4 Secrets to Manage People

 

By Tito King

Are you sick of tired people using you? Do you waste a lot of time and money on people who requires a lot of supervision and your energy so they can do a simple task for you? Are you in a position of managing people? If you are, then you have to manage people.

Here are 4 secret tips to managing people!

1. Set clear rules and guidelines

When managing people, you have to set clear rules and guidelines. This is because if you don’t set people rules and guidelines, they will get lazy and slack. For instance, if you get people to clean a kitchen at work, their interpretation of cleaning will be just cleaning the pots and pans but not the stove and floor. So therefore, you should set strict rules like cleaning kitchen involves cleaning all floors, pots, pans, stove etc.

2. When setting up rules and guidelines, always set the bare highest reasonable goals you want them to meet

People in general will always do the minimal or littlest work possible. So, when setting up your rules and guidelines, you have to make sure they meet your maximum goals that you want them to reach. If you set your goals at a minimum or bearable limit, then the output of work they want to give you is small or poor. Hence, if you give them guidelines and rules that are high, than the output of work is of higher quality and quantity.

3. When giving people tasks to do, set a deadline

Always give people a deadline to do when giving people tasks to do. This is because when you give them a deadline, you make them more focused at the job they are doing and making sure they complete the task on time. If you don’t, they will leave the job later and will tend to slack off with their work.

4. Only give rewards or compliments when they have done a good job

If you are a person who rewards a person because you are a nice person, then you are at risk of being abused or exploited by your employees. Only give your workers rewards/bonuses or compliments when they have done a good job and you are genuine about it. If you are not genuine with your compliments, then your workers may feel that you are dishonest to them and may see you as not a good boss for them. Therefore, always give rewards and compliments which are genuine and after they have done a good job.

Popularity: 3% [?]

6 Secrets to Becoming a Great Sales Manager

By Carl C. Henry

#1. Great Sales Managers Set Goals:

They are also masters at goal setting. Like top producers, they see an outcome and focus on it daily until it’s been reached. This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, nearly all-great sales are a result of having a great system, and working it consistently to hit targets. They know that small targets can turn into bigger targets, and that the only way to hit bigger goals is to hit all the smaller ones along the way. By manipulating their daily and weekly goals, they can guide producers to healthy and increasing annual figures.

#2. Great Sales Managers Know The Process:

Great managers understand the sales process, and know that each step is useful. Ask any of them, and they’ll tell you that you can’t skip any steps on route to a sale, and that to try means wasting time and energy. Without prospecting, you have no one to sell to. If the qualifying stage is rushed, you’ll meet resistance when you close, and might experience problems after the sale. Closing itself must be done patiently, working with the client to overcome any fears or objections. For a sale to be made, all the pieces must fit. A strong manager will help his or her producers to keep this in mind, so that they aren’t tempted to try to shortcut the selling process.

#3. Great Product Knowledge:

Another trait of top managers is that they understand the market for their products. They know where what they’re selling fits in terms of price and quality, and use that knowledge to show clients the best options for a given situation. They can tell you anything you’d need to know about a product in their catalog, along with its price and perceived strengths and weaknesses compared to the competition. This sort of thorough knowledge gives them the ability to coach their producers through presentations, as well as preparing them to counter objections.

#4. Great Sales Managers See Training Is An Investment:

Great managers know the value of expanding sales skills. They are always advising those under them to read another book or go to another seminar. They understand that training is never finished. Whatever you’re selling today, somebody else is out there training to sell it better and to more people. You can’t rely tomorrow on the same skills you used today. You have to keep learning or you will become stale. A strong supervisor will remind producers to keep training their minds and always be improving.

#5. Great Sales Managers Have Clarity & Focus:

Another trait they have in common is focus. Have you ever noticed how sales managers are always focused on their quarterly numbers? That’s not an accident. Simply put, great supervisors don’t get distracted by what’s going on around them. They know that they have a job to do – usually to help you hit a certain production goal – and will do whatever they can to help advance you to that point. Everything else should point toward that aim, and they’ll try to be sure that your activities reflect that.

