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A Great Coaching Message for Anyone from Coach Lombardi

Be Better in 2010

“Winning Isn’t Everything, the Will to Win Is. ... I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle - victorious.” Vince Lombardi

Coach Lombardi, of the Green Bay Packers, is recognized among the top coaches (#1) of all time as voted by the 48-member SportsCentury panel.  He believed the will to win was most important to an individual’s accomplishments.

My family grew up during the Depression, and my brothers and I often declare that, “We were brought up in an artificial depression.” We learned to darn our socks using a light bulb.  We learned to stretch a penny - although, sometimes we did do this on a railroad track ...

We learned to win.  We learned never to give up. ... We were lucky to have this heritage.  It has sustained us and continues to sustain us during tough times.

However, discipline is always a virtue and worthy to pursue as a character strength.  In today’s economy, having disciplined people around us helps.  It helps us apply our “will to win” and to strive to become better.  No matter the circumstances, we can work to make a difference - to become better - to use our bodies, minds, and hearts for the benefit of others.

Set some goals for 2010 - ones that you find passion in, and then get someone to challenge you.  Start over with your life if you have to, but live by giving all that you have to what you’ve been given to do and with the resources you have.  You can do this, and the effort at being your best person will make you alive no matter the outcome.  Lance.  “Strive to Win in 2010 ...”

Vigilance Never Ends for Great Sales Managers

As sales leaders, you are at the head of something - a team of salespeople. Their personalities are different.  Their backgrounds are different.  Their beliefs and attitudes are different.  Their motivating desires are different.  And, they have different levels of these things.

You have a job to do - get to a certain level of results through a team of people.  When you are present in some way, they attend to your interests if you have their respect.  If you do not have their respect, they pay attention to other interests.

Let’s assume you have respect as a leader - a sales leader.  And, let’s assume that your team is making progress.  Perhaps, they are even now at the pinnacle of success - #1, at the top.  Either way, progress was made because you paid attention to your team - both as a group and as individuals.

Here’s the proverb. 

Be sure to know the condition of your team.  Give careful attention to your people for riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations.  (Solomon proverb: slightly revised).

What does this mean?

Things are ‘always’ breaking down.  Do not rest in your vigilance as a leader.  Keep on watching for possible danger or difficulties within the team or outside of the team.  Standards, tardiness, and dress begin to crumble - slowly at first, then in mass.  Morale begins to drop.  Gossip begins to spread.  Laziness crawls into the hearts of the people.  “The economy makes it difficult to survive - so the people say.”

Your presence diminishes among the salespeople.  You literally disappear.  Success platitudes of past victories still fill the air and new ones are not heard. Goals and direction are not discussed.  Challenges diminish.

No.  Not you!

You lead.  And, the burden of leadership is one you bear ‘all the time.’ You are sure to know the circumstances that affect the way your salespeople work and live.  You watch for factors that influence the performance and outcomes of sales efforts.  You fight to keep the abundance in place - to keep plenty of sales and income flowing to your people. 

You realize that different time periods provide different challenges.  Each one is a new generation of people and attitudes and effort.  So, through different parts of the years, groups of people, and leadership, you protect the culture and its standards for the benefit of others. 

Today and its future will not be lost or diminished without a struggle.  You will never quit in your vigilance.  Each day, your people see you look over them with care and attention.  It is your position and your purpose as a leader.  Be better every day.  Ever build a legacy.  You do this for your people.  Lance.

Beta Test of Salesactivities Dot Com (.com)

Announcing Our Beta Release of Sales Activities

We’re pleased to announce our new sales management tool, Salesactivities.com is now ready for “beta” testing. If you’re willing to provide us feedback, we’ll give you 60 days free access to our new tool. Developed for and by high-sales activity performers, this tool helps manage your complete sales process from prospect to close.

High activity sales people can manage sales cycles ranging from 20 minute phone calls to a 90-day engagement. Top performers have demonstrated again and again that effectively managing the sales activities directly impacts the sales results.

Using our new “Sale Activities” tool, you increase consistency in prospects, appointments, lead generation, and quotes. Improving process consistency is a proven method for increasing sales results and meeting/exceeding sales goals.

We developed our Sales Activities tools based on winning sales patterns by some of the all time top performers in high activity sales. Their success will now help other salespeople improve performance.

You can enjoy a free “beta” test of Salesactivities.com” for 60 days. All we ask is that you provide us with feedback for improvement during the 60 day trial.

We believe Sales Professionals will love the new Sales Activities tool for several reasons.

Easy - It’s easy to learn and use. Forget learning complex Excel equations or jumping through a variety of databases. This tool can be applied right away by new users.

Seamless - Sales Professionals can naturally integrate our Sales Activities tool into their current sales flow process. This means you’ll use the tool more, resulting in higher performance.

Consistency - By using Sales Activities on a regular basis, you’ll begin eliminating the “peaks and valleys” in your sales performance see consistent improvement in each step of the process.

Visit Salesactivities.com. You’ll enjoy a free “beta” test for 60 days in exchange for a feedback on our new product. Thank you for helping and we look forward to hearing your responses.  All we ask is that you provide us with feedback for improvement during the 60 day trial.  Kindest regards, Lance.

Coach a Sales Process: Manage Funnel Strength and Activities to Reach Goals

I had the following conversation with a sales team I was training a few days ago.  The team was behind sales, revenue, and margin goals year-to-date.

Our conversation started with, “What’s the goal?” They asked, “The sales goal?” I nodded.  They quickly and rather smugly announced the year’s sales’ goals by channel.  Each channel was represented in the room by one or two salespeople - capital equipment sales in two markets and aftermarket sales.  I wrote their answers on a flip chart.

I then asked, “What are the year’s sales-to-date by channel?” Without hesitation, they responded with the numbers - their confidence growing with every answer.  I continued to write.

(Impressive.  This was unusual.  Most sales teams do not know their team goal or their year-to-date progress toward its achievement.  Even more telling, most salespeople do not have goals, but that’s a story for another time.)

I then looked at them and asked, “How many quotes are pending (the number and $ amount), and one more stage up in your sales funnel how many prospects do you have - not yet quoted (the number and $ amount)?” Silence.  Confusion.

I explained, “I want to know the number of quotes still viable and awaiting a decision and how much revenue they represent.” “Do you know these numbers at this stage in your sales funnel?” Silence. “Then, I want to know how many qualified prospect deals you are chasing for an opportunity to quote and the estimated revenue they represent.”

“Do you know these numbers?” Silence - more silence ... and, some shook their heads no, while others formed and softly said the word aloud ... “no.”

I continued, “Those numbers are just as important as sales-to-date - Why?” One salesman in the group ventured a guess, “Because knowing the number of quotes and pending prospects will tell us if we are finding and working enough potential deals to achieve our goals by the end of the year.” I reinforced his answer, “Yes, and if you know how much is presently in your funnel, you also know, if in the time remaining, you have a prayer of achieving goal!” At this point in the training, everyone was beginning to nod and a coaching “ah-ah” effect had entered the room. 
..............................................

Most sales managers do not help their salespeople manage a sales funnel - it’s strength and size, and the proper amount of prospected opportunities.

