Hiring Generation Y

As a Generation X'er, I find the Y generation perplexing at times. I recently read an article in Profit Magazine that did a good job at summarizing a generation so different from Gen X'ers and Zoomers.

Generation Y: Born 1981 to 2000 They represent 26% of the Canadian Population or roughly 8.3 Million strong

This is a generation that has by in large never been told no. There was very little winning and losing but positive reinforcement just for trying. Almost a socialism of competitiveness. They have been encouraged to voice their opinions and question their surroundings. This TV, Multi Media, Video Game playing, immediate gratification generation has been highly supervised from school to day care to camp to organized sports that they require more hands on direction than previous generations at work.

They require regular informal feed back. They have been conditioned to receive praise for everything that they do. We just need to remember this as we manage them. Immediate feed back is the best.

Motivators are affiliation, purpose, recognition, responsibility, being mentored by leaders, training, contributions to making a difference at an organization as well as skills they can take to the next job. Let's not forget about money! Their expectations for their monetary worth may be a bit lofty, especially given the current economic conditions. Create a compensation plan that pays for performance.

Since the Y Gen is young (or this is an obvious sign of how old I am getting), they may look at work as something to do between weekends or a means to a lifestyle, it is best to use interview techniques that uncover intrinsic motivation and work ethic.

Set expectations as we may assume they understand corporate environments, including: being on time, the use of the company email address book (you know what I mean!), attire, language, cell phone/black berry etiquette, time management, authority and calling in sick.

We need to nurture this generation as we watch them flourish into our community's future pillars of enterprise!

Gain the competitive edge and embrace Generation Y!


Susan Corcoran

Be a leader, not a cheerleader

Just the other day a friend of mine and I were discussing the Five Temptations of a CEO and how relevant it is to so many work situations. We have watched many senior level executives stumble, maybe not fail but certainly lose credibility in the eyes of their subordinates based on these temptations.


Be a leader, not a cheerleader
Harvey Schachter, 03/11/08 at 8:06 AM EST

In his work with companies, consultant and best-selling author Patrick Lencioni says he sees five behavioural patterns that undermine leaders and cause them to fail. Those tendencies - first described in his fable The Five Temptations of A CEO 10 years ago - involve succumbing to temptation that can be poisonous to their careers

Choosing status over results

Leaders must produce results, and yet many leaders put the desire to protect the status of their careers ahead of results on their list of priorities. They have climbed the ladder, don't want to fall back, and focus on preserving their status. Ego or reputation becomes all-important, and they reward people who massage their ego, instead of those who contribute to the results. To avoid this temptation, make results the most important measure of personal success.

Choosing popularity over accountability

Leaders often fail to hold their direct reports accountable for delivering on commitments that drive results because they desire to be popular. They become friends with their reports, develop camaraderie, and balk when they must tell their people that they are not meeting expectations. Indeed, he argues CEOs conduct performance reviews for their direct reports far less diligently than managers at other levels. Instead, work for the long-term respect of your direct reports, not their affection. Don't view them as a support group, but as key employees who must deliver on commitments

Choosing certainty over clarity

Leaders often don't hold direct reports accountable because they don't make it clear what those people are accountable for doing. The leaders are seeking certainty - fearful of not making a "correct" decision - and so often postpone decisions or fail to make their people's deliverables clear. They provide vague and hesitant direction, hoping subordinates will figure out the right answers. Instead, make clarity more important than accuracy. Your people will learn more if you take decisive action than if you wait for more information. If you happen to make the wrong decision, change plans and explain why. "It is your job to risk being wrong. The cost to you of being wrong is loss of pride. The cost to the company of not risking being wrong is paralysis," he writes in Executive Excellence.

Choosing harmony over productive conflict

Leaders don't feel comfortable with the decisions they make unless their direct reports are all in harmony. That comes from a belief it is better for people to agree and get along than disagree and conflict. However, harmony may restrict productive conflict - the passionate interchange of opinions on an issue, which gets all knowledge and perspectives on the table and leads to better decisions. His advice: Encourage everyone to air their differences with passion. View tumultuous meetings as signs of progress.

Choosing invulnerability over trust

Leaders are uncomfortable displaying vulnerability with their peers. They believe that they lose credibility if their people feel too comfortable challenging their ideas. Instead, invite others to challenge your ideas. "Trust them with your reputation and your ego. They will return this trust with respect and honesty," he says.

