Customer Service: Technology vs. Relationships...Who Wins?

When it comes to customer service, loyalty, and cross-selling, does technology trump relationships? 

As Eric Schmidt, Google's Chairman, recently remarked at Boston University's graduation ceremony, "I believe fully in the power of technology to change the world for the better. And I believe even more fully in the ability of your generation to use that power to great effect-to rule technology...You can't let technology rule you...Take your eyes off of the screen...Have a real conversation...Life is not lived in the glow of a monitor..." 

Customers are not necessarily won and retained because they can "tweet" you or "friend" your company or chat with or email you at 2 am. They are won and retained because they feel important; they believe their business is valued and their voice is genuinely heard and acted upon. Technology, even in Eric Schmidt's opinion it seems, does not trump relationships. 

Recently, we spoke at two major Contact Center Conferences, the Contact Center Association Conference and ICMI's Annual Call Center Exhibition (ACCE). For both conferences, which attract Senior Leaders and Executives nationally and internationally, the prevailing themes/sessions focused on technology with these questions at the forefront: 

1. How can technology enable your strategy?
2. How can technology serve your customers more efficiently by enabling self-service?
3. How can technology capture customer and corporate data that facilitate decisions around future strategies? 

What seemed to be covered in only a cursory way, however, is the keystone question, the one we believe is fundamental to your organization: "How do I equip my talent to truly leverage our technology and culture to implement our most critical strategies?" 


Read more about how to equip your talent to best leverage your technology and unique culture... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Do You Have a Clear Enough Picture of your Service Climate?

An unclear brand promise in the eyes of your customers harms loyalty, retention, and revenue. 

Successful service organizations have a clear and impartial picture of their organization's sales and service climate. 


Aberdeen's latest research reports an almost 2-to-1 difference in service margins for best-in-class organizations compared to all others. These service organizations use an internal and external perspective to provide the comprehensive and objective data necessary to help make the key decisions to prepare for successful change. Both now and in the future. 

Done right, a clear perspective provides a:

• Comprehensive understanding of your performance strengths and weaknesses
• Clear benchmark to track as the initiative progresses
• Targeted training and sustainment plan that links your critical goals to specific manager and employee behaviors

Learn more about Living the Brand Promise... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Five Key Steps to Defining & Attracting Top Talent

It is all about performance. 

We believe that this is a good thing.   
  
Over the past seven or eight years, we have seen a steady increase in organizations devoting more time and effort to defining and measuring employee performance.

As business practices and profits continue to come under more intense scrutiny, we believe that the focus on performance will only increase.

No organization can afford people who do not contribute and who cannot perform consistently at a high level.

For most growing and changing companies, talent performance starts with attracting and hiring the right people in the first place. Jim Collins calls this "getting the right people on the bus in the right seat." 

While we all know that bad hires are very expensive and preventable, we continue to find frequent disconnects between employee performance and the traits that recruiters and hiring managers look for in candidates. Far too often, recruiters and hiring managers base their interviews and selection on a generic job description that has little relation to the reality of the position or the culture. 

To attract and hire talent that will best execute your strategy and thrive in your specific environment, you must first define great performance. Once defined, you can identify the specific competencies, skills, and traits that candidates must have to succeed. Only then will you be set up to get the right people on the bus in the right seats.

If you and your company are counting on new people to achieve your goals, and if you are serious about avoiding the hiring mistakes that keep so many great strategies from succeeding, here are five steps to finding the best people with the talent you need: 

Read more to find out the five steps defining and attracting top talent... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

On-Boarding: How to Accelerate New Hire Speed to Productivity

Finding and hiring the right talent is difficult enough. 


Once you acquire the right talent, leading companies put them in a position to succeed as fast as possible.

According to Aberdeen's latest research, best-in-class onboarders have a 53.5% better retention rate, create 57% higher performance, and report 20% greater hiring manager satisfaction.

That adds up to greater productivity and significant cost savings.

In a recent survey, 210 CEO's estimated the time for a typical mid-level manager to reach "breakeven" as 6.2 months. Using an average salary of $100,000, the difference between a 3-month ramp and a 6.2-month ramp is approximately $26,500 per employee. 

