There is no silver bullet when it comes to over-achieving.  The recession may be beginning to wind down a bit, but I do not know of a single economist who has predicted a rapid recovery.  So if you want to burst out and really grow, don’t wait for the economy.  I’ll get started here, then share the remaining top factors for helping salespeople overachieve in my next several articles.  A list of a dozen may seem like quite a bit, but the rewards to your bottom line will make the time you invest well worth it.  

For starters, understand that there are objective, time-tested methods to assess the gap between where your sales organization is today and over-achievement.  There are also verifiable methods to close the gap and take your Sales Force from mediocre to good to great.  So let’s get started…

1. Goals - You must raise everyone’s expectations in order to create superior performance.  It is unlikely that you will raise anyone’s expectations until you raise your own.  This sounds simple, but the majority of companies have an abundant tolerance for mediocre sales performance.  Now is the perfect time to burst out of the comfort zone and set some real stretch goals– much higher that the typical 5 -15% increase in sales.  When setting goals, there are two vital things to remember: (a) that a forecast and plan come from the goals (not the other way around) and (b) that goals are derived, not from the company, but from each salesperson’s income requirements, based on the expenses that accompany their own individual obligations and desires.

2. Incentives – Include more than just salary & commission.  Consider contests, awards and prizes.  Incentives enhance the sales experience and close the chasm between corporate perks and the personal goals listed above.  If an individual has good goals but the firm’s compensation isn’t designed to reward superior achievement, the incentive to perform will not be maintained.  If the company does have a solid compensation plan but the goals wouldn’t excite anyone, the personal incentive to perform will be missing.

3.  Managing the Pipeline – Visuals make it significantly easier to manage the pipeline.  The true key to effective pipeline management is working with critical ratios.  Get crystal clear about the monthly goal, closing percentage, average sale and length of the sell cycle.  If you don’t have enough history and don’t know your ratios, do not let that be an excuse to delay!  Start with your best estimates.  Clarity will come along soon.  You must be able to demonstrate a clear path to success.  Create a Success Recipe based upon your average sales cycle, monthly goal, average sale, and closing percentage.  Then manage the pipeline effectively.  This means ensuring that your salesperson is adding enough new opportunities into the top of the funnel far in advance of your sales cycle.  For example, if you have a 9 month sales cycle and a 20% top to bottom conversion rate, then a minimum of five times the monthly goal must be visible in the pipeline 9 months in advance of the monthly goal (if the goal is for December, then the opportunities must enter the pipeline by March).  Develop a process to make this work and the outcome you desire will follow.

4. Accountability – Effective sales accountability is the component I most often see missing from under-performing sales organizations.  If your sales team is less productive than you believe it should be, lack of accountability is the likely culprit.  Implementing effective accountability into your sales management process is the most direct path to rapid ROI for your company.  Salespeople must be held accountable to correct metrics (e.g.: the number of conversations required to book the number of sales calls required to add those vital new pipeline opportunities) every week.  Equally important, there must be consequences for failure to meet those requirements and consistent follow through when necessary.  Commit the time and develop the courage to implement full accountability and you’ve nearly won the game.

One final note about accountability—great salespeople LOVE it.

I’ll be sharing the other eight essentials to building an over-achieving sales culture in future articles, but please get started today with the Big Four listed above.  On the other hand, if you can’t wait, if you’ve been tolerating too much sales force mediocrity or if you feel you’d like to move faster and get a more production from your sales team starting right away, feel free to email me at joe@zthree.com.

Happy Selling…

Joe

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2009.   All Rights Reserved.

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A lull in the economy presents an enormous opportunity to upgrade your Sales.  Each year, I speak each year with hundreds of Presidents, Business Owners and CEOs.  Rarely, if ever, do I hear from one that does NOT want to improve their Sales and Profitability.  Most owners agree that in order to do this, their organization must change the Sales Culture.  So, the question is not whether or not a leader WANTS Sales to improve.  The question is simply whether or not the leader DECIDES whether or not he/she will CHOOSE to COMMIT to making it happen.

