Your Sales Management Guru

Leadership and Teamwork – Pull the Oars … Count the Beats

Another guest blog today, from Patti Grimm.  Great message on working together for everyone’s benefit.

Analogies and stories are powerful ways to communicate a message which people remember.  A lot of business writers, professors and business consultants use a number of different analogies to illustrate the value and power of working in High Performance Teams in order to deliver sustainable business results.  The most common analogies today center around “Getting Everyone on the Bus” or “Getting Everyone on the Same Page” or “Getting Everyone Singing From the Same Sheet of Music.”  The challenge with these analogies is people can be a massive or passive rider on a bus. People can all be on the same page but be reading different stories. People can be singing from the same sheet of music and still be out of tune with each other.

One of my favorite things to do where I lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest is to drive over the I-520 floating bridge (and yes the bridge does actually float on Lake Washington) and watch the University of Washington men’s or women’s rowing team practice in perfect formation and be the true example of the value and power of teamwork. I am always amazed by the teams of 2 to 16 people rowing in perfect sync and listening to the coxswain coach the team across the beautiful crystal clear blue water.

Based on my love of rowing here is the analogy I‘ve  used with clients in one on one executive coaching sessions, in change leadership and team development sessions.  When an organization is fully aligned with a shared vision, a common goal and a set of operating principles for which they hold each other accountable and use to make business decisions, you’ll see a fully engaged team.   You see everyone in the same boat … facing the same direction … with the same sized oars … pulling the oars in perfect synchronization and all the leader needs to do is count the beats to achieve perfect precision, teamwork and business results.  

In too many organizations today you find a variety of people working together and still not reaching their full potential as a high performance team.  Here is what is happening in many organizations – You have some people in the boat with very short oars rowing very fast but not fully contributing.  You have another group of people in the boat with very long oars, pulling deep in the water and feeling like they are the ones “holding up the team.”  You see some people in the boat facing the wrong direction and actually working against the team.  And you have a few people standing on the dock and wondering where the boat is going. 

The power of teams and teamwork is having everyone in the boat, facing in the same direction with the same sized oars.  It is pure beauty in motion to see a high performance a rowing team, sports team, orchestra or a work team pulling together to achieve their shared vision and fulfill their mission.  When the team is in complete alignment, all the leaders need to do in “count the beats” to sustain long term business results and win the race against the competition. Here is a great quote which tells the story that in order to have a team, it takes work to make it happen. 

Coming together is a beginning …

Working together is progress …

Staying together is success!

Contact us @ www.advantage-performance.net or call Pattie Grimm @ 425.289.6619 for more information on how we can help you, your leaders and teams build your organization’s capacity, capability, commitment which delivers sustainable business results today.

Ken Thoreson, Acumen Management Group, www.AcumenManagement.com, Ken@AcumenMgmt.com

Just How Important Is Proper Grammar When it Comes to Business Presentations?

Ken; We have a guest blog this week, a topic that is absolutely key in emails, presentations and meetings. Hope you enjoy!

It takes more than just good speaking skills to give a top-notch business presentation. Good writing speaks volumes about the person and company behind the presentation. No matter how strong the content being presented, if it’s littered with grammatical or spelling errors, it will come off as amateurish and unprofessional.

Your presentation is the blueprint to the work you’ll be doing if you’re hired, and they’re not just judging it. They’re judging you. Follow this guide to achieve perfection in the language that you use.

Always Revise

Your first draft is never your best work. There are no exceptions to this rule. No matter what it is you’re writing, and no matter how much time you invested in writing it, a second draft will always improve your document.

It’s easy — even beneficial — to get lost in the flow of writing. But it’s also easy to gloss over grammatical errors while you’re in the zone. Write until you’re finished, step away to eat or work out or whatever it is you do, then take a long, objective second look.

Sleep on It

Put some space between your first and second drafts — preferably a good night’s sleep. A new day gives you a truly fresh perspective on not only grammar and spelling, but content. It’s common and admirable for the ambitious to burn the midnight oil, but what seemed like a brilliant stroke of genius at 3 a.m. might present itself in a whole new light in the morning.

Don’t Rely on Spell Check

Spell check is a valuable crutch, but like any crutch, it can make you weak if you rely on it too often. While spell-check programs are excellent for catching egregious errors, grammatical slip-ups can and do slip through. Software is especially susceptible to missing homophones like “sea vs. see” and “reign vs. rein.” Use spell check, but rely on your intellect.

