Category: Planning & Management

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Planning & Management

A Prospective Partner: Skills and History

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith

When two business owners form a partnership, each one brings strengths, skills, and enthusiasm to the table. It’s important for the strengths and skills of one partner to complement those of the other so that the new partnership offers a broader range of skill sets. In some cases, one or both partners may have shaky credit history or even a criminal history – and those are guests many people wouldn’t want at their table. Therefore, when examining a prospective partner’s positives, it is important to check for negatives, as well.

Extensive research with women business owners about all aspects of business ownership reveals the importance of due diligence when selecting a business partner. Further, research shows there are seven main characteristics to consider in prospective partners. This article discusses the details of two of those characteristics.

Characteristic 1: Complementary Business Skills and Business Competence

The question: “What is each partner bringing to the partnership in terms of skills, knowledge, work experience and strengths?”

Most female entrepreneurs are not looking for clones of themselves in a partner; rather, they are looking for a partner whose skills and strengths fill in the gaps in their own. If this partnership is a new one, it’s important that each partner demonstrates competency through personal and professional references, as well as through a demonstration of her work and abilities.

To gather more information about a prospective partner’s competency, spend some time with him or her – whether it’s apprenticing, working together on a small joint project or talking with his or her employees and customers. Don’t just check out the surface; delve into their work as deeply as possible.

It is essential that a business owner checks out her prospective partner’s work in person before launching a partnership. Impressive brochures and great chemistry may be alluring, but they may not make up for what a prospective partner lacks in experience or skills. Most female business owners have heard that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior – and that is true in business, as well. While past accomplishments are not one hundred percent accurate when forecasting the future, past records of achievement are excellent clues.

Criteria 2: Solid Credit History and No Trouble with the Law

The question: “Do prospective partners’ credit history and legal status live up to the way they present themselves as businesspeople?”

A female entrepreneur may have a prospective partner in mind, and may have great chemistry with her. The situation may look, “all systems go.” Would that status change if the entrepreneur learned that the prospective partner had bad credit history, was late or delinquent on child support or alimony payments?

Depending on how much money is at stake in a partnership, prospective partners may decide to perform credit and criminal checks – after all, any financial pressure the partners experience will directly affect their business motivations and behavior. That same idea carries over into the new partnership; for example, if the newly-created business began to struggle financially, how would the partners react? How have they reacted in the past when under pressure?

Because each partner will be placing her livelihood in the other partner’s hands, it is absolutely appropriate to ask for evidence that each partner can handle her own financial affairs. In longer-term and/or legal partnerships, one partner’s decision-making can significantly impact the other’s financial well-being.

According to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the national law that governs the credit industry), joining with someone in a business partnership is considered a permissible reason to access his or her credit history information.

Begin with local credit bureaus, credit reporting agencies and the courthouse in the county where the prospective partner lives.

New partners often overlook or avoid these steps, viewing them as unnecessarily cautious steps that will slow down the process and introduce hostility into the relationship. However, these steps are critical, if not necessary, especially when the partners don’t know each other very well.

When creating a partnership, it is essential for both business owners to understand all of the facets each partner brings to the table – from skills and competency to credit and criminal history. Each of these items directly affects the outcome of a business partnership.

About the Author:

Michele DeKinder-Smith, is the founder and CEO of Linkage Research, Inc, a marketing research firm with Fortune 500 clients such as Starbucks, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Texas Instruments, Hoover Vacuums and Verizon Wireless. She parlayed this entrepreneurial knowledge and experience into founding Jane Out of the Box, a company that provides female entrepreneurs like YOU with powerful resources, such as educational blogs, teleclasses, newsletters, and books. Michele was recently named to the National Association of Women Business Owners national board of directors for a two-year term. Buy a copy of her latest book with coauthor Azriela Jaffe, “See Jane Collaborate,” which contains more in-depth information about this article’s topic, at www.seejanecollaborate.com.

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Planning & Management

Women In Partnerships – The Importance of Due Diligence

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith

Business partnerships provide a variety of benefits to women entrepreneurs. For example, women with complementary skill sets or ways of thinking can partner to offer their customers a more well-rounded offering or experience. Women with similar interests and business styles can partner to offer their customers more options. While some entrepreneurs rush forward into a partnership, throwing caution to the wind, others take their time, evaluating every minute detail of a potential partner before signing the papers. Both types of processes can yield a successful partnership – however, due diligence is essential in improving the odds that a partnership will work well for both partners.

Continuing research from delves into the intricacies of business collaboration – and reveals important steps to follow. Based on professional market research of more than 3,500 women in business, research has shown that each of five unique types of business owners has a unique approach to running a business and to handling the other details of her life – and therefore each one has a unique combination of needs. This article outlines surprising trends in creating partnerships, as well as an outline for practicing due diligence before cementing a business union.

