(SALES) Stop Making Stupid Mistakes

9-16-2013

October 30, 1935 -- Dayton Ohio. Military members gathered for what the Defense Department called a ?live demonstration? of the capabilities of the next generation bomber. In short, they were ?shopping? and had invited manufacturers to come ?pitch? them. Boeing Corporation was among those seeking the contract.

For many, inviting others was a mere formality -- Boeing?s new Model 299 would be the hands-down winner. A reporter from Seattle called the plane a ?flying fortress.? It could carry five times the number of bombs that army specifications called for. It flew faster than previous bombers, and nearly twice as far. The plane taxied onto the runway, an impressive 103-foot wingspan with four engines -- it was a magnificent beast in motion.

Major Ployer P. Hill pushed the throttle levers forward. Speed increased, the plane lifted off the runway climbing to just past 300 feet. It stalled, slouched to the right, and came crashing down in a fiery mess. Two of the five crew members died, including Major Hill.

The investigation revealed nothing mechanical had gone wrong. Pilot error was cited as the reason for the crash. Major Hill forgot to release the locking mechanism on the rudder and elevator controls during takeoff. This error caused the army to go with a much simpler design by Douglas, and considered the Boeing plane too difficult for any pilot to fly.

Boeing nearly went bankrupt. A group of test pilots were brought in to solve the problem. Given the complexity of the aircraft, they decided on a simple approach: the pilot?s checklist. Atul Gawande, in his book The Checklist Manifesto, credits this story as the origin of ?the checklist.?

The test pilots made their list simple, brief, and to the point -- short enough to fit on an index card. Step-by-step lists for taxi, takeoff, in-flight, and landing. The checklists contained ?the stuff? all pilots knew how to do: check that brakes are released, set instruments, altimeter, make sure doors and windows are closed and locked, elevator trim, and rudder controls unlocked. It was silly, easy stuff. With these checklists in hand, pilots went on to fly the Boeing Model 299 a total of 1.8 million miles without a single accident. The army ultimately ordered nearly 13,000 of the aircraft. Today, the Model 299 is known as the infamous B-17. Because flying the behemoth was now possible, complexity made simple by a checklist, the B-17 now has a prominent place in our history books.

What does flying a B-17 have to do with selling? Selling today is far more complex. Channels of communication are exploding; information access is beyond our ability to contain. Just as flying a plane is both as fundamental and yet much more complex and complicated than when Wilbur and Orville -- or Boeing, for that matter -- first took flight, selling today requires the same attention to minute details. Salespeople need a system to remind them of the basics and simplify the complexity of the sales process.

My lifelong friend Geoff Oswalt is a senior international jet pilot for Johnson Controls. Geoff flies executives around the world in a Challenger 300 made by Bombardier. In preparing to write this article, I asked Geoff if he still uses checklists. He was somewhat shocked by my question. ?Of course we do. Technology has changed; instead of reading them off a knee board, we push a button and the voice command walks us through each step of the checklist.? 

?You?ve been doing this for over 30 years,? I said. ?Why are you still using checklists??  Geoff responded with crystal clear simplicity. ?So we don?t make a mistake.?

If you?re like me, you?ve walked away from more than a few meetings with clients and said, ?Darn it, why didn?t I remember to...? A checklist helps prevent that. Because checklists are so important in a variety of professions -- from flying planes to performing brain surgery -- you can easily find or create checklists for your sales process.

Chris Lytle and I created the Pre-Contact Checklist. Critical things you should do, prior to having ANY contact with a client or prospect. We also have a Pre-Meeting Checklist, Proposal Writing Checklist, Top 10 Prospect Hit List, and more. Download a free copy of the Pre-Contact Checklist from our website: Pre-Contact Checklist. 

Most people start in sales because something else didn?t work out -- you end up in sales, accidentally. Successful sales people know that staying and succeeding in sales is no accident. Professional sellers use a consistent repeatable process. Without a consistent repeatable process you leave the outcome to chance or to the effectiveness of your memory on any given day. Consistent sales success demands a consistent sales process; and consistency for complex, as well as simple, tasks requires a checklist.

To this day (despite thousands of hours flying) my friend Geoff uses a checklist to avoid mistakes. Chris Lytle and I use checklists for writing articles, for doing seminars, and for training creation. We leave nothing to ?chance.? Checklists simplify the complex, remind you of the basics, and help you avoid mistakes. And, inevitably, help you make more sales.

