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Manage Sales Activities and Two Important Ratios

When the sales cycle is greater than ninety (90) days and begins to move toward six (6) months or greater, the closing rate is an unimportant way to manage sales performance. In these longer sales cycles, it is more important to manage the funnel size and to focus on strategies not activities (please reference Neil Rackman’s research in his book “Managing Major Account Sales"). 

For shorter sales cycles, ninety (90) days or less, activity ratios become very important and should be focused on for sales goal achievement. And, in these high activity sales teams, the following ratios are: 



1st Appointments to Quotes (or presentations) 
- This is the Opportunity Ratio and tells a person how qualified are their prospects. A higher rate means a pool of more highly qualified prospects who have needs and problems that the salesperson can help with their service or product. This measures the effectiveness of a salesperson converting 1st appointments into presentations (quotes), and is generally affected by the quality of the prospect and a salesperson’s ability to get the prospect to agree to a presentation based on existing needs and problems. 



Quotes (or presentations) to Sales 
- This is the traditional Closing Ratio, and measures the effectiveness of a salesperson’s face-to-face skills at the end of the sales cycle. In Major Account selling, the sales manager is not effective being thrown in toward the end of the sales cycle. In High Activity selling, i.e. short sales cycles, the sales manager is effective at the end of the cycle. He can help the salesperson with closing sales. (Note: If the sales cycle averages several days and can be as long as ninety (90) days, then one must look at these ratios over a year’s period of time to truly understand what they are.)

How do you track these?  Better still ... how to your salespeople track these?  And, remember, in Major Account Sales, manage the funnel size and the sales strategies for movement in the funnel.  Celebrate the advances.  Now, go and make things better.  You can.  Lance.

The IT Factor in Leadership

What’s the “it factor” in leadership? As sales managers and coaches, how do we extract, lift up, and teach “it?”

Let’s start with what the “it factor” is in leadership.  That’s easy. It’s the common and most important factor in GREAT leaders - great leaders being defined as someone having a positive and lasting impact on the welfare and direction of others over a long period of time.  Who meets these conditions ... Captain Abrashoff of the USS Benfold (book: It’s My Ship), Coach Wooden (10 national championships, UCLA), Billy Graham (evangelist to millions), Martin Luther King (revolutionary for equality), Frances Hesselbein (CEO of Girl Scouts: quoted by Peter Drucker as “the greatest leader he had ever met"). 

The common “it” factor in every one of these extraordinary people was ...

“They possessed a large measure of love for people seated in their hearts, and with it they focused their lives on serving others with humility.” ...

Result?
They lead others toward important responsibilities - ones that provided for a better life of service and its end results (goals) ... and, each of these people believed success to be in the day-to-day process.  It was a process of giving the best of one’s gifts in the effort to make a difference in the lives of others through present circumstances. 

Captain Abrashoff inspired his crew into turning one of the worst ships in the Navy into the best for the protection of the crew and the American People.  Coach Wooden, who never talked about winning, focused on improvement and helped his young men win championships for each other, the university, and the fans.  Billy Graham improved the spirituality of a nation.  Martin Luther lived out the practical implications of Graham’s faith.  Frances Hesselbein’s motivation always came from “the inside and for her love of service - not for money or outside motivators.”

Now, for the second question.  How do leadership educators extract “it”, lift “it” up, and teach it.  Well, I believe they do this understanding that “it” is not an “it,” and that we do not teach “it.” We live it - a life of service.

To work everyday at leading people in service to others is a quality of a person’s character.  It is deeply embedded into the fabric of their being. 

And, how do people receive this factor - one that positively explodes their work into greatness?

A love for service is received through the influence of others who have this trait of authentic service sewn into THEIR hearts.

Perhaps, parents.  Perhaps, a great middle school teacher.  Perhaps, a person who loved God.  Perhaps, a consultant.  Perhaps, a janitor.  Perhaps, a homeless person.  You catch “it,” - this serving heart.  You always have a choice to receive it or not.  And, when you do, you can give it to others for the rest of your life - even as YOU continue to GROW in this quality.  Now, let’s go make things better.  Lance

Impacting Sales Performance - I

What specific things do you do to increase the sales of your team (Or yourself if you are a salesperson.)? 


