July 21, 2009
I think that Ellisa has this mostly right. There have been moments in time when sales did not seem like such a contact sport. This is not one of those periods. As she points out, much of the content would speak to any leadership role. Leadership skills are becoming more important for almost any sales people, but are crucial for the managers and owners that are responsible for driving sales.
This leadership approach is straightforward and practical. It has six elements.
1. Accept full accountability for your results
2. Adopt leadership attributes for success
3. Become inspired and motivated
4. Become a personal productivity champion
5. Learn to plan like a leader
6. Take responsibility in further developing your leadership and sales professional skills
Although a number of leadership elements comprise an exceptional leader, How to Sell More in a Down Market focuses on each of the elements of leadership mentioned above to help you improve your sales results.
Accepting Accountability
Sales volumes are at record lows; you’ve never sold so little, and your commission checks have never been so small. You need to sell more, and you need to make more money … and you need it now!
Is it possible that:
- Previous good markets turned you into an order taker, and you forgot how to sell?
- You’ve worked your trap line for years, and it’s finally dried up?
- You’ve convinced yourself that there is no business to get?
- You just aren’t trying anything new to get new business?
- Your selling skills are a little rusty?
- You are talking too much and not listening for opportunities?
- You just don’t know what to do about it?
If you are not selling as much as you’d like or if you’re not making as much as you’d like, don’t blame it on the markets, competition or others. It’s time to forget the excuses and begin to accept accountability for any shortfall in sales volume or your paycheck.
Leaders are always accountable for results. If you are going to manage your sales responsibility as if it is your own business, you need to accept full accountability for the results.
Becoming a Personal Productivity Champion
As a sales professional, how is your time management, or as I like to refer to time management, how is your personal productivity?
It is essential for leaders of organizations to master the art of personal productivity. Yes, just like selling, personal productivity is an art form. A CEO who leads a worldwide organization cannot afford to waste a single minute when trying to profitably grow their business.
There are as many different ways to be personally productive as there are CEO’s. However, I think few leaders will argue with these five “big picture” items as the solution to being productive in their responsibilities.
- Plan – you have to plan your business and your time. Without planning factors such as where you are going, how you’re getting there, when you’re getting there, who is helping you get there, what you need to get there and why you want to get there, you will likely fall short of your goals in both good and bad markets.
- Evaluate your progress – you have to take the time to evaluate how you are doing and make adjustments to your plan if necessary. This prevents you from wasting time on tasks that aren’t working in both good and bad markets.
- Organize – leaders need to be personally organized, so they can organize their team to execute the plan. You know without organization you will be less effective in getting results in both good and bad markets.
- Prioritize – leaders have a great number of things to do and decisions to make. Without properly prioritizing, they can waste their resources focusing on the wrong areas in both good and bad markets.
- Schedule – leaders schedule their day, week, month and year. Their daily schedule is set like television programming; you know what’s on at what time and the only way that will change is if there is an earth-shattering development that needs to be communicated.
Get and Stay Motivated
Self motivation is an important ingredient to the successful sales professional regardless of the current market place. When the market is down, it is even more critical to create a self-motivating environment.
If you still are having a difficult time finding passion in the down market, here are a few suggestions for you to consider:
- Stop listening to the depressing news on talk radio and the 24-hour television news channels.
- Create a list of things that make you happy, and keep a copy with you wherever you go.
- Keep a photo of something that makes you smile near your side.
- Before you get in your car in the morning, walk around the yard and smell the roses.
- Find a mentor-someone you can talk to who will keep you on a positive track.
- Don’t hang around people who aren’t fun and exciting to be around. Find upbeat, positive, forward-looking people with whom to surround yourself.
- Find your favorite motivational quotes, write them on index cards, and keep them with you to read anytime you feel a need.
- Turn on some music, and dance like no one is watching* Phone someone you haven’t talked to for a long time, and make them smile. I guarantee you’ll feel good about it too.
- Write down what you’re thankful for.
- Make one more sales call; don’t give up; think positive
- Get some exercise to clear the mind and rejuvenate.
