Posts

Book and Speech Reviews from the Twin Cities

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking in Minneapolis at the annual meeting of the Twin Cities Compensation Network about trust-based relationships from an HR perspective. They were also kind enough to buy a few copies of The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.

Today Ann Bares has a blogpost – Trust and the Compensation Professional –  about that subject, that talk, and that book.

Ann is a true professional in the field. In addition to years of work contributing to the TCCN, she is also founder and editor of The Compensation Café, a collaborative blog in the compensation field.

Pop on over to Compensation Force to read Ann’s review and commentary, I think you’ll enjoy it.  And thanks, Ann, for the kind writeup.

Meet Anthony Iannarino: Pragmatic, Insightful, Focused. (He also loves our book.)

Anthony Iannarino, creator of The Sales Blog, recently reviewed our new book, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust. Anthony is a thoughtful subject matter expert on what he calls “the new art of sales and sales management.” We’re pleased to introduce Anthony to you, if you haven’t met him already.

Adventures in Selling

Once again proving that my resistance to Twitter is often misguided, Charlie and Anthony first “met” in the Twittersphere, and when I joined the party Charlie suggested I follow Anthony. It’s not the first time Charlie gave me good advice.

Anthony’s blog posts are pragmatic, insightful, and focused. He writes daily on adventures in sales and selling, sales management, the sales process, and what it takes to succeed. But what really resonates for me about Anthony’s posts is the drum he beats about the underlying belief system that leads to success in sales. Some of my favorites include:

When Anthony’s not blogging, he’s juggling myriad roles: President and Chief Sales officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, a best-in-class regional staffing service based in Columbus, Ohio;  Managing Director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company where he works to help salespeople and sales organizations improve and reach their full potential; and father of a thirteen-year-old boy and twin eleven-year-old girls. He has plenty to keep him occupied and we appreciate the time he took to read our book.

His review of the book, by the way, is Classic Anthony: pointed and thorough. Read it for yourself and find out what chapters he recommends zeroing in on. And don’t forget to turn to page 205 when you get your copy to read Anthony’s story about when to walk away.

Follow Anthony on Twitter, connect to him on LinkedIn, or friend him on Facebook.

Ian Brodie Takes the Trust Quotient Test: Video Interview

Ian Brodie is a sales and marketing consultant to professionals. Based in Cheshire, England, Ian’s low-key, self-effacing style belies some deep content mastery.

Ian and I crossed paths years ago at Gemini Consulting, and have gotten back in touch in recent years.  As part of our promotion for The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, Ian agreed to be a guinea pig and take the TQ (Trust Quotient) Self-Assessment test.

Not only that, but he agreed to share the results – on video! – with TrustMatters readers.

If you’ve been curious about the TQ test, have a look at what Ian (and his wife!) gleaned from it in this YouTube video.

Andrea and I thank Ian for his participation. If you’re interested in the TQ test, you can find out more about it here.

And as long as you’re onsite, have a look at The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook.

Story Time: Risky Business

Our Story Time series brings you real, personal examples from business life that shed light on specific ways to lead with trust. Our last story told of the upside of being willing to walk away. Principle pays off in today’s story.

A New Anthology

When it comes to trust-building, stories are a powerful tool for both learning and change. Our new book, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust (Wiley, October 2011), contains a multitude of stories. Told by and about people we know, these stories illustrate the fundamental attitudes, truths, and principles of trustworthiness.

Today’s story is excerpted from our chapter on risk-taking. It vividly demonstrates the potential upside of sticking to your guns.

From the Front Lines: Telling a Difficult Truth

Lynn P., a career systems consultant serving largely government clients in the United States, tells a story about taking a risk under pressure.

“Eleven years into my career, I took over a major project. A key phase, testing, was way behind schedule, and the Testing Readiness Review was only two weeks away. Passing the review was a very big deal: it meant completing a milestone and getting a payment for my company.

“I was due to present to all the clients and the senior managers of my own company. It was intimidating—and I was intimidated.

“I was under significant pressure to keep the program moving by passing the review. I also knew that we were not ready to pass.

“Knowing it could cost me my job, I went line by line through our assessment, citing the facts as I saw them. I said we did not pass the review and that we would need to delay to correct the critical items.

