I’m thinking of the poker colloquialism “tell.”  From Wikipedia:

A tell in poker is a detectable change in a player’s behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player’s assessment of his hand. A player gains an advantage if he observes and understands the meaning of another player’s tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable.

Our experiences have provided us with the ability to read certain sales manager behaviors during the hiring process.  Typically, we notice the red flags first since they are most dangerous.  Here is a sample:

Tell:  Hiring For Experience
Sales managers who pass on strongly-skilled salespeople in favor of salespeople with industry experience.  This common approach makes a significant, flawed presumption; that industry experience is more difficult to acquire than selling ability.

Flag:  Sales manager is hoping to simply plug-in the new salesperson without spending appropriate time training them.  The “sink or swim” management technique.

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Tell:  Judging Candidate Appearance
Sales managers who draw deep conclusions from simply assessing the candidate’s physical appearance.  We’ve seen managers who assume increased body weight=lethargy, ruddy complexion=alcoholism and unbuttoned cufflinks=unprofessionalism.

Flag:  Sales manager will take single-point data and run it out to their own conclusion.  This is a difficult manager for a salesperson to work under since unfounded suspicion will be everywhere.

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Tell:  Making Statements, Not Asking Questions
Sales managers who don’t truly ask a question in an interview, but rather make a statement (accurate or otherwise).  “You sold through distributors not directly to companies.”  Honestly, that was stated erroneously by a sales manager to a candidate in an interview recently.

Flag:  Sales manager makes snap decisions and then works to confirm them.  The lack of objectivity leads to preset beliefs that can run counter to reality.

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Not all of these flags play out to extreme levels, but they do impact the hiring process in a negative way.  We have seen sales managers pass on good candidates due to the aforementioned flags.

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Good article here from ManageSmarter.com titled Can Training Fix Manager Transition Troubles?  The primary topic is transitioning sales managers from sales rep roles.  This is now small task and we have seen many crash and burn.  The author provides some insightful commentary into this common problem.

This section truly stands out.  The topic is that there are some fatal assumptions new sales managers often make that derail their success.

The “fatal assumptions” identified were: 1. My individual contributor success will translate into management success; 2. It’s out of my control—someone else can and should fix this; 3. Being the expert is the most important factor for my credibility; 4. It’s the rational and logical approach or solution that counts; 5. The people I manage are just like me (in their thinking, approach, expectations, goals, and priorities); 6. Competent people do not need help.

Numbers 5 and 6 leap off the screen.  These two items are extremely common based on our experience.  Strangely, many sales managers believe these statements are valid.  Coaching other salespeople is a difficult task and one that many sales managers avoid to their own detriment.

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We’ve been working on this value topic because it is the single, most important aspect of any sales position.  A company that lacks a value proposition is destined to stumble through the market while being commoditized on price.

I saw this effect 6 years ago when doing sales calls in the field with a company’s reps.  After spending a couple days in a couple different cities, it became clear that they had to value proposition to offer the market.  This absence of value led to one consistent outcome - they had to compete on price.  Granted, some companies are positioned to compete in this format.  The company I was working with was not.

We’ve recently worked with another company that is in a similar predicament.  They have not articulated their value proposition but they have tried to fix it by bringing in new salespeople.  The quick fix in this approach is to make the new salespeople discover and define their value.  This approach hasn’t worked either.

This company is now on the path to defining their core competencies and their unique value in the market.  Thankfully for them, they have value.  But it is not sustainable to ask new salespeople to discern what that value is.  This task falls squarely on the sales manager’s shoulders and must be taught during the new rep’s onramping period.

If this task is not undertaken during the onramp, the end result is usually a salesperson who relies on the simplest value…price.  They will often become a price slasher, deep discounter.  Their justification will be that they have to be at that level to get the deal or that the competition is undercutting them on the price.  These justifications are made with the assumption that your solution has no other value.  As a sales manager, you have to stop this thinking before it takes root in the salesperson’s mind.

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Proprietary information is a nuclear topic when dealing with salespeople who are leaving a company.  Product info, service plans, actual costs vs. pricing are all hot topics.  But for sales, the one thing that keeps managers up at night is the security of the customer list.

