Selling Power Blog

How Top-Performing Sales Managers Drive Results

Today's post is by Michelle Vazzana, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, VantagePoint Performance.

 

All sales managers want to get it right.  Everyone wants a definitive solution. The bad news is it doesn’t exist. The good news is that top-performing sales managers aren’t magical. They are focused in ways their lower-performing peers are not. 

What do focus and simplicity have in common? The best sales managers know they can’t do everything. In fact, time can be a sales manager’s biggest enemy if not harnessed effectively. Research from the 2012 Thought Leadership on the Sales Profession Conference indicates that the average sales manager only spends about 32% of their time managing their team. How that 32% of time is used makes all the difference.

The three most important questions 

The research published in our books, Cracking the Sales Management Code and Crushing Quota, show that sales managers cannot manage outcomes, only the activities that lead to those outcomes. But which activities should they manage, and how is that different from measuring activities? How does this relate to coaching? Top-performing sales managers use a specific framework to focus their efforts. They answer three critical questions to isolate the highest impact efforts:

• What should my salespeople be doing?  
• What should I as their sales manager be doing to best enable and equip my salespeople to succeed? 
• How do I know if it is working?  

What should my salespeople be doing? 

This is the foundation for laser-focused sales management. Top-performing managers are diligent about tying the activities they expect their salespeople to execute to the sales objectives or KPIs that matter. Those sales KPIs are meaningfully connected to the business results the sellers are held accountable to achieve. 

Once these high-impact activities are identified, top-performing sales managers ensure that tasks are clear for their salespeople, implementing standards that remove ambiguity. The most typical standards involve quantitative expectations for activity execution. Make 10 sales calls per day. Deliver 20 proposals per quarter. This is the easiest part of activity management, but it is not the most important part. The critical standards high-performing managers provide are qualitative. They clarify what “good” looks like and over-communicate the vital elements of effective execution for the activities that matter most. 

This diligence enables sales managers to tackle the next question: How can I enable my sellers to succeed? What is my role? 

How can I enable my salespeople? 

Creating clarity of task for salespeople is critical, but only the first step. Top-performing sales managers apply the same laser focus to their own efforts, ensuring that the effort applied will lead to results. Of all the things a sales manager could coach, which ones should they coach? The high-impact activities. Managers can’t and shouldn’t attempt to coach every sales activity. 

Top-performing sales managers make time for what matters most and pay far less attention to everything else. In fact, our research indicates that many ingrained beliefs about effective sales coaching are just plain wrong.  

Top-performing sales managers don’t coach their salespeople more frequently or spend more time in the field. Once the highest impact activities are identified, top-performing sales managers determine how frequently each individual salesperson should be coached and the most effective content of those coaching conversations.  

So, if once per month is sufficient, they don’t coach an activity every two weeks. This goes against conventional thinking for over-achievers who want to set “stretch” goals. More is not always better, certainly as it pertains to effective and realistic sales coaching. Identifying the most important sales activities to coach and coaching them consistently ensures that effort is applied in the right amount and in the right way. The next thing top-performer sales managers do is determine which needles need to move and by how much to achieve the team’s goals. 

How do I know if it is working? 

This last critical question forms the final element of an effective sales management framework. It replicates how top-performing managers simplify their coaching tasks and get more of their salespeople to quota; 35% more as compared to their lower-performing peers, according to Crushing Quota. When they’ve done the heavy lifting of making direct connections between business results–sales objectives/KPIs–and high-impact activities, the path to progress becomes clear. These managers don’t wait until sellers are far behind quota to take action. They monitor the sales KPIs on a regular basis to ensure that progress is being made, and they take needed action when it isn’t. 

They look at things like win rates, time in each deal stage, and level of opportunity qualification. They look at the contents and progress of their seller’s pipelines, and coach accordingly. This is how top-performing sales managers use data. If the right activities are being executed in the right way, the right needles should be moving. If they’re not, adjustments are made. 

To learn more about coaching practices of high-performing managers, check out our most recent book Crushing Quota: Proven Sales Coaching Practices for Breakthrough Performance on Amazon. Download the first two chapters of Crushing Quota. 

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Michelle Vazzana is the Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder of VantagePoint Performance, the leading global sales effectiveness firm. She is the author of Crushing Quota: Proven Sales Coaching Tactics for Breakthrough Performance and co-author of Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance.

 

What Sales Can Learn from Sports

Today's post is by an internationally recognized sales training and enablement expert, Mike Kunkle, VP of Sales Effectiveness Services at SPARXIQ.

 

Sales managers lead and guide a sales team to success, just as a coach does for a sports team. One lesson the business world can learn from sports is the value of effectively coaching a team. Since a coach helps someone achieve their personal best, a sales manager who is equipped with a coaching mindset can connect with and develop their sales reps to help them realize their full potential. When managers coach their reps instead of simply providing directive feedback, they maximize sales effectiveness.

Strategic Coaching in Sales

At a high level, sales coaching is a formal developmental process where sales managers partner with their reps to improve performance. Sales managers encourage their reps to take responsibility for their growth by helping them determine areas of development, create action plans, and take steps to improve their performance.