Plan Like a Leader
Leaders spend a large portion of their time creating plans, implementing plans, measuring/monitoring plan performance and adjusting their plans.
In this section, we will cover the element of planning your business-your sales responsibility.
The components of a sales responsibility plan I recommend include:
- A mission statement,
- A SWOT analysis,
- A set of objectives that help you achieve your mission,
- Tactics or action plans to achieve your goals.
To develop a mission statement, here are the steps I typically recommend you process through:
Step 1: Brain Storming – Either sit down with a blank piece of paper, a white board, sticky notes or a flip chart paper, and start writing your values; your attributes; what you do; what you want to do; where you are; your strengths; what your customers like about you;, your company’s products, services and systems; and any other relevant issues specific and unique to you or your sales responsibility.
Step 2: Identify – Begin to identify key words that are actionable and unique, and separate those from the others. Group the others into obvious categories such as “products,” “services” etc.
Step 3: Form – Using the actionable and unique words, with one eye on the other word groups, begin to form a collection of different brief mission statements.
Step 4: Decide and Finalize – Using the process of elimination, select your favorite and tweak it if necessary; your mission statement is now finished.
As mentioned before, this is a process. It doesn’t and shouldn’t happen in an hour. It also helps to involve others to ensure you benefit from different perspectives. To demonstrate my point-with over 15 year’s experience, I relied on a Mentor/business coach to help me finalize the mission statement for my business. She asked me a few questions that triggered a spark of inspiration and BOOM, a direction was set. Visit www.ethosmentor.com so we can show you how to do the same.
Self Development
For some reason, many companies elect to slow down, minimize or entirely eliminate the expense associated with training and developing their people when there is a down market.
Most sales professionals don’t typically set time aside for self development. They’re usually too busy looking after customers or solving problems. You may have an individual development plan, but is it really aggressive enough to help you sell more in a down market?
Although there is this wealth of knowledge available to you online, there is also a wealth of knowledge available to you within your own company.
- Start with product knowledge. When was the last time you went through your company’s manufacturing plant to get a detailed understanding of how the products you are selling are made?
- If there was a product knowledge test today, would you pass? Maybe you passed years ago, but would you pass today?
- Do you have a mentor within your company? You should because there is a wealth of knowledge and experience from which to benefit.
- Ask your boss or mentor to role play a realistic scenario of your choice. Upon completion, review with him/her. Question and ask feedback on your strengths and weaknesses throughout the situation.
- Re-vamp your value proposition statement delivery.
- Create a series of elevator speeches to answer basic questions like: 1. What you do for your company? and 2. Why someone should buy from you?
Closing thought;
Successful implementation of the six elements of leadership should help you sell more in a down market, and when the markets return – and they will albeit at a level less than the recent glory years – you will have developed some new habits to contribute to your continued success.
You will also experience leadership thinking, behaving and performing, which will elevate your career if you desire a management or leadership position in your organization.
Ellisa Brenneman started her career, after receiving her Bachelor Degree from the University of British Columbia, with the Canadian government merging academic rigor and business savvy to produce and disseminate research findings. She has been published multiple times in scientific journals for her research findings.
A born entrepreneur; her zeal for entrepreneurism soon took hold. She’s started green businesses and has vast experience managing public, media and investor relations for small-cap public companies. Ellisa is the President of Ethos Mentor. Ethos Mentor provides entrepreneurs with affordable one on one mentoring, business coaching and capital raising services so they can launch and grow their businesses.
Visit www.EthosMentor.com for additional information, email info@ethosmentor.com or phone 503-501-2444 to schedule a free consultation.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/leadership-secrets-for-your-sales-team-to-get-through-the-down-market-1044103.html
Posted in Accountability, Coaching, Leadership, Managing Time 
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April 23, 2009
I am sharing this article with you because I believe that Chuck has it right. There is a great deal of leverage in how and where you spend you the limited coaching and development time as a sales leader. Each type of sales person below requires a different time and intensity commitment in your coaching. I am not sure if the four buckets that Chuck chose are the right four, but I think that his analysis of the importance of analyzing the players on your teams is on-target.
