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How do you create future sales superstars?

June 23, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Sales Assessments, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Skills, Sales Talent, Sales Training, Strategy, Success, Value Creation

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

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Culture Fit

June 16, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Ethics & Values, Sales Leadership, Strategy, Value Creation

Culture Fit was voted by you as the number 6 Sales Trend for 2010.  What is Culture Fit?  Well the first place you are likely to hear about Culture Fit is when you are recruiting for new staff or being recruited yourself.  For instance, Culture Fit Interviews differ from Behavioural Interviews, in that the Behavioural Interview attempts to find out about the candidate’s behaviour, skills, knowledge and experience.  Culture Fit Interviews generally do not try to determine the individual’s capability, but rather considers the candidate’s ‘cultural fit’ with the organisation, their values and motivators.

Values, motives, codes of conduct and organisational charters are now on the main agenda.  More and more managers, sales people and the broader workforce are making value judgments and career choices based more heavily on values, ethics and work practices, rather than just the roles themselves.  The phrase ‘you hire on skill and fire on fit’ has never been truer, however it’s not just the employer firing on ‘fit’.  Employees and customers are doing the same.  If there is misalignment around core values and codes of conduct, employees and customers are just as likely to fire the organisation and go elsewhere for a better ‘fit’.

Culture Fit is usually considered as an internal organisational matter, however I propose that Culture Fit has now migrated to the main world stage with our organisational and corporate values and conduct being scruitinised on every level by our customers, constituents, members, suppliers, employees and communities.  It is now a brand, sales and customer matter with ethical and moral consequences.  Many of us are asking:

•    What is our purpose for being in business?
•    What are our core values?
•    What is our promise to our customers?
•    Is our promise aligned with our core values and actions?
•    What value do we create for others beyond the product?
•    Are we proud to work here?
•    How do we behave in times of crisis?
•    What do we expect from our suppliers, partners, etc.?
•    How do we want our leaders (business, political, community, etc.) to behave?
•    Who would we be proud to be associated with?

These are just some of the questions that are likely to knock loudly on our collective doors in 2010 and beyond.

Why?  Because organisations everywhere are undergoing breathtaking changes!  Their products are changing.  Their markets are changing.  Their management philosophies are changing.  Their values are changing.  Their focus is changing.  And most importantly, their customers’ views on what is ‘true value’ are changing.

Now, more than ever before the accepted ways of doing business are shifting.  Old institutions are crashing and dying.  Trusted names of yesterday will not live to see the future.  Many have failed to keep pace with changing consumer and community demands, values and needs.  Many business CEOs and their management teams have missed the opportunity and pressing need to account for a quadruple bottom line:

1.    Purpose
2.    People
3.    Profit
4.    Planet

Hanging onto the past, they are blinded by leadership nearsightedness — often acting wildly when their status is threatened.  The current disaster that is BP’s environmental oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico is a case in point.  This environmental catastrophe has now blown up beyond all proportions.  Beside the communities and ecosystems severely affected by this tragedy, BP is now fighting for survival, the entire oil industry is under scrutiny for their poor safety and disaster management plans, and the credibility of big business leadership has been severely eroded as we witness blame shifting, self serving game playing, indecision, narcissism and quite frankly, gutless and pathetic attempts to distance themselves from the issue at hand.  Which leadership and business management schools did these CEOs attend?  If this is what they are teaching our leaders we are in big trouble.

For instance, Tony Hayward’s, the CEO of BP, response recently to the oil disaster: “We’re sorry for the massive disruption it’s caused to their lives. There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do, I’d like my life back” just shows you how vulnerable any organization is to misaligned values, self serving motives, poor choices and weak leadership.

Just imagine saying something similar to an unhappy customer – you would be laughed off the phone.  Tony, you have failed miserably in Customer Service 101 –’ handling difficult situations’ and so have most of your high powered colleagues in this instance.

No wonder these and other organisations are left wondering where their customers and profits are going.  This leaves them weak and vulnerable.  It begs the question ‘Did the dinosaurs hear the asteroid coming?’

One of my trusted mentors, Neville Christie, says that in the 21st Century, the role of the CEO is a dual purpose role:

1) Chief Philosopher, and
2) Chief Salesperson/Storyteller.

There is recognition that a clear promise, code of conduct or charter, and accompanying message to markets and the broader community is critical for organizations of all persuasions, and only the leaders and their employees can bring this to life.  Savvy leaders and organisations will not just ‘talk the talk’; they will ‘walk the talk’ and show the way forward.

In the words of one Senior Leader, “Don’t ask me what I value and stand for; ask the people who work for me.  They’ll tell you what I really stand for and then you’ll know if I am true to my word.” In fact, we can take this one step further. In this increasingly transparent world, we can witness for ourselves what the leaders of businesses, political parties, communities, and other organizations stand for – plain and simple.

Making your philosophy, values, team charter and steps for action crystal clear for everyone to witness will be key when recruiting, training, managing, and leading teams and when we engage with our customers and communities in 2010 and beyond.  Being transparent, honest and engaging in real conversations will need to be top of mind.  Make no bones about it, whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not, you and your organisation are on show like never before and employees, customers and communities alike are asking these questions on a daily basis.    They are checking for ‘culture fit’.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

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Now for something completely different – a gift for you

June 10, 2010 in Success, Tips

To our dear Barrett Sales Blog Readers

Some of you may not be aware that since February 2007 we have published over 160 articles on the sales profession covering topics on Sales Management and Leadership; Sales Skills and Process; Sales Strategy and  Sales Planning; Sales Tips; Mindset and Attitudes; Qualities of Elite Sales Performers; CRM; Ethics, Culture and Values; Sales Capability and Coaching; Self Promotion and Call Reluctance; Sales Trends and Research to name just a few.   We have made these articles freely available to anyone who visits our site or who subscribes to the Barrett Sales Blog.

