Next week I have the honor and privilege of presenting and moderating at the Device & Diagnostic Sales Training Conference in Phoenix. I will meet and learn from top sales performers in the Medical Device industry.

The theme of the conference, “Maximizing Sales Force Effectiveness in the Device and Diagnostic Industry Through Optimization of Successful Training and Development Methodologies”, is one that has relevance and importance in many industries, not just the healthcare segment. Companies are faced with how to recruit and continue to develop the highest quality sales force in their industry. To help overcome this challenge, many companies have reorganized to build their own in-house sales force effectiveness team.

While this is our core specialty at The Brooks Group, I am inviting comments from anyone who wishes to participate. I am curious about programs, priorities, application and results. What are you experiencing in sales team optimization?

Some of the top device providers in the US will be in attendance, and I am excited to learn of (and share) their success stories and experiences.

For more information: http://www.brooksgroup.com/tbgnews/healthcare-conference.htm

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Your prospect/customer knows you’re a salesperson. They are not stupid or naive. Being honest about yourself and your reason for meeting will position you much more favorably. Issue a statement of intention. For example: “Hello. My name is Richard Dickerson with The Brooks Group and the purpose of our appointment is to meet you, get to know you better, share information about our (whatever you sell) and discuss anything you wish to discuss with me.” Or, another way, “Hello, I am Richard Dickerson with The Brooks Group and what I would like to accomplish is to meet you, get to know you better, share information about our (whatever you sell) and discuss anything you wish to discuss with me.”

You have clearly stated a reason for being there, and most importantly, invited dialogue. Remember, they know you are a salesperson. They are more comfortable if they feel no pressure from you. The phrase “and anything you’d like to discuss with me” takes the pressure off them and you. It discloses your wish to have dialogue–a conversation, not a data dump by you the salesperson. Prospects feel threatened by monologue. It’s inconsiderate and self focused. We have to focus on the prospect, and the prospect has to feel that focus to help develop trust in us.

Also, this is not a script; it is a language or methodology for gaining attention and building trust. Use your own words that exemplify the principle. And remember to keep it simple–least amount of words spoken with conviction and confidence that convey clearly and sincerely your interest in your prospect’s or customer’s biggest, most pressing concern.

Your sales results and career will flourish!

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With all the talk of New Year’s Resolutions, it’s easy to think about the future now.

But, here at The Brooks Group, we try to always look forward. In fact, we used this slow-economy to complete the most in-depth strategic plan in our company’s thirty-year history. During the process we came to some exciting realizations and set aggressive goals with specific benchmarks.

We began by revisiting our mission statement. We made a few minor tweaks to the original, which was first penned by our founder many years ago. Here’s the result…

The Brooks Group provides innovative, high-quality, and measurable sales and sales management performance improvement solutions across the globe. We do this by helping organizations forge sales cultures through sustainable behavioral change.

Then we turned to our strengths and opportunities. Afterwards, we swallowed our pride, dove deep, and talked about our company’s weaknesses and threats.

That exercise helped us decide that we’re most passionate about helping individuals professionally grow and develop through a process of sustainable behavioral change. We also came to believe that we can be the best in the world at helping organizations develop sales cultures. We agreed that, over the next thirty years, we will continue to strive to elevate the reputation of the sales profession.

Finally, we adopted a set of core values. They define — in a nutshell — just how we conduct business. They’re absolutely vital to our team. Here’s what you can expect from us:

• Integrity
• Making a difference in the lives of others
• Partnerships with those with whom we work
• Accountability to ourselves, each other, and our clients
• Customer-focus
• Thought leadership

We decided to share this small sliver of the end result (our file is eight inches thick!) because our success is linked directly to our clients, partners, and friends. Without them, we would not be an award-winning company. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you.

See you in the New Year!

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We’ve taken a strong look with some very revealing questions in a myriad of areas that determine the overall effectiveness of your sales efforts. However, the real driver of success to any team is the players on the team. Every team needs quality players that believe in the mission of the team and act in unison while moving towards a shared vision of where the team is going. All great teams and players have one thing in common, they never stop training. They are always seeking ways to get better! Training, training and more training is the hidden factor that drives the growth of the best of the best sales organizations.

Let’s look at the questions you should be asking of yourself and your organization concerning the training of your sales and sales management teams.

1) Have you ever trained your sales managers on a sales management process? By the way, sitting behind a desk and pumping out excel spreadsheets, and insisting on the implementation of data in a CRM system is not a sales management process. Most organizations promote top-performing salespeople into the role of sales management. In return, they manage the way they sold. However, effective sales management requires a completely different skill set. The ability to lead, guide, coach and inspire is tantamount to success in this demanding position. Yet, many organizations do not provide training on the critical processes and skills needed for success in the sales management role. When is the last time your organization invested in training the sales management team?

