In this edition:
- Thursday Thoughts – Force Multiply Sales & Customer Experience
- Weekly Top 5 – Ann Hiatt’s Tedx, Ride or Die, Better Posture, The Coul & Gold Group, & August Force Multiplier Book Club
- Language of Business Series – Customer Service & Sales
- Reading Recommendations – Objections, Video Authority, & The New Gold Standard
THURSDAY THOUGHTS
Like me, you probably became a Force Multiplier because you never wanted to carry a sales quota, host sales calls, or close deals.
But, if your job is to multiply your Executive’s effectiveness and impact, then there are sales and customer service activities that are part of your job, whether they are in your title/JD or not.
Think about it this way. Every follow-up you ensure happens builds trust. Every customer insight you capture from a meeting, support ticket, or post-event survey helps your leader make better decisions. Every bit of research you provide on a prospect and their company better equips your Exec to close the deal. You’re in it together.
Remember, one mission, one vision, one job. You’re just doing different parts of the role, rooted in your strengths.
The best right-hand partners create capacity, identify patterns in client feedback, make sure the right people are in the room, the right questions are asked, and the next steps actually happen.
Whether your Executive leads sales, customer success, marketing, operations, or all of it, ask yourself: What could I do this week that helps them build stronger relationships, create a butter customer experience, or close more business?
You might just be surprise how much influence you have on the outcomes!
P.S. Next month we’re continuing our business acumen series by diving into marketing and branding. Send your questions or any specific topics you would like me to include. TYIA!
WEEKLY TOP 5
- Ann Hiatt, leadership strategist, former right hand to Jeff Bezos of Amazon & Eric Schmidt of Google, and author of Bet On Yourself now has a TEDx Talk – Don’t Bet on the Future. Build It! Drawing on her experience working alongside leaders at Amazon and Google, Ann explores how to create opportunities, make bold decisions and move forward without waiting for perfect conditions. A practical talk about leadership, career growth, resilience and the courage to shape your own future. Check it out!
- What would you do if you found out your best friend was an international assassin? If you want something fun to watch this weekend, look no further than Ride or Die on Prime Video. Full of action, fun, and friendship. I love that it features badass WOACAs, Octavia Butler and Hannah Waddingham. There better be a season 2!
- I don’t know about you, but my posture could use some work. Especially after decades of being hunched over a keyboard staring at a screen. Check out this 20-minute workout to build upper-body strength, improve your posture, and make everyday movement more comfortable. Your body will thank you!
- If you’re looking for new(er) voices in the Chief of Staff space, proven organizational leadership architecture, and some seriously hot takes about the Chief of Staff role, look no further than The Coul & Gold Group. Their website is a wealth of info with resources like the Chief of Staff Readiness Quiz, Meeting Prep Tool, and The Briefing newsletter. Suzi Coul and Rachael Goldfarb are also great follows on LinkedIn! Enjoy and engage!
- Join other growth-minded right-hand partners and Force Multipliers in The Force Multiplier Book Club for access to our monthly live book discussion, book recommendations, supplemental resources, and more! Our August book club pick is The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest! Here is the central idea of this book, stated plainly: you are not sabotaging yourself because something is wrong with you. You are sabotaging yourself because two parts of you want different things, and the part you’re not listening to is winning. I can’t wait to discuss this one with you!
LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS SERIES – CUSTOMER SERVICE & SALES
- Handwritten Letters as a Business Advantage–They’re Not Dead (Yet) – Handwritten notes set you apart. And as a prospecting or client retention tool, they’re invaluable! Consider adding a simple handwritten letter strategy to your business and turn ordinary interactions into lasting connections.
- Inside The Mind of One of The World’s Top Salespeople of All Time – Erica Feidner is the Piano Matchmaker and ranked one of the top 10 salespeople of all time by Inc Magazine. On I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi discusses Erica’s lessons and takeaways from “matching” over 1,200 pianos (one client at a time).
- Personalize Your M&Ms – Wow your clients with branded M&Ms. Who wouldn’t love that!?
READING RECOMMENDATIONS
- Objections: The Ultimate Guide for Mastering The Art and Science of Getting Past No by Jeb Blount | There are few one-size-fits-all solutions in sales. Context matters. Complex sales are different from one-call closes. B2B is different than B2C. Prospects, territories, products, industries, companies, and sales processes are all different. There is little black and white in the sales profession. Except for objections. There is democracy in objections. Every salesperson must endure many NOs in order to get to YES. This book will help you gain confidence in your ability to face and effectively handle objections in any selling situation.
- Video Authority: The Art and Science of Converting Viewers Into Clientsby Aleric Heck | This book contains the proven strategies you can use to grow your business to 7 or 8 figures using video marketing. You’ll learn how to successfully grow a YouTube Channel, run profitable YouTube Ads & leverage video marketing across all major platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & TikTok) in a way that actually converts viewers into clients.
- The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company by Joseph A. Michelli | The New Gold Standard takes you on an exclusive tour behind the scenes of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. Granted unprecedented access to the company’s executives, staff, and its award-winning Leadership Center training facilities, bestselling author Joseph Michelli explored every level of leadership within the organization. He emerged with the key principles leaders at any company can use to provide a customer experience unlike any other.
“You cannot be sure that you are right unless you understand the arguments against your views better than your opponents do.”
Economist Milton Friedman
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When someone understands the language of business, they can connect their work to: revenue, profitability, growth, efficiency, risk, priorities, customer experience, organizational goals, and strategic tradeoffs. We aren’t talking about memorizing corporate jargon here! But we are talking about understanding how businesses function, what leaders care about, how decisions get made, and how work impacts the bigger picture.
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