Changing your Sales Culture includes several components.  It is simple to accomplish, but not easy.  Although it is possible to make incremental improvements in revenue without changing to possess a Sales Culture, business leaders who are serious about effecting lasting, consistent, and sustainable CHANGE must be prepared to undertake a larger and more intensive commitment.   This commitment starts at the top and must be transmitted throughout the ranks to the entire company, especially to the management team.  The commitment is a declaration to:

• Change the Results

• Change the Beliefs and paradigms of  the organization

• Change the Attitudes of the organization

• Change the Behaviors of Sales Managers and Salespeople

• Change the Techniques –  Begin with the Sales Management Process
  • Install a congruent, effective Sales Process
  • Install an effective Sales Recruiting Process

Finally, the leader must demand the adoption of a Consistent Vocabulary that will be supported by the entire organization.

Again, Culture Change is not easy, but it IS simple.   There are only five steps.  They are: 

CHOOSE to COMMIT to CHANGE 

EVALUATE YOUR SALES FORCE 

RAISE YOUR EXPECTATIONS 

RAISE THEIR EXPECTATIONS 

HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE

If you CHOOSE to COMMIT to implementing these steps,

Here’s what you can expect:

Most Employees and Managers will NOT embrace Change.  But as I mentioned earlier, the weak economy is your biggest asset here.  Employees are much more willing to change when things are not so rosy. 

If you are a business leader who does choose to commit to building predictability and sustainability into the fabric of your company by implementing LASTING change to the Results, Beliefs, Attitudes, Behaviors, and Techniques of your organization, be prepared for:

resistance from employees and managers (especially your weaker players)

plenty of hills and valleys

attempts at politics

a project that will take more than a few months

Also, be prepared for only a few leaders to emerge and for some turnover among the folks that insist on status quo. 

Choosing to commit to a program to upgrade your Sales Culture may seem like a daunting undertaking.   However, the benefits will be well worth the effort.

As the process progresses and begins to mature, be prepared for a team that welcomes accountability, behaves consistently and performs far better than your existing group.  

Copyright © Joe Zente 2009.  All Rights Reserved.

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In Shorten the Cycle, Volume One, we discussed vital issues that must be covered in order to increase urgency with buyers.  In Volume Two, I’ll share a fundamental approach used by World Class Salespeople to uncover the secrets that your competitors will not.

First of all, it is important to understand that companies DO NOT BUY.  People do.

If you want to win more business and win it faster, make sure that you:

a.  Facilitate a process of mutual discovery for the decision maker and yourself. 

b.  Earn the TRUST of the decision maker. 

c.  Uncover the PERSONAL reasons that would compel him/her to buy (remember, you are not all things to all people and they may have NO compelling reason to act or change).

None of the above can possibly happen if you are spending the majority of your time talking or trying to convince.  You can, however, accomplish if you use sincere interest, infinite curiosity, and active listening.

Don’t worry about trying to do or say the “right thing”.  If you are looking for the right words or the best closing technique, now is a great time to consider a paradigm shift.

There are many more things you can do to shorten sales cycles, so please share your thoughts or questions and stay tuned for Volume Three…

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2009.   All Rights Reserved.

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Throughout the last several months ago, many CEOs have asked me if there is anything they can do to deal with the increasing number of sales delays and putoffs.  They would like to know if there is anything that can be done to increase urgency. 

There are MANY things you can do today to begin to shorten sales cycles, but here are some things that can get you started…

Increasing Urgency with Slow Decision Makers

Firstly, it is important that you have really covered all the basics:

–Who is the TRUE Decision Maker (DM)?

–What is the REAL Decision Process?

–Does the DM perceive there is a problem and is he/she willing to fix it?

–Do you really understand how much the DM is willing to invest to fix it?

–Are YOU differentiated?  In other words, does the DM really trust you more than your competitors?

Remember, hope is not a strategy and you can’t lose what you don’t have, so if you do not have the answers to these questions and if you have not uncovered the compelling reasons that the prospect has to buy (and buy from YOU), there is still plenty of work to do.

If you do have these answers and are looking to increase urgency, it is important to remember three principles:

• Organizations never make decisions.  An individual who works there does.
• ALL decisions are made emotionally.
• A person will never change unless the pain of changing is exceeded by the pain of not changing.    

So, if you are looking to get the Decision Maker to change and to act NOW, it is vital to appeal to their emotions and to help them discover more about their personal, emotional pain.  Doing so requires some skill, lots of listening, and some courage to ask what some people feel to be difficult questions.  I will be blogging more on this soon, so stay tuned…

Copyright © Joe Zente 2009.  All Rights Reserved.

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