Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007 - (Page 18)

the Pitch TRAINING Get Serious about Storytelling Share company values with your team by telling tales ot a good story about the time the company tried to launch a new product and the sales force knew better what the market needed? Of course you do. And you could be using that story to get new team members on track while keep existing sellers focused on priorities. Tamar Elkeles, vice president of learning and organizational development for the San Diegobased wireless communications company Qualcomm, uses weekly e-mails to transmit stories about “heroes” in the company, as well as successes and failures. She says that storytelling helps disseminate culture, allowing her to “share what’s going on across the organization so people can ‘get it.’” Elkeles has used stories on customer trials, “things that worked and things that didn’t.” This helps people understand why a specific technology made it to the marketplace and why Qualcomm didn’t choose another direction instead. But she also uses her weekly stories, in an e-mail vehicle called “52 Weeks,” to share company values. If integrity is an important value at your company, she says, find stories that exemplify a moment of integrity—a tough decision, for instance. “If innovation is a key issue for you as a company or a key growth driver for the future,” she adds, “then look for those things and communicate them to the organization.” Oral storytelling is an extremely powerful training tool that should be used as widely as PowerPoint. Ron Crossland, co-author G of The Leader’s Voice, says storytelling is like Velcro, because a well-told story grips with hooks and loops that make the information stick in your mind. Being a good storyteller takes work. Crossland says the best practitioners know how to select the right details and how to play up a dramatic element. Others who study successful communicators say that humor is a useful quality when making a point. Elkeles agrees, saying that one of the most oft-repeated stories that appeared in “52 Weeks” had to do with an e-mail sent out by the chief technical officer, who had noticed an employee walking around in bunny slippers. His e-mail said, “There is no dress code at Qualcomm, but nobody shall knowingly wear shoes with ears.” The story made the point that anything goes is the general rule, but Qualcommers are expected to use some common sense when dressing for the office. “I think the other piece is that you can’t only tell good stories,” she says. “You have to have stories that reflect those decisions that were made … even if they reflect something that wasn’t positive for the organization. “If everything is very positive, that’s less believable and people will think the other stories might not be real either.” —Julie Barker [THE PULSE] SOURCE: TD CONSULTING GROUP BUSINESS WRITING SKILLS SURVEY 61% The average score of 612 business and non-profit employees on an online grammar test. CASE STUDY OVERCOMING FIRST IMPRESSIONS programs to the financial services industry. The interview proved otherwise. Following his usual interview style, Schiffman challenged the candidate to sell him an encyclopedia, throwing out repeated objections to test his skill. “I’d throw him on the ropes, and he’d come back off the ropes,” he says. “It was clear this person had the elements of a successful salesperson.” Schiffman hired the candidate, who went on to become one of the top-selling reps in the organization. Whether it’s encyclopedias or annuities, Schiffman learned, selling skills are transferable. “If they have the core genetic DNA,” he says, “you can teach them everything else.” —Michele Marchetti www.salesandmarketing.com www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com Your top sellers can come from the most surprising places Matthew Schiffman glanced at the resume on his desk and just as quickly dismissed it. But Schiffman, then executive vice president and director of sales and marketing at Prudential Annuities, had received the resume from a friend. He felt compelled to at least arrange an interview with the applicant, a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. “You wouldn’t have expected the individual to be a natural candidate for selling a complicated financial instrument,” recalls Schiffman, now executive vice president with Sequoia System International, a firm in Naperville, Ill. that provides professional development 18 SALES&MARKETING MANAGEMENT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 istock photo http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007

Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007 Contents Editor’s Letter Management Strategies What “Tell Me More,” Really Means Sales Strategy Marketing Management Motivation/Incentives Training Technology The Brains Behind the Brawn Are You a Bad Manager? Pipeline = Lifeline Feeling the Squeeze; The Foray Mobile Workmate; Seeking the Sights of Pittsburgh; Testing the Social Media Waters. Gadgets & Gear Books That Improve Strategic Thinking, People Skills and Sales Work/Life Take-Aways

Sales & Marketing Management - November/December 2007

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