Sales Training Blog | Colleen Stanley

We have sent men and women to the moon and we can e-mail across the world. So why can't we figure out how to manage and lead sales teams? One word: process. Most companies operate without integrating three key processes needed for building high performance sales teams:
1. A hiring process.
2. A sales process.
3. A management process.

I often use (and overuse) athletic analogies to make my point in building high-performance sales teams. I believe the world of athletics has done a better job of establishing and using processes in building top-performing teams than business has in building top-performing sales teams.
Let's examine the three processes.

Recruiting (hiring):
Top sports coaches are disciplined in their approach to building teams. They have determined their "need to have" versus "nice to have" criteria. For example, my nephew plays pro football for the Carolina Panthers. While Bruce was in college, the scouts were not willing to sign him until they were convinced that he could reach 300 pounds. Bruce was a great player, which was nice. However, the NFL is disciplined about its need to have 300-pound players.

Many owners and sales managers have not determined the "need to have" for excellence on their teams. Do you need someone with a finance background? Do you need someone who has built a sales territory from scratch? Do you need someone who thrives on new business development versus account maintenance?

Sales managers often settle for nice instead of need. The result can be mediocrity -- not a great strategy for growing companies. Be disciplined when identifying your "need to have" in building your sales team:

1. Hard skills - If you are selling a highly technical product, you may need to have someone that possesses the technical knowledge in order to succeed in your business. You may need someone with major account-selling experience due to your customer profile.

2. Competencies - Identify key competencies needed for this specific position. A highly competitive territory may need a person with tenacity, resilience and initiative. An established territory may need high relationship attributes.

3. Behavior style - Determine the type needed at this time in your company. Do you need a salesperson with a high sense of urgency or one who will work at an even, steady pace?

Playbook (sales process):
"I didn't hire a rookie. I expect them to know how to sell." The is second area of breakdown in building high-performance sales teams: no sales playbook or expectations for sales excellence.
What would happen if Broncos Head Coach Mike Shanahan allowed each of his players to run his own playbook? There would be a lot of running around, with few touchdowns.

It looks the same in business. Sales representatives are running around, calling on unqualified prospects and not accomplishing the goal. Because a sports team has a playbook, coaches can look at post-game films and determine what plays worked, where breakdowns occurred and what to focus on in practice.

Without a sales playbook, the sales manager doesn't know where the sales representative needs to improve or what part of the sales process is not working. A sales process that worked five years ago may not work today.

If sales managers want to build high-performance teams, they must take time to document the company's sales process. This may be a four-step or a 10-step process, depending on the industry and product. Creating a template of a sales process can often take a full day of brainstorming with your team. You must identify and start building best practices in three key areas: activity, knowledge and skills.

What is the activity needed to build and grow business? What are the necessary steps in the sales process? What knowledge is needed for effective client management? If you are not willing to document, be ready to settle for a lot of running around with few touchdowns.

Coaching (sales management):
Training and coaching skills are essential to growing people and teams. Sales managers often get stuck in their manager role and spend too little time in their training and coaching roles. This is the equivalent of a sports coach spending time in his office during basketball practice.
Sports coaches are excellent at having a playbook and making sure their teams execute it. They accomplish this through drills, practice and more practice. They understand that top-performing teams know the plays so well, they can execute without thinking.

Sales managers often receive pushback from their teams when it comes to running practice and drills, i.e. role playing. The excuse given by the team and accepted by the sales manager is "it is not real."

My response is the same: "Neither is basketball practice, but it is as close as you are going to get to the real thing. Stop practicing in front of your prospects." Start running practice sessions with your sales team. Managing numbers and dealing with operation issues are important. However, I haven't seen a sales team improve skills from either of those areas.

Practice sessions can be held at sales meetings, one-on-one coaching sessions or field coaching during a sales call. The point is to let your team know that yours is a culture of continuous learning and improvement. After all, NFL players show up every day for practice, and they have been playing football for years.

Hire the right stuff, build a sales playbook and coach your team to the next sales Super Bowl.

Good Selling,

Colleen Stanley
Cheif Selling Officer, SalesLeadership, Inc.

Labels: "sales process", "sales success", "Sales Success" "price shopping" "price objections" "sales activity" "how to succeed in sales" "sales training" "sales training programs"

“My sales team is getting price shopped. The only way we get the business is to give a discount. Margins are eroding.” All of these statements are pains expressed in good times and bad. The current recession has added pressure to these pain points, testing even the most seasoned sales professional.

