Entries Tagged 'Sales' ↓

I’m worried about my team of sales people. They don’t seem to be really focused. Sales results aren’t great. I’d expect the sales people to come in early, leave late, put in the hours necessary to succeed. Instead, they’re here by 9:30, out by 4:00. I don’t have the time to ride them about their hours. I don’t know what to do.

Thoughts of the Day: Focus on goals. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Build up capacity to perform. Weed out underperformers. Learn  how to hire for success in sales. Recognize that as a sales manager, you are measured on the results of your team – if it’s not working, you’re part of the problem, until you’re part of the solution.

Start with goals. Make sure that each person on the team has selected a set of goals that he, or she, believes is realistic, measureable and attainable. Ask each person to make an individual plan to achieve their personal goals – number of prospecting calls, types of prospects to call on, defined over a specific period of time.

Don’t worry too much about the hours. People can come in early and sit around, or stay late and waste time. At the same time, if people are working hard in the hours they’re at work, and they don’t get the results they want, putting in a few extra hours might help. It’s a balance.

Focus on productivity. How many new contacts are being made? Teach the team that sales is a numbers game. The more prospects they are in contact with, the more likely a sale is to happen. Combine that with skill building at honing in on prospects that have high potential to close, and moving the ball forward with those.

Check that each person’s plan is realistic. For example, if the sales person is currently calling on 1 or 2 new prospects / week, suddenly jumping to calling on 20 might seem beneficial. However that jump is unlikely to happen, and might become discouraging when the sales person finds out how hard it is to quickly and significantly increase an activity.

Focus on building up sales capacity, which is like building up stamina and muscle in the gym. Do a little more each day. Recognize when a plateau has been hit. Hire a coach to oversee the training cycles.

Assess each person on the team. Are there any team members who have not bought into their plans? Any who are not following the plan? Are you hearing excuses? Anyone looking depressed rather than energized by the challenge of achieving success?

Not everyone is cut out for sales. Some people get worn out by sales, and need to move on. Tolerating underperformers who are dragging down the energy of the team can eat away at the entire team’s will to succeed. As a manager, you want to focus on encouraging the best, rather than trying to save the weakest.

A sales manager’s job includes honestly assessing each team member. Talk with individuals who are having difficulty. Maybe they need to move on. Don’t let them stay stuck in a rut.

When hiring, look for attitude. Avoid victims. Find people who see themselves as winners, who can realistically assess a situation, and figure out how to make lemonade. It’s more than a drive to succeed. It’s an inner strength that comes through in good times and bad, focused on making the positive happen.

Sales is a game of independence and self reliance. To be successful, individuals have to be accountable for what they can, or cannot, achieve. Not everything is going to go their way. They have to have the inner strength and belief system to pick themselves up and move forward. Make sure each and every team member has, and keeps that attitude.

Looking for a good book? The Sales Manager’s Success Manual, by Wayne M. Thomas.

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I feel like I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. As owner, I bring in most of the company’s sales. I’m also spending a lot of time training a new sales person. Eventually this person will produce sales, but right now I’m spread thin and I fear we won’t have enough sales this quarter.

Thoughts of the day: Bringing on sales people can be challenging. Make sure you’re hiring people who can do the job. Set up systems to make new people productive quickly. Focus new people on highest payoff opportunities in order to build confidence and momentum.

Almost every business starts out relying on the owner for sales. But the owner can only sell so much. If the business is to keep growing, the owner has to hire people who can add new customers and sell additional services or products.

One of the most difficult transitions any company owner makes is shifting from salesperson to building a sales team and delegating sales responsibility. The skills are entirely different. Sales people are doers. They chase deals. They operate intuitively. They want to be in the middle of the action.

Sales managers know how to step back, delegate, assess and coach. They’re willing to risk losing deals as part of the training process. Good managers operate at a high level of conscious competence, clear about goals, process and intention. They live indirectly, through the success of their people.

Many business owners live in the middle. They want sales people to succeed, but are unwilling to risk losing sales. They have way too much contact with the company’s current and future customers, as they try to get new sales people to take over. Owners are often unclear about what they do to succeed in sales, and find it challenging to teach new sales people what to do. As a result, they support their sales people inappropriately, stepping in when they should step back, unable to explain without doing.

The hiring process is especially problematic. The owner wants a solution. Being an eternal optimist, the owner can see the possibilities in the people they’re interviewing. Prospective sales people focus on convincing the owner they can do the job, as they push to close the sale and get hired. Everyone wants to move forward, and voila! You may have just hired the wrong person.