This does not account for differences in revenue, margin, utilization, or productivity. It is only the salary side of the equation. For a company hiring a minimum of 100 new employees per year, this creates a $2.6m window of opportunity for an improved new hire process. For companies closer to the 24-month mark, the opportunity is as large as $17.5m. 

In addition to the financial side of the equation, making first impressions count and getting new employees up to speed quickly can make or break a strategy or project.   

Despite the compelling impact the effective on-boarding has on customer retention (4X), customer satisfaction (2.8X), and revenue (2.6X), 36% of organizations surveyed lack a formal on-boarding process.  Where do you stand?

Learn more about key on-boarding best practices... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Five Warning Signs of a Bad Project Leader

As Project Leaders, we rarely think that we are the Captain of the project version of the Titanic or that the problem lies with us. 

We blame any problems on our teams, clients, stakeholders, sponsors, or other external factors-not on ourselves. 

The story of the Titanic is an interesting example of how the blame game can work. Though up to now the Titanic's Captain (project leader) has taken much of the blame for the collision and 1,523 deaths, there has since been a lot of finger pointing in other directions. 

Some scientists recently arrived at a new theory that a full moon caused the disaster rather than the Captain. National Geographic's Richard A. Lovett wrote in March, "That full moon, on January 4, 1912, may have created unusually strong tides that sent a flotilla of icebergs southward-just in time for Titanic's maiden voyage." 

One historian believes that the chairman of Titanic's owner (a key project sponsor and stakeholder), the White Star Line, persuaded the Captain to continue sailing after encountering problems and is the main culprit for the tragedy. 

Yet another book on the subject claims that the Titanic had plenty of time to dodge the iceberg but the collision was the result of a helmsman (a project team member) who turned the ship the wrong way after misinterpreting instructions. 

These theories could all shift the blame away from Captain Edward John Smith. However, regardless of the true cause of the disaster, as a Captain and project leader, it is your responsibility to:

• Plan for "a flotilla of icebergs."
• Ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page.
• Create the circumstances of success for your team.

Unfortunately, you do not have the luxury of waiting for a 100-year anniversary to be saved by alternative theories of your project's demise. So What Should You Do? 

Read about the five Project Leadership warning signs and what to do to succeed... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

How to Lead High Performance Project Teams

Do your project leaders have what it takes? Are you getting the results you need? 

You have been asked to lead or to pick a leader for an important project. You appreciate the opportunity and vote of confidence, but you are concerned about pulling it off. 

The team has the right technical project management skills in terms of project definition, planning, and risk management, but they seem to lack the leadership, collaboration, and team cohesion to succeed in the face of what lies ahead. Additionally, your matrix organization is adding an additional layer of complexity. 

Soon, stakeholders will tug them in a million different directions. Varied leadership, communication, and decision making styles will create rifts as the team faces increased pressure. 

Whether the team is comprised of part-time volunteers or highly-skilled professionals, their productivity and success is dramatically affected by the relationships within the team and the ability to function as a cohesive unit. Successful project teams build a positive project team environment and learn to work together to solve problems even in the face of conflict. 

Learn more about leading high performance project teams... 

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Five Steps to Transforming a Recruiting Function

Heroes?

We don't usually think of recruiters as heroic.Yet there are recruiting leaders who have achieved amazing results.

HC is one of those whose modesty means he remains anonymous. He took over a recruiting function that was stumbling along, filling positions only after lengthy delays.

Job requirements were not communicated clearly to candidates, hiring managers assumed the poor performance they got was normal, and senior leaders put all their positions out to search. The career site was hidden, not engaging, and listed positions as "open" long after they had been filled. There was no sourcing function and no applicant tracking system. Potential candidates were not a good fit according to hiring managers who needed more resources to meet demand.

Sound painfully familiar?

Everything in the recruiting function was reactive. There was no talent community, no proactive sourcing strategy, and not much awareness of weaknesses in their process.

While this sort of recruiting function is not all that unusual, this one was part of a well-known organization that has a high public profile and is considered a leader in its products and services.

Although no one knew it when he was hired, HC was going to turn this situation around. And he did it without firing any recruiters and without a lot of fanfare.

