Flannery Sales Systems traveled to Arizona this month to conduct a training workshop and attend the Anytime Fitness conference. Fortunately, John was able to prepare for the fitness-related show with an impressive hand stand during his tour of Facebook earlier in the month (if you missed it, take a look here…be sure to scroll down to see the photo). In this video, John talks about the importance of content customization for his clients.
Archive for month: September, 2014
Last week I had the opportunity to take a tour of Facebook (FB) in Menlo Park, CA. The offer to visit the campus was extended to me back in April during the conference I spoke at in Riga, Latvia, where Iris Oriss, Director of Internationalization and Localization for FB, was the keynote speaker. Iris is responsible for managing the deployment of the 65 plus additional languages that FB supports worldwide.
During our two meals together at the conference, Iris and I shared fascinating conversation around the vision she builds and executes on for FB, her family and travels, and her thoughts about Hillary Clinton in 2016. I found 2 of the 3 topics of interest. Anyhow, at the conclusion of the conference, Iris invited me to come tour FB, and my reply was “Hell, yes!”
My key observations from the tour include:
1- FB doesn’t have Rules, they have Values: this means that all employees are provided with broad parameters to get the job done, and share the common company mission of “helping people to share and make the world more connected”.
2- Hacking is a Good Thing: despite my previous connotation of the word (pilfering data), Iris assured me that the Hack-a-thon mentality is designed to embrace creativity in pushing innovation, and not just following a set of rules for coding (see #1)
3- Iris has a Global Window to the World: her travel schedule makes me look like a homebody, and her position requires that she understands how to connect 7 billion people through 65 languages that her team manages. She will be published in a MIT publication in the next month; I will send it to you if you wish.
4- My upper body strength improved in Menlo Park (see picture #2): must have been the amazing quality and range of food served on campus.
5- It Takes a Village: and that is what FB has in Menlo Park, a beautiful campus that is well appointed but not overdone. A place that enables 7,000 employees to thrive and create connections worldwide
6- FB Cares: about their employees, the environment and everything on this planet. The Facilities team gently re-located a mother and litter of baby foxes who took the campus as home. And have a look at Internet.org to see the dedication that Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders have to sharing technology with all people.
Many thanks to Iris for the great experience – one I will not forget.
The following is a guest post by Jackie Meyer, a former customer and current colleague of Flannery Sales Systems.
The idea of 180 Degree selling is not a new sales methodology, rather it is the strategy of selling internally into your organization. Most sales books, seminars and classes teach how to sell into an external customer, but what about your internal customer? Everyone in business has internal customers, and they range from the C-Suite all the way down to your subordinates. Selling 101 has taught us to find the Coach, Fox or Sponsor inside the organization to which we are selling, and if this is your unofficial title in your organization for the third parties you partner with, take note of how to find success as the leader of any project you need to get off the ground.
Do Your Homework – What is the situation in the organization or market that would help you support the project you need executed? Are there secondary research reports that can help you with your facts? Have you interviewed people internally to get their thoughts and identify their needs – rather implicit or explicit? Most importantly, how and what are the internal politics you need to manage?
Build Your Concept Pitch – With the data you have collected so far, what correlations can you draw? Do you need to include some education about the project to help others understand its scope? What are the organizational weaknesses you need to consider, and how will you overcome them? Set expectations of what the project can and will do so there is no second guessing for both you and others in your organization.
Provide Project Options – Most people do not like to be told what to do, so provide options with pros and cons. Do not assume everyone understands the opportunity costs involved or that there is money to pay for the project you want to spearhead. In fact, in most cases the money is not budgeted. You must determine how you can mine for it or even plan for its future in the next quarter or year.
Beta Test Your Pitch – You might think you have it all figured out, but after gathering all your data, circumstances and people often change. Find your own coach, fox or sponsor within; gather their feedback on your pitch; and fine tune your knowledge and budget.
Commercialize Your Pitch – Plan it far in advance so you can work through how best to present in order to ensure your content is absorbed in the various minds of the people from whom you need to gain approval. Can you apply the ‘so-what’ test to everything you plan to say? Can you address likely objections that will come your way? Are you confident under pressure? If not, seek help from a trusted friend or colleague to practice your pitch. Besides the fact that Mom was right – practice makes perfect – remember how you need to influence your audience and brush up on your Aristotle philosophy on the art of persuasion.