SALESCALLSBLOG.COM

Top 10 Key Objectives for Sales Managers?

2012-05-20T20:59:56Z

We frequently ask clients to share their perspectives on the key objectives associated with their sales management effort. The answers vary a bit, but most include the following "top 10" answers:

Drive sales revenue
Drive profitable growth
Support and empower the team
Lead, motivate and retain the team
Recruit, hire and "on-board" sales people as necessary
Train, coach and mentor the team / individuals as needed
Provide management with strategic information from the field relative to market trends, customer preferences and the competitive landscape
Develop strategic relationships with key accounts
Serve as liaison between the sales force and the company
Comprehensive performance management

How might you answer the question?

Optimizing Your Business Development Plan

2012-05-07T13:34:16Z

Over time, successful business development requires a proactive and organized approach.

A simple way to help with this organization involves identifying key activities and plotting your business development plan for the year; this will enable you to gauge the overall scope of your effort, allocate time and resources, and take advantage of any seasonal opportunities that might be associated with your product or service.

More importantly, the plan will help you identify the action steps necessary to achieve your overall business development goals.

Here's a sample and free download from our website.

Business Development: Never "Check-in!"

2012-04-30T21:51:36Z

Continuing with the business development theme, it's important to recognize that business development is a process, not a one-time event. Consequently, a crucial part of the overall process involves making multiple value-added contacts with prospects and referral sources over time. In fact, statistics from the National Association of Sales Executives indicate that, on average, business development success comes somewhere between the 5th and the 12th contact.

A contact or "touch" is value-added when the seller has something of value to offer the prospect. With this in mind, you might be mindful of a common pitfall...

We have heard and observed sales people of all types over many years, and a fall-back catch-phrase used repeatedly by those who have not prepared themselves with a value-added agenda is, "Hello Mr. / Ms. Prospect, this is So-and-so with XYZ Company and I'm just checking-in to see how everything is going..."

"Checking-in" is NOT value-added!

To maximize business development success, we must have something of value to share with our prospects each and every time we make a call. If we can accomplish this, the odds of success will increase; if not, we will most likely find ourselves unable to connect because our prospects will be avoiding us!

New Business Development Challenges & Solutions

2012-04-23T16:14:27Z

Whether you're starting a new business or trying to move your current organization to the next level, developing a plan to identify, attract, and retain new clients is a key activity.

However, though readily-recognized as a critically-important activity by most business owners or executives, we've found business development to be among the most-frequently procrastinated day-to-day activities; and for a number of reasons ranging from lack of a plan to "I don't really enjoy it..."

Further, most non-sales professionals take a much more reactive approach than what is necessary to achieve success, and many others confuse the practice with marketing.

If your organization is experiencing these challenges, three key steps toward improving your business development effort are:

· Define a process and make it cultural; include discussions about new business development goals and activities in team meetings, strategic planning sessions and performance reviews

· Schedule it in; leaving business development to “when there’s time to do it…” is not the best approach and most often results in failure

· Measure progress and results

Selling to Your Workforce: Part 2

2012-04-18T14:37:44Z

Samuel Johnson said, "People more frequently require to be reminded rather than informed."

Some might think that the idea of reminding or “selling” to the work force or sales force is like preaching to the choir. But adults, they say, learn through repetition and feedback. Plus there are a number of external factors that impact people on a day-to-day basis, and which bring about the need for reinforcement of fundamentals and more...

So if we, as managers or business owners, don’t continually reaffirm the true message with our workforce, how can we be sure that they are expressing it properly in the marketplace? How can we be sure they haven’t forgotten? Or that they haven’t succumbed to fears and doubts?

If we don’t continually reaffirm the basics and provide feedback, how can we be sure they are properly applying their skills?

Selling to Your Workforce and Beyond: Can You Tell a Story?

2012-04-09T13:54:38Z

Thanks to https://twitter.com/#!/@inc, I read a great article that illustrates the value of story telling. While the article's focus is on entrepreneurs of start-up enterprizes, I think the concept applies to business owners, leaders, sales managers and sales people in all organizations, regardless of how long they've been in existence.

The key reasons are simple... stories peak people's interest and tend to be remembered.

A good example is how many of the articles in the Wall Street Journal are written; they begin with a story such as, "So-and-so runs a small manufacturing firm in the mid-west, and was shocked to learn..."

Are you interested?

If so, here's a quick link to the article.

Leading Your Sales Force With Effective Mini-Meetings

2012-04-02T22:18:45Z

Several of our recent posts focused on techniques and tools for running the best team meetings, which are a key component of a proactive sales management system.

It's also important to note that one-on-one strategy sessions (also a component of a proactive sales management system), coaching sessions and performance reviews are meetings too!

