CONDUIT

A timely argument for engagement

We all know that engaged employees are better ambassadors for the brand with both customers and co-workers.  Think about the brand attributes that define your value proposition and differentiate it in the marketplace. Engaged employees are more likely to meet and exceed the expectations of all people they come in contact with because they live those behaviors. Their actions and attitudes reduce customer churn (increasing life time customer values) and co-worker dissatisfaction (reducing attrition). Nothing new, right?

 

But employee engagement is also critical to organizations that must pivot quickly in a changing marketplace.  In the face of change, new direction or new strategy, most people will initially resist. Engaged employees  are not only more likely to adopt new technology, work practices, or work procedures, they are also more likely to take those new tools and techniques and use them in innovative ways.  Conversely, non-engaged employees will rationalize away failure, blame poor performance on others and ignite a cycle of poor morale and customer dissatisfaction. They are the bad apple that can spoil the whole bunch.

 

With the economy damping spirits and clouding optimism everywhere who do you want in that proverbial fox hole next to you? Exactly.  

Dealing with Generation Y

There has been a lot of talk around Millennials lately; what motivates them and what turns them off. Here are some tips and tidbits to make dealing with Generation Y easier from a “recognition" point of view.

 

·         Gen Y workers change jobs around eight times in their first five years of employment. However studies show that if you can buck that trend and get them to stick with you in the early years (first 2-3 years), they are more likely to morph into high-loyal employees. 

 

·         Generation Y is very technologically comfortable (No surprises here).  Computer-based contests with interactive elements including blogs, wikis, mash-ups, RSS, and podcasts can all be used to make a recognition activity more meaningful.

 

·         This is the first generation to receive "participation" trophies, which is why they tend to want more pats on the back more frequently than other work groups.  This social orientation has allowed them to see teams as non-competitive structures. If you can let them work on a team or a shared project, and recognize their involvement as part of a group, they will value that experience as much if not more than an individual acknowledgement. A hint with teams: set the goals but don’t dictate the process and you will get better buy-in and outcomes.    

 

·         Generation Y is very family centric. One way to win them over is to involve their families in the recognition process. Letters/email home to mom and dad or their brothers or sisters is a nice touch.

 

·         Some managers lament that you can’t get this worker to do more. But taking on more responsibility is often perceived as a negative with Generation Y. Instead companies that position additional work assignments as a puzzle or challenge that needs to be solved get more involvement.

 

·         Generation Y likes to be mentored by Boomers. They have a higher respect for people their parent’s age then most generations before them. And while the lines between authority and co-worker can get blurred, they appreciate that the byproduct of experience is wisdom and take advice from older colleagues eagerly.

 

·         Generation Y equates a curiosity for learning and being socially conscious as two highly desired attributes.  Conversely, they see the desire to get ahead for the sake of climbing the corporate ladder as unattractive qualities. As a consequence, accomplishments and achievement should be celebrated in the context of bettering oneself as a “more complete person” without too much reference to an individual’s professional gain or standing.    

 

·         Long term awards like stock equity have little motivational value. Generation Y has no interest in long -term investments and vesting schedules. Not yet anyway. Instead they respond to awards that are more immediate and perhaps open up opportunities to experience new things.

Sales people and reinforcement—what drives your top dogs?

Getting people to do their best work, even in trying times, is a sales manager’s most pressing challenge.  A motivated sales force means better corporate performance. No one doubts that. But in today’s tough selling environment it can mean the difference between being the market’s alpha dog and fighting over scraps with the rest of the pack.

A recent article published in the Harvard Business Review (Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model, August 2008) suggests that people are motivated by 4 basic emotional desires; to acquire, to bond, to comprehend and to defend.

Just about all sales compensation plans do a pretty good job exploiting the desire to acquire and defend. Comp plans recognize and reward a sale person for obtaining new business with bonuses and rewards—stuff and status. And comp plans legitimize the spoils by reinforcing that success is a shared outcome.

Sales people are also motivated to defend what is theirs. Not material gains as much as reputation and standing. Again most comp plans do a very good job at leveraging the competitive nature of sales people by constantly testing their status as a success and challenging them to reaffirm their standing within the pack.

But what about the desire to bond and comprehend? According to the article, we are all motivated by our desire to understand the world around us. Not only the desire to make sense of it all, but to make a meaningful contribution. Sales people in particular have an inherent desire to aid in customers’ success. How does your cash plan address that? Does it at all?

