Sales & Sales Management Expertise

A guest blog by Bob Wehrmeyer
© 2013 Wehr Publishing. All Rights Reserved

Let me admit right up front that I am a yoga coward. I like yoga. I do yoga. I believe in yoga, but I am a yoga coward. I am a yoga coward because I can’t always admit that I practice yoga, especially to other athletes. It's hard to tell the guy in the weight room or shooting baskets you can’t stay because you’re running to save a spot in yoga class. For this reason, I don’t own a yoga mat, I dress like a gym rat, and I generally snake my way through the fitness center to the yoga life power lounge.

Yes, there is a yoga life power lounge. Perhaps now you understand. I am pretty sure the weight room was never referred to as the life power lounge. Nonetheless, I do yoga and I recommend you do yoga too. But why? Why should  you do yoga? Why would you ever WANT to do yoga?

You want to do yoga because yoga will challenge the athlete in you.  It will challenge everything you know about yourself and your ability to overcome doubt, fear and failure. Yes, I said doubt, fear and failure. Yoga will also make you feel uncomfortable, foolish and it will make you look stupid. These are important and fundamental to overcoming doubt, fear and failure. When you are feel uncomfortable, foolish or look stupid, then doubt, fear and failure can take over.

Let’s start with uncomfortable and foolish. You can’t even admit you do yoga without feeling foolish! If you can’t admit you do yoga, how hard is it to defend as form of exercise? But, let’s assume you are bigger than that and convince yourself to attend a yoga class.  Here’s how it goes. The yoga room is often full, sometimes warm and typically serene. Not the normal atmosphere for an hour of hard exercise. 

Then the door closes. I’m betting at this point, you begin to feel uncomfortable and a little foolish. Actually, foolish may be understated-panic may be a better word. Look around, everyone is in neat little, well-formed rows looking confident and comfortable. People who practice yoga look and appear confident and comfortable. More importantly, they seem to form their own little privacy pod just before the practice begins. This sense of personal space doesn’t help any as you look for a spot to throw your mat. 

Yes, you need a mat!  The good news is there is usually a mat rack. The bad news, it’s always on the far side of the room.  Remember, the door is probably closed, the room is likely full and practice is about to begin. Now you have to step on or over everyone’s private space just to get to the mats and you probably still have your shoes on. You guessed it-you practice yoga barefoot.  Yoga practice begins serene, quite, warm and barefoot. So, you get your mat, find your personal space, take off your shoes and settle in. The instructor speaks and everyone stops, the instructor stands and everyone stands, the instructor moves and everyone moves- like a school of fish. Well, almost everyone.

Okay, so maybe I have made my point, you have not even started exercising and uncomfortable and foolish are genuine emotions you must deal with. Of course, this is nothing new. These types of feelings will usually creep in when you are doing something new, different or challenging. I will address more of the unique challenges of yoga practice in Part III. Stay tuned!

I just returned from a conference that I attend annually.  The conference is sponsored by Objective Management Group, a company that produces the #1 Sales Assessment tool IN THE WORLD.  I am proud to say that, as part of our overall approach to providing critical sales and sales management solutions, we have represented this resource for 18 of the 20 years that we have been in business.

During each of these annual conferences, Dave Kurlan, the subject matter expert and genius behind OMG, provides great insights on how to more effectively find, contact and assist business owners in finding out why their companies get the results that they get.  This past weekend, he introduced the latest version of the Impact Analysis, a very detailed document that clearly identifies the problems and challenges of sales growth for a company. He specifically built this solution-based product to answer the following 4 critical questions for a business owner:

I believe that these 4 questions are questions that every senior sales executive ought to be asking their sales manager, and every sales manager ought to be asking their sales team, both as a collective group and as individuals.

These 4 questions are a quick way to gather essential information from your sales team. What happens next will depend on their answers.  The following responses are ones you can count on receiving:

1. Yes
2. I'm not sure
3. We would have to...
4. I'm not sure... 6 months, maybe a year...

What factor is the most critical for improving effectiveness? Answer: Strategically planned ACTION. Helping your sales organization identify necessary actions at every level is critical to reaching goals and achieving sales growth. So, the KEY question out of the 4 "killer" questions becomes #3 - "What will it take to accomplish that?" 

