Podcast appearances and mentions of frank cespedes

Thank you for joining us on this SPECIAL 5th ANNIVERSARY EPISODE of the Winning at Selling Podcast. I'm Professor Scott Plum of the Minnesota Sales Institute and with me is Bill Hellkamp of REACH Development Systems Sales managers have a tough job. Pressure from upper management to increase sales. Handling customer problems that have escalated. And most importantly, getting their sales team to get out of the office and do some real selling. It's not easy and there are plenty of frustrating issues to overcome. So put on your Big Boy pants as Scott and I welcome Author and Sale Management Expert, Mike Weinberg to discuss The Frustrations of Sales Managers and other fantastic philosophies on Episode 661 of the Winning at Selling podcast. 5th Anniversary Highlights·        261 shows with over 130 hours of sales related content.·        Over 70 guest appearances including Mike Weinberg, Frank Cespedes, Mark Hunter, Steve Keating, David Hoffeld, Anthony Iannarino, Victor Antonio and Robert Jolles ·        Detailed book reviews for 17 books – a total of 4178 pages·        483,603 podcast downloads. ·        Top 1% of all podcasts worldwide!

On today's show Andy welcomes a blockbuster panel including, Brandon Fluharty, Founder of Be Focused, Live Great, Drew Neisser CEO of CMO Huddles and host of the Renegade Marketers Unite podcast, and Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. They discuss the role of sales and marketing in the C-suite, and the importance of human capital and experience in driving business success. They explore the challenges faced by sales and marketing professionals, including the narrow focus on performance metrics and the lack of financial literacy. The conversation also touches on the rise of entrepreneurship and the need for organizations to provide a supportive environment for employees to thrive. The group also gets into challenges and opportunities in modern sales and marketing and the changing role of metrics in measuring success. Host Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate.

This week on The Sales Transformation Podcast Phil is joined by Frank V. Cespedes, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.   Frank has authored several books on sales and marketing, with his most recent work focussing on sales management. In this episode he and Phil explore at two of the most important skills for any sales manager: how to hire great salespeople and how to keep the ones you've got.  Highlights include: [09:14] – Why write another book on sales management when so many already exist? [17:26] – The unique challenges of hiring for sales roles [42:02] – Salespeople need recognition as well as compensation  Frank's latest book, Sales Management That Works, is available to buy on Amazon.  You can find out more about Frank and his previous books on his website.  Connect with Philip Squire on LinkedIn  Connect with Frank Cespedes on LinkedIn  Join the discussion in our Sales Transformation Forum group.  Make sure you're following us on LinkedIn and Twitter to get updates on the latest episodes! Also, take our Mindset Survey and find out if you are selling to customers the way they want to be sold to today.

Welcome to Construction Genius. Today's guest is Frank Cespedes, a Harvard Business School professor and former managing partner at a Professional Services firm. With extensive experience in go-to-market strategy globally, he's also contributed to prestigious publications like Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal. Frank joins the show to discuss his book, "Aligning Strategy and Sales," emphasizing the crucial link between strategy clarity and effective sales direction. The conversation delves into the unique challenges of selling in construction, highlighting the technical nature of the industry and the importance of tailored sales training and incentives. Regardless of a company's size, Frank underscores the president's essential role in business development, particularly for mid to large-sized enterprises where leadership can become detached from sales activities. Tune in for practical insights that will enhance your sales strategies and team development. Thank you for joining Construction Genius today!   Buy Frank's Books: Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing - https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Management-That-Works-Changing/dp/1633698769   Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling https://www.amazon.com/Aligning-Strategy-Sales-Behaviors-Effective/dp/1422196054   Buy Eric's Book: Construction Genius: Effective, Hands-On, Practical, Simple, No-BS Leadership, Strategy, Sales, and Marketing Advice for Construction Companies https://www.amazon.com/Construction-Genius-Effective-Hands-Leadership/dp/B0BHTRDY1T/    Get Coaching with Eric: www.constructiongenius.com/contact  

Frank Cespedes is a highly experienced business executive and sales management expert, and he also serves as a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School.  He has run a business, served on boards for start-ups and large companies, and consulted to many companies around the world, and is the author of six books and many articles in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, California Management Review, and other publications. Frank possesses a wealth of knowledge and experience, and I am pleased he's agreed to share some of his wisdom with us!

This episode with Tom & Tab dives into the NEW ERA of sales with Author and Harvard Professor, Frank Cespedes. ️ They crack the code on: - Data targeting vs. cold calls (RIP?) - Why influencing decision-makers is key - Why sales reps need financial smarts now - Unlock the secrets to data-driven, customer-centric selling! Join us! #SalesTips #NewEraOfSelling #ASLANPodcast

The guest on this episode is Frank Cespedes, who is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. Frank starts off by describing his definition of leadership and how it is connected to servant leadership. We have a great conversation about acknowledging and closing the C-suite gap. How to ask better questions to use AI to drive the decisions in our organizations. Frank helps us understand that as we rise in an organization we lose touch with what is going on around us inside those organizaitons and does a great job really illustrating what that means. Frank gives a good example of the pitfalls of bringing in an outsider who is a star in a given industry.  Frank highlights why timely training technology supported by good learning processes can and should be utilized in our organizations. There is no such thing as performance in the abstract, so asking really good questions that will help us get our data guiding our organizations in more informed ways to create better strategies. Good Leadership is crucial for the success of our organizations.  Frank has run a business, served on boards for start-ups and corporations, and consulted to many companies around the world. He is the author of six books and many articles in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, California Management Review, and other publications. His most recent book is "Aligning Strategy and Sales," & Frank has a master's degree from MIT and a Ph.D from Cornell University.  At Harvard, he has developed and taught a variety of MBA and executive courses, led the Strategic Marketing Management program for senior executives, was co-lead of the Sustainable Market Leadership program for CEOs and their teams. He currently teaches Entrepreneurial Marketing in the MBA program, in the Owner President Management (OPM) executive program, and he heads the executive program on Aligning Strategy and Sales. Resources: Frank Cespedes Website: https://frankcespedes.com/ Peter Drucker - The Manager and the Moron https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-manager-and-the-moron Frank Cespedes - Sales Management that Works Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing  Alfred P. Sloan - My Years With General Motors My Years With General Motors     

Dave interviewed Harvard Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Frank Cespedes on Win the 16 podcast, which released today, September 27th. Frank has achieved numerous accomplishments, such as he owned his company, earned a Doctrine in Philosophy from Cornell, and authored six books, including his latest, "Sales Management That Works."

