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 Jim Kasper on Fri, Mar 05, 2010 @ 11:34 AM
A Brief Review From Last Week
The key points from last week's discussion were:
- TOP is an acronym for The Opportunity Producer
- TOP is similar to the "C" level concept, but TOP may or may not be in the "C" level suite.
- In many large accounts, although it's preferable to call on the "C" level, you may not be able to get there. Therefore, TOP is the highest person that you can reach within your customers/prospects' organizations.
- We advocate calling on your TOPs because they: are less price focused and more solution focused; tend to be decision-makers; can shorten your sales cycle.
- TOPs are strategic thinkers and want you to be prepared when you meet.
For the full article from last week,
click here.
Making Your Initial Meeting with TOP Count!!
Okay, you've made the appointment with your customer's TOP (The Opportunity Producer), now what is the best way to prepare?
Step #1: Create a written list of Unique Selling Propositions that end with the focus on TOP's bottom line.
Example: Mr./Ms. TOP, we are the only company with pre-sales engineers with industry specific experience. What that means to you, Mr./Ms. Top is a time savings in project completion, thereby reducing YOUR cost.
Step #2: Develop 2 written open-ended questions around the following topics:
Strategic initiatives
TOP's role in the decision-making process
Improving TOP's bottom line or budget success
Key problem areas (both inside and outside your realm)
Your role in helping TOP grow business (improve efficiency or increase gross margins, etc.)
Example: Ms. TOP, since your #1 priority is to improve efficiency, what kind of solutions do you expect from companies like ours?
TOP's perception of your organization
Issues that would keep TOP from achieving his/her goals
Step #3: Write down the tough questions that you anticipate TOP will ask. Then go back and write down how you would answer them.
Example: (TOP) Tell me how you handle situations where my employees may not buy into your solution? (YOU) Great question, Mr. TOP! Give me a few more specifics so that I may address your concern better.
Step #4: Craft a written list of possible objections/issues/concerns that TOP may have about moving forward with you. Include any possible ways of overcoming those objections. Our experience shows that you may hear these objections from TOP:
- We are already firmly entrenched with your competitor
- Let me refer you to the next management level down
- This is not a priority right now
- I deal with much more strategic matters
Step #5: Prepare two written commitment statements asking for TOP's assistance in moving forward.
Example: Ms. TOP, let me recommend that we set-up a time to meet with the major stakeholders in this project.
BE PREPARED FOR TOP! THEY EXPECT NOTHING LESS!
Photo credit: dgilder