What's in your back pack

What’s in your back pack?

Have you seen the movie up in the air?

George Clooney is great as the character Ryan Bingham. As a side to his main role as a corporate terminator he’s a motivational speaker. His talk is titled what’s in your back pack?

I’ve always thought that sales professionals need a tool kit or a back pack with them every day.

Your team are road warriors. Out in the field day after day. Great warriors needs a kit bag full of goodies to ensure they not only survive, but also prosper.

Have you had a good look recently at what they are taking in with them each day to every call? It might be time for a refresh.

What do your team need in their back packs?

Here’s 11 things sales professional should be carrying in their back packs.

1. Ear wax remover. Most sales people should actively listen more. This might help to remind them.
2. Attitude spray. Spray this on the top of your head before you go in to a call. This makes you feel assertive, positive and confident.
3. Ideas box. Always take in at least one fresh idea from the box in to each call. This is very important for existing customers.
4. Bullshit detector. Strap this on to your head. When the customer starts talking switch it on. It helps immensely if you know the people you are trying to do business with are telling the truth. Just make sure the customer doesn’t ask you if they can borrow it when you’re talking.
5. Note book and pen. Last time I checked it helped to write things down when you are with a prospect.
6. Deodorant and mints : If you stink your prospects think your products stink
7. A map of the country of Hungary. It might just help remind them they need to be hungry to be successful.
8. A radar. I talk about great sales people having a sadar. A sales radar. They are in the right place at the right time. Turn your sadar on. Should you really be calling on this customer now?
9. A stopwatch. How much time should I allocate to this call?
10. A diary. Write down the next steps with dates confirmed at the end of the call, in front of the prospect. Avoid ambiguity. Get it in writing. People have a habit of forgetting things.
11. A picture of one of their personal goals. What do they want to achieve this year? New car. New house? New wife? Now stay focussed , get the sale and your one step closer.

The key trait for sales success

The key trait for sales success

I was out for dinner having some noodles last sunday night with family and friends. One of the people I was having dinner with has been tasked with finding 3 sales people to assist her in a new business venture. She asked me how she might identify great sales people.

Now you know as well as me that the average performers are easy to find. How do you really find someone that will make a real difference? I found myself racking my brain. Searching for the one trait that over and above will make the biggest difference to sales success.

I was thinking; confidence, adaptability, interpersonal skills, relationship builders, problem solver, change embracer, etc.

Then it struck me. What really makes the big difference when it comes to success in sales. Just two simple words.

Follow up.

I'm convinced that the high performers have worked out that most things that are being sold will not be purchased right away. No matter who you are selling to and how quickly they make decisions. People need time. They need to discuss with others. Just because you are selling doesn't mean they are ready to buy now.

If you have sales people on your team who know how to follow up properly think about the amount of business they would bring in.

There is a fine line between great follow up and becoming a stalker.

Most sales people who do follow up tend to follow up too soon and with too much eagerness.

Their failure to have a proper follow up plan costs them dearly. They get caught in that dreadful cycle of meaningless call backs and leaving messages that get you nowhere, fast.

So how can your team become better with their follow up skills.

Here's 5 tips.

1. Train them properly in what is great follow up and what is being a pain in the arse!
2. When their successful follow up process wins new business, highlight it to all the team at a sales meeting. Catch them doing things right.
3. Regularly provide with them fresh reasons to be calling their prospects.
4. When you employ new sales people explain to them that their success will not be immediate and that's OK with you. Give them a realistic timeline of when you expect results by and why great follow up will be critical to this.
5. Audit them and possibly their prospects occasionally to check on how they are following up. Are they sticking to the process or have they forgotten about it?

Here's an idea for you.

Next time you are looking for a new sales person, go shopping for something. Ask for 5 quotes.

Notice which of the 5 people selling to you has the best follow up process. If you like them you might just offer them a job.

Captain or Coach

Leading a sales team is like skippering a cricket team.

When I captained cricket sides I was often fortunate to have a coach as well.

This allowed me to get on with inspiring the troops, maintaining my own performance and focusing on getting the tactics right.
As a great sales manager you know that you often have to wear both hats. Captain and Coach.

Here are 3 reasons why this can be dangerous.

1. If you are always coaching what will happen to your own numbers?
2. If you are too busy watching your own numbers what happens to your teams results?
3. Are you really appropriately qualified to be the coach?

I think you almost need to spend about half your week in captaincy mode and the other half in coaching mode.
Great captains seem to get the balance right between being soft on people yet firm on outcomes.

Captaincy in the sporting world (and no suprise its the same for sales managers) is about:

• Realising that leadership will never be a popularity contest - They dont need to like you (sure it helps). They must respect you.

