The Dance of Onboarding: Integrating New Hires into Your Corporate Culture By Desiree Grace Have you ever tried to waltz or swing dance with someone who couldn't match your rhythm or didn't know the steps? It can become a clash of styles or cultures, or, worse, somebody gets their toes stepped on. A similar thing can happen when a new hire doesn't quite 'get' the culture. Much like dancing, though, skills can be learned. I recently facilitated a panel on Cultural Quotient (CQ) where we discussed best practices for increasing CQ. This involved intentional learning, self-awareness of physical cues such as body language and personal space, and the willingness to adapt to new cultures. I have some amusing stories about what not to do based on experiences with insensitive former colleagues. However, it's more productive to focus on how employers can improve the onboarding experience and subsequently enhance retention and employee engagement by welcoming people into ...

So, you just got RIFFED—a Reduction In Force, aka a re- organization. You feel gobsmacked, mad, sad, rejected, among other emotions. But, as with other potholes in the road of life, you must keep moving forward. After receiving excellent advice in a similar situation, I can confidently share with you the 10-step RIF Survival Road Map. Take a day or two, but no more, to wallow in your emotions. Then, pull yourself together, and chart your path forward. As you do, remind yourself that none of this is personal. All good CEOs must make tough decisions, and that can involve cost-cutting. Appreciate what you learned, and the people you met, and focus on the positive. Set yourself up for success, personally and professionally. If you need to cut costs at home, do so. Put that wine club on hold, review your subscriptions, and cut out some of those non-essentials. While you WILL find another job, there is no sense in digging a hole and deciding on a new opportunity out of desperation. If you ne...

Frank’s work has been featured on the Distribution Strategy Group website.  Here’s what they are saying:  Distributors who once relied on poaching new sellers from the competition have discovered that option has dried up. Frank Hurtte recently embarked on a mission to learn what the life of a new seller looks like today – and how distributors can better support them.     Delve into it  HERE . .

I have always found it easy to compare odd stories to the world of sales. Writing my latest book was a personal thing.  I love our industry and even more, I love the process of providing solutions to appreciative customers.  The book was a labor of love for our industry.  As I launched into the process, I was nagged by the thoughts of how I could add more of my personality to the book.    As I reviewed the book for the umpteenth time, I started jotting down off-the-cuff anecdotes and observations for sidebars within the text.  Most are pertinent to the book's storyline and off the wall.  To separate them from the intended content, I put them in shaded boxes.  I wanted readers to value these sections as bonus material beyond the scope of the book.    Last week a friend who was going through the book with a couple of his salespeople reported that these sidebars have become a great addition to his sales meetings.  For the next...

Little Johnny was a Bully in Third Grade, Now He’s a Purchasing Agent Are there Bullies in the Purchasing Department New Sellers are Falling Victim to Bad Guys Dressed as Purchasing Agents All three of these were considered as titles for this article.  I like them all, but I don’t like what purchasing people do to new sellers across our land. Throughout my life, I have dealt with hundreds if not thousands of purchasing departments.  Purchasing departments come with many different monikers – Purchasing, Procurement, Supply Chain Management, Sourcing Group, Resource Management, Indirect Supply Management, and probably a dozen more.  For simplicity, let’s call them purchasing people.  Their main role is to handle the administrative side of the products needed by their company with one large additional task.  Many purchasing people are also charged with buying those products at the lowest possible price.   Most purchasing people imply that they are ...

We just received notice from Amazon that our new book, The New Sales Guy Project* , has risen to number 503 on Amazon’s List of Top Selling books in the Sales and Selling category.     Considering that our book is designed exclusively for the small group of folks just launching their selling career in the Knowledge-based Distribution world, which isn’t exactly a massive market, and that we have invested exactly zero dollars in advertising, we are kind of proud of the ground swell of support from our friends in the industry.   The top books in this category include works from some of Frank Hurtte’s personal heroes who produced books like: The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon Drive and To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink Spin Selling by Neil Rackham   While checking out the list we also discovered that Hurtte’s other books are scoring well too.   The Distributor Fee-Based Services Manifest is tracking at 187 in the Distribution category. ...

Who needs to read this book, who doesn’t, and why? Ask any authors and they will freely tell you about the inspiration behind their penned masterpiece.  They will also give you a list of reasons to buy (and read) the book.  It’s unheard of for an author to tell you NOT to make the purchase.  But, I’m not just any author.   My motivation for writing this book. I have been personally involved in the sales process for Knowledge-based Distributors for a very long time; forty-five years at last count.  I have assisted new salespeople in some way or another for at least thirty years. As a Knowledge-based distributor salesperson with over 45 years of experience, I acknowledge that most of the skills and methodologies I learned early in my career are outdated.  While most experienced salespeople do not have as much experience as me, it’s safe to say sales leaders who started their journey after the launch of the iPhone in 2007 have a completely different exper...

If you're a regular reader, you know how we've been discussing sales tips and techniques here since 2008.  In order to keep things fresh, we took on this huge project interviewing over 200 salespeople and their sales managers about their rookie strategies.  This labor of love took over four years, thanks to COVID, and is now available on Amazon ! Invest in your team of rookies and re-energize those experienced sellers!  It's easy to follow and a fairly quick read. We will also be launching a mentor group next week!  Shoot us an email if you would like more details! *Amazon links may pay RHC a small commission that does not affect your purchase price.

Sales managers are under pressure to increase sales calls and productivity. This leads to scrutiny of call reports, which often reveal poor results.  To improve their reports, salespeople are counting drop-by visits with no customer contact as sales calls, which is ineffective. Several factors contribute to the lack of customer visits: poor time planning, inefficient travel, failure to make appointments, getting caught up in trivial tasks, excessive focus on customer emergencies, and complex individual situations.  To address these issues, you need a coaching plan. Over a 6-8 week period, sales managers should review each seller's planned activities for the upcoming week, log data on their plans, and compare them with the actual results. This allows for the identification of: • Scheduling issues.  Are they really planning ahead? • Issues with setting appointments.  Do they need some coaching here? • Emergencies that took them out of the field.  Are they j...

Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken with several folks about best practices for a first-time sales call.  This group was more than just rookie sellers launching their careers.  It included a couple of experienced sellers, a sales manager doing a “sanity check” on his gut-level feelings, as well as a seller in an expansion territory.  Based on this phone traffic, I would guess many others are also wondering about first-time sales calls.  With this thought in mind, I decided to weigh in on the topic personally. Quoting one of these conversations, “Years ago my first boss insisted we all carry a line card and present it to every new customer or new contact at an existing customer.  The line card was his baby; printed on high-quality (and laminated) card stock.  He even made us practice presenting it through role-play exercises in his office.” This gentleman’s comment about his boss’ pride and devotion to the line card caused me to recall my early ...