Hospitality Sales & Management International


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Sales Management – Teach, Coach Or Leave Alone

A common hurdle for Sales Managers is learning how to actually ‘manage’ their sales team. Much like a football coach, it is your job to assess the talent on your team.

A good way to begin assessing your team is to evaluate each player, and assign them to one of three categories. This will allow you to focus the proper attention on the appropriate team members. There are three basic types of sales people.

Those you Teach:

This type has very little, if any sales training. Whether a ‘rookie’ or a ten year veteran, they survive on raw talent. Blessed with a disarming demeanor and a ‘gift of gab’, these folks make an honest living in sales. Arming them with some basic tools of the trade will do wonders in getting them off the practice squad and into the game.

For starters, schedule weekly sessions to go over scripting and roll playing exercises that cover common client interactions. Allow these players to ‘sit in’ on a few of your client consultations. If you have a video camera, tape their client interaction (with their knowledge, of course) and review it with them to correct common mistakes.

Those you Coach:

These are your starters. They consistently meet their sales goals. However, they seem to set their sights too low and ‘take plays off’ when they are ahead.

For this group, motivation is the key. Track their conversion rates for leads to sales. This will stress that every opportunity counts. Inspire friendly competition with weekly or monthly rewards such as “Lunch on the Boss” or a ‘Get Out of A Meeting Free” card. Meet with them weekly and give them a good ribbing if they start to slack off. Don’t worry, they can take it.

Those you Leave Alone:

The MVPs! Every sales manager has a list of ‘go to’ team members. They regularly exceed expectations and are self-motivated. It is important that you not over-manage these star performers.

Remember that professionals in this category are confident in their ability and know what they bring to your team. If you stifle them with burdensome reports and meetings, or with doing things ‘your way’, they will demand a trade! If they aren’t broken, don’t try to fix them.

In conclusion, using these profiles will help you build your team into a winner! And just like Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!”

(C) 2007.

Hospitality Sales & Management International


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3 Things You Can Do Right Now to Get Sales Firing Again – Activities For Sales Managers & Leaders

There is no question that in these economically uncertain times, sales leaders will need to get a whole lot smarter and more shrewd if they are going to keep their existing customers and they are going to need to be a whole lot more crafty if they are to win the slim pickings that are still out there to be had! That being said there are some fundamental sales management strategies that when implemented are guaranteed to generate sales within the next 90 days.

Strategy #1

Your first strategy will seem so simple and so easy that you are bound to say to yourself; “Is that all there is to it?” Please do not be fooled. Whilst the strategy below may seem simple, when done exactly as I have described below, it delivers some amazing results. So don’t question, just do! It has been proven that, when effectively applied, the practice of regular one-on-one Sales Performance Coaching is the fastest and most effective vehicle to drive your sales growth. One-on-one Sales Performance Coaching is a powerful, time-tested, behaviour-changing, sales acceleration strategy and is the foundation on which permanent and consistent growth in your business is built. Whilst there are many different processes and skills to be an effective Sales Performance Coach , there are 2 activities that you can apply that would have an immediate impact to your sales drive.

Sit down with each of your salespeople either in person or by phone, ABSOLUTELY NO LESS THAN ONCE A FORTNIGHT. Depending on the state of your sales pipeline, you may need to ramp that up to once a week. Here’s exactly all you need to do…

1. IN DEPTH review the week/ fortnight just past. When you are done …

2. IN DEPTH plan the week/ fortnight coming up.

That’s it, that’s all, that’s the lot!

What does IN DEPTH MEAN?

IN DEPTH means just that. As an example, when prospecting for new business opportunities either with existing customers or new prospects, your salespeople must complete some primary due diligence and be able to answer some or all of the following questions before even fronting up or making the sales call. By having answers to the questions below will afford them the best opportunity for success. Your job in coaching them IN DEPTH is to ensure that before they invest their time and your money going to see a prospect, they are extremely well prepared. Imagine if you asked your salespeople some or all of the questions below before a business development call.

“So you are going to see Bob at ABC ….”

