Sales Management Development

It's Time For A Sales Management Revolution

2006-02-14T03:14:00.000-08:00

Are you dog tired because of the way you manage your sales team? Many managers tell me that they cannot see a way out of traditional sales management methods that keep them working like dogs, including focusing strictly on revenue goals, staying late, traveling up to three weeks a month, tightly controlling teams, and constantly reacting to emergencies. There has to be a better way.

Are you satisfied with the way your life as a sales manager is turning out? Is it giving you all that you wanted? If not, perhaps it’s time to make a revolution. Here are some revolutionary ideas you might consider:

1. THINK THREE TO SIX MONTHS INTO THE FUTURE

What you want to accomplish right now was set in motion a few months ago. The results of your decisions three to six months ago are coming to fruition today. Think and talk strategically about three and six months down the line as if it were “today.” Describe and write down what you see about:

· The culture of your sales team

· The size of your sales team

· Your ideal customers

· Revenue you are generating

· Your competition

· Your target markets

· How your team has changed in the last three to six months

· How hard you are working

While crystal-ball gazing is never an exact science, it can be enormously helpful to “live” in the possibilities.

2. GO BACKWARD

From the vantage point of three to six months in the future, identify what you did over the past three to six months. Ask yourself the following questions:

· What did I accomplish?

· What did my team accomplish?

· What tasks did we complete

· What actions made us successful?

· What were some of the obstacles?

· How did we overcome the obstacles?

3. CREATE A PLAN WITH MEASURABLE GOALS

If you want better clients, the #1 sales team, more money, more time for yourself, and more enjoyable work, you need an effective business plan.

Use your insights from No. 1 “Think three to six months into the future” and No. 2 “Go Backward” to create a plan.

· Don't know how to build one? Make this the year you learn.

· Already know how but haven't built it? Get support from a colleague, mentor, coach, or group to make it happen.

· Have a system but aren't using it? Pull your plan out of the drawer and re-commit to doing what it takes to have your dream career.

To help you get started, here is a simple tool I use. You can also ask each salesperson on your team to create a plan using the same template.

Top 5 Goals – 3 months

Top 5 Goals – 6 months

Top 5 Goals – 12 months

HOT TIPS:

· Do not put your goals in a drawer! Post your goals where you will see them every day (computer, fridge, bathroom mirror, wall next to the phone). When you see your written goals, you increase your chances of accomplishing them.

· Communicate your goals. Let others know what you are thinking. Take regular opportunities to talk to your staff and superiors about your plans. It usually takes a village to accomplish great things. You’ll need buy-in and help reaching your goals from many levels within the organization.

4. CHOOSE THE BEST

Serve only those clients you, your organization, and your sales team care about and enjoy. Everything becomes a struggle when you work with people you don't enjoy. You wouldn't hire someone you couldn’t amicably work with, so why let them hire you?

Begin today to let go of clients you and your sales team find difficult, and start seeking out those you want. Have the courage to refuse new clients who don't fit your picture of who you most want your business to serve.

5. CREATE ACCOUNTABILITIY FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS

How many times have you said that you were going to do something and then not done it because nobody else would know the difference? Try spreading the word. Just the simple act of telling your plan to another person raises the stakes. Most of us place a high value on doing what we say we'll do. There is something profound about taking our commitments seriously when we profess them to another person or when we join in a pact to reach a common goal.

To hold employees accountable, have them declare their intentions to you. Use these three simple questions to help you:

What will you do? When will you do it? How will I know you’ve done it?

Then, schedule a follow up time to talk about their accountabilities.

Enjoy reaping the rewards of your revolution.

'Revolutionary' Challenge: BE THE FUTURE

NOW is a good time to plan. Conduct a visioning exercise with your team where you go into the future.

Ask your team to close their eyes and focus on the future, one month at a time. First, ask them to see themselves today. Then proceed one month at a time. When you all open your eyes, it is six months from where you started.

Discuss what you see, using the points in the “Think Three to Six Months into the Future” section at the beginning of this newsletter. Make sure you capture the ideas on a flip chart.

Please let me know how this worked for you, and any suggestions you have to improve the process. Have fun with it!

Sales Management Resources

2006-02-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

Sales and Marketing Management - Sales Management Industry ...
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SellingPower.com
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DEI Sales Management
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Jack Wilner's sales manager's manual.

7Office Sales Cycle Management Software for Small Business
Small business sales management solution tool to track and manage people, projects,
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Website van het vakblad Sales Management met nieuws, tips en tools voor de
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Barry Maher & Associates: Motivational Speakers, Management, Sales ...
Management, motivation and sales speaker, trainer and consultant.