Author: Chuck Mache
Have you ever closely examined why some people are wildly successful at selling, meeting and exceeding every goal placed in front of them, while others lack either the self motivation or certain key skill sets to get them to their next level of growth and performance? After all, they all have the same product, the same tools, and the same compensation structure. They’ve all been through the same sales management-training program. In my experience of 25 years selling, building sales organizations and leading and managing thousands of salespeople, the answer has to do with the fact that virtually all sales’ organizations are comprised of four different kinds of salespeople:
1. The Performers – The Top Producers
These high achieving sales executives are the best at bringing in the numbers, but chances are that you spend a fair share of your time cleaning up her messes. Seems like they’re either sky-high or down in the dumps. When the performer is down, they are out of their selling zone, and productivity comes to a standstill. But when the performer is up, look out world!
2. The Professional – Another Top Producer
This top producer is very consistent, a total team player, even tempered, patient, and consistently bringing in the numbers. Professionals are also part of the elite members on the sales team, but they seem to be missing some opportunities that would catapult them to super stardom if they made some slight changes to their selling game. Instead, they stick to self-proven conservative approaches.
3. The Caretaker – Stuck In A Major Comfort
These are the sales executives that are simply stuck in their lackluster comfort zones—giving you a solid month about every third month, or giving you about seventy percent of what they have all the time. They have the potential, but they’re consistently mediocre. You just can’t get them to perform the difficult tasks that it takes to produce at top levels with any regularity. Worse yet, they’re passive aggressive. You say to yourself, “If I could only wake them up, they’d be right up there with the best.”
I was giving a speech on “Four People, Four Paths” to a leading company in the California real estate industry where I was emphasizing the importance of knowing exactly who you are. While I was quoting my book The Four Kinds of Sales People and explaining in detail the struggles and breakthrough opportunities for each of the four kinds of sales people, a woman in the audience yelled out, “Oh my God, I’m a Caretaker!” The crowd laughed and I congratulated her on her honesty and pointed out to her (and others who were not so forthright) the tremendous opportunity that existed if she made the conscious decision to change and begin doing the difficult things that it takes to produce top results on a consistent basis.
4. The Searcher – The One That Belongs In Any Career But Sales
All sales leaders have made some bad hiring decisions that result in sales reps that just don’t belong in sales. They perceived a sales career to be easy and they were wrong. Producing top sales is hard work. These misfits are consumed with fear, and if truth be told, they honestly hate sales. They have no real intention of making the necessary changes to be successful. You’re better off helping them find more fulfilling careers.
My point is that while the individual make-up of sales forces may vary, there are always only four kinds. Management’s goal is to get the best to keep getting better while building a team with as many top producers as possible. That means management must influence those that are “stuck” in their comfort zone to break through to the next level. That means management must perform the unenviable task of helping those that don’t belong to find other career paths. In my experience, management gets too preoccupied with these two challenges and neglects the opportunity to get their top producers to reach for their next level of achievement. They have more potential. That’s why they’re the best. And can be even better.
If you want sales to improve, particularly in highly competitive sales environments, then leaders must create a growth-oriented atmosphere that thrives on constant improvement, regardless of market conditions. By the way, that means leaders and managers must also be striving to break through to their next level as well. Sales is about creating and sustaining momentum, and then creating even more of it. Consistently.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/sales-force-management-leadership-increase-profitability-by-understanding-your-sales-team-46023.html
About the Author:
Breakthrough mentor and sales guru, Chuck Mache, President of Chuck Mache Communications (http://www.ChuckMache.com) has more than 25 years experience in selling, managing, building and leading sales organizations regionally as well as internationally. In his Brian Tracy endorsed book “The Four Kinds of Sales People” Mache uses his transforming knowledge and expertise in building heavy-hitter sales organizations to deliver an inspired parable that identifies exactly how and why sales people excel – or don’t. Get his book today at http://www.thefourkindsofsalespeople.com/PR/ and increase your organization’s productivity, and profitability.