When they begin to do so, these benefits occur.  They ...
- Smooth out the valleys peaks and valleys of roller coaster sales
- Focus their people on qualified prospects and strategies to win sales-in-progress (quoted deals)
- Learn to produce more accurate forecasts
- Make better strategic prospecting adjustments earlier in the goal achievement period
- Keep new lead generation at an appropriate level

All of which contribute to higher sales, lower selling expenses, and greater sales efficiencies.

Managing a sales funnel begins with defining its stages and with getting everyone on the same page with terminology.  Here’s a rather standard description of a three (3) stage sales funnel.  Stage one, at the top, contains those leads or opportunities as yet undefined for funding, needs, or when the buyer want ownership to begin (installation schedule, purchase, etc.) For leads in what we will call the Opportunities (Stage One), a salesperson has not been in front of a buying influence with a first appointment - one in which the above items are discovered.

Stage Two, Prospects, contains those opportunities in which a first appointment has occurred with a decision maker AND a salesperson has learned about the needs, situation, funding, and schedule of the pending purchase.  The rest of this stage contains subsequent appointments and advances that win the ability to quote and that occur before giving a final presentation and quote.

Stage Three, Quotes, contains all quoted deals still pending an estimated award date to you or your competition.  A final presentation to a decision maker(s) usually advances a prospect into this quoted stage.

A few notes to remember ...
1.  Make the stage description work with your business.  We have customized these for hundreds of companies.
2.  Teach everyone the stage descriptions.
3.  Be aware that the amount of time that a lead flows through every stage of the funnel ranges from 5 minutes to 5 years.
4.  Understand that the opportunity ratio is the ratio of leads to qualified prospects.  if this ratio is excessive, there might be lead generation strategies to change.
5.  Discover your closing ratio - ratio of quotes to sales.  It’s another area for improvement, training, or strategic change.
6.  Calculate selling expenses from lead to sale to help you with important decisions regarding people resources and expenditures.

Finally, remember that managing a sales funnel means that you have a well-defined sales process.  And, this provides you and your salespeople with a better focus for improving sales goal achievement.  Now, put your funnel together and learn to better manage and coach sales activity levels and strategies.  You can do this.  Lance.

A Story of An Unconscious Incompetent Sales Manager Who Recruits Poorly

It’s 5 a.m. and a sales manager, Jason, turns off the alarm as he rolls out of bed, hits the floor, and moves through the darkness for the bathroom.  A typical start to a day.  In the gym by 6:00.  At the office by 7:30. 

It’s the end of the month and the sales team is 85% of quota.  Two open sales positions and lost sales revenue glare out from a sales board located in his office.  Jason’s quarterly bonus money is in jeopardy - perhaps his job.  He looks at yesterday’s sales numbers and then opens a recruiting folder and pulls out one old resume.  It’s poorly written with several misspelled words and shows a working history of five jobs with short tenure - none of them sales-related.  He sighs.

During the day, Jason places an ad in the local newspaper.  He also employs a local recruiting firm and over the next week he begins to receive candidate resumes.  Jason’s assistant screens out some of the resumes and schedules interviews with those that answer their phone.

Jason’s interview questions vary from candidate to candidate.  He relies on his gut and sales instinct with each person.  He looks for someone who seems self confident - and then someone whom he can “sell” on the job and the career. 

In walks John - right smile, right age, right resume, good answers, very attentive - eager.  Jason shifts gears into his best presentation and explanation of the opportunity.  At the right moment honed by years sales experience, he ends the interview and asks John when he is available for employment.  “Within one week,” he replies.  Jason and he agree on his starting day and recruiting for the first position is over.  In the next week, John hires his second new salesperson - one with ten years of experience selling high-end men’s suits for a reputable company in the area.  Both last three months before it becomes evident that neither can sell.

Where does incompetency begin in Jason’s recruiting process? 

Jason does not know what to look for when recruiting a salesperson. He, along with most sales managers and entrepreneurs in America, does not know the competencies for his sales position and does not know the top six (6) personality traits that are necessary for natural sales ability in his industry. As a result, resumes cannot be screened well.  Managers do not use structured questions in their interviews.  Personality profiles are purchased, but sales managers do not trust their validation, do not know where they are used in a process, and no one provides training on their use.  And, no one uses a recruiting system with a process, tools, and skills all focused on uncovering necessary competencies and personality traits of a great salesperson.

Most sales managers are unconscious incompetents at recruiting the best candidates for sales positions.  They do not know what they do poorly when recruiting.  They do not know that they do not follow the standards of a best practice recruiting system.  The result - turnover is high.  Retention is low.  First year sales for new recruits is also low.  Overall sales team production is lower than budget.  Morale is low.  Pressure to hire is high. 

In some companies where turnover is high, upper management controls the pressure for continuous recruitment.  The intensity is kept at such a high level that upper management has even stopped talking about hiring quality candidates.  Hire them - try them - and keep the few that make it.  That’s the poor underlying value placed on retention and a recruiting system.

Other companies have tools - interview forms, profiles, online applications, etc., but no one follows a process, uses the tools, etc.  No one coaches and manages the managers to accountability within a recruiting system - one that truly gets results from best practices - higher retention and production.  More importantly, recruiting does not follow a single-minded process to match candidate competencies and personality traits with those required in the position.  Finally, sales managers do not realize they do not understand or follow a best practice science of selection. They are unconscious of their incompetence at recruiting.

I want to give all the Jasons out there hope.  You CAN identify and recruit for the top competencies and personality traits necessary for your sales position.  You can learn to use a best practice recruiting system with its process, tools, and skills. You can hire great salespeople.  You can get first year production of new reps to reach an excellent standard.  You can improve ramp up time to minimum production.  You can learn to recruit well.  And, when you do all stakeholders will benefit from your improved skills and attitude.  Lance.

Great Sales Managers Guard Against Negative Thinking In Any Economy

A few weeks ago, while listening to a favorite morning radio program, I was reminded of the impact on our thoughts in any economy.  The talk show host was speaking with a guest about his views on the financial condition of our country.  The discussion led into postulations about a depression.  After quite a bit of speculation, the lines were opened for callers.

The first caller was angry.  He said he was “sick and tired” of hearing doom and gloom forecasts on every channel - on television, radio, internet, and in print.  He said he liked the radio station, but that he was going to turn it off.  Yes, turn it off - it and every other mode of communication spreading a newscaster’s negative spin.  Why?  Because he had to go to work.  He had to get up in the morning and go to work.  And, he was tired of fighting the pessimism and depression created by the constant dripping of bad news.  He was beyond overload.

You see during the days of Jimmy Carter’s 10% unemployment and 21% interest rates we did not have the various ways to distribute negative commentary.  Internet?  No!  Cable TV?  No!  Talk show hosts?  No!  What did we do.  We just worked through it.

Think about your salespeople and think about your leadership.  How does negative news affect commercial and residential real estate professionals?  How does losing a sale or having a sale placed on hold affect salespeople?  How does learning about the stock market’s ups and downs affect marketing folks?  How does news of an impending depression affect selling strength?  How does hearing negative remarks about a President’s economic moves affect your belief in prospecting and sales goal achievement?  How does filling your mind with all this stuff affect your ability to inspire others?  And, in how many ways and how often do you take in these messages and hold them in your mind?

