Sports / Entertainment

Fixing a Throwback Problem

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Wiffle Ball (backyard baseball) is a real love of mine.  A plastic bat, 2 or 3 players, 6 to 8 Wiffle balls, a homerun fence about 70 feet away and you are good to go.  

 Unless you have pet peeves.  And I do.

One of which is this; When you are pitching to the other team or player, the least you should expect after throwing all the balls in, is that all the balls get thrown back somewhere remotely close to you.   For 30 years and thousands of games, this has been a problem.     

 

Because no matter who you play with from young kids to your adult friends, you are liable to get balls thrown back to you that are 10 feet left, 10 feet right, 10 feet short or 10 feet over your head. 

It slows down the game and frankly drives me insane.

So until a few weeks ago my effort to fix this problem was to progressively ask, then beg, then whine, then complain and then scream for everyone to please try and throw the balls back at least close to me, the pitcher. 

It didn’t work.  Balls were thrown back any which way (including the dreaded “soccer kick” and “plastic bat golf swing” of the balls back to the mound).

About 4 weeks ago it dawned on me.  I put a little plastic bucket at my feet when I pitched (see picture above of actual bucket in my backyard) and proclaimed new rules that an automatic run would score if upon the throwback to the mound, the ball landed in the bucket.   

It’s a rare moment when a ball actually lands or bounces into the bucket (it’s only 6 inches deep) so you’re not changing the outcome of any game and throwing the balance of the world out of whack but since then, almost every ball gets close to the bucket and hence, the pitcher.    Now everyone uses the “bucket rule”.  Problem solved.  Game on.

The point is kind of simple.  It’s either (or both) that I am a full Ginzu set of knives short of a silverware drawer for not thinking of this for 3 decades or it is that to change behaviors, sometimes asking for or demanding a behavior change does not work. 

Sometimes an incentive is better.

So the questions are, what work behavioral pet peeves do you have? And what could an incentive do for you?

  •  Your sales team is struggling to make the time to learn more about the industry they call upon or service?  Bury “incentives” in the details of industry knowledge materials you post on the Wiki.  (i.e. offer rewards for learning or knowing)
  • CRMor lead generation data not getting updated correctly or completely? Add a small “accelerator” to your SIP for quality detail about and for our customers.

There are a dozen more pet peeves for sure but don’t wait for years to figure out a solution to a nagging behavioral problem like I did.  I only wish I had thought of the “bucket rule” back when I was 12 and I probably would have gotten a few hundred more games in.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

 

When Just Do It is Just Worse

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Tried to fix a vacuum yesterday.  Almost did too.

Nearly finished, I dropped the vacuum putting the last screw in.  Exploded all over kitchen floor.  Now it won’t even turn on. 

I do this a lot.  I get all jacked up on a whim to tackle these little projects usually on a weekend.  Move a couch and instead rip the fabric.  Fold down the lawn mower to make room in the shed and instead snap off the starting rope.  Change the shower head cuz’ gosh darn it, the other one is so old and now I’ve got a leak I didn’t have before.

 When I do these little projects things often get worse.  I realize I don’t prepare or think too much in advance of these things.  I just do it. 

 And if I’m honest with myself sometimes this happens at work too (though with my boss subscribing to this blog too, I’d rather not share exactly what I’ve made worse thank you very much :))

 But the hindsight view is usually the same – it’s a result of not a whole lot of preparation or thought before tackling an issue or an opportunity;  I get all jacked up and um… just do it.

 When just do it makes it just worse, then it’s time to ditch that catchy marketing phrase at home and at work and just leave it on the ball field. 

Till next time,

 Grow The Business.

 Mark

Horrible Bosses

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Horrible Bosses is a hot movie of late starring the likes of Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Anniston.  

 The premise is that if your boss is horrible well um… go ahead and kill em’ (or at least try to). 

 That’s a little dangerous in the real world.

 You might get caught.  🙂

 Ah seriously, I don’t condone violence towards any horrible bosses.  Too messy. 

