Posts Tagged Sales Performance Improvement
Sales Training – It Isn’t About “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It”
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on June 26, 2016
It is also not about the elapsed time since you last did it. The strategic “it” in this case is the decision about whether you should make an investment in sales training.
If you traveled back in time and drop in on some of the conversations about sales training, you might hear: “We are not knocking the ball out of the park but things are okay plus we have a lot of other things going on so let’s think about that sales training thing next year” or “We just did some training three or four years ago – trained our entire sales team.”
It’s also true if you tune in with your other ear, you might pick up on comments such as: “Say, we have Thursday afternoon free at the national sales meeting why don’t we just fill that slot with some sales training” or “I just got a call from a training company, why don’t we just try them out in our southern region – we’ll probably get something out of it.”
Fast forward to the present – can you hear those same voices? Our experience says absolutely. But the really bad news is due to the present day competitive environment and the disruption in the markets, the negative consequences of those ideas are far greater.
The notion that one can develop and sustain a superior sales team in today’s buying environment without taking a more aggressive and forward looking perspective on when to invest in sales training and what that sales training needs to accomplish is at the very least questionable. The sales training discussion needs to be updated and reframed.
So, asking if something is broken or asking when was the last time we did it are not the right questions. What is the right question for determining if a sales training investment is appropriate?
Ask yourself: Is there a change occurring either internally or externally that requires your sales team to adapt and adjust their sales skills to continue to sell effectively? Let’s explore three examples of such a change.
Go-to-market strategy. Recently we were talking with a client that determined it was necessary to shift from being a low-cost provider to a value-added provider if they were to remain competitive. To execute this shift a number of changes needed to be considered ranging from the sales compensation package to the territory design to market segments – and the skill set of the sales team.
Most sales reps cannot easily move from selling on price to selling on value without some substantial help. Hence considering an investment in sales training is clearly warranted.
New product. Companies launch a dazzling array of new products annually. They run the gamut from innovative new offerings to minor upgrades of existing products. Yet, regardless of whether it’s a simple upgrade or a “bet the company” new product, the product launch strategy too often looks more like an escape plan than a well-devised blueprint to develop market superiority. The greater the innovation of the new product, the greater the need for the sales team to update their sales skills.
It is a safe bet that many new product launches fail to deliver the expected results because the investment in improving the sales team’s ability to sell the new product is inadequate.
Disruptive market changes. Companies in a number of markets are going through transformational changes in what they buy, how they buy, and what they are willing to pay for it. The medical sales industry is a striking example. If you are selling in the hospital market, winning is now about selling both the clinical and economic value of your product and you cannot just sell to the doctors, you also have to sell to Value Analysis Committees comprised of people who will never directly use the product.
If buyers change how they buy, sellers need to change how they sell and training needs to help.
There is an added benefit of reframing the need for sales training as a response to a strategic change. It enables a company to not only determine when an investment is warranted, it also helps you to define exactly what the sales training ought to look like. Case in point, the nature and content of the most effective sales training for the above noted examples would be significantly different.
It is unlikely that sales training will ever develop a better track record unless we do a better job determining the strategic reason why we are doing the training in the first place. The need must be clearly defined and it must be a need that matters.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Richard Ruff on June 1, 2016.
Three Mistakes B2B Sales Leaders Make That Hurt Performance
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES LEADERSHIP on June 16, 2016
Much is written about how the role of the B2B marketers changed over the years due to the shift in the buying process. And while this is true, and has been mentioned more than several times on the ANNUITAS blog, I see very little being written or spoken about the role of B2B sales and how their roles have changed. Perhaps this is just me not being as deeply ingrained in the B2B sales world, but by and large, I have not seen much in the way of the changing role of sales in the B2B process. Furthermore, when I speak to prospects and engage with customers, I find that sales believes the changes are needed on the marketing side, but that there is little that they need to do to adapt. They could not be more wrong. As I continue to interact with many on the marketing side and am now also spending more time with those in sales leadership, 
I have seen some consistent themes that run across a good number (not all) of sales organizations. These mistakes must be corrected if B2B sales organizations are going to have any measure of success.
They Create Work To Keep Sales Teams Busy
I was on a call not too long ago with a client who said that they were going to start pulling industry lists from their house database and have their inside sales team begin a “call blitz”. Without getting into the specifics, I asked my client why they were taking this approach when the whole goal of us working together was to create a buyer-centric, perpetual demand generation program. The answer I received was “we need to keep them busy.” This is not the first time I have heard this plan for an inside sales team.
