Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
When a room full of sales leaders arrive for two days of intensive training, there are many things that can and do happen. Here are ten of them:
- They can and do resist if they were sent there. If they chose to come, on their own, resistance never occurs! Fortunately, the resistance fades away by the end of the first day.
- They can and do see the magic of how proper sales coaching should be conducted.
- They can and do pick and choose what to embrace and bring back to their offices and teams.
- They can get a much better grasp on what it takes to make their sales force change-ready but some won't take the time to do so.
- They can understand the subleties of how to shape their sales environment but it's not as exciting as mastering sales coaching. So even though one can't coach effectively without shaping their environment, some will fail to execute that important step.
- They can and do see the power, efficiency and magic of a well thought-out, time-tested, proven, customized, optimized sales process. But old habits are hard to break and some still want to demo and present too early in the new process!
- They can and do get a much better understanding of how to effectively motivate their various salespeople but some will forget most of it by the time they return to their office.
- They can and do understand how to more effectively and consistently find, assess, interview, select, hire, on board and retain better salespeople but some would rather work harder and longer and do what they have always done instead of trusting that a time-tested, proven, customized, effecient sales recruiting process will make it as easy as advertised.
- They can and do learn the power of the daily huddle as a great way to hold their salespeople accountable to the KPI's that will drive revenue. However, some will ease into this by conducting a weekly huddle, mistaken in their belief that weekly will work as effectively as daily.
- They can and do learn the power of a staged, criteria-based pipeline and what it takes to keep it filled. Most will implement this upon their return.
If it sounds like some people waste their time by attending that isn't true. What actually happens is that they fear that they can't do everything (not enough time and too much work) they hear so they determine what is most important (or most comfortable) and resolve to do that. It's not a waste at all. It's simply the sales leader being guilty of some of the same "I can't" issues that their salespeople have.
Here are ten suggestions that will make participation a success if you decide to attend an intensive sales leadership training event like this.
- Embrace instead of resisting
- Focus instead of distraction
- Participate instead of observing
- Early instead of late
- Fewer detailed notes, more concepts
- Apply everything, not just what you like or feel comfortable with
- Listen with your sales force in mind
- Ask questions, ask for help, enter into discussions
- Complete all of the exercises, they're to help you apply the lessons to your sales force
- Perform the overnight assignments so you won't be left behind
You can get more out of these two days than from your entire sales leadership career, but you must be present and in the moment for the entire two days.
Article has
0 comments.
Click To Read/Write Comments
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
I heard former NBA all-star and current ESPN basketball analyst, Bruce Bowen, talking about Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics. He characterized Garnett as one of the toughest competitors on the court, unlike some younger, very talented players who aren't as competitive and don't know how to close out games. He said the difference is that Garnett is trying to win while the less competitive players are trying to make friends.
I've been talking about Need for Approval being one difference between the elite 6% of salespeople and the bottom 74% of salespeople for years, but this is the first time I have heard of the affliction as a differentiator in sports. In one of my books - it was probably Baseline Selling - I discussed how it would play out if the pitcher had need for approval from the batter and vice versa.
Why is Need for Approval such a differentiator?
In the discussion about Kevin Garnett, Bowen said that Garnett doesn't care what other players think about him. Given his reputation as a shut-down defender, we can interpret that as he doesn't care if other players have a problem with him being tough, unrelenting, unfriendly, angry and passionate on the court. He isn't going to smile at an opponent, ask how he's doing or praise him for a nice play. He doesn't care if his opponent has a problem with that.
In sales, the elite 6% don't care what prospects and customers think about them, as long as they are thinking about them. They don't need to be best friends or have a relationship outside of work. That allows them to ask tough questions, challenge strategies and comments, and push-back when appropriate. These are behaviors that the bottom 74% of salespeople aren't able to do because they care so much about what their prospects and customers think about them. They worry that, if they ask too many questions or push-back, their prospects and customers won't like them anymore.
Who says that those prospects and customers like them now?
Because they don't ask tough questions and don't ever push back or challenge anything, we can be certain that they aren't having the type of conversations that add value. And if they aren't adding value, their prospects and customers probably don't respect them.
Do you know which of your salespeople have need for approval and how to deal with it?
Article has
8 comments.
Click To Read/Write Comments
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
My colleague, Frank Belzer, just posted a terrific, thought-provoking article on Rejection. Please read that first for the rest of my article to have the proper context.
Five years ago, Passive Rejection wouldn't have been an article topic because back then, it was rare to not get your repeated calls returned. By contrast, today it's unusual when a prospect returns one of your first 5 voicemail messages!
Let's take a deeper look into Passive Rejection. Frank mentioned a former colleague who handled Active Rejection just fine but didn't handle Passive Rejection in an acceptable way. If Passive Rejection is akin to being ignored, then what is it about being ignored that causes the problem?
After reading Frank's article, I gave this some thought and identified the following 10 reactions to Passive Rejection:
- Fear - What if I never reach this person?
- Anger - How rude!
- Abandonment - They don't want me in their life...
- Hurt - How could they do this to me?
- No Respect - If they respected me, they would call me.
- Distrust - They haven't returned my calls, so I don't trust them.
- Approval - They don't love me!
- Self-Importance - I don't have time for this!
- Self-Image - I'm not very happy with myself right now.
- Revenge - They haven't returned my calls, so I won't call them. Hmmph.
As you can see, the other rejection, Passive Rejection, is simply another trigger for salespeople to become emotionally involved, a hidden weakness which I touched on in yesterday's article about
chain reactions. So, when a salesperson experiences Passive Rejection, the severity of emotional involvement increases, as each of these reactions kick-in, until the salesperson has effectively been neutralized. Emotional Paralysis would be an appropriate phrase to describe what happens at this point, where the salesperson is no longer able to function in the sales role until they have finally recovered.
