Your Sales Management Guru

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 »

 Your 2012 Sales Plan

It’s a little late to begin planning your 2012 Sales Plan, but in a conversation last week with a reader of this blog, I realized there maybe others who have not formalized their 2012 plan.  I have included below the various “categories” you should consider in building a plan.

 Other questions you should consider:

 •         What went well in the past year?

• •         What did not go well?
• •         What are the key drivers?
• •         What are the key metrics?
• •         What are the risks?
• •         What are the opportunities?

 •         What are some of the specific factors you will be
facing in 2012?

• •         What assumptions are you making about the market in 2012?
• •         What assumptions did you make about your
  offerings in 2011? Still true?
• •         What assumptions did you make about your company
  capability in 2011? Still true?

 Topics:          Table of Contents for the Section

 Executive Summary

1. Company Mission and Strategic Alignment

2.1.1     Company Mission statement

2.1.2     Company Goals

2.1.3     Company Strategy

2.1.4     Company Critical Success Factors

2.1.5     Key measurements (Market share, profit, growth, etc)

3. Sales Goals

3.1.1     Revenue

3.1.2     Profit

3.1.3     Units or Product Groups

3.1.4     Target Customers

3.1.5     Market Share

3.1.6     Other Goals

3.1.7     Sales Organization

3.1.8     Personal Goals

4. Market Coverage Strategy

4.1.1     Market definition

4.1.2     Territory definition

4.1.3     Target Accounts

4.1.4     Customer buying process

5. Sales Strategy

5.1.1     Channel strategy (link to Sales Strategy player)

5.1.2     Partners and Alliances

5.1.2.1.1    Strategy

5.1.2.1.2    How to leverage relationships

6. Sales Cost Model

6.1.1     Compensation targets for sales organization

6.1.2     Travel and Entertainment

6.1.3     Discounts, promotions

6.1.4     Reward and Recognition

7. Develop Human Resources (Link to Build an Organization)

7.1.1     Candidate profiles for each position

7.1.2     Job Descriptions

7.1.3     Hiring Process

7.1.4     Growth Plan (hiring plan)

8. Training Plan

8.1.1     Sales skills

8.1.2     Product Service

8.1.3     Sales Process

8.1.4     Sales Certification

8.1.5     New Hire Training Plan

9. Compensation Plan (Link to Reward and Recognition)
10. Sales Process/ Sales Cycle definition:  Key milestones, %Probability to close (Leads, Qualify, demo, proposal, close, revenue recognition, customer care)

10.1.1  Productivity Model,

10.1.2  Model Pipeline

10.1.3  Activity metrics

11. Sales Tools (Q-screens, proposals, standard documents, contracts, sales collateral kits, case studies, ROI/justification calculators), section?
12. Support systems (HR, Marketing, administration, IT, Engineering, Manufacturing)

12.1.1  Sales Force Automation/ CRM technology

12.1.2  Marketing support:  Collateral, lead generation, PR events, trade shows, Press releases

12.1.3  Competitive Analysis

13. Execute

1. a.    Prepare for launch, (internal buy-in to plan, communication)
2. b.    Launch (Kickoff meeting), move to Tools to execute
3. c.    Pipeline Development process
4. d.    Commission and performance reports
5. e.    Customer Relationship programs 

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: “Leading High Performance Sales Teams”.

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

www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com  (blog)

Posted in Leadership Management, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Training | 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

Posted in sales leadership, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training | Comments Off

Sales Management: How much time do you have left?

Generally most sales teams have until the end of June to achieve your quarterly objectives, these objectives maybe measured as quota attainment, headcount, CRM utilization or even certain levels of training accomplishment.  As sales leaders your quota achievement could be based upon either “revenue or invoiced dollars” or “booked or sales dollars”.   If you are focused on achieving your quarterly objectives time is running out.

If you are evaluated on a revenue/invoiced dollar value; then your sales orders must be in the system with enough time to ship your products and deliver your services, if you are based upon booked orders you have somewhat of an advantage.  Its May 16^th, there are 33 business days left until June 30^th, (taking one day because of Memorial Day).   Are you on target?  How will you maximize your time and that of your sales team to ensure you will exceed your second quarter objectives?  I have listed a few ideas to help you jump start your focus, please comment below and let’s build a list of ideas to help each other!

