Three Steps to becoming a Great Leader:

1. Understand yourself first before you manage others.

2. Understand your staff next before you provide direction.

3. Understand AND set strong S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Step One – Understand Yourself First:

So many times as new managers we are promoted into a position because of our excellent performance in another area. What we don’t understand is how to be a leader of the team.

The great thing is that you may have developed a level of respect and empowerment while working on the team. The bad thing is now you are changing roles and you will need to work hard to keep that respect going at a different level. Management is all about mutual respect, helping to guide your people and delivering on your promises.

In understanding yourself first analyze what kind of manager you are or aspire to be. There are those that are managers and not leaders, which mean you, manage and dictate by force instead of listening to your team. There are those who are extremely nice – in fact so nice that everyone steps all over them and they are not able to obtain goals because they are afraid to enforce the rules.

And then there are those that are just right. Willing and able to share their experience and work side-by-side with the employees to ensure they understand the position and understand when improvement is needed.

Which type of manager are you? Which style would you like to be? Hopefully the just “right manager”!

This is first of three steps to Great Leadership.

When I first started in business I did not look forward to sales at all – I thought sales meant you had to “sell” something to someone. When in actuality it is simply educating someone about a product or service that they didn’t have sufficient if any information on. Once a client understood how this wonderful product or service would benefit them, then they would either choose to use it or not. There are areas of knowledge that make this transition of education easier.

Here is the Third of Three Areas to Know:

Know How to Treat Your Client

Everyone wants to be treated special, so show your prospects that you care. Call them by their first names. Offer a firm handshake. Pay attention to what you see in their office or facility. And above all, let them know that you are there to help them.

Let’s assume you’ve done your homework on both your prospective new client and your competition. You can now use this information to get to the next level. When you contact your new client, you can lead with what you already know about their company and your competition. Explain to your client that you have a solution for them that they might not have thought about. Bring up one of those unique areas about you and your company that you know provides that over-the-top quality, and don’t let it go. Don’t sell, either; the point is to pro- vide information for solutions that solve their problems. If they don’t remember their prior conversation with you, well, make this one memorable. Don’t bother asking if they got your brochure, and don’t belittle yourself by saying that you’re “just checking in.”
 
YOU ARE THERE BECAUSE YOU CAN HELP THEM — SO LET THEM KNOW THAT!
 
These are three of the important areas to focus on in Sales. Do your homework and see the results!
 
These areas and more can be found in my new book Entrepreneur You.
 
In order to start your own business or maintain your current one, sales are critical to your growth and success.

When I first started in business I did not look forward to sales at all – I thought sales meant you had to “sell” something to someone. When in actuality it is simply educating someone about a product or service that they didn’t have sufficient if any information on. Once a client understood how this wonderful product or service would benefit them, then they would either choose to use it or not. There are areas of knowledge that make this transition of education easier.

Here is the Second of Three Areas to Know:

Know Your Competition

You should know your main competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. Find out everything you can about what your competitor does. Why do people buy from them? Do they do things differently than you? Find out what those differences might be. Never cut down a competitor in front of a client, but instead, use what you know about the competitor to put your solutions in the most attractive light.

The first place to go to research competition is the internet. Visit their website and analyze everything about them — from their board of directors to old and new press releases. Is there any information you can use there? As with the first installment, if possible, talk to current or past clients or vendors about what they do right or what they do wrong. Find out why customers stay with them and why they leave. If feasible, purchase their product or service, how does it benefit the customers?

Make a list of three competitors and three items from each worth knowing.

You’d be surprised at how often you can turn a deal in your favor because you took the time to research them. Knowledge is power.

Stay tuned for the third Area to Know in my next post.

When I first started in business I did not look forward to sales at all – I thought sales meant you had to “sell” something to someone. When in actuality it is simply educating someone about a product or service that they didn’t have sufficient if any information on. Once a client understood how this wonderful product or service would benefit them, then they would either choose to use it or not. There are areas of knowledge that make this transition of education easier.

Here is the First of Three Areas to Know:

Know Your Client

Do you remember a previous blog in February when we talked about targeting your market?
– See Marketing | Based Upon Your Value – Use that knowledge now. Back up that general understanding you have of your target market with specific research on the person or company you’re selling to. Especially if you’re selling to other businesses, visit their website and note what you see. If possible, talk to current or past customers or vendors. Learn every aspect of the products or services they offer. How will your products or services offer them solutions? Have they won any awards recently or have they added a new product line or service? Read up on their industry, too. Are there any particular economic or regulatory challenges the entire industry is struggling with?

Know as much as you possibly can about your client, so that you can identify their key challenges and provide solutions.

Stay tuned for the second Area to Know in my next post.

High Gain Questions

Starting conversations is a whole lot easier when you have a list of questions at the ready. These “high gain questions” allow you to get into meaningful conversations at networking events more quickly and with more skill. I go into a lot more detail about high gain questions in the next section of this chapter, but here’s a quick introduction to get you started.

Your high gain questions will help you network more efficiently. You’ll want to practice these before you go into the networking group so you can effortlessly converse with your next new friend. Meanwhile, go through your own answers to each of these questions ahead of time; that way, you’ll be able to respond easily to the questions your new friend will probably ask you, and you’ll create a real conversation that flows comfortably. This M.A.P. Y.O.U. formula makes networking easy because it helps you get to know your new friend and to focus your conversation to ensure you’re spending your time wisely.

This is an excerpt from Entrepreneur You.

