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| Sales Management Information |
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It's Time For A Sales Management Revolution
Are you dog tired because of the way you manage your sales team? Many managers tell me that they cannot see a way out of traditional sales management methods that keep them working like dogs, including focusing strictly on revenue goals, staying late, traveling up to three weeks a month, tightly controlling teams, and constantly reacting to emergencies. There has to be a better way. Are you satisfied with the way your life as a sales manager is turning out? Is it giving you all that you wanted? If not, perhaps it's time to make a revolution. Here are some revolutionary ideas you might consider: 1. THINK THREE TO SIX MONTHS INTO THE FUTURE What you want to accomplish right now was set in motion a few months ago. The results of your decisions three to six months ago are coming to fruition today. Think and talk strategically about three and six months down the line as if it were "today." Describe and write down what you see about: · The culture of your sales team · The size of your sales team · Your ideal customers · Revenue you are generating · Your competition · Your target markets · How your team has changed in the last three to six months · How hard you are working While crystal-ball gazing is never an exact science, it can be enormously helpful to "live" in the possibilities. 2. GO BACKWARD From the vantage point of three to six months in the future, identify what you did over the past three to six months. Ask yourself the following questions: · What did I accomplish? · What did my team accomplish? · What tasks did we complete · What actions made us successful? · What were some of the obstacles? · How did we overcome the obstacles? 3. CREATE A PLAN WITH MEASURABLE GOALS If you want better clients, the #1 sales team, more money, more time for yourself, and more enjoyable work, you need an effective business plan. Use your insights from No. 1 "Think three to six months into the future" and No. 2 "Go Backward" to create a plan. · Don't know how to build one? Make this the year you learn. · Already know how but haven't built it? Get support from a colleague, mentor, coach, or group to make it happen. · Have a system but aren't using it? Pull your plan out of the drawer and re-commit to doing what it takes to have your dream career. To help you get started, here is a simple tool I use. You can also ask each salesperson on your team to create a plan using the same template. Top 5 Goals 3 months 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Top 5 Goals 6 months 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Top 5 Goals 12 months 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. HOT TIPS: · Do not put your goals in a drawer! Post your goals where you will see them every day (computer, fridge, bathroom mirror, wall next to the phone). When you see your written goals, you increase your chances of accomplishing them. · Communicate your goals. Let others know what you are thinking. Take regular opportunities to talk to your staff and superiors about your plans. It usually takes a village to accomplish great things. You'll need buy-in and help reaching your goals from many levels within the organization. 4. CHOOSE THE BEST Serve only those clients you, your organization, and your sales team care about and enjoy. Everything becomes a struggle when you work with people you don't enjoy. You wouldn't hire someone you could not amicably work with, so why let them hire you? Begin today to let go of clients you and your sales team find difficult, and start seeking out those you want. Have the courage to refuse new clients who don't fit your picture of who you most want your business to serve. 5. CREATE ACCOUNTABILITIY FOR YOURSELF AND OTHERS 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. To hold employees accountable, have them declare their intentions to you. Use these three simple questions to help you: What will you do? When will you do it? How will I know you've done it? Then, schedule a follow up time to talk about their accountabilities. Enjoy reaping the rewards of your revolution. 'Revolutionary' Challenge: BE THE FUTURE NOW is a good time to plan. Conduct a visioning exercise with your team where you go into the future. Ask your team to close their eyes and focus on the future, one month at a time. First, ask them to see themselves today. Then proceed one month at a time. When you all open your eyes, it is six months from where you started. Discuss what you see, using the points in the "Think Three to Six Months into the Future" section at the beginning of this newsletter. Make sure you capture the ideas on a flip chart. Please let me know how this worked for you, and any suggestions you have to improve the process. Have fun 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". 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 Leadership Lessons for Sales Managers Leadership, like class, is hard to define, but easy to spot. Increase Retail Sales With Meetups I recently attended the monthly Italian language Meetup here in Little Rock. Meetups are informal social gatherings of people with similar interests in a particular topic. Topics for Meetups range from political to cultural to intellectual to fun. Accepting Responsibility for Your Sales Success That we live in a time of relentless and pervasive change is no longer news to anyone. There is one important implication of this situation that continues to be a challenge. That is that our employees need to continually change their behavior to adapt to the world around them. Train a Winning Sales Team: Rounding Third and Heading for Home Although I never met the man, I imagine Lou Boudreau would have made one heck of a field sales trainer. In 1942 the 24-year old Cleveland Indians shortstop was promoted to player/manager of his team, and for the next eight years Boudreau did what we, as trainers, are called upon to do every day: demonstrate success, inspire success and cultivate success. Think of it as the triple play of sales training. Run a Productive Business From Your Car-Office The way we do business has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. More products and services are now being offered outside traditional premises. You no longer have to go to a bank to complete your transactions or home loan applications. Insurance brokers visit your home or office; retailers deliver products directly to your home. This change in distribution methodology has meant many of us now run a car-office. Getting Off The Advertising And Sales Rollercoaster Seeing the results of advertising your business can be like watching a roller coaster. The day you run your ad you see a flurry of activity; your ph0ne starts ringing, your web site traffic increases and/ or potential clients visit your store. Your hopes soar. sales go up. Two or three days pass and the response goes down. You look at the bill for the advertising and your jaw drops. Your hopes descend. The Hidden Competition: Avoiding the 2 Most Common Competitors There are really only two types of competitor: The Benefits of Catalog Sales For Your Business Things to watch out for when selling your product in catalogs. 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 Do You Know How to Fire Up Your Sales Staff (When Money Isnt Everything)? Money is the only thing that motivates a salesperson, right? Well, maybe it is time to give your sales staff a little more credit. Sales & Marketing Plan Strategies Design and Implementation of a new Sales & Marketing campaign must be carefully thought through from the beginning. What message do you want to send about your company, products, and services? What are the anticipated results? What is the execution strategy? What is the cost ratio versus expected return? 8 Procedures to Take Control of Sales and Marketing The Cash to Cash Cycle Part Three of Series Not Enough Fresh Sales Leads? Marketing is the New Sales Your sales are down and leads are rare. The phone's not ringing. Let's blame marketing! Sales Plan? Whats a Sales Plan? In the past, if you said the word "plan" to me, I would bolt and run. I'm the "creative type," a former ballet dancer and choreographer-I'm terrible with details. When I was dancing professionally, all the details were taken care of; all I had to do was show up and dance. Even when I was choreographing, as long as I met my deadline for when the dance needed to be complete, I could go with the moment, go with the impulse and see where the dance led. The Spirit Of Change A Highly Conscious Approach To Business Management. For more on this topic please link to Innerwealth Web Site Set Yourself up for Trade Show Success Of the many mistakes small business owners make, a big one is participating in trade shows and business expos without a strategy for turning those marketing opportunities into sales. Here are five tips to get you started. How To Build A Worldwide Distributor Network When your product is market ready and has a good bargain, it will be no value to you if you don't know who's going to buy it, or how you are going to tell the world about it. Your product will only sell if it has a good wide distribution network. Seven Deadly Sales Mistakes That Cost Business Owners Big Money - And What To Do About Them 1. LOOKING for a "quick fix" to close more sales sales aren't closed, they're opened. Sales Competence Isn't About Quota Performance! Compounding the problem are two myths regarding measures of competency in sales. How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Performance -- Part 1 Business executives and sales managers frequently bemoan "80/20" performance on their sales teams, where approximately 80 percent of sales are produced by approximately 20 percent of salespeople. Why do salespeople perform so differently? What is it about top sales performers that enables them to achieve such vastly superior results?
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