Coaching focuses on your team’s strengths, making each member better. Sports coaches focus on emphasizing their players’ strengths, and train to improve their players and guide them. In sales, instead of telling the reps what to do, sales managers can act as guides to help reps uncover the best strategies to achieve their goals, which creates a development partnership. To build the most effective sales coaching development programs, managers must know what, how, and why to coach.

It’s important to approach sales coaching strategically, rather than simply providing feedback to rep behavior as it happens, by asking these questions:

• Do the sales reps know what to do and why to do it?
• Do they know how much and how often to do it?
• Can and will they do it?
•  Are they doing enough of it and are they doing it well enough?

Directive and Facilitative Approaches in Coaching

The answers to the above questions provide direction for coaching opportunities. Just about every sales activity is coachable, including territory optimization, account planning, prospecting, presenting, and negotiating. The best practices learned from these various coaching areas inform the performance improvement solutions needed to solve specific skill gaps for individual reps.

Coaching should be learner-centric. Your approach to training and coaching should adapt based on your rep’s current needs. All coaching should be respectful and engaging to the learner, but the models you use may vary. There are two simple approaches for teaching and validating knowledge and skill that will guide reps to more effectively use what they know and improve what they do. Both approaches are effective when used properly.

Directive approach: Telling, discussing, showing, and validating knowledge and skill

Facilitative approach: Questioning, listening, involving, engaging, and leading

What Sales Coaching Can Do for Your Sales Force

According to David Brock, CEO, Partners in EXCELLENCE and author of the Sales Manager Survival Guide, many sales managers aren’t aware that coaching is a key part of their job and don’t have role models to learn from. The value of coaching is inherently clear and there is a lot of data to support its efficacy. For instance, companies that provide real-time, deal-specific sales coaching increased revenue by 8.4% year-over-year, which is a 95% improvement over companies that don’t provide that level of coaching.

We’ve gathered 15 expert pieces of advice regarding the impact sales coaching has on a company and the consensus gives praise to training sales managers with this mindset. As Carole Mahoney, founder and Chief Sales Coach of Unbound Growth says, “Companies who make sales coaching a priority sell more, do it faster, and keep both their customers and sellers longer. All of this leads to revenue growth that costs less.”

In my eBook about sales coaching, there are guidelines on how to integrate coaching activities into daily, weekly, and monthly workflow to a standard practice. This eBook provides a glimpse into our program that helps you create a coaching culture. There is a better way to achieve mastery levels and maximize sales effectiveness, and that way is sales coaching excellence. Use sales coaching to develop a more well-rounded and successful sales team.

How to Be Ready to Serve Customers in the New Normal

Today's post is by Mike Fisher, master facilitator with Integrity Solutions and chief sales officer of Sales Bullpen.

 

In the mere months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, much has been written about the need to adjust to a new normal in how we’re doing business – and from where. We get it: We’re all working from home. We’re socially distanced. And we’re collaborating in new ways. Yet, as we continue to make sense of all that, one question looms large: When the day comes, what are we going back to? 

Said another way: What’s next – in how we’ll serve customers, lead teams, and collaborate with each other? 

Are You Planning for Sales Success? 

Permit me to skip the one question that is hotly debated lately: When? Nobody really knows. Let’s just say it’s someday, and maybe soon. In fact, it may have already started for you – depending on where you are and when you’re reading this. And, as we know, not everyone is shut down – many people in essential jobs never stopped working.

But, whenever everything starts again for most of us, we can guarantee that the world into which we reemerge will be different from the one we left behind.

Now’s the time to look at that and think through some important issues. How can we make the best use of the time we have now to get ready – even if we don’t have all the answers?

As I think this through myself, I’m reminded of the times I’ve been to a busy fast-food place or a bustling coffee shop – standing in line for 5-10 minutes as the line inches forward. There’s always the risk that a person one or two in front of me, as he or she steps up to order, will utter, “Um, huh, let me see now…” and then spend another few agonizing minutes scanning the menu before deciding what to order. 

Here’s what’s most maddening in such a scenario: Number one, they have already had five or more minutes to read through the menu and decide. And number two: They have been there hundreds of times, no doubt. 

Top Considerations for Sales Leaders Right Now

In terms of where we all are now, one goal now needs to be: Don’t be that person. You should be ready when it is your turn to order. Before we’re ready to get back in the game more fully, we need to know that, if we’re not ready to operate in a new-new normal – if we drop the ball in any number of key areas – that might be just the spark to inspire a customer to go elsewhere.

Without attempting to have all the answers, here’s what to think about now:

Preparation is key: When this thing breaks loose, you cannot afford to have set-backs. Your people all need to be forward thinking, not excuse making. No hiccups allowed: You have had time to prepare, so your supply chain, inventory, distribution, and more all need to be at the top of their game.

Things will be different: Some of your customers were hit really hard; some may not be there. You will need to prepare to develop new relationships. Asking how their business has changed and how you can best serve them is good practice. 

Needs have changed: Do not assume things are the same as before you left. For example, in the medical device field, when elective surgeries open up, the need for inventory and a fast process will be high. Prepare and put these systems in place right now. Communicate with your customers now and try to forecast if you are in an industry with a similar situation.

