By Tom Searcy
I’ll warn you now, you are not going to like this list. To be transparent, I don’t like it. I made this list based upon the thousands of sales reps I have met, the four companies I have run who have had explosive growth and the 200+ companies with whom I have worked directly. It is real and it is a bit unpleasant. It is full of selfish, “non-team-player,” and rather aggressive behaviors. But when I look at the real quota-crushing pros, this is often how they act.
Don’t worry, as your blood starts to boil, I’ll give you some ideas on how to maximize these pros and still keep your company’s culture intact.
1. They have no time for anything that is not their deal. They are laser-focused on what it takes to get their sale done. This often means excluding things like company meetings, technical training, administrative work, and so on.
2. They sell inside the company harder than outside. Pros know that getting the deal sold and getting the support of the company requires their personal attention. This means cajoling, hounding, persuading, and a lot of other verbs that mean pushing hard to get the organization to agree to the deal and support it.
3. They’re chameleons. Charming one minute, in-your-face the next, pros will use all emotional tools to win. Often they save the charm for the prospects and clients and the venom for your company.
4. They’re fierce client champions. What makes them great for their clients can make your company crazy. They almost always take the client’s side during the natural friction moments that occur when companies work together. And they fight hard.
5. They understand their customers’ market better than their customers do. The best players in sales are experts on their clients’ businesses. They speak their language, know the market issues, understand their clients’ competitors — they’re even savvy on recent regulation. They are experts.
6. They seek and trade information like the KGB. She who has the most information most often wins. That means that pros are tapping their networks and building new informants all of the time. To the untrained ear, it sounds like gossip. To pros, they call it “intel.”
7. They’re never satisfied…ever. These people are always dissatisfied — dissatisfied with operational performance, technology capability, personal financial rewards, the respect they receive, their own performance… This characteristic is wearing, but it is part of what makes them pros. They are insatiable. That’s why they keep selling, pushing, and winning.
By the way, I ran this list by five quota-crushing sales pros who I know. Every one of them said, “Yeah, that’s me. I’m kind of proud of these characteristics if I were to be honest.”
What to do?
1. Get used to it. I have frequent conversations with CEOs who complain about these behaviors and want to get rid of this type of sales person… except for one little problem — this person is the best. My answer is always, “This is what the quota-crushing pros are like, so get used to it.”
2. Devote the time. They are going to take your time, period. So anticipate it. They will have more complaints, more opportunities, and more information. If they are good outside, they will be good inside at getting access.
3. Stand firm. Leopards don’t change spots and scorpions can’t help but sting. With these pros, you’re going to have friction. Where you can concede, do. Where you can’t, don’t persuade or educate, (it won’t work), just stand firm.
4. Focus on what works. Sales people do what works. When you are implementing new strategies, processes or technologies the only thing a pro will want to know is, “How will this make the life of a client better and make it easier for us to sell them?” A lot of policies and procedures are about making your operations better. Sales people don’t care. If your policy doesn’t address the above question, don’t expect a sales pro to give it a second thought.
Being a quota-crushing sales pro is abnormal and dysfunctional. Normal and functional is by default defined as average. Most systems are built to favor the average, not the extraordinary. That is why your best pros rebel and chafe at your systems. If you want your quota-crushing pros to perform, you have to manage them differently. That’s okay, their numbers should merit the investment.
To learn how to get quota-crushing results from everyone on your team, not just the laser-driven sales pros reflected in this list, read more about the Big Sale Factory
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Validation and the 360 Solutions Assessments -Personality profile
There are many schools of thought regarding testing and validation. Some believe that construct validity is the most preferred method, others say criterion validity is the best approach. Still others say that a combination of both is the best of all possible worlds. We believe that common sense, good business sense and concurrent validity on a local level is the best approach. Why?
First, the goal is to find the best possible person for the position. Most hiring managers will say: "If I could ‘clone’ my best employee or employees in the same or similar positions, I would achieve my goal." Therefore, we attempt to identify the best candidates by a validation method known as "Concurrent Validity". What is concurrent validity? Quite simply, this is Benchmarking.
Benchmarking is achieved by selecting people with a common job description and evaluating them using the 360 Solutions Personality Profile. By grouping these individuals into Top, Middle and Bottom thirds, based on your standard measure of performance, it is possible to build a hiring benchmark using the Profile scores. The benchmark is based on a comparison of the top one third’s results versus the bottom. Additionally, we believe you should take this approach one step further and create your benchmarks on a local level.
Why do we recommend this approach?
Because what works in New York City does not necessarily work in Atlanta. What works in Dallas does not necessarily work in San Francisco. Many testing companies develop "norms" based on national averages of the top performers in a position. You then compare the test results of an applicant against those norms to determine if they will succeed in the position. To use an analogy, if my best performers in New York like ice cream, in Chicago they like deep-dish pizza, and in San Francisco they like sushi and I average them all together, what I get is a gastronomical mess. To further prove the point, practical experience shows us a top salesman in New York must modify his selling style in order to succeed in Atlanta. Why? Different markets. The Southern prospect may well reject the more aggressive selling style of the New Yorker. The same holds true for companies selling the same products or services. What works at Ford doesn’t necessarily work at Chrysler.
Second, the selection test must meet all EEOC and American Disabilities Act requirements. The 360 Solutions Personality Profile does.
Third, equivocation. Are you getting a true picture of the employee or applicant? The 360 Solutions Personality Profile has a consistency index. If the score is between 17-20 the results are considered 90% accurate to the individual tested. A score 0f 14-16 is considered 79-89% accurate. If the consistency score is below 14 and the tested individual is not an E type personality, the report should not be considered valid. If the tested individual has low confidence as measured by the Personality Profile confidence trait, this will affect the overall scores. If the confidence score is below 5, the report should not be considered valid.
