Posted by Todd Kasper on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 @ 03:00 PM
The Conversation Economy
An important emerging trend in the selling profession today is how to deal with the new "conversation economy." One of the key takeaways from the Chicago Sales 2.0 Conference in early September was that as information becomes easier for customers to get, the sales function's role becomes less about providing information and more about having conversations with customers.
Fortunately, the rise of both the social media and Sales 2.0 movements have made this transformation easier for sales professionals. Lead management, personal introductions, prospecting, forecasting, pipeline management, and even contract signing are now much easier than even just a couple of years ago.
Despite the rise of these wonderful tools, customers still know more than ever about our products and services. Furthermore, they are as busy as ever before, and when combined with email, IM, and other means of communication, all of this means that we have to make the most out of the limited time that we actually have in "live" conversations with customers.
Blocking & Tackling Still Works
Given this new environment, the basic sales fundamental of pre-call planning is as important than ever. While pre-call planning is certainly not "flashy" in a world with all kinds of new sales toys, it is still a fool-proof way of guaranteeing that sales professionals are maximizing their return on time spent in front of customers.
Pre-call planning includes research and due diligence, but centers on tactical preparation for what is going to happen during the actual meeting. It covers the objective of the call or meeting, questions to be asked, answers to possible customer questions, contingency plans, and other factors.
In an environment where only a small minority of sales people take the time to actively think through the mechanics of an upcoming conversation, effective pre-call planning presents a tremendous competitive advantage.
It's the Little Things
Many times in sales, as in sports, it's the little things that make the difference in the end - almost everyone does the easy stuff.
Consider the following statistics from the 2008 PGA Tour. The overall adjusted scoring average leader was Sergio Garcia at 69.12 strokes per round, and with $4.85 million in Tour earnings. By contrast, Pat Perez was 22nd in adjusted scoring at 70.08 strokes per round and $1.76 million in earnings.
Less than one stroke per round separated 21 spots on the scoring list, and represented a difference in $3.1 million in earnings!
Pre-call Planning
Virtually all sales people take at least some time to prepare for customer meetings - even if it's just to look at a past purchase history or the customer's website. However, very few professionals go the extra mile do the special "little things" in preparing to fully anticipate how that conversation may proceed.
In a world where live conversations with customers may be getting harder to come by, those little things will, metaphorically speaking, shave that one stroke off your game (at least), and represent a lot of ranking spots (and money!).
Photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
Guide to Pre-Call Planning
Learn more about successful pre-call planning, its benefits, and impact on vital functions in your sales organization.
Download our Guide to Pre-Call Planning.
Posted by Victor Watts on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 @ 04:14 PM
Okay, the headline metaphor may be a bit of a Olympic-sized literary stretch...but you have to admit, the visual of a coach watching her gymnasts compete is not too dissimilar to a manager trying to coach a diverse sales team.
Let's face it, your team is made up of individuals:
- With different talents, strengths and weaknesses;
- That have divergent support needs;
- That are often in remote locations.
If that's not challenging enough for a coach, it gets considerably more difficult when the commission checks may not be quite as big as they once were. But one thing is for certain, how you manage, lead and enable your sales force today will determine what kind of issues you will be faced with tomorrow. 
Sales Is Not Always A Team Sport - But The Team Still Needs To Win!
On one level, it seems like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? But a good coach knows that a team is made up of unique individuals. So then, why do we so often see corporate incentive and retention programs rolled out with a one-size-fits-all structure and mentality? Based on what I've seen in corporate America, it's because that's the easy way out.
What's the old management saying?
"I love a hungry sales person with two mortgages, three cars and an expensive boat and a base salary woefully inadequate to meet the need."
As a consequence of that mentality, the typical corporate retention and incentive strategy is something along the lines of establishing a performance-based bonus program. Sell more - make more. Simple. Everyone's happy - right?
Wrong. (And I won't even get into the issue of how those goals are typically set.)
While I won't disagree that I look for money motivated sales folks, have you ever seen one single survey of sales people that indicates that money is their number one concern?
Didn't think so.
Don't get me wrong, money is a key issue...it's just not the only or necessarily the top one. Let's assume that you've already got a reasonably good comp plan in place. Let's also assume that you're not currently having to... what's the corporate euphemism?...oh yeah, "right-size" the sales organization. If that premise is correct, then I'm going to suggest that it's an important time to find ways to recognize and support your key individuals. The goal is not only keeping your high performers, but also keeping them at high-performing levels!
