shorespeak | Rob Shore | Coach • Consultant • Speaker

Do Mama D Proud

Rob — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:38:25 +0000

As I have written before my family is originally from New York, and as a descendant of The World’s Greatest City I consider myself to be something of a pizza snob.

There are few places on the planet that compare to the heavenly construct of even the most basic corner pizza place in NYC.

Even now as a 30 year resident of Southern California I continue to search for a great slice.

Great crust, fabulous sauce, and just the amount right combination of cheese all cooked to golden perfection.

Enter Mama D’s Italian Kitchen.

While reasonably priced food that also tastes good is a draw, that’s not why I go back to Mama D’s time after time.

You see, Mama D’s performs the amazing feat of creating an exceptional dining and service experience with a wait staff whose average age is, by all appearances, under 25.

Forty-five minute wait to be seated? Have some focaccia bread with garlic butter dip – on the house. Under a blanket if you’re chilly, with a magazine if you’d like.

Hands full with your to-go order? No worries because someone will be racing to the door to hold it open for you.

Here are more comments directly from Yelp:

The happiness level [while we waited for our table] rose another 40% when the calamari guy came around and offered fresh calamari and marinara to us as we sucked on our beers and perused magazines under the full moon.

The table next to us needed reading glasses for the menu, and a box came out with different glasses for them to borrow- something I’ve never seen before.

All the staff here is amazing. They even have a sign up that reads something like, voted the friendliest staff in OC. That is no lie. During our meal, staff members would come up, say hi, and ask if we needed anything.

Go for the food. Go back again and again for the service!

Mama D’s is the Nordstrom’s of Italian restaurants!

During one visit I had a chance to talk to the owner and asked him his secret.

How does he manage to extract that level of service and commitment from his young staff when so many businesses fail miserably?

“I want this to be the best job they have ever had, or will have,” he said.

How many leaders, in any industry, view their staff from this perspective?

What extraordinary behavior do you extract from employees when this becomes your primary goal?

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Why Wholesalers Leave the Firm

Rob — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:25:09 +0000

Yesterday I had a chance to sit in on a conference call by Advanced Sales Corporation that reviewed some of the findings of the 2009 Wholesaler Survey done in partnership with Cerulli Associates.

Knowing that at the time the survey was being conducted the industry was in the throes of tremendous upheaval, the findings still revealed a host of information about the state of financial services wholesaling.

One chart from the survey results stood out for me: Reasons Why a Wholesaler Would Leave a Firm.

It compares the reasons wholesalers gave for why they would leave with the perceived reasons managers gave for why their folks would make a change.

As an example, 72% of sales managers believe wholesalers would leave for higher compensation – and so do 71% of wholesalers.

In looking through the chart data one point leapt out at me as a reason why people leave, and it is something that is completely controllable.

‘Lack of firm vision/strategy’ had a huge disconnect. Only 28% of sales managers thought it would be a reason for defections but a full 50% of wholesalers surveyed citied it as a reason to leave.

Separately a shorespeak survey of wholesalers, that’s is still open for polling, says that a full 69% of wholesalers are contemplating a change to a new firm in 2010 and that the number one reason, given by 35.8% of respondents, is ‘Management direction of firm’.

So is it that the firm lacks direction and/or vision or is it that managers have room to improve in communicating that direction?

Based on the breadth of the two surveys I suppose the answer is yes.

Yes, there are a host of firms that are in need of a better strategic rudder to navigate the ship.

More likely though the leaders in the c-suite, and on the ground, need to keep a better eye on how their vision/strategy/direction is cascading down to employees. Especially those employees, like wholesalers, that don’t have the same benefits of receiving home office messaging in the same manner (or with the same frequency) as home office employees.

Thought starters:

How often is the strategic message of the firm, the channel, or the division communicated to the field?

If this critical message is left to the annual state of the company union, or as an email add on to the CEO’s quarterly earnings call replay, the message will not stick and wholesalers will become disconnected from the vision.

What forms of communication are used?

Too frequently the message is delivered by the CEO and left to be communicated by other managers down the line. Human nature says that the message will be further interpreted and edited as it makes its way through the firm

A memo is not an effective communication tool. Neither is an email.

Conference calls are better. Video conferencing is better still. Small group meetings, town hall functions, c-suite leaders on an occasional wholesaler conference call. All of these promote the message sharing and intimacy that helps get the message through successfully.

