Your Sales Management Guru

The Future of Your Sales Team     

This year, I anticipate we will see a reduction in external sales positions of around 20%: 10% will be lost for good, and the other 10% will move inside. I believe that this pattern will continue for the next three years, until we are left with less than 10% of the total sales population working externally. The reasons for this are obvious: Advances in technology mean that we can communicate just as easily from our desks, using video conferencing etc.

Jonathan Farrington www.topsalesmanagement.com

If Jonathan is right, your current sales process, current sales team and management systems will begin to change over the next 18-24 months.   He interviewed me regarding this topic last week and you can listen to the entire interview at the www.TopSalesManagement.com 

Briefly, I discussed how metrics will change, how sales training will be altered and that the efficiency ratios and cost of sales will be improved based upon the utilization of existing and new technologies.  As customers become more comfortable with technology, new salespeople come into the workplace and costs of running a sales organization grow (Gas=$4.50 Gal), sales leadership must consider new alternatives.

You will find the interview on the left hand side of the website. You will also find this site to be a wonderful resource for information on sales leadership from a select group of 15 sales leadership consultants from around the world, including myself.

I thought you might like to see the quote above to begin to stimulate your future thinking on your sales organization.   Jonathan is a global sales thought leader; the quote is from an editorial he wrote in our Top Sales World magazine. (You can download this free sales magazine at www.TopSalesWorld.com   It is on the left hand side of the website.

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 13 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

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A Sales Manager’s Recipe: What’s Cooking in 2012?

Last week after a keynote program called Gourmet Living, an attendee came up to me afterwards and discussed her challenges as a sales manager.  The last three years have been tough and she was looking for new ideas for 2012 to excite her team and also to simply change up the routine.

Since my keynote program had been about creating a Menu for Your Life with many metaphors around cooking I  started thinking about what her sales management recipe should be, for about 30 minutes we discussed a variety of ideas. So if 2011 left a bad taste in your mouth, use the following ingredients to create a new recipe to make 2012 your best year ever.

Become a Detective: In sales management workshops we always talk about “inspect what you expect”.  Once a week; review your sales teams CRM system to ensure they are using it properly and casually ask each team member about their certain activities within their key accounts.  Once they know you are actually reviewing their accounts they will be more precise and begin to be more accurate. Next, make two extra sales calls per month with each sales rep.  Validate they can sell your firm and they are using the proper sales tools. These actions are not micro-management, they are designed to provide you greater opportunities to coach and grow your team.

Reduce Fatigue:  Recognize your sales team might be tired or somewhat challenged based upon the last three years of tight budgets and stress.  Fire them up with new products or packaging/pricing, change the game with new times for sales and sales training meetings-even re-arrange the sales offices.  Once a month, take your sales team on a “field trip” to visit a customer, let the customer “sell” your team on your products/services.

Find Creative Dust:  Read a book on creativity and share it with your team.  The truly great salespeople are the most creative and it is true that creativity can be learned!  As a sales manager, creative sales strategies will push you over your quota-get your entire team into a creativity fix.

Become an SOB:   That is a Student of the Business. Invest in sales management training, books, DVD’s. Create your own network of other sales managers where you can discuss ideas, learn what is working for others and explore new sales management concepts. Push yourself to become a professional in 2012, consider visiting other offices and view how their sales managers run their sales teams. At our website you will find free video’s on “hiring and training salespeople” and other articles I have written on sales management, you might also go back and skim through our blog to look for other ideas.

While these are just a few ideas, I would enjoy reading your reactions or other recipes for success below.  As a team of readers, let’s build up a complete for each as we work to make 2012 a feast we will always remember.

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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Posted in Books, Keynote Programs, Leadership Management, Sales Kick Off Meeting, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training | 2 Comments »

SFA/CRM 15 Years Later: Now It’s Every Rep’s Best Friend

This week, I thought you might like to read someone else’s article and my comments regarding the article. My comments are first.

As a Sales Leadership consultant, I think the article below hit on many valid points; the Cloud and CRM usability are key elements in the acceptance of CRM, as is the price/cost issue, especially for the SMB market. The marketing campaign features are extremely important and the interface to accounting/ERP systems greatly improve the customer service aspect as well as giving a more 360 view, makes CRM a more than a salesperson’s tool.

 One other element should be recognized is the “tech savvy” nature of reps today, vs even 10 years ago, this has made CRM acceptance so much easier. 

