The Learning Strategy: What is a Cold Call?

The Learning Strategy: What is a Cold Call?: In my next series of blogs, I need to learn and get a better understanding of traditional terms and definitions in combining the new age...

The Learning Strategy: Top Five Ways to Market Higher Education to Busine...

The Learning Strategy: Top Five Ways to Market Higher Education to Busine...: With the increasing pressure for Higher Education to meet business educational needs, the label of “off-the-shelf” traditional classes...

The Learning Strategy - B Harmony

The Learning Strategy - B Harmony: A place where Businesses and Colleges Meet... We serve and represent a wide range of businesses and colleges in sales training, industry research, customer profiling, setting appointments and needs assessments and analysis. We can help you develop, customize and even execute a sales and marketing solution for your ideal customers!

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Our Partners: Our Partners and Clients are also interested in placing their ads and websites with us. It's a great resource for visitors to get access to information, products and services at discounted pricing.

Top Five Ways to Market Higher Education to Businesses...

With the increasing pressure for Higher Education to meet business educational needs, the label of “off-the-shelf” traditional classes has flipped.  Rather than meeting the needs of its faculty, it’s now meeting the needs of a dynamic, rapidly changing business environment.  Is this even possible, given the college’s resources and experience?

There are plenty of college institutions out there that have workforce development, corporate training, contract training and continuing education departments who are more than eager to offer the ideal customized solution to a business.  For-profit and non-profit institutions alike are becoming increasingly savvy at delivering need assessments/analysis, cobranding curriculum design/development and delivering non-traditional learning platforms (i.e. blended, hybrid, virtual, webinars, online, etc.).  Just send out a flyer, email blast, and make some phone calls or lately, an invitation to chat with a live representative.  Will those messages aim to educate or persuade a business?  Just as education providers are becoming better in marketing, so are the prospective businesses.  So the question becomes-do you have their attention-will you sell them or will you serve them?  The following are the top 5 ways to market Higher Education to Businesses:

1.       Provide a business-friendly website experience.

Many colleges ignore business program information as an afterthought to their traditional student-centric marketing.  Off-the-shelf and traditional programs are less complex and are simply what college instructors know best, so they tend to dominate traditional catalogs that migrate to their website for students.  Don’t make it difficult for a business find out what is available to them with an experience that speaks to their needs.  Create value added content messaging and linking throughout the experience.

2.       Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – seek B2B professional help.

Adding a few meta-tags is simply not going to cut it if you want to be a thought leader in education and be on top of the search results of businesses.  Your key pages, keywords, blogs, podcasts, social media, must be targeted and handled by professionals who know business.  Do-it-yourself SEO is a dangerous way handle a critical element of your digital marketing strategy.  This is especially true due to the fact that many institutions of higher education have minimal marketing budgets that try to cover students, community and business organizations.  Identify areas where you offer a business solution and optimize your content to get businesses there quickly.  You’ll better serve the business and your institution.

3.       Use a B2B Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System – A traditional Student Information CRM won’t suffice.

If you plan to provide an efficient and effective experience for businesses interested in learning about your programs, it will most likely be a combination of automation and personalization.  A CRM helps you to collect information from businesses, industries, employee-students, grant programs in an organized way.  Marketing automation enables you to respond to their needs immediately, track your interactions and offer them valuable feedback on what’s working and what’s not working.  This is a different dynamic compared to information data gathering.  Determine what communication is valuable to the business so you can automate and make the time required for relationship building.

4.       Integrate traditional customer service and content-rich self-service resources.

Businesses, more than any other segment, are constantly being sold to before they even inquire.  By incorporating interactive tools and self-service elements to your website and landing pages, you give them the opportunity to feel in control to educate themselves on your educational options.  Video testimonials, program previews, CEU-credit transfers, grant programs, live chat, and unfiltered social media conversations provide a way for the prospective business to get to know you on their terms.  We found an increasing number of businesses that know about their local colleges but don’t know how they, as a business, can benefit from their programs and services. 

