Following on from last week’s article about managing and measuring the right things in sales, I thought it would be worth looking at some of the key principles for effective sales performance management systems.

The first place to start is to align your sales performance management system and subsequent key measures to your organisation’s strategy and goals.  It’s then the job of the CEO and the Sales Leader to ensure the organisation (that means everyone else who supports the sales effort)  is aligned to the sales performance management system.   When this dimension is in place the organisation is best placed to sustain high sales performance.

Issues arise when the non sales teams impose their ‘numbers’ or ‘tasks’ on sales teams which are unrelated to the effective sales performance.   i.e.

• The CFO being critical of missed forecasts and not looking into or understanding the underlying reasons why
• The Executive team demanding more activity (i.e. make more sales calls) and not understanding the potential negative impact on effectiveness
• Marketing engaging in lead generation activities that either generate the wrong leads or leads that require out of scope qualification meaning they’re in the forecast prematurely.

This leads to competing motivation, confusion and reduced sales performance across the board.

Another key area worth noting is the importance of addressing and working with values and explicit behaviours.  This is now much higher on the agenda of many businesses now, not just the outputs of performance as we discussed last week.

While the focus of this article is directed towards sales, this principles presented here can be applied to any role in your organisation. As you read through the items below, bear in mind that this is not prescriptive in nature and you should use only what works for you.

Principles of an Effective Performance Management System:

• Reflect an organisation’s values and strategy.
• Commitment to the system should be obtained from top management and communicated to all employees. Ideally input should be sought from all levels to gain their engagement.
• Business objectives need to be linked to team and individual accountabilities.
• Performance measures are developed for each function and individual to ensure that their performance is aligned with the needs of the organisation.
• Feedback is provided on an ongoing basis, not just during the annual performance review. For instance, this would include coaching conversations.
• Expectations and communication should be transparent and consistent at all times.
• Employee development and future behaviour are the focus of attention, not just past performance.
• A partnership between the employee and manager is developed based upon open dialogue, two-way feedback, and shared responsibility.
• Employees are encouraged to take accountability for their own performance and success.

Benefits of an Effective Performance Management System:

• Encourages open, constructive communication between managers and employees.
• Provides feedback on how people are doing on the job.
• Allows for mutual understanding (between manager and employee) of each employee’s job responsibilities and performance expectations.
• Facilitates identification of individual capabilities, strengths and areas for development.
• Identifies factors negatively affecting employee performance (e.g. work environment, job design, organisational policies and practices, personal issues, external factors, etc) so that action can be taken to alleviate them.
• A structured and documented process encourages objective evaluation and fair treatment.
• Assists in the achievement of strategic goals.
• A consistent way of setting goals, monitoring performance and formally reviewing performance.
• Self-managing for proactive individuals.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Sue Barrett is Managing Director of BARRETT

For some time now I have been testing the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ with almost everyone I meet, including senior leadership teams (comprising of HR, Finance, IT, Operations, and Sales), primary school teachers and administration staff, senior banking risk professionals, and health professionals (including my podiatrist and GP).

I am curious to see how people respond and how they see themselves in relation to the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’.

Often when one mentions the words ‘selling’ or ‘sales’ you can see people visibly recoil in disgust, with many immediately saying something like “I don’t sell” or “It’s not my job”.  As discussed in previous posts, people often reference limited stereotypes about selling which are usually tainted with negative, manipulative, references that most people find offensive and unable to relate to.

However, since I have been asking people to consider the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ I have been pleasantly surprised at the responses.  It appears that most agree with the statement, whether they are officially in a sales role or not.

While initially, some people viewed the statement as only applying to a commercial transaction where money was exchanged and did not see themselves related to sales at all, they soon opened up as we explored the concept further and applied the principle to any form of exchange between two or more people. When we discussed that most people essentially work in a ‘contact dependant’ career where some form of exchange is essential for them to succeed in their job we then agreed that, indeed, ‘everybody lives by selling something’.

Take for instance, a recent experience I had where I was interviewed (Michael Parkinson style), by the Head of Risk for a major Australian bank, in front of his senior leadership team all of whom are senior risk professionals.

