January 16th, 2012 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
New Year – New Goals
By Dan Fantasia CEO and Founder of Treeline, Inc.
“Behind extraordinary achievement you will always discover extraordinary effort.”
The Greatness Guide, By Robin Sharma
It is a new year and there is no better time than right now to inspire your sales team. One way to get the year off to a great start is to set your sales goals for 2012. Use your optimism to motivate and inspire your sales team. If you can harness this positively charged energy you can create an aggressive, focused and contagious environment likely to achieve success in 2012.
Here are 3 easy tips when to inspire your team:
1. Use inspirational quotes to motivate your sales team to work hard, take chances, and strive to succeed. There are thousands of quotes that you have read in your life time that have inspired you and passing them along to your sales team will likely have an effect on their attitudes. Share your enthusiasm and leverage good quotes that relate to your sales team. Get them energized and excited about the day, month, quarter and year. A great book for this is “The Greatness Guide” by Robin Sharma.
“Leadership is shown when a salesperson makes extra calls at the end of an exhausting day – not because it’s the easy thing to do but because it’s the right thing to do. Leadership is shown by the manager who finishes a report that has taken the very best from him, then goes back to it a little later to polish and improve it even more. And leadership is shown by the human being who fights the urge to stay under the covers on a cold day and throw on her running shoes to pound the pavement. Not because running miles on a frosty morning is fun. But because it’s wise.” – Robin Sharma
2. Bring the sales team together and reinforce team unity with pictures and stories of great memories. Talk boldly and openly about the last year. Look back at sales records, closed deals and team experiences. Help your team remember every positive experience in 2011. Relive funny moments, pictures from corporate outings and fun times. Many forget all the simple positive experiences they have enjoyed over the last year and many of these times are taken for granted. If you want to have a successful sales culture, then create an engaging environment that people want to be part of.
Here is a picture of the 2011 Treeline 10th Anniversary:
3. Lastly, use movie clips and videos that your team relates to. Movies are an effective and dynamic way to encourage your team. They foster self reflection and allow sales professionals to fully engage and support the message being presented. Movie clips are incredibly effective at supporting a motivational message that you are conveying. It is absorbed and experienced in a completely different manner and can get a team excited to take on challenges. Help them to be the best they can be.
Here are some videos about taking risks, commitment, hard work and adrenaline:
Running a sales team is about metrics, closing and hard work. To motivate an aggressive sales force learn what excites them. Once you understand what motivates your team reinforce your commitment to support them. Help them get motivated and hungry for success.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. But the second best time is today.
December 19th, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
The Final Charge of 2011
By Sean Cashman Senior consultant at Treeline, Inc.
This time of year is a wild card. Holidays are closing in, the fiscal year is winding down and decision makers start to disappear into Year End and Kick off meetings. Walk into any bullpen and you will see a number of things happening:
Some people have pulled all their triggers and are using the next few weeks to ramp up and get a head start on 2012.
Some people are mentally checked out and spend their days doing last minute on-line shopping and making ‘Elf Yourself’ videos.
And then there are some people who are working diligently, trying to wrap up their year and close some last minute deals to hit their 2011 number.
Something about these last few weeks of the year has people thinking: “Why try?! Its over.” However, it is far from over – you just have to focus on what is urgent and what can close in the next 2 weeks.
An old colleague of mine has a saying, “I don’t want to wish on 20 deals that I hope I can close. Instead, I would rather work on 2 deals that I know I can close.” That saying rings especially true this time of year – don’t work on every deal in your team’s pipeline. Keep tabs on all of it, but only focus your time on the couple of deals that you and your team have a chance of closing in the next few weeks.
If you are managing a team, how do you motivate them? How do you maintain focus for the final weeks of the year?
Do you hold a spiff contest to keep the team on track? Do you write all of the hot accounts on the white board? Do you talk about what will close this year in the team meetings?
Any number of these will help gain the team’s attention and get them thinking in terms of “what can I close this year.” Anyway you approach it, get focused and keep running hard. It is more likely than not that your competition is already checked out and won’t recognize that they lost a deal to you until after the New Year.
