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Winning New Business and Optimizing Results through Leadership

Winning New Business and Optimizing Results through Leadership


Step 1: Developing the Vision

The goal for the year is as follows: "To secure the Optovision account and establish a long-term, mutually beneficial business partnership with them." To carry this out effectively there has to be a strong case built for the Optovision members and its board, ensuring that they have sufficient understanding of the vision of Guild Super, and the benefits that they may yield from availing of the company`s services. For the members of Optovision, they must be made aware of the differentiators of Guild Super. These mainly consist of personalized superannuation decision services. Unparalleled customer service will be the sales force`s battlecry. It is also very important to keep cascade sessions to Optovision, simple, comprehensive and honest. There should not be jargon that will unnecessarily confuse them and discourage them from availing of the service. A more critical requisite for attaining this vision is to solicit the support of top management of Optovision, making them realize that your role will facilitate theirs. This will span the administrative facets to deployment of superannuation accountabilities, undertaken by the consultants of Guild Super. The additional features of the service also include convenient online administration and contribution tracking.

Explicitly spelling out the vision for Guild Super is critical, as taught by the ideology of charismatic leadership. The benefits of charismatic or transformational leadership are thought to include broadening and elevating the interests of followers, generating awareness and acceptance among the followers of the purposes and mission of the group, and motivating followers to go beyond their self-interests for the good of the group and the organization. Charismatic or transformational leaders articulate a realistic vision of the future that can be shared, stimulate subordinates intellectually, and pay attention to the differences among the subordinates. The transforming effect these leaders can have on organizations as well as on individuals. By defining the need for change, creating new visions, and mobilizing commitment to these visions, leaders can ultimately transform organizations.

Thus, given this, the milestones of vision setting include: cascading the vision to the consultants of Guild Super; translating the vision into measurable goals; and making them understand how their role would contribute to the overall strategy of Guild Super.

Step 2: What`s the gap between now and then?

Gap assessment tells Guild Super that as of yet, Optovision limits its offerings to regularly purchased items, including contact lenses, lenses and frames. The purchase of these items by optometrist-members through Optovision results in dividend returns. The gap that has been identified (and which also represents an opportunity) is the absence of service providers in this roster of accredited Optovision suppliers. In effect, Guild Super will be a first in having itself accredited as a superannuation service provider. The mechanism works similarly as the current model of Optovision. The benefits offered by Guild Super may be availed of by optometrist-members at discounted rates or at non-discounted rates that return some profit through dividends.

Apart from making the team understand the vision, it is also critical for them to realize the existence of this gap. Moreover, the sales force has to undergo some transition from being mere workers to authentic contributors who realize the value of their daily tasks to the achievement of the enterprise`s goals. Again, utmost productivity in any endeavor is enhanced by knowing how their work helps attain overall organizational goals.

The transformation of followers can be achieved by raising the awareness of the importance and value of desired outcomes, getting followers to transcend their own self-interests and altering or expanding followers` needs. The transactional leader is one who recognizes what followers want to get from their work and tries to see that followers get what they desire if their performance warrants it; exchanges rewards for appropriate levels of effort; and responds to followers` self-interests as long as they are getting the job done.

Step 3: Recognizing the Change or Improvement

Implementing change will, we know, be ongoing. You need to recognize the change or improvement you are making and understand how it differs from the current situation. What has actually changed for your team or stakeholders? How are they adjusting to the change or improvement?

There is a need to "launch" the Optovision project to solicit the commitment of the Sales Force. There must be a clearly defined vision, a mission that goes with it, and objectives. These should also be clearly laid down through all the phases of the performance management process of the Sales force, from performance planning, monitoring, evaluation, feedback, and rewards.

Step 4: Who Benefits?

The customers of the superannuation plan are the optometrist-members of Optovision. The plan will accord them with all the benefits of a superannuation plan which is specifically catered to Optovision`s needs. To ensure that the plan does match the needs of its clients, there has to be a profound procedure through which needs assessment is done. This means there has to be interviews with critical people of Optovision, and focus groups with optometrist-members. Surveys may also be carried out. The outcomes from both quantitative and qualitative research may be used for needs analysis, ensuring that all client needs are addressed.

Step 5: Setting your Targets / Target Time Frame

The following are the targets for attainment of the vision:
To establish contact with the Board of Directors of Optovision by the first quarter;
To present the product portfolio to 100% of the members of Optovision (Q1);
To undertake needs analysis of optometrist-members, with a well-represented sample accounting for at least 30% of the members (Q2);
To capture at least 70% of all optometrist members as customer by the third quarter.
To monitor and sustain accredited service provider status and number of accounts on an annual basis (Q3 onwards).

Step 6 Developing Team Strategies

The age-old strategies that have made small insurance companies flourish are still applicable in this case. Each of these is presented below:
Trust and satisfaction are two interrelated variables which are manifested through relationship quality. Initially, it must be emphasized that there are some important elements of relationship building, namely, trust, satisfaction and relationship quality. The influence of a salesperson`s behavior and information disclosure on the customer`s trust, satisfaction and future interactions, are critical differentiators within the UK General Insurance industry.

