Living Sales Excellence - Dennis Connelly's Blog

I recently published an article about 5 Critical Steps to Sales Management Mastery. It was not originally intended to be a complete list but rather the top five steps to take and skills to learn to raise your own bar and truly master the role. Absent from the list were many well-known mechanical, tactical, and even strategic components of sales management. As for critical steps, at the core, make sure it's the right role for you, that you model and learn from the success of others, that you understand people's motivations, you create an environment that ensures success and that you build a culture of constant improvement through coaching. 

After publishing the article, sales expert and international thought leader, Dave Kurlan, rightly pointed out that leveraging technology and holding people accountable belonged on the list. He's right. So here they are, below. And if you want to read about all seven, click here to see the whole article, now with the two additional components added, 6 and 7.

7 Critical Components to Sales Management Mastery

1 Model Success
2 Choose the Right Role 
3 Know What Motivates
4 Make Coaching Your Most Important Skill
5 Create an Environment that Supports Success

6 Leverage Technology

There are numerous tools available to managers to help them do their jobs and to help their people do theirs. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems work when everyone uses it and keeps it 100% up to date. If less than 100%, the information reported from the data is almost useless. Managers that report 100% compliance also report that it is one of the most useful technology tools in the kit. Another is their pipeline tool.

Let's make an important distinction. CRM is not Pipeline and most CRM tools talk the pipeline talk without walking the walk. CRM focuses on customers whereas Pipeline focuses on opportunities. If you're visual, imagine the two dimensions of customers and activities. That's CRM. Now add a third dimension of opportunities and you have Pipeline.

Client after client ask me how they can turn their CRM tool into a pipeline tool. In Salesforce, for example, thanks to integration with Membrain and other pipeline tools, that's possible. If you don't want to spend money on both, err on the side of pipeline because it's more helpful to salespeople. Many companies use industry-specific CRM tools. E.g., Media companies, or heavy equipment sales, etc. They don't always have the luxury of tossing out a sub-par CRM tool because it is interwoven into many other parts of the business. In that case, either we are able to rig up a Pipeline tool within the structure of their CRM or we set up a separate Pipeline tool. Thanks to the integration tool, Zapier, sometimes we can even save the step of double entering customers.

Another effective tool for managers is the use of video for asynchronous communication. A video challenge can be sent to a rep who then responds with a video of their own. The manager asks a question such as, "Describe product x in detail," or, "Open a conversation with a positioning statement," and the rep responds so the manager can critique and provide feedback. Refract is an example of this kind of technology.

7 Hold People Accountable

Sales Managers often look at sales revenues as a primary data point for management. As we know, however, sales is a trailing indicator. To improve forecasting, we look ahead by examining activities and behaviors that are likely to lead to more sales. If we focus on behavior that is within the control of the salesperson, we can bring more accountability to our leadership. 

Here's my Thursday-Afternoon Test: Imagine that you are meeting with your team Friday morning and you want them each to report on what they accomplished yesterday. What expectation could you set for team members such that it has the power to change their behavior on Thursday afternoon? That's the test.

Here's an example: You want them to sell more and you have a three-month sales cycle and an average monthly sales number of $100,000 per month per rep. (Let's keep it simple.) You give them the metric of selling $25,000 per week and reporting to you Friday morning. Does it pass the Thursday-Afternoon Test? Let's see. It's Thursday at 3:00 pm and they've only sold $15,000 so far this week, and many of the deals were started two to four months ago. Can they make up the difference in a couple of hours? Probably not, so are not likely to change whatever it was they were doing on Thursday afternoon. They usually can't magically make $10,000 in revenue appear just by working harder for a few hours. That's not to say it isn't possibly, just that it isn't likely to change behavior.

They do, however, have control over many other activities. For example, making calls, following-up, setting up a new meeting, identifying a potential referral source, etc. These kinds of activities have two important features. 1. They are leading indicators. Doing more of them leads to more sales later. 2. They are within the control of the salesperson. Using our example of a Friday morning meeting, let's say we ask our team members to set up six new meetings per week and report on their progress during the meeting. Does it pass the Thursday-Afternoon Test? Let's see. It's Thursday at 3:00 pm and they've set up five meetings. What will they do? Mostly likely, they will get on the phone for next few hours and get that last meeting set up so they can report accomplishing the goal at the meeting the following morning. It passes.