Focus is key to closing the year on a high note. It is important to be smart with your time and don’t get distracted. In 2012, you will never look back on 2011 and regret having a strong finish to the year…good luck and Happy Holidays.
September 23rd, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
Above is a video of the landscape crew outside of my office building on a hot, sunny summer afternoon. There competitive nature and motivation to get the job done represents the attitude of a successful salesforce. They choose to make it happen and give it their all.
Doing What it takes – Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
By Mike Smaha, Recruiter at Treeline, Inc.
“No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction”
- Charles Kendall Adams
As you sit in your workplace today take a look around you. Take a look at the leader board then take a look at your coworkers and the way that they operate. There is a direct correlation between the numbers on the board and the work ethic/mentality of each individual sales consultant. The consultant with the highest sales volume didn’t get there because he or she was born with the innate ability to sell; it wasn’t because he or she was always in the right place at the right time or even dumb luck for that matter. It was because they wanted it more, plain and simple. I once overheard a conversation between two former colleagues and it went something like this, “It must have been nice to have that sale just fall into your lap because of the territory you were given… I wish I were that lucky.” And the response to this was something I will never forget; he simply replied, “Luck happens to those who are too busy to look for it.” This is the mentality of a winner; this is the mentality of the very name you see at the top of your leader boards.
I guess the underlying message to take from this is that there are distinct reasons why he or she is “lucky and fortunate,” while you struggle to get over the hump. Here are a few tips in order to propel yourself to the next level:
Positive Self-Expectancy - Life is a self fulfilling prophecy. You get what you expect – so expect the best.
Positive Self-Motivation -“Desire and fear are two of the Greatest Motivators.” Learn to go for the rewards of success, not away from the penalties of failure
Positive Self-Direction - Set Goals – Keep your eyes focused on the prize.
Positive Self-Dimension- Little successes lead to victories.
If you keep in mind that you have unlimited potential and always focus on being better today then you were yesterday, you will find the success you are looking for and leave the “Luck” excuses behind you.
August 22nd, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
A Lesson About the Value of Purpose and Internal Competition
By Daniel Fantasia, CEO and Founder of Treeline, Inc.
Creating a fun, exciting and positively charged sales environment that fosters healthy competition in your sales team will ultimately result in success.
Below is a great story from Charles Schwab in Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends & Influence People about the need to stimulate competition in your sales team. Sales people are fierce competitors and there is nothing more thrilling than to accept a challenge to compete.
“Charles Schwab had a mill manager whose people weren’t producing their quota of work. How is it, Schwab asked him, that a manager as capable as you can’t make this mill turn out what it should? I don’t know, the manager replied. I’ve coaxed the men, I’ve pushed them, I’ve sworn and cussed I’ve threatened them with damnation and being fired. But nothing works. They just won’t produce.
This conversation took place at the end of the day, just before the night shift came on. Schwab asked the manager for a piece of chalk, then, turning to the nearest man, asked: How many heats did your shift make today?
Six.
Without another word, Schwab chalked a big figure six on the floor, and walked away.
When the night shift came in, they saw the 6 and asked what it meant.
The big boss was in here today, the day people said. He asked us how many heats we made, and we told him six. He chalked it down on the floor.
The next morning Schwab walked through the mill again. The night shift had rubbed out 6 and replaced it with a big 7.
When the day shift reported for work the next morning, they saw a big 7 chalked on the floor. So the night shift thought they were better than the day shift, did they? Well, they would show the night shift a thing or two. The crew pitched in with enthusiasm, and when they quit that night, they left behind them an enormous, swaggering 10. Things were stepping up.
Shortly this mill, which had been lagging way behind in production, was turning out more work than any other mill in the plant.”
-Charles Schwab, How to Win Friends & Influence People
According to Schwab, “The way to get things done, is to stimulate competition. The desire to excel! The challenge! Throwing down the gauntlet! An infallible way of appealing to people of spirit.”
