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Patrick T. Malone Articles

Written by: Patrick T. Malone

Creating a Common Goal for Every Call - Click To Read Article
The opening of a sales call sets the tone for how the rest of the conversation is going to proceed and very often has a significant impact on the outcome. Knowing the most effective way to begin each call is critical to your success.

Are you an amateur or a professional? - Click To Read Article
Over the years I have had the privilege to ride with a number of reps both from manufacturers as well as distributors. Those ride-alongs and these columns in Vet-Advantage plus the weekly sales tips are designed to help more amateurs move up into the professional ranks. A recent extended trip into the field provided me with a stark comparison that I would like to share with you.

Business Author Published in new Book to Help Mourners Find Hope - Click To Read Article
The death of a loved one is one of the most stressful and painful experiences any human will experience. To support mourners through this intensely isolating life passage, "Open to Hope: Inspirational Stories of Healing after Loss" has been published, which includes two articles written by Patrick T Malone, co-author of the popular business book "Cracking the Code to Leadership" along with guidance, stories and validation from close to 100 other national experts in the area of grief and loss.

I Don't Understand... - Click To Read Article
I'm getting older and supposedly wiser and yet the number of things I don't understand is increasing at an alarming rate. I don't understand it!

NIQCL is more than 5 cents. - Click To Read Article
"Many failures in sales initially seem like a success to the rep! They get their perception of the facts, and propose a solution that makes sense to them. The problem is they didn't get the customer's perception of the facts, so their solution may not be sensible to the customer."

Doing business from the customer's perspective - Click To Read Article
Customer-centric organizations and individuals have always been more successful in starting and growing a business. Almost every company has some reference to "our customers" in their mission or vision statement. But few actually follow through on those promises because they try to be interesting to the customers rather than INTERESTED IN their customers. Here is a quick little guide to help you align with your potential customer's various points of view.

Establishing a Common Goal for any Conversation - Click To Read Article
First impressions often make the difference in getting the job, or making the sale. Similarly the first few seconds of an important conversation set the tone for how the rest of the conversation is going to proceed and very often has a significant impact on the outcome. Knowing the most effective way to begin important conversations, at home, in business or in a civic setting, is critical to your success.

Stop trying to be interesting and be INTERESTED. - Click To Read Article
Last week I wrote about identifying your potential follower/customers point of view at any moment in the conversation. And we introduced you to Apathetic Agnes through Confident Connie with a variety of other attitudes in between. So now that you have answered, “Where are you?” the next question is “What do I do now?” The simple answer is be INTERESTED, not interesting.

Effective Listening Skills - Click To Read Article
"I listen fine. It's everyone else who has a problem." Unknown, unsuccessful, entrepreneur One of the cardinal rules of business is listen to your customers and most businesses hear their customers. However, only a few successfully interpret what their customers are saying. So the issue is not listening to "hear" but listening to "understand".

Coaching: The Six Step Process - Click To Read Article
With society's current focus inward, the concept of helping others succeed may not seem like the answer to the perennial question, "What's in it for me?" And yet when one does stop long enough to contemplate the commonality of the success around us, we begin to see how coaching others to succeed plays a central role in our individual success.

Good Enough Isn't - Click To Read Article
One of the biggest frustrations within the corporate learning community is the concept that conscious competence is good enough. In today’s difficult economy the competition for the fewer dollars available puts a premium on skill and what was good enough yesterday has become today’s minimum expectation. It’s time for the learning community to raise the bar and establish unconscious competence as the new goal of every learning opportunity. This will require the commitment of the corporate decision makers, those who coach the learners and the learners themselves.

You are too dumb to vote! - Click To Read Article
For some time now I have had the feeling that the majority of American people had so little grasp on the realities of economic, business, foreign, defense and global policies that there should be some kind of an awareness test that voters must pass before being allowed to vote.

Technology Professionals as Full Business Partners - Click To Read Article
In the last few months much has been written about IT Professionals expanding their business expertise in order to participate as full business partners in their respective organizations. Acquiring a basic understanding of other business disciplines such as finance, operations, marketing & sales, logistics and strategic planning have all been mentioned as advantageous credentials. Unfortunately simply acquiring knowledge is a good step forward but relatively inadequate if one cannot use that knowledge skillfully. This is where Leadership, the ability to gain wholehearted followers for a given course of action, is essential.

Is It What They Know? Or How Skillfully They Use That Knowledge? - Click To Read Article
Educating someone about a concept or an idea is relatively easy. Training someone to utilize that information skillfully in everyday business is an entirely different matter. For instance, your managers have been trained and educated on how to deliver feedback and manage their team, and when their employees follow the steps that the managers have been taught, all is well. But what happens when an employee fails to stick to the script and acts differently than the manager’s training manuals say an employ should act?