So how do you get beyond the price game? First, quit blaming external factors. Jim Collins, author of “How the Mighty Fall,” identified that companies in Stage 3 of failure blame other people or external factors rather than confront the frightening reality that the organization might be in serious trouble due to their own denial. The reality is your sales team might be the problem, not the economy. Here are three areas to examine, confront and change:

1. The Sales Activity Plan
This is all the activity that leads to an appointment. Many organizations make the mistake of measuring appointments, not activity, and end up working on a lagging indicator which often leads to empty sales pipelines. Put a number to each specific sales activity so your team knows if they are winning or losing; i.e. 4 networking events per month, 6 influence meetings, 5 introductions given for referral partners and clients. Empty pipelines always lead to desperation and discounting. The more robust the sales pipeline, the easier it is to execute good selling and negotiation skills. Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington shares what his Dad once told him, “Do the work so you can do the work you want.” Sales professionals still winning business at full margin have consistently done the work for years.

2. Does your organization deserve the business?
When is the last time you have done business with your company? I heard Diane LaSalle, author of ‘Priceless’, speak two years ago. She shared the case study of a spa that engaged her firm to help improve new and repeat business. Diane’s firm set out to determine if the spa deserved the business and documented every step of the customer experience with the spa. The first disconnect they noted was the difficulty in finding the spa. The sign was hidden and her team drove by it six times. (What do you think the frustration level is for the typical customer trying to get to their appointment on time?) The second disconnect came when checking in for their luxury appointment. The counters were extremely high, requiring most women to get on their tip toes to even make eye contact with the receptionist. Getting the picture? At your next sales meeting, run through a detailed discussion of each step of your sales process and rate the client experience on a scale of 1 – 10. Confront the reality. Would you do business with your organization at full price?

3. Your Teams' Ability to Persuade, Influence and Negotiate
Many sales managers make the mistake of focusing their time and energy on training sales skills. Then the salesperson gets in front of a professionally trained negotiator and buckles like a paper cup. The reason is not lack of knowledge. The reason is the salesperson’s mindset.

My first negotiation workshop was over 15 years ago. The number one thing I took away from the instructor was: “If you can’t walk, you can’t talk.” (By the way, it’s easier to walk with a full sales pipeline.) The instructor’s point was that you must be mentally ready for negotiations before any skill training has meaning. Mindset means checking into your sales team’s value of themselves or your services. You can’t give away something you don’t have. If a salesperson doesn’t feel they are of value, why should the prospect?

Once the proper mindset is in place, focus on skill training. Salespeople have a bad habit of trying to convince the prospect of the value of solving the problem. Stop! Put the responsibility of solving the problem on the prospect. People believe their own data and a good salesperson facilitates that type of sales conversation. “What value is the organization putting on solving this issue? Is solving this issue in the top five priorities for the company? What happens if we are having this same conversation in a year?

Take a hard look at the sales activity plan. Ask the tough question: do we really deserve the business? Get the right mindset and skill set to sell beyond price.

Examine and confront the reality. Is it the economy or your sales team?


Good Selling!

Colleen Stanley
CSO – Chief Selling Officer

PS. Pick up Jim Collin’s new book. It’s a good read.

Labels: "Sales Success" "price shopping" "price objections" "sales activity" "how to succeed in sales" "sales training" "sales training programs", sales

The pundits and economists are predicting we are near the bottom of one of the deepest recessions since the depression. One good thing about the bottom is that there is only one other direction: up. How well positioned are you and your sales team for taking advantage of the recovery? Some economists are predicting that it could take four to five years before we are ‘back to where we were.’ What does that mean to sales managers and sales teams? It means upgrading the sales team, getting creative and taking exceptional care of customers.

#1: Check Your Sales Bus:

The much quoted phrase from Jim Collins, author of ‘Good to Great,’ still holds true. “Get the right people on the bus in the right seats.” Getting the right salespeople on the team means looking at two emotional intelligence skills necessary for success in tough, competitive environments.

Flexibility is defined as the ability to adapt to unfamiliar, unpredictable and dynamic circumstances. (Does any of this sound like the last nine months?)