Top people are accessible: Business owners are accessible right now. Many gate keepers are not there to answer calls, so don’t be afraid to pick up the phone – you might just have a direct line to your prospect.  

Expect orphan accounts: Let’s be honest: Some businesses will not survive this, leaving their customers looking for the services you provide. “We are offering this, this, and this to our customers. We would love to serve you as well…” 

No doubt many of the points I raise here will spark a pain or two, as you grapple with intangibles or find yourself in a haze of ambiguity. That’s to be expected, but don’t give up on working through some important questions that will help you prepare. There’s so much at stake. 

I spoke to a business owner recently and he confessed to me his biggest fear: He didn’t want to let down his team. He said, “I am writing the chapters now of how I handled this storm. I want to look back and know I communicated with my team effectively and made good choices.”  

That’s as good a motivation as any, in my view. Make the decisions on how you work with your customers now, based on how you want them to judge you after – because that is exactly what they will do.

For more information visit www.integritysolutions.com.

The Best Sales Training Tool to Win More Conversions

Today’s post is by David Varner, author of The Sales ChecklistTM: Get It Right Every Time! 

 

I’ve been in the sales training industry for the better part of 20 years, and I’ve observed countless companies re-implement their sales training or pursue the latest shiny new thing. 

I’m not talking about ongoing sales skills development and optimization. I’m talking about the belief that their overall sales process isn’t yielding enough conversions to sales. In response, sales leaders feel the need to start over, invest in more training, “and do it right this time.” 

Why Is the Average Closing Rate Only 25 Percent? 

Why do sales organizations continually do this? Was the training they invested in flawed? Seeking the answer to this led me to write my new book, The Sales ChecklistTM. 

The reality is that most salespeople already have an acceptable level of selling skills. Can they get better? Absolutely. Is lack of skills the real sales conversion problem sales organizations are facing? No. 

From our research, the average closing (conversion) percentage today, across all industries, is approximately 25 percent. This means three out of four of the sales pursuits that make their way through your sales process will result in a loss, no decision, or an unknown conclusion. 

Disappointingly, this losing rate has stayed the same for many years. With access to so many sales skills programs, why is this happening? 

The reason sales are lost (or pursued when they should not be) is that the salesperson missed something he or she knew was necessary to do. Why did they miss it? Because, in the real world, it may be something they don’t consistently execute. However, there are required steps that must be systematically covered to ensure a positive outcome – either a closed sale or an informed, early disengagement. 

The Sales Checklist™ – Get It Right Every Time! 

Checklists minimize avoidable failures due to lack of attention, memory, or thoroughness. They empower professionals to have a higher baseline of performance by reminding them of the necessary steps in a process – where missing one step potentially has the same consequences as missing all the steps. 

Although we don’t typically think of a shopping list as a checklist, it is. Without a checklist, we forget to pick up items we know we should. A checklist for shopping ensures you don’t have to go back to the store to pick up the milk! 

In aviation, checklists are vital. Pilots use them as part of their protocol because they have found it could mean the difference between life and death. The first known use of a checklist for pilots occurred following the 1935 maiden flight of the prototype Boeing XB-17 (later B-17) WWII bomber. The flight, conducted by one of the Air Force’s most experienced pilots, ended in tragedy shortly after takeoff: the pilot had forgotten to release a locking mechanism on the rudder and elevator controls. The pilot had known he had to do it, but he simply missed a step. Once Boeing identified the cause of the crash, they developed a checklist to ensure that, going forward, pilots didn’t miss any steps. 

Once the checklist was adopted, the impact was two million flying miles without a similar incident.

The Power of a Checklist for Sales

How do we, as salespeople and sales leaders, gain the same consistency of a pilot successfully executing a flight from departure to arrival? How do pilots get it right, statistically, almost 100 percent of the time? How do they apply their knowledge consistently and correctly every time? How do they make the preflight look so easy, so simple? How do they manage extreme complexity so consistently? 

Simple. They follow a checklist. 

Overall, salespeople are competent and know how to ask questions, probe, develop solutions, develop coaches or mentors, and so forth. The reality, however, is that the majority of their time (75 percent losing rate) is wasted on opportunities where they have missed a step or more. 

This leads to lost sales (or sales that were never going to be won) being pursued to the end of the customer’s buying process – representing a tremendous opportunity cost. 

Typically, customers require three to four companies to quote or bid on any major purchase. This means the customer must motivate two or three of the salespeople who are not going to win the order to stay engaged to ensure they receive the necessary number of quotes. 

Using The Sales Checklist™ will ensure you have visibility when you’re the third or fourth quote – empowering you to make an informed decision whether to stay engaged or invest your resources where they will produce a greater return.

A sales checklist minimizes avoidable failure. No longer will missed steps lead to being blindsided by a surprise lost sale. Checklists minimize avoidable failures due to lack of attention, memory, or thoroughness. 

Yes, You Can Build a More Successful Sales Organization and Win More Sales

Sales leaders, are you tired of the following? 

