Short and Sweet

Short and Sweet

So we talked about how important short and sweet messages are to our employees. It is crucial that your team get your messages and understand them fully.


Steps to ensuring your emails are connecting with your team:

Outline your email messages to ensure you hit each priority
Start with the outline and then expand on each one with 3 additional thoughts (more than 3 and your team will not be able to stay focused)
Send more messages that are short and your team will be so much more responsive.
Use bullet points for simplification. Look at the example below:

EXAMPLE:

Team we need to accomplish several things today. As you know from our last two emails we must ensure that the role out of the new process is successful. First please ensure that ll your team is in the office tomorrow by seven in the morning. Second make sure that your team has read the instructions and understands their roles and how important it is that each person is able to do their job perfectly. Finally, have your team leads gather their teams at the end of the training to recap their progress and determine if there are any best practices that need to be implemented across other team. Thanks

SIMPLIFIED EXAMPLE:

• Team we need to accomplish several things today:
• Please have your team in the office by 7:00 a.m. 
• Please make sure each member of your team has read their roles and responsibilities 
• Please have an end of day meeting to ensure that best practices are shared 

See the difference between the “readability” of the two. The bullets stick out, the numbers are easier on the one email stick out more clearly, and the email itself appears to be shorter. The word count is almost exact. Try it on your next email. If you have ever thought that your team might not be reading or understanding your messages you might need this help and just not know it.


While we are on this topic, let me quickly mention something that we have not talked about yet. Self Analysis is critical for a successful leaders. We all have faults!! You have them. If you are aware of your faults then you are one step closer to “perfection” (tongue in cheek since none of us are perfect) but if you don’t constantly analyze all aspects of your sales management (and your life) then you are not getting better every day!


OK, so now we have seen how Simple is so much better. What about the Sweet? The sweet comes from the fact that if you have anything (I mean anything) negative to say to a person or a team, you need to do it voice to voice or face to face. DO NOT HIDE BEHIND AN EMAIL when delivering a negative message. Trust me, your team and your employees will appreciate your clarity live rather than on an email. In the next few days we are going to talk about several topics, if you have suggestions or questions, please post them so we can address them.


Have an incredible day!!!! Every leader makes a difference, is your one worth following?

Sales Management in 2011

I have been getting a lot of questions lately about sales and sales management.  As everyone knows, how we get to the next level is much different now than even two years ago.
Our sales teams are smarter, our technology is better, and much of our consumer intelligence is almost immediate.
Over the next several articles I will talk about how I have adjusted my sales management techniques, and more importantly how my communication has changed.  
THEY CAN SEE YOUR FROWN IN YOUR EMAIL
Creating an environment for all sales teams, it is critical (as you know) that your messages be direct, short, and positive for the most part.  I laugh every time I get an email as I try to imagine in my head, “what did the persons face look like when they sent that message”.  How many of you have received an email, called the person to clarify and realize that your interpretation of the message was wrong?
In today’s sales environment, it is critical that you follow a few important steps:

• Keep your message short and sweet  (3 short messages are better than 1 long email)
• Use the subject line to let the team know what the message is about (so they can prioritize their reading)
• Use Bullet points and numbering if instructions need to be followed
• If it is a critical email, have someone proof read it.  Or, send it to yourself to see what it looks like when you see it the second time
• Set the tone up front.  Most sales teams like to be recognized for what they are doing right before you ask them for more
• Be consistent.  If your team knows that you are going to send messages at a certain time each day, you will ensure that your messages are read and responded to timely.  

Sales management today is very different.  Results are instant, communication is instant, feedback must be instant.  25 years ago, we used inter-office mail and phones.  Then fax machines became a given and our communication patterns changed.
Well now with Social Media our communications are on warp speed.  
Join us over the next few articles as we discuss:

• How to deliver a new message
• How to create excitement every day for your team
• How to ensure everyone on your team is productive
• How to create “anxious tension”
• Celebrate Good Times (come on) threw that in for you music aficionados

I hope you enjoy this series, but I have an ask of you.  If any of you have ideas, suggestions or questions, please email them to me.  Click here to email me an idea or topic you would like to discuss.