 Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Bill Lee  |
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| Article Title :: Salespeople Enjoy the Price They Pay for Success |
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| I received a call this week from a Texas client. In the course of our conversation, he told me that he had no choice but to terminate one of his salespeople because he was consistently failing to earn his draw.“We’ve known for a long time that we needed to terminate this man, and today we finally got up the courage to pull the trigger,” he manager told me.In the next breath, he said that the company’s overall sales were booming. “Our biggest problem right now is operations. Sales are so strong that we can’t keep enough drivers on the payroll to keep up with the work load.”To many of you reading this column, these two statements may seem inconsistent. (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: What's Your Magic Number? |
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| The most successful businesses — and certainly, sales departments — have identified their Key Performance Indicators (KPI); individual gateways that directly effect the outcome of a particular process. Then they measure the competency ratios in line with them.Have you identified the KPIs in your sales process?A good KPI example in the sales process might be how many times you advance the first sales appointment to the next phase, whether that’s a demonstration, a site visit, a survey or a proposal. Another KPI is how many times you gain a new customer once the first gateway is passed. And when you do gain a new customer, what’s the average revenue you achieve? That (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: Characteristics of a True Sales Leader |
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| In the average sales organization, successful sales reps get promoted to managers. These "new" sales managers are suddenly tasked with leadership and training. In these situations, there is one common liability. The salesperson's biggest strength now becomes the sales manager's biggest weakness in leading a team. Typically, top sales reps don't diagnose and document their sales routines and processes; rather, they “just do it”, as the sneaker commercial so aptly says. So, when they are asked to advance the same superior results in a large group, they can not do it. Why? Because these individuals are exceptional "drivers." Most of their past success was due to their personalities a (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: Stop Pointing at Me! Which Way Do You Point Your Accountability Finger? |
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| There are two kinds of people when it comes to accountability.•Those who point their index fingers outward
•Those who point their index fingers inwardWe all know too well that most people are quick to blame others and slow to take responsibility. They make excuses or tell a long-winded story about what went wrong and why. Obviously these people feel their success or failure is "outside of their control."The more powerful belief is that things are within our control. It then follows that we are, in fact, responsible for what happens around us and to us.I've developed a disciplined system that helps people accept accountability. This system breaks down all t (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: What to Do When You Hit the Invisible Sales Revenue Ceiling |
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| Have you ever hit a level of revenue that you just couldn't seem to break through?If you have, then you know how frustrating it can feelYou may even spike above this ceiling periodically. But, like water seeking its own level, your revenue results seek a sub-par level.I once walked into a situation much like this. I assumed the position of Vice President in a relatively young company. I was immediately tasked with making the changes needed to solve the revenue problem.The company, after nearly 2 years of business-to-business selling of their service, had met only 40% of their revenue expectations.Finance told me they were "behind" projections and needed (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: Powerful Routines; Identifying Sales Scenarios and Developing Best Practices for Improvement |
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| Your sales day, week and month are full of scenarios.Each one is unique as to how, when and why they occur. But what's not unique is how often they occur in similar situations, similar prospect titles of contact and similar companies by industry.For example...Why do sales cycles get so drawn out, causing closing ratios to plummet? It's because salespeople fail to identify all significant decision-makers in line with their selling proposition.Now, wouldn't you say that's a significant scenario?Simply because they have not identified the significant decision-makers, the right people will not be around the table to fairly evaluate the proposition to give a (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: What a Nice Thing to Say; How to Give Daily Feedback for Sales Performance Improvement |
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| Remember the first time you walked into your sales office? How did it FEEL to you? Was it buzzing, energetic and upbeat? Did you sense a spirit of positive competitiveness?Or, did you notice that the air had a weight of negativity to it? Did you suspect a lack of joy or camaraderie? Maybe you recognized that the positive vibrations were simply missing.That's the power daily feedback can have. If it's being done constructively, it can affect the very "energy" of a sales office.Daily feedback and improvement is all about developing the right culture. And professional selling has its own common language and culture. We use terms like "hourly rate," "definition of insanit (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: Fishy Salespeople? How to Finally Stop Handing Out FREE Fish to Your Sales People |
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| Do you remember the good ole days when sales managers used to just sit back and wait for their salespeople to come into their offices and ask for help?Maybe they needed the old veteran to come in and nail down the close. Well, we all know you just can't do that any more. Sure, that would put a few more sales in the win column (in the short term). But in the long term what are you creating? Nothing but needy, dependent salespeople without an ounce of personal selling confidence.Showing your people HOW to prospect, HOW to set appointments and HOW to close sales makes your job easier and everybody's paycheck fatter.If that's the kind of vision you have for your sales tea (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: 5 Keys to Building a Dynamic Self-Management Sales System |
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| 1) Identify Your Essential Competencies and Performance MetricsIf I asked you to list all the essential competencies that YOU are in control of - the ones that are absolutely critical for you to be successful in your sales position…could you do it?For example…Essential Competency or not?" Converting conversations to appointments? (yes it is)
" What about filling out paperwork? No! (That's a related task)
" What about closing ratio? (Sure it is.)
" Degree of success in turning a first appointment into an opportunity? (absolutely)Get the picture?Now, if you truly want to adopt a self-management system that will work FOR you - not (read full article) |
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| Category :: Sales Management Articles |
Author :: Jeff Hardesty |
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| Article Title :: The 10 Most Important "To-Do's" of Any Successful Salesperson |
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| 1) Define your Target Market3 questions that set you up for success (or failure)1) Who do I call on?
2) What do I call on?
3) Why should I call them?Here's why:1) Your average revenue per account is directly proportional to what companies you decide to call on.2) The level of responsibility you call on directly affects your sales cycle and first appointment to proposal ratio.3) And the reason you call on them directly influences your closing ratio.Get the picture?What this tells you is that you do have absolute control over your performance metrics.However, you need to be able to clear on the "who", the 'what", and (read full article) |
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