Now in most organisations ‘risk’ is not usually associated positively with ‘sales’.  In fact, there is often a ‘standoff’ between risk and sales – the ‘us versus them’ approach.   I have seen both sides of the fence roll their eyes at the mention of the other.

For this interview I was asked to expand upon the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ and the Principle of Exchange.  My client sponsor (and interviewer) has worked with me for some years and wanted to raise to a conscious level the importance of proactive, open, and transparent relationships.  He knew that the concept of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ may be a challenge for some, however he felt it was so important he was prepared to take the risk (pardon the pun).  The good news is that it was received in a favourable light, even for a tough audience like this.

Here is an excerpt from a communication piece that went out to the group post the session.  The PIE Model is especially well worth a read:

“…Essentially Sue believes that if we have an idea, product, service, skill, capability or talent by which we earn a living we need to be able to sell, in the general sense of the word. To put it another way, in order to maximise our impact and ongoing influence we need to ensure our talents and capabilities are visible to those who need to be influenced.

In a previous life I used a model called the “PIE Model”. This suggests that 70% of an individual’s impact or effectiveness is defined by their Performance (P), 20% by their Image (I) and 10% by their Exposure (E) to the right people within the business. Whether the percentages are correct or not is moot.

The point is that Performance alone will not maximise your impact. You also have to be seen as credible and have ready access to the decision makers. Imagine the world’s greatest Op Risk professional who portrays an image that alienates the business team they work with or equally a super star technocrat in Market Risk who sits in a corner all day never interacting with their business partners or leaders. Both will do a good job, but neither will create an impact to demand respect or influence their business leaders.

To be clear – I am very keen that we all perform to the highest possible standard. I also want us all to focus on becoming more effective by improving our interaction with our business and functional partners.

Consider your exposure to the broader business, think about how you communicate with and influence your risk and functional colleagues, reflect on how your persona and image impact on the messages that you are trying to convey. If you’ve never considered this before discuss it with your line manger and build it into your development plan.

One other aspect of Sue’s message that resonated with me was her assertion that a great salesperson will build trust, communicate in a transparent way and do what they say they will do. This creates their competitive advantage as sales people. Sounds like a good set of principles to me and I believe that these traits are also those of a successful Risk professional!”

I commend the leaders of this business for taking a stand and putting the concept out there to be discussed openly and candidly.

Why is this important to you and all the people in your business?

The message is clear that we all are, indeed, responsible for how we manage our careers, our perceptions, our image, and our roles within businesses and the broader community.

We all affect each other in terms of how we relate and how we communicate our intentions and actions.  Sure, it is the primary responsibility of the sales team to go out and proactively source new business. However, we are all representatives of our businesses – from the back room to the front counter, from the customer service call to an internal email, from the company website to the comments on your Facebook page or your Tweets.

How we all speak about and reference the organisation and the people within can influence and impact on sales results and ultimate success of the organisation.

Many people who know me have heard me say that I would love every role in every business to have a sales capability defined in it.  So far the signs are promising as it appears that nearly everyone I speak to is able to relate to ‘everybody lives by selling something’ at its broadest level.

So why not ask your people how they feel about the concept ‘everybody lives by selling something’ and let me know they have to say using the Request information form.

Like many people in Australia, my family and employees have been captivated by MasterChef Australia.

What I love about MasterChef is that it can be seen as a metaphor for expressing our talents and being the best we can be.  Given my interest in everything to do with sales, personal mastery and performance, I particularly love the parallel I have been able to draw about what it takes to be an elite master chef and an elite sales person and elite sales leader by the observation I have made in MasterChef.

