Some people live their lives as though joy were a very limited resource. As if they were allocated an amount at birth, squandered much of their share during childhood and must now, as responsible adults, hoard their remaining supply for some unspecified time in the future. Given these parameters, why would anyone in their right mind waste joy on work?

Let me think. Artists often do. Teachers do, I hope. The waiter at my favorite Wausau restaurant, The Back When Café, does. The vendors I do repeat business with do. The most successful leaders I’ve known do. The organizations that thrive, year in and year out, do. If you agree with the conventional wisdom that joy is an endangered species, then these people are fools. The day will come when they’ll simply run out of their allotment of joy—and won’t you have the last laugh then. However, what if they’re wrong? What if you run out of life with your allotment of joy untouched?

Work is a great place to express joy. If you look, you’ll see that there are so many little opportunities for happiness when you work with people you respect, do tasks that make a difference, and use the talents you’ve been given. If you read that and don’t agree that your job affords those possibilities, then you’re either in the wrong job or not paying attention. No matter which is true, you can and should make some changes.

Remember these thoughts as you listen to the answers to this question. Do people find joy in their work at your organization? What are the implications for you if they don’t? You can help people find joy in their work by showing them how what they do matters. Many people in today’s workplace have no idea how the things they do on a daily basis affect the success or failure of their organization. A receptionist needs to understand that the way he answers a phone could make or break the biggest deal your organization may ever have. A filing clerk needs to know that her daily efforts make it possible for the customer service team to respond quickly to a customer request. A pipe fitter deserves to look at the architect’s drawing and know that, because of her efforts, the building she’s working on will shelter the children at a daycare center. It is your job to help all team members understand the importance of their work. Do that and watch the joy spread.

Years ago I was a salesperson for a large insurance company. Sitting in a client’s office (an unhappy client’s office) I asked to use the phone to call the home office to get the answer to his very pointed question. As I dialed our toll-free number, engaging in silent prayer as I pushed each button, it occurred to me that I hadn’t ever used the main toll-free number before. It was picked up on the third ring and answered by a cheerful person who was chewing gum so loudly I could almost see her jaw working. I was so glad I had dialed rather than my client.

On the way back to my office, I envisioned the confrontation she and I were going to have. I was going to tell her, in no uncertain terms, how unprofessional her behavior was. Chewing gum into the ears of the hundreds of callers she must talk to in a day—what was she thinking? Since it was a thirty-mile drive back, I had time to think through my initial plan and found it lacking. I needed to talk to her leader. No one, it seemed to me, had helped her understand the importance of her job. When she answered the phone, she represented the entire organization to the person on the other end of the line. I was pretty certain that had never occurred to her. Her leader had never asked her how she envisioned her contribution to the success of the entire company.

As a leader, it is fundamental to your job that each person you lead, whether they’re accountants or janitors, understands that they play a crucial part in your organization’s success. If you don’t know how to explain that, or worse, don’t believe that statement is true, stop calling yourself a leader. It is the leader’s job to create the context in which each member of their team does their work. You need to explain it in the beginning, watch for understanding in the daily work, and reward it on a regular basis.

I talked to the receptionist’s leader about the gum chewing. His blank-stare response helped me understand her behavior. I started telling my clients to call in directly to my administrative assistant when they needed to talk to someone in the company. She never chewed gum. I asked her lots of questions—this one on her first day.

A simple question. “We sell things.” “We make things and sell them.” “We publish books.” If you work in a retail or manufacturing environment, those answers should be pretty obvious. What if you provide a service? “We help people solve problems.” “We fix things that break.” “We show movies.” Surface answers all. Printing books, selling something, fixing someone’s equipment allows an organization to present an invoice but does not ensure that anyone makes any money.

Most people have never been taught how business works, a fact that has fueled the Open-Book Management philosophy. In an article in the June 1995 issue of Inc., John Case describes the three elements that make Open-Book Management different.

1. Every employee sees—and learns to understand—the company’s financials, along with all the other numbers that are critical to tracking the business’s performance.