Ensure Satisfaction of Optovision Customers

There is a need to explain and implement through the Sales force the importance of establishing and sustaining the satisfaction of Optovision customers. Satisfaction is an emotional state resulting from the buyer-seller interaction experiences, which leads to a consequential evaluation. Customers are satisfied when they get to lessen the transaction cost and/or ensure their security of future benefits. Customers also want to be the recipients of benefits, which may not be available in short-term exchange relationships within the long-term commitments of life insurance. However, for the high relational customers, trust and commitment, rather than satisfaction, are the mediators between component attitudes and future intentions. In the insurance industry, commitment in helping clients to have a high return of investment is hard to attain due to the constant changes in the investment environment. It has been suggested that a perceived high quality image is an important variable in developing a quality relationship. Thus, in the case of Optovision, the Sales force`s success will be reliant on the trust that they maintain with the Board of Directors who are also the key decision makers of the company.

Build Trust with Optovision Clients

According the sales relationship standpoint, "the clientele's reliance as a firm confidence that a vendor can be relied upon to conduct yourself in such a way that the enduring interest of the client will be doled out". Also, Gwinner et al. (1998) considered that the psychological benefit of trust is more than special treatment in service encounters. However, the differences in perceived uncertainty and risk spell the difference between the trust of an individual and that of an organization.
It is difficult to evaluate the quality of most services prior to purchasing and consuming, and some services remain difficult to evaluate even after they have been performed. Customers, who develop trust in service suppliers based on their experiences with them, have strong reasons to remain in these relationships because of the uncertainties and risks associated with acquiring a new supplier (Berry, 1995).

Contact intensity refers to the duration and frequency of interaction between the customer and salesperson. Expose of the company and personal information to customers can enhance their trust towards the company and the salesperson. Oriented behavior entails seeking ways to stimulate the demand for services rather than taking the trouble to identify the customers' needs. However, buying a life insurance may be perceived by consumers as a distress purchase because there is no perceivable short-term benefit. Hence, salespersons consider there is a need to persuade potential customers to believe that they would benefit from buying the insurance policy. At the same time, management may impose some pressure on the salesperson to meet a quota within a certain period. This might have an effect on how the salesperson communicates and behaves during the interaction with the customer, which might directly influence the customer's trust and satisfaction with the salesperson and the company. On the other hand, the efforts of salespersons to "stay in touch" with customers have been identified as a key determinant of relationship maintenance in insurance. Thus, it should be emphasized for that Guild Super salespersons increase the frequency of their interaction with the Optovision customers that they handle.

Private Patients Plan and Customer Satisfaction Measurement

The Sales force should also be oriented to always strive to provide customized plans for Optovision customers. It is implied that the clients are essential to an organization, although only a few companies are able to comply with their customers' needs according to their performance, either in quality, efficiency or personal service. We have to consider that enhancing the quality of service to our customers is not really a matter of choice. The welfare of the company depends on it.

A new style of management needs to be implemented in order to achieve quality improvement combined with total commitment to customer service. It is a technique based on enhancing skilled and knowledgeable people at all levels throughout the organization. This is attained through good communication and training and then encouragement to those same people to use their expertise in executing tasks more effectively. It is a style based on clear standards and targets and the use of data and statistics to drive continuous improvement. It is a style which combines the art of people management with the science of segmentation and research among customers (Tam, & Wong, 2001) .

Customer service is much more than being nice to those who ultimately pay salaries. It is primarily about satisfying legitimate needs in a manner which is effortless on the employee`s part. This requires systems and people alike to interact extremely efficiently.

Business success can only come if the people feel that they are being treated by the company in the same manner as the company would like them to treat its customers. Thus, staff policies have been developed which support this approach. They highlight professionalism, communication, personal development, teamwork and care and, as a matter of interest, monitor the satisfaction levels of the staff.

This service strategy itself has to be a central part of a company`s business strategy, just as important as profit objectives, markets, technology and so on. The service strategy defines the company`s internal culture as well as its desired external image, it should give a clear picture of where we would like to be and how we want to get there and it needs to be communicated thoroughly within the organization. Clear and well-supported strategies and plans are vital to achieve customer satisfaction but many companies do not realize this.

These strategies should ensure Optovision`s customer satisfaction; these include having clear strategy supported at senior level; good commitment to that strategy; an action plan and training; research among staff and customers; standards and monitoring systems; systems and technology; a substantial investment in money and time. In addition, it is very important to talk to the members of the Guild Super staff because they regularly interact and know what the customers really want.

Step 7: Develop and maintain commitment.

