Automation software can be greatly beneficial for sales and marketing professionals. Not only does it make sales processes and marketing campaigns easier to design and launch, but it can enable a sales team itself. A variety of sales enablement tools exist, each offering a different way to manage your sales and marketing team. Here’s how a bevy of sales enablement tools can help you gain real insight into your customers and empower your teams to sell. Go Beyond Leads Most sales and marketing departments use sales enablement tools for generating leads. Some go beyond that and use these tools to follow up with prospects, as well. But sales enablement tools have the potential to do more. In fact, using their data collection capability, you can gain insights on your buyer and mitigate a lot of legwork. Gain Insight  Sales enablement tools let you collect deep pools of data for developing buyer insights. You can find out who has buying power in a certain company, what their company challenges are, and what industry trends are influencing their behavior. This type of data, paired with market research, gives you the information you need to empower your sales team. Enablement tools like Amacus automatically collect and analyze data like this and display real-time sales analytics. Stay in Front of Your Customers Following up with your prospects and providing them with valuable content keeps you in the forefront of their minds. Content marketing is a great way to do this across a variety of channels. You can keep your customers up to date with social media, e-mail newsletters, and blog posts. However, some busy sales teams might not have time to dominate all these channels. Platforms like LogicBay help you create and optimize multiple sales channels and manage individual leads. Likewise, Eloqua by Oracle is marketing automation software that optimizes both sales and marketing efforts. It analyzes prospect behavior and delivers it in a way you can use to launch new campaigns and improve old ones. Manage Your Sales Team Some enablement tools put everything you need to manage a sales team right in your hands. Help your sales team perform like they are meant to with coaching tools, best practice policies, call management, and playbook development. The PlayBoox platform, and other platforms like MindMatrix, let you manage the processes and tools you use to run your sales team efficiently. These platforms offer insight as to what material you need at any given point in the sales cycle, and they then help you develop them. Using a combination of these tools, you can manage every step of the sales cycle. From lead generation to prospect nurturing and follow up, and even managing sellers themselves, sales enablement tools give you full control. Sources: http://www.docurated.com/all-things-productivity/top-54-sales-enablement-tools http://www.customshow.com/sales-enablement-best-practices-solutions/ https://salesenablement.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/work-in-progress-list-of-sales-enablement-vendors/  

For some people, having to speak in public is the most feared situation on earth, second only to death. Many people experience panic attacks during public speaking that make them feel like they’re actually dying. A phobia of public speaking can derail a negotiation, but it doesn’t have to. If you fear public speaking, read on. We’ve outlined some key ways to help you conquer that fear. You’re Not Your Fear Public speaking debilitates people because they equate it with personal self-worth. Their thought process is, "Because I can’t speak well, I don’t deserve to be considered a competent professional." This is one of the biggest lies you can tell yourself. If your company has asked you to speak in public, it’s because they know you’re competent and intelligent. Don’t get hung up on perfection. Relax and remind yourself of your positive traits. Tell yourself, "I can do this." Don’t Memorize or Read off the Page Most professionals feel pressure to memorize speeches, which compounds their nervousness. To alleviate pressure, don’t memorize every word. Instead, commit only key points to memory. On the other hand, resist the urge to read directly from notes. The audience can tell what you’re doing, and they’ll quickly get bored and won’t remember what you’ve said. Bring a few index cards or a single sheet with important notes. Glance at it as needed, but let the speech flow. Get Personal The best speakers tell stories rather than simply conveying information. When possible, start your speech with a relevant anecdote. This approach will help the audience warm to you. Use your sense of humor; a well-placed joke will help plant information in the audience’s head. Additionally, using the personal stories and details you know best will help you relax and have fun. Use Support  Like other phobias, the fear of public speaking can be intimidating when people try to deal with it alone. They won’t share their fears with family or coworkers because they think fear indicates incompetence. In reality, even your most put-together mentors have probably been where you are. Be honest about your fear and seek support. Ask trusted people to help you practice for the speech. When the big moment comes, picture the audience full of supportive, familiar faces to remind you your listeners are rooting for you. If your fear is particularly debilitating, there is no shame in seeking short-term counseling; ask human resources for recommendations.