Here are some additional resources and a call-to-action to help you convert effort of coaching into sales action and results:

• Free eBook - Why is Selling so Darn Hard?
• Online Resource - 9 Reasons Why Sales Management is So Darn Hard
• Sales Process Grader – Quickly Evaluate Your Current Sales Process
• Call-to-Action - Evaluate your sales team today to help them sell more, be more productive and more effective

Sales don't just "happen".  At least, not in my business nor in the companies that I have the opportunity to work with.  Over the last 20 years of partnering with sales organizations from coast to coast, from large metropolitan areas to small cities, sales have to be generated not merely collected.

Sales have drivers, leading indicators and activities that, when executed at the right amount and the right way, will generate sales results.

Question: If you want to predict how your sales results will look in the next 3 to 6 months, what would you look at today?  Recently, I was conducting a monthly coaching session with a president of a manufacturing company and he informed me that his sales were flat for the first quarter.  I asked him, "When did you know?"  He was stunned for a moment, so I asked a follow-up question.  "Who in your organization is responsible for letting you know that sales are going to be flat the next quarter?"  Again, my question was met with silence.

You may be thinking that you don't have that problem because you have a pipeline report. Based on that pipeline report, you begin to predict future sales.  This is a good "smart number" to use, but it may not be the best and it is certainly not the only number you could use.  It may depend on your sales cycle and the type of sales you are in.

Think about it this way.  In my Nissan Titan pickup truck, on the dashboard, there is a tire indicator that lets me know when the air pressure is low in one of my tires.  It gives me advance warning of a future problem. Before that technology, the only future problem indicator you had was walking out to your vehicle and seeing a flat tire.  Pipeline reports are kind of the same way.  A flat tire tells you that you won't be going anywhere soon just like an anemic pipeline lets you know that sales won't be happening any time soon.  

But, imagine that you start paying attention to what drives the pipeline.  Sales activities such as dials (effort), contacts made, appointments scheduled, opportunities created, expected closing dates, presentations made.  And then, imagine that you consistently compare this data to a formula for success so that you can see when "your tire pressure is 30 psi instead of 40 psi"! Now, that's when you would have the ability to accurately predict the future of your sales and be able to identify where sales execution problems exist.  Locating those problems would then lead you to be able to conduct more effective coaching and mentoring. Now THOSE would be "smart numbers".

Additional resources to help you drive sales:

On line learning demo

Success formula

Ebook - Why is Selling So #$%* Hard?

Sales Force Grader

Whenever I do a workshop or a keynote (link for video clip of following discussion )for group that is about selling, I almost always talk about one of the 9 Keys To Successful Selling - the key of persistence.  And I generally make my point by asking the audience a question and having the following dialog:

How many of you here today have a dog?  Have you ever had a dog?  Know someone with a dog?  Good, that covers everyone. You ( I pick someone from the audience), what kind of dog do you have?  Is it big or small?  How long have you had it?  Is it an active dog or one that just lays around the house waiting for something to happen?

We have a dog in our house; her name is Coco. She is a shih tzu poodle and she's been with us a long time. When we first brought her home, she was brown like cocoa; however, within a year, she turned grey.  We thought about changing her name but we didn't think we should change her name to Grey or Grace or anything like that, so we kept the name Coco.  

Now, when the doorbell rings at your house, what does your dog do? You, Sir, what does your dog do? And you, Ma'am, how about your dog?...Right!  It starts barking.  And where does the dog go?... Yes, straight to the door!  Does the dog just slowly kind of make its way to the door?  Noooo!  It runs to the door, body gyrating, tail wagging, maybe jumping up and down a little. You make your way to the door, while the dog is looking at you with a look that says, "What are you waiting for? There's someone out there!"  (During this conversation I'm prone to run around on the stage, wagging my tail acting, or attempt to act,like a dog.)  So, you finally open the door...and what? (I very deliberately put in a long pause and look expectantly out over the audience) I finally ask..."Is it ever for the dog?" (The crowds laughs with understanding)

At a very young age, when someone would ring the door bell, Coco learned to start barking and run to the door. No matter what time of day or night, when the doorbell rang, Coco would bark, and run to the door. It could be just minutes apart, days apart or weeks apart.  It didn't matter.  And now, if that doorbell rings, Coco is still running to the door just like she did the first time and the last time.  She waits there impatiently, looking at me expectantly with a look that says, "C'mon! Hurry up and open the door; maybe this time it's for me!"