Simply creating work to keep a sales team busy is like running to the river to get water in a bucket rather than fixing the plumbing. It is a short-term fix that often supplies little in the way of results. The reality is that inside sales people who are very well paid should not be the “fix” for demand generation. They should be poised to either truly sell via the phone or to qualify leads that have indicated via their behavior (and corresponding demographic data) that they are at a point in their buying process that they want to have a discussion. Simply creating work to keep inside sales people busy is not only productivity problem, it is a sign that your demand generation engine is broken.
They Measure The Wrong Things
I spoke this morning with a colleague who is in a fairly new role in his company and was telling me that the one key metric that their inside sales team is measured on is “call volume.” In his new role, he is attempting to move past this way of thinking and stress that quality far surpasses quantity, but he is experiencing resistance.
To be frank, measuring the volume of calls is one of the worst metrics any sales team could measure. When a buyer is in their buying process and ready to take a call, they often have many, in-depth questions. Buyers want to understand how the company’s solutions or services will benefit them, and want be sure their specific needs and challenges will be met. Calls of this nature can take 20-30 minutes or even longer and when done as part of a strategic demand generation program, will lead to a higher closed-won conversion rate, leading to increases in revenue. This is really what demand generation is about, quality over quantity. Call volume doesn’t matter.
They Insist on Sticking to Their Sales Process
Not long ago I was meeting with a client and white boarding the buying journey. During this session the VP of Sales interrupted and stated, “I am not too concerned with the buying process. We have a sales process that will disrupt that and we will engage them when we need to.”
WHAT?!?
It was clear from his statement that he had no clue that the buyers do not care about an internal sales process. In fact, buyers determine when they are ready to engage with sales and buyers are no longer dependent on sales people to research and determine the right time for them to buy.
While there is a need to establish a lead management process and sales people should have a process they follow for the management of pipeline and revenue, too many sales leaders are in the dark about aligning their sales process to that of their buyers. As result, the unfortunate reality is that they are not converting potential buyers to customers at the rate they could be.
Demand Generation is not only a marketing activity. To be effective, both sales and marketing must be active participants in the process and this means changing the way many sales organizations and sales leaders approach their buyers.
This article was originally posted to the Annuitas Blog by Carlos Hidalgo on May 26, 2016.
The Best Elevator Speech is Not a Speech
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on March 17, 2016
As the story goes from time to time you are alone in an elevator, the door opens and in walks someone you have been trying to schedule a meeting with forever. You now have an opportunity for a 2-3 minute conversation – so what is your message?
If you find yourself face-to-face in a similar situation– are you prepared for a short conversation that your “new found friend” will find compelling?
Let’s review some specific ideas to keep in mind for the proverbial two to three minute “elevator” conversation:
- Remember the purpose. An elevator speech and a sales presentation are not the same thing. In fact, they are entirely different! Sales presentations are more formal, longer and delivered after a significant amount of work understanding the challenges faced by the customer. An elevator speech is a short, casual conversation that you hope earns you the right for setting up a subsequent meeting. So, in an elevator speech, don’t simply try to tell your regular product story twice as fast.
- One size does not fit all. There is no such thing as an effective “preparation” that fits all situations. This is why sales management cannot craft some generic “elevator speech” that fits all situations. But you can get a head start – sometimes sales management or Marketing can provide core talking points or salespeople can think about a message or two they would like to share and then modify as appropriate. The flip side is also true … you can think about a few questions your customer might ask. What would you say if asked the simple question – “What’s new?” If you’ve thought through a point or two, you can then adapt the message to fit the person with whom you’re talking.
- A problem-centered approach works best. Because issues and challenges have center stage in any customer’s mind, a problem-centered approach is preferred. As is always the case, the focus needs to be on the customer. When planning a meeting, organize what you know about the issues and challenges the customer may be facing.
- Share short success stories. Sometimes you have a chance encounter with a customer that you never thought you would encounter – so you have no plan for the interaction. Here, the best preparation is simply always being aware of the most current success stories your company has experienced.
Above all else – remember the best elevator speeches are not speeches at all. They are short statements that enable you to engage the customer in a conversation. In the first 30 seconds of a two-minute impromptu meeting relate your talking points to a problem that you know a similar customer would face, and then immediately ask a question to shift the conversation so the customer is doing the talking. If you can get the customer engaged, you just might end up with the customer saying – “do you have a few more minutes?”