Today Andy welcomes another stellar roundtable with guests Nabeil Alazzam, founder and CEO at Forma.ai, Frank Cespedes, author and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, and Drew Neisser, Founder of CMO Huddles, and was Founder and CEO of Renegade Marketing.They start out today discussing the fact that many companies are neglecting simple yet crucial steps to foster success among their new hires. and give examples of strategies that companies can implement to ensure their new sales representatives are set up for success.They get into various topics including accurate quota setting, the role of incentives in driving desired behaviors, the need for clear process guidelines, and the evolving role of the account executive. They also shed light on the cultural challenges surrounding sales effectiveness and the critical importance of having confidence in winning sales opportunities.They continue talking about how data and technology are shaping the sales landscape and discuss the disconnect between the speed at which businesses are evolving and the slow adaptation of incentives. They emphasize the need for collecting and analyzing data to inform compensation structures, particularly in onboarding new sales reps.Additionally, the group tackles the role of marketing in the buyer journey and the potential impact on sales processes. They question the separation of demand generation from demand capture, highlight the pitfalls of focusing solely on filling the sales funnel.Connect with Nabeil, Frank, and Drew on LinkedInHost Andy Paul is the expert on modern B2B selling and author of three best-selling, award-winning sales books, including his latest Sell Without Selling Out. Visit andypaul.com to subscribe to his newsletter for even more strategies and tips to accelerate your win rate!Thank you to our sponsors:AllegoClozdCognismEpisode highlights:Incentives prioritize customer journey and sales process.Incentive adjustments lagging behind business changes. Managing change in sales during a pandemic.Quota: justification, motivation, human psychology, unforeseen effects.Separating demand generation from demand capture.Marketing myths: buyers need guidance, not pitches.Overqualifying opportunities may lead to loss. Specialization in go-to-market functions. Quarterback role in sales process. Possible evolution in qualification processes.

In this episode of Beltway Broadcast, your Metro DC Chapter of ATD hosts Frank Cespedes. Frank teaches at Harvard Business School, and is the author of 6 books as well as articles in Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Organization Science, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. In this episode, Frank discusses the purpose of performance reviews and shares best practices on how to conduct a great performance review.   If you'd like to learn more about Frank, visit his website. For more info about the Metro DC Chapter of ATD, visit DCATD.org.  Episode Credits: Series Announcer: Julie Waters Hosts: Christina Eanes, Stephanie Hubka, and Halyna Hodges

Getting your sales team on board with your strategy shouldn't be an afterthought, Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes argues. After all, the engine of many businesses is a strong sales core. But aligning your strategy with sales isn't just about communicating your ideas effectively. You have to hire carefully and use smart incentives to guide sales behavior.

Why would a K-12 educational leader listen to a Harvard Business School Professor who specializes in sales and marketing? Well, as Jeff often points out, smart leaders learn from others who are in different lanes and industries. When you listen to Frank Cespedes, you will see the leadership correlation between business and sales with education. Frank's latest book identifies several trends and solutions that translate to leading in fast changing environments. You will love it!

For this episode, we interviewed the author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing, Frank Cespedes. How do you manage sales in a world that never stops changing? In this episode, Frank shares valuable insights to equip sales professionals and business leaders in managing sales within their organization and how to better improve and develop themselves while managing constant change. Frank Cespedes is a sales expert and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He runs a business, has served on the boards of corporations and start-ups, and has consulted to companies around the world. He is the author of articles in Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Organization Science, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications as well as 6 books, including Aligning Strategy and Sales, which was cited as "the best sales book of the year" (Strategy+Business), "a must read" (Gartner), and "perhaps the best sales book ever" (Forbes). Get Frank's book here: Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank Cespedes. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and has been teaching MBA students about Sales and Sales Management for nearly 30-years. He's written several books, but his newest one; Sales Management That Works was my favorite read of 2022 and when he engaged with me on LinkedIn I immediately took the opportunity to ask him to be my quest.You're going to learn about the cost of false positives in our current economic environment, what goes into his research on sales and sales management effectiveness, why Sales Managers don't coach, why the “sell more to make more” sales compensation model is broken, and much more.#salesconsultant #salesconsultantpodcast #salesmanagement #frankcespedesShow Notes & Time Stamps:[3:35] The costs of false-positives Sales are increasing in our current economic environment.[10:02] The bar is always rising: job descriptions and required activities that as recently as a decade ago were considered cutting edge, are now table stakes. Clearly defining Lead Qualification Criteria and adhering to them is more important than ever. Frank says, “Sales Development is no longer a place for amateurs”.[15:40] Describes his nearly 30 years at Harvard teaching MBA students about Sales and Sales Management and explains what type of roles and industries they go on to work in with 30% going to work for large Consulting firms.[19:26] The three (3) major inputs that go into his research about Sales and Sales Management.[21:18] The three (3) reasons Sales Managers don't coach as often or as effectively as they should.[26:45] Why the “sell more to make more” sales compensation model is broken.[31:33] “Adaptive Selling” and “Active Retrieval” is explained.[43:45] “The requirements for financial literacy in sales management are increasing tremendously. If you're 40 years old or younger and you want to make a career in this area, my advice is don't go to the next seminar about selling. Make sure that you understand what I call managerial finance.” -Frank Cespedes[45:53] Why Managers struggle to give effective feedback and have tough conversations with their team.52:01] What Salespeople Need to Know About the B2B Landscape (2023).To Rate This Podcast - just click on the starts under the show description in whatever app you're using to listen (not under any specific show). Please also leave it a short review. Even just a sentence helps.Guest Bio:Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies around the world on go-to-market and strategy issues and has been a Board member at consumer goods, industrial products, services, PE, and VC firms. He has written for numerous publications, including Harvard Business Review, European Business Review, Organization Science, California Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He is also the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must-read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes). His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021).Connect with us:Sales Management That Works (book)Franks's website - https://frankcespedes.com/

Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and has consulted some of the top business names in the world. He is the author of 6 books, including Aligning Strategy and Sales and his latest book, Sales Management That Works. This is his second appearance on The Selling Well, in the first webinar episode live-streamed on LinkedIn. Join us as we discuss the topics of his books, with the conversation centered around the subtitle of his latest book, How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank shares insights on how sales leaders and professionals can prepare for the coming year and answers live questions from viewers on various sales topics. Highlights Changes in the world right now and implications for sales Gaining a competitive advantage through fundamentals Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner Frank answers some questions from the viewers The future of professional sales Episode Resources Connect with Mark Cox https://www.inthefunnel.com/ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/markandrewcox https://www.facebook.com/inthefunnel markcox@inthefunnel.com Connect with Frank Cespedes https://frankcespedes.com/ Sales Management That Works: https://a.co/d/2y8p8fH https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankcespedes/  Call to Action In the Funnel Sales Workshop Free Sales Tools How to Listen: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify

For this episode, let's revisit a Strategy Skills classic where we interviewed the author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing by Frank Cespedes. How do you manage sales in a world that never stops changing? In this episode, Frank shares valuable insights to equip sales professionals and business leaders in managing sales within their organization and how to better improve and develop themselves while managing constant change. Frank Cespedes is a sales expert and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He runs a business, has served on the boards of corporations and start-ups, and has consulted to companies around the world. He is the author of articles in Harvard Business Review, California Management Review, Organization Science, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications as well as 6 books, including Aligning Strategy and Sales, which was cited as "the best sales book of the year" (Strategy+Business), "a must read" (Gartner), and "perhaps the best sales book ever" (Forbes). Get Frank's book here: Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank Cespedes. Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo  

Where Sales and Customer Service Meet Shep Hyken interviews Frank Cespedes, a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of six books, including his latest, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. He talks about how sales and customer service is changing and how organizations, from the frontlines to the C-suite, can adapt. Top Takeaways:    ·      Service for the majority of companies has been focused on the output of selling. However, those selling efforts are changing; one of the changes is that sales and customer service are increasingly intertwined.   ·      Sales and customer service are very closely combined. Selling with service is all about what we can do to enhance the sales experience and make people say, “I like doing business with this company.”   ·      Customer service people are increasingly involved in selling. Buyers in most industries are now online and offline multiple times throughout the buying journey. They are in contact with the company in numerous ways, not just with the sales team.   ·      The days of the salesperson being an organic, walking, talking version of product and price information are gone. Customers now have access to product information, price, and price comparison in just one or two clicks.   ·      People don't want to be sold. They want to buy. Once they have decided to buy, they want to make sure they made the right decision. Everything that happens after the sale, which is customer service, is validation that they purchased from the right company, and they have a reason to come back again and again.  Quotes:  “You can't manage a business from a spreadsheet. While you must consider the data, there is no substitute for the experience of  direct customer contact.”   About:   Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School. He is also the author of six books, including Aligning Strategy and Sales, which was cited as” “the best sales book of the year” by Strategy & Business, “a must-read” by Gartner, and “perhaps the best sales book ever” by Forbes. His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School and author of several sales books including Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. There is a recession looming right now and Andy and Frank discuss what organizations can realistically do to prepare for it, especially amidst the growth-at-all-costs backdrop. Frank discusses the role of sales leaders in hiring for fit, coaching, and doing performance reviews. He also comments on stagflation and the increasing importance of customer selection, flagging bad customers, and closing deals. HIGHLIGHTS Preparing for recession: Going for volume vs profitable value Customer selection, sales leadership, and performance reviews Search for fit and make your own luck Selling is still about people buying from people C-suite is siloed amongst specialists QUOTES Frank: "Sales is increasingly, for lots of reasons that are not going away, increasingly a cross-functional activity, so selling is more intimately connected now with those other areas that inflation makes more difficult. Then, when it comes to recession, the basics apply: if you cannot articulate your value proposition and the outcomes crisply and to the point, you're not well-prepared for a recession." Frank: "I think the people running sales have to be prepared for that. There's a difference between simply going for volume and going for profitable value. There's a big difference there." Frank: "So much of the important information required for customer selection, required to develop the capabilities of salespeople does not reside in the CRM system. It resides in the skulls of the individual account managers, etc and you only get it, you only make it visible and actionable when you do good performance reviews and coaching." Frank: "So many other resource allocations in the business depend on sales forecasts and the ability of the salesforce to meet those forecasts. And that's why, in sales, we have these metrics that focus on what are you doing by month, by quarter, annually, etc. When the metrics reinforce that, salespeople focus on that, and the danger is that even when the market changes, they stick with the devil they know. They avoid the transition cost." Find out more about Frank in the link below: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankcespedes/ Website: https://frankcespedes.com/ Amazon book link: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Management-That-Works-Changing/dp/1633698769 More on Andy: Connect on LinkedIn Get Andy's new book "Sell Without Selling Out" on Amazon Learn more at AndyPaul.com Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Unlock exponential growth with an AI-powered RevOps platform | Revenue.io Scratchpad | The fastest way to update Salesforce, take sales notes, and stay on top of to-dos | Scratchpad.com Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast RevOps Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast

Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School. He has designed and delivered learning programs in areas such as innovation, talent and performance management, strategy, marketing, sales, leadership skills, and managing change. He has also consulted to companies in consumer goods, information technology, professional services, retailing, telecommunications, and financial services; and has been a Board member of start-up firms, corporations, private-equity companies, and the Education for Employment Foundation.   Frank has also written for numerous publications, but on today's episode we're talking about his most recent book, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. One of his former students said this about the book, ‘It is structured logically, easy to read, and clear. It's worthy of being a desk reference for any owner or senior executive looking to maximize their sales performance."   Tune into today's episode to learn about the extensive research Frank Cespedes has done in order to write his most recent book and pick up a copy if you would like to get expert insight on sales management that will work for you and your team!     Quotes: “I think it's a book that will help salespeople sell better, it will help sales managers allocate their resources more effectively.” (1:35-1:46)   “If you look at the amount of money they spend annually on sales, hiring, training, development, etc., that number is often as big or bigger than their biggest capex projects. But it typically gets much less rigorous attention than buying software does.” (7:53-8:11)   “The job of a manager is not to test people, the job is productivity, and maximizing time, to productivity. All of that is what onboarding is about, in my view.” (13:23-13:35)     Links: Frank Cespedes Linkedin Harvard Business School LinkedIn Frank's Book on Amazon   Empellor CRM LinkedIn Empellor CRM Website Empellor CRM Twitter  