 Here are four other (and better) ways to deal with a real horrible boss: 

Demand he play well with others.   You know the type – the “I’ll take my ball and go home type”.  Not open to hearing concerns about your competing priorities, instead you hear “Fine, I’ll find someone who can get it done” and then you hear a click and a dial tone in your ear.   This same guy makes no effort to collaborate but rather rams his way through people.  This faux cowboy attitude is for the movies and 6 year olds.  Kidnap this guy, surround him with your posse and scream “This is your team, we work together!”

 

Force her to take a stand.   I suspect this is the most common trait of a bad boss; the fear of, or unwillingness to take a stand or pick a path or make a decision that means something.  Swamped or swimming purposely in administrivia, the boss shirks the tough calls and instead being right or wrong, she is neither and everyone suffers in a frenzied, crazy busy world of essentially nothing.  Corner her and take dead aim at imploring her to make choices!  Even wrong decisions are better than none; at least then you can learn and move on.

 

Don’t Dread on me.  She’s the one you can’t stand to see, hear or read – literally all the time.   You see the email from her and you just don’t want to read it as you know it is bad news.   You arrive in the morning and ugh, your voicemail light is on so that means she wants an answer or OMG she just walked out of her office and is walking your way hell bent to talk to you about your “improvement opportunities”.    Enough!  Does every interaction Ms. Boss have to be about something “wrong” or “bad” or “concerning”?   Grab your scepters, your hoods, walk around like the Grim Reaper and let her see what you see.  Dread is not a way to lead.

 

Unfriend him. Don’t you wish could do it more often with your friends in social media or even at home with family or relatives?  But in the world of work, this guy is the boss who saunters up beside you and says “Yeah, this new incentive plan is a stretch” or “Geez, we made this product 10 years ago and it didn’t work then…”  News flash Mr. Boss, I’m not your buddy and I am not your chum.  You’re my boss and your immature efforts to bond with me as a “friend” by back stabbing your peers is appallingly odd and makes you look weak.  And who wants a weak boss?  Collectively dismember your friendship status with this guy as fast as you can and demand a change in his status back to loner.

There you go.  Horrible gets better and nobody dies.   Not much of a movie but aren’t horrible bosses enough drama already?

Till next time,

 Grow The Business.

 Mark

Inside Thoughts

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I suspect some things are better left unsaid.   

I know this when my 14 year old son, mortified about something I’ve just uttered, hangs his head and tells me,  “Dad, I think that….. was an inside thought.”

Here are 6 random thoughts that probably should have stayed inside but if they did, there would be no blog today. 

  • I saw those “End of the World 5.21.11” Billboards over the last few months while traveling but no lie, I did not make the connection to the Rapture thing until this last Sunday – I thought they were just an ad for new movie coming out.

 

  • I think Old School Prospecting is dead.  Really dead; not even a fundamental anymore.  New School Prospecting today is about giving something of value freely first – be it product, information, kindness, advice or a stick of gum.  But it won’t be just “give free” for long – soon enough we’ll all have to Future School it and “buy” the right to be heard all the time.   I’m OK with that.

 

  • I worry that someday I’m going to watch TV and see my headless body walking down the street (“Hey, that’s my shirt!  Hey, I have those same pants!  Hey that’s (gulp) me!”) as Eyewitness News does yet another story on obesity zeroing in on those fat belly close ups.

 

  • Consensus decision making is overrated.  It has its place but an important decision or action that takes 5 times longer when 8 to 80 people get involved is a problem.  Add to that, that the quality of that decision often degrades with everyone “giving in” along the way, ending in a watered down decision or plan.  Some decisions are better made by just you with whatever degree of input you want or need.  That goes for buyers, sellers and everyone in between.

 

  • Who decided so many years ago that people who answer a phone should enter orders or update screens?  Isn’t the skill of verbal communication something to rethink as far as value goes?  Answer the phones hands free! – The art of the language and the phrase.  What could we do with an obsession and admiration of that?

