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FIND YOUR EDGE
WHAT GETS YOU HOOKED? WHY UNDERSTANDING YOUR EMOTIONS SETS YOU UP FOR SUCCESS
Some business gurus preach that the space between business and emotion should be as sacred as the separation between church and state. But, here at Sandler Training, we feel that having a good understanding of things that set you off emotionally — in the office and out — is a key strategy for success. Personally, I like to think of these emotional triggers as “hooks.” And, as I often tell my clients, if you know what gets you hooked, then you know your kryptonite. One of my own hooks is my constant desire to impress people, and it can sometimes get me in trouble. I’ve found if someone gives me the opportunity to be clever, I’m ready to impress at any cost, without consideration for who or what might be hurt by what comes out of my mouth. I’m liable to say something I’ll regret down the road unless I check myself — and, when I try to rescue the situation, I tend to do so with an excavator. Once, after I’d made what I thought was a hilarious comment, one of my coaches broached the subject with me. “Jim,” he said, “I’ve got a piece of advice for you, but I’ll only pass it on
if you want it.” I told him I’d take it, and he said, “I want you to remember this: Your first thought is wrong. And another piece of advice — your second thought is probably wrong, too.”
His message was simple: Keep your mouth shut until you’ve thought through the implications of your words. Though I wasn’t happy to hear it, it was great advice, and it helped me identify one of my hooks. If you’re like me and tend to speak before thinking, remember: Don’t let your mouth write a check that “ “IF YOU’RE LIKE ME AND TEND TO SPEAK BEFORE THINKING, REMEMBER: DON’T LET YOUR MOUTH WRITE A CHECK THAT YOUR BUTT CAN’T CASH.”
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your butt can’t cash. When you’re aware of what hooks you, then you can avoid saying or doing something you’ll later regret. Your hooks make you vulnerable, and understanding them can help make you bulletproof.
unflattering ways. When dealing with the minutiae of day-to-day life, people tend to forget, as the old saying goes, “Those who do not remember the past are forced to repeat it.” Professionally, failing to evolve can be a fatal mistake. That’s why this week, I’d like you to focus on creating a list of the things that hook you. Everyone is set off by something: Maybe the mention of politics makes you feel like ranting, or you can’t open a wine list without discoursing — perhaps a little too enthusiastically — on your favorite bottles. Perhaps you’ll take any excuse to showcase your personal style, your wit, or your intelligence, sometimes to your detriment. Identifying your hooks starts with a solid baseline of reflection and then developing a keen awareness of your own shortcomings and desires. Look for a pattern of things in your past behavior that have caused friction, then try and identify the hook at the core of each story. Whether you come up with two or three things that set you off, or a dozen, growing that awareness can help you change for the better and become more successful in your role. If you’d like some help along the way, don’t hesitate to give Sandler Training a call.
In life and in business, if you let yourself continue down one path unchecked, you’re inviting history to repeat itself, often in
–Jim Stephens
THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE HOW TO ENSURE YOUR COMPANY’S SUCCESSFUL EVOLUTION
In today’s fast-paced business world, change is vital for companies that want to succeed. New technologies seem to drop every other day, and fresh modes of business-to-business and business-to- consumer exchange constantly set new standards for companies to meet, forcing reorganization. Those factors all make change inevitable. However, at Sandler Training we understand it’s not that simple — initiating change is difficult, and it’s often dangerous to carry out. A major shift in any business brings with it a boatload of doubt that both the upper echelons and employees with their boots on the ground need to face. Disruptions to the status quo can create a threat to jobs and make entire teams anxious. Sometimes it seems easier to avoid the discomfort, but that fear leads companies to put off
making changes until the gap between their protocols and recent innovations is so wide that it needs to be addressed immediately. In the most difficult cases, outside help must be brought in to solve problems that have been ignored. It’s easy to panic in such a challenging situation, but remember, you aren’t alone — Sandler Training is here to help, and we can make the process easier. The first thing you need to do is select a strategy that works for your organization, which requires an understanding of your team’s strengths. Then, you need to make a plan to deal with any resistance you might face, tailored specifically to your company’s needs. To learn more about the steps you should take to ensure your business’s successful evolution, including which competencies
to look for in your team and how you can find and harness them, check out our latest blog post at Sandler.com today.
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THE COMPANY BEHIND THE CARTONS
send performance skyrocketing. No matter the scale or aspiration of the business, a customized plan from our team of professionals can help it reach full potential.