Frank Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard and author of an excellent book titled, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. Conversation originally recorded in 2020. More on Andy: Connect on LinkedIn Get Andy's new book "Sell Without Selling Out" on Amazon Learn more at AndyPaul.com Sponsored by: Revenue.io | Unlock exponential growth with an AI-powered RevOps platform | Revenue.io Scratchpad | The fastest way to update Salesforce, take sales notes, and stay on top of to-dos | Scratchpad.com Blueboard | World's leading experiential rewards & recognition platform | Blueboard.com Explore the Revenue.io Podcast Universe: Sales Enablement Podcast RevOps Podcast Selling with Purpose Podcast

Frank Cespedes author of "Sales Management That Works" by The Best Business Minds

How do you get the sales you need in today's ever-evolving landscape? Dr. Frank Cespedes graces the Walker Webcast to drop the essential sales strategies and techniques that you need to maintain a thriving and game-changing enterprise. Frank's vast experience spans his work with many companies on go-to-market and strategy issues, and he has been a Board member at consumer goods, industrial products, and services firms. He teaches at Harvard Business School while serving as Managing Partner at a professional services firm for 12 years. He is the author of six books, including Aligning Strategy and Sales, which was cited as "the best sales book of the year" (Strategy & Business), "a must-read" (Gartner), and "perhaps the best sales book ever" (Forbes). His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. Willy opens the discussion on how the book covers the lessons on how Jack Welch, considered the greatest leader of his era who took GE from a billion dollars to 10 billion a year of yearly profits, had a horse race to decide his successor. Today finding sales talent is still the hard part for companies. The conversation leads to why Frank emphasizes how CEOs should not only set the foundational conditions for business development in their company but never lose their connection with customers. "Once they become CEOs, the rest of the organization conspires to "protect" them against customers. As a result, they're often making decisions based on an obsolete vision of what's really going on out there. And that's been Frank's experience that when companies fail in terms of tens and hundreds of billions in shareholder value, you just can't point to one person to take the blame. It's a variety of other factors." This calls to discuss how sales have changed because of digital transformation. Willy cites one data point Frank brings up in his book: that people's impression of online media, online sales versus brick and mortar, is completely distorted. Numbers show that despite what many of us think, an Amazon and UPS-driven economy is "overhyped," "misunderstood", and can affect companies. To drive the point further, Frank reminds us that the most important thing about sales now and in the future is always the buyer and not the seller. Auto sales is a good example of how the vast majority of buys that comprise 96% still occur in the dealership. This was confirmed during the pandemic as well. Tune in to this new episode of the Walker Webcast — Getting The Sales You Need with Dr. Frank Cespedes, Harvard Business School Professor GET NOTIFIED about upcoming shows: » Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5jhzGBWOTvQku2kLbucGcw » See upcoming guests on the #WalkerWebcast here: https://www.walkerdunlop.com/webcasts/ RELATED WEBCASTS: Tune in on Wednesdays for fresh perspectives about leadership, business, the economy, commercial real estate, and more! #WillyWalker hosts a diverse network of leaders as they share wisdom that cuts across industry lines.

Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He has worked with many companies on go-to-market and strategy issues, and has been a Board Member at consumer goods, industrial products, and services firms.  He has written for numerous publications, and is the author of six books including Aligning Strategy and Sales which was cited as “the best sales book of the year” (Strategy & Business), “a must read” (Gartner), and “perhaps the best sales book ever” (Forbes).  His newest book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Harvard Business Review Press, 2021). According to Frank, business development and growth are core leadership responsibilities. But the impact on sales activities of new buying processes, e-commerce, big data, and other megatrends is often misunderstood.  We discuss how to separate signal from noise and the implications for hiring, training, performance management, and relevant sales models. Key Points of our Discussion Examining the non-linear buying process The important and often misunderstood changes in sales management Selling in the omni-channel buying world  The data and metrics we SHOULD be tracking Sales hiring and cross-functional interviews Specialisation and the division of labour The poor ROI of sales training and development Leveraging inside sales Busting pricing myths. Framing value with pricing To learn more about Frank, visit his website frankcespedes.com, - where you can also pre-order his new book. For more great insights you can find Frank here on LinkedIn

Frank Cespedes is a sales expert and Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. He has run a business, served on the boards of corporations as well as startups, and consulted with companies around the world. He has written numerous publications and is the author of six books including his latest, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. Highlights The courses that are dedicated to professional sales. - 6:47 Reasons that sales leadership jobs are accelerating. - 10:58 What makes a sales leadership particularly vulnerable? - 14:05 Two very important implications of the reality of buying. - 20:31 What should the sales leaders take note of for 2022? - 22:44 The role of relationships in sales. - 27:06 Sources of information for compensation data. - 32:04 Thoughts and comments on the role of a salesperson diminish over time. - 40:18 How to get in touch with Frank and get a copy of his book. - 44:39 Episode Resources Connect with Mark Cox https://www.inthefunnel.com/ https://ca.linkedin.com/in/markandrewcox https://www.facebook.com/inthefunnel  Connect with Frank Cespedes https://frankcespedes.com/ fcespedes@hbs.edu https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=126057 

Sales is not an easy topic for academia to teach, in part because it's so cross-disciplinary. You have to know about marketing, persuasion, technology, and strategy — to start with. Not to mention this: Does the sales org even know what the heck it's doing? In this episode, we chat with Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School (and former instructor of our CEO, Manny Medina), about why sales poses such a hurdle for academia and how those challenges have shifted in the past decade. Join us as we discuss: - Balancing sales knowledge with strategic knowledge in the classroom - Why giving data to finance people makes them annoying - The necessity of understanding managerial finance - Mistakes that new CROs usually make - Debunking digital transformation in a supposedly digital-leads-physical world Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: - Frank's latest book is Sales Management That Works - Influence by Robert B. Cialdini Meet us here every other week, and we promise to keep it spicy for you. Find Revenue Innovators onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website. Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Revenue Innovators in your favorite podcast player.