As lessons for people wanting to master the sales profession,MasterChef works on many levels:

• It’s about acquiring and honing a range of skills, often difficult to master skills individually and even more so in concert with each other
• It’s about receiving and dealing with real feedback about real results
• It’s about learning from your mistakes – practice, practice, practice
• It’s about resilience – being able to get back up when you are down and face a new day whatever it may bring
• It’s about personal insight and self-awareness
• It’s about humility – letting go of the old to embrace the new
• It’s about listening to and understanding what needs to be achieved
• It’s about operating under pressure, sometimes extreme pressure (internal and external)
• It’s about finding your own character and what you stand for; your values, your purpose
• It’s about friendship and community even in a competitive environment
• It’s about skillful learning – including learning how to be coached and mentored
• It’s about personal responsibility
• It’s about respect – for self, for peers, your leaders, and your profession
• It’s about process – following the recipe, the fundamental rules of chemistry that work
• It’s about personal leadership and being true to yourself
• It’s about potential, opportunity, creativity, innovation and achievement

In my opinion, the real heroes of this program are the judges and guest chefs who have shown leadership and clarity of purpose in their mentoring and managing of the various contestants.

As leaders they display and model:

• Their skillful leadership as masters in their own profession – they know what it takes to be a master craftsman in their profession.  There is something magical in watching a skillful person create something wonderful.
• Their respect for the discipline of training, learning, constant practice and continuous improvement
• Their respect for process and quality – the foundations, the recipes, the ingredients. As leaders they leave nothing is half baked (pardon the pun).
• Their love of and passion for what they do and the expectation they have for each contestant to reach and push beyond their own potential and what they thought they were capable of.  Their encouragement and desire for excellence in each person is outstanding.
• Their coaching skills – from running the master classes to their observations and feedback at the contestants work bench as they work through real life challenging situations is nothing short of text book.
• Their constructive and honest feedback at judgment time as well as their ability to drill down to the fine detail to show where contestants did well and where they could improve makes for fine example of performance management conversations at their best.
• Their care, respect and concern for each person and each person’s special gifts and talents.
• Their regular referencing to and questioning of the real intentions of each person to make sure each contestant was in it for real.
• Their knowledge about how to run a viable business – from cost of ingredients to the true value of a dish.
• The standards they set.  There is nothing mediocre aboutMasterChef.

My hope is that we as Sales Leaders can aspire to be role models in the same way these leaders are for their people.

We each could learn lessons from how all the people on this show have managed their part in it – the good and the bad.

MasterChef inspires me to continue to live by our motto at BARRETT, ‘excellence through purposeful action’.

Excellence means giving our best to whatever we do and giving our best to relationships. Setting noble and realistic goals and remembering to plan and practice. We don’t try to do everything; instead we focus on developing our special gifts.

Purposeful Action means having a clear vision of what we want to accomplish. Knowing why we are doing what we are doing. Having a clear goal and getting back on track if we get scattered or distracted. Finishing what we start and persevering until we get results.

As author William Arthur Ward quotes  “The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.”

I commend MasterChef for its devotion to excellence through purposeful action. Thank you.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

‘Does everyone live by selling something?’

My desire to seek answers to this question was ignited back in the late 1980’s when I came across the quote ‘Everyone lives by selling something’.  The quote was coined by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist, poet, travel writer and author of ‘Treasure Island’, in the late 1880’s some 100 years earlier.

It is interesting to note that Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a leading representative of Neo-romanticism in English literature. He was also greatly admired by many authors such as Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov and others.  Most modernist writers dismissed him, however, because he was popular and did not write within their narrow definition of literature. It is only recently that critics have begun to look beyond Stevenson’s popularity and allow him a place in the canon.

Over the last 20 years I have sincerely come to believe that Robert Louis Stevenson is correct in his assumption that ‘Everyone lives by selling something’.  His ability to not be constrained by the prevailing views and paradigms of his time allowed him to see what many of us are coming to realise now.

Whether we call ourselves a salesperson or not, if we have an idea, product, service, skill, capability, talent, or opportunity by which we can make a living and others can benefit from, we need to be able to sell.

This means that whatever role we are in, we all need to put ourselves in a position to secure the ongoing custom of customers, members, patients, supporters, peers, students, sponsors, or clients to make a living.    Even internal service providers such as HR and Procurement professionals need to be able to sell and consult in order to fulfill their roles accordingly.

In this complex world, this means that we need to make sure our talents and capabilities are visible to those who need to know about us.  We need to proactively put ourselves in a position to work with others to earn what we are worth on any level, otherwise we at risk of being invisible and losing opportunity.  Good salespeople have always known this, consciously or not.