1)      Increase the awareness of time with your sales team: share this blog, and then make a PowerPoint slide for each salesperson that states:” What can I do TODAY to win a sale?

2)      Set up a Friday afternoon sales meeting to recap the week and discuss plans for the next week. Rather than a Monday morning meeting, make sure everyone can recap their week and have a plan for the next week.

3)      Hold individual weekly meetings with each salesperson to strategize their opportunities: hint: have at least 2 salespeople in each meeting to increase the brain power.

4)      Get senior management/President involved in more face to face sales meetings to help sell the company and get additional eyes/ears in the sales process.

5)      Create a list of the top 10 largest opportunities in the second quarter and post it in your office to keep everyone aware of their progress.

6)      Determine your “delta” or what additional dollars you have to sell between today and the end of June and divide that number by the remaining number of days left to show you the daily order rate required.

There are six ideas, what additional ideas can you contribute?

Of course you can also assume your sales team will think about their objectives on Saturday and Sunday as well–that would give you additional 12 days! Let me know if you want a copy of my Sunday Night Sales Management column. Ken@AcumenMgmt.com

Guru hint: Don’t forget that the summer months are just ahead and your pipeline must be full for July/August months, your quota does not take a vacation…

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

Posted in sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Training | Comments Off

Sales Leadership; Be  Prepared

As an Eagle Scout, I have always considered the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared” in all aspects of my life, this past week as the South felt the destructive power of massive tornadoes and rain it was a difficult time for many with many challenges to come.  I was in Kansas working with a client, while wife was at our home in Eastern Tennessee facing the storm alone.  The good news for us was we did not suffer any real damage; during many phone calls between us we discussed the situation and developed action plans, i.e. moving to our lower level, taking cell phones, batteries, radios, water and blankets. We also discussed the actions that had to be done outside the home during the short breaks between the four storms that hit us that evening, I was watching live radar and she was working the various issues; positioning the generator if we lost power, cleaning the drains that kept being blocked with leaves, sticks and grass and protecting portions of the house from raising water. In the end, it all worked, thank fully.  Sales leaders face challenges every day and being prepared as much as you can be is critical success factor/CSF.

Organization skills are important aspect of being prepared. While many times salespeople are less organized than many other job roles good sales management must be highly organized because of the random nature of various events that can be disruptive on a daily basis.  It is not unusual for sales leaders to walk into their offices on a daily basis and learn of: 1) a sales opportunity that might be lost, 2) an unscheduled  meeting with the President, 3) a salesperson leaving the company, 4) a customer problem that needs to be addressed immediately and a host of other topics. So what can a sales manager do to help themselves?

1)      Create a 90 day sales training plan, with dates, times, topics planned in advance

2)      Use an effective “to-do” list to maintain priorities. HINT:  I actually use sheet of paper with my short-term/high priority and longer term goals visible, I draw a line down the middle of the paper and list them on either side.

3)      Focus on effective communication, much time is lost with follow up when individuals were unclear as to your directions. Re-read your emails before sending, ask others to proof important documents to ensure there is “clarity” and at the end of a meeting, ask the other person for their understanding of the actions they are to take with deadlines.

4)      Always recruit!  Every 60 days place advertisements and interview constantly.

These are just a few tips on improving your preparedness, I always stress in my workshops and consulting that a proactive approach to sales management vs a reactive style will always  succeed.  What other idea’s do you have?

REMINDER OF IMPORTANT EVENT

One of the most exciting events…            The  Worlds Sales Success Conference

From May 9^th to the 13^th a series the world’s top sales experts will present a variety of programs designed to train and motivate your sales teams.

This conference, which represents the most ambitious online event of its type ever staged, with thirty five sessions presented by some of the world’s top sales experts, over five days, will be all about succeeding,  winning and exceeding expectations.

But this is more than a sales conference: Just four weeks after the Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake and a tsunami which delivered 46ft waves, we learn that the death toll is likely to top 25.000, and recovery is going to take not years, but possibly decades, maybe even a generation, at a cost of at least $250 billion.

This is an opportunity for anyone operating in the sales space to make a meaningful contribution to the Japanese Disaster Fund (via the Red Cross. Can I count on your support? Together we can make a worthwhile *contribution.

