What’s Your Product Worth?

Last week Chuck Balcher (see his blog), on LinkedIn, offered this question to sales professionals.

“What’s it worth? “When selling your product or service, what is it worth to the person you are trying to sell it to?”

Years ago, Ron Willingham, author of Integrity Selling and a mentor of mine, said that there were 4 Dominant Buying Motives: (1) Pride; (2) Pleasure; (3) Peace; and (4) Profit.  Ron defined a prospect’s motive behind buying any product or service as one of these four or sometimes a combination. 

So, applied to product worth what does this mean?  When selling a product or service, the worth to a person is relative to the positive impact received from one or more of the Dominant Buying Motives.  For example, product worth might be a profit of ‘x’ amount of dollars - an ROI.  It might be the pride of wearing a piece of clothing or the peace of mind that comes from an automotive service.  It might be the sheer pleasure of resting in a hot tube or pride in owning a particular kind of automobile.

Whatever the dominant buying motive, all of these desires stem from the current situation.  The prospect’s situation includes needs, wants, or problems, and the desire to fulfill them or fix them. 

This brings us to the salesperson.  How does the salesperson add or detract from a product’s value or worth?  Hmmm.  Let us count the ways.  A low ‘value’ salesperson doesn’t ...

1.  Adapt to a person’s personality and listen to them.
2.  Discover the person(s) needs, wants, or problems.
3.  Customize solutions or show how they help customers.
4.  Solve remaining fears or concerns.
5.  Follow up to see if the customer is satisfied.

(There are also underlying character traits of honesty, being on time, fulfilling commitments, following-through, etc.  These translate into behaviors that affect worth as well.)

Many ask these days, “What’s the worth of a salesperson.  Will the internet replace them.” I continue to say, “No - not unless they replace themselves by unworthy behavior; and, thus, they become ‘worthless.’

A product or service is ultimately worth the return a customer receives that outweighs the cost - a need fulfilled, a want satisfied, a problem solved ... all for a small investment compared to what is received.  Its value equals the perception of worth in the customer’s eyes.  And, that describes the end-result of sales - an exchange of value.

You can increase the worth of your product or service.  Make it better.  Make yourself better.  Make your salespeople better, or recruit better ones.  You can do this.  Do it.  Lance.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

A Simple Sales Plan Model

Time is always flowing.  It’s always getting away from us. 

The other day my bride and I saw a rerun of a George Carlson standup.  In his comedic routine, he did a few moments around this theme ... TIME.  And, one thing he did was particularly funny.  It was about the concept of NOW.  He pointed out to the audience as only Mr. Carlson could do that, “NOW is never HERE ...  If you ever mention it ... it’s GONE ... NOW ... is GONE ... there it goes again.” NOW ... There it goes again!!

A sales team is of course made up of 2 or more salespeople.  And, time is always moving on.  So, what we do with TIME as a team and individuals is critical. 

It’s “now” time to put together our sales plan for 2009.  We need to begin the 2009 planned actions in the last quarter of this year.  Then, we will build as much momentum as possible into the new year.  So, here’s a good and simple model for a typical sales plan.

Sales Planning Flow in Good and Bad Times
Set Goal
1st - What’s your income goal and sales goal.  Sometimes this requires a lot of discussion.  But, the goal is first.
2nd - What’s your mean (average) sales size?  How many sales will you need to do next year, quarter, etc.
(Note: For very large sales and long sales cycles > than 90 days ... down to each quarter is enough.  Other sales teams may want to take it down to the month and perhaps week or day.)
3rd - What will be your win % on the quotes you do?  How many quotes will you need to do next year, quarter, etc.
4th - What and how much do you plan to sell?
How and to whom will you communicate what the goals are?

