How to Change Your Sales Culture

Do You Want to Train Your Sales Staff or Change Your Sales Staff?

We are all too familiar with the scenario of a sales team investing in sales training and after a few weeks of being back in the field, they fall back into their old routines and their management team is unhappy because they experienced no immediate change in sales results.

Why does this happen? Despite good intentions to implement new skills, the hectic pace of real-world, everyday selling often forces salespeople back into the ‘comfort zone’ of their old sales habits and techniques. Simply put, they take the path of least resistance to get the job done.

The reality is that it takes more than a Facilitator’s Guide, a charismatic presentation and a few role-play exercises for a training provider to achieve true changes in sales performance. An effective ‘sales changing’ program (versus a ‘sales training’ program) requires three things:

• A strong sales management team that embraces the need for change.
• Sales managers that are outstanding ‘coaches’ who will get out in the field, observe their sales staff and offer their expertise and guidance.
• An accountability tool (or scorecard) in place so the entire team knows where they are now, where they’re headed and where to course-correct if they get off track.

Jim Tunney, a retired NFL referee and current motivational speaker said, “If employees don’t understand their company’s goals and its game plan, these goals won’t be achieved. Football doesn’t make this mistake. Its goals are always clearly defined. At the end of the field is a goal line. Why do they call it a goal line? Because 11 people on the offensive team huddle for a single purpose—to move the ball across it.”

“Where are the coaches on game day?” They’re on the field coaching their players – not in the office handling paperwork, waiting to hear the outcome of the game!

The key to an effective ‘sales changing’ program begins with your sales management team. Then, partner with a sales training provider that fits the culture of your organization and communicate the specific, measurable results you want to achieve. A good sales training provider will embrace the accountability and be energized by the opportunity to do it right. I guarantee you’ll see new, productive habits among your sales staff, along with the results you expect from your investment.

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Don’t You Get It? Sales Managers Are the Keys to Sales Success!

One of my pet peeves as a sales consultant and trainer is when someone says “I did sales training before and it didn’t work.” When I dig deeper, however, I almost always discover the client expected to see miraculous results when their sales staff went back out to the field following a sales training. To all of you who have that same belief — WAKE UP!

Results are a directly tied to the sales manager’s ability to communicate and reinforce clear performance expectations and follow-through. Unless there is follow-up and reinforcement after any sales training, sales reps left to their own devices will be more likely to fall back into their old daily selling habits.

Want proof? We just did a beta test on our new IMPACT Virtual Sales Training™ program (which is an amazing new technology for geographically dispersed sales teams). In one test, we conducted an “Open” enrollment program. We had six sales reps sign up — all of whom wanted to learn a sales process to help them improve their sales skills. The second beta group was drawn from a healthcare company whose regional manager wanted to do a pilot program for six reps. This group had the same objective — improving their sales skills — but were dispersed across several selling territories from New Jersey to California.

After only 3 weeks in the Open program, five participants had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. None of them completed the required homework or projects to help them reinforce what they were learning. There was no performance expectation or management support from their within respective organizations. In the end, many of them simply decided that learning new skills wasn’t as important as their other daily activities.

By contrast, there were two sales management observers of the program in the healthcare group. Each week, a manager would send an email to the group praising their progress and follow- through. I just received a comment from this manager that read “For the first time ever, I was speechless on most calls. It was fantastic, and I think [our sales rep] made some great progress with these new offices (because of what she learned in the training.)” She went on to say she is seeing measurable results as a result of what they were learning and applying.

The obvious difference: the expectations, reinforcement and follow-through of the sales managers. The bottom line is, if you want to make a measurable difference in your sales, begin at your sales management level.

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Let Me be Brutally Honest … Your Sales Manager is Your Key to Success or Failure

I keep up with blogs and postings from sales training vendors and read about their experiences with clients who, they complain, expect measurable results from sales training programs but aren't willing to "invest enough money to do it right." That really gets under my skin because it is the sales training vendors' fault and not their clients fault — PERIOD. Essentially, the sales training vendor is saying "I'm only doing x amount of work for the amount you’re willing to pay me." That's not a sales training vendor; that's a sales vendor who is more interested in their own revenue than fulfilling their clients’ expectations for success. The irony is these so-called ’sales training vendors‘ preach and teach that their selling system will help their clients’ sales staff increase their sales. However, If the budget isn't ‘enough’ they will often cut portions of the system (usually reinforcement) and only do as much as they feel the budget allows. It's as if they’re selling you a brand new Airbus 767, but you negotiate a lower price, so they rig it so it won't go over 160 miles per hour. You still get the brand-new Airbus, but it won't go fast enough to take off.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let me give you the formula for any successful sales force:

1- A Superstar sales manager
2- Recruiting and selecting top talent
3- A consistent, easy-to-follow sales process
4- Coaching to expectations
5- Accountability

If you don't have #1, but do have 2-5 the result will be failure (I hope the reason is obvious). If you do have #1 without 2-5 you have a chance for success because your sales manager will implement their own process for 2-5. Top performing companies begin with a top performing sales manager and then train them on a management process that includes 2-5.