Although Charles Schwab was writing in the 1920’s his message is still applicable today. This is a reminder that the responsibility of sales management is to define goals and understand what needs to be done in order to accomplish success. The best way to generate a successful sales environment and culture is to create healthy competition. When a team is empowered to create a competition the importance of that competition to the sales team is felt that much more throughout the organization. When the team assigns value to the competition then it has meaning and therein lies the contagious and fun sport. It is important to sustain competition within the sales force and results must be tracked and displayed for everyone to see. This will inspire healthy internal competition and drive a “winning” attitude.
The summer is almost over, but there is plenty of time left in 2011. This is the time to hire and work hard to hit your goals. Those managers that can inspire and sustain competitive sales environments are headed for great success.
August 17th, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
3 strategies to remain focused on our sales forces and leave the stock sales to the experts…
By Christopher Simone VP of Sales at Treeline, Inc.
Most of us can admit to clicking into our favorite investment site from time to time over the past couple of weeks, especially our retirement and college savings accounts; some have been more distracted than others. Whether you are buying or selling, and clearly more people have been selling, the turmoil in the market has been hard to tune out. However, there are plenty of reasons not to get distracted right now.
We all need revenue and income and that means we need to improve our sales forecasts and inspire those within our control and leadership to focus on the basics of prospecting and closing. What’s hot, what’s real, what can we close this month/quarter, how can we exit this quarter with sufficient momentum, etc. What’s happening on Wall Street is not within our control and will not result in a deposit into the company’s coffer or our own paychecks. It just won’t… For my fellow control freaks this is a tough reality to accept but accept it we must. This is not to say that we shouldn’t “participate” in the management of our investments, but there is a proper and achievable balance.
Here are three of the strategies discussed within our community of Sales leaders and professionals:
1) Figure out the best way to let go. For some people, this is achieved by selecting expert financial advisers whom we really trust and respect, and then letting them focus and worry about the selling on a daily basis. This is not the right choice for everyone.
2) Complete an honest assessment of your risk tolerances. Everyone is different. If you are overly focused and worried about the recent decline in value, you might want to make some changes with which you can be more comfortable for the long term; once you do this you will probably find that you naturally refocus closer to home of the numbers you can actually control.
3) Be smart with your time (just as we tell our sales forces)… find some quiet time in the evening or over the weekend to do some research and to reach conclusions about your buy/sell price triggers, then update your online accounts and then let technology work for you. If the market and/or individual prices reach your predetermined points, great, your orders will be executed without hijacking your focus. In the meantime, you can find the inner consonance required to remain focused where you need to be – comfortable knowing that you have applied research and reason to your decision making.
We make money leveraging our strengths and following our passions. For most of us, this path does not lead through Wall Street. Sales leaders are, however, taking steps now to add sales professionals to their rosters for the Fall recognizing that the market for sales talent is quickly getting warmer. Strengthening the forecast now, and building the team for a strong close to 2011 and faster start to 2012, is a worthy pursuit that warrants our attention and talent.
As a final note, stock market distractions could require self reflection beyond the aspect of risk tolerance. Just as our sales people are susceptible to mistaking activity for productivity, we could also fall into this trap. The question is why. What is the reason for this? Is the stock market a welcomed distraction? Is it time to make a change, or do you just need to shake off the dog days of Summer?
Please share your tips and techniques for recognizing distraction and regaining focus.
August 15th, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
Sales Interview Lessons Learned from the Big Screen
By Sean Cashman, Senior Consultant at Treeline, Inc.
I am a huge movie buff – I have a bit of an obsession with them. Half of my daily dialogue is stripped directly from the good and bad movies that I love. I decided to write a blog that would combine this obsession with another passion of mine – my job as a recruiter. As a sales recruiter, I have plenty of tales to tell about candidates, clients and the events that unfold throughout an interview process.
I have compiled the top Interviews that I have seen on the big screen (and small screen) and the lessons that you can learn from these scenes to make sure that you are a more effective interviewee. Enjoy.
1.) Monty Python – Mind Games: Especially in today’s market, potential employers will use interview tactics and games to see how candidates will react. It is important to recognize this and not to get frustrated. Hang in there, assess the situation and respond…do not react.
2.) The Office – Do your home work. You don’t have to be an expert on the role or the company but do some due diligence and know what you are walking into.
