THE SALES FORCE PLAYBOOK

FUTURE OF SALES TRAINING

Two years ago I read a great book by Glen Hiemstra entitled, "Turning the Future Into Revenue."  The book really makes you think what our future business lives will look like.

As I thought about our business of Sales Development and Sales Training, I pictured a day when I would conduct a session with a client in "holographic format".  When I told some of my clients about this thought, I could tell they were questioning my sanity.

Take a look at this video.  We are closer than I thought.

Imagine the impact on business meetings, sales calls and training!

URGENCY

Yesterday I had a coaching session with a salesperson and we were discussing the opportunities in his pipeline.

As I asked questions, what I discovered was that his prospects had yet to tell him that the problems they had were so severe or so painful that it was urgent that they fix them. Conversely, the salesperson felt a huge sense of urgency because he is behind in his sales goals.

My coaching advise was to find the urgency (or lack thereof) his prospects have.  As he begins his next meetings he will ask, "Can I tell you what I would like to accomplish today?  I want you to tell me one of two things.  You can tell me that problem #1, problem #2 and problem #3 are so severe and are causing you so much anguish that it is urgent that you fix them.  Or, you can tell me that you are willing to accept the status quo and live with the problems.  Either one is fine with me, but we need to work together to determine your feelings so we can take the appropriate next steps."

As you work through your sales cycle, make sure you and your prospect agree on the urgency.  Spend lots of time on prospects who demonstrate a sense of urgency.  For those prospects with a lack of urgency, suggest that you re-visit the situation in the future.

PROSPECTING

I am often asked about the best methods of prospecting, the best time to call a prospect or what to say when you get a prospect on the phone.  Good questions, but not the most important point.

In working with salespeople who are struggling with prospecting, the number one problem I find is that they do not schedule time for prospecting in their calendar.  They do not enter the times they are going to prospect in their Planner Pad, Franklin Covey planner, PDA or in Outlook.

When the time is not scheduled, they have a tendency to "avoid" doing the activity.  If you need to become better at prospecting, schedule an appointment with yourself to "just do it."  It is the most important appointment you will have this week.

POWERFUL QUESTIONS

During a recent round table discussion with the salespeople of one our clients, Bob brought up a situation with a prospect. 

Bob has been "courting" this prospect for two years. He has not done presentations since, until now, the prospect has been happy with the current provider. The situation has now changed and the prospect wants to leave the current provider. 

Bob's competition is a local firm that does not have the depth and breath of Bob's national company. However, the prospect is an investor in the local firm. In a recent appointment, Bob gave the prospect questions he needed to ask the local firm to uncover their capabilities (or lack thereof).

It is now time for the presentation stage and Bob is fighting for last look. The prospect wants Bob to present first because, according to the prospect, "you give us great questions to ask the local provider." 

We had this round table at the beginning our our training day. At the end of the day, Bob came up to me and told me they had won the business and they did not have to present!  The questions had planted the seeds of doubt that the local firm could handle the prospects business needs.  

What are the powerful questions you are asking? What are the powerful questions you are giving to your prospects to ask your competition?

LOSING FASTER

The President of one of our clients recently told his sales force that "we are losing faster and I am OK with that." It was a great message delivered at the right time. 

For too long his salespeople were working on "deals" that had no chance of closing. But because this organization did not have enough of the correct systems in place, they just chose (subconsciously) to lose slowly. Here are some key action items this organization has implemented: 

* Clear activity goals 

* Expectation that activity goals would be accomplished 

* Inspection of activity goals 

* Pre and post call planning of sales calls 

* Focus on qualifying the prospect 

* Asking if the prospect can leave the incumbent provider 

* Invigorating weekly sales meetings 

* Weekly huddles between sales manager and salespeople 

* Focused sales training of the salespeople 

* Development of a "credible" pipeline vs. a pipe dream 

Yes, this organization is losing faster, but they are having the best year in their history.

HUDDLES

My observation is that Sales Leaders and Sales Managers are replacing quality face-to-face time with their salespeople with e-mails, voice mails and non-focused conversations.

One of the advantages of a daily or weekly huddle is that all participants are focused on the issues at hand. Too often, we are interrupted and asked to participate in a conversation. Despite our best efforts, some (or all) of our attention is still on the project we were working on when interrupted. Or, we may be going through our 100 e-mails and answer one with a couple of lines (when much more direction is needed), just so we can get through the rest of the e-mails.

I recently observed some huddles and saw great examples of direct conversation, surprising discoveries and clear action items. All parties agreed the time was well spent and that these huddles should take place on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I do not think it will happen. Everybody will get busy and revert to e-mails, voice mails and non-focused conversations.

Huddles take discipline to implement and maintain. But every organization I have worked with tells me that huddles actually save them time and result in greater efficiencies and effectiveness. Sounds like a good discipline to me.

CREATIVE THINKING

Too often we hear people saying things like, "it can't be done," that will never work" or "let's not make too many changes."

Take a look how this creative thinking can solve a problem.

NETWORKING

Scott Addis has a great article on networking in this edition of Rough Notes.

This is a great example of how to build a business without cold calling.

ARE YOU PREPARED?

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Indiana Jones.

The lesson learned is, "don't take a knife to a gun fight!" Think about some of the "sales fights" you get into:

* Prospecting
* The Initial Sales Call
* Qualifying the Prospect
* Understanding the Decision Making Process
* The Presentation
* Post Sale Service

When it comes to your sales efforts, what weapon are you taking to the fight?