Inside Our Head

While delivering our Sales Management Leadership workshop recently, a medical equipment sales manager in the audience raised his hand and said, "I see myself as more of a "player-coach." I asked him to elaborate.

He went on to share a recent example when he was working with one of his more productive and experienced salespeople. They had just concluded a meeting with a physician in a hospital and were walking toward the exit. Their next appointment was not for another two hours, so the sales manager asked his rep, "Is there any reason why, now that we're inside this hospital, you aren't going to pick up the house phone over there and call a few more prospects for appointments?" Calls made from a hospital's in-house phone don't get screened like calls from outside the building.

The salesperson replied, "Physicians don't like to be interrupted in that way, so I don't do that."

Where-upon the player-coach marched to the nearby house phone, picked it up, and succeeded in scheduling an appointment with the first person who answered, a physician. "See, the house phone works," he said. He made a few more phone calls for the salesperson, and then the two of them went on their way to her next appointment.

Indeed, this sales manager was a player-coach. He did demonstrate to his salesperson that once in the hospital, the house phone is an effective tool for setting new appointments.

But the sales manager made a big mistake - he demonstrated how to perform an important sales task, but he didn't obtain commitment from the salesperson that she would start making these types of calls in the future. In sales vernacular, he made a great demo but he didn't "close the sale" by obtaining commitment.

Every sales coaching discussion should conclude with a request for commitment to change. And, every coaching discussion should include a follow-up step by you. By following-up, and inspecting what you expect, you show your commitment to helping the salesperson be the best he or she can be. And, you send the message to your sales team that your expectations of performance are not to be taken lightly.

People in sales should know the importance of making a good impression: without it you can't earn the right to do business with people. Each customer contact provides us as sales people the opportunity to make a good impression. Remember the maxim in sales and marketing: the prospect must be touched five to ten times with high-quality, compelling messages before business is transacted.

If you don't make a good first impression, what makes you think your prospect will want to see you again?

Business letters--to ask for an appointment or other reasons--are so important in making good impressions. Make sure your sales proposals are well-written. Take time to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Ask your sales manager or a colleague to proof your letter. Often times someone else can see errors the writer often misses. Even Hemingway needed an editor!

Sales proposals and business letters are critical. Think of ways of making your communications shine. Remember, every contact you have with your sales prospect is an impression.

Make a good impression every time you "touch" your client, and you will close more sales.

Questions every sales managers should consider in their strategic/team development plan include:

Which salesperson is ready to step up and assume the lead role on this team?
If I were to set a team goal to increase sales by 30% over the next 12 months, what obstacles would stand in our way?
Is there anyone I need to let go? Who is my low performer?
What step of the sales process are we weakest in, and what specifically can I do to correct this?

Every good sales manager needs to spend time focusing on issues such as team morale, individual rep motivators, career planning for sales reps, etc. Get a strategic plan for developing your sales team.

People who recently bought from you after scouting the competition are a rich source of information. It's worth talking to them to see what they can tell you about how your product or service compares to the rest of the market. Ask them if they would explain why they chose you, what strengths they perceived. If you know them well, ask if they will send you copies of your competitor's proposals.

Often times, professional salespeople overlook the importance of current clients. These past clients are more likely to buy from you in the future... ask them for more sales! Your sales training initiatives must include sales training for current clients. This is a great method for building the great sales team you want and need.

Negotiating power plays a major role in every type of sales negotiation, whether it's a labor negotiation, political negotiation, or a buy-sell negotiation. Both the buyer and the seller have power in a negotiation. Power is each side's perception of its strength or weakness in comparison to the other. This perception of power affects the ability of each party to achieve its own goals. The more negotiating power you have in comparison to that of your buyer, the fewer concessions you'll have to make.

In this time of economic struggle, creating a unified sales force with a common sales language and single sales message becomes imperative if your company is to achieve its goals.

When you bring together different sales cultures and levels of sophistication within a newly-merged organization the result is often reduced sales, erosion of trust with customers and ineffective sales coaching of the sales process.

