SMT: Center for Sales Excellence

Summer slowdown?

by Susanne Conrad 

It's summer!! Lots of people on vacation - notice how hard it is to reach people at the office?

That makes it difficult for some companies to schedule training during peak "vacation time". This seems to happen not only during the summer vacation peak but also around major holidays, e.g., Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Many L&D groups make a concerted effort to stay away from scheduling training around holidays, but "work through" the summer vacation peak. 

Of course, working through the summer vacation peak means L&D has to consider how to handle employees who are not able to attend training. The options are generally:

(a) Schedule on "make up" sessions
(b) Rely more on online sessions that can be completed around employee schedules
(c) Proceed with training regardless of number of attendees & plan ways to bring missing employees up to speed
(d) Re-schedule training for off-peak times

THE QUESTION FOR YOU:
How does your L&D group handle training during the summer vacation peak? Holidays?

How well are your sales people doing with regard to those KSAs?

by Susanne Ball

Last week we posed a few questions to consider when getting customer input as you're determining how best to develop your sales people. When asking for input, it's absolutely critical that you ask the right questions. And, those questions should be: 

1. What key knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) sales people bring to the table are important to the customer
2. How well your sales people are doing relative to those KSA's
3. How well your sales people are doing  on those KSAs relative to your competitors' sales people

This week, let's consider question 2. So here are a few things to think about - things I've learned from experience in conducting customer input activities on behalf of our clients:

1. Third parties are better at getting candid customer input
   Customers are significantly more comfortable, more open and honest, and more talkative when a third party conducts the survey. That's not surprising - they don't really want to say something bad about their sales rep to the sales rep's face (if that's who's asking the questions) or to someone in their vendor organization. In fact, the sales rep should be the absolute last person to ask the questions. The second choice: A person from your organization who is in no way connected to Sales.
2. Electronic vs. personal questions
   Given how busy everyone's schedule is and how notoriously difficult it is to get on buyer calendars, it won't surprise you that most customers/buyers prefer to complete electronic surveys than agree to a face-to-face or phone interview. Here are the differences to consider when you decide which route to go:
   > Electronic surveys tend to have significantly higher participation rates
   > In-person or phone interviews tend to have greater depth of feedback (most respondents really don't take much time to fill out those "any other comments" sections in a meaningful way vs. what they'll tell you impromptu)
3. Ask the right questions
   Once you have your organization's KSAs, don't forget to ask only about the appropriate KSAs when taking up a customer's time. Those that are appropriate:
   > Externally focused KSAs that involve an interaction with the customer
   > KSA's the customers can see demonstrated and make a judgment about.
4. Ask the questions the right way
   Wording is everything. Make sure you word questions so the customer can respond based on behavior/experience with your sales people. For example, don't ask "How good are our sales rep's creative thinking skills?" -- they don't really care and don't know. Ask what they care about instead: "Does our sales rep bring you new/innovative ideas to help you grow your business?"
5. Ask the right number of questions
   Don't strain your customer's patience - give some serious thought to how much time and effort the customer will need to commit to your questions. You shouldn't expect more than approximately 10 minutes under most circumstances. So, be selective about your questions to get the core information you need.
6. Give them a scale
   A scale of 1 to 5 works best. 1 to 3 isn't enough differentiation for you to judge performance - I'd put money on your ending up with a 2 across the board. A scale of 1 to 10 is too much nuance - what's the actual difference between a 6 and 7 average score????
7. Ensure anonymity of responses - and mean it!
   This is the surest way to get candid input - and a 3rd party is the best way to ensure customers believe their responses will be anonymous.
8. Beware the fallout or halo effect
   True story: I was recently conducting a customer survey for a client. All was going well. Suddenly, ALL responses to questions turned extremely negative and many previously scheduled respondents backed out of the survey. What happened??? Well, the vendor had just had a major logistics issue and couldn't ship product as expected. The vendor's anger was reflected in the survey - despite the fact that the sales rep had done absolutely nothing different and the logistics issue was not her fault. The opposite can of course be true as well: a customer is extremely happy with your product or service despite your sales rep and, therefore, rates your sales rep's KSA performance higher than it actually is. A customer will take the entire relationship with your company into consideration when you're questioning them - so a word of caution about knowing "what else" in the relationship is influencing participation or the way your customer responds. Careful questioning and asking questions a few different ways may help.

Next week, let's tackle question 3.

THE QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
What are your experiences getting customer input on KSA performance? What pitfalls or advice can you share?

