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Commanding Business

The challenge with growth is that the habits that got you here become the limitations that prevent you from getting there. Growth not only requires us to learn new habits. It requires that we unlearn old ones. I’m Tim Hamilton, CEO of Praxent and host of the Commanding Business podcast. Each week, I interview authors, experts and real world leaders about how they grew their teams, their organizations and ultimately themselves. From leadership to management and marketing to innovation, we’ll cover a variety of topics with an aim to uncover actionable takeaways you can implement in your own organization today.
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Now displaying: August, 2015
Aug 25, 2015

Building your sales force from scratch has its advantages as long as you are clear on which behaviors, you as the sales manager expect from your new hires. The first people on your team will likely help you to figure out your go to market strategy and must be willing to experiment and share. For this reason, they should be curious, industrious and organized. If an interviewee has these 3 elements it will shorten the length of the onboarding process. Using a backwards planning training strategy your new employees will reach baseline viability faster to become an asset to your organization instead of a cost.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:19] Training and development for sales onboarding

[2:10] Hubspot helps businesses to capitalize through inbound marketing

[3:06] How should behaviors be scaled and executed consistently

[4:59] Sales is not mimicry

[5:50] Fundamentals of inbound marketing, the product and sales acumen

[8:00] The right salespeople are industrious, curious and organized

[10:22] How the interviewee’s prepare for the interview shows industriousness

[11:22] How to find a person’s curiosity level

[14:38] Product knowledge is not as valued an asset as responsiveness

[16:12] We created an in house program because an off the shelf didn’t fit our needs

[19:24] Compensation is based on longevity sales vs quick hits

[21:27] The GPC Framework for solving a business problem

[23:44] Inbound activity also includes what is going on in between conversations

[25:52] Sales Manager concerns are basically these 2 things

[27:02] Your first people help you to figure out your go to market strategy

[30:40] Our specialization path for inbound marketing

[33:12] A BDR closes for time, a salesperson closes for money

[34:39] Baseline viability is a day of work without shadowing another employee

[37:50] Backwards planning uses 4 questions as a basis for your training program

 

Mentions:

Hubspot

SASSoftware

TheSalesAccelerationFormula

PredictableRevenue

@andrewtquinn

 

 

Aug 18, 2015

: Are daily tasks bogging you down and keeping you from moving your business forward? If so, gather your executives and hit the pause button every 90 days. Step back and gaze into your industry looking for bottlenecks or problems which need to be solved. Craft the essential question based on creating solutions to those bottlenecks. Be aware of unintended consequences which may lead to additional revenue generation. A successful business is a resilient business and faith in life creates resiliency.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:11] What is the X Factor

[1:30] Industry bottlenecks need create solutions

[4:37] How to change our cost per sale was our essential question

[6:17] We serviced our customers faster than our competitors by answering the essential question

[10:45] Industry bottlenecks versus individual business bottlenecks

[14:06] 5 different points of view or diagnostic levers lead you to 25 bottlenecks

[21:37] Unintended consequences or by products of your business used to generate revenue

[23:38] Tom’s is a great example of generating revenue from a negative externality

[25:45] Relationship drivers that control your business; the Outback example

[28:20] Every 90 days talk about your essential question

[31:58] The essential question must be tracked in a metric form

[32:48] Synthesized innovation

[34:11] Daily tasks get in the way of innovation

[36:29] Faith in life creates resiliency and opportunity 

[39:19] A personal reflection on the concept of gratitude and human development

 

Mentions:

BreaktheBottleneck

Holganix

HBR

EO

Gazelles

EMyth

GoodtoGreat

Praxent

Aug 11, 2015

Prolonged fear and stressors have negative health effects on teams therefore depleting them of their effectiveness. Why not make some changes to your corporate culture to alleviate burnout and increase loyalty? Customers will sense when your team is functioning at optimum levels and when your people believe in what they are doing. Clients then aspire to be closer to your tribe through partnerships. It’s a chemical response they can not resist. Build a circle of trust to ensure your work community looks out for the organization as a whole, not just themselves.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:18] Acknowledging the patterns to understand the “why” behind our actions

[3:56] Burnout led to Simon’s purpose - to inspire

[6:57] The checklist of success was complete but I needed a shift in perspective

[10:56] The chemicals that lead to the good health of animals

[15:33] Prolonged fear and stress cause negative health effects

[17:07] Allow a social trigger to lead you to the process of understanding your origin story

[19:52] Your why statement can lead you to tears

[21:00] When ideas are repeated they can change the world

[22:37] Clients can sense if employees believe in their work and make decisions based on vibe

[23:33] A real life example of caring for the person in front of you

[25:53] Clarity of why, discipline of how and consistency of what

[26:40] A personal why very closely linked to the why of the organization

[30:04] Partners, Tourists and Terrorists

[32:57] Building a circle of safety is at the core of Leaders Eat Last

[36:14] The entire company is negatively affected during layoffs, not just the newly unemployed

[38:48] Trust, styles, givers, takers and matchers - making sense of it all

[44:37] Often top talents are takers

[46:14] Interview tips and escape routes

[47:26] A lifetime employment policy with a 3 month hiring process

 

Mentions:

StartwithWhy

SimonSinek

MansSearchforMeaning

TippingPoint

Authenticity

Praxent

LeadersEatLast

GiveandTake

Outliers

NextJump

@steveshed

Aug 4, 2015

How do you get your customers from their current reality of riddled with problems to the future reality of alleviating the pain or removing the problem completely? You need to get the idea out of your head and into a format people will pay attention to. Crafting the proper unique value proposition is key. This single element relays your ability to get your customer to their desired outcome without being bogged down by the solution. If they believe your unique value proposition they will ask you about your solution which leads to invaluable feedback from which to base your pricing.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:00] So what’s up with the Spark 59 name

[2:01] Failing to find the right customers and markets

[3:18] A repeatable meta-process

[5:38] The Lean Canvas tool

[7:54] 9 Lego blocks to create a business model

[10:12] Running off the rails at the artist stage

[12:18] Innovation + Business Applications = Cash Flow Positive

[12:53] A love of products that make a longer term impact

[15:16] We hire a particular service to do a particular job

[18:18] Competition isn’t necessarily in just one category

[20:58] A vehicle to build better entrepreneurs is the true product

[22:42] The unique value propositions job is to make you stand out

[24:34] The finished story benefit, the time box and the risk reversal

[28:11] Testing the value proposition and the art of the demo

[30:36] How much are you willing to pay for this solution is a bad question to ask

[31:42] I was reluctant to write a book but demand testing proved positive

[35:50] The magic of traction

 

Mentions:

Spark 59

JobstoBeDone

CrossingtheChasm

RunningLean

PracticeTrumpsTheory

Praxent

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