On Our Bookshelf: The Knowing-Doing Gap

Book: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton

Summary: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action is not just another strategy book about “what to do.” Pfeffer and Sutton convincingly argue that management already knows what to do. The gap that exists between “knowing” and “doing” actually resides within the unique culture of an organization. Yes, we are talking about execution.

You’ll love this book if: You are willing to take an honest appraisal of your organization’s culture, and the roles that fear vs. collaboration play in execution.

You’ll hate this book if: You are comfortable with building your business using a hierarchical management structure laced with fear.

Words of Wisdom:

Fear starts, or stops, at the top. It is unfortunate, but true, that a formal hierarchy give people at the top power to fire or harm the careers of people at lower levels … Organizations that are successful in turning knowledge into action are frequently characterized by leaders who inspire respect, affection, or admiration, but not fear.

Why we think this book is important: An environment of action, which values employee collaboration and cooperation, is far more likely to result in satisfied, motivated employees. People who feel good about their jobs - the impact of their work-related activities – create positive customer touchpoints along the way.

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On Our Bookshelf: Discover Your Sales Strengths

Book: Discover Your Sales Strengths: How the World’s Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers

Author: Benson Smith & Tony Rutigliano

Summary: Discover Your Sales Strengths: How the World’s Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers is a wonderfully counterintuitive exploration of developing star salespeople. The book’s premise is the idea that focusing on a person’s strengths will allow them to perform at an exceptional level, while focusing on weaknesses merely produces average results.

You’ll love this book if: You want to try a new strategy for improving your sales results, and the results of your sales team.

You’ll hate this book if: You are steeped in “old school” sales training, such as “working to improve” people’s weaknesses.

Words of Wisdom:

Focusing energy on weaknesses might improve performance somewhat, but – contrary to conventional wisdom – great performance comes from strengths. Knowing your talents, understanding them thoroughly, building them into strengths, and seeing how you can put your strengths to work every day isa key to greatness and, our research would attest, the surer path to success.

Why we think this book is important: Your salespeople are quite possibly your organization’s most important customer touchpoint.

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Want more? Check out the long and winding version of this book review.

Of Tribes and Touchpoints

Book: Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us

Author: Seth Godin

Summary: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us explores the idea that humans have always joined tribes, and the Internet now makes tribe assembly easier than ever. The business application here is that by providing opportunities for your customers to engage with your product or service, while giving employees the freedom to accomplish amazing things, you potentially set up a platform for a conversation – even a tribe – to form around your organization.

You’ll love this book if: You are open to encouraging employees and customers to openly and passionately dialogue about your organization – and learning from this experience.

You’ll hate this book if: You are not interested in creating a customer experience worth talking about, and you think it’s OK for your employees to be bored with their jobs.

Words of Wisdom:

The business world has a long history of conservatives tribes, of groups of people who relish the status quo. The big news is that this has changes. People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement, and they talk about things that are remarkable, not boring.

Why we think this book is important: Engaged employees translate into engaged (and profitable) customers.

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Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us is another scrumptious Seth Godin nugget, easily consumed in one sitting (or curl-up). In tribe-driven world, anyone can be a leader and thanks to the Internet, it is easier than ever for tribes to assemble.

So what is a “tribe”?

A clear definition of tribe is right there on the inside flap of the book jacket. So clear, so compelling – you are practically dared not to open the book and learn more.

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have joined tribes, be they religious, ethnic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads).

What does this idea of a tribe have to do with business?

Um, everything.

You see, your customers are bored. They’re not listening to you. Why should they? If you’re like most organizations, you’re more interested in maintaining the same old, same old than creating something exceptional – something your customers will want to talk about.

Something that will compel your customers to form a tribe around your product or service.

The business world has a long history of conservative tribes, of groups of people who relish the status quo. The big news is that this has changed. People yearn for change, they relish being part of a movement, and they talk about things that remarkable, not boring.

And guess what – if your employees are bored, your customers are bored, too.

How sheepwalking damages the customer relationship lifecycle

Godin defines sheepwalking as

The outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them brain-dead jobs and enough fear to keep them in line.

If it is common knowledge these days that engaged employees translate into engaged (and profitable) customers, why do organizations continue the practice of sheepwalking?

And many organizations go out of their way to hire people who color inside the lines, who demonstrate consistency and compliance. And then these organizations give these people jobs where they are managed via fear. Which leads to sheepwalking (“I might get fired!”).

Here is what it’s like for your customers when sheepwalking and touchpoints collide:

• That’s not my job
• I’m off work in 5 minutes; you’ll have to call back tomorrow
• I can’t go out of my way to help you without my boss’s permission

OK, you get it. But what are you going to do about it?

When you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff. And the sheepwalkers and their bosses watch and shake their heads, certain that this is an exception and that it is way too risky for their industry or their customer base.

Which tribe are you leading?

As you consider the relationship of your employees, your customers and the touchpoints along the customer relationship lifecycle, stop and ask yourself: “Do I want to continue as a leader of sheepwalking or do I want to lead the way for my company to do something remarkable?”

Leading a tribe? Share your experience with us – we’d love to hear from you!

Suggestion: Be this guy instead

You may recall that in our first post in the “Don’t be that guy” category, I called out Citrix for the overly aggressive sales experience I had with them when I signed up for a webinar.

I think it’s only fair that I follow up with a suggestion on how these first interactions might have been done differently.

Step 1: Align the first email with the first step in the sales cycle.

The fact that I was required to used the GoToWebinar product in order to attend the webinar should not have translated into the broad assumption that I have an interest in the product. The email, as you recall, began with

Thank you for your recent interest in …

and thus was geared towards a lead.

A more appropriate introduction might have been:

Thank you for signing up for (the webinar). Citrix is pleased to partner with (webinar company) to bring you this informative presentation.

Step 2: Segment responses for follow up.

The second part of the email might have contained a link:

Would you like to learn more about collaboration technology? Please take a moment to view this presentation. You are welcome to contact me directly at …

As you can see, the link to the presentation provides a data-gathering opportunity.

The recipients who click through to the presentation might indeed be interested in the product. They might receive a second email thanking them for their interest and asking them to expect a call.

A different email might be sent to those who did not click through to view the presentation:

We hope you enjoyed (the webinar). We are proud to make it possible for you to experience the best web collaboration experience ever. Should you wish to learn more about (our product), please feel free to contact me or check out this presentation.

Step 3: Don’t hand it off to sales until it’s actually a lead.

Making the effort to nurture recipients into prospects and prospects into leads increases your chances of connecting with those who are interested in your product at the right time.

This makes it possible for salespeople to manage their time more efficiently. Even though it requires significant involvement on marketing’s part to nurture those leads through the process, by the time the leads are handed to sales, the chances of leads actually closing will increase.

(In our particular example, however, the issue was compounded by the fact that the salesperson lied. My suggestion? Just don’t do it.)