Read more to find out how one recruiting leader transformed recruiting...

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned 

Strategic Employee Branding, Staffing and Recruiting

Hiring the right talent is difficult enough. 
Getting "A" players "fast enough" to support high growth can make or break a strategy.

If you are like most fast growing companies, chances are that your staffing and recruiting process is not what it should or could be.

To hit your ever increasing and shifting targets, you need it to be impactful, efficient, and strategic. From sourcing quality candidates to meeting hiring forecasts to employee and internal branding, an effective staffing and recruiting process is a complex challenge.

Best-in-class organizations execute each strategic staffing and recruiting phase efficiently and in alignment with their business and people strategy.

Learn more about strategic employeebranding, staffing and recruiting

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

The Keys to Successful Prospecting: Hitting the Home Run vs. Bunting

80% of the time. 
Every sales professional dreams about connecting with the right buyer to hit that sales pitch over the fence and bring in the winning revenue.

But in over 17 years of studying customers' buying habits, our research shows that prospects are "emotionally closed" to buying 80% of the time.

That's why the old adage, successful prospecting boils down to "at bats and number of hits," can set up a sales professional for some awfully long, scoreless innings.

Most prospecting theories (and training) follow this outdated model and maintain that sales and prospecting are just a matter of simple math:

1. If you get to swing at enough pitches (make enough phone calls)
2. You'll eventually get enough hits (connect with someone) and
3. Finally score some runs (close business). 

However, today's more savvy customers have learned to identify sales pitches and make it much more difficult for a salesperson to get the opportunity to even swing at the ball. "Smiling and dialing" for dollars is too costly and too ineffective to be a viable or smart tactic.

A much more strategic prospecting approach is required to succeed.

We have identified 7 key barriers to successful prospecting-from the difficulty of gaining access to the challenge of advancing the relationship-and offer tested methods and tools to overcome them.

Read about the 7 key barriers and how to overcome them... 

About LSA Global

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Getting More New Clients: What Does it Take to Grow Faster than Your Competition?

"We want more new clients." 
According to our Q1 Sales Poll, 45% of those surveyed said getting more new clients is their most pressing concern.

So - how do you generate new sales opportunities for your sales force?

Whether you find new customers through referrals, or through an inside sales force, our experience tells us that the new customer acquisition process is extremely client and industry specific.

Whether you are high tech software company, a medical device company, or a services firm, your approach must be aligned with how your target customers buy to help you acquire the right customers - faster.

Any way you cut it, this takes a clear Go to Market Strategy, defined target markets, and a compelling value proposition that resonates with your target buyers.

Learn more about:

Getting More Qualified Sales Meetings

Creating More Qualified Sales Leads
Inside Sales Coaching for Leaders

Selling Transactions More "Consultatively" 



About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Keys to Building a High Performance Contact Center

Just 5%.

A 5% increase in customer loyalty can boost profits by as much as 25% to 85%.
It is up to the Contact Center Leadership Team to stimulate improved performance and execution so these gains become a reality. The leaders need to create the circumstances that elicit better performance from their people.

The good news is that positive customer experiences drive repeat business, cross-selling and up-selling of services, loyal customers, and referrals. As well, positive experiences decrease the overall costs of service and sales.

The bad news is that contact center technology has not been the great equalizer between people and their performance that had been hoped. While technology has helped to mitigate poor performance and standardize overall performance, it hasn't fully resolved high attrition rates, lack of engagement, and embarrassing service and sales failures. These problems and a variety of other ills continue to plague contact centers and result in lost revenue, high service costs, and low customer loyalty.

So the key question for Contact Center Leaders and their bosses is not "why" high performance but rather "how"?

Fortunately, with the help of 16 years of research and the biggest bank of high performance environment data in the world, the "how" has become a whole lot easier.

Read how to create a high performance environment in your contact center... 



About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Customer Service - How to Live Your Brand Promise

Brand experience does matter. 
According to the Chief Marketing Officer Council, 54% of those surveyed said they'd give up their memberships in Loyalty Clubs if they had a negative product or service experience with a brand.

It's critical that the customer service you deliver does not in any way reflect poorly on your brand. The potential loss of business is far too high, even with those customers who indicated a preference for your product by signing on as a club member.