1. What have you learned about ABC?

2. Who are all the “players”?

3. What does your research tell you about the critical issues that ABC is facing right now?

4. What is the evidence that they are facing these issues?

5. What do you believe the potential impacts of those issues to be? What evidence do you have that they are dealing with this issue?

6. What are their current constraints in solving that issue (in relation to time, people money)?

7. What is our answer for solving the issue?

8. What are the current market trends in their area?

9. What do we know about other companies that operate in the same space as they do?

10. What are ABC’s key strategic initiatives?

11. What would their decision constraint criterion be in relation to time, people money?

12. How may we be in a position to help them?

13. What questions do you have prepared to elicit needs?

14. How do you plan on positioning the company and what it is we do?

15. What information should you bring back from your visit, to move this opportunity to the next stage of the sales pathway?

16. What is the objective of the sales call?

That is what I mean by IN DEPTH! Can you imagine just how much better prepared your sales people would be to take advantage of the opportunities out there with this kind of IN DEPTH probing?

Strategy # 2

Look for sales closest to the “bulls-eye!”

Imagine standing front on and facing the circles of a target. Imagine the “bulls-eye!” in the middle is where the money is. The circle just out side the bulls-eye represents your existing customers, let call them A’s. They are the ones closest to the money. The next circle represents those customers that have bought from you occasionally, let call them B’s. The circle just beyond the B’s are your C’s and they represent those prospective companies you have targeted but have yet to buy from you. Then outside of your C’s we have the D’s. These are prospects we have yet to consider.

Once again, as simple as this practice may seem, it is often neglected. When we need more sales, where do we go looking? Out there in D, E, F, and G land. Start looking for business closest to where the money is. Your sales opportunity is to expand your influence within your A and B customer’s organizations and earn a higher percentage of their business. According to the 2008 CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Report only 33.6% of C.S.O’s interviewed were able to farm additional revenues from their existing customer base, and that was last year during a comparatively good market!

Your role as sales manager is to help your salespeople identify where you have previously left money on the table. What are the opportunities with your A, B and C companies? Go work there! Let your Marketing department figure out how to bring the D, E, F, and G prospects in to where the C’s, B’s and A’s reside. If your salespeople can’t answer the questions in Strategy 1 with your A’s B’s and C customers, you have work to do. Have your people renew old relationships. Have them beat the bushes for new opportunities you have yet to capture with your A’s, B’s and C customers. They live closest to where the money lives. Go get em’!

Strategy # 3

Go to work and re-engineer your current sales process, if you have one. If you don’t then get one! The latest research from the CSO Insights’ 2008 Sales Performance Optimization Report shows that ‘process-centric’ sales teams outperform non-process-centric teams for every measurable metric.

Sales team performance and effectiveness has been shown to increase by as much as 40% when sales teams have a clear, proven sales process visible to them. The chances are extremely good that if you currently have 5 salespeople on your team, you most likely have 5 different sales processes going on all at once! What other part of your business runs on multiple different processes? Imagine running your business with half a dozen different accounting processes, or multiple IT or customer service processes? Sounds silly doesn’t it? Yet sales teams do so all the time.

Whilst you can reengineer your current selling process, the exercise is not for the faint-hearted. It may be advisable that you bring in professional expertise to ensure the greatest success. You may just be too close to your own current sales methodology to see the gaps or dysfunction.

So there you have it 3 practical ideas you can implement right now to get sales firing again. At the very least run strategy #1 for 90 days. If you will do that, sales will start to flow again.

Afton Village – AV Management Company – Residential Sales


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Hiring Super Sales People and Sales Managers

Hiring successful sales people and sales managers requires a scientific process, not a resume and interview ritual.  You’ve probably been fooled many times from a great impression at the interview, and then the person didn’t cut it.  S/he either quit, got fired or worse yet, s/he is still with you under producing.  Well these mistakes can be avoided, along with all the lost customers and associated expenses for training, salary, etc., by using my recruiting process.

