Past Performance Predicts Future Behavior Part 1 (for managers and supervisors)

With the current economic state, we are in a pretty tight job market. Employers can afford to be choosier when filling a job opening. With so many applicants knocking at your door, how can you be sure to choose the right one?

A friend of mine recently lost his sales job with a major pharmaceutical company. Part of his strategy for re-employment includes passing out business cards with his title as “Job Seeker” and he lists his qualities as: highly motivated, team player, energetic, results focused, and so on. Great descriptors, but they don’t tell the story of what he can do for me and my business.

Choosing the right employee goes beyond finding the right mix of personality and potential. You must also determine if they can actually do the job. Rule of thumb: if they’ve done the same or similar job in the past and have been successful, you have a greater assurance they will be able to do the job for you. You must be able to see a translatable skill set in addition to a good education, relative job experience, compatible personality, and all the other soft skills. Get the prospective employee to talk about what they did, when they did it, why they did what they did, and the results of their actions. If they speak in hypothetical terms (If this happened, then I would…), then you can conclude they do not have the skill set or experience you are seeking.

A good interview will help you weigh out the great candidates and those who simply aren’t a good fit. This is true for both new hires to your organization as well as those vying for a promotion. Plan at least an hour of your time for questions that will encompass the skill sets and metrics for the job opening. Your interviewee should be able to provide specific examples of a situation where they demonstrated the behavior you are seeking including the actions taken and the beneficial outcome of their actions.

For example, if you are looking for someone who can provide great customer service you may craft a question like this as a litmus test, “Tell me about a time when you dealt with an extremely difficult customer. What made this customer so difficult? What did you do to satisfy this customer? What was the outcome of your interaction(s)?” Ask the question then listen. The candidate should be able to identify the customer, explain the situation, clearly communicate the action taken, and demonstrate the results either as an anecdote or with tangible evidence of their success. Second to this, their example should be relevant to the job they are seeking and recent (within a year if possible).

When you can see a pattern of behavior consistent with the job requirements in a contender, consider a second interview to ensure the best fit. Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior.

If you have questions for the experts at Team @ Work, email us at: kristen@teamatworkcoaching.com

How much is your time worth?

In an environment where time is money, take a minute to consider how much an hour of your time is actually worth. (On a side note, you may find its worth less and less these days!)

If you are an “hourly” employee, you already have a good idea of how much an hour of your time is worth. Factor in benefits and any bonuses you may earn in a time period and add it to your bottom line per hour wage and you have a good estimate. If you are “salary”, it is a little more difficult to pinpoint.
If you work a 40 hour work week, you’ll likely put in 200 productive days per year. Each day will probably yield 7.5hours of actual work time. That equals 1500 hours in a year. Divide that by the amount you earn per year and you’ll get your figure.

Take a look at the following examples:
$35,000 / 1500 hours = $23.33 per hour on average
$55,000 / 1500 hours = $36.67 per hour on average

Use this reference point to help you determine whether or not you’ll commit to a particular task. If it is a low yield task, it could be delegated to someone else. Take administrative tasks, for example. If you are making $40 per hour and you have the choice between spending the next hour making copies or chasing down new business leads, which do you choose? If you have to pay someone over $40 to make your copies for you, it makes sense to do them yourself. Chances are that you can delegate for much less, and take that time to generate new business that will yield you more than $40 for that hour. This is also a great argument to use when determining if you take on a new project or hire additional help.

Use this formula in your personal life too. I had a boss who figured his time was worth about $55 per hour. At this wage, he could justify working an extra hour or two every day and pay a neighbor kid to mow his lawn at $18 per hour. If you are contemplating a major purchase, use this example to see how many hours you have to work to pay for it. You may just decide it’s best to go without!

Do you have questions for the experts at Team @ Work? Ask us-email kristen@teamatworkcoaching.com

Friday Funny: Interview Mishaps

As a Sales Trainer and District Sales Manager, I spent 6 years crafting and conducting interviews. Here are some of the funniest things I’ve heard or seen from potential sales professionals. (Perhaps this should go into the file of “Things NOT to do in an interview”.) Needless to say, none of the applicants got the job.

One young lady espoused her overwhelming beauty as an advantage when calling on “those older physicians who need some eye-candy”. She would often start her answers with, “As a very attractive woman…” (Not that I’m an expert, but she wasn’t all that attractive) She also took great pains to sit in such a way as to show off her “flattering figure”. Funnier still, she only addressed my male colleague regardless of who asked her the question.

One gentleman neglected to observe the time difference between Ohio and Indiana (when there was a difference). Thinking he had arrived 20 minutes early, he was actually 40 minutes late. He tried to cram 60 minutes of information in to the 20 minutes he had left. It left me wanting. Wanting someone who at least knew the subtle nuances of Daylight Savings Time.