Take time to interview multiple times. Ask customers and staff for their opinions. Don’t worry if candidates drift away. You’re looking for a key player who both wants and can do the job.

Test candidates as part of the search process. I am always amazed when a business owner says he / she doesn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars to test someone. They’re about to spend thousands / week in payroll, share trade secrets and invest time and effort training someone before results kick in. Tests are not definitive, but they can help both owner and sales candidates assess the fit.

Set up tools to speed learning and reduce missteps. Script what the owner says to prospects. Document the typical sales approach. Help the new sales person cut out time wasted in experimenting. Compare sales results to the company’s standard sales process to determine where the trainee is excelling or struggling.

Set the tone day one. Make sure sales people get out right away to make calls. Set clear goals and measure progress. Make sure sales people know the goals are non-negotiable.

Increase confidence by focusing on sales that are likely to happen. Ask sales people to expand existing customers. If there’s a problem, your customers will give you feedback. And if the sales person is any good at all, they’ll figure out how to sell something sooner rather than later.

Give out leads. Don’t compete, delegate. Ask sales people to chase early stage opportunity. Make time to discuss progress and coach. Resist the temptation to step in and do it for the sales person.

Pay attention to results. How many leads should the sales person uncover week one, month one? How many qualified prospects should be on the sales person’s list within one month, three months? How many proposals should go out? How soon should the first deal happen? If the sales person is making excuses instead of producing results, fix it or move on to the next candidate. Make sure your new hire is performing at or above standard.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Looking for a good book? How to Hire and Develop Your Next Top Performer: The Five Qualities That Make Salespeople Great, by Herb Greenberg, Herbert Greenberg, Patrick Sweeney.

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One of our sales people recently had 4 out of 6 deals fall apart. What concerns me most is that she had put a very high close ratio on all 6 – she estimated that each had an 80% or better chance of closing. I know that her closing percentage estimate is a gut – it’s subjective. How can I help her get a more accurate picture of what’s likely to happen?

Top Thoughts: Sales people often focus on what seems hot today, regardless of the real probability of closing. Getting prospects to close is not an event, but a process – a series of steps that need to be tackled in the right order. Building an accurate sales forecast system will help both sales and management better understand and deal with the challenges they face.

An active prospect, saying what seems like the right things, can easily be mis- interpreted as a sale that’s ready to happen. Sales people can be overly enthusiastic about what they’re working on, and have blind spots about reality. Maybe the prospect was ready to close, maybe it wasn’t. Either way, the forecast of 80% x 6 prospects means that 4 – 5 out of 6 should have closed. In this case, only 2 out 6, or 33%, actually ended up closing. A big gap.

Who cares? Management and the sales person should both care. Management needs actionable, accurate information with which to plan. Sales people need to know what they can count on to close, and where they’re getting tripped up.

It would help both management and the sales person to look at the steps a prospect goes through. Classic sales stages include information gathering, agree on needs, negotiate price, confirm solutions via proposal, negotiate contract. Have a couple brainstorming sessions to figure out the typical path a prospect follows. Build a checklist to use for each sales stage, to verify that everything appropriate to that stage gets covered and checked off.

Think of the sales funnel as a weeding process. As prospects move from one stage to the next, the goal is to focus on those prospects most likely to close, eliminate those that are unlikely to close, and set up a nurturing process for those that could close but aren’t ready. Mistaking so many accounts as highly likely to close (80% or better shot of closing), and they don’t close, means that the sales person is missing something in the weeding in / weeding out process.

Assign probabilities to each sales stage, based on historical averages. For instance, if typically 2 out 10 prospects that complete stage 1 end up closing, put a 20% close ratio on all prospects at the end of stage 1. If the chances increase to 4 out of 10 closing when the prospect completes stage 2, assign a 40% close ratio at the end of stage 2. And so on.

Sales people will get a lot of benefit out of learning to forecast accurately. No good sales person wants to miss out on exceeding quota and cashing commission checks. Help them build a fact based way to assess where they stand.

The sales funnel can also be used to identify training needs. When closes fail to happen, often there’s a pattern – something that gets skipped, or a stall that happens regularly. In this sales person’s case, we found that she missed a crucial step about half way through every sale. We isolated the problem and helped her understand how to keep it from cropping up in the future. Her forecasts are becoming more accurate, and she’s closer to hitting her goals.

When sales management and sales people can agree that the sales forecast is accurate, trust goes up. Confidence increases when both are on the same page. And management can proceed with decisions based on knowing where the company’s growth is coming from, and what else, if anything, needs to be done in order to make plan for the month, quarter, or year.