Even though the group size is small, the same fundamentals of design, planning, process and follow-through that apply to team meetings also apply to the "mini-meetings." Coupled with a solid organizational system, these basics can help a sales manager to not only lead the sales force more effectively, but also help team members enjoy higher levels of sales productivity as well.

Performance Management: 5 Steps to Avoid the Rear-View Mirror

2012-03-26T18:45:34Z

A strategically balanced performance management plan is a key component of effective team or sales management. In order to maintain a truly-balanced approach, it's important to focus on more than just the numbers and the past.

Managers who place all or too much focus on analyzing past performance and then initiating improvement plans after-the-fact miss the opportunity to salvage what otherwise might be a sub-standard month, quarter or trimester. The most successful approach not only enables managers to identify opportunities for team improvement based on analyzing past activities and results, but to also identify preemptive action steps and strategies that can impact future results.

In doing so, these successful managers avoid the "rear-view mirror" method of driving sales revenue and leading their teams. There are five key steps to this well-rounded methodology...

Read the full article...

Following-Through on Your Weekly Sales Meeting

2012-03-19T13:14:22Z

Just as lack of preparation results in poor meetings, poor follow-through is a common cause of failure to maximize productivity and accomplishment after-the-fact. In addition, failure to complete the "next steps" identified during sales meetings can undermine the effectiveness of subsequent meetings, as the team will quickly realize that there are little or no consequences associated with non-compliance.

To be sure that all participants are on the same page, the astute sales manager or meeting leader will allow time for questions as each meeting comes to a close, and will end each meeting by summarizing both the discussion and the conclusions that were drawn, along with all consequential next steps.

But is the leader’s responsibility to not only identify and/or assign next steps during a sales meeting, but also to monitor and support these activities afterwards. Diligent follow-through sends a strong implied message to the team (these action steps are important!) and also brings about greater levels of accountability and productivity. Consistent follow-through also helps to foster a cultural understanding among team members that action steps discussed during each week's meeting must be completed.

To close the loop, it is a good practice to review the action items during the next meeting, giving those involved an opportunity to share their achievement with the group or giving them an opportunity to seek additional direction.

Running Your Weekly Sales Meeting

2012-03-12T13:33:16Z

After designing and planning a sales meeting, the process of running the best sessions involves a range of "little" things that collectively make a "big" difference in effectiveness.

Begin by starting the meeting on time. If we wait for late-comers, there will always be late-comers!

Next comes a statement of purpose and, if necessary, a statement of decorum, which addresses things such as etiquette (cell phones off, hold or mute button policy if meeting via conference call, e-mail program closed, etc.), meeting structure, how questions will be addressed, introduction of guests (if applicable) and how long the meeting will last.

It is then the leader’s responsibility to keep the discussion lively, on-subject and focused on pre-defined group goals. An interactive exchange is best, as involving individuals in the discussion generates better ideas and buy-in, and can help keep everyone interested as suggested in our previous post, the leader's agenda should include questions and other tools for involving team members in the dialogue.

But higher-levels of interaction can also compromise order if not managed well, so it is important for the leader to maintain order. This is often done by strategically posing a mix of open-ended questions (to promote discussion) and closed-ended questions to control the communication flow. The use of a "parking lot" is also an effective tool for easily tabling issues that are not consistent with the meeting's agenda.

The meeting leader can also maximize productivity by frequently drawing conclusions from the dialogue, and by identifying clear next step(s) that are consequential to the discussion. Naturally he or she bears the responsibility of following-through after-the-fact to hold participants accountable and/or to lend a hand with the completion of specified action steps.

This follow-through step is extremely important, and will be the subject of our next post...

Your Weekly Sales Meeting - 5 Key Planning Tips

2012-03-05T21:46:52Z

Once design decisions are made, planning is the next step. Though vital, the need for planning is often overlooked, and poor planning is the most common cause of unproductive meetings.

Ideally, planning is done by both the meeting leader and the participants. The planning process, however, is the responsibility of the leader. Here are five tips that can help you more easily plan and run the best sales (or other!) meetings:

Conduct appropriate research so as to be capable of effectively organizing an agenda and leading the group
It's often easier to create each week's agenda "on the go." In other words, make notes during the course of each week (possibly when reading, speaking with customers, in the field with Reps, or during one-on-one strategy sessions with Reps, etc.) whenever relevant issues arise. To further simplify this process, you might consider working with an "agenda template."

If this approach sounds good, you can download a free sample from our website.
The agenda should be distributed to participants prior to the meeting, and the leader should encourage the group to not only become familiar with the agenda but also to prepare themselves for a meaningful discussion of the issues therein.
As part of the planning process, meeting leaders should also compile handouts and visual-aid materials, anticipate how material will be presented as well as how it will be received by the group, and develop an interaction plan (questions to involve participants...)
When necessary, the most effective meeting leaders also familiarize themselves with the room and with any props that will be used during the meeting, such as a microphone, projector, or computer system. It is also the leader’s responsibility to verify the availability of such props.