We've Been Here Before...And If You Haven't, Pay Close Attention
So maybe you're saying,
"I don't have to worry about things like retention or recognition programs right now. These guys should feel lucky they even have jobs. And besides, there's no money for things like incentive programs or new sales enablement initiatives right now."
I hope that's not the case. It may very well be a pervasive corporate culture at the moment, but I would argue that's exactly the wrong way to look at things.
Believe it or not, we are beginning to emerge from the economic downturn. Yes, this one has been a doozy, and employment will be the lagging indicator, but economic cycles - to coin a phrase - are still cyclical. And your most valuable assets still get on the elevator every day.
When things do turn around - and they will - some of your best assets may not let the door hit them in the rear on their rush to get to their next job. It's time to pay attention. Remember, the best time to retain your best players are before you need to.
Parallel Bar Management Skills
We often talk in this blog about the emerging "sales enablement" tools and how they can help your team produce more and do so more efficiently. Not a bad thing to consider from a retention perspective either. High perfoming reps in particular will appreciate it and use them! Heck, some of the Sales 2.0 tools can even help you coach (not just manage!) your players. I applaud those companies with enough vision to recognize the significant ROI of making that kind of move now. But that's just part of the managerial picture.
As a sales executive, you are operating in critical times. A time where your best management skills need to be working in parallel with the longer-range plans and goals. Maintaining and building the morale of their sales team takes a lot of effort. And this is not news, but individuals like to be treated...well, individually.
As We Focus On The Pitch, It's Easy To Lose Focus On The Pitcher
Alright, I know. I'm mixing metaphors here. (At least it's still a sports metaphor!)
Have you found yourself so focused on the need to close the deal and hit your numbers that you've neglected what you know about Sales Management 101? If so, remind yourself of a few of the basics and pull a few of these moves out of the tried-and-true toolkit. Yes, it takes more time and energy to manage this way but, trust me, in the long run you'll be glad you did.
-
Catch people doing something right! Do you remember the first time your boss pulled you aside and said "good job!" Remember when he mentioned your name at a sales meeting for something you did well or for the good idea you had? Doesn't have to be a big deal. But catching people doing something right is still one of the most powerful management tools in your management toolkit. Reach for that one as often as you can!
-
Discuss career pathing. Maybe the current economic times make the idea of talking about a positive career path with your subordinate seem like a silly waste of time. Heck, you might even be worried about your own career path! Well now's the best time to talk up a positive future. Just like Vince Lombardi said, "Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence." (Oops, another sport just entered the blog building.)
-
Review reporting demands. You might feel powerless in this area because of management expectations, but I encourage you to give it a go. Your sales people will certainly appreciate it. Take a look at the reporting and administrative requirements placed on the sales team. See anything that can be minimized or eliminated? Still having a weekly sales call to regurgitate what should be in the CRM? Worse yet, are your people shackled by a CRM that has been so over-engineered that you're having reps spend hours each day just trying to keep up with data input demand?
It's about productivity - not re-productivity. Find the extraneous and the duplicitous and eliminate it! To quote Yoda: "Necessary are the battle reports you need, but get the soldiers you must beyond the weeds."
Good luck...and heads up coach, there's a game on!
Photo credits:
azzurri_nr1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajacied/2772283192/
Krachel http://www.flickr.com/photos/krachel/2609725004/
Posted by Todd Kasper on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 @ 07:20 AM
What to Do When You Don't Have All Year
We've all been there before - we know there's something we need to do for an extra "boost," but we just don't have the time (or budget, bandwidth, etc.) to make it happen. With that situation in mind, here are five actionable, easy, and cost-effective steps you can take to increase your sales force's effectiveness right now:
#1: Leverage Sales 2.0 resources
Some Sales 2.0 tools can be put to use immediately.
Are your reps having trouble reaching prospects? Try Jigsaw. It's free to sign up and takes just a few minutes to learn. The paid versions are even better.
Looking for a way to quickly find news and insights on your prospects and customers? Try Google Alerts - simply enter the company's name and create an alert - it's free and it can't get any easier. Alternatively, take a look at InsideView - it interfaces with many CRMs and integrates research and data from many different sources.
Your sales team should also use their social media accounts (i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.). These are extremely valuable tools for discovering customer insights and competitor intelligence, along with connecting and building relationships. Find the ones that are most useful for your organization (and the ones that your customers use) and get started!