 

The Science of Sales Person Selection

 

There are certain elements present and/or absent and/or mixed in proportions that determine selling and sales management success.  (See the White Paper described at the end of this article).  So in order to hire super sales people companies must:  Measure the amounts of each element; determine what mixes and what doesn’t; decide what can be changed or improved in the time allotted to change it; analyze findings; Interview candidates that tested positive and make your selection. 

 

This science is 96% accurate for selecting successful sales people for any industry.  That’s better than 9 super sales people for every 10 you choose.  Selling success means the person is an over-achiever and/or a top producer on your selling team.    Think of all the sales people you’ve hired and determine how many of them stayed with you and turned out to be top producers.

 

Selling Success Is Not a Personality Score

 

These elements are not to be confused with personality traits that are described and measured using a variety of personality tests – Meyers Briggs, DISC, etc.  These tests (although valuable for certain things) describe behavioral traits, but do not indicate (1) if a person can sell, (2) if a person wants to sell, (3) if a person has the skills to sell, and (4) if a person can sell for your company.  Now if you’re a CEO or sales manager in-need of someone to fill a selling void or generate needed sales, you’d like to know your selection has 1, 2, 3 and 4 and can hit the road running.

 

The Selling Success Elements

 

There are 4 critical strengths required for selling success – desire, commitment, outlook and accountability.  Commitment and desire are mandatory.  Outlook can be changed and accountability is manageable.

 

There are 5 weaknesses that everyone has.  The amounts and combination of these weaknesses will determine the overall effectiveness of the person.  That is; if someone is really flush with desire, commitment, outlook and accountability, but is encumbered with some or all of the weaknesses, his or her selling effectiveness will diminish proportionally.  The weaknesses relate to money sensitivity, need for approval, self image, personal buying traits, and emotional involvement.

 

Next are selling skills and a selling process that are more comprehensive than showing-up, presenting and expecting a purchase.  These include, getting to the right people, effective interviewing, fitting solutions to defined problems better than alternatives, securing commitment, managing accounts, prospecting, networking, territory development, and so on.

 

All of these strengths, weaknesses and skills can be measured either (1) in an interview by someone savvy questioning and listening for the elements – not many people are competent at doing this, or (2) from a test that gathers information, compiles it, gauges it and validates it regarding these strengths, weaknesses and skills.

 

Selling for Your Company

 

Obviously the person has to be able to sell, but whether or not someone can sell for your company will center on elements defining your type of sale – simple vs. complex; big ticket vs. small; titles the person has to connect to; highly competitive vs. specialty, etc.

 

Finally your type of management must be compared to the style that the person works best with – micro vs. macro management; coaching vs. left alone to survive; tolerant vs. nothing but results.  There are more, and all need to be compared – candidate to company.

 

What to Do to Assure Success

 

Although measuring the elements sounds like a lot of work, the task can be relatively simple.  Devise a test that measures these elements or use proven, existing ones.  Now if you get caught up in the cost of testing, just ask yourself what a failed sales person costs?  And if you get caught-up in the predictability, look to the longevity and satisfied users.

 

Unfortunately, measuring the elements is not all that’s required.  You will need to have a recruiting step.  That is, writing an ad that draws the right type of person and searching the various companies, websites, and other venues where your right person will be hanging around. 

 

This leads us to determining what the right person should look like.  What experiences, salary levels, and successes s/he should have.  Finally, your interviewing process must be set-up to see if chemistries match and to explore red flags indicated by the elements test.

 

This is the recruiting process and now I invite you to learn more about it.

Personal Accountability in Sales Management Training

For over 200 years the US Constitution has served as the system of fundamental laws and principles of our society. This amazing document has served as the cornerstone of our democracy. A reflection of our Founding Fathers’ core values, the Constitution has kept our society on track since 1787, and has certainly contributed significantly to the growth and success of the United States.

What is the Constitution of your sales team?

Have you, as yet, identified and communicated your cornerstone? If I was to ask five of your salespeople to describe to me what is expected of them in areas other than sales results would I receive five different answers?