When Harvard Business Review asked consumers what dimensions of customer service they would most like to see companies measure, the highest number (65%) said "knowledgeable employees." Consumers defined these desirable employees as being able to "answer my questions without putting me on hold, searching for someone, or transferring me."

62% said they value the customer service employee who "treats me like a valued customer" and 54% want a service person who "demonstrates desire to meet my needs." The lowest percentage, 31%, wanted "relevant/personalized service."

Any way you cut it, in order to thrive, organizations must create positive experiences for their customers with each and every interaction. These positive interactions drive the repeat business, cross-selling and up-selling of services, loyal customers, and referrals that maintain revenue growth and reduce costs of sales and service.

Customer service training should equip your service employees with targeted and effective customer service skills that allow you to truly "live your brand promise."


Learn more about:

Knowledge Management

Front Line Service Skills

Relationship Service Skills

Branding Service Skills

Customer Conflict Skills

Electronic Communication Skills


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

10 Tips to Help Virtual and Global Teams Avoid Common Pitfalls

74%

If you are leading a virtual team, counting on a remote team for results, or participating as a member of a global team, we have good news and bad news.The good news is that you are now in the majority. A recent survey conducted by Chief Learning Officer Magazine found that at least 74% of those surveyed work in a virtual team environment or manage a global cross-functional team.

The bad news is that these teams face more obstacles than "normal" teams. With virtual and global cross-functional teams now the norm and not the exception, you would think that people would be better at leading and participating in them. Not so.

Our clients tell us that when their teams are dispersed geographically, they continue to face six common challenges related to being remote:

1. Communication issues
2. Time zone obstacles
3. Travel budget restrictions
4. Subtle cultural differences
5. Isolated team members
6. Limited "face time"

In addition to the typical challenges faced by teams in the areas of goals, roles, interactions, and processes, virtual and global teams face additional pressures that must be addressed in order for the team to succeed.

For example: How do you ensure that these teams communicate effectively and efficiently? How can you create a "virtual water cooler" so that information and best practices impact all team members? How do you integrate cultural influences and differing perspectives in a way that makes sense?

Based upon working with hundreds of virtual and remote teams, here are 10 simple tips to ensure that your virtual and global teams are on track and avoid the pitfalls that inhibited the success of those that have gone before you.

Get the 10 virtual and global team tips for success... 

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Global, Remote & Virtual Teams - What Works

No longer just "nice to have."
With most companies placing increasing dependence upon virtual and global teams to execute their strategies, it is imperative that leaders and managers have the critical skills required to work effectively with diverse colleagues, teams, and clients around the world.

To be successful with global teams, managers must learn how to gain top performance with remote team members of different cultures. This includes gaining insight to culture's effect on planning, taking initiative, teamwork and change.

To get results from remote and virtual teams, managers must be able to communicate critical information clearly, use new technology to improve efficiency, avoid typical pitfalls of remote teams, build trust on the telephone, handle global challenges, avoid cultural misunderstandings and accomplish time-driven goals at a distance.

If you would like to learn what our repeat clients like Cisco, IBM, HP, SAP, Apple, Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Accenture, Novartis, Charles Schwab, Synopsys, Network Appliance, LexisNexis, Hewitt Associates, Oracle, Seagate, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Farmers Insurance, and Wipro do to succeed with their widely dispersed and diverse teams, then these solutions are for you.

Learn more about:

Virtual, Remote and Cross-Cultural Teams

Partnering with India, China, Korea, the Philippines, India, Israel and Latin America


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

The Top 5 Things That Training Companies Do NOT Want You to Know

Who is looking out for you?
Training companies, like all other for-profit businesses, are usually trying to make money. 

In doing so, many also try to help their clients succeed. 

Something interesting happens, however, when there is a conflict between making money and helping clients succeed. Not all firms handle this dilemma equally. Their approach greatly impacts the value that they can provide to you, your boss, and your business.

Having worked with hundreds of training companies over the last 15+ years, we have learned some very surprising facts about how training companies are run and what they are truly trying to achieve.