Each month, The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center (RCLC) features an interview with an employee—also known as a Lady or Gentleman of The Ritz-Carlton—in order to share an insider’s view of the organization. This month’s interview is with Lisa Holladay, Vice President of Global Brand Marketing. RCLC: Please tell us a little about your role in the organization. Ms. Holladay: As Vice President of Global Brand Marketing, I oversee all of our brand and digital marketing efforts across the world. It’s a fabulous job! RCLC: How did you arrive at The Ritz-Carlton? Ms. Holladay: I joined The Ritz-Carlton a little over three years ago. I was in the luxury automotive space before that, and I joined as leader of the brand management and guest experience team. In March of this year, I switched to lead the marketing team. RCLC: What do you appreciate about The Ritz-Carlton culture? Ms. Holladay: The culture is one of the reasons I wanted to join The Ritz-Carlton. I also wanted to change to hospitality because I love travel and hotels—so that was a passion point. But I chose The Ritz-Carlton specifically because of the culture. I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and we would go to Atlanta and stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. I remember the hotel as the epitome of luxury to me, gracious and lovely, and everyone so kind. For me, the genuine belief that people have in the Credo of The Ritz-Carlton and really wanting to do the right thing—I love that about the culture. I love that there is a mutuality of respect between our Ladies and Gentlemen and our guests and that everyone, regardless of position or title, is treated with the same level of respect, which I think is pretty rare in the luxury space. RCLC: How does The Ritz-Carlton culture impact your work? Ms. Holladay: Our role in marketing is to determine the best ways to inform the consumer about our brand. In other words, how do we represent our brand beliefs to the public? We did a great job of that in the Art of the Craft video series, pulling back the curtain and showing consumers how our Ladies and Gentlemen provide genuine care and comfort to our guests. Another example is the Let Us Stay with You brand platform. This is a great example of marketing reinforcing culture. If you think about what most hotel companies do, it’s focused on the hotel—come stay with us. It’s all about us. Our point of view is: what do we do to stay with you? I think that shift and the focus on the guest really go back to the culture of the company. RCLC: Have you had opportunities to interact with our guests or anyone else we consider a customer? Ms. Holladay: We have advisory boards for different business leaders who book business with us—such as technology group, meeting incentives, or top travel agents. I participate in these meetings and share brand initiative work and gather feedback to help us make decisions based on our guests’ point of view. On a more personal level, when friends and family learn you work for The Ritz-Carlton, everyone says, "Oh I’m going to stay at Cancun. I’m going to Central Park! I’m so excited! What can you tell me?" I just had an email from a friend who stayed in Boston last weekend. He’s from Italy, and he’s never been to Boston and was excited about staying at The Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common. Before his arrival, I wrote our guest relations manager at the hotel and shared that his birthday had just happened and shared some of his favorite preferences so that our hotel could have treats in the room upon his arrival to wish him a Belated Happy Birthday. By sharing guest preferences, I can help our hotels deliver that experience. I would say that’s been my biggest connection—one-on-one with guests who stay with us. When I’m on property, I tend to be more of a quiet listener and observer of guests so that I can learn and always try to improve whatever experience they’re having. RCLC: Can you share a little about how The Ritz-Carlton conducts market research? Ms. Holladay: Our objective with every project is to ensure that our messages are globally relevant and represent a luxury brand. We typically talk to consumers in Asia, the Middle East, North America, Europe and other specifics markets depending on the project. It is pretty exciting to have the opportunity to talk to consumers around the world about whether our plans are appropriate. It’s also a great opportunity for consumers to look at real-time work that’s happening in a brand and have an impact. RCLC: Excellent and very on point with our Service Value, "I am involved in the planning of the work that affects me." How do you ensure that "modern luxury" is conveyed across different cultures where that might mean different things? Ms. Holladay: That is something we work on every day. How we bring a campaign to life in those different marketplaces could vary to ensure that it’s relevant to that global audience. For example, we tested "Let Us Stay with You" to make sure it was relevant for global markets. When you think of the power of memories and the memory-making business, that concept is relevant and can work everywhere we need it to work. But then we can pull through that message in a global marketplace by selecting culturally appropriate images. The global campaign has the same message, but it may look different in China, the UK, the U.S. and the Middle East. Images are one way we can ensure a global campaign is relevant for all our marketplaces. RCLC: The Ritz-Carlton has a reputation for employee retention. Does brand contribute to employee engagement? Ms. Holladay: When I think about employee retention at The Ritz-Carlton, I do think brand plays a role. You want to work for a brand you’re proud of—a brand that has a great reputation. I think that brings people to the brand, and it keeps people for a certain amount of time. But it is everything behind the brand—the Employee Promise, our Credo, the Motto, and our Service Values—that really drives employee retention. I appreciate that the Employee Promise is on the Credo card and carries just as much weight as our Credo. It’s also significant that our Employee Promise focuses on quality of life and work-life balance. We want people to be healthy and have a balanced life. As I mentioned before, the Motto, "Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen," creates a mutuality of respect. It doesn’t really matter what your title is. We’re all Ladies and Gentlemen. We all have the same purpose. Also, the fact that we have Service Values that are specific to our Ladies and Gentlemen. Of course, we all know we’re here to take care of our guests—that’s going to keep the brand growing and strong. But we also have a focus on employees learning and growing, participating in the planning of work. We see this especially in the SWOT process we do every year but also in our planning meetings. Everyone’s involved. Finally, the empowerment our Ladies and Gentlemen are given at the property level is a tremendous asset. It’s not "Oh, I have to go find my boss, my manager, my supervisor." We’re empowered and encouraged to take care of the situation—whether it’s fixing something that’s gone wrong or just a surprise and delight opportunity to create a WOW story for our guests. I think all of these combine to have the retention rates we enjoy. ∞ Ms. Lisa Holladay will be a member of The Ritz-Carlton Executive Panel at the Symposium: Your Journey to Service Excellence on Thursday, November 12, at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner in McLean, VA. The Blog Post Our Ladies and Gentlemen: Lisa Holladay appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