Interviewing for a Sales Job

Interviewing for a Sales Job:

Over the years I have had the pleasure of interviewing many people for many different sales roles. Part of being a good sales person is your ability to identify with the customer and understand their requirements. Interviewing for a job is exactly the same as executing a discovery on a prospect.

Treat your interviewer just as you would if you were prospecting a customer!

You are selling the product and the product is you!


Here are some suggestions:

Qualify the interviewer:

- What are their buying criteria?
- Are certainly aspects of a candidate weighted with more or less consideration?
- What is important to the organization? Cultural Fit? Alignment with Company values and vision
- What is important to them?
- What are their Key Business Requirements?
- What attributes make a great sales person at their organization?

Presenting your information:

- Follow their lead of questioning but focus on high level successes
- be straight to the point
- Sales is all about achievement. Promote your % to quota and revenue. Frame anything less than 100% with delicate explanations that moves the focus away from your ability and back on the economy

Here is what every Sales Manager is looking for:

- Sales Ability. Do you understand the basic principals of the sales process and close deals
- Hard Work. Work Ethic is absolutely paramount. Work smart is for reps making over $200k a year. For them and everyone else, there is no substitute for hard work. Give examples of your dedication to your profession
- Self Improvement. Read and be self taught so that when an interviewer asks you the last book you read you can articulate the concepts of a business book back to them. Sales Managers don't become Sales Managers without reading business books. Reading also demonstrates how seriously you take your job
- Business Acumen. Do you understand how businesses work? What is important to specific industries? What each department does in a company? What are the key job functions of a CEO, CFO, CIO? Can you be confident and talk the language of a "C" level?
- Cultural Fit. Having someone who does not fit into the organization will not be successful. Do you share the same personal and business values? Will you be a good ambassador of the company? Will you get along with your piers and superiors?


Differentiating yourself in the interview process can be difficult. Hopefully these tips will help!

Best of Luck!

Susan Corcoran

Are there any good sales people anymore?

My GOD! What a frustrating experience my first 10 days of setting up a company has been! I feel like I have to beg people to give them my business! Are there any good sales people anymore?

Here are some of my expereinces:

Calling into a VOIP company to find out about phone service and the sales rep did not ask me my name (even when I asked him his), asked me nothing about my business and then proceeded to launch into an interrogation type discovery process. I told him I was late for another meeting and to send me some information which he completely ignored and when I said "I really have to go", he told me to call him back later. One hot prospect lost, with no means to ever track me down again.

Calling into another VOIP company. Rep is pleasant and clueless. He never asks me anything about my business but sends me a quote anyway. He quotes me 3 licences, installation and equipment. After sending out a search party for him to bet back to me, we review the quote. I tell him that I am looking at their web site and some of the items he quoted me say that they are included in the price, at which point he challenges me. "Could you just look into for me" was my closing remarks. He sends me back a quote for 75% less than the original quote. I suppose he read his own web site and decided to learn what exactly it was that he was selling. I don't think he was trying to deceive me, I really think he did not know the products.

I have to make one more comment about this guy. He leaves me a meandering pointless message and after he says good bye, but before he hangs up, he lets out a HUGE BELCH! As soon as I can figure out how to get the message off my cell phone, I will add it to this post. It is shocking.

Last Story: We have been working for months with a potential vendor who is uncooperative, condescending and a control freak. After months of going no where, I decide that we should part ways and a new account manager should be assigned to our company. This sparks a complete personality turn around. Not only is she pleasant, but she follows up and is diligent on seeing issues through. Unfortunately for her, the damage has already been done and we have lost all faith in her. She treated us so poorly during the sales phase, that we fear that once the contract is signed, we will see the old rep who treated us like commoners. The trust is gone.


As I sit on the other side of the sales table, as a buyer, it is a disappointing realization that most sales people do not know how to sell. Sales is such a simple, repeatable process and yet so many sales people skip important steps:

1) Call people back! Holy Crap! How hard is that to do?
2) Don't be a jerk! No one buys from people they don't like or trust!
3) Know your product! Read the PDF's your marketing department sends you!
4) Don't be a hard a$$! Negotiations are supposed to be a win win experience. We all get that both sides have to make concessions. Negotiating is a journey that should build upon your relationship, not ruin it.
5) Don't assume. Ask people about their business. They want to tell you! They want to help you! Ask the questions that are important to placing your product or services with their business and do a proper discovery so you can present an accurate solution.