Here’s a thought ...

To increase sales performance, LEADERSHIP must help individual and team motivation to increase by inspiring a (new) desire to achieve sales beyond current levels. Leadership must create a new environment in which the individuals and team will motivate themselves. 



After realistically looking at a current situation ... 
The single most powerful way to increase sales performance for the team or for the individual is to ... 

“Increase belief” that the (who or what) they love most will be helped if they achieve the new sales levels.“
“Increase belief” that the (who or what) they love most will be harmed if they do not achieve the new sales levels.
“Increase belief” in their ability to achieve the new sales levels. 



and, they must believe the coaches think they have what it takes.


Example: 
A few years ago I was asked to kick off a planning session for a Sprint Regional VP of Retail Sales (one of three). Attending the planning session were the VP’s Area Managers for 13 states. I simply challenged them in the following way. 



I asked,

“What is your goal?”

They told me it was “x.” I asked, “Where did ‘x’ come from?” They said, “Budget!” I said, “Great! but, what is your goal!” Silence occurred. Then someone said, “x!” I asked, Where did ‘x’ come from?” They said, “Budget!” I asked, “Where did Budget come from?” They said, “Sprint!” 



So, I tried another question, “Where do you end up if you reach ‘x’.” They said, “Last.” I asked, Where did you end up last year?” They said, “Last!” I asked, “How did that make your feel?” Silence. I then asked, “What have you learned?” They said, “We don’t have a goal?” I asked, “Where do you want to end up?” They said, “First!” I said great, “Let’s start planning.”

As the planning began, the team took over and I basically watched and prodded a few times, but the sale was over. They did not want to be last again. Much more occurred that day as I built up their belief in the new goal, and we began to grow in confidence as a plan of actions began to take place. We then talked about how they would monitor results, meet to adjust the plan during the year, and bring celebration of progress to all the managers and the salespeople. Long story short - this team went from last region to top region in one year.

They found a heart for THEIR OWN sales goal,

built belief and confidence in a plan and developed their leadership and communication strengths for the fight ahead. Victory. I did not have to touch that team for the rest of the year. They did it. They did it. I love this story. It’s one I’ve seen over and over again, albeit with different motivations. Lots of serious fun. 

Now, go and make things better.  You can.  Lance.

Coaching Value of Personality Assessments for Sales

Great coaching involves three (3) stages of progress. The first one, “Knowing People” begins in the recruiting phase as you compile information about each candidate. Behavior-based, personality assessments, and aptitude testing provide as much as 20-50% of validated input toward predicting which candidate will do best. 

And, they provide a wealth of information about the candidate if hired. This information combined with in-depth recruiting interviews and on-the-job foundational interviews tell a sales manager the likely strengths and weaknesses of a new salesperson? Is their goal-orientation high or are they process-focused? Is their social drive high leading to prospecting strength, or will they need to network through a few people they get to know well? Are they optimistic? Are they detail-oriented or big picture? Will they listen well? What will their time management be like? How strong will they close? How fast will they learn? What will motivate them - demotivate them?

Assessments are invaluable to sales managers who coach their people.

(Note:  Many profiles like the Myers-Briggs and others were not made with a sales manager in mind. They require a lot of indepth knowledge about the psychology of the assessment parameters to understand what “sales” coaching will be required. They do not tell you the number of coaching hours required per month and which specific ‘sales’ traits must be coached. They also do not specifically tell you what sales management coaching to do with ideas and suggestions.) 



The other two (2) stages of great coaching include: activity management and face-to-face (or phoning) skills. And, great coaching will mean coaching unique individuals differently to successfully follow your sales processes in those areas. Again, knowing the individual will allow you to tailor your training approach to each person. (Even baseball coaches must do this as they work with young players over a baseball tee - each one learning differently.) Personality profiles specifically designed for sales coaches will provide great help. 

Now, know your people well and use personality assessments as tools that help coach them to greatness. Lance.

The Sales Equivalent of a No-Hitter

What would the sales equivalent of a no-hitter look like?

Batters step to the plate and one by one they leave the game without a hit.