The Production Equation: B+A=R.

Behavior plus activities equals sales results. Or, another way of saying this is that every successful sale is the outcome of a series of behaviors (how something is done) as well as activities (how many times a behavior is performed).

Unfortunately, many of us sales managers try to manage results. We wait until a rep has a bad month before we decide to get involved in “coaching” them. So then, when a rep produces a bad month, we rush over and smother them in coaching trying and get their production back up quickly. Sales managers who try to manage results are like a driver of an automobile who only looks in the rear view mirror… chances are they will be surprised when they collide with something that is unexpected. Looking only in the rear view mirror is not an effective way to drive a car, but it happens to be the way that many sales managers drive their sales teams.

Sales results can’t be managed, but behaviors and activities can.

To be the best sales manager you must get in front of the result, get the best sales management training possible, and put in writing your expectations of the behaviors and activities that contribute to sales results. 

Think of this issue – a team without well-communicated performance standards – from your salesperson’s perspective. As a salesperson, you have a clear understanding of the sales quota results expected of you, but you’re unsure exactly how to produce those results. So you do what you think you should. You “make it up on the fly.” Then, because nobody tells you you’re doing it wrong you assume it is acceptable behavior. So you keep doing it, and form bad habits. It’s an unproductive cycle.

How to Draft your Sales Team’s Constitution

Think of your top salesperson… what specific behaviors does he/she do that contributes to sales success? For example, “makes at least five new business prospecting calls every day.” Then, what attitudinal qualities does he/she have which contributes to success? For example, “attempts to solve problems before seeking help.”

Make a list of behaviors and activities that describe your top salesperson, and then share this list with everyone on your sales team. Have each of your salespeople assess themselves on a quarterly basis against these behaviors and activities: Meets, Exceeds, Needs Improvement. Then, sit down one-on-one with each salesperson, discuss his/her self assessment, and put a plan in place to improve those.

Four Components of a Sales Constitution are as follows: Written Well communicated Understood by everybody Equally applied

Improving Sales Productivity Begins and Ends with the Sales Manager

So you want to improve your sales team’s performance.

There are so many places to try and squeeze additional performance improvements out of your team. The question is…where do you start?

Do you start with better tools like Sales Force Automation (SFA) or Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? Maybe implementing opportunity, account, and territory management methodologies would work. How about improving sales skills? You could train them in value/relationship/consultative/collaborative/strategic selling or negotiation. The truth is if your company is weak in any of these areas you could experience improved performance by addressing them head on.

I can hear some of you groaning already. I know you invested thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement new tools, processes, methods, and training before, but it didn’t stick or you got marginal returns on investments.

Sales Productivity Secret #1

No matter what you choose to improve, if you don’t focus on the Sales Managers first the improvement initiatives will only deliver short term results.

The Sales Managers are the key to sustainable performance improvement.

Why?

Because they are responsible for hiring, training, developing, directing, planing, coaching, communicating expectations, measuring success, and managing change on a daily basis. This is where the rubber meets the road!

I have worked with hundreds of Sales Managers from small businesses to fortune 100 companies over the last 5 years and the vast majority of them were great salespeople that got promoted to Sales Manager. Most of them have spent years struggling to develop the heart of a manager. Most have developed their management systems and skills through trial and error or imitating previous managers.

Each quarter brings constant pressure to hit the numbers and each year the pressure mounts as their companys’ raise the bar. Sooner or later the relentless drive to bring in the numbers causes the Sales Manager to fall back on what they know created success for them in the past. Instead of leading and developing the sales team they become “super closers” that get the job done by setting the pace, directing activities and closing sales.

So what’s wrong with that?

If your company does not require the sales manager to carry a book of business (they have a personal quota or list of accounts to call on) then they are doing the salesperson’s job. The very skills that made the Sales Manager such a great Salesperson are the obstacles to developing an Elite High-Performance team.

The Sales Manager’s role should be to develop a management system that continuously improves the performance of themselves, the team and the individual sales professionals, in addition to managing the business.