Looking for a good book? Quotas & Compensation: Pinpoint Sales Management Skill Development Training Series, by Timothy F. Bednarz.

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We haven’t given door knocking a good enough try. We’re working in local neighborhoods all the time,  but no one knows we’re there other than our customer. I’m sure other people near-by might be interested in the work we’re doing, but I don’t want to be intrusive. What suggestions do you  have for getting the word out that we’re around and ready to help.

Top thoughts: Look successful in order to boost prospects’ willingness to open the door. Make prospects aware of your company. Have a powerful message to share once the door is opened. Be sure your sales force is ready to engage.

There are many ways to make suspects aware you’re in the neighborhood. Some can be handled by your field crews. Some require the skills of your sales force. Let’s start with your field crews.

The people out in the field are the number one representation of your company – how do they come across? Would you want this company to park it’s truck in your driveway? Would you want these people in your home or place of business?

Too many times I hear business owners say they can’t let go of a top technician, no matter how many times that person disregards basic rules of human engagement, shows up late, leaves a mess in the truck or, even worse, the clients’ workspace. Consider this. What you, as owner, tolerates, becomes the standard for the company.

Have maximum positive impact on your customers as well as suspects and prospects. Make sure everyone in your company is well turned out, approachable, willing and able to help. Make sure the impression they give leads to good will and an invitation to stay and engage in the neighborhood.

Give your field crews tools that help them to make a positive impact. Consider customer service training, uniforms, handouts that tell a story. Explain their role in building neighborhood good will, and in gathering prospects for future work.

Hand out fliers that notify the neighborhood your company will be in the area. Invite people to contact the office if they have questions. If appropriate, put out street signs with the company’s name and phone number.

All of the marketing effort in the world, getting potential prospects to pay attention to your company and your offers, can go for naught without follow up. Someone has to reach across the gap between marketing and sales. Assign sales people to canvass an area in which your company has just worked.

Check in the with the customer to ensure that all work was completed satisfactorily. Ask to use the customer’s name as a reference. Then call on others in the neighborhood to tell your company’s story and inquire about needs.

As doors are opened, your sales people have 30 seconds to make an impact, leading to an invitation to explore further opportunity or a “no thank you, not interested.” Help your sales people craft a powerful story about your company and its’ work. Make sure it’s a compelling statement that fits your company – ask your customers to give you feedback on how they’d react if you knocked on their door.

Have the same standards for sales as you do for the field – clean, neat, polite, respectful. Find out if the prospect has time to talk, or not. Suggest a follow up if the prospect if busy. Offer a leave behind, and have a follow up routine.

If the prospect is willing to engage right then, be prepared to ask questions that help qualify the need and fit. Figure out how to quickly recognize a good prospect, and rule out ones that don’t fit. Treat both with respect, no matter what.

Expect your sales people to report back on canvassing results. Get a door-by-door report. Record results in a follow up system, noting which doors are hot leads, which need follow up later.

Looking for a good book? Power Prospecting: Cold Calling Strategies For Modern Day Sales People – Build a B2B Pipeline. Teloprospecting, Lead Generation, Referrals, Executive Networking. Improve Selling Skills. By Patrick Henry Hansen.

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I’ve been told we have to find opportunity to increase our service agreement business. Is it good business? Up to now we’ve just taken what comes in the door. How important is it?

Service agreement business is very important to the success of many businesses. It factors into sale value. It indicates the business’ services are healthy and well received by the marketplace. If priced right, it can generate reliable revenue and profits year in and year out. Getting more is a sales and customer service game, pure and simple.

Many businesses have significant opportunity to pick up ongoing revenue by focusing on selling and properly handling service agreements. Companies with regular demand for their services can offer their clients agreements that tie the clients to the company. They do this by offering to provide regularly recurring service in exchange for a fee, either paid upfront, or paid in quarterly or annual installments.

If a company can show a significant base of service contracts, that will boost the eventual sale value of the business. Banks will often take note of service contract revenue – which is different from service revenue. Service revenue is an indicator of a stable, continuing, trust relationship between client and company. It’s also a steady stream of revenue that the company can count on.

If clients are confident enough in the services provided by the company, they will agree to contract to do business with the company for more than an as-need basis. The advantage to clients is often a discount on additional services – known as a preferred customer rate, priority with scheduling, and / or advance notice of upcoming opportunities.

The advantage to the company offering the service agreement is that it locks up customers for periods of time – typically a year or more. It can focus on customers who have already bought into the value it provides. And the company can use a standard service agreement contract as a way to sell more clients on shifting from emergency based calls to steady, planned service calls. Reducing emergencies can free up the cue of calls a company has to handle at the last minute – which are often the most expensive to provide.