5.       Most importantly, proactively reach out to businesses – The Personal Touch.

While website, email blasts, and social media of the business shopping experience are important to learn about your programs, there is no replacement for proactive, personal business outreach.  Businesses know about your college and want explore more about information regarding new trends in education, customized training, partnerships, grant opportunities, campus career fairs, community and foundation events, sponsorships, etc.  

It’s a win-win relationship and both parties will learn more by meeting each other….

We, www.thelearningstrategy.com help colleges and universities guide these strategies and tactics in an informed way that will lead to a more relevant, useful experience for businesses.  When businesses can make a balanced and informed decision about the best ways in serving their educational needs, this is a critical first step in trusting and valuing an educational partner in accomplishing their educational goals and objectives.

Contact info@tlstrategy.com

The Learning Strategy: What is a Cold Call?

The Learning Strategy: What is a Cold Call?: In my next series of blogs, I need to learn and get a better understanding of traditional terms and definitions in combining the new age...

A Community College - Employer Case Study #1...

One specific community college’s workforce department representative placed a call to a Joe Smith, the Vice President of an energy company who didn’t have time to talk, but was interested in scheduling an appointment.  The VP explained to the corporate college representative that their son recently graduated from college and had received his two year Associates degree at the college.  However, he didn’t know anything about the college’s corporate college and required more information to guide his comprehension during the meeting.

As the meeting took place, the corporate college representative established rapport with the VP,  which permitted him to provide a brief introduction of the corporate college.  The VP intently listened, and when the corporate college representative began to delve into a need assessment, the VP responded by stating that much of the training was handled internally at the facility or through his headquarters in Atlanta.   While there may have been a need, at present, it wasn’t pressing.  However, the VP continued to explain that he did have some needs for which the college seemed to be a great fit.  He continued to express that he wanted to have better exposure in the community and wanted to know about any events at the college which he could sponsor.  In essence, he was looking to be part of a foundation or an advisory board because he is as a big believer in helping students to get ahead.  At that time, the VP was ready to develop a recruiting relationships with colleges.

The corporate college representative nodded his head and explained that he would check back with the VP.  Unfortunately, the representative didn’t see an immediate revenue opportunity for his department or motivation to direct Joe to the right departments— nor could he predict the time it would detract from his main responsibilities.  The representative determined that the meeting would not be valuable to him or his workforce development training products and services; therefore he didn’t pursue further or follow-up with Mr. Smith.

Questions:

1.       Could there have been a better way to proactively capture the community college’s total value proposition with an employer before the meeting was contracted?

2.       Since the VP didn’t know anything about the college’s corporate college, was it worthwhile to visit and educate him? Why or why not?

3.       At present, it appears that the VP’s priorities do not lie in corporate training, but rather, in understanding how the college’s capabilities could help his own business.  Was this a productive meeting for the college’s corporate training department? Why or why not?

4.   As a result of not following up on the VP’s needs, what impact on the employer’s trust and credibility with the community college and the corporate college division could you foresee occurring? 

Given the work that you do at the Community College, what were your big takeaways?  What messages spoke loudest to you?  Or which ones prompted more questions or concerns?  I'd love to know!  Email me at http://www.thelearningstrategy.com/contact.html and write "Community College - Employer Case Study #1" in the subject line.

What is a Cold Call?

In my next series of blogs, I need to learn and get a better understanding of traditional terms and definitions in combining the new age of technology with the human network.

The Wikipedia definition of a cold call is defined as the solicitation of business from potential customers^[1] who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call, therefore making the call cold.^[2]Cold calling is used to attempt to convince potential customers to purchase either the salesperson’s product or service. Cold calling is generally referred to as an over-the-phone process, making it a source of telemarketing, but can also be done in-person by door-to-door salespeople. Though cold calling can be used as a legitimate business tool, scammers can use cold calling as well.

This was relatively easy to understand 20 years ago.  But with the technological advancements such as lead generation databases, email campaigns, inbound, mobile marketing and Robo calling, are the below scenarios changing the definition of a cold call:

• Lead Generation Databases - When customers exchange their contact information or buy access to customer information.  Is it appropriate calling these leads for the first time and is this considered a cold call?

