How do I decide effectively decide upon a solution with my team?

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13731_23-220688.html

Ever found yourself on a team where you're solving the same problem over and over again? Edward Muzio, President and CEO of Group Harmonics, says that by using the "hourglass model"--agreeing on the facts first and managing your meetings better, you're more likely to find a solution that sticks.

Here's how it works; You notice right away that the model is divided into two parts. The top part is all about the facts. This is the part of the model where you talk about the data and the things you know.

Now you start out with a problem. The lines are close together here indicating that you agree there's a problem.

But notice that the lines come apart as the people on the team start to disagree. That's OK as long as you're disagreeing and talking about the facts and the data only; Not about your ideas or solutions.

As you disagree for a while, you will eventually come back to some agreement again. This is an agreement on the data.

This is the shared data set. And this means that everyone, now, is on the same page with what we know.

Only then do you move into the second part of the model, which is about interpretation. Which I will abbreviate.

Interpretation, now we're starting to talk about, "What does the data mean?" Again, we will start to disagree over what it means, and as we move along, we'll hopefully move into a final agreement upon solution.

This is what we should actually do.

The first 50% of time in the meeting should be spent on just the facts, just the data, just what we know. For example, "What are the revenue streams?," "What are the previous revenue streams versus today's revenue streams?," "What are the trends over time?," "What other sources of income do we have?" et cetera... until we have that shared common database.

Then, about 30% of the time should be spent discussing possible interpretations, and disagreeing over interpretations.

Only the last 20% of the time should be spent actually discussing a solution.

Then we should spend about 18 minutes talking about what the data means. "What do the trends tell us?," "What are our strong points?," "What are our weak points?," "What are the likely next things to happen?"

And only about the last 12 minutes should be spent talking about the actual solution, the actual recommendations, and coming to an agreement. Now, if 12 minutes doesn't sound like enough time to talk about solutions; That means one hour is not enough time to talk about the whole meeting. You never want to shortchange this first part of the model.

If you do, here's what happens: You start with a problem, and then you start to disagree. Everyone has their own opinion of what they should do, and you end up with a bunch of different possible solutions as everyone pushes for their own idea. Eventually you pick one or more of them, and you implement it.

The problem is that none of these solutions are ever as good as this one. Because these solutions are based on opinions.

This solution here is based on the shared intelligence and shared problem‑solving of the entire group.

So, the next time you have a problem‑solving situation in a team, sketch out the hourglass model, figure out the times and use that as a guide to what you do on your team. If you do, you'll be more likely to come to a solution that sticks; more likely to "Solve It Once."

What do I need to know lead more effective teams?

[PRICE V] purpose, resources, incentive, capability, encouragement, and visibility.

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13731_23-239957.html

If you've ever had a hard time getting someone to do something, you know how difficult it can be. Sometimes people just won't move. If you're missing one of the six key factors for performance, then it'll be very hard to get someone to do what you want.

PURPOSE - The first thing we need is clear purpose. Let's say you want me to build a little house out of wooden blocks. You need to draw me a picture of the house I'm going to build, sketch it out, explain it‑‑something‑‑so I know what I'm trying to do.
Now, let's say in business instead, you're trying to have me redesign a business process. Again, I'm going to need a statement of work, a clear statement of output expectations, a clear statement of goals, some kind of a definition of what I'm heading for, otherwise, I'm not going to know what to do.

RESOURCES - Now, if I'm building a house out of blocks, I'm going to need some blocks. That's easy. And often, in business, I need some physical resources. I might also need some human resources; those are people that can help me. Whatever it is, I need to have control over the materials and resources I need to do the job.

INCENTIVE - Now, we often think about money in terms of incentive. You can pay me to build the little house out of blocks. But there are intrinsic motivations as well. I might find it enjoyable and just do it for that reason. I might have some other personal career‑growth reason I want to do it.
Whatever it is, I need to have some version of incentive, internal or external, that'll get me to want to do it.

CAPABILITY - This has to do with the contents of my head. If I'm going to build a little house out of blocks, I need to know how to build with blocks. That's simple. But if I'm going to redesign a business process for you, I need to understand the current business process, know how to use the software involved if there is some, know how the company works, et cetera. These are the contents of my head that can only be solved through education and training. If I don't have the capability, I can't do the work.

ENCOURAGEMENT - Somewhere along the line, someone needs to encourage me to do things. Now, that may be telling me it's a good job and helping steer me along the right path. That may be explaining, in the case of the business process, how things are going and why what I'm doing is important to the company. Maybe you walk in, look at my little house, and say it's coming along nicely‑‑whatever it is, some connection to the work I'm doing and the broader picture and positive reinforcement.

VISIBILITY - I need to have some idea that I'm making progress. Now, if I'm building a house out of blocks, so I'm just stacking blocks up, I'm going to start to see progress. That's pretty easy.

It's a lot harder in business. If I'm redesigning a business process over the course of a year,
how do I know I'm getting there? Are there milestones? Are there checkpoints?
Do I have a task list that ties into things that'll actually get me toward the key milestones or deliverables? These things have to be figured out. If I can't see myself making progress, I'm likely to get stuck, get stalled, or spin my wheels.

How do I manage my team while avoiding micro management?

The BathTub Model

Full participation - then back-off - rising only if conflict|change|scope extension - Rising towards the end of the project.

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13731_23-310498.html?promo=808&tag=nl.e808

How do I give a kick-ass demonstartion?

Golden Rule: Alaways be looking for THE FLIP
- Before I answer, for what reasons is that important to you?
- Before I kick-off, What areas would you specifically like me to cover?
- So that I make best use of time, tell me, what are you interested in seeing specifically?

