaluated and you must
reckon that the reader won't take more than 2-3 minutes per application
for the first round check. If the necessary info is not provided,
there is a great risk that the application will be rejected right
away.
What are the key questions your application
should always answer?
* All questions in the advertisement
Failing to answer such questions leaves
the potential employer with the impression that you are ignoring
their request or that you did not read the ad carefully. Either
way you certainly don't increase your chances of being invited to
an interview.
* What are you today?
Your professional qualification can
usually be found in your CV. However, the potential employer also
wants to know and understand your current position, i.e. the kind
of company you are working for (size, products, turnover, etc.)
and exactly what your job title means.
* What are your skills and work experience?
Yes, potential employers really do
want to know that! However, they are usually not interested in reading
through a long list of all your skills and work experience. They
only want to receive relevant information necessary to determine
if you can perform well in the offered position.
Therefore, carefully study the requirements
given in the ad. If in doubt, call up the consultant or HR executive
to get a clear understanding of what is needed. Based on that, do
not just state your skills and experiences matching the offered
position. Try to prove it also by giving examples from your current
or previous positions and by adding certificates, etc.
* Where do you want to go?
The quick answer would be: "...to
the offered position!" That's not what is meant by this question.
The potential employer wants to understand your motivation for applying
for the offered position. Not only do they want to know whether
you would be capable to do this job but also if you would be happy
to do it for at least a few years.
For example: In your current position
you are managing a team of 6 people while the new position would
not include any personnel responsibility. If you only prove that
you have the necessary skills and experiences to do the job on offer,
you may still not be considered for because the potential employer
will think that you want this job out of some desperation and that
you would leave as soon as you find a "better" job with
personnel responsibility. Whereas if you write something like "I
found out that leading people is not my strength and therefore I
am looking for a more taskoriented position like the one you offer,"
your application for this kind of position will make sense to the
potential employer.
You might say that all this is logical
and trivial. You are right, but how come there are so many job applications
which leave some of these questions open?
Conclusion:
When you apply for a new job, check whether the key questions above
are answered in such a way that an HR executive from another company
in a different business sector would understand it. This person
could be the one who decides whether or not you will pass the first
hurdle.
Back
3. Coaching
Serial:
Coaching Focus of Progress-U (2): Coaching
through Career Transition
In this serial
you can read about the areas of Executive Coaching which are the
focus of Progress-U.
When people think of a career transition,
it is usually out of a feeling that they need to do something different.
Be it because they feel stuck in their career, or out of dissatisfaction
with their present job and/or employer or simply because they think
they need to do something new.
Progress-U Ltd. helps clients in such
situations with the coaching program "Career Transition = Life
Change". This program does not only deal with the issues directly
related to career change but extends the focus to all relevant aspects
of life.
The target of this dedicated coaching
program is to help the clients define and consequently create their
ideal future life situation. This is accomplished by working together
through the Progress-U Coaching Process.
Depending on the complexity of the clients'
current situation and their willingness to allocate time and energy
to this process, it will take between 3 months to one year.
That does not mean that after this period the desired "ideal
future reality" would have been created. The client will certainly
have a clear understanding of what is and what should be and how to
get there. It is also recommended for the client to at least do the
first steps together with the coach, until the transition process
is fully on track.
Conclusion:
If you are planning a Career Transition, look beyond simply changing
jobs. Identify your ideal future reality and plan how to get there.
The right job is but one important ingredient of this journey. An
Executive Coach can help you discover your ideal future reality
and assist in getting your life transition on track.
Coaching
Focus of Progress-U (1): Leadership Coaching
Please click on www.progressu.com.hk/NewsletterNo.6-2003.htm
Back
4. News
December
19, 2003: "Performance Through Innovation" BootCamp 2003
Charlie
Lang of Progress-U Ltd. is one of the workshop facilitators at the
"Performance Through Innovation" BootCamp 2003 organized
by InnovationTrainingAsia
For more
information please visit www.progressu.com.hk/BootCamp2003.htm
December
17, 2003: "Acceleration Of The Sales Cycle" Workshop with
Sharon Drew Morgen
Progress-U
Ltd. organizes jointly with InnovationTrainingAsia the "Acceleration
Of The Sales Cycle Workshop" featuring New York Times Bestselling
Author Sharon Drew Morgen (her website: www.newsalesparadigm.com)
For more
information please visit www.progressu.com.hk/SharonDrewMorgen.htm
November
15, 2003: Accreditation for Harrison Assessments
Charlie
Lang of Progress-U Limited received accreditation for using the very
innovative Harrison Assessment, thus enhancing the professional tool-set
available to his clients.