Our experience has taught us that most training company recommendations and advice should be taken with a grain of salt. When it comes to training, Dilbert cartoons seem to be on target more often than they are not.

Read about the Top 5 things that training companies do NOT want you to know... 


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Budget Time: 3 Steps to Building a Smarter Training Budget

Faster and More Frequent
The stock market used to make big news by moving 50 points in a session. These days it seems like 200+ point swings are occurring with more regularity.

This volatility is causing havoc with many of our clients who feel uncertain about the "right" way to invest in their company's future. For example:

• Companies have jobs to fill, but they are having trouble finding the "right people."
• Leaders have initiatives to start, but worry about the "right approach."
• Salesforces have opportunities, but buyers are waiting until the "right time."

Steve Jobs said that "perfect is the enemy of good enough." Our most successful clients know that you need to consistently take steps to get better - not necessarily perfect.

To keep up with the pace of today's change (seems as though this is said every decade), action is required to put yourself in a position to be in the game and learn from any mistakes faster than your competition.

The same can be said of budgeting. If you are like most of our clients, your training budgets will receive more scrutiny this year.

Perfect (in terms of giving your employees everything that they want) is probably not an option. But you need to do something. How do you get it "right?"

Learn more about the 3 Steps to Building a Smarter Training Budget - One that Gets Approved by Executives...


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Performance Pressure: How Much Should a Leader Push Their People to Succeed?

Are you striking the right balance? 

As leaders, we are expected to create the environment that produces the most from the people within our organizations. 

If we (or our culture) push too much or too little, we may not meet our goals. How do we strike the right balance?

Like the Story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, some performance pressure is too much, some is too little, and some is "just right."

Based upon 16+ years of high performance research with elite institutions such as Harvard, the U.S. Special Forces, Cisco, Accenture, MIT, NASA, Juilliard, and the Olympic Games, we know that performance pressure is a necessary component to building high performance environments.

We also know, however, that performance pressure must be carefully monitored and balanced by other factors. If you create too much or too little performance pressure it will not matter if you have the "right people."

Read more about the 3 performance pressure indicators that every leader should know...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Leadership: Creating a High Performance Environment

70.

That is the number of "moves" available to a leader at any given time that can significantly impact the performance of their team.

With so many options, it is not surprising that some leaders succeed while others fail?

Based on over 16 years of high performance research with elite institutions such as Harvard, the U.S. Special Forces, Cisco, Accenture, MIT, NASA, and Juilliard, we have identified a process to help leaders to identify the top two leadership actions that will have the greatest impact on performance.

Successful leaders know how to create a performance environment by effectively navigating:

• Directional Components: strategy, achievement, and failure
• Status Components: company, team, and individual performance exposure levels
• Motivational Components: rewards, consequences, and engagement.

Our quarterly performance poll showed that a startling 85% of leaders have not identified the two most critical moves to impact their performance environment. Are your leaders doing what it takes to create a high performance environment? 

Learn more about our high performance research...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Influencer = Catalyst: A Critical Organizational Role

What does it take to influence change?

Can this leadership skill be learned?

Most influential leaders share three key characteristics:

1. A Compelling Point of View
2. Authenticity
3. Catalytic Mindset

Influencers in organizations play critical roles - especially in today's highly collaborative and matrix-oriented environments. 

Compelling Points of View, for example, are built on ideas, values, and emotional energy that convince others. Noel Tiche, noted American management consultant, says, "The essence of leading is not commanding, but teaching. It is opening people's eyes and minds. It is teaching them new ways to see the world and pointing them to new goals. It is giving them the motivation and discipline to achieve those goals."

A compelling point of view allows leaders to evoke interest, attention, or admiration in a powerfully irresistible way.

Read more about the 3 key influence skills for leaders... 

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Influence: How to Build Relationships and Get Results

"I want to be a hypnotist when I grow up so that others do what I want."

A classic quote from our friend's 5 year old.

While as a father and a CEO, I wish that I had the same hypnotic powers, we need to rely on influence and political savvy skills to get stuff done.

The dictionary defines influence as:

"the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others."

Today's organizations run on influence. Influence enables you to build the relationships you need to get the results that you want inside or outside the formal power structure.

