FROM JIM SIRBASKU’S DESK
 

America's Best Companies
and How They Do It

We have answers for you right here, taken from Profiles research. What we have learned from studying hundreds of America's best companies and conducting interviews with their top leaders is that productive people play a large part in making these organizations go. These companies make the job look easy because their management of people is part of a well-executed plan.

Our survey included more than 1,600 publicly traded U.S. companies and helped reveal the practices that enable them to out-produce their colleagues down the street or across the country. Here are five common traits of America's best organizations:

1. Their cultures are driven by performance, and this performance is the result of an understanding shared by the company’s top leaders. Leaders not only understand the current culture, but they know what the company will look and feel like, and how it will operate, next year and in 10 years. They work as a team and have the skills, tools and experience to bring in only the people who will best fit their culture. They have the courage to reject even highly qualified workers who are not a good match to the culture.

2. Top managers are highly effective. The managers of top U.S. companies are not only personally successful, but they also ensure that the individuals for whom they take responsibility are successful too. The effectiveness of these managers flows from natural talent, and it requires them to communicate, lead others, adapt quickly to change, skillfully build personal relationships, manage tasks with efficiency, take action that gets results, and develop others as well as themselves.

Top companies know what it takes to select, train and retain top managers.

3. High-performance companies accomplish more work with fewer people because they know exactly what everyone does at work. This requires that managers have a clear view of their mission and that they never get off track on other tasks. Highly effective companies scrutinize each request for new positions. They expect more from every employee, asking them to arrive at work on time or early. Quitting time is dictated by the completion of the work, not by the hands of the clock. If someone is doing work that is ancillary to the most important tasks, effective leaders look at ways to streamline it.

As reluctant as leaders of these top organizations are to create new positions, they are eager to invest in technology and training if it means more efficient use of people and less job creation. Running lean and mean turns them into flexible work athletes who can easily handle special projects, seasonal high demands, unplanned worker absences, and other surprises. They are cross trained to do more than one job. When new people come on board, selection and training processes ensure they are productive from the start.

4. They achieve goals at the employee level, which translates to results at the organizational level. With objectives and goals clearly defined, and performance measures aligned to match, employees focus on what matters most. The employee selection process is designed to bring in employees who best fit the job, match the team, and are compatible with their managers. If lack of skill leads to reduced performance, the organization provides training to close the gap.

Companies whose employees are reaching their goals are more likely to be those that have invested in ergonomic furniture and other necessities that enhance employee comfort. They know that reducing injuries and increasing workplace comfort enhances worker satisfaction and productivity.

5. Top companies stress innovation. This doesn't mean they clamor for blockbuster ideas; they are more likely to encourage increased efficiency by fine-tuning products or processes. Small and continued growth is more realistic and less expensive than the occasional "big idea" that turns heads for a short time.

But just as important, these companies encourage the exchange of ideas among employees, managers and top leaders with an open communication style that empowers everyone. And they act quickly on good ideas by putting them into action because they know that inaction is counterproductive.

If you want to know more about top-performing organizations, including which companies are included in our survey, visit www.americasmostproductive.com. You can download the full report and review other important information about what keeps an organization on top. Perhaps some of the ideas you find there will set you on your own path to a clear vision of what is possible.

Jim Sirbasku, CEO
Profiles International

“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” – Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co.

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” – Warren Buffett, investor

“The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.” – Peter Drucker, management consultant

World-Class Salespeople*
 

Spotting the 20% Who Sell the 80%
Who would have predicted that Vilfredo Pareto’s famous 80-20 rule, formulated more than 100 years ago, would still apply to sales organizations today?

Research consistently demonstrates that more than half of those in professional sales lack the basic attributes required for success in this difficult profession—attributes that world-class salespeople possess naturally, or develop through training or single-minded focus. Of the remaining half, 50% have the potential for success in some form of sales but are currently selling the wrong products or services. That leaves about 25% to sell about 80% of the world’s products and services.

Enlightening, isn’t it?

That’s why it’s important for you to be keenly aware of the attributes of world-class salespeople. If you can recognize them, you can hire more of them! You can also tell when salespeople on your team need training and support, and you’ll have a good idea of how to help them.

