How Sales Managers Can Make Meetings & Sales Teams Far More Productive With This One Strategy
How Sales Managers Can Make Meetings & Sales Teams Far More Productive With This One Strategy
Sales managers spend a lot of time in meetings and attempting to motivate their sales teams. Much of this time is truly wasted and not invested because the focus is on existing problems such as failure to increase sales, declining customer loyalty, etc instead of focusing on solutions.
Problems in any organization are far easier to identify and in many cases re-identify. However, determining solutions and then executing those solutions is far more difficult. Possibly that is why there are endless meetings and far fewer results happening in many businesses. Sales Coaching Tip: Problem re-identification is another word for insanity – doing the same thing over and over again hoping for different results.
If you are facing the endless meeting behaviors as a sales manager, have you considered this one simple strategy to reverse those non-productive problem identification meetings – a proven goal achievement process reinforced with a proven goal setting tool.
For example, the weekly sales meeting discusses the ongoing problem of inability to increase revenue. Instead of beating this dead horse, write a goal statement that the sales team will increase sales by 2% during the next week. Sales Coaching Tip: Break large goals into smaller ones. Remember to eat the elephant one bite at a time instead of attempting to eat the entire elephant at one setting.
Before you jump into the action steps, invest the time to build the emotional buy in from each team member. List all the gains for achieving this objective as well as all the pains associated with failure.
Next work through all the known and unknown (potential) obstacles preventing that goal from being achieved. This is the time for active brainstorming. If your selling team is large, break them up into smaller groups.
Now bring the sales team back together and list all the possible obstacles on a white board or flip chart. Either collectively or again in teams start thinking about possible solutions for each obstacle. Then as a group determine the best solution for each obstacle.
Finally, identify time frames (dates) and delegation if necessary. At your next meeting, track your progress and make any course corrections. If the sales goal is achieved, set another. Use this goal achievement process to provide solutions and make those sales meetings truly valuable to everyone.
http://www.processspecialist.com/sales-skill-assessment.htm
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Micro Managing Sales People Is a Big Mistake!
Let’s face it every company must sell their products and services and thus, sales are essential to having a successful and viable business for-profit enterprise. What did Zig Zigglar say; “Nothing happens until someone sells something,” indeed. Still, we must face up to the fact that sales people are often a different breed, and if you wish to control this high-strung animal, you should realize that micro-managing them is one mistake you should never make. Well then, how do you control them you ask?
First, you give them the tools they need to do their job, next you give them goals that your company must maintain if they are to remain gainfully employed with your. After you give them those minimum standards, you raise the bar by providing financial incentive for reaching greater levels of performance. Additionally, you create a competitive environment, which is where sales people excel. But what you don’t do is micro-manage them or bombard them with incessant paperwork.
Let the salesmen do what they are best at, and as the perform, figure out how you can assist them in doing their job better, but never put up the barriers or bureaucracy or make a ton of rules and then punish them for non-compliance. For if you do these things, you will watch your top salespeople one by one quit, worse, they may soon be working for your competition and hitting all their quarterly objectives and sales goals. Micro Managing Sales People is a Big Mistake, so please consider all this.
Lance Winslow is a retired franchisor – Lance Winslow’s Bio. Lance Winslow is formerly the CEO of WashGuys family of franchises for instance one of Lance Winslow’s favorite companies on the team; http://www.windowwashguys.com/links.shtml.
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How To Hire Top Performers
In a discussion with the head of sales of a mid-sized pharmaceutical company, he wanted to know why some front-line sales managers are much better than others at hiring top performers.
Before answering, I asked if he had a systematic hiring process. The reason I asked that is when there is no process in place the ability to select top-performing reps is dependent on the skills of the sales manager. Anytime you create a systematic process you tend be better at predicting success.
Well, he thought about the question and then responded: “You’re right. How can we create a better hiring process?”
So, with respect to that pharmaceutical exec, here are three critical steps to selecting top performing sales reps:
Step 1: Conduct a Fit Interview
As the title says, the goal of the initial interview is to assess fit. The beauty of this is that even in the absence of great interviewing skills, the sales manager reviewing a candidate’s resume can ask questions around work history, education, personal interests and accomplishments. The essential element here is to determine whether a candidate fits your culture and work environment. And if the candidate does do fit the existing sales team, would you be able to work well with him or her? Is the candidate well-suited for a career in sales? This interview should last less than 30 minutes.
Step 2: Conduct a Behavioral Interview
After you have determined whether or not the pool of potential candidates would be a good fit for you and your organization, you bring back the best candidates for a behavioural interview. This is a more formal interview with structured questions. The key here is a pre-established list of questions related to the organization’s core competencies or leadership principles. Each sales manager is expected to use the list and ask each candidate the same questions.
Many managers lack the skill to conduct effective behavioural interviews, and some training may be required to improve their ability to effectively probe the candidate to provide specific examples of behaviors they have exhibited. This involves asking open-ended questions, listening carefully and taking notes of the degree of specificity and quality of each answer.
For each question the interviewer should take notes and rate the candidate’s response. After each behavioural interview the sales manager should rate each candidate.
This interview may take an hour or more. The goal is to determine if the candidate has clearly demonstrated the competencies to function at a high level since past successes usually are considered are an indication of future success. Watch for reps that generalise answers or say “we.” What we are trying to ascertain is evidence or clear examples of successfully demonstrating the competencies you have determined are important to the position.
Once all interviews are complete the manager can reflect on each candidate’s competencies. Some companies also may conduct additional interviews by other managers and HR during this step.
Step 3: Psychometric Test
Once you have narrowed the pool down to 1-3 potential candidates the use of psychometric tests adds value to the process. There are two possible issues: 1) that top performers don’t always stand out an interview and 2) that poor performers are very adept at putting forth a favourable impression in the interview process.
