Discover practical advice, inspiration, and insights to help you succeed in business and grow both personally and professionally.
Found 0 posts
Garage Sale Funds Two More Surgeries!
A big thank-you to our team members who volunteered to come out last Saturday for our MEGA Garage sale to raise money for Operation Smile. We raised over $600, which is enough to help two children have a better life by restoring their smile.
The sale took place on Saturday, September 7th from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Earth Elementary School’s basketball courts. Gently used items were donated by Cydcor team members just days before the sale.
Team members that donated items were also eligible for raffle tickets to win a lunch with our CEO, Gary Polson. Volunteers who helped us set up and take down the sale got five tickets! Congratulations to our winner, Miriam Caballero, who also received recognition this week from our Joy Germ Club for spreading the most smiles around the office.
The Cydcor home office has now reached our overall goal of raising $30,000 for Operation Smile. In addition to the sale, we organized a snack bar, wine tasting, movie nights, a karaoke event and more. The $30,000 is part of an overall company goal to fund a $150,000 medical trip overseas. This is the second year in a row that Cydcor has been able to raise over $150,000 for Operation Smile.
Why Cydcor is A Best Place to Work
By Vera Quinn, Chief Operating Officer
What makes a great company? We can answer that - according to the recent Best Places to Work assessment sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Cydcor ranked in the top 100 companies to work for in Los Angeles County – coming in 38th best of mid-sized companies. There are thousands of companies of our size in Los Angeles County and many of them participated in this year’s competition. As you can imagine, the LA list is quite popular. The list is in its seventh year and has grown significantly, attracting employers from all over Los Angeles County. We are proud to have been named once again!
We are doing even more with the following in the works:
· Resource staffing plans – working with departments to properly resource for success
· Performance management – a new performance appraisal process
· Compensation study – researching pay by position and responsibilities to ensure we align with the market
· Program for our people – including development of consistent onboarding, training and development programs
So, while we never rest on our accomplishments – there is a lot to make our families proud, our friends jealous, and us feel great!
Everyone can do his or her part on how to make the office a great place. Keeping a positive attitude, creating professional development goals and keeping communication lines open.
As the dominant market leader in outsourced face-to-face sales, Cydcor’s capabilities and approach to doing business are like our team members: truly unique! As someone who started with Cydcor over 17 years ago, I am honored to be part of a company that is getting recognition to be a great place to work. We are proud of our team members, and I know that we will only continue to grow stronger with all the great people we have here.
To learn more about Vera Quinn, take a look at our executive team biographies.
In this edition of Cydcor Reviews, our VP of Marketing endorses a key guide to sales. Anyone interested in direct sales can benefit from studying the habits of shoppers. Enjoy!
Title: Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
Author: Paco Underhill
Review by: Gail Michalak, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Cydcor
Description of this book: Paco Underhill is a market researcher who has spent his life collecting comprehensive data on our shopping habits. He is the founder and CEO of Envirosell, INC and has done consumer research for Microsoft, McDonald’s and Estee Lauder. Along with his team of trackers, Underhill records everything from how many times products are touched and for how long to how many signs are read. He divides the book by sales techniques and demographics, discussing simple ideas that are often taken for granted (ie: you only have two hands to carry merchandise with). If you think you know your shopping habits, this book will blow your mind!
Why read this?: This book is an essential for anyone in business, especially anyone selling directly to consumers. While most helpful to retailers, Paco can also offer insights on the changing demographic: how busy women are creating a growing market for male consumers, how the aging population should shape marketing and merchandising, and how positioning of your message affects shoppers. As a salesperson, this book will help you think about what customers are looking for (men, women and seniors respectively) and how to build comfortable relationships with your demographic.
My favorite part: My favorite part about this book was all the stories about overheard conversations or observations during Underhill’s work. The first chapter talks about watching an old couple shopping for underwear. The wife mentions wearing her husband’s boxers at one point, providing insight that it is difficult to find comfortable underwear for older women. It is amusing and insightful at the same time!
About the reviewer:
Gail Michalak is the Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Cydcor. She is the leading officer for marketing, corporate communications, public relations, and events for Cydcor and its network of nearly 300 independent sales companies. To learn more about Gail and her team, head over to Cydcor's corporate website.
Title: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
Author: Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Review by: Gary Polson, CEO
Description of the book: How do you approach a touchy, but important, subject with someone at home or at work without damaging the relationship?
This has always been a challenge for me, and for most people I know. Because we are afraid the conversation will damage the relationship we tend to avoid it or dance around the issue, which in the long-term is more damaging.