3.) The Office - Sell Yourself in the Interview – you want to make sure that you are talking about the benefits and value that you will bring to the company. Leave the talk about vacation and health benefits for later…or else they might not remember you.
4.) Pursuit of Happiness –Persistence is invaluable. It is not everything but it is a big piece. If you are an outstanding and qualified candidate, you are probably going after a position that has some heavy competition. Don’t drop the ball by not going after it.
5.) You, Me and Dupree – Be confident and do not take yourself out of the process unless you are certain that it is not for you, otherwise you will never know what this opportunity holds for you. Hang in there, get through the process and get an offer – then make up your mind.
6.) Friends – Have you ever heard the expression that you have 2 ears and 1 mouth, use them proportionately. This is a classic example of talking the fish out of the boat.
7.) Good Will Hunting – This is a tricky one because in the scene, Ben Affleck’s character is pretending to be Matt Damon’s character. The lesson here is no matter how much love the potential employer is showing you, you cannot start the relationship off in a volatile manner…he did get the retainer, though.
March 28th, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
How to Get Out of a Sales Slump
By Dan Fantasia, Treeline, Inc. Founder and President
Have you ever seen your favorite sports team or favorite professional athlete get into a slump and wonder how they got there and when they are going to get out of it? It can be frustrating to watch and even more difficult for the team to recognize the need to make changes in order to snap out of it.
The driving factor behind breaking a slump is 90% mental, which is why it is so difficult to break. Think about it. When was the last time you found yourself in a slump? How long did it take to wake up and move on? What were the factors that motivated you to get over the hump?
Now think of your team. Are some of your players in a slump? If so, they are not the only ones. Frequently, around the end of Q1 a lot of sales representatives fall into slumps. Your team ran straight into Q1 at full speed and with the winter months coming to an end, many have cabin fever and are easily distracted.
The last couple of years have been tough. Many of our sales peers had to fight hard, work harder and their ability to succeed has been tested. Good news, the market is picking up and as sales professionals we have an incredible opportunity to crush our numbers in 2011. We have to take advantage of the time we have to make money.
So how do you get your sales athletes out of a slump?
Acknowledge that some of your players are distracted? Bring it to their attention. Many of them will already feel pressure internally. They will not be sure what is wrong, but will know that they are not producing as well as they should. This is not about being unlucky, or being a victim; this is about getting pointed in the right direction to succeed.
Relieveanxiety that will cause additional distraction by addressing the problem and offering support and council. Sales people know when they are not producing. Help them get back on track with aggressive and direct objectives and goals. Focus on driving activity and inspect results.
Mix it up. Keep your environment fresh and change up the daily routine. Encourage your team to run in the morning, drive a different way to work, read a new book, listen to motivational tapes, eat different foods, take different people out to lunch, get to work early, set a goal to close the office twice a week, etc. Break the common routine; steering your team away from burn out. When in a slump it is easy to burn out, but it is your responsibility to help your team push through the downs. It happens to all of us, but it is those who mentally push through these lows that find better days and much success.
Encourage your team to ask for help. Find new ways to do the job. Encourage your team to be nimble, to adapt, change and learn. Learn from management, peers and from the newest members of the team. Knowledge is power and it revitalizes the sole.
Don’t get distracted. Block out the billions of distractions you have daily. Use your time wisely. Don’t waste time on distracting emails, news stories, family, social networking, the production of others around you, etc. When in the office there is one thing to focus on, booking business. The only way to make money is to sell, so clear everything out of your way that does not relate to your pipeline, booking revenue and hitting your goals. What is it going to take to be number 1?
Have fun. Share a positive attitude, it is contagious and will bring your team success. We are approaching the end of the first quarter. There are 3 quarters left. The weather is changing and instead of being a distraction use the momentum to create fun motivational challenges to build team unity. A happy and positively charged environment creates high production.
Team Unity. Focus on the basics and driving activity. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you? Take action! Encourage your team to find a peer to commit to call blitz together. Create team games internally with small prizes to build unity and drive activity. Have fun with it and create competition. Prospecting together creates synergy and increases energy and belief. Everyone’s success is shared and the team will achieve positive reinforcement and success.