Register for my event and all my friends!

http://topsalesworld.com/salesConference/index.php

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 partner 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 sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Consulting | 1 Comment »

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 »

High-Performance Sales Management

Building a strategic and effective sales management system is just like building anything else: It takes time, refinement and follow-through

In the 14 years that Acumen Management Group has been consulting with partners on their sales management challenges, we’ve seen IT trends (cloud anyone?) get a variety of scenarios recycled.

Sales concepts get recycled, too. Building a sales management process isn’t new, but it is being rediscovered as a linchpin for the success of many organizations. Sales management process is more conceptual, yet it’s still a tactical aspect of a partner organization.

In most partner organizations, sales training companies have focused on creating a sales process that follows their sales training curriculum and, if followed correctly, should increase a partner’s win ratio. There are organizations that have created a “delivery process” for professional services, which, correctly implemented, should increase the profitability of a partner’s delivery systems as well as improve customer satisfaction levels.

In many partner companies, however, we see very few properly designed sales management systems created or, more importantly, followed. There’s a lack of training for sales managers and there’s a lack of discipline, accountability and control built into the existing sales management systems.

Without strong sales management systems, sales training programs are not reinforced, poor hiring systems put the wrong people on the team or, worse, limited on-boarding systems never allow good employees to fully succeed. From a marketing or operations perspective, sales management is at the focal point of leading and implementing new policies, executing at trade shows and properly following up on marketing programs. The missing link is a strategic sales management system that ensures all aspects of the partner company is executing effectively.

Building an effective process starts at the top. Sales leaders must be equally adept at “operationalizing” strategies — translating them into real-world tactics — and quickly implementing them with their teams. Sales managers must direct and mobilize their teams to achieve desired results.

If the essential revenue-driving elements of a business plan are not in alignment, attaining predictable revenue is tough. Sales leaders must sync up the human and corporate sides of sales, marketing and operations to achieve successful outcomes. Certain ingredients must be in alignment with corporate goals, such as personal or professional goals, compensation plans and personal performance measurement.

A true strategic sales management framework builds sustainable business models that increase sales, lower the cost of sales, improve productivity and increase market penetration. The sales leader must institutionalize or operationalize each unique plan; they need to embed discipline, accountability and control into their organization to ensure that they have the tools for continued success. A proper sales management methodology drives a rigorous cadence that moves the sales team and other departments in the right direction as quickly as possible. It’s all about measuring the impact of change and, based on the insight, adjusting specific tactics for improvement.

Sales leaders must have their process defined to execute on the following areas:

• Organizational design
• Recruitment strategies
• Compensation planning
• Market and territory analysis
• Strategic alliance program development
• Salesperson/organization development and training programs
• Distribution/channel management strategies
• Account management strategies

A key point is that aligned sales management plans and systems build sustainable businesses.

Building strategic sales management systems is like building anything, it takes time and iterative refinement. If you’re lacking in a sales management process, start with a simple approach and over time attack each area, increasing the complexity as your systems and company mature.

About the Author

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. www.AcumenManagement.com

www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

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

Sales Leadership: Are you practicing properly?

Putting for Par’s

I happen to be in Florida this weekend, taking a few days off to visit relatives, play golf and enjoy the weather.  We played 36 holes the past two days, my first real golf of the season so before we came down from Knoxville I went to the driving range at home and hit two buckets of balls to attempt to regain some form of respectability. Prior to my first round I hit another ½ bucket of balls and a few casual strokes on the putting green and boom, then off to the number 1 tee box.   Amazingly my first drive was right down fairway, but as I worked through the 18 holes it was rough as I struggled with some good and some bad, a few bogeys and a few double bogeys.

In your role as a sales manager are you taking your personal and professional development as casual as a few practice swings on the driving range?  Recently in a six week series of sales management training programs for a major client, several participants didn’t complete a variety of reading assignments because they were too busy “closing out the quarter”.  For some reason they could not find 2 hours over six weeks to read 15 pages of content.  Successful sales leaders will commit to reading, attending workshops and attending vendor sponsored workshops on sales management topics.

If you consider yourself a professional, every week you spend hours on the driving range enhancing your abilities with each club in your bag, you practice hitting out of the sand and chipping off the green.  What are you doing to increase your professional skill levels?   There are a variety of resources you can find to improve your sales management expertise.