“There was complete silence in the room.

“My top executive asked, ‘Are you sure?’

“I said yes.

“After the meeting, both my client and my senior managers approached me informally to commend me for ‘sticking to my guns’ and recommending what I believed to be right.

“Apparently, I had created trust—a lot of it. Over the next 18 months, I was given roles of increasing responsibility, and was eventually promoted to program manager.

“I now believe it was this event that drove the client to increase my role. The experience gave me greater confidence in my own judgment and skills. And finally, it was this program’s success that ultimately propelled my career to the next level.”

The willingness to take a risk by being principled can pay off hugely—as long as you’re doing it for the principles, not the payoff.

—As told to Charles H. Green

When have you stuck to your guns? What payoff did you get?

++++++

Read more stories about trust:

++++++

Listen to a podcast interview with Andrea Howe and Charlie Green on Trust Across America Radio.

Three Star Leadership

Charlie and I were recently interviewed by Wally Bock of Three Star Leadership Enterprises on the subject of trust and leadership. He wanted to know what bosses in general can take away from our new book, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust.

From the Front Lines

Wally and I met via Twitter—he was a distinctive and caring voice in the crowd when I first joined the fray. Wally is a coach, consultant, and popular speaker to audiences in North America and elsewhere. He focuses on front-line leadership, and brings to his work all that he indelibly learned as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps—first and foremost that a leader’s job has two parts: accomplish the mission and care for your people.

Wally’s latest book, Ruthless Focus, features companies that have been successful for years by training their sights on a single, simple, core strategy. Wally also created the Working Supervisor’s Support Kit, among other resources. He’s committed to providing day-to-day practical advice on how to be a great boss.

Wally blogs thoughtfully and regularly on the subject of leadership at all levels in his Three Star Leadership blog. His aim: to give you insight, information, and pointers to resources to do a better job and live a better life. Example blog posts include:

Q & A

Wally asked us provocative and wide-ranging questions. He wanted to know:

  • How is The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook different from the original The Trusted Advisor?
  • What, exactly, makes this a “fieldbook”?
  • What can a boss take away from here, regardless of the level where they find themselves on the org chart?
  • In addition to the things any boss will get, is there something for each of the following:
    • A first line boss such as a police sergeant, call center boss, utility company crew chief or sales manager?
    • A middle manager, probably with a technical specialty such as accounting, marketing, or logistics?
    • A general manager in any size organization?
    • What is the single most important take-away from the Fieldbook?

Check out Wally’s blog post today to find out how we answered.

Connect with Wally on LinkedIn and Twitter.

What I’m Reading: Two New Books on Sales

I’m reading a lot lately. Some of it’s more out-there, some of it’s rock-solid business. Two books that fall into the latter category are Jack Malcolm’s Bottom-Line Selling, and Andy Paul’s Zero-Time Selling. Both are good – what’s important is why.

Bottom-Line Selling

Do you pay attention to the blurbs on the back of the book? Many people don’t, but I do. I think who is talking about you says a lot about who you are. It’s why I’m so terribly proud of the names on our own just-published book.

David Brock wrote the forward to Bottom-Line Selling, so I immediately took it seriously. And rightly so.

I expected a book with a few good insights, but this book fits another category: the all-you-need-to-know about a topic category. And the topic is understanding your customer’s business.

That is a huge topic. In theory it’s endless; you can never know all there is to know about your customer. In practice, most salespeople give up way too soon. So an all-you-need-to-know book must balance boiling the ocean with accepting appearances only. Malcolm does this admirably.

This is a high-content book. It’s a bit of a mini-MBA course. It begins by defining value in financial and customer terms, and telling you very precisely where to look to find it. It goes on to address key concepts like efficiency and effectiveness, again using broad but very sharp definitions. It ends by giving practical, high level advice on how to sell value, and who to talk to.

More could be, and has, been written about all this. But if you want a single reference book to help define your entire approach to selling, I think this one is a strong candidate. Thumbs up.

Zero-Time Selling

Andy Paul, in Zero-Time Selling, has written a different book – one that takes a concept and drives it across the entire field of sales. The concept is responsiveness – a subject that is increasing in relevance, and has applications across the entire chain of sales activities.