We see many companies who desire to hire a salesperson from the competition with the expressed hope that the salesperson will bring customers with them.  Quick note-it rarely happens, but that doesn’t stop companies from focusing their hiring strategy.

CNNMoney.com provides an article that discusses the legalities of this approach.  In the article is a phrase that I have not encountered before - garden-leave clause.  The explanation:

Greco also advises anyone changing jobs to read the paperwork carefully - both what they signed at their old job and what a new employer is asking them to sign. A growing trend: So-called garden leave (or gardening leave) clauses, which require an employee to give at least 90 days’ notice of his or her departure, during which time the employee must stay home and avoid all contact with customers. (Hence the name: You’ll have time to do plenty of gardening, or whatever else floats your boat.) The purpose of a garden leave is to give your employer a head start in trying to hold on to your clients before you begin working at a different firm.

Interesting approach and one that seems to have some legs based on this generational point:

Young people especially now have an expectation of moving around a lot from one firm to another,” notes Greco. “So it’s important to be aware of these kinds of employment agreements that can really slow you down.”

In sales, we often see the 1 year non-compete agreement which has some impact, but truly is difficult to enforce.  This garden-leave clause, if enforceable, should give companies the time they need to solidify their customer list before competitive pressure from the departed salesperson begins.

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In sales we know that prospects and customers make decisions emotionally and then justify them afterwards intellectually.  This is why strong salespeople have the ability to build rapport and then engage the prospect’s emotions during the qualifying stage.

This truth appears to have been validated in a new book titled Sway:  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior as noted in this Inc.com blog.  The pull quote:

Newsflash: People, even when given a choice of thinking logically and getting beneficial results, will often act emotionally despite the consequences. The effects of this irrational behavior on businesses can be far reaching.

There is an intriguing case study referenced in the post that is worth the read.  The outcome of that section is valuable advice:

The authors point out one final take-away that struck close to home with me. “The researchers concluded that business owners place too great importance on margins and outcomes. They recommended that all managers — regardless of industry — put greater “effort, energy, investment, and patience” into nurturing the relationship. In the end, “the fairness of the procedure has as much to do with our satisfaction as the ultimate outcome.”

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Listen, according to this Selling Power article:

“One of the mistakes companies have made in the past is that they make decisions without real input from the people who are most affected by the hiring decisions,” says Opton. “Companies need to realize that they always have two sets of customers – internal and external. The minute that someone comes to work for them, that person becomes an internal customer to the organization. The organization needs to listen to what their needs are and act on those needs.”

The article references a survey regarding executives’ wants, but it is representative of employees also.  The interesting stat that always seems to come out of these surveys:

“Just 12 percent pointed to compensation as the reason why they leave companies,” says Opton. “We see this year after year – money will motivate people to come on board, but it can’t make them stick.”

Excellent point, can’t make them stick.  Many managers assume a decent paycheck (the manager gets to define “decent”) will keep most salespeople happy.  But look at these numbers:

“Nearly half of the dissatisfied executives reported limited advancement opportunities; lack of challenge; a desire for more managerial responsibility, autonomy or technical improvement; or dislike of the work as the reasons they were ready to bolt,” states the study. “Issues relevant to lifestyle – work/life imbalance, commute, relocation, and business travel – became deal breakers for another 21 percent. Difficulty with the culture and the boss accounted for 13 percent of executive dissatisfaction.”

I suspect the commute topic will become more prevalent in the next study thanks to the gas price trend.

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Selling Power released an archived article titled Four Elements of Excellence.  The short article provides a well-thought description so let’s cut right to the chase.  Here are the four:

1.) Goal Setting
2.) Commitment
3.) Feedback
4.) Organizational Support

I would say that is a good list.  The one that jumps out is goal setting.  This is something we see in the sales arena often, but not in a good way.  Many sales managers believe an annual quota is all the goal setting a salesperson needs.

But let’s jump back to the article:

Without specific goals, you’ll never know whether you’ve achieved excellence because you’ve never defined it. Hence, the first step is to write clear, specific goals of what you wish to achieve and at what level you wish to achieve these goals.

Here’s the issue - I worked with a fairly strong salesperson who had a golden territory.  He had worked hard to develop it and was successful in landing a handful of large accounts.  However, he stagnated.  The only measurement for success was the annual quota which increased slightly each year.

