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3 Secrets That Set The Context For Sales Success
In today's competitive environment, every organization is trying to improve sales results. In every company, the most important and vulnerable link in the success chain is the performance of their people. As a sales management trainer and coach, I see that managers across every industry fail to take a hard look at the capacity of their people to provide the service -- whether it's to internal or external customers that puts them in a league apart from the competition. As a sales manager, you can set the context for your team to pull ahead, or 'breakaway' from the competition. Context sets the tone and often determines the meaning of events and actions. In business, context affects our vision, motivation, ambition, and follow through. Some aspects of context are outside of our control. Things happen. Markets rise and fall. Yet some people thrive even in hard times. While these people are the masters of context, I would also argue that the 'climate' in which they work could contribute enormously to the difference between success and failure. Here are three ways you can take charge of the context in which you create an environment where 'breakaway' results can happen: ADOPT A 'NO BULLIES HERE' POLICY Some people use much stronger language to describe the people I'll politely call bullies. You may call them: tyrants, egomaniacs, jerks or unprintable. These are the people whose behaviour leaves you feeling badly about yourself, and feel free to use whatever profanity you want to describe them, because they are real trouble. Many 'stars' shout, belittle, and make unreasonable demands of support staff and colleagues, while ingratiating themselves with the higher-ups. How people treat both the powerless and powerful is a good measure of human character and the "bully" quotient. One bully can destroy your team's morale. You and your colleagues will spend inordinate amounts of time and energy dealing with this person, instead of focusing outward on breakaway performance. HOT TIPS: - Protect your people. If you are in a position to do so, aim to nourish a culture of decency in your organization. While you may not have a 'no bullies here ' policy in writing, you can have it in spirit. If the superstar you are about to hire has a reputation for being difficult, don't hire! - Set this ground rule for sales meetings: focus on the situation, issue, or behaviour, and not on the person. This rule translates into not placing blame on people. It safeguards the self-confidence and self-esteem of all meeting participants, and provides a process for regulating out-of-bounds behaviour. PRACTICE ONGOING REGARD We all do better at work if we regularly hear that what we do matters, that it is valuable, and that our presence makes a difference to others. Nearly every organization or team I've been privileged to spend time with under-communicates the genuinely positive and admirable achievements of its members. I can understand wanting to avoid conflict, but avoiding praise is puzzling. HOT TIP: Make space at the beginning of a sales meeting for any expressions of appreciation or admiration that anyone may wish to deliver. I recommend that the leader not deliver any of these kudos during the first few meetings so team members get used to practicing 'ongoing regard.' If no one has anything to say, so be it (although I've never seen this happen). You may find that sharpening your capacity to express genuine appreciation or admiration is vitalizing. It will remind you of why you want to be on your team, and why performing at your peak is important. CREATE ACCOUNTABILITY How many times have you said that you were going to do something and then not done it because nobody else would know the difference? Try spreading the word. Just the simple act of telling your plan to another person raises the stakes. Most of us place a high value on doing what we say we'll do. There is something profound about taking our commitments seriously when we profess them to another person or when we join in a pact to reach a common goal. HOT TIP: If you are a sales manager, allow your people to tell you how they plan to reach their goals, rather than you telling them how to proceed. Create time, regularly, for them to report what they have been doing and learning. Useful questions to help the discussion are:
- What worked? If you are a team member, seek out someone you trust and check in regularly. Declare what you intend to do and watch what happens! 'CREATE THE CONTEXT' CHALLENGE Establish the practice of 'ongoing regard' at the start of each sales meeting. The purpose is to recognize people whose performance and integrity helps the team achieve goals and objectives. Acknowledge that their specific behaviour, and the personal qualities that led to that behaviour, had a positive impact on you, on a customer, or on the team. For example: "Lee, by delegating paperwork to the summer students and making more face-to-face sales calls you are helping us have a great second quarter. You are resourceful and creative." It may take a number of sales meetings for the practice to feel comfortable and meaningful. Stick with it. This article may be reprinted in its entirety with express written permission from Nicki Weiss. The reprint must include the section "About the Author". Nicki Weiss is an internationally recognized Certified Professional Sales Management Coach, Master Trainer, and workshop leader. Since 1992, Nicki has trained, certified, and/or coached more than 6,000 business executives, sales managers and salespeople. Nicki guarantees increased sales performance when sales managers become better sales coaches. Sign up for her FREE monthly e-zine, Something for NothingTM, which has powerful tips and techniques for sales managers who are ready to make this transformation. Sign up at http://www.saleswise.ca. You can email her at nicki@saleswise.ca or call 416-778-4145.