Measure your salespeople by this list of the ten attributes shared by world-class salespeople:

1. They Possess an Irrepressibly Positive Attitude
All of their glasses are half full and every cloud they encounter has a silver lining. Knock them down nine times and they stand up the tenth. Without this iron optimism, a life in sales is a stressful and daunting existence.
Do your sales heroes live in a partly cloudy or partly sunny world?

2. They Understand that Sales is a Numbers Game
They don’t lose their cool when a call goes badly, a deal goes south, or a first contact ends in refusal—they simply focus more clearly on the next call. They know their hit rate from past experience. They know how often they’ll have to take No! before they get one Yes!
Do your salespeople know the value of their calls?

3. They Live to Prospect
World-class salespeople are prospecting all the time, especially when things are going well. They know that sales success depends directly upon continually filling their pipelines with well-qualified prospects. Prospecting is their obsession. They never stop.
Is prospecting 24/7/365 in your organization?

4. They Are Totally Sales Driven
These people live for the chase that results in a closed deal; they are internally motivated to go to whatever lengths they must to win. They seem to have unceasing energy. Once they decide to act, nothing slows or stops them until they have succeeded.
Are your salespeople in top gear?

5. They are Competitive
They don’t like second place, and they’re not good losers. Sure, they know they must act like good losers from time to time for social reasons. But deep down they need to win, and losses just strengthen their resolve. They can’t be kept in second place for long.
Is your team too good at losing?

6. They are Obsessed with the Next Step
Everything they do is aimed at getting to the next step—the next level of commitment that will gradually instill in the customer the trust and confidence needed for a Yes! World-class salespeople think solely in terms of specifics such as where, when, how, and how much. Concepts like sometime, in the future, later, and whenever, are simply not in their vocabularies. The most successful salespeople at Profiles know that their success is inevitable, but they still drive to “accelerate the inevitable.”
Are your salespeople driving their cases forward at least one step with every customer or prospect contact?

7. They Know that They—and Their Products—are World Class
Quiet confidence oozes from top salespeople, and unbridled enthusiasm for the company—and its products and services—gushes from them at every meeting. No one is left untouched by the passion they exhibit when they talk about themselves, their companies, or their products and services. They evangelize.
Have your people been to the top of the mountain?

8. They Qualify Hard Before Investing Time and Energy
World-class salespeople know that their time is too precious to waste on people who don’t need what they provide. They understand their products and services inside and out, understand the needs they address, understand why their offerings are so much better than those of their competitors, and know enough about their prospective customers to rarely find themselves in front of someone who is not a genuine prospect.
Do your salespeople look before they leap?

10. They Sell Through Customer Knowledge
Ask customers of world-class salespeople what sets them apart and they’ll tell you, “They understand us.” These people never stop trying to find out more information about their customers and their customers’ needs. They know that the only way they can deliver sales is through partnership and problem solving.
How much do your salespeople know about their customers and prospects?

You must look for these attributes when hiring salespeople. It sounds simple enough, but how do you objectively measure these attributes?

Effectively Spot the 20%
That’s a challenge we faced when building our 800-strong worldwide sales force at Profiles, and we met it head on with the development of the Profiles Sales Indicator (PSI). The PSI analyzes your existing salespeople to produce a profile reflecting what it takes to be a successful salesperson in your organization. Using your prospective salesperson’s responses to a 15-20-minute online survey, the PSI objectively analyzes the person for these attributes:

• Competitiveness
• Self-reliance
• Persistence
• Energy
• Sales Drive

By comparing these results with the profile of your most successful salespeople, PSI can predict on-the-job performance in these critical sales disciplines:

• Prospecting
• Closing Sales
• Call Reluctance
• Self-starting
• Teamwork
• Building and Maintaining Relationships
• Compensation Preference

All seven disciplines are essential to the success of the top-performing 20% of salespeople responsible for 80% of all sales.

The PSI’s clear, readable reports can be used for selecting salespeople as well as for effectively managing and training existing salespeople so that they can reach the performance levels of your top performers. PSI worked so well for Profiles that we’re certain it will work well for your organization, too.

Take action today to move all of your team into the 20% zone, and watch your sales soar.

*From the book 40 STRATEGIES FOR WINNING IN BUSINESS by Bud Haney and Jim Sirbasku. © S&H Publishing Co., 5205 Lake Shore Drive, Waco, Texas 76710-1732. All rights reserved. Contact S&H Publishing Co., (254) 751-1644, for reprint permission.
 

“The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.”
– Thomas J. Peters, management consultant