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?

Tony Peckich from Lincoln Financial Distributors, this is a great question.  I have an answer - it is short, but not simple.

First, my previous post about personal goals should help with the process of getting sales people to change behaviors.  But a process alone won't do it.  You do have to dig deeper and explore.  What I mean by that is:  Do the sales people in question actually have the motivation to change?

Think about the last time you were unhappy with a result that you got.  Let's start with sales results.  In a word, how would you describe your results today?  If you didn't say extraordinary, then you need to change something that you are doing to change your sales results.  But, unless those results cause you stress, you won't change.  Other areas to consider:  could be a physical check up from your doctor or a round of golf; if you are studying to get an MBA, it could be a test result.  Bottom line is this:  If the results didn't bother you enough to change, you simply won't change. In other words, let's suppose that you were expecting an 'A' in the test and you ended up with an 'A-'.  Not too bad right.  If that grade didn't bother you, then you WON'T do anything differently to get the 'A' that was your goal. But suppose you got a 'C' and your company won't reimburse the course fees if you get below a 'B'; now your motivation to change increases if you don't want to pay for the course.

So to answer your question simply:  The number 1 process to change behavior is to get people in 'severe mental anguish' over the results they are getting today.

• This starts with goal setting
• Followed by identifying the specific activity that needs to be executed on
• Followed by appropriate behavior - actual execution of the activity
• Inspect what you expect of them
• Gain insight from what you expected 
• And finally coach to the results

 Your coaching will fall into one of two categories:  Coaching to effort or coaching to execution.  If we assume for a second that they are putting in the effort but the results aren't there, then you have to coach execution - how they do what they do (behavior).  To do this you have to:

• Ask them if they are happy with the results they are getting
• Ask them if they are unhappy enough to change
• Ask them if they are sure they are willing to change
• Tell them it is going to be hard and you'll help but only if they are committed to change
• Then outline a disciplined approach of one-on-one coaching or observational coaching to help them improve the behavior that is causing the lack of results.

This question was asked by Mark A. Mullican from AXA Equitable.  Mark was attending the sales conference sponsored by BISA last December in LaCosta, California.  Our topic was 5 Keys to a Winning SalesTeam.  One specific key involves 'Motivation that Works' and this question easily falls into that topic.

First, thank you, Mark, for asking the question.  Second, there isn't an easy answer to the question but here is my answer:  I don't know that simple or complex is the real issue relative to getting people to perform better.  Certainly, it contributes, but more importantly is the skill set and systems and processes you have in place that help support the message.

When we look at successful managers - those getting people to perform as expected - we see the following:

• The managers know what motivates their people
• The managers have a strong self image - no need for approval from sales people
• The managers give appropriate and consistent recognition for success
• The managers implement disciplined structure for success when someone is failing versus having punitive type discussions
• The managers, under no circumstances, accept mediocrity

My point is that, if you have a great message but fail to manage with these 5 factors in mind, your message is impotent.

Generally speaking, I would say that simple is better.  Having said that, don't let the simple message lead you to believe that performance management and coaching should be simple or easy.  It is a complex science and the skill level must be masterful to achieve the goals you seek.

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.
   

Once again, I had the great honor and privilege to visit our United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.  I visited there in the fall and posted a blog about my time there, and now, once again, I was overwhelmed by the courage and passion of those that occupy this post.  Yes, it might be a stretch to tie what happens at West Point to sales and selling, but not much of a stretch.  This group of young people consistently demonstrates at an extraordinary level all of those competencies necessary to succeed in selling:  courage, desire, commitment, persistence and ethics.  Here are the lessons from my most recent visit.

Lesson 1:  There is time, and then there is military time:  We met at 0600, began our program at 0610 and finished at 0640. I shook hands with this group of majors and corporals as they filed out to go to formation in the square prior to heading to mess hall and then to their first class of the day at 0700.

Cadets pack more stuff in before breakfast than most people do in a day.  It is truly amazing to observe the capacity for work and effort that this group has.  And their intensity is unmatched in anything I've ever experienced.  Imagine what you could achieve if you approached your professional career with this kind of intensity.

Lesson 2:  If you want to be good at something, I mean really good at something, desire and commitment alone won't be enough.  You have to drill, drill, and drill and then drill some more so that you can perform your task with near perfect execution every time. These cadets go through ‘the routine' of preparing for battle in everything they do, so that when faced with the most difficult scenario, they can perform automatically and with precision.   In selling, you may not think it's critical, but at the academy, it means someone's life.

Lesson 3:  If you commit to something because of the desire for great reward (BHAG:  Big Hairy Audacious Goal), you have to be willing to pay a substantial price.  You need to invest.  And not at the level that anyone would be willing to pay.  No, if you want the big reward, you must invest the big investment.   These cadets willingly complete their 47 months of training and development knowing that they will be asked to make the ultimate investment.

Lesson 4:  You must have standards of excellence. These standards of excellence rest upon your vision, your mission and your core values. The core values at the academy are Duty, Honor, and Country.  Every cadet lives his or her life by those values.  Those values become their DNA.  As a sales person, how you approach what you do for a living has to be in your DNA.

