Signs you are at risk of losing your top sales performers

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Signs you are at risk of losing your top sales performers

October 26, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Talent, Self Development, Success, Wellbeing Support Services

There they are every day bringing in the deals. They’re always prospecting, meeting clients, networking, making suggestions about how to do things even better and they never discount unnecessarily. Best of all your clients are happy. They’re happy with your offering, happy with your service, happy with the sales support they get and your business is profitable.

Top of the world

Sounds magnificent doesn’t it? Your top sales performer(s) require(s) very little work. They self manage, are resilient and are such a breeze to work with. They’re low maintenance and are not temperamental like those 600lb sales gorillas. You couldn’t be happier, right?

Well this is what most business owners or sales managers are thinking when they get a great sales performer. ‘So easy’ they say, ‘I wish all my sales people where like this’. And yes, we would love all our sales people to be self motivated, self disciplined, engaging people who cared as much about our businesses as we do while bringing in fantastic, sustainable sales results.

The temptation is to leave them alone and say ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken’. Many business leaders and sales managers take this approach. However, it’s precisely the wrong approach to take with top sales performers.
Let’s look at how much would it cost you to keep a top sales performer versus how much you would lose if they left your business.

Research continues to show that top sales performers love to learn and grow. The money is good but it is not the overriding factor. Instead they seek out opportunities to advance their skills, knowledge and mindset on a regular basis – they want to be the best. They strive for Mastery. The number one quality distinguishing top sales performers from their colleagues is their desire to engage in self-appraisal & continuous learning.

Here is what you are likely to see top sales performers doing on a regular basis besides selling:

Asking for feedback on their own performance and the degree to which they have met client expectations.
Collaborating with colleagues and not putting competitiveness in the way of business success.
Recognising and acting on the need for continuous self learning and development.
Appraising their own performance and competencies and initiates development activities without prompting.

These activities are often done without the support of management. Top performers create their own self development journeys and go outside to get the coaching, mentoring and nourishment they need.
This is admirable on the part of the sales person and it seems, great for the business leader/owner or sales manager. However, businesses are putting themselves at a huge disadvantage if this equation remains one-sided.

Why?

Because money isn’t enough. We might think that all we need to do is throw more money at top sales performers. Yes they deserve to earn top dollar but it’s more than that.

We need to take an interest their overall development. Provide them with opportunities to further develop their knowledge, skills and mindset. Give them opportunities. These can be to work with us on the business, take a mentoring or coaching role in our sales team, work on special projects, develop new markets or become our business’ key spokesperson. We can position our top performers as a champion an important aspect of our business or simply give them one-on-one time with us or a nominated coach who takes a particular interest in their development helping them to be even more effective.

Changing Jobs

The small investment of our time and attention to develop our sales superstars is far outweighed by their contribution to our business. Why risk it by ignoring the very people who make us a success? It seems logical but organizations make this mistake time and time again.

I hear so many stories from top sales performers who just up and leave organisations because they feel they were taken for granted. Here are some stories from top sales performers who have left companies because their requests for development were ignored:

“I wasn’t listened to. No interest was taken in me and my development. I had no respect as a professional business person. Management didn’t care about my professional development and dismissed me as only being ‘a salesperson’ because I did not have a business degree. They were only interested in me because I could bring in the deals. I tried to explain that it wasn’t only about the money and that I wanted more challenges to help the business grow. I had great ideas and wanted to step up. Instead they just told me to keep on selling and stay in my box. I felt ignored and taken for granted. I became tired, bored, and disillusioned with management and so I left. They went into free fall when I resigned and since leaving the business they keep coming back to me offering more money. They just don’t get it do they?’

‘My repeated requests to my manager for coaching and training were dismissed as too costly. I went outside to get the development I craved. My manager just wasn’t interested in giving me any of his time to coach me and certainly wasn’t interested in paying any money for my development. So I paid $3,000 of my own money for 6 one-on-one sales coaching sessions and they really helped. The benefits of one-on-one sales coaching were enormous. I achieved 130% of my budget in my first year and made the annual incentive trip overseas. My manager tried to claim the credit for my success. Needless to say into my second year nothing changed on the management front so after a further 9 months in solitude I left the company to pursue a career where personal development was valued.’

The cost of losing a top sales performer is enormous and it’s not until they are gone that most businesses realises its mistake. Are you at risk of losing someone who is vital to your business?