#2: Prepare better
I'm biased of course, but it's a fact that pre-call planning helps sales rep performance. In our survey of top-performing sales professionals, these reps told us that the three key benefits of pre-call planning are: (1) greater control of the sales process, (2) more effective use of time, and (3) better customer-specific need discovery. Do you think increasing performance in these areas would help improve your sales force effectiveness?
Do you need to have a formal pre-call planning process? In the long-run, the answer is probably "yes", but we're not talking about the long run here - we need actionable steps you can take now.
To that end, make sure your team is clearly identifying the objective of the call they are going to make. What key data points do they need to uncover? What questions might the customer ask? How will these questions be answered? Make sure your reps are going beyond the standard web research and purchase history pre-call due diligence.
Once you get started on these ideas, you can begin to implement something more formal for the long-run.
#3: Take a look at your sales efficiency
As a sales executive, your job is to maximize the return on the investments (ROI) and assets (ROA) that your company has entrusted you to manage. Are you as a sales executive squeezing as much revenue as possible out of each dollar you are given to manage?
For example, take a look at (what's left of) your budget - are you getting the maximum return on every dollar that is being spent? Can you redeploy budget dollars in order to increase overall return on this money that will be spent between now and the end of the year?
Need help? Let us know. We can help you find out your team's sales efficiency index and share ideas for improvement.
#4: Get back to basics
What are the "fundamentals" for success in your business? Calls per day? Face-to-face meetings with prospects and customers? Pre-call planning?
Sometimes just focusing on the basics leads to an increase in performance. Tony Gwynn, 8-time batting champion and statistically one of the most consistent hitters in the history of baseball, hit balls off of a batting tee daily during his career.
What do you and your team need to do on a regular basis in order to be successful? What is your team's batting tee?
#5: Set expectations
While the previous four actions can be done now, they will still involve commitment on the part of your sales team.
Set expectations now for performance and usage of these steps, as these expectations will both give you points of accountability and a foundation from which you can grow your team's performance.
Now get started!
Break out of the summer mindset and get results between now and the end of the year. Not only will these action items improve your team's performance, but they will also help you identify even more opportunities for improvement.
Photo credit: Jon_Marshall
Need Other Ideas?
Click here to find out how your team's preparation skills compare to the world's best, and what you can do about it.
It's free.
Posted by Todd Kasper on Tue, Aug 04, 2009 @ 07:27 AM
A lesson from Michael Phelps...
This past weekend, I watched with amazement as Michael Phelps for the most part dominated the FINA Swimming World Championships in Rome. Phelps won five gold medals, and perhaps his most impressive performance was being the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the 100m Butterfly, supposedly racing in suit technologically inferior to that of his competitors.
As if that wasn't enough, during the championships, he passed Mark Spitz's mark for the most world records - Phelps now has 37, and if last week is any indication, he's nowhere near done.
Watching this performance reminded me of an interview that Phelps gave to Matt Lauer for the Today Show shortly before the Summer Olympics in Beijing last year, when he famously won eight gold medals.
In some of the footage that was apparently edited out (see below), is a quote by Phelps about having just set five world records at last year's world championships, shortly before the Olympics.
When asked by Lauer if setting world record after world record ever gets "ho-hum," Phelps responded: "It means you're improving," then paraphrased USA teammate Ian Crocker, saying, "You never want to train a whole year and not get better."
Phelps added, "It helps me to judge where I am, and if I'm able to get faster at the end of the year, then obviously I'm doing something right."
...what do we learn?
Few aspects of life reflect the world of sales as well as sports. The lessons learned by athletes on the playing field (or in this case in the pool) translate to lessons learned by sales professionals and sales managers in the conference room, on the phone, or in front of the customer. Michael Phelps teaches us that even if we are on the top of our game, we still need to keep improving, because you never want to waste a year.
In his book "Winning Every Day," famed college football coach Lou Holtz says he keeps a saying on his desk that reads, "I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I ought to be, I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God, I'm not what I used to be."
Think about this quote. What are you doing for your sales team as a whole to make sure that they are getting better every day? How about for the team as a unit? How are you making yourself better?
In a world of software, metrics, and process improvement, sometimes increasing sales force effectiveness is as much about attitude as anything else.
Video credits: ana4182
Learn More About the Best Reps
Read what top-performing sales professionals had to say about their sales call preparation habits.
Download a summary of the top sales professionals survey.