Turn them OFF.  Even if you turn them off, you will still read a few headlines or hear enough from others to get what’s going on.  It will not mean sticking your head in the sand.  It will mean taking captive your thoughts and then deciding yourself what to take in and for what reason.

Here’s what I recommend for sales managers and salespeople I influence on a daily basis.  Reset what you tune your mind to hear.  Listen to a radio station that has great music.  Turn to movies that inspire you - Braveheart, Second Hand Lions, Cinderella Man, Gladiator, Rocky, Slumdog Millionaire, etc.  Read excellent literature.  Focus on what people do that is admirable. 

Check out the 16 minute movie Validation ...

Pay attention to the tone of your emails and text messages.  Increase your level of customer service and service to mankind in general.  Give of your time at homeless shelters.  Tell people what you see in them - work ethic, honesty, service to others.  Remind them of who they are - people with a heritage of sacrifice and valor in tough times.  Appreciate them.  Explain your confidence in them.  Do and say what you would say to your child after a hard moment in life.

Pay greater attention to people.  Increase your capacity to listen.  Stay around them more.  Refocus their efforts.  Keep them on plan.  Find ways to be more efficient with time and to do more first appointments in order to get more sales working in your sales funnel.  Talk about and implement strategic actions.  Ask yourself, “What are the needs and problems of my customer or client in this economy?” Put together questions that get centers of influence and decision makers talking about these situation, needs, and problems. Listen for the help they need.  Offer customized solutions.  Communicate more often with customers.  Use internet CRMs to improve your contact frequency and targeted messages.  Put out a newsletter that shows you are focused on the needs and problems you hear.

Really, the action comments above are just a few of the things you can do for those you lead and for those you love.  I’ve taken my first step and it’s made all the difference.  No longer will I listen and watch the visceral messages day in and day out.  I’ve changed my tuned-in places on my radio.  I’ve canceled shows I used to record.  I do not listen to certain talk show hosts - even if I like them.  Why? I’ve got to get up in the morning.  I’ve got to lead.  I’ve got to work. Make your own decisions about what you think about and what you tell your salespeople and your children.  Do it.  It will make a big difference.  It will get results.  Lance.

13 Reasons for Poor Sales Hires by Hard Working Sales Managers

Imagine this picture. Turnover occurs - sometimes at an excessive rate. Sales managers work hard and struggle to find quality candidates for open sales positions. They place ads in local newspapers and get many responses. Some use Monster. Some use recruiters. However, many of their candidates come from people who cannot find a job anywhere else. Sales managers then sift through dozens of resumes to find only a few candidates worth an interview.

While they sift through resumes, they find themselves stressed to find someone fast - stressed by their bosses and by a decrease in sales team production.

When the candidates arrive, the resumes look better than they do! Even so, sales managers decide to move ahead with the best candidates. They sell themselves - they make themselves see what isn’t really there. This results in hiring people who do not possess the personality traits of high performers.

Eventually, sales managers begin to lower their standards. They shift the focus and blame a difficult career for the inability to recruit high quality people. For every three to seven people they hire, only one seems to start off well. First year production decreases, turnover increases, and overall team production decreases. A negative sales culture forms.

What do these sales managers do wrong in the recruiting process?

Sales managers make poor hiring decisions when exhibiting the following behaviors.
They ...

1. Do not use multiple sources for finding job candidates.
2. Source for candidates just before they need a position filled.
3. Rush through hiring without a multistage process ... interview and then hire (a pipe process instead of a funnel).
4. Have not analyzed and do not know the top 6 personality traits necessary in top performers for industry sales competence.
5. Do shoot-from-the-hip non-structured interviews without questions designed to discover competencies, important personality traits, and character attributes.
6. Recruit personality traits and sales skills over character values like honesty, personal responsibility, and hard work ethic.
7. Do not use a validated personality profile. (go here)
8. Sell their company to candidates during MOST of the interview time. They even sell themselves on the candidate.
9. Talk more than the candidate does during an in-depth interview.
10. Do not involve other employees during final interviews.
11. Save candidates when they struggle with a question - sometimes even giving them the answer.
12. Hire candidates when only their instinct says yes.
13. Hire candidates when their instinct says no.

What’s wonderful when you look at these behaviors? Yes. Wonderful?

People can change. That’s right. They can change. Sales managers who want to get better can get better. Better ways do exist.

Multiple sources can be used for candidate leads. A sales manager can always be recruiting in advance of their needs.

Top traits do exist in high performers and sales managers can discover them. Structured interviews can be written to assess the presence of these traits within people. Character traits like honesty can be made nonnegotiable for winning a sales position. Validated personality profiles can be used as objective and predictive recruiting tools.

Sales managers can learn to develop interviewing skills. They can learn not to save people. They can learn to hush and listen. They can to learn to follow a process. And, they can learn to follow their gut when their gut says, “No,” and to keep following the process when their gut says, “Yes.” Sales managers can learn to recruit well. They can. Now, go do it. You can.  Lance

Five Considerations in Selecting a GREAT Sales Manager

Companies need great sales managers.  To find them, Sales VPs and business owners need to (1) know, in advance, the sales goals their managers will work to achieve.  Sales managers assume responsibility for sales team goal achievement.  And, it’s important to investigate their background for team achievement levels and to set clear expectations for them at the beginning of their employment.  Typical expectations are set for team performance, individual product sales, territory expansion, and retention.

As a coach, sales managers guide salespeople into prospecting and sales activity levels necessary to produce enough quotes and sales for goal achievement.  They create an inspiring environment in which salespeople want to motivate themselves to achieve sales goals. To accomplish the goals of a sales manager’s position, a person must be able to do certain activities.  They must show a competency to handle certain duties.  We will call these duties (2) sales manager competencies.

Know the competency requirements for top sales managers in your industry.  Examples found in a cross section of industries and sales manager positions include:

1. Recruiting salespeople
2. Planning sales goal achievement
3. Coaching and teaching in three areas: sales planning, activity (funnel) management, face-to-face skills
4. Confronting mavericks and poor performers
5. Building teams
6. Inspiring others to motivate themselves
7. Monitoring individual and team performance (sales goal achievement)

(Note:  In some industries, a high ability to sell or close deals is necessary, while in others a moderate ability to sell is required along with greater competency in the areas shown above.  Group presentation skills are required in some industries and not in others.)

As you can see the competencies are the things that great sales managers can do and do well.  To consistently do these tasks over a long period of time, a sales manager usually possesses certain (3) personality traits.  Just as in athletics, certain traits produce speed and an ability to catch a ball.  In sales management, certain personality traits allow sales managers to more naturally do the competencies shown above.  Those personality traits are ....

• High social confidence and ability to ask, tell, present, persuade, and confront
• Lower social drive and need for recognition and thus a greater tendency to praise others
• A moderated goal drive with a respect and knowledge of sales systems: processes, tools, and skills
• A moderated detail-orientation to allow for analysis within a big picture orientation
• A moderated need to nurture - ability to hear an individual’s needs and yet keep time management a priority
• Willingness to understand and adapt communication and coaching to different personality styles
• Out of the box thinker and creative problem solver - personal flexibility

While the goals, competencies, and personality traits combine to show what a sales manager must do, (4) attitudes and beliefs make up the philosophy that drives the system.  They also define the sales team environment and whether it will be an inspiring one.  And, certain attitudes and beliefs must be present to exist comfortably within a company’s values.  The follow list contains attitudes and beliefs most commonly found in great sales managers.  Before recruiting a sales manager, it will be important for you to see which you agree with and what attitudes and beliefs you will add to the list.

