Sales Force At A High Impact Level example essay topic

"Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up" By Frank Pacetta, With Roger Gittens A book review: By John Ashby Course MC 300 "Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up" Book Overview Frank Pacetta is an exceptional leader and motivator; in the book he is able to relay countless avenues to motivate employees and to show how a leader / manager can to handle multiple functions throughout a diverse organization. I have decided to break the book out into three areas that I believe will present impact points to show how Frank's leadership style could be implemented in almost any organization. I. Motivation and Style a. Application of "impact" leadership b. Setting the goal and maintaining the vision c. Getting the right people in the right job. II.

Using the Win / Win mentality with employees and customers a. Accountability in the work place, goal maker-back breaker b. Pressing the customer to the sale, and they like it. c. How to get everyone home happy. Developing your leadership styles from mentors, mistakes and motivation a. Mentorship, if you don't have it get it b.

Mistakes won't kill you (if you don't repeat them) c. Knowing when to move on IV. Conclusion "Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up" Book Overview Frank Pacetta works hard and intelligently; he researches extensively to ensure that he makes sound decisions. By being aware of the resources around him, he was able to take the Cleveland Xerox office to the top of the sales peak within the company. He used a variety of quality management tools to reach his goals and motivated his people through reward and appreciation of their results. He did this by establishing himself as a salesman first and leader-manager second.

His first steps were impact changes that he gave directly to the sales force of what his expectations were and the consequences of not following through with not complying with company standards. His emphasis on expectations applied not only to the sales force but all employees of his district to include him as well. Also, he established rewards for meeting and exceeding goals, give the employees a full spectrum of what was to come. As a leader of an organization you have to have a distinct understanding of the responsibilities you are about to under take. Having a grasp on the company's strengths and weaknesses allows you to come with a positive impact plan to make changes, set standards, and establish goals. First and foremost is the establishment of open communication; a lack of communication either up or down the chain of command is vital for success of the organization.

Second clearly set the standard, and install a comprehensive system of checks and balances to insure goals are being met. "Expect and inspect", don't be afraid to ask questions, lots of questions. If asking questions makes an employee wiggle than perhaps it's time to take a closer look at their accounts to see if they are meeting the standard. Make sure your people know the consequences of not meeting the standards. He was not afraid to get down in the weeds with his employees and get dirty; in fact his leadership style requires it. Spending time with sales reps is one way he maintained that vision through his term at Cleveland.

Sometimes the problems within the company may just boil down to having the right people in the right place at the right time. By observing and participating in sales meetings and seeing the attitudes of how meetings went you can determine if the relationship between the sales representative and client are working as they should. Making changes and having managers that know their work force both professionally and personally, it is easier to determine when something is wrong with the employee. Another way to ensure customers are delighted with the way their account is being handled is to call and ask, "How are we doing?" getting the skinny from the customer can open up your eyes as a manager and open doors of opportunity. Getting the right people in the right job takes the manager to the next level of knowing his people and their accounts. If a problem starts to arise you should be aware early enough to shut it down and fix it.

Taking care of the employees develops a level of trust in the company, when you don't feel like just another number in the masses, it's much easier to put forth the extra effort to reach or exceed the established goals. As a manager if you aggressively pursue having your work force compatible to your clientele, success for the organization is inevitable. Using the "Win / Win" mentality with employees and customers gets everyone on the road to success. The sales force feels the success and wants more, the customer feels appreciated and taken care of, not "just another account". To get to this level within the company the application of accountability comes into play in the most significant way; Pacetta set the standards of four calls per day and establishing 30, 60, and 90 day projection lists. Establishing this standard for the sales force kept them on top of their accounts and made them dig for new prospects.

If a sales representative did not turn in their projections they better have a valid reason why, this part of the compliance with standards was held to keep the sales force at a high-impact level. The customers' intent is to gain a product that will assist them in making more money. It's that simple our job is to provide them with a total product; sales, service and a product that meets both their short and long term needs. By maintaining a constant communication with the customer the sales force can project the needs of the customer by asking them where they see their company in future, knowing your customer goals you can establish the sales pattern that meets their needs. They don't like being told what to buy, and when to buy it, however the presentation of you need this to meet your company goals is an approach to use to show that our product is there for you now and in the future. Once the proposal is completed it is up to you the sales rep to push for the sale, all bets are off until they sign on the dotted line in agreement.

When it's all said and done the whole team should be recognized as being successful, an "atta boy" goes a long way in keeping the sales force motivated to go for the next sale. Developing your leadership styles from mentors, mistakes and motivation; it can be a hard road if you don't learn from your mentors and mistakes. Mentors are a vital part of any organization experience is past down the line from leader to follower if no mentorship occurs in the organization will eventually fall apart. Through continued involvement, the leader offers support, guidance, and assistance as the younger person goes through a difficult period, faces new challenges, or works to correct earlier problems. As a leader you should always be on the look out for who is going to replace you, and guide them through the mistakes and lessons of leadership.

If you have mentors to make sure you don't repeat you mistakes or you take them to heart the road will smooth out for you. Making mistakes is just apart of the continuous process of life, we take our mistakes and learn from them and try to never repeat them. One important aspect of mistakes is making sure your co-workers are aware of the problem and how to avoid it themselves. It is important to cross-feed to other team members the experiences we have gone through to maintain a preventive state of mind.

The fewer mistakes we make as a team the better the continuity and functionality of the organization. Knowing when to move on, there are tale-tale signs that it's time to press on to another challenge. When leadership starts to wane and extreme effort is required just to "pay the rent" it's a sure sign that it's time for a leadership change. As a leader you should recognized these signs, if you don't someone else will and it can be a much easier decision to move on if it comes from within yourself that you have accomplished the things you wanted, rather than being told it's time to go from the regional manager. This book is extremely difficult to summarize as the leadership and management skills are exemplified by Frank Pacetta, he established a blazing pace for his district and maintained it through his entire tenure, by setting the standard applying discipline and incentives for all to follow and attain. His ability to get down in the weeds to make sure his team met the goals established an exceptional leadership style for he peers and subordinates to follow and learn from, his impact was just not on the Cleveland district but the Xerox Corp. This book will stay with me for some time to come because I feel that the references within will have a lasting impact on my leadership and mentorship skills.

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