Hire a Proofreader

If you know that grammar isn’t your strong suit, be honest about your flaws and put a second pair of eyes on it. Ask your office’s wordsmith to give it a read and — if it’s really important — hire a proofreader on eLance or Craigslist or any other number of venues that pair editors with people who must have clean copy.

Take it Slow

Perhaps the most obvious yet overlooked trick to writing well is to leave yourself enough time. Whether you’re writing a business plan or chopping down a tree with a chainsaw, you’re much more prone to make mistakes if you’re rushing. Don’t leave it until the last moment, and plan your project in chunks to leave time for revisions, reworking, and the inevitable writer’s block.

Bad grammar is never OK in business. Unless you’re purposely trying to be folksy in your vernacular with a “say it ain’t so” or some similar casual parlance, the way you speak and the way you write speak volumes about who you are. If you can’t even get your ideas across without making mistakes, then why should anyone expect perfection when it’s time to put those ideas into practice?

Your presentation represents you and your company. Take the time to write it right.

Andrew Lisa is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles. He writes on a wide range of topics, including handling negative Google reviews.

Programs to Increase Your Professionalism

This week I thought I would use this forum to let my readers know of Two Sales Leadership training programs in May that you should plan to attend.

1.        The first is Friday May 10^th, Building Predictable Revenue: Sales Management Systems
2.       The second is May 28^th, 1pm EST: Creating Sales Compensation Plans for High Performance

This is one of 10 Sales Management Training programs from Top Sales Management: read below

Building Predictable Revenue: Sales Management Systems, Forecasting and Building a Self-Managed Sales Force

Friday, May 10, 2013 12:00pm Noon EST

The purpose of this interactive workshop will be to review techniques that all executives, sales leaders and sales professionals can use and to introduce a sales management process that ensures you are positioned for success. Learn to build predictable revenue. This session is designed for Owners and Sales Managers. As partner organizations have had to fight to survive, this session is designed to “tighten the ship”, and put into place the systems and controls to fine tune the organization and prepare for growth.  As other organizations shrink or cut back learn to take advantage of the opportunity of the lifetime, during the lifetime of the opportunity!

Acumen’s 14 years of consulting Ken has determined that the vast number of organizations can quickly improve discipline, accountability, and control by implementing the concepts and tools during this session. This tactical program will provide insights and tools to help the Executive or Sales Manager easily increase the productively of their management meetings, sales meetings and sales training events.

This session will:

• Review the importance of forecasting tools, their design, how effective sales managers use them to ensure monthly revenues are attained and appropriate content. 

• Assist attendees in developing sales management measurement success indicators, their use in building a predictive forecasting stream and there use in salesperson coaching.

• Cover the development of a Salesperson’s Business Plan – development techniques, their use in account development, pipeline and quota attainment, influencer/consultant focus, new account creation, market and territory coverage, and personal and sales skill development. 

• We would cover long-term forecasting plans that ensure building a strong revenue plan.

Attendees will learn:

1) sample forecasting formats

2) a discussion of pertinent sales success indictors and how to use them for coaching

3) they will leave with a document on how to “how to coach for success hints”

4) Learn to design:

• management systems that increase team productivity

• Develop success factors or leading indicators that will accelerate sales

• Sales management tools to increase market/account penetration

• Sales meetings/ sales training programs to ensure high performance

• The 5 Measurements/Metrics of Sales, Marketing, Management Effectiveness

REGISTER: https://m360.salesassociation.org/event.aspx?eventID=74422

____________________________________________________________________________________                                       

 Creating Sales Compensation Plans for High Performance

• ·         May 28^th, 2013    1pm EST

“There is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership is of the spirit, management is of the mind. Managers are necessary, but leaders are essential. We must find managers who are not only skilled organizers, but inspired and inspiring leaders.” – Field Marshall Slim

The most successful sales teams in the world are led not managed, but if only 20% of today’s sales managers can claim to be genuine leaders, we need to help and encourage the remaining 80% make that giant leap. During this 45 minute presentation, Jonathan Farrington identifies the traits and characteristics of the very best sales managers and provides a blue-print which every delegate can take away to begin implementing immediately.

This is one of 10 Sales Management training programs from Top Sales Management Academy

This program is based upon a book by Ken Thoreson, Creating Sales Compensation Plans for high Performance. Sales compensation plans that worked last year-may not be appropriate for next year. Compensation planning must be designed to pay for performance and attract top talent. Compensation programs must be strategic and aligned with corporate objectives. Are yours?