#6. Great Sales Managers Have Patience:

And finally, they have patience. Most of them have been in sales long enough to know that there are going to be ups and downs. Being on top today doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily be in the same place tomorrow. Likewise, a bad week, a bad month, or even a bad quarter can happen to anyone. Like coaches, they’ve seen the wins and losses, and know that quality work will succeed over time, and that the lazy and noncommittal will eventually wash out. They emphasize doing the right things every day, because they know that over time, you’ll be successful that way.

Popularity: 3% [?]

8 Keys to Managing People With Genius, Not Idiot Or Dummy Principles

By Dr. Jim Sellner Ph.D.

My point is this…

If you don’t want people to run screaming in the opposite direction when you have crucial conversations with them, you have to be able and willing to get “real” use “ordinary speak” and connect with people – on their “mind turf.”

Be respectfully honest, compassionately brutal and authentically devoted to their betterment. You are going into the room for improvement to have a conversation — one human being human with another.

Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines is a master at this.

Talking to engage isn’t just about using with the “proper” words. Its not about the technicalities of words, its about the emotion in the message. Its about the intention behind the words you are sharing. You want to connect with people on an emotional level.

Making them value you.

Making them want to sharethings with you.

OK, fine — now you might ask, “How the heck am I supposed to do that?” Well, glad you asked!

This is not rocket science. The rules are quite simple.

1. Talk with a specific person or team about a specific goal or task you want improved – one task or goal at a time. Think of it this way.

2. Talk the way you talk. Don’t go “rap” and use street slang and shorthand. But if you can’t say what you need to say without stumbling and tripping over our tongue – you’ve gone too complex. Practice what you’re about to say preferable with a colleague who will be brutally honest with you.

Use simple words – not stupid, simplistic words. Most people have a grade school comprehension level. Some will be at college level. Very few will be highly skilled.

Most everyone, in a crucial conversation, in which heightened blood pressure clouds the mind, can only listen in 6-7 second word bites. Simple, easily understandable, delivered in small chunks makes it easier for people to digest the message. You don’t want them throwing up on you.

3. Tell a story, make it funny. Here’s one I like that one of my managers told me when I was being resistant to his instructions.

A motorist was mailed a photo of his car speeding through an automated radar post. An $80 speeding ticket was enclosed. Being a bit of a smarty the motorist sent the police back a picture of $80. The police mailed back a photo of handcuffs.

I got the point.

4. Relate to the person or group. Get into their shoes. What is their context? Use words that let’s them know you understand their world, and that you’re just as human as they are. People like that, they will then tend to like you. When they start thinking you’re a threatening alien you’ve lost their trust.

5. Make yourself easy to understand. Big, long speeches with long, run-on sentences send your audience screaming out of that room for improvement. Break it up, even use occasional word pictures or real pictures to help break it up. Ask for their input to engage people more.

6. Sleep on it before you deliver it. If you go for it when your rushed or under pressure it’s a sure bet you’re slap happy or exhausted and that 10-minute diatribe is nowhere near to being as impactful as you are deluding yourself into believing it will be.

7. Relax! Say what you’re passionate about. Say what you expect. Make it an invitation to improve.

8. Use the four keys to getting people to open the door to the room for improvement — Why? What? How! and “What if?

There you have it.

8 ways to not repulse the person or your team.

Are you able and willing to manage people with genius, to stop treating them like idiots or dummies — to engage, respect, and show that you’re interested in them becoming better?

I’d appreciate to hearing from you.

Human Principle #2: We behave in our best interests when we:
Increase our competencies;
Are aligned with our personal and business values; and…
Choose to be engaged.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Sales Management Training – Managing Lead Generation – Sales Prospecting

By Sam Manfer

Active Networking

For salespeople to be effective lead generators, they must have both active and passive marketing programs. Now (1) their marketing program must be their own – not the company’s (although the two can be in sync with each other), and (2) they will do both, halfheartedly or not at all unless you the sales manager shows them how and holds them accountable. Accountability means setting goals, actions and measurements. Then, review progress on a regular schedule to give meaningful feedback and motivation to reach agreed-upon metrics.