Formal power structures are quickly changing or even disappearing, being replaced by newer, "flatter" and more flexible systems of governance. Matrixed environments create multiple reporting structures with often fuzzy political, power, and managerial boundaries.

Regardless of your positional power, you need to be skillful and flexible in the way you influence others.

Learn more about improving your influence skills...

Learn about improving your political savvy skills... 


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Sales Compensation, Design, and Planning Best Practices

Is your sales compensation plan getting you the results that you need?
Years ago a Fortune 1000 Technology client decided to award the President's parking spot to the top sales rep each month to motivate performance.  Parking was a real hassle for employees (#1 on a recent employee satisfaction survey).  The sales compensation team was excited about the low cost of the reward compared to the anticipated revenue and employee satisfaction jump.
   
Guess what?  The President's spot was as far away from the sales team's office as possible.  It became a running joke instead of an incentive.  Not surprisingly in hindsight, the parking spot did not drive additional revenue or engagement.  When it comes to sales compensation, experts know that effectiveness does not come easy.
   
"Messing" with people's paychecks is a big deal.  Unintended consequences are common with poorly designed and implemented sales plans.

While most sales compensation plans have good intentions, we have seen more sales teams rebel against new plans that would actually pay them more money than we can remember.

Additionally, sales leaders looking to increase revenue face an increasing challenge in recruiting and retaining qualified sales people. While the unemployment rate may be high, finding top sales talent continues to be a struggle for many.
   
Total sales compensation programs that reflect the strategic goals of the employer and the varying needs of its sales force are an integral part of hitting sales targets.


Learn more about sales compensation, design, and planning... 

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Thawing the Salary Freeze: Is it time to do something about your top talent's compensation?

At what point do you have to do something?

At a recent conference that question was posed to us.  

Actually the individual asked, "When you have had your salaries frozen for awhile, how long can you leave them frozen before you reach the point that you have to do something?"

Many organizations have instituted salary freezes during the recent downturn. Some have instituted freezes for one, two, or in this case three years. Depending on the source you reference, during the worst part of the recession as many as 40% of organizations instituted a salary freeze. 

Because salary freezes were so widespread, it was easy to feel secure in thinking that everyone was experiencing a freeze situation. After all, misery loves company.
However, it is easy to forget that if 40% of companies instituted a salary freeze, then 60% didn't. And the duration of every freeze was not the same from organization to organization. Depending on your specific sector and the types of skills and talent you require in your organization, you could find yourself in a very uncompetitive situation.

While it is true that a multitude of factors (especially management practices) contribute to employee engagement and retention, don't be fooled into a false sense of security when it comes to compensation.   

Read about the 5 key compensation considerations for coming out of the freeze...


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Accelerate Growth: 4 Key Steps to Identify and Target Your Ideal Clients

3x's Faster.

High Growth firms are almost 3x's as likely to be specific and detailed about identifying and working with ideal target clients than their slower growing peers.

Additionally, customers who "fit" better than others consistently produce higher revenue, profits, and satisfaction. This is the consequence of shorter sales cycles, less problems, more rewarding relationships, better results, and more referrals.

While many sales leaders and sales professionals do not want to leave "money on the table" and feel compelled to chase every opportunity to foster growth, a recent study by Hinge Marketing confirms that narrowing the focus of both your services and clients improves, rather than hinders, growth.

Consider the following:

Differentiation: High Growth firms were almost three times more likely to have strong differentiators in the eyes of their customers.

Offerings: High Growth firms were 62% more likely to be highly specialized in terms of service offerings.

Clients: High Growth firms were almost three times as likely to be highly specific and detailed about identifying and working with ideal target clients.

If you are unclear about your ideal customers and what differentiates you (in their eyes) from your competition, then here are four key steps to consider - steps that average performing sales organizations often skip.

Remember, it is all about the customer, not about you or your stuff.

Read about the 4 Key Steps to Accelerating Sales Growth...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Are You Chasing the Wrong Sales Pipeline Strategy?

40 times more likely.
A high-quality prospect is more than 40 times more likely to buy than a cold-called prospect.

Furthermore, sales people who actively seek and exploit referrals earn 4 to 5 times more than salespeople who don't.