Several quick idea’s: check out the LinkedIn groups on sales leadership, commit to reading two new books a year,  and visit at least two other sales organizations that are similar to yours and benchmark your organizations against theirs.  For example: our new book: “Leading High Performance Sales Teams” I review a variety of idea’s to enhance your sales teams abilities , concepts to improve your leadership styles and increase the effectiveness of your management systems.  On our website there is a free sales management and sales compensation assessment where you can compare your existing programs, watch several free videos on hiring and training salespeople and read our White Paper on the Job of Sales Management. www.AcumenManagement.com

What is your plan to make more pars’ vs bogeys? I left at least six putts inches short, I am off to the putting green!

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

Blog:  www.YourSalesManagementGuru.com

Tags: Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management Systems, Sales Management Training
Posted in Keynote Programs, sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Training | Comments Off

Sales Management is the Hardest Job in Sales. Period.

  By Jeb Blount, Author of People Buy You 

 Ken’s Comment: This week’s blog is a guest blog:  When I saw this article published I knew you would enjoy it. It hits the mark and reinforces what I have written in my latest books on Sales Management.
Why is Sales Management so hard?  Sales Managers bear 100% of the responsibility for the performance of their sales team yet receive little glory for their efforts.

In many cases even the best sales managers earn less than their top salespeople. Yet, the best sales managers work longer hours, endure more stress, and have greater responsibility than the salespeople they manage.

 Making things worse is the fact that salespeople are harder to lead and manage than any other employee. They are emotional and often irrational people who demand attention. Because salespeople are essentially in jobs where rejection is the norm, sales managers are often called upon to be coaches, mentors, mothers, fathers, and even amateur psychologists in order to keep their troops motivated, focused, and delivering on sales goals.

 If this isn’t hard enough sales managers are often put in the position of shielding their salespeople from corporate policy wonks, accountants and operators who have absolutely no understanding of the psychology of salespeople.

It is a wonder why any sane human being would voluntarily choose to be a sales manager. Though each year thousands of sales professionals give up their sales roles and accept the promotion. They move into their new office and proudly stare at their newly printed business cards - with little understanding of what it takes to actually lead salespeople. Ill prepared to perform the job of sales manager a high percentage of these newly minted sales leaders are promptly demoted or fired. In many cases they have done so much damage to the sales team (and their own career) that it takes years to repair.
The sales profession is a grave yard littered with the corpses of failed sales managers.

  Who is to blame?

  Everyone! In a recent conversation with a Senior Vice President of Sales for one of the largest companies in the world he lamented that his single biggest worry was for his sales managers. He said matter-of-factly that his sales managers did not have the training to do the job. When I asked him about his training budget for sales management he told me that right now they were investing in training the salespeople. If you were to take a stroll around Corporate America you would discover similar issues most companies. The executives know that they need to provide training for their sales managers but the salespeople always seem to get the training budget. It is a vicious, ongoing cycle which leaves most sales managers in the position of learning on the job.

  Blame also falls on salespeople who delude themselves into thinking that just because they are great salespeople they will be great sales leaders. Studies, including one by the journal of managerial psychology, have concluded that the best salespeople may not be the best sales managers. The actual evidence of this exists in every company that employs sales teams. 

 The sad story goes like this:

The top salesperson is looking for career advancement. She goes to the boss and demands a promotion. The boss, who doesn’t want to lose his rainmaker’s million dollar quota achievement, does his best to talk her out of it. The top sales rep threatens to quit. Concerned that he might lose her to a competitor the boss relents and gives the top sales rep the sales management position. The newly appointed sales manager takes an immediate and frustrating pay cut because she goes on salary. Because she has no clue how to lead people the other salespeople on the team at first stop selling and then either quit or are fired. The company loses those sales plus those of the formerly top sales rep. She now has to hire a new sales team, onboard and train them. She fails at this because she a) does not know how to interview and hire A-Players and b) because she does not know how to teach people how to sell. This creates more turnover. Finally, with sales at an all time low the boss has no choice except to fire his once top sales rep.