But, it never is.  It is never for Coco.  Not once has the neighbor dog come over to visit with Coco. (More laughter) [Click here to watch the video]

Mark Trinkle works with our company and has for several years now.  He has a beautiful daughter, Madison.  Occassionally, Coco is at the office. One day, Madison came with her dad to the office and Coco was there. She asked Mark what Coco was doing at the office and Mark told her that she runs around the office. When Madison and Mark got home, Madison announced to her mom (Kim) that she met Coco and Coco runs the office.

The story about Coco and the doorbell is a story of persistence and mental attitude.  An attitude that is critical for those in prospecting and sales.  It's an attitude of "maybe this time", even after all the rejection you have faced. After all the years that Coco ran to the door thinking "maybe this time", she never gave up.

About 6 months ago, Coco, the sales dog who ran the office, was diagnosed with lymphoma. We provided Coco with medication to slow down the progress of the disease, and over the last several weeks, we also gave her some pain meds to ease her discomfort.  Over that time period, her runs to the door ceased.  Along with poor vision, poor hearing and ailing body, she was more prone to just sit at the top of the stairs and quietly observe the comings and goings of everyone.

Truly, I don't think she gave up.  I think, if she were able, she would have preferred to run to the door and greet whoever was there.  Because over the years, she learned that even if it wasn't for her, she still wanted to greet the visitors just the same.  Because over the years, our visitors - The water guy, the window cleaning people, the lawn people, the nurses that care for Anthony, Alex's school chums, Steven (our nephew), Jeni (my sister-in-law and our CMO), Mark, Madison, Walt, Chris, Whitey, Jim, Don, Rick, Rich, Tom, Doc, TMackey, UPS, Fedex, USPS, Girl Scouts selling cookies, Jim and Betsy, Traci, Pam and an endless number of other people - all became prospects and, eventually, clients of Coco.  They loved her, and she loved them. She greeted them, they petted her, talked to her and, sometimes, if they knew where the snacks were, they provided her with a treat.

Years ago, when I was a kid back home in Hammonton, NJ, I lived on a farm.  My dad, Ray, was the foreman on the 400-acre blueberry and peach farm.  Dad raised hunting dogs. Exclusively rabbit hunting dogs.  His all-time favorite was Tootsie.  She was a "low to the ground", long-earred, black, tan and white beagle.  She was pregnant and, unfortunately, died giving birth to her puppies.  My dad took her to the vet, and the vet told my dad that there wasn't anything he could do. His best and most humane option was to put her to sleep.  My dad was tough as nails.  Never saw him cry until that day.  As a young, cocky teenager, I didn't get it.  "Come on, dad, it's just a dog."

Now, I understand.  Yesterday, we had to put Coco to sleep.  Life just got too tough for her. Our vet told us the day would come, and we would know it when we did.  I got up yesterday and started the usual routine of starting the coffee, turning off the alam system, and looking for Coco so I could let her outside.  Unlike most mornings, she didn't follow me out of the bedroom.  I had to go and find her.  I found her under the kitchen table and she wasn't moving.  I went over to pet her. She woke up and struggled to stand.  I picked her up and brought her to her water bowl where she drank like she was never going to drink fresh water again.  I carried her outside where she attempted to "do her business", without success. Then she just stood there and didn't... couldn't, move.  I picked her up and brought back in to her place on her dog bed in front of the fireplace. When I put her down, she just fell over, no longer able to stand.  I knew the day had come.

Our daughter, Alex, came down from UD (University of Dayton).  She, Linda and I went with Coco to the vet.  We held her, we cried, we said our goodbyes and thanked her for all the wonderful love and fun she gave us.  I told her she would be in heaven (all dogs go to heaven) and she would once again chase rabbits and birds and, once again, run to answer the door.

Friends, thank you for indulging me today as I share my...no, our loss.  Just part of the grieving proces, I think.  But, I also wanted to leave you with the Coco the Sales Dog story. It has entertained people for years in all my keynote presentations, and I hope it entertained you here today.

