Does anyone remember the movie Ground Hog Day? Here are the cliff notes of the movie. Phil is a grumpy, pompous weather forecaster who finds himself trapped in what science fiction refers to as a time loop while covering the ritual of ground hog day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Phil quickly realizes that if he doesn't change his ways or behavior, events will keep repeating themselves. Hence, the name of the movie. The movie has a happy ending and Phil changes to become a more empathetic and positive person.Salespeople and sales managers are caught up in their own version of Ground Hog Day. They keep using the same approach, having the same conversations, which are leading to the same outcomes. Here are just a few examples.#1: Sales Activity: It would be nice if all companies provided a plethora of leads. However, the reality is many salespeople need to source their own opportunities. Here's where the ground hog day movie starts. The sales manager badgers, begs or threatens the salesperson to do what he is paid to do. The salesperson promises to do better, however, he doesn't calendar block. The result is another week where "other stuff" takes priority over prospecting.Sales managers can stop the bad rerun by setting and measuring key performance metrics for their sales team. Work with each person on your team and create a business development plan that measures all activity leading to a first, exploratory phone call. Change your old, tired script of, "I hire veterans... I don't need to set expectations." Veterans need metrics and measurements just as much as your rookies. NBA or NFL coaches recruit and hire veterans all the time. And those veterans have metrics in place that keep them at the top of their game.#2: CRM System: Salespeople, do you really need to hear another lecture from your sales manager on the importance of logging your conversations and meetings with prospects and customers? Instead of ignoring and hoping your manager will give up, make suggestions, recommendations or ask for additional training.
Sales managers, toughen up, and put in consequences for no entry of information into your CRM system. It's time for you to show a new movie scene to your team. For example, if a there is no activity logged into a prospect's account, that opportunity is up for grabs and can be reassigned to another salesperson-preferably one that is using the system! It's amazing how quickly salespeople adapt and change when there is a financial hit to the checkbook.#3: Sales Meetings. It's time for a big yawn on this movie scene. The sales team comes into the meeting with their sales pipeline report. A few are on time, a few roll in late. Roll call begins and group denial sets in. Salespeople go over their opportunities using words like, "I think ABC company is going to do something this month." (How would you like to be the CFO at your company, trying to handle cash flow, with an "I think" strategy?)Sales managers, put on your coaching hat and make the sales pipeline reviews a training opportunity. Test the salesperson's opportunities with basic questions such as, "What is the prospect's pain? How much is it costing? What is the unspoken objection? What is their number one criterion for changing?" Instead of having roll call meetings, hold sales meetings where learning and earnings improve.Model the behavior you expect from your sales team. If you expect them to show up early to sales meetings with prospects, start your sales meetings on time. Stop penalizing the organized and prepared sales person.It's time for a new movie. Put on your producer hat and create a new Oscar winner by changing your sales and sales management approach.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
The Best Way to Manage Your Sales Team
Effectively managing your sales team requires that you - the leader - be prepared to adopt several different leadership 'styles' as you work through the issues and opportunities at hand.Not only will you need to assist with strategy and be approachable (being available but not at the beck and call of your Team), but there will be times where you need to hold every member of your Team (yourself included) accountable for their actions and statements.The new manager often makes a few mistakes. Let me tell you a secret - admit to your team that you could be wrong. After all, if you are the smartest person in the room - the one with all the answers - all your Team will learn is how to bring problems forward for you to solve. In my experience, this transparency will allow you to build a bond of mutual respect with your Team.One of the pitfalls that you may fall into (especially if your last role was as a salesperson) is to tell your Team what to do. In essence to direct them towards the solution you perceive as the best one for the situation. However directing your people on a regular basis takes away initiative and the willingness/ability to look for unique solutions. You won't be building a Sales Team, you will be building clones of yourself.While cloning yourself might sound like a great idea - after all, you're successful - it is a trap. You know what everyone needs to do to hit the numbers. Right? Wrong.