One may think the elevator speech is such a small part of the interaction with customers that it is simply not worth focusing on. It’s true that elevator speeches don’t close sales. But they are opportunities to advance the sale – obtaining an appointment for the following week, or asking the best way to get on the customer’s calendar.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spier on February 16, 2016.
Why Artificial Intelligence is a Huge Gift for Salespeople
Posted by Rick Pranitis in GENERAL DISCUSSION on February 15, 2016
I recently read a report that said the inside sales market is growing at rate of over 42,000 new jobs per year in this country. That’s three times faster than outside sales and a real testament to the fact that this part of your sales organization deserves a lot of attention – if you are not already providing it.
There are any number of best practices that can increase the results from your inside sales team. Five that readily come to mind are
- motivation techniques
- establishing a strong culture
- outstanding training and development
- establishing specific goals and metrics
- optimizing productivity
At the same time, you need to make sure you have the right recruitment, retention, benefits, and salaries that allow you to find and keep the right people. Each of those areas requires time, money, energy, management, and focus you may or may not have. But you really don’t have a choice.
Or do you? What if you could hire your next inside salesperson and not bother with any of that?
Technology may once again have found the answer. Artificial intelligence, which has captured our imaginations for decades, is finally beginning to make headway into the workplace. According to Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, we are in an AI “Spring” and will start to see more artificial intelligence applied across sales and marketing. Companies are already starting to use AI virtual sales “assistants” that can take the most onerous of inside sales jobs – slogging through a mountain of leads to find out which are hot and which are not. Once found, they can be passed over to a “real person” to do what they do best: sell and close. If you haven’t looked into this area yet, let me give you five reasons you should.
- Artificial intelligence can handle an unlimited number of leads.
Many sales executives run into the problem of how to efficiently increase lead engagement and conversion. Good marketing automation tools and techniques can generate mountains of leads, but who has the time to get through even a portion of them? Inevitably, your people end up wasting a great deal of their time trying. But AI software today can actually engage an unlimited number of leads in email conversations to find out who is ready to talk to a salesperson…and they can engage so convincingly that most prospects would swear they are interacting with a human.
- Artificial intelligence can create a more positive workplace.
Speaking of frustrating, the atmosphere in the office can make or break your department. If your salespeople are not happy or are feeling even slightly discouraged, their productivity will take a nosedive. If you can eliminate the grunt work so your salespeople don’t have to waste their limited time chasing cold leads, it can definitely lift their spirits – along with the bottom line.
- Artificial intelligence never asks for a raise, vacation, or time off.
Your virtual assistant is never going to ask for a raise. You’ll never have to worry about scheduling vacation time because “she” will never take one. No benefits, no time off, no sick leave, and a total workaholic putting in as many hours and as many days as you choose. No complaints over working the early or late shifts here. And HR will love you.
- Artificial intelligence never resigns, so you don’t have to deal with turnover or training.
This “employee” doesn’t require training. She’s a professional lead engagement machine that already knows how to do her job, having learned from millions of email conversations. She quickly learns the intricacies of your business and never departs for a sweeter offer or to go to the competition.
- Artificial intelligence could cost less than a quarter of the average salesperson and is probably the best hire you’ll ever make.
In a nutshell, humans cost more a lot more than software and aren’t nearly as scalable. Artificial intelligence software doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, in most cases the cost per “assistant” is a fraction of what you would pay a new human employee. And you’re not replacing people with technology; instead, you’re removing the boring and inefficient work and freeing up your human team to do their best work closing deals.
So, instead of considering that next human hire to build out your inside sales team, take a look at how artificial intelligence can scale your existing team. If AI can handle repetitive, boring tasks and free up the rest of us to ring the bell, then I’m all for it. It’s certainly worth exploring. You can bet your competition already is.
This article was originally posted to the Selling Power Blog by Alex Terry on December 9, 2015.
Beating The Competition In An Undifferentiated Market
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on January 19, 2016
When is selling the most fun? Certainly it’s when you have a superior product. Perhaps it’s even a “killer product”, like the Xerox copier vs. the mimeo machine.
Unfortunately with global competition and advanced manufacturing technologies, those days are rare and if they do occur they are difficult to sustain. Today even when you have a superior product a competitor is likely come out with one that is just as good or better than yours in half the time of yesteryear. Or you come face-to-face with the dreadful “it’s good enough” response.