Summary
In order to find the best candidate for the position, you must assess the candidate’s personality and skills to see if they "fit" local market conditions, office culture, management practices, and selling styles. How is this done? Through benchmarking. Your top producers are "best" in their positions because they have the skills to do the job and their personality is compatible with what you are asking them to do. By using the 360 Solutions Personality Profile and creating a benchmark around these top producers, you take into account the variables unique to your company and the affect these variables have on the human personality.
In early 1997, a study was undertaken to see if there was any direct correlation between the 18 personality and character traits measured by the 360 Solutions Personality Profile and commissions earned on a national level. Profile scores from 64 companies across the country were gathered. Particular attention was paid to ensure that no one region of the country was more heavily weighted. Managers were then asked to rank their salespeople in terms of top and bottom one-third producers. Only salespeople with one year or more experience were included in the sampling. The criterion for ranking was commissions earned. The following character and talent traits were analyzed:
Stress Management Outgoing Traits Persuasive Level
Sensitivity Interaction Aggressive Level
Compassion Decision Making Stubborn Level
Patience Analytical Setting Goals
Creative Abilities Independent Time Management
Artistic Abilities Detailed Traits Confidence
A single regression analysis was conducted for each trait against commissions earned. The highest r2 value achieved was .12. Second, a series of multiple regression analyses were conducted with as many as seven character and talent traits against commissions earned. Again the highest r2 value achieved was .16. Finally, a Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was conducted with each trait against commissions earned. The highest r-value achieved was .34. All of the above values show that there is at best a weak correlation between profile scores and commissions earned. Scores obtained on a national level would be unsatisfactory predictors of commissions earned
Conclusion
Other variables, such as local market conditions, selling styles, and management practices, as well as personality and character traits affect commissions earned. To further substantiate this, the following are the sales hiring benchmarks for two different companies. Both company benchmarks were established based on the top one-third producers’ results. The first company is located in the Midwest and the second is in the Southwest. Both have twenty or more salespeople and have been in business 10+ years. Both sell similar products.
©2010 - 360Solutions
It is apparent from these results; the benchmarks based on the top one-third producers in each company are very different. Yet, the products sold and incomes earned are very similar. Thus, benchmarking on the local level allows managers to have a method of "cloning" their most productive employees based on their company’s culture, management practice, selling style and other issues unique to their environment.
The same 64 managers were asked to rate the accuracy of the 360 Solutions Personality Profile on the top one-third and bottom one-third agents. As stated earlier, top and bottom were defined by the criterion of commissions earned as related by the managers. Additionally, only salespeople with one or more years of experience were rated. The average company employed 22 salespeople. A total of 896 salespeople were measured. The screening question asked was:
This question was asked during normal business hours. The manager made this rating within 24 hours of the reviewing the report, and before a joint review of the findings.
95+ 23.4
1. 53.1
1. 10.9
1. 4.7
1. 3.2
< 75% 4.7
During this same period, tested salespeople were asked to percentile rank the accuracy of the 360 Solutions Personality Profile report findings. The screening question was:
"On a scale of 1-100%, how accurate was your 360 Solutions Personality Profile report?"
This question was asked during business hours. The salesperson made this rating within 24 hours of reviewing his or her report, and before a joint review of the findings.Test Accurate % % of Agents Agreeing
95+ 26.9
1. 51.0
1. 9.0
80-84 8.0
1. 3.0
< 75% 2.1
Summary
76.5% of company managers felt the 360 Solutions Personality Profile report findings had an accuracy rating of 90% or greater to their salespeople.
77.9% of the salespeople tested felt the results had an accuracy rating to themselves of 90% or greater.
Conclusion
Both the salespeople and the managers confirm the accuracy of the test. Therefore, it is logical to assume that local market conditions, selling styles, management practices and other environmental factors, as well as personality character and talent traits, affect the amount of commissions produced. Thus, the best possible method of selecting a salesperson that will succeed on a local level is through the benchmarking of the Personality Profile scores. This method takes into account the personality, character and talent traits necessary to succeed under variables specific to the candidate’s environment.
Final Note
The 360 Solutions™ Personality Profile with its unique benchmarking capabilities is the most cost-effective selection and development tool on the market today.
In addition to the profile results, this system provides additional important features to help improve the selection and development process:
1) In-depth interview questions are provided based on the Personality Profile score.
2) Additional skills and knowledge tests, including a Sales Aptitude Test and a Custom Aptitude Test
3) General intelligence and reasoning ability tests.
The results from the 360 Solutions Personality Profile System should not be viewed as the sole decision making tool in the employee selection process. Rather, they should be viewed as guidelines within an over-all selection system. The selection and development system should meet all legal requirements and provide other screening criterion such as background and reference checks.
The 360 Solutions™ Employment Testing System, properly utilized within the above guidelines, will help you to improve employee selection, reduce hiring mistakes and cut your turnover costs.
First, the goal is to find the best possible person for the position. Most hiring managers will say: "If I could ‘clone’ my best employee or employees in the same or similar positions, I would achieve my goal." Therefore, we attempt to identify the best candidates by a validation method known as "Concurrent Validity". What is concurrent validity? Quite simply, this is Benchmarking.
Benchmarking is achieved by selecting people with a common job description and evaluating them using the 360 Solutions Personality Profile. By grouping these individuals into Top, Middle and Bottom thirds, based on your standard measure of performance, it is possible to build a hiring benchmark using the Profile scores. The benchmark is based on a comparison of the top one third’s results versus the bottom. Additionally, we believe you should take this approach one step further and create your benchmarks on a local level.
Why do we recommend this approach?
Because what works in New York City does not necessarily work in Atlanta. What works in Dallas does not necessarily work in San Francisco. Many testing companies develop "norms" based on national averages of the top performers in a position. You then compare the test results of an applicant against those norms to determine if they will succeed in the position. To use an analogy, if my best performers in New York like ice cream, in Chicago they like deep-dish pizza, and in San Francisco they like sushi and I average them all together, what I get is a gastronomical mess. To further prove the point, practical experience shows us a top salesman in New York must modify his selling style in order to succeed in Atlanta. Why? Different markets. The Southern prospect may well reject the more aggressive selling style of the New Yorker. The same holds true for companies selling the same products or services. What works at Ford doesn’t necessarily work at Chrysler.