Every firm we work with here at Anthony Cole Training Group uses some sort of sales pipeline application.  These applications, which range from simple excel spread sheets (SalesForce.com) to internally designed database systems, are used with the hope of assessing sales productivity and/or predicting future sales.

Recently, while working with an international insurance firm, I was told that their tool had  initially been very usefull and effective. However, the company had then made the "sales CRM tool" into a "finance reporting application".  When that happened, the simplicity of entering basic data to manage a lead or new prospect became more of a data management "maze" project -  the simple, fast and effective way for the sales team to keep opportunities from falling throught the cracks became complex, unmanageable and ineffective.

There is one big problem - Sales Force Automation and Pipeline Management isn't working! I know this because of what I have been told by the sales people, sales managers, sales leaders and even the few brave presidents who initially approved the expenditure to implement such programs and applications.

Havard Business Review also knows this:  "According to Bain’s 2001 survey of management tools, which tracks corporate use of and satisfaction with management techniques, CRM ranked in the bottom three for satisfaction out of 25 popular tools. In fact, according to last year’s survey of 451 senior executives, one in every five users reported that their CRM initiatives not only had failed to deliver profitable growth but also had damaged long-standing customer relationships." (Click HERE for the rest of the article.)  Unfortunately, there are several critical issues leading to this main problem. Here is a list of issues which are contributing to the overall problem:

• Information is not being entered
• Information entered is not complete
• Information entered is not accurate
• Managers are failing to inspect what is expected
• Insight from the data is not used to improve skills or change behaviors
• There are no consequences for failure to comply
• SFA has become a managment tool instead of a sales tool
• SFA has become something that Finance manages
• The tools are too complicated for the intended use
• Reporting is not meaningful to sales people
• Reports fail to address critical sales function issues
• Predictability of future sales is not any more accurate than prior to using SFA
• Sales results may have changed for some, but sales effectiveness has not
• 80% of the sales force is still failing to meet their sales goals

By Bob Wehrmeyer
© 2013 Wehr Publishing. All Rights Reserved

I started doing yoga about 10 years ago and now I am a believer. I also like to lift weights, run and play basketball. Actually, I no longer really play basketball. I am more of a basketball watcher. But since I used to play basketball, I get to claim watching as a form of exercise. Generally, regular exercise is important to me, and I have been fortunate enough to make it a regular part of my life. Chances are, if you are reading this, you feel the same way.

Okay, so why yoga?  Have you ever walked up to a yoga class and looked inside? What are the first thoughts that come to mind? “Wow, that looks painful… that guy’s an idiot…he’s going to kill himself….I could never do that.” Generally, the process goes like this, “How did she get in to that position? How on earth will she get out of that position? Why would she want to get into that position?”

I am going to start this series of articles with the “why”. Why would anyone, including you, want to do yoga?  Why would you want to get yourself into that position? Answer: You want to do yoga because yoga will challenge the athlete in you.  It will challenge everything you know about yourself and your ability to overcome doubt, fear and failure. Yes, I said doubt, fear and failure… and I can prove it (at least I didn’t hum or chant).

Try standing on your head. No walls, no one holding your legs - just you and the other thirty people in the class also standing on their heads. Yoga is not about stretching or flexibility. It does not take a lot of flexibility to stand on your head. Standing on your head takes a little bit of crazy and a lot of discipline. Discipline is something athletes everywhere, at any age, understand and appreciate.

It can also hurt; yes, yoga can hurt. Pain is a part of doing yoga. I am pretty sure that the human head was not designed to hold up the rest of the body. It can hurt to stand on your head. In fact, quite a few of yoga positions can hurt. As you learn yoga, however, the hurt tends not to bother you. It doesn’t go away; you just don’t get nervous anymore. Nerves, I have discovered are a direct result of doubt and fear. You don’t get nervous if you are comfortable and confident. You get nervous when you have doubt and fear.  Believe me, when the time comes to lift your feet off the ground and place them over your head, there is a good chance you will get nervous (doubt) and worry about losing your balance (fear). The fear, of course, is that you will tumble over on top of the girl behind you - who is now actually in front of you.  Not the best way to start a conversation.