So here are some sales management training tips for managing an Active Lead Generation Process.

Active marketing is networking (a) up and out within existing accounts, (b) into competitors’ and lost accounts, and (c) new markets.

For existing accounts do your sales people have 100% of their existing accounts’ business? Do your sales people what it will take to steal accounts from your competitors? Do your sales people have a method to introduce and integrate your products into new markets? Probably not.

Now, the easiest way to get more business is to spread like a virus through all accounts, focusing on eventually getting to the C-level and/or profit center leaders and their immediate staffs. Your goal as a manager is to keep them focused on connecting with more and more people to learn their problems and potential opportunities that relate to your solutions portfolio. Then, with their gleaned knowledge, develop suggestions and strategies that these leaders find helpful. Try not to concentrate at first on the purchase, but rather on learning and then their buy-in to your suggestions. Learning their thinking will show what it will take to get buy-in. With buy-in comes support, and with support comes networking to those with the power to mandate changes, create budgets and to authorize purchases.

If your sales people stick with their one or two main contacts, their ability to discover opportunities and make suggestions that lead to purchases is severely limited. Therefore, you must insist upon an Executive Relationship Chart. The elements of such a tool include:

1. Who are all (up and out) involved people by name and title in that organization?
a. The powerful — C-Level, Profit Center Leaders and their immediate staffs.
b. The influential, the functional and the impacted.
c. The administrators — purchasing agents spec writers, engineers, and controllers.
2. Where does your sales person rank on the credibility pyramid for each of these people — 1-low to 6-a resource/consultant?
3. What actions is each taking to improve his or her position with each decision maker?
4. When will these actions be completed, and
5. How will you know it’s complete and how will you measure it?

Obviously, if your salespeople are a 5 to 6 on the credibility pyramid with the powerful, they will have access to new opportunities, which they have helped create. Conversely, if they are stuck with low-level administrators and functional people, they will be just another one of the bunch of competitors.

Your job for helping your people create quality leads is to keep them networking, learning from each individual and offering-up ideas. This process will take time, but once it catches-on, it will produce an ongoing flow of leads from new divisions, for new products, and more and more. This applies to existing and lost customers, competitors’ accounts, and new markets as well. My rule is 50% of sales people’s prospecting time should be spent on existing accounts, 30% on lost and competitors’ accounts where they have contacts, and 20% in those accounts where they have no contacts.

So start creating Executive Relationship Charts for each of your existing accounts and those accounts you would like to penetrate. These charts will yield your networking plans and the actions your people will take to improve their credibility with the powerful and influential. From these actions will emanate the leads that generate sales.

However, I guarantee your people will not do this without your pressure and your help.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Sales Managers Top 7 Mistakes

By Trevin Bensko-Wecks

Managing a sales team effectively is difficult. Many sales managers find themselves promoted to the position directly from sales because of their outstanding individual sales performance. They often have no previous management experience and are given little training to develop leadership skills. In the absence of direction and development they’re usually compelled to take control of their sales force rather than develop and lead it. Here is a list of the top 7 mistakes made by sales managers, and how to overcome them:

* Micromanaging. While delegation is an exceptional tool for experienced leaders, it is extremely difficult for inexperienced managers to grasp. In the absence of confidence and self-awareness they frequently attempt to control every facet of a salespersons work day. They often base these instructions on what worked well for them in their own sales careers without taking into account individual strengths, personalities, habits and learning styles. Instead of removing roadblocks they create them, making a salespersons job more difficult and less rewarding. Efficiency, effectiveness and moral all suffer as a result.
* Creating blanket policies. Issues that arise in management are often specific to an individual salesperson(s) rather than the team as a whole. Individual conversations take time however, and can be uncomfortable. Sales managers tend to avoid confrontation by issuing blanket policies and communications that negatively impact the entire team. The team doesn’t understand the reason for the policy/communication and as a result, feels unjustly suppressed. Mean while the individual(s) that was the cause never has the benefit of a direct conversation enabling them to understand the root issue and participate in the discovery of a solution.
* Requiring excessive paperwork & reporting. Insisting that all team members produce exhaustive reports about their daily activities is both inefficient and ineffective. While call activity might be an important coaching opportunity for a new salesperson, it probably isn’t a good use of time for your top performer(s). “What’s good for one is good for all” is nonsense. Team members should be assessed on an individual basis and asked to report on information that can positively impact them. Make sure the information tracked is relevant and important to their success and give them access to any tools and technology that can increase the efficiency of their reporting.
* Allowing mediocrity. There are almost always people on a sales team that will never perform at a high level, regardless of how much training and technology is invested in them. Evaluate people fairly but if it’s clear that they aren’t going to cut it, get rid of them. Putting off the inevitable is not good for them or the company.
* Not providing enough 1-on-1 time. We all have different strengths, personalities, learning styles, and needs. For sales people to grow they need individual attention and help. Figure out a way to get time alone with every member of your team regularly and consistently. Review the information you intend to discuss a day in advance – this will help you do a better job of listening and discovering areas of need. It’s no different than selling; if you don’t understand their needs, you can’t show them how you can be a benefit to them.
* Not spending enough time on the street. To really understand how a sales team is performing managers need to get out on the street with them. There isn’t a coach in the world that shows up for practice but skips the game. The field is where we see theory put into practice, and it’s where true coachable moments appear.
* Not listening. Telling team members how to perform better isn’t the same as teaching them how. We have to listen to fully understand issues, roadblocks, and what the solutions might be. There is always something to learn, even for managers.
* Not giving credit. Sales managers too often assume that they have to prove their worth by demonstrating the effectiveness of their own efforts. The reality is that managements effectiveness is reflected in the performance of the team. Give credit where credit is do. Promote the successes of individuals and of the team. It boosts their confidence and moral, and shows that you are more concerned with the success of the company than with your own success.

It’s difficult to manage a sales team effectively, but by identifying common mistakes and working hard to correct them, over the course of time, sales managers will find themselves capable of elevating individuals and teams to a new level of success.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Make Your Business Grow by Supporting Sales Staff

By Charlotte Sorrentino

A few years back I worked for someone who actually said his product sold itself. Goes to show you smart people say stupid things. I often wondered if he actually “believed” this.

It’s no accident that people buy from one company versus another. It’s a group effort by all but Sales is at the forefront. Yes a good product is the nucleus but if the price isn’t right or the service stinks then what good is it? If you are offering a product no one else has then your product may just sell itself in a way; there’s still advertising and marketing as people need to hear about it. But for most businesses competition is fierce and they need to do it better than the other guy.

People buy from people they like is heard often what this means is people buy from someone they trust to service them, they can depend on in a rush situation and even more importantly when there is a problem they can rely on fair dealings.

Yes like anything in life people do get settled in with a company and don’t want to change until something goes wrong. If it does for a company giving a lot of business to a vendor it’s a no brainer but when the company is small and doesn’t do the volume then sometimes they don’t get the same treatment. Being in sales, I have always given customers the 4-star treatment.

I have worked for many small to midsize companies and not one of them ever sat with the Sales Dept and worked as a team it was almost like the Sales Dept. were piranhas and cashflow or production seem to have been more of a focused, concentrated effort then building and expanding sales. I think management’s attitude is, “What am I paying Sales for if they don’t promote and sell?” Often management has lots of meetings about why Sales’ hadn’t achieved numbers but rarely talks about how Management could partner with sales.

If I had my druthers all businesses should be created by natural born sales or marketing people. These businesses seem to thrive better than most. Yes if you have the cheapest prices and service, well you can do business but it seems one would want to be the best of the best and not just settle for mediocrity no matter how much money you are making. Is it the money or the passion to do the job?