Sales Leaders

by Susanne Conrad

I came across an article on developing leaders in Workforce Management that got me thinking about a  conversation with a Sales Training Manager who talked about "developing leaders" in their sales organization. The gist of it went something like this:

"We really want to create sales leaders instead of sales people. In other words, a sales force that acts like this is their own business. Entrepreneurial types. People who think outside the box. People who take initiative and make the right call on the spot and have the background, knowledge, skills and abilities to do so. So, we're going to create a development program that gives them instructions and steps to act as leaders and to be entrepreneurial within the parameters we set out along with the forms and tools needed to do so."

I don't know about you, but my first thought was, "You can't prescribe/lay out steps for acting as a leader or to be entrepreneurial/creative." In my opinion, leadership is a quality, not a series of steps. And laying out a process for thinking creatively/outside the box is just forcing people into another box. Besides, leadership and creativity are two different, although very often linked, issues to address. 

Let's hone in on the "leadership" aspect - many of our clients are focused on developing sales leaders. In fact, many of them have used "sales leader" somewhere in the name of their development initiatives (e.g., "Sales Leader of the Future" and "Sales Leader Development"). It's absolutely true that some sales people need to be sales leaders given the nature of their customer/account/sale type/industry/marketplace/competition, etc. It's equally true that not all sales people need to be leaders. Some sales people just need to be extremely good transaction-focused sales people. It's like having an entire army made up of generals - it wouldn't work. An effective, efficient army definitely needs great generals, but it also needs great troops.

I think that it is extremely important for an organization to define exactly what it means by "sales leader" and who/where/when they need these leaders. Then, the organization should make sure they understand which customers/accounts really want/need a "sales leader" calling on them. Developing programs for sales leaders and exceptional/effective sales people are different animals.

THE QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
> Does your organization have a focus on developing sales leaders?
> Does your organization distinguish who needs to be a sales leader and who needs to be an exceptional sales person?

How to Hire a Client

by Susanne Conrad

This week I thought I'd specifically address those in our SMT membership who are service/product providers to sales and marketing L&D folks.

There isn’t a provider I know of who doesn't want to grow his/her business. But, if you’re working with a client that is difficult, unappreciative or impossible to satisfy, etc. there’s little room for fulfillment or satisfaction and very often a significant probability that you'll be unable to make a profit on your work. So, it's important to keep in mind that although a potential client is deciding whether or not to purchase your services or product, you too are making a choice and in the position of saying "yes" or "no" to taking that person or company on as your client.

The question becomes: "How do you, the provider, determine whether or not to work with a client?"

Let's put aside the most obvious qualifiers like: Do they actually have the funds to pay for the work they contract for; is there a good match between what the client needs and the solutions you can provide, etc. Instead, let's delve into the more subtle aspects of the provider-client relationship.

Heed the red flags!
While it's often difficult to spot problematic situations in advance, there are often tell tale signs - signs we may ignore in our haste to get another client or because we're not paying attention. 

Certainly we can all be fooled into thinking we’ve connected with a great client only to discover we’ve made a mistake - that's true from both sides of the consultant-client relationship. But, experience and attention are great teachers of the signals and indicator for whether your potential client is someone you want to work with.

Red flags? What red flags?

Level of Trust - Do you sense that despite your providing robust background information, references, work examples, case studies, etc., they seem to doubt your ability or expertise? Do they respect your time and efforts? Do they extend you the same courtesy you show? Do you sense they're giving you a real shot at the work or are they "on a fishing expedition" for material/solutions?

Respect for Your Intellectual Capital - Do you sense (or worse yet, have evidence) that the potential client will share your work, your methodology, your tools, etc. beyond what is acceptable within the scope of the "purchase" they're contracting?

Good Style Match - Is your working style and energy level and the potential client's congruent/productive/complementary?  Is the potential client open to mutually adjusting work styles to ensure a good outcome?

There are, I'm sure, many more "red flags" we should we watching for.

THE QUESTION FOR YOU
What indicates to you that you're about to hire a great client?

Your favorite game - the key to your style?

Remember that conversation in Pretty Woman where Edward and his lawyer were discussing their favorite childhood game? Edward liked building blocks (he ends up ditching a huge business profit so he can build ships) and his lawyer liked Monopoly (he lives for the financial kill). Yes, the games we gravitate toward are aligned with our experience, strengths and personal styles.

Our challenge when developing "games" for L&D programs is to develop interesting learning activities. But can those "games" inhibit learning as well? Of course, they can.