If these five steps are well executed, the process of running a meeting will be much easier... as we'll discuss in our next post!

Your Weekly Sales Meeting: 4 Key Steps

2012-02-28T13:39:16Z

It was noted in our previous two posts that the best sales or team meetings must be value-added for both management and the team.

Picking-up from the list of benefits (WIIFY!), it's important to recognize that meetings are not destinations, but rather vehicles for reaching strategic objectives. There are four key elements involved:

1. Design

2. Planning

3. Process

4. Follow-through

Design is a function of purpose, and involves participant selection, location, and scheduling. It is a simple yet often ignored step, which begins with defining your meeting's specific purpose and goals.

Then some consideration should be given to the participant list. In addition to the team, others who might be crucial to to goal achievement should also be invited, either to present a component of the agenda or share meeting leadership roles. Care should be given to this practice, as there is an impact on the normal day-to-day responsibilities of "guest" attendees.

While site or location decisions are normally straight-forward, there are times when running an off-site meeting might have advantages. Also, an increasing number of sales or team meetings are not held in any one place, but instead are conducted via conference call. This will be the subject of an upcoming post...

Finally comes scheduling, which is also more important than many people realize. Team or sales meetings are most effective if they are scheduled at the same time each week (i.e., every Monday at 8am). This makes it easier for all involved, as participants are aware of the standard meeting time and can more easily keep their schedules open, and sales managers or leaders are keenly aware of the deadline associated with preparation, which is the topic of our next post.

Your Weekly Sales Meeting: WIIFY?

2012-02-20T16:38:11Z

It was noted in our previous post that the best sales or team meetings must be value-added for both management and the team.

If you're wondering "what's in it for you" (WIIFY) as a member of management, here are a few thoughts:

Assessment a key opportunity to assess the team all at once, and identify the best opportunities for leveraging their collective effort.
Team building we can't build team spirit if we don't regularly "assemble" the team.
Team motivation many people will go the extra mile for the team; but we can't leverage team motivation if we only interact with the people on an individual basis.
Thought leadership driving a high-performance culture begins with helping people focus on the right things, and publicly identifying / reaffirming core values.
Education every meeting should have an educational component, hopefully based on the status of your organization's sales-to-date and relevant issues of the day; and let's not forget that "the wisdom is often in the room." Sharing best practices in a public forum not only provides highly-credible education, but also allows successful team members an opportunity to shine in front of their peers.

Your Weekly Sales Meeting?

2012-02-13T15:26:15Z

Sales managers and executives often ask about the value of running sales or team meetings, and we've found quite a bit of variation with respect to frequency, structure and effectiveness. Thus a short series on the value and best practices associated with sales team meetings.

From a ROI perspective, it only stands to reason that an organization must run effective team or sales meetings in order to experience gains. If these meetings are poorly executed, it's only a matter of time before they are pronounced non-productive and unnecessary; in which case, many opportunities are forever lost!

So, the first step is to assess the quality of your organization's sales meetings... here are five key areas to consider:

Preparation - do you have a strategic plan, identified purpose, goals and objectives for your organization's meetings? Does someone (Sales Manager, VP of Sales, etc.) take the responsibility seriously and allocate the necessary time for planning each meeting? Is an agenda created? If so, is it shared?
Scheduling - are meetings held on a regular basis... either weekly or bi-weekly? Are meetings held on the same day and at the same time each week or every two weeks? Are meetings conducted at least twice per month? Are meetings run out of "habit" versus value-added need?
Value - the best meetings must be value-added for both management and the team, so protocols for exchanging relevant information must be incorporated in each agenda; each meeting should include an educational component that is based on the organization's current situation, and that educates both management and the sales team on issues that are pertinent to each (more on this in future posts)
Measurement - do you measure the effectiveness of each meeting? Are action items a component of each agenda and, if so, is there consistent follow-through? Are sales people held accountable? Does management hold themselves accountable?
Continuous Improvement - how can you make your organization's meetings better? How can you leverage the time spent in preparation and execution to enhance your competitive edge?

Next post: the value proposition; or, WIIFY?

Time Management Yields More than Just "Time"

2012-02-06T14:45:42Z

As noted in our previous post, the beginning of a new year is when many of us engage in various self-improvement initiatives, such as making better use of time.

If you've been working on time management, you might also like to consider or quantify some of the byproducts, one of which is the impact better time management might have on your workplace.

For example, improving managerial time management and process-related time management across an enterprise or department can increase job satisfaction, as team members will encounter fewer bottlenecks and find themselves reaching new levels of accomplishment. This heightened level of job satisfaction often leads to a more engaged workforce, which is a critical component of a high-performance culture.