- Honest: with money, time, and promises
- Hard work ethic:  the amount of hours doesn’t matter
- Personal responsibility: it’s their ship, their watch, their people, their goals
- Servant hearted:  it’s all about contribution and service
- Positive:  meets challenges with a ‘can do’ attitude

Finally, the (5) cognitive strength of the sales managers is important.  It determines how fast they will learn and how quickly they grasp complex information - the need for which varies from industry to industry.

When selecting great sales managers, build a matching sheet of +’s and -’s and keep score during a best practice recruiting system.  Screen, profile, and then do structured interviews.  Focus on deciding if the candidate can accomplish the goals and if they will be competent in the areas shown above.  And, most importantly, for retention and for sales organization health, decide if the candidate will do these things naturally and in a way that will keep both sales team morale and production at high levels.  Now, take the information in this article and do a better job in selecting your new sales manager.  You can.  Lance.

The 13 Best Criteria for Choosing Sales Assessments

The sales assessment chosen for use in a recruiting process should:

1.  Be scientifically validated for the position.  The process and cost of validation, if any, should be included in the RFP.  Validation documentation should be provided to company adminstator.

Explanation:  Many companies and individuals marketing personality profiles have not invested in validation studies to prove the predictive effectiveness of their profiles.  Be sure that this has occurred for those profiles you choose to place in your selection process.

2.  Meet EEOC validity as a selection tool under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (1978) (29 CFR Part 1607 for EEOC, as amended by 46 FR 63268), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1978.

Explanation:  These federal laws prohibit discrimination in any term or condition of employment (including employment tests) on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, age and gender.

3.  Include an accuracy index that catches those who try to leave an unrealistically favorable impression (high, moderate, invalid accuracy), and to reduce applicant faking.

Explanation:  (source: Dr. Larry Craft) There are literally hundreds of personality questionnaires in the marketplace. Psychologists developed the great majority to use in a mental health (not employment) environment where faking was seldom a problem. A host of other personality tests were recently developed by marketing specialists who have very little knowledge of test validity or reliability. The test items are so transparent that any ‘test-wise’ applicant can see-through the questionnaire and respond in a way that generates the highest possible score. Very few of the existing personality tests have the sophistication and research required to reduce and measure applicant faking.

4.  Show a compatibility percentage (0-100%) match to the job position.

Explanation:  This will, at a glance, help recruiting or hiring managers see which applicants are more closely matched in their personality traits to the those normally required for the competencies of the sales position.

5.  Show a high, moderate, and low compatibility ranking to the job position.

Explanation:  A high, moderate, and low compatibility cut for participants will provide the recruiting manager or job manager a quick look when working with large volumes of applicants.  These should correlate with validation studies done on the job position.

6.  Show what personality trait(s) scores cause a variation from a high compatibility match and the amount of difference graphically displayed verses the ideal range for the job position.

Explanation:  Profiles scores derive from personality trait variation for job position norms usually present in high performing salespeople.  These should be shown in the output along with which traits are out of norm.

7.  Display results on a one page summary chart for easy use and interpretation.

Explanation:  A summary chart provides ease-of-use benefits for recruiting or hiring managers with lots of applicants.  The ability to ‘drill down’ into details should be provided in the design of the one page summary chart.

8.  Show the selling style of the person based on the four (4) quadrant personality grid common in psychological literature (example:  persuasive, administrative, authoritative, participative or other similar names). 

Explanation:  This is included to help the sales candidate understand for what prospect of customer personality style(s) the sales candidate will have to “stretch” to improve selling or service rapport.  Coaching tips for the candidate and the sales manager should be provided.

9.  Provide a measurement and prediction of a salesperson’s cognitive learning style.

Explanation:  Sales positions vary in the need to learn complex information and products during the ramp-up period.  Sales managers know to challenge quick learners or to provide more instruction time and communication for candidates with different learning styles.

10.  List the recommended amount of coaching hours per month for each applicant.

Explanation:  The profile output should provide the sales manager with the number of coaching hours predicted per applicant and new hire.  This provide a realistic understanding of the coaching effort expected for each new hire.

11.  Provide coaching instructions to the manager for helping the candidate achieve at a high performance level.

Explanation:  Provided with the number of coaching hours, the specific tips and instructions will help the sales manager get a better start bringing the candidate to minimum performance standards. 

12.  Be provided with profile training for those administering the profile to applicants.  The process and cost for training, if any, should be included in a proposal.

Explanation:  While there are many sales assessment profiles marketed in America, very few sales managers or recruiting managers have been training to understand the results and how to accurately use these during the recruitment and coaching process.

13.  Be administered online and have online access to results provided to the company administrator(s).

Explanation:  In today’s world of Internet connectivity, remote and/or virtual offices, personality profiles that are fully administered online meet important efficiency standards.  Test taking provisions and profiling results should be made available through an internet interface.

Make sure to use a validated profile as part a best practice recruiting system for salespeople.  Craftprofiles meet the 13 criteria in this article.  Place the profile you choose as the second phase of a recruiting funnel prior to screening and before structured interviews.  When you do this, you will be screen out applicants before profiling and better prepare yourself for a candidate’s interview.  Screening, profiling, and interviewing should then contribute to a better selection process and help you improve retention and ramp up time to minimum production standard per recruit.

Recruit the best.  Build a great sales force.  Lance

What Sales Team Standards Do You Fight For?

When we go to a restaurant, we expect the service and food to meet a certain standard.  When we watch our favorite college sporting team, we expect a certain level of play; and, perhaps a certain win/loss record.  When we live we do so at a certain standard of living.  And, when we put on a belt or a piece of clothing, we have certain standards that affect what we think about ourselves.

Do you know of a coach at a major university that was fired or forced to resign?  Why did that happen?  It probably happened because of a win/loss record, or not winning championships, or causing NCAA recruiting violations, or because of players breaking laws.  Standards were either lowered or shattered in the minds of key stakeholders.

Continuing to think of sports, it’s easy to see the many standards present.  Batting averages in baseball - turnovers in basketball - passing percentages in football.  Standards make sports meaningful and memorable.  They also tell us what’s bad, good, and great.  In professional baseball, many people can tell you that a .300 batting average is good and as the number approaches .400 greatness occurs.

In politics, we see evidence of standards being lowered in the news.  Everyone wants to read about politicians who do not follow standard and ethical norms.  And, yes, we all know that standards can be lowered or forgotten in any venue.

What about your sales team.  What are your standards?  Do you have any?  Remember, standards are not goals.  They are accepted levels - the minimum acceptable, what’s good, and what’s great.

They are also accepted standards of conduct, dress, or service.  For example, we don’t go to a business meeting without a tie on. 

Some standards are clear.  Others are hazy or simply not present.