Yes, yoga can result in pain, nervousness and large amounts of anxiety or fear. The good news is the nervousness and anxiety is what separates yoga from the neighborhood jog, friendly game of golf or afternoon bike. Let’s face it, athletes everywhere crave a challenge. As we get older, challenge becomes harder and harder to find. Yoga is the challenge. There is one other way that yoga separates itself from the neighborhood jog, friendly game of gold and afternoon bike: time. Yoga saves time. You can actually enjoy a high level of pain, doubt and fear in just a few hours per week.

Finally, to add to the nervousness and anxiety, yoga can, and will, also make you feel foolish and stupid. Let’s see, nervousness, fear, foolishness and stupidity… and those are good things?  Yes, for time-challenged athletes everywhere, those are good things. (More about foolish and stupid later…)

BISA is the Bank Insurance and Securities Association. During their annual conference, many topics, methods, strategies, and product evaluations are presented and discussed. There are several GREAT speakers in the general sessions, but it is not a conference where you will find constant discussions about the art and science of selling or sales management.  However, I cannot help myself.  Whenever I hear a talk, a message or a point of view, I find myself automatically translating it to sales and sales management.  Here are some of the speakers, their thoughts and my translation of those to sales, selling and sales management.

Jim McNeil  - Executive Director of BISA, – Scott Stathis – Managing Director and COO BISRA

The research they shared indicated that only 50% of the FAs in only 30% of the banks are doing ONE financial plan a month.  

Sales POINT:  Get more sales from more sales people by:

• Making financial plans a metric for success
• Raising the standard from 1 per month to 1 per week
• Building the consultative skills of the FA

Jean Chatzky – author of Money Rules – NBC financial editor

As I listened to Jean and the other speakers discuss “selling to women”, it is clear to me that you cannot treat all women the same - just as you cannot treat all buyers the same. By noting the general guidelines and acknowledging the differences between the relationship building and buying process for men and women, you have a greater chance for success. 

Sales POINT:  You must build the necessary skills to quickly develop confidence and trust, ask masterful questions, and listen to understand - all of which are critical to your success.

BUT, of all the points Jean made, this one hit me like a ton of bricks because it pertains to every client facing opportunity an FA or LBR has!  *Treat woman (actually ALL clients) as if they are your grandma who has 80,000 twitter followers. 

Sales POINT:  Treat everyone well because bad news will always spread wider and faster than good news!

Tom Ricketts – CEO of Incapital, Owner of the Chicago Cubs

Tom started his conversation by telling the crowd that there are 3 things critical for success.  He made it clear that there are more “things” that contribute to success, but in his experience at Incaptial and running the Cubs, these three seem to be the most critical:  Mission, People, Work Place. 

Sales POINT: You must have the right people.

• Do you have the right people that, when aligned, motivated, trained and managed, will get you to your mission?

Dr. Quincy Krosby – Chief Market Strategist for Prudential Annuities

Dr. Quincy did a great job identifying financial indicators to help advisors advise their clients. 

Sales POINT:  Use Financial Indicators /Sales indicators as Leading Indicators.

• What are the indicators that help you determine if your sales team is growing, flat or in a decline? 

Sales indicators (like attempts, contacts, appointments, opportunities and presentations) all give the sales manager a glimpse as to what sales will look like in the future.  If you are in a role where advising/coaching is critical, then work from leading indicators.

Holly Buchannan – CEO Buchannan Marketing – Selling to Woman

Holly did a wonderful job of pointing out the deficits FAs have when working with women.  Her interviews and research about women buyers revealed the following:

• Women don’t feel listened to
• Women don’t feel like they are believed
• Women aren’t given time to digest

Sales POINT:  Ask masterful questions, shut up, ask questions to clarify the points, ask about decision making process.  Ask what is important and why it’s important.  *Important Note: If you’re not patient enough to get the whole answer, then don’t ask the question.

Tony Cole – President, Anthony Cole Training Group

I would not have included anything from my workshop, but I found the results of my survey to be valuable information so I wanted to share it with you.  While I waited for all 30 of the attendees to arrive, I asked the 16 who were there to answer the following:  “My sales people could sell more and be more productive if only THEY…”  Here are the results from that informal survey:

• 3 – Were more motivated
• 5 – Consistently prospected
• 4 – Had conversations with the right people – decision makers
• 9 – Did everything possible to succeed
• 3 – Created urgency with prospects
• 1 – Asked better questions
• 1 – Had better office support
• 2  - Answered – all the above

What I found startling was that 56% of the people (program or sales managers) told me and admitted to themselves that their people lack commitment – they are not doing everything possible to succeed. 