2. Employees learn that, whatever else they do, part of their job is to move those numbers in the right direction.

3. Employees have a direct stake in the company’s success.

Employees in an Open-Book Management organization know how their organization makes money. But, I can hear you saying, “We’re not an Open-Book company and I don’t have the authority to make us one. True. But you can do your homework by asking this question of the members of your team, evaluating the responses, and establishing a plan to help your team see the big picture when it comes to the bottom line.

This could be scary if it occurs to you that you don’t actually know the answer to this question yourself. Don’t use that as an excuse to not ask the question. Use it as a reason to ask it of someone who knows and learn from them.

I remember one of my earliest business conversations involved the kitchen table, my father, and a company called International Business Machines. I was about eleven. Dad was telling us that his company had gotten a contract to make a part for IBM, but his team didn’t know anything about the product the parts were going to be used in. Even at eleven that didn’t make much sense. “How,” I asked, “can you tell if what you’re making is right?” “We can’t,” my Dad replied. “We just wait for them to tell us how close we are to getting it right and then we do it over again.”

This is the partnership question. Leaders who want to deepen their relationships with their customers ask this question often. In fact, it quickly becomes one of their favorite questions to ask. Understanding your customer’s view of their future helps you get a glimpse of your future. Asking this question will get you lots of data. First, there’s the basic information. Information that will give you insights into how you’ll have to innovate or modify your processes and products to meet your customer’s need in the future. Customers who can’t articulate their view of the future may not be a long-term asset for you.

Next, you can judge the excitement level. The future is a funny thing. People and organizations that are excited about the future generally have a promising future. People who are pessimistic about the future often face bleaker times. Who would you rather have on your client list?

When you combine the quality of the information you get from the customer with the enthusiasm level generated by giving the answer, you’ve got impressive insight into your own crystal ball. Targeting those customers who think and plan for the future and are excited about the possibilities the future hold for them seems like a great way to plan your future success. These are the customers you’d like to partner with. But you’ll never know who they are unless you ask the question.

Audience

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Our Case Study

Let’s set up a scenario. Say you have an article you want to sell on how to make a widget. You are going to need to find a way to market and deliver your product to your customer, give them a spot to download it from, and host the web pages associated with selling your product. Typically, this would mean that you would have to go out and purchase a domain name, buy some server space to host your pages from, and then purchase an auto-responder program that will deliver your product to your customer. As you can see, this can seem quite overwhelming. Where do you start? How much will it cost? Well, the good news is that there is no cost associated with any of this.

Tip 76: Avoid the Term Negotiate When Possible.

The word negotiate connotes a winner and a loser, or at best a compromise between two dissatisfied people. Instead of “negotiating” use phrasing such as “come to an agreement,” “work out a plan,” or “arrive at a workable solution.” Wording goes a long way in establishing a friendly atmosphere where everybody feels like a winner.

Tip 77: Consider Several Kinds of Goals Before You Begin Discussions.

To make sure you don’t get sidetracked in talking, identify several different kinds of goals: your primary goal, your immediate goals, your long-term goals, your “nice to haves,” and your safeguards. Within each of these frameworks, set ranges. What is the “best” you can expect and what is the “worst” position you can accept? Keep all in mind as you work toward agreement.

Tip 78: Research Your Position and the Situation.

Take the time and make the effort to support your position or requests. Read. Gather statistics. Talk to experts. Survey others for majority opinions. When you get ready to talk, you’ll have adequate facts and opinions to support what you want done. And the more you know, the better your position to negotiate a win for everybody involved.

Tip 79: Set Up a Cooperative Atmosphere.

When the other person feels like a loser in your discussions, you’ll worsen your own position. Yes, work to get what you need, but work also to get the other person what he or she needs. Body language, tone, and word choice go a long way in establishing cooperation rather than competition.

Tip 80: Give Something at the Very Beginning.

When you start a discussion, be gracious enough to offer something for the good of the others involved: give them a small gift, buy them dinner, spend extra time with them, give attention to their hobby or family, or concede a point. Thoughtfulness in any of these ways returns to dividends. Giving something makes the other person feel as though he or she should reciprocate.

Tip 81: State Your Needs Up Front and Ask the Other Person to Do the Same.

You can both investigate invalid assumptions and find common areas of agreement before you tackle more difficult issues. Often people are surprised–pleasantly–that people’s wants and needs are easier to satisfy than they first assumed.

Tip 82: Mention Everything You Want Sooner, Not Later.

