August 24th, 2009
Many of you who have known me over the years know I enjoy cooking and may have heard my cooking stories. Well, Saturday evening we decided to make a scallop recipe. The only challenge was my pantry did not contain all the necessary ingredients that recipe called for and living where we do, it is not a 10-min. drive to the store. So, I improvised.
Instead of dried, sour Michigan cherries, I used dried cranberries, probably from Wisconsin. In place of fresh clam juice, I added a small amount of chicken broth. After using most of the other recommended ingredients, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
During my keynote message, The Power of Impact, I speak often about the correlation of cooking to building a positive approach to life and finding your personal recipe of success. The same is true for sales leaders in increasing the success their sales teams.
During challenging times we must increase our focus in looking for new and creative ways to help our sales team win. In many situations, you may have fewer resources than you have had in past times or you may be competing with a firm that has additional levels of value not available to you. Or, your prospect may be considering your proposal vs. spending the money on a totally different need than an IT plan.
Sales managers must blend into sales training sessions, one-on-one calls and even group sales, meetings the need for your sales team to “think outside of the box” and to look for other ingredients that will help you complete the sale. Your job is to challenge conventional wisdom and work to “mix up” the game.
Executive sales management requires you to consider: repackaging your services/solutions, changing pricing, changing your selling process that proves your value proposition or even creating an event that makes your prospect sit back and really listens to you.
One very successful salesperson I know even dressed up in Knights armor and made a sales call to stress the “white knight” theme and protection they would bring to the prospect’s company. I am not suggesting you do a lot of silly things. I’m simply saying that if you don’t have as many tools or advantages as your competition, then as sales leaders you must help your teams discover what ingredients they need to put in place to help them win more often. It’s all the more important especially as we move into the important fourth quarter.
Respond to the blog or send me your creative ideas that are helping you win! Let’s work together to make winning recipe and close out the year with a banquet.
Ken Thoreson is managing director of the Acumen Management Group Ltd., a North American consulting organization focused on improving sales management functions within growing and transitional organizations internationally. Ken also motivates organizations with enlightening keynotes
Posted in sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training, Sales Training | Comments Off
August 17th, 2009
In challenging times, the difference between high performers and average performers widens. This statement was very evident during last week’s Sales Leadership Summit especially during our roundtables when everyone discussed their biggest challenges. The most frequent comments related to the need to build the right kind of motivation into their sales teams or, as someone suggested, the need to “re-wire their sales brains.” What was meant by that comment was the need for management and individual salespeople to change the way they manage the sales process.
The primary change is something we call POV or Point of View. In most cases average salespeople can hide in good times, but in challenging times they struggle and it shows. The reasons for their struggles are that in most cases they only know the sales process and functions/features of their particular product or services.
In POV, the salesperson must work to understand the prospect’s: 1) business, 2) industry, 3) professional needs and 4) personal needs. The salesperson must understand how they can be of service to the prospect and how they will impact the prospect’s business. And just as important, they must have the mental strength to be persistent. I mean persistent not from a sales process perspective but rather from one of leading the prospect to a decision that is the right one for them.
The often-used analogy of healthcare summarizes the POV concept. When you see a doctor who recommends surgery, you normally agree, set the date and show up. In today’s and, frankly, tomorrow’s soft economy, we must all seek to understand the impact we will have on our prospect’s business and strive to take a stand — mentally — that we are there to:
- Reduce costs
- Increase operational efficiency
- Increase revenues/profits, or
- Improve customer relationships
Plan you sales training meetings to reinforce these points but also to role-play/videotape your sales team in sales situations. Work on it until the brain has been re-wired to a POV style.
Ken Thoreson is managing director of the Acumen Management Group Ltd., a North American consulting organization focused on improving sales management functions within growing and transitional organizations internationally. Ken also motivates organizations with enlightening keynotes
Posted in Keynote Programs, Sales Kick Off Meeting, sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Training, Sales Training | Comments Off
August 6th, 2009
In the beginning, it was serious training. When I started in the tech sector many years ago, selling software/services/technology, I was lucky. The manufacturer that I worked had extended sales and product training resources, as well as active sales management that worked with small groups of salespeople. This was a sales-driven organization where you had to start fast, you could earn great money and you worked with sales professionals.
I was hired out of college along with a batch of other youthful people, and that meant we all had to learn how to sell, how to convince much older individuals of our expertise and learn our solutions — in fact, we actually installed and trained our clients on the solutions! The most critical lessons we learned were during our Sunday night sales management training.
Every Sunday night around 7:30 my sales manager would call me. I hated those calls, but I learned they had their purpose. Sunday evening was about being prepared for the week, my manager’s questions were always the same:
- What are you priorities for the week?
- What are we doing to close your opportunities this week?
- How many appointments do you have for the week?
- What can I do to help you this week?
What did his actions drive? The desired result! At 5 p.m., before our meeting I was already preparing for those questions and my head was into the week well before the 8 a.m. Monday meeting. My behavior changed when I realized that Friday afternoon was the real time to be prepared. One day an older, more experienced fellow salesperson and I discussed the Sunday night calls and he simply told me that he spent Friday afternoon “grading” his past week and planning his next week, if there were holes in his schedule. He told me that he felt better leaving the office with that job done and he enjoyed the weekend knowing his new week was already under control.
After more than 20 years in the same industry and working for myself, I still use this combination: Friday is spent with weekly evaluations and organization and Sunday evening I prepare to review. I make sure my to do list is prepared and my work projects and new business development plans are laid out.
During our sales management training programs I always discuss “Discipline, Accountability and Control” as important philosophical components of a high performing sales organization. I learned it early in my career.
Ken Thoreson is managing director of the Acumen Management Group Ltd., a North American consulting organization focused on improving sales management functions within growing and transitional organizations internationally. Ken also motivates organizations with enlightening keynotes
Posted in sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training, Sales Training | Comments Off