It is your Resume or your Obituary? - Click To Read Article
I know you. You are a business friend or associate who has recently found themselves in the job market. I know you are a professional who has an array of competencies than have produced good results in the past and have the desired skills or abilities to produce more excellent results in the future. You should have companies competing for your services except you made one mistake. You sent them your obituary and called it a resume!

Personal Responsibility Update - Click To Read Article
Hollywood sources are reporting that Oliver Stoney, famed producer and director, has acquired the screen rights to a yet unpublished book with the working title, Impersonal Irresponsibility. Sources tell us the cast of characters includes a thirty-ish personal injury lawyer who upon learning he has TB, books airline flights around the world. Powerful dialogue includes the line, “Nobody told me not to.”

Is It Training or Education? - Click To Read Article
The word Training has been used to describe so many activities that the word has lost its meaning and value. In reality, most of the training in corporate America is education. Education provides knowledge but training provides the enhanced ability to perform. Consider this: Which gives the greatest return on investment – Education or Training – when it comes to leadership, teamwork, supervision, coaching sales and service? Training is the process of bringing a person to an agreed standard of proficiency by practice and instruction. Yet what is actually performed is mostly instruction with little to no practice.

The Marketplace of Fear - Click To Read Article
Much of today's marketplace malaise is being blamed directly on fear. The fear of the unknown, the fear of new taxes, the fear of new regulations, etc. all have been cited as causes for the continuing worst economic period since the Great Depression. Real or imagined this fear has caused a paralysis in our business communities and delayed the inevitable recovery. Realistically many of the causes of this fear are out of our control but that is no reason for us to give up trying to grow our businesses and help others grow theirs. The big problem is that most of the decision-makers and/or leaders across today’s business spectrum have only known growth and prosperity. The last period of real economic difficulty occurred in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

Cracking the Code Successful leadership begins with great followership. - Click To Read Article
For decades, experts have said that leadership is intangible, un-measureable. But if you look at any great leader, you see that leadership is clearly measurable. Leaders are determined by their followers. No followers. No leader. In business, leadership occurs at all levels – from the executive suite to the shop floor – and at every level in between. Influential leaders, no matter what title they have or role they play, are those with willing followers. Leadership is merely getting wholehearted followers for a given course of action.

Change starts with you - Click To Read Article
“Only Government can fix the mess we are in”, President Obama. “Government is the problem…”, Nate McCulloch Gwinnett Daily Post We speak of government as if it were our neighbor, pastor, teacher, friend or foe. It is none of these and yet it is all of these. Government, at any level, is simply an organizational structure and is incapable of any action or activity until people are inserted into the equation. Our founding fathers meant it when they said “of the people, by the people and for the people” So the problem and/or solution lie with us.

Growing Your Business in a Difficult Economy - Click To Read Article
Admiral James Stockdale was the highest ranking American POW during the Vietnam War. He was held for more than 8 years and after his release wrote a book Love and War that described how he was able to not just survive the ordeal but actually thrive when many others didn’t. The story of his absolute confidence that he would survive coupled with his ability to confront the brutal facts of his current reality came to be known as the “Stockdale Paradox”. Many years later Jim Collins wrote his business masterpiece Good to Great and demonstrated how many companies used the “Stockdale Paradox” to survive and thrive in tough times while many of their competitors fell by the wayside or disappeared completely.

Closing for a Commitment or Settling for an Agreement? - Click To Read Article
There comes a time when all your hard work and preparation come together, and the time is right to go for closure! This is the moment you go for commitment. In business, whenever people interact, they make decisions ― a decision to talk, a decision to listen, a decision to act on a recommendation. Ideally, as a leader you want your followers to make decisions that are both well-informed and high in confidence. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the higher your followers are in confidence when they reach a final decision, the more effort and quality they will put into carrying through that decision.

Managing Resistance - Click To Read Article
How do I overcome objections? How do I handle “NO”? How do I deal with difficult people? At the beginning of our leadership development workshops, when we ask the participants what they would like to accomplish, these are by far the most popular responses. Many people seem programmed to think if they can overcome, handle or minimize negative points of view, then others will drop their resistance and the goals will be achieved. In other words the belief seems to be “If I prove my point, you will you drop yours.” Dean Rusk, the Secretary of State under President Kennedy exposed the futility of that logic when he said, “To me, the silliest argument in the world is, ‘If you knew what I know, you would agree with me.’”

