So your sales results are not where you want them to be...call it the competition, call it the economy, call it whatever you want – it's underperformance and you're missing your targets.
The bottom line is that the right results are not happening and it's screwing with your profitability. Results need to head northward and quickly.
You don't understand it. You've invested in hefty commission and bonus plans but only a few guys on the sales team are making the most of it. You've got industry leading products and services coupled with a solid marketing plan, but you keep seeing your margins shrinking because of "necessary" discounts. Is it really that tough out there?
You may have trained them well, armed them with Blackberries, and provided them with a great CRM, and still the numbers aren't meeting your revenue targets. Don't they know how to close?
They're not at their desks and they seem to be putting in the time. How are they actually spending it?
Heartfelt pitches about "working harder" and "working smarter" sound like the right approach, but your sales managers have tried those angles so many times they've become cliché.
Because most of them are in sales purgatory – carving out just enough production to be "average" or avoid sacking but not nearly enough to be really good.
They are "hoping" their way forward and not getting the results you hired them to deliver. High performance is but a dream (yours, not theirs).
They've been good salespeople in the past, so surely they know what it takes to be good sales managers, right? It makes sense that it should be a logical career progression, but now it's painfully clear to you that many sales managers struggle to make sales happen through others.
In response, you're arming them with training, sales support, a decent rewards package, and state-of-the-art MI. But it doesn't seem to get you the sales results you really want. And if you do hit the revenue target, the margins have been sliced to the bone.
Upon closer inspection, their performance management technique - i.e. holding 1-2-1s and delivering the message "here's the gap, now go fill it" - isn't curing the problem. Oh, things might shift for awhile, but they never last. Given the circumstances, you've got a sinking feeling that performance will improve only slightly, if at all.
Unfortunately your sales managers keep trying to hire the elusive "right" people - as if enough "right" people could be found.
And, whoever they hire will likely arrive with some sort of "sales personality" that must be addressed, such as...
Journeymen – the sales world is full of these guys, constantly searching for the right sales job, the right compensation package. When the next right job comes along - POOF - they're gone.
Starry-eyed young dreamers - they've spent more time eloquently crafting their "creative" CVs than actually getting experience. Roll the dice…
Rationalisers – they've raised excuse-making to an art form. Their salesmanship is truly stunning, except it's mostly used on you. They've bought their own justifications for poor performance and are committed to enrolling you into them.
Prima donnas - With any luck, their sales performance will exceed their arrogance, because the price you'll pay will be any sense of teamwork.
Question: Where can you find some great salespeople?
Answer: They already have jobs and are doing great with other companies.
Key question: What are those companies doing that you're not?
You've probably figured out by now that you should stop wasting time hoping for things to get better and instead square up to the daunting challenge faced by every sales department:
Start with you and your organisation's beliefs about salespeople. Truthfully, in your company, are salespeople regarded as well-respected contributors to revenue and profits, or as necessary evils: slick, fast-talking, and insincere – interested only in their own welfare?
The truth is that, when it's done right, sales is a noble profession that drives the profitability of the customer's company as well as your own. Great salesmanship challenges the status quo, stimulates new thinking, and motivates prospects to buy your products and services because they make and/or save money for your customers.
The salesperson plays the pivotal role in your company's efforts to convert skeptical customers into trusting clients. When selling is done right, it is magical for the bottom line, because sales is what pulls your company into the future.
But if you want that magic you need to cultivate a level of salesmanship that goes beyond the ordinary. Sales training plants the seeds, but it's sales management and leadership that ultimately grows extraordinary performers.
Our unique RACE™ technology will enable:
Your salespeople to:
- Own their targets
- Master their time
- Deliver results
Your sales managers to:
- Hold high standards
- Develop their people
- Exceed the targets
Your company to:
- Grow revenue and increase profitability
Is this really possible for you?
Are your sales teams and their managers really capable of becoming the sales force you've always wanted?
We can help you unlock what's possible, and work with you to transform your company's ability to create exceptional sales results. We guarantee it AND exceptional profits.
- Scott Roy and Roy Whitten