Creating accountability starts with setting expectations that are within the control of the team member. What is doable? What is reachable, within the time frame? How is being reported? Is there a peer component (the morning meeting; a daily huddle; a group chat or email, etc.)? And are their consequences for not meeting metrics goals, activity goals, and behavior goals? And how do those consequences change for one or two violations versus a pattern of missed metrics? 

When the goal is sales related or any other trailing indicator, the assumption that poor performance is due to a lack of ability, drive, commitment, or concern can only be established with an appropriate amount of time. Maybe they are doing the right things well, but sales didn't reflect that this month. When the goal is activity-based, doing it or not doing it is a choice, and therefore an easier place from which to hold people accountable.

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Here are some additional resources you might find helpful:

White Paper: The Modern Science of Sales Force Excellence 
White Paper: The Science of Sales Effectiveness 
Register to use candidate assessments (sales and sales management)

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Book Dennis Connelly to speak at your event.

Photo Credit:   gajus  (123 RF)

Sales managers have two choices. It's still the first quarter of the year and you can improve your success and go flying past your targets in this very year by choosing one of them. The first option is as follows: 

1. Convince your team to reach out to more people than they did last year
2. Make incremental improvements to your skills as a manager
3. Tell your people to reach out to customers who haven't done business with you in over a year
4. Spend more time with your people understanding their needs and motivations
5. Reduce time-wasting activities
6. Read two sales management blog articles per week (make sure this is one of them!)
7. Look for ways to help each of your people improve skills and remove success barriers
8. Create a no-excuse culture of responsibility
9. Reexamine why do what you do and re-associate to it to motivate yourself
10. Develop your coaching skills 
11. Work on holding your people accountable
12. Make recruiting a core competency and upgrade the bottom of your team

If you do all that, you will have a better year than last year. You'll be turning your amp all the way up to 10, the highest number on the dial.

But you have another choice, don't you? Buy a new amp that goes to 11. Get excited to have the best year of your entire career. Choose to be legendary. Make your number one goal to be the very best. The best manager. The best coach. The best motivator. The one boss that everyone mentions during an interview that had the most influence on their career and their success. The most outstanding sales manager you can be - just that much better than great.

Turn your game all the way up to 11. Commit to a year of making your own improvement in your role a top priority so your team will get the most from you, perform at their best, and sail past their numbers like it was easy, almost as if they had been sandbagging. Decide once and for all that you going to stop dabbling, stop trying, and stop merely thinking about getting the training you deserve and coming to the renowned Kurlan Sales Leadership Intensive on March 19th and 20th, and actually do it!

Because you got this far in article, by clicking here you will receive $100 discount to secure your place in our limited capacity training center for two very intense days that will elevate your sales management game permanently - all the way to 11.

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Book Dennis Connelly to speak at your event.

Photo Credit: Really? This article is in no way affiliated with the exceedingly funny movie, This is Spinal Tap. While I can't imagine the owners of the film would willingly promote an actual sales blog, unless it was a mock blog that maybe they wrote and that I would happily read, I'm sure they wouldn't pass up the chance to have one more voice proliferating the enormously important phrase they have added to our pop cultural lexicon. I know I'm taking a risk using their movie image, but sometimes you have to go outside of your comfort zone. That's what I'm asking you to do. See you on the 19th, if it hasn't already sold out.

Imagine using a script for all of your sales calls and meetings. Get on the phone: use a script. Have a meeting: use a script. Get hung up on an objection: use a script. Now imagine managing your people. "Here's your script. Don't stray." And imagine what your ad for salespeople would look like? "Wanted: Anyone who can read."

Sales managers frequently ask me how to use a script for certain selling situations and how to use them for coaching their people. You might be thinking that one shouldn't have or need a script, or that sounding scripted is unnatural and not something real salespeople need, or that scripts are only for rude telemarketers. And you'd be right. And they also serve a more helpful purpose. The sales manager on top of their game understands both the useful purpose of a script and the need to toss it aside just before you might actually be tempted to use it. Let's explore this misunderstood but important area of sales coaching and find out how to use a script to help your people improve while perhaps not sounding scripted at all. Ready?

