Through the looking glass was voted by you as the number 8  Sales Trend for 2010.

Many sales people are tired of being told that they need to sell like someone else to be successful.  Many are unsure of what they should be modelling.  Too often they are told to ‘just be like’ someone else but with no reference to what that actually looks like they are left poking around in the dark mimicking the ‘star’ performer and left feeling unauthentic.   And ‘big sticks’, bribes or fear don’t help either.

Most people, and especially sales people, want to be the best they can be but without having to be someone else.   Clearly defining what good performance looks like is key.  Here is a model we use at Barrett where we focus on three key areas:

The Three Dimensions of Optimal Performance

1. KNOWLEDGE: General awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths or principles.
2. SKILLS & PROCESSES: A series of actions directed towards a specific aim.  The ability to do something well, usually gained through training or experience.
3. INSIGHT: The ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation or subject; a set of beliefs or a way of thinking that determines somebody’s behaviour and outlook.

Putting practical tools and processes into the hands of sales people and sales managers are an important step however, the first step is giving people insight into their own strengths and capabilities and allowing them to change from the inside out.   Seeing what is possible and being able to model their capabilities and attributes on top performers whilst retaining their own identity as a person is crucial.  Articulating exactly what that is by using the model above puts real content on the table.

With the product edge gone, the key differentiator will be your people.  In 2010 and beyond, enlightened leaders are focusing on understanding their people and helping their people understand themselves and what motivates and drives them.  They are taking note of how people think and make decisions.  Creating the best team for your business will be about how you play to your people’s strengths to achieve goals and fulfill ambitions.  Teaching people how to transform their capabilities, communicate more effectively, and how to manage their behaviours and mindsets are critical.

Gaining deeper insight into self and others is much more than just navel-gazing.  With proper resources and support, insight can be a life changing experience for people and can greatly enhance company success.  While for a number of years we have been focusing on skills and processes, we are now realising the importance of people and their role in business.  Enlightened leaders will be supporting their people in gaining deeper insight and more knowledge.

Insight means having Choices; working with clear Purpose; Self and Other Awareness; knowing your Capabilities; developing your Creativity; building Resilience; and Self Direction.

Knowledge means having a clear Strategy;  access to well defined Processes; good Information; Role Clarity; clearly defined Tasks; Standards of High Performance; Responsibilities; and the ability to make Decisions.

In addition to skills and processes, giving sales people access to insight and knowledge allows for the cultivation of sales wisdom because achieving sales mastery is about working from the inside out.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

I recently had the opportunity to MC and attend the Optimising the Sales Force Conference – OSF2010 which was the follow up to the inaugural OSF2009.  Building on last year’s success, this year’s conference was attended by over 120 high level sales leaders across Australia.  Once again I was privileged to be part of the panel of international and local experts presenting on this year’s topic, Sales Transformation.

This was the second time in Australia that we have had the opportunity to come together as a profession and share ideas and discuss important matters moving forward, and from the looks of it, we will be doing this again.  The feedback from our international sales experts was that this was one of the best forums in the world.  The quality of the speakers, content and discussions were of the highest standard.

Key topics included:

• Global best practice to achieve sustainable sales transformation.
• Great case studies on how to migrate your team to best practice performance and how to get a professional services firm to take on a proactive sales culture.
• What the new successful seller looks like.
• How to hire sales people who can sell.
• Using CRM to enable smart learning.
• Getting sales people effective before they achieve efficiency.
• Sales 2.0 – a Google look into the future of customers, demographics, tribes, buyer behaviours, collaboration and communication.

Key highlights and messages for me were:

1. In B2B sales, customer loyalty is heavily weighted to the experience a customer has with the sales person far exceeding brand, product and price value ratio.
2. Selling has moved beyond solving problems and satisfying needs, it’s about transforming the lives of your customers – helping them achieve results and offering accelerants which take them to their vision of success.
3. We are in ‘ideas’ businesses not ‘product’ businesses.
4. We ‘lead people to a better place’ not ‘lead with product’.
5. Sales transformation is a committed journey not an event.
6. It’s the little things that count – put real tools and processes into the hands of sales people and keep it simple, accessible and applicable.
7. Bring back the Sales Manager as trainer – we need sales managers who can train and coach; 3-5 hours per sales person per month is what is required to get sales people performing to better standards: Empower sales managers to get out from behind their desks and in the field working with their people.
8. Take a laser approach to sales training not a cannon ball approach – most sales training normally fails because it fails to address long term learning and specific learning needs.  We need blended learning.
9. Sales is about reaching better standards of performance not about ‘standardisation’ – too many large organisations try to control and standardise sales performance instead of giving sales people the responsibility to achieve higher levels of performance.  This requires thinking outside of the box, innovation and having a ‘challenger’ mindset – all of which are at odds with standardisation.
10. The war between ‘Urgency and Importance’ – do we want our sales people to be firefighters or builders?
11. Google’s perspective on the world of the user and the amazing views we can get from our buying and viewing habits – truly amazing presentation into the future of consumer sales.