The internet, global economy and Sales 2.0 have created buying environments that are fast-paced and ever changing. Alvin Toffler says it best: “The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” How adaptable is your sales team? How good is your sales manager at spotting new trends in the industry and quickly adapting strategy and tactics? The salesperson of the future must be flexible and have the ability to change course.

Impulse Control is defined as the ability to delay an impulse, drive or temptation to act.

Salespeople scoring low in this area often exhibit high levels of frustration. This is a problem in business environments where buyers have been burned, are cautious, and taking longer to make decisions. The easily frustrated salesperson may not invest the appropriate time in building relationships and trust. Low impulse control shows up in prospecting as well. If there is no immediate pay-off, the easily frustrated salesperson quits doing the activity and blames lack of results on the marketing department.

#2: Innovate and Renovate:

Sales teams poised to capture the recovery are done mourning the good ‘ole days. They are creating the new days by figuring out creative ways to close business. The Denver Post recently ran an article on a group of innovative realtors. These realtors changed up the old concept of an open house. One realtor partnered with an art gallery to create a gallery in one of his listings. Another held a charity event at one of her listings. Still another threw a tailgate party at one of his properties. They all used innovative ways to drive traffic to their listing.

Take time to study other industries. Brick and mortar companies can learn a lot from the e-commerce stores in the way of innovation. Zappo’s, an online shoe store, is a brilliant example of innovation. They advertise where they have a ‘captured’ audience: the security line at the airport. There is a Zappo’s advertisement at the bottom of the gray tub where you deposit shoes that are killing your feet after a long day of business. Then you go to the website and find that they address the two biggest e-commerce objections by stating: Free shipping both ways and returns 365 days a year.

Where is a new place that you could place your marketing message? What is the unspoken objection in your business and how are you eliminating it? It’s time to innovate and renovate.

#3: Send a love note to your clients: (okay, a thank you or appreciation note)

There is a great article in the May issue of Selling Power where they interview the CEO of the New Jersey Nets, Brett Yormack. He has taken an under performing franchise and turned it into one of the few that have sold 2,000 full season sponsorships three years in a row. Innovation is one of the reasons as well as exceptional care of the client. On Fan Appreciation Night, the New Jersey turnpike tolls at the stadium exit were paid for by the team for one hour. A nice way of saying thanks to the fans.

I recently experienced the extra mile with a store, The Pine Creek Clothing Company. I made a small purchase, a sweater, which was placed in a lovely canvas bag. The friendly clerk then handed me a water bottle noticing it was a hot day outside. One week later a handwritten note (yes, handwritten) arrived thanking me for my business. I have spent thousands of dollars on vehicles, sound equipment and other stuff with no note acknowledging the exchange of cash. Guess who is getting my repeat business?

Go green and capture the recovery with top salespeople, innovation and client care.


Good Selling,

Colleen Stanley
Chief Selling Officer

Labels: "client appreciation", "economic recovery", "emotional intelligence", "sales success", flexibility, leadership, sales

A common request heard in the sales training business is, “Can you teach my sales team to overcome objections?” The answer is yes and no. Old sales training methodology preached a salesperson must overcome objections at least three to seven times on a sales call. Doesn’t that sound exhausting? It’s no wonder prospects won’t tell us the truth! Here are some ways to get out of the objection game and into the sales conversation game.

#1: Bring up the objection before the prospect does. You and your team know the objections because you talk about them at every sales meeting. For example, a prospect may be able to do what you offer internally. I.e. Marketing or IT. Isn’t it good common sense to bring the topic up and ask: Why don't you just use your internal team? When the salesperson brings up the objection, the truth starts surfacing and real dialogue begins. That’s when you have smart, meaningful conversations with prospects.

#2: Clarify. Is it a statement or an objection? Many salespeople hear the words, ‘this is more of an investment than I anticipated.’ That’s not an objection, it’s a statement. The well trained salesperson simply clarifies by asking, ‘meaning’ knowing the prospect will fill in the rest of the sentence. When we give the prospect a chance, it usually sounds like this. ‘Meaning… it’s more than I anticipated, however, well worth the investment.’