While it seems like common sense to focus on more qualified client opportunities, surprisingly fewer than 30% of salespeople ask for referrals - the #1 source for good business.

There are many reasons that sales people seem to spend more time chasing low probability deals and RFP's instead of driving referrals.

The most common mistake is that sales people do not know how to effectively ask for a referral. Strange, but true. When we work with sales organizations, typically no more than 20% of the sales force can display the skills required to earn a referral. They think they can, but time and time again, they prove that they are missing some key ingredients.

This ineffective approach combined with a reluctance to ask until everything is "right," an unclear value proposition, fuzzy target client profiles, and minimal accountability to a referral process doom most sales organizations. The result - bad forecasting and pipelines with low closure rates.

When done right, our clients report that referrals allow them to close more than 50% of their pipeline and get meetings at the level that counts.

If you sell professional services, a referral strategy should be at the top of your business development list.

Learn more about closing a higher percent of your pipeline...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Benchmarking: Is Your Learning Solution Set Up to Succeed?

Over 50% of training initiatives fail to meet business expectations.Accordingly, it is not surprising that in tough times, learning is often one of the first areas to be questioned or cut.

While it seems like common sense to ensure that learning investments are set up to succeed, we continue to be surprised that billions are spent each year on corporate training without any assurance that the money is being spent wisely.

To combat the challenges, some mistakenly change all training to elearning because of a travel freeze or to reduce costs. While elearning can certainly be an effective medium, we recommended only doing training that (1) makes business sense and (2) is set up to succeed - regardless of the approach. Smart organizations make sure that they address a critical few best practice areas before launching any training initiative.

Starting off on the right foot provides the foundation to save time, money, and reputations. Is your next training initiative set up to succeed?

Get the Complimentary Online Training Benchmark...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

3 Steps to a Smarter Training Initiative

We believe that now is the perfect time for the training and development function to raise the bar.

Consider these paradoxes:

1. Over $100b is spent on corporate training events each year, yet 3 out of 4 CEO's do not believe that training is impacting their business.



2. 79% of organizations report acute skill gaps vis-à-vis their strategy, yet 80% of skills and knowledge are not transferred back to the job from isolated training events.

While we know that training events have their place in terms of career development, employee engagement, and team building, we have yet to find a client who believes that training "by itself" will drive tangible change or business results.

With most organizations facing continued pressure to reduce costs, increase sales revenue, and increase productivity, now is the time for Training and Development to raise the bar.

Building smarter training initiatives is about ensuring that training investments get meaningful results that are relevant to the business. Here are the three steps that we have found to be most effective.

Read about the 3 Key Steps to a Smarter Training Initiative...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Top 5 Warning Signs that Your Performance Environment May Be In Trouble

84%.

That is the percent of people from our recent Q2 poll that do not know what specific actions would have the biggest impact on the organizational performance of their company.

If you have direct reports, then you should sit up and take notice.

Think about it.

What percent of your success is dependent upon the success of others? If you are like most savvy leaders today, you will answer 70%+.

So if your success is so highly tied to the success of others, why are you not putting more emphasis on making sure that you are creating a high performance environment? Why do some teams succeed while others fail? One reason is clear. With over 70 possible key management actions available to significantly change performance, people don't know where to start.

Fortunately, based upon over 16 years of research on high achieving individuals (like Nelson Mandela, Japanese Samurai Masters, and Nobel Peace Laureates) and high performance environments (like the US Special Forces, NASA, and the Olympics), some key trends have emerged.

If your success is dependent upon the success of others, then you should make sure that you avoid the top 5 warning signs of an underperforming environment. 

Read more about the Top 5 Warning Signs...

About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a global training and consulting firm that focuses on achieving measurable business results with a select group of clients. Since our inception, LSA Global has successfully partnered with over 500 clients to deliver over 10,000 learning solutions. Our proven approach is backed by 45 client case studies, 143 research papers, 108 client testimonials, and 600+ assessment and measurement projects.Over 85% of our business comes from repeat clients and our customer satisfaction rating is 97.5%. Our clients tell us that we are different. Our clients tell us that we save them both time and money.

Does Your HR Function Have a "Seat at the Executive Table?"