Knowing he was going to be late and miss the interview all together, one man called to ask if he could conduct the interview over the phone. He simply didn’t allow enough drive time and was an hour away. I wondered if he thought he could also make all his sales calls over the phone, too.

I had one woman show up wearing a Capri pants suit and sunhat. Very stylish for a day at the beach. Not so much for a job interview.

On closing the interview, one gentleman pressed a lump of Play-Doh into my palm saying, “I’m clay in your hands. Mold me.”

Do you have questions for the experts? Email us at Kristen@teamatworkcoaching.com

SalesPoint: Going above the call of duty (part 1)

This feature is specifically for Sales and Customer Support representatives. We hope to provide valuable tips and insight you can use in interactions with internal and external customers.

Going above the call of duty (part 1)

Sales professionals and customer support representatives play such a valuable role in business. In many instances, the only distinguishing factor between competitors is the quality of service. Price differences are minimal, delivery times are comparable, and product features and benefits are similar. The personal factor, then, becomes increasingly important. With multiple choices, businesses MUST give customers a reason to choose their product or service.

"Going above the call of duty" is one such area where sales and customer support representatives fail to deliver this personal factor. Let me provide you with an example from my own recent experience buying a software package for my home office.

In January, my desktop and laptop both acquired a nasty virus that destroyed both hard drives. As part of the rehab, I decided to upgrade my software package to a more recent version. I initially called the company that manufactured my laptop to see if they offered any packages. They did, and they happily took my order and my credit card number. The next day, I received an email stating that there would be a delay in shipping, but I could expect the disks to arrive in 7-10 business days. A week later, I received another email stating that the disks would be delayed another 7-10 days. The time elapsed and still no disks arrived. So I called customer support (which, I found out later is a call center in India during the day and the Philippines after 6 pm). The first gentlemen couldn't find my order in the system. He transferred me to another CSR who found my order but told me it had been canceled by me a week prior. No dice here as I had not canceled anything. This continued to escalate until I had arrived, 45 minutes later, at the top of the food chain. Here, the manager of the CSR's again apologized but informed me that if I wanted to re-order my software, he could get it in the system and it should arrive in 7-10 business days. No offer to expedite the order, no offer of a discount, no additional help of any kind. No amount of reasoning would get me any further.

The next day, I searched on line and found a "big box" store that offered a similar software package. I called their toll free line and a cheerful woman answered with her name, asked for my name and offered a "how can I assist you today?" After explaining my situation, she quickly searched her database and found that a local store had several copies of the software, in stock and on sale. I fired off questions to be sure it had the same features I wanted, that it would be compatible for both operating systems, etc. She answered all my questions without hesitation and "with a smile". When I thanked her for all her help, she asked if I wanted to have a copy reserved for me at the local store. I said, "Sure." She then proceeded to take all my information down, including a phone number in the event the local store needed to contact me, and asked for a credit card number. At my hesitation, she informed me that this would allow me to simply walk in, visit customer service, show my ID, and walk out with the product. It would be there waiting for me for the next 7 days. She finished with a simple, "Have I answered all your questions?" Wow. What a difference good customer service makes.

As a Sales or Customer Support Representative-are you cheerfully answering the phone with your name and a simple, "What can I do for you today?" When a potential customer asks a plethora of questions, do you answer each one "with a smile"? Do you look for ways to go above the call of duty, even when you know you aren't going to get the sale today? What else can you offer above the bare minimum required by your employer?

People remember when they receive poor service and they tell other people. People also remember when they've received stellar service. As for me-the "big box" store has my loyalty. I'm planning to purchase a Sony Reader soon, and that store will be the first place I look. Can your customers say the same thing about your business?

Do you have questions for the experts? Email us at kristen@teamatworkcoaching.com

Where is your customer? (Product adoption)

Any sales call should begin LONG before the professional sales representative gets in front of the customer. Pre-call planning is imperative for a successful sales interaction. This means reviewing any notes on the customer, previous commitments made by the rep or the customer, as well as a clear determination of where the customer is along the product adoption spectrum.

The product adoption spectrum is a continuum that represents the use of your product or service by the customer:



Each customer's experience or use of a product or service will fall along this spectrum.

• Not aware: The customer has no knowledge of your product or service, but may have experience with a similar product or service.
• Aware: In this stage, the customer indicates knowledge of the product or service, but has not used the product or service. This could be the case with a brand new product entering the market.
• Evaluation: The customer has exposure to the product. This could happen if someone else has purchased the product, and the customer is familiar with it. Or, it could mean that the customer has seen the results of your product or service even though they were not the decision maker.
• Trail: The customer has purchased or agreed to use the product or service on a limited basis. This may be a first time purchase order, use of samples, or a trial subscription for a service.
• Adoption: In this stage, the customer regularly buys or uses the product or service beyond the first time "trial" stage.

