What Athletes, Top CEO’s and Pop Stars Have in Common

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What Athletes, Top CEO’s and Pop Stars Have in Common

December 1, 2011 in Coaching, Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Training, Self Development, Success

Elite athletes, pop stars, top selling writers, politicians, Fortune 100 CEO’s all have one thing in common…they hire coaches to help them achieve their goals faster and become or maintain their ‘number one’ status. Elite performers see the value their coach brings to their craft. They know their coach will help them gain and create insights that transform their performance. The rest of us can take the same approach. Many salespeople see the value of hiring a sales coach to help maintain an edge internally and over your competitors.

Not being heard, thus changing paths

As highlighted recently in the article ‘Are you at risk of losing your top sales performers?‘I mentioned the story of a young sales woman who contacted Barrett looking for expert sales coaching. Here is the excerpt: ‘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.’

This young woman is an example of a growing number of sales professionals looking externally for coaching support to help them succeed and achieve their goals. They often tell us that that they are not getting the professional development or coaching they crave from their sales managers or business leaders. Often left to fend for themselves, these high performers want to be successful so they employ their own coach.

But a word of caution: you need to know what you are looking for. Not all coaches are the same and not all will be able to help you. If you are going to employ a sales coach make sure they:

Have had relevant sales experience and know how to sell well themselves (in a 21st century consultative sales way of course; no used car, product flogging, charm merchants)

They have knowledge and experience in sales strategy, sales planning, prospecting, sales communication, account management, negotiation, team work, etc.

Have recognised coaching qualifications with at least 100 hours of real time coaching experience and testimonials to back up their success.

Use an integrated mix of recognised coaching tools and resources

Know where their professional boundaries lie – they do not delve into nor try and fix any clinical or deeply personal issues, unless they are clinically trained in psychology and/or medicine. If they claim to be able to work in this space without appropriate qualifications do not continue with them.

Have your interests at heart and remain professional at all times. They do not try to make you dependant on them.

RobynCreed, Head of Coaching

Robyn Creed, head of Barrett Coaching says that a coach can wear a number of hats at any one time. They can act as your sounding board, someone who listens without prejudice. Your coach should be a person who helps and guides you while you set your own goals and strategies. They keep you accountable and focused on the priorities that are most important. They might also critique the way you do things, which may be the difference between winning that $200M deal you have been trying to close for months! Here is a lovely quote I found on coaching: ‘A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.’ John Wooden, American Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee.

A good sales coach knows the difference between Deal Based coaching and Strategic Coaching; they know what type of coaching you need based on where you are at – skills, transformational, remedial, or high performance coaching. If you want to read more about what qualities you should look for in an experience coach then go to Why Barrett Coaching.

Fortunately you don’t have to go it alone. Like the young woman mentioned previously you can get your own sales coach, however the good news that more and more Sales Leaders and Managers are now being trained on how to coach properly. Sales Management is quickly seeing the merit in coach training from a team engagement perspective and for staff retention, as well as the obvious and financial viewpoint.

Gallup research has demonstrated that there is a very significant connection between outstanding salespeople and their managers. The research indicated that having the right sales manager/coach can result in a 20% improvement in a sales person’s performance. In addition, it is not uncommon to find that almost 90% of what salespeople learn in a sales training program is lost unless it is effectively embedded and integrated back in the workplace and led by managers through effective coaching.

Stay on top So if you desire to be at the top of your game and stay ahead of your competitors, remember great sales people don’t hesitate to ask others for support. Just like our proactive sales capabilities we take our role seriously and enlist the coaching that will make us a truly top performer and one of the best.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

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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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Like exercise, prospect a little each day and stay sales fit

May 26, 2011 in Call Reluctance, Prospecting, Sales Skills, Sales Training, Self Development, Success, Time Management, Tips

Prospecting is considered one of the most daunting jobs in selling. Many people in sales or other roles charged with developing new business, especially with new prospects, find the task of prospecting anxiety provoking and tend to put off the prospecting task in favour of more desirable or less frightening tasks. Yet in their desire to escape prospecting they inadvertently set themselves up for greater issues in the future.

Prospecting is the oxygen that fuels the fire of sales. Prospecting involves a series of sequential activities designed to:

Identify your prospect
Qualify your prospect
Prioritise your prospect

Prospecting is therefore a step-by-step process for identifying organisations and individuals who have a potential need for your product or service, making contact with them to see if you can be of service and then generating a client & supplier relationship.

Having a plan or system is therefore critical to prospecting success.

Without a prospecting plan you cannot sell because you will not have anyone to sell to. Prospecting is not the most important aspect of selling, but it’s the first thing that has to happen for the sales process to begin. Prospecting is not just isolated to cold calling either. It’s essential for reigniting dormant accounts and clients or developing new business with existing clients.

