In With a Plan, Out With a Sale

I'd like to say this once and for all - Luck is not a business plan! "Talent" is not a business plan! Whew! I needed to get that off my chest.

I work with small to medium sized businesses, and sometimes really large ones, and I'm amazed at the number of times I hear that there is no skills review or specific process for the sales team to follow. Entrepreneurs hiring sales reps tell me, "they should know what they're doing." Um, yeah, but so should you. Luck is not reliable and repeatable, and without a reliable revenue stream, you're out of business.

Most people who start a business are not sales experts, just like I'm not an automotive expert. But your sales reps should be. They should be going into every sales call with a plan that helps them qualify the customer, and present that customer with the right product to fill their needs. If your reps don't do that, every sale they make is based on luck, intuition, or personality. Not good.

Every sales call should have the same purpose: lead to a sale. The sales cycle for each business is different; selling cars is different from selling medical equipment. Each one will have a different call plan. What are the necessary steps for a prospect to go from zero to sold? All of them are part of your sales process. What needs to happen in person? Those are the parts of a sales call plan. Every sales rep should be using every part of the sales process. If they aren't, they're not doing their job. They should be able to discuss it with you, and they should be able to fine-tune and improve it over time. That way, they can share best practices between them, and all improve steadily.

While we're at it, let's stop selling like it's 1995. There is nothing your customer can't learn or find on the internet. They can probably buy it cheaper, too. That means you need to be there, where your customer is doing their homework. Have some solid online support for your business and your reps. Have a great website, and include a FAQ page. Do some inbound marketing, with social media (anything retail), white papers (business and professional services, technology), a blog (food, fitness, arts, in-home services) or newsletters, all linked directly to your website. People don't buy from businesses. People buy from people. Create a web presence that helps your customer learn your business's personality, and help them know, like and trust what your business will provide.

So, to recap: have solid web presence to help your clients learn about, know, like and trust your business. Sales reps should have a specific set of skills and a plan to learn to "right size" the solution they offer your client. Your company should have a clear, repeatable sales process that evolves over time based on the successes of your sales pros. And you can't rely on talent or luck to provide a steady revenue stream. You need a plan.

Elisabeth Marino is an sales process adviser working in Buffalo, NY, and a frequent contributor to LinkedIn. She has worked in sales development and evaluation for 17 years, and helped dozens of organizations improve their sales numbers. Connect with and follow her here, on Facebook as Sales Dynamo Consulting, and follow her on Twitter @SalesDynamoNY.

Why You Missed Quota

The sales quota is much-argued situation in most sales organization. How is it set? Do previous successful months offset less successful months? Is it a moving target, growing as you become more successful? Is management doing anything to support achieving quota? Sales pros love quota when they're ahead, and hate it when they're behind. Should a company even use quota anymore?

Sadly, quota isn't going anywhere. It's how most sales organizations predict the cash flow they will generate to support the rest of the company. These predictions need to be pretty accurate, or the dominoes fall fast and hard. So why are they so difficult to hit? It may be a combination of management's fault, and your problem.

Quota isn't always important. If meeting quota isn't a consistent qualification for keeping your job, it may be an excuse to fire reps who haven't fit into the corporate culture, or rubbed management the wrong way. Or it may only be important if cash flow is tight. Inconsistent attention to quota makes it hard to take seriously. If you miss quota occasionally, you're normal. But beware: if no one mentions it to you, and asks if your pipeline is recovering this month, and asks how they can help, management may be using missing your quota as a way to ease you out the door.

You aren't doing the right homework. Sales pros are prone to bouts of burnout - feeling like our work is under-appreciated, over-paper-worked, and too repetitive. It's work to keep it fresh and still be effective. Read at least part of some sales philosophy or sales system book or tweet or blog every day. Every time you tweak your perspective, you stave off burnout. Also, create a strong list of call objectives for each call. If you had one before, shake out the ineffective goals and replace them with new stuff. New conversations will yield new results.

Management doesn't support the team. Does your manager help? Or threaten? Does upper management bring in outside trainers to offer you a fresh perspective? Are you discouraged from taking time off? Is the organization aligned with keeping customers, and serving them well? Some managers are just as burned out as their team, making them ineffective at providing the support, sounding board, and education the team needs. Some customer service staff look at every customer as a list of problems. It's very hard to be a successful solo act if your management has a negative attitude.

You flip out when you have a slump. In simple terms, you're superstitious. You think a bad week means you've "lost your touch." If you could make sales two weeks ago, you can still do it. (It's not a magic trick, it's a skill set!) Do an objective check of whether you've let your side of the equation slide. If you're still doing a thorough and professional job, shake it off. No coin comes up heads every time. Statistics insist that everyone have a slow patch sometimes.

Quota is an unreachable number. If your quota keeps changing, it usually is growing. There is a market potential beyond which higher numbers are impossible. There aren't enough hours in the day, or customers in the market to make the numbers required sometimes. This is a very bad sign. It means management hasn't aligned their outlook with current market conditions. It tends to make the relationship between sales and management adversarial. Particularly in organizations where sales pros are also the primary account managers, the more clients you have, the less likely it is you can keep hitting big numbers based on the sheer volume of time it takes to keep your accounts happy.

