Once the goals are in place, accountability for time is the next critical component.
Where are your salespeople spending their time?
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Where are your people spending their time??
Posted in Coaching, Leadership, Sales, Sales Manager's Corner
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Is Your Strategic Plan Really Strategic?
Most organizations and sales departments have some type of Strategic Plan. Often is just a collection or group of projects or actions that may or may not have a positive impact on the future direction of the organization or department. It’s usually just a list on a piece of paper listed together and called “Strategic Plan or Strategy.”
Posted in Business Challenges, Leadership, Sales Development
Tagged Leadership, Mangement, Sales, Sales Process
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Successfully Hiring Salespeople for 2022: Getting it Right vs. Getting it “Over With”
Recruiting, Screening, Selecting and Retaining Outstanding Salespeople has been identified as the #1 Sales management issue facing companies in 2022!
First, Some Facts & Considerations:
- Average Sales Turnover is now 34% and, in some industries, and companies it is much higher.
- Cost of turnover is 1.5 times compensation. If average comp is $95,000 that’s a cost of $142,000 per slot that turns over!
- Fewer than 50% of Salespeople will hit quota this year. Is it because of the Pandemic? Try again. It’s been that way for years!
- Do you know what hidden strengths and weaknesses each candidate has before you interview and hire?
Posted in Recruiting, Sales, Sales Management
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Planning for 2022: A roadmap for Success: STEP #2-Evaluating your Current Sales Staff
As part of planning and developing your 2022 Sales Plan-Step #2 out of five is Evaluating your Current Sales Staff.
Ask yourself:
- “Will my current team get us where we need to go in 2022?”
- Are my salespeople prepared, trained and skilled to effectively Prospect, Qualify, and Close business to achieve quota with both existing and new accounts?
Fact: Just under 50% of sales reps can achieve sales quota in “normal times”, and that number has dropped significantly “Post Pandemic.” Depending on the business and industry is it is hovering around upper 30’s to low 40’s%.
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Planning for 2022: A roadmap for Success
Okay-you’re “rolling your eyes” and thinking: “Is it really that time of the year again?”
It doesn’t have to be that way. We see this as the roadmap for 2022 Success. If done right, it can be a catalyst for motivation, clarity, and results. We’ll share with you our Sales Planning process and introduce you to a few components you wish you included in the past to help exceed your Sales and Margin numbers.
There are five components which includes internal & external analysis. We will present these to you in a series of steps so you can have clarity into the plan and next steps for implementation & execution.
- Building a Winning Plan with your Sales Management people
- Plans for Evaluating Your Current Sales staff
- Plans for Recruiting New or Additional Sales Talent
- Plans for Accountability & Consistency in Monthly Results
- Plans for review, updates, and course corrections in reporting Results
STEP ONE: Building a Winning Plan with Sales Management
Continue readingCoaching For Results
PRE-WORK:
1. Set clear goals/expectations (identify the experience skill level and how you need to help. Does the person need more training or support?).
2. Do your homework and review current performances.
3. Provide regular performance feedback. Recognize and reward progress and achievement.
THE COACHING MEETING:
1. Set aside time and build a warm, friendly environment/relationship. Review goals/expectations.
2. Assess the current level of performance with the person’s input and from your observations/analysis/past performance. Ask five key questions and be an active listener. Your goal is to help the person solve his or her own problem not to have all of the answers:
- How’s it going?
- What’s working?
- What isn’t working?
- What do you need to do better or differently?
- How can I help?
3. Develop action plans with the person’s input (Gain agreement).
4. Provide feedback and guidance (Add to the action plan).
- Send written “Letter of Agreement.”
5. Establish follow-up steps (Coaching efforts require additional sessions).
How NOT to Recruit for Top Sales Talent!
It’s a fact: Most companies really “Struggle” to hire good salespeople! There are definite reasons, and we’ll share what they are doing wrong (which results in high turnover) and huge time and financial drains.
Here are the major problems:
- Sales leaders start recruiting when someone leaves & there is a vacancy. This creates tremendous pressure to “fill” a territory or market niche. The result…they resort to “SATISFICING” …They “sacrifice” what they want to “satisfy” a need.”
- The current labor shortages…creates internal panic and this forces hiring managers to “ditch or lower” their selection criteria.
- They cut corners…they overlook…what they really want…. they rush and have not Identified the actual PROFILE of the position. They don’t develop a profile that states what it takes to succeed in the position…skills, strengths, Sales DNA, length of sales cycle, prospecting skills, qualifying, and closing skills, etc. They just rush and hire a candidate (a warm body) they kind of liked. They choose the “least worst” candidate.
- Sales leaders hang in too long with a bad hire. WHY? Two reasons: 1. They don’t want to admit the mistake. 2. They don’t want to go through this “Wild West” time consuming & frustrating crazy process again.
What Should They Do INSTEAD- to hire the Best Salespeople?
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Tagged Mangement, Recruiting, Sales, Sales Development, Sales Management
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Sales Leaders: How to STOP the Pipeline Leakage & Overcome the “BS”
It’s been said a Great Pipeline has: Quantity; Quality; Balance; and Movement.
Time to get real….get to the REAL questions, commitments, and accountabilities- without the excuses and “get sales people focused” week in and week out!
The “NO BS” WEEKLY INDIVIDUAL SALESPERSON CONVERSATION:
Held once per week: Scheduled with each sales person & booked in the calendar
TELL ME ABOUT LAST WEEK…
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One “Hidden” Reason that over 50% of Salespeople Don’t hit quota year in and year out!
Picture this scenario: Your CFO comes to you at the end of the quarter and says, “Boss, we’ve got the final numbers. We’re about 50% confident that they’re correct!” What would your reaction be? How long would it take to begin looking for a new CFO?
Yet in Sales, not hitting quota is tolerated and many CEO’s just “put up with it” and tell their Sales Leaders to “light a fire” under those “non-performers” and get them to do more…. (Prospecting, closing, making more calls, get more meetings, do more demos, attend more trade shows…. etc.)
The “Hidden” reason for the under-performance can be traced back to the Sales Manager NOT being very good at “Coaching.”
They generally just “tell” their people “what” to do and think that is coaching. The other issues are that they do not do it with consistency or frequency.
Effective sales coaching impacts opportunities and improves sales effectiveness but that is not what most sales managers do for coaching. Consider that:
60% of all coaching is to simply provide help with pricing, technical help, or with proposals. Sorry, but that’s not coaching!
Continue readingInsights on Dealing with the “PRICE” issue in Sales
Price is always a “component” of every deal you are involved with.
Let us ask you: Have you ever sold something when you were the “Higher Price?” How about the opposite: have you ever “lost” a deal when you were the “Low price?” Hmmm. Interesting! Why?
Let’s start with the basics: WHY do people buy on price?
- They don’t understand your value
- They don’t benefit (personally) from your value
- They see no difference between offers (they see everything as a commodity—same)
- They don’t need what you have but would like it if they can get it “cheap.”
Sales “Concerns, Considerations, and Insights” about PRICE
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