Salespeople are finely-tuned into the economy since it can have a direct impact on their wallet. The fact is many salespeople who falter during an economic downturn get let go. That is a lot of pressure to handle even for strong salespeople.
ManageSmarter.com offers up this article – Chronicles of a Sales Leader: Tough Times Call for Solid Leadership – that provides guidance to sales managers in handling salespeople who are under pressure. The author’s first point is perfectly stated (my bold):
1. Don’t abandon the client.
As pressure to hit your numbers increases, a tendency to push the sales cycle ahead of the client’s buying cycle is a frequent mishap. Salespeople in this situation begin to focus on close dates and fail to solve what the customer is trying to fix, accomplish or avoid. This leads to clients who don’t understand your value proposition because your team is not offering up a solution. Ultimately, those in this situation end up discounting to win or losing the sale.In challenging times, it is even more important to make sure there is rigor and diligence to uncover the root of client issues, identify key buying influences and their wins, understand how the decisions will be made and how such activities will be funded. Now is the time to make sure your team is more diligent about understanding the buying process and less concerned with trying to slam dunk sales.
Exactly. All sales managers need to be aware of this overshift because it can have a devastating effect on your revenue. Salespeople tend to push harder, drive faster and prematurely close when their forecast is soft. I was working with one salesperson who had a glowing forecast filled with deals, but he was become pushy in one account. His drive to close it was so overextended that he appeared desperate.
He was.
His forecast was smoke and he knew it. He used the inflated forecast to buy more time. That may have seemed like a good idea to him, but he was flushed by his sales manager.
That was an extreme case, but the subtle version of this push is damaging too. Salespeople push prospects to the point where they either disappear or angle for deep discounts. As a sales manager, it is important to keep a pulse on your salespeople and place an emphasis on post-call debriefs.