• Integrity - Do your actions every day match your words?

• Reading the play. You have to almost instinctively know what the next quarter holds for each of your team.


All well and good in theory - How do I become a better captain of my team?

1.Have a long hard look at yourself tomorrow morning in the bathroom mirror. I know this can be daunting but can I suggest you do it totally naked? Might be best to lock the door. Do you look like a leader? How's your health, diet and exercise routine? Are you working too hard putting out fires? Is this effecting the way you think and act each day?

2.Spend time each week really looking closely at the results of each of your team. Forget about what they are saying. What do the results tell you. Realise that for most people change is very hard. What you are seeing now will only keep reappearing week after week. Remember the movie groundhog day with Bill Murray? If the evidence aint there accelerate their movement to the departure lounge. Hire slow, fire fast.


3. Spend more time with other leaders / captains. Talk to them about about their approach to captaincy. How do they get it right? What mistakes have they made and how have they learn't from them?

Multiball can be dangerous

Multiball can be dangerous

I broke my highest score on brickbreaker last week.

It’s a game I play on my blackberry. A bit like space invaders.

OK, I know you don’t care about that. As a Sales Manager you should care about this.

There is a feature in brickbreaker called multiball. This kicks in from time to time.

Those of you that used to play pin ball might recall the same feature.

When multiball occurs instead of only focussing on one ball you have 4 balls you need to watch. Initially it looks great and helps you score more points quicker than normal because 4 balls are in play.

Then because you are trying to watch 4 balls at once instead of one, guess what happens?

Correct. You lose all of them. Normally quite quickly.

It’s actually easier to score when you only have to watch one ball at a time.

A bit like batting well in cricket. One ball at a time. Maximum focus on each ball. That’s all that matters.

Focus on your best opportunities

When I’m playing brickbreaker it’s a great reminder for me about selling and how it is changing.

Old school Sales Management was simple. Get them seeing more customers more often and play the numbers game. Eventually someone will buy something. Another “no” gets you a step closer to another “yes”.

New school of thought. Devote more effort and focus to the best opportunities you have. Lack of focus today is killing you and your sales team.

There are too many possible opportunities available.

There are also too many potential competitors pitching for the same bits of work.

How do you know which opportunities your team should pursue?

What does a good opportunity look like?

It depends. Try these criteria:

• They have purchased from you before
• There is a connection between you and the buyer
• The decision is rarely based on price
• You have personally met with the people involved in making the decision
• They have articulated dissatisfaction with their current provider
• When you met with them their non verbal behaviour indicates they are telling the truth
• They have requested specific needs, which you understand, and tailoring to suit their requirements
• They understand what makes your offer different to your competitors
• They have indicated a timeline related to purchase with a sense of urgency to get things moving
• The buyer has a personal need you can fulfil

Why do your team spend so much time chasing down bad opportunities?

Salespeople by nature can be overly optimistic. Not always realistic. Every opportunity is “looking pretty good!”

Remember when you interviewed them for the job? Wow they were impressive.

If the largest portion of their income is based on a retainer, they’ll fill up their days with all kinds of low value activities.

If you want to sharpen their focus, pay them properly for bringing in good pieces of new business.

Reward them for the steps they are taking in getting closer to a “yes”.

Be careful how you measure them. If you measure call rates that’s all they will focus on.

Most reps need more opportunities in their funnel. Then they need the skill at working out which of these opportunities deserves maximum focus.

The best reps double their efforts with their best opportunities.

Why not get them to spend twice as much time on their best potential opportunities?

I’ve changed my strategy with the use of multiball. Laser like focus on one ball only is leading to better results.

Great habits for sales people

The habits you see now will only become more ingrained over time

What a beautiful garden

We recently moved into a new street.

I noticed that there is a house at the end of the street that has the most immaculate front garden.

Beautiful hedges, greenest of grass and never a stray leaf. Almost every time I walk past this house the owner is in his garden.

He’s beavering away. Trimming, pruning, nipping, cutting.

It might be his hobby, a form of therapy, who knows? I’d say that it’s become a daily habit for him.

Are you still hosing your driveway?

I also noticed yesterday that not only was he watering his plants, but he was also giving his concrete driveway a well deserved drink. Seems a bit strange. Not only is it illegal in Sydney, but it’s also a complete waste of our drinking water.

Then I thought, well, he’s probably always done it, so the chances of him stopping doing it in the future are very unlikely.

The older people become the more ingrained their habits will become.

So as a sales manager how does that help me?