One international speaker, an expat from Melbourne now residing in New York, said that Australia was ahead of the game when it came to connecting at a global level and understanding how to sell into different markets.  He stated that we tend to be less parochial and more worldly even if our footprint is smaller per head of population.  We seem to connect with more people more easily which of course bodes well for selling.  On the down side, it was noted by others that our ‘tall poppy’ syndrome did not help when we came to promoting role models and shining the light on the ‘best’ in the field.  We needed to honour our home grown talent and realise that what we offer here is note worthy.  We need to celebrate that Australia has some great role models and be recognised as leaders in the profession of selling.

I am looking forward to OSF 2011, hope to see you there.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of sales people around the world use sales scripts.  Used properly, sales scripts act as scaffolding or bridgework to earn us the right to have a meaningful discussion with our prospecting customers, members, donors or subscribers.  The sales script is a well constructed set of guidelines that support us when we prospect.

Good sales scripts:

• are purposeful – have a clear reason why you are calling someone;
• use language the customer understands;
• are designed for the benefit of the listener with it always being “the prospects choice” to accept or reject what they hear;
• are brief and allow for questions and conversations;
• aim to achieve a result – an appointment, donation, purchase, feedback, etc;
• are planned not canned –they are flexible, allowing the sales person to adapt to the different needs or queries of the prospect whilst maintaining the integrity of the call’s purpose;
• leave the prospect feeling valued and informed, even if they choose not to proceed with you in this instance; and,
• are pleasant, respectful and engaging.

However, too many organisations push sales scripting too far creating word-for-word scripts that end up being stilted and clumsy at best and one-sided and ineffectual at worst.  We had an experience recently with a telecommunications firm whose telephone sales and service people seemed unable to deviate from a scripted response as the responses they gave us had nothing to do with our issue.  The impression this gave us was that our issue wasn’t even heard let alone acted upon – it didn’t fit their script.  The number of times we had to request information to check that our matter would be dealt with made the whole experience cumbersome, time consuming and very frustrating.  We ended up doing all the work, while the telephone sales and service person simply read from a script, which, as it turns out, could not account for our matter in its design.

Sales scripts are not meant to be regurgitated word for word with no deviation, nor are they meant to be a one-sided affair.  This type of approach is called ‘canned’ scripting.   You would think that in this day and age we would have ditched these ‘canned scripts’ but they still happen.

The Cluetrain Manifesto (a resulting force that rose out of the discontentment people experience with businesses and how they fail to communicate with people) really nails it when it says:

“Learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about ‘listening to customers’.  They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.  While many such people already work for companies today, most companies ignore their ability to deliver genuine knowledge, opting instead to crank out sterile happy talk that insults the intelligence of markets literally too smart to buy it.”

Building on this and taking the canned script one step further, some companies and political parties have even ditched the live person on the other end of the phone and opted for a recording instead.  And this is supposed to engage us?  This is free-to-air television advertising or junk mail in disguise.  At least with television we can choose what we watch and we can put a ‘no junk mail’ sign on our letter box but getting ‘canned’ advertising over the phone takes the biscuit in my opinion.  Yes there is the ‘do not call’ register which you can sign up to, however resorting to ‘recorded messages’ is lazy and only serves to create more angst in the already heated area of telemarketing.

If done properly, telephone sales is a very effective way of getting in contact with legitimate prospects.  But when scripting removes the ability to genuinely listen and respond to a customer, we all suffer.

If you want to create positive and memorable experiences for your customers, members, donors or subscribers then seek to engage with them in a meaningful way.  Don’t force your sales people to be rooted to the spot and limited by a one-size-fits all script.  Trust your team to engage with people in meaningful ways by giving them the guidelines and tools they need to communicate effectively with the wide variety of people they encounter on a daily basis.  The autonomy this gives your people puts back interest and challenge in the task of making effective prospecting calls and in the process might make the customers, members, donors or subscribers’ experience that much better.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

How many of us entered our sales careers with our eyes wide open? Fully aware of what it takes to be an effective sales person – ably resourced with the tools, processes, plans and support essential to our success. Knowing full well what you were getting yourself into.

For most, if not all of us, our initiation into sales was nothing like this, and was cushioned with little or none of these luxuries. Does the analogy “sink or swim” resonate with anyone?

All of this makes the story I am about to share quite unique and refreshing. Recently, some rather clever and farsighted managers gave some very fortunate young people the opportunity to get a large glimpse into the world of selling.

Here is their story: Two senior managers from one company, both whom I have known and worked with for many years, had the presence of mind and foresight to think ahead and tap into the desire of some of their younger staff to advance their careers.