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Careers and Employment Five Steps to Maximize Success in Targeting For Growth Targeting is the process of selecting high potential customer accounts to receive intense sales focus. Goal setting translates that high potential into achievable numeric objectives, i.e. revenue and margin growth. The Achilles Heel of Management Coaching While heading home at day's end, you begin reflecting on a coaching meeting you had earlier that day with an employee, Chris. You hope that, this time, you finally succeeded in getting her to understand the importance of spending less time in disruptive socializing in the office and more time elevating her performance. If not, you feel that your only remaining alternatives are to give her a poor performance evaluation or demotion or may even fire her. You're reluctant to do either of the first two things because you know these would disrupt the positive work relationship you've had with Chris. And you don't really want to fire her. On the other hand, you are running out of patience; this is the fourth time you've said something to Chris about the situation. Admittedly, the first few times, your comments may have missed the mark because you gave her only some casual feedback. But about a month ago, you held a formal coaching meeting with Chris, in which you discussed the situation in depth and came away thinking that she understood the need to change her behavior. In fact, she did change. But after a week or so, she was back to her old behavior. How to Increase The Sales Of Promotional Products I have searched for a new way to increase the sales of my promotional products. A good way is to start an affiliate-program with a commision for every customer who buy an product and who came to your page from a webpage of one of your affiliate-partners. The Four ?D?s of Sales Management Recently I stumbled across some notes that I had kept from a project I had been involved in which involved looking at manager behaviours. The aim of this project was to identify "preferred behaviours" in sales managers when they were working closely with their sales representatives. The outputs were interesting and helped my colleagues identify four main types of sales managers and the differences between effective and ineffective behaviours. T. L. S. Part I: Tier Level Selling A Penetration Strategy A number of sales "Gurus" have promoted the theory that states, "concentrating strictly on your top level premier accounts (some even quantify that by stating your top twenty) will provide you with as much growth and profit as you can possibly handle." This is often stated regardless of individual and corporate strategic initiatives. This position is based on the following facts and assumptions. Increase Your Sales - Accept Credit Cards Many people today simply prefer the convenience of paying by credit card. If you want their business, you must be able to accept their credit-card payments. The Spirit Of Change A Highly Conscious Approach To Business Management. For more on this topic please link to Innerwealth Web Site Sales Tactics to Beat Your Competition This month I want to share a success from a friend and customer of mine. You'll find in this story two important sales tactics for beating your competition. Offer Package Deals To Increase Profits And Sales An effective way to increase your profits and sales is to bundle many products or services together into one package. This gives people more reasons to buy your products and services. People also have come to believe package deals are a better value. You want all the products or services to be closely related. For example: if you are selling a computer you could add in software, hardware, computer furniture, etc. Project/Program Management Best Practices for Success in ANY Industry! Where is our success? Although there have been improvements, over 60% of projects/programs failed and many were canceled in 2003 (ref:The Standish Report CHAOS)! Our goal for 2004 and beyond is to contribute to a 60% and better, project/program success rate! STOP THE MADNESS-MANAGE AND CONTROL PROJECTS How to Improve Your Management Procedures Usability Are your people consistently following your procedures? Each year, organizations lose thousands of dollars through common mistakes and lapses in usability. But what does that mean for business owners and executives? How Your 60-Second Elevator Script Can Transform Your Staff, Your Sales, & Your Business When attending a Chamber of Commerce breakfast networking get-together, I'm always perplexed by the lack of thought and preparation many business owners display when giving a 60-second overview of their business. These people have spent enormous amounts of time, money, and energy on their businesses. Yet, when asked to give a quick synopsis, they fumble for the right words, they ramble, they go off on a tangent, the information is disjointed, or the words are boring and seemingly unimportant. Hiring--A Vital Key In Sales Management Success Recently, I was asked to spend some time on the telephone, coaching a client's administrative assistant on how to check out an employment candidate's references. After each in-person or telephone conference, I complete a brief written report going over the information discussed. The information that I gave this worker was so vital to the company's overall sales management success that I felt impelled to share the report in my periodic client e-mailings, feeling that it might be of value to others that I serve. The information is so vital to the management process, I decided to reproduce it here as well. 3 Ways to Increase Your Sales Last week I got a call from Jose, who was looking for help improving his ads. He'd been running the same ad in four local papers for two months and only gotten one response. He was understandably frustrated. With more than a dozen very satisfied clients, he knows that the residential property management services he and his brother provide should interest more people, but he wasn't having any success getting attention or generating leads. Sales Marketing: 12 Sneaky Tricks To Help You Outsell Your Competition Business can be like war sometimes. Back-to-School List - 10 Tips for Trade Shows There's a new year beginning now - the school year. Whether you have children attending for the first time or finishing university, it's always hectic to get into the back-to-school routine. And, if you don't have school in your family, there might be your own remembrance of the excitement of starting afresh and learning something new. Finding A Sales Force That Pays For Itself The elements involved in building a sales force, especially one that pays for itself and also adds value to any business, are many and varied. The whole purpose and direction of a sales manager needs to be directed to creating a sales force that causes the employing company to expand through increasing sales. How to Sharpen Your Sales Message with Do-it-Yourself Focus Groups - Small Business Power Tools You've probably heard of focus groups. It's a tool that the big guys use to quickly test a new product or service or to get fast feedback from potential customers. Focus groups do not provide real, actionable information but are great for what I call "clue hunting." For example, I once sat through a series of focus groups on a new camera-related product. After three focus groups, we were able to pretty well conclude there wouldn't be much of a market for this particular product, and the idea was dropped. The three focus groups probably cost this advertiser around $5000 vs. the hundreds of thousands of dollars that would have been wasted had they put the product into manufacturing. 4 Marketing Myths Threaten Your Sales These 4 marketing myths can cause you to lose sales if you base your marketing decisions on them. But the related marketing tips I included with each myth will boost your sales if you act on them instead. Ten Awesome Ways To Incease Your Sales In Holidays Everybody thinks that the businesses will slow down a bit in holiday seasons. Ofcourse everybody thinks that people don't want to start new ventures in holidays too.
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