Yesterday was one of those days that comes together as a day to remember. I'm going to share with you 4 events that took place and I have to premise it with this: It's not about me! While the message may come from me and may look like I'm double-jointed patting myself on the back, it really is not about me. This blog is a tribute to my clients success and what they shared with me. Kudos to these and all my clients for having the guts to use the tools, principles and the system! Of course I will change the names to protect the guilty and the innocent!
In my first training session we reviewed material from the last session. (Duh! Isn't that what trainers are supposed to do? Yes Of course!) Anyway, in the previous session we discussed prospecting and cold calling. John had been trying to get to a particular prospect in a very large corporation. This prospect was at the"C" level and very insulated. John, used one of the techniques we had discussed in the previous prospecting session and viola! He got to the prospect, got a 5 minute phone conversation, then a meeting the following week and they expect to sign the contract this Friday. Congratulations John!
My next meeting was with a client to assist in hiring a new sales perosn. After 45 minutes the interview was over and my client looked at me and said, "“I can't believe you were able to expose so many weaknessess and show me what I would find out a few months down the road. I can't believe that I even let this process go this far. I can't believe I set the bar set so low that I would consider this candidate to be on our team. You just saved me $40K. I simply smiled and said, I'm happy I could help.
My next training session was outstanding as well. Not because I'm the greatest sales trainer in the world, (I have a long way to go) because the group is relatively young. Ok, I'll define that for you... early 20's to early 30's, most being their first sales job. Anyway, Judy came up to me after the program and said, "Rocky, I just wanted to let you know that before your training program started in March, I was ranked number 18 of over 200 in the eastern division, (from Maine to Florida) and now I am #1 and have been for the last two weeks. Great job Judy for having the courage to try new things and live through the discomfort of change. Go girl!
Then I get home about 7 pm and upon checking e-mail I receive a thank you from a client that I've been working with for a few years... more off than on. As a matter of fact I've been trying to schedule a meeting with them since March. Anyway the message went something like this, "Thanks dude, we've been sooo busy I don't have time to do training. But I wanted you to know, I took your advice set the trap. Two weeks ago I went to Three Rivers Canada and ordered a 40 foot Doral! I get it next March it's cost is over $300k. Thanks for your lesson on traps and money! Business is great!"
The psychic reward from the profession of sales is incredible! I would encourage everyone to apply the principle in Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich; Help others get what they want first and you will get what you want. However, I think this principle can be trace back to the best sales trainer that ever walked the earth, around the year 30 AD.
Figure out how to help someone today and every day and it will come back to you 10 fold. But don't help with that in mind! This is one fundamental principle that separates true sales professionals from the amatures that give the rest of us a bad name. If you are selling something that will help people and you have their best interest in mind, this truely is one of the secret ingredients to having more people buy more of you stuff!
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Sales Manager Responsibilities
Sales Managers have one of the toughest jobs in the world! I know that because I’ve worked with hundreds and I was one long enough to know. Why? You have management driving you like a dog, you have fewer resources than most other department heads, none of the other departments are cooperative, sales departments are dumped on like no other, you deal with primadonna’s, weaklings, self proclaimed studs, whiners, complainers, excuses, and you typically close more that 80% of the business yourself.
So I hope to impart some help for those of you that reside between a rock and a hard place. Sales management can be a great place if you have equality between authority and responsibility. However if this equilibrium is out of kilter one degrees you are trapped in a world of funk.
So what’s a Sales Manager to do? Focus on 5 areas to develop your team!
1. Accountability – Easier said than done I know. However, while it’s imperative to keep you job and move up the corporate ladder you have to hit the numbers. An easier way to hit the numbers than just pounding on your team is to tap into personal motivation. Help each team member define exciting personal goals that create commitment and desire. Then assist each individual in seeing how the company can be a personal vehicle to achieve their personal goals. Build a covenant to hold each person to the fundamental activities that produce results bringing them closer to their own personal goals. Once that is accomplished we have a true partnership. Let’s face it, it may not be everyone goal to work for the company forever, so let’s find out what they want, help them get it and as long as you help them they help you.
2. Coaching – Jimmy Johnson the great coach previously of the NFL said, ‘A coaches job is to help others perform at a higher level than they can by themselves.’ A coach is required to get people out of their comfort zone. Coaches find a way to keep the team inspired. Sometimes it’s tough love, sometimes it’s encouragement, sometimes it keeping the focus clear! A coach is like the leader of an orchestra. He knows how every instrument is played and what each part is supposed to be. Then he brings it all together for an awesome and exquisite performance.