Perhaps no company is better proof of our all-niches-welcome philosophy than Udder Health Systems Inc., an Idaho-based, family-owned business that offers milk quality and food testing services for the dairy industry. In sharp contrast to tech behemoths like LinkedIn (another Sandler success story) which trade on virtual services, Udder Health is focused on the hands-on, boots-on-the-ground world of dairy farming. Through in-person visits and testing at its four laboratories in Idaho, Washington, and Utah, the Udder Health team puts the minds of dairy farmers and consumers at ease about the quality of their milk, cheese, butter, and other products. Thanks to diligent companies like theirs, we can rest easy knowing our nation’s dairymen, veterinarians, milk processors, and food manufacturers are getting the best assistance possible in their mission to keep our food safe and up to state and national standards. Dr. Allan Britten, a veterinarian, started Udder Health in 1978 after earning his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Washington State University and his master’s in preventive veterinary medicine from the University of California, Davis. Though he
Sandler Training is a true company’s company. We work with businesses of all sizes in every industry under the sun, including manufacturing, technology, construction, human resources, engineering, financial planning, health care, and even agriculture. No matter the organization, our goal is the same: to provide sales, corporate, and leadership training that will ultimately
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originally practiced medicine for all kinds of animals, Allan eventually narrowed his focus to dairy cows, and even more specifically to diagnosing and controlling a disease called mastitis. Cows can contract mastitis from bacteria on the farms where they’re raised and milked, and it has disastrous effects on their milk’s production and quality. Unsurprisingly, American dairy farmers are eager to avoid the disease at all costs in order to keep their cows healthy, their customers happy, and their reputations sterling. “People from all over the world come and admire the production facilities we have in North America because we produce some of the highest quality milk at the highest production per cow, and we can only do this with all of this focus on using science to make the best possible product that we can,” Allan told us, adding, “Not only is milk a very nutritious product that people like to drink and is good for you, but bacteria seem to like it, too. It’s a constant challenge to make sure the bacteria populations on the facility are such that it doesn’t interfere with our objectives to be able to ship and produce high-quality milk.” That’s where Udder Health comes in. Its staff members conduct on-site visits to family dairy farms (Allan estimates there are 100 dairies within 100 miles of its Meridian, Idaho, headquarters and another 400-500 in the 100 miles surrounding its Idaho lab in Jerome), and sample milk straight from cows, milk from the bulk tank, and swabs from items in the surrounding environment like bedding, water, towels, and more. Then, they take those samples back to the nearest Udder Health laboratory for testing. Dairy farms that employ Udder Health are going above and beyond government regulations, but they know that healthier cows produce more milk, and that higher-quality milk fetches higher prices. Allan’s daughter, Dr. Justine Britton, is
an expert on the lab testing process and its importance to farmers. She recently earned her Ph.D. from Utah State University in animal, dairy, and veterinary science after 10 years of working at Udder Health and rejoined the company as its Laboratory Director, taking over a share of day-to-day operations from her father. “Pasteurizing has been a blessing for the dairy industry, but you still need to start with a high-quality product or you’ll have more spoilage issues and less usability, plus discard more,” Justine said, adding that when milk is high-quality, dairymen get paid a premium. Healthy animals also produce more milk, which means more dairy products get to the shelves and turn a profit. “Most processors do understand that the quality of the product they receive will affect their usability of it, so they’re motivated to work with producers to provide quality incentives,” she said. Some of those benchmarks have disappeared over the years in favor of efficiency, which has reshaped the industry.
Today, farms are bigger and margins on milk are slimmer than they were in the past, but Justine and Allan both said the dairymen Udder Health works with still care deeply about their cows. “Large is proving to be the way of the future because it’s more economically efficient, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still family farms, and often they’re run very well,” Justine said. “That’s why they’re there; that’s why they’re large. If they weren’t run well, they would go out of business.” All four of Udder Health’s branches conduct milk testing, but each lab also has its own specialty that enlarges the scope of the company. The two largest facilities, in Meridian and Jerome, produce microbiological agar (a jelly-like substance used in petri dishes) for their own use and to sell to more than 100 other veterinary clinics. Most of those clinics are in the U.S., but one Qatar-based clinic also uses Udder Health’s cultures. The Jerome office is also an accredited food testing lab, and does regulatory testing on food and consumer products like cheese,
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Justine called a “unique relationship” with Darigold, the largest dairy cooperative in the Northwest. Regardless of who it’s working with, Justine said Udder Health does everything it can to support its customers, including making in-person visits to farms at a moment’s notice and helping with the interpretation of lab results in order to prevent future outbreaks. “Those of us who have contact with producers the most really make it a priority to make time and try and make sure they don’t fall between the cracks,” Justine said, noting it holds true regardless of the dairy’s size. “I spent a good amount of time on the phone this morning with a lady who owns a one-cow dairy in eastern Idaho, and she just wants to have the raw milk for herself. We’ll get maybe $30 worth of testing from her, but it doesn’t matter; it’s about the customer service.” Customer service isn’t the only area where Udder Health strives to excel, and that hunger for improvement is what lead the company to Sandler Training. Brian McKay, Udder Health’s field operations manager, made the connection. He’s a regular listener of the Sandler Training Radio Show and got involved in our Sales Mastery program long before he brought our services to the company at large. After Brian mentioned “working on Sandler” to Justine at a conference, her curiosity was piqued. When she moved back to Udder Health after finishing her Ph.D., she followed up with Brian, contacted Jim Stephens, and started helping her company use Sandler to take its sales and strategic planning to the next level. “I really did not turn my focus on it until I moved back and kind of reached out to Jim in terms of, okay, well you’ve mentioned coaching, you’ve mentioned this and that, and I want to explore some of these resources,” Justine said.