Research revealed that while some business owners “went on gut instinct” when pairing up with other entrepreneurs, others partnered with family members they’d known for years, or put their potential partners through a strict rubric before joining with them. While it is entirely possible for a partnership to work out fine without intense upfront evaluation, good chemistry and gut instinct are not the be-all, end-all.  That’s why it is essential that business owners carefully evaluate the qualities of their potential partner before proceeding.  The more dependent an entrepreneur will be on her partner for personal and professional well-being (including  income, stress level, and freedom), the more important a thorough consideration of that individual’s qualities will be.  For example, a writer who needs an editor may hire one more quickly knowing that if they do not work well together, the writer will maintain control over her book and can end the partnership quickly, with only time and a little money lost. When the partnership is longer-term, however, or when the partners are reliant on each other’s ability to produce an income, thorough due diligence can save headaches, heartaches, time and money later.

The amount of due diligence a business owner puts into finding the right partner depends, also, on how well her gut instinct usually serves her. For example, if a business owner tends to see the best in people and to give them the benefit of the doubt, she should require herself to perform a higher level of due diligence.  Depending on the situation, this may include extensive reference checking or even a request to examine the potential partners’ personal or business finances.  On the other hand, if a business owner has partnered successfully many times and found her instincts consistently “spot on,” she may need to invest less time and effort — although any decision that affects a business’ future still merits at least some research.

The bottom line: research shows that many business owners have been burned through partnering with the wrong individual.  While it is possible to have a successful partnership based solely on luck and good chemistry, It is imperative that a business owner perform at least some due diligence before leaping into the business equivalent of marriage, to save herself from future headaches, heartaches, lost time and lost money.
About the author:

Michele DeKinder-Smith, is the founder and CEO of Linkage Research, Inc, a marketing research firm with Fortune 500 clients such as Starbucks, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Texas Instruments, Hoover Vacuums and Verizon Wireless. She parlayed this entrepreneurial knowledge and experience into founding Jane Out of the Box, a company that provides female entrepreneurs like YOU with powerful resources, such as educational blogs, teleclasses, newsletters, and books. Michele was recently named to the National Association of Women Business Owners national board of directors for a two-year term. Buy a copy of her latest book with coauthor Azriela Jaffe, “See Jane Collaborate,” which contains more in-depth information about this article’s topic, at www.seejanecollaborate.com.

Categories
Planning & Management

Sharpen Your Greatest Sales Tool: Bring MORE to Your Sales Meetings

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

When you hear the term “sales tool,” what comes to mind? CRM, Blackberry, laptop?  As you mentally list the tools provided for your sellers, do you include your sales meetings on the list?

Think about it: In an effective sales meeting, the time you give, the experience of the team and a focus on sharpening everyone for success can make the meeting one of the greatest sales tools of all!

A tool is something regarded as necessary to the carrying out of one’s occupation or profession (this definition brought to you by dictionary.com). Sound like any sales meetings you have been to? A necessary part of being more successful in sales?

Meetings don’t have to be an information dump. When you focus on using your sales meeting for more, your meeting does become a necessary tool to sharpen your team’s skills, sales results and attitudes.

An effective sales meeting helps you:
• Motivate your sellers.
• Retain them as employees.
• Help your team sell more.
• Beat the competition.
• Make your job easier.
• Strengthen the professionalism of your team.

Who wins with these benefits? Everyone! Your life will be easier and your career more successful. The sellers will have more confidence and competence to sell even more. And your boss will benefit from all your benefits!

So if sales meetings can be such a great tool, how do you “sharpen” it? With a focus on MORE! Most sales meetings I have observed or heard about use most of the meeting time to share information – sales numbers, product updates, operational updates and complaints, and on and on and on. These are all items that could be easily summarized in an email so the meeting can be put to better use.

Focus on MORE in your sales meeting by:’

• Giving more time for input from the sellers. Ask them to brainstorm topics of interest, ideas for solving a problem or how to tackle a difficult situation someone is working with.

• Equipping sellers to sell more. Building skill and ability is an ongoing process. Reinforce great book ideas, great articles, previous training seminars and more.

• Growing the team’s ability to capture more market share. Make time for competitive analysis. Ask sellers to research the different competitors and report in.

• Helping the team use their technology tools more effectively. Share best practices and additional tips on how to use the technology to full advantage.

• Leveraging more of the expertise within the team. Set your sellers up as the experts on certain topics. Someone great at prospecting? Proposals? Getting Referrals? Let them give a 15-20 minute lesson to the rest of the team.

• Reinforcing more of what they are doing well. Make the time to point out specific actions that have shown success. Praise for specifics goes much further than general “You all did a great job last week.”

For each sales meeting you have, decide on which MORE outcome you want. Then use your sales meeting as the great sales tool it can be by including relevant activities, discussion, information and interaction to sharpen your bottom line!