3. Motivation – In a perfect world sales people are motivated. But this aint no perfect world and salespeople deal with more rejection and negativity than any other profession. So it’s critical that the Sales Manager be sensitive to each team member, their interactions with each other, their personal life and what is really going on under the surface. Sales people are motivated by many different things just as any other group. Believe it or not most sales people are not as money motivated as everyone on the outside may think. I have found that competition and recognition are bigger motivators. And then of course FREE time off is always good too.
4. Pre and Post Briefing- One of the most important things a sales manager can do is to help the sales person learn the right lesson form each selling situation. Often we draw conclusions from events that seem logical. However we all know that many of those conclusions are incorrect and then salespeople make the same mistake over and over again. Another problem is changing to quickly. Most salespeople are creative and continue to change something due to an event. Instead let’s look at patterns and define the root cause of the outcome. Instead of asking typical questions that get you typical answers define the fundamental issue and focus on that. Keep a log of what events take place with each sales person and look at a 30, 60, & 90 day pattern. This will work on the right end of the problem and it is usually between the ears.
Just like sighting in a rifle. Most shooters when sighting in will make adjustments after each shot. However, the more experience shooter will fire three shots, triangulate the center and adjust from there.
When pre and post briefing ask questions that will define the cause in two categories: A) Conceptual or B) Technical. A conceptual issue means they salesperson knew what to do, but didn’t because of some discomfort. A technical issue is based on the fact that the salesperson just didn’t know what they were supposed to. Now we have a lesson to apply to the next selling situation.
5. Building a Stronger Team – This means to always be looking for stronger salespeople to add to the staff. The problem here is like most departments. The manger gets emotionally involved and it becomes difficult to graduate non productive or mediocre sales reps. Sales recruiting is a must. Then we have to be able to determine the difference between those who not only can sell, but will. The only way to truly be effective with the first 4 responsibilities is to never be held hostage. The only way to never be held hostage is to always have a bench or a goto guy. Then this brings up the on boarding issue, ramp up and training. Too much to put into this blog for sure. However I will promise to discuss it next.
So I hope this had been a least a little insightful for all of the sales managers out there who are in the middle of the battle. Keep you head down, stop accepting excuses, take responsibility for growing you team and work smart, not hard.
Good Selling,
Rocky
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
So I hope to impart some help for those of you that reside between a rock and a hard place. Sales management can be a great place if you have equality between authority and responsibility. However if this equilibrium is out of kilter one degrees you are trapped in a world of funk.
So what’s a Sales Manager to do? Focus on 5 areas to develop your team!
1. Accountability – Easier said than done I know. However, while it’s imperative to keep you job and move up the corporate ladder you have to hit the numbers. An easier way to hit the numbers than just pounding on your team is to tap into personal motivation. Help each team member define exciting personal goals that create commitment and desire. Then assist each individual in seeing how the company can be a personal vehicle to achieve their personal goals. Build a covenant to hold each person to the fundamental activities that produce results bringing them closer to their own personal goals. Once that is accomplished we have a true partnership. Let’s face it, it may not be everyone goal to work for the company forever, so let’s find out what they want, help them get it and as long as you help them they help you.
2. Coaching – Jimmy Johnson the great coach previously of the NFL said, ‘A coaches job is to help others perform at a higher level than they can by themselves.’ A coach is required to get people out of their comfort zone. Coaches find a way to keep the team inspired. Sometimes it’s tough love, sometimes it’s encouragement, sometimes it keeping the focus clear! A coach is like the leader of an orchestra. He knows how every instrument is played and what each part is supposed to be. Then he brings it all together for an awesome and exquisite performance.
3. Motivation – In a perfect world sales people are motivated. But this aint no perfect world and salespeople deal with more rejection and negativity than any other profession. So it’s critical that the Sales Manager be sensitive to each team member, their interactions with each other, their personal life and what is really going on under the surface. Sales people are motivated by many different things just as any other group. Believe it or not most sales people are not as money motivated as everyone on the outside may think. I have found that competition and recognition are bigger motivators. And then of course FREE time off is always good too.
4. Pre and Post Briefing- One of the most important things a sales manager can do is to help the sales person learn the right lesson form each selling situation. Often we draw conclusions from events that seem logical. However we all know that many of those conclusions are incorrect and then salespeople make the same mistake over and over again. Another problem is changing to quickly. Most salespeople are creative and continue to change something due to an event. Instead let’s look at patterns and define the root cause of the outcome. Instead of asking typical questions that get you typical answers define the fundamental issue and focus on that. Keep a log of what events take place with each sales person and look at a 30, 60, & 90 day pattern. This will work on the right end of the problem and it is usually between the ears.
Just like sighting in a rifle. Most shooters when sighting in will make adjustments after each shot. However, the more experience shooter will fire three shots, triangulate the center and adjust from there.