So let’s take the worse possible case. You are selling in a market where the competition either has products that are just as good as yours or they have products that are perceived by the customers to be “good enough” compared to yours. How do you adapt your selling strategy to these market scenarios?
Here are two strategies:
- Better understand the competition as viewed by the customer.
- Adjust your sales strategy to the undifferentiated market reality – you have to do some things differently.
Let’s take at look at both strategies starting with developing a better understanding the competition.
Managing the competition.
As the old saying goes – “you have to keep your eye on the ball” and the ball is the customer. Particularly in an undifferentiated market, keeping an eye on the customer is key when it comes to executing an effective sales strategy for beating the competition. It is easy to take your eye off the ball and fall prey to the trap of getting in a defensive mode by reacting to the competition. It is critical to stay focused on the customer’s needs, challenges and concerns. Top sales performers focus on the customer and manage the competition.
If you focus on the customer and can answer these four questions (CAPS) about the competitor you have a better chance of executing a sales strategy where you win and they come in second:
- Capacity. What is the customer’s perception of the competitor’s major capabilities and limitations?
- Assessment. Why is the customer considering the competitor for the present opportunity?
- Performance. If the competitor is presently in the account what are they doing exceptionally well and poorly and why?
- Strategy. What is their sales strategy for the present opportunity?
Adjusting your sales strategy.
How can salespeople differentiate themselves from their competitors in an undifferentiated market? Over the years we have asked that question to sales managers. Here is what they said:
- Sell a total solution. To differentiate, sales reps must move beyond the product and identify the value-adds that will help the customer achieve their business outcomes.
- Understand all aspects of the competition. The competition isn’t just the other company or its products – it’s also the company’s sales reps. So know the competitor’s sales reps, their histories with the account, and their relationships with the customer.
- Don’t underestimate the importance of relationships. Although effective B2B selling is not just about building relationships, selling is still a personal business. People buy from people they know and like – so get to know all the people that are engaged in the buyer’s decision journey and understand what value means from their individual perspectives.
- Be an effective communicator. Do what you say you are going to do, if you don’t know don’t pretend, if you make a mistake admit it, correct it, and make sure you don’t repeat it, have unbridled enthusiasm, and convey a compelling belief in your company.
- Create an accurate picture of the competitive landscape. Learn your natural supporters and adversaries and spend time developing willing and able internal champions. Determine how much impact the various players have on the buying decision and have an accurate picture of the competition’s perceived position from the customer’s view.
- Look at the big picture. Understand the external issues facing the company – e.g., economic shifts, regulatory changes, and industry trends.
- Leverage your experience. Bring breadth to the sales environment by helping the customer see how other companies have tackled similar issues – have the stories available to bring that experience to life.
- Be aware of passive competitors. Passive competitors are products or services that aren’t direct competitors in that they don’t do what your product or service does – but they are competing for the same bucket of money. This happens more often than one might think – a medical device, for example, not being adopted by a hospital because resources will be dedicated to buying capital equipment.
- Helping the customer understand the consequences of inaction. It’s very common to go through a sales cycle and find out at the end that the customer decides that doing nothing is preferred course of action. Sometimes this happens for good reasons – like the customer decides they are not ready to make a purchase or the resources required aren’t available. In other cases, they don’t want to deal with the disruption that the purchase might bring. Here you can sometimes beat the competition by helping the customer see the consequences of inaction.
In the end, if you are going to beat the completion in an undifferentiated market you must distinguish yourself by how you sell, not just by what you sell. You have to be the competitive advantage.
This article was originally posted to the Sales Training Connection Blog by Janet Spirer on January 6, 2016.
What Are Leading and Lagging Indicators, and What Can They Do for You?
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on December 8, 2015
Sales management is often conducted using lagging indicators – KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that show what has already happened, such as:
- Sales
- Number of units sold
- Gross margin
- Number of different products sold
We definitely need these in order to see where we’ve been and how we’ve done. But managing only with lagging indicators means you, too, are going to be lagging. Why? By the time lagging indicators become clear, it is too late to change anything.
To look into the future, we need to be able to tell how our current activities are impacting those final figures.
Leading Indicators
Now let’s take a look at the other kind of KPI, called leading indicators. Leading indicators serve as a somewhat reliable index of how our lagging indicators are going to turn out, and consist of factors that can be monitored on a day-to-day basis, such as:
- Leads created
- Leads converted to opportunities
- Sales rep closing ratio
- Percentage of opportunities through each sales process stage
The Combination
A full, usable, dynamic picture of your operation comes about only through the combination of leading and lagging indicators. Only this combination allows you to catch errors and make changes well before your lagging indicators come into effect.