This void is all part of the intrinsic compensation system that sales managers should leverage more.   The sales manager should think of him/herself as an untapped link in the compensation promise. Sales managers can use recognition to encourage progress made by their reps in targeting, planning, messaging, engaging, presenting and negotiating in ways that build a higher level of perceived value for the customer. Right here is the perfect place to address this yearning for “compensation”.

Recognition and the Service Industry

Good service is good business. But for companies that derive revenues from both sales and services, it is interesting to note that service margins are generally much higher. Service personnel also drive repeat business. Service teams intersect with the customer frequently and can provide a foothold for customer longevity.

So how can firms exploit services for competitive advantage? By realizing that for services to reach its potential as a profit center, learning and knowledge must be leveraged to fuel employee growth and overcome impediments to change.

We have talked before about the role recognition plays in promoting a shared vision of customer care. When someone on your team displays an innovative approach to solving  a customer's problem or goes beyond the call of duty when supporting a colleague, telling their story can help "normalize" this effort. In essence recogntion helps promote a new standard, while raising the bar for everyone else that touches the customer. 

So many of the firms I talk are eager to translate corporate goals into individual action. The first step should always be to define the desired outcome from the customer's point of view. Recognition helps do that. By acknowledging actions and behaviors that helped a client overcome adversity you are kick starting and then sustaining a customer centric culture.

Companies that do this report a higher level of mutuality across the ranks. Their employees understand and buy into what the enterprise is trying to do and, better yet, their customers feel like they (and their needs) are at the center of everyone's attention.

Are you really putting the customer's needs first?

Way back in my selling days, a wise customer once told me that the value in what he buys is in the advice and counsel he gets as he is buying it. In other words, he derived value from the shared ideas and information exchanged during the selection processes and the quality of information that came form one sales person versus another was usually the deciding factor.

Why bring that up now? No matter what your business model chances are your CSO is talking about consultative selling. Translated: put the customer’s needs first. Consultative sales people make proactive efforts to understand the prospect’s business model and market environment before making the appointment. Listen and probe for root causes during the call and only make a recommendation when they know the customer's rationale.

Sounds pretty basic doesn’t it? Yet, the majority of sales people don’t do so effectively. Actually few come close. Potential buyers say reps do not understand their business and make exaggerated claims. They are also put off by reps who don’t follow their buying process or are pushy and disrespectful.

Companies looking to gain an edge in the marketplace through “consultative selling” would be wise to reinforce the process as much as the outcome. All too often incentive program designers set out to reward top performers with lavish trips or big screen plasmas but ignore the steady, ‘B” player in the process. I have talked before about the role of the “middle 60” and the economic justification of including them in your payout structure. However, one should also consider the mixed message sent when sales results alone are rewarded. If the push is to close the deal then the potential for exaggerated claims and all the other bad selling behaviors that clients detest are likely to reemerge in the selling process. Instead you may want to set aside a portion of your funding to reward innovative consultative approaches that some took while working to align your product with a customer’s need.

Want to increase your value to the Chief Selling Officer?

The CSO has a lot on his/her mind. Achieving revenue growth, launching new products, acquiring customers, expanding share, improving sales productivity and reducing selling expenses are increasingly challenging in a global economy. While many factors affect results, the ongoing actions and attitudes of your sales team may play the biggest role.

Consider the role recognition and strategically placed sales incentives can play in helping the CSO accomplish the following;

Optimize the economic contribution of all selling channels including field sales, telesales, online sales, resellers and partners. The mission is simple: to ensure that selling behaviors—at all levels and across all channels—support your growth strategy and brand promise.

Respond faster. Need to shift priorities but don’t have the time to change the comp plan? Can you give your team the flexibility it needs to; place emphasis on products needing a quick promotional boost, highlight underperfroming markets requiring attention, pursue untapped customer segments or prepare for emerging competitive threats?

Nurture a consultative selling approach.Today’s customers have more choices and are demanding more from their suppliers. According to The Harvard Business Review only 2% of sales fail on price. Recognition can help you reinforce the type of customer-centric behaviors that drive positive outcomes.

Promote a “one-company” selling culture. An integrated approach to identifying customer needs generates cross-selling opportunities, enhances customer satisfaction and extends lifetime value. Recognition can help align the efforts of your account managers, channel partners, subject matter experts, implementers and support teams toward a common goal.

A properly designed recognition approach can help you do this and then some. You will not only help your firm exceed forecast, but will also get you a bigger seat at the planning table.