P.O.A.E.M - Problem.Our Offering.Advantage it brings.Example.Metrics

Describe benefits from different perspectives

There are a few different perspectives here, from the buyers perspective...from the end user perspective.

Each demonstartion should tell a story, with a context setting beggining, a feature showing middle and a advantage communicating ending.

1. Describe the feature (THE WHAT). Describe how it works (THE HOW). Describe the benefit this brings (THE WHY).

2. Make every attempt to tie a feature/function to not only solving a problem for your audience, but also to how another customer in the same industry solved that problem and what was the benefit to them (THE TIE).
Was it cost reduction of $X? Was it time savings of X days? Was it system consolidation of X systems down to Y. REAL benefits will go much farther than marketing benefits and it makes you a very credible source.

THE WHAT - (THE HOW) - THE WHY - THE TIE

The perfect demonstration also frames a story.

Imagine...{Stakeholders Emotional Pain Point}...Now you can/All you need to do/What you can now do is... click the/use the/select the....{Resolution Using Feature}.....This incresed/Saved/reduced...{Benefit}

http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=10149&page=3&tag=col1;post-10149

How do I answer difficult questions?

ALWAYS ANSWER A DIFFICULT QUESTION WITH A QUESTION.
Often, the customer is trying to destabalise the presentation and has no justification for the qustion.

Ask the question asker:
"In order for me to better answer your question, could you.."
- "describe for me the use case where such a process would be useful"
- "Give me a use case example from your experience"
- "help me by explaining the business problem you are addressing".

How do I sell to C-level?

Executives have very little time and you should be happy they gave you 30 mins of their time to hear your spiel. Make it worthwhile for both parties by following 3 simple requirements:

1. A summary of the exec’s business strategies, challenges and opportunities.
2. A VERY brief summary of your company and offerings.
3. A business case for how your two firms can work together. Using your offerings to solve a C-level problem or achieve the a C-level goal.

Lower level employees don’t mind if you probe around and ask questions to get a better picture of their requirements and needs. In fact, they often like showing off their knowledge. Try to “probe” a C-level exec and chances are you’ll be told where to stick that probe. C-level execs don’t have time to give you an education, so you’d better have done your research long before you step into the corner office.
C-level execs don’t have that kind of time to waste. They’re interested in broad business issues like corporate strategy, revenue and profitability. So you’d better have a business-focused value proposition that justifies C-level attention.

How do I deal with difficult customer sales requests?

http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=3114&page=6

What questions should I ask in a sales call?

STAGE 1: PREPARATION

STEP #1: Plan your questioning beforehand. Always take a few minutes prior to a sales call to plan out the types of questions that you’re going to ask. Review your relationship with the customer and identify gaps in your understanding of the customer’s computing infrastructure, purchasing patterns and overall business direction. Then decide the general questioning areas that you’re going to pursue.

STEP #2. Target your questions appropriately. There are six “lines of inquiry” that can help you understand exactly where the customer may have needs. They are:

1. What is the current state of the customer’s business?
2. What is the desired state of the customer’s business?
3. What challenges prevent the customers business moving from 1 to 2 above?
4. Which business and personal motivators that influence the final decision?
5. What are the resources, authority and budget that can be committed to moving from 1 to 2?
6. What in the past has been tried (but failed) to move from 1 to 2?

Please note that these are NOT the questions you’re supposed to be asking. They’re the general “areas” that you’ll want to find out about.

STEP #3: Don’t rehearse your questions. While you should have a clear idea of the type of questions that you’re going to ask, you don’t want them sound canned and rehearsed. Rather than writing out entire questions, prior to the meeting, write on your notepad some keywords that will remind you of the general line of inquiry that you want to pursue.

STAGE 2: EXECUTION

STEP #4: Have a conversation, not an inquisition. It’s a mistake to try to extract too much information too fast. Instead, get answers to your lines of inquiry over the course of a series of meetings. For new accounts, you should strive to find out as much as the customer will tell you. But for existing accounts, pick one or two lines of inquiry and set a goal to get good answers for at least one of them.

STEP #5: Really listen to the customer. Sales reps are goal oriented and thus prefer conversations that move quickly. However, it’s a big mistake to spend valuable “face-time” watching the customer’s mouth move while you formulate what you’re going to say next. Instead, really listen to the customer, pause to think about what the customer said, and then decide where you want to conversation to go.

STEP #6: Ask enticing questions, not leading ones. Rather than asking leading questions (e.g. “Have you ever thought of installing a CRM system to increase sales?”) couch questions in neutral and abstract terms that entice the customer into give you the information that you need. (e.g. “In a perfect world, what would a vendor be providing to help you increase sales?”)

BTW: The above is based on a conversation with Wayne Turmel, formerly a big deal sales trainer, but now chiefly known as the Cranky Middle Manager.

How do I better understand my customers behaviour?

…from the “sales psychologist” Ron Willingham, bestselling author of The Inner Game of Selling. He categorizes customers into four basic styles of behavior, based upon their tolerance to risk (recognition vs. security) and attitude towards work (goal-oriented vs. process-oriented). These four basic styles are:

1. DOER (results oriented, needs recognition). Tends to make decisions quickly, prefers brief presentations, and resents time-wasters.
2. TALKER (process oriented, needs recognition). Desires social approval and thus will avoid making a decision until everyone is happy.
3. CONTROLLER (results oriented, needs security). Highly logical and analytical, and will generally look for what’s wrong with any situation.
4. SUPPORTER (process oriented, needs security). Seldom looks at the bottom line but instead is more concerned with getting a job done.

According to Willingham, customers have a primary and secondary style of behavior. For example, a CEO might be a Doer when dealing with underlings but a Talker when dealing with fellow CEOs. Similarly, a bank manager might be a Controller when it comes to writing loans, but a Supporter when it comes to working with top management.