#3: Quit pushing. I am still amazed at the number of salespeople who think they can convince a person to do something. If a person had that kind of power, we’d all be eating five helpings of vegetables a day, exercising weekly and getting eight hours of sleep. What a salesperson can do is facilitate good questions that helps the prospect discover what decision is best for him/her. Questions such as:

Let’s look at all sides. What is the cost of doing nothing?
Is the problem going to stay the same or get bigger?
What is your biggest competitor doing about the problem?

Stop overcoming objections. It’s tiring for both you and the prospect.

Good Selling!

Colleen Stanley
Chief Selling Officer

Check out our Prospecting Workshop on February 12, 2009. We will be providing you the best of Sales 2.0., Sales Skills and Building Referral Relationships.

We are rapidly approaching that time of the year where we sit down at the dinner table, look at an oversized turkey, mingle with relatives and give thanks for the many blessings we have been given. It is often easy to be grateful for positive events, but not so easy to be thankful for events that are perceived to be negative. So the question I pose today is: When is the last time you were thankful for an adversity you faced?

Let’s take a closer look at adversity, thanks and sales.

· Be grateful for the rude, hostile prospects. They make you extra thankful for your gracious, pleasant, repeat clients.
· Be grateful when you go home exhausted at the end of a long work day. It means you have a job when many are standing in the unemployment line.
· Be grateful when you ‘screw up’ a sales call. It might just be a wake up call that you're getting complacent which can lead to mediocrity.
· Be grateful for not getting a deal. It may just have been one of those deals which would not have been good business.

During these tough economic times, remember your friends and family. You have control over your realtionships: they can't be given away in a bailout, they endure all financial cycles and in the end are the measure of true wealth.

I wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Best regards,

Colleen Stanley
Chief Selling Officer

There is an old saying, "If you want to catch fish, fish where the fish are." This quote directly applies to building strategies that enhance contact and communication with decision makers. So just how do you find 'fishing holes' that provide introductions to the power buyer, the economic buyer?

The most powerful tool for connecting with decision makers is building strong referral networks. Unfortunately, many sales professionals don't understand the last four letters in the word network---work. Our instant gratification society doesn't lend itself to building solid relationships. Relationships are built over time. A person must invest time with potential partners to make sure business and personal values are aligned. It takes time to discover if your potential referral partner is a giver not a taker. Building strong networks is a lot like building a successful financial portfolio. You must invest time and energy before enjoying a return on investment. Investment of time means picking up the phone and making a call of introduction versus saying, "Tell Charlie I told you to call." Investment of time means keeping your referral partners informed of the outcome of the introduction. Investment of time means looking for opportunities everyday that will help your partners grow their business.

Membership in associations can be a good or bad investment, depending on your qualification of the association and personal involvement. Sales professionals join associations to meet referral partners and/or potential clients. If the association doesn't have either one, you are 'fishing' at the wrong place. Once you've selected the right association(s), get involved. It's a well known fact that people with influence and connections are on committees and/or lead committees. Don't fall into the trap of just showing up to meetings, eating lunch and listening to a speaker. The only thing you will build is your waistline!

When I was a kid, there was a strict rule at our house for writing thank you notes upon receipt of a gift or act of kindness. In our high tech world, an 'ole fashion thank you note still goes a long way in building and keeping relationships. Here are just a few deserving people.

Vendors:
My background is distribution and manufacturing so I know the value of good suppliers. Our business was only as good as our supplier's business. Instead of beating your vendors up for a lower price, sit down and write a note of thanks for their continued good service.

Referral Partners:
Good referral partners are gold and should be treated as such. Don't just send a thank you note when receiving a referral; send a thank you note in between referrals to let your partners know you value the relationship.

Sales Managers and Owners:
"It's lonely at the top." Don't forget to thank the leaders of your company for taking risks and making tough decisions. It's not easy to do what's right, make change, stay profitable and keep everyone at the company happy.

Clients:
Studies show that salespeople lose more business because clients feel unappreciated than due to price. When is the last time you set a meeting with a client just to tell them you appreciate their business?

Sales Team:
Too often, the only time a salesperson receives a pat on the back is after closing a deal. A complex sale can take 9 - 18 months to close. That's a long time for a salesperson to go without receiving a note of thanks or pat on the back. Make sure you thank your sales team for things other than closed deals; good attitude, helping others and working hard everyday.

Make one more stop on the way home tonight to pick-up thank you notes. It's a very inexpensive way to build relationships and business.

Good selling,

Colleen Stanley
Chief Selling Officer