Second, the selection test must meet all EEOC and American Disabilities Act requirements. The 360 Solutions Personality Profile does.
Third, equivocation. Are you getting a true picture of the employee or applicant? The 360 Solutions Personality Profile has a consistency index. If the score is between 17-20 the results are considered 90% accurate to the individual tested. A score 0f 14-16 is considered 79-89% accurate. If the consistency score is below 14 and the tested individual is not an E type personality, the report should not be considered valid. If the tested individual has low confidence as measured by the Personality Profile confidence trait, this will affect the overall scores. If the confidence score is below 5, the report should not be considered valid.
Summary
In order to find the best candidate for the position, you must assess the candidate’s personality and skills to see if they "fit" local market conditions, office culture, management practices, and selling styles. How is this done? Through benchmarking. Your top producers are "best" in their positions because they have the skills to do the job and their personality is compatible with what you are asking them to do. By using the 360 Solutions Personality Profile and creating a benchmark around these top producers, you take into account the variables unique to your company and the affect these variables have on the human personality.
Statistical Analyses Supporting Benchmarking
In early 1997, a study was undertaken to see if there was any direct correlation between the 18 personality and character traits measured by the 360 Solutions Personality Profile and commissions earned on a national level. Profile scores from 64 companies across the country were gathered. Particular attention was paid to ensure that no one region of the country was more heavily weighted. Managers were then asked to rank their salespeople in terms of top and bottom one-third producers. Only salespeople with one year or more experience were included in the sampling. The criterion for ranking was commissions earned. The following character and talent traits were analyzed:
Stress Management Outgoing Traits Persuasive Level
Sensitivity Interaction Aggressive Level
Compassion Decision Making Stubborn Level
Patience Analytical Setting Goals
Creative Abilities Independent Time Management
Artistic Abilities Detailed Traits Confidence
A single regression analysis was conducted for each trait against commissions earned. The highest r2 value achieved was .12. Second, a series of multiple regression analyses were conducted with as many as seven character and talent traits against commissions earned. Again the highest r2 value achieved was .16. Finally, a Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was conducted with each trait against commissions earned. The highest r-value achieved was .34. All of the above values show that there is at best a weak correlation between profile scores and commissions earned. Scores obtained on a national level would be unsatisfactory predictors of commissions earned
Conclusion
Other variables, such as local market conditions, selling styles, and management practices, as well as personality and character traits affect commissions earned. To further substantiate this, the following are the sales hiring benchmarks for two different companies. Both company benchmarks were established based on the top one-third producers’ results. The first company is located in the Midwest and the second is in the Southwest. Both have twenty or more salespeople and have been in business 10+ years. Both sell similar products.
©2010 - 360Solutions
It is apparent from these results; the benchmarks based on the top one-third producers in each company are very different. Yet, the products sold and incomes earned are very similar. Thus, benchmarking on the local level allows managers to have a method of "cloning" their most productive employees based on their company’s culture, management practice, selling style and other issues unique to their environment.
Determination of Accuracy
The same 64 managers were asked to rate the accuracy of the 360 Solutions Personality Profile on the top one-third and bottom one-third agents. As stated earlier, top and bottom were defined by the criterion of commissions earned as related by the managers. Additionally, only salespeople with one or more years of experience were rated. The average company employed 22 salespeople. A total of 896 salespeople were measured. The screening question asked was:
"On a scale of 0-100% how accurate was the 360 Solutions Personality Profile report on ______ (employee)?"
This question was asked during normal business hours. The manager made this rating within 24 hours of the reviewing the report, and before a joint review of the findings.
Accuracy of 360 Solutions Personality Profile
As Rated by Managers
Test Accurate % % of Managers Agreeing95+ 23.4
1. 53.1
1. 10.9
1. 4.7
1. 3.2
< 75% 4.7
During this same period, tested salespeople were asked to percentile rank the accuracy of the 360 Solutions Personality Profile report findings. The screening question was:
"On a scale of 1-100%, how accurate was your 360 Solutions Personality Profile report?"
This question was asked during business hours. The salesperson made this rating within 24 hours of reviewing his or her report, and before a joint review of the findings.Test Accurate % % of Agents Agreeing
95+ 26.9
1. 51.0
1. 9.0
80-84 8.0
1. 3.0
< 75% 2.1
Summary
76.5% of company managers felt the 360 Solutions Personality Profile report findings had an accuracy rating of 90% or greater to their salespeople.
77.9% of the salespeople tested felt the results had an accuracy rating to themselves of 90% or greater.
Conclusion
Both the salespeople and the managers confirm the accuracy of the test. Therefore, it is logical to assume that local market conditions, selling styles, management practices and other environmental factors, as well as personality character and talent traits, affect the amount of commissions produced. Thus, the best possible method of selecting a salesperson that will succeed on a local level is through the benchmarking of the Personality Profile scores. This method takes into account the personality, character and talent traits necessary to succeed under variables specific to the candidate’s environment.
Final Note
The 360 Solutions™ Personality Profile with its unique benchmarking capabilities is the most cost-effective selection and development tool on the market today.
In addition to the profile results, this system provides additional important features to help improve the selection and development process:
1) In-depth interview questions are provided based on the Personality Profile score.
2) Additional skills and knowledge tests, including a Sales Aptitude Test and a Custom Aptitude Test
3) General intelligence and reasoning ability tests.
The results from the 360 Solutions Personality Profile System should not be viewed as the sole decision making tool in the employee selection process. Rather, they should be viewed as guidelines within an over-all selection system. The selection and development system should meet all legal requirements and provide other screening criterion such as background and reference checks.