Until finding Sandler, Justine had been struggling with her new leadership role at Udder Health. She said taking the reins at the company had been exhausting, particularly as there was no road map for how she and Allan should share duties or how they would move the company forward. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Grad school was so easy compared to this,” she said. Justine is still looking for that happy balance, but a combination of Sandler’s leadership training and strategic planning, which is designed to map a company’s path to success, has improved her day- to-day experience. “There have been some tools in the leadership training I have found to be really helpful because they gave me a structure where I don’t have to make it up myself,” Justine said. “I’m still trying to figure out how to utilize the coaching in
beef, whey protein, and more in addition to milk. Its team of lab analysts tests for pathogens including E. coli, listeria, and salmonella. “We actually get some random samples,” said Liz Artho, the lab manager at the Jerome facility. “We have some mink farms in the area, so their food comes in here to be tested to make sure it doesn’t have too much bacteria for those minks to eat.” Liz said that despite those forays outside of its main industry, her team is uniquely positioned to help dairy farmers. “They’re more attuned to any changes that might be happening within the industry,” she said. “Maybe they’ve found different ways to test the milk and help the dairymen, or maybe they’ve heard about new pathogens coming around that the dairymen may not know about yet.” As for the other two facilities, the Udder Health lab in Layton, Utah, is a state- certified water testing lab, and the Bellingham, Washington, facility has what
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“As a company, sometimes you can feel a little overwhelmed at certain spots, especially in a growth spurt, and UH has really been in a growth spurt lately,” she said. “It’s good to have someone external with a clearer vision help us individually, as a team, and as a company to get our focus back.” In addition to reaping the rewards from Sandler’s programs herself, Liz has also recommended our training to clients struggling with their own sales. “I tell them, ‘There’s nothing to lose; you’ll probably only gain,’” she said. “Ever since we have joined Sandler, there has been an increase not only in sales — and that’s showable, right? We have records of that — but what has been most helpful is that we have many different personality types within the company, and, because we’re getting all the same training, we’re learning how to work [together].” Justine agreed that her employees have better synergy thanks to Sandler’s training. “We have some really good people working for us and I think the potential for a really awesome team, which is what motivates me to keep going with this process,” she said. To learn more about Udder Health’s many valuable services, check out UdderHealth.com or call Justine at (208) 409-1840. And, if you’d like to optimize your team, boost your sales, and set your company on a clear path toward success, give Sandler Training a call today at (208) 429-9275 or visit us at Sandler.com.
the best possible way with the best use of time, but it’s nice to know I don’t have to completely face all of these things I don’t feel like I have the skill set for without some resources.” As for the company at large, Justine said that, at first, leadership was so excited about Sandler’s strategic plan that they rolled it out too fast, neglecting to explain some concepts to managers. Now, though, they’ve doubled back to fill in the gaps and are seeing success. “You have to learn how to crawl before you can walk, so I’ve started to introduce some of these concepts in Friday stand- up [meetings],” said Justine. “It has really fostered some good discussion, and I’m seeing some response from our managers who, on their own, would not take these initiatives, but given the tasks are really stepping up to it, which is great.” One of the Udder Health managers truly taking our training and strategic planning to heart is Liz Artho of the Jerome facility. When she started working at Udder Health, Liz said she could tell the company needed help. “No offense to Udder Health, but, if we had any strategic planning before Sandler, I didn’t know about it,” she said. “One of my very first meetings with the upper management of Udder Health was kind of asking those tough questions like, ‘Where are we going to be in three to five years? How are we letting employees know about the growth of the company?’ And
I kind of got these blank looks. But, once we joined Sandler and were working on this plan, it was an amazing map for us to keep on track.” Sandler’s training has also revolutionized Udder Health’s approach to sales. We advocate a more hands-off sales strategy that gives clients time and space to make the decision that’s right for them. When Liz tried it, telling a prospect honestly that maybe Udder Health wasn’t the right choice for them and they should consider other options, the prospect doubled down on their commitment, and she easily made the sale. “My first thought was, ‘Wow, this is the exact opposite of how we were trained to sell.’ Everything you’ve been trying to teach us is kind of the opposite, but it has been shown to work,” Liz told us. She added, “I wouldn’t ever do that in the past, but I had the confidence to do that after hearing some of your seminars.” Driving the point home, a representative from another company who had overheard the call contacted Liz shortly thereafter to offer her a sales job. “He got ahold of me after that meeting and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this other business, would you want to come be a salesperson for me?’” she said, adding, “It works!” Liz also takes advantage of Sandler’s Executive Coaching and loves that she has the option to call Jim when she needs help refocusing on her goals.
