The stresses of this economy are affecting entire sales departments from the leadership down to the trenches. One piece I have noticed is a distinct aversion towards customer relationship management software. Interestingly, the resistance is coming from sales managers. What I believe I am seeing are sales managers with less than solid forecasts…and they know it. However, one of the oldest games in sales is fudging the forecast. Sales managers typically inflate the forecast to buy time. They know certain deals are soft, to say the least, but they are hopeful they can cover those loses with new, undiscovered opportunities. It is some twisted logic for sure. I once worked… Read More
Continue ReadingWhy Sales Forecasts Matter
I’ve noticed in some companies a casualness regarding sales forecasts from their sales team. Heck, I’ve worked for some companies that shared that casualness. Some companies view it as an exercise in Excel gymnastics. Others view it as a coffee klatch activity. One customer of ours had multipliers (<1.0) for certain sales reps since they knew those sales reps’ forecasts were inflated…greatly. Here is a news story about a local company and a significant change to their forecast. The setup: Digital River Inc. shares plunged Monday after the e-commerce services provider announced it will lose its largest customer. Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) notified Digital River on Oct. 9… Read More
Continue ReadingFunnel Or Sieve?
This Selling Power article title made me laugh – Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve? I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word “sieve” carries a special horror. That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son. My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant. Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement. This entire graph is valuable: It’s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says… Read More
Continue ReadingBite-Sized Selling
I have come across many articles recently that promote selling tips in this recession. One common thread runs through all of them – chase smaller deals. Here is an example from Inc.com – 5 Tips for Selling a Service Now: “The big change for us in 2009 is that we are more flexible on minimum amount of an engagement that we’ll pursue,” says Gay Gaddis, the founder and CEO of T3, an Austin-based advertising and marketing agency that specializes in digital media. In years past, her firm only went after client engagements that were worth between $1.5 million and $2 million. Now, “some larger clients are breaking RFPs into smaller… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Enormous Forecast
Shrinking revenue reports are the fear of most sales managers. This fear is further intensified during this economy. There are salespeople who are attempting to leverage this fear by submitting an inflated forecast. These salespeople provide forecasts that are filled with large deals that are welded to the 90 days out category. The sales managers who buy into this approach are trading accuracy for enormity as they submit the aggregate forecast from their team. I suppose the sales manager’s thought is that the salespeople will get shot before he or she is shot. Perhaps, but the business pays a tremendous price for this obfuscation. There are two antidotes to this… Read More
Continue ReadingDown 25%
That is the number I continue to hear from salespeople in a variety of markets when I ask them how are sales? That is a staggering number when you think about it. Unfortunately, those are the times we live in for now. I continue to believe that the best method for offsetting this decrease is to go take business from your competition. Who are their top customers? Those accounts must always be your top prospects in any economy. In today’s economy, I believe it will be difficult to persuade companies to invest in new purchases. However, if they are currently buying from a competitor, salespeople need to unhook the business. … Read More
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