It was 8:30 a.m. in southern Florida and the June humidity was already oppressive, but the young players were moving with precision around the clay court as if programmed by the latest sports video game.  They had been working since 7:00, Rene was barking encouragement, instruction, and though his Spanish accent made it challenging for me to understand, it was infinitely clear the students knew what he wanted.

Do you think that switching a title could have an impact a sales department’s performance – say switching from sales manager to sales coach? I do, and I have been lobbying for sales departments to make this change for years. However, late last week I actually crossed paths with a VP of Sales who made this change a few years back and obviously we quickly became fond of each other. Naturally I was curious about what led him to make that change and his response made perfect sense, to me at least. He said, “I told my team that most everyone can manage, but very few can coach” which I agreed, but asked him to elaborate. To be concise, he went into detail about how in his experience he has found that many sales managers are very good at monitoring and reporting their reps activities and results, but very few of them are actually very good at teaching and coaching their reps how to get better at the activities that lead to favorable results. Amen Brother.

Top three reasons managers believe talent leaves an organization

I was recently looking at some EcSELL Institute data that examined the different needs of more tenured vs. less experienced sales reps.  We asked the reps to rate the importance of their managers being strong in different skillsets.  And across nearly all the different categories from coaching to leadership to planning, the more tenured reps rated their managers’ skills as less important than the less experienced reps, save for one category:  recognizing and rewarding achievements.  This means that all your reps, even those that have been around the block a few times, find the recognition you give them to be one of the most important things you do as their leader.

If an acquaintance asked you to help them move this weekend would you willingly raise your hand or might you quickly come up with a reason to opt yourself out? Likewise, if one of your good friends asked you to help them move would you willingly accept because it would make you feel good to lend a helping hand to a friend in need?

An individual’s personality – how they think, how they feel, how they respond to situations – develops early on in their life.  Those of us that are parents definitely know this.  Oftentimes, a parent will say certain aspects of their child’s personality were apparent even as an infant.  And because so much development occurs in our first five years of life, children start to develop the predictable patterns of behavior that they will demonstrate throughout their lives.  Indeed, most psychologists agree that a person’s personality is pretty well set by the time they reach 18 years of age. 

I despise 360 reviews.  Didn’t like them when they were done on me, didn’t like to do them on others, don’t like them when our members do them, and refuse to do them at the EcSELL Institute.  I’ve never visited with anyone following a 360 that was pleased with their end result, and for a tool that is supposed to be a "growth instrument" I’ve had to council too many execs off the ledge.  Only recently have I been able to articulate my thoughts in a logical fashion. Below are the Three Reasons Why 360 Reviews Stink.

Last week was one of my favorite times of the year here at EcSELL Institute.  We hosted nearly 100 of our members at our annual spring coaching summit.  This year we gathered at the beautiful Dove Mountain Resort in Tucson, Arizona.  Whenever we have a summit, I always enjoy the powerful presentations from our speakers, the good food, and the great surroundings.  But what makes summits really special is the interaction with our members.

I am writing this week’s blog with a great deal of humility, some embarrassment, a little shame, and a lot of new found joy. For the better part of the last decade I have been battling chronic right foot and ankle pain that seemed to get worse and worse with each passing day. At times the pain got so severe that getting from the bed to the bathroom was an excruciating challenge. Although I hate to admit it, the pain had gotten so unbearable that it was affecting my personal life, my professional life, and my mental state – at times it brought me to tears. Naturally, having played countless hours of athletics growing up I, along with seemingly every doctor in Nebraska, attributed my pain to physical wear and tear and poor biomechanics. In that spirit I tried every trick in the book to fix my pain during the last ten years: physical therapy, orthotics, constant stretching and icing, chiropractor, weight loss, all the way to foot surgery, but nothing seemed to make my foot better and all the while my bank account kept getting smaller and smaller. Every single doctor that I visited all focused on where the physical pain was coming from - my foot and not a single person suggested the possibility that the pain might not be physical, but mental. Every doctor I visited with was convinced that there had to be a physical reason for why this pain was occurring whether it be my foot’s mechanics, plantar fasciitis, poor diet, poor posture, on and on and on. And to be fair to the doctors nobody else posed this question either, including me.

Perhaps more than a few can do it, but very few practice it.