Yet many people are still confused by the words ‘sell’, ‘selling’, ‘salesperson’, or ‘sales’. In fact when these words are mentioned in polite company, you can see many people visibly recoil at the concept and some even go so far as to object to you even mentioning the concept of selling.

Why?

Because many so called ‘legitimate‘ sales practices we experience as customers are nothing more than manipulation and deceit, aggression and intimidation, or hard sell, pressure tactics.  No wonder so many people shy away from selling as a career or cringe at the thought.  Whether we are conscious of it or not most of us don’t like how selling is being sold to us.   I don’t blame you.

Despite the prevailing paradigms of 20th century ‘old school selling’ tactics and others’ self limiting beliefs, highly successful, effective, ethical sales people have always known the best way to sell is to proactively forging honest and open relationships (of any kind) based on trust, transparency, respect, and doing what they said they would do.  This is their competitive edge.  Their sales approach is more collaborative, integrated, holistic, and enlightened.   The potential for these life skills and attitudes is present intrinsically in almost all of us whether we know it or not.

Now I are not trying to convince people to love selling, or even like it.  However, we want people to recognise the vital role selling plays in our lives today. Without this capability our businesses wither and die.

Yet some people believe it is not their right to put themselves or their ideas forward instead relying on their good work to speak for themselves.  Some think they may be seen as too boastful or self absorbed if they do so.   Others are too frightened to sell and many have never been taught how to sell effectively with confidence, dignity, and grace.

That is why we still see too many good ideas and opportunities go to waste resulting in poor revenue results.  Too many people do not purposefully and proactively put themselves in a position to explore opportunities with others, bring their ideas to the table, create new possibilities or earning what they are worth in the process.

Whether we earn a living from what we do or not, if we hide our talents and capabilities from others and no one knows about us or what we are capable of then how can we be of service and earn what we are worth on any level?

It’s also about being genuine.
In this increasingly networked world we all have the opportunity to connect  with others all the time – in short we are selling ourselves.   However, the way each of us portrays ourselves, our companies, our values and our lives are at risk of being seen as superficial if we do not genuinely communicate, connect and create with others.

If we want to cultivate and sustain genuine, healthy, profitable and viable business relationships with our clients, partners, suppliers or peers where a fair exchange of value is achieved then we, our business and our people need to go out to the market place and put ourselves in a position to work proactively with people and help them and ourselves achieve our collective business goals.

This is why I believe Everyone lives by selling something.

Whether you are working as a sales professional, business development manager, lawyer, accountant, engineer, consultant, internal human resources manager, procurement  manager, business, manager, small business owner, team leader, psychologist, a jobseeker, or anyone in contact dependent career, we can all benefit from applying more enlightened, collaborative, worthy, natural sales practices in our daily lives.

I am interested in whether you believe Everyone lives by selling something.  If you would like to have your say we have set up a poll at www.barrett.com.au to take your response to the question ‘do you live by selling something’.

Happy and honourable selling to you all.

Now is the time to rethink your sales strategy and your sales force.  Design the sales force your business needs and get great results.

Tip: It’s all in the thinking and planning that happens before the execution.

To help you start your thinking and planning here are two case studies from our work files where the businesses got it right.

Story one: Transform your current sales team into a new sales team

“The Sales Culture transformation and competency project we worked on with you in 2008 has been such a great success for our team.  The culture is now fantastic and the morale of the Sales Team is very good.  We aimed for the culture we wanted and got it.  People have settled into their roles and are working out fantastically. It was the planning and thinking behind it that made it work.  The Competency work has, without a doubt, made a difference. The Sales Competencies are ‘Gold’. We refer to them all the time and the Sales People are using them as well to develop themselves and have clearer, more accountable, performance reviews.  The competencies helped our team realise how responsible they need to be in their roles.”

This is what can happen when you design your sales force to deliver your strategy.  This quote comes from a Sales Director of a business we have worked with for many years.  They had the same sales force structure over the last 15 years and a very stable sales force to go with it.  The team and structure had worked very well, however the market was changing and the business and its sales people needed to adapt and evolve to ensure they were current, fit and productive.

