Fancy some nice music? Here is a short recommendation from me. As a Dublin tourist having been here already you may remember a nice walk on Saturday at Grafton Street and its famous street music from several highly talented bands. One of thes is Key West which I listened to often when I passed the busy street. The played at sunshine, rain, cold and rainy weather. Always with such an empowering energy and empathy that those moments listening to them really made my day. Now there new album “Joyland” is out and it turns out to be really successful climbing up to number 1 in Irish charts. I am really happy form them because I really appreciate the love and energy they put into their tunes. So if you want to listen something really original from Dublin and create a little street music atmosphere for yourself, just listen to their new album here.
Alleingang – Ian Krüger
Ein wegen seiner politischen Lage sehr aktueller Roman. Besonders in Bezug auf die Flüchtlingskrise.
Er ist sehr gut recherchiert und bis in kleinste Detail äußerst glaubwürdig. Hierin liegt aber auch zum Teil die Schwäche des Romans. Ian Krüger beschreibt mit unglaublicher Akrebie Tauchgänge, Tauchgeräte, Marinejargon und Bundesbehörden. Das nimmt zum Teil die Spannung. Manchmal ist weniger mehr und auch hier etwas mehr Handlungsplot gut getan. Die handelnden Personen hätten durchaus genauer und mit mehr Empathie beschrieben werden können. Da Eckernförde meine Heimatstadt ist und der Hauptdarsteller hier stationiert ist, geht mir natürlich immer ein wenig das Herz auf. Das ist auf jeden Fall ein Pluspunkt.
Ich lese Thriller der Unterhaltung wegen – und ja, ich wurde unterhalten.
Review auf goodreads.
Don´t read this without a booze – Post Office by Charles Bukowski
This book is massively destructive. It makes you want to have some booze straight away. If you read it while commuting to work, it may occur that you want to quit your job, cause you start questioning the sense of what your are doing for years to pay your bills.
But surprisingly, it is positive. Cause it reminds you on your real dreams you carried around with you and encourages you to take action on it. Otherwise you end up as many of the characters you meet in this book.
In 1987, I was really at the starting point of my professional career and in my first job, I watched “Barfly” with Mickey Rourke. This film about Henry Chinaski excited me so much that I bought the VHS video tape straight away. From that day on I literally watched it daily, sometimes only for some only for some sequences. It is probably not the best idea to have this film as your favorite at the start of your professional life, but it helped me since now, not to take myself, positions or the job itself to take too seriously, as there should be more in life.
This book (and the film) is really worth reading. I should have read it much earlier. But that´s me. That´s my part of being Henry Chinaski.
Fachsimpeln sie doch einfach. Just talk shop.
Jeder kennt es aus seinem Beruf. Egal in welcher Branche sie beschäftigt sind und welche Position sie bekleiden. Sie sprechen mit Ihren Kollegen eine eigene Sprache. Ein Sprache voll von arbeits- und prozessrelevanten Begriffen. Eigene Wortkreationen, Anglizismen, Akronyme oder Latein. Ein Außenstehender ist schnell mit selbigem am Ende, wenn er versucht ihrem Gespräch mit Kollegen zu folgen. Wir wiederum, die täglich in dieser Sprache kommunizieren fühlen uns wohl – ja sogar sicherer und vertrauter.
Es ist ein ganz natürlicher Prozess, dass wir uns ein Umfeld und Netzwerk kreieren in dem wir uns geborgen fühlen und dass uns eine gewisse Zugehörigkeit vermittelt. Das gehört zu unserem Sozialverhalten. Ganz automatisch suchen wir uns Gruppen und Plattformen, die für unsere Werte, Meinungen und Vorstellungen stehen und in denen man sich nicht lange erklären muss. Das gehört zur Selbstdefinition und der Fähigkeit zu reflektieren und zu bestimmen. Vor allem aber gibt es uns Sicherheit. Daher ist der Begriff „fachsimpeln“ (oder to talk shop) aus meiner Sicht auch nicht negativ besetzt, sondern er ist ein Grundbedürfnis.
In früheren Tagen haben Innungen, Verbände und Gewerkschaften den Zweck des beruflichen Austauschs erfüllt. Dies tun sie auch heute noch, doch der Zugang zu Wissen von Kollegen, Brancheninsidern, Vordenkern und Entrepreneuren hat sich massiv erweitert. Hier kommt für mich Linkedin und im Speziellen Pulse mit auf den Plan. Fand der Austausch, die Wissensvermehrung und das einfache teilen von guten Ideen in gleichen Geschäftsfeldern meist nur auf regionalen Ebenen statt (überregional limitiert vielleicht noch durch IHK und Mittelstandsverbände), so bieten berufliche Autoren Plattformen nun eine schier unerschöpfliche Wissensquelle an. Und nicht nur das. Sie bereichern die Möglichkeit des Gedankenaustauschs und der Diskussion durch ihre Vielfältigkeit. Auf Autorenplattformen erwarte ich nicht ausschließlich wissenschaftlich fundierte Artikel, die jeder Lektorenprüfung standhalten. Ich erwarte pragmatische Denkansätze und den Austausch darüber. Nicht jeder ist zum Bloggen geboren, doch jeder ist ein Fachmann/eine Fachfrau auf seinem Gebiet und ich bin neugierig auf dieses Wissen. Und natürlich macht es mir am Ende auch sehr großen Spaß, mit Gleichgesinnten nach Herzenslust zu fachsimpeln.