A skillful combination uses leading indicators in such a way that they connect directly with potential lagging indicators – allowing you to clearly see how they will appear if you proceed as planned. For example, if you add up the value of your opportunities in your pipeline, the percentage chances of their making it through, the ranking of each deal, and other leading factors, you see that – if all goes according to plan – you’ll have $1.5 million for the quarter.
If you add up all your leading indicators and see that you’re falling short of your target, you then have time to do something about it. For example:
- Get more leads into the pipeline.
- Take steps to raise lead-to-opportunity conversion rates.
- Coach and mentor your reps to raise closing ratios.
- Monitor your sales process to makes sure it is efficient.
Automation
Unless you assign one or more sales admin staff full time to the task (which would certainly not be cost effective), you’re going to have a tough time keeping your leading indicators updated. It’s best – in fact, it’s vital – that you have an automated solution that fully incorporates your leading and lagging indicators, and allows you to watch them in real time. It’s obviously best if this solution is also your CRM solution, so everything is in one place.
So look over your sales operations. Do you have leading indicators that clearly show where your sales are headed and how you’ll get there, along with lagging indicators that show where you’ve been? Make sure these are both in place, and fully incorporated into your sales organization and automation, so you always know where you’re going.
This article was originally posted to the Selling Power Blog by Nikolaus Kimla on November 5, 2015.
Seven Psychological Triggers That Will Put Your Sales Goal in Reach
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on November 25, 2015
Few things are more frustrating for a salesperson than an invisible wall. You can have a great track record, a way with words, a dapper appearance, and a charming personality — but that will only take you so far. The best, most well-rounded salespeople have mastered a non-physical, or relational, side of the game. There’s a deep psychology to sales, and your success depends on your ability to understand the “how” and “why” of your clients’ decisions.
Activating the following psychological sales triggers will send you down the right path and enable you to quickly build deeper, more effective rapport with your current and prospective clients:
- Personalize your story. You want your story to help clients connect their desire for a product to an emotion. Someone who feels something about a product is much more likely to purchase than someone who merely knows about it. A good way to accomplish this is to add personal anecdotes to your pitch. For example, if your client works in the medical field, start your story with the phrase, “In commonly working with medical practitioners, this is what I’ve found.” In doing this, you’re creating a personal connection with your client and opening the door for an emotional response.
- Tailor your reason. Every client has different reasons for wanting something. Displaying one overarching utility of your product is an insufficient tactic. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to effective sales. To properly apply this trigger, you need to know the specific hobbies and interests of your clients. Are you speaking to someone who prioritizes family values or someone who loves work more than anything else? Leverage that knowledge to tailor the appeal of your product and kick-start each client’s motivation.
- Spark curiosity. Once the client hears your story and begins to feel the need to acquire your product, you must give those positive feelings a viable destination. In other words, you need to ignite a spark of curiosity that causes him to visualize how he’ll apply your product to his life. When cultivating this curiosity, it’s important to share the right amount of information. If you under-share, your client will leave the meeting with too vague of an idea and possibly lose interest. But don’t over-share because you’ll run out of things to talk about at the closing meeting. Finding the correct balance will lead your clients to leave the initial meeting feeling understood and eagerly awaiting the next one.
- Be specific. Everyone who works in sales knows that most clients naturally distrust salespeople. That’s why it’s so important to provide clients with something concrete rather than a general sales pitch. By giving specifics, you step outside the salesperson box and become an educator — a much more trusted figure. Again, this is why it’s vital to study your clients as individuals. Handing everyone an 800-page manual that covers all your products just won’t cut it. Add specific twists and turns to your pitch that cater directly to each client’s personality and interests.
- Express expertise. Another way to build trust and depart from sales stereotypes is to present yourself as an expert in your field or as someone who has direct access to authority figures. My former business partner Scott was a renowned expert in wealth management, while my expertise was in life insurance. When we were in business together, I made sure to connect my clients from the financial industry with Scott to use his knowledge as a selling point. I told my clients that I was excited to introduce them to Scott, and I was sure to tell them what qualified him as an expert in their field. By leveraging Scott’s authority, I was not only asserting myself as someone who could meet their needs, but I was also sparking curiosity by creating excitement around a meeting with him.
