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
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 05:57 PM
Several of our previous blogs have talked about identifying, interviewing, and using assessments to hire top performing sales reps for your sales team.
So let's say by now you've enacted those points, built a benchmark and have introduced assessments to your recruiting and hiring process. Further, you've brought aboard a strong "A Player" who's really making the numbers happen and is going to make plan before year-end in a territory where that's never occurred before.
Congratulations!!
Next, by capitalizing on your use of assessments, we'll move forward on how you can use them to strengthen your sales team beyond the hiring process. [Don't worry, if you haven't used assessments yet, you'll benefit from the discussion, too.]
How do you build strength?
Seasoned sales managers and, yes, veteran coaches of every sport will tell you, "Observe, coach, observe, coach, observe, coach." You spend every available moment in the field observing your team and stressing the use of sales strategies and techniques to advance the sales cycle in pre-call and post-call coaching sessions.
The use of an assessment will give you a "heads up" on your coaching efforts by telling you what areas to focus on and what areas are of a lesser concern that can be set aside for now.
For example: The assessment data tells you your new "A Player" is very social. In sales, we know that's a good thing as we'd prefer having our prospects and customers relating to a personable, outgoing rep instead of a remote, indifferent one.
However, your rep's need for social interaction can stymie sales performance. If the rep takes too much time "making friends instead of sales," sales will suffer as the result of too many "howdy calls" instead of executing calls with a clear sales objective. There are also prospects and customers who'd rather stick to business and forgo rapport-building. Your rep needs to know the difference between the two and react and respond accordingly.
A properly structured assessment report will identify characteristics like these and provide you coaching steps to overcome them.
Who Moves Up and When?
Every sales manager knows that at some point in time, they'll get asked, "Who's your successor?" When you do, you'd better be prepared with an answer. That question comprises a big part of our job responsibilities and planning succession is a critical process to ensure the continued success and growth of your sales team.
When planning succession moves, you'll need insights into your candidates beyond the scope of their current assignment. Your assessment data will help you out here, too.
Many sales organizations have promoted their top performing sales reps to sales managers, based on the logic that the rep's performance can be duplicated and translated in the managerial role to their new subordinates. This approach has worked in some cases but, in others, it has not.
The challenge is that a sales manager's role takes on aspects which are opposed to the classic sales rep function. For one, there's an administrative reporting responsibility to assume that presents a struggle for many former reps to address.
There's also the issue of structure. Reps generally are autonomous and independent while a large part of a manager's job involves enforcing policy which can present a transitional challenge for the new sales manager.
As in the case of our coaching example, an assessment on a managerial candidate will tell you if the candidate is "cut out" for the managerial function. Your starting point - as in the case of indentifying our top performing sales reps - will be to establish a benchmark for your managerial position that your candidates can be measured against.
Then, your assessment report will tell who you who is up for the challenge and who needs more "polish." Again, you'll be spending time developing those who'll be likely candidates as opposed to those who're not.
If I can aid you in using assessments for building your sales team strengths and depth, please do contact me at precallpro.com.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ggvic/
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 @ 10:27 AM
Do They Measure Up?
In two of our earlier blogs we spoke about
identifying and
interviewing top performers for your sales team. We now want to expand that discussion toward how you can use assessments to strengthen your sales hiring process.
So, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work!
Your next move is to acquire the tools to enable you to do that. What you need is a tool that will measure the behavioral characteristics of your sales rep candidates and your existing top performers.
"Wait a minute," you say. "I understand the candidates, but why do I have to measure the characteristics of my top performers, too?"
Good question! That's how you establish the foundation for building your team of top performers. Once you've identified your top performers, your goal is to find more just like them. You want to duplicate your successes and avoid repeating costly hiring mistakes. By developing your "top performer benchmark" you'll be doing just that to measure future candidates.
That's where we'll return to the tool that measures behavioral characteristics mentioned above. Since the late 1980's, there's been a boom in the availability and the accuracy of behavioral assessments. That growth was enabled by the widespread use of the personal computer and Internet access, all of which have greatly reduced the time to complete, evaluate and generate assessment reports.
Today, there are hundreds of companies who can provide assessment services for you - a simple Google search using "assessments" will yield you a number of possibilities.
But that's where the hard work comes in. While there are a lot of firms who can provide assessments on your candidates, you must insist on the following from any firm you're considering:
Once you've located a reliable source for your assessment needs, you'll have the process in place for building your top performing team! If you have a HR department or specialist on staff, that’s a good place to start.