However, what is interesting is 1) forecasting accuracy is still a challenge for the Rep/sales manager’s. 2) training and implementation of CRM is still greatly under emphasized and I find many organizations with salespeople using the same CRM system differently and not following a sales process properly and 3) this lack of discipline leads to pipeline and activity reporting to be inaccurate. 

These few issues are the direct result of sales leadership and are training and management functions. The mistake I see in many CRM systems and vendors are they focus on the salesperson, not on the needs of the sales manager or organization.  Sales leadership requires a more forward looking approach to build predictable revenue.  With a greater proactive approach and sales management focus, the 3 topics mentioned above would help the sales manager take greater charge of the CRM tool and it would be more of a useful tool for sales leadership.

by Lauren Carlson

www.twitter.com/crmadvice 

CRM Analyst, Software Advice

December 14, 2011

Sales force automation (SFA) systems hit the market in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until Siebel’s release in the mid-90s that they gained a foothold in the enterprise. Despite its increasing ubiquity, however, SFA quickly developed a bad reputation among sales reps, many of whom suspiciously viewed SFA tools as a way for management to track their every move. They were also frustrated by the kludgy user interfaces, slow data entry processes, and long ramp-up times.

Fast-forward about 15 years, and now most sales organizations are singing the praises of SFA. What changed? As it turns out, quite a bit. I see four innovations that transformed SFA into a sales rep’s best friend.

Four Tipping Points for SFA

1. 1.      SaaS made implementation cheaper and faster - Traditional client/server SFA systems had a very high total cost of ownership (TCO) and a long, sometimes unsuccessful deployment process that required a high degree of involvement and investment by internal IT departments. When Salesforce.com came onto the scene in 1999, they changed the TCO equation and implementation process for SFA. All of a sudden, there was no on-premise hardware or software to install, no reason for IT to get involved, and sales management could even customize the software—albeit within limits—on their own. Best of all, up-front and ongoing software fees were now a small fraction of what an enterprise-scale SFA application cost. The net effect of this sea change was that sales teams were able to get up and running faster, with less disruption to the rest of the company, and dramatically lower investments in time and capital.
2. 2.      The Cloud made SFA more accessible – In the 1990s, entering sales activity was a laborious process. The road warrior sales rep had to get out his bulky laptop, log on to the company server over a slow and unreliable dial-up connection, enter notes into a prospect’s record, and then sync it all back with the server. Ouch. Today, cloud-based SFA systems are accessible from anywhere, on any device—including smartphones and tablets—and high-speed Internet has become commonplace. In addition, because the application is accessible through a familiar Web browser, there’s no proprietary client software to master and no fussy VPN tunnel to set up. This gives the sales rep a much higher level of freedom and flexibility, and removes a key obstacle to wider adoption.
3. 3.      Analytics and marketing automation turned SFA data into gold – It wasn’t that long ago that sales force automation was primarily a glorified contact management system with some extra data tracking capabilities. Now, with the addition of sophisticated analytics and integration with third-party systems, SFA systems have become an invaluable tool that is finally helping sales teams do their jobs better. Reps can create detailed dashboards and reports to help them do things like forecast their quarterly pipelines, prioritize new opportunities, and track progress toward quotas. And because SFA can integrate with marketing automation systems, sales and marketing teams can jointly use the data these systems compile to plan and execute more effective campaigns to help reps secure more leads and push prospects through the sales funnel.
4. 4.      Process improvement compressed sales cycles – One of the original promises of SFA was that it would help companies improve their sales processes by, well, actually defining a sales process. This promise was rarely delivered on due to sales rep resistance and the trouble it took to modify the processes that were essentially hard-coded into early SFA applications. Newer SFA applications make process mapping and process improvement much easier. And the best practices built in to SFA systems today—based on years of learning what works and what doesn’t for most companies—help companies continuously improve their processes. The focus on sales process that newer SFA tools encourage has yielded tangible benefits for sales teams, ranging from reduced sales cycles to higher win rates.

These four developments have drastically changed the value proposition of SFA software, but the tide is still turning. We didn’t even hit on social media, which is a huge trend that some predict will have an even bigger impact on the enterprise than the cloud. What will that impact look like for SFA? We might have to wait another 15 years to find out.

About the Author

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. Ken’s latest book is titled: “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

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

Posted in Leadership Management, sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Systems | No Comments »

The Times are a Changing or Are You?

