Mastery can be a valid sales goal - what is your mission?
Mastery can be a valid sales goal - what is your mission?
SO...
What is your mission in life?
In sales?
In business?
When you walk into many companies, you'll see well intentioned mission or vision statements on their walls espousing the "value of teamwork", their "employees are their most valuable assets", and a "commitment to their customers". Slogans to rally the sales team abound on walls across the world. All great sounding phrases or sentiments.
Unfortunately, for too many, they are simply posters on the wall and not embedded commitments in the hearts and minds of their leaders and employees. In fact, if you ask many of their employees or sales teams to share their company mission statement, you'll find confusion and halfhearted attempts to remember and restate them.
There are some misconceptions and misuse around these two statements. "Vision" implies how you see yourself, and "Mission" implies a commitment to action. Both are important!
How you "see" yourself (yourself or your organizational image) will impact how you act or interconnect with your co-workers or clients. It also impacts how confidently you take action in your marketplace. Your commitment to act will set you apart from your competition. It will also focus your energies in better serving your customers and build long-term, more mutually profitable selling relationships.
Mission statements are important - when they work!
They work when they provide a visual reminder of what the leadership and the whole team is committed to creating.
They work when they are embedded in the minds and hearts of the team.
They work when they are modeled in the lifestyles and interactions with both internal and external customers.
They work when they are taken off the posters and planted in the minds and hearts of all who come in contact with you.
They work when they are in-line with your core values and when you have generated buy-in with your team in making them work in the real world.
Your purpose for 'being' and for 'growing' your sales career or business is encapsulated in their brevity. They can be formal or informal, but they need to be real. They need to be relevant to you and to your customers.
You may also have statements for different aspects of your career or business. For example Toyota Motor Corporation (the world's greatest manufacturer) has one to underscore their commitment to taking responsibility for their own successes and failures. "We strive to decide our own fate. We act with self-reliance, trusting in our own abilities. We accept responsibility for our conduct and for maintaining and improving the skills that enable us to produce added value." (Toyota Way 2001)
Successful companies seek to better themselves and to learn from other successful companies, as stated above by The Walt Disney Company.
Here are a few examples of "Mission Statements" gleaned from successful organizations for your consideration and comparisons:
"To make money and have fun." W.L. Gore and Associates
The Girl Scouts of America dedicate themselves "to the purpose of inspiring girls with the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism, and service that they may become happy and resourceful citizens."
At Quality Inns, their vision is "to pursue excellence and become the most recognized, respected, and admired lodging chain in the world."
Fetzer Vineyards, one of the biggest and best known wineries in the USA, developed a mission statement that included their commitment to the environment and the community. "We are an environmentally and socially conscious grower, producer and marketer of wines of the highest quality and value."
According to Levi Strauss & Company their mission provides daily inspiration. "Above all we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors."
Colgate-Palmolive is a leader in providing consumer products and services that meet or exceed customer needs and expectations worldwide. "Our mission," they proudly proclaim to the world, "is to improve continuously our products and services so that our Company, our people, our business partners, and our shareholders will grow and prosper, enabling us to become the best global products company."
What's yours?
Does it excite you and your sales team?
Does it drive your passion to serve?
Does it serve as a moral compass or directional guide for everyone on your sales team?
Charles Garfield writes, "Mission is an image of desired affairs that inspires action, determines behavior, and fuels motivation."
Does yours inspire you?
Does it inspire your team to want to win?
Does it inspire trust in the minds of your customers?
Does it ring true and is it relevant to your business?
Many of you are already committed to creating a solid and successful career. Some of you successfully lead teams and have your own organizations. I applaud your dedication in these worthy goals.
My commitment (mission statement) in everything I do, is to help equip and motivate you, your leaders, your sales team, and your employees to win; to help you visualize your growth and sales success and, then, to surpass it and amaze yourselves and your families. To say nothing of out-pacing, out-thinking and out-lasting your competitors! Visit: www.SecretSellingTips.com
Buck Rogers of IBM fame, once said, "The first thing you must do to become a great organization is to spell out in writing your beliefs and purpose. Write a credo that will be a behavioral guide to every person in your company, from entry-level positions to CEO. This creed, once thought out and formalized, should become as much a part of the company's operation as its product, service, or policies."
One hint: The mission statement must be something that creates 'solid buy-in' on all levels and not just something cooked up in the executive board room. Not engaging everyone in making it relevant and memorable is a recipe for failure.
In addition to organizational statements, I believe each of us needs at least two more focused mission statements:
1) A personal one to help us define and direct who we are, what we value, what legacy we want to leave, and who we want to become; and
2) A professional one to help us define and direct what we do in the market place, what we bring to our various professional roles, what we invest in our professional development, and most importantly what we are committed to in serving our customers and helping our organizations remain productive, profitable and competitive in the 21st Century.
Life can be challenging and business even more so. Having a mission statement that resonates with your values will help you succeed. By living it, your mission statement can help set you apart from your competition. It can also attract the customers who will become your fans and champions in building your sales career and business.
Kenneth T. Wessner, ServiceMaster Chairman of the Board stated it best, "Our company philosophy is expressed in four objectives. These four statements are the foundation upon which everything we do is built.
To honor God in all we do.
To help people develop.
To pursue excellence.
To grow profitably.
For the people of ServiceMaster, their work is not merely the making of a living, it is a way of life."
It is also making a difference from my perspective, and from my personal mission statement. Have a great month. "Make a leveraged difference" for you and your sales team as well as your customers.
©Copyright 2006 Bob 'Idea Man' Hooey www.ideaman.net
Mastery can be a valid sales goal what is your mission - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Hooey's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
"We seek not to imitate the masters; rather we seek what they sought." The Walt Disney Company
SO...