When pre and post briefing ask questions that will define the cause in two categories: A) Conceptual or B) Technical. A conceptual issue means they salesperson knew what to do, but didn’t because of some discomfort. A technical issue is based on the fact that the salesperson just didn’t know what they were supposed to. Now we have a lesson to apply to the next selling situation.
5. Building a Stronger Team – This means to always be looking for stronger salespeople to add to the staff. The problem here is like most departments. The manger gets emotionally involved and it becomes difficult to graduate non productive or mediocre sales reps. Sales recruiting is a must. Then we have to be able to determine the difference between those who not only can sell, but will. The only way to truly be effective with the first 4 responsibilities is to never be held hostage. The only way to never be held hostage is to always have a bench or a goto guy. Then this brings up the on boarding issue, ramp up and training. Too much to put into this blog for sure. However I will promise to discuss it next.
So I hope this had been a least a little insightful for all of the sales managers out there who are in the middle of the battle. Keep you head down, stop accepting excuses, take responsibility for growing you team and work smart, not hard.
Good Selling,
Rocky
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
Value Equation
One of the biggest complaints I hear from business owners is; 'My people don't even know what our value proposition is!' While that may be a problem that is usually a symptom not the problem. The problem is no one has take the time to discuss the companies unique selling proposition. We all have competition and competition is good. You may have heard the 'ol saying, "I don't want No competition I want weak competition.
So here is an exercise for you. Write down the problems that your product or service solves. Then write down the problems that your competition solves. Are they similar? What points of difference can you find that may help your future clients more effectively? Make a list of the differences and then turn those into questions. Now when you're in a selling situation use those questions to find out if the things you think are important are really important to your prospects. Never assume! Ask! Often it is important for the prospect to hear themselves talk it through and this allow you to use your listening skills. You can't effectively tell a potential client you have value beyond your competition, they must discover it for themselves. Help them discover by asking questions.
When we look at value, often what has value to you does not have value to your potential clients.
When we don't get the business due to 'price' what they said is, they don't see the value.
If you don't ask you won't know. Take two minutes now and complete the exercise. When you have your list of questions, learn how to ask them in many different styles. Forget the old open ended, closed ended traditional sales techniques. Your prospect are on to that and it makes you look like a sales person and raises their defenses. Ask questions in an assumptive way. Example. When (your competition) came in last month for a review of how they re helping you make money and what you could do to make more, what did that sound like?
A wise man once told me that every time you ask a question and get the answer, " don't know".
You just earned more respect, and created more value.
Stop selling, start asking more questions and create value beyond you product!
So here is an exercise for you. Write down the problems that your product or service solves. Then write down the problems that your competition solves. Are they similar? What points of difference can you find that may help your future clients more effectively? Make a list of the differences and then turn those into questions. Now when you're in a selling situation use those questions to find out if the things you think are important are really important to your prospects. Never assume! Ask! Often it is important for the prospect to hear themselves talk it through and this allow you to use your listening skills. You can't effectively tell a potential client you have value beyond your competition, they must discover it for themselves. Help them discover by asking questions.
When we look at value, often what has value to you does not have value to your potential clients.
When we don't get the business due to 'price' what they said is, they don't see the value.
If you don't ask you won't know. Take two minutes now and complete the exercise. When you have your list of questions, learn how to ask them in many different styles. Forget the old open ended, closed ended traditional sales techniques. Your prospect are on to that and it makes you look like a sales person and raises their defenses. Ask questions in an assumptive way. Example. When (your competition) came in last month for a review of how they re helping you make money and what you could do to make more, what did that sound like?
A wise man once told me that every time you ask a question and get the answer, " don't know".
You just earned more respect, and created more value.
Stop selling, start asking more questions and create value beyond you product!
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Between the Ears
Q. What makes some sales people more successful than others.
A. Very interesting question and one the will conjure up a lot of debate. I’ll give you my take and stir the pot.
The biggest challenge is between the ears!
In the April Field and Stream issue there was an article that addresses competitive shooting that maps over exactly to what I’ve seen in the sales training world for the last 15 years. I’ll paraphrase. Research shows that a shooters heartbeat can go from a normal 78 to an extreme 180 when a target appears. (Ever feel your heart race in a sales situation?) The article further identifies three very distinct attributes that make the difference in champions and first losers (second place). 1) Champions are so confident they are borderline arrogant. 2. Champions never expect to do anything but WIN! They visualize themselves successful. And 3. They practice to the point of automation. They eat breath and sleep their skill so much that when the target appears the instinctively do the right thing to create success.
Additionally, I believe that Desire, Commitment, Personal Responsibility and Outlook determine the slight edge difference between outstanding achievers and at leasters.