• Struggling with the difficulty of growing sales organically
• The lack of data to make informed sales decisions
• Managing and coaching salespeople who all seem to have their own ways of selling
• Implementing sales methodologies that consistently fail to meet your expectations 
• Low closing rates, inaccurate forecasts, wasted resources, and surprise losses
• Poor adoption and impact of CRM

If so, my book enables you to implement a simple checklist – one that will empower you to run your sales territory or organization with the confidence and consistency of a pilot. Simple solutions get adopted; complex ones do not. Sales meetings, sales coaching, and deal reviews will be short, focused, productive, and consistent. 

Data will enable your team to systematically disengage from business they’re not going to win. Do the math: If using the checklist empowers your sales team to intelligently fire one out of four of your pursuits and replace it with one more likely to close, how will your numbers be impacted? All of a sudden, a 10+ percent growth in organic sales is very reasonable. 

Salespeople, are you tired of attending the “flavor of the month” sales training programs every year or two, only to have it be essentially forgotten in a few months? For this reason, many of you have become jaded and don’t take new training seriously. 

In the short time it takes to read this book, you’ll learn a framework to consistently navigate any business-to-business sale, with no long implementation process. This book is written from a sales leader’s point of view, but the concepts also apply to everyone within an organization. It will provide you with immediate, measurable results, including higher commissions. 

The Sales Checklist™ and COVID-19

In the past few months, the worlds of our customers have been turned upside down.  The majority of (if not all) the opportunities in our sales forecasts have been impacted – and will continue to be impacted.

With all the uncertainty we’re facing, we need data more than ever to quickly answer key questions. What does our forecast look like now? Where do we spend our time? How can we move opportunities forward? Which opportunities are no longer qualified? We can’t afford to guess or assume. Gut feelings are dangerous. 

Time is of the essence. We need solutions that are easy to use, simple to coach, and produce immediate results. We need to do something now – not next quarter. 

The Sales Checklist™ is uniquely suited to help. Using the checklist will allow you to use data to quickly review every active opportunity on your forecast, accurately determine where you are positioned, and decide what you need to do next to either move it forward or make an informed decision to disengage and invest the sales resources where they will produce a greater return. 

Unfortunately, it’s irrelevant if a deal had been forecast to close the end of April. That may not be accurate any longer. 

Additionally, if yours is one of the few businesses that has seen a positive spike in business from COVID-19, what’s your forecast and pipeline going to look like when the spike subsides?

We must strive to run our sales organizations with facts, not faulty assumptions. The Sales Checklist will empower you and your team to make timely, informed sales decisions minimizing your current risk and positioning you for success in the future.

If you’re seeking a simple yet sophisticated tool to immediately improve your sales results, get your copy of my new book, The Sales ChecklistTM: Get It Right Every Time! 

How to Embrace Transparency and Win More Sales

Steve Schmidt is an executive partner and a member of the ownership team with Integrity Solutions. Since joining Integrity Solutions in 1996, Steve has played a key role in business development and managing strategic account relationships. He also contributes to Integrity Solutions alliance and partner programs. Steve resides in the Phoenix, AZ, area.

 

As they weigh purchase options and evaluate vendors, B2B buyers expect sales teams and their companies to behave in ethical ways. 

Working with ethical salespeople and companies is a basic requirement among buyers. Harvard Business Review reported on research conducted by Bain, which has taken the 40 distinct kinds of value that B2B offerings provide customers and organized them into a pyramid with five levels. According to their report: “At the base of the pyramid are the table stakes: meeting specifications at an acceptable price in compliance with regulations while abiding by ethical standards.” 

Selling with ethics and integrity is about behavior. You can talk about it all you want; what matters is how it manifests itself in the everyday actions of your salespeople.

Transparency Is Key to Creating an Ethical Sales Culture 

At a fundamental level, ethical selling is about being transparent — even when it feels risky or uncomfortable. 

I recently worked with a company dealing with a product issue. The manufacturer had had some slipups, and that had created a big upheaval internally. 

Naturally, they didn’t want their customers to know about all the drama going on behind the scenes. At the same time, their salespeople didn’t want to make false promises or feel like they were engaging in some kind of coverup. 

In the end, the leadership recognized that the more transparent they could be about what was going on, the more their customers would be willing to forgive the problems, and the more trust they’d build with them over time. As that trust grows, these customers will become their net promoters – spreading the word about how that company puts their customers’ interests first. 

It’s worth noting, however, that this wasn’t just an ethics problem. When salespeople aren’t selling in sync with their own values and their belief in the product, it will inevitably impact their performance. Solidly ethical organizations grow so successfully because they build the trust of both their customers and their employees.

Transparency Starts with Sales Leaders  

Not only does leadership have a responsibility to be as upfront as possible about what’s going on, they need to support, model, and praise the behaviors they expect to see. 

Sales managers also need to be able to coach their salespeople to have those customer conversations effectively. Your sales team’s ability to meet the customer’s perception of sales ethics will depend on 

• how prepared they are, 
• how well they understand what the customer needs, and 
• whether they can provide value as a trusted advisor.

Sales training is also an important component of creating an ethical sales culture. Effective sales training that defines selling as a mutual exchange of value – as something you do for and with people, not to them – absolutely aligns with and reinforces ethical selling practices. 

That said, we all face unexpected challenges (like a manufacturing issue that causes problems with customer orders, for example) that sometimes test our code of ethics. This is why it’s so important to not only define what ethical sales means in your organization but to also communicate it in a tangible manner, coach to it, and make transparency, integrity, and ethics bedrocks of the culture.

