HARDISON’S TIPS – NOVEMBER 9, 2021 – Prospecting – Keep it Simple! In my role as Director of Sales, I work with clients and their sales teams on how to improve sales. Surprisingly, I find there seems to be a surplus of sales teams who struggle with “prospecting.” Three questions I am often asked are: What is a good prospecting plan? 2. How do I know I need a prospecting plan for my team? 3. How do I keep my prospecting simple? As a best practice, you should always keep your eye on pipeline development and prospecting. That being said, many sales teams do not give prospecting (and having a simple prospecting plan) a second thought. True Sales Excellence comes from a full 360° vision…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 9, 2021 -2 3 Secrets To Giving A Great Toast Got To Know Your Ability Before you open your mouth to give a toast, make sure that you are well aware of what your speaking skill level is. Long before you find yourself placed in a situation where you’ll be asked to give a speech, you are going to want to be searching for opportunities to both practice and hone this toast making skill. The biggest challenge to your ability is going to be making mistakes. These mistakes can consist of such things as talking too fast. Although this is something that is relatively easy to fix, you first have to know that you are doing it…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 8, 2021 – It All Starts With Leadership You don’t have to have the top sales talent in your industry to succeed. You do have to have leadership. Ask any political candidate, football coach or successful businessman and they will all tell you that to improve performance and drive better results in any endeavor, it all starts with leadership. In the corporate world, as sales training budgets and programs have waned, many leaders seem to think when things go awry that they have a sales training problem. I beg to differ. In my 30+ years in sales leadership for service providers, and in providing advisory/consulting services to end clients, I observed many underperforming sales teams. I would submit that the primary…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 8, 2021-1 3 Secrets To Giving A Great Toast One of the biggest problems with being a person who has given speeches before is that all too quickly people will start to think of you as “that person who gives speeches”. It really doesn’t matter if you are comfortable doing this or not, the simple fact that everyone knows that you’ve done it before means that if they have a need for someone to give a speech, they are going to come looking for you. Nowhere is this going to be more evident than when it comes time to make a toast. Got To Know Your Audience It’s funny that one of the things that we know…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 7, 2021 – Why Sales Managers Don’t Coach-2 Remedy: Ensure the coaching training includes a process and structure for how coaching is supposed to happen within that organization. Ensure the program includes coaching tools to support the process.  #4 Management Hasn’t Set Consistent Expectations or Accountability We see far too many organizations that have implemented coaching training or a coaching initiative, only to see it fall flat 6-12 months after the launch. One reason is that there hasn’t been a clear expectation set regarding how often coaching will occur, and what evidence will be used to show that coaching has happened. Remedy: The most successful coaching programs in our experience are the ones where senior leadership has set clear expectations and accountability for…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 7, 2021 ‘Date which will live in infamy’: What to remember about Pearl Harbor, 80 years later “December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed. Americans on Monday will honor the 79th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The surprise raid on the major U.S. Navy base near Honolulu killed more than 2,400 Americans and left another 1,100 injured. In short, the strike signaled the entry of the United States into World War II. According to the National Park Service, Congress designated Dec. 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in August 1994. This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, a small, intimate gathering of veterans will be held at Pearl Harbor…

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HARDISON’S TIPS – DECEMBER 6, 2021 – Why Sales Managers Don’t Coach-1 The evidence for the benefits of coaching is compelling. Not only can it help develop your reps and improve selling skills, but high performing sales teams tend to have managers who spend more time coaching, as evidenced by the 2017 Sales Management Research Report. It’s a bit like flossing or going to the gym—we all know we should do it, but for various reasons, it doesn’t happen as often as we might like. So why is that?  We’ve asked this question on numerous webinars and workshops over the past ten years and have collected the following reasons that sales managers may not coach: #1 Managers Don’t Have Time The most popular response to the question…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 6, 2021 How Presenters Can Give A Toast Without Toasting A Relationship So you’ve been invited to a wedding, a retirement party, or some other celebration in which friends and family are going to gather in order to honor someone. There will probably be some sort of food served, drinks will flow, and then someone will do it – they’ll stand up and give a toast. Oh, oh – now it’s your turn to do the same thing. How are you going to do this without looking like a fool or destroying your relationship with the person(s) of honor? First off, get rid of any plans that you might have to say something naughty. Rarely this might…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 5, 2021 Sample introduction speech Ladies and gentlemen,I am (say your name) and I am the (say your title in relations to why you’re introducing the speaker, for example, you are president of an organization). I am so pleased to be with you tonight and to have the chance to introduce our guest speaker, (say speakers name).He / She is the (say speaker’s positions in relations to why they’re speaking). He / She has been one of the main proponents of this program for several years, and it a true stand out in this field. He / She has a great understanding of the program and a great appreciation of what it takes to truly make (state…

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CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 4, 2021 How Presenters Can Give A Toast Without Toasting A Relationship It’s the holiday season once again, a virtual minefield of social speaking opportunities. I can just see it now: you’re at the office Christmas party, there will probably be some sort of food served, drinks will flow, and then someone will do it – they’ll stand up and give a toast. Oh, oh – now it’s your turn to do the same thing. How are you going to do this without looking like a fool or destroying your relationship with the person(s) of honor (your boss perhaps?) First off, get rid of any plans that you might have to say something naughty. Rarely this might…

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