If you delay in mentioning a key issue until later in the discussion, chances are the other person will consider your attempt to be deceptive. To avoid casting doubt on your intentions, start with all the issues on the table.

Tip 83: Bring Success Stories to the Table.

As you begin discussions about conflicts or needs, suggest that both of you relate ways you’ve seen other people solve the same problem or conflict you’re facing. Tossing out these stories as alternatives offers a starting point for your own situation in a “safe” way–sharing them reminds both people that success is possible.

Tip 84: Make Good Eye Contact as You Negotiate.

If you avoid eye contact or look at the other person only briefly as you talk, that person may interpret your lack of contact as evasiveness, dishonesty, incompetence, or lack of conviction. To show your honesty and openness, look at people directly.

Tip 85: Start on the Less Important Issues and Work Toward the More Difficult.

You’ll gain momentum toward agreement, and you’ll have more time invested in finding a resolution. The more “success” you have in turning each minor point to a mutual advantage, the more emotional strength you’ll gain to work on the more complex issues.

Tip 86: Get Others to Invest in Agreement.

The more time, money, or effort people have spent in negotiating, the more likely they will continue trying to come to agreement. They hate to think all that work, money, and frustration, or delay has amounted to nothing. The more time they spend working with you to hammer out an agreement, the more committed they will be to working out any problems that crop up along the way.

Tip 87: Start with Goals, Then Move to Solutions.

If you start with solutions to a problem and one or both of you can’t accept the stated solutions, you may remain at odds forever. If, on the other hand, you state only your goals or motivations, then you can either accept or reject solutions as necessary and still come to an agreement that allows both of you to meet your goals.

Tip 88: Adopt a Brainstorming Technique to Generate Solutions.

Once you have stated goals or motivations, then generate possible solutions together as a team rather than as adversaries. After you have a list of possible solutions, select the best two or three solutions and focus on those. Finally, work out the details of each of those solutions and select the best.

Tip 89: Substitute “We” for “You and I.”

Let language imply your intention to work out an agreement to everyone’s advantage. Examples: “What would we have to do to get X to happen?” “What if we changed our criteria for hiring to include only five years’ experience?” “How can we design this schedule so your people don’t have to work overtime and so our people can meet the customer’s deadline?”

Tip 90: Tag the Other Person’s Unalterable Positions.

As you brainstorm solutions and test the details, tag unalterable positions the other person mentions or implies. Determine the difference between “won’ts” and “can’ts.” Once you tag the unalterables, you’ll know how much leeway you really have in coming to agreement.

Tip 91: Ask for More Than You Expect.

First, you might be surprised and get everything that you want. Additionally, you allow yourself room to move–trading coupons for other issues you want to buy during the discussion. Finally, you have some spare coupons to give to the other person to make him or her feel like a winner also.

Tip 92: Negotiate by “The Golden Rule.”

Treat others with the same respect for their best interests as you would like to have shown for your own best interests. This rule should set the stage and raise and lower the curtain on any successful discussion.

Audience: sales reps
Message: Sales success means knowing your customer.
Tone: motivational, instructional
Timing: 8—9 minutes

The days of the one-night stand are over. Today’s selling relationship is a marriage; both partners must commit to it. Less-effective salespeople are still selling products,… while customers are buying relationships.

Second, the days of mass-marketing are gone. Everyone needs a custom solution. The competition is still busy making red soda-straws and doesn’t want to change. But our customers are asking why they can’t have striped and plaid ones.

Nothing fails like success,… success that has become stagnant. To stay in the market today, we’ve had to listen to our customers and make some changes. Not one-time changes. But daily, monthly changes.

So I guess what I’m saying to you is this: Get to know your customer as well as you do your marriage partner. Develop intimacy.

In marriage, that intimacy is developed by talking. By sharing self-knowledge. It’s the same with your customers. They want intimacy. They want to hear what you know about your company’s service, technology, products, future plans. What can you do for them specifically now? What plans do you have to meet their needs tomorrow and during the next decade?