If you find this concept of interest, here's some added perspective on how time management can help you develop a high-performance culture and positively impact growth.

The Next Step in Communication

2012-01-30T20:34:57Z

Time management is a popular topic this time of year, as 'tis the season for New Year's resolutions and self improvement...

As noted in one of our 2011 posts, a good way to save time AND increase the pace of business is to develop a more proactive communication style. Or, more simply stated, become practiced at the art of clearly identifying specific "next steps" in business or business development conversations.

Suggesting and/or confirming who will do what, and when, can significantly shorten sales as well as project cycles, and boost productivity for all. If you'd like a more in-depth perspective, you might appreciate this related and thought-provoking article from process improvement experts at Conway Management Company; read on...

Satisfied Customers

2012-01-23T16:05:54Z

"The primary purpose of any business is to get customers and keep them,," say many experts.

When reading this perspective, most of us tend to think first of our "external" customers. Understandable, for sure! And if this is where your thoughts lean, here are seven steps your organization might take to increase customer satisfaction.

However, some people also think about how this viewpoint applies to "internal" customers co-workers who, at one time or another, are customers of one another.

If this is a topic of interest, here are some additional thoughts you might find helpful.

Sales Management KPI in 2012

2012-01-16T22:03:58Z

Organizations of all types commonly use Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to evaluate their success or the success of a particular activity in which they are engaged. Similarly, an important part of sales management involves making sure the sales team is working on the right things and allocating a sufficient amount of time to key activities.

Yet statistics consistently show that, on average, sales people spend much less time selling than their leaders would like (related article). Here are five things sales managers might do to help their sales force better-manage time and spend more of it on key performance activities:

Set standards for call volume and frequency
Conduct a work study to benchmark current reality i.e., determine the number of hours per day, on average, your sales people spend selling versus other things such as traveling, meetings, administrative work or training. Publicize results and measure performance going forward using the standards in item #1 as a guide
Help sales people formulate and execute effective territory management and account management plans
Provide the sales team with appropriate administrative support
Streamline order input processes

New Business Development in 2012

2012-01-09T16:48:45Z

As each new year arrives, people in all walks of life will make New Year’s resolutions.

In the business world, many of us will resolve to pursue revenue growth in one way or another, and our hearts will tell us that this year we’ll succeed; our intentions will be good!

However, it is commonly said that the road to “you know where” is paved with these good intentions!

While we recognize the long-term importance of developing new business, it is very easy to spend our time responding to urgent demands and fire-fighting, often at the expense of allocating time to the oh-so-important process of developing new business...

If you’d like to take measures to avoid this oh-so-typical situation that is, to avoid sacrificing the important in favor of the urgent, here are five ideas for keeping this year’s new business development resolutions alive and well:

Set both “result” and “activity” goals. Many of us will plan on increasing sales by X%, but fail to also set the activity goals that will generate the desired result. These may include making an extra number of sales contacts each day, attending a certain number of networking events each week or planning more customer retention meetings each month.
Schedule the activities identified in step #1. Research indicates that things entered into calendars are less likely to be “postponed” or procrastinated due to other demands on our time.
Keep score. Goal achievement will require documentation and consistent implementation.
Measure both progress and results; hold yourself and the team accountable for not only completing action steps, but also for assessing the effectiveness of each step. Make improvements or refine the approach as necessary; and be careful to avoid the usually-inaccurate conclusion that, “if the activities don’t produce the desired gains, then these activities are a waste of time!” Instead, if outcomes fall short, it’s better to reexamine execution.
Hold yourself personally accountable for steps 1 through 4; lead the way!

Call a Lot of People

2012-01-03T17:28:05Z

Continuing with the "Red" Motley theme of our previous two posts, the third component of his famous and concise definition of the selling process is, "Call a lot of people."

True to form, Motley was known for his conciseness and, like the other parts of his quote, this segment says a great deal in only a few words; and it brings about an important question: when involved in professional selling, does call volume matter?

We believe the answer is a most definite, "Yes!"

This perspective does not mean that the answer to sales success is simply to make a lot of sales calls. However, making a sufficient number of sales calls is as important as knowing our customers and our product; it is the basis on which long-term success is built because without sufficient call volume and frequency we miss opportunities and leave ourselves vulnerable to the competition.

But "call a lot of people" does not mean calling the same people over-and-over again; it's important to call many different people a healthy mix of customers and prospects and to make each call "value-added." Simply making the call is never enough; we must have a value-added message and we must have a plan.

It's also important to keep score! In other words, as sales professionals we should know exactly how many sales calls we make, on average, each day. As noted in a related article, our research indicates this simple yet important piece of data has too often become a missing link due to over-reliance on CRM and SFA systems.

Maybe author Jack Falvey summed it up best when he said, "Want more sales? Make more calls!"