Since the middle of 2009 we have been proactively distributing our articles via the Barrett Sales Blog to an ever growing subscriber base.  We are getting really positive feedback that these articles are very helpful and we are finding that many sales managers are using the topics in their weekly sales meetings.

You may also not be aware that, in addition to our Barrett Sales Blog distribution, we are also published on a variety of online business mediums, including www.smartcompany.com.au, Australia’s leading website for SMEs, where we have established ourselves as their lead sales writer since February 2007.

These opportunities to publish our ever growing body of work have opened up a whole new vista for our business and our readers.  With that in mind, we would like to give you the opportunity to receive our very first ever e-book as a thank you gift for your ongoing support and loyal readership.

This e-book represents the next phase of the publishing arm of our business. The e-book is titled ‘Lessons & Insights’ and is about some of the key lessons and insights we have gained as a result of being in our own business at Barrett.  It incorporates a range of visual mediums as well as text and, if it were published in hard copy, it would resemble a coffee table book.   We hope you find it an enjoyable and inspiring reading experience.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our readers, for your loyalty and support of our work.  We hope that is has assisted you in being able to make the most of your career when it comes to creating healthy, ethical and productive sales cultures and teams, and becoming master sales practitioners yourselves.

So in the spirit of ‘everybody lives by selling something’ and the ‘Principle of Exchange’ – the ever present need and desire for people to exchange something of value with each other and to find meaning in our actions, we would like to spread the word and give more people the chance to be master sales practitioners.  With your support, we encourage you to forward this blog on to your peers and friends and offer them the opportunity to subscribe to the Barrett Sales Blog and assist them on their sales journeys.

We also welcome your feedback and any suggestions or ideas you would like to explore in further articles.  To send us your comments, ideas and suggestions, use our feedback form.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

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Selling is not a dirty word

June 2, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Ethics & Values, Sales Relationships

We are not born with our beliefs or values, they are taught to us.  Our thoughts, feelings, views and opinions about the world are shaped by our experiences of many people and many things.  They are coloured, rightly or wrongly, by our perceptual filters which we learn from others.

‘Watch who you let near your mind’ is a statement that is often quoted in my articles and for good reason.  It takes between 6-8 weeks to unwittingly pick up and adopt another’s views, beliefs and perceptions and own them as your own if we do not question and thoroughly examine the consequences and impact of these beliefs and perceptions on our own thoughts, feelings, behaviours and actions.

Without accurate definitions and critical analysis we could be lead, metaphorically speaking, down the dark alleys and tunnels of misinformation and faulty beliefs which can affect us in many ways.  We see this happen every day where people are lead astray and adopt practices which are life threatening, morally threatening and unhealthy.

One of these dark alleys is the myth about selling being something bad or dishonourable.  For more years than I care to remember selling has been much maligned.  It is an act or career choice that is looked down upon with disdain as something distasteful and dishonourable by too many, often ill informed,  people.  ‘I don’t sell’ or ‘we’re not called sales people here’ or ‘we don’t have to sell’ are some of the statements we hear from organisations who cannot reconcile their beliefs about selling with the actual act of selling.  The irony is that these very same people, despite their predications, rely on the profession and skill of selling for their livelihoods every day yet they are in denial about this important capability in their businesses.  They dance around the topic trying to call it something else all the while people feel a sense of unease about something not being quite right.  There is a misalignment, a dissonance and no one can put their finger on it.  ‘Don’t mention the war’.

We came across one leadership team of a business recently, who could not bring themselves to mention the word selling without feeling as if they had uttered an expletive.  ‘We do not sell, we never want that word mentioned, that is not what we do…’ came across loud and clear.

Their vehemence and disdain for selling was palpable.  Some looked visibly ill.  The energy expended to defend their stance and justify their opinions was a waste in our view.   The customer culture that they had created was one of shame not pride.  It was like everyone knew that selling was part of what they needed to do but no one could admit it.  It was the elephant in the room.

Selling by its definition is the ability to influence another’s decision.  Aren’t we, by default, all involved with selling then?  What human being, by one means or another, doesn’t influence another’s decision in some way every day?  A child cries out for comfort or food, a person offers a helping hand to someone in need, a new idea is born and the creator offers it up for our consideration, a challenge arises and we seek support to understand and address it.  Whether we choose to respond or not to these situations will be influenced by our own views and priorities and how well the other person(s) was able to influence us to engage, participate and collaborate with them.

The issue this leadership team needs to address is their beliefs, perceptions and views of selling and the ethics around why they do what they do, not the act of selling itself.  Perhaps their beliefs and views of selling were born of bad experiences, actual or relayed.  Perhaps they had the mishap of engaging with others whose intentions and actions, via the act of selling, took undue advantage of them at their own expense.  Perhaps they were tricked into believing something that was not in their best interest.  The subprime market scandal is a case in point.

Any action can be tainted with unethical, illegal and dishonourable intentions, actions and behaviours. The act of selling is no different.  Selling, itself, is not a dirty word.  It is the aggression, intimidation, bullying, lies, deception and cheating that people choose to employ in place of ethical selling practices that is the real issue we need to address.

If you want your people to be able to proactively and ethically listen, show interest, find common ground, resolve issues, find solutions, work collaboratively, and influence others to make better, more informed decisions then you want your people to be able to say with pride when asked what they do ‘I am in a sales career, aren’t we all?’.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

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

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