Psychometric tests add a level of science into hiring process. Many psychometric tests are able to predict performance by measuring source traits associated with success in sales. They are also great in identifying potential red flags that were missed in the behavioral interviews, which in turn allows the hiring sales manager to ask more questions and dig deeper to either validate or negate the red flags. This component adds a second sober look at the candidate that complements the interview process.
Adopting and following a consistent, multi-step process will ensure that your sales managers can determine who a top performer will be prior to making a hiring decision.
Good hiring,
Steven Rosen, MBA
Sales Management Expert
If you are interested in discussing how you can improve your hiring process feel free to contact me at steven@starresults.com or visit http://www.starresults.com
Steven Rosen, MBA is the founder of STAR Results. STAR Results is a sales leadership consulting, training and coaching organization dedicated to leadership development in the Pharmaceutical industry. Steven works with sales executives to; hire top performing sales reps, develop a team of top sales managers and achieve greater personal and professional success.
http://www.starresults.com
Popularity: 56% [?]
The Power Of A Unique Selling Proposition
What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
It’s what makes you stand out, what makes your business different or unique. It’s the advantages a consumer has working with your business than they would working with xyz competitor. That unique service, follow up, attention to detail, or affiliation with a recognized brand etc…is the growth lifeblood of any business. A powerful USP becomes the mantra posterchild for your business, home business or service. Identifying why your company is “better, faster, more nimble, has better name recognition, solves more problems, is better funded, is partnered with more market leaders allowing for greater resources” etc… . Any of these and more will allow you to stand out from the competition.
Let’s take some real life examples. No where is it more apparent than in the competition of the home business industry and network marketing as person to person marketing requires a powerful USP if it’s going to be done successfully on a consistent basis.
The product with the powerful USP. They’re out there. Cutting edge technology, research, nutritional science, consumer services…all using their dynamic USP to create a brand that attracts customers and retains them with their brand. Often times it’s not the name of the brand, it’s the use of the technology and what it can do.
Breakthrough supplements in networking that relieve pain faster and better, new networking comanys that develop new online technologies that allow people to get their work done more efficiently or Nationally/Globally recognized leadership with has instant household recognition that people want to partner and be in business with.
It’s up to the company to develop the USP and the sales force to promote the USP. If it’s done right, it can be the single most compelling component of the marketing…but it has to be dramatic and hard hitting. It has to make people do a second take and have a “holy cow” moment. To make people to a “double take” so to speak.
There are thousands of incredible and not so good examples of USP’s in the marketplace. If you’re in sales or marketing, it’s important if you’re going to align yourself with a company or products that you know and understand the USP and you have a clear vision of how that USP can be a game changer in the market and for you and your business. It can mean the difference between building a marginal business and a global empire in a very short time. Especially if it’s promoted properly.
If you’re in the home business industry and network marketing in particular you must have a USP that gets you and others absolutely passionate about your business. Without an incredible opportunity, product, brand or leader you’re going to have a very difficult time once you’ve moved through your friends and family. Even using web 2.0 attraction marketing or other forms of marketing may fail because you have no real reason for people to join your business with the thousands of businesses out there.
When you get into business, large or small, home based or not, analyze the USP to make sure that it is substantial, dramatic, attention grabbing and difficult to duplicate. Then and only then….will you have the maximum chance to build a business that can survive even in turbulent markets.
Chris DeVincentis is a home based business entrepreneur. Was a Broker Owner of a RE/MAX franchise when there were less than 10,000 agents in the U.S. and has been in Network Marketing since 1987. Currently he’s emphasizing the power of the Unique Selling Propositon through his new global business venture: http://www.Partner-With-The-Donald.com by partnering with Donald Trump in the Trump Organizations new Network Marketing Company Called the Trump Network. Partnering with Donald Trump is a Unique Selling Proposition that is explosive and is turning heads all across America and Globally
Popularity: 59% [?]
Metrics For Sales People
One way to look at the performance of sales personnel particularly those on the road is to establish a series of metrics that give the manager a good idea of what and how they are doing BEFORE the results come in. Typically a sales manager on seeing below target results will exhort his teams to ‘get out there and redouble your efforts’ as if doing more of the same thing will improve results.
Typically the metrics for sales people involve three main areas:
The quality of what they are doing.
This comes down to their skill levels and understanding of what is expected of them. Have the team been adequately trained and are they putting into practice regularly what they have been taught?
The efforts they put in.
This is the more traditional measurement of the number of sales visits they make but should also include areas such as numbers of telephone calls, emails, and mailshots and many more
Who their customers and prospects are.
Measurement of the types of prospects and customers is essential so that considerable effort is not expended on the low profitability customers or those whose long term potential to the company is small. Segmenting by size of company and potential and then providing targets for sales staff will help achieve these goals.
Other metrics to consider are the number of new customers required each period to achieve goals (consideration of average size and average order come in here.) We have already indicated that the profitability of each customer and the potential for each prospect is also a metric that can be used.
Are the team selling the right mix of products or services in order to meet the goals of the company? Some may be more profitable than others or more difficult to obtain stretching lead times which in turn may result in a poorer performance.
By setting a series of goals and devising a range of metrics or KPIs the future performance of a sales person can be accurately predicted. This feed forward approach will allow the manager to make corrections before the rot sets in and declining sales results appear 6 months or more down the line.
Bob Francis is an experienced business consultant spending most of his time helping clients with sales and marketing issues. His expertise lies primarily in strategy, sales and marketing and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He is an expert at sales performance measurement and improvement.
To understand your sales team’s performance and get on the road to better results contact him at bob@abio.ltd.uk and ask about a Sales Audit (TM) for your team.
Popularity: 61% [?]
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