Imagine if every person acted like a lady or gentleman…. Etiquette Tip: Ladies and gentlemen are empathetic when serving others. To empathize is to perceive the situation as the guest, patient or customer does. See it as they do, hear it as they do, feel it as they do and truly understand their experience. The light bulb is burned out, there is noise coming from the room next door, the heat is not working: we sincerely apologize as we know the frustration of not being able to see in a dark room, listen to a meeting when there’s a loud group next door or feel comfortable when it’s too cold. We empathize and because of this, we employ an earnest and understanding tone as we move forward to resolve your issue. We will replace the light bulb and repair the heat right away and leave a gracious note from our engineering team. We will manage the noise that hinders your productivity. We will do whatever it takes to fulfill our mission through true empathy with our guests. By showing empathy, our Ladies and Gentlemen deliver gracious and thoughtful service to each other and our guests and that drives customer and employee engagement. The motto of The Ritz-Carlton is "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen." This motto sets a tone of goodwill and grace for all. The Blog Post Etiquette & Engagement: Empathy appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

New employees who attended a well-structured onboarding orientation program were 69 percent more likely to remain at a company up to three years. (source) Advice from Joseph Quitoni, Corporate Director, Culture Transformation at The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center: Starting a new job is a significant emotional event in our lives and generally the best time to make a behavioral change and form new habits. New employees are excited to be part of a company and want to be successful. At The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, all employees are required to attend a two-day orientation that starts their first day of employment and prior to starting their new position. Employees cannot truly be a part of an organization unless they know the expectations and values of that organization. We want all employees to feel they are a part of The Ritz-Carlton Company—and not just work for it. This will create purpose for every new employee and purpose creates passion. When an employee is passionate about their work and their organization, they will stay longer and maximize their talent to the benefit of the individual as well as the company. ∞ Join us for a one-day symposium, "Your Journey to Service Excellence." The day includes a keynote speaker, a Q&A session with The Ritz-Carlton executive panel, an optional networking reception and presentations about legendary service, employee engagement and developing a customer-centric culture. The Blog Post Significant Stat: Onboarding Orientation appeared first on The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center.