The reality is that in effective management there are many different styles. Each of these styles and approaches has a place and time to use them. Directing your team to solve a problem the way you solved it is like using a hammer to put in a screw. If you hit it hard enough and often enough, it will go in. Good luck replicating it the feat in the same amount of time - and heaven forbid if you need to take the screw out!In this case the consultative approach works much better and can be used as an 'in the moment' coaching opportunity. Ask your people. Don't tell them. See what they think about the situation/the customer/the account. Chances are they do have more information than you. Ask them why they would approach a problem in a given way and probe for clarification. Most of all - and this is where it gets difficult for those of us that have a slight 'control freak' bent - ask them how they will solve it and how you can help them.Initially your team members may be surprised and not know how to react. This is especially true if your predecessor was a directive manager. But stay with it. Keep encouraging them. As they progress not only will you truly see how they think and operate, but they will also appreciate you teaching them how to fish rather than just feeding them.----
The reality is that in effective management there are many different styles. Each of these styles and approaches has a place and time to use them. Directing your team to solve a problem the way you solved it is like using a hammer to put in a screw. If you hit it hard enough and often enough, it will go in. Good luck replicating it the feat in the same amount of time - and heaven forbid if you need to take the screw out!In this case the consultative approach works much better and can be used as an 'in the moment' coaching opportunity. Ask your people. Don't tell them. See what they think about the situation/the customer/the account. Chances are they do have more information than you. Ask them why they would approach a problem in a given way and probe for clarification. Most of all - and this is where it gets difficult for those of us that have a slight 'control freak' bent - ask them how they will solve it and how you can help them.Initially your team members may be surprised and not know how to react. This is especially true if your predecessor was a directive manager. But stay with it. Keep encouraging them. As they progress not only will you truly see how they think and operate, but they will also appreciate you teaching them how to fish rather than just feeding them.----
Thursday, September 18, 2014
How You Can Recruit Sales Super Stars - Part 3 - The Recruitment Process
Briefly the steps you must take to get a real sales superstar are as follows:
Design your job advert to scare off people who aren't superstar material
Do an initial brief phone interview to burn through the chancers
Invite them to a non-standard interview
Ask them to complete a skills assessment (at the right time in the interview)
Check their CV and ask questions on it at the end of the interview
Phone their references
Try them on probation (hire or fire quick, depending on outcome)
Superstar Sales Recruitment ProcessThe whole process is all about finding the person with the right psychological profile.That is, the a sales super star.Bear in mind as you go through the process that not every great salesman has high-rankings in all the attributes of a star salesman. Hence step 7 in the process - the hire or fire decision.Three vital steps from the recruitment process are advert design, the phone interview and the non-standard interview.Job Advert DesignAttract the sales superstar by indicating the top level of income they could expect.Don't specify the income an average salesman makes.Design the advert so that it's clear you'll know whether the interviewee is who you're looking for.Don't limit potential candidates to your industry sector. A true super star will learn your target market quickly. However, you mustprovide training so that they can learn faster.The Phone InterviewUse the phone interview to put them under pressure - can they handle it?Can they handle rejection? Or do they simply go away?Typically a phone interview will allow you to burn through 80% to 85% of everyone who applies leaving you with a more manageable set of potential sales super stars to interview.Non-standard InterviewThis interview is in three parts. building rapport, skills assessment and CV review.You can see from the number of parts to the interview that it takes longer to do than most normal interviews - but results in a better breed of salesman in your company.
It also quickly finds out whether the person is a sales super star, or not.As I've noted in elsewhere, empathy and ego need to be in the right balance to create a sales super star.We can find that out by using a psychological profile based interview. This type of interview allows us to explore how the interviewee was regarded during childhood, the sort of things they enjoyed and how they were shaped by their experiences.As a by-product this part of the interview creates deep rapport so that you can ask very deep questions and expect to get truthful answers, or make the candidate very uncomfortable if they're lying.Once you've established the deep rapport get the candidate to assess their own skill levels on the key attributes of the super star salesman.Finally you review the salesman's CV and ask probing questions which usually result in truthful answers because they're still in deep rapport with you.Move quickly to recruit when you're interviewing superstars as once they start looking they'll be snapped up.Also be prepared for them to leave one day because superstars are also entrepreneurs too. And they'll want to work for themselves in due course.How Can You Tell Your Salesman Isn't For YouOne word of warning you may find your super star salesman doesn't bring in the business for you.It could be they weren't interested in your business at all and were using you as a stop gap. Or they discover they don't really like your sector.Don't hang about find out as early as possible. You'll notice little or no activity and/or no sales, or they'll complain - often. Obviously your particular sales cycle depends on your industry so you'll know how soon a good salesman should be getting sales. If you don't ask around. If they don't fit for whatever reason let them know and let them go.Keeping on salesmen who aren't interested does nobody any good - least of all your bottom line.