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Browse the database of business technology software products and services.
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Pharmaceutical and Medical Sales Jobs for UK Medical ...
Information resources for experienced and trainee medical representatives and
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Employment site for marketing and sales professionals.

Sales Training by Baker Communications in Houston, Texas
Offers sales, management, and customer service training. Includes course syllabi,
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SalesJunction.com: Web Based Sales Force Automation SFA/CRM
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Tim Connor - Speaker - Trainer - Author
How to increase sales, improve management effectiveness and develop and maintain
positive relationships all through sales and management/leadership boot camp ...

Majorium - Seamless Integration of Corporate Blended Training
Online resource for sales & marketing professionals including free biweekly
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Complex Sales Training
Provides sales management training seminars. Availability for custom training programs.

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Specializes in training and workshops for defining and implementing organizational
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Leadership Development, Sales Force Effectiveness, Customer ...
Firm specializing in helping large companies achieve organizational change results
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Pi Sigma Epsilon - National, Professional Fraternity in Marketing ...
National professional fraternity in marketing, sales management, and selling.

Marketing Jobs / Sales Jobs from The Specialist Jobsite for ...
Specialises in marketing positions. Submit CV, view positions and apply.

Home - Altiris, Inc.
Integrated IT lifecycle management. Specializing in XP migration, patch management,
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Call Center Software - CRM Software CTI Predictive Dialer ...
Provider of call center technology, including software, predictive dialer systems,
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CRM Software Leader
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM for Lotus Notes®, Microsoft®, and Palm OS®platforms - Ardexus ...
Market, sales and service automation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
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Masterpiece Gallery Management Software
Art gallery software features: inventory control, gallery management, consignments,
point of sale, mailing lists, digital images, and internet interaction.

Benchmarking - Sales Force Effectiveness Benchmarking Association
Forum for the exchange of performance measurements and benchmarking data for all
levels of sales force management around the world.

OfficeClip - Web Timesheet, Web-Based Bug Tracker, Web Contact ...
Offers intranets with address book, calendar, BBS, file sharing, project tracking,
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Track sales status and prospects. Use standard, custom, or industry specific templates.

AccountMate: Business Management and Accounting Software ...
Accounting software for small businesses. Source code in Visual FoxPro.

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Provides an ERP solution for the sports and fashion industry including moddules
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Emerson Process Management, Rosemount Division
Process instrumentation, providing solutions for pressure, temperature, level and flow.

Management Recruiters
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Headhunter for jobs, employment in plastic molding, extrusion, thermoforming,
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DEL FORNO REAL ESTATE: New Jersey, apartment rentals, homes for ...
Features sales and rental listings, an agent directory, a map, and an overview
of property management services. Offices in Jersey City and Millburn, New Jersey.

Leverage Sales Management with Emotional Intelligence - What is Your Lasting Imprint

2006-02-14T03:10:00.000-08:00

Sales management careers should be fulfilling and fun and I have had the wonderful opportunity, or in fact privilege to sales manage and influence sales people. I see sales management as one of the most important obligations and responsibility of any sales leader. I have always tried to sales manage and lead with more emotion and passion for each individual as an individual and not just an instrument for generating profits.

Social theorists and academics have suggested that the beliefs in people, their intellect, abilities, emotions and ethical values are the core of our social existence.

One of these theorists is an individual by the name of Dr. Clayton J.C. Lafferty who had studied the management competency of humanistic-encouraging or what is now often referred to as emotional intelligence has defined it in the following way:

“Humanistic-Encouraging measures an interest in people, a tendency to care about others, and the ability to encourage them to improve.”

Sales managers with stronger humanistic-encouraging competencies are more able to have these conversations, according to Lafferty, as they accept others for who they are – without question or criticism. I believe that humanistic behaviour encourages personal growth and the development of human existence within the multiple layers of our varied social frameworks. We therefore have a social obligation to become better, more caring sales managers so that we are able to engage all of our sales people individually.

I have come to believe, based on personal observations and experiences that what seems of utmost importance to my role as a sales manager, was to leave behind legacies for others to continue. Using a nickname from my past I call these Fossils. Fossils, by my definition, are ideas or impressions left on sales people that have proven themselves over time. They have become embedded permanent imprints or disciplines in how I sales manage people.

I have personally defined the role of a sales manager in the following way:

“An individual with the accountability and responsibility to create a working environment where sales people are able to enrich their thinking, abilities and experiences on a continual basis while maximizing value for their clients.”