Important standards (minimum acceptable, good, great) for a sales team include:
- Income levels for the salespeople
- Daily, monthly, quarterly, or yearly sales level per salesperson
- Quotes per (period) ...
- Appointments per (period) ...
- Average revenue per sale
- Average gross margin per sale
- Networking standards
- Meeting standards
- Reporting standards
- Dress standards

(Important note:  Great sales teams first establish recruiting standards to maintain or achieve greatness.)

When standards exist , it’s because, for a period of time, a sales manager leads or establishes effort at excellent performance.  Also the process for its pursuit has been designed.  When a sales team follows a sales process, measurements occur for what’s acceptable as a standard.  And, activity management (prospects, appointments, quotes, sales), with its standards, is just one important sales process in a sales system.

Great salespeople will reach great levels of income and revenue performance.  They will do this by achieving specific levels of prospecting, first appointments, and quotes - standard areas for activity management.  Other important standards that also contribute to income performance exist within the face-to-face sales process.  For major accounts’ teams, planning and research standards exist that support strategy making. (Great football coaches study game film the night after each win.)

When standards become important, they are fought for and protected. And, when this happens for a period of time, traditions form.  And, finally the result of this struggle to meet standards and maintain traditions brings a legacy for future generations.  Lowering standards or standing for nothing establishes a negative impact on society and any kind of family or team. 

Establish and fight for standards and you will see sales improvement.  You can do this.  You can be better.  Lance

Do Real Salespeople Say “If, Can’t, or Try?

Today, while traveling from Knoxville to Memphis for Christmas, my mother-in-law called us on her cell phone.  Some of you are thinking that can’t be a good thing.  Actually, I’m lucky it usually is a good thing.  We are fortunate in several ways in our relationship.  Smitty is in good health, she can out walk most women on a golf course half her age (and beat them), and, to borrow an old metaphor, she is as sharp as a tack. 

When Smitty was walking with my bride in the mountains, she later told everyone, “She (my bride) ate my dust!” Smitty’s quick and she’s smart.  She loves deeply those in her family.  And, I admire her.

Well, I’m not sure how we got around to it.  But, one of us said the word “If.” As soon as the word surfaced in our conversation, Smitty said, “That reminds me of something that Papa used to say ... He’d say, “No if, can’ts, or buts.  IF the rabbit had’nt stopped to pee, he would’nt have got his butt shot off!” (just for the record pee and butt were substituted for the orignal syntax.)

To understand the context better, Italians in the Mississippi Delta were treated poorly - very poorly.  And, that’s where Papa arrived from Italy to raise a family of three girls.  In a legacy of hard work, eighteen hour days, 10-12 for someone else, and 6-8 sharecropping ground no one else would till, Papa earned a living and eventually land ownership.  For one Christmas, money to buy presents for his daughters was made by gleaning cotton land that had already been gleaned.  Leona Malavasi held a lantern while very late at night Odoni (Papa) Malavasi picked the plants with hands cut up and bleeding from the picking.  Three dolls were purchased for that Christmas which were so precious to the girls that they didn’t open them from their packaging.

Papa didn’t believe in using the word “IF, Can’t, or Try.” Real salespeople don’t either.

There’s more to attitudes and beliefs than people think.  Have you ever heard an athlete on a championship team in the last 5 seconds of a game look at his coach and say, “I’ll try, or I can’t?” How about in a war?  Do you expect the guy or gal next to you to say, “I’ll try?”

Do you think that a salesperson approaches an important presentation or any presentation with, “If only, or I can’t, or I’ll try?” Don’t think so.

How about YOU?  What attitude is nearest to your heart?  The closest one to If, Can’t, or Try is fear.

Even Jedi Master Yoda, the famous wise creature of Star Wars had something to say about this.  “Do or do not, there is no try.”

Great salespeople give all they have to what they do without a hint of “I’ll try, If only, or I can’t.” They just do and then do again and then do again.  There must be a reason that we win 2-5 sales of every 10 quotes and we lose the rest.  There must be a reason that Babe Ruth struck out nearly more times than he hit home runs (1330 to 714).  The reason ... we aren’t perfect.  So, deal with it.  Work as hard and as smart as you can.  That’s all you can DO.

And, when we have a family or we are part of a team, it doesn’t matter what will happen.  It only matters to give all we have for the benefit of others.  To sacrifice our fears and our lives.  To give it all with freedom in the effort.

Now, go do this.  Hang around people who believe in this way.  You can get better.  Lance.

A Crushed Spirit Dries Up the Bones: Be Kind AND Direct

“Please describe what happened in your last meeting with our customer Mr. Handy?” “How much time did you spend last week calling your leads for appointments?” “What networking strategies have you put into place?” What are your key activities for next week.  When Misty asked you to help her last Tuesday, how did you respond?”

Confronting others, as a competency, plays a big part in the success of a sales manager. The ability to communicate straight up with a sales team or a salesperson makes up one of the more important traits of a great sales manager.  Some do it well.  Some avoid it.

In the last month, I’ve battled with others over following processes, developing sales plans, and asking questions during first appointments.  These encounters or confrontations do not necessarily bridle with emotion.  They do require going on the offensive and communicating with questions, assertions, and sometime challenges.

When managing sales teams, situations emerge which require or create confrontation. That is, IF someone establishes sales team and company standards and behavior norms.  When these are important and in place, sales managers must confront salespeople over a variety of issues.  Sometimes a person’s production or appointment activity drops.  At other times, a sales manager responds to a customer complaint regarding treatment by a sale representative.  Other typical issues arising and requiring confrontation include: gossip, tardiness, teamwork, and unethical practices.

Creative, highly driven salespeople often run over or around something in their way - including the sales manager.  Many of these mavericks are exceptional salespeople and at the same time high maintenance.  Gaining their respect is a function of a sales manager’s willingness to stand up to them, corral them, and keep them on the team.

People generally respect directions or rules if the sales manager pays attention to them.  And, even though the best processes are put into place for the benefit of others, they get challenged - either by salespeople who ignore them, forget about them (habits not yet formed), or challenge their goodness.

Let’s take activity management as an example.  Excellent sales team boards show monthly activity levels vs. activity goals, quoting levels vs. quoting goals, and sales goal achievement progress.  The best of these boards include monthly actuals for first appointments set and held, quotes presented, and sales made - all compared to preset monthly amounts.  In other words, sales managers and salespeople track the primary activities which lead to sales and income goals.  When this process is well managed, people stay focused and encouraged.  When it is ill-managed, salespeople either lose track, fake their report, rebel, or lose their spirit of hope.

Great sales managers do not crush spirits in their pursuit of standards and sales goals.  On the other hand, they do not let time pass without taking on those who get behind, rebel, or display poor attitudes.

To balance their coaching communication, outstanding sales managers remember to address people in a kind AND direct manner.  Some managers are direct, but never kind.  Others are kind, but never direct.  Having a Clear Talk session means being both kind and direct - even when firing someone.

One-on-One Discussions - Each salesperson needs these - some more frequently than others.  For example, when a salesperson needs a nice kick-in-the-book, or activity management shows a need improvement, a sales manager sits down to listen first - and then to offer advice and direction (if necessary).  The best of these discussion occur when a person sees the need, says they agree, and offers up correction actions to do - themselves.  See - Say - Do.  And, the manager ends the moment with encouragement and a play for future follow up. 