In 2008, this Sales Director realised she needed to develop a new strategy moving forward and with that needed a new sales culture and team to deliver it.  But she didn’t want to get rid of the current sales team.  They were good operators with great industry knowledge and experience.   She knew it would be foolish to start from scratch with a new team and she didn’t want to create confusion or unnecessary unrest or anxiety in her existing team.

Her concerns rested around getting buy-in from the team regarding the new strategy and, in particular, their need to adjust their roles somewhat.  Despite not wanting to lose people she was prepared to do so if necessary.

What did she do?

• Developed her sales strategy and then presented her strategy to her sales team, inviting feedback and explaining ‘why’ they all needed to move in this direction using a well researched, evidenced based approach.  The team knew what was happening in the market place so it came as no surprise to them that they needed to shift.  That is fine intellectually, however we knew the challenge would be in actually getting them to shift in real terms.
• To get the real shift happening she then engaged her team in the development of the new Sales Roles by engaging in a ‘job design’ process with us.
• Out of the ‘job design’ process we developed the right Sales Behavioural Competencies (DNA) and ‘ideal’ role/person specification matched to sales strategy, product and customer base.
• Sales Behavioural Competencies were then linked to the Sales Team performance management reviews and are now being used in coaching, recruitment and succession planning processes.
• Sales Behavioural Competencies were mapped to measurable sales metrics
• The Sales Behavioural Competencies now act as a pivotal reference point in all their work.

As mentioned, the Sales People are using Sales Behavioural Competencies to develop themselves, have clearer, more accountable, performance reviews and better role clarity which means they know how they need to perform to achieve their strategy goals.

Story two: Design the sales team you want from scratch – green fields

A Divisional Manager of a large Australian corporate came to us because they didn’t want to hire people from their industry as they didn’t think they were competitive in the current market. They wanted to refresh the gene pool and bring in fit sales people who were not tarnished by the industry mindset and its way of doing things.  They knew that in this over commoditised marketplace their sales people were their competitive edge.

They were on the right track but didn’t know where and how to start.  So here is what we did together to find elite sales performers:

• Reviewed sales strategy, path to market, and products being sold
• Developed the right Sales Behavioural Competencies (DNA) and ‘ideal’ role/person specification matched to sales strategy, product, and customer base
• Built a structured sales recruitment process and kit
• Targeted industries the new breed of sales people could come from and went to market to find them
• Built and implemented the right sales induction training program matched to sales strategy, sales competencies, product, and customer base
• Had new sales team present their ‘go-to-market’ action plan to senior management before they went to market
• Implemented a sales management support system
• Followed up with infield training and coaching
• Mapped and measured sales metrics

The results were stunning from a sales initiative perspective.

The ‘new breed’ of elite sales performers achieved a sales closing ratio of 4:3 within 2 months against an industry average of 3:1 and sold the annual sales budget within 5 months.

Feedback from the sales people was that this was the best sales recruitment and sales induction process they had ever been through.  In all their sales careers, and many came from big name companies, they have never been set up so well to succeed.  They felt confident, proud, and capable to really deliver.

Feedback from the client:  “We worked in partnership to develop an end-to-end model for a new innovative sales team. The approach was unique in that they worked with us across recruitment, training, needs analysis, pitch planning and the end delivery. They added huge value to any sales process.”

By designing your ‘ideal’ sales force blue print you can build and achieve the following in your business:

• Change your culture by creating the sales culture you want
• Design the ideal sales force you want
• Recruit the sales force you want / your strategy needs
• Refresh your thinking, ideas, actions and results
• Develop career paths and succession planning
• Clear performance expectations
• Clearer, more accountable, performance reviews
• Provide a framework for identifying what a high performing sales person looks for your business
• Profiling of the core sales capabilities / competencies for sales managers/ sales people for use in recruitment, performance management, training, coaching and succession planning.
• Provide a framework for assessing the calibre of candidates as defined by core competencies and values;

As you prepare for the next financial year and are developing your sales strategy take time to reflect on what your ‘ideal’ sales force blue print should be.

Do not underestimate the value of taking time to think and plan, ultimately it could make you a lot more money.

Sincerely, your advocate for selling the  right way.