Sales is not an easy topic for academia to teach, in part because it's so cross-disciplinary. You have to know about marketing, persuasion, technology, and strategy — to start with.Not to mention this: Does the sales org even know what the heck it's doing?In this episode, we chat with Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School (and former instructor of our CEO, Manny Medina), about why sales poses such a hurdle for academia and how those challenges have shifted in the past decade.Join us as we discuss:- Balancing sales knowledge with strategic knowledge in the classroom- Why giving data to finance people makes them annoying- The necessity of understanding managerial finance- Mistakes that new CROs usually make- Debunking digital transformation in a supposedly digital-leads-physical worldCheck out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:- Frank's latest book is Sales Management That Works- Influence by Robert B. CialdiniMeet us here every other week, and we promise to keep it spicy for you. Find Revenue Innovators onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Revenue Innovators in your favorite podcast player.

Frank Cespedes teaches at Harvard Business School and for 12 years was Managing Partner at a professional services firm. He […]

Sri talks with author and professor Frank Cespedes about sales, strategy, and leadership. Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School.  He currently teaches the elective Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing (ESM) course in the MBA program as well as modules in the Owner President Management (OPM) executive program and he heads the executive program on "Aligning Strategy and Sales."In addition to having run his own successful company, Frank's previous experience includes  global consulting at Bain & Company and elsewhere for startups all the way up to multinational companies across a diverse array of industries. Frank holds degrees from M.I.T., City College of New York, and Cornell. He has authored or co-authored six books. His most recent book is Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing (Amazon).  Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet  + @sri_actually Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ). Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

As the world enters into a new and ever-evolving post-pandemic landscape, sales leaders are hyper-focused now more than ever on mastering the art of selling. My guest in this episode of The Modern Selling Podcast is a Harvard Business School professor, market researcher, and best-selling author who has spent decades studying the data behind what really drives sales. Don't miss this eye-opening conversation with Frank Cespedes, as he dispels the biggest sales myths and explains the must-use strategies to consistently get sales results. Frank Cespedes is one of Harvard Business School's best-kept secrets. He spent 12 years as a Managing Partner of a professional services firm, where he helped countless companies navigate go-to-market and strategy issues. He has written for numerous publications, and is the author of six books, including, Aligning Strategy and Sales, which was cited as “The Best Sales Book of the Year” by Strategy & Business, “A Must Read” by Gartner, and “Perhaps the Best Sales Book Ever” by Forbes. Listen to this episode to hear the most important sales lessons from Frank's newest book, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing.  Grab your copy here on Amazon. Did the Pandemic Change How We Sell? The short and very surprising answer is: NO. With so many B2B and B2C companies shifting to expand their digital offerings (Vengreso included!), most sales leaders rushed to invest in growing their online infrastructure – making the role of the traditional salesperson obsolete. Well, so we thought. However, when you examine the data as closely as Frank has, it reveals that many sales leaders are misallocating sales resources based on unsubstantiated assumptions. So, I asked Frank to share some of his findings. “The percentage of total retail sales that were done via e-commerce at the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic hit, was 11.4%. But, when I ask executives, I typically get estimates from 30% to 60%. In other words, people are not just a little bit off, they're orders of magnitude off!” What's even more startling is the small impact on online retail sales that the pandemic restrictions actually had. Frank says, “During those maximum lockdown conditions, e-commerce as a percentage of total retail sales only went up to 15.1% – and it's been trending down since then.” Listen to the episode to hear his unique B2B insights and the major ‘allocation' mistake Frank found that's sinking B2B sales. What is Affecting Sales Right Now? The buying journey is much more complex, as customers can navigate seamlessly between offline and online channels to buy a single product.  And, these buying behaviors must inform and influence the tasks of the sales team. But, are companies really adapting to this shift Frank doesn't think so. “The most important thing about selling is the buyer who buys – why they buy, and how they buy. This is where technology online has had its biggest impact.” In his new book, Sales Management That Works, he outlines the three most important questions that sales teams need to be asking right now to position themselves for growth:   When is the right time and the wrong time to interact with buyers? What is the best channel approach to sales – offline or online? How do we shift from an ‘individual contributor' model to an ecosystem of sales managers? Join in to hear what Frank believes are the right answers to these pressing sales questions. How to Hire The Right Sales Staff in Today's Market Sales hiring comes with a host of inherent challenges that aren't present in other industries. Unlike other positions, Frank found that less than 300 out of the 5,000 colleges and universities in the country even offer a sales course. “This is an occupation, where the vast majority of people start out knowing very, very little about what they're going to get paid for.”  Frank shares an interesting perspective of how the hiring process should be approached. I was happy to hear that Vengreso's ‘hiring template' is checking all of his boxes. According to his research, sales hiring must include: Multiple interviews that allow candidates to be screened by both sales leaders and their sales peers. Skills and behavioral testing via real world selling scenarios. Mandatory probationary periods even after hiring to assess the candidate's fit. This can seem like a lot of time invested to hire one sales rep, however, as Frank points out, “If you add up the amount of money that is spent on hiring and the opportunity costs inherent to training, that number annually, is bigger than the biggest CapEx decisions.” So, with this amount of money at stake, nailing the sales hiring process is key to every company's success. Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear the ‘bizarre' sales hiring story I share that illustrates the power of having the right hiring process in place. How Sales Leaders Can Improve Sales Training I wasn't surprised when Frank shared that, “most sales reps forget about 80% of what they learn in sales training seminars within 60 to 70 days.” In fact, this is what we have been preaching for the last 3.5 years even before the pandemic and what became the cornerstone of our evangelizing a virtual sales program.  This is why highly-targeted sales training that is designed for adult learners and that will continually reinforce the right selling behaviors is so important. We predicted this at Vengreso, in 2018, when we began to move our sales training from in-person to online. We figured out early on that online sales training would only be effective if it was focused on how to change our client's sales team's behavior(s), so they could become better modern sellers. But, is sales training the only way to improve your sales team's performance? That's a question I asked Frank and his answer wasn't what I expected. Join the conversation to hear what Frank's data suggests is the most powerful tool to explode your sales team's potential.