At the end of each year I write down my personal and business goals for the new year in seven different categories. The challenging part of that exercise is I have to review the goals that I had set from the past year and grade my performance. I have saved these sheets from the previous 20+ years and it’s a telling experience, I have found there are always good goals, just sometimes unrealistic timeframes.

 I would suggest you review your past 12 month’s performance; ask yourself: “have I changed or improved my organization?”  If you are a new reader make sure you review all of the previous blogs for idea’s and tips to improve your personal or professional performance.

 As I look forward into 2012 and think about current topics and potential new blogs, it occurred to me that asking you to evaluate your current status on a few basic sales management topics might be a great spot to get ready to leap into the New Year.

Please score these 1-5, 5=highest

  Total Score                                      _________

 Confidential Property of Acumen Management Group, Ltd All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Authorization

 Many of these topics are critical for building a high performance sales team as well as increasing the predictability of your revenue.  I believe it’s critical that a sales manager or owner know a few basic ratios of their business, as in the ratio of potential revenues in the pipeline to the defined  sales quota vs actual attainment. Over a 6-9 month basis of tracking these information you will find your closing ratio’s, the value of how much potential revenue must be generated each month to enter your pipeline and what you need at the beginning of each month to attain your sales quota.

 I also like the idea of “out of sight-out of mind”. If you have major accounts-you must have a written plan of action, for each account, for at least three months. If you have major sales opportunities to sell each month-you must have their name and action plans visibly defined on your wall or desk. This will ensure you are consistently aware of your important prospects.

 Since recruiting and interviewing are the number one most important aspects, making sure you do it right becomes critical! View my free video on www.AcumenManagement.com

Depending upon where you scored or in what area you didn’t score as well as you thought, stay tuned to this blog as we move into 2012. I will be touching on many of these topics and others in greater detail as the year moves along.  If you would like to suggest specific topics for me to cover in one or over several columns please send me your ideas too!

 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. Move up and move ahead!

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

www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Posted in Leadership Management, sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training | 2 Comments »

The death of the salesperson has been greatly exaggerated

The art of selling: “The death of the salesman has been greatly exaggerated” is the name of a recent article in the Economist magazine: http://www.economist.com/node/21533371 . After reading my blog, then read the article, I would enjoy reading your comments.

When I read the article I had so many emotions; as a salesperson for many years, a sales leader for 15 years and a sales management consultant for the past 14 years, this article went right to the point that many of us write about, speak about and attempt to impact the organizations we consult with on a daily basis.

Quick example: recently I purchased an iPhone from AT&T; first call, I walked into a retail facility: Result: great service, welcomed me to the store, shared friendly conversation, they helped me save money on my existing account, the salesperson even “walked” me to the door on each of my two visits.  They even responded to my emails. They had a well organized retail customer approach. Just yesterday I was in NYC, I walked into an AT&T store to purchase a carrying case for my new iPhone, still the same solid attitude, same sales process and training and follow through-they walked me to the door! They had a sales process & system and they were trained in the same mode that my Knoxville TN salesperson was trained. This approach showed me a strong sales focus and the power of salesperson impact on the transaction. BTW: I drove to the store to purchase the phone-rather than buying it over the web.

Sales is built on trust and confidence, in some minor products this can be accomplished by smart marketing, however, where the special B to B consumer or business person are involved someONE must impact them emotionally enough to cause them to take action. Where organizations are lead by an analytical they look at sales as Cost Centers, not Profit Centers. Professional salespeople do drive emotions if properly hired, trained and managed and should be the Profit Center of any organization.

Growth focused companies look at how to capture market share, grow net new clients and increase client penetration levels, however the point the article misses is why have some companies failed or why have some organizations grown? Those organizations that have focused on their front end-(sales focused)- have penetrated their existing customer base at higher levels and added net new clients at higher rates through a well crafted salesperson or sales process map.

HOWEVER: It is my belief that lynch pin for organizations, like Wurth, the company in the article, is that their sales leadership team must be focused on success. They have built a belief in their mission within the sales team and their products and have created a sales training system that reinforces their sales strategies, sales process and prospect buying emotions.

In my blog I have often written about the need for sales leadership to set the tone for the culture of the organization as well as the level of expectation. In fact recently in my blog I wrote that sales and sales management are the Critical Success Factors to lead us out of the negative economic conditions that exist today.

Bottom line: To make salespeople and their impact relevant, sales leadership must take a proactive approach not only with organization’s executives-to drive the need for salespeople, but in the day to day management of their team’s ability to execute.