Get them started with great habits from day 1. Recruit wisely and develop your people. Ensure you are clear on the behaviours you are consistently seeking.

10 habits I see in great sales people

1. They make telephone calls every day to potential and existing customers. (How about 10 by 10? 10 calls by 10am)
2. Always asking their satisfied customers for referrals
3. Working on getting better at using their technology – sat navs /blue tooth / blackberries / Iphones / CRMs etc
4. Get a commitment in their diary from their customers at the end of each sales call about the next steps
5. Constantly tracking their sales data, monitoring their funnel, filling up their pipeline
6. Updating their customers data after each sales call
7. Having a personal health and fitness regime
8. Always trying to get better – listening to sales CD’s, reading widely, associating with the right people, etc
9. Have a system for generating new leads
10. Their sales calls follow a proven process and they are always looking to refine this

They shouldn’t be overly reliant on you to drive their results.

The longer I have been in selling, which is now about 32 years, the more I realise the best performers have created great repeatable habits for themselves.

They don’t need to rely on you because the habits they have created drive their results.

Lazy sales people will go to the path of least resistance.

Please don’t let them get good at being bad

If their habits are bad, they are just getting better at getting worse, each day! Imagine doing the same thing badly every day for twenty years?

Inspire your reps to create great repeatable habits.

Have you ever tried breaking a few of your own bad habits? It’s not easy. How would you do it? Can you replace an existing bad habit with a new better one?

My new neighbour has some great habits, and a beautiful garden to show for it. He also has a terrible habit. Hosing his driveway. If only he could replace his driveway hosing habit with something more beneficial.

Next time you’re out with your reps ask them if there are one or two of their habits they think might be worth replacing.

You might also ask them if they have some feedback for you on a couple of habits you could replace

Please stop them wasting their time

It always amazes me when sales people are trying to win new business how many of them spend so much time selling to the wrong people on an account.

One of the biggest differences I see between the great and the average reps is how they allocate their time.

The average ones spend an enormous amount of time selling to the wrong people.

Just because someone has a certain title it doesn’t mean they have the authority or influence to purchase from you.

There are many great time wasting strategies reps can use but one of the best would have to be spending time selling to someone who has limited influence.

I have seen this time and time again over the years. It’s a complete waste of the sales reps time and your money if you are footing their wages bill.

Try a few of these questions to help work out who’s who in the zoo:

· Pablo, if you were to purchase from us how would you go about making that decision?
· Could we set up a time now for me to meet with the other people who may be involved in deciding? How often (and when) do you get together?
· Julie, can I just ask you, what’s your role in the decision making process?
· How did you organise to purchase from your current provider? Were you part of that process? Remind me again of why you went with them?
· What about Romeo, will he have some say on this or will he be influenced by you?
· How do we go about getting you set up with an account or organising a trial?
· Who else should I speak with about this?
· Why don’t we organise a trial now?

At your next sales meeting ask your reps to explain to you how they know they are selling to the right person on the accounts they are chasing.

Quick checklist for your next sales meeting:

For 5 accounts your team are chasing ask them these beauties:

1. How do they know they are selling to the right person / people?
2. Who else have they met with on the account?
3. How much influence does the person they are selling to have?
4. Who else could have some involvement in making the decision to go with us?
5. Has the person they are selling to boss met you? Why not?
6. Why haven’t they met other people on the account?
7. When will they present to the others who may be involved?
8. Why are they waiting for them to get back in touch with us?
9. What should we do next?

Leave your car keys and lap top with me as you leave today

When your reps give you that nonsense that they don’t want to tread on the person they are selling to toes, politely ask them to leave their keys and lap top with you as they leave the building.

Give them the name of a good recruiter or your competitors details. This is a lame excuse for not being hungry enough for the business.

There are plenty of ways of dealing with this as I’m sure you have told them.

Selling in the year of the shrinking budget

1% of something is better than 100% of nothing

Have you or your team heard these a few times this year

• We are holding off on this until the market picks up
• This has been a tough year so we aren't spending
• Our budget has been slashed
• We'd love to go ahead but we wont be able to get the job approved
• Can we postpone this purchase until next year?
• We've got a freeze on non essential spending this year

To succeed in selling in 2009 you must develop strategies for dealing with these.

I'm not denying that some of these are not genuine.

A lot of the time you here these objections (lets call them excuses) because you have failed to sell in enough value.

I'd say get hungry and work hard to bring forward the purchase. The longer you leave it, the more likely it is you'll end up with nothing at all.

Do you really understand their needs?

Do you really understand their decision making process?

Do you understand their current process, issues, agendas, the roles of the people you are selling to?