We’ve come full circle. The days of chomping at the bit while sitting in new-product orientation sessions, I hope, are over. Just such knowledge is what the customer demands when you get to her door. Educate your prospects. Given a choice between a low-priced, no-frills, what-you-see-is-what-you-get product and a higher-priced product that comes complete with a knowledgeable salesperson to act as a consultant, today’s customer is choosing the knowledge base. The more your customers know about your products, the more likely they are to buy.

If you don’t know your product, you’re being irresponsible in the relationship.

But intimacy requires more than self-talk. To get intimate with your customers, you have to help them disclose self-knowledge.

Never stop asking questions. It’s amazing what a few minutes spent with your customers will tell you about what needs they have. Know what benefits motivate them. Charles Revson once said about his marketing of Revlon products: “In the factory, we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.” Find out what motivates your customer—the benefits they want, not just the features.

That’s valuable knowledge to us as management. To stay competitive, we’re going to have to turn your customer’s wants-and-needs list into next year’s products and services. You can help us do that. Lead your customer to disclose self-knowledge. Then pass it on to us.

Although I’ll add a side note: Here’s where the marriage analogy breaks down. My advice is not to disclose your spouse’s snoring or spending habits to friends or neighbors. But such customer knowledge is valuable to us here at (company).

Selling, like marriage, also involves changing. The newlywed husband who expects to have a gourmet meal set before him every night promptly at seven is in for a surprise. His expectations are going to need to be changed. Likewise, with your customers.

You may have to change their expectations to build volume. Under normal conditions, customers call a real estate agent, expecting to buy one house. But what if they learned that most customers buy two houses—one to live in and one to rent out as an investment? You’d have to change their expectations if you wanted to sell them two houses.

If your customers expect to order only six-months’ supply from you, you’ve got to lead them to expect to need a two-year supply. If they expect only a product—one your competitor also offers—you’ve got to lead them to expect that they will need training to use that product. And guess who is the only provider of that now-expected training?

Another facet of the marriage relationship is protection. Happily married people protect each other physically—or at least try to. They protect each other’s health by the right kind of diet and insistence on more rest and less stress. They protect each other’s reputation. They protect each other’s best interests in general. Likewise, with the sales relationship.

You have to protect your prospects. Big-ticket items represent a risk—customers have to risk their money on something you claim is worth the price. You have to reduce their perception of risk by offering guarantees. By making it easy for them to believe you. By encouraging them to talk to satisfied users. Let them taste it, feel it, see it. Tell them about our buy-back policies. Assure them you’ll be there to hold their hand through the birth.
And what would marriage be if partners couldn’t count on each other to “be there” for them? That’s your role, too, with your customer.

When there’s a problem, be there to add value. If you’re present, ready to help when problems surface, customers will remember you forever. They will fall in love.

And, as in all marriages, there are the all-night sessions. The arguments, the tears, the truth-telling. You need that—especially with prospects,… and with customers you lose and must win back.

Ask prospects why you failed—sincerely. Was the product not suited to them? Did you really not understand their needs? Is the customer afraid the value won’t be perceived by the rest of the work family, especially higher-ups? Did you just not communicate well? Was your proposal off target? Were you unresponsive when they had questions and wanted answers?

At worst, with such specific questions, you may get some good feedback. At best, the prospect might change her mind.

I challenge you to look for a marriage relationship out there tomorrow. Make a date and tell customers about who we are—and keep telling.

Encourage them to tell you about their wildest dreams.

Protect them; reduce their risk so they can make that buying decision.

Add value by “being there” for them when there’s a problem.

When you don’t get the second date, ask why? What can you do differently when you court the next prospect or customer?

I want to leave you with one last comment from an acquaintance of mine: “A sales job is easy. I just keep reminding myself these are not really people—they’re only customers.” That observation comes from supersalesman, J.K. Duff. [Start to walk away from the podium; then turn and add the last word.] Unemployed.

Audience: sales reps
Message: Sales success means persistence.
Tone: motivational
Timing: 6-8 minutes

Common terminology aside, there’s no such thing as “hard sell” and “soft sell.” According to CEO Charles Brower, There’s only “smart sell” and “stupid sell.”

Pig-headed persistence is not what I’m getting to. Planned persistence is.

I’m not suggesting the method of the bachelor who suddenly decided he wanted to get married. He proposed to his current sweetheart, and she turned him down. Disheartened, he was sharing his frustration with a friend who advised him not to despair but to be persistent…. So the next day, he stood on the street corner and proposed to every woman who passed.