The 360 Solutions™ Employment Testing System, properly utilized within the above guidelines, will help you to improve employee selection, reduce hiring mistakes and cut your turnover costs.
©2010 - 360Solutions
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Why Invest in People Development?
1.The cost to attract a new customer ranges from 3 to 10 times more than to retain a current customer.
A dissatisfied customer will complain to up to 25 people about your business. Quality customer service means more than just a smile. While a smile is important, a smile is a tactic. When your employees go beyond tactics and learn the fundamental principles underlying great customer service they will be able to create more than customer satisfaction, they will build customer loyalty. (Business Skills Development)
2. Studies show that more people leave their jobs because of "bad" supervisors and/or managers than for more money.
Equip your current and emerging supervisors, managers, and leaders with the skills to successfully direct and motivate their staff. Not only will this improve productivity, it will reduce turnover. (Management Development)
3. "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight Eisenhower
Leadership is not about commanding or demanding but rather influencing and guiding others to achieve a common goal. While some people are born leaders, the qualities that make an effective leader can be learned and developed. Leadership development is crucial not only to the bottom line but to the ongoing success of any enterprise. (Leadership Development)
4. A team is more than a group of people working together, it is a group of people working together to accomplish a bigger goal than would be possible working as individuals.
Building a cohesive, directed team takes work and skill. Team development is an ongoing process and requires the learned knowledge of what that process involves. A team that is more than the sum of its parts leads to increased productivity, higher employee morale, and reduced turnover all leading to an improved bottom line. (Team Development)
5."Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them toward a certain goal." Walt Disney.
In High Performance organizations all employees, working as team members, feel fully empowered and engaged in the process of achieving a clearly understood goal. This feeling of involvement leads to higher levels of participation and commitment which leads to a more flexible, stable, and productive work environment. The evolution to high performance is a guided process. (High Performance Development)
NEXT LEVEL Consulting, in partnership with 360 Solutions (a world leader in personnel training development) has created an unparalleled library of learning modules to address and solve each individual businesses' unique people development challenges. Through our team of experts, we've tapped into 30 years of research and marketplace application to breakthrough a complex issue and create a system that is easy to execute and provides quick results.
"The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." -- Peter Drucker
Customers are attracted and kept by a combination of product and customer service. What better way to insure you provide both than to havea committed, motivated workforce and a well functioning organization to support that key business purpose.
Many businesses fail or don't achieve their maximum potential in spite of having quality products and services. Why? Often it is because their focus on technology and technical skills is not balanced by attention todeveloping core people skills.
Our mission at NEXT LEVEL Consulting is to:
■Form a partnership with your organization to help define the employee and organizational development needs to meet your goals;
■To institute aprogram to provide those development services;
■To provide follow up and ongoing training as needed.
A dissatisfied customer will complain to up to 25 people about your business. Quality customer service means more than just a smile. While a smile is important, a smile is a tactic. When your employees go beyond tactics and learn the fundamental principles underlying great customer service they will be able to create more than customer satisfaction, they will build customer loyalty. (Business Skills Development)
2. Studies show that more people leave their jobs because of "bad" supervisors and/or managers than for more money.
Equip your current and emerging supervisors, managers, and leaders with the skills to successfully direct and motivate their staff. Not only will this improve productivity, it will reduce turnover. (Management Development)
3. "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight Eisenhower
Leadership is not about commanding or demanding but rather influencing and guiding others to achieve a common goal. While some people are born leaders, the qualities that make an effective leader can be learned and developed. Leadership development is crucial not only to the bottom line but to the ongoing success of any enterprise. (Leadership Development)
4. A team is more than a group of people working together, it is a group of people working together to accomplish a bigger goal than would be possible working as individuals.
Building a cohesive, directed team takes work and skill. Team development is an ongoing process and requires the learned knowledge of what that process involves. A team that is more than the sum of its parts leads to increased productivity, higher employee morale, and reduced turnover all leading to an improved bottom line. (Team Development)
5."Of all the things I've done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them toward a certain goal." Walt Disney.
In High Performance organizations all employees, working as team members, feel fully empowered and engaged in the process of achieving a clearly understood goal. This feeling of involvement leads to higher levels of participation and commitment which leads to a more flexible, stable, and productive work environment. The evolution to high performance is a guided process. (High Performance Development)
NEXT LEVEL Consulting, in partnership with 360 Solutions (a world leader in personnel training development) has created an unparalleled library of learning modules to address and solve each individual businesses' unique people development challenges. Through our team of experts, we've tapped into 30 years of research and marketplace application to breakthrough a complex issue and create a system that is easy to execute and provides quick results.
"The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." -- Peter Drucker
Customers are attracted and kept by a combination of product and customer service. What better way to insure you provide both than to havea committed, motivated workforce and a well functioning organization to support that key business purpose.
Many businesses fail or don't achieve their maximum potential in spite of having quality products and services. Why? Often it is because their focus on technology and technical skills is not balanced by attention todeveloping core people skills.
Our mission at NEXT LEVEL Consulting is to:
■Form a partnership with your organization to help define the employee and organizational development needs to meet your goals;
■To institute aprogram to provide those development services;
■To provide follow up and ongoing training as needed.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
14 THINGS YOUR PROSPECT DOESN'T CARE ABOUT
OCT. 21, 2010 by Don Cooper, The Sales Heretic™
Too many salespeople, professionals and business owners are way too in love with themselves and their products and services. As a result, they spend far too much time throughout the sales process talking about things the prospect doesn’t remotely care about.
It wastes your time and theirs, leaving everyone annoyed, frustrated and cursing each other under their breath.
The simple fact is, your prospect doesn’t care about:
1. Your product
2. Your service
3. Your processes
4. Your research
5. Your people
6. The history of your company
7. The size of your company
8. Your mission statement
9. Your marketing materials
10. Your awards
11. Your quota
12. Your commission
13. Your profit margin
14. You
What do prospects care about?