Why do I mention this? Well, the obvious reason is the wonderful cause and help they are providing to those in need and secondly Jonny (a cancer survivor and founder) spoke about how to market this great effort. They do not have grants, they never ask for money, but what they do is market by creating awareness. He mentioned the importance of branding – which can be found by what he wears – a T-shirt – with his fantastic logo anyone would want to buy.

Jonny related to the “power of the ground”. Otherwise feet on the ground – talking face-to-face and the importance of getting the message out in person. This is one of the reasons he holds events so he can get the message out to the many.

Jonny also mentioned the importance of getting to or selling those 3 or 4 powerful people or companies that can make a difference. As long as you deliver what it is that you are selling – your message will travel to other powerful people and the word will spread about you, your company or your cause.

For further information about Imerman Angels contact Jonny at jonny@imermanangels.org or visit their website at www.imermanangels.org
 

Know Your Goals

Have you ever gone to an event hoping that you’ll meet someone who will want to do business with you? You dart around the room, moving from person to person, telling them all about what you do and what you sell. By the end of the night you’re exhausted and you have nothing to show for it. Or maybe you went to the event and only hung around people you already know because that was your soft cozy blanket, and you closed off your circle to everyone else.

In both situations you’ve made an effort. You got out of your cave and out of your car, but you didn’t network with purpose. You have to know why you’re net- working in order to get the results you want.

So why do you go to a networking event? If you say you’re there to sell a particular product or service, you’re partially right. But another reason you’re there might be because you’re looking for like-minded people who understand you and your purpose in life.

As you walk into any networking event, remind yourself why you are there. Keep in the front of your mind:

• What you want to accomplish.

• Who you want to talk to.

• Why it’s important for you to be there.

• What you have to give.

Then expect the best, because you’ll get it!

This is an excerpt from Entrepreneur You.

Whether you are just entering your career at the man­age­r­ial level or an expe­ri­enced man­ager, it’s impor­tant to increase your man­age­ment skills and con­sis­tently grow in this area. Man­age­ment begins and ends with peo­ple. That means under­stand­ing the impor­tance of each per­son on your staff and how to increase pro­duc­tiv­ity as well as team­work within each area that you man­age. One of the main rea­sons teams become dys­func­tional is because they for­get their goals. Per­son­al­i­ties and per­sonal agenda’s get in the way. Func­tional man­age­ment means clear goals and a clear path to reach them with. This leads to Excel­lent Management.

2. Inter­nal and Exter­nal Cus­tomer Service

Cus­tomer ser­vice is not a term that is boxed into a depart­ment, but is some­thing that needs to be taught through­out the com­plete orga­ni­za­tion. Cus­tomer Ser­vice is derived from the mis­sion and vision you have set for your com­pany. The words are just words unless you put them into action from the minute one of your employee’s picks up the phone to the time spent in the break room with other employ­ees. The orga­ni­za­tion must live and breathe its mis­sion and vision con­tin­u­ally build­ing on the strength of each indi­vid­ual per­son to build the whole. Cus­tomer ser­vice train­ing should be con­tin­u­ously applied through­out the organization.

3. Under­stand­ing Per­son­al­ity Types

So many times peo­ple do not mesh as a team within an orga­ni­za­tion because they have a dif­fer­ent way of inter­pret­ing the same sub­ject. Real­ize that how we live in this world has been derived from our past expe­ri­ences. The more we live in the past and for­get to open our eyes to the future, the less likely it will be that we grow as indi­vid­u­als. Ide­ally, we want to cre­ate an open envi­ron­ment for oth­ers to learn from us, in addi­tion to cre­at­ing an open envi­ron­ment for us to learn from oth­ers. Teach­ing the impor­tance of this real­ity is crit­i­cal in the growth of the orga­ni­za­tion as well as the per­son. This is where apply­ing busi­ness train­ing objec­tives in this area will move the orga­ni­za­tion in the right direction.

These three areas are crit­i­cal to the suc­cess of the orga­ni­za­tion. These three areas are all within your con­trol by mak­ing the proper deci­sions. These three areas all can be enhanced with spe­cific busi­ness training.
 

Know Your Value Proposition

When you’re selling something, it’s important to know why people will buy from you. What makes your product or service unique? What makes your business unique? Why will people choose you over your competition? This is called your “value proposition.” And once you understand your value proposition, you will be able to explain your products and services to your clients with a clear and persuasive message that will really hit home and get more clients interested in you.

Start by describing what your company does or what your products or services do. Make this purely factual; don’t worry about putting any spin on it. Now, ask yourself a critical question: ‘Why does this matter to my clients?’ Figure out the answer. And ask the question again, of the answer you just came up with: ‘Why does this matter to my clients?’ Keep answering and asking, until you come up with the very deep, fundamental reason why people buy from you.

Now, you’ve got an outstanding value proposition that should form the basis for every marketing material you make.

This is an excerpt from Entrepreneur You.
 

One of the ways to start your business is to find a job or task that no one else likes to do. Simply put, if a task isn’t someone’s core area of expertise, or if it can be inconvenient, difficult, or cost-prohibitive to do themselves, then people may consider hiring someone else to do it for them.

Dig deep into your skills and abilities and look for potential products or services in which you have an expertise that fills a need. Find a product or service that fixes the problem or make someone else’s job easier. Where there is pain, there is gain in the business world. If you can identify an area where people need help you can provide a solution, you’ll enjoy great success.

This is an excerpt from Entrepreneur You.

Get to Work…

Identify three target areas in three different areas of your life where services or products could be used but are not being used or could be utilized at a higher level with your expertise. This could be the seed of starting your own business. Determine how you can provide the solutions.