What we know from our research:

• 33% of those evaluated lack commitment – the willingness to do everything possible to succeed
• 33% lack desire – the passion for success in SELLING
• 20% lack both desire and commitment
• 20% have outlook issues –  they’re unhappy with themselves, the economy or the company they represent
• 66% fail to take responsibility for outcomes

My point here is that when individual sales people respond to the evaluation questions that provide us this data, only 33% are identified as lacking commitment, while in this informal survey, 56% of the managers have the perception that their people are not willing to do everything possible to succeed.

Whether 33% or 56% of the sales team lack commitment is irrelevant.  What IS relevant is this question:

“Were they HIRED that way or MADE that way?”

Nobody goes to their supervisor looking for approval to hire someone that is just going to be average. But, what we know is that, on average, 80% of any sales force is failing to reach their goals.

Predicting sales success is something that many companies attempt to do, but they still struggle with forecasting accuracy.  Over the last 10+ years, tools like SalesForce.com, ACT, SalesLogic and Base have been developed that provide capabilities for sales management and finance to gather data, gain insight, manage sales opportunities and predicit future sales success.

So, why isn't the ROI as good as it ought to be given the investment of time, money and resources put into obtaining this technology? Unfortunately, technology is only as good as the effort put into using it. To get consistent and accurate results, companies must have consistently and accurate information. Companies get inconsistent results when data is missing or inconsistently entered.

Why is it that I continue to hear about sales people not putting data into the software? Why are sales people not updating opportunities, not putting information in until the sale is made? I continue to hear complaints that predicting future sales success has not significantly improved since they implemented a sales enhancement application. Is it wasted effort?

Here are several answers to these questions (the following list is not meant to be all-inclusive):

1. Sales people won't enter data because the applications are more cumbersome than helpful.
2. Sales people do not see that they are getting any meaningful information out of the effort.
3. Sales people do not see the connection between data input and sales success - so they see no value in the exercise.
4. Sales people see sales software as something only for management and finance.
5. Sales people are given the option to put data in, and there are no consequences if they don't input data at all or they delay input until after the sale is made.
6. Sales managers let sales people make excuses for not putting in data or updating information.
7. Sales managers fail to provide meaningful feedback to the sales people.
8. The selected system was created for finance instead of sales people.
9. The "coaching", as a result of a pipeline report, is "Your pipeline doesn't have enough in it - you need to see more people."
10. The system wasn't set up with enough of the right metrics and standards for performance.

What sales enhancement applications ought to do for you, as a sales manager, is provide information that is relevant to what your sales people are doing in real time, that reflects effort and execution, and is predictive in a meaningful way.

1. Establish your sales process in stages (we call this mapping) - probably no more than 6 to 8. 
2. Use each of the stages as a metric to measure and work with each individual sales person to set a standard for success.(We call this an individual success formula)
3. Establish a method to gather that data.  It doesn't have to be an application.  It can be an excel spreadsheet where the data is gathered via a "huddle".
4. Track and measure the data against the goals established in each individual success formula.
5. Catch them early - get real time information so that you can provide real time coaching.  Depending on the velocity of your sales, you may have to do this weekly.  The point is you CANNOT report data against goal performance once every 90 days!  It's too late!  In many sales situations, if a sales person misses the activity target for 90 days, there isn't enough time left in the year to make up lost ground.
6. Gain insight from the data so that you can identify sales blocker/choke points.  Is there an effort or an execution problem?
7. Make sure that you can identify two measures of predictability from the pipeline information:
1. Credibility - What percentage of pipeline volume was actually sold over the predicted sales cycle vs. what was reported in the pipeline?
2. Validity - What number of accounts were actually sold over the predicted sales cycle vs. the number of accounts reported in the pipeline?

There is more that you can do to enhance your ROI from your sales enhancement applications, but the above items will give you a good start. And an added bonus is that these steps will help you develop and fine-tune your coaching skills so that you will be able to say more than, "See more people."