I recall a situation where a non-training subject matter expert (I note his background only to illustrate that it's not something the lay person usually thinks about) came up with an activity he thought would be extremely effective but fell flat. The activity was a fairly simple role play in which some participants role played a sales call while others acted as the "buyer". The problem was that many participants were so new to sales that they had no idea how a buyer would act or respond. Their level of discomfort was so strong that a few refused to play their parts. Others did such a poor job that learning was minimal. The situation was easily resolved by bringing in a few seasoned reps for the activity to act as buyers.

The point is simply that we need to take into consideration that because we, the developers of L&D games, may find the game extremely worthwhile, interesting and engaging, we must always consider it from the participant's perspective.

THE QUESTION FOR YOU
What advice can you share relative to creating audience-appropriate games and activities?

Developing a Business Manager rather than a Sales Rep

 
by Susanne Conrad

Developing effective customer-facing employees and equipping them with the tools to succeed in today’s complex business environment - in other words, developing a "business manger" - is paramount to being both competitive and profitable. Unfortunately, many attempts to do this fail to deliver the desired results because they are missing a key component: basing development on objective data regarding what the customer really cares about.

Despite there being a number of informative studies on sales force skills and capabilities, the vast majority of these are historic analyses. Few of them look to future requirements – and yet the future is at the very heart of planning sales development. Why train employees on what was important in the past or only for today? Why not look to the future to see what customers want next year or two to three years from now? Why not prepare employees for those requirements now and gain the competitive edge by ensuring their readiness for the challenges and opportunities of the future? 

Interestingly, very few studies include direct input from customers but rely, instead, strictly on input from manufacturer organizations. Such information cannot be considered totally objective, nor does it identify divergences in perspective between manufacturers and retailers. In the words of a retailer participant, “They assume they know what I want because they talk to me often. If they really want to know what’s important to me, ask me that directly.”

Ideally, organization should consider these elements when identifying a curriculum for sales reps: 

            —   What is important to manufacturer and retailer (customer) – now and in the future?

            —   How well are we performing – the company's perspective vs. the customer's perspective?

 

            —   What are the trends in importance and performance across time - in other words, are we doing the right things or do we need to change direction?

One way (a cost-free way at that!) to fill your information gap and allow your organization to develop solid, forward-looking sales force development strategies is to participate in DHC's ongoing Sales Force of the Future Study (SFOTF). Take advantage of trending DHC has been collecting since 2002. Check it out - there's a lot of great (and, yes, free) information: Sales Force of the Future Study

How do you define a Business Manager vs. a Sales Person?

by Susanne Conrad
 
Following on to the last topic, virtually every one of my clients is focused on re-developing their sales people to be business managers. The benefits to companies is pretty clear - better bottom line results. I often hear, "Our customers want sales people to be business managers with the skills, abilities and knowledge to grow our business and theirs."

A fine concept! But putting this into practice is difficult. The first thing that comes to mind is how we define a "business manager" as opposed to a "sales person." The definition is of critical importance for those of us in L&D: we need to build a curriculum aimed at developing these people, so we need to know what the end result - the "business manager"- looks like.

We need to have very precise conversations with sales management about the skills, abilities and knowledge they believe are necessary. This conversation needs to be well-planned to draw out the information we need at a tactical level - a strategic, general statement of "we want business managers" is good directionally, but we need to know what sales management wants that's different from what they have now.

Here are a few of the key questions that need to be answered:

• What specific results/measures does sales management want to see that are different from what they currently get?
• Are the goals/objectives different for business managers vs. sales people? If so, how?
• What is the difference in the role of the business manager vs. a sales person?
• What specific things would a business manager do/do differently from a sales person?
• Do business managers have different responsibilities? Do they have different authority?
• What do they need to know that is currently lacking?
• What skills and abilities will allow them to get the different results desired? Do they have them? if not, what are the gaps?

THE QUESTION FOR YOU
What else would you include in a conversation with sales management aimed at defining a "business manager"?

Not your same old sales job anymore

by Susanne Conrad

I recently had a conversation with an L&D Director who talked about re-vamping their entire sales curriculum to meet the needs of the marketplace. Like many companies, this Director's customer base was narrowing - not only because of the poor economy, but as a result of consolidations, merger, takeovers, etc. The result, of course, is fewer but larger customers and significantly more at stake in every sales call.

Think of it this way, if you had 100 customers originally, and you make a mistake during one of the sales calls, you still have 99 more opportunities to get it right. So, you can afford to send some of your "greener" sales reps to call on the companies where potentially making a mistake and losing a sale will have, perhaps an impact, but not a "miss the target number for the period" impact. You can afford some time to bring your sales people up to snuff and let them "cut their teeth" before assigning them to your top tier customers.