No.

That is what more than 50% of our clients tell us when we ask if their HR Function has a true seat at the executive table.

For decades, Human Resources has had difficulty playing at the same level as their peers "running the business." Not coincidentally, this struggle coincides with HR's inability (both perceived and actual) to have a measurable and visible impact on revenue, costs, or productivity. And, according to our clients, the pressure on HR to step-up is only increasing.

What should HR do to become a player?
Many suggest improving business and financial acumen. Others look toward developing consulting skills to build deeper business partnerships. Both steps can and do add value; but there's an additional skill set lacking in most HR organizations: the ability to answer one key question.

It is a question that cannot be answered solely from business acumen, consulting skills, or engagement survey results. And surprisingly, most HR professionals not only do not ask it, but cannot answer it.

Read about the critical question and how to answer it...


About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

7 Leadership Development Best Practices: A Fast Track to Executive Bench Strength

97%.

That is the number of organizations in a recent study that cited significant leadership skill gaps.

In the same survey, as many as 70% of those companies confessed that they are doing nothing to close those gaps. Why?

We believe that there are two fundamental causes for these findings reported by research firms for the past decade.

1. Current Leadership Development Programs Not Adding Measurable Value: Those companies which have leadership development programs are not producing leaders who meet the specific needs of their organization.

2. Skeptical of the Value: Those without leadership action learning programs are reluctant to start down the traditional but ineffective leadership development path.
The traditional leadership development approach involving interviews, training needs assessments, competency models, instructional design, blended learning, and complex training measurement systems is too slow and too ill-equipped to create executives capable of addressing their company's critical challenges.

Most companies just don't have the luxury of 1 - 2 years to develop and roll-out a leadership program - let alone one with little promise for the application of new skills learned or for an observable, measurable impact on the business.

As recent winners of the 2010 Bersin Leadership Development Excellence Award, we know that there is a better way.

Read more about the 7 Leadership Development Best Practices...


About LSA Global

Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

Executive Development: Improving Strategic Execution

Done right, Executive Development should have a greater company-wide impact than any other learning initiative.

In addition to improving the capabilities of your top executives, the outcomes of any world-class executive development program should include tangible business results in:

• Increased revenue
• Decreased costs and/or
• Increased productivity

We find that successful Executive Development & Coaching initiatives are typically designed to fit the specific goals and needs of an organization and its personality.

Because each situation and leadership team is unique, we have found that "one size" does not fit all when it comes to effectively developing executives. We also know that "off-the-shelf" executive development is typically a waste of both time and money in terms of changing leadership behavior or improving leadership results.

Last year, LSA's Leadership Development Program directly drove $13m to our client's bottom-line in only 12 months. What impact is your leadership program having on your business?

Read more about Leadership Development Options that Create Measurable Business Results...



About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned

3 Steps to Connect Customer Loyalty to Increased Revenue

Does customer service really drive revenue?

When I have a bad customer experience, I typically form a bad impression of that company that impacts my buying behavior. Is that true across the board?

Studies consistently affirm that the quality of front-line service our customers experience links directly to how loyal they are to our brand, our products, and ultimately to the amount of revenue and profit generated from those customer relationships.

Recent metrics on the difference in customer loyalty between companies in the top quartile of customer experience (when measured against industry averages) and the companies in the lowest quartile showed:

• 14.4% more customers willing to buy a follow-on product
• 15.8% more customers reluctant to switch
• 16.6% more customers likely to recommend

In another study conducted across 12 industries, the revenue change from a 10 point increase in a firm's Customer Service Experience Index adds $284 million to the bottom line for every $10 billion in revenue.

So, while customers may not always tell you directly what they think or how they feel about the service we provide, it's our job, as Customer Service Professionals, to ensure that their experience with us and with our organization is a highly positive one. We need to listen to what they say and what they are not saying as both have bottom-line impact.

Read more about the 3 steps to drive revenue through customer service performance...



About LSA Global
Founded in 1995, LSA Global is a leading performance consulting and training firm that helps high growth technology, services, and life-science companies create a competitive advantage by powerfully aligning their culture and talent with their strategy. Learn more about getting aligned