Craig Southam Consulting

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There’s a lot of noise in the media at the moment around the desire to bring the workforce back into the office. Don’t h...
02/11/2023

There’s a lot of noise in the media at the moment around the desire to bring the workforce back into the office. Don’t hate me, but I can understand why, many people I talk to enjoy working from home but freely admit to being bored and less productive. Sure they plod along and get some things done but there seems to be a growing sense that for the most part, they're losing focus. This has led to CEOs making the easy (not necessarily correct) decision to bring staff back into the office. 🏠

It doesn’t have to be that way though, middle management is where this issue can be fixed. Yes, I know it's a thankless job, right? Many middle managers have given up trying to actually manage staff due to low unemployment and regulation. I know that’s controversial but, I hear it almost every day from managers I coach.

But what is it that we can do? Let’s get back to the basics. 🤝 📞

Firstly we need to ensure we have Clear Goals and KPI’s (suitable for remote work), stay away from micro measurement KPI’s like “number of emails sent” or “number of phone calls taken”. These practices reduce true customer interaction and promote ineffective work practices. 🕵‍♀️

Master the one-on-one communication you have with each team member, not just a random chat to tick a box. Have a plan and discuss some of the actual work they’ve completed, not just the generic things that are happening at work to everyone. But please "KEEP IT REAL", if you get this meeting right your team will ensure their productivity is there without the need for any unnecessary monitoring. It’s here where the game is won or lost…. 🙏 🙏

Personal Development is a key factor if your goal is staff longevity. If employees don’t feel they’re being developed they will eventually either switch off or leave. Why not use a training day once a fortnight as a way to bring the team together in the office (or somewhere else), it will do wonders for teamwork and will fulfil their individual needs (make sure they have input on what is being trained). It’s also far better than forced social events. Social events will happen naturally when the team is working well together.

One area that you should hold your team members accountable for, is their customer response time. ⏳ Your customers demand this and unless you’re the CBA or Telstra you won’t survive against your competitors if you don't keep this standard high. The by-product of this customer-centric technique of course is that you know your team members are working diligently. Without office distractions, remote working should give your customers prompt responses to their enquiries.

My favourite, help your team keep their home/work-life balance. Respect boundaries and their personal time, let them know that you're happy with their output. After all, that's all that matters, right? 📊

If you’re looking for some help facilitating a successful remote workforce reach out, I’d love to help!!! My favourite office ⬇

I know this is harsh but the truth is .... If you fail to plan, YOU plan to Fail!!! Or at the very least you're NOT givi...
30/10/2023

I know this is harsh but the truth is .... If you fail to plan, YOU plan to Fail!!! Or at the very least you're NOT giving yourself the best chance of SUCCESS. 📈 😊

It’s closing in on the end of the year and it's that time of year when every business owner should be reviewing their goals, and assessing their successes, and challenges and working out if their priorities are the same.

Have you got your plans firmly in place for next year? Don’t stress if you haven’t as you won’t be alone. BUT if you haven’t, I do urge you that now is the time to act. I laid out my plans for 2024 in September, but before I committed to them fully, I took 3 weeks in Italy with my family to give myself time to refresh and make sure that my professional plans were in line with my personal goals. That’s the most important thing to me - making sure my professional plans are steered by my personal “family” goals. 🇮🇹 🛫

It's a little different now that my kids are adults but it's still a key driver. If you've got kids (especially little ones) then you will probably be right in the thick of working out how to juggle the so-called "work/life balance". I have to admit, I'm so damn glad that I'm through that stage as I can still feel how hard it was to have to make lots of hard calls trying to make everything work.

I tried my best, but the truth is .... I sometimes had to miss important events .... and more often than I like to admit was awake at 3am to get through the mountain of work I had, and then had to try and get home and be present for bedtimes. Running a successful business and parenting is tough!

My big learning was once I’m aligned in why I’m doing what I do, I can then begin to define how I’ll do it.

Just a few days ago I walked through all the usual considerations, what industries do I want to work with, as a business coach and mentor where can I have the biggest impact and what lights me up!

Most of you know by now the work life balance is something incredibly important to me. Ironically, that’s the thing that I spend a lot of my time talking to others about. All the money in the world won’t give you a happy family ... but conversely not being able to provide is no way forward either. Get that mix right and you’ll always look back at your year as a successful one.

If any of this resonates with you, and your looking for some balance so you can achieve your business goals whilst ticking the box on your family goals, or simply need some help planning feel free to reach out I’d love to help.

To retire, or not to retire? “Is sales still a career for you after 50?” 🎯 This question seems to haunt many people as t...
28/07/2023

To retire, or not to retire? “Is sales still a career for you after 50?” 🎯

This question seems to haunt many people as they try to understand when they want to retire, when business will push them to retire and when the government say they should retire.

Let’s start with some stats:
The average age of a Salesperson is 47 ✅
The average retirement age in Australia is currently 55 for men (slightly less for women) ✅
Interestingly the average age people 45+ expect to retire is 65.5 years ❓
Official age of retirement in Australia (67 🔜 70) 😬

So why is it that most people intend to work till they are almost at the “official” retirement age, but in fact stop around 10 years earlier?

I’m not going to answer that for you but what I will help you with is how to determine what might be right for you “as a salesperson”.
Firstly, do you still love what you do? Do you still get a thrill from the sale? 🤝 If you’re not loving it find something you do love and give that all your energy. Sales is definitely not the game for you if you don’t still love it.

A good check is to ask yourself to describe some of your recent successes. A common theme I’ve found with salespeople that are burnt out is they sometimes struggle to recall their successes and somehow ruminate much more around their challenges or failures. This is possibly due to the burnout of having done hundreds if not thousands of presentations in their life and soldiered on after the countless rejections that are inevitably part of sales life.

If you do still love making the sale, and demonstrating your product or service then absolutely keep going, many salespeople sell well into their 60’s and 70’s BUT, my strong advice is to make sure the product and service you sell and the industry you sell in are suitable.

Tips to help you stay on track.

Ensure you are in a role that benefits from your experience and maturity. Selling to C suites or selling very large contracts is often much easier for a mature person as it is likely the person you’re selling to is of similar age. Your younger competitors will have to work much harder than you to build rapport and trust.

Maintain your enthusiasm and reliability, these are qualities are highly valued. So is a strong work ethic, it is becoming increasingly difficult these days for companies to find these qualities, particularly in a world of remote working conditions, so use that to your advantage.

Finally, be a good mentor. You’ve learned a lot over your sales career, channel that knowledge and share it. ✍ Don’t be scared of giving away your secrets, shared knowledge is highly valued. Get involved with the company’s training team. I have found very few organisations that actually know how to build good programs to support their salespeople.

You may find you really enjoy this and I’m sure the company will appreciate the contribution.

Excited to be back doing what I love, helping businesses and sales people to get the most out of the opportunities aroun...
29/06/2023

Excited to be back doing what I love, helping businesses and sales people to get the most out of the opportunities around them.
If you would like some help with your business, either getting it back on track or even just having a sounding board for those business goals you haven't been able to achieve. I also love working with sales individuals and tailoring a plan that gets them motivated and aspiring for success, with some real helpful skills added along the way.
If you are ready to let someone help you or your team to get on track and kick goals again, send me a message today!

Address

Brisbane, QLD
4000

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+61433220011

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