1. Themselves
2. Their family
3. Their friends
4. Their pets
5. Their company
6. Their job
7. Their causes
Get it?
Good.
If you want to increase your sales, stop focusing on the things prospects don’t care about and start focusing on the things they do care about. Everybody will be a lot happier.
Too many salespeople, professionals and business owners are way too in love with themselves and their products and services. As a result, they spend far too much time throughout the sales process talking about things the prospect doesn’t remotely care about.
It wastes your time and theirs, leaving everyone annoyed, frustrated and cursing each other under their breath.
The simple fact is, your prospect doesn’t care about:
1. Your product
2. Your service
3. Your processes
4. Your research
5. Your people
6. The history of your company
7. The size of your company
8. Your mission statement
9. Your marketing materials
10. Your awards
11. Your quota
12. Your commission
13. Your profit margin
14. You
What do prospects care about?
1. Themselves
2. Their family
3. Their friends
4. Their pets
5. Their company
6. Their job
7. Their causes
Get it?
Good.
If you want to increase your sales, stop focusing on the things prospects don’t care about and start focusing on the things they do care about. Everybody will be a lot happier.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Carola Linnaeus
Excerpted from: University of California, Museum of PaleontologyCarl Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linné or Carolus Linnaeus, is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today (with many changes). His ideas on classification have influenced generations of biologists during and after his own lifetime, even those opposed to the philosophical and theological roots of his work.
Biography of Linnaeus
He was born on May 23, 1707, at Stenbrohult, in the province of Småland in southern Sweden. His father, Nils Ingemarsson Linnaeus, was both an avid gardener and a Lutheran pastor, and Carl showed a deep love of plants and a fascination with their names from a very early age. Carl disappointed his parents by showing neither aptitude nor desire for the priesthood, but his family was somewhat consoled when Linnaeus entered the University of Lund in 1727 to study medicine. A year later, he transferred to the University of Uppsala, the most prestigious university in Sweden. However, its medical facilities had been neglected and had fallen into disrepair. Most of Linaeus's time at Uppsala was spent collecting and studying plants, his true love. At the time, training in botany was part of the medical curriculum, for every doctor had to prepare and prescribe drugs derived from medicinal plants. Despite being in hard financial straits, Linnaeus mounted a botanical and ethnographical expedition to Lapland in 1731 (the portrait above shows Linnaeus as a young man, wearing a version of the traditional Lapp costume and holding a shaman's drum). In 1734 he mounted another expedition to central Sweden.
Linnaeus went to the Netherlands in 1735, promptly finished his medical degree at the University of Harderwijk, and then enrolled in the University of Leiden for further studies. That same year, he published the first edition of his classification of living things, the Systema Naturae. During these years, he met or corresponded with Europe's great botanists, and continued to develop his classification scheme. Returning to Sweden in 1738, he practiced medicine (specializing in the treatment of syphilis) and lectured in Stockholm before being awarded a professorship at Uppsala in 1741. At Uppsala, he restored the University's botanical garden (arranging the plants according to his system of classification), made three more expeditions to various parts of Sweden, and inspired a generation of students. He was instrumental in arranging to have his students sent out on trade and exploration voyages to all parts of the world: nineteen of Linnaeus's students went out on these voyages of discovery. Perhaps his most famous student, Daniel Solander, was the naturalist on Captain James Cook's first round-the-world voyage, and brought back the first plant collections from Australia and the South Pacific to Europe. Anders Sparrman, another of Linnaeus's students, was a botanist on Cook's second voyage. Another student, Pehr Kalm, traveled in the northeastern American colonies for three years studying American plants. Yet another, Carl Peter Thunberg, was the first Western naturalist to visit Japan in over a century; he not only studied the flora of Japan, but taught Western medicine to Japanese practicioners. Still others of his students traveled to South America, southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Many died on their travels.
Linnaeus continued to revise his Systema Naturae, which grew from a slim pamphlet to a multivolume work, as his concepts were modified and as more and more plant and animal specimens were sent to him from every corner of the globe. (The image at right shows his scientific description of the human species from the ninth edition of Systema Naturae. At the time he referred to humanity as Homo diurnis, or "man of the day". Click on the image to see an enlargement.) Linnaeus was also deeply involved with ways to make the Swedish economy more self-sufficient and less dependent on foreign trade, either by acclimatizing valuable plants to grow in Sweden, or by finding native substitutes. Unfortunately, Linnaeus's attempts to grow cacao, coffee, tea, bananas, rice, and mulberries proved unsuccessful in Sweden's cold climate. His attempts to boost the economy (and to prevent the famines that still struck Sweden at the time) by finding native Swedish plants that could be used as tea, coffee, flour, and fodder were also not generally successful. He still found time to practice medicine, eventually becoming personal physician to the Swedish royal family. In 1758 he bought the manor estate of Hammarby, outside Uppsala, where he built a small museum for his extensive personal collections. In 1761 he was granted nobility, and became Carl von Linné. His later years were marked by increasing depression and pessimism. Lingering on for several years after suffering what was probably a series of mild strokes in 1774, he died in 1778. His son, also named Carl, succeeded to his professorship at Uppsala, but never was noteworthy as a botanist. When Carl the Younger died five years later with no heirs, his mother and sisters sold the elder Linnaeus's library, manuscripts, and natural history collections to the English natural historian Sir James Edward Smith, who founded the Linnean Society of London to take care of them.
Linnaeus's Scientific Thought
Linnaeus loved nature deeply, and always retained a sense of wonder at the world of living things. His religious beliefs led him to natural theology, a school of thought dating back to Biblical times but especially flourishing around 1700: since God has created the world, it is possible to understand God's wisdom by studying His creation. As he wrote in the preface to a late edition of Systema Naturae: Creationis telluris est gloria Dei ex opere Naturae per Hominem solum -- The Earth's creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone. The study of nature would reveal the Divine Order of God's creation, and it was the naturalist's task to construct a "natural classification" that would reveal this Order in the universe.
