Comments for The Executive Club

Comment on Executives ARE Black Belts by ASTRID VON SOOSTEN

ASTRID VON SOOSTEN — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:39:01 +0000

Dear Jim,
I read your elevator speech and article with a lot of interest and as someone who actually wears a black belt (capitalization of this expression feels inappropriate), I think you got most of the qualities right. We may express them differently but this is not really important. One quality you miss, though, is humility. Not only do we think of ourselves on a constant path of improvement we also try to train ourselves to engage with people and leave our own egos out of the equation. I have found this attitude to be very helpful in the business world.

Comment on Inspire the Cause and the Money Will Follow by Dave Anthony

Dave Anthony — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:19:08 +0000

Wise words of advice!

Comment on Customer Service = Brand by Troy Williams

Troy Williams — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:36:14 +0000

Devin,

I had to laugh as you seem to feel the same way I do about these situations. It is beyond me how it can continue, and the most frustrating aspect I have found, is that many of these businesses are in the “services” industry. Every day it makes me feel more secure in my job and at the same time scratch my head and wonder “what am I missing here”. These are not small unknown companies. They are well established and or well-known with significant reputations, that otherwise have no closed-loop mechanism to insure that the brand customers see is in fact what gets delivered in the way of customer service. My only saving grace is to know it’s not just me and that there will always be plenty of improvement that can offer great growth for these otherwise functional companies.

Comment on Building a Strengths-Based Culture by Charles daleo

Charles daleo — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 01:50:16 +0000

Great approach to leadership snd management skills.

Comment on Your mission and how you know you have succeeded by Roger Payne

Roger Payne — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:52:04 +0000

Thanks Robert,

I have used this process countless times and find it works in most situations and makes the project run smoother.
It cuts out the confusion and the frustration of not knowing your task and what you need to do to meet your milestones.

Comment on Baby Please Don’t Go: What Buddha and Churchill Teach Us About Employee Retention by Barbara Matthews

Barbara Matthews — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:25:01 +0000

I love how you so eloquently describe how thoughts & self-control impact reality, “self-control coupled with integrity of thought and action is what is needed to manage my reality and subsequently the reality of the enterprise.” I’ve tried to explain this numerous times over the years as I’ve coached individuals on developing a beneficial working relationship with a difficult manager. I learned long ago that changing what I thought about working with this individual, and self-control during my actual interactions, helped me create a positive working relationship that I enjoy. Our thoughts create our reality – it’s that simple.

Comment on Alignment: The Ultimate Challenge by Billy Mitchell

Billy Mitchell — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:57:03 +0000

I agree that alignment, along with shared incentives, is a better plan than silos and over reliance on individual heroes rather than a flowing funnel of leads and a constantly improving conversion rates. With the technology available for CRM data and marketing automation and analytics there really is no good excuse for dysfunction. Established culture, resistance to change and selfish sales or marketing motives are obstacles, but not valid excuses.

I think salespeople still need individual incentives but their biggest rewards should come from the shared success of marketing and sales.

Comment on Daddy, Tell Me a Story About Sales!! by Allan Lobeck

Allan Lobeck — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:36:16 +0000

Top 2% of Sales Professionals: Every time I read something about how executives become successful it makes me think about why love the book Sales is a Science (www.salesisascience.com). Successful executives have a plan and a process for their activities. Sales as a Science helps sales professionals develop a plan and manage their activities using a flexible process. This is why they are in the Top 2% of sales professionals. Read this book and learn how to become a successful sales executive.

Comment on Conduct of a Leader – Taking Guidance from Ancient Wisdom by Rayaprolu S S Sarma

Rayaprolu S S Sarma — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:07:24 +0000

I like all the points mentioned, particularly the relation of the 4 segments to the white, blue, sales and back office levels. To add to the above, I want to say from the Chanakya’s lessons and Sun tzu’s, that a very important quality along with the above for the leader is the ability to collect the RIGHT INTELLIGENCE; about his subjects as well as his enemies ( competitors). This is paramount in today’s corporate world, where the war/competition is not in an open ground. Tactics which are very hard to be patterned or followed-up have changed ground rules of competition. While innovation is mentioned in this paragraph, another part of the Mahabharath exemplifies the importance of intelligence gathering.

This brings to mind the another episode before the Kurukshetra War. Duryidhana had arranged extensive shelters and housing for Dharmaraja’s uncle who enjoyed them all along thinking that the Pandavas had arranged. Finally when he realised that it was Duryodhana who had done these, he decided to fight against his own nephews. There are two lessons for the leader here. One is that you should not take for granted the commitment, devotion and support of even your blood relatives when it comes to war and competition. The second lesson is that proper customer specific efforts will not only retain old ones but will also snatch away your competitor’s customers.

Comment on Marketing Resource Management (MRM) and the role of Social Media by Benjamin Lazar

Benjamin Lazar — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:11:01 +0000

Jim, I appreciate your BLOG post and would add some ideas. In my view as a senior marketing leader, MRM can be applied very well to social media but should be applied to the broader marketing strategy. I understand you may be using the tactical execution around social media to make a specific point.

To me, as a senior marketing leader, social media is a distribution modality but in itself, is not a strategy. If companies consider social media a strategy, they likely are not steeped in demand generation which is what Marketing is supposed to delivery to Sales.

MRM addresses the need to manage across the continuum of market executables. We recently developed a custom MRM solution for our specific needs, integrated into Outlook on the SharePoint platform. It manages campaign workflow and deliverables for all campaigns aspects, including social media.

More than happy to dialogue this with you in the BLOGosphere or directly via emails.

Sincerely, Ben