There are certain strategies that may help elicit and sustain the commitment and motivation of the sales team of Guild Super. These are briefly discussed below:

Victor Vroom`s expectancy theory refers to three factors: (1) valence (value placed on the expected reward), (2) expectancy (belief that efforts are linked to performance), and (3) instrumentality (belief) that performance is related to rewards. Porter and Lawler built on Vroom`s theory by proposing a model of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. People are extrinsically motivated if they do something they find interesting and from which they derive satisfaction. Also people are extrinsically motivated if they do the activity because they are satisfied with the tangible or verbal rewards attached.

All these theories may be said to be based on Skinner`s reinforcement theory, which refers to behavior being shaped, changed or maintained though the use of positive and negative reinforcement. This implies that a person can behave in a certain way through the use of motivational levers.

Providing feedback: To increase the effectiveness of goal setting, feedback should be provided to the employee on his progress in reaching his goal. At each point of the project, the sales people of Guild Super must be given feedback about their performance, specific to Optovision clients. Feedback can include verbally telling an employee how he is doing, placing a chart on a wall, or displaying a certain color of light when the employee`s work pace will result in goal attainment and a different color of light when the pace is too slow to reach the goal. Feedback increases performance best when it is positive and informational rather than negative and controlling.

Rewarding excellent performance: There should also be an effective rewards program for those who have contributed significantly to the Optovision account. Another set of theories hypothesizes that workers are motivated when they are rewarded for their behavior. As a result, organizations offer incentives for a wide variety of employee behaviors, including working overtime or on weekends, making suggestions, referring applicants, staying with the company (length of service awards), coming to work (attendance bonuses), not getting into accidents, and performing at a high level.

Operant conditioning: Behaviors that contribute to the success of the Optovision account must be adequately rewarded. Perhaps the most influential behavioral theory is operant conditioning, whose principles state that an employee will continue to do those behaviors for which he is reinforced. Thus, if employees are rewarded for not making errors, they are more likely to produce high quality work. If employees are rewarded for the amount of work done, they will place less emphasis on quality and try to increase their quantity.

Experience with success: Tasks which are easily accomplished and related to the Optovision account ought to be assigned and these small wins must also be acknowledged. With this approach, an employee is given a task so easy that he will almost certainly succeed. It is thought that this success increases self-esteem, which should increase performance, then further increase self-esteem, then further increase performance, and so on. This method is based loosely on the principle of self-fulfilling prophecy, which states that an individual will perform as well or as poorly as he expects to perform. In other words, if he believes he is intelligent, he should do well on tests. If he believes he is dumb, he should do poorly. So if an employee believes he will always fail, the only way to break the vicious cycle is to ensure that he performs well on a task.

Need for achievement: Those sales persons who have a high need for achievement must be assigned to challenging tasks related to the Optovision account. Employees who have a strong need for achievement desire and are motivated by jobs that are challenging and over which they have some control, whereas employees who have minimal achievement needs are more satisfied when their work involves little challenge. Employees who have a high need for achievement ate not risk takers and tend to set goals that are challenging enough to be interesting but low enough to be attainable. Employees with a high need for achievement need recognition and want their achievements to be noticed.

Step 8: Monitoring Progress

Monitoring progress will be done through a systematic performance management process. That is, we can have a Balanced Scorecard reflecting all objectives and their metrics. The objectives ought to be cascaded properly during the performance planning phase. Apt, specific and timely performance feedback must be given when errors are committed along the way. The level or degree of help that each subordinate needs depends on both his competence and his willingness to be coached. On my end as consultant, the degree of help may range from handholding to full delegation depending on the needs of my staff. The performance evaluation process should reward desirable behavior in relation to the goal of securing the Optovision account.

Step 9: Mapping the Future

It is important to spell out the goal in "bite" size pieces". This required the proper cascading of the goal into strategies, and then to measurable objectives. Both internal and external factors do exert changes on both us as a service provider and the client. As such, the vision must necessarily change in response to these factors. The performance of my staff may not always be aligned to the goal; in these instances, it is necessary for me to give feedback and to coach them if necessary. The targets must be realistic and yet must be stretched enough to breed challenge and stimulation.

Step 10: Developing You.
The achievement of this goal shall enhance both my sales and leadership competencies. As the workplace structure and workers themselves change, management faces the problem of how to motivate employees. How do you pull the levers of motivation to change the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of a population? Of course, different people are motivated by different things, some by money, some by advancement, and some by recognition. Effectively changing the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of workers demands that a manager knows what levers of motivation to pull in the first place.

The current paper focuses on how I can optimize and leverage on the factors that affect employee productivity and motivation, in a sales context. The attainment of this goal would have allowed me to exercise leadership theories and evaluate their effectiveness in specific settings.





References
Berry, L.L. (1995). Relationship marketing of services: Growing interest, emerging perspectives. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23, 236-45.

Saxe, R. & Weitz, A.B. (1982). The SOCO scale: A measure of the customer orientation of salespeople. Journal of Marketing Research, 19, 343-51.

Tam, J.L.M. & Wong, Y. H. (2001). Interactive selling: A dynamic framework for services. The Journal of Services Marketing.
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Posted by: Jeffrey J. Thomson

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