Andy introduces us to MILT – an avatar, but more importantly, an acronym. It stands for Maximum Impact in the Least Time possible. MILT is about responsiveness – which is not just about speed, but about relevant content. The race goes, increasingly, to those who can be maximally responsive.

This makes sense to me. Let’s say you find two providers on the web:

  • Provider 1. Site looks great, but thin on information. You decide to call, not email, because you’re in a hurry. You leave a message, get an automated mail, a first response the next day, and in 2-3 days you end up with a semi-customized proposal.
  • Provider 2. Site is loaded with relevant information, leading to a critical question for you. You click on “talk now,” and are connected with an intelligent person. You get an answer to your critical question, and that raises an issue you hadn’t thought of. You get directed to a relevant online page, and talk to another person. By the end of the call – 45 minutes – you are clear enough to make a decision. And you probably do.

Those are my examples, not Paul’s. In fact, he goes way beyond my simplistic cases and offers aggressive concepts and mindsets, and Ten Simple Solutions to make it work.

He’s not kidding. Paul says things like, “Fast means now; everything else is slow.” Want an anology? Think last year’s US football’s national collegiate championship, between Oregon and Auburn – both teams devotees of the no-huddle offense. Speed kills, as in, “Speed kills the competition.”

His Ten Simple Solutions cut a wide swath which include: Follow up 100% of Sales Leads, Do Everything Now, and Start Small. I don’t agree with every little thing he suggests but that’s quibbling.

Andy Paul makes a strong case for the power that comes from delivering the real deal fast. And, to his great credit, he suggests it is at least equal part mindset as well as process and skill-set. I can’t think of a business for which this rigorous thought exercise is not powerfully relevant.

How to Create a Culture of Trust

We’re pleased to announce the release of our latest eBook: How to Create a Culture of Trust.

It’s the sixth in the new Trusted Advisor Fieldbook series by Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe.

Each eBook provides a snapshot of content from The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, which is jam-packed with practical, hands-on strategies to dramatically improve your results in sales, relationship management, and organizational performance.

How to Create a Culture of Trust reveals:

  • Two key levers: virtues and values
  • The difference that leading from principles makes
  • The biggest trust-destroyer in an organization

P.S. Did you miss out on Volumes 1 through 5 of The Fieldbook eBook series? Get them while they’re still available:

    1. 15 Ways to Build Trust…Fast!
    2. How to Sell to the C-Suite
    3. Six Risks You Should Take to Build Trust
    4. How YOU Can Raise Trust in Your Organization
    5. The Dos and Don’ts of Trust-Based Networking

Take a look and let us know what you think.

Upcoming Events and Appearances: Trusted Advisor Associates

Join us at one or more upcoming Trusted Advisor Associates events.  This Fall, we’ll be hosting and participating in events in Baltimore, MD; Minneapolis, MN; and through globally accessed webinars.

Also, a word about the Trusted Advisor Mastery Program.

———————————————————————————————-

Wed. Nov. 2nd          Global            Charles H. Green & Andrea P. Howe

Charlie and Andrea will be interviewed by Jordan Kimmel, host of Trust Across America on VoiceAmerica, at 12:00pm EST. Visit here for information on tuning in, embedding and sharing the program.

Wed. Nov. 9th            Global            Charles H. Green

Charlie will guest-host on the Trust Across America show on VoiceAmerica at 12:00pm EST. Charlie’s guest will be trust expert Robert Porter Lynch and the subject will be trust and neurochemistry, leadership and innovation.

Thurs. Nov. 10th            Global            Stewart Hirsch

“Everything You Wanted to Know About the Trusted Advisor Mastery Program (but were afraid to ask).” When: November 10th, 2011; 2:00-2:45 PM EST.

Register for this FREE webinar and get an inside peek into our signature program, the Trusted Advisor Mastery Program. As our next group is forming in the Fall, this is a great opportunity for you to get to know the program and see if it is a good match for your needs. For more information on the webinar and to register, email Tracey Del Camp at: [email protected].

Wed. Nov. 16th          Baltimore, MD          Charles H. Green

Charlie will be keynoting and doing a book signing of his and Andrea Howe’s The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, on Day 2 of Entrequest’s 2-day sales seminar, “The eQ Sales Effect.” For more information visit, http://www.entrequest.com/the-eq-sales-effect/.

