Eli Portnoy opines: “Unwavering commitment to an idea, in my opinion, is kryptonite to an entrepreneur. Building a company from the ground up is about testing every assumption and reacting as new information emerges. I learn something everyday about the industry, our customers and partners, the investors, my team, and myself. Being open to where we are wrong…
Sometimes the day gets away from us. Important interruptions pull us away from our daily planner. Emergencies arise. Sometimes we get so fixated on the activity we’re doing we forget about the overarching tasks for which we were hired. How do you know what you should do when? How does your team know which expectations…
Write them down. Get them on paper. Map out the who, what, when, where, why, and how. And be sure to write down what happens in each conceivable case in which expectations are not met. You can’t guarantee results, but you can demand that your employees meet your expectations. You won’t get far with them,…
Too few managers have thought through the expectations they have for their team, and too many of those who have given care to setting expectations have failed to communicated them to their employees. When setting expectations, be sure to do the following. First, be exact and detailed. Second, be able to explain your reasoning. Third,…
Just because you have been an outstanding sales professional and successful manager doesn’t automatically mean that you’re ready to coach a team. Coaching, like selling, takes a developed skill set. Unfortunately, companies too commonly fail to teach their leaders to be coaches. They might make ideal managers, but they don’t create smart coaches. If you…
Every business culture needs a belief system, and everybody in that business needs to be on board. Think about it. Imagine a team in which the employees bought into an idea, but the leadership did not. Would that idea fuel the team’s energy and passion? For a time, perhaps, but not for long, not without…
While I’ve often said that sales is a profession to be proud of, the ego is an expensive liability, so get rid of it and start right now investing in getting better. Selling is a skill, and as such, improving it requires practice. You’re either improving it or losing it. Practice allows you to focus on…
As a leader, you’re job is to help your team members reach their goals, and to an extent this involves helping them formulate their goals, but you must not define and set their goals for them. Not all of them, in any case. By asking members of your team to develop their own specific goals…