CEOs must make rapid, critical business decisions while being increasingly inundated with data, trends, and conflicting information. In this age of information overload, how can you make sound judgments for your organization without the threat of falling behind? On today's show, we are joined by Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, recurring contributor to Harvard Business Review, and author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank discusses key insights from his book and ultimately how leaders can separate fact from hype.

This hard-hitting and thought provoking episode of the Sales Gravy Podcast features a deep conversation on the state of sales leadership. Jeb Blount, author of People Follow You and Frank Cespedes, a Harvard Business school professor and author of the new book Sales Management That Works, discuss modern sales leadership challenges in a world that never stops changing. With so much data coming at sales leaders these days, the failure to separate fact from hype, can create faulty assumptions leading to poor decisions. Cespedes makes the point that leaders, at all levels, who embrace data while executing the tired and true fundamentals of sales management are better positioned to accelerate sales productivity and capture marketshare. Listen to more episodes of the Sales Gravy Podcast

Sales is often the last consideration when it comes to a successful merger or acquisition. Frank Cespedes, Harvard professor and internationally recognized Sales expert, breaks down why that is a huge mistake - and how we can fix it. Welcome to the open IC - the investment committee in your pocket. Open IC is the go-to show for M&A and strategy professionals that want to leave a dent in the world and live on their own terms. We're powered by fintalent.io, the hiring and project platform for m&a and strategy professionals - and that's what we talk about. Whether we're talking to experts from the dealroom or dissect potential or past deals - after every episode, you'll leave more ready for your next deal.

In this episode of Enterprise Sales Development podcast, we speak with Frank Cespedes, author of Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Frank previews his upcoming book and what inspired it. He talks about why it's important for an organization to understand what they are doing with their sales department to help them decide what to do next. He also talks about why the buyer is the most important thing about selling and how division of labor is so essential. Listen as he explains how the market process is a variable, not a constant. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN What inspired Frank to write his book, Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing Why hiring is an area where things can go the most wrong in the sales profession and why it's important to understand what the organization is doing to help decide what to do next Why the buyer is and will continue to be the most important thing about selling Why Frank thinks specialization and the division of labor is so essential How to maximize profitability by understanding of what the company needs and don't needs and how the pandemic opened company's eyes to their sales models and what they could do differently How scope decisions are made within the sales force How the process is a way to scale the business, and how the market process is a variable, not a constant The difference between approaching and attacking different markets QUOTES “There's no doubt that digital media and this sustained data revolution, which will continue throughout our lifetimes, those things are affecting buying and selling.” -Frank Cespedes [02:44] “You do not compete with people who have gone out of business. The dead are dead. You only compete with the survivors in a competitive market place, and in order to survive in any competitive marketplace, continuous improvement is essential. So it shouldn't surprise us that the bar is rising.” -Frank Cespedes [05:41] “The most important thing about selling is and always has been the buyer. Who buys, why and how.” -Frank Cespedes [09:03] “Sales is a performance art. It's about behavior. It's not about how well somebody smiles in an interview. It's not about your assumption or my assumption that somehow we can peer into people's souls. We cannot.” -Frank Cespedes [26:58] “This is an area of business where you must be proactive. Because if you're not proactive, one of two other groups are going to make your scope and customer selection decisions for you, either competitors or customers, and neither group necessarily has your best interest at heart.” -Frank Cespedes [35:34] TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [00:23] Meet Frank [00:38] The inspiration behind his book [03:15] Hiring and sales competency [08:10] Grounding on the buying process [11:17] Why specialization is essential [15:42] Maximize profitability by understanding needs [24:42] Building sales development teams [33:56] Using scope as a framework for sales models [37:00] Market process is a variable, not a constant [42:03] Significant changes in the C-suite [47:56] Advice for senior leadership RESOURCES Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing by Frank Cespedes The Department Store Museum John le Carré Sam Walton CONNECT

Working as a sales manager can be tough. Why make it more challenging than it has to be? And without the proper guidance and support, it can be especially difficult to find the right people for your organization. In today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, we're joined by Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer at Harvard business school, to learn his strategy for finding and retaining top-level salespeople. There are inherent challenges to hiring within sales.  Not enough people in and outside the sales function that there are challenges in hiring sales that don't exist elsewhere. People major in engineering, accounting, and finance. There are less than 200 sales courses in the United States universities, let alone majors and programs. As a result, most learning in sales is whatever the company does. Companies on average spent 20% more per capita than they do training other positions. Most learning in sales is on-the-job learning that isn't a challenge in other business areas. Because so much time is spent training, accelerating the productivity ramp up for new hires is crucial for hiring managers. How can you make the hiring process more manageable? Minimize the biggest hiring mistake: relying solely on one or two unstructured interviews. Research consistently shows the correlation between the ratings people get in interviews and their subsequent on-the-job performance tend to vary by .1 to .4. The perfect candidate's chances to perform to their expected standard is about as guaranteed as a coin flip. To solve the problem, supplement interviews by including people who aren't sales, like customer support and product design. Experience is often an important hiring criterion. But in business, there is only experience selling your product. Experience in other organizations might not indicate or guarantee success at others. The most important thing when hiring is knowing what you're looking for. Don't think platitudes; think the most important tasks this new person will accomplish. So what do you do? Start with the fundamentals. Performing fundamentals better than anyone else will lead to success - the who, why, and how of your customer informs you who you're hiring for. What will the salesperson need to be good to be successful? Conversely, what might they need to be just good enough at?  To determine these behaviors, consider implementing assessments or even internship positions to judge that behavior.  The pandemic showed companies overpay for many tasks in the current sales model;  you want to focus talent on the steps that most impact the sale rather than things like lead generation and demos. Frank's major piece of advice to someone managing the hiring process? Know what you're looking for, start with the buying process, and don't require platitudes of experience. Recognize that the hiring process doesn't end with the hire. The sooner you get someone to ramp up their productivity within the organization, the better everyone is. Read Frank's new book Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing. Want to get in touch with Frank? Visit him on his website or connect with him on LinkedIn. This episode is brought to you in part by Skipio. Are you sick of crickets? As a salesperson, the pain of reaching out with phone calls or emails and not receiving a response is real. But all text messaging is not created equal. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation, not listen to bots. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in the conversions you want. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Certified Training Program, a course designed to help new and struggling sellers to master the fundamentals of sales and close more deals. Help elevate your sales game and sign up now to get the first two modules free! You can visit www.thesalesevangelist.com/closemoredeals or call (561) 570-5077 for more information. We value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We'd love for you to join us for our next episodes, tune in on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify. You can also leave comments, suggestions, and ratings for each episode you listen to!  Read more about sales or listen to audiobooks on Audible and explore their huge online library. Register now to get a free book and a 30-day trial. Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder wrote by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.