Design your job advert to scare off people who aren't superstar material
Do an initial brief phone interview to burn through the chancers
Invite them to a non-standard interview
Ask them to complete a skills assessment (at the right time in the interview)
Check their CV and ask questions on it at the end of the interview
Phone their references
Try them on probation (hire or fire quick, depending on outcome)
Superstar Sales Recruitment ProcessThe whole process is all about finding the person with the right psychological profile.That is, the a sales super star.Bear in mind as you go through the process that not every great salesman has high-rankings in all the attributes of a star salesman. Hence step 7 in the process - the hire or fire decision.Three vital steps from the recruitment process are advert design, the phone interview and the non-standard interview.Job Advert DesignAttract the sales superstar by indicating the top level of income they could expect.Don't specify the income an average salesman makes.Design the advert so that it's clear you'll know whether the interviewee is who you're looking for.Don't limit potential candidates to your industry sector. A true super star will learn your target market quickly. However, you mustprovide training so that they can learn faster.The Phone InterviewUse the phone interview to put them under pressure - can they handle it?Can they handle rejection? Or do they simply go away?Typically a phone interview will allow you to burn through 80% to 85% of everyone who applies leaving you with a more manageable set of potential sales super stars to interview.Non-standard InterviewThis interview is in three parts. building rapport, skills assessment and CV review.You can see from the number of parts to the interview that it takes longer to do than most normal interviews - but results in a better breed of salesman in your company.
It also quickly finds out whether the person is a sales super star, or not.As I've noted in elsewhere, empathy and ego need to be in the right balance to create a sales super star.We can find that out by using a psychological profile based interview. This type of interview allows us to explore how the interviewee was regarded during childhood, the sort of things they enjoyed and how they were shaped by their experiences.As a by-product this part of the interview creates deep rapport so that you can ask very deep questions and expect to get truthful answers, or make the candidate very uncomfortable if they're lying.Once you've established the deep rapport get the candidate to assess their own skill levels on the key attributes of the super star salesman.Finally you review the salesman's CV and ask probing questions which usually result in truthful answers because they're still in deep rapport with you.Move quickly to recruit when you're interviewing superstars as once they start looking they'll be snapped up.Also be prepared for them to leave one day because superstars are also entrepreneurs too. And they'll want to work for themselves in due course.How Can You Tell Your Salesman Isn't For YouOne word of warning you may find your super star salesman doesn't bring in the business for you.It could be they weren't interested in your business at all and were using you as a stop gap. Or they discover they don't really like your sector.Don't hang about find out as early as possible. You'll notice little or no activity and/or no sales, or they'll complain - often. Obviously your particular sales cycle depends on your industry so you'll know how soon a good salesman should be getting sales. If you don't ask around. If they don't fit for whatever reason let them know and let them go.Keeping on salesmen who aren't interested does nobody any good - least of all your bottom line.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Combining Customer Relationship Management Tools With Proactive Management Drives Success
Proactive sales managers do their best to keep problems from flaring up. The reactive manager is constantly battling the flames, which means the sales staff is likely not getting the expert coaching they need to succeed. Instead, the manager is fixing problems and neglecting opportunities to lead.Sales managers who put their goals and plans in writing for the sales force to see is among the most basic sales tactic that many managers fail to execute. When the goals are spelled out, it's easier to achieve buy-in from the sales force. It's all part of establishing a clear vision, which is important in achieving buy-in.While it's vitally important for the managers to be 100 percent accountable, they also need to hold the team accountable. This involves empowering the sales force rather than hovering over them and micro managing. The sales force doesn't need a nanny; they need a leader who establishes the blueprint for success.Leadership is better established when the manager has the information they need to make better decisions. The manager can gain these vital pieces of information by tracking what happens from day to day. Every success and every failure deserves documentation, not only to help the individual sales reps, but for use in future training.Proactive sales managers never stop learning, neither do the sales reps. The playing field changes quite frequently, which means there is always a new opportunity for learning and training. A sales manager that only relies on what they already know is not an effective manager. When the bulk of a sales manager's time is spent training the sales staff, they better be armed with new information that can steer the team in the right direction.