In many ways, it comes down to purpose: your organization’s purpose, but also your salespeople’s purpose — the reason they get up every day and sell what they sell. The paradox about purpose is, the more you’re focused on serving the needs of others, the more meaning you’ll enjoy and the more motivated, energized, and successful you’ll be. Selling gives people a great platform to serve others. And, when everyone in the organization views selling through this customer-focused, ethical lens, everyone wins.  

Ethical sales practices build trust. Ethics in selling means different things to different people, and the precise definition can depend upon your industry, experience, regulations, and other market factors. But one thing is certain: Your customers know it when they see it — and when they don’t.

What Are Your Top Sales Priorities?

Today’s post is by Scott Collins, vice president and team manager in Gartner’s sales practice.

 

In the U.S., we’re working our way through a summer of barbeques, pool parties, trips to the beach, and visits with friends and family. That also means we’re halfway through 2019 – and CSOs and their leadership teams need to take a quick look at where they’ve been and where they are going the rest of the year. 

At the end of 2018, Gartner identified five critical priorities the majority of sales leaders wanted to address and invest in for 2019. Let’s revisit them and see how you’re stacking up so far. 

Priority #1: Sales Development Activities

Nearly a third of sales leaders indicated improving the effectiveness of sales development activities was a critical priority to address this year. To address this, most leaders wanted to appropriately structure and design sales development rep (SDR) roles and their inside sales function. Gartner research identified a few critical areas of focus to drive the effectiveness of sales development activities:

1. Have you clearly defined and NARROWLY focused the SDR role (e.g., separating lead qualification from outbound prospecting)? Two different sets of activities and, arguably, skill sets are needed here.
2. What external investments have you been able to make in data and predictive analytics to better arm your SDRs and inside sales individuals?
3. To what degree have you MOVED the SDR and inside sales capability in-house, if you were outsourcing? Gartner research shows that internal SDRs outperform outsourced teams.

Priority #2: Improving Sales Analytics

This was the top priority for sales leaders heading into 2019. Sales leaders clearly see the opportunity and value a strong sales analytics capability can provide. With that comes the opportunity to drive sales analytics maturity, not just the collection of data and the investment in tools. To what degree have you been able to do what progressive, leading sales organizations have done to drive maturity and extract value from sales analytics? 

Gartner research reveals leading sales organizations are working toward the four following activities:

1. Focus sales operations on ensuring data quality versus solely on data capture.
2. Use sales analytics as a strategic problem-solving capability.
3. Align specific business goals and KPIs to sales analytics. 
4. Establish a center of excellence and a cross-functional steering committee to systemize and govern data workflows.

Priority #3: Quality and Impact of Sales Enablement

As every sales leader knows, the complexity of sales (and customer buying) today continues to grow. In response, organizations continue to invest heavily in driving improved sales enablement. The challenge, however, is that many organizations approached enablement strategy with a “more is better” mindset, which has led to unfocused, poorly-designed tools that create unnecessary complexity for sellers and even customers. If your 2019 goal was to improve the quality and impact of sales enablement, have you been able to adjust and make progress across these leading approaches?

1. Focus enablement on high-impact sales activities – those most likely to drive deal outcomes.
2. Build “buyer enablement,” which are tools and content designed specifically to aid customers in completing their buying tasks more easily (for example, a calculator or a diagnostic).

Priority #4: Frontline Sales Talent Management

Talent came in fourth and fifth on sales leaders’ priorities for 2019, starting with frontline sales talent. While the previous priority was about enabling the sales team, this priority focuses on hiring, developing, retaining, and coaching the talent needed to succeed in today’s environment. While the skills required to succeed in such a complex environment continue to change, Gartner research has identified a number of critical areas in which leaders need to make progress right now:

1. Adjust and update hiring practices, such as job descriptions and interview questions, that attract and find the sales behaviors and approaches that define sales success today.
2. Update competency models and development programs to address the critical skills and approaches to information.
3. Ensure sales managers are coaching and developing talent effectively.
4. Develop a compelling employee value proposition for sales talent today.

Priority #5: Sales Manager Effectiveness

Lastly, sales leaders have targeted their frontline sales manager talent as a critical area for 2019. Leaders often cite improving coaching effectiveness as one of these critical areas. But there are additional areas progressive sales organizations address when looking at their sales manager population, including:

1. Build a sales manager bench through a systematic approach and program to deliver ready-made sales managers into the field when needed.
2. Develop critical sales manager competencies that differentiate top performers. Gartner research has identified those differentiated competencies as coaching, sales innovation, and creating a climate of judgment.
3. Build a sustained, long-term coaching culture across the entire sales organization.
4. Build and deliver a compelling “case for change” to sales managers to ensure they drive long-term adoption of sales strategies, tools, and approaches to talent management.

As you can see, sales leaders are addressing many priorities this year. And each organization is going to have a slightly different priority list. What are your top three? To what degree have you been able to make your sales organization a progressive, leading sales organization that delivers above market results? As you look across each of these, this should give you a good litmus test of where your team stands today and the opportunities you have for the rest of 2019.