Ever try to sell someone and can’t then the owner of the company intercedes, drops the price and he GETS the sale only to rub it in your face? It takes no skill to give something away any idiot can do that. Many salespeople would love the authority to be able to make these kinds of decisions without prodding and convincing management to give a concession to a customer. Management will allow an accounting person to handle all their money with, sometimes, little overview yet haunt Sales for wanting to give a 2% discount on an order to keep a customer happy.

All aspects of your business needs attention much like gardening. If you plant seeds they need attention, water, good soil, sunlight, fertilizer and patience. This is the same for businesses and people. Quit replacing and start to make your business grow.

Popularity: 7% [?]

How to Make Your Sales Meeting Effective and Fun

By John Yoder

I don’t know a thing about you, but I’ll bet that people find it tiresome and grueling to attend meetings that include not even the smallest amount of fun. Yes, business meetings should be formal and geared towards accomplishing the agenda but that does not mean it should not be fun, right? Why not include sale meeting entertainment sometimes just to maintain that enthusiasm of your employees and at the same time, energize them for another round of work?

Having sales meetings are vital for the development of your company. During these meetings, issues regarding marketing strategies and progress will be discussed and if problems arise, solutions will carefully be thought of. It is therefore very important that these meetings are well prepared and will serve their purpose.

There are different things that you can do to make sure that your sales meeting will be effective and will be beneficial to you, your staff, and the clients. How? First of all, sales meetings should be well planned. Having meetings with no specific agenda, or not giving guidelines to the people who are needed in the meeting will make things confusing. In fact, it may even make the meeting useless. Why? It is because you and your team won’t have a specific and concrete idea of what to accomplish.

During the meeting per se, you must encourage your people to talk. It’s not all about you, the head, or any speaker. Knowing what your team has to say about the strategies, tips they would want to share with others, or discussing any difficulties or problems encountered. In this way, you would be able to interact with them, and at the same time, discuss business related matters.

Lastly, do not fail to acknowledge the effort given by your team. Congratulate people who have achieved their marketing goals, appreciate their allotted time for the project, and thank them for working on deals. These positive reinforcements will serve as motivation to your sales team.

Now, aside from the tips given, another way to keep your meeting productive and fun is by including sale meeting entertainment. Sale meeting entertainment will make old style meetings exciting, memorable, and at the same time, effective. There are a lot of entertainment forms that you could choose from. For example, hiring a comedian to experience sale meeting entertainment to your employees is a good idea.

Variety acts like mentalists, jugglers, and magicians are also another option. Interactive events and game rentals add to the many ways of sale meeting entertainment. Sales meeting entertainment will not only bring in the fun to work, it would also help build team work and camaraderie between your employees. It is still best to work in an enjoyable environment where you could laugh with your teammates, right?

For 25 year, Funny Business Agency has been a top resource for companies and event planners looking for expertise in the corporate entertainment market. With over 3,000 entertainers and events nationwide, Funny Business has provided entertainment for such companies as Legos, General Foods, Kelloggs, Pfizer, Honda Transmissions, Frito Lay, Iams, Proctor & Gamble, Perrigo and more.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Five Simple Techniques to Build a Cohesive Proposal Team

By Olessia Smotrova-Taylor

It is a known fact that people tend to work harder and more intelligently for the people they like and care about. This is why building a team- putting names to faces and faces to names, so to speak, and adding personal spin to make people real and likable on your proposal team- goes a long way towards helping the proposal effort.

Any proposal requires a little or, more often, a lot of extra effort from a person- extra creativity, extra dedication, extra hours, extra resourcefulness… the list goes on. Anything that goes beyond the call of duty requires people to exhibit good will, and the fact that we do more for the real people we know and like is programmed in our psyche. Especially if there are no other incentives, such rewards to winning proposal teams or promotions to new positions on the program that was awarded, generating good will through team building is essential.

Here are five simple techniques you can implement on your proposal immediately.

