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… Read More
Continue ReadingDefining Excellence
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… Read More
Continue ReadingManaging Through Distractions
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… Read More
Continue ReadingSecret Traits Of Top Salespeople
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… Read More
Continue ReadingMarketing In A Tough Economy
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… Read More
Continue ReadingAlways Be Interviewing Salespeople
From Inc.com’s Sold! blog (my highlighting): The number one mistake in building and maintaining an effective sales team is a flawed hiring process. While there are many elements to consider, my first concern has always been to interview constantly. Always look for exceptional people in and out of your industry. Here are some of my other suggestions for hiring: • Pass on experience and look for people who show some element of emotional intelligence and personal magnetism. • Interview each person at least three times before you send them to another team member. • Prepare questions that take the applicant past normal responses. Get them to solve a sample problem,… Read More
Continue ReadingManaging The Bottom 20%
As a sales manager, it is easy to get caught up encouraging the top 20% and accepting the mediocre performance of the middle 60%. But what to do with the bottom 20%? At a minimum, the sales manager should be riding herd on the bottom 20%. This is a group that can drag a sales department down faster than a boat anchor. If their performance does not improve, they need to be let go. I know that can be difficult for some managers, but that is the reality of running a productive sales department. Selling Power’s Incentives newsletter offers an article addressing this bottom 20%. Fair enough – they should… Read More
Continue Reading5 Questions For Every Sales Manager
A good article here from Selling Power titled Five Questions Every Sales Manager Should Be Able to Answer. The questions are spot on, but pay special attention to number 3 (my editing): Which lead sources result in the highest percentage of closed deals? Do you know where your best leads come from and what those leads look like? When you do, you can better direct your marketing efforts and dollars while boosting your conversion rate. Are your reps selling the most profitable products? Often, reps will sell the products that are easiest to sell rather than the ones that provide the highest margin for the company. Face it: they’re going… Read More
Continue ReadingPushing The Sales Cycle
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… Read More
Continue ReadingSquatting On A Sale
Maybe that title isn’t the best turn of phrase. One effect we see often is alleged hunters in sales positions loaded with daily rejection. I’m not talking about the long-term, relationship-based sale that ends up with a soft no. I’m talking along the lines of a cold call-driven, commoditized market. These types of markets have been known to break good hunters. The break occurs once the salesperson acquires a handful of decent accounts. The salesperson begins to morph into a farmer with the approach of gaining more business from those few accounts. My experience has been that these salespeople get worn down from the rejection of constantly churning through cold… Read More
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