Out of all of the horrors of this week was one shining star - Kim Mackie at NetSuite. As a former employee of NetSuite and now a NetSuite customer, Kim had a polished and thorough Sales Process, a religious follow up, she is pleasant and between her and SE Robert Braderic, I felt that they were looking out for me. Granted, I know them but I have also seen them treat many other NetSuite customers the same way they treated me and really, they are just good people.

As I build my own sales team, I will use these recent experiences to remind them of the basics.

In sales, it's not about you, it's about them - the customer.

Have a lovely weekend!

Susan Corcoran

From Employee to Entrepreneur

I have embarked on a fantastic journey. The jump from employee to entrepreneur. As I say good bye to all of the fabulous people at NetSuite, I strike out with my business partner, Tony Sena, to build Recite Conferencing.

I look forward to sharing the lessons I learn in hopes that they benefit others.

Thank you for your support!

Susan Corcoran

The Story of Stuff

What a fantastic story of our uncontrollable consumption!

Dan (hubby) and I are saving and searching to buy an investment property. In the book we are following "The Millionaire Real Estate Investor" by Gary Keller, he echos a similar warning about consumption as it impedes building wealth.

Annie Leonard wonderfully illustrates the environmental impact of consumption.

It is worth the time to watch the video and it is suitable for all ages.

check it out at www.story of stuff.com

The moral of the story - less spending on "stuff" means more money in your pocket while being environmentally responsible. It's all good!

Enjoy!

Susan Corcoran


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Another Way
Many people who have seen The Story of Stuff have asked what they can do to address the problems identified in the film.

Each of us can promote sustainability and justice at multiple levels: as an individual, as a teacher or parent, a community member, a national citizen, and as a global citizen. As Annie says in the film, “the good thing about such an all pervasive problem is that there are so many points of intervention.” That means that there are lots and lots of places to plug in, to get involved, and to make a difference. There is no single simple thing to do, because the set of problems we’re addressing just isn’t simple. But everyone can make a difference, but the bigger your action the bigger the difference you’ll make. Here are some ideas:

10 Little and Big Things You Can Do
Power down! A great deal of the resources we use and the waste we create is in the energy we consume. Look for opportunities in your life to significantly reduce energy use: drive less, fly less, turn off lights, buy local seasonal food (food takes energy to grow, package, store and transport), wear a sweater instead of turning up the heat, use a clothesline instead of a dryer, vacation closer to home, buy used or borrow things before buying new, recycle. All these things save energy and save you money. And, if you can switch to alternative energy by supporting a company that sells green energy to the grid or by installing solar panels on your home, bravo!
Waste less. Per capita waste production in the U.S. just keeps growing. There are hundreds of opportunities each day to nurture a Zero Waste culture in your home, school, workplace, church, community. This takes developing new habits which soon become second nature. Use both sides of the paper, carry your own mugs and shopping bags, get printer cartridges refilled instead of replaced, compost food scraps, avoid bottled water and other over packaged products, upgrade computers rather than buying new ones, repair and mend rather than replace….the list is endless! The more we visibly engage in re-use over wasting, the more we cultivate a new cultural norm, or actually, reclaim an old one!
Talk to everyone about these issues. At school, your neighbors, in line at the supermarket, on the bus…A student once asked Cesar Chavez how he organized. He said, “First, I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” “No,” said the student, “how do you organize?” Chavez answered, “First I talk to one person. Then I talk to another person.” You get the point. Talking about these issues raises awareness, builds community and can inspire others to action.
Make Your Voice Heard. Write letters to the editor and submit articles to local press. In the last two years, and especially with Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize, the media has been forced to write about Climate Change. As individuals, we can influence the media to better represent other important issues as well. Letters to the editor are a great way to help newspaper readers make connections they might not make without your help. Also local papers are often willing to print book and film reviews, interviews and articles by community members. Let’s get the issues we care about in the news.
DeTox your body, DeTox your home, and DeTox the Economy. Many of today’s consumer products – from children’s pajamas to lipstick – contain toxic chemical additives that simply aren’t necessary. Research online (for example, http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/) before you buy to be sure you’re not inadvertently introducing toxics into your home and body. Then tell your friends about toxics in consumer products. Together, ask the businesses why they’re using toxic chemicals without any warning labels. And ask your elected officials why they are permitting this practice. The European Union has adopted strong policies that require toxics to be removed from many products. So, while our electronic gadgets and cosmetics have toxics in them, people in Europe can buy the same things toxics-free. Let’s demand the same thing here. Getting the toxics out of production at the source is the best way to ensure they don’t get into any home and body.
Unplug (the TV and internet) and Plug In (the community). The average person in the U.S. watches T.V. over 4 hours a day. Four hours per day filled with messages about stuff we should buy. That is four hours a day that could be spent with family, friends and in our community. On-line activism is a good start, but spending time in face-to-face civic or community activities strengthens the community and many studies show that a stronger community is a source of social and logistical support, greater security and happiness. A strong community is also critical to having a strong, active democracy.
Park your car and walk…and when necessary MARCH! Car-centric land use policies and life styles lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel extraction, conversion of agricultural and wildlands to roads and parking lots. Driving less and walking more is good for the climate, the planet, your health, and your wallet. But sometimes we don’t have an option to leave the car home because of inadequate bike lanes or public transportation options. Then, we may need to march, to join with others to demand sustainable transportation options. Throughout U.S. history, peaceful non-violent marches have played a powerful role in raising awareness about issues, mobilizing people, and sending messages to decision makers.
Change your lightbulbs…and then, change your paradigm. Changing lightbulbs is quick and easy. Energy efficient lightbulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than conventional ones. That's a no-brainer. But changing lightbulbs is just tinkering at the margins of a fundamentally flawed system unless we also change our paradigm. A paradigm is a collection of assumptions, concepts, beliefs, and values that together make up a community’s way of viewing reality. Our current paradigm dictates that more stuff is better, that infinite economic growth is desirable and possible, and that pollution is the price of progress. To really turn things around, we need to nurture a different paradigm based on the values of sustainability, justice, health, and community.
Recycle your trash…and, recycle your elected officials. Recycling saves energy and reduces both waste and the pressure to harvest and mine new stuff. Unfortunately, many cities still don’t have adequate recycling systems in place. In that case you can usually find some recycling options in the phone book to start recycling while you’re pressuring your local government to support recycling city-wide. Also, many products – for example, most electronics - are designed not to be recycled or contain toxics so recycling is hazardous. In these cases, we need to lobby government to prohibit toxics in consumer products and to enact Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, as is happening in Europe. EPR is a policy which holds producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, so that electronics company who use toxics in their products, have to take them back. That is a great incentive for them to get the toxics out!
Buy Green, Buy Fair, Buy Local, Buy Used, and most importantly, Buy Less. Shopping is not the solution to the environmental problems we currently face because the real changes we need just aren’t for sale in even the greenest shop. But, when we do shop, we should ensure our dollars support businesses that protect the environment and worker rights. Look beyond vague claims on packages like “all natural” to find hard facts. Is it organic? Is it free of super-toxic PVC plastic? When you can, buy local products from local stores, which keeps more of our hard earned money in the community. Buying used items keeps them out of the trash and avoids the upstream waste created during extraction and production. But, buying less may be the best option of all. Less pollution. Less Waste. Less time working to pay for the stuff. Sometimes, less really is more.

Prospecting: The Foundation of Sales

As a Sales Professional, Sales Manager and student of Sales from the Telecommunications and Software Industry, I found it ironic that a Real Estate book on sales could resonate with me.

My husband - Dan Corcoran, recently joined Keller Williams and one of their suggested readings is "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent" by Gary Keller.

What is fascinating about the prospecting methodology from the book is that I can literally take the formula's and apply them to a software sales team.

At Netsuite we study our top performers and one of the key contributions to their success is their ritual of prospecting even when they are busy.

Similar to the Keller Williams philosophy, lead generation and prospecting have to be top priority no matter how busy or successful you are. It should be scheduled into your calendar and every day you should remind yourself - I am in Sales! Prospecting, Qualifying, Providing Solutions and Closing.

The Keller Williams model of converting the number of people you have not met, into people you have met is a numbers game. They just make it sound better and outline an actual plan of action. It is about increasing your sphere of influence and being able to create leverage from these people.

The 8 X 8 Marketing Plan: An 8 Week step by Step set of actions and the 33 Touch Plan can be modified for any business.

I suppose that the reason that there are so few Millionaire Real Estate Agents, just as their are so few Sales Reps over quota is that anyone can read a book, but very few can turn it into a repeatable action process.