Their business is in the industrial equipment market where they sell new equipment, spare parts, service and rentals. Recently, they advertised for a new service sales person and received, amongst others, applications from several of their internal service technicians.

The senior managers took these applications very seriously. However, they could not appoint any of their internal applicants because they had no experience and very little idea about what it takes to be an effective sales person. Thinking about the future of their business, staff retention and the desire of these young people to advance their careers, the senior managers took it upon themselves to give these driven and ambitious staff the opportunity to really understand what selling is all about – so that they could one day go in into a sales role with their eyes wide open.

This is where Barrett came in. In discussion with the managers, we developed a one day session where these young participants explored topics like:

• Why sales matters
• The changing face of customers and what they really want
• Ethics in selling
• Missed and lost opportunities
• Critical success factors, and key qualities of the 21st century sales performers
• Olympics Game – our sales fitness and simulation exercise which tests peoples’ natural sales capabilities and gives them real time feedback
• The sales essentials overview:

1. 5 step sales planning process
2. 4 step sales prospecting process
3. 7 step sales communication process

• Skills you can apply NOW to build your steps to being a sales performer

As part of the session, we pointed out that even if they were not currently in a sales role, there were still numerous, valuable things they could take from the session and apply immediately in their current roles. Skills, knowledge and insight that would (and did) serve them, their customers and the company well right now, as well as lay the foundation for when the time comes for them to knowingly and willingly step into a sales role. Things like:

1. Knowing, understanding, communicating and modeling the vision, key message and promise, values and customer service ethic of the business
2. Knowing how to make effective phone calls to clients, etc. – being clear about the purpose of their calls and how to position themselves confidently (this relates to how to make prospecting phone calls)
3. Recognising and understanding different communication styles and how not to confuse different with difficult
4. Knowing how to ask good questions to clarify and verify their understanding.

What was most impressive was the prolific note taking, questioning and genuine interest in really getting a handle on what it takes to be a great sales person. For me it was one of the most enjoyable and inspiring days I have had in a long time. There is nothing like working with people who really want to be there and be their best.

All the people I have shared this story with in the last month have all expressed the same wish – that they had had the chance to experience such a session before they became a sales person.

All credit to Cameron and Mick for having the wisdom to provide this opportunity to their team. I am sure that the benefits will be varied, significant and long-lasting.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to put a client’s field sales force through the Barrett Sales Fitness Circuit to test their sales fitness.

The Sales Fitness Circuit is designed to reinforce and continue the process of learning from the Barrett Sales Communication Training. The Sales Communication competencies (skills, knowledge and mindset) covered in the initial training is put to the test through a series of exercises. The aim is to embed the learning from the training as a way of life in the sales team’s actions and thinking.

Specific skills, competency enhancement, and behaviour change were supported during the Sales Fitness Circuit Course through:

• Reviewing and reinforcing key learning’s from the 7 Step Sales Communication Process, in particular the Pre, Analysis, Problem Solving, Recommendation and Closing steps
• Sharing lessons learnt and obstacles experienced in using the models, techniques, and skills in the field
• Reflecting on strengths and areas requiring further development
• Developing individual action plans to address skill gaps moving forward

The Sales Fitness Circuit Course provided an experiential and high impact learning opportunity.   The 1-day session is designed to be fun, high energy, and collaborative. It creates an effective learning environment that combines conceptual knowledge, real sales situations experienced in the field, and reflective learning.

Like the physical fitness circuit you would see in a gym or on the hit show The Biggest Loser, the elements of the Sales Fitness Circuit included:

• Sales people worked in discrete teams
• Each activity is set up as a station in the circuit
• Each station simulates a different activity requiring the use of Sales Communication skills, techniques and tools
• Props and visual cues were used at each station to enhance the experience and recall
• Teams rotated around the stations receiving instructions, feedback, and wrap up from the ‘Sales Fitness Instructors’
• Participants were required to perform under time pressure, simulating the real pressures in the field
• No one salesperson was able to complete all client interactions on behalf of the team
• Competencies positively demonstrated were reinforced throughout the circuit via allocation of points
• At the end of the circuit prizes were awarded to teams and individuals who demonstrated exceptional levels of sales fitness
• Participants observed others in action and were encouraged to reflect on potential positive and negative consequences of different approaches
• The participants collaborated at the end of the circuit to rate their overall sales fitness as a team across the key competencies

We have run this circuit format with many sales team sizes over the years and the feedback has been fantastic, even though some people were really challenged by it.   The insight people get into their skills and capabilities by really putting themselves to the test helps them see what they need to do and how they need to perform if they want to step up and be real sales performer.

If this has got you wondering how fit your sales team is give us a call and we would be happy to put them to the test.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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