However, Linnaeus's plant taxonomy was based solely on the number and arrangement of the reproductive organs; a plant's class was determined by its stamens (male organs), and its order by its pistils (female organs). This resulted in many groupings that seemed unnatural. For instance, Linnaeus's Class Monoecia, Order Monadelphia included plants with separate male and female "flowers" on the same plant (Monoecia) and with multiple male organs joined onto one common base (Monadelphia). This order included conifers such as pines, firs, and cypresses (the distinction between true flowers and conifer cones was not clear), but also included a few true flowering plants, such as the castor bean. "Plants" without obvious sex organs were classified in the Class Cryptogamia, or "plants with a hidden marriage," which lumped together the algae, lichens, fungi, mosses and other bryophytes, and ferns. Linnaeus freely admitted that this produced an "artificial classification," not a natural one, which would take into account all the similarities and differences between organisms. But like many naturalists of the time, in particular Erasmus Darwin, Linnaeus attached great significance to plant sexual reproduction, which had only recently been rediscovered. Linnaeus drew some rather astonishing parallels between plant sexuality and human love: he wrote in 1729 how The flowers' leaves. . . serve as bridal beds which the Creator has so gloriously arranged, adorned with such noble bed curtains, and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much the greater solemnity. . .
The sexual basis of Linnaeus's plant classification was controversial in its day; although easy to learn and use, it clearly did not give good results in many cases. Some critics also attacked it for its sexually explicit nature: one opponent, botanist Johann Siegesbeck, called it "loathsome harlotry". (Linnaeus had his revenge, however; he named a small, useless European weed Siegesbeckia.) Later systems of classification largely follow John Ray's practice of using morphological evidence from all parts of the organism in all stages of its development. What has survived of the Linnean system is its method of hierarchical classification and custom of binomial nomenclature.
For Linnaeus, species of organisms were real entities, which could be grouped into higher categories called genera (singular, genus). By itself, this was nothing new; since Aristotle, biologists had used the word genus for a group of similar organisms, and then sought to define the differentio specifica -- the specific difference of each type of organism. But opinion varied on how genera should be grouped. Naturalists of the day often used arbitrary criteria to group organisms, placing all domestic animals or all water animals together. Part of Linnaeus' innovation was the grouping of genera into higher taxa that were also based on shared similarities. In Linnaeus's original system, genera were grouped into orders, orders into classes, and classes into kingdoms. Thus the kingdom Animalia contained the class Vertebrata, which contained the order Primates, which contained the genus Homo with the species sapiens -- humanity. Later biologists added additional ranks between these to express additional levels of similarity.
Before Linnaeus, species naming practices varied. Many biologists gave the species they described long, unwieldy Latin names, which could be altered at will; a scientist comparing two descriptions of species might not be able to tell which organisms were being referred to. For instance, the common wild briar rose was referred to by different botanists as Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina and as Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro. The need for a workable naming system was made even greater by the huge number of plants and animals that were being brought back to Europe from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. After experimenting with various alternatives, Linnaeus simplified naming immensely by designating one Latin name to indicate the genus, and one as a "shorthand" name for the species. The two names make up the binomial ("two names") species name. For instance, in his two-volume work Species Plantarum (The Species of Plants), Linnaeus renamed the briar rose Rosa canina. This binomial system rapidly became the standard system for naming species. Zoological and most botanical taxonomic priority begin with Linnaeus: the oldest plant names accepted as valid today are those published in Species Plantarum, in 1753, while the oldest animal names are those in the tenth edition of Systema Naturae (1758), the first edition to use the binomial system consistently throughout. Although Linnaeus was not the first to use binomials, he was the first to use them consistently, and for this reason, Latin names that naturalists used before Linnaeus are not usually considered valid under the rules of nomenclature.
In his early years, Linnaeus believed that the species was not only real, but unchangeable -- as he wrote, Unitas in omni specie ordinem ducit (The invariability of species is the condition for order [in nature]). But Linnaeus observed how different species of plant might hybridize, to create forms which looked like new species. He abandoned the concept that species were fixed and invariable, and suggested that some -- perhaps most -- species in a genus might have arisen after the creation of the world, through hybridization. In his attempts to grow foreign plants in Sweden, Linnaeus also theorized that plant species might be altered through the process of acclimitization. Towards the end of his life, Linnaeus investigated what he thought were cases of crosses between genera, and suggested that, perhaps, new genera might also arise through hybridization.
Was Linnaeus an evolutionist? It is true that he abandoned his earlier belief in the fixity of species, and it is true that hybridization has produced new species of plants, and in some cases of animals. Yet to Linnaeus, the process of generating new species was not open-ended and unlimited. Whatever new species might have arisen from the primae speciei, the original species in the Garden of Eden, were still part of God's plan for creation, for they had always potentially been present. Linnaeus noticed the struggle for survival -- he once called Nature a "butcher's block" and a "war of all against all". However, he considered struggle and competition necessary to maintain the balance of nature, part of the Divine Order. The concept of open-ended evolution, not necessarily governed by a Divine Plan and with no predetermined goal, never occurred to Linnaeus; the idea would have shocked him. Nevertheless, Linnaeus's hierarchical classification and binomial nomenclature, much modified, have remained standard for over 200 years. His writings have been studied by every generation of naturalists, including Erasmus Darwin and Charles Darwin. The search for a "natural system" of classification is still going on -- except that what systematists try to discover and use as the basis of classification is now the evolutionary relationships of taxa.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Top 21 Sales Call Mistakes...And How to Avoid Them
By Geoffrey James
In the era of the Internet, face-to-face meetings with customers are increasingly rare. Because of this, you want to make sure that your customer meeting goes smoothly. With that in mind, here are the 21 things that you absolutely MUST NOT DO when meeting with a customer:
• MISTAKE #1: Fail to plan the call. Sounds simple, but trying to close when should be qualifying (for example) is a lost sale.