Posted in Accountability, Strategy, Training Sales Teams No Comments »
February 16, 2009
Honestly, this will be a simple post. I am putting it up simply because of the number of times I get asked about it and the frustration it can cause. If you want more depth on this issue, you will have to reach out to me. This issue is a complicated one, but some things just have to be in place to even begin the discussion.
Forecasting, as an issue, creates a great deal of frustration in the lives of owners and sales leaders. And with good reason. Depending on your business model, an inaccurate forecast can cause you to hire too soon or too many, order unneeded raw materials, or form an unnecessary partnership with a vendor. I stated all of these things as I typically see them, with optimism on the part of the owner or sales leader. Failure to accurately forecast deals that do hit can lead to the opposite. This can cause the organization to fail to make key hires or not adequately prepare our vendors so they can be successful. Forecasting too far under or over the actual can create organizational blips.
Finally, I am not suggesting that forecasts should be perfect. They won’t be. However, they need to be accurate enough for the owner or leadership team to make necessary business decisions.
So here are the 4 items you must have in order to forecast with any accuracy:
- Good historic data
- Clear definitions in a sales process
- Sales people who can conduct good sales interviews
- Someone to own the accuracy of the forecast.
Good historic data – Most of you are saying to yourself that you are already in trouble. Maybe so, but many of you could do post-mortem of the last 100 quotes. This would give you a great jumping-off point. Work back to determine as much as you can about them, but it is important that you do this in the context of the definitions we will discuss in point #2. If you have it, GREAT. Well-measured past data can help your forecasting accuracy a great deal.
I told you this would be a simple post, so I am not going to discuss the sales cycle here, but it is a relevant point. Just know that the length of time between the initial contact with a typical customer and their first order (sales cycle) will impact the sales leader’s ability to forecast. Long sales cycles also make post-mortem more difficult if the data wasn’t already being measured. Long sales cycles allow time for factors like the economy, market shifts, new products, staff changes (on the prospect’s side, as well as yours), etc., to skew the data further.
Clear definitions in a sales process – If everyone on your sales team doesn’t agree on the meaning of terms like suspect, prospect, qualified prospect, closeable prospect, etc., accurate forecasting can become a pipe dream. To further complicate the matter, most of your sales people aren’t selling from a defined sales process either. As an example, do you as a company (or the sales person) have the same amount of knowledge for each qualified prospect who has a proposal with pricing in their hands today? If not, add that into the soup for an accurate forecast.
Sales leaders need to get two things clearly defined: 1) the definitions that we use to categorize our prospect and 2) the sales process that the team is using to move the prospects through the sales funnel. Owners don’t like this, because it is hard work, but it is the only path to consistently good forecasting.
Sales people who can conduct good sales interviews - First, your sales people have to be successful enough in the area of bonding and rapport to allow the prospects to be honest – more honest then they are with most salespeople. Secondly, your sales person has to be willing to ask tough questions. Some of your sales people have blind spots around this, and they are hard to erase. But they have a big impact on that sales person’s ability to accurately assess what happened in the call. This is likely an entirely different post, but I want you to understand the impact of your sales people on your forecast, regardless of the other structures you put in place.
Bottom line of forecasting is that getting it right makes all the internal stakeholders much happier. It is our job as sales leaders to set up systems that allow the sales team to look like they know what they are doing. Your team’s credibility inside the organization can be very important. Don’t allow forecasting to become your barrier to that success.
Posted in Accountability, Sales Force Automation No Comments »
February 12, 2009
First impression is the last impression. It is a saying often quoted in our daily life. Many people don’t believe in it while others have strong belief in it. First impression, if good, can leave a good image in someone’s mind. A good impression is in fact open doors of opportunities for you to meet that person again and have a long lasting relationship. On the other hand first impression, if bad, is almost impossible to be corrected in future. The reason is that people tend to remember first encounter with anybody. A bad impression leaving bad image of yours closes all opportunities for you to meet the person again. And if we talk about the business meetings, first encounter is of ultimate importance. A good impression in a first encounter at a business event can be a flood of sources and connections for you. On the other hand, a poor impression management can take such a door of opportunities away from you. And correcting a poor image in business is almost impossible task.