 Yet faced with overwhelming evidence of the risk involved in promoting top salespeople to sales managers, salespeople and their companies continue to take the plunge. Today, tomorrow and always top salespeople will be promoted to sales management positions. Why? The answer is simple. Top salespeople have a proven track record – tangible evidence that they can perform. And, these high performers are naturally interested in new challenges and career advancement and demand it from their employers.

The good news is that some of these top salespeople will become superstar managers who build and lead high-performing sales team that deliver year in and year out.

 Why do some top salespeople become top sales managers while others fail so miserably? Most top sales professionals who make the successful transition to sales management will have two things in common:

First they are coachable. They are willing to listen and learn and because of this the are able to find a hands-on mentor or coach willing to take the time to help them develop sales leaderships skills.

  Second they don’t wait on their company for training that will likely never come or at best will be minimal. Instead they invest in their own success through reading, audio programs, and self-funded seminars.
Through coaching, practice, persistence and passion for leadership they eventually become sales managers who top salespeople want to work for and garner the respect and admiration of their people, peers and company.   

     Follow Jeb on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

Jeb Blount is a respected thought leader on sales and sales leadership, and a best-selling author of three books, People Buy You: The Real Secret to what Matters Most in Business, Sales Guy’s 7 Rules for Outselling the Recession, and Power Principles. He is the author of more than 100 articles on sales and sales leadership and the host of the top rated Sales Guy Podcast. 

 You can find Ken Thoreson’s books on Sales Management at:

http://www.salesgravy.com/shop/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=131

Tags: sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Training, sales organizations
Posted in sales leadership, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Planning, Sales Management Training | Comments Off

What a grand week for Personal Leadership!

 Last week in my blog I wrote about the importance for sales leaders to focus on building belief and the need for your sales team have emotional commitment to your company and your products/services.  On Tuesday I spoke on the first day of a three day national sales kick off conference for a firm in Raleigh NC. Even though I was leading off the afternoon with a keynote, I wanted to sit in on the first two hours in the morning to get a feel for the audience and theme for the event.

The first item on the agenda included a welcome by the VP of Sales but what created the perfect atmosphere was he began to randomly ask ten salespeople about a variety of their success stories about 2010.  They had NOT been prompted.     It was great to “feel” the mood in the room change from one of interest in the meeting to one of warmth, pride, teamwork and excitement about 2011!  This is a sales driven organization that is adding salespeople, increasing sales and creative marketing programs. In our sales management workshops we speak to the need for sales leaders  to create an annual Drive Statement, a phase that sets the tone or theme for the New Year, theirs   was “Soaring to New Heights”, doesn’t that really make the point!   This is a sales driven organization that is adding salespeople, increasing sales, winning market share and one that many competitive salespeople want to work for, it was a great experience for me to share my time and ideas on driving personal and professional success with this sales organization. The VP of Sales for this firm included the personal aspects of leadership as well as the professional requirements that builds great teams.

Next I spent Friday-Sunday at the National Speakers Association conference in Atlanta attending their Winter Conference. They normally hold two events a year and as a member I truly enjoy these conferences. It is also very strange, normally I am speaking at a conferences or leading breakout sessions for my clients, at this event I am looking at schedules trying to determine what events I feel I need to attend, taking notes, holding hallway and lunch networking events and absorbing a ton of information.  People like Brian Tracy attended and so many other great people that are willing to share information to enhance the level of professionalism of the industry. I attended a full day session on Thought Leadership, presented by Matt Church; he flew in from Australia to share his insights into the consulting, writing and professional speaking business. Throughout the weekend I met and listened to a variety of individuals with a wide variety of experience and expertise, including Alan Weiss, Sam Horn, Mark Sanborn and the last morning just 2 hours before the conference ended, sitting at a table, I leaned over to chat with a woman next to me and she simply asked me a question about my business.  I shared some information and she gave me a Break Through Thought for my keynote that made my time at the conference even thought I came away with two pages of to-do’s notes.

 My point in mentioning this entire conference is to reinforce that you must always work to get better, read more, invest in yourself and you never know who will give you that gem of an idea that will help you win the next sale or change your life. 

Just a note: Our three new books on Sales Management are available and our Success Simplified book on my keynote are available on our web site.

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

Posted in Keynote Programs, Sales Kick Off Meeting, Sales Leadership Training, Sales Management, Sales Management Training, Sales Motivation, Sales Training | 1 Comment »