Putting off the task of prospecting will leave your sales pipeline anemic and weak and put your job or business in jeopardy. In essence, if you don’t prospect you will become ‘sales unfit’.

If we’re serious about our physical health and wellbeing and want to be physically fit we know we need to exercise every day or several times a week in time blocks of 30minutes, one or even two hours. We don’t do little bits then stop. We do not leave our health to chance and instead set aside time in our day to pay attention to our physical wellbeing. So why leave our sales result and careers to chance?

Yet too many people charged with growing sales and healthy client relationships leave their sales fitness to chance by not prospecting on a consistent and regular basis.

One reason people find it hard to prospect is because they have never been taught how to prospect effectively. Prospecting is a skill like everything else and it can be taught. That is why at Barrett we find ourselves doing a lot of coaching and training in our 4 Step Prospecting Process. It is one of the most impactful training modules in our training program. Once people learn to master the skill of prospecting the results are fantastic. “Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to you for your assistance with one of my clients. I got them back! What helped most was omitting that “fear of rejection” like you said. You were right, I had nothing to lose as we had already lost them. In addition, making phone calls with a clear purpose or intention really assisted with this client, which eventually led to a meeting face to face, and it all went swimmingly. This client is now using us consistently since the meeting, and fingers crossed, this will continue. I am not taking chances this time, and will continue to manage this client carefully. Thanks again for all your help, the follow up phone call with you really made all the difference.” Testimonial from Specialist Recruitment Consultant.

Another important reason why a sales pipeline suffers is because people do not make the time to prospect. This can be because they’re either ineffective at prioritising or they’re afraid of prospecting and so avoid it all together. Either way avoiding prospecting makes matters worse.

If you have a fear about prospecting even if you have been shown how to prospect, you need to address those fears and then make time to prospect on a regular and consistent basis. Practice at prospecting will also help overcome your fears a bit at a time. If you have difficulty prioritising what is important then you need to make sure that prospecting is made one of your most important priorities. By doing a little each day you can achieve your sales goals and reduce your anxiety about prospecting one phone call at a time.

Here are some tips For Scheduling Your Prospecting:

Schedule specific time in your week for prospecting.
Chunk your prospecting calls in batches – maximum of 120 minutes, ideally 2-3 batches per week.
Consider doing your prospecting calls first thing in the morning. This works on two levels, 1) you get it out of the way first thing in the day and, 2) it is often the best time to call people.
Ideally make prospecting calls at the same time of the day, each day of the week.
Consider when you are at your best. It’s best to be clear headed, listening accurately, awake and alert (this varies for everyone). You are therefore less likely to have negative or self-defeating thoughts and least likely to take rejection personally.
Consider distractions – what time of day are you least likely to be interrupted?

Remember follow-up with persistent daily effort
Choosing your state of mind and your attitude is also critical when prospecting and selling. Successful salespeople know that prospecting doesn’t happen by chance as it requires a consistent and persistent effort. Successful sales people:

Diarise follow up calls
Use Sales Pipeline to track activity
Keep a number of activities on the go
Prioritise
Persist

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

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Should ‘Selling’ be studied at University?

March 30, 2011 in Coaching, Education, Sales Research, Sales Training, Self Development, Success

Barrett Research invites you to express your opinion about whether ‘Selling’ should be an applied academic degree. Please complete our Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey and voice your views.

With the profession of Selling becoming increasingly more complex involving many more variables and the shift from product being at the heart of selling to strategic relationships, collaboration, true value, sustainability and transparency now on the agenda we believe it’s time for ‘Selling’ to step out under the shadow of Marketing and MBA’s to have its own degree status. Recently I was invited to speak at the Melbourne Business School’s MBA Entrepreneurs program on the topic of Selling. This was a great opportunity to put the topic of Selling on the agenda. The feedback was phenomenal – the mostly young students had many questions that needed answers to ranging from how to sell effectively, prospecting, what it the right way to sell, and the right sales mindset to name a few.

The emphasis was on the practical as well as the theoretical. Their concerns about having the Sales function and Sales Processes operating effectively in their start-ups and growing businesses were along the same lines as the questions many seasoned business owners and leaders ask every day. They were quite unaware just how much you need to know, learn and apply when it comes to selling, running a sales team and keeping up or ahead of your market on the sales front, especially now that social media is now making such an impact on sales and marketing.