Remember, this is a fluid continuum, not four distinct stages. There are multiple steps in each stage, and a customer's position on the spectrum may fluctuate-moving forward or backward over time. Bottom line, your goal as a sales professional is to move the customer along the product adoption spectrum all the way to Adoption. But you won't know how to get there if don't know where your customer is. Before you determine your approach, questions, and sale materials ask, "Where is my customer?"

Friday Funny-Take the Keys First

We're going to try something on our blog-our "Friday Funny" feature. This is an opportunity to share a humorous (and true) story from our own experiences, blunders and mishaps that will encourage you in whatever your line of work. This one is from Kristen's personal HR mishap files entitled, "Take the Keys First"

As a newer district sales manager, I was saddled with the task of engaging an inherited employee in a discussion of their work habits in an effort to determine if this person was, in fact, actually working. In the pharmaceutical industry, sales representatives are largely unsupervised in the day-to-day scheme of things. They drive a company car, have a routing system in place to interface with customers, and enter data into a computer documenting their sales activities throughout the day. Eyebrows are raised when such documentation is only made between the hours of, say, 10 am and 1:30 pm. And this is where I was with this employee.

After a thorough interview, the employee acknowledged that he was going home every day after 1:00 pm because "there was nothing else to do". This was a clear violation of company policy and grounds for termination. The decision was pretty cut and dry.

I had to set up an appointment with this employee for the purpose of termination. I was not looking forward to it at all. Another manager was present to assist me. We had all the official paperwork as well as the storage unit ready for the company car and shipping boxes for his office equipment.

At the appointed time, the employee strolled in to the conference room, tossed his keys on the table and sat down. We hadn't even made it through the first page of our official documentation and the realization that he was being terminated hit him. (I'm not really sure what he was expecting.) He jumped up, stated, "You'll be hearing from my lawyer", grabbed the keys to his company car, and literally ran from the venue. We watched in shock as he pealed out of the parking lot, smoking the tires on the pavement.

The other manager managed a weak smile and stated, "I guess we should have taken his keys first."

Making the most of today, everyday

There are only 24 hours in a day. How that time is spent is a direct reflection of the priorities each of us have in any given day. In our work day, how we spend our time should be a direct reflection of our business's priorities. Hopefully, these priorities are linked to our company's mission, goals, values and strategic objectives. This means spending time on activities that will achieve significant results, contribute to the growth and survival of the organization or department where we work.

Managing your time means spending your time doing what is important.

And only what is important. Too often, we get distracted by peripheral things in our day: chatting with others about non-business topics, checking email or eBay, focusing on projects with lower priority because we like them better, taking on problems or issues from subordinates, trying to do too much at once. All of these activities silently steal the one limited resource over which we have control-our TIME.


Most people view time management negatively. Like our finances, when we talk about "budgeting", thoughts immediately think of only restrictions and limitations.

Most people see a budget as having to cram all the things we have to pay for into a finite resource-our paychecks. If we shift our focus from thinking of a restrictive budget to a spending plan-we can now see freedom in the control we have. Instead of cramming our “bills” into the paychecks, think more about spreading the paycheck over what’s important and know that some things won’t get on that list!!

Example-my husband and I believe it is important for us to have some alone time on a monthly basis-even if it is a night out for pizza without kids. When we looked at our paychecks, the finite resource we have, we decided that cable TV just wasn’t as important as the time alone. So, we dropped cable. Since it moved down on the list of importance, it had to go. Same with our time-unlike money, however, we can’t borrow from the future (loan, credit cards) so once this minute is gone, it’s gone forever.

When we look at time as where to spend it on what’s important, instead of trying to cram all the stuff into an 8 hour shift, perspective changes on where we are going to spend our time. Stephen Covey's principle of "Do first things first" comes into play here. Here are some tips:

• Ask yourself: what is the most important thing I need to do today? Second most? Third?
• When you've set your criteria for "most important"-STICK TO IT.
  
• Schedule the time to complete this "most important" thing FIRST. This doesn't always have to be the first thing that you do-but that you are assured you have the time in the day to complete it. Then schedule the second, and so on.
• Urgency plays a role in determining the timing. The greater the importance and urgency, the earlier in the day for completion.
• Find tasks and responsibilities that can be delegated to another. Although you may enjoy getting out of the office to run to FedEx, this task can be done by anyone. Delegate.
• Get rid of those activities that do not add value to your organization (the time-wasters). Wasted time is lost time. Wasted time is stolen time; stolen from you and your business.
  
• Last, once you have created your time-spending plan, do your best to stay the course.
  

Naturally, things are going to pop up during your work day, but with a clear plan and a set criteria, you can easily determine where in the grand scheme of things this new task will fit: do it now, do it later, delegate, or do nothing.