The key to getting out of a slump is to recognize that you are in one. Take control of your destiny. Don’t be a victim. Instead, shake it off and make small tweaks to your daily routine and get on the offensive. Mix things up and get it done. Be happy and work harder than everyone else. Ultimately, you will find yourself at the top of the heap by end of 2011. This is going to be the best year of your life. Let’s go!
March 28th, 2011 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
Carpe Diem!
By Chris Simone, Vice President, Sales at Treeline, Inc.
Since the beginning of time, change, improvement and new ideas have been welcomed and even embraced (sometimes even inspired) by leaders in every pocket of our economy. Innovation and change have fueled the greatest economic system in the world called Capitalism.
A couple of clicks on an iPAD over Wi-Fi, through Google, to Wikipedia yields the following definition of innovation: “Innovation is the improving of an existing product, service, system or process and the introduction of something better. The term derives from the Latin innovationem, the noun of action from innovare…and stemming from the Latin innovatus, pp. of innovare ‘to renew or change,’ from in- ‘into’ + novus ‘new.’” [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation]
Carpe diem is commonly translated in popular culture as “Seize the Day.” Many believe the origin of the phrase was a work by the Roman Poet Horace. However, I prefer Robin Williams movie quote from, “Dead Poets Society,” in which he plays English professor John Keating: “…carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.” [another thank you for the innovative www.imdb.com]
Fun history lesson, but what’s my point? I’ll get there, I promise…
I’m thinking specifically about the space in which the large and growing DADO community collectively directs its passion – the process and practices by which companies find top sales athletes, and the ways in which sales professionals propel their candidacy and careers.
The job boards deserve credit for bringing innovation into the job search domain in the mid to late 1990’s. These leaders truly innovated.
Monster.com and HotJobs (which are now consolidating) and CareerBuilder had combined revenue in 2009 of over $1 billion USD. These sites register over 50 million unique visitors per month, but this activity is not translating into progress for their primary stakeholders – Corporations emerging from the economic downturn, Hiring Managers, and Job Seekers.
Do you agree as Sales and Organization Leaders that the following challenges exist?
Corporations have fewer people and resources with which to execute the traditional hiring process in the wake of the economic downturn, yet new talented employees are required to propel growth and revenue;
Hiring Managers need faster access to more relevant candidates but precision (which equates to relevance+speed) is not possible on the job boards;
Job Seekers need to stand out and grab the attention of Hiring Managers to avoid getting lost in monstrous job boards;
Hiring Managers and Job Seekers need new content and tools to gauge veracity, reality, culture, and character in order to close the trust gap.
So, here we are again. We are living in an interesting time when change is inevitable. It would be an overstatement to go so far as to suggest that Capitalism is depending on us — the stakes are high enough nonetheless. The economy is posed for a re-bound (the signs are all around us) and innovation is our opportunity and responsibility as stewards of our businesses and the role our businesses play in our respective communities.
Consensus exists within and beyond the DADO community that sustainable growth in the 21st century requires new approaches and processes that are smarter more relevant and faster. More specifically, companies can no longer afford to pay for, or handle high volumes of irrelevant resume traffic; and Job Seekers are increasingly uninterested in paying to post their resumes, or for the privilege of reading nebulous job posts as a prelude to an obscured employer and interview process.
What does this mean for us? How should we fulfill our responsibility and seize our opportunity? Do the answers lie within social media and social networking? Nielsen reports that 75% of Internet users visit social media and networking sites and that over 20% (and rising fast) of our time on the Internet is spent engaging in various ways on social networking sites. By some estimates, the “big-3” (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) have over 700 million combined users and they are growing rapidly. However, this activity is not easily converted into precision within the job search domain.
Please share your ideas for our collective path forward! We also invite you to learn more about DADO – an innovative Social Recruiting platform that fuses 21st century technologies (including social media) and behaviors with recruiting best practices. DADO powers Treeline and is Treeline’s contribution to the journey of significance which the readers of this blog share. Dado is one step, maybe a leap, forward and will improve by the same behaviors and influences for which it was created to harness: knowledge, technology, social collaborative engagement, and urgency.