  Frank Cespedes joins Channelnomics' Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to talk about effective sales and channel strategies in the post-pandemic economy. The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on the market – particularly when it comes to sales strategy and management. The emergence of digital collaboration and dominance of online marketplaces has many sales leaders and strategists looking for the next selling methodology to replace existing sales techniques and channels. But as much as things change, they stay the same. In his new book, “Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing,” Harvard Business School senior lecturer Frank Cespedes outlines how many of the common fundamentals will continue to work even as the market transforms. The challenge, he points out, is in the execution. The customer will remain king (or queen) in the go-to-market equation. Data is important to driving sales activities, but businesses need defined sales processes. Value must remain linked to price or else profitability is at risk. And despite persistent questions about their value contributions, partners and the channel will remain a critical part of market coverage and revenue generation. In this wide-ranging conversation with Changing Channels' Larry Walsh, Frank Cespedes shares his thought-provoking perspective on how everything is changing yet remaining vaguely familiar in sales and channels.   Follow us, Like us, and Subscribe! Channelnomics: https://channelnomics.com/ LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2NC6Vli Twitter: https://twitter.com/Channelnomics   Changing Channels Is a Channelnomics Production Follow the new @Channelnomics to stay current on the latest #research, #bestpractices, and #resources. At @Channelnomics – the voice of thought leadership – we define #channel trends, chart new #GTM strategies, and #partner with industry leaders to champion #diversity in the channel.   Episode Resources: Host Larry Walsh: https://bit.ly/3beZfOa Larry's Blog: http://bit.ly/3rZ1WtT Guest Frank Cespedes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankcespedes/ Buy Frank's Book: https://tinyurl.com/scuv2dwj   Credits: Production: Changing Channels is produced by Modern Podcasting. For virtual content capture and video-first podcasts, check out http://www.modpodstudio.com. Host: Larry Walsh, https://bit.ly/3beZfOa Voice-Over: Denise Quan

It's tough enough to keep pace with all the changes taking place in the world of business… throw in a global pandemic to amp up the confusion and test the mettle of salespeople everywhere… and we've got companies often struggling to know which end is up.  Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School advises in his new book, Sales Management that Works, that sales leaders need to focus on Financial Literacy in order to understand the flood of business data rushing around us, and be able to separate the noise from the real, helpful information they need to plan, hire and succeed.

It's tough enough to keep pace with all the changes taking place in the world of business… throw in a global pandemic to amp up the confusion and test the mettle of salespeople everywhere… and we've got companies often struggling to know which end is up.  Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School advises in his new book, Sales Management that Works, that sales leaders need to focus on Financial Literacy in order to understand the flood of business data rushing around us, and be able to separate the noise from the real, helpful information they need to plan, hire and succeed.

It's tough enough to keep pace with all the changes taking place in the world of business… throw in a global pandemic to amp up the confusion and test the mettle of salespeople everywhere… and we've got companies often struggling to know which end is up.  Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School advises in his new book, Sales Management that Works, that sales leaders need to focus on Financial Literacy in order to understand the flood of business data rushing around us, and be able to separate the noise from the real, helpful information they need to plan, hire and succeed.

It's tough enough to keep pace with all the changes taking place in the world of business… throw in a global pandemic to amp up the confusion and test the mettle of salespeople everywhere… and we've got companies often struggling to know which end is up.  Frank Cespedes of Harvard Business School advises in his new book, Sales Management that Works, that sales leaders need to focus on Financial Literacy in order to understand the flood of business data rushing around us, and be able to separate the noise from the real, helpful information they need to plan, hire and succeed.

Sales excellence today relies on data. That’s why we asked Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business school and the author of Sales Management That Works, to join Reveal. His newest research outlines how you can improve your sales model by focusing on facts instead of assumptions. You’ll also hear tips for better hiring, myths regarding sales, and ideas for evolving your sales model for today’s market.

A career as a sales professional is peppered with constant decisions in behaviors and responses.  Answers can contradict themselves on the same topic.  Making the source questionable.  Today we have the authority of sales process, sales management, and contributors to achieving sales goals. Be prepared for a sales transformation as Bill and I discuss Sales Management That Works with author, Harvard professor, and sales management expert, Frank Cespedes. That and much more on episode 455 of the Winning at Selling Podcast.

Read the complete transcription on the Sales Game Changers Podcast website. FRANK'S TIP FOR EMERGING SALES LEADERS: "The requirements for financial literacy in sales are increasing dramatically. You better be up to speed with those finance issues because those are the questions you're increasingly getting. What you need is what I call managerial finance which is making sure you understand how balance sheets and income statements really work. I also think it is going to be increasingly important to separate signal from noise with data. Right now, what is going on in many sales organizations is this huge proliferation of data that the rep gets lost in, and that the managers tend to focus on what I call interesting but marginal factoids. And increasingly the job of the sales manager is to understand what is that handful of things."

Sales Management That Works with Frank Cespedes #363

Frank Cespedes is a senior lecturer at Harvard and author of an excellent new book titled, "Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

03-04-2021 Frank Cespedes

In this practical and research-based guide for managers, salespeople, and investors.  Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes offers essential strategies for thriving in markets that never stop changing.