Properly pricing service agreements is essential. The contract typically will contain a standard set of services that are provided, and for which the company clearly understands its costs. Additional repair services and parts are usually on an as need basis, not factored into the service agreement.

Many companies will offer to fix the cost of service labor for a period of time – since they have the most control over that. Fixing parts is a dangerous way to go, as prices from vendors may suddenly escalate. If you want to offer an advantage related to prices or services you acquire from vendors, either ask the vendor for a fixed price contract, or offer the client a preferred rate subject to availability.

Getting more service contracts is a sales and customer service job. Figure out who are your best customers, and start with them. Make calls and send letters offering them a service contract. Define the advantages they will receive. If you’re not sure what advantages to promote, talk to a few of your best customers to ask them what they value the most about service availability and price.

Once your best customers are on board, use them as references to pull in more of the general customer base. Offer service contracts to your entire population, including a way to sign up on-line, by phone, or by snail-mail (yes, some people still use it).  Once sign-ups slow down, print out a list of all customers, figure out which customers don’t have service agreements, and focus on getting them on board. Finally, put a standard service agreement in every new sale package, and try to get the agreement signed upfront.

Not sure how to price a service agreement? Not sure how to offer one to the marketplace? Not sure what to offer, and what to steer clear of? Get Help! There’s gold in that opportunity!

Looking for a good book? The Art of Profitability, by Adrian Slywotzky.

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I have a few issues in sales. We spend time on low-percent prospects. It feels like we’re getting the brush off. It all comes down to this question: Why do folks have us come to give them an estimate and not do the work with us? 

Reduce the frustration associated with selling by qualifying prospects early on. Use an upfront agreement to clarify how things will proceed. Talk with decision makers. Write proposals only when it’s clear there’s a deal on the table. Know when to move on.

Have checklist of questions to use, to verify someone’s interest level:

• what is it, exactly that you’re looking for
• do you have a budget and a timeframe
• where else do you intent to look
• what’s your final decision making process, and who will be involved
• how bad would it be if you ended up not solving the problem

These questions show an interest in getting to know the prospect. They help shape decisions about the amount of time and effort to focus on this potential sale.

Do sales people tell their prospects it’s okay to say, “no”? If they don’t, they should. Offering to let someone off the hook is an effective way to qualify their level of interest. Trying to hang on to a window shopper who has no intention of buying is usually a waste of time. Sort that out early.

It’s also okay to say something along the lines of, “Even though you’re not ready to buy, I’ll help you with information now. I ask that you realize I get paid for my time by eventually making a sale. In exchange for me spending time with you now, I’m asking that you’ll come back to me when you’re ready to make a purchase. Is that fair?” Be respectful, and demand respect.

Start the sales process with an upfront agreement as to the sales steps involved. Suggest the steps your company typically goes through, from introduction to sale. Ask the prospect if that seems like a reasonable process. Find out what will work for your prospect, and decide if that process will work for your company.

Doing everything possible to put the odds in your company’s favor is what sales is all about. Ask who else the prospect plans to look at; know the caliber of company you’ll be competing with. Ask for a list of issues and concerns related to your company’s offer, and time to address those concerns. Ask to go last when making a presentation so you can hear about and address any ideas that came up last minute.

Teach all team members to talk to decisions makers before writing proposals. Entre to the final decision makers and influencers can increase chances for working through issues and conflicts. Continually assess the strength of the relationship between your company and your prospects’ by building a broad set of connections.

Write proposals late in the game, as confirmation of what’s been discussed. Focus first on gathering information and discussing options. Before putting offers in writing, review with the prospect what you’re planning to recommend. Check if you’re on the right track, or not.

Regularly ask how your recommendations are perceived. Ask for the sale, but don’t be afraid to hear you’re not getting the deal. A good sales person always wants to know where they stand. Information, no matter how negative, is valuable.

Encourage sales people to live in the land of reality, rather than the land of hope. They’re not going to get every deal. Establish a reasonable closing ratio. If typically 1 deal in 3 goes in your favor, figure out how to identify the 2 that aren’t going to close, fight for the chance to turn things around, then politely cut your losses and move on.

Focus on the high outcome situations. Use valuable selling time to find more of the same. Ask all prospects if they can make referrals to others who might be interested. Deal with prospects with respect and professionalism, and you’ll likely pick up leads to other opportunities.

Looking for a good book? Make Winning a Habit: 20 Best Practices of the World’s Greatest Sales Forces, by Rick Page.

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