Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Hub You - Does Your Sales Division Reflect Our Diverse World?
Customer service would be one of the most difficult positions in a company mainly because the majority of people miss the point of it. You see the definition of customer service is servicing customers. Normally, when a client calls your hotline or helpdesk, they want clarification on a matter that wasn’t clearly explained before purchase, or let you know that the product they bought is faulty, or find a way to solve their problem.The majority of people call a helpdesk in the hopes of getting their problem resolved quickly. Having compe
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within yo
A career transition is no longer about getting your hands on a list of contacts, networking with headhunters, or going online to look for work. It’s better than that.Want to neutralize most of your rivalry? Hot-swap the traditional means of securing a job with these new tactics and you’ll warp-speed your search:• Stop looking for a job• Increase your visibility• Decrease your competition• Create buzz and you’ll multiply your exposure to decision makers• Create need and you’ll generate qu
Here's what I mean. I live in Toronto, the most multiculturally diverse city on the planet, and I recently became a Canadian citizen. On that day, 113 other people from 22 countries also took the citizenship oath. As I looked around, five of us were white. Only three of us spoke English as our first language (two Bulgarians were the other part of the white contingent). I was surrounded by a sea of interesting looking faces of various colours and hues, and I was so proud to be part of this crowd.
I ride the subway whenever I get the chance, and the other passengers who are going to work (executives, middle management, administrators, blue collar workers, men, women, recent grads, the nearly retired) mirror the crowd at the citizenship ceremony.
I have worked with over 6,000 sales professionals in the past 15 years in a wide variety of industries including technology, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, health care, travel, banking, insurance and manufacturing. Yet only a handful of people in all my training classes have been black, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.
Why?
This lack of diversity makes no business sense. Every day, companies struggle to develop their competitive edge and increase their customer base. They are operating in a global marketplace, made up of a vast range of cultures, customers and customs. Most companies declare in their corporate statements that their people make the difference, yet they haven't found practical ways to ensure that their sales forces reflect the marketplace realities of diverse races and cultures.
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within yo
In the world of electronics, necessity is the mother of all inventions, holds best applicable to the invention, evolution and development of flexible circuits in all types of electrical and electronics gadgets. The flexible circuits have just recently come of age as an interconnection technology, although it was originally developed around two decades ago.In short, a flexible circuit is "a patterned arrangement of printed wiring utilizing flexible base material with or without flexible cover layers."Let us first understand the n
I have worked with over 6,000 sales professionals in the past 15 years in a wide variety of industries including technology, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, health care, travel, banking, insurance and manufacturing. Yet only a handful of people in all my training classes have been black, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.
Why?
This lack of diversity makes no business sense. Every day, companies struggle to develop their competitive edge and increase their customer base. They are operating in a global marketplace, made up of a vast range of cultures, customers and customs. Most companies declare in their corporate statements that their people make the difference, yet they haven't found practical ways to ensure that their sales forces reflect the marketplace realities of diverse races and cultures.
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within yo
From the middle of last century until today we have become the "throw away society". Buzz words like "disposable" and "one-use" have been commonplace. Where we used to "make do and mend" in the war years we now simply replace items that are no longer functioning or are no longer wanted. Now this is great if we have an everlasting supply of clean energy to make replacement goods and bottomless land fill sites. But we have neither.In poorer countries this problem is negligible as most spending goes on food and essential items, leaving ve
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within yo
The people who work for you should do what they're supposed to do. But sometimes they don't. If you're the boss, you have to figure out what's going on and then fix the problem.Start out by asking the person why they didn't do what you want. Do not get emotional. Do not get defensive. Even if you think what you hear is really dumb, remain calm.Then analyze what you hear so you can take action to fix the problem. Remember that one of your objectives as a boss is to take away all your people's excuses for not doing what they'
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within yo
The terms fundraising and fund development are bantered about almost interchangeably. But, there is a difference. Here’s my attempt at an explanation.Fundraising is probably the easiest of the two terms to define. It is activity that is conducted with the intention of raising money for a nonprofit organization or charity. It usually involves asking people for donations, using a variety of communication methods, asking people to purchase a product or service that supports the charity, or having people participate in an event of some so
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within your organization.
4. SHARE YOUR SUCCESSES WITH ME
If your organization has been successful in hiring and retaining a culturally diverse sales and sales management force, please let me know how you've done it. I will share your practices and insights with Sa1esWise readers.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.iadvice.info/article/38257/iadvice-Does-Your-Sales-Division-Reflect-Our-Diverse-World.html">Does Your Sales Division Reflect Our Diverse World?</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.iadvice.info/article/38257/iadvice-Does-Your-Sales-Division-Reflect-Our-Diverse-World.html]Does Your Sales Division Reflect Our Diverse World?[/url]
Related Articles:
All You Wanted To Know About B2B Portals
How to Manage the Employee with Attitude
Bookmark it:
|