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 13 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

Posted in Leadership Management, sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training, Sales Training | 1 Comment »

Align Sales Compensation with Your Goals
A compensation plan that works

 Note: This weeks blog is a excerpt from my new book: “Creating High Performance Sales Teams”

When it comes to how businesses pay their salespeople, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. That’s especially true for any company that is diverse. Each has its own business, margins and mix of products and services. Some pay commission based on sales, while others only pay on margin; still others blend both with incentives and special bonus plans.

No matter which approach you use, success depends on awareness. Your sales management team must understand your company’s overall goals and structure compensation to align with them. In short, sales compensation should be not just a tactical focus for your organization, but a strategic one as well.

Sizing It Up
Compensation plans shouldn’t be developed in a vacuum. You and your sales leaders need a solid grasp of your overall industry and your organization’s place in it. You’ll need to factor in variables such as new product launches and major promotions, as well as consider your personnel structure.

You should also address these questions: Is your company a start-up or an established business? Are your sales goals orders- or bookings-based? How long are your delivery cycles? What are your objectives: to secure new clients, increase average order size, reduce selling expenses? Do you want to open new vertical markets, focus on the profitable aspects of your business or increase certain activities, such as cold calling? Each answer will help them design a compensation plan tailored to your company’s specific needs.

Finally, take a hard look at your sales organization. Take the time to set goals and analyze gaps. For instance, do you need to attract new representatives to make C-level sales calls? Do you want to retain employees to build a long-term, client-based sales team, or is rapid turnover acceptable because it provides new blood? Such considerations also play into compensation planning.

Understanding Cost of Sales
Of course, you can reduce selling costs and enhance profits by capping sales compensation, but in the long run you get what you pay for. If you hire good salespeople and compensate them poorly, expect high turnover, which comes with costs of its own. A sales plan that compensates strong performance will allow you to attract the best salespeople — and retain them as well.

Calculating the cost of sales (CoS) is an important part of planning a compensation package. For a quick CoS ratio, simply take an individual’s salary plus commissions earned at 100 percent of quota and potential bonus opportunities, then divide by that person’s revenues to obtain the percentage. For example, if a salesperson earns $150,000 in total compensation and sells $1.5 million of products and services, his CoS is 10 percent. A more sophisticated approach adds in marketing expenses, corporate overhead, direct expenses paid to the salesperson and expenses related to sales support costs.

Once you have determined an acceptable CoS range, you can fine-tune the commission plan. If you sell Microsoft offerings, services and other more product-focused solutions, it’s critical to find a blended CoS, which takes into consideration the margins of service and lower margins of product sales. That can allow you to achieve the desired CoS within your compensation framework.

Examining the Options
Compensation plans vary widely, but all should include “accelerators,” that is, increased commission rates for employees who achieve target sales levels. Following are a few common examples of different plan structures:

• Profit-Based: Commission rates change as margin levels increase. These plans are generally based on invoice, product or monthly averages of margin generation.
• Revenue/Quota: Compensation is based on sheer volume achieved over the previous sales period or on a percentage of a quota achievement.
• Balanced: Compensation is based on margin, revenue and a third component, such as quota attainment.
• Team: Bonuses go to all team members when quarter-to-date (QTD) sales goals are achieved.

Let’s examine which types of plans work best in which scenarios. If your company has high revenue-growth objectives in a boom market with little competition, use a plan with aggressive accelerators. Another option involves offering higher base salaries and lower commissions. An advantage to this approach: You may not need reps with top-notch sales skills because, in this case, they’re primarily order-takers.

The situation changes in a slower-growing market with many competitors. Here, you might adopt a “protect-and-grow” revenue objective to play defense against rivals, while using a margin-based plan to upgrade accounts. The idea is to gear compensation to account for growth while providing bonuses for new accounts.

If your company’s goal is to grow revenue and focus on new account conversion programs, choose a plan focused on the percentage of sales growth quarter over quarter or annually over named accounts. Certainly, using a quota-based compensation plan can achieve this objective, too. This scenario requires strong sales compensation with quarterly bonus emphasis on revenue gains from new business.

