Most organizations and sales departments have some type of Strategic Plan. Often is just a collection or group of projects or actions that may or may not have a positive impact on the future direction of the organization or department. It’s usually just a list on a piece of paper listed together and called “Strategic Plan or Strategy.”
First, Some Facts & Considerations:
As part of planning and developing your 2022 Sales Plan-Step #2 out of five is Evaluating your Current Sales Staff.
Ask yourself:
Okay-you’re “rolling your eyes” and thinking: “Is it really that time of the year again?”
It doesn’t have to be that way. We see this as the roadmap for 2022 Success. If done right, it can be a catalyst for motivation, clarity, and results. We’ll share with you our Sales Planning process and introduce you to a few components you wish you included in the past to help exceed your Sales and Margin numbers.
There are five components which includes internal & external analysis. We will present these to you in a series of steps so you can have clarity into the plan and next steps for implementation & execution.
STEP ONE: Building a Winning Plan with Sales Management
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PRE-WORK:
1. Set clear goals/expectations (identify the experience skill level and how you need to help. Does the person need more training or support?).
2. Do your homework and review current performances.
3. Provide regular performance feedback. Recognize and reward progress and achievement.
THE COACHING MEETING:
1. Set aside time and build a warm, friendly environment/relationship. Review goals/expectations.
2. Assess the current level of performance with the person’s input and from your observations/analysis/past performance. Ask five key questions and be an active listener. Your goal is to help the person solve his or her own problem not to have all of the answers:
3. Develop action plans with the person’s input (Gain agreement).
4. Provide feedback and guidance (Add to the action plan).
5. Establish follow-up steps (Coaching efforts require additional sessions).
It’s a fact: Most companies really “Struggle” to hire good salespeople! There are definite reasons, and we’ll share what they are doing wrong (which results in high turnover) and huge time and financial drains.
Here are the major problems:
What Should They Do INSTEAD- to hire the Best Salespeople?
Continue readingIt’s been said a Great Pipeline has: Quantity; Quality; Balance; and Movement.
Time to get real….get to the REAL questions, commitments, and accountabilities- without the excuses and “get sales people focused” week in and week out!
The “NO BS” WEEKLY INDIVIDUAL SALESPERSON CONVERSATION:
Held once per week: Scheduled with each sales person & booked in the calendar
TELL ME ABOUT LAST WEEK…
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Picture this scenario: Your CFO comes to you at the end of the quarter and says, “Boss, we’ve got the final numbers. We’re about 50% confident that they’re correct!” What would your reaction be? How long would it take to begin looking for a new CFO?
Yet in Sales, not hitting quota is tolerated and many CEO’s just “put up with it” and tell their Sales Leaders to “light a fire” under those “non-performers” and get them to do more…. (Prospecting, closing, making more calls, get more meetings, do more demos, attend more trade shows…. etc.)
The “Hidden” reason for the under-performance can be traced back to the Sales Manager NOT being very good at “Coaching.”
They generally just “tell” their people “what” to do and think that is coaching. The other issues are that they do not do it with consistency or frequency.
Effective sales coaching impacts opportunities and improves sales effectiveness but that is not what most sales managers do for coaching. Consider that:
60% of all coaching is to simply provide help with pricing, technical help, or with proposals. Sorry, but that’s not coaching!
Continue readingPrice is always a “component” of every deal you are involved with.
Let us ask you: Have you ever sold something when you were the “Higher Price?” How about the opposite: have you ever “lost” a deal when you were the “Low price?” Hmmm. Interesting! Why?
Let’s start with the basics: WHY do people buy on price?
Sales “Concerns, Considerations, and Insights” about PRICE
Continue readingAs companies are coming out of the COVID “hibernation” & challenges, we in Management are faced with critical questions about our existing sales team:
It is our mission to develop your sales team into a high performing, efficient, and ever improving sales force.
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