Why should you read this? People need to learn how to communicate efficiently and productively. An effective conversation starts with first understanding what you are trying to accomplish with the conversation. Do you want to show who is boss? Win an argument? Shame them? Defend yourself? Dump your uncertainty, anxiety on them?
My favorite part: The objectives of crucial conversations are to:
(1) Get facts
(2) Learn
(3) Build the relationship
(4) Get a productive result
If I focus on this and not on any emotions, anxieties, etc., it will go well. I try to avoid these conversations when I am upset or have strong emotions. It makes it about me rather than the four objectives. Is it a good time for them? I try not to be the coach to yell at the kids in the outfield to “keep your eye on the ball” right after they drop it. They are too embarrassed and self-shaming to listen to coaching at that time.
Timing is important.
The basic outline that often works is a 3-step approach.
1.Give the facts (no one can dispute real facts)
2.I wonder… (express your concern)
3.“How do you see it” (get their perspective)
I start with the belief that I do not know. I just have a hunch. Also, I try not to be accusatory and have a calm tone. “Why would an intelligent, reasonable person do this” is a good mindset.
“Joe, I observed when you were talking to Cindy that you interrupted her three times in the conversation; I noticed you interrupted Juan twice when he gave his side of the story. I am wondering if interrupting people is a reason you are struggling building your team. What is your perspective?”
Then LISTEN.
Categor(y)(ies): Development, Corporate Culture
Title: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Author: Stephen R. Covey
Review by: Vera Quinn, COO
Description of the book: These “Seven Habits” express a simple yet compelling idea: To be effective, we must adopt a principle-centered, character-based approach. We must work from the “inside-out,” guided by the habits that correspond with each stage along the “Maturity Continuum.”
Why should you read this? My copy of Stephen R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is signed by the author and constantly referenced. Most noticeable is that it is dog-eared, and well worn,—a sign not of neglect, but rather of its indispensability and enduring appeal over the years. I find its ideas as relevant and meaningful today, as when they were first introduced over 20 years ago.
At whatever stage along the path to maturity we may be, the “Seven Habits” offer us a powerful framework to solve problems, maximize opportunities, enrich relationships and continually learn and grow. For over two decades, the “Seven Habits” have given us the tools to create the lives, livelihoods and relationships we most desire—effective, productive and purposeful.
My favorite part: One passage in particular always strikes a chord:
“…[I]f you want to have a happy marriage, be the kind of person who generates positive energy and sidesteps negative energy rather than empowering it. If you want to have a more pleasant, cooperative teenager, be a more understanding, empathic, consistent, loving parent. If you want to have more freedom, more latitude in your job, be a more responsible, a more helpful, a more contributing employee. If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. If you want the secondary greatness of recognized talent, focus first on primary greatness of character.”
What resonates is the premise that we must look within to find the change we seek and to become our best selves. We must first earn self-mastery and develop great character—what Covey calls achieving the “private victories.” Only then, can we achieve the “public victories” of teamwork, cooperation, communication, social recognition and influence. And to sustain this success, we must internalize “Seven Habits” that embody fundamental principles at the foundation of true effectiveness, such as fairness, integrity, honesty, dignity, service, quality, potential and growth.
Categor(y)(ies): Development, Entrepreneurship, Business Management
This is the ninth installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable. This review is by Megan, Cydcor technology consultant, and is the first review she has done for us.
Title: The Tipping Point; How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Description of the book: The Tipping Point is a succinct look at that moment where a marketing campaign becomes a success. What does it take to make something viral on the web? According to Gladwell, it's very much like how a disease becomes an epidemic. All it takes is one person, a small and targeted push, to make a campaign a success.
Why should you read this? I highly recommend the Tipping Point to anyone in sales, but it's also just an incredibly enjoyable look at human nature and how we function as a society. One gets the feeling that Malcolm Gladwell is one of those people who just really enjoys diving into data and research, and he definitely brings the reader along for the ride.
My favorite part: My favorite part of the Tipping Point was his description of the 1967 small world experiment by social psychologist Stanley Milgram. Basically, Milgram distributed almost 200 letters to students in Nebraska and asked them to try to get them to a stockbroker in Boston by passing it to people that they knew and asking them to do the same.
The study found that it took an average of six people to deliver each letter. But, more interesting, of the letters that came through to the stockbroker a vast majority passed through a single person, a travelling salesman.
This illustrated one of Gladwell's points, that success of any social epidemic is dependent on a few important types of people. That salesman was one of those types of people, a connector.
We all know connectors in our lives. They are people who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making connections, a sort of hub in the middle of social wheels. But the reason why this resonated with me so much is that my mother is clearly one a connector, and reading the Tipping Point helped me understand why she has been so successful, and some of the struggles that she has experienced.