 

  • Phone selling is going away.  It’s coming full circle.  Years ago it was always face to face and before you know it, it will be again.   Smile at your Tablet folks,  your non verbal expressions are going to matter again!

 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Lyrical

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I remember fighting off my brothers and diving for that sports section each morning.  I loved to read his columns.

What a thrill to meet him last week.

“I try to be lyrical” he told me about his sports writing.  “But today nobody really cares about that – just bang it out.”

Sad.  Great communication is lyrical.  It has a cadence; it captures hearts, minds and dollars.   

And it will come back. 

Great communication skill of all types will matter again as soon as we get past this giddy era of dumping content anywhere and in anyway we can.

Be ready.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

****

Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less. 

Have A Voice Dawg

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You have a great voice. 

I’m not talking about your American Idol Steven Tyler “Demon of Screamin” voice here that makes Randy Jackson grin.  Rather it’s the voice that is your perspective, your message, your way.    

That voice matters, maybe now more than ever.   That voice needs to be heard. 

You can be “voiceless” by being a fantastic collector and sprayer of facts, figures, options, processes, policies, product specs, special offers, FAQ’s or even of opinions. 

But having a voice means you chose something.  It means you chose some way. 

And nothing influences people more – especially today.

You see, it’s an odd thing this abundance of information we live in.  There is so much of it everywhere and in every way that it is often paralyzing.   There’s a longing that is growing now in consumers and small businesses that when they finally get to talk to a real live human being like you – especially one that has built a semblance of trust, to grab hold of you, shake you at your shoulders, drop to a knee and plead:

“What do you think?” 

Not all business owners and decision makers ( by a long shot) want to do all the research, the analysis, the comparisons or read all  the posts, Tweets and articles before making a decision.

Especially when they can’t discern credible content from just plain ol’ content.   And that, in the plugged in world we live in, is where we are today.

So choose that voice, human!   Have a suggestion.  Have a recommendation.  Have advice.  Have an opinion.  Have a strong opinion.    Heckl, have a soapbox, a vision and a darn dream for your customers.

You can choose to have your voice be based on your own beliefs or of those people or companies or content that you trust, love or study.  It doesn’t matter; if you believe it and you share it; it’s your voice.  

And that, as Steven Tyler would say is.”Yeow-Yak-Yak-Yak-Ooww!”

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

I Love Dirty Jobs

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I love Discovery TV’s Dirty Jobs.  

They are always looking for new ideas for those dirty jobs.  I wonder if I should send a note to the producers and invite them to come out my way.

 

Dirty Jobs is a popular show where host Mike Rowe performs some of the most difficult and frankly, disgusting jobs done by real people.   These jobs run the gamut from the needed cleaning of shipping lane buoys ( crusted molting squishy marine life that needs to be chiseled off) to scuba diving for hippo poop at a zoo ( where else is it going to go?) and everything in between.

My wife loves Dirty Jobs too but I think she’s just in love with Mike Rowe.   He’s funny, smart and good looking.  Whenever the show pops on she’ll stop whatever she is doing and say “Oh, my Michael is on.”  Once, as she sat next to me on the couch watching the show, she began think out loud and dreamily blathered to nobody in particular, “I wonder if he’s married.”   (He isn’t).

Mike might be a smoldering hunk of handsomeness to some but truth is Dirty Jobs is a tribute to the people who do these jobs.  Mike Rowe simply adores these folks and it shows.  Most are people take great pride in either the “dirty job” at hand or they take pride in that the dirty job is just part of a larger endeavor that needs to get done right.  We here in our work have some jobs like these.  Jobs that are difficult and tough and hard and done by prideful, caring people.   They may lack the “ick” factor for TV but I’m betting they’d be some of the toughest work Mike and crew would love to try. 

Selling On The Phone:   Lots of rejection.  Lots of pressure.  Lots of importance.  Mike and crew would arrive and he’d strap on a headset and give selling a good try.   And he’d fail.  He’s get a lot of “no’s” and even more “annoyed” customers.  He’d get the kind of rejection Mike probably isn’t used to being a TV star and all.  But that’s OK because he would spend time with the pros who do sell well and then cut to a new scene where he’d share what he learned and say “It’s not really “selling” with these sales people, it’s more like they are helping out someone”.

