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12 FEDA News & Views The lay of the land in a particular market, that's the 5,000- foot view. Where distributors often err is in the gathering of information, according to Ambrose, known for beating the drum on the importance of seeking solutions outside of a distributor's four walls—that and cautioning managers against relying too heavily on a salesperson's feedback. "There's a comfort factor in getting information about the market from your salespeople," he says. "The problem is sometimes your confi dence in their relationship with the customer can lead to wrong assumptions and missed oppor- tunities. I know because it happened to me." That was many moons ago during his fi rst position as a branch manager. Instead of sounding the alarm when a competitor hired a new outside salesperson, and unleashed that salesperson to woo many of his top accounts, Ambrose decided to trust his salesperson. "Because my salesperson was tight with the customer and no one had heard of this new salesperson, I ignored the situation," he explains in 5 Fundamentals. Then came the six-month review and multiple excuses to explain away why his salesperson was losing ground to the new salesperson. "My guy was still booking the majority of the business at his target accounts, but this new person was defi nitely making inroads," writes Ambrose. "I needed more information—the kind of unfi ltered information I knew I couldn't get from my salesperson." Today he teaches other managers how to dig deeper by tapping into four primary sources—their employees, suppli- ers/manufacturer's reps, customers, and competitors. How do you engage your employees to get more information about the market? Start with a fl ip chart. Jot down the initial list of four sources and include any others, trade magazines, the Internet, etc. Then brainstorm. How should your team approach each group? What kinds of questions should they be asking suppliers, the customer? What do your customers know about other customers? What have your employees heard in the market about a particular customer or competi- tor that's not public knowledge? "One of the fi rst places to start is your supplier/rep," says Ambrose. "Manufacturers have a lot of information—demo- graphic, marketing—and they see and hear more than you and your salespeople. Ask what their annual sales goals are and how you, as the distributor, can help them meet those goals. What product lines are they looking to promote? How are they looking to promote them? Who is the target market? How can you help reach that market? "Develop the habit of constantly looking for and getting this kind of information by enlisting your suppliers' help," he says. "One component of being a great leader is having an understanding of where your business sits in the market. The 5,000-foot view will help you assess the market and position your branch or business in the market. " It is essential for the manager to create an environment where employees feel responsible for the total branch performance and a culture that encourages proactive problem solving. Employees want their manager to be a leader—not a hero, and according to Ambrose there's a big difference. Leading is identifying the business plan or vision—within the context of your 5,000-foot view—and then clearly communicating it to the team (e.g., Triple G Paint Distributors will be the pre- miere distributor in the medium and large industrial, main- tenance, repair and operations market with over 30 percent market share). There should be specifi cs about market share goals, fi nancial performance goals, and what Ambrose calls the how piece. "Going back to the customer value stream," he explains, "what kind of customer does your company want, what does that particular customer value, how will you deliver that value? What role will the team have in delivering that value? It should be all spelled out and everyone should be speaking the same language. This is essential for building employee engagement, an essential ingredient in growing profi table share gain." Here's the difference between a leader and a heroic man- ager. "It's all about me, the manager," says Ambrose, referring to the style of the heroic manager. "Too often we have the heroic-style manager that believes he or she is the supreme and most knowledgeable person in the building and must make all the decisions." A leader intervenes to adjust employ- ee behavior when it deviates from the mission and encour- ages employees to think and solve issues on their own. The heroic manager says, "This is where I'm taking the business and I will tell you exactly what you need to do to get there because I'm the hero and I know how to do it." Branch Management continued continued on page 20 2 Becoming a Great Communicator What do survey participants say when asked about their manager's fl aws? They're poor communicators, according to 15 years of feedback Ambrose has collected from the employees of his workshop partici- pants. To energize and engage, and move the business forward, managers must learn to articulate the vision and create a culture of proactive problem solving, he says. Building Strong Teams Hero management is out and inclusive is in. Leaders work to unleash their team's potential and encourage them to work in cross-func- tional groups to make improvements and exceed expectations. 3 Building Strong Teams Hero management is out and inclusive is in. Leaders work to unleash their team's potential and encourage them to work in cross-func-