Long-term goals are often outlined quite clearly in the mission statement. However, fresh goals should be drawn up on a weekly basis to help motivate the sales force. Some sales managers will draft weekly, monthly and quarterly goals with strategies attached to them.Sales reps need frequent reviews to keep them on top of their game. Performance reviews shouldn't be used to badger the reps, rather, it should be a process where insights are gained and hard data is used to draw conclusions.One of the best ways to establish information and hard data is to use reporting tools found in customer relationship management solutions. Companies like Front Row Solutions are offering CRM solutions that include reporting tools that allow sales reps to enter information about their sales calls in a matter of seconds. Sales managers can use this data in their performance reviews.There are a number of strategies sales managers rely on to effectively lead their teams, but without the right tools, it can be a daunting task.
Long-term goals are often outlined quite clearly in the mission statement. However, fresh goals should be drawn up on a weekly basis to help motivate the sales force. Some sales managers will draft weekly, monthly and quarterly goals with strategies attached to them.Sales reps need frequent reviews to keep them on top of their game. Performance reviews shouldn't be used to badger the reps, rather, it should be a process where insights are gained and hard data is used to draw conclusions.One of the best ways to establish information and hard data is to use reporting tools found in customer relationship management solutions. Companies like Front Row Solutions are offering CRM solutions that include reporting tools that allow sales reps to enter information about their sales calls in a matter of seconds. Sales managers can use this data in their performance reviews.There are a number of strategies sales managers rely on to effectively lead their teams, but without the right tools, it can be a daunting task.
Friday, September 12, 2014
7 Points To Ponder When Buying A Home For The First Time
Right from the very first prospect of buying a house, people can get very excited. Ideas come rushing into one's mind as imagination fills it with details of how he or she wants the house to look like. In all the excitement, sometimes, the person's mind gets clouded, rendering it unable to make sound judgment. Some people want to do it as fast as they could so they can get started on turning it into their dream house. Most of the time, people miss the fact that instead of buying any house and turn it into their dream home, they can actually find the house that they have been dreaming of as it is. They can actually find a house that will only need a little work to make it perfect or even no work at all!There are seven points to ponder when it comes to finding the perfect house. These seven points should be considered to ensure that there won't be any regrets after the purchase.Scout. First, choose a location. Naturally, one would look for an accessible place. It should be near one's workplace, the school, and it should be virtually safe. Some people also consider the weather and the traffic among many other factors. Once the perfect place is identified, scout. Ask around and run a research to know the price range of properties in the area. Some useful sites for this are Zillow, Homegain, and National Association of Realtors.
Check your budget. Look at affordable properties. There are different tools that can be used to assure that one would not go beyond what he or she can afford. MSN Real Estate's Calculator measures home affordability and the maximum amount of money that one can spend. Bankrate also features a mortgage calculator that will help people know how much they will be paying.
Compute. Consider everything that may affect the total amount of money that will be spent on the property. These include expenses for homeowners insurance, taxes, and insurance escrow. The best thing to do it is through picking a property in the preferred area. Then, call an insurance agent to get an estimated insurance cost. Useful tools and references for these tasks are Home Affordability Calculator by MSN Real Estate, Zillow, and Insurance Information Institute.
Estimate. Have an accurate estimate of how much is the total closing cost. Consider the upfront payment, origination fees, title fees, settlement fees, taxes, homeowners' insurance, or the homeowners' association fees. A useful tool for this task is Bankrate.
Get real. One should make sure that he or she will buy a house that one can afford. Fannie Mae provided an expert advice of not spending more than 28% of the total income for housing expenses.