Your sales force is your frontline of contact with your customer. They carry your corporate message, your philosophy, and deliver the value you offer. They are the implementers of your marketing strategy. It doesn't matter who you are, if your sales team is giving conflicting signals, rather than a consistent message, you erode your name and what you stand for.

Without a common selling language, companies may find they are fielding "bands of selling nomads," salespeople that complicate, rather than simplify clients' lives.

This is particularly true if your company has national accounts with multiple client locations, and multiple salespeople calling on that account. Varying communication styles, standards, and levels of expertise can cause clients to go elsewhere if another firm is more coherent and efficient in its sales approach.

Words of Wisdom from Lou Holtz

You must understand they every person you will meet for the rest of your life will ask three questions. Every customer, every spouse and child is going to ask these three questions. It is absolutely imperative that you be able to answer "yes" to each of these three questions.

1. Can I trust you?

Without trust you cannot have any relationship. People must be able to trust you. The only way to establish trust is to follow rule number 1, which is simply: Do Right. Do what’s right and avoid what is wrong. If people trust you, they will respect you, and if they respect you they will buy from you.

2. Do you want to be good?

You demonstrate your desire to be good by the preparations you make, and the standards you live by. Today, everybody talks about their rights and privileges. Twenty-five years ago people talked about their responsibilities and their obligations. As part of a sales organization you have obligations and responsibilities, and every decision you make is going to affect everybody else in the entire organization. When you go in for a sales call it is absolutely imperative that you be totally prepared, that you know everything there is to know about that customer and about your products. No matter what you do, do it to the best of your ability, not because somebody’s looking, or because somebody’s going to praise you, but because that’s just the way you live. Rule number 2 is: Be committed to excellence.

3. Do you care about me?

Do you care about your spouse, your children, your customers? Your company is going to want to know: Do you care about us? Show people you care at every opportunity. Constantly ask yourself, "How can I show these people that I genuinely care?" Not because you’re gonna sell 'em something, but because you genuinely believe in them as people. There is a strong tendency in this world to think that you are the only one who has a problem. I’m gonna tell you something and I don’t want you to ever forget it. Every person you meet has a burden. Every person needs encouragement. Show 'em you care and you will have wonderful relationships. Rule 3: Genuinely care about people.

If you will live by these three rules, I guarantee you will enjoy tremendous success.

WINNING EVERYDAY: The Game Plan for Success
by Lou Holtz

What you are capable of doing is determined by your talent. What you do is determined by your motivation. But how productive you are and how close you come to realizing your true potential will always be determined by the attitude you have. We can’t control what is going to happen to us but I think it’s imperative that we decide how we are going to react to it. We all get knocked down. We all face adversity. The winner is the one who gets up fast and gets going again.

The true professional salesperson is the one who takes pride in the profession and understands one purpose: satisfy the needs of the customer. The professional sales person is there to help the customer achieve more happiness and more productivity.

Look for opportunities to show interest in all team members. Ask about their life outside of work. Make an effort to learn about their families, their hobbies, their recent vacation, etc. Inquire but never pry. Keep track of names, dates, and events that are important to them, such as birthdays and anniversaries of employment with your company. Showing your team that you care about them as people is one more way to build team sprit. When the sprit is strong, the motivation follows right along.

Create an individual development plan for each employee. Work with your sales managers to create development plans that are customized to each person. The plans should identify things like: current and desired skill strengths; job interests; areas for development and enhancement; and strategies (sales training, assignments, coaching, etc.) for achieving the next step.

The best Sales Managers turn failures into teaching lessons. A failure is a failure only when we don’t learn from it. When people make mistakes, encourage them to share their experiences in order to help others avoid similar problems. This can be a great motivational tool because you focus on learning rather than assigning blame. Just remember that it takes guts to admit mistakes – especially in front of others. So be certain to thank each person for his or her courage.

Sales leadership is easy when your stock price is high. Be tough during tough times. As Vince Lombardi said: "It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up again." To keep your team motivated, you need to show resilience, recovery, and "contagious enthusiasm" for the mission of your team – especially when your job challenges are significant.

Help others on your sales team develop by delegating the lead on certain activities and projects. Most of us like "being in charge" – at least some of the time.