You’ll agree that was “stupid sell.” Persistence involves being persistent at the right things.

It involves identifying those prospects and current customers who need your products and then keeping your face,… or phone number,… or fax number,… or friendly letter in front of them consistently. Persistently.

Even when they send mixed messages. I knew a man who checked in for a flight at the airport and purchased a million dollars of life insurance from the automatic machine. Then being one to play with gadgets, while waiting for his flight, he wandered over to one of those scales that gives out a fortune card. His card read, “A recent investment is going to pay a big dividend.”

Like he was, you may feel disheartened and even skeptical from time to time with customers who string you along. When they ask you to “drop by” and you have to invest a little more time with them, you may not always be sure that’s good news.

But persistence—planned persistence—does pay. It simply takes patience.

And when I think of patience, I think of fishing. In my way of thinking, nothing takes more persistence than sitting in a boat out in the middle of the water for hours on end with nothing to stare at but that little bobbing on the surface or tug on the line.

Like fishermen, persistent salespeople need these five qualities: Trust…. Vision…. Commitment…. Courage…. Accountability. Let’s take them one at a time.

You have to trust that your persistent effort will pay off. The vacation-only fishermen often have the fish or cut-bait philosophy. But those who do it for a living trust their skill and know-how to pay the bills.

Persistent salespeople have to envision the pay-off. You can’t keep taking snapshots of the day-to-day still-life. You have to take movies of the whole party—the long-term plan. You as successful sales reps have to motivate yourselves by envisioning the reality of reeling in the big one. You envision the kind of fish you want to catch, then you choose the appropriate place and lure.

Persistent salespeople have to commit to their long-term plan. You can’t get the big fish if you row out only so far, decide the fish aren’t biting, and then head back for shore. Staying in the deep water takes commitment to the whole trip. Once in the appropriate, promising fishing hole, you as successful sales reps develop a network inside your client’s organization. You look for new internal clients if your first contact isn’t biting.

And when someone bites and you make the sale, persistence means a call back. You ask for referrals and personal recommendations. You always think leverage. How can I use this open door? Who else can benefit here if I get the word to them?

And once you get the door open, keep it open. Studies show that within 10 years, 81 of every 100 customers just drift away. Persistence means keeping them on the line—for good.

Persistent salespeople have to have courage when motorboats and skiers dash around them. The tendency is to look for a new fishing hole. If you do your homework up front and know the prospect has a need, why change holes? Keep your line in the water. You may even have to add another pole or two to discourage the skiers from coming too close and getting tangled up in your business.

Finally, like fishermen, persistent salespeople are accountable. People who fish for a living don’t return to shore after half an hour with, “The lake’s too big and the fish aren’t biting.” They figure out how to make them bite.

Successful sales reps like you know that progress comes from a detailed plan. You don’t look to someone else to feed you all your leads. You don’t blame the support people for lack of service. You don’t complain about the sales literature not being helpful. You are accountable. You feel responsible for the plan, you will be responsible for the results, you deserve the credit.

About persistence and consistency, Vince Lombardi said it best:

Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit…. Unfortunately, so is losing.

Success is getting up before dawn one more time. For the fisherman, success is trusting your skill and your reel. Success is an insight about where the fish will most likely bite. Success is commitment to stay in the boat, the courage to reel in the big one, and the accountability for the results when returning to shore.

To the sales rep, likewise. Success is long hours…. Trust in your skills and knowledge…. Vision to prospect…. Commitment to persist…. Courage to leverage for other sales, higher volume, better referrals…. Accountability to us, your families, and yourself for your success.

Audience: sales reps
Message: Sales success is a matter of good time management.
Tone: motivational, instructional
Timing: 12-13 minutes, depending on insertion of details about paperwork

Somebody once said that a motivational speech is like a Saturday night bath—the effects wear off quickly. My favorite saying about motivation is that it energizes incompetence. At best, there are limitations with only motivational pep-talks. They tend to create immediate peaks and long valleys.

Even though I get motivated when I watch Jane Fonda do her workouts, that doesn’t necessarily help me peel off my own flab. That’s why I plan to be more instructional today than purely motivational.