Get in touch with the experts in the real property field. Ask them about the current trend in real property and listen to what they have to say about the real property climate.
Plan. An intelligent plan should take all things into consideration such as unexpected expenses on new appliances, plumbing services, and roof repairs.
An important decision such as buying a house certainly demands careful and strategic planning.
Check your budget. Look at affordable properties. There are different tools that can be used to assure that one would not go beyond what he or she can afford. MSN Real Estate's Calculator measures home affordability and the maximum amount of money that one can spend. Bankrate also features a mortgage calculator that will help people know how much they will be paying.
Compute. Consider everything that may affect the total amount of money that will be spent on the property. These include expenses for homeowners insurance, taxes, and insurance escrow. The best thing to do it is through picking a property in the preferred area. Then, call an insurance agent to get an estimated insurance cost. Useful tools and references for these tasks are Home Affordability Calculator by MSN Real Estate, Zillow, and Insurance Information Institute.
Estimate. Have an accurate estimate of how much is the total closing cost. Consider the upfront payment, origination fees, title fees, settlement fees, taxes, homeowners' insurance, or the homeowners' association fees. A useful tool for this task is Bankrate.
Get real. One should make sure that he or she will buy a house that one can afford. Fannie Mae provided an expert advice of not spending more than 28% of the total income for housing expenses.
Get in touch with the experts in the real property field. Ask them about the current trend in real property and listen to what they have to say about the real property climate.
Plan. An intelligent plan should take all things into consideration such as unexpected expenses on new appliances, plumbing services, and roof repairs.
An important decision such as buying a house certainly demands careful and strategic planning.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Hiring Salesforce CRM Consultants to Enhance Customer Trust
The reason businesses are so competitive today is the fact that everyone wants to please customers. There is a continuous string of techniques like reducing prices, increasing quantity and introducing new ranges for existing products. All of this is done by businesses so that they can build customer loyalty and trust. This is because customer loyalty is the only thing that can keep a business running during its downfalls. If, for example, a customer really is loyal to a business, he/she will keep buying the products even if the business is facing a loss and has to increase the prices temporarily. Having loyal customers is something every business needs, since it cannot possible succeed without them.If you are trying to build customer trust, there are several ways you can use. You can improve the product's quality itself. Another approach you can go for is to improve direct contact with your customers. This, however, is not an easy task. Often, business managers find it extremely hard to create an efficient Customer Relationship Management system, particularly because of the enormity of the business and the number of tasks involved. This is where you can hire salesforce CRM consultants to do the job for you.Salesforce CRM consultants are professionals who are experts in the area of managing customer relations. They are particularly efficient in making customers happy and in building customer trust. By hiring salesforce CRM consultants, you will have a professional working with your business and suggesting techniques to improve interaction with customers. If requested, a salesforce CRM consultant may also provide the company with a certain plan that can be followed in order to make sure that all the customers are properly dealt with.
There are several ways these professionals can help a business. They can, for example, improve the way customers are informed about the services of a business. They can teach customer representatives how to address the queries of customers in an efficient way. They can also ensure that a customer services officer would not be at a loss if asked about something unfamiliar. In general, these professionals can improve the way a business deals with its customers. They can also provide plans in order to hold direct conversations with customers. An efficient complaints' system may also be devised. All of these factors can, eventually, build customer trust for your business and lead it to success.
There are several ways these professionals can help a business. They can, for example, improve the way customers are informed about the services of a business. They can teach customer representatives how to address the queries of customers in an efficient way. They can also ensure that a customer services officer would not be at a loss if asked about something unfamiliar. In general, these professionals can improve the way a business deals with its customers. They can also provide plans in order to hold direct conversations with customers. An efficient complaints' system may also be devised. All of these factors can, eventually, build customer trust for your business and lead it to success.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
7 Reasons Why Sales Pipeline Management Is Important to Your Business
Sales Pipeline Management is critical for the success of any company that relies on a sales team or sales channel to drive revenue growth. Shown below are seven critical reasons why having an accurate sales pipeline management program in place is important to your company. A sales pipeline management tool will: Provide a forecast that will highlight opportunities that you expect to close and when you will close them. Provide a 30, 60 and 90 day (or beyond) revenue forecast for your company. Knowing what you will be closing is critical to others within your business such as operations, accounting or manufacturing. Also, a sales manager can decide what critical deals will require his immediate time commitment and oversight.
