This story is often attributed to Chinese leader, Chou En Lai, and has been rewritten in multiple forms by authors unknown. As the story goes, there was once a farmer and his only son in the days just before the Civil War. Having only one horse, the farmer and son worked long hard days, sun up to sun…
In my previous X5 blog, I discussed five characteristics of success that contribute to the development of great sales teams. In this edition, I build upon each of those characteristics and discuss how you may apply those principles to your business and sales/service teams. 1. Hire Great People You need to know the skills you…
Do you take advantage of having advisory support or mentorship within your business or organization? Do your sales and service professionals have someone they can rely upon to support them through difficult challenges, while helping them to succeed? Mentors in sales and service programs can help guide individuals or employees throughout their personal and career…
Building a team is easy. All you do is hire people that you like, put them all into a group and the team will form. Or is it that simple? As a society, we have been inundated with sports highlights of the stars making a great shot, the great play, the ESPN or TSN play…
With today’s economic uncertainty, training and professional development is more important than ever. Many companies are taking this valuable opportunity to develop their workforce so they can develop soft skills and in turn increase sales and retain their customers with remarkable service. Of course cost can be a barrier for employers – but did you…
As the end of October approaches and the weather changes, businesses are gearing up for a strong finish to 2015 and may already be preparing plans for the coming year. How does your organization approach planning involving your sales and customer service teams? Do you have a strategy to approach important topics involving customer needs…
Have you ever purchased an item on sale? Usually sales items are “final sales”, which means you can’t return the item. We usually can live with this because we saved money or felt that we received a great deal. What if you buy something and have an issue, but discover it was a final sale?…
September in Alberta marks the changing of the seasons and renewed focus for many businesses after the summer vacation season has ended. September in our province also marks the beginning of harvest season for many farm and grain producers throughout the province. Being involved in many harvests at my own family farm, I have become…
The first Thursday of each month features a “best of” X5 Management blog. The intent is to showcase and revisit some of our blogs from the past. We hope you enjoy them! I recently finished reading a book called Unique Ability that is based on a concept by Dan Sullivan. (Dan is the creator/founder of the…