Technique 1. Require the ENTIRE proposal team to be present at the kick-off meeting. This includes ALL the writers and contributors as well as the management. This is one of those non-negotiable things where management has to clear their calendars, and people dedicated to their day jobs on projects have to let their customers know that they have to attend the kick-off. This has to be a factor in your scheduling and budgeting.

Insist that people attend your kick-off meeting in person, since the first most important kick-off goal is to make people more willing to do a lot more for the people they like and care about. If a couple of people, no matter how much they try to clear their schedules, cannot participate in your meeting, you will need to plan to do a mini-kick-off session for them later, and also to speak about them in detail at the original kick-off. Prior to the original kick-off, request their resume, their information, or even their photo to show to the team.

If a physical meeting is not feasible, video teleconferencing technology is the next best alternative – even if it is as simple as using Skype. Also, don’t rely on just a phone line and emailed presentation. Instead, use collaboration tools, such as NetMeeting, LiveMeeting, and GoToMeeting. This will reduce the likelihood that the attendees will lose track of your presentation’s progress as you flip the slides, and get distracted. Make an extra effort to get remote attendees involved and speaking up, and insist that no one multitasks.

Technique 2. Start your meeting with ice-breaker introductions. Even if some people know each other, there is no better way to get everyone to liven up than asking each attendee to take one minute to answer the following three questions about themselves:

1. Their name and company

2. How can they best contribute to this proposal based on their experience

3. One fact about their lives or themselves they consider unusual, special, or fun.

Answers to the last question transform the atmosphere in the room. People start laughing, they make jokes, they ooh and aah. After everyone has shared their information, they stop being strangers in suits and turn into fellow human beings. You can get really creative with an ice breaker question. For example, you could ask, What are you most proud of in your life? As you invent more ice-breaker questions, important rule for this exercise is to not ask a question people would lose face or get in trouble for answering. Keep it light and positive.

Technique 3. Explicitly state that proposal is a TEAM EFFORT. Basketball or Football teams have the word TEAM used every day as part of their coaching, and being a team player is emphasized over everything else. Somehow, on many proposals this message gets lost, and people focus on getting a bunch of individual performers together instead of emphasizing collaboration. It is amazing that many of us spend so much time implying things, beating around the bush, and feeling like heroes, all without ever asking for what we need. Since the goal is team building, state it, and explain what it means. Team effort means clear, open, and honest communication; collaborative decision-making; seeking people’s input; collaborative brainstorming to capitalize on the team’s expertise; collaborative writing; and no pride of authorship.

Technique 4. Prepare in advance and pass around the Contact List to fill in missing data including home numbers, and a field stating “Availability During the Proposal.”This sets expectations correctly for when someone may be unavailable and therefore when they could be reached ahead of that time. Or, it enables them to show that they are busy working during the day, but are committed to donating their evenings and weekends to proposal work. This is especially useful when your proposal effort takes place in the summer, around holidays, or vacation seasons. This way your team will have a chance to plan their interfaces better. Another useful field is “Time Zone” if you have the team across the country or across the globe.

Technique 5. Feed your proposal team. There is nothing like food that conveys hospitality and caring for people. Proposals do cost a lot of money, but it is baffling that so many companies try to save money on food, while food is by far the smallest budget item in the proposal. As inexpensive as good food is, it goes a surprisingly long way to make people feel welcome and appreciated. There are many ways to avoid paying high catering fees, and to feed the whole team a gourmet breakfast at a third of the price that a caterer would charge. Just make sure that you get a small budget pre-approved from the start, so that you get reimbursed for the receipts, and then stop by a grocery store to get fruit, and bakery on the way to get bagels, pastries, and real cream for coffee, and you will feed a couple of dozen of people for under forty bucks.

Also, do not bring in the same old tired sandwiches and pizza for lunches that feel like a brick in one’s stomach. For the same price or cheaper, you can get chafing dishes from caterers, which are often advertised as feeding 10 but that can easily feed 15 or 20 – and they are WAY healthier and easier on one’s waistline. I also usually ask people whether they are vegetarians, vegans, Kosher, have major food allergies, or have major likes and dislikes. You will be asking people to sacrifice their personal time and energy, so this is the least you can do to make everyone feel welcome and cared for.