Sales managers and salespeople participate in these discussions with CLEAR TALK.  They listen first and then tell the truth as best they understand it in a kind and direct manner. Some managers are kind and not direct.  While others are direct and not kind. 

Keep the spirit of a person and a team at a high level.  Do not crush anyone.  Be kind and direct.  You can do this.  Lance.

Sales Management - What’s Coaching All About?

It’s all about the people you coach - the people in your company - the people you serve - your customers, prospects, clients ... THEM.  It’s not about you.

And, that’s not easy to remember, but it’s even more difficult to be this way.  But, you can.  You will.

When “what you do” becomes about you, you begin to stress, to fear, to take, to forget what’s important - how you benefit others with what you give.  Benjamin Zander would say it’s all about contribution. 

Jesus would say it’s all about love.  Charles Manson or Hitler would say it’s all about them.  What would you say?

What would happen if your sales team woke up tomorrow and arrived at work with the attitude,

“It’s all about what I contribute for the joy of others - to be the best I can be, to try to better - to give of what I have.”

What would happen if they arrived for work with that spirit? How would that change their behavior - their habits?  How would this affect the salespeople, those in administration, those in service or manufacturing ... if the sales team arrived with their focus on “Contribution?”

How would customers react?  How would prospects react?  How would this change their emails, their follow up, their presentations?  How would it affect the amount of passion that others would find in their work - in their message - in their display of value?

It’s interesting when we get involved in the new social media of today.  Those that pitch their products or talk a lot about themselves - tend to lose followers.  Those that give away their expertise and genuinely respond to questions gain.  Hmmmm. 

You can manage salespeople and do it for their benefit.  You can discover what’s important to them - and help them receive it.  You can find out if money, recognition, duty, family, achievement, competition or something else is important.  You can make work fun AND serious - you can ... By changing your point of reference ...  You can recruit salespeople who need to earn more that the sales budget, and then manage them to reach their income levels while screaming past budget.  You can inspire them by your inspiration.  You can hire givers and not takers.  You can.

Contribution.  Yes, it really can be all about getting up today and giving your best for the benefit of others - forgetting yourself and making what you do better to enrich the lives of others.  You can decide to do this.  And, if you want to - you will.

So, if you are a father - it’s all about your kids, it’s all about them.  If you marry - it’s all about your mate - it’s all about her or him When you sell it’s all about your prospect, or client or customer, your vendors, and your fellow employees.  When you manage, it’s about the salesperson.  It’s about their income, their home, their family, their broken down car, their kid’s education.  It’s about about THEM.  Your contribution to THEM. 

Now, go out and make things better. Catch this spirit.  You can, so do it.  Better still, be that way. 

You know, many days I think my dog Cassie did this better than I did.  Oh well, I’m just fighting and striving to get better like all of you.  Lance.

13 Ways Sales Managers Coach Poorly

Sales managers coach poorly when exhibiting the following behaviors. 

They ...
1.  Throw new salespeople into a job without a well thought out training and ramp up process.
2.  Do not help a salesperson develop a sales plan.
3.  Do not care about their salespeople as individuals.
4.  Focus on meeting budget numbers instead of achieving each salesperson’s income target.
5.  Manage salespeople as if their motivational and learning nuances were the same.
6.  Do not express encouragement either one-on-one or in team settings.
7.  Manage without developing and teaching a face-to-face (or telemarketing) sales process (steps, tools, and skills).
8.  Pound on their salespeople for results instead of managing an activity process or series of strategic moves (large accounts).
9.  Use fear as a primary motivator instead of positive imaging.
10.  Micromanage a salesperson’s time instead of giving them innovative expression.
11.  Allow bad behaviors or performance to continue without an immediate discussion or confrontation.
12.  Do not use a sales board or other visual representations to show individual/team progress during sales meetings.
13.  Retreat to themselves and do not have one-on-ones or go on appointments with their salespeople.

Please add your own - especially the ones you’ve experienced and dislike the most.  And, then move away from these and get better.  You can.  Lance.

Coaching the Best - The Sales System

What’s a system?  It’s a bunch of connected pieces which work together in an organized manner - one that produces a certain state. We cooperate or exist within systems in everyday life.  Examples include solar systems, financial systems, and digestive systems.  The purposes and proper functioning of these systems create an effect upon our lives - bad or good.  One of these, the solar system, operates on a precise path of planet orbits and gravitational power - all under the influence of the sun. 

In the sports world, each year we see coaches fired or forced to resign.  Their systems (driven by their attitudes and beliefs) no longer win ball games at a rate that boosters, fans, and other stakeholders want.  The coach’s influence, channeled through a system, no longer produces wins at accepted norms.  Result?  Coaches resign or leave. 

The next coach brings a new system.  New and existing players learn different standards, behaviors, practice schedules, skills, schemes, pre-game routines, and on and on and on ....  Everyone hopes the new system will lead the team to greatness or to a level that satisfies all who watch and participate.

Interestingly, while the next coach does bring a new system, the coaching areas remain the same.  The coach recruits.  The players practice.  They play defense and offense.  The plays may change.  The skills may be sharpened.  And,new learning tools may be introduced.  But, the major parts of the game remain the same.  There really are a finite number of system areas for a sport ... and, they will always remain the same.  Recruiting, offense, defense, practice, plays, etc.

And, the system for coaching a sales group also has a finite number of areas or stages.  They are ... (1) Knowing People; (2) Managing Processes; (3) Building Teams.

Knowing People begins in the recruitment system.  During the screening, profiling, and interviewing stages of a best practice recruitment process the tools used there help select the best new recruits.  They also provide initial input of strengths, weaknesses, and motivational information for coaching a salesperson as they join the team.  Subsequently, as the sales manager interacts with the salesperson during sales planning and on sale calls, additional information gathered helps the sales manager coach necessary skill areas or counsel attitudes. 

Best practice tools in the “Knowing People” stage include personality profiles, individual coaching Information sheets, foundation interviews, sales plans, sales calls, and one-on-one review meetings.  As their skills improve, coaches learn to ‘read’ personality and motivational triggers.

For example, some players like public recognition.  Others do not.  Coaches also learn when and who to challenge, when to teach, and when to leave someone alone.  A bell-shaped performance curve with performers ranked best to worst across the curve, provides a visual gage for planning coaching time and training strategies.

Managing Processes. Three process areas exist in sales team management.  The strategies, tools, and skills used in these processes vary with the length of sales cycle, type of selling, and market.  Even so the process areas remain the same.  Great sales managers learn to manage unique people within processes that they customize for their company. 

The process areas they manage are: (1) Sale planning; (2) Activity management (or strategy management for long sales cycles), and (3) Face-to-face selling.

Many types of tools, skills, and strategies may be used to makes these process areas effective.  Some common ones are ... sales planning forms, prospecting and approach activities and methods, activity ratios, sales funnels, closing ratios, sales boards, 30 sec. introductions, sets of open-ended questions, standardized presentations, responses to typical fears, concerns, and objections. etc.  A sales team functions better when the coach creates the process steps, and teaches the use of the associated tools and skills which help the sales people reach their commission and income goals.

Finally, Building Teams creates a sales synergy greater than a group of individuals. 