2) Do you regularly provide training to your sales team? Successful selling requires salespeople to be on top of their game every single day. Every successful athlete knows that the key to winning is practice and honing their skills to compete at the highest levels. Selling is no different. Training provides the fuel that keeps the engine running. Without it, salespeople become complacent and since it is human nature to take short cuts, will begin practicing bad habits. In order to really sustain a high performing sales culture, you need constant training. Every sales meeting provides you with a chance to implement a quick training session. Always remember that the best training takes place in the field with one-to-one coaching.

3) How well do you understand that sales training is more than just product training? I have seen many organizations that claim they constantly provide training to their sales team. The problem is that all they really do is provide product training. The sales team is a walking, talking, animated brochure. They know all the features, specifications, and other technical mumbo jumbo that prospects and clients really do not care about. New hires are provided with up to three weeks of intensive product training and then told to go sell. That’s what we hired them for. Well, did you train them on how to sell? Did you teach them how to be a true resource to your prospects and customers or did you send them out to just be product pushers? Selling has changed and so has the skill set needed to be successful in today’s marketplace.

4) What are your plans for assessing your sales team’s gaps and areas needed for development? In order to effectively coach and develop your team you need to know each individual’s strengths and weaknesses.

5) Do your individual salespeople seek to improve their own skills through self learning? The best professionals in any chosen profession never stop learning. They continue to train and learn off the job. Self learning and training may encompass a variety of areas, from learning about business, to studying industry trends, to being involved in associations and a host of other learning opportunities above and beyond their normal working hours. Even if they just read the business section of the newspaper on a daily basis, this shows initiative. Praise them for doing so and do your part to provide a structured training program.

At the end of the day, salespeople are the individual’s that will be driving your organization’s revenue. Isn’t it worth the investment to provide these individuals with the skills and tools to make them, and ultimately you, successful?

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As part of an ongoing analysis of key questions that should be asked because they provide insight into the hidden factors that determine the effectiveness of your sales efforts, we began by looking at external conditions that may propel or hinder sales growth. However, it is the internal factors that really set the stage for success. In order to remain vibrant, organizations often dump wads of cash into the research, development and launch of new products and service offerings. The responsibility of the sales team is to promote and sell these new innovations into a crowded marketplace.

The problem is that the biggest fear of a salesperson is being embarrassed in front of a prospect or customer. A lack of confidence in a new product or service will send the wrong message to the marketplace. Let’s look at some important questions that will provide the necessary intelligence regarding an analysis of your organization’s products and services.

1) When did you last introduce a new product line, product modification or service offering? Let’s hope it was not more than five years ago as this means you may be behind the eight ball with regards to your competition. Since I know most organizations have provided new offerings in the past five years, then take the time to maximize your chance for success by understanding how these new offerings will truly benefit your customers.

2) Did your organization conduct a feasibility study to determine if the new product or service line would be successful? This may seem like a no-brainer, but many have failed to take this necessary step before pumping in millions of dollars only to find out that the new ABC2000 is not in demand. Warehouses are full of products collecting dusts. If you fall into this trap, then what can be done to resurrect your offering out of the garbage can and into the limelight? Perhaps marketing needs to be involved to craft a new campaign and generate the buzz needed for success in the marketplace. Make a list of targeted prospects and customers that are in need of your offerings and focus your efforts there.

3) Based on your product and service line, which products and services have the highest profit margins and are they driving the bulk of your revenue? Let’s face it, commission plans will ultimately determine how much and what products and services actually get sold. Fail to spiff in the right way and you set the entire line up for failure. Make sure you are paying on those products and services that have the highest profit margins. Selling is a game of margins and not just about volume. Greedy capitalist salespeople will always gravitate to those products and services that pay the most. Make sure you are rewarding those products and services that have the highest margins and should drive the bulk of your revenue.

4) What type of ongoing marketing research process exists within your organization? Marketing research allows your salespeople to communicate the right message to the marketplace. They will be able to convey the real value that your products and services offer because they will know what the demands and needs are. Every feature has a benefit and a sales team needs to be able to convey the real value of your offerings. Marketing research allows you to understand what your prospects and customers want!

Having a strong strategic vision for the products and services your company offers is important to the long-term success of the organization. A large part of that vision is understanding the needs and wants of the marketplace. Doing the diligence needed is often overlooked by companies and they pay for it in spades on the backend. In my next blog, we will explore the critical nature of having the right sales team in place to sell your organization’s products and services.