As great sales people know you can normally predict (With about 90% accuracy) what a prospect will say when you are pitching to them.


Be prepared for the above by trying some of these:

• " That's OK, lets process an order now and we will invoice you next quarter "
• " Fine, lets break down the payments into bite size pieces"
• " How much , realistically do you think you can access at this point in time?"
• " What do you suggest is a way of bringing this purchase forward?"
• " With what you have to spend, lets look at still providing you with a short term solution "
• " Lets look at a solution that costs you 30% less and still can assist you"
• "If you had the money, from what you've seen from me, what would you spend it on?"
  

Practice these responses at your next sales meeting. Modify them to suit your business.

Get hungry. As Billy Joel says, " Don't let a good thing slip away "

You have to be cruel to be kind

Have you ever noticed that it’s the poor sales reps that cause you so many headaches?

13 of my favourite excuses from poor performing sales reps

Poor reps develop a pretty good list for why they are not hitting their numbers.

See if you recognise any of these:

1. Personal or family health issues
2. Our price is too high
3. The market has changed
4. The GFC has kicked in and people are holding off their purchasing decisions
5. Those customers are going through a restructure at the moment
6. It’s hard to get appointments at the moment, everyone’s too busy
7. The leads I’m getting from telesales / telemarketing are rubbish
8. The decision maker is not available every time I call
9. I’m waiting on marketing to provide me with more materials
10. I’m still waiting to hear back from them
11. I don’t want to hassle them
12. They are happy with who they currently use
13. This is a poor territory that hasn’t been properly looked after for a long, long time

4 groups you should spend more time with

I think the hardest decision you make as a sales manager each day is how to allocate your time.

Your NRG vampires will drain you. Spend a lot less time with them.

Remember the song by Nick Lowe – Cruel to be kind.

It may be cruel, but really aren’t you just being kind, if you ignore them.

You are helping them to accelerate their career development. Ideally working for your best competitor.

Hang them out to dry. If they really want to be successful they’ll lift.

If you spend too much time with them you’ll run out of NRG pretty quickly.

I suggest spend more time with these groups:

1. Your best performers – Convert them from Good to Great

2. Reps who have the right attitude, a willingness to learn, but may be lacking in the skills

3. Potential reps for your team – Go and have a coffee with someone you’d like to have joining your team

4. Your customers – ideally whilst you are out on the road, coaching your best reps and your emerging stars

So before you leave today, organise to double your coaching with your best 3 performers and half your coaching with your duds over the next month.

Getting back in front of your clients

Ruth set up over 100 appointments last month.

This is a great effort and shows what can be done when you get focused on what you want. She's also a credit to New Zealand. She beat all the Aussies she was up against.

She won a Borders voucher from NRG Solutions for being the best performer.

I love a good contest for sales people.

Ruth works as an area sales manager for adventure travel company Kumuka.

She knows she needs to be in front of as many of her clients as possible each week.

The challenge for Ruth and her team is when she calls to set up appointments , her clients often say

" There's no need to see me this month, we're OK at the moment ."

Like any great sales person you need to be creative to get back in front of your clients:

9 ideas for getting back in front of your clients

1. We have something new that I have to show you. It's amazing
2. I'd love your feedback on something
3. My turn to buy you lunch / coffee / breakfast
4. I have a referral opportunity for you we should discuss
5. I left my wallet in your office last week (the George Costanza technique)
6. I haven't met your new staff member yet and want to train them / show them
7. I want to discuss a joint promotion with you and get your thoughts about it
8. My new boss would like to meet you - He's single and very good looking
9. I'd like to do a proper price comparison with you, it's easier to explain this face to face


What's your best tactic for getting back in front of existing contacts?

Sales Management

How much time are you spending searching for great people?

I went to a talk last week about leadership in business. The piece of content that really caught my ear was around great sales managers and what they are always doing.

The success of your business is all around getting the right people. We all know this, yet how much time are you spending working on finding them?

A couple of the key take aways for me were:

1. View recruitment as a process not a transaction. As a sales manager, you need to be constantly searching for great people. Find them, wine them and dine them. Stick with them. Let them know you want them on your team. Finding great people takes time. Build your network and allocate time for ongoing recruitment.

2. The poor performers (in sales) are always scanning the job ads. The good performers are not actively looking. You need to get active to get to them.

3. Build a culture that will attract great people to your team. If you think you have a great culture now, ask yourself why more people aren't ringing you up to join your team?

4. Keep coaching them once they come on board. The best way to keep your best people is to invest in them. Watch what happens to them as you invest your efforts in to them. The returns can be amazing.

Have a look here for some of my favourite questions an MD should be asking their sales managers.