• Email and email campaigns - When first sending an email or an email campaign that can provide informative and useful information (i.e. products, services events), with or without a email response.  Is this appropriate for a follow-up phone call and would you consider this a cold call?

• Inbound Marketing - If you are providing great content (blogs, eforms, white papers) on your website and businesses are clicking on your site or a call to action (CTA). Is this appropriate for a follow-up phone call and would you consider this a cold call?  

• Instant Text Messaging/Mobile Marketing -  This is someone who is reading a mobile advertisement or responding to a text message.  Is this appropriate for a follow-up phone call and would you consider this a cold call?

• Social Media - A business contact who is interested in your Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram or social media site. Is this appropriate for a follow-up phone call and would you consider this a cold call?  

A "warm phone call" is another definition that could fall in some of these categories depending how the person responds (clicks on your website, fills out a form, answers a text, joins your linkedin?). 

How do we justify a cold call in this new age of communication without invading each others privacy?  

Is the Sales Role Changing - Becoming More Specialized...

Over the past twenty-years I've noticed significant changes in roles and responsibilities that have become much more specialized.  Below are two (2) examples and I know you can come up with many more:

Baseball:  Remember the starting pitcher was measured on how many complete games he pitched. Many starters would even stay in the game and pitch extra innings.  Now, we have pitching specialists who are long relievers, middle relievers, set-up men and closers.  

Marketing:  For the most part, the role of a Marketing person was being responsible for the 4Ps: Product, Price, Promotion and Positioning.  Now, you have pricing specialists, business development (quasi positioning and sales) and traditional - even digital promotional specialists.

As a result of the interactive, web-based technology that is available today and the expertise that is needed in all phases of the sales process, isn't it time to have a team of specialists who are focused on finding leads, selecting prospects (or getting prospects to find you), defining needs, solving problems and developing solutions?  Isn't this the most important piece of your business?  Here are some ideas:

1st Quarter

• Internet and Inbound Marketing - For this to be successful, you need a great website (i.e. structure, skeleton and surface) and excellent content writers that frequently research and write about interesting and informative topics - making it easy for customers to find YOU!

• "All Prospects are Leads, But All Leads are not Prospects" -  So how do sales people find leads and select prospects that best fit your ideal customers?  It's not easy, it takes time and you have choices.  1) You can pull lead lists, collect business cards and randomly call or email and pitch your product or 2) the smarter way is "you" determine who your ideal customer profile is and research those prospects who are important to you. 

2nd Quarter

• So you have your prospects, now what? If you follow choice 2 (above) then you better be prepared to know something about the prospect before you reach out to them. For you to stand out and have a prospect be interested in a meeting, you should have a valuable business reason.  You should have professionally designed information available about your company, yourself, great success stories and testimonials that would appeal to your prospects.  Finally, you have to be persistent.  Remember, these are not leads, they are prospects you want to do business with...  Ideal customers!

Halftime - More Study Time

3rd Quarter

• Now the 1st meeting takes place.  Not only do you have to be prepared for the sales visit, you have to have the interpersonal skills to establish rapport with the prospect.  You have to make the connection and get the prospect (or stranger) to feel comfortable.  Being prepared nowadays is checking their website, looking at Linkedin profiles, social media, etc., anything where there is a connection that will open up a conversation.  You have to take the initiative because the prospect won't. Instinctively, this can be the most important part of your visit.

• You got each others attention and you're starting to establish credibility, start to ask intuitive open ended questions and start to "listen and take notes."  Keep the Q&A flowing between both of you throughout the needs assessment. Don't jump to the close!

• Start to formulate with the prospect what you're hearing into a list of needs, If you established rapport and if you're engaging the prospect throughout the assessment you should have a good list of needs.  