As a millennial, I know what people are saying about my generation. We’re entitled. We expect hand-outs. We are ambitious, but lazy, hoping that mommy and daddy’s connections will get us that corner office, not our own hard work. Millennials make up the majority of the early career professionals in the workforce. Often asking WIFM (What’s In it For Me), they want to know how to get a seat in the boardroom, hoping to be noticed. But, as my colleague Kate Nugent wrote, the path to success may not be down the WIFM road. Rather, early career professionals should ask WIFT (What’s In it For Them). They should ask what their company and manager needs from them and focus on becoming part of the ensemble first. Here are 5 things millennials can do to build a reputation as a team player and get noticed by management: Have presence in meetings. This is especially important when you aren’t talking. You may have just given an update, but you should still be paying attention when your team members give theirs. Don’t tune out and look out the window. Don’t pick up your phone. Give everyone the attention they gave you. Learn that the spotlight is never off you. Whether you are in the hallway, break room, or at your desk, people notice how you behave. Do you sit up in meetings? Are you saying hello to coworkers or darting behind doors not looking to be noticed? Are you always on your cellphone at your desk? Hint: Your manager may not be around, but others see. If you want to get a promotion, you need always act like you deserve one. Be polite to everyone—from the janitor to CEO—and don’t engage in negative behavior. Let go of your pride and practice patience. Hubris has caused loads of problems for people throughout history. Odysseus. Oedipus. Like Elsa sang, Let it go! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, work at projects that may not ignite your passion, but are essential to the business. Your manager will see you as a reliable team player if you tackle these with a great attitude…and may think of you first next time a more interesting project comes up. Be curious about the business. It’s okay to know you don’t know. And if you don’t know, ask and learn. Research other solutions. Find data points to back up your point of view. Share interesting articles that can spur a group discussion. A lot of millennials often do busy work without actually reading the information in front of them and then wonder why they don’t get more important projects. If you’re a team player and understand the business you can add value without a lot of direction…and THAT is what makes you an asset. Asking questions about the business is also a great way to build relationships with other generations in the workplace. Let the Joneses do them. You do you. This one is hard for most of us. What is right for the Joneses may not be right for you. There are some things that come across your social media feed that you will be admittedly jealous of and there are some things you will care less about. Is being the VP of that company something you actually want to do? Do you actually want to marry him? (no, he’s weird—she’s nuts for marrying him). Are you upset that you were passed over for a promotion? Instead of getting upset, focus on being the best you can at your part. Soon management will notice how you shine! The post Millennials: 5 Behaviors That Help You Stand Out By Fitting In appeared first on Ariel Group.        Related StoriesForget WIFM, Try WIFT: The #1 Skill Millennials Need To Get PromotedCommunicating Virtually? Body Language CountsGroup Presentations: Improving Your Rehearsal Process 

Society executives report back from ASAE15We asked Tom Reiser, Executive Director of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and Holly Byrd-Duncan, Membership and Marketing Manager for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine to give us their on-the-ground accounts of ASAE15. Q. What were some of the standout sessions you attended at ASAE this year and what did you learn?…

What to do when you're late with a peer review report: advice from an editorSo, you’ve agreed to review that paper from so-and-so et al. From the title and abstract, it sounded worth your time, and you really were going to do it before July 15th. But now you’ve received a reminder from editorial that you’re overdue with your report. Worse still, you’re sitting at the departure gate waiting…

That's a wrap: important themes from ASAE15As Tom Reiser, Executive Director of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, mentioned in our last post; ASAE’s annual meeting is a time for association executives to be stimulated and inspired and speaker Josh Linkner did just that. He talked about not becoming complacent. Don’t become complacent In his Keynote speech, Josh Linkner used…