First, where do we find scripts. Here are some examples:

1. Cold call opening
2. Response to an inbound lead
3. Handling an objection
4. Asking for a referral
5. When your prospect says they are all set
6. At tradeshows
7. At Closing

It might sound something like this: 

"Good morning, Bill. Do you purchase industrial phenolic wheels? Good. May I take fifteen minutes to tell you why mine are the best? Thank you. We have a vast array of kingpinless phenolic wheels at any load capacity you need...blah blah."

Or:

"Thanks for telling me that, Jill. I often hear people say they are all set. Can I take a few moments to let you know what you might be missing? We have a vast array..."

Or:

"Thank you for stopping by the booth. What interested you? Who are you buying from now? May I show you this short video showing the vast array of..."

And so on.

I chose these somewhat comical scripts because they are close to the kind of language I often hear from clients at the beginning of our engagement. And it doesn't matter if it's industrial wheels, software as a service, TV advertising, or professional services. The concepts are the same. 

On the flip side, some will say, "I don't want to script anything. I'll just wing it." Then I'll ask them, "So what's your strategy for when a prospect says they are all set?" And I usually hear some hesitation followed by several reasons why they should consider buying from them. "If I can just show you our vast array of wheel options, I think you'll be impressed. We are second to none in service. We ship to this area three times per week. We keep every accessory and part in stock locally... etc..."

The Purpose of the Script

The above examples demonstrate where scripts can be helpful. Here's why. Absent a formal sales process, most salespeople will result to the kind of language patterns shown above, and will follow a default process that is some variation of trying to get in front of the right person, present all their great stuff, and ask for an order. The resulting coaching session might sound like this:

Typical Coaching Session
Manager: How did it go?
Salesperson: Great!
Manager: Where does it stand?
Salesperson: They're going to get back to me in two weeks.
Manager: What went well?
Salesperson: They liked the product and we know a lot of the same people in the industry.
Manager: What could be improved?
Salesperson: Since they are talking with someone else, too, I need to do a better job explaining why we're different.
Manager: Great. Let's work on that.

On the other hand, if there were a formal sales process in place (grade yours here), the manager might have poked a few holes in that description and analysis. "When you asked them why it was so important to make a switch at this time, what did they say?" And then, "It sounds like your presentation was a bit premature."

"Okay," your rep might say, "What should I have said?"

And this is where you might write a script together that will start the conversation off the right way. What might that sound like?

Example of a Script

"It's nice to meet you, Bill. I find that the people who do what you do, and who ultimately want my help usually tell me either that they are frustrated by slowdowns caused by bad wheels on their industrial carts, or that they are concerned by the high variability in service life of their wheels making it hard to plan ahead. Are either of those true for you?"

From the prospect's answer, a conversation can ensue. Wouldn't it be nice to work out in advance how this initial question should sound so that it sparks a discussion about your prospect and their issues, concerns, and difficulties, rather than making it about you? Your rep will normally resort to doing it the way they are used to doing it and the way that makes them comfortable. The point of the script, in this case, is to practice a new conversation starter to the point when which it becomes comfortable.

When coaching your people, role play this scenario enough times so that it rolls off the tongue and so they are truly comfortable with it. Then...and here's the good part; never say it the way you wrote it. In other words, write the script, and then don't use it. The point isn't to have a script. It's to get comfortable with a new approach to a conversation. When you are in the moment of a real sales call, be yourself, speaking to your prospect the way you might speak to a friend that you believe you can help. Your salespeople will be relieved that they don't have a recite a script. If they aren't, you might have other problems with your team and you can do some quick math here on what a non-performing person can cost you.

The script is for thinking through a change in the sales conversation. Coaching is an opportunity for a manager and a salesperson to work, one-on-one to make an improvement in the salesperson's skills. Now imagine your people using a script as a tool to make improvements over how they've been doing it for perhaps years and years. Someone smarter than me once told me that no one is in sales for 20 years; they are in sales for 5 years and repeat the fifth year fifteen more times. Now you can add script writing to your available tools to help your people make improvements regardless of how long they have been selling.

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Book Dennis Connelly to speak at your event.

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