FOR SALES MANAGERS

The fundamental flaw in all forecasting is that we are asking sales people to report on their own performance. It's a bit like the US Congress asking pro baseball players if they use steroids. If we ask sales people to report that they are failing, we are kidding ourselves. On the other end of the spectrum, the top reps are probably sand-bagging (I know I did!)

"I was a successful sales rep before I became a manager, so I know how to sell to our clients. It's clear to me what my reps do well and where they could improve - and I tell them. However, there's a point where a rep is like a kid who is "Mom Deaf" - they tune me out.” – Dan

I was at a national sales meeting, and one of the product marketing people was giving a talk on the new version of a product. As I sat there, I noticed an odd dynamic in the room - everyone was listening with strange intensity. I looked over one of the sales people's shoulder and saw she had a bingo card. She was covering the squares as the speaker used common marketing buzz-words. The sales team had a game set up, and the first one to shout “bingo” got the pot.

Sales managers generally spend too much time on administration and not enough time developing their sales people. While it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t agree, it doesn’t change. However, it is not inevitable.

In sales, a great hire has an effect on the whole organization. A top sales person raises the bar for everyone on the sales team. The opposite is also true. The impact of a bad hire isn’t just about the individual; a bad hire impacts the whole team

How many times have your reps explained why they lost a deal by saying, “I got out-sold?” What do they usually say?
“Our prices are too high.”
“Our competition has better stuff.”
If these are excuses, and the reps know they are excuses, that’s the BEST you can hope for.

A sales manager said to me recently, “I read the new comp plan when it comes out, then I ask people about it. I get different answers from everyone I talk to, and the result is a free-for-all. People end up fighting over credit and wasting time on deals they shouldn’t even be working. 50% of sales time gets sucked into after-deal issues.”

When most organizations start pushing for more contact time, more outbound calls, more quotes, more demos, and more proposals, the results are often disappointing.
Why doesn't productivity go up when you increase the behavior that seems to correlate with revenue?
You impact quantity - but not quality. Or worse and more typical, you impact quality in a negative way.

Why designate sales territories? Not everyone should designate territories. Suggestions for designating sales territories

When I ask what currently constrains sales, sales people generally say it’s time, leads, the competition, lack of S.E.’s, the fact that the new version isn't ready, the prices are too high, the economy is too weak, etc.

An exercise for your next sales meeting - Prevent and Cure Exercise. This exercise demonstrates how it is more powerful to prevent a problem than to try to cure problem that has already occurred.

In hundreds of rigorous studies, a high IQ fails to correlate with on-the-job success. For many professions intelligence is a baseline competence. It’s a hurdle to entry into the position, so everyone in the profession has a high level of intelligence. For example, almost all lawyers have IQ’s in the 110 to 120 ranges. It’s the price of entry into the profession - not a differentiator

The "Check Ride" - A Coaching Call. If a manager wants to observe and develop a rep, that must be the objective of the call. The manager must make a call dedicated to that purpose so he won’t be tempted to take over. Coaching calls typically should be done on routine calls and not high stakes calls.

How to get sales people to use the ultimate contracts - Advice from Sales Managers. "Even though it was the 3rd time hearing the Sandler Sales Training material, I really enjoyed your spin on it. Also, I wish I could have discussed ways to motivate my team members to use the Ultimate Contract. Any suggestions?" - Cynthia

Automating your sales efforts can result in increased sales efficiency, improved ability to coach your sales people, better service to customers, and other important improvements. However, most sales automation efforts result in failure. Here are six reasons these efforts fail