• ·         Learn to create programs that:
  • ·         are in alignment with your strategic objectives
  • ·          are cost justifiable and measurable
  • ·          take into consideration professional services, products
  • ·          are blended to create individual or team incentives
  • ·          are blended for practice, vendor and market demands
  • ·         increase the effectiveness of sales contests
  • ·         are successfully rolled out and measured

REGISTER: http://topsalesworld.com/topsalesacademy/

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. Ken’s latest book is “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”. 

Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

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Old Ways of Doing Business No Longer Work

I am honored to have this week’s blog prepared by Jonathan Farrington, he  is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author and sales thought leader. He is the Senior Partner of Jonathan Farrington & Associates, and CEO of Top Sales World, based in London & Paris.

I believe that most of us accept that the old ways of doing business no longer work: the increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy, post the recent financial meltdown, challenge everyone, everywhere to adapt in order to prosper under new rules. Those who cannot - or will not - change are withering.

For example, in the old economy, hierarchies pitted labour against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change accelerates. Those same hierarchies are being replaced by networks; labour and management are uniting into teams; wages are coming in new mixtures of options, incentives and ownership; fixed jobs melt into fluid careers.

As business changes, so do the traits needed to survive, let alone excel, and all these transitions put increased value on emotional intelligence.

Competitive pressures put a new value on people who are self-motivated, show initiative, have the inner drive for outdoing themselves, and are optimistic enough to take reversals and setbacks in their stride. The ever-pressing need to serve customers and clients well and to work smoothly and creatively with an ever more diverse range of people makes the ability to empathize all the more essential.

At the same time, the meltdown of those old hierarchies increases the importance of traditional people skills such as building bonds, influence and collaboration. And that is as true for employers as it is for employees.

The task of the leader draws on a wide range of personal skills. Research has shown that emotional competence makes the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best. Indeed, emotional competence makes up about two thirds of the ingredients of star performance in general, but for outstanding leaders emotional competencies – as opposed to technical or cognitive cues – make up 80 to 100% of those listed by companies as crucial for success.

Star performers show significantly greater strengths in a range of emotional competencies, such as the skills of persuasion, team leadership, political awareness, self-confidence, and achievement drive.

Empathy, one of the key elements of emotional intelligence, is central to good management; it is difficult to have a positive impact on others without first sensing how they feel and understanding their position.

People who are poor at reading emotional cues and inept at social interactions are very poor at influencing others in the workplace, and empathy has become more relevant as the whole world of work changes.

Virtually everyone who has a superior is part of at least one vertical ‘couple’ in the workplace; every boss forms such a bond with each subordinate. Such vertical couples are a basic unit of organisational life. Therein lays the blessing or the curse: This interdependence ties a subordinate and superior together in a way that can become highly charged. If both do well emotionally – if they form a relationship of trust and rapport, understanding and inspired effort – their performance will shine. But if things go emotionally awry, the relationship can become a nightmare and their performance a series of minor and major disasters.

While vertical couples have the entire emotional overlay that power and compliance bring to a relationship, peer couples – our relationships with co-workers – have a parallel emotional component, something akin to the pleasures, jealousies and rivalries of siblings.

If there is anywhere emotional intelligence needs to enter an organisation, it is at this most basic level.

Building collaborative and fruitful relationships begins with the couples we are a part of at work.

Bringing emotional intelligence to a working relationship can pitch it towards the evolving, creative, mutually engaging end of the continuum; failing to do so heightens the risk of a downward drift towards rigidity, stalemate and failure.

Emotional intelligence is that important …. 

Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author and sales thought leader. He is the Senior Partner of Jonathan Farrington & Associates, and CEO of Top Sales World, based in London & Paris.

YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. Ken’s latest book is “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com, www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Earn Your Success   Pay the Price

A good friend of mine always told me that you “earned success” and you had to accept the fact that their normally was price to pay for that success.   When I work with my client’s sales teams I always inquire about their goals, actions and commitments to achieving their objectives-and what doesn’t surprises me anymore is this lack of fully understanding of the “price to pay”.