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RESOURCE OF THE MONTH: LEADQUIZZES TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR LEADS
TAKE A BREAK
When you’re starting out in the business world, leads can seem hard to come by. Only when you realize how many modern resources are at your disposal will a clearer picture come into focus. A new era of consumer outreach is at our fingertips, allowing us to obtain new clients without painstaking difficulty. Finding your ideal customers doesn’t have to cost you your sanity, especially when LeadQuizzes is around to help. The online service offers their clients the unique opportunity to create custom surveys and quizzes to send out to their potential leads. With their newfound consumer information in hand, companies are now able to quickly sift out the bad apples and find a larger pool of promising leads with the potential to translate to higher sales than ever before. As featured in “Entrepreneur” and “Inc.” magazines, and on NPR, this revolutionary resource has scores of customers singing its praises for the practical and intuitive programs it has to offer. They have an immense strength in numbers, boasting over 11,500 users, 74 million questions answered, and nearly 5 million leads generated to date. And it doesn’t stop there. After you’ve designed your custom questionnaires for your websites, advertisements, or social media accounts, LeadQuizzes offers several ways to promote and drive traffic to your outreach methods. Your company’s future has never looked brighter. As if that wasn’t enough, by subscribing to their services, you will have exclusive access to detailed reports about your audience. You can analyze your potential leads and make more educated decisions on how to grow your business in the future. Even if you’re a multifaceted businessperson, you’re still in luck. Rather than having to create separate accounts for each business, this website allows you to manage your different brands and their respective analytics on one simple platform, taking a lot of weight off your shoulders. Whether you’re an established presence in your field or an early-stage entrepreneur, LeadQuizzes has the know-how to walk you through their revolutionary processes with ease. Leads have never been easier to come by.
We have 20 complimentary copies of this new book to send out. If you’d like one, email joan.stephens@sandler.com or call 208-429-9275 to request your free copy!
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
What Gets You Hooked?
2
The Challenge of Change
3
Case Study: The Company Behind the Cartons
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A Look at How LeadQuizzes Is Revolutionizing Customer Analytics
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Walk on the Wild Side With the SBFC
CHARITY SPOTLIGHT: THE SELWAY BITTERROOT FRANK CHURCH FOUNDATION PROTECTING IDAHO’S WILD SIDE working alongside professional conservationists and U.S. Forest Service managers.
Here at Sandler Training, we believe in maintaining a healthy work-life balance, and, in our beautiful state of Idaho, that often means getting outside. The Gem State is home to thousands of acres of protected wilderness ideal for backpacking, hiking, and camping, and two jewels in its crown are the Selway- Bitterroot Wilderness and the Frank Church Wilderness. Those two areas make up the 4 million-acre Selway Bitterroot Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness — a stunning, mountain-filled haven that stretches across central and northern Idaho and into Montana. Luckily for nature lovers, the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation is dedicated to its protection. Since its founding in 2005, the SBFC has provided stewardship for the wilderness area in myriad ways. It maintains trails and campsites, helps remove invasive species, takes steps to counter erosion, monitors animal activity and water quality, and bridges the gap between the community and the forest by offering jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities. One notable SBFC initiative is its internship program, which gives veterans and college students the opportunity to learn valuable outdoor skills. After training, interns spend 12 weeks in the wilderness
“This summer has been full of breathtaking views, sore muscles, and smiles,” Wilderness Ranger Intern Briana Bienuse wrote on SBFC’s blog. “This internship has given me perspective on not only what I wish to gain out of the wilderness, but what others seek out of it as well.” Idahoans can support the SBFC in many ways. The group is always looking for volunteers to
help with trail work, take care of historic cabins and lookouts, pack in supplies for workers, drive shuttles, and more. It also takes donations, and receives a portion of the profits for every wilderness-themed Idaho license plate sold. To learn more about how you can help, visit SelwayBitterroot.org.
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