While selling strategies have been around for years the actual function of being a sales person and sales leader have been poorly regarded and understood, however in recent years there has been a growing body shining light on sales as a complex and skilful profession with most of the academic work emanating from overseas. In Australia, there are currently topics or short courses (i.e. up to 7 hours duration) on the topic of selling at some Australian universities, however, they are not very comprehensive and do not cover all the aspects of Selling a skilled professional needs to know. There are certainly no Degrees in Selling in Australia. We understand that knowing how to sell effectively doesn’t happen until you get out in the field and start applying it, however, being well trained in the science of selling and understanding its many variables would help most people and businesses make a much better start. At last count there are 42 universities in the US with graduate and undergraduate sales courses on their curriculum.

At Barrett Research we view Selling as an applied science where it fits perfectly well into a business school framework and so do not see it on the pure end of academic education. I believe we need more accredited courses or at least dedicated business courses where people can properly study the science and art of Selling. Having tertiary trained sales professionals would certainly raise the standards of the profession.

We can take a leaf out of the procurement industry which is the fastest growing business profession. CIPSA has worked tirelessly to professionalise ‘purchasing’ and rightly so, given the enormous complexity facing the profession. There are now tertiary qualifications including degrees and post graduate programs in procurement.

To complete the survey, go to: ‘Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey

We will publish our survey findings soon.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au, a Sales Training firm.

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What are your relationships built on?

March 3, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Ethics & Values, Self Development

If you are in business for the long haul then you know the value of building your business relationships on solid foundations. Too many times people have fallen foul of the broken promises and pipe dreams offered by those people whose only intention is to make money at your expense. I can recall a few incidents in my career where I have given people the benefit of the doubt only to be let down and in some very rare incidents, ripped off.

In sales and business we meet people every day and need to be able to size up and make quick judgments about their bona fides. Are they a viable prospect? Can they afford this product or service? The promises they make; can they keep them? The stories about forthcoming funding; can they produce evidence of its existence? Do they keep their word?

I admit it is in my nature to see the best in people and want the best for them and me. However, that positive expectation can be sorely tested when people do not follow through. Some people have the ability to say the right things but you are left feeling uneasy. Something is not quite right. There is doubt as to the existence of any real substance behind their claims.

Over the years I have become more wary and cautious about people’s claims and promises. I have taken to being more discerning and tend to question people more thoroughly about the substance of their offering. After doing so there are some people you never get to speak to again and probably for good reason.

With the ease of connecting and entering into relationships being facilitated by technology of the likes of Linkedin and Facebook, connecting with anyone sounds great but could be a risky move if you do not know the person in question and their intentions. Why do they want to connect with you? Whenever I get an invitation to connect on Linkedin by someone I do not know, I check out their page first then I ask them how we met and why they would like to connect. It is quite interesting the responses I get. Some are genuine in that there is a connection via various means that is mutually beneficial while others are purely after my connections list or are using Linkedin as a spam opportunity.

Personally I prefer my relationships to be built on solid foundations, which includes substance (having something of real value to offer) and trust (knowing I can rely on that person). Substance and trust underpin everything in relationships. Here is a checklist I have found useful when checking myself and others as to how we build trust and manage relationships. They may seem straight forward but you know that not everyone practices these.

Be predictable – Be consistent and reliable.
Do what you say – Your words should match what you do.
Trust others’ instinct – They may have different views, perspectives or experiences you haven’t seen before. Be open to exploring them and check for facts. However, sometimes you do need to trust another person’s judgment. Just make sure you can verify their claims at some point in the process. If you can’t, then trust your judgment and move on.
Don’t lie by omission – Don’t lie or keep secrets from people.
People are not mind readers – Tell people what you want or need, clearly and promptly.
Be willing to say “NO” – It’s okay for people to ask. Remember you don’t have to say “YES” to everything.
Continue to grow relationships – A relationship is a living and breathing thing. It takes conscious effort and daily work to grow a fulfilling relationship. Don’t be afraid to deal with crisis, emotions and questions. You should embrace them and look for solutions that will bring you closer.
Check intentions – are your or the other person’s intentions clear and honourable? Always check your intentions and ask yourself “is this healthy and helpful to me and the others involved?”

None of us work in isolation, so relationships are with us every day in some shape or form. Are the relationships you are currently forming worthwhile to you and the other people involved? Are you all better off for having met each other? Or do some of your relationships feel a bit one-sided either in favour of you or them? Relationships work best when they are open, fair and equitable. You never need feel like the victim if you chose to take control of your relationships and own your place in them.

All relationships are messy and some are messier than others. However, we can work towards creating healthy and profitable relationships on many levels with clients, work colleagues, suppliers, friends and the like. And it starts with us and our willingness to dig deep and be clear about what we want our relationships to be. Any worthwhile relationship takes effort to grow and develop and nothing is risk free. Your clients, colleagues, suppliers, family and friends depend on you to be clear about what you want and offer in a relationship. So what are your relationships built on?

Remember that everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, Sales Training at barrett.com.au

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