OMG's long-standing finding of Difficulty Recovering from Rejection would come into play here. Do you have salespeople who don't seem to have enough conversations and new meetings each day? Do they claim to be doing the work? Could they be suffering from Passive Rejection?
As it becomes more and more difficult to reach prospects whose priorities make it impossible to be reached, Passive Rejection and the resulting Emotional Involvement play larger roles among the many weaknesses that interfere with a salesperson's ability to perform.
Photo Credit - Fever Pitch on PhotoDune
Article has
3 comments.
Click To Read/Write Comments
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Mary always succeeded in finding new opportunities, but her weaknesses, especially her Need for Approval, Discomfort Talking About Money, and Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, would usually interfere with her ability to gain traction and close the sale. During the past year, she has improved enough so that she is not only finding new business, but closing it too. But she isn't out of the woods yet.
One weakness where she hasn't yet made progress is her Discomfort Talking About Money. When that weakness gets in the way, it begins a chain reaction from which recovery is nearly impossible. It could start as innocently as this:
Mary: I'm looking forward to working with you and helping you. We haven't finalized the terms yet, can we talk about that?
Prospect: Sure.
Mary: I'll need a deposit for $20,000 along with your acceptance on this agreement.
Prospect: OK. How about if I just send the check out in a couple of weeks?
Mary: (Knows that a check must accompany the signed agreement). Umm, OK, (Not only is she uncomfortable talking about the money, but now her need for approval gets in the way and prevents her from pushing back for fear that she will no longer be liked.)
Prospect: Great.
Mary: (Oh no. Mary knows what just happened and that it must be corrected. But how can she accomplish that without them becoming angry with her? And now she is talking to herself and in a panic because she promised her boss a signed agreement today, so now she is acutely emotionally inolved.) Well, ah, is there any chance I can get a check today?
Prospect: It would be very inconvenient and I don't have time to walk it through.
Mary: (Worse now and still needing to repair the damage) Um, OK, well, we can't start anything until we have a deposit.
Prospect: I understand.
Mary: (Trying to recover without getting her prospect upset) I'm supposed to bring the agreement back with a check.
Prospect: I told you I would send you one.
Mary: I know, it's just that, well (really uncomfortable now)...
Prospect: Look, I told you I would send a check and if that isn't good enough, then we'll find someone else to buy this from!
Mary: (Devastated - it happened - he hates her now.) I'm so sorry - no -this is fine. I'll wait for your check.
One weakness, yet it has the power to bring down the entire house of cards! The salesperson goes from in-control to out-of-control in seconds. The closed deal becomes an unclosed deal. The salesperson is a wreck. That causes another weakness to kick-in. As Mary beats herself up, her Low Self-Esteem causes her psyche to further deteriorate.
Her sales manager sees another opportunity slipping away and doesn't understand how a sure sale could have been blown. It wouldn't have happened if he was on the call and he can't be on every call, so he blames Mary.
Are hidden weaknesses derailing your salespeople's opportunities? Are they preventing your salespeople from gaining traction? Are you unable to identify what is actually going wrong? Are hidden weaknesses preventing you from further developing your salespeople? Could those weaknesses prevent your salespeople from selling more consultatively?
A sales force evaluation will identify all such gremlins and help you eradicate them.
Article has
1 comments.
Click To Read/Write Comments
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Over the years, you have worked with many salespeople and oftentimes their success, or lack thereof, didn't correlate as much to their skills as it did to their Desire or Motivation for sales success. Desire is how badly one wants to succeed, and Motivation is what drives them to success. I've written many articles about Sales Motivation, but let's take a slightly different path today.
What is actually behind sales motivation?
I'll skip over intrinsic motivation (pride, mastery, satisfaction, recognition, love of the work) and go straight to extrinsic motivation (awards, rewards, money, trips, spiffs, bonuses) and specifically, money motivation.
Money-motivated salespeople are the easiest to understand and it's relatively easy to get them to perform. But are money-motivated salespeople always what they appear to be?
I conducted an informal analysis of the dozens of salespeople, who I have known really well over the past three decades, and when I whittled them down to the ten most successful salespeople I have ever known, a factor which I had not previously considered came into play.
All ten appear to be very money-motivated, but money-motivation was the effect, not the cause. In these cases, it was their spouses who drove their motivation for money! That's right. Whether they were earning $100,000 or $1,000,000 annually, whether they had one home or more, whether they had 2 cars or more, their spouses were never quite finished with homes, decorating, landscaping, boats, vacations, parties, cars, philanthropy, wardrobes, private schools, summer camps, swimming pools, theater, restaurants and country clubs. Their spouses were so good at maintaining the pressure on these salespeople that their sales managers never had to.
You can't legally ask about marital status during an interview, but you can ask about what a salesperson is working toward - their purpose - what they need to earn and how they would use those earnings. If you happen to learn about a very ambitious spouse, who wants more and more of what they already have, urge the candidate to talk more about it. If their spouse turns out to be someone who does for a salesperson what pressure does for water and what wind does for a sail, you may have found exactly what you may not have been looking!
Think about your most successful and unsuccessful salespeople.
Do the ambitious spouses play a role in the success of your best people?
Do your struggling salespeople have spouses who are not as ambitious, who don't pressure them enough to make a difference?
We would love to hear your experiences! Please comment on this subject.
Article has
5 comments.
Click To Read/Write Comments