- Emphasize scarcity. Scarcity is an age-old sales tactic. Consumers are commonly told to hurry up and buy something before it’s too late. But scarcity doesn’t always have to refer to quantity; it can also mean a limited-time offer or a temporary bonus. In suggesting that your product is scarce, you’re urging clients to move your offering to the top of their priority list and give it their full attention. Scarcity is a powerful tool, but be careful how you use it. Yes, you want your client to feel a sense of urgency about buying your product, but don’t use this trigger to manipulate them into making decisions that aren’t right for them. When you use scarcity to mislead and fluster clients, you risk losing the ability to sell to them in the future.
- Consider legacy. Getting your clients to think about legacy means helping them look at the big picture while maintaining attention on the current sale at hand. How you focus on legacy depends on your audience. If your client is a business, communicate how your product will help it move toward its long-term goals and better express its core values. If your client is an individual, speak directly to his personal goals.
Don’t just be a general salesperson who delivers general sales pitches. Be a human who seeks personal connections while selling a product. These tailored connections are the key to the psychological side of sales. Becoming a reliable, relatable salesperson will help you knock down that pesky invisible wall.
This article was originally posted to the Sales & Marketing Management Blog by Ben Newman on September 25, 2015.
Developing an Effective Sales Force in Today’s Complex Environment
Posted by Rick Pranitis in Sales Process Evaluation on November 16, 2015
“In most business models, the sales department is fixated on selling. The problem with this approach is that people no longer want to be sold.”
— The Modern Face of Sales by Humpus Jakobbson
All aspects of business have changed, and as Jakobsson points out, this includes sales. Traditional approaches to selling and training your sales force are outdated. So how do you address the challenge of achieving a successful sales interaction with today’s customers, and how do you equip your sales force to consistently perform to produce the sales outcomes you need?
Some organizations seek simple answers to a complex problem. If sales are down, then more sales training must be the answer. Teach the team more about the product. Or get them to memorize more features and benefits. Or focus the training on how to better use the sales management process to improve the customer experience. Or modernize the sales force automation tool. While aspects of these solutions could be helpful, they are just shots in the dark if you don’t first conduct research to understand what is important for your particular sales force.
Complex problems demand a rigorous approach to determine what matters. Selling in today’s highly competitive market filled with technically savvy buyers and hungry competitors certainly qualifies as a complex problem. For many organizations, sales is the final frontier calling for a robust approach to develop in-depth understanding. For instance,
- Research is conducted to understand what features and functions are important to the target segment.
- Research is conducted to understand what matters to the user.
- Research is conducted to find the right price point.
Typically, however, no research is conducted to understand what is important for individual sales professionals in their roles.
Focusing on the right things, the things that matter, is the fuel that energizes successful sales force improvement efforts. How do you determine what matters most, specifically to your sales team, to create success in your complex selling environment?
The answer, similar to strategies used in marketing and product development, is straightforward and can be summarized in a four-step diagnostic.
Step 1: Identify who’s already getting it right (or starting to). Referring to the sales force with gross generalizations such as, “Our sales force is great,” or “Our sales force is not very good,” is common. These generalizations ignore the fact that the performance of the sales force follows a normal distribution curve. This curve has subpar performers, mostly average performers, and a small handful of top performers. Regardless of your sales situation, the top performers have either already solved or are in the process of solving the mystery that has ensnarled your sales circumstances. Identifying these top performers, though not always as straightforward as you may expect, is the first step in the process of analyzing sales performance. Performers in your sales organization today are creating the customer conversations, experiences and ultimately the end results your organization is seeking. These people are typically the most-respected members of your sales team.
Step 2: Gather data from top performers. Your company’s product, your customer experience initiatives, your incentive programs, your competitor analysis and your customer support all must be integrated within each individual on your sales team. And it is a truly human integration, so understanding your top performance is a people-centric endeavor. In the language of performance improvement specialists, those top performers who have successfully achieved this integration are “unconsciously competent.” In other words, they execute patterns of success without consciously thinking about what they are doing or need to do next. For them, being consistently successful in their roles is a bit like driving a car. They know when to brake, when to accelerate, and how to instantly spot and take action to avoid hazards. Simply surveying them or conducting how-do-you interviews will likely not result in sufficient data to understand what sets them apart. However, collecting data on top performance behavior is not illusive; it can be gathered through observation and diagnostic interviewing techniques, typically conducted by performance improvement specialists. Applied across an appropriate sample set of top performers, these techniques yield an impressive collection of raw data.