What can field managers do to keep the connection between the big picture and the local business engagement alive?

In the wholesaler annual review process, quarterly check points, manager ride-along reports, and telephone interactions managers have an opportunity to tie the local message to the firm’s overall direction.

As much as wholesalers appreciate the independent nature of the position and will state they are fine with being ‘left alone’ perhaps firm’s need to make greater efforts to get the message of the vision, the direction or the strategy out to the field, in a way that sticks, sooner rather than later.

Attn: Divisional Mangers, Channel Managers, National Sales Managers – There is a NEW Mastermind Group starting soon just for you. Modeled after the wildly successful Wholesaler Masterminds, Manager Masterminds is a place for managers to meet one per month with peers and a professional coach. Get more information here.

If you’re a past or present Wholesaler be sure to join Wholesaler Masterminds on LinkedIn – it will soon become the only LinkedIn group that will post these stories.

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We Is Not Me

Rob — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:00:23 +0000

Have you ever been to a restaurant and heard the waiter say, “How are we this evening?”

I don’t know about you but this drives me nuts.

Today I called Verizon as my less than 6 month old Blackberry 8330 was flashing the red light of death.

In speaking with the tech support rep he asked the following:

“How long have we been having this problem?”

“Can we plug the unit into the charger?”

“Did we pull the battery and try to reboot?”

After patiently putting up with this juvenile approach and determining that he would need to send me a new smart phone, the following exchange ensued:

me: “So I guess I’ll need to reinstall all my applications and reinstall all extra programs?”

tech: “Yes, we’ll need to reinstall all your programs”

me: “Well, unless you’re coming to my office it is ME, not we, that will have to install the programs”

tech: “Er, well, yes, it is you that will have to reinstall”

To all customer service, help desk, phone rep type folks that read this, I implore you – this condescending approach only serves to exacerbate the problem.

It’s not we, it’s me.

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Strategic Listening? Yeah, yeah, yeah, got it, got it, got it

Rob — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:44:55 +0000

In this video Tom Peters makes a bold claim – and one I agree with.

Strategic listening is more important to an organization’s success than a strategic plan.

Consider this: a group of top executives from a major manufacturer in Chicago were asked to survey the role that listening played in their work. Later an executive seminar on listening was held. Of that training one participant said:

“It’s interesting to me that we have considered so many facets of communication in the company, but have inadvertently overlooked listening. I’ve about decided that it is the most important link in the company’s communication, and it’s obviously also the weakest one.”

The group met in 1956.

It was written about in the Harvard Business Review in the September-October 1957 edition.

53 years later business executives, leaders, bosses, wholesalers, relationship managers, friends, parents, and spouses are not better listeners – they are worse.

In fact at my last firm my boss would relentlessly cut off the person speaking in a meeting with the now infamous, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, got it, got it, got, it” spoken as quickly as his lips could move.

There is a way to improve.

The two hour Listening Workshop from shorespeak will improve your listening skills and that of your team.

Read about it here.

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Looming Turnover in Financial Services Jobs Will Spell Trouble for Employers

Rob — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:37:12 +0000

The month of January saw a flurry of informative surveys about the state of the employee union.

Ignites reported new research from The Conference Board about overall job satisfaction. The study suggested that 54.7% of respondents are “dissatisfied” at work.

Gallup Management Journal, on the other hand, suggested that even at the height of the recession employees were, and still are, engaged.

A Kathy Freeman Company survey of leaders in financial services revealed that more than 75% of these leaders were considering a job change in 2010.

Could it be that employees are, all at once, engaged, dissatisfied and looking to make a change?

In order to know more about this potential onslaught of “musical job chairs,” I called Michael Brown at Management Recruiters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

shorespeak: Do you find potential candidates more or less receptive to your calls today versus pre-Great Meltdown?

Mike: Almost everyone is open to conversation and there are very few folks that don’t want to listen. Pre-Meltdown it had to be a cream of the crop job with top-flight pay to engage a candidate. Today it can be simply a very good job with pay that is in-line.

shorespeak: Why the overwhelming receptivity?

Mike: There is a high level of dissatisfaction among employees with how they were treated during the last two years.

Employees feel as though they have been treated as a commodity.

That, and there is still a sizeable feeling of instability that employees have about their present firm.

