Four Ways To Make The Most Of Your Business

Written by Thomas F. La Vecchia, MBA , CEO of X Factor Selling Systems, and Author of The X Factor Selling System: The Sales Expert’s Guide to Selling

My company provides Sales Training and Motivation as well as Partner Solutions. After meeting and consulting for C-level and management level individuals (from a wide spectrum of Industries and of small scale and large scale) I have found that these four tips can be applied to 100 percent of those various companies for greater success.

1. Align

Right now, have an alignment meeting with all of your direct reports, and ask them “What are your goals?” Next, put a plan in place to help them reach those goals-give them the resources, the time and your support. What is your return? Align your goals with theirs. For example, they want to make $10,000 more this quarter. Okay, well you want them to gain three new accounts. So, align goals, and give them a deadline. By aligning your goals with theirs, you are not offering incentives to them that are hit-or-miss and you are not giving them objectives that they have no motivation to deliver upon.

Another option is to conduct employee surveys. Surveys can tell you how your employees feel about their jobs, what is the most effective way to communicate with them, what they need to improve upon, what their motivating factors are, and more. These tools provide insights to employees that they may not even be able to verbally express on their own.

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2. Recognize

All too often business owners and managers feel that it is always about price. Although money is a powerful motivating factor, recognition is surprisingly more important, or just as important, to many. The high-achieving employees begin to have excellence expected of them, the lower-performing employees feel that they are lost in the shuffle. Make sure that as much as possible, recognition is not forgotten.

3. Motivate

Know why people buy. People buy when it is in their own self-interest. No matter the culture or the economic state, everyone has a motivating factor. Figuring out what factor is and stimulating it while aligning your goals with theirs, is the key to closing more deals quicker and more often.

4. Change

Come to terms with the notion that change is the norm. Feel more comfortable with change than stagnancy. As the external environment of your industry changes (the market, the customers, and the advertising outlets) move with them.

Too often new ideas are based upon solely what’s happening within your walls, but realizing the changing environment will provide more accurate assessments of ideas. When putting together business plans always factor in the internal and external environments. Structuring plans and trajectories this way will provide a greater risk and gain assessment. 

About The Author

Thomas F. La Vecchia, MBA, earned his Masters of Business Administration from Farleigh Dickinson University and an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University. Thomas is a 20-year veteran in the pharmaceutical and medical device space. After guiding 100 member teams at the prestigious Schering-Plough (now Merck, MRK) and the Medicis Aesthetics (now Valeant, VRX) he has recently published a book The X Factor Selling System: The Sales Expert’s Guide to Selling-as a how-to guide of his innovative sales process. La Vecchia resides in New Jersey with his wife Rosalia and his two children Felicia and Giuseppe.