B2B sales—and sales training—have been upended by the pandemic. Entrepreneur, Harvard Business School professor, and sales management authority Frank Cespedes shares how the buying process and sales training have changed, the pros and cons of a hybrid learning model, what sales leaders need to know about virtual selling, and the importance of just-in-time training.

I conclude my One Month to Operationalizing your Compliance Program series by discussing how you can put your compliance program at the center of corporate strategy. An article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) by Frank Cespedes, entitled “Putting Sales at the Center of Strategy”, discussed how to connect up management’s new sales plans with the “field realities.” Referencing the well-known Sam Waltonism that “There ain’t many customers at headquarters”; Cespedes believes that “If you and your team can’t make the crucial connections between strategy and sales, then no matter how much you invest in social media or worry about disruptive innovations, you may end up pressing for better execution when you actually need a better strategy or changing strategic direction when you should be focusing on the basics in the field.”  This can be a critical problem when operationalizing compliance because operationalizing compliance is usually perceived as a top-down exercise. The reality that the employee base that must execute the compliance strategy is not considered. Even when there are comments from employees on compliance initiatives they are often derisively characterized as ‘push-back’ and not taken into account in moving the compliance effort forward.  Communicate the Strategy  It can be difficult for an employee base to implement a strategy that they do not understand. Even with a company wide training rollout, followed by “a string of e-mails from headquarters and periodic reports back on results. There are too few communications, and most are one-way; the root causes of underperformance are often hidden from both groups.” Here Cespedes’ insight is that clarification is a leadership responsibility and in the compliance function that means the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) or other senior compliance practitioner. Moreover, if the problem is that employees do not understand how to function within the parameters of the compliance program, then there is a training problem and that is the fault of the compliance department. I once was subjected to a PowerPoint of 268 slides, which lasted 7.5 hours, about my company’s compliance regime. To say this was worse than useless was accurate. The business guys were all generally asleep one hour into the presentation as we went through the intricacies of the books and records citations to the FCPA. The training was a failure but it was not the fault of the attendees. If your own employees do not understand your compliance program that is your fault.  Continually improve your compliance productivity Why not do the incentivize productivity around compliance? Work with your Human Resources (HR) department to come up with appropriate financial incentives. Many companies have ad hoc financial awards, which they present to employees to celebrate and honor outstanding efforts. Why not give out something like that around doing business in compliance? Does your company have, as a component of its bonus compensation plan, a part dedicated to compliance and ethics? If so, how is this component measured and then administered? There is very little in the corporate world that an employee notices more than what goes into the calculation of their bonuses. HR can, and should, facilitate this process by setting expectations early in the year and then following through when annual bonuses are released. With the assistance of HR, such a bonus can send a powerful message to employees regarding the seriousness with which compliance is taken at the company. There is nothing like putting your money where your mouth is for people to stand up and take notice.   Improve the human element in your compliance program  This is another area where HR can help the compliance program. More than ongoing assessment of employees for promotion into leadership positions, here HR can assist on the ground floor. HR can take the lead in asking questions around compliance and ethics in the interview process. Studies have suggested that certainly Gen Y & Xers appreciate such inquiries and want to work for companies that make such business ethics a part of the discussion. By having the discussion during the interview process, you can not only set expectations but you can also begin the training process on compliance.  However, this approach should not end when an employee is hired. HR can also assist your compliance efforts by tracking employees through their company career to identify those who perform high in any compliance metric. This can also facilitate the delivery on more focused compliance training to those who may need it because of changes on compliance risks during their careers.  Make your compliance strategy relevant  Cespedes notes, “Most C-suite executives know these value-creation levers, but too few understand and operationalize the sales factors that affect them.” In the sales world this can translate into a reduction in assets to underperforming activities. This is all well and good but such actions must be coupled with an understanding of why sales might be underperforming in certain areas. In the compliance realm, I think this translates into two concepts, ongoing monitoring and risk assessment. Ongoing monitoring can allow you to move from a simple prevent mode to a more prescriptive mode; where you can uncover violations of your company’s compliance program before they become full blown FCPA violations. By using a risk assessment, you can take the temperature of where and how your company is doing business and determine if new products or service offerings increase your compliance risks.  Above all, you need to get out and tell the compliance story. Louis D’Amrosio was quoted for the following, “You have to repeat something at least 10 times for an organization to fully internalize it.” If there is a disconnect between your compliance strategy and how your employee base is implementing or even interpreting that strategy, get out of the office and go out to the field. But you need to do more that simply talk you also need to listen. By doing so, can help to align your company’s compliance strategy with both the delivery and in the field.  Three Key Takeaways Use information from your employees to make your compliance program more productive. Use social media and other innovative techniques to communicate your compliance strategy. Operationalize Operationalize Operationalize, then Document Document Document.  This month’s podcast series is sponsored by Oversight Systems, Inc. Oversight’s automated transaction monitoring solution, Insights On Demand for FCPA, operationalizes your compliance program. For more information, go to OversightSystems.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frank Cespedes, is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, and author of Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling.

1. The 3 key components of strategy that every business must apply rigorously - from startups to Fortune 500 companies 2. Why we must resist the temptation to make every sale that comes our way? 3.Why your desk is a very dangerous place to conduct business from ? 4.Why most businesses do not get to $10M in sales and what to do about it.

What books would guests on The Business give as holiday gifts? Listen for what Mitch Weiss, Dan Koh, Nancy Koehn, Max Bazerman, Frank Cespedes, and host Brian Kenny would recommend for the bookworm in your life.

Professor Frank Cespedes sits down to talk to Brian Kenny about his new book “Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling” and why sales and strategy are so important to business.

There is no time like the new year to make a resolution to be a better (business) you! Some of our guests from the past year share the best advice they have ever received during their careers in various business sectors.

Frank Cespedes, HBS professor and author of "Aligning Strategy and Sales," explains how to get the front line on board.

For a business to grow, it must have a strategy and that strategy must be aligned with sales. The problem is often companies don't have a strategy, or if they do, there's a gap between that strategy and what their sales teams are doing. Listen as Frank Cespedes, author of Aligning Strategy and Sales, discusses what make a good strategy, how to reduce the gap between strategy and sales, and how to improve financial performance.