While the image of the disengaged employee was captured by the actor Ron Livingston in his portrayal of “Peter Gibbons” in the movie Office Space, spotting this hidden thief within your organization may not be quite that easy. Gallup recently found that almost 70% of all workers are not actively engaged at work. These workers are costing their respective companies millions. However, they are not always to blame. I believe a large number of organizations may prevent this from happening by having a strategy that is well defined and helps tackle this costly issue. The down turn in the economy has given rise to the worker that has mentally checked out but is still collecting a paycheck. What can you do? How do you spot a disengaged worker and turn things around before it’s too late?

Here is a little insight, splashed with some humor, into 5 things that indicate your employee might be disengaged. Enjoy!

1. Lunches get longer: Oh, three trips to the buffet line may sound like a viable excuse but it’s nothing more than putting off getting back to the office—2.5 hours later
2. Walking around with a cell phone and a legal pad becomes common practice. If the cell phone is to the ear this is even worse. This gives the appearance of being very busy and even more so if the employee is wearing one of those cheesy cell phone holders on their belt.
3. Reorganizing one’s office space becomes habitual
4. Sending out emails with tips to odd bits of information that appears to be in the spirit of helping the team, but that no one really cares about, becomes a new pastime.
5. And the real kicker—Doctors Appointments tend to be scheduled every other Friday afternoon or Monday morning.

On a serious note: The Brooks Group is hosting a webinar around this topic to provide you with specific ways to spot disengagement and more importantly tips on how to reengage your worker so that productivity levels increase. We are offering the webinar on two different days. For more information and to register for the session you would like to attend visit:

Free Webinar: The Tragic Cost of Employee Disengagement
Tuesday, March 30th, 12:30-1:30 pm ET: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/336812089
Thursday, April 1st, 3:00-4:00 pm ET: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/722969409

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“Mad Men” is getting ready to kick off its fourth season on TV. It’s my favorite show partly because there are so many sales lessons packed into it. It’s about a 1960’s New York advertising agency and is an accurate depiction of the times (or so I’m told -- I missed the sixties by a few years).

Anyway, the biggest sales-related lesson is just how much customers have changed over time. Here’s an example. In the third season, the lead character, Don Draper, is working with a client whose product is getting some really bad attention. Draper tells his client…

“If you don’t like the conversation, change it.”

If only it were still that easy…You and I know that if Don tried that today, he’d flop with the super-sophisticated, plugged-in customers of the 21st century. Salespeople have to listen to their customers more now than ever. They’re too savvy to be “played.” In fact, I think customers have become more sophisticated in the past ten years than they had in the last hundred.

Think about it.

What’s happened in the last ten years?

• Wikipedia replaced Britannica
• Google gave you easy access to virtually all knowledge
• Social networking means almost-instant access to anyone in the world
• The list goes on and on…

In short, we can get any information we want whenever we want it effortlessly. And that’s exactly what your customers are doing. They have access to more information and resources than ever before. When they’ve got a question, they turn to Google. And, when they look through the results, they’re less interested in what you’re saying about yourself and more interested in what other people in their situation are saying and doing about the problem you solve.

So what does that mean? They’re not waiting for a salesperson to show up to give them a solution. They’re asking, listening, and learning. And it means your sales team must be part of the conversation.

It’s not possible for Don Draper (or anybody else) to just “change the conversation” anymore.

So rather than wasting time and energy fighting that impossible fight, salespeople should focus on…

• Learning everything their customers know (or might know) about their offerings.
• Getting to know their customers’ customers.
• Understanding their customer’s competitors.
• Thinking about their customers’ customers’ competitors.

Get the point?

That’s more than information overload – it’s an overload of information overload. But to be positioned as the expert your customers expect, you have no choice! The moral of the story is that sales professionals (and their managers and leaders) will have to become increasingly more sophisticated, too.

So, the question we’re left with is: If Don’s 1960’s skills are no good today, what’s going to be required in 2060?

“The only thing about change is that it changes things.”
- Yogi Berra

We’ve been hosting Sales Buzz Radio -- our free monthly internet radio show -- for a couple of years. We always get excited about the shows and this month’s (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time this Thursday, March 18) is no exception. Our guests will be John Sullivan and Jude Acuff, partners in SalesVision, a sales development and sales management coaching consulting practice. If you haven’t signed up yet, click here.

John and Jude will be talking about how Sales Managers can Create Sales Behavior Change in their teams.

We caught up with John last week to get an overview of what he and Jude will be talking about. John says that changing sales behavior is The Sales Manager’s Most Important Responsibility and Most Awkward Task

John told us that change needs to be part of a sales manager’s comfort zone.

We asked John what made it awkward. He said it’s because it’s a lot easier for salespeople to change when they can than when they have to. Managing change requires a lot of work: Analysis, planning, communication, psychology, persistence and (sometimes) discipline. When you take all of this into consideration, it can be overwhelming to take on any significant change within your organization.

On Thursday, John and Jude will help our listeners understand how to get that work done effectively and achieve true behavioral change.