Bernie Sanders’ popularity is growing
The evolution of Bernie Sanders’ wildly popular campaign – in pictures
Amazing evolution of Bernie Sanders from the left wing bad ass to a serious candidate and competition. Go, Bernie go. #bernie2016
Die unwahrscheinliche Pilgerreise des Harold Fry
Die unwahrscheinliche Pilgerreise des Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Bücher sollen mich unterhalten und mich auf eine Reise nehmen. Vor allem letzteres gelingt diesem Buch außerordentlich gut. Es hat die leicht überstrapazierte Message “der Weg ist das Ziel.”
Harold Fry’s Reise ist emotional, witzig, britisch und am Ende auch ein wenig überraschend. Aber sie ist zum Teil auch ein wenig überzogen, wenn sich der Hauptdarsteller innerhalb weniger Wochen in einen outdoor erfahrenen McGyver verwandelt, er zum Presseereignis wird und sich ihm Jünger à la Forrest Gump auf seinem Weg folgen. Ein wenig mehr Ruhe hätte dieser bezaubernden Buch auf jeden Fall gut getan. Zum Ende kehrt sie Gott sei Dank wieder ein.
Do “negative Prospecting”
Do “negative Prospecting” – http://pulse.me/s/4qJavM
The German way of selling
The German way of selling.
I do work for some years now for US companies in international technology business. I learnt so much about how the American way of selling works and I am still impressed about the approach . Not much space left for surprises, well structured, highly efficient and very much predictable in terms of forecasting.From marketing to lead generation, prospecting up to negotiating and closing there is alwaysa process behind. Very well structured. To start stereotyping, as a German I should love it. And I do.
When it comes to customer meetings you will not be left alone as well, because before that you have been trained briefly on an Anglo-American sales methodology to be most successful.
Sandler, Ferrazzi, entrepreneurial Drucker, SPIN selling – all this equips you to have the right answers, to be able to ask the right questions and to find yourself always in the right sales stage. But does this work out for the German market as well? I changed my view a bit on that. If somebody had asked me some years ago which nation has invented the perfect way of selling, I definitely would have said the United States. But now I think this may have changed a bit or at least it is more relevant to the local market and conditions. Looking at Europe’s trading situation we realise one obvious fact for years. Germany has a huge export surplus compared to all other 27 nations and it is still growing. This causes already lots of trouble in the European Union because it is an imbalanced situation with tension and disadvantages for countries especially in the South. It is likely to be said that the reasons behind Germany’s economic success are the outstanding quality of the goods and the advanced technology, which I agree on.
From a sales perspective for sure it is much easier to sell the products which the customer demands. Not a big deal you might say and I agree on this as well. But this is only 50% of it. As a sales manager I know that you can have the best products in a territory with the highest potential, but this is never a guarantee to make your quota as the best achiever. There is more behind it. But what is it? Is it the German way of selling? What is this exactly?
I will describe three examples.
- Build rapport, but keep the distance
Sure, every sales call has to be warmed up. Have a quick chat about the weather, plans for the weekend or the last football match. But that’s it. Keep it simple and try not to dig too deep. Your ice breaker should be a short starting point before talking business. As a sales person on the German market, you should be seen by the customer as a trusted adviser rather than a buddy. German sales persons on international markets do consultative selling on the other hand. Their customer really much appreciate it.
- Talk details and features.
The value selling on UK and US market is a common thing. It is avoiding to name products (even not saying this bad word, because it is a solution) and focusing on personal benefits for the customer. German sales persons (and their prospects) like to fire out features. It is because of a certain pride that a specific production unit can do xyz more jobs in an hour as the one of the competition. This is proven by technical details and is part of the sales discussion. If you are good or even better in something – name it. And name the product.
- Don’t talk sales wishy-washy
Sales in Germany is still seen as something with a negative touch and has not the best reputation. German customers react really sensitive on influential selling and quickly find out why, you ask about personal impact to get closer to the pain funnel. Leave it out or at least use this technique carefully. Otherwise you will experience that you gain the contrary of that you wanted to achieve – you lose trust. German sales persons earlier go into the final closing question. Even when they lose a deal. Don’t get me wrong. Many sales techniques are there for a reason. But they are not universally adaptable. You have to find your own way to do it. It is a science which you only can learn by practicing. It is because of that why I love selling. So next time you may try it the German way? Happy closing.
Job title customers friend?
Are you working in sales? Great. What’s your position? Have you recently opened up an online account where you found a drop down for “position”? What was your choice? I am working now for quite a good time in different sales positions, and I am impressed about the variety of different job titles which came up with the years.
Are you a manager? Great. Do you manage individuals or are you an account manager, or better, a key account manager? You could be a territory manager as well. But in fact you’re not manager, you are an inside sales rep or probably an account executive or a relationship manager. Maybe you are a sales agent or a pre-sales with revenue target. In some companies a director is apparently a manager and in others a director manages manager – front line manager. Then they are manager, not team leader, cause these carry targets and manage a team. Still with me?
Let me give you two advices.
1. Do not chase for job titles on your business card in your career – have a brief look at the job description you may apply for and have a high level of self awareness, if your personnel skills fit to it. If no, leave it.If yes, you can bring real value to your employer and you will be a rockstar.
2. A sales role means understanding the customer and prospect. This understanding will only achieved by active listening and an empathic response on personnel impacts and pains. Would you share those with a customer representative or just with a friend? Be a customers friend, not just a job title.
monissen 