I am not suggesting that our lives are so consumed with achieving success that all other facets of life are out of balance.  Those of you who have taken my “Personal & Professional Pizza” assessment understand my focus on life balance, if you haven’t take the assessment, view my Gourmet Life video:  http://www.acumenmgmt.com/KeninAction123

However, if you are leading a sales organization or if you are a professional salesperson understanding that there is a price to be paid to achieve success must be clearly understood and accepted.  I see salespeople showing up Monday and simply coming to work-sales leadership and sales roles demand more.

First; it’s creative time.  Taking time on a quiet evening or on a Saturday to review each active sales opportunity and thinking through your sales tactics/strategies demands extra time.  What else can you do to win?

Second; it’s professional. Are you actively taking the extra time to review LinkedIn groups within your market to better understand what issues are being discussed?  The Sales Association group in LinkedIn and their VP Sales Group are good groups to join.  I am actually leading a series of monthly sales leadership web casts for the VP Sales Group.https://m360.salesassociation.org/event.aspx?eventID=74422

Third; it’s your network. Paying the price to develop, nurture and expand your network pays results. This takes time to find the right individuals and your effort to create an active campaign to build the network.  As a professional this time will bring you additional levels of revenue-at unexpected times.

Fourth; it’s mental toughness.  Just last week a salesperson was 90% confident he was closing an opportunity and then he got hit with an objection and was flattened.  He wasn’t strong enough to counter sell the objection, but at least he was strong enough to ask his fellow sales team members for advice.  We will now see if he and his manager go in to win.

I always enjoy the comments everyone makes on my various blogs, but reading your thoughts on this blog would be important.  What are the actions or efforts you believe are necessary to achieve success?

 Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. His latest book is: “Recruiting High Performance Sales Teams’.

Ken Thoreson provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

Blog:  www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Achieving the Balance Between Having Your Sales Team Respect You But Not Fear You

Ken: This week we have a guest blog. The topic is extremely important for all levels of sales leadership, especially in challenging situations/times.

Every good sales team manager knows that a delicate balance must be maintained between having your team respect you without having them fear you. We’re going to address why this balance is so important to maintain, and how to achieve and maintain it. 

Fear breads contempt. If your team is living in fear of you, or in fear of making a misstep, this can easily breed resentment. No one likes to feel as though they have someone on their shoulder watching their every move or waiting for them to fail.

Additionally, when your team fears you, they may make more missteps because they aren’t acting naturally and instinctively, but are trying too hard to please you. Trust them to do what they were hired to do. 

You want your employees to have a healthy respect for you, and not to fear you.

Be stern but relatable. Don’t be a frosty manager. This can create a bit of fear, as people always wonder what the cold manager is thinking about them. It’s okay to be human and to have a laugh with your team to put them at ease a bit.

The trick is not letting the team in too close. When they start to feel as though they are your good friends, they start to feel as though maybe they can get away with a bit more than they would if they weren’t. 

Reward success—employees appreciate the acknowledgement.

Incent and reward success. Everyone likes to have something to motivate them. Your team will appreciate and respect that you reward their success.

Don’t reward every single thing, because then rewards become less meaningful. Reward the really important wins, and show your team that these are not given out easily. Those who do get the awards appreciate and respect that you noticed their success and that you are calling it out to others.

Have very clear measures for success. Be clear regarding what it takes to get promoted and to be seen as successful on your team. Those who aren’t performing will stand out if you have metrics against which you can measure them. Don’t keep them on board for long if they continue to underachieve. Consider perhaps how you could route them elsewhere in the organization if they might be a better fit in another department, or let them go after a couple of warnings with no improvement.

If others feel they have to meet their own numbers but an underperformer is allowed to stay, this can breed resentment and disrespect. Taking expected and swift action with underperformers will go a long way in maintaining your team’s respect for you.

Have annual 360-degree reviews. Know what your team thinks of you and let them know what you think of them—get honest feedback by doing 360-degree reviews, and get a sense for whether there is any feeling of fear for you. Work to then change that if it is the case, and always look to improve yourself.

A good manager does not lead with fear, but earns the respect of his or her team and keeps it by being consistent, relatable, and someone who takes action both when things are going well on the team, and when they are not. Leading with fear can only breed contempt and frustration among a team, and is a good way to lose good people. Finding the balance can for some personalities be difficult, but with practice, you can get there. It’s well worth the effort.

Cara Aley is a freelance writer who writes about everything from matters relating to managing your business reputation to those of health and wellness.  

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. Ken’s latest book is “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”. 

Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

Learning by Observing

This past week I had the opportunity to participate in what is called a Speakers Showcase, 10 professional speakers had an opportunity to stand up in front of 100+ Association managers and give a 15 minute program based upon your desired topic.   I used the topic: Gourmet Living: Building a Menu for Your Life!

The real opportunity for me was to sit back and observe other individuals not only to hear their message, but more importantly see how they:

1. opened their presentation,
2. energy levels,
3. body language,
4. vocal tones
5. How they closed. 

I also asked several of the other speakers to provide feedback on my session. I know every year when I attend the National Speakers Association conference I pick up so many great ideas to build my professionalism.   So what does this topic have to do with Sales Leadership?

In many situations sales managers are the key coach, mentor and trainer of their sales teams, whether it’s in the field or in sales training environments.  It is the second most important aspect of your job. (Hiring correctly is #1).  To many times when we are meeting with sales managers in our peer groups or one on one coaching, I have found that many sales managers have a challenge keeping their mouth closed during an onsite sales call with one of their team members, certainly, there are occasions when the manager SHOULD TALK, and those should be defined during the pre-calling planning process.  However during any sales call, the manager must be acutely aware of the 5 items listed above when observing their salesperson.  GURU HINT: You might keep that list and put a ranking behind each one   1-5, 5=great and prepare a short report card after the call and then share it with the salesperson.  Keep every scorecard on each salesperson and during your twice yearly review, share all of them and hopefully you will see an improved performance.  Remember: Inspect what you expect!

Opportunity: During the past few months in this blog I have from time to time provided “free” sales management tools to improve your sales management structure.  If you have not visited our website lately, you will find the Sales Management Tool Kit where I have built a resource for you that includes over 40 sales management guides, tools, best practices, it is a on line library where you can download a variety of tools-all for only $175.00.  I do add to this tool box from time to time-so it is a living value. www.AcumenMgmt.com/store  BONUS: For all orders in the second quarter, I am including free the three books on 

• Developing a Business Plan
• Building a Marketing Plan
• Creating a Winning Sales Strategy

 Have an Awesome April!  Let me hear about your success. 

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. His latest book is titled: “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

Ken Thoreson provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

Sales Management and Mowing Your Lawn

The first quarter is over and sales leaders are capturing forecasts for the next two months and hopefully celebrating the achievement of their first quarter results.  I am sure not everything has been smooth, after the last 90 days of working with a variety of clients and speaking at a variety of conferences, the odds of some “uneven” achievements and unexpected events has occurred.  In one client we didn’t hire the salesperson we wanted, in another a salesperson left without management knowing it would happen and in another the marketing campaigns didn’t launch on time.   Just like my lawn…

As I drove into my garage last week I realized it was finally time to mow-for the first time this year; my lawn looked uneven in growth, leaves have nestled into the grass, some weeds had extended themselves and it resembled something far different than I had hoped to enjoy. There is work to be done.  I am sure after this afternoon when I hope to mow that the results of a fresh cut will level off the growth, the leaves will be mulched and generally it begin to represent a well groomed lawn.  The next treatment of fertilizer will stimulate better growth.

The same view of your sales team should also be considered, evaluate your team, determine who needs to be “groomed” or “cut” and what treatments must you begin to accelerate your growth during the second quarter. This necessary in order that your summer sales will generate the necessary look and feel that you desired. In past blogs we have discussed how to create your quarterly sales training programs and coaching sessions with each salesperson.

HINT: It is a great time NOW to hold a one on one salesperson review meetings; What worked? What didn’t work? What new steps/actions need to be implemented to increase performance? Develop a mutual action plan where both you and your individual salespeople agree on those actions and use that tool to coach and manage for the next 90 days.

Enjoy the spring and position your team to truly enjoy a wonderful summer season of selling. What are you plans?

Resources: Top Sales World web site and magazine for April!

April is a very significant month for us on Top Sales World, as we launch Top Sales Academy – see Linda Richardson’s interview on Page 4. Also on April 16^th, you will be able to tune into Top Sales Radio.  If you are not all ready subscribed to the magazine: you can register for free here: http://bit.ly/YjPzXG

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 14 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. His latest book is titled: “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

Ken Thoreson provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com, www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Sales Leadership:  What is your training plan?

Learn from “Disney U”

As a sales manager one of your responsibilities is to develop the professionalism of your sales team.  After reading “Disney U”, How the Disney University Develops the World’s Most Engaged, Loyal, and Customer Centric Employees, you will come aware with a notebook filled with ideas to improve your employee development. Published by McGraw Hill, the author: Doug Lipp lived the experience and gives us the inside stories that back up the results.