Taking the lead – gaining commitment and co-ownership. - Click To Read Article
“Leadership is the ability to gain wholehearted followers for a common course of action.” Although much has been written about leadership when you boil it down to the basics, a leader is the person with followers. You may consider yourself inspiring but if you look around and nobody is coming with you, you are not a leader. In previous articles I have stressed the importance of good communication and while that is an essential component, it is not leadership. So how do you inspire others beyond a logical agreement and into a wholehearted commitment to co-own the idea or course of action?

Aligning – Doing Business from the Customer’s Perspective - Click To Read Article
Customer-centric organizations and individuals have always been more successful in starting and growing a business. Almost every company has some reference to “our customers” in their mission or vision statement. But few actually follow through on those promises because they try to be interesting to the customers rather than INTERESTED IN their customers. Here is a quick little guide to help you align with your potential customer’s various points of view.

Crisis Leadership Lessons - Click To Read Article
Leadership in normal times is relatively easy. The real test of a leader's ability is how he/she reacts in time of crisis. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has provided the disaster and the media has provide the snapshot of leadership or the lack thereof. While there are many lessons that current or prospective leaders can learn, let's start with the most glaring error and the easiest one to remedy.

Creating a Common Goal for any Conversation - Click To Read Article
First impressions often make the difference in getting the job or getting the sale. Similarly the first few seconds of an important conversation set the tone for how the rest of the conversation is going to proceed and very often has a significant impact on the outcome. Knowing the most effective way to begin important conversations, at home, in business or in a civic setting, is critical to your success. We believe there are three critical elements that must be present to be a truly effective opening statement – your confidence, an invitation to neutral and an acknowledgment of the listener as the decision-maker. Let’s take a closer look at each element.

Effective Listening: Part 2 - Click To Read Article
In part one we discussed the role of emotion in decision making and made the case that effective leaders listen to HOW people say things rather than WHAT they say. This certainly compounds the challenge of being an effective listener given that the words and logic seem to play only a minor role. So what you need is a tool you can use to identify a person’s level of involvement in the decision making process. So let me start with the least involved and work our way up to the most involved.

Effective Listening: Part One - Click To Read Article
“I listen fine. It’s everyone else who has a problem.” Unknown, unsuccessful, entrepreneur One of the cardinal rules of business is listen to your customers and most businesses hear their customers. However, only a few successfully interpret what their customers are saying. So the issue is not listening to “hear” but listening to “understand”.

Decision-making vs. Decision-getting - Click To Read Article
“If you can’t get people committed to what you are trying to do, you can’t get it done.” Carly Fiorina, former HP CEO, October 12, 2009 More than ever before, these difficult economic times require efficient management and effective leadership. We believe that efficient management is all about “decision-making” while effective leadership requires the skill of “decision-getting”. Many expect our economy to turn around in the short term but what if it doesn’t? What if it gets worse over the next three + years. Do you and your organization have the skills to “get it done” in a worsening economy?

The Online “Training” Myth - Click To Read Article
If you want to know more about a subject you could do any of the following: 1. Read a book. 2. Watch a video, 3. Attend a speech or workshop. 4. Enroll in an online course Now suppose that in addition to being more knowledgeable you wanted to become skillful at something. If could be anything like golf, karate, selling refrigerators, negotiating, making presentations, etc. The point is, you want to become truly proficient. Your objective is not just to know something; you want to be able to do something, and do it well. If skill is your objective then your only option is to practice with an expert coach under realistic working conditions until you achieved fluency.

“Nobody listens to me!” - Click To Read Article
This is one of the most common complaints you will hear from employees. It occurred to me that what they are really saying is simply “acknowledge” me. The following excerpt from our new book, Cracking the Code to Leadership on acknowledging may help you listen and acknowledge more effectively.

Three Biggest Sales Challenges - Click To Read Article
In my work helping corporations improve the effectiveness of their sales forces, I consistently run into three situations that I am beginning to believe challenge most companies. Many sales people are unable to: - Determine if a sale is makeable before investing too many resources. - Stop selling and start helping their prospective customer. - Manage objections without creating a win/lose environment. While every sales situation is somewhat different there are some constants that can help every sales person be more effective dealing with these challenges.

Coaching: Helping Others Succeed - Click To Read Article
With society's current focus inward, the concept of helping others succeed may not seem like the answer to the perennial question, "What's in it for me?" And yet when one does stop long enough to contemplate the commonality of the success around us, we begin to see how helping others succeed plays a central role in our individual success.