It all starts with your thinking or your mindset. The best in sales and sales management are positive thinkers. They think positively about their desire to achieve results and about their relationships with their clients. They regularly review their activities and goals and they think in an enthusiastic, “can do” mindset; Aligning the creative mind in harmony with their emotional intelligence which influences their focus, motivation and confidence.

I have found significant gratification in supporting an environment where each sales person has the opportunity to apply themselves, fully leverage their intellectual curiosity, align positive thinking, enhance ability and enrich his or her value to each client relationship. Sales management thinking and behaviour had become of great personal importance to me over the years as I assessed my own achievements.

They were collective achievements, largely due to the thinking, ability and motivation of sales people who strived to meet sales targets and personal bests but who also sold on the basis of mutual benefit. The more I had been able to assist in developing sales people’s thinking, ability and their desire to achieve, the more likely I was able to achieve what I set out to accomplish and the more rewarding it was for me personally. The more humanistic-encouraging the practices the more I have had a positive effect on enhancing the thinking, abilities and motivation of sales people. I believed these competencies became my own competitive advantage and brand.

In conclusion, it is important to note that sales management careers should be fulfilling and fun. If done with heart, emotion and the right mindset your career can be one of the most fulfilling and satisfying aspects of what makes up a large part of your life. It is my hope that for those I have had the opportunity to influence that I have done so with a positive and memorable way. I hope that I am remembered for bringing an aspect of enthusiasm and emotion to a role that is at the heart of organizations; that of a sales manager.

Hiring--A Vital Key In Sales Management Success

2006-02-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was asked to spend some time on the telephone, coaching a client’s administrative assistant on how to check out an employment candidate’s references. After each in-person or telephone conference, I complete a brief written report going over the information discussed. The information that I gave this worker was so vital to the company’s overall sales management success that I felt impelled to share the report in my periodic client e-mailings, feeling that it might be of value to others that I serve. The information is so vital to the management process, I decided to reproduce it here as well.

After over 22 years of advising managers, I’m convinced that the hiring process is the primary key to management success. If you hire right, your job of managing staff is made much easier. Here are the suggestions I made along these lines:

Julie:

It was good to talk to you yesterday.

As we discussed, the assignment you've been given by management to call each sales support candidate's references, is vital to the company's future sales success. As I teach in my coaching workshop, if you work hard at the hiring process, it makes managing staff members much easier over the long term.

You were right when you commented that calling references "is not that easy." I agree that there is resistance by many business owners and managers to giving out information in today's litigious business environment. However, the process we discussed can help you overcome this refusal to help you complete this important assignment.

The Steps To Checking References:

1. You need to obtain from three to five business references from each of the candidates approved by management.

2. Call the candidate's references and use the following script in your own words to obtain the information needed to make an informed decision in hiring a given candidate:

"We plan on giving (candidate first name) extensive training to help her (him) to be successful in this new position. Could you please help me with several suggestions on areas we need to train (candidate) so she (he) can make a smooth transition?"

3. Next, ask the reference to give you two or three names of other managers or co-workers who could give you insight into helping the candidate make the transition.

4. Then, call the reference's references and use the same script outlined in step two above to elicit additional information about the candidate.

It’s so easy to make a couple of calls and then give up on finding information. You really need to work hard at this process to help management make sound decisions about the top candidates for a given position. This assignment is vital to producing consistent sales success.

Sales Management Myths: Entrepreneurial Salesperson

2006-02-14T03:07:00.000-08:00

I just had a phone conversation with a client who had a familiar story to tell. He had built his business on the model of an entrepreneurial sales force. Give them a territory, pay them straight commission, and tell them they are in business for themselves, free to develop the customers they chose with the products they wanted.

And for a couple decades it had worked well. The business grew and expanded. More entrepreneurial sales people were added, and the model was duplicated over and over again.

So far so good. But then the growth in sales began to slow down. Three flat or declining years in a row has caused this company president to question the status quo. Not only is business flat, but he's unable to get his sales force to promote the lines that he wants to promote, he's unable to get them to use some of the new technology that the company wants them to use, and he's unable to get them to prospect for new customers. Now he's faced with an experienced sales force, who for the most part, are unmanageable.

The culpit? A sales model that was built on the concept of the entrepreneurial salesperson. There was a time when this model was effective, but in today's competitive economy, there are serious difficulties with the entrepreneurial model.

This model works best when the market is growing. As long as there is more and more business out there to be had, the focus of most companies is to grab as much as they can, without caring a whole lot as to which customers and which products make up the business. Employing a group of entrepreneurial salespeople reduces the demands on sales management so that the company's executives can focus on building the infrastructure necessary to keep up with the consistent growth.