This is the eighth installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable. This review is by Brianna, Cydcor Peoples Services and Field Recruiting Intern, and is the first review she has done for us.
Title: The Secret
Author: Rhonda Byrne
Why should you read this? It is so inspiring and shows how changing your thoughts can truly change your world!
My favorite part: Real life testimonials about people who have found success after reading The Secret.
Cydcor, the global leader in outsourced sales, has raised more than $150,000 once again for Operation Smile with its network of independently-owned sales offices across the United States and Canada.
This is the second year that Cydcor has been able to fundraise for a medical mission for Operation Smile, a children’s medical charity that provides free cleft lip and cleft palate reconstructive surgeries worldwide. Cydcor has held popular fundraisers, including bowling and cornhole tournaments, movie night, and an upcoming Karaoke night.
“We announced our continued partnership with Operation Smile late last year and set even higher goals for 2013 – and so far, we have met all of them,” said Vera Quinn, chief operating officer. “In addition to this milestone, we are also planning to raise enough for a third medical mission. I know we can – and will – accomplish it.”
In 2012, Cydcor funded a medical to Rio De Janeiro, where they helped Operation Smile provide more than 95 surgeries and more than 162 healthcare evaluations. This year, Cydcor is planning to fund another medical mission to a remote location – the destination to be decided in coming weeks.
“We are so grateful that Cydcor and its network of sales offices have chosen to partner with Operation Smile for a second year commitment,” said Dr. Bill Magee, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Operation Smile. “For the last three decades, Operation Smile has expanded to more than 60 countries so we can reach even more children in need; this would never have been possible without the support of companies like Cydcor.”
To help support Cydcor’s fundraising efforts, visit www.operationsmile.org/cydcor. Check out Cydcor on Facebook and Twitter.
About Cydcor
Cydcor is the leading provider of outsourced, face-to-face Cydcor sales teams to a diverse client base of companies in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, office products, retail, energy, and financial services. Serving Fortune 500 and emerging market clients in the business-to-business, residential, and retail channels through in-store marketing initiatives, Cydcor works with a network of more than 300 independently-owned corporate licensee (ICL) sales offices, providing clients access to more than 4,600 sales professionals. The privately-held company is based in Westlake Village, California. For more information about Cydcor, go to www.cydcor.com.
Cydcor
Gail Michalak, (805) 277-5500
This is our seventh installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable. This review is by Gary Polson, Cydcor CEO, and is fourth Gary has written for us. Gary has previously reviewed other books for us, including Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court and The Effective Executive.
Title: Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager
Author: Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler, and Laurence Hawkins
Description of the book: Ken Blanchard uses situational leadership to discuss building entry level people's confidence in his One Minute Manager series. Briefly, if someone is new at a skill or goal, he or she needs to be patiently shown how to do it. The person needs direction and frequent follow-up for feedback.
Once the person has learned the skill fairly well, he or she needs little direction and more support. If they are frustrated, they may need to vent and hear another’s perspective for support.
Why should you read this? As managers, when someone is new at a skill we often do not give enough direction or appropriate follow up. We show them one time and expect them to know it. When they feel frustrated, we either shame them for not getting it right or give them support rather than more direction. We should observe them doing the skill and then show them how to do it better.
This is our sixth installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable. This review is by Kelli, Cydcor Field Solutions Manager, and is the first review that Kelli has done for us.
Title: The Leader Within
Author: Ken Blanchard, Drea Zigarmi, Micheal O’Connor, Carl Edeburn
Description of the book: Knowing who you truly are is the first step towards becoming an outstanding leader. This book will help you understand yourself as a leader and after reading, you will have the tools to change and grow to become the most effective version of yourself.
Why should you read this? This book challenges you to become introspective and discover who you truly are.
My favorite part: The idea that we have a "shadow self" that is the person we truly are and a "persona", which is the person we show to the world was fascinating to me. It caused me to look at who I am and what I show to the world and determine if those 2 were congruent.
This is our fourth installment of our book reviews project designed to introduce you to books that Cydcor team members find especially valuable. This review is by Amanda, a Cydcor team member, and is the first review that Amanda has done for us.
Title: Lean In
Author: Sheryl Sandberg
Description of the book: This book focuses on the advancement of women and encouraging women to take on more leadership roles.
Why should you read this? Both men and women can really get something out of this book. It encourages women to keep reaching for new opportunities regardless of future plans. For men, it challenges the way they don't even realize they may be thinking. The book points out how research shows that success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. We have so many strong females at Cydcor, we should all take a moment to look inward and challenge our own thinking.