Before it’s too late ask your top sales people:

What they want by way of personal and professional development. Where would they like to take their careers? How would they like to contribute to the business? What ideas do they have about how we could be better?

Nourish these people with your interest in their ongoing development and show them that you genuinely care about their contribution and growth in your business – not just every now and again but continuously. If you make this a priority you will retain these top sales people and benefit. Make it a priority to do something to support them and let them know you really value and appreciate their contribution.

If you need to talk to someone about coaching or training in sales, sales leadership, sales coaching or people management contact us.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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The New Age Customer

August 4, 2011 in Customer Service, Procurement, Sales Leadership, Social Media

In a world still recovering from the GFC and grappling with the buzz of social media, we are now in the midst of a war between retail and online shopping facing daily decisions about purchasing locally or overseas, and B2B sales teams challenged with moving from selling product transactions to being business people who can sell value and ideas.

It’s no wonder that businesses are grappling with the new age customer who has emerged looking somewhat different in this new climate.

New Age Customer

Sales leaders often struggle with the changing dynamics of the customer relationship. The Sales Industry has spoken for years about the importance of aligning every aspect of sales, marketing and the whole of an organisation around The Customer, yet we see sales forces and organisations at large consistently missing the mark.

That is why CSE11, Asia Pacific’s Premier Sales Leadership Conference is focusing on getting customer relationships right. As part of the conference program I am speaking in concert with a leading procurement professional about The New Era of Professional Selling: The Pathway from Supplier to Partner which is an industry first.

Conference or not, we need to adapt and improve our relationship dynamics. Sales leaders need to ask key questions such as: ‘how do we change our customers’ perceptions around the type of relationship we have with them and the value we bring to their business?’ and ‘how do we move away from being seen as a vendor who ‘sells stuff’ to that of a ‘hard to substitute’ Business Partner who adds critical value to their business?’

Today’s customer is smarter, savvier and more socially aware. They know what they want and can easily find where to get it. They have access to information at the click of a button and are mindful of price. They’re not averse to discussing with strangers the merits of a product or service online and they’re not afraid to name and shame. Competition is high and expectations even higher. The changing role of the customer means that sales people and business people need to adapt or get out.

For business, it’s six times more expensive to acquire a new customer than retain an old one so it is critical that businesses educate all their people on how to work with clients even if they are not in touch with them every day. Interestingly 68 per cent of customers stop dealing with a business because they’re upset with the treatment they received from the sales people, customer service person or someone else in the business.

Prior to the internet most used to suffer in silence and simply go elsewhere. Now customers are making themselves heard via the internet through social networking sites and blogs. Prior to the internet studies revealed that one unhappy customer told 11 others, who in turn told five other people. With the Internet and the variety of blogs available, the flow on effect of an unhappy customer could number in the thousands and be devastating to your business.

The new age customer expects more than ever before but this doesn’t mean you can’t keep up and deliver. It doesn’t need to cost you more but you will need to take time out to revisit your business strategies and reevaluate the way you deal with your customers.

Key areas of importance are:

Customer service
Are you delivering quality customer service both online and in person?Many businesses don’t take enough care with online customer service believing that as a quick and effective communication tool the job is done. Untrue. In fact, more care needs to be taken. By communicating online with your customer, you lose the personal phone or face-to-face opportunity. You therefore need to make more effort with your presence online. Responding quickly to customers with the right information they need is key. Handle queries simply and easily. Make sure you clarify and solve people’s problems and communicate in a positive, professional manner. In some markets you have less than two hours to get back to people before they move on.

Listening
Listen to your customers. Stop talking about yourself and your business. What do your customers want and need? Are you giving it to them? Listening doesn’t need to just be one-on-one. Take time out and explore the web. What is being said about you and your brand? Or what is being said online about your competitors? By reviewing the web you will gain insight into customer’s expectations and will find it easier to give them what they want.
Consistency
People don’t like change but we are resilient creatures and we do adapt to change. We much prefer it if we know it’s going to happen and can prepare ourselves which is why businesses should communicate potential change to their customers and give them time and help to adjust. If you aren’t planning change, make sure your sales team and your customer service people know your processes and are all providing the same advice. Your customer wants to know what to expect when they deal with you and doesn’t appreciate a sudden change of service.
Dialogue not monologue
I always encourage sales people to have dialogues rather than monologues with their customers. The new age customer doesn’t have time to be preached to. They want to talk and they want to be heard. They’re in touch with you because they’re interested in what you have to offer, but they probably have others waiting in the wings to take their business. Long gone are the days of sales monologues, today’s new age customer has completely outgrown this tactic and now want to be listened to. Let your customers do the talking, ask them questions, find out what they are after and then work with them to give them what they want and/or need.