Additional (FREE) Resource - 9 Keys to Sales Coaching Success

Learning about sales and selling is one of the things I enjoy most about what I do.  When I started my personal quest to improve my understanding of sales, my ability to execute a sales process effectively and to ultimately improve my sales results, there was much for me to learn.  My first introduction into sales was with Nautilus Equipment Inc. in Dallas, Texas.  I thought that was selling.  In 1987, when I entered the life insurance business with David Zimmerman at National Life of Vermont, I learned that selling life insurance was truly "selling" and my experience with Nautilus had been merely "order-taking".

Over the last 20 years since we began Anthony Cole Training Group, it's been a combination of learning of new stuff, old stuff and old stuff taught a new way.  Yesterday, Jeni (our CMO), and I met with long-time friend and Mortgage officer, Rich Ambrose.  Once again, I had the opportunity to learn something old, something borrowed and something new.  Here are 10 points about selling that Rich made yesterday.

1. No Surprises - When peope hire Rich to help them secure a loan for a home, they can count on no surprises.  Can your clients or prospects say the same thing?  In a world where many of your prospects see what you sell as a commodity, this is ONE thing that can separate you from the crowd.
2. Get Pre-approved - When buying a home, get pre-approved for a loan before you even look at homes.  If you are selling and dealing with some sort of approval process, before you begin to pitch a solution, make sure your prospect is qualified or "pre-approved".  In our Effective Selling Systtem approach to selling that means:  1) the prospect has a compelling reason to act or make a  change,  2) they have the money, time and resources to invest and 3) you have clarity regarding their decision making process.
3. Get Introductions - Get your referrral sources to introduce you and qualify prospects for you.  When you are working with your centers of influence, make sure they understand exactly what marketplace you work best in and get them to introduce you those people they know that you could help BEFORE they need the help.
4. Set Expectations about the process.  Too often sales people make assumptions, hope they can get approval, hope that they can overcome challenges to close the business as those challenges arise. This makes for a less-than-dazzling experience and this impacts your opportunity for a long-term relationship.  Yes, you might fund the mortgage, place the insurance, or provide a solution, but it ends up being a one-time deal because the process was perceived to be a hassle... because you didn't set appropriate expectations.
5. Sell - If you are doing something other than sales activity, then you aren't making money.  Do I really need to say anything else?
6. Be More - Rich is not just a loan officer.  What else are you besides a banker, an accountant, and insurance agent?  Rich is a guy, a professional, and a trusted advisor that helps people complete their dream of owning the right home, at the right time, at the right cost.
7. Go to Every Closing - This was interesting because this event gives Rich a unique opportunity to do a couple of things:  1) secure his relationship with a new or current client,  2) secure the on-going relationship with a current realtor and/or  3) meet and secure a relationship with a new realtor
8. The Proof is in The Pudding - There is a great Google article about the ZMOT (zero moment of truth).  This paper describes the buyer's buying funnel today and discusses the consistency between the zero moment of truth, the 1st moment of truth and the 2nd moment of truth.  The idea is that the buyer is looking for consistency between the promise and the deliverable.  Rich is saying/suggesting/asking:  Is the deliverable you bring as good or better than the promise?
9. Don't Submit Problems -  Often sales people are guilty of knowing a potential problem exists with getting business placed, but instead of dealing with it directly, they lay low, hoping the problem will solve itself during the underwriting and qualifying process. This leads to several problems:  1) the opportunity gets rejected, 2) the process takes too long and 3) people spend all their time working on "problem opportunities" while clean/good opportunities sit on the desk waiting to get placed, funded, secured, presented and paid for.  (This is the case in any sale that requires a submission of ANY KIND of paper work for more information before a solution can be presented, accepted and/or contracted.)
10. Get Lucky or Do it Right? - Do you want to get lucky or do you want to do it right? Rich discussed situations where prospects make calls to other mortgage lenders that, within a minute, tell the prospects that they are pre-approved.  Rich takes the same call and slows the process down to dig deeper, explain the potential problems with "pre-approval" and simply asks the prospects if they want to rely on "gettting lucky or getting it right" when the house of their dreams shows up in the market place.  He explains that good houses go fast and they go fast to those that have done the approval/lending step right.
11. The Relationship Business Starts on the Phone.  When he said this, I immediately wrote down some notes (it's what I'm working from now as I write this post).  I joted down these questions:  Are you in the relationship business?  When does the relationship start (In most B2B sales, it starts on the phone)?  How long does your first conversation last? What I didn't write down, but was thinking, was this:  If I were to observe you making calls in order to set up meetings, what would I observe?  Would I observe someone that was doing something on the phone that was consistent with "a relationship business" as stated on your website and marketing materials, or would I observe someone that sounded like a telemarketer working to just get an appointment?
12. Operate from Power - Are you in a position of power?  Being in a position of power, or operating as IF you are in a position of power, allows you to leverage opportunities, control a sales process the way you know it ought to be contolled, keep from being/feeling desperate AND to qualify the prospect rather than feeling like you have to qualify for the prospect.