Fix: Never enter a door without first thinking about what you plan to accomplish.
• MISTAKE #2. Flirt with the receptionist. It may seem tempting, but unless you’ve got soap-opera-quality looks, chances are you’re only going to annoy (or even alarm) the admin, who will tell the boss.
Fix: Stay polite, friendly and respectful.
• MISTAKE #3: Be rude to the admin. If you act all arrogant and superior, you’ll just antagonize the help.
Fix: Once again, be friendly and respectful of the staff - admin and otherwise.
• MISTAKE #4: Show up with a crowd. If you bring too many people, it will draw customer’s comments about why your costs so high
Fix: Use webconferencing when you need to include additional resources.
• MISTAKE #5: Fail to check your appearance. Don’t show up with something amiss that a quick stop in the client’s bathroom could head off.
Fix: Make a quick pit stop - with a look-over - before the call.
• MISTAKE #6. Pretend to drop by. Who are you kidding? Do you think that it’s going to cushion the rejection if you pretend that it’s not a sales call?
Fix: Have something important to say or sell that justifies your presence.
• MISTAKE #7: Arrive late to the call. If you don’t arrive on time it tell the customer clearly that you don’t give a damn about them or their time.
Fix: Always arrive 15 minutes ahead of time. If you drive to calls, get a GPS.
• MISTAKE #8: Be too business-like at first. Remember you’re building bridges with another human being, not just a notch in your sales gun.
Fix: Smile and be friendly… but don’t get too gushy.
• MISTAKE #9. Be too friendly at first. There’s no better way to seem phony than to pretend the prospect is a long-lost friend.
Fix: Approach each prospect with respect for their time, and appropriate courtesy..
• MISTAKE #10. Talk more than you listen. Initial sales calls are all about relationship building and gathering information, which you can’t do if your mouth is moving.
Fix: Get curious about the customer and ask questions.
• MISTAKE #11. Argue with the customer. If the customer doesn’t agree with an important point, arguing is only going to set that opinion in stone.
Fix: ask the customer why he holds that opinion; then listen.
• MISTAKE #12: Discuss politics or religion. Such subjects are almost always a trap into opinionated quicksand that’s hard or impossible to get out of.
Fix: keep the discussion on business or neutral ground.
• MISTAKE #13: Dive into your product pitch. Sure you’ve got something to sell, but if you pitch too soon, you’ll get pitched out the door.
Fix: Ask questions to understand needs, before you pitch.
• MISTAKE #14: Appear flippant or sarcastic. A good-natured laugh at a joke might be taken personally by someone watching out the window, without hearing the context.
Fix: Watch your demeanor at all times.
• MISTAKE #15: Lack requisite product knowledge. The prospect doesn’t want to hear “I need to get back to you about that”…over and over.
Fix: make sure you’re trained on your current products and policies…before the call.
• MISTAKE #16: Forget the customers’ names. What could be more embarrassing than actually forgetting whom you’re talking with?
Fix: Write down the names down of everyone in the room with a small table diagram.
• MISTAKE #17: Ask personal questions. You may think that the customer is your friend, but you can easily screw up if it gets too personal.
Fix: Keep the conversation focused on business issues, especially the customer’s needs.
• MISTAKE #18. Answer your cell phone. Ouch! Ouch! What were you thinking? How could any telephone call be more important than a real live prospect?
Fix: Turn it off and leave it in your briefcase.
• MISTAKE #19. Overstay your welcome. Your prospect has hundreds of other things that he or she could be doing, rather than spending time with you.
Fix: Set a time limit for the call.
• MISTAKE #20. Let the meeting meander. This isn’t the time for a wandering conversation that slowly gets to the point or a long series of complicated questions.
Fix: Provide brief agenda of how you expect the call to proceed.
• MISTAKE #21: Fail to Follow-up. If you’ve had a successful meeting, you want the customer to remember what was decided.
Fix: Schedule your follow-up activities immediately after the meeting. Then do them.
In the era of the Internet, face-to-face meetings with customers are increasingly rare. Because of this, you want to make sure that your customer meeting goes smoothly. With that in mind, here are the 21 things that you absolutely MUST NOT DO when meeting with a customer:
• MISTAKE #1: Fail to plan the call. Sounds simple, but trying to close when should be qualifying (for example) is a lost sale.
Fix: Never enter a door without first thinking about what you plan to accomplish.
• MISTAKE #2. Flirt with the receptionist. It may seem tempting, but unless you’ve got soap-opera-quality looks, chances are you’re only going to annoy (or even alarm) the admin, who will tell the boss.
Fix: Stay polite, friendly and respectful.
• MISTAKE #3: Be rude to the admin. If you act all arrogant and superior, you’ll just antagonize the help.
Fix: Once again, be friendly and respectful of the staff - admin and otherwise.
• MISTAKE #4: Show up with a crowd. If you bring too many people, it will draw customer’s comments about why your costs so high
Fix: Use webconferencing when you need to include additional resources.
• MISTAKE #5: Fail to check your appearance. Don’t show up with something amiss that a quick stop in the client’s bathroom could head off.
Fix: Make a quick pit stop - with a look-over - before the call.
• MISTAKE #6. Pretend to drop by. Who are you kidding? Do you think that it’s going to cushion the rejection if you pretend that it’s not a sales call?
Fix: Have something important to say or sell that justifies your presence.
• MISTAKE #7: Arrive late to the call. If you don’t arrive on time it tell the customer clearly that you don’t give a damn about them or their time.
Fix: Always arrive 15 minutes ahead of time. If you drive to calls, get a GPS.
• MISTAKE #8: Be too business-like at first. Remember you’re building bridges with another human being, not just a notch in your sales gun.
Fix: Smile and be friendly… but don’t get too gushy.
