The Secrets of Market Driven Leaders

Marketing and PR experts, Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott have just published a brilliant special report on The Secrets of Market Driven Leaders.

It explains why technology companies are doomed if they try to reach their success purely through their technology, sales volume or client demands. They basically say that whatever problem you might find yourself in, the only way to get out of it is by marketing yourself out of it.

The authors outlines seven secrets along with several lethal flaws.

1. SECRET #1 = Work as a Trusted Advisor
2. SECRET #2 = Build from the Outside-In
3. SECRET #3 = Simple is Smart
4. SECRET #4 = Leadership is Distributed
5. SECRET #5 = Stop Being a Vendor
6. SECRET #6 = Marketing with a Big “M”
7. SECRET #7 = Measure only what Matters

I believe that in a world where so many technology companies try to stay alive by hiring more salespeople and chasing more suspects harder and longer, this report can open the minds of many business development managers to realise that there is another, a more rewarding way of doing business.

So, go and grab a copy of The Secrets of Market Driven Leaders, and see what's possible for your company.

The World Of Selling Technology Is Changing. Is Your Company Changing With It?

The big hairy naked truth is that most technology companies are not changing as the world is changing around them. Correction. They're changing. They keep spending more and more on top notch technology. This is how they're changing.

Otherwise they're simmering in the pungent stench of the status quo by doing what they've always done but doing it longer, harder and better technology. And doing more of the same, they expect different results. It's like a jockey who is using two whips to motivate his horse to run faster without realising that the horse has lost a horseshoe and is seriously limping.

It reminds me of the situation when two people meet but they don't speak each other's language. So, they start yelling at each other hoping that the louder they scream the more likely that their "conversation partners" understand what they're saying.

In most cases business development is the same...

The Big CRM Bottleneck and The Victims That Choke to Death in It

In case you're involved in CRM either as a user or a distributor (or I hope both), here is a white paper, "Why Naked CRM Systems Don't Work", which you might find valuable.

While CRM could be a powerful tool in the right hands, in most companies it's nothing more than a pain in the arse cost. Over the years CRM has become one of the most controversial technology solutions.

Is the concept to blame?

No. Not at all. So, then where is the bottleneck? Well, at the top of the bottle. Similarly, where is the CRM bottleneck? At the top of the organisation.

The technology is great but it not used properly. CRM requires the sales and marketing departments to work together. Instead, what you see in most technology companies is a constant was between the sales and marketing departments. Of course, they have high resistance to participate in a programme where their success can depend on another department.

And as a result of this antagonistic relationship, the CRM system the company has just spent the king's ransom id grossly underutilised.

In "Why Naked CRM Systems Don't Work", author Ardath Albee outlines some vital points on why most companies fail to get the biggest bang out of their CRM bucks.

Kelly Didn't Pay Commissions, Did he? Do You?

The other day I was watching (again) the movie Kelly's Heroes, and it reminded me of the whole commission pay structure.

Essentially the commission pay structure to salespeople is something like this, "I give you the privilege of working for me for free. You take 100% of the risk, do 100% of the work, and if you bring in new business for me, I'll give you a tiny percentage of the rewards. And you should be proud of being part of our company."

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against the "piece of the action" type of compensation if it's distributed in a fair manner. Unfortunately most technology companies use the commission structure in a communist manner, "I keep most of the reward and give you just enough to keep you alive and have you come back tomorrow for more abuse."

And don't tell me communism is about equality. I lived in it for 27 years, and never experienced equality.

When Kelly found out from the German colonel that there was a pile of gold bars in a bank somewhere in Germany, he started organising some people and supplies to go and get the stuff.

And here is the interesting part...

He didn't say to anyone, "You risk your life and do all the work for free, and then bring me the rewards and I'll give you a competitive(ly low) percentage of it."

No…

When Kelly went to see Crapgame, the stock keeper, to arrange some supplies, he even gave him a bar of gold as a deposit for his commitment and participation in the mission. Of course, at that point Crapgame realised Kelly was dead serious about this gold stuff.

Now, considering that the typical B2B sales cycle can be as long as three years, isn’t it amazing that so-called “successful,“ and even “world-class” technology companies expect salespeople to sign up with them, and are supposed to live on their own savings until they land their first deals because these “world-class companies” with their “world-class” stuff to sell don’t have the balls to invest in their own futures, but expect their salespeople to finance the companies’ clients acquisition with their personal savings.

One thing clients expect of technology professionals is objectivity. But how can we expect objectivity from people whose rewards are directly tied to selling the most expensive whatever they sell?

I firmly believe that if you pay commissions to your salespeople, all you do is alienate them from the rest of the company, and while short-term focused predators, as they are often referred to, can bring you some quick buck, you also land in a constant and never-ending hunting cycle for new business because these clients won’t be giving you repeat and referral business. So I suggest that you put your salespeople on the payroll and let them be part of your company. Then you have a better chance, having a real team, to achieve your sales goals.

Are You Destroying Your Company?

Doug Davidoff over at The Fast Growth Blog has a brilliant article on The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies. Doug names 7 habits of highly destructive executives who unbeknownst to them are running their companies to the ground.

Read the Article, and make certain you don't fall into those traps.