• Ask this question, "If you need to get something done tomorrow, what would it be?"  I think you'll see your list of needs be reduced to a few critical assignments.  That's OK...  Start to perform a deeper dive into the needs analysis of those critical assignments. You may want to stop here and assign some homework for the next meeting.  Don't jump to the close!

• Collaborate with the prospect and include the prospect at every stage of the assignment(s) in solving problems throughout the needs analysis process.  Depending on the complexity of each assignment, this could take a lot of your time and effort, but it increases your probability of closing the project.  Don't jump to the close!

• Make sure that everything up to this point has been confirmed and agreed too and start prepping for the close.  Start the "what if feelers" "What if we can do this, is this what you want, would this work?"

4th Quarter

• Build and deliver your "No Surprise" proposal.  By this time, your prospect should not be surprised by the proposal content, the value you are providing and the 3rd quarter process you went through together. Most importantly, this will help you to establish trust and credibility with each other over the long term.  Yes, it's all about relationships!

• Now it's time to ask for the close... Both of you put the "skin in the game" and should be ready to start the project.

Based on the all of the above, think about the amount of time, effort and skillsets needed in transitioning a lead to a prospect, a prospect to an appointment, conducting a need assessment/analysis and collaborating with the prospect up to the close.  BTW, you may need 100 of these projects (some easier, some more difficult than others) to make your revenue number..  

Is it time to redefine the role of the sales organization?

Choose Your Event Wisely.... 6 keys in choosing how to spend your time and your dollars!

Many of us (at least I do) love to get out of the office, attend networking events and conferences, learn new things, meet new people and develop new relationships.  I try to mix a little fun with business.

These events can get costly ($$s and your time) and it's always hard to tell if they lead to any return on investment (ROI). Are they meaningful or not in relation to what we are trying to achieve?  How do we know if we are getting a good ROI? 

From my experience, maybe 50% (if that) of the networking events are truly meaningful and I've learned over the years to be more cautious of where I go, how I participate and most importantly, how much I spend.  So below are some ways I try to determine that:  

• do your research! What is your purpose in attending?  Is this something that you need to be involved with? How do you fit in? 

• ask questions...  Ask the event marketing person about last year's attendance, who attended, how you can participate, what's in it for you...

• if I work on the east coast and the event is on the west coast or across the world, do more research and ask yourself, are there similar networking events that are less costly and more impactful?

• if the event is really worth attending, be more involved...  Present, Speak, Exhibit, Sponsor, Conduct Workshops, etc..  I find event attendees are more likely to come to you.

• use technology such as webinars and podcasts using inbound marketing instead of traveling. They can be very effective and cost a lot less.

• most importantly, follow-up with people you meet. You should be having great conversations at the event.  Don't be afraid to be persistent. 

I'm sure there are even more ways to be more efficient and effective in choosing where you get the biggest return on you dollar and please respond.  These are a few that come to mind.

www.thelearningstrategy.com

Employers:  Top Ten (10) Reasons to Hire a Mother – Happy Mother’s Day!

When you look at assessing and hiring talent in your organization, below are my top ten reasons for hiring a mother:

1.       Everyday Leadership – Leaders are made and mothers tailor their approaches based on their family and develop their children into productive, responsible adults everyday.  Who is your role model?

2.       Time Management – Managing a household takes a unique skill from planning, leading, innovating, organizing and controlling your children and even your husband.  All this, while most moms go to work - that’s time management.  Do your husband and children need management?   

3.       Handling Conflict – No brainer here…  Valuing differences and keeping the peace in the household can be an everyday occurrence.  I’m just glad mom was there for me…

4.       Sales – Mothers are kings of selling ideas and negotiation.  They understand all generations, know their audience and convince others that their recommended course of action is usually the best idea. 

5.       Planning – No better planners than moms!  Remember that vacation, that family outing, those special dinners…  They manage our schedules and plan events creating memories for our lifetimes.  Who in your family is managing your next family outing?

6.       Communication – Who is there when you need to talk with someone?  How many of your decisions were impacted as a result of mom?  Who starts the conversation within the family?  Mothers are the real communicators.