Step 3: Analyze the data to develop a model of top performance. Invariably top performers think about their roles differently. Their focus is based on the mental model they have created through trial and error as they have pursued success. By synthesizing the data, a mental model of how top performers view the sales role can be developed. This model is defined through a set of five to seven outcomes that in aggregate are consistently produced by top performers. These outcomes tend to be leading indicators of success rather than lagging indicators. This forward-looking view is the chief reason it is key to identify and codify the desired outcomes.
Step 4: Take action to equip the entire sales team to behave like top performers. Taking action to equip average performers to produce the same outcomes as top performers does not necessarily equate to training. Though effective approaches to equipping the average performers do not ignore knowledge and skill development, these attributes are not the sole focus. The focus should be on equipping the individual sales professionals and the organization to produce top-performer outcomes throughout the sales organization. In our experience, focusing on the outcomes creates alignment throughout the organization that in turn drives new and significant behaviors in both sales leadership and sales professionals. At the core of this behavior change is a set of new and meaningful conversations: conversations between supervisor and sales professional, conversations amongst leadership, and conversations with customers. These new, meaningful conversations have a compounding effect in driving success across the organization.
Following these four steps provides tremendous clarity and focus for the sales team in today’s complex environment, which in turn produces huge dividends for the organization.
This article was originally posted to the Sales & Marketing Management Blog by Greg Long and Butler Newman on September 21, 2015.
Three Questions to Assess Sales Force Effectiveness
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES LEADERSHIP, Sales Process Evaluation on July 13, 2015
Every company wants a more effective sales force but few know where to start. Seeking quick results but unsure as to what is broken, sales leaders often launch a dozen or more initiatives simultaneously, hoping one of them is the real root of the problem.
Unfortunately, this approach often creates entirely new problems. Scarce resources are stretched thin. Sales teams, pulled in many directions at once, are unable to execute well. Results are typically poor when trying to focus on too many initiatives rather than three or four ideas that might really matter. As effectiveness slides, frustrated leaders must ask again, “What levers should I be pulling to boost performance?”
While the specific levers differ for every company, sales effectiveness issues can most often be traced to one or more of six very common culprits. Before launching any sales effectiveness initiatives, ask yourself the following three questions to maximize your chances of attaining good results.
- Is our field sales management effective in driving sales performance?
Companies aiming to improve sales effectiveness usually zero in on “fixing” the sales force but often the problems lie with the managers who lead them. We see it time and again: When a company with an average sales team hires a great manager, that manager elevates the performance of the entire team. The opposite is also true. When a team of superstar reps is led by a mediocre manager the performance slides and turnover increases.
Highly effective field sales management may be the single most important driver of overall sales force performance yet many companies don’t develop and tightly manage an effective sales management process. To begin, identify the skills and capabilities required for sales management success in your company, hire to those skills and then invest in proper development and training. Sales managers must be viewed, managed and measured with the same lens as salespeople: Are our sales managers helping their reps target and prioritize the right prospects? Are they coaching reps to help improve the win rate? Are they tracking metrics that measure the right behaviors and activities in the sales force and coaching to improve performance? Without excellent sales managers, even the best designed sales force effectiveness program will fail.
- Are our sales reps spending time on the activities and prospects most likely to generate incremental revenue?
Targeting and prioritization continues to be a top issue for sales forces. It comes down to this: Are your sales reps spending their time with the prospects that will generate the most incremental revenue and who are most likely to buy? It sounds basic, but we find most reps spend up to half their selling time pursing the wrong customers. These include prospects that are unlikely to buy, who have small incremental revenue potential, who are geographically convenient and who are “comfortable” because they are friendly. Growing incremental revenue requires spending more time selling to the highest priority targets.
A related problem is the limited time reps spend with customers. Time-use studies reveal many reps spend as little as 30%-50% of their time with direct customer/prospect selling activities, largely due to administrative burdens, corporate demands and lack of support. By freeing more of reps’ time to sell, then making targeting and prioritization activities a key part of coaching and metrics, sales reps can learn to re-direct their efforts and their expanded selling hours to prospects with the highest revenue/margin potential and the highest probability of buying. Sales managers often focus their coaching on point-of-sell messaging, but prioritizing who to pursue may be a more impactful lever.
- Do we fully leverage both hunting and farming activities to drive new revenue?
