 After starting my own business a few years back, I have spoken to so many people about “profit” or a distinct lack of it, many of them are “busy” but most are not maximising their potential when it comes to generating sufficient amounts of it.
The “Lucky” Country After nearly 50 years of economic prosperity apart from the odd blip (eg “the recession we had to have”) Australia has enjoyed an unprecedented degree of economic stability and earned the envy of the rest of the world. The way the society (via the press) demean “Profit” is irresponsible, detrimental and disgraceful. Slagging off about the HUGE profits made by companies making no reference to the amount of investment or number of people they employ is wrong, but it sells papers, generates uninformed debate and feeds (rather than starves) our tall poppy syndrome. Self Fulfilling A lack of investment in the development of front line teams has created an environment of “cost plus” selling where sales people think 25% (for example) is a good trading margin (because overall it is 18%) when 35% or more could have been on the table. This lack of awareness stifles profit growth via selling on price rather than value which it is the top of a very slippery slope. Financial Literacy These challenges for businesses specifically and society more generally has created an opportunity for good businesses to improve their overall financial literacy, not just in a limited number of functions. More effective margin management has a huge impact on the bottom line in addition to improving the intestinal fortitude of front line sales teams who can then begin to understand how much control they actually have. The reality is that profitable (or healthy) companies give pay rises, increase bonuses, help with mortgages, feed our families and send us on holidays – who doesn’t want more of that? We all need to get better. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au
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 Some time ago I wrote about the keys to successful networking which I have spoken to a few times over the last couple of months. It is a topic that is dear to my heart - I am hard wired to connect and help people wherever and whenever I can. I am quite sure some of this is nature (paternal & maternal grandfathers), and some of it is nurture having both parents in the health profession.
Fast forward to last week where I heard Narelle Gillies present a wonderful session on ‘Awareness’. Her session was all about working to your strengths rather than worry about trying to fix your, or others, weaknesses and was backed heavily by more contemporary research than past and current practice. This shift in mindset is helped by looking at the language we use on ourselves - what others have said about us; we are not good at or will never accomplish; and have hung onto over many years. I reframed my self-talk:
This made me reflect a little more about my own strengths, weaknesses and most importantly my internal dialogue. Self-discovery is most certainly not an easy journey. Socrates said many years ago: know thyself. When you work out your super power, whatever it is, practice and use it daily in pursuit of your purpose, you will become unstoppable and even more importantly - content. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au I have often thought about where I’ve come from, why I am like I am and why I am now doing what I am doing, how much of it is nature and how much is nurture?
I have written before about my maternal Grandfather HERE, who no doubt had a significant influence on my life, I was never fortunate enough to meet my paternal Grandfather, the person I am named after Charles Bernard Pidcock. He was my father’s father, at the age of 53 (over 50 years ago) he woke up with a headache and was dead by smoko from an aneurism – tragic in so many ways. Stories from family and friends of his character are famous - his leadership, entrepreneurialism, sense of humour and drive are all legendary on the North Coast of NSW in the timber industry. This letter he wrote a few years before his death to the local council is in response to their request for a donation to a public road– it’s worth a read if you have the time. I can definitely see where I got some of my attributes though he was far more ahead of his time than I, lots of this is still a challenge for society these days. Enjoy….  Working for yourself by yourself after nearly 30 years in organisations working for people with teams creates a variety of challenges and opportunities - some predictable others not.
One of the biggest challenges I’ve experienced has been finding and keeping operating rhythm or flow, I have tried a number of techniques and came across “Eight Before Eight” from Ben Hardy which has improved my effectiveness exponentially. Eight before Eight:
I’ve built a very simple template that helps me keep track of how I am travelling, a bit of measurement / self-accountability which all seems to be helping me. Click here if you would like a copy. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  I wrote a few months ago about the concept of leading and lagging indicators when measuring sales performance which you can reread by clicking here.