Smart businesses and sales teams know there are many ways to work with our customers and develop deeper value based relationships that are based on true partnerships.

If you can, join us at this year’s CSE11 conference which brings global and local industry case studies of organisations getting customer relationships right. The conference will focus on uncovering the enablers and blockers that will either derail or enable the acceleration of sales performance in today’s market. Over 200 industry sales leaders will be sharing their insights supported by keynotes.

This will be an incredible learning experience with no doubt a few gold nuggets to walk away with! Barrett will also be hosting tables for our clients and contacts to ensure you get introduced and connected to key stakeholders and international speakers. If you would like to attend please download the registration form or please register your interest and we will get an information pack sent to you ASAP.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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Can a sales manager be an effective sales coach?

April 14, 2011 in Coaching, Performance Management, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Talent, Sales Training, Success

Coaching usually focuses on two areas of development to achieve excellence: skills and performance. Excellence in performance is knowing the right processes to apply in the right situation, coupled with the personal insight to know how to apply them wisely. An effective sales coach is there to help people achieve excellence and realize many more benefits.

However to be an effective sales coach your people must experience you as a support in helping them achieve higher performance and not a hindrance. Often people experience performance improvement initiatives as ‘threats’ or ‘aimless chats’ leaving people feeling negative, intimidated or that their time has been wasted.

For coaching to work at its best the relationship between coach and coachee must be one of partnership with trust, safety and minimal pressure. The pay cheque, promotion and performance axe have no place in a coaching relationship. Often, sales managers don’t know the difference between managing and coaching and find it hard to change hats when required. So can a sales manager reconcile the roles of manager and coach and can a manager really be an effective coach especially given time pressures and other competing priorities?

Barrett’s newly appointed Head of Coaching, Robyn Creed says ‘Yes, managers and especially sales managers can be fantastic coaches, however coaching demands the highest qualities of a manager.’

“Qualities include active listening, empathy, integrity, honesty, detachment and effective questioning. Coupled with this is a willingness to adopt a ‘performance enhancing’ mindset to staff development along with the skillful use of best practice coaching tools and frameworks. True coaches help people liberate their talent to realise mastery. Being able to set yourself a part from your managerial duties i.e. the KPI agenda, delivery of strategy, results, and firefighting and instead, approach each staff member as an individual when coaching, allows you to build a genuine coaching relationship. Creating a coaching climate can be a challenge for many managers mainly due to time constraints, competing priorities which often relegate coaching to ‘nice-to-have’ status, and the lack of proper training in effective coaching tools and strategies,’ Robyn said.

So how can a sales manager reconcile the roles of manager and coach? Knowing the difference helps. Review the following checklist on Managing and Coaching and see where you fall in relation to these roles.

Managers:
•   Do most of the talking and directing
•   Tell people how things should be done
•   Fix problems – sometimes preventing staff members from developing necessary skills
•   Presumes and makes assumptions (not having delved deeply into what is going on for an individual)
•   Seek control
•   Order people, provide directions
•   Works on
•   Keep distant
•   Assign blame

Coaches:
•   Spend most of the time in a coaching discussion listening to their staff member
•   Ask people how they think things should be
•   Prevent problems – when appropriate, skill people up to develop skills to manage situations effectively
•   Explore, providing staff with in-depth insight around a particular situation or what is going on with an individual)
•   Empower team member and seeks commitment
•   Allow people to develop their own path, but challenges when necessary
•   Work with (partnerships to develop skills and improve performance)
•   Make contact
•   Take responsibility (those who understand the importance of coaching appreciate the direct link between their coaching of their staff and their staff’s performance)

Many sales managers we work with have reviewed this list and realise they are not coaching at all. At best they have chats over coffee which is not the same as coaching. Yet they are ever concerned that their people may not be performing to the standard they require.