• MISTAKE #9. Be too friendly at first. There’s no better way to seem phony than to pretend the prospect is a long-lost friend.
Fix: Approach each prospect with respect for their time, and appropriate courtesy..
• MISTAKE #10. Talk more than you listen. Initial sales calls are all about relationship building and gathering information, which you can’t do if your mouth is moving.
Fix: Get curious about the customer and ask questions.
• MISTAKE #11. Argue with the customer. If the customer doesn’t agree with an important point, arguing is only going to set that opinion in stone.
Fix: ask the customer why he holds that opinion; then listen.
• MISTAKE #12: Discuss politics or religion. Such subjects are almost always a trap into opinionated quicksand that’s hard or impossible to get out of.
Fix: keep the discussion on business or neutral ground.
• MISTAKE #13: Dive into your product pitch. Sure you’ve got something to sell, but if you pitch too soon, you’ll get pitched out the door.
Fix: Ask questions to understand needs, before you pitch.
• MISTAKE #14: Appear flippant or sarcastic. A good-natured laugh at a joke might be taken personally by someone watching out the window, without hearing the context.
Fix: Watch your demeanor at all times.
• MISTAKE #15: Lack requisite product knowledge. The prospect doesn’t want to hear “I need to get back to you about that”…over and over.
Fix: make sure you’re trained on your current products and policies…before the call.
• MISTAKE #16: Forget the customers’ names. What could be more embarrassing than actually forgetting whom you’re talking with?
Fix: Write down the names down of everyone in the room with a small table diagram.
• MISTAKE #17: Ask personal questions. You may think that the customer is your friend, but you can easily screw up if it gets too personal.
Fix: Keep the conversation focused on business issues, especially the customer’s needs.
• MISTAKE #18. Answer your cell phone. Ouch! Ouch! What were you thinking? How could any telephone call be more important than a real live prospect?
Fix: Turn it off and leave it in your briefcase.
• MISTAKE #19. Overstay your welcome. Your prospect has hundreds of other things that he or she could be doing, rather than spending time with you.
Fix: Set a time limit for the call.
• MISTAKE #20. Let the meeting meander. This isn’t the time for a wandering conversation that slowly gets to the point or a long series of complicated questions.
Fix: Provide brief agenda of how you expect the call to proceed.
• MISTAKE #21: Fail to Follow-up. If you’ve had a successful meeting, you want the customer to remember what was decided.
Fix: Schedule your follow-up activities immediately after the meeting. Then do them.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Five Rules for Effective Cold-Calling
By Geoffrey James
Cold-calling is always a challenge. Here are five rules to help you make the process as productive as possible:
• RULE #1. Know your target. Based upon your previous sales rates, figure out how many prospects you need in order to generate the number of sales needed to fulfill your quota. For example, if you must generate five sales a week to make quota, and on average you typically close one out of five prospects, you will need to convert 25 leads into prospects every week.
• RULE #2. Know your timeline. Based upon your previous experience, estimate the amount of time it will take to convert those leads prospects. For example, if you typically convert 1 out of 10 leads into prospects and you need 25 prospects a week, you’ll need to call 250 suspects every week. If it takes you, on average, 2 minutes to qualify a lead, you’ll need to spend 8 hours a week making qualifying calls.
• RULE #3: Know your purpose. Cold calls are for prospecting and qualifying leads. They are NOT selling calls. Unless the suspect, of his or her own accord, brings up a desire to purchase, do not go into your sales pitch. In most cases, your goal is to get a meeting with the suspect thereby transforming the suspect into a prospect. Don’t overreach.
• RULE #4. Know your script. Based upon your experience or the experience of your peers and manager, define a conversational way to ask, during an initial conversation, whether or not the suspect has a budget, authority to spend the budget, and a need for your offering. If you need help with this, check out: “The Ultimate Prospect Qualification Tool.”
• RULE #5. Know thyself. Lead qualification requires you operate at peak performance. Think of yourself as a top athlete who must win, even on days when you don’t start out feeling confident and together. Do whatever it takes to get yourself in an up and positive mood. Focus on what motivates you and why you want to win this business.
BTW: These rules are based on a conversation with Thomas Ray Crowel, author of “Simple Selling: Common Sense That Guarantees Your Success.”
Cold-calling is always a challenge. Here are five rules to help you make the process as productive as possible:
• RULE #1. Know your target. Based upon your previous sales rates, figure out how many prospects you need in order to generate the number of sales needed to fulfill your quota. For example, if you must generate five sales a week to make quota, and on average you typically close one out of five prospects, you will need to convert 25 leads into prospects every week.
• RULE #2. Know your timeline. Based upon your previous experience, estimate the amount of time it will take to convert those leads prospects. For example, if you typically convert 1 out of 10 leads into prospects and you need 25 prospects a week, you’ll need to call 250 suspects every week. If it takes you, on average, 2 minutes to qualify a lead, you’ll need to spend 8 hours a week making qualifying calls.
• RULE #3: Know your purpose. Cold calls are for prospecting and qualifying leads. They are NOT selling calls. Unless the suspect, of his or her own accord, brings up a desire to purchase, do not go into your sales pitch. In most cases, your goal is to get a meeting with the suspect thereby transforming the suspect into a prospect. Don’t overreach.
• RULE #4. Know your script. Based upon your experience or the experience of your peers and manager, define a conversational way to ask, during an initial conversation, whether or not the suspect has a budget, authority to spend the budget, and a need for your offering. If you need help with this, check out: “The Ultimate Prospect Qualification Tool.”
• RULE #5. Know thyself. Lead qualification requires you operate at peak performance. Think of yourself as a top athlete who must win, even on days when you don’t start out feeling confident and together. Do whatever it takes to get yourself in an up and positive mood. Focus on what motivates you and why you want to win this business.
BTW: These rules are based on a conversation with Thomas Ray Crowel, author of “Simple Selling: Common Sense That Guarantees Your Success.”
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