Lastly, there is pent-up demand. Employees held on to the positions that they otherwise would have left during the recession. Now that the sky is starting to clear they are looking for the first chance to leave.

shorespeak: The employee dissatisfaction with how they were treated sounds analogous to the attitude of the consumers toward their financial advisors.

Mike: Exactly. How many FC’s lost clients because they were not aggressively and frequently communicating with their book?

Left to their own devices, the client formed their own reality.

shorespeak: So management at some firms are guilty of spending time with their outside constituents (brokers, clients, key account contacts) and not enough time with their own employees?

Mike: True. And now the employees have formed their own reality that says, “I’m going to look out for me.”
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Maybe in the midst of the turmoil to keep our clients loyal to our brands we have overlooked our most important resource – our people.

Seven points to check against your firm’s current dealing with employees are:

• Make your performance expectations for managers and individual contributors crystal clear.

• Give concise and frequent feedback regarding job performance

• Offer deserved praise in liberal doses.

• Offer professional development, even if the budget is tighter than in years past.

• Allow employees to have a clear line of sight from their responsibilities to the greater purpose of the division, or the firm.

• Make employees aware of their advancement opportunities within the firm.

• Ask for oral and written employee feedback – and then respond.

Ignites, Gallop and Kathy Freeman Company all agree that it’s not too late.

Don’t let the hard work of digging out from the recession wreckage get undermined by 2010 employee turnover.

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Today’s teens and young adults are your next employees and they need help building the right work ethic that will help them launch successful careers.

I believe so strongly in what The A Game is doing that I have arranged a discount for shorespeak readers.

Visit The A Game to learn more and use the discount code 92663rs at checkout.

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Covering All The Angles

Rob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:40:13 +0000

Was in San Francisco this past weekend and stayed in a room at the Hilton San Francisco with a great balcony that afforded a sweeping view of the city. From the 280 freeway on the south all the way to Coit Tower to the north.

The view from 44 floors up was beautiful.

And as I usually do I spent time taking in all the usual sites from on high: landmarks, billboards, rooftops, etc.

When I looked straight down from the balcony I saw an awning that stood out. Not for its color or shape but for the angle it took to capture my attention:

You see the owners of Imperial Liquors are not taking any chances. They’re making sure the message is visible from all directions, including the air!

In a huge city filled with thousands upon thousands of awnings theirs stands out.

As you promote your services what’s your angle?

How will you stand out from the sea of sameness?

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My Halo Might End Up Choking Me

Rob — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:05:49 +0000

Back in November 2009 I wrote a post entitled Maybe Your Business Sucks Because You’re a Flake. In it I lamented the sad state of affairs of people simply not doing what they say they will do when they say they will do it.

Soon after that post a fellow speaking professional Ed Rigsbee posted the following via LinkedIn:

What keeps you from doing what you say you are going to do? I believe this to be an important topic in today’s economic condition.

And he asked for private replies.

My reply to Ed read:

In the context of living into commitments, I can say with certainty I do as I say. In fact I go to great lengths to make sure that I either don’t commit or that the commitment is doable. My career over the last 30 years has been built on that very foundation.

Well, the results are in via Transforming Your Commitment into Reality at Ed Rigsbee’s Effective Executive blog and as Richard Dawson used to say, “Survey says:”

16% – Poor prioritizing

11% – Fear of failure/lack of self confidence

10% – Lack of time

9.5% – Lack of focus/distractions

9.5% – No motivation/purpose/passion

8.5% – Over commitment

8.5% – Change in priorities

4% – Circumstances beyond personal control

5% – Miscellaneous

18% – Denial (I always do what I say response)

Notice that my reply to Ed was not an outlier. In fact the majority of folks offered that they always do what they say they will do.

To which Ed writes:

I was quite amazed at one of the responses that kept repeating, “I always do what I say.” First, that was not the question, however quite a number of respondents seemed to feel it necessary to tell me that they were not guilty of my query. Second, I did not believe a one of them. Be it to customers and colleagues or family and friends—even to one’s self; not a one of us ALWAYS does what we say!

So Ed called “bullshit” on my answer!

Not only that, the majority of respondents share the same opinion (delusion?) of their ability to live into commitments. – referenced above as ‘Denial’

Upon reflection Ed, I offer the following thoughts:

The question that I answered was indeed not the question that was asked. This would mean that I have ADD, a separate malady entirely.
You are right. None of us wears an angelic commitment halo. For fear that my self-stated halo slips down to choke me, I’d like to retract the use of ‘certainty’ in my original answer.
The folks that offered the other 82% of reasons are really just making excuses.