Your reputation is, well, tarnished. Remember that in sales, it's all about trust. If the prospect doesn't trust you, they won't trust what you tell them. Have you been professional, thorough, and honest in every interaction? The grapevine will bite you in the end. At one happy hour, one of my managers became very drunk, and very belligerent. (Yes, he was old enough to know much better.) Within two months, the company transferred him out of the area with a stern warning: you've made yourself poisonous to the restaurant community once. Any further trouble, and you're fired.He was lucky. Bad behavior has a way of living on forever. You never know who knows each other, or how long your outburst will live in social media. Clean up your act. You have a very public job. It will make a difference!

Why Closing Is Different In 2015

In 2005, everyone had computer access and a cell phone.  None of us had streaming TV, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Facebook, or Skype.  Faxing was still big. Important information still regularly came in your physical mailbox. 2015 is a year where the 2005 plan just won't cut it.

The biggest difference in the sales world is that prospect and buyers expect to be part of the sales process. Interactive sales are the norm. Clients will want custom products, and they will tell you how they are willing to let you sell it.  Anyone can open their phone and Google your "facts," and comparison shopping is almost instantly available to every customer.  What's a sales pro to do?

Interacting with your client doesn't just mean showing up for a meeting anymore. Now we text, tweet, video chat, email, and LinkedIn message our customers and our prospects.  Following a prospect on social media keeps us in the loop as their attitudes and goals change and evolve. And they follow us, and our competition, too. The sheer volume of available information has made consumers a much more educated group.

How does this affect closing? Focus on helping your prospect meet their goals and relieve their pain points. Listen as much as possible to how your solution will be implemented and how it will benefit the customer's plans. People commit to relationships they believe are honest and beneficial, so it's important that your client doesn't feel sandbagged in the closing process. (After the commitment has been made is not the time to throw in, "Oh, by the way, I need you to sign this.")

Written agreements give you the authorization to handle sensitive information, and give the customer a record of the commitments you and your company have made. Emphasize that your agreement protects your client's privacy; it limits who has access to their information, and for what purpose. When a prospect asks you for a commitment, that's a great time to agree, hold up your agreement and say, "and we put it in writing." 

Don't be surprised if your client pulls out an agreement of their own for you to sign on behalf of your company.  More and more purchasing departments in companies small and large have "contractor agreements," which usually supersede any other oral or written agreements.  They often include non-disclosure clauses, and penalties to the vendor if the solution is late, ineffective, or improperly maintained. Make sure you have permission to sign before you go ahead and do it.  If you're not sure, bring it back to the office with you and hand it off to your boss.  

Your competition isn't local anymore.  Your competition is anything a customer can find on the internet.  If someone else out there offers a nuance or policy that your customers like or want, they will pressure you to offer it, too.  Welcome to the interactive sale.

Don't Grow Too Fast! It's Deadly

You want your business to grow. Are you ready? Can you handle an immediate 10% increase in business, and short-term growth in the 20-25% range? If the answer is "no," you have growth management preparation to do.

Most companies would answer, "Of course! Too much business is not the problem. We need more business!" Unfortunately, as often as not, the company isn't ready. This can be lethal to any business.

Look at your current supply line. Add 10% to the number of unfilled orders for every day for the next month. Can your current staff, equipment, and standard timeline absorb that change without causing any disruption? For the second month going forward, bring the additional orders to 13% above current numbers. How does it look? Do you have enough staff? Is your equipment in shape to handle the additional demand? Where is the breaking point? 20%? 30%? You need to know. You don't want to get there by surprise.

Lucy and Ethel have a delicious problem!

Frequently, companies try to handle the growth in business without increasing their staff or capital costs. Big mistake. More output always costs more money, whether in the short term by paying staff overtime and bonuses, or in the long term by replacing frustrated and valuable long term employees.

When an organization grows rapidly, two things tend to suffer - quality, and morale. Infrastructure breaks down under the additional load. Machines overheat. Computers crash. Files are lost. Deadlines are missed. Overtime hours are ordered. Pressure builds. Newer employees don't perform as efficiently or as loyally as long-term employees; it takes time to bring them up to speed and proficiency. Existing employees are suddenly responsible for substantially larger workloads with no increase in their paycheck. New employees frequently interrupt the existing staff looking for help and guidance. Existing employees become tired and discouraged, and quality and morale are in trouble.

Clients notice the late deliveries, quality control issues, and declining customer service. They are frustrated that quality is fading. And like all bad news, it travels fast. Reputation and market share begin to falter. Rebuilding a reputation in an industry or community is a very, very slow process. Many companies don't make it. (Think Target in Canada.)

In a period of growth, it is important to have a growth plan. Do you need to institute a temporary formalized training program to bring new employees up to speed? Is it time to tune-up or overhaul your machinery? Are your computers due to be updated or replaced? Does new machinery mean you need more existing workforce training?