Implementing Change: People Hold the Key to Success - Click To Read Article
Why do the results of even good plans and strategies sometimes fall short of our expectations in the execution? Because we make the mistake of focusing solely on strategy and planning. In fact, that is thinking about change, not "implementing" change. The implementation can be far more difficult than the planning. The reason: people. People have different reactions and points of view, different interests and needs. People decide whether to help, hinder or ignore any change initiative. They spell success or failure for any plan.

Seven Secrets of Successful Managers - Click To Read Article
Over the years in working with clients around the globe, I have had the pleasure of observing many managers who were and are extremely successful in their chosen professions. Despite their very different disciplines, industries and even cultures, the most interesting thing that I've observed is not their dissimilarities, but what they all seem to have in common. I have been amazed by the consistent pattern of behaviors that successful managers all seem to share in their approach to managing others.

When an Employee is Grieving - The Death of a Child - Click To Read Article
Businesses are accustomed to putting a price tag on lost productivity and increased insurance costs associated with conditions from diabetes to those from life problems including substance abuse and depression. For the first time there is data available on the impact of grief in the workplace and the annual cost of grief from the death of a loved one is more than $37.5 billion.

A Management Challenge: How to Enhance Average Performance - Click To Read Article
Average performers are usually an overlooked resource for increasing work quality and/or quantity. It is all too easy to pay attention only to performance extremes. Top performers have built-in rewards. Their performance at the top of the charts makes it easy to provide meaningful and specific feedback. Performance problems at the other end of the spectrum also demand attention. When performance is clearly below target, it is visible to almost everyone involved in the effort, and you have little choice but to try to make improvements.

Effective Networking = Business/personal Success - Click To Read Article
I quite positive I am not the first and will not be the last person to tell you that you can accelerate your business and personal success by effectively building and maintaining your network. “You need to network more,” anonymous Marketing consultant. “Stop cold calling, start networking,” anonymous Sales Trainer. “Go to more networking events,” anonymous Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. “Pass out more business cards,” anonymous Professional Association President.

There’s an APP for That! - Click To Read Article
Would you be better at connecting, influencing or inspiring other people if you could read their minds? Well now there’s an app for that! Introducing iPAR MindReader.

The Missing Link: How People Can Know Everything about Customer Service and Still Not Be Able to Do It - Click To Read Article
I had a strange experience at an airline counter recently. My international flight was cancelled, and when I went to the counter to find out what to do next, I watched three customer service agents discuss the flight they were going to put me on much later that day. They went about printing tickets, writing me meal vouchers, looking at the computer...all without any of them speaking directly to me or even telling me what they were doing.

Practical Tips for Making Prospecting a “Win-Win” Proposition - Click To Read Article
Of all the competencies associated with superior sales skill, prospecting is the weakest link. Most salespeople despise prospecting. "I'm too busy," "I don't have any prospects," "I've tried and that doesn't work" are just a few of the excuses you hear or may have said yourself. Yet effective prospecting is a vital part of successful campaigns to gain new business. Becoming a master prospector can spell the difference between being a merely competent salesperson and a stellar one. So what holds us back and how can we succeed more often? The reality is most salespeople fear prospecting because they are set up for failure.

Creating Deeper Client Relationships - Click To Read Article
"It finally occurred to me that I wasn't selling so much as I was joining the customer in buying. After that, it was much easier to do business."

Problem-Solving Skills: A Key to Customer Service - Click To Read Article
"Many failures in customer service initially seem like a success to us! We get our perception of the facts, and we come up with a solution that makes sense to us. The problem is we didn't get the customer's perception of the facts, so our solution may not be sensible to them."

Project Failure - Click To Read Article
Recently I read some disturbing information regarding major corporate initiatives. According to a survey by the Utah-based VitalSmarts: • 82% of employees within companies with significant organization-wide initiatives underway believe those project will fail. • 78% are currently working on a “doomed” project. • 90% knew early on the project would likely fall short of the objectives • 77% describe these projects as “slow motion train wrecks” • 81% believe it is impossible to approach the failing project’s key decision-maker

EMPLOYEE RETENTION - Click To Read Article
Finding good people is a significant challenge facing organizations. In a highly competitive environment, keeping good people can be just as difficult. The balance of power in the workplace has shifted dramatically in favor of employees. The recruitment and retention strategy most organizations choose is incentives. While an important and necessary step, it’s a short-term solution without long-term impact. Many organizations have reached a plateau where incentives are not making a significant difference. The struggle is, after you have taken appropriate steps to make sure incentive plans are competitive, what is the next step?





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