7.       Team Building – In today’s family, the team approach is more evident than ever and each mom plays a huge role providing a mindset based on cooperation and consensus.  They love and believe that each family member is a valuable resource and together they bring out the sum of each family member’s efforts.

8.       Problem Solver – Understanding problems is diverse across all family members.  The mother hears them all and play the largest role in solving them – no matter how small or how large, you trust mom with your problems…

9.       Outreach - Who usually knows what’s wrong before any words are said?  This is an innate ability that I can’t define.  Imagine if you had employees like this in your business….

10.   Never Ending Service – Mother’s service their family all their lives.  It never ends…  Whether you're a new born baby or you're older in life, your mom will always be there for you.

I’m sure there are many more reasons and feel free to comment. 

Now, I’m not saying fathers don’t contribute (see father’s day), but its mother’s day…  Also, many times I believe their skills can get overlooked in the business community.  So, if you believe in moms and what they stand for, they may be the answer in what your business values most…

www.thelearningstrategy.com

Texas TACE Conference Presentation - B-Harmony

It was a pleasure to present B-Harmony - Targeting an Industry Segment at the TACE conference in Austin, TX with our partner NE Lakeview, Alamo Colleges.  Below is a summary of our presentation content:

• Start with trickle down segmentation...  Market - Industry - Customer - Ideal Customer (Where's Waldo)
• Sales organizations are changing… More specialization, competency and focus (setting appointments, relationship building, need assessments, problem solving, delivering solutions) - "Stand Out" with businesses. 
• More messaging about them (business), less about you BEFORE you contact them.
• PC and Mobile websites need to be strategically designed, continuously monitored and improved (more cost effective). A critical tool in attracting your audience! 
• Integrated Marketing - Traditional and Digital mixology.
• Buyers are Changing - Inbound Marketing. Content is King, Linking is Queen! 
• Specific geo-targeting or ground war tactics requires an outbound strategy. You can do this right away!
• The Flux Capacitor: An Inbound Marketing and Outbound Strategy combined with a rich Lead Capture system will keep your business robust and growing. 

Learn more at www.thelearningstrategy.com.

http://www.ccdaily.com/Pages/Landing/Homepage.aspx

http://www.ccdaily.com/Pages/Landing/Homepage.aspx

Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime

1. The Post Office

Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.

2. The Check

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check by 2018.  It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks.  Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check.  This plays right into the death of the post office.  If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper

The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper.  They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition.  That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man.  As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it.  The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance.  They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell     phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book

You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages  I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes.  I wanted my hard copy CD.  But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music.  The same thing will happen with books.  You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy.  And the price is less than half that of a real book.  And think of the convenience!  Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone

Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore.  Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.  But you are paying double charges for that extra service.  All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

6. Music

This is one of the saddest parts of the change story.  The music industry is dying a slow death.  Not just because of illegal downloading.  It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it.  Greed and corruption is the problem.  The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing.  Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with.  Older established artists.  This is also true on the live concert circuit.  To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."

7. Television Revenues

To the networks are down dramatically.  Not just because of the economy.  People are     watching TV and movies streamed from their computers.  And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV.  Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.  Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds.  I say good riddance to most of it.  It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery.  Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The "Things" That You Own

Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future.  They may simply reside in "the cloud."  Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents.  Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be.  But all of that is changing.  Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services."  That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system.  So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet.  If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud.  If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud.  And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.  In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device.  That's the good news.  But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?"  Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical?  It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Joined Handwriting (Cursive Writing)

Already gone in some schools who no longer teach "joined handwriting" because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type (pun not intended)

10. Privacy

If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy.  That's gone.  It's been gone for a long time anyway..  There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone.  But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View.  If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits..  "They" will try to get you to buy something else.  Again and again and again.