Experts say that when you go in a meeting and talk to a new person, within a few seconds of your meeting you have been assessed. This assessment can be even at a glimpse.
When people look at you first time, they evaluate your appearance, your behaviors, your ways and styles; each and every thing from head to toe is being evaluated. They appraise you conduct, characteristics, body-gestures and even your grooming and outfits and accessories like jewelry, watch, briefcase, all are being evaluated. Within a few moments of your first glimpse you make a long lasting image on other people’s minds. You may win some people’s hearts and make good impressions by just your good looks while others may be dishearten by you.
The process of first impression creation occurs in every new encounter. A judgment and comment is passed about your personality and looks within a few seconds of our glance. These judgments are made after seeing you just apparently. But more important thing is that the created image cannot be reversed.
People make your images while by making comparisons. If you seem to be of similar business or social rank, you will be thought of as a suitable person to be met and have relation with. If you seem to be of a higher business or social rank, you will be well-liked and will be valued as a strong contact. If you appear to be of a lower business and social status, you may be put up with but not valued in these meetings. You are not considered as a valuable person and people tend to keep you away from them. If you are in an interview your comparison will be made with the corporate culture and those comparisons, again, will lead to relative outcomes.
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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/value-of-first-impressions-in-business-networks-877171.html
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February 2, 2009
As a sales leader, I believe this may be one of the single most difficult questions to answer. And getting the answer right for your organization can be crucial because it can dramatically impact many things, including the recruiting and selection process, the amount of time it takes to “on-board” the sales person, and how accountable you are willing to hold those sales people who really “know the product.”
One issue that makes this complex is that you will find experts, such as myself, on two very different extremes with a long continuum in between. Uncommon Sense says that no product knowledge on the part of the sales person is necessary as long as the company has expertise. More in the middle, Sandler believes that the sales person should have lots of product knowledge but use it sparingly. On the other extreme would be systems like Natural Selling that believe product know is “essential.”
A second issue is that context matters. In other words, to answer the “how much” question in your organization, you should consider factors like your lead generation vehicle (does it educate the prospect to the point that they are an expert?), your strategy, your approach, availability of people with the product knowledge in your market, your organization’s ability to train the product knowledge, and at least three more that come to mind.
Third, you will find that MANY sales people really like/need to be experts. For some, it will tend to cover part of the selling anxiety they have (I know sales people aren’t supposed to have selling anxiety, but let’s be real here). For others, it simply assists their confidence or the “conversation they have in their head” about themselves and their chosen profession. Another group takes pride in knowing something the customer doesn’t, and it just flat feels great to dispense it. Finally, there is the group that likes to have the knowledge that really helps people. (A quick caution about this group, if you are in a business where “consulting” is part of the service, this group can tend to give it away. )
Look. Regardless of the why, product knowledge is an expectation of many professional sales people and of many organizations. However, it will take some thought to determine “how much” is right for you.
Finally, I would point out that different sales leaders define product knowledge differently. Often you will see product knowledge defined as an understanding of a company’s offering and their company’s policies and procedures relevant to selling. A simple example would be when the sales person knows that the product could solve a particular problem for a customer, comes in three configurations – one that requires installation and two that don’t – and can be delivered in three weeks.
For tangible goods, this often looks like product specifications. For non-tangibles, this is more about understanding the potential applications, customizations that are possible, and the impact on pricing. For hybrid sales that are for both goods and services, you can see how this can get infinitely more complex.
And one last point on the definition. Some sales leaders regard industry or customer-specific knowledge as product knowledge. At least from a training standpoint, it gets lumped in that bucket.
In part two of this post, we will examine all the areas where not having a clear answer to this question will, without doubt, cause inefficiency.
Posted in Product Knowledge, Selection, Strategy 3 Comments »