Fri. Nov. 18th        Minneapolis, MN         Charles H. Green
Charlie will keynote the Twin Cities Compensation Network Annual Luncheon.  He’ll speak on “Becoming a Trusted Business Advisor: the HR Challenges.”  Marriott Minneapolis West in St. Louis Park, MN.  Open to TCCN members and one guest.

———————————————————————————————–

The next Trusted Advisor Mastery Program is forming and registration is $3900/person.  This is the last chance to register for this program at this price before it increases for 2012. Please email Tracey Del Camp of your interest and she’ll be in touch with more specifics.

Here’s what a participant of the current program has to say:

The Trust Mastery Program is a great mix of online modules, background reading, exercises, group discussion and coaching–all of which reinforce the development of personal trustworthiness. I love the way the program is designed. I have been able to go through the material at my own pace, learn from the experiences of my cohorts on the online forum, assess my behavior and set short term doable goals.

—Tina Beranbaum (Principal, Centauric Consulting, La Jolla, CA/Toronto, Canada)

StoryTime: When to Walk Away

Our Story Time series brings you real, personal examples from business life that shed light on specific ways to lead with trust. Our last story told of an unexpected way to recover lost trust. Today’s anecdote zeroes in on the importance of personal integrity.

A New Anthology

When it comes to trust-building, stories are a powerful tool for both learning and change. Our upcoming book, The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Leading with Trust (Wiley, October 31 2011), contains a multitude of stories. Told by and about people we know, these stories illustrate the fundamental attitudes, truths, and principles of trustworthiness.

Today’s story is excerpted from our chapter on dealing with untrustworthy people. It vividly demonstrates the value of being willing to walk away from a deal any time, and the paradoxical outcome that often follows.

From the Front Lines: Walking Away from the Table

Anthony Iannarino, President and CEO of SOLUTIONS Staffing in Columbus, Ohio, tells about facing an accusation from a client.

“After going through two long Request for Proposal processes, I was finally presenting to the 14-person buying team for a dream client. One panel member I knew to be hostile asked a critical question. I knew he wouldn’t like my answer, but I was truthful. He voted No—but I still won the job.

“At the contract signing, the ‘No Vote’ person read the contract and said: ‘I see here you have failed to meet the commitment you made to us in your presentation.’

“I replied: ‘I am sorry for any confusion, but I was very clear that I couldn’t provide that service. I told you that doing so would destroy our ability to provide you with the whole package we proposed, including the price.’

“The No Vote said: ‘You lied. You would have said anything in there just to get our business.’

“I got up and said: ‘Then I am afraid I can’t sign this contract. If you believe I lied to get your business, then I cannot take your business. I have never lied to get any business.’ And I got up to walk out.

“At this point the main buyer intervened. He contradicted the ‘No Vote’ and upheld my account of the presentation. The contract was signed.”

 It was Anthony’s willingness to put integrity ahead of the sale that, paradoxically, made the sale.

—S. Anthony Iannarino (President and Chief Sales Officer, SOLUTIONS Staffing)

Are you, like Anthony, willing to walk the talk—even if it means walking out the door?

+++++++++++++

Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, or his blog.

Read more stories about trust:

The Dos and Don’ts of Trust-Based Networking

We’re pleased to announce the release of our latest eBook: The Dos and Don’ts of Trust-Based Networking.

It’s the fifth in the new Trusted Advisor Fieldbook series by Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe.

Each eBook provides a snapshot of content from The Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, which is jam-packed with practical, hands-on strategies to dramatically improve your results in sales, relationship management, and organizational performance.

The Dos and Don’ts of Trust-Based Networking reveals:

  • How trust-based networking is different from every-day business networking
  • Ten best practices for trust-based networking
  • Specific dos and don’ts for online networking

P.S. Did you miss out on Volumes 1 through 4 of The Fieldbook eBook series? Get them while they’re still available:

  1. 15 Ways to Build Trust…Fast!
  2. How to Sell to the C-Suite
  3. Six Risks You Should Take to Build Trust
  4. How YOU Can Raise Trust in Your Organization

Take a look and let us know what you think.