Lesson 5:  Finally, I learned that the best of any class are the best of any class because of their willingness to learn.  It amazes me that these cadets, one and all, are sponges when it comes to learning.  They devour information.  They ask questions. They ask for clarity.  They want to practice what they've learned. They want to execute and implement.  They strive for extraordinary and do not make excuses for failing to meet "agreed to" objectives.  Imagine pursuing your own goals the same way.

My parting thought is this:  For those of you that I get a chance to work with, I am honored that you allow me to be part of your success, and I commit to continue to serve you to help you be your best.

Start the year with a clear vision of

1. What you are going to accomplish,
2. How you will accomplish what you have set out to do and more importantly
3. Identify those metrics and benchmarks that will measure your progress to your objectives.

Once you've taken those three action items

1. Communicate your plan to someone that will hold you accountable
2. Find a training resource that will help you improve areas of execution
3. Identify rewards for success and consequences for failure

If you  did  these 6 things  by the end of the first full week of the new year you will be well on your way to a successful and productive 2009.

Happy New Year!

I work with CEOs that are afraid of what the current economic environment will do to top line sales revenue.  Certainly they can get more creative with expenses, but eventually that will have a negative impact on leveraging  new opportunities.  It doesn't take talent to cut expenses;  it is a math formula.  However, it does take talent and creativity to drive new business sales when markets are like they are today.  That is where we come in.

At Anthony Cole Training Group,  we use an assessment built and constantly perfected by Objective Management Group.  The assessment and the resulting findings provides information about sales strengths, sales weaknesses and sale skills as they relate to 21 core sales competencies.  My question today, and in 2 additional blog posts, will be:  How are you addressing these core competencies in your sales development program (either individually or corporately?)  If you are reading this as a participant of one or our training programs, then this information will have a tone of familiarity, so you will be able to relate to the content.  However, you may have been more recently focused on technique rather than the core issues that may be hindering your sales success.  I encourage you to read these posts and identify how they can be additive to your current program.  If you are not one of our participants, feel free to go to our website and take the sales grader to find out how you are doing against best practices in sales.  Here are the first 7 core competencies:

1. Has written goals: this is where your courage and passion come from. Without written goals you won't have the passion or commitment necessary to ask the tough questions, continue to prospect when the market is tough and to consistently ask for introductions
2. Follows a written goal plan: Often people have goals that are written, but then fail this next critical step - establish a written goal plan. Without a plan your goals lack clarity and therefore the activity required to accomplish your goals is unclear as well. And when the required activities are unclear then they won't get executed.
3. Positive attitude: This isn't about looking through rose colored glasses. This is about keeping your head about you when all those around you are losing theirs. It is easy to get caught up the water cooler talk and the complaining about the company, economy, or what the competition is doing. Ignore the talk and focus on what you have to do to be successful.
4. Take responsibility: Excuses are like opinions - everyone or most everyone has them and, unfortunately in selling, we use them when we fail to accomplish our goals. The easy thing to do is to blame something or someone for our shortcomings. If you've been in sales long enough you know that something is always going to happen to make selling difficult for you, but if you are committed to your own personal goals, then you won't let anything get in the way.
5. Strong self confidence: This is critical to succeed. You certainly can't expect yourself to perform well if you don't feel fully confident in what you are doing, what you are representing and what you are saying to the market. But what drives all of this is how you feel about yourself. You must have the confidence to maintain your ‘posture' when you are faced with difficult selling situations. Keep in mind that external gimmicks and crutches won't support you when things are tough. You must consider yourself a ‘10' and maintain that assessment of yourself no matter what happens in your roles.
6. Supportive beliefs: What you believe dictates what you do. If you believe that the economy is too tough to sell in, then you'll be right and won't sell anything. If you believe that people don't want to talk about spending additional dollars in a tight budget environment, then you will have trouble scheduling appointments. You get the point?
7. Control emotions: You must focus on executing your sales system and be prepared for curve balls, and ‘tough' questions. If you anticipate ‘what can go wrong' then when something does come at you that ordinarily would be considered unusual then you will be prepared to handle the situation. If you haven't thought through your phone call, or sales call or presentation, then you will be vulnerable to surprises. When these surprises happen, instead of continuing to execute without ‘panic', you will ‘choke' and deviate from your tried and true sales methods and approach. The symptoms of losing control of emotions are during review of a meeting your self-dialog contains words and phrases like: "should have, shouldn't have, could have, why didn't I, I can't believe that". These are indicative of losing control of emotions.

The best thing to do is to pick just one of these that seem to be the area where you need the most work.  Tackle that one first.  Not the one that is easy, but the one that will have the most positive dramatic impact on your business.  And if you need me call me @ 513 791 3458.

In today's market place, you can survive the short term by making quick adjustments to your sales plan, your pricing and market strategy.  These adjustments will reflect in your sales pipeline and in your monthly sales results; however, what you will see in the end is that these adjustments will do little to secure consistent and predictable sales growth, which is what you need to focus on in addition to surviving the current environment.  How do you do that? 