This salesperson was able to ride his good accounts each year to cover the increased quota responsibility.  Yet, his territory contained much higher potential.  The goal setting in this instance did not define the right growth for him or the bountiful territory he controlled.

Successful sales is a matter of executing the right behaviors consistently.  Goal setting should include prospecting, new customers, retention, product/service mix, industry associations, on-time expense reports, trade shows and many more items.  Define success beyond just profitable revenue.  Set appropriate goals that stretch the salesperson outside of their comfort zone.

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Dave Kurlan has a post that struck a chord with me.  The topic is distractions and how they affect salespeople (my editing):

Distractions can take many forms, from the call that takes them off their game, to the illness or death of a loved one that stops their game cold.  Distractions can last a few minutes or they can linger for months.  You can even understand why some, especially the really bad distractions, can interfere for so long.

You know they’ll have distractions so it’s your job to know your salespeople well enough to recognize when they are being affected.  Helpd (sic) help them cope, focus and work through them in order to get from each as close to 12 months worth of effectiveness as you can.

That is a great point he makes for sales managers.  It is important that you help your salespeople through these distractions to keep/get them on track.  Of course, this assumes that you are managing them.  Calls, coaching, forecasts, activities, territories, etc….you have to know these things first in order to help them through the distraction.

We placed a strong salesperson at one of our customers and he was selling well above quota for 2 years and then I received a call.  He no longer on his game.  He was missing calls, putting together incomplete proposals and not closing business.  Our customer, the VP of Sales, told me the salesperson was going through a difficult divorce (is there ever an easy one?).

We put together a plan for him and coached the sales manager on how to handle him.  Unfortunately, the salesperson never recovered and they eventually fired him.  I suspect that may have been what he was hoping for - a new start somewhere else.

Well, that was a dramatic example of a distraction.  The daily, insignificant distractions are the ones for which to zero in as a sales manager.  A small improvement here can have a compound return later.

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SalesHQ.com offers up an article that discusses the “secrets” of top sales achievers.  A couple of the secrets:

• Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without ‘approval power’. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit.

• Recognize when to treat an old account as a new prospect and keep the relationship fresh, alive and maintain profitability

And then there is the most important one:

• Never entertain business they do not want because they recognize that it takes just as long to work an unprofitable opportunity through the sales funnel, only to lose it at the death, as it does a profitable one. They trust their own judgement but also rely heavily on objective assessment.

That last secret cannot be stressed enough.  This point is a fine one, but the strongest salespeople recognize a dog when they see one and move on.  If the prospective deal is a loser for them, they go find a new prospect.  This ability is difficult to train but crucial to success.

As a sales manager, it is imperative that you question your salespeople on what information they have qualified for any prospective deal on their forecast.  If you don’t, some of the salespeople will waste time chasing low probability deals to appear busy.  The end result will be surprise that they didn’t get the deal closed at the end.

I know this because I have done it as a sales rep.

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The Wall Street Journal pens an article about Coach purses and what they are doing to expand their brand.  Clearly it is a strong brand today, but they play at the upper end of the price curve.  Inside the article is a poignant comment from their CEO regarding marketing:

We want to be transformative in the way we look. You can’t be iterative when the economy is tough.

Simple, sound point he makes, isn’t it?  If you continue down a repetitive path, you are going to run into revenue shortfalls in this slow economy.  You have to change something up, refocus it, introduce something new, etc.  Some of the most successful lines were launched during a recession.

What do MTV, Trader Joe’s, and the iPod have in common? Yes, of course, they’re all now ubiquitous and make our lives much more agreeable.

But to us, the most interesting thing about all three is that these great brands were born during recessions. (Trader Joe’s: 1958; MTV: 1981; iPod: 2001, if you are scoring at home.)

And therein lies a point everyone seems to be forgetting in the midst of the current economic slowdown. If handled correctly, a downturn can be a good thing for your company. It can give you the opportunity — and the funds — to innovate and get a substantial leg up on the competition.

Stagnant companies get stagnant, or worse, results during slow times.  The same is true for salespeople.  Some get overwhelmed with the economy, assume nothing can be done and give up.  Or discount drastically.  Or change careers.  Whatever the outcome, now is the time for strong leadership from the sales manager and a unique marketing message that creates some buzz.

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