There are, of course, more advanced techniques for creating fun and team spirit, such as contests, spot awards, games, and ways to reward individual performance, but these five simple techniques will get you the most mileage. These are the basics without which cohesive proposal teams are difficult to pull off. These techniques don’t cost you much to implement, but their impact lasts longer than the proposal itself and creates better work environments and better companies.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Professional Sales Training – Managing Leads to Generate New Sales

By Kate Tammemagi

Many sales professionals are very comfortable maintaining long term relationships and developing repeat business from existing clients. However, it is the goal of every company to retain existing business and to develop new clients and new sales. This involves identifying a pool of sales leads, and converting some of these leads to new business.

Key Points with Sales Leads

There are several key points when it comes to beginning work on developing your leads.

1. EVERY lead is precious, do not dismiss it easily.
2. Keep an open mind about every lead. Sales people make assumptions about the potential of each lead, whether this person is likely to buy or whether they will be interested in our products. Unfortunately, clients that prove to have a huge spend do not come with a label on their foreheads! Work every lead until you have firm evidence that this is NOT a prospect.
3. Think of yourself as competing with another very good Sales Person rather than an opposing Company. If this lead is a real prospect, they WILL buy from someone. Is it going to be you, or is in going to be the other guy who gets the sale?
4. Plan how you will work those leads effectively, develop a good personal management system.

Set Targets

Sales is a numbers game, the bigger the numbers the better the Sales Person! However, when it comes to managing leads, it is better to think in terms of conversion rates rather than flat numbers. The reason for this is simple. Take 2 sales people, one with 10 sales and one with 20 sales in a week. You might at first think that the second sales person with 20 sales is the better of the two. However, you then find that she contacted 100 people to generate those 20 sales, while the first sales person contacted 20 people to get their 10 sales.

The sales person with the 50% conversion rate is by far the better sales person. Indeed, the first sales person, with the 10% conversion rate may well be a liability. It would be much more productive to give her leads to your good sales person. This is the way to think about your own leads.

Plan how you will manage each batch of leads and set your targets in terms of conversion rates. Set a target of -

• How many leads you will convert to contacts
• How many contacts you will convert to clients

Managing your Sales Leads

To manage your leads effectively there is a useful model called the Sales Cycle. This gives us the stages from lead to advocate.

1. Leads
2. Contacts – we make contact with the decision maker, perhaps on a telephone call or casual meeting
3. First Contact Meeting – our first sales presentation meeting, where we build rapport, establish needs, present our offering and, hopefully, close a sale
4. Active Prospect – we have met, and the prospect may buy, but hasn’t made the decision yet
5. Client – the client buys from us
6. Advocate – the client is so pleased they recommend us to others

The idea is to work at each phase to improve our conversion rate and effectiveness at sales. The more leads we convert to contacts, the bigger the pool we have for the next phase. Work conversion rates for each phase of the cycle.

Improving your Conversion Rates

We improve our conversion rate at each phase of the Sales Cycle by using skills, recording and tracking systems, and good motivational techniques. Above all, every good sales person plans HOW they will improve each week and each month. As well as managing the normal weekly activities, they focus on an improvement area so that they are constantly increasing their potential.

For example, you could concentrate one week on improving the first phase of the Sales Cycle, generating more contacts from your leads. Isolate a time for making appointments. Prepare a list of contact names and telephone numbers, and anything else you will need to carry out an effective period of calling. Set a target of number of dials, or number of contacts or number of appointments made. Work out how you will motivate yourself to keep going till you achieve your target. After the batch of calls, review your performance, and use this review to plan your next session.

Spend the next week focusing on improving your recording and tracking system, with the target improving the conversion from your Active File to Clients. A good sales professional is always working at his or her role and is always working at improving.

Popularity: 5% [?]