Plan How
1st - What are your target accounts for your 2009 sales goals - new and old customers?  Prioritize these.
2nd - What approach method will you use to contact them for appointments?
3rd - How will you strengthen your networking and lead generation for 2009?  What will you do?  When?
4th - When will you call for appointments each week or follow up on leads - a “sacrosanct time!”
5th - What strategies will you use to approach major accounts and get interest or first appointments?
6th - What weaknesses do you have? What training will you need in 2009?
7th - What’s unclear or missing in your plan?  What will you do to clear it up or make it no longer missing?
8th - What support will you need - marketing, tools, clerical, financial, etc.  How and when will you get it?
How, when, and to whom will you communicate the entire plan?  How, when, and to whom will communicate the relevant parts?

Monitor Progress
1st - How will you measure progress?  What measurements will you make?
2nd - When will you report progress, review the plan, and make adjustments?
How, when, and to whom will you communicate the new plan adjustments during the year?

Celebration
Celebration occurs throughout the effort - during planning and execution.  Find things to celebrate ... new appointments, making short lists, getting through to decision makers, new opportunities, etc.  Always find things to celebrate.  Especially, celebrate progress.

Get your plans done ASAP.  And, get moving at 2009 pace in 2008.  Do great things - better things.  Lance.

Prospecting Like a Machine

When your peers watch you, they see you prospect like a machine.  Nothing stops you from the hunt.  As a result, prospecting consistency smoothes out the hills and the valleys of sales production.  Your sales revenue rises and falls at an average equal to or above your goals.

When people look over your shoulder, they see a disciplined prospector - someone with a laser focus who puts first things first.  You schedule at least an hour each day alongside other important appointments to call your leads.  You keep your prospecting time sacrosanct.

For the hours that you set aside, you track results - contacts and first appointments set.

You work to increase your prospecting efficiency - contacts and appointments per hour, and your prospecting effectiveness - first appointments with target market leads (your ideal profile).

Those who watch, who are without your discipline, marvel at the amount of prospects you find and move into sales-in-progress (quotes).  And, they marvel at how your sales production, while rising from one month to the next, manages to stay near your goal achievement plan. 

They see a professional.  YOU.  Best regards, Lance.

Commitment

This is where it begins.  With goals and standards.  With clear job descriptions.  With a push the boat off from shore - do not look back decision - about what we are about.

New hires can smell the certainty of direction - the clear, unconfusing signals - the here’s what we’re about purpose of the team.

Team members know where the coach stands and what is important.  Processes are simple and followed - but, not above being changed.  Processes are built to help people achieve commitments - and to help people, not just for the sake of processes. 

And, most importantly, even without great people skills, each person knows that the coach is committed to their personal success and the team’s success. 

This is never in doubt. 

Now, go and make things better.  You can.  Know who you are and what you stand for.  Lance

Hope

Great coaches believe the individual will win and the team will win.  What they do and say, when behind or ahead of goal, whether near defeat or after a loss, builds confidence in future achievement.

This is not to say that they coach in a King Arthur Camelot world of unreality.  No, great coaches are realists.  And, they have healthy doses of skepticism.  But, if they commit to you as a team member, they will always do and say things to help you get better - even in the face of great difficulty and slow progress.

With this hopeful spirit carried away from the office, salespeople walk through just one more door

They pick the phone up more times per hour.  Their voice inflections cast belief into a prospect’s wavering decision.  They win more often.  They keep believing that ... they have what it takes.  Now, go and make things better. You can.  Lance.

Passion

How do great coaches go about their work?

With passion - with energy.  You can look at them and see the working spirit of committed hope.  You can see the early morning rise and the late evening commitment when the load is great on everyone. 

When they speak, it may not be with a great oration, or with a gift of fine words.  But, it is with strength, commitment, and hope.  They know what they believe in and they go about work with the passion of a patriot.

Their purpose is clear - do their very best right now with what they have and for what they believe in. The strive to get better each day.  And, they direct this passion to help the team and each individual achieve their potential. 

Powerpoints that KILL or SELL

or Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson (see: beyond bullet points) ...

