Learn Problem Solving With Chess

As you climb the corporate ladder, the one thing many people are not prepared for is the amount of complex puzzles they are faced with every minute of every day.  Those who can navigate their way through these puzzles are destine for great things, including a spot in the C-Suite.  But, those who are not able to, typically find them self lost in middle management limbo for the rest of their career, or till they can figure out how to navigate these puzzles better.

So how do you learn to navigate these puzzles better?

CHESS!

I was six years old the first time I can remember sitting down at a chess board.  It was so intimidating with all the different pieces and movement rules.  But, after the initial intimidation wore off, I began to become obsessed with the endless patterns you could create to change the game in your favor.

When I was taught to play the game I was told to break down the board into smaller patterns that then have specific responses.  It was the first time I began to learn how to break down massive complex issues, into small well defined patterns that have very specific outcomes and responses needed.  This skill has stuck with me, and it is how I approach any major project or business puzzle that is put in front of me.

Here is a good example of a common issue many executives face:

It is the end of a quarter and the sales figures came in 19% under forecast.  The senior team sees this and tells you that you need to figure out specifically why this happened, and propose options to make sure it does not happen again.

There are an infinite amount of ways to approach this huge task, so how do you do it.  If you apply the principles of chess you will know that you need to first break down the problem "board" into smaller, more manageable pieces:

1. Marketing
2. Advertising
3. Sales
4. Operations
5. Accounting

Now that the board is broken down, you then begin to place the results "pieces" for each of these departments "patterns" into their specific buckets.  Once this is broken down, you now have 5 very specific patterns taking shape.

From here we can compare these patterns against historical patterns to find what changed and what the outcomes where.  Once we know this we now can see what patterns we used in response with a positive outcome to fix it.  At that point you apply the next pattern "take your move" and repeat till all the patterns have had the correcting pattern applied and you have achieved check-mate!

At the end of the day, chess is simply a massive puzzle made up of  an almost infinite amount of outcomes, based on specific patterns and outcomes.  Learning chess and being a life long student not only will allow you to get better at the game, but also begin to break down complex puzzles in life into smaller, more manageable puzzles you can learn patterns to implement to be successful with.  It is a skill that every business needs to have, and should be ever sharpening with the game of chess.

"The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions."
-Franklin, Benjamin (1779) "The Morals of Chess" [online] Historical Chess

To Your Success & Prosperity!!!

Qtr. 1, Day 1 of 3 ACA Sales Summit

Good Evening Everyone!!!

Well this evening marks the beginning of one of my favorite events in sales, our summit.  Now just to catch all of you up the ACA Sales Summit simply put is a training & creative planning retreat.  This is when I get to sit down with my entire sales force outside of the stress full environment of our office and get them ready for an amazing 1st Quarter.  The entire event last 2 full days with Friday being the first as we leave at noonish from the office and then go out to dinner and talk sales all night. Saturday is our training focused day where we start at 8am and go till 7pm and do nothing but review the basics of what we do.  Finally Sunday we talk strategy and pull out our creative homework we assigned before the summit to share with the team.  

This summit program started 2 years ago and has been such a success that for 2009 we are now moving it from an annual event to a quarterly event.  This is when sales gets focused in on just what we need to do and how we are going to get there.  We create strategy to kill our competition in focused markets or industries and improve on current working strategies already in place.  Basically is similar to sharpening your knife before you butcher an animal.  It makes the whole process that much more enjoyable and smooth.

I know there is not much to talk about as far as content today but I promised this 3 day blog will be well worth the read.  So check it out each day as I will make entries each day of the summit and a finial entry Sunday night to wrap up the entire event.  And, since we are taping the whole thing I may even share a small video and pictures with all of you.  

ENJOY!!!

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Qtr. 1, Day 1, Sales Summit 2009” IS part 1 of 4 reviewing the ACA Qtr. 1 Sales Summit. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com

Learning Never Stops

Tonight I had the great honor and privilege of attending my first ever Toastmasters Meeting.