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Smart card players recognize a losing hand when they’re dealt one. Sometimes they’ll try to bluff their opponents, but they also know that strategy will work just so many times before the other players catch on. Instead, the wise card player understands when it’s time to throw back his cards and live to play another hand. As a professional salesperson, sometimes you’ll be dealt a bad hand during a sales appointment. For example, the prospect comes across as unfriendly, impatient, overly critical, tight-lipped or incredibly demanding. You try several ways to get the prospect to open up and begin to trust you, but it doesn’t happen. In fact, you get the impression the prospect is just using you to collect information and has no intention of doing business with you.

Guess what? It’s time to fold’em and walk away. For some salespeople, it’s counter-intuitive to leave a prospect’s office after working so hard to gain the appointment. Do it anyway. Cut your losses. Don’t be rude or abrupt, but don’t be afraid to tell the prospect it appears you’re not the right company to help them solve their problems. You’ll save yourself a lot of aggravation and frustration going after business that’s not there, and you can better invest the time with a prospect who is sincere about discussing your products and services. That’s the time to “hold ‘em.”

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The perception of selling and salespeople varies too often between distasteful and despicable. So why use a word that reinforces those negative perceptions? “Close” means done, end, finished. To some it means “put away,” out of sight, inaccessible. Are those the perceptions we as salespeople want to create? Of course not. But our words embellish our thoughts, actions and mannerisms. Our actions manifest our words and how we’re seen. Want to be seen as a “closer” (finished) or as an advisor (present)?

What if we simply say (and see ourselves) as completing the final step in the selling process of asking for commitment ; becoming a trusted advisor who creates a positive perception. We built trust, we didn’t “close”. We’re not done, we’re beginning a partnership.

Think about it. “Closer” or “Consultant?” Who would you trust ?

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As a manager what is your first reaction to that result?

Fire the sales people who didn’t follow up? Implement a CRM system so management can better follow up on the status of the leads? I hope you said no to each of those “solutions” (although they are viable considerations) because the correct answer is the SALES MANAGER should be fired! Is that too extreme? Stop for a moment and calculate 7 missed opportunities of a prospect calling you wanting to do business. Then add to that number potential repeat business loss, upselling loss and vertical integration opportunities lost. In this particular organization the potential was over seven figures in lost opportunities.

This particular client originally asked me to conduct sales training. Not following up on leads is not a training issue … it’s a personal skills issue. Lack of personal skills of the sales team is definitely a serious problem (results orientation, self starting, personal accountability), but more importantly, at the sales management level. I have always preached, ‘I have never seen an “average” sales force with an “outstanding” manager.’ Your sales manager sets the expectations for their direct reports and then coaches to those expectations. If the sales reps don’t perform to those expectations a top sales manager will coach them “out” and find someone who can.

Your sales manager is the steering wheel of your sales team. You may have a great looking, professional sales team (Mercedes S Class) with a lot of talented, experienced sales professionals (fully loaded options), but if your sales manager is not out in the field observing their people in the field, coaching them to expectations (steering wheel) and holding the sales team accountable to those expectations you may not even know how many lost opportunities exist within your organization.

With all the optimism of the economic recovery into 2010 most organizations are beginning with their sales teams and working with them to be out ahead of their competitors. I encourage you to “put the horse before the cart” and begin with your sales management team. If they are excited, optimistic and determined and have a solid sales process in place your sales team will rise to their level of expectations and coaching.

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When prospects meet us in person for the very first time, they notice our facial expressions, our ability to maintain eye contact, how we sit, the tone of our voice, and, of course, the way we are dressed. Some research indicates those first impressions are formed in less than 30 seconds, and what’s more, the impressions people get from nonverbal cues are extremely accurate. Furthermore, the self-fulfilling prophecy says if you like the other person initially, you will look for additional reasons to like them. And unfortunately, the opposite is true. If you don’t have a positive first impression, you will tend to focus on things that will make you dislike the other person. The gut-level first impression your prospects get about you will impact your relationship immediately and last for a very long time. One study says it can take up to six months to overcome a bad first impression. In the world of professional selling, can you afford to work six months just to overcome a bad beginning?

So what are you to do? The next time you go on a sales call, before you meet your prospect, find a mirror. Check your appearance – your prospect certainly will. And don’t forget to smile – a sincere smile sends a message that you are a friendly person and not a threat. Offer to shake hands, but don’t make it a ‘bone-crusher’ or ‘dead-fish’ shake. Pump your hands 3 to 5 times and let go, making sure you look the prospect in one eye (preferably the right eye). If invited to sit down, sit up straight and lean forward – it shows enthusiasm and interest in what the other person is saying.

Years of research also indicate it’s more important how you open the sale than how you close it, so make your first impression – the nonverbal one – a good one.

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