Tailoring Tips
Here are a few final considerations to keep in mind as you customize your compensation plan:

• In new organizations focused on expanding within existing markets, the compensation plan will differ dramatically from that of an established company in the same industry. A mature, market-dominant company that receives a large percentage of its revenues from a small, loyal customer base can offer lower commissions and, perhaps, lower overall salaries. But a newcomer to an existing market probably needs to offer higher compensation to attract top-performing salespeople who can build a strong customer base.
• New organizations in new markets need compensation plans reflecting the volatile environment, usually with higher-than- average base pay.
• Companies in transition or undergoing a turnaround typically experience a higher CoS ratio; they may be best served by flexible plans incorporating morale- and team-building components.
• Organizations positioned for high growth should develop plans covering brief, six-month periods. This will let management test theories and change direction while allowing the sales team to adjust accordingly.

No question about it: Creating an effective sales compensation plan is hard work, but the effort typically pays off in both improved sales performance and achievement of your corporate goals.

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. You can reach him at ken@acumenmgmt.com

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Posted in Books, Sales Compensation, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Systems | 1 Comment »

Sales Management Thought Leadership:  efficient effectiveness

As an Eagle Scout I can discuss the topic of “Be Prepared” easily and based upon this past Sunday it even has more credibility. Sunday was “Boom’s Day” the largest fireworks display in the U.S  occurs each Labor Day weekend in Knoxville, TN-so what does that mean?  An estimated 400,000 people flock to the river front to watch the event; boats on the river, people lined up on the docks,  roads and every home, parking lot and condo packed with friends and neighbors.  As this was my first time to witness 45 minutes of noise, color and lots of OOOh’s and Ahhh’s I had to be prepared. Did I mention the potential of rain?

For two weeks, prior to Sunday,  I asked everyone about the event; where to park, when to arrive, double checked my reservations for my dinner cruise and thought of what to pack in my knap sack.  The good news was I found a parking spot in the first ramp I drove into, arriving at 2:30pm allowed my friends and I to casually walk thru Market Square, stop for  refreshments and sushi and then walk the 10 blocks to the river walk and boat launch. When the rain came we had hats’, ponchos, umbrellas and at 9:30pm when the show began, the rain stopped. On the walk back to the car, I took out my flashlight and the four of us made it home by 1am.  A great evening to remember.

What does this have to do with sales management?  As a manager you must be prepared-at all times for almost any event.  The best plan is to have a plan and to consider what might go wrong or what could impact your ability to exceed your objectives.  I have simply listed below a series of topics for your consideration and for you to double check against your plan or lack of plan.

Do you have a plan?

       If you lose a salesperson

       If your sales team needs sales training

       To increase the sales culture of your team

       To increase your networking/partnering function

       That generates excitement for your products/services

       To say thank you to your support team

       That increases your level of professionalism/education

       To create a sales contest that drives revenue

       That adds net new customers to your base

       That drives the necessary sales leads for each month

       To say thank you to your existing customer base

       To increase your public relations exposure within your community or market

       That will increase/improve your vendor relations

       To improve your CRM effectiveness

       If your computer systems fail or are destroyed

 That’s enough for now, but if I missed anything, comment below, let’s build a complete list for the future.

HINT:  this is a great idea for your next management meeting, simply begin by asking each of the departmental managers about their problems or contingency issues that arise on a day to day basis or what might occur if a disaster of any kind happens-then ask them for their plan.

 Why is this critically important today?  In any kind of business environment,  the organization that operates the most efficiently generally out performs their competition, in more challenging times a focus on efficient effectiveness must become the mantra for the day.

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 13 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

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Sales Leadership: Improving your Won/Lost Results

Last week I was speaking to a group of executives about improving their Business Planning process by increasing their consideration of: strategic issues, market dynamics and resource/employee development.  One of the other elements in effective business planning  is holding a formal quarterly review process where the management team evaluates the quality of business execution and the operations, marketing and sales scorecards. During the session I revealed a variety of metrics we use to assist our clients on improving their sales and profits.   The first sales related metric I recommend is the Won/Lost ratio, this is the number of proposals delivered vs the number of opportunity’s won. This is measured by your sales team and by individual salesperson.

The reason this ratio is important is it will tell  sales leadership if your salesperson is qualifying properly, delivering enough proposals or has other sales related issues. From this ratio you can also begin to build the balance of your pipeline metrics, working backwards in your funnel.  However, that is not our topic today.