For those of you not familiar with the organization may I strongly suggest visiting http://www.toastmasters.org to learn more about them and find a local meeting to attend.

I have heard of the Toastmasters for many years but never really took the time to really look into what this organization had to offer me as a sales person, and more so as a leader of my sales team. Toastmasters quite possibly may be one of the single most important goals I am so happy I am accomplishing in 2009 for myself, and almost more importantly for my team and all of my readers. The knowledge I have gained in my first ever meeting alone has made me completely rethink the way in which I perform presentations. I now understand to present correctly it takes a ton of preparation, research, and most importantly PRACTICE!

Now I know many of you are going to say, "Mike I give presentations and run meetings all the time why do I need this silly club?" My answer to you is simple, you may be running these meetings, or giving presentations but, are you performing at the absolute performance? That answer would be no buckaroo!

We have all heard the sayings a million times, guess what here is 1,000,001:

Tiger Woods did not just wake up one day and become the best golfer in the world, he practices, got constructive criticism, and had coaches teach him how to be the best.

Olympic Athletes do not just send in a resume saying they would like to compete in the Olympics. They have to train for years to hone their skills to perfection for the very slim possibility they MAY get picked to compete.

These sayings are things we say but very rarely act on. My primary goal for my self this year was simple, "Become a Better Follower, So I Can Become a Better Leader!" Yeah sounds weird right, that is what I thought when I first wrote it. But, then after reviewing my goals over and over again in December I realized it made perfect sense. I have to first learn how to follow (TRAIN) before I can lead. So this year I am getting myself in front of the experts and begging for teaching and guidance so that I can then become the best leader for my sales force.

In closing always remember if you are a person you thinks you know everything about everything, you are never going to succeed in life. The faster you can come to understand that with continual education comes the success you seek, the faster you will find the happiness you seek.

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Learning Never Stops” talks about how the learning process must never end if a person is to be successful. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

Amazing People

I just completed possibly the best and most amazing training in my life.  Meeting both Jack Daly & Cameron Herold.  I will write much more about all I learned once I can process all of it and get my notes better organized but I had to share right away with all of you just how amazing this training was as it has really helped me refocus and change the way I perform.  Thank you Jack & Cameron!!

From Amazing People I Have Met

From Amazing People I Have Met

To Succeed or Not Succeed

Today I had a sales guy calling me asking me my opinion on how I felt my sales force would do during this depression. I quickly responded, "unlike other industries our team saw this coming for a long time and has positioned our self to not only succeed but clean up." Of course the next question was how do I plan on doing so well in this horrible economy. My response possibly less than what he wanted was, "EXTREMELY HARD WORK!"

I started this entry out with this quick review of this interview because I wanted to comment to the world want it is going to take to get through this depression and come out on top.

To succeed in this bad economy takes a level of work that is so foreign to people in my age group they see it as fiction. The problem with this is that this is the time we need to get back to basics and understand an 8 hour work day is not possible any more. To not only survive but be a winner we need to do everything that is possible to do what is necessary for our businesses success.

If you want to really see the level of dedication it will take, go see you Grandparents, or even better your Great Grandparents if they are still around and ask them what their work ethic was. What you will hear is the same like when you were a child. It will more than likely sound something like my Grandfather told me:

"Boy, my work ethic was simple, I went to work, I never called off 1 day, I worked till the work was done, and I will never stop working till my heart gives out or my boss kicks me out."

That is Dedication! 

That is a Statement of a Winner! 

Are you willing to have that same dedication to your business? If not I can guarantee you with almost no uncertainty you will more than likely fail in this economy and be one of the many losers out there. So starting now stops playing around on the internet and gets your nose into your work and do whatever is necessary to not only fit the status quo, but to be a winner!


Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “To Succeed or Not Succeed” gives a peak into what an employee will need to do in 2009 to not only survive but be a winner. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com

From Sales Life Style

Happy Holidays!!! Are You Ready to Party?

