Posted by Tom Rothrock on Fri, Apr 30, 2010 @ 03:35 PM
Last year, you made a proposal to your senior management to invest in a software application that you believed would provide your sales team the horsepower to take them to the next level. Your proposal was unanimously and enthusiastically approved and you were told to "run with it."
Working with your IT and sales teams, you proceeded on implementation of the application. There were a few bumps in the road but your team appeared to embrace the application at your on-line kick-off session. A few of them were quiet but were the ones who were typically reserved.
After several months, the application's usage statistics looked promising but there were some laggards. You drilled down on the stats and found it was the ones who were quiet during your kick-off presentation. You then followed up with each and identified their obstacles. Some had clear cases of "application anxiety" while others were "reluctant adopters" who got by with the absolute minimum by just "going through the motions" by logging on sporadically and infrequently.
You had your IT people follow up with the "application anxiety" crowd to address their issues, which were largely technical. You got together with the "reluctant adopters," explaining how their consistent usage of the app would make them more productive and, at the end of the day, they'd have more money in their pocket. You also emphasized how the application wasn't a "make-work" project or a management control mechanism to "spy on them." You'd heard those stories through the grapevine.
Because of the laggards, your ramp-up and full implementation of the application was delayed by a full quarter and the project exceeded budget, which raised some eyebrows in your management ranks.
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, here are some steps to take early on to avoid the laggards from dragging down your implementation:
- Establish and publish enterprise-wide acceptable usage standards and eliminate any "loopholes" which enable non-participation.
- Embed application usage within your sales team's job description along with appropriate notification/acknowledgement. This sends a clear message of "What's expected will be inspected."
- Include usage as a measurable performance expectation in the performance appraisals including inclusion in all of your formal written policies.
- Engage users consistently during the early phase of your implementation and listen carefully for any negativity or poor attitudes. If encountered, isolate and address them immediately. If you don't, your project goals will be stalled and delayed.
- Identify and circulate user "success stories" frequently throughout the initial implementation; the more the better.
- Draft a sales automation policy defining the standards and expectations for application usage and stress how that usage is mandatory, not optional.
Remember it's all about EXPECTATIONS and ACCOUNTABILITY. As a manager, it's up to you to clearly communicate consequences for lapses in adapting to any new application.
Photo credit: Pink Chick
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 @ 01:56 PM
Given the current reality of an "employer's market" you thought it was going to be easy to hire a new sales rep.
You and your recruiting team spent hours scanning resumes. For a few days, you were getting around 100 a day in response to your online posting.
Undaunted, you plowed through them to select ones for initial phone and later face-to-face interviews.
The interview process was lengthy and time consuming and your hire decision was challenging. You had to choose between several strong candidates who had winning track records in sales as well as glowing references. You wanted to hire them all.
Finally, you chose one who you believed had the smarts, energy, skills and drive to be your next "A Player." In the following weeks, your new rep was put through the paces learning the 4 "P's" - process, product, procedures and practices - in your new hire training program. After that, your new rep will be equipped and ready to hit the ground running and start bringing in the sales.
This period, the timeframe following when a new sales rep has completed their training and starts calling on accounts, is generally referred to as the "ramp-up time," where they're still finding their way around. It is a crucial transition period when your new rep is absorbing and mastering your sales practices, environment and culture, all of which will impact the rep's future success or failure.
It's also a timeframe requiring as much of your time, if not more, than the recruiting effort did. You will need to be observing and coaching your new rep as closely and frequently as possible.
Where do you get the time to do that? You can't be on every call but want to be sure your new rep maintains the momentum toward attaining their sales goals.
You may be thinking about using one of your top "A Players" to mentor your new hire, but that unfortunately takes them away from their primary objective of making sales.
A very strong and time-effective solution is to instill pre-call planning throughout your sales organization. Your pre-call planning effort should incorporate the "best practices" of your sales process and identify all of the steps and activities that will furnish your new rep with a road map to success.
Your first step in accomplishing that is to download our free Guide to Pre-Call Planning which will introduce the benefits of pre-call planning across your sales organization.