Now, let's say your industry experiences a huge consolidation and you're left with 40 customers who have bought out, outlived, absorbed, etc. the remaining 60. A mistake in a sales call means only 39 more chances to get it right. Now, you may have a real problem. 

This is exactly what we're seeing with many customer companies. The result: Companies are loath to assign less developed sales people to accounts; they demand significantly better and broader skills, abilities and knowledge from their sales people. Does the phrase "we want a business manager not a sales person calling on our customer" ring a bell? Enter the Learning & Development professional!

I'll explore some of the topics relating to this issue over a few weeks. This week, let's start here:

THE QUESTIONS FOR YOU:
Have you experienced your management/sales management insisting that your sales people become business managers? What' 
s driving this at your company?

SMT Connections: Monday, May 11, 2009

Letter from the Editor by Lori Champion

“It is not what you know, it is who you know.”

As sales professionals, we have heard this quote countless times. The power of one’s network, client base and relationships is equal if not more effective than a skill set. How much time are you and your teams giving to network growth?

I know from personal experience, it is very easy to get caught up in the day to day minutia of my desk. Before I know it, hours have flown by and I find myself asking, “What did I do?”

READ MORE >>

Feature Article: "Networking For Success" by Craig James, Sales Solutions

If you were calling on a sales prospect, how would you kick off the meeting? By talking about you and your product? I hope not! You start out of course, by asking questions about your prospect's business and your prospect's personal interests and objectives. This creates a bond between you and your prospect, and in turn makes him or her want to share with you, learn about you, and work with you. It's the same in networking. If you want the other person to help you, you need to convey that you'll do the same for him or her.

READ MORE >>

Feature Article ll: The Qualified Pipeline - Keeping It Real by Bill Walton, ProDirect

Sales reps often are bothered by "no's". But, I believe what is more gut-wrenching and ego-robbing is a "maybe". When you stare at a stack of callbacks with a never ending litany of "evaluating all opportunities, call back 4 weeks" in the notes, the call reluctance and self-doubt creep in. Our self talk asks us "Why should I make any more calls? Maybe my pitch isn't all that great, What did I say that's stalled the deal?" 

READ MORE >>

This week on SalesRepRadio: "Keep Your Customer Talking" by Hank Trisler

"I will only lose when I am talking. Did you ever notice that a customer has never asked you to leave their office while they're talking? They don't walk out on you or hang up on you while they're talking. The only time the customers terminate the conversation is when you're talking. That's one of the keys, keep the other guys talking."

CLICK HERE to check out this fast-paced audio interview now at: http://www.salesrepradio.com/

Thanks & have a great week!!

The SMT Team

SMT News: Nov. 17, 2008

The Power Of Full Engagement…..really think about the power of full engagement.  What if you, your kids, significant other, boss was engaged fully at all times?  You’re thinking miracle right?  Ask yourself what would be different?  Would relationships be better, less miscommunication, would you be more aligned, have more common goals with people you come in contact with? 

Lori Champion, our editor extraordinaire, discusses this topic in this week’s SMT News.  She asks us the question how can we at SMT become more engaged and learn from others.  One way is participating is by contributing in the SMT blog. 

Lori poses the question, “How do we effectively engage people in our training process?”  Post your response by clicking on the comments section at the bottom of this blog.  The SMT blog is designed to be an open discussion forum regarding the topics that are of interest to you; to pull issues, knowledge and ideas from all the experienced professionals in our membership.  Got a topic or response and don’t want to post it yourself, feel free to email me at lanie.jordan@gmail.com. 

Dee Ann Campbell, Sales Training Manager, Assurant Employee Benefits, shares with us some great training tips in her article “Successful Transition to Activity-Based Training”.  Dee Ann gives us insight on how to create a more memorable training experience through the contribution of our participants.  This is a must read for any trainer!  READ MORE

This week we are launching a new regular feature for SMT News called Technology Tips by your very own blog mistress, Lanie Jordan.  Learn how to put your “Best Look Forward” in your documents by utilizing Microsoft Templates.  Got a tip you’d like to share?  Email me at lanie.jordan@gmail.com and become an SMT contributor!  See your name in lights in your very own byline.  READ MORE

SMT Radio features Colleen Francis, Engage Selling Solutions, she teaches us how to have a more “Successful Negotiation".  What happens when your customer feels that getting the best deal from you is pertinent in their job description?  Do you or your sales team feel warn out as a result?  Colleen introduces us to her simple 5 step process that will make you a winner at negotiation!  LISTEN

Check out all the news: http://www.smt.org/news

Take care & have a great week!

Lanie Jordan

lanie.jordan@gmail.com