Tis the season for client holiday parties, how many are on your calendar?

Holiday parties are personally one of my favorite times of year, and the only events I really truly look forward to. The one problem many young sales people have though when attending their first event sometimes take to much advantage of the open bar. Now I am not saying don’t grab a glass of wine, if I said that I would be a total hypocrite. LOL!! What I am saying is to make sure to have a limit set in your head before the first sip.

**Unless this is an event for a client, then my rule is simple, water or pop, no booze no matter what!**

The reason for this is that more than likely you will then be one of the only people there not intoxicated and now have the edge in every conversation you are having. As all of us know any opportunity a sales person has to get an edge on a conversation, the better!

So this season remember when you go to the party make sure to set limits or don't drink at all. This way you will make sure to enjoy the party till the very end, and more importantly have a clear head to do what you should be doing, SELLING!! This leads me to Rule 1 of my top 10 rules of a sales lifestyle.

Rule 1: Always Be Ready To Sell
At a party, at a bar, or just walking down the street everyone you meet may be the next big sale. You must always look, talk, and act the part to get the sale. If not you can bet your competition is.

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Happy Holidays!!! Are You Ready to Party?” goes over holiday party etiquette for sales people. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

Teamwork Is The Real Key To Success!!

Noun 1.teamwork - cooperative work done by a team (especially when it is effective); "it will take money, good planning and, above all, teamwork"
cooperation - joint operation or action; "their cooperation with us was essential for the success of our mission"

So many people have heard all the teamwork slogans like, there is no "I" in team, or my personal favorite a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. Though all meaningful most people thing is is a load of crap. The reason is that it is so played out in the corporate world. But, what many people have to know is that teamwork is possibly the single most important think a sales person needs to learn to master. Now I know many of you are saying, yeah what ever Mike we have all heard this before, but trust me keep reading, you will thank me.

When you are working on a large deal, or even a mid-cap deal you must learn to use all the tools in your tool shed. What to I mean by this, well in the words of one of my most trusted mentors Tim Searcy, "You must bring a boat to take down a whale." What I am saying is that with out a team of skilled teammates behind you, you have little to no chance to get the big deal. What do I do, simple, the moment I think I have a whale on the line, I get my entire team involved. I do this for one simple reason, because I learned long ago to surround my self with people who are much smarter than I am. This way when my client has a question that I may not know, some one on my team can answer it for me. Working in this way allows me to supply a level of service to my client's that stands alone in my industry.

So if you are looking to increase your personal bank account it is time to work with your team instead of trying to do it your self. Because doing it your self will just leave you alone with a small bank account. Doing it with a team will have you at a kick butt martini bar with a bunch of friends celebrating the HUGE deal you just closed.

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Teamwork Is The Real Key To Success!!” talks about how it takes a team of people to do great things not just 1 person. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

Success Starts at Home

Through out much of my sales training and mentoring I have learned about how hard work makes sales easier. But, what they fail to to ever teach you is how your personal life can effect your professional.

I am married to one of the most amazing wife a sales guy like me could ever ask for. She is very supportive of my career and all the negative and positive that comes with living a sales life style. Her support of my life style is what drives me to my success. Now I know you may already be saying to your self, No Mike your success is driven through determination, hard work, and the passion you have for what you do. My answer to you would be NO! Those are things that have lead from the support I receive at home from my wife on a daily basis.

I would like to share with all of you possibly the most perfect example of what I am talking about. Today, December 5th, 2008 I just closed the largest sale in ACA history. This single account will redefine ACA as a company for many years to come. When I told my wife of my accomplishment today she gave me a huge hug and kiss and told me she knew I could do it. Of course that always feel great, but that was not all she had in store. Earlier that day she had actually known about what I was wrapping up. So she stopped by Nordstrom and purchased something I have always wanted, a Mont Blanc Pen! Now for all you sales people out there, you know Mont Blanc is like a 4 crt. diamond ring to a prospective bride. This is truly the pen of pens for sales people. She got me this as a reminder for what I accomplished. This token of appreciation has me so gratefully to have her in my life I felt it necessary to write about tonight.