What To Look For In An ISO Provider In Credit Card Processing – Part 1 (Sales Support)

By Evan Schweitzer

Congratulations! You have made the transition from being a sales rep – the feet on the street so to speak – to opening an office on your own. You are now an Independent Sales Office (ISO). Priority #1 is the evaluation and selection of the company you are going to partner with and represent and how they can help you grow your business.

This is no more evident than in the credit card processing industry. As a leading credit card processor, we see firsthand that the landscape for ISOs is constantly changing. Unfortunately, many ISO’s now find themselves in financially difficult times. Why? Because they either a) didn’t take the time to research their partner provider; and b) may simply not have known the right questions to ask. After all, picking the right partner is critical to your present and future success.

With this in mind, we are authoring and posting a series of articles on what to look for in an ISO provider in this industry. Following are questions pertaining to the sales, marketing and informational support that should be considered.

Key “Support” Questions when researching ISO provider partners:

· Comprehensive On-Demand Agent Portal

One of the most essential things to look for when selecting a provider is the information portal ISOs like yourself can access anytime online that contains all the information you need on a daily basis. Many providers today have nothing more than a simple database with minimal information.

To optimize your sales efforts, you need a partner who offers a comprehensive on-demand agent portal. For example, we provide our ISOs and direct sales reps with access to a proprietary ISO Agent portal where you can:

- Schedule daily appointments

- Track and manage submitted deals from stage 1 to activation

- Review commission breakdown in detail

- Access all training material / documents

- Receive a detailed breakdown of residual report

- Keep track of sales reps performance from month to month

Much more than a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, the ideal agent portal should also be able to:

- Submit merchant applications online to expedite customers through the approval process

- Provide batch reporting on a daily basis

- Flag alerts to customer service issues

· Marketing

When it comes to marketing, first and foremost is the quality and key focus of your prospective partner’s website. After all, this is generally the first place prospective customers go to. Is it a) professional and b) most importantly, is it merchant facing? Too many times, these sites can be geared more for ISO recruitment than new business lead generation. And obviously, lead generation is priority #1.

Other questions regarding marketing to consider: Do they provide you with compelling collateral that helps you communicate the benefits of your organization to your customers and prospects? Is this information downloadable in easily printable PDF format on their website to you? Can print and go when you need it? Do they supply pitch books which help you tell the story in a consistent, easy-to-follow layout? And, are the materials they do provide updated in an expeditious manner or are they using statistics from 1995?

· Training

Training is another key area for your success. Do they help train YOUR staff to grow and position you for future growth? How often is the training – daily, weekly, monthly, never? Let’s face it, having training sessions available on a daily basis, and not just once a month, makes for a most knowledgeable, more successful ISO. In addition, try to uncover the quality of the training and the credentials of the trainer? Do they have a dedicated full professional trainer on staff that has successfully trained thousands of ISOs and sales reps or are sessions conducted by an employee who does that it on his spare time?

If you can do you due diligence, follow the above guidelines regarding sales and marketing support, you should be able to gather enough information to pinpoint the right partner to work with you and help grow your business in these key areas. Please refer to other articles in this series where compensation and other significant areas are explored.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Evan Schweitzer (CPA) is the Chief Financial Officer for Federated Payments. Evan has spent the last 20 years aiding the growth of mid-sized companies and taking them to the next level. He is an expert in all things financial and works with the management team, ISO’s, and sales representatives to focus their efforts of profitable strategic growth initiatives. Prior to joining Federated Payments, Evan worked for Lipman Electronic Engineering (now VeriFone) and its global affiliates as Chief Financial Officer.

Federated Payments is a premier provider of credit card processing solutions and related merchant account services for small to medium size businesses within the U.S. and Canada. Federated takes a consultative approach in developing long-standing relationships with our merchant customers, Independent Sales Offices and Cash Advance Partners enhancing the way they do business. Federated offers a diverse suite of cost-effective solutions that include credit and debit card processing, equipment leasing, gift and loyalty card programs, cash advances and check approval services as well as its industry-leading Agent Partner Portal.

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