More recently I read “Cracking the Sales Management Code” by Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana called which I highly recommend if you have the time. The concept is fairly simple in theory but challenging in practice and based on AOR which stands for Activities, Objectives and Results, sounds easy right? The authors analysis of over 300 companies found that only 17% of metrics are highly manageable in terms of their activities and 24% deal with business results – it really makes you wonder what we are doing to ourselves. Good companies, who are clear about their Objectives only measure Activities that ensure these goals are met. Nothing. Else. Matters. It is critical for organisations to be clear in their objectives or they risk running around in circles in measuring themselves to a standstill, it’s like swimming against a strong current. As John E Jones said “What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated”. When your team are clear about what to measure in terms of their activities, made accountable and then managed well it they will surely achieve the results or something else is wrong…. If you would like a summary of the book please click here. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  In 1992 at the age of 22 I finished university; I am not sure which of those, or perhaps it was both that lead me to the thinking I knew everything, it took one day in sales to realise that wasn’t the case – ouch!!!
Thankfully, my managing director had the good sense to send me to a 3 day sales training course which changed my life. I remember thinking at the time that I could not believe that people could spend so much time at university learning (in lots of cases) useless information and something so important as practical interpersonal skills could be learned and applied with immediate effect. The sales trainer became a lifelong mentor of mine and I recall him vividly saying that day, “there is a dearth of good sales people in Australia.” It was like he planted a seed in my brain and it became my life long journey to work it why. It has taken a few years but I reckon I have got it nailed, mostly managers don’t do any of these as well as they could:
I’d love to hear thoughts and experiences. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  Henry Ford’s famous quote “they can have any colour they want as long as it is black” is a little outdated in an age where information is at everyone’s finger tips. His other one “Nothing happens if no one sells anything” is timeless.
I came across this recently and it made me reflect that for lots of people going through school, university, TAFE, early jobs, etc, a career in sales is much more about chance than choice, not many people start out saying “I want to go into sales”. Most other career choices aren’t like this – you generally choose to be a builder, engineer, doctor, accountant or teacher, landscaper, IT, hairdresser, policeman (or woman)…. the list is endless. Luck – Good or Bad I took a job in sales during the “recession we had to have” because there was nothing else around; I’d been to university and at 22 thought I knew everything. It only took about three weeks in sales to realise I didn’t know anything. Luckily for me I had a boss who sent me to a sales training course; this was over 25 years ago and I can still remember the enormous impact this had on me, I was on my way. Persistence – Good to Great As so aptly put by Henry Ford in the above quote, all businesses need sales revenue to survive and thrive, meaning sales people are in the spotlight and need to be comfortable being so. When all is going well, it’s like being a rock star on stage; when it’s not, it’s like a thief caught red handed. It is often said that someone is a natural sales person which I think this is a little unfair. My view is that it is like anything else, if you are good at it you will more than likely be successful but if you want to be great, you must work hard over a long period of time, keep developing, make mistakes, reflect, learn and keep going. Rewards - Endless “85% of your financial success is due to your personality & ability to communicate, negotiate & lead. Shockingly, only 15% is due to your technical knowledge.” This quote above by the Carnegie Institute suggests that even the most brilliant ideas need to be brought to life by commercially through influence. I have met many engineers, plumbers, hairdressers and teachers who have become great sales people – they weren’t always this way, they had started on their path, weren’t quite fulfilled, took a sales job (sometimes as an interim) and found themselves enjoying it; some are now running national sales teams or their own businesses. Sales can do that, it can be chance on the way in. I like to think the best ones then make a conscious choice to become the very best sales person they can be leading to a financially rewarding and emotionally fulfilling career. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  The choice is yours:
1. Build positive RELATIONSHIPS with your team. “If we learn to trust more, we can have unprecedented human progress” - Harvard Professor Frances Frei Two reasons for this:
2. Give them clear DIRECTION “If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there?” - Yogi Berra Have a purpose, business plan and sales plan, show them how it all fits together 3. Get out from behind your desk and UNDERSTAND what they are facing. “A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected” - Simon Sinek Get in the field, see how they operate, find out their challenges and work with them to devise solutions to make their world easier. 4. INVEST in your people – there are significant gains to be made by showing that you are willing to develop your team. CFO says “What happens if we train them & they leave” CEO says “what happens if we don’t train them & they stay” 5. One of the best things I ever did to lift the performance of my team was to relief one of my NON-PERFORMERS. “A bad apple can ruin a whole bunch” – Anon We know who they are, and we know what we must do. Whilst no one likes dismissing people, if you don’t everyone loses - you lose credibility, they lose self-esteem and the company loses the respect of your customers. All the best for success in 2019. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  “You can’t serve others if you neglect yourself” - Maya Agelou
After starting my own business a few years back, I have found it extremely difficult to switch off, even when “away” feeling like I should be contactable. This led to me cancelling (twice) a few days away with lifelong friends at my favourite place in the world, the one where I feel most at peace. It is a place close to civilisation, but it may as well not be as it is about as “off the grid” you can get. Last week I was fortunate to be able get there and had one of the more special weeks of my life. I played 500 (cards), did crosswords, walked, fished, beachcombed, caught crabs, ate, read, slept and laughed; all without technology, purely enjoying the environment with my daughter, her friend & her father. I have written before HERE about the fact that caring friends and family will often know you need a break before you do. I didn’t realise how exhausted I was and have just tried to ignore it - my mother knew, she, like most good mums has a sixth sense. During one of my check ins with her I had to ask what day it was, I could feel her smile of relief down the phone, it was awesome. There is no doubt life is speeding up for all of us – whether its kids, careers, families, work – self-awareness around your energy levels is critical. Peter Cook wrote some time ago about maintaining your mojo, the big ones for me were:
Please take the time to have a rest if you can over Christmas and New Year. Thanks for reading and I look forward to catching you again in 2019. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au  “Humans are better people when they love what they do”  Next year I am running three courses:
i. Awareness
ii. Mindset
iii. Potential
iv. Skills
v. Knowledge
vi. Direction
These programs are a culmination of my experience, passion and sense of responsibility to show sales people / managers a pathway to a personally fulfilling and financially rewarding career. Reality Check Henry Ford famously said “Nothing happens if no one sells anything”; the highest paid people in the world are sales people and something like 60% of CEOs come from a sales background – something is going on here and it is about time we did something about it. Additionally, more than half of the roles advertised on job sites are “sales” jobs and another recent survey showed that less than 40% of businesses thought that universities were preparing students well for the workforce, hello…… someone should really tell them….. Profit is not a dirty word, nor should it be – it feeds, houses and educates all of us. Businesses that consistently fill their sales pipeline and who ensure the alignment of production (lead times), constant cash flow and focused teams can achieve super profits - it is like nirvana. Education getting in the way of Learning “….85% of your financial success comes from your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate and lead, shockingly only 15% is due to your technical knowledge” The Carnegie Institute. My son is in his last year of secondary school and we have spent a great deal of time looking at his options - there are literally hundreds of courses one can study at universities, private colleges and TAFE but not one in sales which I find extraordinary. Many, many people have told me over the years how sales should have its own qualification but it is SO much more complex than that and most definitely something you are not going to “get” in 3 years from a series of outdated, overpriced text books nor subjects taught by lecturers with very little (if any) real world experience. If at first you don’t succeed… “Knowledge gained from experience is far more worthwhile than any gained from a book” - Mahatma Gandhi. The charm and challenge of being a human being is that we are all blessed with strengths and weaknesses – to develop and learn sales people have to fail, a lot, good ones do anyway because they treat these as learnings. Sales Mastery © is a life time journey and requires sustained effort, focus and development (personal / professional). Each of these programs are delivered over 6 months using a variety of training methods including one on one and workshops. This is designed to ensure sustainable behaviour change and embed practices that will help your people become the very best they can be by prospecting efficiently, qualifying effectively and closing the deals your business wants / needs. Feel free to contact me should you wish to learn more. **Charlie is an expert in developing external sales teams and people, particularly where relationships and solution selling are the key differentiators. www.charliepidcock.com.au |
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