Money is a difficult topic for many salespeople to handle with a prospect. Some salespeople buckle and collapse with large discounts while others simply avoid the topic as long as possible. As a sales manager, there are few things as uncomfortable as watching one of your salespeople crash and burn when qualifying money. Lee Salz offers a good article on Salesopedia covering this topic. Salz cuts right to the bone on why this topic is so critical: If you don’t believe you are providing a fair, competitive price for the solution, my question is why are you presenting it anyway? One would hope that you have integrity so why present… Read More
Continue ReadingWisdom From Sports Illustrated
I read many things across the web including certain columnists from Sports Illustrated. Peter King writes an insider’s view to professional football that I find fascinating. Plus, the guy is a coffee (actually lattes) addict like myself so I always appreciate his weekly coffee tips. This quote from his article last week caught my attention: But I will say one thing about the firing: It’s always dangerous when you start polling players and people in the building about the job the head coach is doing. If you’ve got a conviction about the coach, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like president Dick Cass and GM… Read More
Continue ReadingA Lack Of Praise
This sounds almost comical, but I have seen it first-hand. BusinessWeek.com’s article – Is Praising Employees Counterproductive? – discusses the topic of praising employees for their good work. The gist of the article: After the meeting, James asked Tom, “What were you going to say at the meeting, and why did you stop?” Tom answered: “I was going to praise Penny on her marketing plan, but I’ve already praised her twice this week. I don’t want to go overboard.” There is a fear—an irrational one, in my experience—among certain managers of praising employees too much. It’s as though they believe that one “attaboy” or “attagirl” too many can spoil a… Read More
Continue ReadingPress Box Management
I mentioned a certain manager last week in a post and his desire to be an “observational manager” of a new sales hire instead of a hands-on manager. The problem is compounding itself this week as he contemplates firing the salesperson who started 1 week ago today. These are the headaches we have to deal with in the sales hiring arena. The new salesperson has already had one face-to-face meeting with a small prospect he located and is on the trail of 5 other companies…IN THE FIRST WEEK. He has even accomplished this using his own computer, cell phone and resources. He has also been afforded only 1 or 2… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring By Gut
Imagine a salesperson who comes to a forecast meeting and puts down a huge forecast. The savvy sales manager naturally starts asking a few questions of the salesperson regarding each forecasted account. What is driving them to look for a new solution? What is their decision process? When do they want to have a solution in place? Who else are they looking at for this project? Now imagine the salesperson’s responses involve statements like this: I know we are the best solution for them. I have a good feeling about this one. They will make a decision shortly, they have to think it over. If you have been in sales… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Two-Minute Warning
It’s playoff time for the NFL and I love to watch quarterbacks (and coaches) who can execute in the red zone, run an effective two-minute drill and get the job done. That may be why I get so nervous when I hear salespeople say – ” It’s in the client’s hands now, all we can do is wait.” We’re waiting on such an opportunity right now, and we’ve been waiting since before Christmas 2007. I’m nervous because there is no two-minute drill in progress to help the customer make the right decision and there appears to be a lack of urgency in our salesperson’s approach, now that the proposal is… Read More
Continue ReadingObservational Management
I kid you not, this approach comes from a manager of a small company that recently hired a new salesperson. The salesperson traveled to the company for a couple days of training before his official start date. He did this on his own dime so he could accelerate his ramp-up time. The manager of the company was involved in the training since this salesperson would report directly to him (remember-small company). During the training days, there was some confusion about when the salesperson should arrive in the morning. No specific time was set, but a general schedule starting around 9am was the target. The salesperson arrived around 9:20am. A stack… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Toughest Topic To Qualify-Money
It’s not really when you know how to do it. Unfortunately, many salespeople have a distinct weakness when it comes to even broaching this topic with a prospect. This weakness leads to compounded expenses in that the salesperson will typically invest time and resources on a prospect who will disappear at the first discussion of price. Many salespeople are aware of this fact so they deem it best to avoid the money topic all together with the hope they can persuade the prospect with an extended dog-and-pony show. The entire sordid affair feeds upon itself. The costs here can be enormous. I’m of the belief that a salesperson’s greatest asset… Read More
Continue ReadingManaging A Remote Salesforce
We talk about this topic at length because it is more than a trend. ManageSmarter.com’s Long-Distance Teambuilding addresses this topic in a real-world manner: “Sellers by nature like to be in a team environment—they want a high-five and a talk around the water cooler,” says Cowitt, vice president of national advertising sales for Freedom Interactive, the Internet division of Freedom Communications, a media company in Irvine, Calif. So Cowitt implemented a daily phone call, which lasts about 15 minutes, to allow salespeople to exchange ideas, successes and challenges. That is the right approach. We initiated a weekly conference call earlier this year with one of our customers with whom we… Read More
Continue ReadingMotivating Salespeople
Sales managers have to be part-time psychologists in their leadership position. The best salespeople have an internal motivation that drives them to succeed. Yet, a strong sales manager still has to know each salesperson’s drivers and how to access them when needed. Selling Power offers a short article titled Internalizing Motivation that discusses this topic: Sales trainer Don Hutson recounts the story about a sales manager who approached him at one of his seminars and said, “I don’t believe in motivation because it doesn’t last.” Hutson replied, “A bath doesn’t either, but it’s a good idea to take one once in a while.” Hutson says sales managers can’t directly motivate… Read More
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