Show you how to allocate resources to assist in closing business opportunities based upon the deals most likely to close. See point 1.
Show your management team which opportunities are real and which are just "wishful thinking". Experienced sales managers are able to apply a "sniff test" to deals that novice sales team members will bring them if they are identified in the pipeline. Management will be able to adjust the sales pipeline accordingly after the evaluation and instruct sales team members about what is real and worthy of a further investment of time and wish deals should be punted.
Indicate how likely you will be in achieving your budgets or targets? If your annual sales goals per sales person is $ 2,000,000 and you are 6 months into your sales year, then you should expect sales revenues of $ 1,000,000 from each person on your team (unless your sales are weighted for seasonal adjustments). If half and your sales team is at $ 500,000 instead of the $ 1,000,000 target then you might have a better idea of how likely you are of reaching the anticipated sales goals for the year.
Provide you with the ability to consistently look at snapshots regarding sales projections. Over time, you will build a level of confidence regarding how accurate the pipeline data actually is. You might also learn that some sales team members have better data that is closer to actual revenue production than others. This will provide coaching opportunities to help those who overestimate production.
Assist you in tracking "deal flow" or "deal velocity" to determine if any opportunities are stuck. If your normal sales cycle is a 120 period from the identification of the prospect until the day the deal is signed, then having a sales pipeline management program in place will quickly show you which deals aren't progressing as they should. For example, you should have generated a proposal by day 90 if you are expecting to have the signed order by day 120.
Allow you to quickly determine which sales team members are performing and which aren't. Without a sales pipeline management tool such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system, then you will be waiting until the end of the quarter or the end of the year to determine how your sales team is performing. With sales pipeline management, key metrics can be tracked on a more frequent basis. This will allow your sales managers to more quickly identify and correct problems that exist for each of the sales team members.
It is my experience that effective and attentive sales pipeline management will dramatically impact the health of your sales revenue or your sales quota (if you are a sales person).
Show you how to allocate resources to assist in closing business opportunities based upon the deals most likely to close. See point 1.
Show your management team which opportunities are real and which are just "wishful thinking". Experienced sales managers are able to apply a "sniff test" to deals that novice sales team members will bring them if they are identified in the pipeline. Management will be able to adjust the sales pipeline accordingly after the evaluation and instruct sales team members about what is real and worthy of a further investment of time and wish deals should be punted.
Indicate how likely you will be in achieving your budgets or targets? If your annual sales goals per sales person is $ 2,000,000 and you are 6 months into your sales year, then you should expect sales revenues of $ 1,000,000 from each person on your team (unless your sales are weighted for seasonal adjustments). If half and your sales team is at $ 500,000 instead of the $ 1,000,000 target then you might have a better idea of how likely you are of reaching the anticipated sales goals for the year.
Provide you with the ability to consistently look at snapshots regarding sales projections. Over time, you will build a level of confidence regarding how accurate the pipeline data actually is. You might also learn that some sales team members have better data that is closer to actual revenue production than others. This will provide coaching opportunities to help those who overestimate production.
Assist you in tracking "deal flow" or "deal velocity" to determine if any opportunities are stuck. If your normal sales cycle is a 120 period from the identification of the prospect until the day the deal is signed, then having a sales pipeline management program in place will quickly show you which deals aren't progressing as they should. For example, you should have generated a proposal by day 90 if you are expecting to have the signed order by day 120.
Allow you to quickly determine which sales team members are performing and which aren't. Without a sales pipeline management tool such as a customer relationship management (CRM) system, then you will be waiting until the end of the quarter or the end of the year to determine how your sales team is performing. With sales pipeline management, key metrics can be tracked on a more frequent basis. This will allow your sales managers to more quickly identify and correct problems that exist for each of the sales team members.
It is my experience that effective and attentive sales pipeline management will dramatically impact the health of your sales revenue or your sales quota (if you are a sales person).
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