Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Managing sales is part of the job of a sales manager.  Managing the sales process that sales people use is part of a sales managers job.  Recruiting the right people to replace those that are not the right people is part of the sales managers job.  Helping sales people set extraordinary standards and the associated sales activities and then holding them accountable is part of the sales managers job. Working with data to help sales people grow is part of the sales managers job. Using motivation skills and techniques that actually motivate sales people is part of the sales managers job. Finally, coaching your people to success, not just closing a sale, is part of the sales managers job.

Any questions?

Tabb Evans of BB&T investments, thank you for this question.  In a series of posts, I will be addressing questions from participants in the BISA meeting held in California this last December.  We had a great session covering 5 Factors for Success in Sales.  The question from Tabb is:

"How do you take the average to low sales producer to the next level?" 

I'm going to address this from two perspectives:  1) From the perspective of a manager of sales people and 2) from the perspective of the person in that position as an average to low producer.

First, I always have to ask this question about those people in your organization:  Did you recruit them that way or did you make them that way?  They're yours, you recruited them, on boarded them and trained them; so what happened?  Either there is a faulty hiring process that lacks the appropriate profiling, attracting, screening, interview and on-boarding process or the training program isn't designed to help people perform at high levels. That is it.  Hiring mistakes or development mistakes.  Now having said that, this is where I would start to get movement.

1. Understand the the next level could be out.  And so this has to be communicated to those people in this situation.
2. Create a profile of what the role is supposed to be doing
3. Schedule a meeting with each of the producers that are getting average to low production
4. Sit with them and tell them: 
   
1. This is what I need from people in this role - show them the profile of the producer you need
   
2. This is where you are, and this is what do we do now.

I can't begin to get into all of the dialog that needs to take place next but this is how it should end.

    5.  Do you want to keep working here?  Yes.

    6.  Are you sure? Yes.

    7.  Are you willing to do everything possible to succeed? Yes.

    8.  It's going to be hard.  OK, I know I have to get better.

    9.  This is what we are going to do.

Then you describe the 'disciplined' approach to effort and execution that you will hold them accountable to for the next foreseeable future (two weeks to 30 days).  You tell them that this is how long they have to fix the problem.  You give them the EXACT details of what you expect of them everyday and then you tell them that you will talk to them everyday at a very specific time.  Not a minute later.  And do not miss the target for sales activity.  Then describe the 3 strike rule:  Late = strike one,  miss the activity target = strike two.  You get the picture.

So, your people will either fix themselves or select "out".

But, as an aside, my experience tells me that companies that have this problem tolerate less than 'at goal' performance. Offices are littered with those producers producing less than 90% of the agreed to targets and they keep their jobs.  No wonder people are performing at 80 to 85% of goal.  There aren't any consequences.

Now for you sales people: This is going to sound a bit rough, but deal with it because you put yourself in this situation.

1. Stop making excuses for lack of success.  There are people in your industry, in your company, in your geography making goals. 
   
2. With that out of the way, you MUST find out what is really keeping you from succeeding:
• Lack of Desire or Commitment
• Poor Outlook
• Not taking Responsibility
• Inability to properly Prospect for new business due to
• Need for approval
• Fear of rejection
• Too trusting of prospects
3. Identify your choke points in your sales system.  Assuming you have one (don't blame the company if  you don't.  I'm sure you convinced them that you could sell and that's why they hired you to begin with.)
4. Get help.  Go to your sales manager or contract with a local sale development expert and get help!
5. Do the effort.  When all else fails, hard work works.  Go to work and mean it.
   

I've just finished reading two blog post by two very reputable authors:

Dave Kurlan from Objective Management Group and Michael Webb from Six Sigma Selling.  Here are the discussion topics as I read them. Michael is talking about the importance of having an effective sales process that meets the needs of your objectives in the current economic environment.  And Dave talks about the importance of being able to execute as a crucial element to success.  Which is more important?

My vote is for "the ability to execute."  Not because Dave is a friend of mine, but because strategy (i.e. process) is not important unless you can execute.  George Patton said that he would rather execute on a poor plan today rather than wait to execute a perfect plan (paraphrasing). Even if you had a perfect strategy- say, like hitting the ball down the fairway with a right to left draw- if you fail to execute, the strategy itself is useless.  You have to have the ability to execute. What does that take?

• Personal goals that are non-negotiable
• Desire - passion to succeed
• Commitment - willingness to do everything possible to succeed
• Accountability - inspection of what you expect
• Skill - ability

If you have these 5 key ingredients, then even your average strategy or plan will get you results.