From Misc. . .

So all you sales people out there when you are looking to increase your sales success. First make sure you have a loving & supportive home life first. As if your home life is not stable how can you ever expect to have a stable sales life.

From Misc. . .

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Success Starts at Home” reviews how much your home life effects your sales life. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

What are Your Goals

I commonly tell my sales people that a promise is only as good as the paper it is written on. So to are the goals that you set for your self. Many people, especially sales people, set goals for them self all the time. The issue is that many times they forget to do the most important piece, write them down for everyone to see. To give everyone a real life example to help everyone get started I am going to post my real 2009 professional goals here to share with all of you. (I would share my personal goals, but they are not as fun) LOL!! I look forward to your comments on them.

1. Close 1 account that has a base package over $100,000.00 per month, a.k.a. $1,200,000.00 per year account!

2. Personally Close over 2 million dollars in total sales in 2009

3. Lead my team to 3.5 million dollars or more in total sales in 2009

4. Increase my monthly outbound revenue to over $50,000 per month

Now please understand in world these numbers are very realistic and reachable with a lot of hard work. Next to writing your goals down, the next most important part is making your goals realistic. You want to set them to a level you know you can achieve. If you set them to high you will not achieve them and then not want to do it again next year. So now sit down, write everything out, and get ready for an amazing sales year!!!

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “What are Your Goals” talks about how setting goals can make you much more successful personally and professionally. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

Not Service Industry! Supply Chain Management, What?

A few months ago I had the pleasure of going through a training by Tim Searcy, with http://www.whalehunters.com. Tim is by far one of the most passionate and energetic sales people I have had the pleasure to meet in a long time.

During this training Tim had said something to me that really blew me away. Tim first asked, "what industry are you in?" Of course the crowd all from call centers said, "Call Center." Tim abruptly said, "Wrong!" As all of us looked at one another thinking this guy must have had a few to many cocktails, he started to explain. "None of our company's are in the call center industry, we are in the supply chain management industry." "All customers are looking for us to do is make the flow of goods or services become easier to get to their customers."

When I heard this I quickly wrote it down as it really rang true to me. I thought to my self how all my customers come to me with an issue and that issue is almost 99.9% about issues in their supply chain to customers. When I heard this I began work on a different way of selling our services. I began to build an atmosphere that was informative and helped client's streamline their supply chain all the way from manufacturing to their customer as much as I can.

This strategy was not as easy as typing a few thing down, it took a crazy amount of work to accomplish. Below I have listed what I did to learn more about how I can help consult my client's on their supply chain. These were only a few of the steps. If you are interested in more please feel free to comment and I will add more.

1. Joined & began attending events with 2 different business networking organizations here in Chicago.

2. Networked with other outsourcing companies that I know from past experience would offer a benefit to my client's.

3. Did background checks on all the businesses I met and spoke to their clients to categorized their service quality.

4. Created strategic partnerships with those businesses I felt were the best and began negotiating costs and services for my client's if I were to refer them.

5. Developed presentational materials for the most common issues client's inform me they are having. This way I can provide them a complete solution in a nice bundle.

This is what I did first. By doing this I learned a ton about who I was as a sales person and what I really can offer a client. Knowing this information I have been able to increase my sales drastically and not be just another sales person to my client's, but a trusted advisor to them. Being a trusted advisor, a.k.a. FRIEND, I get to reap the rewards of frequent referrals and great testimonials. That alone has paid for all my hard work in spades!!!

So what are you doing still reading this??!! Email me for what else I did after my first step and start increasing your sales...