I remember the overhead projector and transparencies of the 70’s.  And, I remember presenters who loved their transparencies - talking to them - expressing their content.  These presenters never saw the folks who slept though their work in darkened rooms.  They just continued to drone through the slides one at a time.  I did see one presenter go into just a single slide and we never saw him return.

BORING ...

Today, people are sick of powerpoints, keynotes, and all types of electronic presentations that contain a mumbo jumbo of words, graphs, flying saucers, and mounds of detail.  They want short quick points put together in a sequence of images and words that emotionally and factually tell a story - a story about THEM.  Even books are being written this way.

(It reminds me of a sign I once saw on an engineer’s office door, “Eschew Obfuscation!” Please look these words up and have a laugh ... speaking of laughs about this entire subject, please see the following video: Life After Death by PowerPoint
)

So, lets move beyond bullet points as Cliff has been advocating since 2004 in blogs and books. 

Lets develop storyboards that capture an audience - their situation, their needs, and the impact of problems and solutions. 

Imagine entering a room and sitting down for a presentation.  And, from the very first slide you find yourself drawn into a world about you and the things important to you.  You absorb the facts and experience the transformation that a product or service will have upon your world.  Clarity and drama occur together and you see what’s important.  You understand the difference.  You find yourself nodding and smiling.  The world changes and you invest yourself in it.  You buy it.  Kinda like lipstick on a pit bull.  WOW.  AWESOME!  Check it out and have fun.  Make things better.  Change the world.  Lance.

Working Strategies to Win Major Accounts

If you look up the word “strategy” in various dictionaries, you find military terms like conducting, devising, or developing campaigns (or wars) to achieve a goal.  Squad leaders gather to decide approaches, methods, and lines of attack designed to win.  They spend much time planning a strategy and reviewing the results after the strategy is tactically deployed in the field.

Think about a football team that prepares for a game.  What do they know before the game begins?  What information do they use to choose what plays to run and to plan out their defensive and offensive schemes? 

During the game, what discussions occur?  How does the quarterback or coach decide what to do next?  Why do they decide to use certain plays at certain times and at certain points in the game and at certain locations on the field?

Winning major accounts require strategic thought.

Those teams and individuals who successfully win new major accounts spend more time in thought and less time in action.

They work a planned process to position what they do before they do it.  They lay out their moves in relation to all the information available.  They seek to be in the right place with right people and with right presentation.  Take your time with the “big ones.” Lance

By the way, here is a good book review of Neil Rackman’s Major Account Sales Strategy by Rob Reed see book review.

A Leap in Sales Performance

Do you want to make a quantum leap in sales performance?  Of course you do.  However, many people use words like ‘quantum leap’ as a cliché - as an empty promise.  And, there are lots of clichés.  Let’s go to the next level!  ... to the next generation! 

How do you increase performance beyond the past?  Are you ready?  Do you want the answer? 

It’s simple.  Increase face-to-face sales time.  Yes! - that’s it.  Just increase face-to-face sales time - the amount of time spent face-to-face “with the right prospects” each week.

In one Fortune 500 corporation’s study, salespeople spent 8% of their time each week in front of prospective new customers, or 3 to 4 hours.

What a staggering discovery!  The rest of the week this sales force worked to complete administrative tasks, customer service tasks, and lead generation tasks.  They handled customer problems, returned calls from previous buyers, finished and distributed paperwork (paper or Internet), and networked to uncover new leads.  And, Murphy’s Law applied - “Work expanded to fill the time available,” and sales performance decreased.

Count them.  How many hours a week do you spend face-to-face with prospective customers?  2, 6, 10, 20??? In high activity selling, as the number increases from 10 to 20 hours+ per week, the quantum leap takes place and sales performance radically improves.

What would have to change for you to spend more time in front of the right prospective customers?  Answer the question and then go and make things better.  Lance.