What to Expect from the Peak Performance Mindset Retreat

A few weeks ago, I designed and delivered the inaugural Peak Performance Mindset VIP Retreat for a small group of B2B sales leaders. I had the privilege of working with five world-class mindset coaches. 

Leadership, Race cars, and Tandem Skydiving Jumps

We purposely mixed up presentations with live-action events. On the second day, the group of leaders piled into a bus and drove to a professional racetrack, which had Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, and other high-performance cars. 

The retreat also offered a tandem skydiving jump from an airplane. The jumps were facilitated by the amazing Jon DeVore, a multiple world record holder of skydiving competitions. One of the retreat participants, Hillary Pryor, said she felt like she was “ready to take on the world” after racing around the track in an Audi R8. After her skydiving experience, she said, “I can do anything now!” 

Embracing these experiences made us realize we can handle a lot more than we assume. I think John Guydon described it best in this video. 

Remember: Your inner magic is capable of generating an insane amount of power; meanwhile, we typically use only a small fraction of that power in our daily lives. 

What Is a Peak Performance Mindset?

Why did I design this retreat experience? For several years now, I’ve been studying the power of mindset. I’m convinced sales leaders can change the world (for ourselves and others) by getting (and keeping) ourselves and others in a state of peak performance. 

The principles of Peak Performance Mindset are rooted in neuroscience. 

Each one of us has an “inner CEO” we can tap for amazing and powerful results. This potential lives in the capacities of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is where neural connections form based on our experiences, emotions, and ideas. 

The problem is, most of us never examine our own preconceived notions and feelings, despite the fact that they shape our perspective on life. In fact, only five percent of our mind’s content ever actually reaches the conscious level. That means 95 percent of who you are, what you feel, and what you think is not happening on a conscious level. 

That means our unconscious drives and desires have a significant impact on our productivity and success. For example, it’s a commonly held (and unexamined) belief that we get worse as we get older. Most of us assume our bodies will break down and become weak or ill. Yet recent research shows that believing negative ideas about the process of aging can actually decrease your life expectancy by 7.6 years. That means people with a positive mindset actually live longer!

What We Learned about Mindset and Sales Leadership

I was impressed how everyone in our group at the VIP Peak Performance Mindset Retreat committed to highly ambitious goals. Here’s just some of what we learned. 

Mindfulness

In her presentation, “How to Become a Mindful Leader,” Alexis Pokorny taught us the power of mindful leadership. Specifically, she illustrated how ineffective we are when we take on multiple tasks at once instead of working on one task at a time. She also led us through a 10-minute meditation exercise aimed at developing our brain’s ability to focus and concentrate.

“Inner Magic” 

I spoke about the concept of “inner magic.” To me, this is the reason we all exist. By practicing observation and appreciation, leaders can inspire others to live more courageously, intelligently, and joyfully. 

Passion and Purpose

In his presentation, “Mindset in Action,” Jim Cathcart reminded us that, when we understand our passion and purpose, we can live them more fully. He urged us to “know our ‘why,’” explaining that, when we find meaning in what we do, we bring more value to what we do.

Physical Fitness

In his presentation, “Age-defying Health Habits,” David Bush explained the link between our health and our mental clarity and optimism. He laid out a 28-day health challenge plan that included improving nutrition, prioritizing an active lifestyle, and decreasing stress.

One of the last activities we offered was a hole-in-one golf challenge. Listen to Russ Walker describe how working on his mindset transformed his ability to get the closest he’s ever been to a hole in one on the course. 

One participant told me the weekend was more like an awakening than a retreat. Another posted, “I learned from many others. I only see dreams and possibilities and nothing else. The weekend changed me forever.” Still another said, “I discovered that I was operating at a much lower level of energy and focus. I realized that I have a lot more gas in the tank.”

So many participants used the retreat as an opportunity to open up and talk about the toughest battles in their personal lives. We learned that what had brought us through adversity was refusing to give up. 

The weekend reminded me there is no obstacle that can’t be overcome. Any sales leader who participates in the VIP Peak Performance Mindset Retreat will walk away with a greater awareness of his or her true capacities, a clear vision, and a definitive sense of purpose. You’ll also get mutual support and regular accountability checks. As Hillary said, you’ll feel “ready to take on the world.” 

I’m excited to host the next Peak Performance Mindset VIP Retreat in Orlando March 13-15th 2020 at the Four Seasons Hotel. To get your invitation contact me at gerhard@sellingpower.com for details. 

How to Align Your Organization with a Sales Focus

Today’s post is by Anita Greenland, vice president of sales at The Brooks Group, where she brings 25+ years of customer service, sales, sales management, and sales training experience. In her role, Anita is responsible for leading and executing The Brooks Group’s sales growth strategy.

 

Organizations with a strong sales focus consistently outperform those that leave selling up to chance. Establishing a strong sales focus doesn’t happen overnight, however. It takes intentional planning and support from the top levels of your organization.

Here’s how leading companies align their organization with a sales focus to achieve exceptional revenue growth.

1. They Schedule Regular Sales and Marketing Alignment Meetings

Research from Marketo reveals that businesses are 67 percent better at closing deals when sales and marketing work together.