High performance team meetings, celebration events, team planning and review sessions, sales team training, and team goals are all examples of tools that make this coaching stage a reality.

When team members help each other “off camera” - meaning they call each other with encouragement or advice, then a sales managers effort multiplies in productive output. 

A sales team board, strategy sessions, and other important teaming events combine to help the individuals excel.  This teaming focus also carries over into the treatment of service, installation, and customer care representatives and administrative staff.

Great sales managers, as with individuals, learn to read ‘team tension.” They find ways to manage stress to productive levels - to bring a balance between encouragement and the effort toward goal achievement.

Knowing people, managing processes, and building teams are stages for best practice coaching.  Each one connects to the other and together they make up an organized framework.  We must know people well as individuals to coach them well.  And, it’s better to coach and teach people a process rather than beat them up for results.  Then, together, we can improve a process and the use of its skills and tools.  When we do this the entire system improves itself.  Sales and incomes rise.  Now, go and make things better.  You can do it.  Lance.

Coaching the Best - The Philosophy

In every field of endeavor, a philosophy (set of attitudes/beliefs) drives the system (people, processes, tools and skills).  It affects the hearts of its listeners.  It brings staying strength to action.  It reinforces confidence in the system as THE structure to embrace for greatness .  It puts purpose and meaning into work.  It inspires. 

For great sales managers who coach well, their coaching philosophy forms early, even at home.  It takes shape from those mentors or authority fiqures whom they allow to shape their thinking.  The list of possible influencers include parents, teachers, team coaches, and bosses at work.

As thoughts form, attitudes and beliefs emerge, and behaviors turn into habits which produce results.  For example, some coaches believe that people cannot be trusted and they micromanage processes.  Others do not believe in the coaching role at all and believe that people will succeed or fail despite their intervention - so they stay away.  Some sales managers believe that people do better when they are afraid.  As a result, they brow beat their salespeople and work to create an atmosphere of fear and control.

When we think of these examples, it’s easy to see how a sales manager’s attitudes and beliefs motivate or empower their sales system.  Their philosophy drives how they install their system and either moves its acceptance and effectiveness toward or away from greatness.  Consequently, their attitudes and beliefs make all the difference in their team’s sales production.  Salespeople leave, flourish, or become demoralized as a result of the created sales culture.  It also attracts or repels great performers.

The attitudes and beliefs of the coach form the spirit of a sales organization.  This ‘spiritual effect’ begins its work during recruitment decisions and continues into employment.

The cultural effects are obvious.  Sales teams operate out of a fearful spirit while others are courageous.  Some are honest and some are not.  Some believe in serving others - some do not.  Some are creative and innovative while others wait for orders from the manager.  We also see more salespeople make confident and winning moves In the heat of the moment or we see them quit in defeat. 

We see these same effects working within the sporting teams we love.  Players operate fearlessly or fearfully.  They believe in themselves or they do not.  How many of us have every witnessed a Little League baseball team or a youth soccer team that was under-performing simply because of the coach?  Most of us.  I’ve even seen the same team lose one year under one coach and excel the next year under a different coach.  Same team.  Different coach.  It was once said about Bear Bryant, the former and late Alabama football coach, that, “Bear could beat your team on one Saturday, and then take your team and turn around and beat his team the next Saturday!”

So, what are the attitudes and beliefs that great coaches accept into their thinking?  How do they get people to reach inside themselves for extra effort, ingenuity, and creativity - to hit a ball to right field, to make extra sales calls, to develop new strategies, or to cold call?  What are the most important attitudes and beliefs that define great coaching?

Here’s what I found from a study of coaches with three (3) national championships or more.  After reading autobiographies, biographies, news clips, player remarks, and videos, the following consistencies emerged.  The top seven (7) attitudes and beliefs for coaching teams to greatness are ..

Great coaches ...
1.  Care about their people and demonstrate this by paying attention to player needs and progress.
2.  Believe that their people have what it takes to get their jobs and goals accomplished. Faith is demonstrated and communicated.
3.  Define success as giving your best for the benefit of others and striving each day to get better. (While goals are important, the effort to reach them is more important.  They make their players responsible for effort applied in the right places.)
4.  Individualize their coaching approach because they know their people as unique persons with different motivations and skill levels.
5.  Teach that the team is more important than the individual.
6.  Expect people to get better - and those expectancies are specific and communicated.
7.  Focus on the process and not on winning.

These attitudes and beliefs describe a winning philosophy - one that wins for sales teams, families, and even churches.  And, they can be caught.  Now, go out and catch them.  Lance.

The Value of a Salesperson’s Time

How much do you aspire to make next year?  50,000, 100,000, 200,000??

For the sake of an example, let’s use 100,000.  You can adjust the example for your situation.  If you work 2000 hours a year (40 hours per week), you will earn $50 per hour.  Every hour that completes itself contributes the most cherished component of a salesperson’s day - time.

For high activity salespeople, with sales cycles, from initial contact to close, is 90 days or less ...
How do you handle interruptions to sales time?  How does your world interrupt your selling time.  How much of your day do you spend either in front of someone or fighting to get in front of someone?  How much of your day is spent idle?  How much of your day do you react to things rather than schedule them?  How much of your day do you spend prospecting or selling in a face-to-face meeting in order to achieve your sales goal?  And, finally ... how much of your day is spent maximizing the amount of time you spend face-to-face in front of prospects?

And, for major accounts’ sales teams, with sales cycles of 90 days and up, even 2 years or more ...
How much of your time is spent thinking about strategies?  How much of your time involves getting other peoples’ input into next steps?  How much time do you put into writing and rewriting emails, approach letters, responses to questions, powerpoints, etc.?  How much of your time is spent finding ways to get the next important advance accomplished - one that moves the sale another degree in your favor?  In other words, how do you structure your sales time to plan out the next thing to do with the right person(s) at the right time - then do the sales action - and then review your account positioning to plan out the next thing to do, etc. etc. etc.?  Plan - Do - Review, Plan - Do - Review.

For a salesperson, whether high activity or major accounts, time is valuable.  It may be used differently - it’s still valuable.  With 2000 hours in a year, one hundred thousand dollars is earned one hour at a time ... $50 dollars an hour. 

And, once gone, a salesperson cannot recover time - it’s gone - $50 or more each and every hour - burned up by waste or good intentions or a lack of understanding

At $100,000 a year - $50 an hour
At $200,000 a year - $100 an hour

How many sales do you need to make to earn $100,000?  $200,000 ... $300,000
Divide the number of sales in a year by 2000 hours in a year and you know the number of hours available for each sale.

For example, a cellular salesperson for some companies must make 1000 sales in a year to earn $100,000.
1000 sales ÷ 2000 hours = 1 sale every 2 hours (lots of face-to-face time in a week)

In some firms, a commercial real estate broker must make 10 sales in a year to earn $200,000 ...
10 sales ÷ 2000 hours = 1 sale every 200 hours (200 hours mostly made up of planning and reviewing before doing a prospecting or face-to-face activity)

So, do you value your time at $50 or more per hour?  Do you realize that what you do with time is having a dramatic effect on your family’s security or well being, or your achievement, or your security, or the recognition you receive, or just your ability to do your duty - to achieve a minimum sales amount for your company?