What is your mission in life?
In sales?
In business?
When you walk into many companies, you'll see well intentioned mission or vision statements on their walls espousing the "value of teamwork", their "employees are their most valuable assets", and a "commitment to their customers". Slogans to rally the sales team abound on walls across the world. All great sounding phrases or sentiments.
Unfortunately, for too many, they are simply posters on the wall and not embedded commitments in the hearts and minds of their leaders and employees. In fact, if you ask many of their employees or sales teams to share their company mission statement, you'll find confusion and halfhearted attempts to remember and restate them.
There are some misconceptions and misuse around these two statements. "Vision" implies how you see yourself, and "Mission" implies a commitment to action. Both are important!
How you "see" yourself (yourself or your organizational image) will impact how you act or interconnect with your co-workers or clients. It also impacts how confidently you take action in your marketplace. Your commitment to act will set you apart from your competition. It will also focus your energies in better serving your customers and build long-term, more mutually profitable selling relationships.
Mission statements are important - when they work!
They work when they provide a visual reminder of what the leadership and the whole team is committed to creating.
They work when they are embedded in the minds and hearts of the team.
They work when they are modeled in the lifestyles and interactions with both internal and external customers.
They work when they are taken off the posters and planted in the minds and hearts of all who come in contact with you.
They work when they are in-line with your core values and when you have generated buy-in with your team in making them work in the real world.
Your purpose for 'being' and for 'growing' your sales career or business is encapsulated in their brevity. They can be formal or informal, but they need to be real. They need to be relevant to you and to your customers.
You may also have statements for different aspects of your career or business. For example Toyota Motor Corporation (the world's greatest manufacturer) has one to underscore their commitment to taking responsibility for their own successes and failures. "We strive to decide our own fate. We act with self-reliance, trusting in our own abilities. We accept responsibility for our conduct and for maintaining and improving the skills that enable us to produce added value." (Toyota Way 2001)
Successful companies seek to better themselves and to learn from other successful companies, as stated above by The Walt Disney Company.
Here are a few examples of "Mission Statements" gleaned from successful organizations for your consideration and comparisons:
"To make money and have fun." W.L. Gore and Associates
The Girl Scouts of America dedicate themselves "to the purpose of inspiring girls with the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism, and service that they may become happy and resourceful citizens."
At Quality Inns, their vision is "to pursue excellence and become the most recognized, respected, and admired lodging chain in the world."
Fetzer Vineyards, one of the biggest and best known wineries in the USA, developed a mission statement that included their commitment to the environment and the community. "We are an environmentally and socially conscious grower, producer and marketer of wines of the highest quality and value."
According to Levi Strauss & Company their mission provides daily inspiration. "Above all we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors."
Colgate-Palmolive is a leader in providing consumer products and services that meet or exceed customer needs and expectations worldwide. "Our mission," they proudly proclaim to the world, "is to improve continuously our products and services so that our Company, our people, our business partners, and our shareholders will grow and prosper, enabling us to become the best global products company."
What's yours?
Does it excite you and your sales team?
Does it drive your passion to serve?
Does it serve as a moral compass or directional guide for everyone on your sales team?
Charles Garfield writes, "Mission is an image of desired affairs that inspires action, determines behavior, and fuels motivation."
Does yours inspire you?
Does it inspire your team to want to win?
Does it inspire trust in the minds of your customers?
Does it ring true and is it relevant to your business?
Many of you are already committed to creating a solid and successful career. Some of you successfully lead teams and have your own organizations. I applaud your dedication in these worthy goals.
My commitment (mission statement) in everything I do, is to help equip and motivate you, your leaders, your sales team, and your employees to win; to help you visualize your growth and sales success and, then, to surpass it and amaze yourselves and your families. To say nothing of out-pacing, out-thinking and out-lasting your competitors! Visit: www.SecretSellingTips.com
Buck Rogers of IBM fame, once said, "The first thing you must do to become a great organization is to spell out in writing your beliefs and purpose. Write a credo that will be a behavioral guide to every person in your company, from entry-level positions to CEO. This creed, once thought out and formalized, should become as much a part of the company's operation as its product, service, or policies."
One hint: The mission statement must be something that creates 'solid buy-in' on all levels and not just something cooked up in the executive board room. Not engaging everyone in making it relevant and memorable is a recipe for failure.
In addition to organizational statements, I believe each of us needs at least two more focused mission statements:
1) A personal one to help us define and direct who we are, what we value, what legacy we want to leave, and who we want to become; and
2) A professional one to help us define and direct what we do in the market place, what we bring to our various professional roles, what we invest in our professional development, and most importantly what we are committed to in serving our customers and helping our organizations remain productive, profitable and competitive in the 21st Century.
Life can be challenging and business even more so. Having a mission statement that resonates with your values will help you succeed. By living it, your mission statement can help set you apart from your competition. It can also attract the customers who will become your fans and champions in building your sales career and business.
Kenneth T. Wessner, ServiceMaster Chairman of the Board stated it best, "Our company philosophy is expressed in four objectives. These four statements are the foundation upon which everything we do is built.
To honor God in all we do.
To help people develop.
To pursue excellence.
To grow profitably.
For the people of ServiceMaster, their work is not merely the making of a living, it is a way of life."
It is also making a difference from my perspective, and from my personal mission statement. Have a great month. "Make a leveraged difference" for you and your sales team as well as your customers.
©Copyright 2006 Bob 'Idea Man' Hooey www.ideaman.net
Mastery can be a valid sales goal what is your mission - To learn more about this author, visit Bob Hooey's Website.
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals. Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nations Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firms clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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