So, in sales, for an entire game ... let’s say one year, each time my competition comes to the plate he leaves without a hit - without a sale. He might get on base. He might make some progress around the bases, but he does not get a sale. For an entire year, despite going deep into the count in several at bat situations, I still win and my opponent does not get a hit. As the pitcher, I decide when I will step to the mound and what strategic ‘sales pitch’ I will make. As a result, I keep my opponent off his rhythm and the most he can do is walk, foul the pitch off, or get on base with an error. However, he does not make a sale.

For an entire year, I win in every sales encounter with a competitor.

How sweet it is. A no hitter.  Do Better.  Lance

Sales Performance in Retail Financial or Wireless Services?

After twenty+ years of working with sales teams in banking, financial services, and other BtoB companies, I’ve discovered a foundational problem to exist in Retail Financial and Wireless Services ... And, it’s the word “Retail.”

While the banking industry has transformed itself in many ways, especially with terms like “sales,” it still has a “wait at home” mentality - or, “Build enough branches and they will come.” The people chosen for sales roles often have low social drive and and personalities that comfortably wait for business to walk in the door.  And, most though they talk the sales talk, would rather focus on operational or product issues than face an aggressive campaign for new customers.  Therefore, sales performance improvements in Retail Financial Services will need to start by installing a new system of attitudes and processes that will also include:  a better common sales language, best coaching or sales management practices, and an outside sales-focused selection process.

The Wireless Industry started out differently - with an aggressive outside sales force.  Today, it’s hard to find an outside salesperson in wireless worth much of anything.  The industry has moved toward retail.  And, even though inside reps have many opportunities for outside sales - they typically sit still and wait. (with some exceptions: like Verizon’s independent distributor: Cellular Sales).  The whole outside sales thing has slowly cooked itself into warm soup.  Meanwhile, many small businesses wish for a wireless rep they could trust - one that would keep up with their changing data and connection needs.

To improve their cultures, the selection process for both these industries must recruit salespeople suited for outside prospecting, goal achievement, and an ability to control the sales process - all within a consultancy approach. Increased sales performance will take a major step forward with GREAT recruits and GREAT “outside sales” coaching.

Sales manager coaching will center around basic sales processes like: sales planning, an activity management process, and a face-to-face sales process.  These processes, installed in retail financial and wireless organizations (reinstalled here), along with high-performance sales meetings will establish a new sales paradigm within a best practice sales system - one that progressively improves itself in incremental steps. This also means that great sales coaches will emerge as the champions of this movement - meaning that THEIR selection (the coaches) as well as the salespeople will be of upmost importance to the retail financial or wireless organization that wants increased sales performance.. Now, go and make things better.  Lance

Sales:  Is It Art or Science

Shakespeare knew the answer ... “Where for art thou?” (Romeo: “Romeo and Juliet") Romeo, while making the sale of his life knew that his true love needed wooing - She needed to know that she was a princess in Romeo’s mind and heart and so He did woo her.

And yet, while Romeo did understand that climbing the ladder, giving attention, and saying the words were important - he went beyond and painted a picture just for his true Juliet.  Ah!!  What a salesman!

Today, we prospect, get enough appointments, and make enough presentations to reach our sales goals. We approach the account, ask the questions, put together solutions, and ask for the business. And, there’s still more. As we age well in the the business of selling, we learn to see the moon where others do not, we climb the ladder to the balcony that others avoid or miss. We apply the Art of customization to a person’s needs and we make an IMPACT upon their life. They believe we care because we took the time, thought in areas others did not, and went the extra mile ... while the competition went home to bed. We stayed up and worked to make a difference - looking for the art in the deal - the extraordinary measure.

Science blended with Art - a beautiful canvas - a beautiful sale. Let’s all keep working to get better. It’s both Art and Science.  Dare GREATLY.  Lance

Game Changing Recruiting Technologies for Great Salespeople

When researching all the subject experts in recruiting, a best practice recruitment funnel emerges. After sourcing well to develop five or more recruiting channels, the three stages of recruiting are: - Screening - Profiling - Interviewing.  (Note: This recruiting funnel also presumes that you have analyzed the sales position well enough to isolate the top five (5) personality characteristics of a great salesperson.)

Stage One:  There are several ways to screen a candidate for your top traits.  They are by: resume, phone (5-7 min), face-to-face, references, email, etc.  An interesting way to screen by email is to ask the candidate to email you how they plan to approach their first ninety days as a new rep. 