Sales Fundamentals

1. As sensitive as the marketplace is to pricing - don't automatically reduce your pricing or margins just to get a sale. Yes, this will help you today, but if you keep that client, you will have re-established your brand as the low cost provider or a price based resource.
2. As difficult as it might be to maintain your pricing, I understand that you may have to sharpen your pencil in order to get a deal. Ok, then start selling additional services so that you can increase the revenue value of that client. Start focusing on average revenue per account instead of average size sale.
3. Focus on the client. The marketplace today certainly wants good pricing; however, they also are seeking ‘comfort' in a relationship. As much as we have discussed 'not showing up and throwing up', the market has changed. They want assurance that your product will work; you will be there when they need you; and that your business is sustainable. Start early by providing them information that will satisfy their need for security.
4. ABP = Always be prospecting. You need to step up your prospecting activity. If your normal mode of penetrating the market is through introductions, then you need to increase the number of meetings that you have with centers of influence. If you market yourself through networking, then do more networking.
5. One-time hits are valuable right now to prop up your sales and to support your financials, but understand that the one-time hit is exactly that, a one-time hit. If that hit is a $100,000 deal, then your strategy for next year needs to include how to replace that revenue event. You are better off transitioning those one-time hits into long term clients by closing the immediate deal and then entering discussions as a valued advisor.

Certainly, these are unprecedented times, but fundamentals are fundamentals.  When you stray from them, you get into trouble.  When in trouble, return to the fundamentals and return to consistent success.

I'm reading the book ‘Who'.  No, the author is not Dr. Seuss it is Geoff Smart and Randy Street of ‘Topgrading' fame and fortune.  The book is about prospecting, evaluating, assessing, interviewing and selecting the right candidate for the job.  The job could be sales, management, finance, or operations; it doesn't matter.  As Jim Collins states in his book ‘Good to Great', "it is about getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats."  I'm thinking the same thing applies to you and your sales business.  You need a sales scorecard.

The best way to upgrade your client is to have a preferred customer or client base.  In banking, they identify segments such as business banking, middle market, retail and private banking,  just to name a couple.  Why wouldn't this make sense in all sales?  The short answer is that it does.  I was with a group yesterday, Melink, a company that specializes in helping companies and entities build or retro build ‘green buildings'.  They have sales people that specialize in specific market segments.

If your company doesn't look at marketing and sales that way, it doesn't mean that you can't.  You should have a scorecard of sorts to make sure that the people you are getting introduced to fit the mold of the ‘perfect client' for you.  When you work with your ‘perfect client', you provide greater value because you are more familiar with that particular market segment, you know the solutions they typically need and you have a product that fits their specific needs.  However, the problem is that you don't have a system or process in place to make sure that you are really getting the ‘ideal' client for your ‘book of business'.  You need a sales scorecard.  So here you go.  Feel free to use, edit or reproduce any way you feel is appropriate to your specific business, but keep the concepts in place and make sure that you have some sort of accountability process in place to ensure you adhere to your scorecard.  If you would like further discussion on this feel free to call.

Once completed, share this scorecard with anyone that can potentially interface with your clients to make sure there is synchronization in focus, effort and support for this type of client.

I hate having these discussions because the typically come out the wrong way in writing. When I read articles like the one from Fast Company - The Most Valuable Player in Sports - I can't help but think about sales people, selling and sales results.  Check this out.  In 2006 major league baseball spent $311,000,000 (14% of payroll) on players that didn't play.  I automatically think - hmm, how much money was spent by companies on sales people that didn't play / perform?

I also think how many goals were washed out because the sales professional in charge lacked the desire, commitment, or responsibility to overcome obstacles to executing the game / goal plan to make sure they got the sales results they stated they would get.  And, as a result, failed to achieve some, if not all, the personal goals they had set?

The article goes on to talk about how Dr. Andrews, in addition to his orthopedic wizardry, developed and honed his therapeutic  mastery as well.  He would engage the prospective athlete in dialog that allowed him to identify a multitude of success factors ‘post' operative procedure.  Here are just 6 of his questions ‘translated' into sales talk to assess a sales person's acumen and preparedness for recovery.

1. What exactly is your current sales problem? Where is / are the choke points to successful selling?
2. What happens if you don't fix it?
3. What are your short- term, intermediate and long term sales goals?
4. How committed are you to rehabbing or turbo charging your sales career?
5. What is your appetite for change?
6. What are the other external factors that will help or hinder your success?

Powerful and insightful questions that need to be asked before engaging in any sales training, individual coaching or on-going development plan.    Too often people jump into the fray of training and or self - help only to find themselves light in the checking account, lost investment of time and very little improvement in results. 

My suggestion to you is that you should look at those 6 questions before  you begin to re-invent yourself or re-commit yourself to ‘really getting it done this year'.  Honestly answer those questions and then decide on what your sales goals will be, what your goal plan will look like and how you will hold yourself accountable over the next 12 months.  Oh, and one more question once you've decided that this time you are really going to get it done:

Why should I believe you?