My Favorite Movie Quote:
" I know you're not standing on your front porch with a bag of money waiting for me to call you. But I'm not some 18-year-old selling a cure for AIDS. I'm 46 years old, I have 22 years market experience, I know this business. So pick up your skirt, grab your balls, and lets go make some money"

- Boiler Room, 2000

From Sales Life Style

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “Not Service Industry! Supply Chain Management, What?” offers a new look at an industry that commonly just sees it self as an outsourcing solution. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

You Must Give To Get!

This week I learned possibly one of the most important pieces of my sales life thus far.

"It is better to take an order from a motivated referral, than it is to sell to a defensive buyer!"

What this saying means is that to become a great sales person, instead of just a good sales person you have to earn it.

So how do you earn it you ask!

It is simple! You earn it by making your value to your potential client so great that they start to see you as a friend, or better yet a trusted advisor, rather than some annoying sales person. To do this you must provide them with exactly what you are looking for, MORE BUSINESS!! Now I am not saying this is easy, trust me I grew up in sales and just figuring out now how to do this effectively, and it still is not easy!! But, I have already started to see just how much it pays off by working hard for your clients. Let me tell you what I have done so you can see how this can work for you.

This week I dedicated myself to taking the new people I have met at the YEC event I attended and finding them either new business from my current contacts or solutions to express issues they were having. I did this quickly and efficiently without them asking. I did it so that it was not seen as a burden rather a kind gesture on my part. Now, let me just tell you this was not by any shape or form easy. For 2 of them I spent almost 6 - 8 hours researching the best possibly client's for them and then calling upon my client's that fit in that category. But, the reward from all this hard work has just paid off is ACES!! One of the client's I did this for just referred me a multimillion dollar potential client that just started looking for call center services. Because of my hard work my client referred them to me and told the client there is no other call center they would ever trust more than ACA!

I wanted to tell you this whole story so you can see that this is not just smoke I am blowing up your back side to get you to read my blogs. This is real life, and real dollars and cents. If you are eager to make money, and when I say money I mean LOTS & LOTS of MONEY!!! Then you must be willing to put in the time and effort to make it worth your potential client's time to work with you and buy your product/services. You do this by research, backward referrals to your client, and always fulfilling on the promised you make to your clientele. Done properly the days of cold calls, cold lead selling, & begging clients for referrals will be over. The days of order taking for referrals sent over to you will begin. Then you can tell everyone how proud you are to FISH IN A BARRELL!!!


Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “You Must Give To Get!” talks about how giving value first really makes sales so much easier. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

A Night Networking

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending my first Young Executive Club of Chicago (YEC). Out of many of the events I have had the pleasure of attending I must say this was truly one of the best. Walking in it was very nerve racking as I knew no one at the event. But, after only 2 minutes I was knee deep in conversation with 4 executives an creating a great networking opportunity. If there is anyone in Chicago looking for an amazing networking group I would strongly urge you to look into YEC. If you have questions on the group please visit; http://www.youngexecutivesclub.org.

From Misc. . .

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “A Night Networking” is my personal review of a night out at a business networking event. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.

For The Love of Sales

I was one of the lucky few who had the opportunity to grow up in the world of sales. This opportunity has allowed me to experience more networking, sales processes, and get more mentors than most other sales people. All of this experience led me to my sales motto that I tell everyone who I consult with. My motto sets up my entire life. From the way I dress, to the people I associate with. What is my motto you ask! Well let me tell you.. .

"Sales is not a career decision, it is a lifestyle decision that you live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!"

- Michael C. McMillan

This motto has become the bedrock principle of everything I have taught sales people over the years. The ability to truly understand this quote and embrace it makes the difference between successful & rich sales people, and LOSERS.

I have created this blog to network with other sales representatives, managers, directors, VP's, etc... to share war stories and learn a few new things. So please post, and then post again, use this as your sales journal so we can all learn from it.

From Misc. . .

Bio: Michael McMillan is the director of Sales & Marketing for Answer Center America, Inc. “For The Love of Sales” is my introduction to this exciting Blog and a review of my past. For more information on ACA's services please visit http://www.goacanow.com.