If I can aid you in your effort to incorporate assessments for your sales team hiring process, please do contact me at
precallpro.com.
Photo Credit: Pink Sherbet
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 @ 06:06 PM
How Do You Know Who's Really Behind The Mask?
In our earlier discussion, we pointed out the predominant characteristics of top performing salespeople. Of course we know there are others which positively contribute to a rep's performance not mentioned here. For now, we're focusing on 3 key characteristics which appear below with a brief description:
Enterprising: Independently competitive, takes on initiative and risk, has personal ownership or "stake" in outcomes. Tends to "ask for forgiveness instead of approval."
Sociable: Conversant and comfortable across a broad array of business and social settings; easily builds rapport and readily interacts with all types of people.
Assertive: Leads more than follows; is confident, comfortable and competant in directing people as well as the course of events. In the sales environment it's mandatory in any sales professional's ability to advance their sales cycle.Now equipped with these characteristics, you're certainly wondering...
"How do I know the candidates I'm talking to have them...or don't?"
That's the easy part - just like good sales professionals, we ask! Listed below are some interview questions to help you do that:
Enterprising:
- While on a sales call with a prospect, you encounter an issue that's outside of your authority but must be addressed to close the sale. Do you: a) execute to advance the sale or b), wait for approval from higher authority?
- When in competition, what lengths do you go to to win?
- When sales goals are not achieved, who's responsible?
Sociable:
- Describe the relationship building skills you have used to successfully achieve your sales goals.
- How would you build rapport with a remote, indifferent prospect on a initial call?
- What types of things have you done in the past to retain and expand business from existing accounts?
Assertive:
- Describe an example when you closed a particularly difficult sale by using your persuasion skills.
- Using examples from your experience, explain how a salesperson’s tenacity impacts the outcome of the sales process.
- When in the sales environment and while engaging a prospective customer, tell me how you a sense of urgency.
- Demonstrate for me how you'd handle a indecisive prospect who is stalling your sales cycle. Specifically, I’m interested in the approaches and the words you’d use to move them forward.
By carefully gauging your candidates' responses to these questions, you'll be better prepared to tell if they're the "real thing" or merely saying "what they think you want to hear."
Armed with the answers to your questions and then comparing them to the experience and accomplishments cited on their resumes, you'll be well on your way to hiring your next "top performer - not just another "great pretender!"
We'll be talking about other tools available to you in order to accomplish this - and more - in a future blog. Stay tuned!
Photo Credit: esper.art.br
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xper/3350897632/
Posted by Tom Rothrock on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 @ 10:31 AM
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bufferchuck/
Sales managers have long struggled with defining the characteristics of top sales reps and have frequently used the old saying, "You'll know when you see them" to do so.
That saying recalls a question a sales manager once asked us, "I've got a great rep who runs rings around the rest of the team. What does that rep do that the others don't?"
There's been quite a bit written on this question, both in the sales management and behavioral science circles. Since this is a sales blog, we'll focus our effort there.
Aside from the obvious - which are your rep's monthly, quarterly and yearly sales figures which tell if quota was met, exceeded - or not - part of our answer lies in what we'll call the "personality mix" - those traits which point to a individual's potential for success or failure in sales.
But how do you do that?
The first thing to do is to establish a profile of common characteristics of strong salespeople. While there are some variations to the needs particular to your sales environment, it's generally agreed that successful salespeople are;
Enterprising: Salespeople are leaders. They like to drive people and events from start to finish, especially their sales cycles. They're doers more than thinkers and are interested in the "big picture" than the details. Also, being true entrepreneurs, they're comfortable with risk and take ownership of outcomes, both good and bad.
Sociable: In sales, it's all about people so to be a success, your salespeople must like helping others and working with teams. They must communicate well, thrive on human interaction and prefer talking with people over working with machines or data. If they don't, they're better in a cube working on lines of code.
- Assertive: The best salespeople exhibit limitless energy and don't let themselves to be stalled or blocked when advancing their sales cycle. They can intuitively sense when they need to take control and have the ability to rebound from setbacks, too. The top salespeople are the ones on your team who're restlessly asking "What's next?" and are ones who're never content unless they're moving forward.
Take a moment and using the characteristics above, match them to your top performers. You'll find that your top performers share these characteristics. Once you've established that, your next step is to use your "Top Performer Profile" as a "best practices" hiring tool. We'll talk about that in a later post.