Strategic Human Capital Insights

Today, we are right in the vortex of a VUCA world. We are living in a perfect storm where the tensions and demands of our changing external environment on many levels are creating real pressures on our internal ecosystems and the people working in our organizations. Old structures and roles have expired and are "past their sell-by-date." To truly embrace the new VUCA work reality, it’s time to rethink all the old organizational structures and roles. It’s easy to see when our food has expired, but are we quite as rigorous when evaluating if our structures and roles have expired as well? Are we clinging to the past, hoping our structures and roles will somehow be relevant for the present and future work demands? Let's examine the four critical skills required to excel in the new VUCA world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.

1. Business Acumen: Understanding the Business of the Business 
   
   Your employees need to fully understand your business as it performs in the marketplace. If they do not, you cannot expect them to stay relevant and deliver forward-focused, value-added services and productivity.

The term, VUCA, was first used by the military and is defined as dealing with: 

V – Volatility: Anticipating and reacting to the nature and speed of change

U – Uncertainty: Maintaining effectiveness despite constant surprises and lack of predictability

C – Complexity: Navigating through complexity, chaos, and confusion

A – Ambiguity: Acting decisively without having clear direction & uncertainty 

VUCA is used to describe today’s current world of work. We are now right in the middle of this new working environment. How different is this from the preceding work environment? It is very different. 

We are sitting at the crossroads of two different worlds of work.  We all know this intellectually. Everyone talks about it. Then why is it taking us so long to change things?  Our present organizations are often disconnected and misaligned.  This disconnect between the new reality and blind adherence to old operating structures is creating an organization operating chasm that can and will have serious strategic implications. 


Past Organizations 

The old work paradigms of the past focus on:

• BAU – Business as usual
• Maintaining the routine
• Sustainability
• Planned growth
• Global expansion – unlimited green fields
• The emergence of the age of the Knowledge Worker
• Legacy organizational structures and practices rooted in the past 

It's All About the Information!

The question is often asked, "So how can I determine my client's DiSC® profile? We all know we would like to have clients fill out the profile, but since that's often not going to happen, here are some things to consider. The behaviors are right in front of you.

In sales, the salesperson's job is to observe and process every clue the client gives. If you can master the most prominent and easily observed behaviors, it doesn't matter if you are selling face-to-face or over the phone. It's all about the information. 

Increase Success with a Multifunctional, Disciplined Sales Methodology

The sales function is the front line of the marketplace and is strategically critical. Keeping the sales function aligned with strategic goals will significantly impact growth.  

Because we are focused on WHAT, WHY, and HOW information, it is imperative to have a strategic sales methodology approach that is multifunctional and multifaceted – requiring many layers of information. Here is a breakdown of the PSP approach to accelerate your sales growth, focusing on the layers of information needed to implement and sustain a disciplined sales methodology.

The fourth quarter is the strategic planning time for many companies.  This is a perfect time to review your sales force competencies.  For many organizations, the sales function is the front line into the marketplace. Keeping the sales function aligned with strategic goals can and does significantly impact growth. So how do you ensure your current sales function is robust, ready and upskilled to accomplish the task? When is it appropriate to determine if it is time for learning & development to play a part in accelerating strategic growth goals? 

The DiSC® Profile is a very powerful tool used in organizations globally. The DiSC® Profile assesses people for their underlying personality styles. The model presents a methodology for understanding the feedback from the DiSC® Profile.  The key elements that make up personality and motivators can be used to manage effective interpersonal relationships, manage the sales process at a very personal level, and understand how to create highly effective client business plans.  That information breathes life into and gives dimension to effective client business plans.

3 Ways to Incorporate DiSC® into Your Client Business Planning Process to Increase Sales

Client Business Plans are one of the most critical sales business tools. A big problem with these plans is that they often neglect to identify the most important information about the client—the qualitative data! What do I mean?

The Total Client Buying Center (TCBC)

I’ve seen countless business plans that identify the names of people within the buying center.  But remember, a name is only a name without an operating context associated with the name.  I often hear salespeople say, “I have the company organization chart.”  So what!  A name on an organization chart is usually meaningless.  It is simply a ‘what’ data point.   There is so much more to this name that a great salesperson must know to understand the buying landscape truly:

“Successful relationship selling is not just a list of activity items.  It is a thinking person’s occupation, requiring a plan, a process with targets and smart activity, and integrated skills measured against the only metric indicator of success – The Client Business Plan.” - Joanne Flynn, “The Relationship Management Model”©

Sales and Business Development is essential to look at from a holistic perspective, starting with: 

• Competitive Landscape and Marketing Approach
• Product and How to Differentiate with the Highest Impact
• Activity & Sales Tools / Skills to Navigate through Client Conversations

All three must be part of a robust relationship management process that is critical for sales and business development success. Skip any of the three concepts, and you will build flaws into your business development program. All this information is absolutely necessary to develop the key management tools to monitor and measure success. It all comes together in The Client Business Plan.

Is it Activity or is it Smart Activity?

A big misconception regarding client management is that activity is the measure of sales success.  Activity is an easy metric, and today numerous apps can monitor that activity.  However, the only important activity metric is smart activity.  The only way to determine and assess smart activity is relative to an evaluation context that determines if each activity is the best use of the salesperson’s time. Only then can we truly evaluate if an activity is a smart activity. The basis of this evaluation is the Client Business Plan.

In sales, success often hinges on asking the right questions rather than having the right pitch. Mastering the art of inquiry allows you to uncover your prospect’s needs, build trust, and tailor your solutions to provide real value. In this post, we’ll explore why asking great questions is the ultimate sales skill and how it can transform your approach, leading to deeper relationships, customer understanding, and more closed deals.

The Essentials

Questions are the most important tool in your sales toolkit.  Never underestimate the importance of questions.  They help you navigate through conversations and maximize the opportunity for information gathering.  Asking great questions requires mental preparation, agility, and precise communication skills.  Before you can ask great questions, consider the question’s purpose.

• Why are you asking the questions?  
• What is the best question to use?
• What do you want to gain from this question?
• Who are you asking?
• What is their perspective? What are their goals? What are their issues, challenges, and/or problems?
• How can you phrase your questions to maximize your advantage?