Monday, October 17, 2011
Coaching - There's Something About Mary
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Where Did My Day Go?
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Getting What You Want Series - It’s in the Doing
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Getting What You Want Series - Goals
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Love Your Work?
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Teamwork Worked for the Mavs
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Power of Words
Saturday, June 4, 2011
This Text Could Be Hazardous to Your Health
Monday, May 30, 2011
What do you Gamble on?
Friday, May 27, 2011
Amen, Oprah!
All that being said...after two and a half decades Oprah Winfrey stepped away from her wildly successful television talk show to begin a new chapter in her life.
How she would end this part of her journey was highly speculated in the press and met with anticipation by her millions of followers. Would it be a spectacular event with extravagant giveaways? Would it be one that featured famous and inspiring people or her loyal staff? Her last stint on stage was a display of gratitude, humility and a message that rivaled sermons given by Rev. Billy Graham.
Many people saw Oprah adorn the Fortune 500 List as being one of the most powerful, influential and wealthiest people in the world. They might view her as a celebrity who lives an opulent lifestyle in mansions and exclusivity. She is not one layered and there is more than the home that she lives in or her financial statement to validate how she became such a 20th century powerhouse.
There are so many ways in which she opened our eyes up. She made reading popular and exciting through her book club. She inspired self reflection through gratitude journaling. Education was at the top of her list and was an ongoing topic of discussion. Winfrey described the world as her classroom.
Oprah chose to use her recognition and celebrity to bring awareness to social issues no one else would tackle. She made some people squirm a little as she brought issues to the surface that were uncomfortable but needed to be dealt with. People unafraid to confront personal issues were challenged to make a positive change in their lives. As a television personal coach, she emphasized personal responsibility – to own what is the reality of each person’s life in personal, health and financial issues. Oprah forced us to look at how we fit in to a bigger and sometimes different shaped box.
I did watch most of her last show. The best message I received in her closing tribute to her audience was that we don’t have to be rich or famous to be a powerful force to change or make a difference in the life of someone else. Each one of us, no matter what our circumstances are, can do something to make this a better world. In her final statement, she didn’t take credit for her accomplishments as she said, “To God Be the Glory.” "Amen, Oprah!"
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Getting Into the Habit of Listening
Still learning,
Honey
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Mother Nature Takes on the Mighty Mississippi
Monday, May 9, 2011
Saluting the Navy SEALS
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sales Success for Banks and Credit Unions
Sales Success…
Enormous Dependency on Training, Tracking and Leadership
Today's financial institutions want sales from the business development team. The frontline, branch managers, lenders and call center personnel all have sales responsibilities that you cannot afford to ignore. And, if your offer trust, treasury management, investments, insurance and mortgage, you have to obtain buy-in from all areas to funnel referrals to these income-producing areas.
You won't get what you want unless you first provide what is required!
What is the formula for sales success? It starts with planning and next moves to training. The frustration and disappointment will be huge if you don’t create plenty of both.
No one is comfortable doing something they don’t know how to do. Very few of us are comfortable doing something we rarely do. And, if we are expected to do something we aren’t well trained to do and that isn’t tracked, encouraged and celebrated, you can count on your sales team floundering.
Well-done training is a must. The training curriculum must include all aspects of key selling techniques. That includes the entire how to - from profiling who needs what to setting appointments. Without training and tracking, the sales team will overwhelm you with excuses and complaining. Excuses and complaining are popular deal killers when you try to implement a consistent, meaningful sales culture.
Everyone expected to contribute to business development must be well-trained and held accountable. Momentum and traction come with putting all the pieces together, and it starts with training.
Sales expertise must gain the same importance as compliance, accounting, deposit operations and loan processing. It’s a well known fact that compliance officers must have ongoing training, leadership and accountability! And, exam outcomes are tied to the compliance officer’s performance review. What would you say about a financial institution that didn’t track every aspect of the lending function and outcome? You’d say it is a reckless and poorly run company!
Any change, expectation or new technology that is to be implemented successfully will be seriously dependent on project management and training. The transition will be painful and morale will hit the ditch when planning and training are ignored or done poorly, no matter the circumstance.
All of the training on our magnificent planet is regrettably not going to improve your sales metrics if you don’t know what those metrics are, what they should be, and whether or not you’re moving in the right direction. You want to assess and measure before and after the training to gauge effectiveness.
Want more discussion on this topic? Tune into a free webinar on Tuesday, April 20 at 2 PM CST. Go to http://www.nsscorp.com/Performance%20Improvement%20Exchange.htm to sign up!
Don’t miss this FREE opportunity to explore training solutions that can boost sales at your organization.