All business owners want their salespeople to perform consistently.   Unfortunately, the vast majority of salespeople don’t even come close.

While mediocre sales performance often results from multiple components, one problem is nearly universal.   This pervasive success-killer exists in almost every private business, as well as in most large public companies.   Fortunately, the problem can be reduced or completely eliminated fairly easily, leading to significant improvements in your overall sales growth and profit picture. 

If you are like most private company owners, you have a highly dysfunctional, relationship with your salespeople.   This co-dependent dysfunction is mostly hidden from view, so it typically goes unnoticed until it is too late. Let’s call it the I-Can-Do-It Syndrome (ICDI).

Like most co-dependent dysfunctions, ICDI creates a feeling of near-term gratification for those involved.  Owners and salespeople may even feel like they are doing the “right thing”.   Unfortunately, the syndrome quickly creates habits that are highly destructive, ultimately preventing everyone from achieving what they really want, to exceed their sales goals and make more money.

ICDI Syndrome creeps in like a virus, then quickly becomes a transparent part of your system, allowing it to destroy from within.  Here’s how it happens:

You want to grow your sales, so you decide to hire someone to sell.    You recruit and hire a candidate you believe to be the best salesperson.    Following what I hope is a great training and on-boarding program, your new salesperson is ready to hit the ground running and set new sales records for you.  Then reality sets in.

YOUR REALITY:

As an SMB owner, it is highly likely that:

1.          Your company has more things to do than hours each week to get them done.  (Unplanned stuff happens all the time…)

2.          Most (or all) employees in your company wear more than one hat.

3.          Some issues and urgencies pop up that reside outside of any particular employee’s job description.  No one “owns” these issues, but you have good, loyal employees that are willing to chip in to try to resolve them.

4.          You may not have a competent, full-time sales manager (in fact, many private companies do not have anyone that ever consistently manages sales to keep salespeople focused and productive).

5.          If you want your salespeople to achieve their sales goals, you should clear the deck to make sure they spend all of their time selling.

YOUR SALESPERSON’S REALITY:

1.          In sales, Time = Money.   If a salesperson does not invest the time necessary to sell, they will fall short of their goals.   If they don’t sell, they won’t sell.

2.          Believe it or not, most “salespeople” in the market today entered sales by default.   Consequently, most really do not like to sell.

3.          Of the ones that do like to sell, the majority don’t really know how to sell effectively.

4.          All salespeople (and managers and owners) behave as they do, because that is how they choose to behave.

5.          Given the choice, most salespeople will choose to stay inside their Comfort Zone by doing the easiest (and least effective) parts of “selling”.   Some easy sales activities include:

·                 Sending emails

·                 Preparing proposals

·                 Entertaining (golf, lunches, etc.)

·                 Calling hot, pre-qualified leads

·                 Giving presentations

·                 Demos

6.          Conversely, most salespeople also choose to avoid doing the more challenging (but most effective) parts of selling, the ones required to perform consistently.  Some examples are:

·                 Consistent prospecting

·                 Asking “tough”, assertive questions

·                 Gaining Commitments from buyers.

·                 Executing their critical daily sales activities with discipline

·                 Calling decision makers, key targets and influencers, including cold or warm leads

·                 Active, empathetic listening

·                 Maintaining an Unconditional Commitment to Continuous Improvement

·                 Uncovering true buying motives and budgets

·                 Proactively seeking accountability

·                 Leaving one’s Comfort Zone

7.          Given the choice between executing the effective sales activities which require leaving one’s Comfort Zone, or doing just about anything else, many salespeople would be happy to simply be a good team player and:

·                 Handle customer service issues

·                 Fix a broken pipe

·                 Put out a fire

·                 Take unqualified incoming calls (including social ones)

·                 Do some internet research (or other related surfing activities)

·                 Pick up lunch, deliver a package, run errands, etc.

Here’s the bottom line.   Just about every activity your sales team performs in sections #5 and #7 above carry a huge opportunity cost, because they are done in place of the critical activities outlined in section #6 that are required to grow sales.

In order to generate sales on a consistent basis, your salesperson must start by SELLING on a consistent basis.    It’s simple math.  Even if a salesperson is weak, they will still sell more if they spend more time selling.

So, if you are a business owner or leader truly committed to growing your sales, I would urge you look closely at how much time your salespeople actually spend selling, and to evaluate if ICDI Syndrome may have crept into your company with some or all of your salespeople.  Then take action.

Remember, if they don’t sell, they won’t sell.

The choice is now yours.  The transformation of any sales organization begins by changing the beliefs, choices, declarations and behaviors of the owner.

It is for you to decide, and clearly articulate, how your salespeople are expected to invest their time and to decide what steps you will take today in order to clear the decks to ensure they will invest it properly.

Best wishes for your continued success…

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2019.   All Rights Reserved.