Growth is great. It often comes as a surprise as a competitor pulls out of the market, or a new ad campaign is unusually successful. As soon as you notice the upswing, it's time to build morale and loyalty. Buy the staff lunch a few times a month. Make sure everyone has the best quality, most functional equipment necessary to perform their job. The best performance from your employees comes when they feel important and respected. A couple of overtime hours isn't a reward to most employees. Relate to them as people. You've hired them to do a job, and to do it well. Give them the right physical and psychological tools.

How To Keep Your Team Motivated

It's a long-standing concern in every business: how do you keep your employees motivated to be creative and effective, day in, and day out?  It's not hard, but it is a recipe.  Like any recipe, without any of the ingredients it won't work out.

INGREDIENTS

AUTONOMY: Employees list autonomy as the top wish in their work lives, and it's what managers

fear the most.  When employees make their own decisions without going up the chain of command, they feel respected and empowered.  They also make mistakes, which make managers aggravated, and more likely to micromanage.  Where ever possible, step back and let your team make their own decisions.  If you have educated them thoroughly on the goals of the department and the company, their creativity and effectiveness will flourish.

POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT: Employees with positive relationships with co-workers are more productive, and remain in jobs substantially longer than those who list their workplace as "challenging" or list co-workers as "difficult."  A positive tone starts at the top.  Do not complain, whine, gossip, or lose your temper at work.  When others are doing it, shut it down.  Greet people with a smile, and use their name.  It works.

TRUST IN MANAGEMENT: If your managers to treat employees fairly, ask them to perform only professional duties, and take an interest in each employee's goals, trust will be built.  Each member of the organization wants to be recognized as a human being, and a quality professional.  Transparency in management and decision-making show employees that management means what they say, and does what they say. Avoid secrecy whenever possible.

APPRECIATION: Celebrate little things, like improvement on filing timely paperwork, successfully overcoming a brutal deadline, or no absences for a week after the flu tears through the office. Recognizing these moments reminds everyone that work gets done by people working together.  If there is nothing to celebrate, bring in lunch for the team to thank them for working hard in a tough environment, and sit with them while they relax and eat.  If the whole team needs to step up their performance, institute a meaningful reward for the "most improved performance."  Talk about the achievements publicly in glowing terms, and manage failures quietly in private.

FAIR COMPENSATION:  If your organization docks pay for a variety of "infractions," multiple studies show this destroys both trust and morale.  Find another way to enforce your rules.  Pay your people as well as you can and remain competitive.  Once you've helped develop their skills, you don't want them moving on to the competition for a paycheck!  Now your investment is working against you!

COMMON CAUSE:  Share successes with the entire team.  If you sign a big contract, increase your profit margin, grow your company, or any other good news, let everyone know that their teamwork was integral to the achievement of the goal.  

If you work in an environment where all of these ingredients are present, you're probably happy to go to work every day.  If you don't, you're probably looking to change jobs.  What are your employees thinking?

Is It Time To Replace Your Sales Manager?

In sales, we rely heavily on our sales managers.  They are our cheerleaders, teachers, coordinators, and team mates.  That is, they are if they're good at their jobs.  If they're bad at their jobs, they are our critics, our nightmares, our worst enemies.  Is it time to replace your manager?

Often in a sales structure, the best salespeople are "promoted" to sales manager. Sometimes it's about seniority.  Occasionally it's a question of the boss's favorite. None of these are the best way to hire a great sales manager.

The best sales managers have five primary skills:  1) They can consistently teach others to sell the product or service in a changing marketplace. 2) They are fantastic motivators of individuals and groups.  3) They always play fairly, setting a terrific example and creating a professional tone for the department.  4) They work as hard for their team as they do for upper management.  5) They would always rather help than scold everyone on their team.

If your manager doesn't meet these five criteria, all the rest of their skills really don't matter.  Daniel Pink (author of Drive, To Sell is Human, and others) explains it well.   The best performers in any sales organization take ownership of their work, feel it is important, and have the autonomy to self-manage and develop personal approaches to their tasks and environment.  If your manager can't stimulate and support these three attributes, it doesn't matter how well they know the product, how quickly they can file reports, or how well the sales force is doing today.  

Long-term success (we all want it!) comes from ownership, pride, and autonomy.  Ownership, pride, and autonomy come from being good at your job. Being good at your job comes from clear expectations, and constant fine-tuning of skill.  And fine-tuning skills comes from a supportive, objective voice confirming your strengths, and helping to develop your weaker skills.

As a sales professional, this is the boss you want, and the environment you need to do your best.  We all know it. And when we have it, we're substantially less likely to look for opportunities outside the company.  If you, the sales pro, don't have it now, it's probably time to look for an opportunity to get it. This is your career!  You want to develop as well and as quickly as time will allow.

To upper management:  I'm not saying there's no room for discipline!  (See "clear expectations" above.)  I'm reminding that carrots and sticks have gone the way of the two martini lunch.  It's okay sometimes, but it doesn't work as a primary activity. Simple compliance is out, and motivation to comply and improve is in.  If your sales team doesn't work this way, you have a problem, because the competition's team probably does.   You don't want to lose your best people to the competition!  Give your sales team the most vital benefit they can get: a terrific, qualified sales manager.