I don’t mean to leave the impression that motivation isn’t important. Even though the effects quickly wear off, you do keep bathing. And even though motivational quickies wear off, we need them. We need to energize our can-do spirit.

But I want to offer you something more than motivation. I want to leave you with some concrete techniques you can use tomorrow morning. We’re beyond hit-and-run selling.

Used to be, all you had to worry about was finding a map of your territory and then making calls. But being state of the art in sales now means that you have to become your own general manager.

Competitive companies like ours are now asking that you be responsible not just for sales volume, but also for seeing that volume makes us profitable. We are expecting you to sell internally to get the support you need. To work with the delivery people,… the installers,… the service people. We expect you to negotiate effectively with the customer within the ranges we outline.

And often, we expect you to develop your own marketing plan. Those of you who’ve been most successful find that you’re conducting product seminars for your customers, coordinating direct-mail, and even designing your own advertising campaigns. And, of course, you’ve always had to learn to balance your high-activity accounts against the time and yield of low-volume accounts.

So what does this “state of the sales industry” address mean to your daily schedule? You’re beyond the techniques that made you successful as a hit-and-run salesperson. You have the same hours in the day, but you have to use them more efficiently.

The sales cycle used to be about 30 days from presentation to close. Today it’s about (number) months. You often have the technical buyer, the user buyer, the economic buyer, and the coach buyer. Four different people or groups you have to make your pitch to. That means it takes much more time to earn the same dollars.

That means that no matter how new the “state of the art” in selling, we are still back to the basics of selling: Time is your best tool; you have to use it to our advantage.

Although time-management tools aren’t new to you, they get lost in the garage on occasion. May I remind you of a few:

First, set priorities. We keep telling you to add value to the products. To be there when customers need answers to their problems—to offer more and more consulting services. But you may be feeling frustration. “If my day is already full,” you may be wondering, “how am I going to add value?”

Focus on the 80/20 rule again. Eighty percent of your results comes from 20 percent of your activity, from 20 percent of your clients. So list all your activities and set some priorities. What activities bring in the most revenue? What things could an assistant do to free you up for those top selling activities? Could you pay a $20,000 assistant to increase your commissions by $50,000? What activities could you stop doing to give yourself more time to concentrate on those profit-making priorities?

You’ve heard it said: “You win some; you lose some, but you’ve gotta get dressed for them all.” Maybe. But that doesn’t mean you have to take the time to rent a tux and get a haircut just to go out for a Big Mac. Some sales efforts call for blue jeans. Only the most profitable demand time to rent a tux.

Second, determine the right mix between reach and frequency. You always have to balance these two: Do I spend my time and budget reaching more people with our message? Or spend my time contacting the people who buy more frequently? Generally, it’s more important for your potential customer to get your message more often…. than for a large base who may or may not be potential customers to hear your message sporadically.

Third, learn to give CPR by phone. Telemarketers are having great success with what telemarketing expert George Walther calls CPR. Consult…. Personalize…. Recommend…. Consult by asking questions of the customer about his or her needs. Personalize by explaining the benefits of your product in terms of the needs the customer has just expressed to you. You’ve asked the right questions. You’ve intelligently related your answers to the customers’ needs. Then at that point, you’re in a position to recommend what the customer needs to buy from you.

With the cost of our average sales call now topping $(amount), we’ve got to get off the plane and on the phone. Nobody said the telephone has to be impersonal. Just remember, not the same pitch to everyone. CPR. Consult…. Personalize…. Recommend….

Fifth, use letter-writing as a pro-active sales strategy. Instead of those three-hour, goodwill-building visits, write a “thinking-of-you” letter or note.

Such as “Saw a great article that answers some of the questions you raised last month. I’m enclosing a copy.”

Such as “Harry Smith ran into me at the convention last week and asked about you. You may want his new address and phone number, which I’m enclosing.”

Such as “I’m wondering how your new (product) is working out for you. Do you need a (product) to go with it?”
Letter-writing, once you get a collection of models for your customers, can be a sales strategy unto itself. A side benefit is that it builds goodwill in less time than a half-hour phone conversation or a two-hour trip to the customer site.