Photo Credit: Jack Rothrock
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 @ 03:53 PM
It seems that every day in the Sales 2.0 universe brings new applications directly intended for sales professionals. They promote sales efficiency and effectiveness by offering personal productivity improvements and expanded data retrieval capabilities.
In many respects, it is an embarrassment of riches - solutions with powerful features, speed and functionalities that promise a jolt to your sales rep's performance better than a can of Red Bull.
However appealing all of those applications are there is a danger lurking: will your reps use them to their intended level of effectiveness or will they be a distraction from their sales productivity?
Within sales organizations of all sizes, there are internal struggles going on between IT departments, sales management and senior management about which applications have priority and which do not.
Often, those discussions take place at the upper reaches of the organizational chart without the input of the sales team - in whose hands the success or failure of the application ultimately rests.
One sales organization's recent experience bears this out when senior management mandated the use of a very clunky in-house CRM. The software was dated, requiring reps to repeatedly enter duplicate data and was little more than a post-activity record keeping tool which served management's ends but was of little benefit to the sales team.
Unfortunately the mandate went over the protests of the sales manager, who had successfully engaged the reps in using a SaaS tool which improved call effectiveness and performance. The sales manager had argued for the replacement of the in-house CRM with a more up-to-date and user-friendly tool but was overruled.
The outcome was predictable: the reps spent more time on the CRM - because they "had" to - and less on the SaaS tool. As a result, they became documenters of after-the-fact "accident reports" instead taking the steps to lead their sales cycle. Morale and performance declined, eventually leading to the departure of the sales manager as well as the top performers of the sales team.
What can you do to prevent this from happening and avoid being a casualty in "The Battle of the Apps?"
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When in the field with your sales team, pay close attention to the applications they're using and the ones they're not. With that input, you'll know which are candidates for replacement or upgrade.
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Before proceeding with any new application, have your top performers' field test and evaluate it. Select those on your team who will give you an honest appraisal of the application's strengths and weaknesses. Later on, this will aid "buy-in" from your reps if you decide to implement the application.
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Early on, apprise your senior management of the direction you're going and keep them in the loop. It's important for them to understand what you're seeking to accomplish. Always express your outcomes in terms of expected R.O.I. benefits, increased sales or cost/time savings.
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When enterprise wide applications are being considered, be sure you're positioned to give a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" from the sales perspective. If you don't, your team could get stuck with a "clunker" that's suited for procurement and not sales.
You don't want to be stuck with a ‘clunker' application that doesn't meet your sales team's needs. Your careful attention to those needs will assure your reps end up winning the battle!
Photo Credit: Craig Hatfield
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 12:38 PM
Cold Month End Sweat!
There have been times, more often than not, when you've likely contemplated, "As a Sales Manager, what really are my key responsibilities? My boss creates fire drills and my sales team seems to need parental guidance! On top of that, I have to hit the numbers!"
All of that seems to "hit you" when you awaken at 2 a.m. in a cold end of month sweat wondering if your new rep updated the CRM with the closed deals so you'd make the quarter-end numbers. Or, when you're busily draining the swamp and avoiding the alligators.....
5 Key Buckets of Responsibility
Across global sales organizations of all sizes and in all market segments, we've seen the key responsibilities of sales manager broken down into 5 buckets:
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Meet sales/financial goals
- Build an effective sales team
- Individual rep development: skill and behavior
- Express clear communication
- Provide leadership and direction
Top Performers Have Expectations of You
As a sales manager, your top performers will expect you to:
Remember that in your role as manager, your behavior is looked up to by your direct reports as a model to emulate. For them to grow, they need a leader who exhibits behaviors that are worthy of following.
All of which, of course, is accomplished by your unyielding focus on building a foundation of integrity and trust.
How do you build that foundation?
A good start is to focus on skill areas which will provide your team the greatest return on their time and offer them the opportunity for the highest levels of professional growth.
Start by downloading our Free Guide to Pre-call Planning. By coaching your team on the valuable techniques found there, you'll be building the basis for long term performance and you'll go back to getting a well deserved and good night's sleep!
Photo credit: dgilder