In 2005, the Sales Executive Council conducted a survey of over 3000 Sales Professionals and their sales managers. Some of their findings clearly demonstrate the difference in sales professionals’ performance based on the effectiveness of coaching. In this study there was at least 19% improvement in sales performance as a direct result of one-on-one coaching which meant the difference between people achieving their sales quotas or not.

Recent results from ICF Consumer Global Awareness Study reported that more than 42.6% of the respondents who had experienced coaching chose “Optimise individual and/or team performance” as their motivation for being coached. This reason ranked highest followed by “Expand professional career opportunities” at 38.8% followed by “Improve business management strategies” at 36.1%. Other more personalised motivations like “Increase self-esteem/self-confidence” and “Manage work/life balance” rated fourth and fifth to round out the top five motivations.

Coaching is key to performance improvement in any role. So why isn’t coaching prevalent in the daily lives of sales leaders and managers?

Lack of time is usually the issue. Finding time to coach is a real issue for these managers. Too many managers find themselves firefighting, unable to devote sufficient time to long term planning, visioning and most importantly coaching and developing their people. The paradox here is that if they coach their staff properly the staff will be capable of shouldering more responsibility, freeing the manager from firefighting and allowing them to be available to manage and coach their people and grow and develop the business.

So how do we get managers to engage in coaching?

Help sales managers see the real value in coaching including the dollars and sales it can return to the business. We need to help managers see that coaching delivers far more than the effort put into coaching however, if you have never experienced effective coaching you are unlikely to value it. One solution is for managers to experience professional coaching themselves and see how it helps them achieve excellence in their own role. Engaging an independent coach to work with a manager i.e. a ‘coach-the-coach’ experience has great benefits. Ideally sales managers would be trained in best practice coaching tools and strategies to give them the confidence and competence to coach. Another solution some managers are resorting to is outsourcing the coaching of their team members to independent coaches or internal people specifically trained and assigned to a coaching role thus leaving managers to manage. This is a trend in some industries such as call centres.

Robyn Creed says that outsourcing authentic coaching can really help people experience an agenda free environment helping them to shift and move to higher levels of performance without the complicated relationship of their managers. However, she does warn that abdicating coaching responsibilities as a manager is dangerous. ‘Managers should not avoid coaching’ says Robyn, ’The skills and mindset of coaching need to be ever present in a manager’s tool box, especially in sales. The opportunities to coach present themselves at any time and you have to be ready to seize the opportunity and know what to do.’ Robyn’s advice is to adopt a blended approach: ‘train your sales managers and other managers how to be effective coaches and then, when needed supplement this with highly trained external coaches. These coaches are best used to coach the managers who are coaching their own teams as well as for high performing sales people who need that to move to a higher plain.’

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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2011 the year of Sales leadership and Integrity

January 27, 2011 in Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Success

In December 2010 we published The 12 Sales Trends of 2011 and invited readers to vote on what they thought would be the most important trends in sales for this year. Thank you to everyone who shared their views and voted. Every month we will explore one of the trends in more detail, starting with the trends voted as most important to you.

Without doubt Sales Leadership and Integrity topped the rankings; the voting was overwhelming in favour of these two trends. The voting revealed the sales trends for 2011 in order of importance:

The Year of the Sales Leader
Integrity – your sales edge
Knowing your business
Prospecting and Social Media
Results not Solutions
CRM as a Business Strategy
The Sales Pioneer
Rethinking Incentives (The Science of Motivation)
Procurement and Value Managed
Leading and Examined Life
The New Sharing
Getting Personal

It’s the year of the sales leader. The increasing complexity of business structure, market changes, people dynamics, customer buying patterns and evolving technology, amongst other things have made the made the job of sales managers and leaders that much more challenging.

Keeping on top of their jobs will be a test of character as much as anything. The message is clear if businesses don’t get their sales leadership and management capabilities functioning effectively, their sales efforts will be in peril in 2011 and beyond. The research is clear, educate and develop your sales managers to be effective sale leaders and the impact on sales results will be dramatic.

International research into sales training reported that if Sales Managers were more frequently and better trained and coached then their sales teams achieved higher performance and results. In no other type of sales training was a more positive correlation found between frequency of training and sales performance. The study in Sales Force Effectiveness also reported that Sales Management training is the category of sales training that is addressed with the least frequency, in fact it is less than annually or not at all. Most sales managers are given very little or no support when it comes to being a competent, effective Sales Manager. In fact, many Sales Managers reported that they were given no formal training in Sales Management practices, either before or during their tenure as a Sales Manager.