Sales-focused organizations bring the sales and marketing teams together to establish clear goals for both parties – and strategies for achieving them. They align criteria for lead generation and qualification, and keep lines of communication open. 

Most importantly, they operate around a consistent sales process and stay aligned on what collateral, education, and touch points prospects and customers need through every stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Set aside a time for regular alignment meetings – and stick to them. Whether it’s once a week or once a month, a collaborative meeting between sales and marketing offers the chance for leaders from both teams to determine the strategies and processes that best position your organization and sales team in the eyes of your prospects.

2. They Align Sales and Customer Service

Happy customers become repeat customers, and loyal customers become sources of valuable referrals. Consistently solving problems at every stage of the customer relationship not only leads to a positive client experience, it also can reveal untapped revenue opportunities.

Forward-thinking sales organizations align their sales and customer service teams to improve customer experience, and to increase cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

Create open lines of communication and hold both service reps and salespeople accountable for sharing problems and challenges with each other, as well as knowledge and insights. Encourage team problem solving and reward collaborative behavior among departments.

You should also consider training your service reps to be more effective in providing an excellent customer experience and identifying additional solutions. IMPACT for Customer Service is a training program that teaches your team how to serve and delight customers – and translate their efforts into additional revenue for your organization.

3. They Extend CRM Software beyond the Sales Team

Sales-focused organizations make sure everyone on the team understands and stays connected with the sales process, and has access to a common database of knowledge.

Extend your CRM to provide access to marketing, customer service, finance, and any other departments that could benefit from the information it contains. Most CRMs now offer limited licenses for non-sales roles, making this an affordable and effective way to provide everyone with access to customer information in a centralized location.

4. They Establish a Strong Company-wide Sales Culture

Sales-focused organizations know the sales team is not the only department needed to make a sale. Successful selling is like a relay race: Regardless of who crosses the finish line with a win, there was a team behind them working together to move the baton forward.

A strong sales culture is one that encourages every member of the team to support the sales function, and to think about how they can provide value to customers during every interaction.

Consider including non-sales team members in sales methodology and sales process training. When all your people speak the same sales language, your sales process can become your operating system.

Conclusion

To strengthen your sales focus and improve your organization’s performance, you must lay the foundation with a well-planned sales enablement strategy.

Maximum IMPACT Sales Enablement (MISE) will help you establish a sales process as your operating system, and align your organization to achieve both your short- and long-term goals.

Learn more about MISE here, and how it can help meet your team where it is today, while giving you a roadmap to get you where you need to be in the future.

What Is the One Driver of Sales Performance?

Today's blog post is by Tom Stanfill, CEO and co-founder of ASLAN Training and Development, a global sales training company with seven consecutive years in the Selling Power Top 20. Since 1996, ASLAN has worked with many of the largest sales organizations in the world, training more than 50,000 sellers and leaders in more than 33 countries. Through numerous speaking engagements and published articles, Tom is widely recognized as a thought leader in selling and sales leadership. His passion: helping organizations and individuals embrace the idea that we are more successful and fulfilled when we serve.

 

In the past few months, I’ve attended two conferences for sales and sales enablement leaders. At both, the main focus was this: The economy is up, but sales performance is on a continued decline.

Everyone seems to be scrambling to find the big fix. And this is probably why the latest sales productivity tools are so hot right now.

According to Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power magazine, there are now more than 3,000 sales productivity tools on the market (with AI tools at the top of the list). Everyone, it appears, is looking for something to make selling easier.

Can You Make Selling Easier?

More power to them! Selling is hard, and any edge you can get is worth pursuing. But here’s the truth about selling: There is no secret sauce, silver bullet, or magic fairy dust (pick your favorite metaphor) to mastering the profession.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan of the tools, pro-tips, insights, or anything that will make it easier to sell. Our company has invested heavily in such tools.

But, just like learning to play golf or the violin, sellers need a defined set of capabilities and skills to succeed. There are no shortcuts. If you’re struggling to hit the ball in the fairway, you could invest in the latest driver – but rigorous practice is required to fix your swing.

As long as sellers are talking to customers, there are no shortcuts to mastering the art of influence.

So this begs the question: What is the most effective strategy for developing a seller’s capabilities? Is it sales training? Nope. Is it delivering real-time microlearning to your sales team? Nope.

Frontline Sales Leaders Are the Key to Better Sales Performance

Here’s what we have learned from 20 years of research, conducting control group studies, and analyzing the highest performing sales organizations: If you want to change your sellers’ performance, there is nothing more effective than focusing on your frontline sales leaders.

Training, microlearning, and productivity tools are all critical to improving sales performance, but nothing has more impact than the leader/coach. The leader drives the culture and engagement, and is the key to developing the seller’s competency. Change happens one-on-one, not in a workshop.

I know this idea, on face value, isn’t revolutionary. You’re probably a big believer in sales coaching. You love the whole sales coaching movement. I get it – almost every organization I’ve worked with supports this idea.

When I spend time in the field, I ask questions to assess how well teams are being coached, including these:

• “When was the last time your manager rode with you?”
• “After a ‘coaching session,’ what is the plan to build a new skill set?”
• “How are you measuring a seller’s competency level or engagement level?”
• “What are the seller’s personal development goals?”

And, in response, I often get blank stares.

