Huh?

That's right. Today I heard about a CEO who told one of my colleagues that all of his salespeople over achieve.  In the same phone conversation he mentioned that sales are down 20%.  Can you imagine where sales would be if his salespeople under achieved?  

I think that many CEO's are in a time warp.

Despite the struggles of their sales force in this economy, they still view the sales force as they remember them when times were good. 

The problem with this is that even the good times did not accurately define these salespeople.  Salespeople who succeed when times are good but struggle when times get tough are not over achievers.  They are mediocre salespeople who simply don't get in their own way.  Over achievers find ways to succeed in all conditions, good and bad.

I think that many CEO's are in denial.

Despite the struggles of their sales force, they continue to look at the pipeline and say to themselves, we'll be okay as soon as these deals close.  But the deals aren't closing and with each passing day companies are less okay then they were the day before.

I think that many CEO's are scared shitless (the only truly accurate word I could type there).

Because of the struggles of their sales force, they look at the numbers, down 90%, down 75%, down 50%, down 25% and wonder how they can turn it around.  It can be turned around but they have to be proactive, not reactive.  They have to be aggressive, not passive.  They have to work on the right end of the problem - revenue - not just costs.

Truth is, our data shows that only 6% of all salespeople over achieve.  And another 20% can become over achievers.  Who do you want on your sales force and what are you willing to do to develop them or recruit them?

(c) Copyright 2009 Dave Kurlan

Al Turrisi was kind enough to give me a book called the Power of the Kabbalah.  Its ancient scrolls originated around 4,000 years ago, inspired The Secret and predates Moses and the Bible!  Since this book is not the Kabbalah itself, rather a Cliff Notes version, it tends to read more like a self-help book. It is far more powerful than a self-help book though as it points to a number of rules that will cause a transformation in one's life.

Seven of the desired behaviors are consistent with the philosophies in Baseline Selling - How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball as well as Objective Management Group's Sales Assessments:

The importance of Desire. Read the Top 10 Factors for Salespeople to Overachieve.

It's not about you.  Over the past several months I have found myself telling an awful lot of salespeople and sales managers that it's not about them.  It's even become a finding in Objective Management Group's Sales Manager's Evaluation - The It's All About Me finding.

Need for Approval or what happens when you need people to like you.  This is the second most powerful weakness in all of selling. Here's an article about that.

Becoming Emotionally Involvedor reacting instead of proacting.This is the third most powerful weakness in all of selling. I wrote an article about this.

Resistance or the great challenge that presents itself rather than an obstacle.  I wrote a an article about this earlier this month and another one a couple of years ago.

Certainty or having faith that what you say, ask, or do will get the desired outcome.

Doing What's Uncomfortable.  I wrote an article about this a while back too.

Many of the articles I linked to were Baseline Selling Tips.  Speaking of Baseline Selling, this is the third anniversary of the publish date of the book, a good reason to reread or order it.

So in summary, simply by having your salespeople overcome their sales weaknesses, doing the very things they are uncomfortable doing, having faith in their abilities and having a strong desire for success will cause those very same people to experience life changing experiences.

(c) Copyright 2009 Dave Kurlan

Two things are very clear from my post earlier this week on ultimatums.

1. All the readers who observed that ultimatums are not necessary if sales managers are doing the right things are correct.  But Objective Management Group's data from tens of thousands of sales management evaluations show that fewer than 15% of all sales managers come anywhere close to spending enough time and having the required skills to consistently coach, develop, motivate, inspect, measure, train and hold their salespeople accountable. So yeah, in theory, ultimatums aren't necessary and you can rely on the myth that salespeople are self-starters who don't need to be managed.  Tell that to the sales manager with 12 remote salespeople. In reality, the ultimatum is a powerful weapon that allows a sales manager to gain back some degree of control over performance.
2. Those of you who commented also approach the ultimatum with the same degree of comfort that you might have for embracing a skunk ready to cover you with some of the most long-lasting stench of a liquid known to man.  You would sooner put up with or terminate an under achiever than put yourself through the discomfort of an ultimatum.
   

Next we are going to perform some algebra. Do you remember expressions like 40 is to 8 as x is to 5 where x = 25?  Then ultimatum is to x as confront is to deal with issues.  The words ultimatum and confrontation scare the shit out of most of you but, in reality, an ultimatum is simply a conversation with an underperforming salesperson where you reset expectations and let them know the consequences for failing to meet those expectations. Confronting is when a salesperson deals with issues created by their prospect or customer.

Now how do you feel about ultimatums?

(c) Copyright 2008 Dave Kurlan