Even though I recognize there is a lot of excitement over everything Lincoln as of late, I am not tying Lincoln to sales coaching as part of a marketing or search ploy.  I've been reading a book - Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin - on which the movie "Lincoln" was based and I felt compelled to share my observations.

Mathew Brady (first Lincoln Photograph)

Despite the current widespread Lincoln mania, not a single person before has ever identified him as a great sales coach.  Then again, not many people have my mindset of thinking about how every book, movie or song translates to something related to sales or sales management.  You could say it is something I've been cursed with, or blessed with, over my last 20 years with Anthony Cole Training Group - to see sales lessons in the most unusual places.

Here are great lessons from Lincoln for all sales leaders and sales professionals:

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

Here is another lesson:

"A real democracy would be a meritocracy where those born in the lower ranks could rise as far as their natural talents and discipline might take them."

Last one:

“In order to win a man (woman) to your cause, you must first reach his (her) heart, “the great high road to his (her) reason.”

These are three awesome lessons for all of us who desire success in sales, sales management and selling.  Let me briefly take them one at a time.

Resolution to succeed:  Lincoln was mentoring a young law student who was seeking advice.  The book doesn't indicate what advice the student was seeking, but by the nature of Lincoln's response, you can imagine that he was asking how to overcome obstacles such as availability of books, proper learning and appropriate schools to attend in order to have a successful law career.  Lincoln’s response:  "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

In selling, the message is the same.  In our evaluation of sales organizations, we look for commitment to success in selling.  The word commitment could be substituted for the word resolution.  Commitment is a willingness to do everything possible to succeed DESPITE unfortunate circumstances.  In other words, look to your "commitment to success" to pull you through the tough times, instead of making excuses about the tough times.

Natural talents and discipline:  We all have natural talents and gifts.  Those talents (nature) are enhanced or limited by our environments as we grow and mature.  But Lincoln adds the disclaimer of "and discipline".  Lincoln did not see having talent as a free ride to success. Lincoln often was described as a man who had passionate commitment to the ideal that "all men should receive a full, good, and ever increasing reward for their labors so that they might have the opportunity to rise in life."  In our world of sales today, we would call that incentive compensation.  As sales people, we get the chance to set the bar as high as we would like it to be for personal success and achievement. When sales people are given the opportunity to stake their claim, they can depend on natural talents to get them to a certain point, but it is discipline that is the difference maker.  Often the difference between the "haves" and the "have nots" is the difference between the "dids" and the "did nots".

Reach their heart:  The first two lessons have more to do with attitude and resolve, where this lesson falls within the realm of focus, technique and skill.  Lincoln was a teetotaler - one who abstains from drinking.  Often, he was asked to speak to temperance groups and most would expect him to denounce those who drank.  However, Lincoln believed that "denunciation would inevitably be met with denunciation, crimination with crimination and anathema with anathema. A sanctimonious reformer could no more pierce the heart of a drinker or the slave owner than penetrate the hard shell of a tortoise with a rye straw."  And so it is when you attempt to convince someone to buy.  You cannot convince the "inconvincible".  Too often, sales people have to suffer through sales training lessons on how to overcome objections.  More than 30 years ago, David Sandler taught his students that "you cannot overcome objections, only the buyer can overcome their objections."  What we must do is seek to first understand (the prospect’s pain) before being understood (how we can help solve the pain).

I am finding the book on Lincoln very interesting and instructive. There are many more stories, anecdotes and quotes attributed to Abe that even reflect what we are about today as a people and as a country.  As for sales and sales management, I believe that the Old Railsplitter would have been one heck of sales coach.