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Answer Upon - Does Your Sales Division Reflect Our Diverse World?
Assign Tasks to KidsDo not underestimate the potential of your kids. Kids can handle some task that you do not have time to do: filing, recording messages, paper shredding documents, etc. My 15 year old daughter is responsible for inputting information from business cards that I collect from meetings, into my contact management system, proof reading documents, filing, typing and other small administrative task. She loves it and it gives her great employability skills and inclusion in my business. It is a great way for kids t
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about
Conference events include quite a few different types of activities. Most often they include meals, accommodations, and special speaking engagements. They also may include various types of entertainment. It all depends upon the purpose of the conference. Conference events are often designed to motivate and educate. This can be done either with the conference attendees passively listening to speakers, or through hands on group and team participation. All activities that take place at conference events (besides meals, perhaps) are designed to i
Here's what I mean. I live in Toronto, the most multiculturally diverse city on the planet, and I recently became a Canadian citizen. On that day, 113 other people from 22 countries also took the citizenship oath. As I looked around, five of us were white. Only three of us spoke English as our first language (two Bulgarians were the other part of the white contingent). I was surrounded by a sea of interesting looking faces of various colours and hues, and I was so proud to be part of this crowd.
I ride the subway whenever I get the chance, and the other passengers who are going to work (executives, middle management, administrators, blue collar workers, men, women, recent grads, the nearly retired) mirror the crowd at the citizenship ceremony.
I have worked with over 6,000 sales professionals in the past 15 years in a wide variety of industries including technology, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, health care, travel, banking, insurance and manufacturing. Yet only a handful of people in all my training classes have been black, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.
Why?
This lack of diversity makes no business sense. Every day, companies struggle to develop their competitive edge and increase their customer base. They are operating in a global marketplace, made up of a vast range of cultures, customers and customs. Most companies declare in their corporate statements that their people make the difference, yet they haven't found practical ways to ensure that their sales forces reflect the marketplace realities of diverse races and cultures.
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about
Specialty retailers typically stock a wide variety of products, centered on a particular theme, whether it be a hobby, a nationality, some tourist attraction in their city or any niche subject. With such an extensive selection of product, it can be difficult to create a shopping environment that is anything less than a hodgepodge of different sized products on display in different sized shelves, racks and bins throughout the store. One popular product in these stores is music CDs.An Irish retailer may carry a dozen or so different CDs
I ride the subway whenever I get the chance, and the other passengers who are going to work (executives, middle management, administrators, blue collar workers, men, women, recent grads, the nearly retired) mirror the crowd at the citizenship ceremony.
I have worked with over 6,000 sales professionals in the past 15 years in a wide variety of industries including technology, packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, health care, travel, banking, insurance and manufacturing. Yet only a handful of people in all my training classes have been black, Asian, East Indian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.
Why?
This lack of diversity makes no business sense. Every day, companies struggle to develop their competitive edge and increase their customer base. They are operating in a global marketplace, made up of a vast range of cultures, customers and customs. Most companies declare in their corporate statements that their people make the difference, yet they haven't found practical ways to ensure that their sales forces reflect the marketplace realities of diverse races and cultures.
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about
The Hollywood Mafia Industry and Corporate America share operational similarities. Take the scenario: Al Capone running General Motors or Jack Welch running the Bonnono crime family (One of the most powerful families out of the five original New York Mafia families). Larger than life, film replicates reality, inspires it and role models it. I am one who likes to learn from everything I do, whether that be watching television, or reading a book. The following letter brings to light how corporate America and organized crime are in the same ope
Some voices have started recognizing the benefits of diversity, such as Bill Minix, director of learning and development for Fisher HealthCare. As he says in a recent article in Selling Power magazine, "The more diverse your environment, the better your sales." "If you get 10 medical technicians together for brainstorming, each with 18 years of experience, what kind of ideas
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about
The well publicised plight of manufacturing companies in the United Kingdom has led to an ever increasing demand for reduction of internal costs and now, more than ever, the focus has been on the cost of supply chains. The nature of supply chains and their structure is however often overlooked, and many of the internal costs can be eliminated by examining the overall supply chain strategy. By developing a supply chain that reflects the needs of the internal customers, many of the previously unidentified inefficiencies can be eliminated and
do you think you'll get? But if you introduce a junior military officer with a background in leadership, someone who sold copiers on a commission-only basis, and someone who emigrated from another culture who had to learn how to do business in a new language, you might get new ideas on how to drive, motivate, and persuade your customers."
BRIDGING THE GAP:
How can managers encourage, recruit and nourish culturally diverse salespeople? Here are some ideas:
1. DECLARE YOUR INTENTION TO HAVE YOUR SALES TEAM MIRROR THE POPULATION
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about
When choosing an automated parking system it makes sense to assess your needs and budget to make sure that you can get something that is truly compatible and will have a fair return on investment, otherwise it does not make much sense. Perhaps you have seen the double stacker lifts where one car is raised up and the second car parks underneath? This is one option and generally can double your parking spaces if you have a flat indoor lot.Indeed these simple systems are a lot less costly than building a two-story parking garage out of ce
When hiring for sales positions, start paying close attention to company policies that encourage or mandate a diverse environment. Tell others (including your sales team) of your intentions, and ask if they know good people to hire.
Perhaps members of minority groups are not applying for sales jobs in your industry, or aren't being promoted into sales management. The same was said about women 25 years ago. Depending on the industry, many sales forces now include significant numbers of women. Change can happen.
2. QUESTION YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVES
Ask yourself some questions. What are your assumptions about races and cultures other than your own, or about the prospect of working with people who may look at the world and human interactions through different lenses? When you hire or promote someone from a minority group, do you feel as if you've done that person a favour? Unconscious attitudes can unwittingly lead to exclusionary actions.
3. BE A MENTOR MATCHMAKER
Research indicates that employees of minority cultures in an organization may have more difficulty finding mentors than employees of the prevailing culture. Find out if an employee would prefer to be partnered with someone of the same background, and then offer to connect that person with an appropriate resource within your organization.
4. SHARE YOUR SUCCESSES WITH ME
If your organization has been successful in hiring and retaining a culturally diverse sales and sales management force, please let me know how you've done it. I will share your practices and insights with Sa1esWise readers.
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