The Harrison Assessments
are a great tool to use in any HR related processes such as career
development, recruitment, etc. For more details, please visit www.harrisonassessments.com)
November 01, 2003: HKCC Personal Inspiration Day - A Great Success!
TThe
3rd Personal Inspiration Day organized by the Hong Kong Coaching
Community (HKCC) was a great success with over 40 participants
truly inspired by the event.
One of the five facilitating coaches was Charlie Lang of Progress-U
Limited, who performed a workshop on the topic "Career Transition
= Life Change" (see above article for more details). |
For
more upcoming seminars & events please visit:
http://www.progressu.com/Seminars.htm
For
recent articles on Coaching please visit:
http://www.progressu.com/ArticlesonCoaching.htm
Back
5. Management Tip
Sales
& Marketing Management: Excerpt from
the e-book "Buying Facilitation" by Sharon Drew Morgen
Contents
Preface iv
Introduction 1
part one how buyers buy
1 Why Sales Doesn’t Work Anymore 6
2 What Happens Following Your Sales Presentation 10
3 Your Customer Is Part of a System 15
4 How Buyers Make Buying Decisions 20
part two how to help your buyer buy
5 The Buying Facilitation Method® 26
6 A Pond Analogy 30
7 Using Buying Facilitation with Sales 36
8 Asking Facilitative Questions 43
9 Listening 49
Preface
Buying Facilitation: The New Way to Sell That Influences and Expands
Decisions is a learning tool. Each part offers explanations and models
to help you learn The Buying Facilitation Method® and integrate
it into your current sales techniques.
Part One, “How Buyers Buy,” explains the decision-making
process and how it affects sales, buyers, and the buying process.
Part Two, “How to Help Your Buyer Buy,” describes in detail
each step of buying facilitation and integrates the method into conventional
sales.
Part Three, “Serving Your Buyer,” puts it all together—the
skills, the models, the beliefs—and uses role plays and examples
to make The Buying Facilitation Method come alive for you.
One piece of advice: Take the time to write your responses to the
questions in the “For Reflection” sections placed at the
end of each chapter. They are great learning aids. My purpose is to
create the means to support sellers in making the world of business
a more meaningful and lucrative collaboration between people and systems,
integrity and profit. My vision is that by integrating sales and buying
facilitation, we’ll be able to serve our customers with skill,
heart, and integrity; we’ll be able to make money serving our
values; and we’ll be able to serve our companies by being brand
ambassadors in every client exchange.
Thank you all for embarking on this journey with me.
Sharon Drew Morgen
Austin, Texas
April 28, 2003
5. The buying facilitation method®
You are probably all too familiar with the following scenario: You
make an effective sales presentation, ask great questions so that
everyone understands that the product would solve a problem, create
good relationships—and the buyer stil doesn’t buy. Do they
decide not to buy because your presentation was poor or they don’t
like you? Do they not find the product worthy? No, on all counts.
When you employ a sales methodology, you are attempting to introduce
a foreign element into a system that sees itself as complete. This
is the case even when a prospect seems ready to buy. Remember that
introducing a product or uncovering a need is moot if the buyer’s
system is not ready for change. They will not add something new to
their environment even if it is needed. As I said before, it’s
not about the product. People are happy with their circumstances,
or they would already have changed them.
Indeed, you need an additional skill set to help your clients and
prospects understand those pieces of their system that need to be
united before they can bring your solution in-house. It’s not
enough that you have answers. It’s not enough that you have a
good understanding of the problems. Your clients must have the comprehensive
understanding of their systems and how they need to be aligned behind
change. They will not add anything new to their environment—even
if they need it—if the company systems would face chaos once
the new practice or product appears.
Your use of buying facilitation will generate this understanding.
This process helps buyers identify all of the issues that must be
taken into account before a buying decision can be made. Your function
as a neutral navigator is to help the buyer think it all through.
I’m not suggesting that you throw away the sales approach you
are currently using. Rather, I’m suggesting that you add the
front piece of buying facilitation to your current skill sets. Once
your buyers have figured out how to align all of their internal and
systemic issues, and they know exactly what needs to happen for them
to make a buying decision—for example, find help in getting some
folks to buy into the change, establish budget timing, incorporate
interdepartmental initiatives, and tackle resistance to any change—then
it will be time to sell.
To read more, click on www.progressu.com.hk/sharonebook-sample1.pdf
To purchase the complete e-book go to www.newsalesparadigm.com
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