As we all know, this was the case for most of the previous decade. By shifting the responsibility for sales management unto the salespeople, however, you give up much of your management influence. In effect, you cede management of the sales force to the salespeople. And they generally make decisions that are in their own self interest, not yours. The very concept of an entrepreneurial salesperson is that he/she will manage himself. By definition, you abdicate your managerial role and cede management to the salesperson.

Is it any wonder that you can't direct the salesperson?

As long as business was consistently growing, this wasn't an issue. But now it is a concern. Most distributors have experienced a reduction in sales volume over the last few years. Many have come to the conclusion that they have to initiate significant changes in their sales organizations if they are going to be profitable and growing.

Now, instead of just more business, progressive distributors want to expand the business in target accounts, emphasize key product lines, and acquire new accounts. In other words, they want to direct the sales force more precisely, to focus them on the behaviors that further the company's strategic objectives.

At just the time that they want to more precisely focus the sales force, they are faced with a group of experienced salespeople who have become satisfied and content.

These sales people would rather not move out of their comfort zones of established customers and established products. They have no desire to do the hard work of prospecting for new accounts. And many are content with the diminished incomes of the past few years.

The culprit in this difficult situation is the entrepreneurial model. This is not to say that there are no entrepreneurial salespeople. Certainly a certain percentage of every large group of sales people will turn out to be highly motivated, constantly improving, driven to succeed and willing to accept your direction. From my experience, this is about one of 20 sales people. The chances of your entire group fitting this mold are slight. The issue is not the occasional exception to the rule; the issue is the model that no longer supports your strategic interests.

What to do?

The company president on the phone was looking for solutions. How could he change the established routines, attitudes and practices of his experienced sales force? How could he revive the slumbering entrepreneurial drive? How could he gain some degree of directability?

Unfortunately, the answers are larger and more challenging than that which could be discussed in a half hour phone call. Decades of a certain way of doing business have resulted in attitudes cast in granite. Half-way measures can't be counted on to work.

The solution is going to require strenuous work.

Wipe the slate clean and start over. Begin with the definition of what you would like the salespeople to do. What do you really want your sales force to do? Noodle your ideas onto a blank sheet of paper, and review it for a couple of days. When you have a well-articulated full page of detail, you will have taken a major step forward.

Once you have a clear and specific idea of what you want them to do, then start dealing with implications of that. For example, does you compensation plan support the behavior you want? If not, then change that.

Does you training and development program equip the sales people with the skills that support your vision? If not, it's time to revise that.

Does you infrastructure support your idea of what the sales people should be doing? In other words, does customer service, purchasing, delivery, operations, sales management, etc., all support the revised job description? If not, make some refinements.

Finally, do you have the kind of people who will whole-heartedly embrace your new vision? If not, then it's time to begin the process of recruiting new sales people.

Each of these is difficult and challenging issues that speak to the heart of how you have your sales force structured. Designing and implementing these changes can take the better part of a year or two. Each of these initiatives will be met with resistance from some. It won't be easy. Before you rush into the fray, however, make sure you count the cost. You may decide that you are not up for the task and that it is easier to continue to cede management to your sales people.

Should you decide to revise your sales force, you can anticipate arriving at a focused and directable sales force - an enormously powerful asset for any distributor.

Sales Management and CRM - Setting up the Central Memory

2006-02-14T03:06:00.000-08:00

With the arrival of CRM, the sales process has changed.

CRM became a new trends a few years ago. And with this concept of CRM (Client Relationship Management), also the CRM system was invented. A system that provided a standard in managing relations.

The first aspect of such a system is that all relevant information about clients is to reside in a central database (or is to be centrally accesible); the central memory of the system and the collective memory for the sales force. This is a difficult step to achieve.

Memory is essential in sales, but should you memorize everything? think that you have had contact with a client and he talked about his dog that was ill. Suddenly, a year later this client comes back. You did remember this about his pet and asked about his dog. Unfortunately the dog was no longer with him... Experienced sales representatives know how to handle these kind of situations.

Memory is important, but not only to dump all you do know about everybody. You do need the relevant data. So memory is important, but rather on a different level. Before the CRM-hype, the sales process was organized around the selling of products and services.

Not only for the larger companies this selling of products gave rise to serious problems when the business became more complex. Different products were developed and the organization was split into different units with autonomous responsibilities. Smaller companies, especially those in services will often make a differentiation in the solution they offer for the various clients. Or different sales employees having their own "client-product-line."

An important step in organizing CRM based sales management was to build up or gather this memory so everybody could use it. Everybody, because with the introduction of CRM the organization changed form a product centered form to a client(team) centered operation. the sales reps specialized in certain products where spread in different client teams.

The (collective) memory started to be an issue.