The Learning Strategy, www.thelearningstrategy.com

How to Hire Great Business Developers in Higher Education

How To Hire Great Business Developers in Higher Education


by Jeff Roth

November 5, 2014

Let’s face it: Colleges and universities are not accustomed to hiring salespeople. They hire educators, administrators, technicians of various sorts, and clerical staff of nearly every type. But they don’t hire great salespeople or what they call “Business Developers.”  And yet, increasingly these institutions find themselves hiring people who are setting appointments, providing need assessments, solving problems and delivering customized solutions that are addressing the business challenges of rapidly changing technology, employee performance and customer satisfaction.
Hiring salespeople is different. Of course, they need the qualities you look for in every hire—integrity, intelligence, focus, energy, and readiness to execute. But business-to-business salespeople also need at least these four additional traits as well.

1. Empathy

Successful salespeople identify with their customers and pick up on their feelings. They understand their needs and pressures they’re under; they get how business works and can wrap their heads around the challenges faced by each prospect. Yes, they represent the college and its specific B2B offerings, and yes they want to drive revenue for the institution. But the best ones—the ones you want—are geniuses at balancing the interests of the college and the interests of the customer as they assemble a tailored solution.

2. Trustworthiness

The salesperson is the primary interface between the college and the the customer; both must see that salesperson as perfectly trustworthy. Their word must always be good; their handshake has to signify unerring follow-through. Excellent salespeople see every contract in the context of a long-term relationship, and they consistently act in such a way as to preserve, the key quality that underlies long-term business arrangements.

3. Persistence

More than any other job on earth, sales entails daily disappointments. The best salespeople still have a losing record… which is why they need the precious talent of persistence, the ability to keep pushing through disappointments great and small. Their focus on the goal—whether that is closing one particular prospect, slogging through cold calls and the inevitable No’s to reach a Yes, or reaching their quarterly revenue target—is so strong that they just keep going. When hiring a great salesperson, the college need to make sure that person has a powerful mixture of drive, courage, and self-confidence.

4. Innovation

The biggest complaint from business today is that colleges don’t understand what they need. Serving the business community with training services requires real savvy about what those needs are and how they’re changing. The most valuable salespeople have “the wheels turning in their heads” all the time. They think creatively, not only about how local firms can use the services the college or university already has on offer, but also what new training services the institution might develop in order to better align their offering to evolving needs. Salespeople are in the perfect place to render this service to their employers, but only if they have an innovative mind. Hire for it.

Serving the business community and earning a profit doing so, remains a priority for a college or university, hiring excellent Business Development personnel is not an option. Selecting people who have innate strength in the areas most critical to success is a must! 

We have focused today on empathy, trustworthiness, persistence, and innovation, but those are only a few of the talents possessed by the very best salespeople for this kind of work. Make sure you use a scientific talent instrument that will allow you to identify and uncover all of the innate talents that you need in the job. The right assessment will allow you to compare the talents and behaviors of your candidate with those of top performers in the industry so you know how they will likely measure up. Making smart selection decisions and putting the right people in the right seats will greatly increase the likelihood that everyone’s needs and goals are met.

What value does experience bring to an organization?

Hi Jeffrey,

Being close to New York, it is hard to miss the organizational ups and downs of the Knicks over the past 10 to 15 years. The return to New York by Phil Jackson, holder of 11 championship rings, represents a significant event. But it's not every day that a 69-year-old gets a five-year contact in any industry.

Phil's success at finding a new role at 69 may be instructive to those feeling their paths are more limited with age — a question we often get asked because of quasi-age discrimination.

Admittedly, we all aren't Hall of Famers, but Phil's move demonstrated some points to remember when seeking to overcome the potential challenges of age in a job search:

• Know the problems of the organization you are targeting and understand where you are valued. Not all NBA teams were interested in Phil, and he didn't worry about those who were not. It just took one organization with the right circumstances and need to look beyond the exterior and invest in "the right" solution.
• Use your skills from past roles to demonstrate how you can solve problems in your next organization — even if it's in a different role. Phil targeted the problems the Knicks have of needing to pick and meld talent, including star talent, into a winning team, and used this to close the deal.
• Demonstrate that you are still active, relevant, aware and adaptable to new environments and not resting on your laurels. Phil is known as the "Zen Master" for his unique approach to basketball and life. This brand identity for flexibility and innovative thinking should be the aspirin to the Knicks' headache and made him current and relevant.
• Don't worry too much if you are turned down — you never know about the future. Phil failed to become coach of the Knicks several years earlier. But circumstances changed, and now he is back in a different role.