Smart businesses will invest in the ongoing development of their sales leaders, producing highly effective professional business people who are knowledgeable and skillful in strategic action, technology, and global perspectives, and who excel at coaching, and proactive review.

Given the rapid pace of change, we need highly functioning Sales Managers and Leaders who can lead from the front with courage, insight, skilful action and a clear vision.

In 2011 and beyond what do sales leaders need?

Knowledge about: markets, customers, products, competitors, technology, new marketing, what good sales talent looks like, how to develop strategy, fiscal management, etc.
Skills in: coaching, leadership, management, recruitment, conflict resolution, negotiation, strategic thinking, planning, creating and leveraging networks, stakeholder management, selling, problem solving, etc.
Personal Insight: self awareness, ethics, integrity, professionalism, resilience, optimism and future mindedness, achievement focus, initiative, innovation and improvement, collaborating to achieve results, team orientation, decisive, etc.
Sales Resources: sales templates, coaching guides, recruitment resources, sales planning tools, CRM systems, performance management systems, etc.

Achieving mastery in all these areas can take a life time, however those companies that support and train all their sales leaders and managers in these core areas will gain a significant competitive advantage in 2011.

If you need further information on sales management and leadership training please contact us on (03) 9532 7677 or email us.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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The Yin Yang of Selling

December 9, 2010 in Sales Assessments, Sales Leadership, Sales Relationships, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Value Creation

In the 20th century the emphasis on B2B selling had a distinct aggressive ring to it. So much so, that you could walk down the halls of many businesses and think that you were involved in big game hunting. Many of these teams saw selling as an extreme sport, or more precisely, Big Game Fishing or Hunting.

Customers were ‘Targets’.
Getting a sale was referred to as ‘the Kill’.
Customers were regarded as objects to be possessed or trophies to be placed in their cabinet; to be shown off and admired (perversely so) like stuffed animal heads on the wall.

Little regard was really paid to building genuine relationships and developing real value. It was in essences an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ approach. And if you tried to develop deeper relationships it was seen as wimpy and soft. For instance, I can recall hearing of the death of one of my long standing clients, who died tragically in a plane crash when I was working as a recruiter many years ago. Upon hearing the news I found myself crying quietly at my desk at the loss of this lovely man. A few minutes later one of our senior managers found me and asked me why I was crying, and when I told him why, he just said “get over it, it’s only a client”. Extreme I know, however I have overheard many sales people speak about their clients in disparaging and disrespectful ways with little regard for the value of genuine relationships built on trust and transparency.

So why title this post as the Yin Yang of Selling? Yin Yang are complementary opposites that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, but either of these aspects may manifest more strongly in particular objects, and may ebb or flow over time. There is a perception (especially in the West) that yin and yang correspond to good and evil (not respectively). However, Taoist philosophy generally discounts good/bad distinctions and other dichotomous moral judgments, in preference to the idea of balance.

I propose that the profession of selling has been out of balance for some time and to its detriment. If we look at how selling has been evolving over the last 50 years, we can see a distinct shift occurring from the aggressive one sided approach where conquest was king (too much yang) to a more delicate balance between the masculine and feminine aspects of yin yang.

It cannot be denied that selling requires yang – a proactive, focused, go-out-into-the-world and find opportunity approach (prospecting) however, selling must now be balanced with the ability to genuinely listen and respond to the subtleties of more complex relationships which involves patience, nurturing, and dealing with ambiguity which is yin. Think of the types of conversations you now need to have with your prospective customers where listening, questioning, resolving problems, collaboration, empathy and understanding are encouraged.

This is not just a fantasy. In reviewing the latest research on elite sale performers, gender differences in sales capabilities were found; women rated significantly higher than men on 5 of the 7 emerging competencies which gave them a distinct advantage in selling. Some of these capabilities included:

listening beyond the product needs;
engaging in self appraisal and continuous learning;
orchestrating internal resources;
aligning customer/supplier strategic objectives; and
establishing a vision of a committed customer.

These capabilities are in the realm of yin. May I suggest that we encourage more yin yang to assist us on our sales journey and encourage more success! To find out how you can achieve this in your team or career, have a look at the sales training that we provide for sales people, sales teams and sales leaders.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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