Any good revenue engine needs the right mix of revenue from winning new customers and from farming existing accounts. The right blend of hunting and farming activities will be different for every company and it is important to be intentional in creating it. Hunting involves knocking on new doors to drive new business; farming requires deepening relationships to further penetrate existing accounts. These are different activities that require different skill sets, different behaviors, different process and different metrics. Successful sales organizations leverage these differences to effectively target each prospect with reps whose skills match the opportunity.
Sales territories created by geography or industry without a real understanding of where revenue opportunities are and how they align with the assigned salesperson’s skill set usually produce lackluster revenue results. Hunting and farming skills are so dissimilar, they usually don’t reside in the same person. When organizations understand the hunting and farming requirements in their particular environment and differentiate those activities to match the skill sets of the sale team, revenues improve.
This article was originally posted to the Sales & Marketing Management Blog by Brad Wilsted and Ryan Tubman on April 27, 2015.
The Sales Process Is Not A One Way Street!
Posted by Rick Pranitis in SALES BEST PRACTICES on April 24, 2015
Our thinking and visualizations of our sales processes, deal strategies, funnels, and pipelines often cause us to do the wrong things. It’s because we have a “one way street” mentality as we think of our deal strategies. Things progress–top to bottom, left to right (or right to left in certain parts of the world).
We prospect, qualify, discover, demonstrate, propose, close, implement. Everything moves in one direction, we’re always moving forward—-except when we don’t.
The other day, I was reviewing a critical deal. You guessed it, it was large and critical to the quarter end. The sales person had it moving from the proposing to closing stages of their sales process, but the deal had been stalled for some months. The sales person was insistent that it would close when projected.
In reviewing the deal, the sales person had been using the sales process. She’d been working on the deal for about 6 months, was executing the process step by step moving it through the stages until it reached its current point and it stopped. She was trying to move it forward, but it just wasn’t working.
As we examined things, we started seeing there had been a major management restructuring, with new management at a couple of levels above the decision-maker. This brought on a shift in corporate priorities, and as a result other projects were being cancelled.
I asked, “Is the deal still a priority, is it a real deal? Should we re-qualify it? Given all the changes just above the decision-maker, do we need to reassess the whole thing? Should this be in the closing stages of our pipeline?”
That’s when I started seeing the nervous glances among the team. They had worked hard to get the deal to this place. They needed to close the deal. They tried hard to argue, “We’ve followed our sales process, and we’ve done everything we needed to do to get it to the closing stage of the process. So we just need to push it forward.” They were trying as hard as they could to push the deal through, but it just wasn’t happening.
We agreed they would go back and explore the urgency of the deal with the customer, particularly given the changes. They also found a way to meet with some of the new corporate executives.
They learned, there was some interest in the project, but it wasn’t a high priority and the funding for the project was being diverted. With some of the shifts in the corporate strategies, the needs and requirements for this project were changing. The good news was they were changing in a way that made the deal both bigger and made my client a much better fit.
As we examined all the information the team had gotten, we realized we needed to start the sales process all over again. While much of the work they had done would probably be very valuable, things had changed.
The team needed to re-qualify the deal, and then go through all the sales process again. All based on the changes that had occurred within the customer.
While the team intuitively knew all of this, they were blinded thinking things only go one way in the pipeline or in our sales process. We always move forward.
Ideally, we do, but the sales process and the pipeline is a two way street. Sometimes things go back to the beginning of the sales process, sometimes they pop back to the top of the funnel.
Not recognizing this means we are fooling ourselves and our managers in the expectations we set in our pipelines. Not recognizing this means we are not aligned with the customer and where they are with their buying process. As a result, we aren’t creating the value we should–in fact may be doing all the wrong things.
The team moved the deal back to the top of the pipeline. They changed the projected close date–actually they left it open, since they needed to re-qualify the whole deal. They started developing strategies to start the whole process all over again. While it was disappointing, without doing this, they would have continued doing the wrong things with the customer and have been setting the wrong expectations for their own management. They would have been wasting their and everyone else’s time.
We all have deals like that. Deals we’ve worked hard on. We’ve brought them to a certain place, but they stop. Things change, we need to reassess, restart and go through our process yet again. Perhaps we are a little smarter from having gone through it once before. Perhaps we can accelerate the buying process, based on that knowledge, but we have to go back re-qualify, rediscover, re-demonstrate, re-propose and close again on the “new deal.”
Don’t think of your sales process or pipeline as a one way street. Things can and should move backwards. Denying it doesn’t help anything.
This article was originally posted to the Partners in Excellence Blog by David Brock on March 30, 2015.
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