What can improve your won/lost ratios?  Better pre-call planning.  Let me summarize a few questions the sales manager and salesperson can use to improve their preparation, if you would like our Pre Call Planning Sales Worksheet, simply send me an email, it is part of our On Line Sales Management Tool Kit, Ken@AcumenMgmt.com

Consider each of these issues as you plan your sales call:

• What is he/she in charge of or expected to manage? How will your solution affect the
• What does he/she want to achieve? How does she/he, measure success? How are they evaluated?
• What is considered a success on this proposal?
• What external factors or industry trends might make it more difficult to reach their goals?
• What likely strategies and initiatives are in place to help achieve their objectives?
• What likely issues does the organization face that could prevent goal achievement?
• Who are the peers? Subordinates, superiors, outsiders whom they frequently interact? Who has formal power or informal power?
• What’s their status quo relevant to your product/service/solution? What would it take to overcome status quo?
• What is the personality style of each of the individuals on the call?
• How will I open the call?  What is the objective of the call? How will I close the call?

While these are just a few of questions a professional must consider prior to any sales call, it is also important to recognize that sales conditions can change at any time and constant reviews of your sales strategies will sharpen your skills but more importantly increase your won/lost ratio.  The bottom line:  increasing won/lost ratios mean an increase in commissions, need any more encouragement?

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 13 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

Posted in Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training | 2 Comments »

Sales Leadership:  Cleaning Out Your Book Shelves

On Monday afternoon I found out the painters were coming on Wednesday!  That meant I had time to clean out my office, shuffle furniture around and generally make room for them to paint the walls.

One of the actions I had to take was to unload three large oak book cases with  three to five shelves full of various business,  sales and sales management books I have collected over 20 + years, and various 3-ring binders from training programs I had attended or created for our workshops . Most were dusty.  However the best experience was discovering items I had forgotten I even had or books I wanted to review again simply for the idea’s I knew they would stimulate for my speaking programs or consulting work. I found it is good to clean your closets and book shelves from time to time!

In visiting my client’s offices there always seems to be a book shelf or two with a variety of book/binders that they have also been built up over time. It is a natural part of increasing your professional status.  Hopefully they were all read, not simply collected. When was the last time you took the time to simply review your library of business books or binders to discover gems of information that could be utilized? I have found it common that idea’s or tools that I read 3 years ago that were not pertinent at the time, maybe today or more importantly can be leveraged tomorrow. As sales leaders we must constantly seek new ways or ideas to stimulate our sales teams, increase our business acumen and increase our professionalism. You can find this in the constant supply of new books, but from time to time simply “cleaning off your existing shelves” may lead to a few gems as well.

One of my personal rules is I like to read a business book and then read a fun or enjoyable book. I rotate this principle throughout the year, even having 3 or 4 books going at the same time depending upon my mood or time demands.  I will admit that after writing four books these past 18 months my reading time has slowed down. (Your Sales Management Guru series-AcumenMgmt.com)   However, I just finished “Successful Selling by Matt Heinz –off to find the next Brad Thor book!

If you would like my list of Executive Business Books, send me an email:  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. Move up and move ahead!

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

Blog:  www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

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Sales Leadership: Ready for July & August?

I maybe already too late, hopefully you aren’t?  I often state that it is the salesperson’s responsibility to make quota not the sales managers, it is your responsibility to hire, train and put the salesperson in a position to win and exceed quota. Sales leadership means looking out 90 days or more to ensure you have the programs in place for success.

As we finish April, you should be conscious of pipeline values, business opportunities and activity levels to ensure you will exceed your July and August numbers.  It is this Summer time that many sales leaders are always worried about;  it’s the time when salespeople and prospects take vacations, enjoy summer’s more casual atmosphere  (especially in the North), and both pipelines, sales and sales activities dwindle. These months can impact your ability to exceed your quotas and revenues for those periods, as well as your September and October goals.   What to do?

1)      Beef up your sales activity focus to ensure summer pipelines are “more than full”.

2)      Plan sales contests for May and June that are based on volume and activity

3)      Develop a July & August mentality & environment that you are “not taking off those months” and that you expect your salespeople to attain their quotas.

4)      Create a “Customer Appreciation” summer event and offer special packages or discounts during a three week period.

5)      Develop a companywide summer contest that is focused on both current customer sales and new prospect leads. Hint: let your sales team serve a picnic lunch to your support and administrative teams for a kickoff event.

What other ideas do you have? Leave a comment so everyone can benefit and we can all enjoy a restful labor day. I have my plans already in shape for that day, do you?

Ken Thoreson “operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. During the past 13 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

Posted in Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training | 1 Comment »