  Whether you are leading, following or collaborating, chances are you need to get your opinions and ideas recognized by the people around you to be successful. Influence is the ability to impact the ideas, opinions and actions of others—and it has become a key skill for a new generation of professionals around the world. Today’s workplace involves unprecedented levels of change and complexity. Emerging leaders are expected to manage complicated, diverse and often dispersed teams. People at all levels of an organization have to span boundaries where differences in culture, gender, age, geography and hierarchy create unique challenges. There is a continued focus on collaboration, organizations are more matrixed than ever before and it’s less and less clear who is in charge (sometimes no one is). On top of that, as the Corporate Leadership Council (CLC) points out in this webinar, organizations are looking outside their country of headquarters to expand their operations and markets globally. To do that successfully, CLC says, companies need leaders who can get things done in a global context and navigate the complicated transition that comes with leading effectively on an international stage. This often includes a loss of direct authority, an increase in stakeholders and responsibilities and a new need for intercultural skills. These growing, global complexities make it essential for professionals to know how to influence the people they work with, near and far. But they also make it a lot trickier. The Influence Gap Influence, according to a Corporate Leadership Council survey, is "the fundamental competency that leaders must have to effectively assume global roles." While influence is important for single-country market leaders, the 2011 Corporate Leadership Council research found that it was the number one differentiator in someone becoming what it calls a "Great Global Leader" (which they defined based on data measuring leaders’ impact in a number of different areas). In fact, of 21 leadership competencies—including vision, creativity, risk-taking and resource allocation—the Corporate Leadership Council identified influence not only as the most important skill for leaders in a global context, but also the skill at which global leaders are the least effective. Similarly, a Center for Creative Leadership study named boundary-spanning leadership—which calls for effective influence skills—as the number one challenge today for senior executives. According to the CCL research, 99 percent of senior executives said it was important to work across boundaries, but only 7 percent of them described themselves as being "very effective" at it. The bottom line, according to all of this data: Even though influence is one of the most important skills for global managers to have to work across boundaries and lead effectively, many don’t do it very well.  So, How Can You Bridge That Gap? Effective influence increases trust, support and ownership for your priorities. Ineffective influence can promote doubt, intimidation and resentment. Influence strategies can range from reliance on position and power to emphasis on encouragement and collaboration. In 2009 and 2010, Discovery Learning, Inc. and Innovative Pathways did extensive research to identify and measure the different influence styles people use. Our findings helped us identify five dominant influence styles and resulted in the development of the Influence Style Indicator®, an assessment tool designed to understand and measure an individual’s preferred influence style or styles.   Based on this influence data, here are a few things you can do to boost your influential impact, especially if you find yourself leading in a multinational setting. Understand your style You have an idea and need buy-in from your colleagues. Do you approach them ready to bargain? Do you drive home your point with data and logic? Do you make it clear what you want and put on the pressure? Do you focus first on cultivating a solid relationship with stakeholders? Do you try to find common ground? Everyone has distinctive influence styles. You may instinctively understand and appreciate some of these styles and view others as ineffective, unclear and frustrating. Knowing the characteristics and capabilities of your influencing style is essential to developing your leadership effectiveness and maximizing your impact. Adapt to your audience People around the globe have diverse influence styles and will respond to yours in different ways. For instance, high-level executives tend to prefer an inspiring approach about 20 percent more often than middle-level managers. Younger people prefer to rationalize more than older people do. Women tend to assert themselves almost as much as men. People in the banking industry tend to lean on data and logic more than people who work for non-profits. North American managers tend to negotiate 40 percent less than their counterparts in Southeast Asia. People approach and respond to influence differently depending on their organizational level, age, gender, industry and nationality. So your influence style might work better on your peer than on your boss or might be less effective in a global setting. Understanding and being able to adapt your influence style to diverse teams and situations is key to becoming an effective leader. ‘Bridge’ the gap When in doubt, build a bridge to get your point across. Universally, the influence style with the strongest and most consistent preference is Bridging. Most managers around the world tend to rely, at least in part, on engaging and connecting with the people whose buy-in they need. So, regardless of your age, seniority, nationality, gender or line of work, if your bridging skills aren’t at least moderate, you should consider developing them to maximize your influencing effectiveness.   Check out the Influence Style Indicator®  to learn more about how you prefer to impact the people around you in today’s rapidly changing workplace. Understand and capitalize on your influence style—and become a more effective leader.   The post Global Leaders Need This Skill But Most Don’t Have It appeared first on Discovery Learning Inc..