Take a look at your challenges in this difficult economy, but focus on your sales management rather than your sales team and ask yourself these questions:

1. Does he or she spend time in the field setting the example and coaching their team?
2. Does he or she set clear expectations to the team that are activity driven, and not just focused on ’making quota’?
3. Does he or she have accountabilities in place (not 'call reports') to measure performance?
4. Are there daily/weekly/monthly rewards and sanctions in place?

If your sales manager is not doing these things, then it's not the economy that should be your concern.

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7 Things Sales Leaders Must be Doing Now

There is so much talk about how to get through this difficult economy (rightfully so), but bottom line is it gets down to practicing the fundamentals. It's no different than what is going on now with major league baseball professionals at Spring Training. Even the super stars, who make millions of dollars, are practicing the fundamentals to get ready for the season. Here's a checklist for sales leaders to insure you and your sales team are practicing the fundamentals to excel in this economy.

1. Target the segments and prospects your sales staff should be going after right now. What segments are doing well and/or spending resources? What existing customers can we leverage for additional dollars and vertically integrate? Are there past customers, from a previous relationship, we can revisit?
2. Qualify the prospects to insure your sales staff is investing their time wisely. Make sure your staff knows your expectations of the type of qualified prospect they should be targeting.
3. What is the value proposition you want delivered to get an appointment? Most sales people will try to "sell" their product or service as a solution for the prospect rather than position themselves as a resource, consultant or expert who can help them identify opportunities and solutions (which may or may not include what you sell.)
4. Have a formal process to move prospects through your pipeline. Statistics tell us if you have a formal process in place you have a 93% chance of making the sale versus 42% if your sales people just "wing it."
5. Your sales people must identify the prospects essential needs to come out of this ahead of their competition. Again, it's not about 'pitching' your product or service, but rather identifying the major issues and challenges of your prospects. A Bill Brooks quote is "People will buy from professionals who best understand what they want."
6. Have a system to insure every lead is followed up on. Statistics say that over 65% of leads are never followed up on once a new prospect is uncovered. So, if your closing average is 25% and you could insure that every lead is followed up on that will translate into new business.
7. Have some kind of scoreboard or measurement to make people accountable for doing these fundamental activities. The key is to focus on the activities that lead to a sale rather than just measuring sales results. Does an NFL team just measure the final score? No, they measure sacks, hurries, QB rating, etc. etc. etc. (hundreds of categories by position!)

In a turbulent economy top performing companies don't sacrifice on marketing and sales education, but rather see it as an investment and opportunity to distance themselves from their competition. Now is the time to invest in your sales team. Anyone can sell in a good economy, but now is the time for your sales team to step up and perform. Give them the leadership, tools and resources for them to be successful. It's all begins with your focus and accountability on mastering the fundamentals of successful selling.

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The Difference Between a Top Performing Organization and One Just Hoping to Survive

I read this report and wanted to share with you some key results from a recent Miller Heiman study that included over 3900 executives from top organizations. What jumped out at me was the difference between average and outstanding sales organizations.

Characteristics of World class organizations that make them different than others:

• high degree of alignment between sales marketing and customer needs (trending up for the last 3 yrs)
• standardized processes for qualifying and selling
• formal strategy for getting concessions in return for price reductions
• clear understanding of client issues prior to offering proposals
• cross department collaboration to manage strategic accounts
• joint long-term planning with key customer
• knowledge of why top performers are successful and structured programs to share that insight across the team
• sales metrics are aligned with business objectives
• CRM systems geared to greatly improve effectiveness of the sales organization
• organization is highly structured to learn and adapt.

As you go through this list take an objective look at your organization because this is a road map to growth. If you answer 'no' to any of these then sit down with your executive team and create a plan. Insure you have a solid sales management process in place that includes recruiting good talent (with a compensation plan that fuels winners); establishing expectations (setting the bar high); training & coaching to those expectations (you can't manage a sales force from behind a desk); feedback & course correction (in real time); and measurable accountability (if you can't measure it you can't coach it.)

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