Go to the SellXL website at the following link to hear what a client executive, Steve Tafaro - VP of Sales for Cybershift says about the SellXL workshop. To listen to the interview, go to the SellXL.com testimonials page and click on the Audio Link.

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Showcase SellXL and SOS Account - Sendmail

With 25 years leadership delivering innovative messaging technology, Sendmail ensures the protection and trust of Internet communications. Driven by the industry's most powerful policy engine, Sendmail technology provides protection where 80% of security and compliance violations occur - inbound and outbound messaging.

Sendmail's US Headquarters is in Emeryville, California and in February of this year their salespeople experienced both a Selling at the Executive Level (SellXL) and a Sales Opportunity Snapshot (SOS) workshop, in a "back-to-back" fashion. The two one-day workshops received some of the highest evaluations from the participants, among them the company's Senior Vice President of Sales, Glen Vondrick.

Glen commented that "he will now encourage his salespeople to prepare more effectively for executive-level calls." In addition, he stated that "the concepts discussed in the workshops "now need to be made part of their account planning process [for major accounts]".

Other salespeople who participated in the SellXL workshop said the following:

• "I'll now spend more time developing discovery type questions, prior to my meeting with a client executive"
• "I'll aim higher when attempting to establish client-level relationships, so as to leverage that contact"
• "I'll do a better job of preparing and working with my business partners, as we approach client executives."

Nearly all of the participants were very articulate about the value they received from each workshop and described the kinds of things they will now change moving forward. Both workshops support each other in terminology, concepts and models. Participants seemed to enjoy the concentrated dose of experiencing both methodologies "back-to-back". The company's CFO, Carol Brock, commented that "these workshops kept our salespeople stimulated and involved. I think they got a lot out of them."

Comments on the SOS workshop from other participants, as to what they would now do differently as a result of attending the workshop, included the following:

• "I will utilize the Sales Snapshot Tool almost daily and do a better job of qualifying sales opportunities for my team. I'll make certain to use it for each sales opportunity we pursue"
• "The SOS workshop has helped me change my thought process and I'm certain it will have an impact on my behavior."
• "It has encouraged me to conduct a more disciplined analysis of my sales opportunities and to focus on those that will add real value to Sendmail."
• "I'll spend more time on discovery, ask more questions and properly analyze my sales opportunities to generate more business."

Sendmail's salespeople were extremely supportive of the SellXL and SOS methodologies, the impact of the workshops on them and what they would change moving forward - true testimonials to the value of both workshops.

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Delivering SellXL and SOS at Client Sales Conferences

One of the clear advantages of either SellXL or SOS is that both workshops are one-day in length. That lends itself to delivering multiple sessions at a client sales conference where hundreds of salespeople can experience one or both of the workshops in a single day at the conference.

An additional advantage of working with my company is that I have access to many independent consultants in the United States and around the world who have been leader certified in both of my workshops.

Call me at (404) 256-1801 in the United States or send me an email at steveb@sellxl.com to learn how several clients have experienced the delivery of my workshops at their annual sales conference. It's a great way to minimize the overall training costs because the cost of the salesperson's travel has already been funded by the company sales conference.

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Book Review

Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done
By Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Book Review by Wally Bock
Copyright 2005, Wally Bock
www.agreatsupervisor.com

Everybody knows about companies with brilliant strategies that don't deliver. They don't execute. The fact is that the greatest strategy in the world is useless if the company or other organization can't make it work. Strategy without execution is impotent.

So, this is a book about execution. Well, not exactly. Actually, it's a book about the structural processes that lead to executing strategy effectively. The three processes, as identified by the authors, are the people process, the strategy process, and the operations process.

They're all important and you have to get them all to work and to work together. The authors should know how to do this. Larry Bossidy is one of the world's most successful and effective executives. He was effective at General Electric, at Allied Signal, and at Honeywell. Ram Charan is a consultant who has worked with many companies and helped them achieve better results.

Not only do they know what they're talking about, they convey their knowledge well. The organization of the book helps them get the message across. The contents are divided into three parts: Why Execution is Needed; The Building Blocks of Execution; and the Three Core Processes of Execution. Each of those sections includes chapters which are well laid out and thoughtfully developed.

Also, throughout the book, the two authors, Bossidy and Charan, put in short pieces in the first person. I found these particularly helpful, because they gave me insight into the basic text, and they also gave me the flavor and style of the way these men think.

A big plus for the book,  and something that makes it easy reading, is the selection of Charles Burke as writer and editor. Burke was an excellent editor and writer when he was at Fortune, and he brings those skills to the book.

If this book has a weakness, it's the way examples are presented. Since both Bossidy and Charan don't necessarily want to name names, we get a lot of descriptions of people without knowing exactly who they are. That means that you have to put up with a lot of "X's" and "Y's" and descriptions of people as, "A marketing executive for a midsize chemical company."

Personally, I found that very irritating, but not irritating enough to get me to stop reading. This is a book that will help you get your culture, your strategy, your people processes, and your operations in order.

You can read it in a couple of different ways. You can read this book straight through from front to back. This will give you the material as a logically developed argument.

If you're a working manager you may not want to take the time to read that way, but you can get lots of value from this book by finding a section of interest and then scanning the subtopics to help you decide where to start reading.

For example, in the chapter on getting the right folks in the right jobs you'll find a major subhead called "What kind of people are you looking for?" Scan the subheads under that and you'll find "They energize people," "They're decisive on tough issues," "They get things done through others," and "They follow through." None of these subheads show up in the table of contents, so you've got to start your browsing in the text itself.

Don't worry if you aren't running a business as big as Honeywell. This is a good book for managers in far smaller organizations. The advice is solid, practical and easy to understand and adapt.

This book gets a solid buy recommendation. Read it to help both you and your organization become more effective.

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Professional Society of Sales and Marketing Training - A Unique Organization Just for You!

There's an organization that exists today for Corporate Sales Trainers and Sales Training Consultants that you probably have never heard of. It's called the Professional Society of Sales and Marketing Training and its website is www.smt.org.

I've been a member for the past 15 years or so and attended SMT's Annual Conference in Amelia Island, Florida in November, 2006 where they had their finest conference ever. I can say that as the immediate Past President because we had an excellent Conference Planning Committee that executed in an outstanding fashion. We had the normal array of General Session Speakers, but the Breakout Sessions were of the highest quality that I've ever seen offered at an event of this type. Many leading edge concepts were presented that showed attendees the state-of-the-art in new training techniques that were beyond the expectation of many attendees.

The 2007 Annual Conference will take place in Falls Church, Virginia, from November 12-14. Check out the SMT website for additional information on this conference.

If you have any questions about SMT, give Steve a call at (404) 256-1801. I'd enjoy the opportunity to tell you more about this unique training organization that is directed specifically at those of us engaged in the wonderful field of sales and marketing training.

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