Remember these tips ...
- Every meeting does not need to be an hour long.
- Do not automatically say yes to any use of time.
- Every email does not instantaneously need to be responded to or even read.
- The use of the Internet needs to improve your sales during sales time.
- When someone wants to talk with you for “30 sec,” do you just react and by your actions say, “Yes?”
- Schedule more of your day calendar into blocks of productive time.
- Block out time to find new opportunities (lead generation) and time to prospect them on the phone.
- Block out appointment time for face-to-face sales calls.
- Block out time for important strategy sessions (major accounts)
................
We often forget about our most valuable sales asset - time.  The activity trap of multiple tasks, sensory lures, and interruptions get us off track.  Let’s stop the cycle or at least begin the process of slowing it down now.  You can do it.  Keep remembering at the end of the day, and the year, what’s important - really important, and change.  Get better.  Lance.

The Wisdom of an Ant

What can salespeople learn from an ant?  What knowledge can we find in its ways?  Common varieties are only 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch long.  What could we possibly learn from this insignificant creature of the earth?

Plenty.

Some years for us provide economic strength.  Others do not.  Several years may pass before this planet’s people live with greater prosperity.  What does this mean for a salesperson and activity management.  What does this mean for money management or goal achievement?

Salespeople work to achieve sales goals - personal goals - for income needs.  Some days, weeks, and months are better than others.  Like the ant, the math in our closing rates works out over time if we stay consistent in our work ethic - in our sales activities.  This is where the ant’s story fits in ...

The ant just continues to work.  It really isn’t affected by moods or a lack of caffeine or even bank rates. Ants manage their activities as if their survival was in danger.

A wise man once said, “ Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

Ants don’t need managers.  They gather food when they need to gather food.  All other activities make way for harvesting the food and storing it as provisions for winter.  What if we worked in that way? What % of a sales team’s weekly work hours would be spent face-to-face with a prospect or fighting to get in front of a prospect - 50 - 60 - 75%?  For many sales teams, it’s 10% or less!

And, what happens when a sales team or salesperson gets ahead of goal?  Many slow down.  Yes.  They slow down.  Very few continue to work just as hard in the time remaining.  Most ease up away from making additional sales and storing their extra commissions in a savings account.

So, consider the ant the next time you see sales declining or inclining ... and keep on keepin on.  If you think about it, with the right salespeople, sales managers are only needed to help them work smart ... not to help them work. Be better.  You can.  Lance.

Personal Responsibility - A Crucial Character Trait

What does it mean to be a ‘good’ salesperson?  How do you find one?  What do you look for?  Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, says that his team’s research found that great companies recruit character first - before skills.

After twenty years of mistakes and successes, and after helping recruit and coach thousands of salespeople, we have discovered personal responsibility to be a crucial character trait to hire for ... along with honesty and hard work ethic.  Doing this improves efficiency and the culture. Salespeople with this character trait require less maintenance and management time.

If we can teach you to recruit someone who behaves in a personally responsible way, then you will find a salesperson who feels an obligation (in life) to act correctly - with or without oversight.  You will find their past to be a mirror of independent and accountable behavior.  When doing sales work, and left to themselves, a personally responsible salesperson remains dutiful and protective of what is expected.  They do their job.

Whatever you are, be a good one.  Abraham Lincoln

‘Personal’ responsibility also means that a salesperson respects and acts on obligations.  It’s kind of like honesty applied to duties. Responsible performance is held close to the heart.  That’s why it’s personal.  A salesperson with a responsible nature highly values commitments.  It’s actually a part of their makeup as a person. 

To employ salespeople, who live out this trait as a part of their core values, impacts the peace of mind of a sales manager.  That’s because, with or without management presence, a salesperson will do their best to do the work that is placed in their care.

Great salespeople work in a reliable and dependable manner.  They keep on keeping on with doing what their role demands of them. Sales managers who recruit for personal responsibility build strength into their culture - strength displayed in customer service, follow up, and promises kept, internally and externally to the company.

How does this trait affect failure and low performance?  How do the best salespeople react to low numbers?  Responsible salespeople accept blame for less that stellar activity, behavior, or sales results. They accept coaching. They may have to be convinced of their culpability, but when persuaded, they take ownership and work hard to correct themselves and the situation.

Here’s a good structured question to ask. “What are the top three things that motivate you in order of priority?” (Award 3 points if people or a person or a personal motivation is somewhere in the top three.  Award 0 points if they do not have any motivation toward helping or benefitting another person.)

Honesty, hard work ethic, and personal responsibility - crucial character traits.  Learn to screen and interview well for these traits.  Pass and do not hire someone when your intuition warns you - even if the skills are present. Your focus on the mature aspects of a person will mean much to the future of your sales organization, your company, and its customers.  Do great.  Recruit and coach well.  Lance.

Honesty - A Crucial Character Trait

When recruiting great salespeople, hire character first.  And, do you know what character trait is more important than all the others?  Honesty. Yes, honesty. The number one character trait to recruit for is honesty followed by hard work and personal responsibility. 

Honesty is nonnegotiable and must be present for you, the coach, to turn your back and leave things unattended.  It is difficult and just about impossible to coach this trait.  Recruit for it.

The degree of honesty impacts reporting accuracy.  A salesperson who embraces the facts, despite the brutality of them, willingly faces the truth.  This person wants to know their progress numbers toward personal goal achievement.  They do not want to kid themselves or their coaches or managers.  They must know where they are relative to where they need to be and they do not mind if others know.

Honesty brings clarity into a salesperson’s goals and progress toward them.  It keeps what’s important ... important.  It increases the emotional attachment to motivating circumstances.  With reality brightly shining on skills, habits, goal achievement progress, and past behaviors, the ease of future adjustments increase.  A person grows stronger - gets better.

Honest words are sometimes painful, but said kindly and with concern, they free a person for greater improvement.  Honest discussions pave the way for sales training and a more peaceful future.

A very wise man once said, “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.”

Obviously, honesty impacts customer satisfaction during a face-to-face sales call.  Does the customer discover that a salesperson behaves with honest intent?  Is the sale made with truthful evidence and testimony?  Will the salesperson protect a company’s branded image by steering away from fraud or deceit? These are crucial questions and the impact of handling a customer’s trust will have lasting impressions upon corporate profit.

Honesty sewn within a person’s makeup also makes a statement during normal day-to-day coworker interactions.  An honest salesperson shows up for work on time.  Service personnel can count on the promises that the salesperson makes.

With honor present, salespeople trust each other.  Management can count on sincerity being present in exchanges in communication.  Everyone can operate in a well lit operation of straightforward talk. And, of course, all money is accounted for and in the right places.

One question that’s interesting to ask in a structured interview is, “ Which of these traits is the most important one for the type of sales we do?  Persistence, Self-Discipline, Honesty, or Hard Worth Ethic?  (Award 5 points only if the candidate says that Honesty is most important.  Award 0 points for any other answer.)

How would you respond? 

Honesty, hard work ethic, and personal responsibility.  These are important and related character traits.  Recruit for them first and personality traits (goal-orientation, social confidence, etc.) last.  The culture you build by recruiting with this focus will make all the difference.  Now, go and get better.  You can.  Lance.