Training:  Especially the “stand up in the classroom 10 hour day with the adults” kind.   This is simply exhausting stuff.  You have to be “on” all day.  Be on target, on message, on time and totally on hand with people who all learn differently and bring and array of attitudes to the party.   We’d give Mike a couple of hours to prep and have him lead the class.  By4 o’clock he’d be triple dog tired and barely able to speak.  No worries though, he’d turn slightly, smile into the camera and tell us how “crazy and tough” real trainers need to be to make learning happen.

Team Leader:  They’re the boss, the support, the help desk, the number watcher (and often the number cruncher), the master listener, the coach and oh by the way, they have one of the most difficult professions in the world; continually improving the performance of people (and sometimes 30+ people at a time).   Mike would set up in a cube and start leadering’ and Boom he gets an irate customer, then the system crashes ( everyone on paper!), the mid day numbers deadline comes and goes and then his boss walks by wondering where first pass of all the employee reviews are.  That’s enough and as Mike’s head is nodding in surrender he looks up at the camera and says “Boss’s day only comes once a year?  What a rip off!”

I think the producers of Dirty Jobs would like the opportunity to come here.  If they decide to come, do me a favor and keep it just between us.  My wife doesn’t need to know.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

Larry Bird?

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image credit retroplanet.com

 

 

There’s a board game called TriBond where you identify the commonality of three clues given.  It’s pretty fun.

Last weekend, my 14 year old son was given these three:

“Big…Larry….Jay”

He correctly said “Bird”.  Then asked, “I know Big Bird and a Jay Bird, but what the heck is a “Larry Bird”?

Sigh.

Wow.

What else do I incorrectly assume is a basic reference with someone I know well? Or with colleagues, employees or customers?

It’s worse than that actually.

I assume this blog makes sense to you.   But how many are saying “Who the heck is Larry Bird?”

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

****

Mondays are busy. All Monday posts are 100 words or less. 

Yo, Hero

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We watched Rocky again Saturday night.  It’s the hero formula we love. 

Someone who is down on his luck, down on his skill or down on himself who faces obstacles, has a dream and against so many odds, succeeds.  Doesn’t matter if it’s Rocky or Rudy or even the King in The King’s Speech – it’s all the same and we love it when we see it.

Try feeling it. 

There’s something out there that nobody thinks you can do, including maybe even you.  Go do it anyway. 

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark

A Salesperson’s Halloween Poem

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Beautiful Poetry can lift the soul, make one weep inconsolably, inspire through a lifetime and especially around the Holidays, bring great strength and joy to all who read it.

When I write poetry about my beloved salespeople….not so much.  

A Salesperson’s Halloween

Oh Hallowed Eve, oh night of ghoul,
Your day is full shrieks and shrills.
But I’m thinking what trick or treaters really need
Is some help with basic sales skills.

A 3 foot tall, pillowcase toting Dracula
Squeaking out “Trick or Treat” is pretty weak,
It’s actually a cold call gosh darnit!
Yet no effort to get the neighbor to speak?

Wee Goblins, Witches and Headless Horsemen
Offer some scares but no sales approach.
Don’t we all want more candy? More upgrades?
Let me at em’, Let me coach!

So with a wicked twist on Trick or Treating
I’ll lead this effort as a hands-on leader
As I on this night, and finally for a change,
Will be a Treetee and not a Treater.

We’ve seen it before, the real tall ones
With the beards and even a cigarette dangling
Those arms outstretched as child pretenders,
Doing hardcore candy angling.

But being a middle aged sales pro, I’ll be different,
Use real sales skills and dress like Freddy Krueger!
I’ll either get oodles more candy and teach these kids,
Or end up in a cruiser.

Till next time, 

Grow The Business. 

Mark