The book provides you insights into the genius of Walt Disney, but also the other people in the organization that brought their vision and dedication to make Disney U the exciting and valuable part of the Disney organization. Each chapter breaks down various subjects with excellent summaries that you can turn into action steps for your own organization. While reading the book I picked up the various “mantra’s” that drove the development of Disney U.

• ·         Management must be diligent or the show will deteriorate.
• ·         Management must be diligent or the cast will deteriorate.
• Note: Show/Cast those terms refer to show=customer experience, cast=employees. 

The interesting aspect of the book is the impact Disney U had on the entire organization; it is looked upon by management not as a training department but an element of the organization that IMPACTS the culture, operations and performance. The chapter: Capture Hearts and Minds

mentioned four questions that relate to a focus on the entire organization:

Is innovation encouraged?

Is organizational support found at every level?

Is employee education valued and nonnegotiable?

Is entertainment incorporated into training & education initiatives? 

Lastly, Van Johnson, the person responsible for building and leading Disney U opened the chapter on: The Language of Success:  My basic story is about the two men laying bricks. When asked what he is doing, one man says, “I’m laying bricks.”   The other man performing the same task says, “I’m building a cathedral”.   Van went on:  “I have found that most people want to be involved in something greater than just being paid for a job.”

 The question is: What are you doing to not only train people on your products/services but to truly build a team that excels in all aspects of representing your firm?  Ask me for a copy of: Building Belief for a few ideas. Ken@AcumenMgmt.com

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 12 years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America.

Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

Blog:  www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Sales Leaders:   Has Your Team Watched Pawn Stars?

Recently during several coaching calls I heard a common theme and the trend of hearing these comments always occurs during the last month of each quarter.  What were those comments?  Either the prospective client was asking for some kind of discount or the salespeople were asking for some sort of promotional discount so “I can close the deal”!

Generally this occurs because:

1)      You have conditioned your customer or prospects to expect these kind of end of quarter promotion.

2)      Your vendors want to achieve their numbers (public companies) and they have conditioned your salespeople to expect their spiffs or coupons.

3)      Your sales team has not been trained to effectively sell the value of your firm or the value of the impact of your products/services on your prospects business! HINT: this needs to be done early and continually through the sales process.

First: if you hear the word “deal” even spoken by one of your salespeople-you have failed, in hiring that kind of salesperson or your training program has failed to set the standards. Doing “deals” is simply a bad mindset for professional salespeople and leads to discounts, coupons, lower margins. We work “opportunities” not deals.

Second: What can you do to reset this mindset?  You need to build the mental toughness of your sales team. In both cases I recommended that each salesperson should watch two episodes of Pawn Stars, a popular show on the History Channel. They then need to discuss at the next sales meeting what they observed. If you have not watched it, the show covers the daily issues in a Pawn Store in Las Vegas, people bring in items to sell to the store and the store buys them and hopefully resells for a profit. There are four characters the reality show follows.

What I want the salespeople to see is the owner; Rick, review the items people are bringing in, determine their real value to him, sets a price in his mind that he will pay and then begins to negotiate with the person selling the item to the store.

In some cases he brings in an “expert” to help he set that value. He then asks the person what they want in terms of money for the item, he proposes a price and banter between salesperson and customer (Rick) continue until they settle on a price. In almost every case the seller caves in because Rick knows how to negotiate better and eventually holds firm on his price and knows his business.  In some situations the seller walks away for another opportunity, feeling he did not get his/her price.

In our world today, the salesperson must be the “expert”, and understand the value they are bringing to the buyer (Rick) and are mentally tough enough to handle the negotiation discussions and reinforcing the value they bring. 

With too few opportunities in a closing mode, salespeople become weak minded. Your hiring must focus on testing that attitude, your activity management must be focused, your sales training must include skill building and your sales management coaching must help build this facet of their professionalism.

There is always something to learn from any life experience-even from the Pawn Stars.

Acumen Management Group Ltd. “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 1r years, our consulting, advisory, and platform services have illuminated, motivated, and rejuvenated the sales efforts for partners throughout North America. Ken’s latest book is “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

Ken provides Keynotes, consulting services and products designed to improve business performance.           Ken@AcumenMgmt.com   www.AcumenManagement.com

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