Did bringing MORE to your sales meeting change the energy, focus or outcome? Let us know in the Comments section.

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power. To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

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People & Relationships Planning & Management

Motivate Your Sales Team by Making Your Meetings STICK!

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

If you really want to motivate your sales team, you need to hold regular, productive meetings. What does that look like? Sales meetings should equip your sellers to sell more and should be about more than operation and product updates. The key is to make your meetings STICK. Here’s what we mean by that:

S  – Sharpen their skills, behaviors or attitudes. Give your sellers opportunity to share experiences and best practices. Don’t make the meeting just about information. Use the time to BUILD your team for future success. Incorporate 20-30 minutes each meeting for this proactive activity.

T – Timely. Is the information and the discussion relevant to what is important today?  Don’t hold all information you have until the meeting. If you have a lot of “little” things to cover, prepare a short handout to distribute at the end of the meeting or send an email prior to the meeting. During your meeting do not READ the handout to them! Save your meeting time for the most meaningful topics and discussion.

I – Inclusive/Interactive. Put more ask instead of tell into your meeting. Engage and involve your sellers to give them a better sense of ownership and team. Most salespeople spend a lot of time alone, and realizing that their team has similarities helps them stay connected to the company, which leads to retained sellers.

C – Communicative. Sharing relevant information is important; asking for information even more so. Plan ahead and allow sellers to present information or lead discussions and activities. Let the information be two-way.

K – Kinetic. Adults need to DO – to take action and build information into their consciousness and habits. Help them make the information actionable. End every meeting with each seller committing to ONE action they will take to apply the information discussed.

By committing to a regular meeting and making it STICK, your sales team will happily participate in your meetings. They will skip down the hall on the way, bring YOU a cup of coffee, silence their BlackBerrys and have positive thoughts in their heads as they join the meeting. More importantly, the information will stick and result in higher sales after the meeting.

What are some of the things you do to make your meetings STICK?

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Categories
Planning & Management

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance: Tips & Tools to Increase Productivity

Article Contributed by Sharpenz

Prior proper planning prevents poor performance. It may be a tongue twister, but it’s important to remember that our productivity is greatly increased when we make the time to prepare. Notice I didn’t say “find” time. (Though, wouldn’t that be great to pick up some time we found on the sidewalk?) Preparation is a discipline and successful professionals make the time.

Preparation is even more important in a changing economy. We need to change our preparation strategy during this time. What worked yesterday may not work today.

Here are five ways to do your homework and prepare.

1. Know who you are meeting with. In the overall sale, is this person the only person you should be meeting with? Are there others within this organization that should be included in the discussion? For this person, what is happening with them today? How is the economy affecting them personally? As you consider how to approach them, identify a question or two that is just about them!

2. Learn about the industry they are in. Conduct research to find out what is happening specifically in this industry today. Are lines of credit to this industry lessened? Does the global implication matter to them? What is happening with the workforce? These are good starting places for research.

3. Research the company. Have they had layoffs? Are they hiring? What is happening with their stock (if applicable)? What is their competition doing? There are many companies who have found a way to capitalize on the financial situation in the US.

4. Review notes from past contacts. What level of discussion have you had? Has it been strategic – tied to increasing results, decreasing costs or lessening risks? Or tactical – focused on one specific piece of information that is tied directly to what you offer? Prepare to broaden your discussion to strategy and help them solve business problems or create opportunities.

5. Communicate with them the way THEY want to be communicated with. Every person has a “language” they speak. Some speak facts and figures, others talk about people. Some are “quick” communicators – they like bullet points, not a lot of detail and get right to the main points. Others like to hear stories, need a ton of detail and won’t be rushed. You can get an idea of their language through any communication you have had with them in the past – emails, telephone calls and voicemail messages tell a lot. If you can find them on any of the social networking tools like LinkedIn or Twitter, you can learn a lot about how they communicate. Prepare to adjust your communication to “talk their language” and the level of trust will be stronger and the information will flow smoother.

To make your preparation efficient, here a few tools to use:

1. Google alerts. Use these to receive an email when a specific industry, company, or person is in the news. Go to http://www.google.com/alerts to set your alerts.

2. Use your in-house CRM system – Garbage in, garbage out. If you have input good information, now is the time to use it! If you haven’t, set aside 30 minutes a day to populate your system.

3. Put pen to paper! Writing your call objective, questions you will ask, benefits you can create and problems you can solve will help you retain focus during the discussion.

The biggest obstacle to preparation we hear is the “not enough” excuse. Not enough time, not enough information, not enough value in doing it. However, in our control studies, the sales professionals who prepared were 17-25% more effective than those that didn’t. How would those sales increases impact you?

What tools do you use to plan, prepare and increase productivity?

About the Author:

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power.  To learn more, visit www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!