Think Big, Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is EVP and Partner with Chris Lytle at Sparque, Inc. You can reach him at, Jeff.Schmidt@Sparque.biz, follow him on Twitter @JeffreyASchmidt, or connect via LinkedIn

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EADERSHIP- 10 Mistakes Leaders Should Make

1-30-2012

I was driving to work the other day and the morning show hosts were doing a bit on a list someone created called ?10 Mistakes Everyone Should Make Before They Die?. While it was a lame bit, that, along with an email from reader Tim Eyre, gave me the idea for this blog post. Here are 10 mistakes every leader should make - and learn from - before passing on.
It?s been proven over and over again leadership development is all about experience. We learn from job changes, stretch assignments, other people, and other more formal ways (courses, books, blogs, etc?). It?s those experiences that are the hardest ? those ?developmental challenges? ? that we can learn the most from. Lominger calls it ?developmental heat?.
A great way to assess someone during an interview is to ask about mistakes they?ve made. You?re looking for signs of self-awareness, humility, resiliency, and learning agility. The most successful people ? those ?A players? ? can be remarkably candid and insightful about their mistakes and failures. However, the thing that sets them apart from those that just have a history of screwing up is that they always learn from their mistakes. They take a risk ? fall down ? pick themselves up and dust themselves off ? reflect on what they?ve learned ? learn new skills and behaviors, and incorporate them into their leadership repertoire.
They don?t point fingers, place blame, or make excuses ? they own up and learn how not to do it again. Of course, it helps that they have a nice healthy track record of accomplishments to off-set those occasional mistakes.

I once heard an experienced manager call this ?earning your scars?.

OK, so when it comes to leadership mistakes, mistakes are good, right? The more the merrier!
Here?s 10 that every leader should make and learn from:
1. Take too long to fire a problem performer. This is probably the number one regret I hear the most, from seasoned executives to new team leaders. They waited too long to take action on a poor performer. They had their head in the sand in denial, thought they could perform a miracle and save the employee, or were aware of it and just didn?t want to face it.

2. Putting too much emphasis on credentials and experience in a hiring decision and not enough on personality and cultural fit. Been there, done that. It was my very first hiring decision. Candidate A has a Master?s degree and 10 years? experience. However, former manager warned me about a ?little temper problem?. Candidate B had no degree and limited experience ? but great relationship building skills and was seen as high potential. I hired A ? and it was a disaster. B was later promoted to department manager. Lesson learned.
3. Not having a vision. Without a clear and compelling vision, it?s hard for teams or organizations to have a clear sense of purpose, priority, or mission. It?s just day-to-day, business as usual, and reactive. Too many new leaders overlook ?the vision thing?, perhaps because it?s too intangible or misunderstood. It?s also hard to connect the dots of operational problems back to not having a vision.
4. Not managing upwards. A lot of leaders operate under the assumption that ?no news is good news?, or ?my performance speaks for itself? when it comes to their relationship with their hands-off or busy boss. While the autonomy may be nice, it?s important to keep your manager informed of your team's accomplishments, and to build a solid relationship that can be leveraged when needed. It?s a bad assumption to assume your boss is aware of your good work and will be an advocate for your function when the going gets tough.

5. Overrelying on a few strengths and not paying attention to development. It?s all too easy to continue to fall back to the same handful of strengths that got you to where you are. However, without continuous development, you?ll soon stop growing and fall behind. The best leaders are always aware of their deficiencies and are always working to learn and get better.
6. Not listening. This one?s often a blind spot for leaders, and sometimes takes a two-by-four across the side of the head to get them to realize it?s a problem. Usually it?s a major screw-up as a result of not paying attention to what people are trying to tell them, some strong 360 data, turnover of key personal, or some kind of other pain that will turn them into a reformed poor listener.

7. Trying to be liked by everyone. Leaders can?t be their employee?s friends, and leading change usually means ruffling someone?s feathers. Being a leader means requires developing a thick skin and being able to take the heat without taking it personally.

8. Not asking for help. Driving around lost for hours because you?ve got too much pride to ask for directions might make a funny beer commercial, but as a leader, it can have disastrous consequences. At a minimum, it?s incredibly annoying when a leader just can?t admit when they don?t know how to do something.

9. Ignoring your peers. Some leaders make the mistake of only paying attention to their boss and employees (looking up and down), but fail to look sideways. The inability to build coalitions will prevent a leader from getting the cooperation and support needed in order to solve cross-functional problems or lead change.
10. Not seeking or being open to feedback. Two of my favorite ?Good Things Bosses Believe?, from Bob Sutton: ?I have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to work for me? and ?Because I wield power over others, I am at great risk of acting like an insensitive jerk ? and not realize it?.
Wow, that list was way too easy to write! I have no idea where they came from??

However, I?ll bet it?s incomplete. What are some other mistakes that every leader needs to make in order to ?earn their scars??

Dan McCarthy has been in the field of leadership development for over 20 years. He is currently the Director of Executive Development Programs at the University of New Hampshire's Whittemore School of Business and Economics (WSBE). Reach Dan by e-mail at daniel.mccarthy@unh.edu
Dan's website is www.greatleadershipbydan.com

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