That said, I also believe that the number one reason folks stumble re this issue is an amalgamation of many of the responses – they fall into the “yes trap”. They don’t want to disappoint (boss, family, etc.) so they over commit and say yes. They don’t want to appear inadequate so they over commit. They are incapable of prioritizing so they over commit.

As much as I appreciate your suggestions, call me a cynic. No amount of coaching or help from an accountability buddy, paid or otherwise, is going to help the serial offender.
The dilemma has two parts. The ‘doing what you say’ and the ‘when you say you will do it’. The great thing is you can modulate either or both parts to keep your word.

It takes introspection, a conscious effort and ongoing work to get this whole ‘living into commitments’ issue squared away.

And that’s why folks that can be counted on to keep their word are so darn memorable.

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Activity Breeds Apptivity?

Rob — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:34:51 +0000

As I jet my way home from an engagement at one of the nation’s preeminent providers of life insurance, I can’t help but reflect on a statement that was made by the Executive Vice President of Sales.

As he addressed the sales organization about the importance of adhering to the newly established criteria for the minimum number of calls his sales team are required to make per week, he reminded the team that Activity breeds Apptivity.

Apptivity.

As in: insurance application activity.

Maybe to you it’s ‘tickets’ or ‘orders’ or ‘widgets’.

Whatever your measuring stick, this is a great expression.

He went on to explain to me privately that this phrase came to him many years ago. It was first spoken by an older, wiser sales leader that admonished his troops that if you put in the required number of appointments (or activity), sales, and other great things, would inevitably happen.

I related to him that I have another, admittedly far out, theory.

You see I believe that there is an old Jewish man, Sol, located in Lebanon, Kansas, the geographic center of the contiguous 48.

Sol’s sole job is to keep score of the number of “no’s” each salesperson gets because Sol knows full well that each “no” means they are that much closer to closing a sale with a delightful “yes” – the phrase all sales professionals work to hear.

Sol’s dashboard keeps track of the activity and accumulated ‘no’s’ for the country’s sales professionals.

Sol is the one who is responsible for flipping the switch that turns the ‘no’ into the ‘yes’.

That EVP believes in Apptivity.

I believe in Sol.

Whatever your belief, make no mistake, activity yields positive results.

Always.

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6 Steps to Becoming a Student of the Business

Rob — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:29:19 +0000

Some folks are great at taking today’s headlines and crafting a story to impress clients and prospects with their wealth of knowledge.

Some folks need some help.

Here is a six step process to follow to help you spin great stories and make you a better student of the business:

As a reminder, the six steps are:

Read the business page
What’s the hot story?
What does it mean for the economy?
What does it mean for investors?
What does it mean to the broker?
How can my firm, my product, or I help?

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15 Lessons Learned From My Coaching Clients

Rob — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:59:33 +0000

Whether they are senior leaders looking to sort through the maze of corporate back alleys, up and coming sales stars that want input and direction, out-placed executives in transition, top decile heavy hitters, or small business entrepreneurs, my coaching clients provide me with lessons every time we speak.

Here are a few:

People want coldly honest input. Even if it is uncomfortable to hear, the benefits out weigh the pain.
It is not always possible to hold ourselves accountable. We all need help.
The biggest egos, once understood, share the same insecurities as all the rest of us.
Friends, partners, spouses, co-workers do their best – and don’t come equipped to provide the same dedicated attention to your issues as a coach.
While some folks enjoy the exploration of theory or cause, my clients want to explore solutions.
We all want validation.
Managers have few, if any, folks to tell the Emperor they are not clothed.
People want to be offered hard and fast potential solutions.
Looking in the mirror often reflects difficult images.
We don’t have enough people in our lives that simply listen.
The people closest to us rarely challenge our status quo.
We want and need passionate supporters of our work.
Clients want to work with, and relate most to, coaches that have walked in their shoes.
We need someone to help us clear through the clutter of jumbled thoughts.
They don’t realize it, but I often benefit as much our relationship as they do.

For all these lessons I am grateful.

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Information about shorespeak coaching is found here and also here.

Testimonials about shorespeak coaching are found here.

For financial services wholesalers interested in coaching click here.

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