Jonathan owns a computer hardware store that turns over more than $10 million a year in sales. But Jonathan is worried. Business is good, but he has one major problem. Two of his team of ten salespeople, Paul and Richie, account for close to 80 percent of his business's total sales.

The other eight scratch around for 'crumbs' and are continuously being replaced. Jonathan is worried that if he were to lose his two best sales people, it would place huge pressure on his business.

"So what's their (Jonathan's top salespeople's) secret?" , I ask. "I don't know. They have a way with customers. They always know right thing to say in order to make a sale. I guess you could say that they're just born salesmen..", replies Jonathan.

As far as I'm aware, scientists are yet to discover genetic code for "born salespeople". In other words, great sales people are made, not born. Whilst some individuals appear to be born with great sales talent, such talent is more likely result of sales development, rather than genetics.

Success leaves clues. In just about any organisation that you visit, you will find outstanding salespeople continuously using sales systems and procedures that enable them to ride at top of sales pack.

I explain to Jonathan that if we are to massively increase sales performance of each team member, we need to be able to uncover those systems and patterns of successful sales behavior amongst his best salespeople, and then to systematize such behavior amongst all sales staff.

That way, not only will Jonathan will be able to improve overall sales performance amongst all team members, he will also be creating a business that is systems dependent, rather than people dependent.

Jonathan and I spend a full day observing and analyzing activities of Jonathan's sales "stars" and sales "underperformers". As predicted, there were definite patterns and systems employed by star performers that others failed to implement.

Workplace Ethics is a subject that we have all heard of. In fact, subject of Ethics in general is something that most people are familiar with. And, what is commonly understood about ethics is there are ethics and then there are workplace ethics. What most people don’t realize, however, is that there is no such thing as workplace ethics; ethics are same, (or, should be) whether in workplace or in personal life.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Ethics are about making choices that may not always feel good or seem like they benefit you but are “right” choices to make. They are choices that are examples of “model citizens” and examples of golden rules. We’ve all heard golden rules: Don’t hurt, don’t steal, don’t lie, or one of most famous: “Do unto others as you would have done to you.” These are not just catchy phrases; these are words of wisdom that any productive member of society should strive to live by.

In our personal lives, most people try to do exactly that. Ethics are thought of by many people as something that is related to private side of life and not to business side. In many businesses, having ethics is frowned upon or thought of as a negative subject. This is because business is usually about doing what’s best for number one, not about what’s really right thing to do. You probably are already feeling uneasy just reading this.

A GOOD EXAMPLE

Take ENRON, for example. Were actions of ENRON’s CEO’s a good example of ethics? No. But, what they WERE was a CLASSIC example of was two things: One, those actions displayed how ethics were not used in any way. Two, their actions painted a grim and realistic picture of what can happen when ethics are neglected. Had ethics been considered in first place by leaders of company, there would have been no scandal. If ethics were used on a daily basis in every company, there would never be scandals.

Martha Stewart comes to mind when speaking of ethics. Again, there is a feeling of uneasiness when dealing with this topic. But, why is it like that? Ethics are supposed to improve our lives and invoke good feelings. Perhaps reason ethics is such a sore subject is because they are so often poorly used, if used at all.

A NEW WAY