They’ll also talk about how sales managers can become “change agents” in order to help their teams deliver optimal sales results and long-term sales growth.

I’m particularly looking forward to hearing John talk about the Sales Risk Audit Analysis tool. It helps managers evaluate their team’s strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan to take on change within their organizations. John and Jude have offered to provide a copy of that tool to anyone who listens to the show. Be sure to tune in!

So, what are you waiting for?! If you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time!

To quote Charles Osgood, “See you on the radio.”

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I’m just back from the Sales 2.0 Conference. I went with the hope that it would give me a clear idea of what “Sales 2.0” is. Unfortunately, it’s still too new. Conference organizer and Selling Power Magazine founder, Gerhard Gschwander, put it well when he said that, “Sales 2.0 is not concrete; it’s agile. We need to build as we go.”

No one seems to have developed a clear, all-encompassing definition yet. Probably the best one belongs to Anneke Seley who wrote the book, Sales 2.0 says that it’s “a more efficient and effective way of selling for both salespeople and buyers that’s enabled by technology.”

I hope that, in time, we’ll understand “Sales 2.0” as more than just technology. I’d like to think of it as a version of sales where customers and salespeople are more closely aligned with each other due, in part, to technology. It will be a version of sales where trust will develop in a different way as a result of technology. In many ways this has already happened. For example, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles allow customers and salespeople to get to know each other before their first meeting. That’s technology supporting human connections.

As of today, most of what’s been hung on the “Sales 2.0” banner is enterprise software designed to gather data from salespeople and (occasionally) provide data to them.

Surely “Sales 2.0” is a more fundamental shift than just more data collection? Sales 2.0 has got to be about more than technology. Technology should support the sales effort, not hinder it. It should make it easier for salespeople and customers to connect. And too much sales-oriented technology stands between customers and salespeople rather than unites them. I have every confidence that sales and marketing automation are critical, but only if they serve to increase and maximize the time salespeople spend with their customers.

In fact, according to a report by Gartner Research (presented at the conference), actual customer contact time for inside salespeople tops out at about 40%, while field reps are lucky to spend between 18 and 20% of their time with prospects. The number is even lower – 10% – for complex sales (like airplanes and nuclear coolers). In a “Sales 2.0” world, those numbers should rise.

My point is that technology fails when it’s too cumbersome, creates extra work, or distracts from customer interaction in any way. Reporting is important, but salespeople must be allowed to build their customer relationships. Like excessive paperwork in “Sales 1.0,” burdensome software just gives excuses to poor performers and frustrates top performers.

However, when technology compliments customer interaction better, it becomes indispensable.

I’m enthusiastic about the future of sales because the interaction between customers and salespeople will become richer. My only fear is that too much software will distract from, rather than support, the sales effort.

Thoughts?

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Lots of companies seem to struggle with job titles for their salespeople. For some reason, many seem leery of our favored, simple descriptor: "sales professional." In a few circles people go to even greater lengths to hide their real function behind an innocuous name (think "real estate agent.") So I set out to create a list of every euphemism I could think of.

If you've got one of these titles, there's a pretty good chance you're a sales professional...

• Consultant
• Producer
• Account Manager
• Account Representative
• Account Executive
• Account Associate
• Account Specialist
• Estimator
• Telemarketer
• Rep

Here are a few I've heard but wish I hadn't...

• Promoter [visions of a carnival?]
• Merchant [admirable in the 19th century]
• Clerk [too close to a vending machine]
• Dealer [smoke and mirrors]
• Peddler [where's the bike?]
• Hawker [that just sounds disgusting]
• Hustler [c'mon]
• Salesman [it's sexist]

What have we missed?

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Next week, I’m heading to the Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. I’m going because I desperately want to learn as much as possible about how technology is influencing (dramatically changing?) the sales role. I’m most interested in what technology will do to the relationships between salespeople and their prospects. There seem to be two camps. Here they are at their extremes:

First, there are the people who say that the need for salespeople will completely disappear. They argue that between technology and social networks, people don’t want (need?) to talk to salespeople anymore. They take Arthur Miller’s play “Death of a Salesman” at face value.

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who say that technology will have no effect. They say that because “people buy from people,” computers and technology can’t interrupt that chain.

No surprise…I fall in the middle. There’s no question that it’s already had a pretty dramatic impact. The most “transactional” sales were impacted by technology in 215 B.C. when the first vending machine was invented (it dispensed holy water at an Egyptian Temple). However, complex, business-to-business sales will always need salespeople to help customers through their buying process.

The better question is: What will it take to thrive as a salesperson in an increasingly plugged-in world?

Anyway, I’m going to San Francisco next week to get a better handle on exactly what, why, and how technology will change our profession.

I’ll let you know what I discover.

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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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In working with and coaching salespeople, particularly new ones, or untrained ones, I have noticed many stumbling with how to initiate sales calls. Whether “cold” or scheduled appointments, many have difficulty deciding how to open the sales call. Why not simply be honest and express your intentions?

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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“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.”—Chinese Proverb

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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Training, Training and more Training—The Real Secret to Success

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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