Phil is an inspiration for all of us. His mantra: Focus on the value you can bring to your next organization and never lose sight or confidence that you can strive for more — at any age!

The Learning Strategy: How Appointment Setters Can Grow Your Business

The Learning Strategy: How Appointment Setters Can Grow Your Business

How Appointment Setters Can Grow Your Business

How Appointment Setters Can Grow Your Business

Health Tip for the Day

*** Today's Tip:  PROPER PORTION SIZE IS IN YOUR HANDS             

Eating smaller portions of food is one of the easiest ways to cut back on calories. Knowing serving sizes can help prevent overeating. When you're not sure about serving size, use your hand as a guide. A healthy portion of meat, poultry or fish is about the size of an open palm. One serving (one cup) of most ready-to-eat cereal is about the size of a fist. One serving (one half-cup) of cooked rice or pasta is about a handful. A serving (one tablespoon) of peanut butter is about the size of a thumb. www.thelearningstrategy.com

Learn, Plan, Persist and Take Risks!

There is nothing worst than being persistent with a business prospect without first learning and planning your approach.    

I was a senior corporate salesman and was basically charged with getting large enterprise accounts to buy professional certification training and degree programs. Verizon was one of my prospects who were really careful about outside training organizations who didn't understand their business model.  I realized if I was to develop a training partnership with them, I had to learn their business.  I learned about their fiber optic installation; I met and traveled with their line installers, I met and dined with their buying influences and chief decision makers eight or nine times.  It actually worked and I just kept learning, planning and persisting, waiting for an opportunity to arise.

One day, after about one year, Verizon realized they didn't have the training capacity to meet the demand of a $7 billion fiber deployment project across the US.  The deployment luckily started in the same territory that I was located in.  That was our opening.  Verizon decided to use us. We got the contract, and we eventually delivered this training across other areas of the US for about 3 years. The main decision maker and myself became good friends in the end.

It must have been worth close to $3 million dollars and the best thing about it was that, at that time, our partnership trained hundreds of technicians.  More importantly, the training increased resident scheduled visits from 1 to 2 residents per day and increased sales by 350% in the regions where the training was deployed.  On the value side, together our ground-breaking training across the US provided training cost reductions of over 120% compared to our competitors.

I'm not suggesting there is any justice in spending the amount time it took in learning about one business, and I probably bypassed some other prospect opportunities in the process.  But it was so good for the company that after one year of work, which could well have ended in failure, instead developed trust and a bit of luck ending in success that really paid off.

In getting any big deal or project, the first thing you have to do is want it. For example, you're never going to be golfer unless in your heart - you want it and in your mind - you can learn it.  These two eventually compete with one another.  So you have to really want it (heart) and you have to know how to play (mind), at least a little :-).  If you want something badly enough, you're going to have to learn it.  If you are working with a technology company, you're going to try an learn about technology and networking even if it doesn't come naturally to you, and you're going to do one thing that is probably the most important of all; you're going to take a risk.  Because if you've spent thousands of working hours, let's say over a year and you fail, you've probably damaged your career a bit and you've probably damaged, in a small way, the company you worked for a bit.  Another reason in being prepared to reduce the risk.

I sometimes fail...  Everybody does, but I certainly do.  But I don't give up if I learn and understand the prospect, if I can identify a problem or opportunity to work on and I think it's good for the organization.

Summary

• The bigger the risk, the bigger the opportunity.
• You must learn along the way, be prepared to do some things that come unnaturally, and be prepared to take a risk.
• To land a big deal or project, you must remain persistent.
• You have to know, not only in your mind but also in your heart.  
• Ultimately, if you want to succeed, "Don't Give Up!"