Most sales coaching sessions are really management meetings or strategy sessions. They are discussions about what went wrong, what went right, what the plan is to win, and how the numbers are looking.

Even if it’s an incredibly collaborative exchange, where the seller successfully diagnoses opportunities for improvement, nothing changes without practice. And, honestly, even the best reps can’t accurately assess their abilities without another set of eyes.

My point? Effective sales coaching takes time – and most organizations are still looking for the quick fix.

The very best tool, in the hands of an incompetent rep, will yield very little. To learn to “play,” we all need a coach to help us see our blind spots, encourage us, challenge us, and continually support the skill development process.

No judgment; I get how tough it can be. Our organization struggles regularly with coaching; and, when we fail to make it a priority, performance suffers. If you want to change performance, ask yourself: Are the frontline leaders the number one priority?

What Is Your Sales Leadership Score?

If you suspect there is a need to refocus on the frontline sales leader – or you want to personally assess your approach to developing your team and improving sales performance – check out our leadership diagnostic. In about five minutes, you will see if there are quick wins you can implement.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what you will discover:

• How well are you igniting the desire to change?
• Is your current culture enhancing or diminishing engagement and performance?
• What are the real metrics that matter?
• How much time, realistically, should be allocated to coaching?
• Are you focused on the three elements of coaching that change performance?
• Are you coaching the right people?
• Are you assessing and measuring the eight competencies that determine ability?
• Have you created the most effective development strategy for the four types of sellers?

Want to assess your own sales leadership abilities? Take one or both of our five-minute quizzes: motivation assessment and coaching assessment. 

Want to Know How to Build a Quality Sales Pipeline?

Today’s blog post is by Jeff Davis, keynote speaker and leading voice on strategically aligning B2B sales and marketing teams to drive growth. He also coaches mid-sized B2B companies on alignment and is the executive director of the fast-growing TheAlignmentPodcast.com. Engage with him on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

If you want to build a quality sales pipeline, stop asking marketing for leads. Instead, start asking for opportunities.

Simply asking marketing for more leads assumes that the traditional linear sales funnel is how today’s B2B buyers make buying decisions. It is not. 

The B2B buying journey has become more complex due to digital transformation. In fact, an estimated 60 percent of B2B deals lost end in “no deal.” Thus, we’re not being outsold by competitors, we just aren’t helping the buyer navigate the decision making process adequately.

Today’s buyer is very connected, with nearly unlimited access to information. They operate within buying groups with, on average, seven stakeholders – all with different (and sometimes competing) priorities. Nothing gets sold until that buying group can reach a consensus.

Because of these challenging factors, sales reps must

• Clarify the true business issue that is causing the buyer’s pain
• Help them uncover solutions that can help resolve their business issue
• Navigate the internal decision making process to create consensus about choosing a product/service 

Thus, talking about your features and benefits to a lead is not an effective way to build a strong pipeline. In fact, 62 percent of B2B buyers say they can now develop selection criteria or finalize a vendor list based solely on digital content.

To influence buyers, we must engage them much earlier in the buying process. We must find a way to get in front of them at the very moment they first recognize they can no longer tolerate the pain they have been dealing with up to that point.

How can salespeople achieve this? They can’t…not alone.

Buyers are not calling up your sales teams during their research phase and asking for their opinions. They are researching online. And, if you’re not there, they may not even know your product/service exists. Through speaking at and working with many different companies, I have seen this be particularly true with midsize companies that may not have the same brand recognition as their competitors. Thus, building a strong relationship with marketing is an absolute must. 

Marketing has the unique ability to provide content to a vast number of potential buyers in many different ways (e.g., Website, social media, events). Content “sells” 24/7. It should also help buyers understand what they need, why they need it, why they need it now, and why they need it from you. Content is so important to the B2B buyer that 75 percent of them say that the vendor’s content has a significant impact on winning their business.

Here are four ways sales and marketing teams can start working together better.

#1: Schedule standing meetings to review revenue pipeline and marketing campaigns.

Leaders should be meeting at least weekly to discuss pipeline velocity and how sales reps can leverage the work that marketing is doing.

#2: Create educational experiences that bring customers and prospects together.

Educational experiences are a great way to provide value up-front and better understand what buyers are thinking about your product. People are more likely to attend an educational marketing event where they don’t feel like they’re being sold.

#3: Develop tools and resources that help sales reps provide personalized and relevant insights.

Marketing must empower sales reps with tools like ROI calculators, case studies, and customer persona guides so they can frame the conversation in the buyer’s terms and provide personalized insights to help guide the buyer through the decision making process. 

#4: Leverage Account Based Marketing (ABM).

ABM is a powerful way to increase collaboration and focus between sales and marketing as well as become laser focused on a group of accounts that provide the highest potential for revenue – no matter the size of the sales or marketing team.

If you want to stay competitive in the new B2B marketplace, you must become better aligned with marketing. Tell them who you need to get in front of; don’t just ask for leads. This will help you build a more robust pipeline and decrease your sales reps’ time to revenue.

To learn more, listen in on my conversations with B2B experts at TheAlignmentPodcast.com or contact me directly at jeff@jeffdavis2.com to discuss working together on building your revenue engine.