Urgency is an innate, emotional need to get something done now. It cannot be taught but events can influence it. Let say it’s April 14^th and you haven’t done your taxes. A public service announcement plays on the radio, talking about the consequences of not filing. Your gut aches. The ache is your conscious triggers fear which hopefully results in action.

Many salespeople and sales leaders lack urgency while others have trouble managing it.

When we react, we are driven by emotion, and when we respond, we balance that emotion with rational thought. Great salespeople have tremendous urgency to act but they apply in situationally appropriate ways. By doing so they produce equally great outcomes.

Two-days ago, the Boston Bruins beat the Saint Louis Blues after losing the previous game in Boston. Both teams brought urgency and emotion to game three. The difference was that Boston played with tremendous urgency but was patient enough to take advantage of the opportunities presented. Saint Louis was so invested in playing a physical game that they made mistakes.

Urgency without restraint does not work as well.

Salespeople worry about being overly “aggressive” with their follow-up. Much of this is because they accepted a put-off and or did not gain agreement for a logical next step which  usually results in the salesperson chasing the prospect.  When a prospect goes missing urgency is probably the missing ingredient. The adage “time kills all deals” is best seen as absolute, yet many salespeople patiently wait for the prospect to respond. If they had more urgency for getting to a no, they would waste less time, end up with more yeses and both parties would be a lot happier.

Salespeople are usually emotional by nature. One reason salespeople allow time to pass after a put-off is their own Need for Approval. Their urgency is trumped by fear of losing the deal or the prospect. Because a majority of salespeople need to be liked as well as some difficulty managing their emotions, they need help.

Here are some ways to develop more urgency and use it more effectively.

• Slow-down in the discovery process
• Take the time to really identify Need, Impact and Compelling Reasons
• Trust that by asking probing questions you create value with good prospects
• Do more pre-call strategy
• Play a little hard to get
• Ask for more time when scheduling your calls
• Use the Sales DNA Modifier
• Role-play weekly
• Stop trying to be perfect, we learn by making mistakes
• Bring more humor and playfulness
• When the momentum shifts go for no
• Develop some compelling personal goals
• Publicly commit to things you are going to change
• Get your spouse or significant other involved in holding you accountable
• Trust that “luck” happens when you consistently do more of the right things

 If you want to learn more about how to find and hire great sales people attend this highly actionable thirty-minute webinar.

Like many characters in Game of Thrones, Arya's journey has transformed her. Recently, during the battle of Winterfell, she repeats a phrase she learned from her sword-fighting teachers about death. Not today! This perfectly summarizes how important attitude and mindset are in all things, particularly sales. 

It turns out there is a profound correlation between the effectiveness of salespeople in critical selling competencies and whether they have Need for Approval. In the table below, the red bars indicate the percentage of salespeople who have the weakness of needing to be liked, and the purple bars show the percentage of salespeople who don't have this weakness.  The table shows how Need for Approval affects 9 other sales competencies.  As you can see, not needing people to like you makes salespeople significantly better at almost every facet of selling.

Watch this video and learn how to improve by 35%.

Becoming a more effective salesperson or sales leader means closing your Sales DNA gaps. The Sales DNA Modifier is an easy to use powerful tool specifically designed for this purpose.

If you are a sales leader or have sales leaders that want to become world-class Sales Coach (pre-call strategy and post call Debriefing) please join us at our June 4-5 Sales Leadership Intensive.

Todays video blog discusses some of the things which prevent sales leaders from having maximum impact on their sales force. In the Pogo cartoon script, the phrase "We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us" teases the problem.

Are too few of your salespeople missing quota or nor finding enough new business? Learn some time proven strategies to make your salespeople better. Attend our sales leadership Intensive and close your gaps!

Depending on which data you use, the percentage of salespeople who make quota each year is no bigger than around 50 percent. While no one is happy about this and the year-over-year quota attainment doesn’t vary by much, many of us seem to have accepted this as being “normal”. There are few business leaders I’ve meet who would tolerate performance like this in other departments and in a moment, I'll share a powerful tool that can help every salesperson attain quota, regardless of skill level.

The top priority for virtually all the companies I work with is new business.  This is a combination of new accounts, expansion of share in existing accounts, selling a company’s complete product and service lines, and penetrating other groups and divisions.

Salespeople that don’t make quota typically have a pipeline without enough (number and size) quality new opportunities while a small percentage of salespeople have good pipelines but aren't very good at closing.

As a sales development expert, experience has proven that real, sustainable sales force improvement requires a change in culture. This means greater transparency, more accountability, constant focus on training and coaching, the recruitment of stronger salespeople, impactful sales management and great systems and processes. The return will be profound, but it takes time, effort and commitment.

Everyone needs short-term wins.

Do you have a structured, milestone based, KPI driven referral and introduction program? If the answer is yes, I’m preaching to the choir. Unfortunately, it’s a rhetorical question and the vast majority of companies and sales organizations say, "No." Your size, sophistication, verticals served, products and services don’t change this answer by much.

Among the many reasons why, discomfort asking clients/customers for help is at the top of the list. This may well include you. Here are some of things I hear when I ask, "Why?" 

• What if they say no?
• I’m not sure if they are really happy.
• Have I / we done enough for them?
• They might be uncomfortable being asked.
• I don’t want to upset them.
• …..

If you have an established business with some happy repeat customers, you must create and execute a formal process that nurtures and drives introductions and referrals. This includes everyone.

An effective process sets the expectation that you will be asking for help (with introductions) when the time is right. It nurtures existing customers, fostering their desire to help you and assures you are helping them in unsolicited ways. Everybody from the CEO to line staff needs a role, defined expected behaviors and measurable metrics. It needs to be fun, rewarding and celebrated.

I’ve asked thousands of salespeople what percentage of their time is spent in “real high-quality selling situations”. I have never heard more that 25%. The power of introductions is significant particularly when measured against effort. It’s ongoing, helps with pipeline challenges, improves relationships, is great practice and can leverage the entire company.

The table below uses traditional, generic conversion ratios to show how much more effective and simpler it is to generate revenue when you are getting quality introductions.

You can do this - it's easy.  It's actually easier than what you are doing today!

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