Successful salespeople consistently execute the hard things in sales that others don’t. The have the humility to prepare and the confidence to pull it off.
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
A. Very interesting question and one the will conjure up a lot of debate. I’ll give you my take and stir the pot.
The biggest challenge is between the ears!
In the April Field and Stream issue there was an article that addresses competitive shooting that maps over exactly to what I’ve seen in the sales training world for the last 15 years. I’ll paraphrase. Research shows that a shooters heartbeat can go from a normal 78 to an extreme 180 when a target appears. (Ever feel your heart race in a sales situation?) The article further identifies three very distinct attributes that make the difference in champions and first losers (second place). 1) Champions are so confident they are borderline arrogant. 2. Champions never expect to do anything but WIN! They visualize themselves successful. And 3. They practice to the point of automation. They eat breath and sleep their skill so much that when the target appears the instinctively do the right thing to create success.
Additionally, I believe that Desire, Commitment, Personal Responsibility and Outlook determine the slight edge difference between outstanding achievers and at leasters.
Successful salespeople consistently execute the hard things in sales that others don’t. The have the humility to prepare and the confidence to pull it off.
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
You Stew
Imagine if you will, that you are in a foreign land but didn’t realize you were there until you were there. You don’t know the language, the culture, the signs, the unspoken language. You could flip someone off unknowingly and become one of those ‘heads on a stick’.
Imagine again, if you will, that you are in this foreign land and you start telling everyone what to do. How to get from here to there in the shortest route, how to save time and effort, how to harvest information, new ideas, change, and happier lives. How long would it be before you were introduced to the boiling pot of ‘you stew’.
Isn’t that what most sales people do? Before ever learning the culture, the language, the unspoken language, they tell, and think that is sales. They say I and me and they close their minds to openness and learning. How can you ever learn if you don’t listen. Listen with intent to understand. Listen with out assuming. Listen between the lines with intent to be understood. Listen to learn how to present ideas the way they want them presented, so that the ideas to use your service and products are the ideas of the foreigners.
Listening is the alternative to ‘you stew’!
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
Imagine again, if you will, that you are in this foreign land and you start telling everyone what to do. How to get from here to there in the shortest route, how to save time and effort, how to harvest information, new ideas, change, and happier lives. How long would it be before you were introduced to the boiling pot of ‘you stew’.
Isn’t that what most sales people do? Before ever learning the culture, the language, the unspoken language, they tell, and think that is sales. They say I and me and they close their minds to openness and learning. How can you ever learn if you don’t listen. Listen with intent to understand. Listen with out assuming. Listen between the lines with intent to be understood. Listen to learn how to present ideas the way they want them presented, so that the ideas to use your service and products are the ideas of the foreigners.
Listening is the alternative to ‘you stew’!
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
Stuck
I’m stuck. My manager says ‘sell’ but the developers can’t keep deadlines. How can I sell when they can’t complete what we sell now?
This is a common challenge. Here are some questions that come to mind. How long has it been this way? What has management done to fix the problem? What is the normal turnaround time? How does that compare to your competitors?
DELETE the ABOVE! Look at the real problem. You’re not gonna like this but, the problem is between your ears! For some reason you’ve mistaken your role in the company. You’ve given merit to the inner sanctum BS of what, why and how much the developers do or don’t do.
You were hired for SALES! Sales is introductions, relationships, finding companies/people who need your stuff. You’re not management. You don’t run the developers.
STOP making excuses. Get more appointments, get $ upfront, get contracts and the company will have more to invest in internal resources.
If you don’t believe in your company, how can you expect your prospects to believe? Stop spending your grey matter on things you can’t control. Focus on being the best salesperson you can. If you can’t, resign and find something you believe in soooooo much, the conviction exudes from your pours. Or get out of sales and stop giving real salespeople a bad wrap.
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
This is a common challenge. Here are some questions that come to mind. How long has it been this way? What has management done to fix the problem? What is the normal turnaround time? How does that compare to your competitors?
DELETE the ABOVE! Look at the real problem. You’re not gonna like this but, the problem is between your ears! For some reason you’ve mistaken your role in the company. You’ve given merit to the inner sanctum BS of what, why and how much the developers do or don’t do.
You were hired for SALES! Sales is introductions, relationships, finding companies/people who need your stuff. You’re not management. You don’t run the developers.
STOP making excuses. Get more appointments, get $ upfront, get contracts and the company will have more to invest in internal resources.
If you don’t believe in your company, how can you expect your prospects to believe? Stop spending your grey matter on things you can’t control. Focus on being the best salesperson you can. If you can’t, resign and find something you believe in soooooo much, the conviction exudes from your pours. Or get out of sales and stop giving real salespeople a bad wrap.
For more information about sales development goto www.thetrainingroup.com
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