The Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionarydefines team work as, “work done by several associates with each doing a part but all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole.”
I suppose that the saying, “There is no ‘I’ in team”, is based in the part of the definition that says all subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. In considering this, we should also remember, “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” In cooperating or working together, the team is able to produce a result that no individual alone can create.
This “lone wolf” verses the pack concept reminds me of the Japanese kamikaze pilots of the Second World War who made suicidal crash attacks upon war ships. No matter how dedicated and willing these pilots were to fight—exchanging their life in a single act of dive bombing their plane onto a ship—their reckless act bore little fruit.
A graphic picture of the success spectrum finds team work at one end and kamikaze recklessness at the other end. By focusing on team success, we see clearly how subordinating kamikaze desire for personal prominence to team work, provides a competitive advantage. Nothing beats people working together for a common cause.
Work to be the best team member you can be. Success is about teamwork. Perhaps Peter F. Drucker was thinking of teamwork when he wrote, “One of the weaknesses of young, highly educated people today is that they are satisfied to be versed in one narrow specialty and affect contempt for the other areas.”
I know when I first got started in sales, I adhered to the motto: Nothing Happens Until a Sale is Made. Those words put me at the center of company. Everything revolved around me. But, I quickly learned that once the sale was made, it took a village of people to complete the sale: Credit had toapprove the sale, Inventory was needed to fill the order, warehouse pickers pulled the order, drivers loaded and delivered the order, billing invoice the order, purchasing replaced the sold inventory and IS tracked the sale from its origination to the receiving of the customers check and bank deposit.
Over the years experience taught me additionaltruths about sales: The closer your job
ties to sales, the more secure your job. So, if you are a receiving clerk,be known as a receiving sales clerk; if you are in operations let it be known,you are in operational sales. Even a receptionist is selling. As they are often the first line of personal contact with customers and prospects, make certain they know their job is selling the company, its philosophy its values and its products and services.
Make certain that all employees know that customers exchange their dollars for solutions to their problems; customers buy solutions not products or services. The better the team identifies problems—from the customer’s viewpoint— and offers specific solutions, the more prosperous the organization.
The first team to uncover the solution to the prospect or customer’s number one problem gains the inside track. Why not get the sale quicker by asking, “What is your number one problem? Then, target a solution.
If you are a team leader, manager or supervisor, you should train your people to quickly and easily be able to state in twenty-five words or less why customers buy from you rather than competitors. Idea: Insure that everyone on your team knows who the competitors are.
Someone somewhere showed the wisdom of King Solomon when they said, “A business exists to satisfy customers.” Satisfying customers—when you drill down to it—is another name for the selling activity. So, all employees are always selling.
THREE POINT SUCCESS SUMMATION
SUCCESS THOUGHT: To build a great organization attract and retain great “sales” people. People whose job—no matter the title on their job description— it is to see things from the customer’s point of view and to offer solutions to the customer or prospects problems.
SUCCESS QUOTE: “To sell Jane Smith what Jane Smith buys, you have to see things through Jane Smith’s eyes.” —Dr. David Schwartz
SUCCESS ACTION: Get your entire team focused on sales, train them—and let ‘em sell!
wn-tampa@att.net
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