Take Your Professionalism Up a Notch

Ever noticed how some people light up a room when they walk in or how some others might light up a room by walking out of it?  How you light up a room will have much to do with your managerial presence.  Successful lead managers/supervisors encourage an atmosphere that demonstrates they and others deserve attention and respect.

To effectively manage your life, diligently seek new insights, stimulation, and intellectual and emotional development.  Never stop learning.  Keep the student in you learning.  Self-development is good for you and for your workplace.  Make the tiniest adjustments every day and soon you will be significantly improved.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. 

Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”

-Henry Ford

Stay on Top of Current Events

To sound intelligent, you must have something intelligent to say. Read newspapers, magazines and industry-related publications to stay current with what is happening in the industry.

Seek out Training Opportunities

Improve Your Vocabulary

It is almost impossible to have a polished, professional image with a poor vocabulary.  Attend classes on communication skills, have someone you trust critique pronunciation, diction, use of grammar, etc.  Use a thesaurus when you write.  Learn a new word a day.

Study Positive Role Models

When you meet someone you admire, study his or her style, speech, dress, and ideas.  Look for what you can use.

Fight the fear and project poise when confronted by persons who intimidate you.  Breathe, breathe, breathe...  Focus on your strengths.  Make your self-talk positive.  Recite affirmations.

Engage in Self-Assessment

Video and audiotape yourself. 

Listen to the message you leave on voice mail.

 

Ask for feedback from a mentor or someone you trust. 

Buy a full-length mirror and view yourself every day before leaving for work.

If you’re not the expert seek the advice of one. 

Learn what you need to know and don’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

Value and honor the expertise in others.

Observe what goes into persuasive presentations and adopt the tactics that feel right for you.

Safeguard Your Value/Power

Power and value are synonymous in business.  Our value (power) is realized by our competency when delivered by a self-control method.  When we choose to move away from self-control, the only thing that gets questioned is our competency.  Managers or supervisors that shout, berate, rant and rave, or demand lose power (value) within the organization.

The key to achieving self-management competency is establishing a strong sense of self-control.

Learn and use healthy boundaries.

Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Don’t react when you are too mad, too glad, or too sad.

Take note of how your emotions “act out.” 

Still learning,

Honey

High Performing Branches - Installing a Sales Culture - Part 3

As expected, there are a number of elements necessary for a financial institution to have a fully integrated sales culture.  A financial institution with an entrenched sales culture knows that to create that culture at a high rate of speed you are looking at two years, at least.  Not only is the target constantly moving; the bar for achieving a fully integrated sales culture is always rising.

Many banks attempt to simply overlay new concepts over existing organizational structure.  The flaw in this is that it leaves existing thinking in place. In order to change a culture, you have to change thinking through role modeling, training and conveying expectations.  The decision to move towards a sales culture is the easy part.  Getting a strong majority on board and tirelessly executing the plan to deliver the results that a sales culture can provide is no doubt the hard part.  And, if getting there is hard, staying on top of a thriving sales culture is harder.

Get the Picture!

Executive management must have a true picture of where the institution is today and where it needs to be headed.  Establishing a clear picture of what a successful sales culture will look like is the foundation of success.  Everyone must get the picture.  Especially leadership in the branches, and, most definitely,  those leaders that the branch managers look to for direction.

Declare Victory Over Your Desired Outcome; Then Work Backward.

Community banks have the advantage of doing many things extremely well.  Know their customers in ways that bigger banks can only dream of; they genuinely serve the communities they serve and can traditionally respond quicker to the needs of the customer.  

Yet when it comes to building relationships with customers methodically, cross-selling a broad product range, and developing a true sales culture throughout their organization, community banks frequently lag in comparison to larger banks.

Vision, Values, Mission

It is critically important to have a clear vision of where the company wants to go and when it plans to get there. The CEO will need to sell and tell that vision, then require all responsible parties to contribute to developing a plan of attack to achieve the vision.  Another key to a sales culture is developing values that describe how everyone on the team will need to conduct themselves along the way. 

Lastly, a plan is written with measurable goals that are realistic, obtainable and are supported by clear strategies that ensure action is taken and monitored.   

That common bond that is formed from having a clear understanding throughout the company of what the vision and values are establishes the mission.   That mission is what creates a synergy and excitement that is evident in terms of camaraderie and results.

 

Still learning,

Honey