To the Sales and Organization leaders reading this blog we offer this call to action – Carpe diem!
December 14th, 2010 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
Run Through the Finish Line!
The New England Patriots trampled the New York Jets on “Monday Night Football”. The Patriots had a commanding lead by the third quarter, but did they slow down or stop fighting or take the win for granted? Patriots’ fans know the answer already. “No!” Coach Belichick gathered the team as the fourth quarter was about to begin and said, “We’re playing for sixty minutes, I don’t give a [expletive] what the score is” according to Tom Brady who was later interviewed.
Sales Professionals looking to reach new altitudes (either by reaching their annual revenue target or by taking the next step in their career or both) can relate to the Coach’s message. December, our fourth quarter, is not the time for complacency, or to lose focus, or to slow down to enjoy the glow of the score board. December is the time to drive for the very best and highest altitude possible. It’s not about the score, and it’s not about the external measures of progress; it’s about the inner consonance enjoyed by the best of the best who know they converted all they could and achieved everything possible. The best Sales athletes will carry these winning behaviors and habits into 2011 ready for the next challenge and the next win.
Join Our Network! Treeline, Inc. has created one of the largest sales communities on the internet.
December 1st, 2010 by Amanda Musto, Social Media Marketing Representative at Treeline, Inc
The Importance of Feedback and Discipline
Written By: Brian Tracy – Novemeber 9, 2010
An important part of business communication is giving feedback, correction and discipline to your staff.
How You Can Be More Effective in Giving Feedback to Your Staff
An important part of business communication is giving feedback, correction and discipline to your staff. One of the jobs of the manager is to be a teacher, and in some cases a disciplinarian. This means that, in order to do your job properly, and in order to develop your staff to make their highest potential contribution to the organization, you must give them regular feedback on what they are doing right and where they can improve.
Constructive Criticism
Most people are very tense about giving discipline or what is often called, “constructive criticism.” However you can make it a low stress occasion by focusing on the behavior and the performance rather than on the person. This requires that you report what you see, rather than what you feel, or your interpretation of events.
Focus on the Behavior
For example, a person comes back from a luncheon two hours late. Instead of getting angry with the person, you could say, “I see that you took more than two hours for lunch today. This causes some disruption in the office because of the work that doesn’t get done. Is there a reason for this long lunch?”
In other words, what you are doing is reporting on the individual’s behavior and leaving the door open for a variety of interpretations or explanations. The individual may have had a car accident or a medical appointment, or a family emergency.
Thinking about the Future
One of the best ways to deal with poor performance is to focus on the future over the past. Instead of becoming angry over what has already happened, or not happened, you should explain clearly to the individual what you want to see done differently. Get an agreement from the individual that the job will be done differently in the future. Agree to meet on a regular basis to review progress.
Build Self-Esteem
Always end a disciplinary interview with an expression of faith and confidence in the individual. Always do everything possible to preserve the individual’s self-esteem and self-image. End the conversation with a positive statement that causes the person to go back to work feeling better about himself or herself.
Aim for Improved Performance
Remember, the only purpose of a session of constructive criticism is to improve performance. If you lose sight of that and instead you attack or criticize the other person, his or her performance will not improve. In fact, if you criticize a person too often, the individual will stop doing that job altogether. Their performance will deteriorate and they will become less and less willing to contribute to the goals of the company.
Action Exercises
First, always criticize or correct a person in private. When someone has made a mistake or done a poor job, arrange to see them alone, explain your concerns and ask for their explanation – before you say anything.
Second, no matter what has happened, always focus on the future over the past. Focus on what can be done now rather than what has already happened. Focus on what the person should do next time rather than the mistake that has already been made.
Tracy, Brian. “The Importance of Feedback and Discipline | Brian Tracy’s Blog.” Achieve Your Personal and Professional Goals Faster – Brian Tracy International. 09 Nov. 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2010. <http://www.briantracy.com/blog/daily-thoughts/the-importance-of-feedback-and-discipline/>.