Fifth, stop putting everything in writing. Get rid of those ubiquitous transmittal letters that say, “Here it is.” That habit ties up your sales correspondence in the word-processing pool for days. Just put your business card or a handwritten note on the literature, the price list, the specs and put them in the mail. Underline the answers to their questions in the sales lit. A handwritten note says to the customer that you’re personalizing your pitch,… that you listened to their needs,… that you preferred a speedy response to a formal typewritten transmittal.

Just decide how formal the paperwork has to be. If a note will get the job done, why send a 20-page report or proposal?

[Insert details about which paperwork you as a group can eliminate or do more efficiently.]

Sixth, get rid of the clutter. On the plane this week, I saw a sales rep who probably thought he was being efficient. No sooner had we gotten off the runway than he had his briefcase out, trying to fill out his expense report. The problem was that he spent half an hour listing his expenses on half a page because he couldn’t find anything. A receipt in this pocket. A receipt in that pocket. A blank form—somewhere. Now, where did he lose that pen? Clutter is not the sign of hard work. It’s the hallmark of the disorganized and the inefficient. Get organized.

Abraham Lincoln quipped: “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Ask yourself at the end of the day tomorrow, at the end of next week, are you using your time or losing your time?

If you’re losing it, set priorities. Determine the right mix between reach and frequency. Give CPR by phone. Adopt a pro-active letter-writing strategy. Stop the unnecessary paperwork. Get rid of the clutter.

In sales, well done is better than well said.

Audience: employees, civic associates
Message: I commend you for your hard work and your success.
Tone: informal
Timing: 4-5 minutes

You may have met a couple like this: The husband and wife have been married for about 40 years, but the wife grows increasingly unhappy. After all her efforts to communicate her feelings to her husband, she finally gives up on resolving the conflict herself. So she persuades her husband to go with her to their minister for counseling. The minister asks the husband what he sees as the problem in the relationship, and he details his wife’s growing solitude and grumpiness. Then the minister turns to the wife and asks her what she identifies as the difficulty.

“My husband never tells me he loves me,” she answers.

“How about that?” the minister probes with the husband. “Are you aware that a woman frequently needs to be told that she’s loved?”

The husband looks downright insulted. “I told her I loved her the day we got married. If I ever change my mind, I’ll let her know.”

Even if you don’t identify with that couple in your personal life, you may in your corporate life. After all, when we recruited you here at (company) we told you that you were special. And in your periodic performance appraisals, somebody pats you on the back.

So why tell you again how much we appreciate you? Well, someone put it like this: “Appreciation is like an insurance policy. It has to be renewed occasionally.”

Today we want to extend the coverage—for years to come. My purpose is simply to tell you that we think you’re doing a maximum job with minimum recognition. The equipment we’ve been using has not exactly been state of the art. The customer’s specifications and instructions are not always what anyone would call lucid. And the potential for profit on this latest project will probably be minuscule.

But you’ve given it your best—regardless. You’ve had a great attitude about everything we’ve asked you to do. You’ve performed well under pressure deadlines with near perfection. You’ve accomplished something we can all be proud of. Without you, we’d soon find ourselves without the talent necessary to compete and survive.

As part of our efforts to show you our appreciation, we have begun a company newsletter in which several of you will be highlighted in the coming months. Let us know who’s doing what where so we can get our editorial crew out to interview them and share their expertise with the whole company.

You can contact (name and department) to pass on your suggestions for this recognition. With those referrals, you’ll be doing the newsletter editor, the spotlighted employee, and the rest of us a service. Great work deserves notice.

And we want to continue to receive your input on how we can do a better job for our customers—both internal customers and external customers. You know best what it takes to get your job done and where the wastes are.

You can tell us best what changes still need to be made and in what areas you can contribute more. You can tell us best what we need to do more of and what we need to do less of. Your input makes a direct impact on our bottom line.

We appreciate your concern in all these ways: your enthusiastic spirit,… your creativity,… your attention to detail,… and the sound business sense that we have needed to make this corporation profitable.

As you help us meet our business goals of profitability, we can in turn help you meet your personal and family goals of job stability,… good salaries,… and a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Although I won’t play the part of the out-of-touch husband, I am sincere when I say that you as individuals are uniquely important to us. You’ve worked hard with great results and we appreciate it.

Keep up the good work.