Stage Two:  After screening each candidate, a few make it to the personality profiling stage which increases predictability by as much as thirty percent (30%).  A profile also provides an objective look at your candidate.  We use Craftsystems CPQ (Craft Personality Questionnaire) with 30+ years of sales recruiting research and 2 million+ administered tests (see craftprofiles.com).  From the profile, you will receive a high, moderate, or low job match and the personality trait scores within or outside of the acceptable range.  You will also know the type and amount of coaching that each rep will require.  Biodata information and learning style testing can continue to add strength and predictability points to the profiling stage.

Stage Three:  A “Structured and Scored Interview” continues to up the odds of a great hire (16%), as well as involving others in the interview process. It will contain customized questions that you will ask of every candidate.  The questions will be structured to discover fits and mismatches with your top five required traits.  (Note: traditional methods of reference checking, unstructured interviews, and resume checking are worth less than 6% in predictability for making a great hire.)

For those heavy in recruiting, an online recruitment funnel is helpful as well - kinda like a CRM of recruiting or a sales funnel of recruits. With this tool you can work candidate through your recruitment funnel with an interview to recruit goal of at least 3:1 ... ratio of new recruits vs. those making it to the interview stage.

If your rigorous recruitment system is successful, the technologies you use will improve retention and productivity of new reps - provided your sales managers also provide a healthy working environment.  Now, go and make things better.  We believe you can do it.  Lance

What Motivates and Drives Success?

Motivation!  As a sales professional ... What motivates and drives someone to achieve success?  Some are motivated by survival - the lights going out in the house.  For others it’s recognition, achievement, money, family, or just plain ole duty - doing what others expect.

Still, as in ages past, the best motivation is inspired. It happens because we want something with our hearts. That’s why we disagree with Maslov’s hierarchy of needs ... survival first, etc. etc.  We’ve all seen people sacrifice themselves for their children for a greater reason.

(Side comment: Recruit character - someone who IS strongly motivated - and if it’s toward people first - WOW ... what a great quality.)

Today, we can have different motivational forces pull at us.  When we are with a client, we may be pulled toward being survival-focused, quota-focused, product-focused, ego-focused, etc.

The best salespeople in the world ... those that get great referrals and make a lot of sales over a 20 year span of time ... are usually motivated by helping others with their needs, challenges, and problems.  (And, I’m afraid it’s taking me awhile to get the the reality roar of survival, products, competition, and ego out of the way.) So, for myself, as a coach for salespeople, sales managers, and VPs of sales, I’ve discovered it’s really all about them ... Zig Ziglar once said, “Help enough people get what they want and ... you’ll be fine.  Now, let’s go motivate ourselves to make someone’s situation even their life ... better.  Lance

Are You a Professional or a Salesperson?

I was thinking, “What’s the difference between a professional salesperson and a salesperson?” Well ... the whole question is semantical or oxymoronic. 

Why, because a salesperson does not need the word professional to define his or her role. A good salesperson is a professional.  A bad salesperson is not a professional. It would be like asking, “What’s an integrity salesperson?” Honest, dependable, etc.  Well a salesperson is already honest, dependable, etc.  A bad one is not ...

I’ve asked hundreds of salesperson to tell me the first thing they think of when they hear the word “Salesperson.” I then ALWAYS hear the words, “Sleazy, slime ball, crook, money hungry, etc.” And, we write them down on the board.  I then turn to them and tell them that they just described themselves - because they are all ‘salespeople.’

The problem is there are so many bad salespeople - who are dishonest, or who have low listening skills, poor product knowledge, or poor presentation skills. And, we end up feeling like there is a difference between “a professional salesperson and a “salesperson.“

Another problem is a lack of value-focused sales process.  Very few people know how to focus on the value to the customer - to ask questions, summarize needs and problems, and then to advise solutions.  As a result, they listen poorly and present without a clear understanding of a person’s or company’s situation - therefore looking unprofessional.

Now, go and make things better - and work to solve problems and fill the needs of customers.  Salespeople - real salespeople are already professionals.  They listen to and care about helping their customers.  They use their product knowledge to fill and solve customer problems with customized solutions.  They are salespeople - good ones.  Lance